#but then I hear stories about how it’s not actually over like the media tries to tell us | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

holllandtrash · 1 year ago

Note

the latest mclaren vid revealing lando snores feels like import 6n1 lore lol

you have singlehanded me gotten me to return to 6 to 1, well you and that video

1.7k | 6 to 1 blurb

"Who's most likely to lock themselves out of their home?"

You saw the hesitation as Lando nearly lifted Oscar's name up, only to catch your eye from where you stood behind the camera. A simple raise of the eyebrow from you and Lando raised his own name instead, matching Oscar's answer that declared Lando the one who would be the one locked out.

"Has it happened before?" Oscar asked, also catching your smirk. He knew you'd have a good story, but you weren't the one in front of the camera. And the only reason you were allowed to accompany Lando to this shoot was because you agreed you'd stay quiet.

Lando shrugged, the king of understating, "Like once, but it wasn't my fault."

Oscar looked towards you for confirmation and you shook your head, mouthing the words 'three times'.

Lando sat up straighter and pointed a finger at you, "You're not allowed to talk. That was the condition!" He turned to look at the members of the content team, "She's not allowed to talk."

"She didn't say anything," Oscar pointed out, chuckling to himself as he turned to the next question. "Who's most likely to get a pet?"

"100% you," Lando raised up Oscar's name, only to then raise his own a second later. "But who wants a pet? Me."

"So get a pet," His teammate had such a simple solution, but when he saw the way Lando looked at you once more, he nodded. "You're not allowed a pet are you?"

Lando sighed, the most dramatic sigh he could muster up because he knew it would make for good content, and maybe part of him was curious to see if you would actually say something.

"Unfortunately I don't wear the pants at home," Lando muttered, eyes widening for a second when boyfriend mode kicked in and he realized what he said could lead to you being attacked on twitter. "No I'm only kidding, it's not fair to get a pet right now. I travel so much, so does my girlfriend. Can't fit it in our schedules."

Lando's go-to when referring to you was always 'my girlfriend'. Despite it being no secret you were dating, he rarely called you by your name in the media. He didn't do it for the sake of his fans, he did it because he knew how much it irritated Charles, even to this day, that you were dating. Charles was as supportive as he could be. He trusted Lando sure but something about hearing another driver call his sister their girlfriend annoyed him till no end.

Oscar read the next question, "Who's most likely to snore?" Instantly, Lando's name shot up in his hand.

Lando didn't look at either you, heat creeping up to his cheeks as he tried to play it off like Oscar was lying by raising the other name, "I don't snore, mate."

"C'est des foutaises," you muttered under your breath. That's bullshit.

Oscar's head snapped towards you, as did Lando's, but their expressions were the opposite. Oscar was beaming, recognizing a bit of French slang here and there and foutaises being one of them. Lando's face dropped to a scowl.

"There seems to be some disagreement coming from the audience," Oscar pointed out. "Lando are you lying? Do you snore?"

"I don't-" he glared at you and then looked at Oscar, "I don't snore. I just breathe loudly."

You just couldn't bite your tongue at that response, "You snore, Lando. I had to buy earplugs. Don't lie to the viewers."

Oscar doubled over laughing, enjoying the call out. He believed you, of course he did. You were the only one who spent nights with Lando. You were the only person to believe. Lando didn't know what the hell went on when he was dead asleep.

Lando used the name cards to point at you, "You're actually not allowed to talk. One more word out of you and you will be escorted out."

It was an empty threat. The cheeky little smirk on his face told you that he loved having you here. It was rare you joined him for the behind the scenes action, mostly sticking to making appearances in the garage.

Part of you knew that Lando only asked you to come because you said you were going to go hang out with Carlos in the Ferrari garage and while Lando trusted you and his best mate, he still didn't like sharing you if he didn't have to.

"Who's most likely to forget their best friends birthday?" Oscar asked, only to verbally remind everyone of the incident that undoubetly came to both yours and Lando's head. "Didn't you forget Y/N's birthday?"

"She's my girlfriend not my best friend."

Your jaw dropped at his answer. As did Oscar's. As did about everyone's in the room who was watching this video shoot. Lando's face turned beet red when he realized how big of a fuck up that reponse was.

He shifted in his chair, "No- wait I didn't mean that. She's my best friend.” He looked at you, leaning forward slightly and hand out in assurance, "You're my best friend. I love you I just mean like, Max is my best friend in that sense and I haven't forgotten his birthday."

"No but you did forget my birthday," you exclaimed, finding this situation humorous. Watching Lando dig his own grave was always entertaining.

"Not on your birthday, you're making it sound worse than it is."

"No it sounds pretty bad," Oscar chimed in. "You just said she wasn't your best friend and you're admitting to forgetting her birthday."

"I just got it mixed up!" Lando raised his voice, the pitch of his laughter was higher than normal as he tried to talk himself out of this mess he created. "Someone on the stream asked when her birthday was and I said January 18th when I meant to say January 8th. Honest mistake, could happen to anyone."

Lando shook his head, scared to make eye contact with you at this given moment as he moved onto the next question, "Who's most likely to laugh in a serious-" his own nervous laughter cut off the end of that perfectly timed question. "In a serious situation? Me, definitely me."

Oscar was having a field day next to him, unable to stop laughing as well. He could barely get out his own question, "Who- who's most likely to survive the longest in a horror movie?"

"I feel like I'm currently in one," Lando whispered, his gaze darting to you for a second. He mouthed the words 'i love you' and you rolled your eyes in response. It was playful, you weren't actually mad at him. Lando, sometimes, just didn't think before he spoke.

"i think she's going to kill you as soon as this is over so I'm going to go with me," Oscar said, raising his own name up as Lando reluctantly did the same.

"Who's most likely to cry while watching a sad movie?" Lando asked the next one and put Oscar's name up without hesitation, "I hardly ever cry. You can't say my name on this one."

Oscar raised his own card, looking at your for confirmation and you nodded, having found that out about Lando really early on into your relationship. He wore his heart on his sleeve, but rarely did he shed a tear. The same couldn't be said about you. A cold exterior compared to your boyfriends but Lando could list twenty movies off the top of his head that would have you crying by the halfway point.

"Who's most likely to be on a reality show?" Oscar asked, only to switch to Lando's name being held up. He raised it so fast that Lando was taken aback by his certainty.

"Me?" Lando asked. "Why's that?"

Oscar nodded his head towards you, "The two of you would be greatest reality show. You'll probably have your own episode of DTS next season, let's be real."

"Chaos follows us," Lando agreed with a shrug, sending a smile in your direction. "We are fun though."

"You know what would be fun to watch? Family dinners at the Leclerc household. Do they all speak French around you just to mess with you? I could see Charles doing that."

"He does," You and Lando answered at the same time and Oscar was once again in a fit of laughter.

There were only a few more questions that followed and you managed to stay quiet for the rest of them. When Lando finished up, he approached you with caution, a timid smile spread across his cheeks as he slowly reached for your hand while at a safe distance.

"You still love me?" He asked, hoped.

You glanced down at your connected fingers, unable to keep from rolling your eyes again as you started to head for the door, dragging Lando with you.

"Hey, hey," Lando pulled you back, right into his chest as his other arm went around your stomach. "You're my best friend. And I know your birthday. I promise. I'll get it tattooed on me, even, if you want."

"I don't care, Lando," you assured him, your voice was soft and comforting, letting him know that you really weren't all that annoyed with him. Just back to your playful ways.

You turned in his arms, taking in the boyish features and that god awful stubble that at this point you knew wasn't a battle you couldn't win.

But there was something you had on him.

"Il faut que j'aille trouver Charles," You said. I have to go find Charles.

The confusion on his face was priceless, "W-what?"

"Je te retrouverai plus tard, oui?" I'll catch up with you later, yeah?

"One more time?" Lando raised his eyebrow.

Instead of answering, you stood on your toes to give him a quick kiss as you slid out of his grasp. You were still smiling as you turned around but before you could leave the media room, you heard Oscar's laughter coming from the side and you could have sworn he muttered the words 'reality show' one more time.

just short and sweet bc i did love that most likely to video

#6 to 1 series #6 to 1 #lando x reader #lando norris x reader #lando norris #lando norris fic #ln4

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salmalin · 2 months ago

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My sincerest apologies and warmest welcome to my rant about FF7: Crisis Core. Or, as I like to call it,

Propaganda: The Video Game

I say this with the utmost affection. Crisis Core ranks really high up there in my favorite Final Fantasy 7 installments. I played it when it first came out, borrowing it from a friend to play on a borrowed PSP. And, the more I learn about the game and the more I replay it, the more everything lines up.

This game is not about Zack Fair.

This game is about how Capitalistic Propaganda can sink into every aspect of life to the point where it is entirely indistinguishable from reality. And it’s very overt about it. So…

Here we go.

My treatise on Propaganda’s starring role in Crisis Core.

Part One: The Timeline

Something that a lot of people gloss over due to decades of Child Heroes in media—Japanese Shonen and Shoujo series in particular—is how young these protagonists are. We’ll hand-wave a lot of stuff in non-live-action series with just a little bit of suspension of disbelief. And that’s honestly just accepted these days. But here’s the thing about those hand-waves.

Final Fantasy 7 doesn’t do that.

Now, FF7 hand-waves a lot of stuff. For example, how far you can travel in a day by foot, the distance a man weighing approximately 165lbs can jump after being genetically fused with what might as well be a cocaine demon (Jenova), and how much hairspray one can reasonably carry on a cross-country journey while on the run from the feds.

Age is not one of them.

Exhibit A: Yuffie Kisaragi.

Do I really need to say more? She acts her age. So does Zack. And Aerith, even. Most of the characters in the original lineup were over twenty for a good reason. We see several kids in the series, and they all act their age, too—both the OG and the remake. Age is not a thing that FF7 really grapples with. It’s something they take relatively seriously.

Now, to the point.

Zack is 16 when Crisis Core starts…

… and he was 13 when he ran away from home without his parents�� knowledge to join the military.

Which accepted him.

At 13.

Without a parental permission slip.

Think about that for a second.

… Or for the next several parts of this breakdown.

Part Two: The Main Character

As I mentioned in the introduction, Zack is not the main character of the events of Crisis Core. Instead, he is the focal point of the second person POV. This is not the first time Square has done this. It was done most notably with FF9, FF10, and FF12. (I’m not going to go on an Akira Kurosawa rant right now, but please check out his film “The Hidden Fortress”. FF12 and Star Wars episodes 4-6 borrow heavily from this film.) The purpose and position of this character is such that they might best witness the effects the other characters make on the world as their stories unfold, usually in the role of a love interest. For Akira Kurosawa, it may have been told this way because these people are most effected by the decisions being made.

“Well, then, Sal,” you may be asking, “who would you say is the main character? Would that be Aerith, since she’s the love interest, like in the other games?”

No, actually.

It’s the antagonist.

And by that, I mean Genesis.

Hear me out. I used to hate Genesis, for I was once young, full of judgement for flamboyancy (thanks, internalized homophobia), and was led by the narrative to believe he was mean to his friends. Then I met my Lovely beta who loved him, so I wrote a fic for her as a gift. So for that I kinda just… read stuff. Because that’s the thing about Propaganda—you gotta read stuff to navigate it. I read the in-game emails. I re-watched all the scenes I could get my hands on with him. I read his wiki and tried to track down more information about him. Then I watched the scenes in Japanese and gained a better understanding of not just Genesis, but Sephiroth’s character. And I realized that Genesis was put on this road from the start. In fact, a big part of the fact that he’s seen the way he is in Canon—only at his most hostile and lowest points—is because the story is told through Zack’s point of view.

So before we get into the breakdown, here’s the hard facts about Genesis.

1. He was a test tube baby who may or may not technically be Angeal’s fraternal twin brother, which we are not going to unpack right now.

2. He was adopted by a relatively rich family.

3. He was a child genius (which requires not only resources, but drive to achieve), and at a tender young age of like… ten or something? He decided to mess around and literally invented pasteurization. Which is incredible, and really speaks to his knowledge of the world and ability to grasp complex concepts even at a young age. But, again, this is not the time or place to unpack that.

4. He was best friends with Angeal, who might as well have been the sweetest, kindest boy to ever walk the Planet. (I’m biased. I love him.)

5. As a teenager, he became fixated on Sephiroth, who had gained national acclaim as a SOLDIER despite them being the same age. (Please see part 1 and think about that for a second.) He then goes to join SOLDIER and brings Angeal with him. And Angeal brings his step-father’s puritanical “hard work is honorable” mindset with him. (On that note, Angeal and his father’s arc really are a wonderfully scathing letter to companies that overwork their employees and how toxic/unhealthy that line of thinking is. But. Again. We are not unpacking that right now.)

6. At one point he became consumed with LOVELESS, a series of poems with heavy prose and symbolism thicker than syrup. It got to the point where he was so well known for it that there was an entire fanclub dedicated to both him and analyzing the text.

7. While he was in SOLDIER, he repeatedly had his achievements publicly accredited… to Sephiroth.

Over and over and over again.

Everyone did, really. They mention it in the beginning of the game. Sephiroth even got public credit for Zack’s raid on the castle when he wasn’t even there. How much of his legacy is real? How much of it is made up? How much of it was faked? We don’t know. No one knows. But he keeps getting credit, anyways. And when Genesis confronts him about it, Sephiroth doesn’t care. In the Japanese version of their fight scene, you could even say he indirectly implies that he wants Genesis to take his place as the “hero”. In the English, Sephiroth’s line is, “Come and try.” But in the Japanese the line is closer to, “Wouldn’t that be nice?” Which, depending on how you take his tone, can mean wildly different things—from mocking, to earnest, or even admiration—which is especially to tell because he might be annoyed with Genesis at the moment.

Fun Fact: In Ever Crisis, Sephiroth explicitly says they are making up his achievements in the press to target boys his age for recruitment. (Thus why they accepted Zack at age 13.)

My theory on this line is that he is being cynical; that Genesis doesn't understand just how harrowing and even humiliating his experience has been. This only enforces my theory that the "come and try" translation in the English not only does a disservice to a line as wonderfully heavy as, "Wouldn't that be nice?", but fundamentally misunderstands Sephiroth as a character.

8. Genesis then took the fight to Shin-Ra. Inspiring a good chunk of their staff to leave the company, he then staged multiple attacks on facilities, staff, and the main building—which also spilled out into the city of Midgar. He murdered his parents, buried them, killed everyone in town, and… Yeah. It wasn’t pretty. A lot of innocent people died simply because they were vaguely associated with Shin-Ra. These are the actions of a villain. What’s more, this is clearly a sign that he has been acclimatized to death and violence by Shin-Ra to the point where he doesn’t even consider taking hostages.

Except.

Except the entire town was a Shin-Ra town.

Banora, canonically, was a Shin-Ra built town, which means everyone there was basically an employee of the company. No one was safe. Everyone was a threat. And that…

That was how he was raised. And he finally knew the truth—that every moment of his life was touched, controlled by Shin-Ra, all the way down to his very conception. He has never known freedom. He has never known his own identity. And now that very cage was killing him, slowly and painfully, and turning him into something that couldn’t even be recognized as human. He was watching himself rot in the mirror, and it was all because of Shin-Ra’s greed. And as he searched for salvation, he sunk into LOVELESS as he always had, hinging his entire life on Minerva’s Gift because he knew he was dying and that was all he had.

9. And then he died…

10. … but then it turned out LOVELESS was actually kind of a blueprint, and he did meet the Goddess, and he did get reborn without his degradation so he was rewarded for his journey in the end.

So why wasn’t Genesis the main character of the game?

Simple.

His actions challenge the status quo without being about the status quo. It’s a story about revenge. It’s a story about retribution. It’s a story about answering mass violence with mass violence and ultimately being rewarded by it. And while, yes, the series is an action-based violence simulator, the violence in the original FF7 was a guided, tactical effort. (For all that the characters aren’t the brightest bulbs in the sun lamps.) But the biggest, most obvious shift in the narrative happened when they realized their role as terrorists—bringing mass violence to the company via bombing and open aggression—was just resulting in increasing levels of retaliation against uninvolved people. They might as well have been a child beating the ankles of a giant. The goals and themes of the game fundamentally change when they realize that answering mass-scale societal violence with mass-scale physical violence was not only unsustainable, but also wasn’t going to solve their problem.

FF7 is about change and learning when violence—and what kind of violence—is appropriate in the face of different threats.

Genesis’ arc undermines all of that, and making him the main character would contradict the very heart of the OG game.

So, instead, we are positioned as Zack, connected to him through a mutual friend. From there we see all the damage and horror this vengeance brings to those living under the status quo.

But also, that plotline’s a major downer in a lot of ways, so they needed to lighten things up a bit to keep audience involved. And that’s why Zack is, well…

Part Three: Zack is a Himbo

Please, for the love of all that is holy, keep in mind that everything I say here is with the utmost affection.

Zack is dumb as a rock.

He is a charismatic, enthusiastic sixteen year old jock who ran away from home at thirteen years old to join the military. Which, please know, why I say “military” I mean “private security guard force with a standard-issue Death Baton and a license to kill”. The first scene in the game is him being excited that he gets to murder a bunch of people in a simulation, which he is immediately scolded for by his mentor. He is a glorified, souped up private security guard who is canonically only in it for the glory at first. He wants to be a “hero”, but doesn’t seem to fundamentally know what that means. And, over the course of the story, the definition of that clearly changes for him.

Which tracks, because the story takes place over a period of time with high stress.

Occasionally I see people saying they wish that Zack had more complexity to him, and honestly? The game. Would be. SO. BAD.

Full Disclosure: I am not the biggest fan of Zack specifically because he lacks a lot of nuance. I wish he was a bit more complex, too. But I also know that would break the game. What’s worse, if he was still on Shin-Ra’s side because he understood Shin-Ra’s mission… Well… That would make him a villain, or a cog at best. That’s not main character material. It would make the ending more messed up, though.

Anywho, Zack was thirteen when he left home. He had no formal education. He didn’t tell anyone what he was doing. He even joined without a permission slip from his parents. This means that Shin-Ra was accepting thirteen, possibly fourteen year olds into the military. (Some people will say this tracks because you can get a job at fourteen in many parts of Japan. But, and this is important, you aren’t allowed to be a security guard until you’re quite a bit older, and you need a specific license for it, much like in the US.) Clearly they didn’t teach this boy critical thinking skills. Not because he’s a himbo, but because having their Super-Powered Private Security Force With A License To Kill think independently would explicitly go against their interests. (EX: Genesis.)

Shin-Ra needs SOLDIERs to follow orders or the company would no longer be able to function. Seconds and Thirds aren’t even allowed to reject missions. (One could argue that sending certain someone on back-to-back missions would be a good way for them to eliminate undesirables within the ranks by sending them to their deaths, which… would make an incredible fic idea, actually.) We already know that First, Second, and Third Class rank assignments do not actually reflect the power of the SOLDIER. This is canon. I would instead argue that those who make the rank of First Class aren’t necessarily the most powerful, but are instead the most visible in the media, thus the easiest to market, and/or the easiest to manipulate and control. (For a great example of this, see The Umbrella Academy.)

The point is, Zack may have been elevated to his position as a first specifically because he is malleable and single-minded. Even after all he saw with Genesis, he stuck by the company to the very end, with the exception of the time Sephiroth was literally guiding him to fail a mission. Zack allowed himself to take Shin-Ra’s side every time, taking down their enemies and following their orders, preserving his “honor as SOLDIER” as he had been taught. The only thing that made him stop…

… was literally getting put in a jar.

It was when he was no longer a SOLDIER.

Part Four: Honor

There is no such thing as SOLDIER Honor.

I repeat: There is no such thing as SOLDIER Honor.

It is a fictional thing that is borne of an ideology based around hard work. It only has power because it is believed in. It is an intangible social construct similar to the law, mathematical order of operations, and gender roles. So why are Angeal and Zack obsessed with it?

Pretty simple.

Angeal’s step-father followed it.

Now, we know three things about Angeal’s step-father.

1. He was chill with the fact that Gillian was already pregnant when they started dating.

2. He was a very good father.

3. He worked himself to death trying to pay off the sword he bought Angeal.

This, of course, says a lot about Angeal considering he rarely uses the sword. He essentially sees that sword as the symbol of his step-father’s life. Everything he uses it for, he sees as more important than his step-father’s life. That thing is usually Zack.

Zack, who is the child who joined the military based on stories of heroes.

Zack, who rises against Angeal in the name of his own step-father’s ideology and tries to talk him down, even at the very end. But Zack fails because he fundamentally doesn’t understand what’s going on, partially because “Soldier Honor” is just one more aspect of this narrative he was given. It is a narrative that Angeal has had to step away from, even though he doesn’t want to leave the memory of his step-father behind. He was a good man. He was a good, hardworking man.

And that is why he died.

Corporations will use you up until there is nothing left, then honor your memory/sacrifice. Shin-Ra was doing the exact same thing the company his step-father worked for did; using up SOLDIERs until they outlived their usefulness. And Angeal was horrified to realize that his “SOLDIER Honor” wasn’t honor at all.

It was willingly submitting to control.

But, unlike Angeal, over time, this meaning changed for Zack. Partially because he didn't understand it fully in the first place. It became about acting with integrity. It became about helping people. It became about not lying down and watching the abuse Shin-Ra handed out in exchange for literal money; for maintaining the status quo.

At the very end, Zack understood what it meant to be a hero.

Part Five: The Conclusion

To sum up, Zack believed in and idolized the propaganda spread by Shin-Ra at such a young age, and was so convinced by it, that he ran away from home at thirteen to join the military.

He was their target demographic, so they happily took him into their ranks. What’s more, people think this is normal enough that we see no one opposing this, because the only people who oppose Shin-Ra are “extremists” or “violent terrorists”.

Zack then became their loyal puppy, groomed to fill his role as super-powered attack dog to sick on anyone they deemed appropriate, and he filled the role. He believed he was doing good. He didn’t think they were invading another country, because that’s not what he was told.

He went after Genesis, because that’s what he was told, and he wouldn’t let Genesis’ actions shake his faith in the company.

Then he went after Angeal, hoping to get answers, only to become more confused. Angeal taught him about SOLDIER honor. He taught him about a higher calling. He was the one who made Zack truly loyal to the company. This challenged everything Zack knew.

He went with Sephiroth, planning a small rebellion of their own (a white lie on paperwork) to get answers, only to find things he wasn’t ready for and couldn’t fully understand.

Zack is shaken by each of these events. Horribly. At times, we even watch him grieve. But time and time again, he doesn’t leave the company. He sees the damage they do first hand, and he doesn’t leave the company. The company isn’t the problem, to him. He reads their emails, does their dirty work, and “maintains his SOLDIER honor”.

Zack swallows what they give him right up until what they give him is torture.

Zack swallows what they give him until he becomes their victim.

Every step of the way, Zack is fed a story of how the world is. He was raised on it. He lived it. He became part of it. He was paid peanuts to enforce the status quo Shin-Ra installed in the world by force, and he was proud of it because it was, to him, something to be proud of.

Zack believes the propaganda whole-sale, and we get to watch, from the point of view of an outsider, as it slowly destroys his life before killing him.

Propaganda has the power to make suffering normal. Propaganda has the power to make murder righteous. Propaganda has the power to take a thirteen year old boy out of his home so they can give him a sword, and when they point him in the direction of their enemies he charges of his own volition, because they made him believe in their cause. And he believes in their cause because he believes that it makes life better for everyone.

But that’s not what’s actually happening.

That’s just what he was told.

Crisis Core is about propaganda, and the depths to which it can affect our lives. It changes our belief systems. It changes our perceptions of reality. And when it’s torn down around our eyes, it can make us go insane. It can make us violent and unreasonable as we realize just how much violence is being forced upon us—violence other people just plain do not see. It's just a a piece of paper. It's just a law. It's just a job.

It's just a war.

Final Fantasy 7 was about Fascism.

Crisis Core is about the propaganda that built it. It is told from the point of view of a boy, then a man, steeped in it. He watches until the people suffering around him—Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal—are twisted into villains by the truths and lies around them. Genesis and Angeal are tortured by truths, Sephiroth is transformed by lies, and Zack is subsequently hunted down to conceal them.

Crisis Core is Propaganda: The Video Game.

#thank you for coming to my TED talk #ffvii #ff7 #final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 #ffvii crisis core #ff7 crisis core #zack fair #genesis rhapsodos #sephiroth #angeal hewley #crisis core

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fortunapre · 27 days ago

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𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: Oscar Piastri x fem!reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: Oscar asks you to attend an important event with him, and during this, secrets and moments are shared. HOT MOMENTS!!!

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: my first smut so tread carefully. 18+, also kind of fluff, p in v, fingers do things, swearing, 1st person

★ 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 ★ 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 ★ 𝐎𝐏𝟖𝟏 ★ 4.5k words (long)

A classic childhood best friends to lovers. This story is written in first person and includes thoughts of the main character:

y/n of course.

I know that I promised him. I know what I promised him. However, I also know that keeping this promise might very well leave me crying on my bathroom floor listening to Gracie Abrams's "I Should Hate You” later tonight.

You know when you agree to something so irrational and god damn stupid that you immediately know you’ll regret it? At the time, when he asked me, I thought: I should really start going out more anyways and, really, how bad could it be? Safe to say, if I could go back in time and strangle (maybe not strangle but slightly maim) those words out of past-Me’s mind, I'd be hopping in a telephone booth right now.

But, if that were the case, you wouldn't be hearing about this now, would you?

I guess some explanation should be given…

Cheesy movie-like-warping flashback to 2 months ago…

It was around noon on a blistering Thursday, at the Singapore Grand Prix. I had just shown up a little later than expected, and the sun had already given me a death wish. I was wearing a Mclaren cap and sunglasses, but I swear heat waves were emitting from my face. Dramatics aside, it was really fucking hot, and I wanted to find Oscar and get in the shade ASAP.

I probably looked stupid as I whipped my head back and forth like a crazy woman, trying to spot him. I dragged the friend I’d taken with me across the paddock, trying to locate the Mclaren Area.

Once I remembered it's the 21st century and I have a cellphone, I called Oscar.

“Yeah?” He answered after one ring.

“Ugh where are you? I’ve been looking everywhere…”

“I'm at the Mclaren-”

“Where?! I don’t see a wink of papaya.” My friend beside me gave me a pointed look because I was getting a bit aggressive because of the heat, but who cares? I NEED SHADE.

“If you’d let me finish my sentence, dork, I’d have told you It’s to the left of the entrance. It’s kind of hidden by Ferrari.”

“Okayyyyy…” I said while walking and looking around for what he was talking about. “walking there now. See ya.”

“See ya.”

I hung up and practically sprinted to where he said.

Once I caught sight of Lando a few steps away, I knew I was heading the right way.

“Lando!” I yelled. He looked up from his phone, eyes squinting and searching for the voice that called his name. He was wearing a nice outfit, no doubt because it was media day. Once he saw me he smiled and gave a short wave.

I tried to bring my friend with me, but they insisted on going to the Ferrari area instead since “Mclaren is enemy territory.”

I understood and let them go since I know how much of a die-hard Tifosi they are.

Once I reached Lando, I gave him a short hug and stood next to him in the shade. I was going to ask how the day’s been so far, but he spoke first.

“Wow, was it really that bad? What did you say?” Lando said, looking at me with concern. “Umm what?” I am very confused. Who? What? When where? Huh? “Lando. What are you talking about?”

“Well, you walked over looking kind of, i don’t know… mad? And now you're all red so I assumed that your guy’s conversation didn’t go down well.” He explained, still not giving me a better explanation.”

“Huh? What why? Wait. Mine and whose conversation?” I expressed my concern and confusion by waving my arms around.

“Oscar, dumbass. Who else?”

“I just got here. What are you talking about? Actually, I was going to see Oscar right now, but I thought I’d catch up with you, since I saw you first.”

“Oh! You haven’t seen Oscar yet?” Lando’s eyebrows raised up like a cartoon character in surprise. I shook my head. “Go over there! He should be by the interviewer's pen. And just ignore everything I said. Yeah?”

“I- ok?” Before I could say anything Lando walked away towards a group of people holding neon yellow merch.

I shook my head in confusion and then walked towards the interview pen. I spotted Oscar in a second, wearing a black Quadlock T-shirt, black shorts, an orange and blue OP81 cap, and the all-known backpack. His hands were in his pockets and he was nodding along to whatever the person next to him was talking about.

He caught sight of me and did a double take in my direction. Instead of immediately leaving his conversation, he kept nodding respectfully but while occasionally looking at me. The person talking to him must have realized he was distracted and let him go. Once he was free, he turned away and started walking towards me, a smile present like always.

“You good? You look a little sweaty?” He asked while laughing a bit and wiping the space between my eyebrows and hat with the cold handkerchief he was holding.

“No shit, Sherlock.” I answered and tried to wipe away more moisture with the collar of my shirt, to no avail. He just gave me the handkerchief instead of watching me struggle.

Once I was done, I looked at him and saw his classic amused smirk. I shoved his shoulder playfully and walked past him into the shade.

He directed me to a room with air conditioning. It had a couch, closet and other Oscar things- it was his driver’s room.

I plopped down on the couch, fanning myself.

He sat down next to me and once he did, I didn’t hesitate to drape my legs over his lap and lay back, exhausted.

We kind of sat there for a bit until he spoke up.

“So listen there’s this…”

When he stopped talking I opened my rested eyes and lifted my head to look at him. When I saw how flushed he looked, I properly sat up, moving my legs off of him and sat next up. Instead of asking what he was going to say, I just stayed quiet, knowing he would say it when he wanted to.

“I have a question for you. You can say no, but I figured I’d ask you since you're my closest friend and I’d be more comfortable if you were there.” He said quickly.

(Hi. Future-me here. I’d have told you what him saying “friend” did to my heart, but I haven’t explained that part yet.)

“Ok, I’m all ears!” Who says that? Is that an actual saying? Why am I nervous?

He laughed a bit at that and continued talking. “So, are you up to going to this team gala thing in November with me, ‘cause I need a plus one and I don’t think I could get an actual date at that time.”

So, 1. Actual date? What's that supposed to mean? And 2. What does he mean he couldn’t get a date when he looks like that?

(If you didn’t get that: I find Oscar very attractive.)

“Oh, um…” I started.

(Waaiiiittttttttttt)

“Well, I guess. I mean-” I stuttered.

(Anddddddddd)

“Sure. I’ll go with you.” I finally said.

(There it is. The worst mistake: I agreed to go to this stupid gala with him.)

Present

After I agreed to go to the gala with him, he brightened up and the look on his face made me excited to go, at the time. Now, however, I’m standing in my room, in my dress, chewing my nails and thinking over any type of excuse I could come up with.

Over these past 2 months since he asked me, we’ve gotten closer.

We’ve been hanging out more, and doing things that have made me feel like maybe he reciprocates my feelings.

Oh! By the way, I’m in love with my best friend, Oscar Piastri, but you probably already gathered that.

This Gala is making me nervous because of how intimate it sounds to go as Oscar’s date and social gatherings haven’t been my favorite either.

So, now I’m racking my brain on anything I could say to get out of this.

Right as I debate pretending to fall ill, my doorbell rings.

I take a deep breath, grab my purse and my shoes and make my way downstairs to answer the door.

Once the door swings open, I’m hit with cold air from outside, but a shiver makes it’s way throughout my body for a completely different reason.

Oscar’s standing there, wearing a black suit that fits him way too well. He’s wearing a burnt orange tie to match my dress and is holding flowers. His face is tinted pink from the cold and his hair is messy in a “yeah I styled it, but in a rockstar-messy-sexy way.”

We both looked at each other in silence, checking each other out with no guilt. His gaze broke from me first and right as I was trying to imagine what his torso looked like under his shirt, he cleared his throat. I looked away quickly and smiled at him warmly. He had his signature smile-smirk that made me want to grab his face and kiss it off of him.

I withheld from any of the inappropriate actions flooding through my mind, no matter how many, and instead let him in.

He walked in and stood in the entrance across from me.

“It’s 7, and you’re not even finished getting ready?” He asked, grabbing my heels from my hand and lifting them up.

“Yeah, well, to be honest I’m kind of nervous.”

Instead of asking why, he just nodded his head in a 'yeah me too' way.

He set the flowers down on a table nearby and started kneeling.

“Oscar, come on.” I tried to lift him up by his jacket, but he just playfully swatted my hand and continued. He lifted one of my feet slowly and began putting my shoe on for me.

Safe to say I am very much enjoying this, and might just internally combust.

Once he put both shoes on, he looked up at me, still kneeling. Instead of getting up immediately, he just looked at me for a bit and me him.

There was something burning and overly intimate about this: us looking at each other. He slowly got back up and stood in front of me at his normal, towering, height. The change in his position did not stop our gazes.

He looked serious now. Not the usual, playful, best-friend Oscar. Something different....

“You look beautiful.” He spoke in a low, gravely way that made my insides warm.

I looked down, blushing like crazy.

He looked away, a new hard expression on his face, and opened the door for us both.

“Thankyou for the flowers.” I mentioned it quietly, afraid of this blooming tension.

He just nodded and led me to his car.

When we reached the gala, my nerves still hadn’t settled. In Oscar’s case, he didn’t look relaxed anymore. The whole way here, he kept stealing glances at me. I tried to understand what he was thinking but his expression wasn’t giving anything away.

We walked into the building together. His head was on the small of my back, and since the dress was backless, his pinky was very close to grazing the top of my underwear. My back was burning from his touch and it’s all my mind was on. As we walked through a ton of people, I never thought about anything other than Oscar’s hands, and what they would feel like anywhere lower.

Welcome to my mind: the place where Oscar’s hands have supremacy over any valid thought process.

I imagined him gripping my hips and pulling me close. Rubbing my arms, touching my face, lightly brushing my lips with his fingers, slowly touching my thigh.

But then his hand left my back, and my surroundings faded back into reality.

We reached an area where people were mingling by an open bar. I'm going to need a drink to get through this.

Before I could get a drink to filter my emotions, Lando found us.

“Hey guys, thank god you're here.” He said. He was wearing a nice navy suit, and any girl would fawn over him. Except, next to me was Oscar, and he looked so incredibly handsome that I couldn’t take my eyes off of him to spare Lando anymore than a glance.

“Hey man.” Oscar fist-bumped him awkwardly and I gave him a small side hug.

“You guys are kind of late, but that’s okay because everybody figured you guys were doing-” Lando didn’t finish whatever he was going to say and instead gave a horrible wink.

I didn’t understand what he was saying at first but then Oscar made a comment,

“Mate, come on.” Oscar looked annoyed with Lando and rolled his eyes. I blushed when I realized and scoffed at Lando’s attempt to make a joke.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s true though.”

“Lando.” This time i scolded him.

“Sorry! Anyways, you’re a bit late so you missed the introduction but I'll summarize. There’s going to be an open bar, a raffle, dancing and mingling. The raffle's for some car but we don’t get to participate...But he wants us to either talk to these fancy people and find sponsors or dance.”

I winced a bit, not at all excited to do any sort of talking, let alone business talking.

Lando walked away towards a pretty blond woman, going to do God knows what and left us to decide what to do with these instructions. I thought hard about how much I do not want to talk to strangers and instead blurted out: “Let’s dance.”

Oscar looked at me quickly in confusion. “What? You hate dancing. Remember the school dance where we sat at the table the whole night because of how petrified you were of dancing in front of everyone?”

Yes, of course I remember. Right now, though, I’d take anything over sponsor-mingling.

“I'd do anything to not have to follow you around to make conversation with these people. So, let’s look busy and dance.”

Oscar agreed and took my hand.

His hands, good lord. We found a spot and situated ourselves in a normal dance position.

His hands were on my waist, and I held mine around his neck. I did whatever I could to not make eye contact. Instead, I watched as couples around the room held each other closely and danced to the music, looking very formal.

“You good?” Oscar asked me in a whisper. He tilted his head down to speak right next to my ear. He was very close to my face, and when I moved to look at him and answer, our noses brushed. I jerked away a bit at the touch and just nodded. I held him closer and rested my head on his chest. My heart was beating out of my chest. He was breathing slowly and deeply near my face.

Our closeness, his voice, his touch, my heart, and the collection of everything that’s happened over these last two months were gathering to the front of my mind.

I needed to say something.

“Oscar.” I whispered, finally making eye contact with him.

His gaze was sharp, darting between both of my eyes.

“Yeah?” he asked softly.

We were slowly moving to the music, and he was leading effortlessly. Even though dancing in a crowd was one of my worst nightmares, I wasn’t scared at all. All of my emotions were focused on the man holding me. My best-friend. My childhood crush. My Oscar. I needed to tell him how I felt. Tonight.

“Can we go somewhere private?” I asked nervously. His eyes got intense and his jaw moved. He looked around the room, and without asking why, he took his hands away from my waist and held my lower back, moving me through the dancers.

He didn’t know this building and neither did I, so it took us some time to find somewhere, but eventually we found a room filled with plants. It didn’t look like an indoor garden at all. Instead, it looked like plants that originally decorated the building and were stashed in this room for the night, to make room for Mclaren decor. The green made the room weirdly beautiful and the arrangement of vases were Louvre-worthy.

Oscar closed the door behind him and turned to me. I sat on the edge of a table that was in the middle of the room and hid my face in my shoulder, suddenly scared and regretting this very much.

Oscar and I have always been able to tell when something was bothering the other. So, whenever one of us caught that look on the other, we never pressured them to say anything. Instead, we waited in comfortable silence for the other to say what they wanted. Asking somebody what’s wrong over and over or pressuring the anwer out of someone never works. So, we wait. Wait until we’re ready.

That’s what Oscar was doing. He was waiting for me to speak up, but I could tell the silence was eating at him this time. So, I spoke.

“Listen, I’m just going to say it. I don’t know if this is going to change our friendship, and I really don’t want it to. If it’s weird, just ignore it and we’ll pretend this never happened, ok? I don’t want you to leave my life or stay away forever after this.” I said quickly, looking at my feet dangling from the edge of the table.

Oscar didn’t respond at first. I looked up trying to catch an emotion but I had no idea what he was thinking.

Instead, he stepped closer to me. He got so close that his thighs were touching my knees.

“Nothing you say could ever keep me away from you.” He said, looking at me with sincerity and an intensity that could have someone on their knees in a second.

I just nodded and cleared my throat.

“Ok.” I nodded again, trying to get the words out.

“Oscar, I-” My heartbeat was in my ears and suddenly any nerves fell away as I was cut off. Oscar stopped me from talking by softly grabbing my neck and bringing my face close to his. I fell silent and instead admired our shared breaths. Our noses were touching and with one lean, I could be feeling Oscar’s lips on me. I don’t know what he wants. Is he going to kiss me? A few seconds later, Oscar moved his head a bit. He grazed my lips with his, but we still weren’t kissing yet. All of my emotions were on high, I needed him. Now.

I took the last space and smashed my lips on his. He inhaled deeply into the kiss and immediately started moving with me. His lips were soft. Softer than I’d imagined.

His hand that was on the back of my neck brought me closer to him. Our lips were only touching. We're not properly making out, but somehow, it was the sexiest, most intimate thing I’d ever felt. Oscar used his other hand to move my knees apart so he could step between them. As soon as he moved closer, a heat burst in my heart. I grabbed the front of his jacket with both hands and pulled him into me. He started moving his lips, dragging my bottom lip between his teeth in the most sensual way.

I gasped in the air and fluttered my eyes at the feeling of finally kissing Oscar. Oscar was kissing me back and it was more than I could have ever imagined in the steamiest of dreams.

He kissed me like it was the break of dawn, and he was fulfilling a dream he had about us. I heard the unsteady breathing between us both and every nerve of mine was on fire.

Oscar placed a hand on my thigh, grazing his thumb across the soft skin. He made a deep noise–a growl?-and said against my lips, “Me too, dork.” He could only mean that he agrees with what I was going to confess.

“Wait, you didn't even hear me.” I whispered, moving to rest my forehead against his.

He chuckled and it made me shiver in a way that made me want his whole weight on me. “I’ve known you my whole life. I kind of figured, well I hoped, that’s what you were trying to say with the warning you gave about ‘not wanting to ruin our friendship,’ so I had a hunch and took it.”

I smiled and opened my eyes to look at him. “Im glad.”

“Yeah?” he whispered, then angled his head to kiss along my neck. I was going to reply but only a sultry moan escaped my lips. He sucked in a short breath at the noise and started to nip further down to my collarbone and back up to behind my ear. I ran my fingers through his hair, gently pulling and playing with the strands. He licked the warm spot on my throat and then abandoned my neck.

“Listen, I know this is extremely inappropriate," I looked at him, praying to any romantic gods that he says what I need him to say. "but I really need you right now. I think I’ll go insane…” He kissed me again, this time not hard but inviting and slowly. My mind was going haywire from his confession. He seemed so confident, and his touches and movements only seemed to validate the truth of his wants.

I pulled back and made sure to look him in the eye when I said: “Please, yes.”

He growled again and latched our lips and hips at the same time, dragging me closer to him. He was still standing between my legs, while I sat on the table. I was grasping at his hair, then down to the nape of his neck where I pulled him again. I couldn't get enough of him.

He slowed us down again and started to take off his jacket. Then, he got down on his knee to take off my shoes.

What kind of irony is it that he’s doing exactly what I imagined him doing when he was putting them on.

After the shoes, was his tie, then I undid the buttons of his shirt. I wasted no time feeling his toned abs with both hands. We kissed for a little longer, not being able to leave our mouths alone for long.

What’d you expect? Its years of mutual longing, of course, we’re making it last.

Finally, all that was left between us was my bra, and our underwear.

He was incredibly hot and I needed to feel him closer. I didn’t want a barrier between us anymore. In seconds, the last pieces of clothing were gone and our bare bodies were feeling everywhere.

He slowly pushed me back onto the table and the coldness of the wood made me shiver. Then, he lifted my legs to bend and rest on the table as well.

I couldn’t see him completely but I felt him.

His fingers, the ones I’d daydreamed about minutes ago, touched my inner thigh. I heard him let out some unintelligent words as he got closer to where I needed him more than the entire universe.

“Oscar,” I gasped, telling him my needs.

Then, in a flash, I was brought back up , and facing Oscar again, sitting up. I let my legs drop off the table and Oscar held me close to him again.

“I need to kiss you. I need you close.” I melted at his words and moaned when his hand crept back down. Our mouths unlatched but slayed near each other.

“Good god. Is this all for me?” He asked, finally dragging his fingers through my wetness. His fingers push into me, thumb stroking. “All me?”

I nod and this makes him start to stroke and pump. Every feeling in me is being dragged in and out by his hand, making me spiral. Every touch is amplified, making me move with him, over and over. He adds another finger, and I can't hold it anymore. Just a few more and I’d have reached bliss. The bliss was going to have to wait though.

“Osc.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to come.”

I hold in another cry at the sight of his naughty smirk. “Good.”

Instead of coming alone, I clumsily reach for him. Once I find the heavy heat of him, I close my hand around it and feel how ready he is. I shift up so he can line up.

He moved his fingers to grp my thighs.

He groans deliciously as he finally sinks in, and that sound tugs at something lovely and warm inside me.

The relief of him, thick and hungry, sliding deep in and out of me could cause a cosmic reaction. Stars are bursting, my skin could be glowing. By god, If the world was ending around us, I’d stay here with him. Our bodies, finally being together, creates a fire in my bloodstream.

I whisper that I never want to stop.

He groans how there’s no way this is real.

I want to keep him here, he never wants to come, never wants to let go.

I'm already reaching my high, and our expressive, frantic love-making gets me there with a few more thrusts.

I go, he follows. I finish, he’s still following.

The world feels quiet as we make noises that rival the movies.

In the silence that follows, I feel our heartbeats and hear our mixed breaths.

He kisses me, but it’s so lazy and slow. We have to keep breathing deeply between kisses.

I shift to disconnect but he stops me, and he brings me into him, hugging me. Our sweat and skin feel each other in a warm embrace. He's still inside me.

“Holy shit.” Oscar says into my hair. “Never leave me.”

What did we just do?

How have we gone this long without doing this?

I'm going to need it in every part of my life from now on- to live.

“Oscar, I’m in love with you.” I say, after everything.

He smiles and lifts my face to look at him. “Well I mean, you did just say it like over and over-”

“Oscar, I'm serious.” I lightly smack his chest. I love how after everything we’re still the same friends and lovers that tease each other.

“I love you too.” he kisses me short and sweet. The kiss suddenly grows again. And leads to more. And more.

After we rushed to put on our clothes after realizing how long we were probably missing, we made our way back to the gala. We didn’t stay long, both scared someone would see us and figure out the obvious, and wanting to be alone again somewhere more private.

We almost made it, when Lando stopped us both. I was going to make up some bullshit excuse, but instead of saying anything, Lando held a hand up, then gave the most horrendous wink and let us pass. Idiot.

#reader reached the apex before oscar #lets fucking go #smut's lowkey hard guys #f1 #no pun intended #f1 x reader #fanfiction #formula one #oscar piastri fanfic #oscar piastri x reader #oscar piastri x you #oscar piastri smut #formula one smut #oscar piastri one shot

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pucksandpower · 1 year ago

Text

Lewis Hamilton x Queen of Latin Music!Reader - Social Media AU

lewishamilton posted a story

yourusername

Liked by lewishamilton, antonelaroccuzzo, and 2,746,583 others

yourusername temporada de fresas 🍓

(Translated from Spanish: strawberry season 🍓)

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lewishamilton delicious

y/nupdates excuse me, sir???

lh44updates did you see what lewis posted on his story a few minutes before this?

y/nupdates oh my god 😵‍💫 if this is a coincidence, i’ll eat my hat

f1wagupdates no way it’s a coincidence because this is textbook soft launching

lh44updates imagine if they made the jam together?

f1wagupdates this might mean that they’re living together or at least staying over

latingossip “lewis” this, “hamilton” that … why is no one talking about the fact that this is directly shading her ex?

yourfanclub i love that y/n is sneakily calling ruiz out by using strawberry jam considering it’s sort of the reason why she broke up with him in the first place

y/nupdates it’s so poetic

yourfanclub especially taken into context with lewis’ story 🤭

lewishamilton

Liked by yourusername, neymarjr, and 2,941,685 others

lewishamilton Feeling beyond blessed on my birthday 🙏🏽 Thank you for filling my heart with love, joy, and the most incredible music. Here’s to another year of embracing the magic of life ❤️🎵

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yourusername happy birthday, my love! you are a blessing in my life each and every day. i will always be eternally grateful for the endless love and happiness you bring into my heart

georgerussell63 THERE’S A SHE-WOLF IN THE CLOSET

charles_leclerc are you okay, mate?

georgerussell63 OPEN UP AND SET IT FREE (AH-OOH)

alex_albon he’s still a little starstruck

georgerussell63 THERE’S A SHE-WOLF IN THE CLOSET

landonorris i think the party broke him

georgerussell63 LET IT OUT SO IT CAN BREATHE

f1wagupdates they are finally official 👀

latingossip not like they’ve really tried to hide that they’re together but it’s definitely still nice to get confirmation

y/nupdates i hope everyone who got to see her perform appreciates how lucky they are 😭

yourfanclub i would have given my firstborn to be invited 🫣

yourusername

Liked by lewishamilton, badgalriri, and 9,852,416 others

yourusername “slipstream” with XNDA is out now! hope you guys love it ❤️

“slipstream” con XNDA disponible ya! espero les guste ❤️

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lewishamilton my inspiration and motivation 😘

yourusername the reason my heart sings 🥰

f1wagupdates they’re actually the cutest

y/nupdates who is XNDA? his voice is so familiar but i’ve never heard of him before

hamilfan44 XNDA is just the stage name that lewis uses for his music

y/nupdates for real? he’s so talented!

lh44updates the fact that lewis used to be insecure about his rapping and now he’s proudly featured on a song with his girlfriend 🥹

Comments

⤷ Wait … did I just hear that correctly? Did Lewis call Y/N his wife?

⤷ He said it so naturally that I didn’t even realize until you pointed it out 😳

⤷ It’s definitely a surprise but I absolutely love them together! They are so much happier with each other

⤷ This is a bombshell considering they never even officially announced they were engaged in the first place

⤷ Who can blame them for wanting to keep it private after so much of their lives has been aired to the public? This just goes to show that they are well and truly in love

⤷ I hope this means we continue to get more music collabs from them

yourusername and lewishamilton

Liked by mercedesamgf1, billboard, and 12,586,734

yourusername and lewishamilton racing against the world, our love’s the finish line 💍

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mercedesamgf1 congratulations to our favorite paddock couple! wishing you a lifetime of happiness and success together

georgerussell63 i’m not even mad because they’re my favorite paddock couple too

carmenmmundt honestly same

billboard congrats! we can’t wait to see the hamilton-y/l/n family expand (and by that we mean new music of course 😉)

f1wagupdates what do you know that we don’t?

lh44updates i’m not sure what i want more: for them to release a new song collab or for them to have the most adorable baby ever

y/nupdates why not both?

Liked by yourusername and lewishamilton

y/nupdates umm are you guys seeing this???

donatella_versace so stunning, my darlings! thank you for giving me the honor of designing your wedding dress (and roscoe’s tux) 🩷

formulanone when a dog gets to wear something that costs more than your rent 🫠

paddockstyle roscoe is a fashion icon just like his father

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oc-challenges · 2 months ago

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WELCOME TO OC HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE 2O24!

SMILE because it's time for the annual oc halloween challenge! We will see the evil, hear the evil, and speak the evil with these spooky challenges brought to you by @aliverse, @astarionbae, @endless-oc-creations, and @come-along-pond!

If this is your first time, here's the lowdown; This is an event that takes place over the 31 days of October and presents oc creators with Halloween-themed challenges to encourage creativity, foster community, and have fun! Some of these have guidelines/suggestions, but this is very much a free-for-all so you can ignore them if they don't fit with your interpretations.

RULES

DO NOT copy others edits.

If you are doing crossovers, PLEASE make sure that the creator of the other oc is okay with crossovers.

If you want your post to be reblogged onto this blog, it must contain the hashtag ohc2024.

Feel free to ask questions, I promise I’m more treat than trick.

Everything is up to the creators interpretation, although I have tried to include some examples for help!

Have fun!

Day One: Godly Parent

Whether Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, or any other; What "God" could have created your oc?

Day Two: Mystical Communication

There are tons of ways we think we can communicate with those beyond our realm such as Tarot Cards, Oujia Boards, Prayer, EMFs, or even through other people with otherworldly powers. Which method would your oc use? Or maybe they are the communication tool?

Day Three: Merch/Memorabilia

When we really love something, we want a piece of it with us. What merch would people buy of your ocs? Ex. Dolls (like funkos or Barbie crossovers), Clothes (like shirts or sweatshirts), Buttons/Patches, Dishware (like cups or plates), trading cards, posters, or even spin-off books of the show they star in.

Day Four: If They Were Canon AU

You could create an actor oc who plays your character or even make edits about how you think your ocs faceclaim would promote/interpret their character and get along with fellow cast members.

Day Five: Social Media AU

Within their canon, what would your ocs Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Tumblr, Snapchat, and/or YouTube look like?

Day Six: Role Swap AU

Give your oc a role in their story that is different than the one they already have. Whether this is making a hero a villain or vice versa, your victim a survivor or vice versa, or anything else you can think of.

Day Seven: Butterfly Effect

One choice could change the trajectory of our lives or any game we play. Show us the effects of your oc making the wrong choice when they originally made the right choice, befriending someone they originally hated, or even just missing their alarm.

Day Eight: Multiverse

Maybe you have multiple ocs with the same faceclaim, maybe you have a friend(s) who have ocs with the same faceclaim that you've wanted to do a crossover with, or maybe you want your oc to meet some of the actual characters their faceclaim has played. No matter what it is, it's time for your ocs to meet their multiverse counterparts!

Day Nine: Literature AU

Put your oc into an alternate universe based off a book you enjoy whether it be a classic or a newer one, no matter the genre.

Day Ten: Dungeons & Dragons AU

Have your ocs play DND, make an au based off a classic DND campaign, or just tell us the stats of your oc in DND terms.

Day Eleven: Ghost AU

Sometimes when we die, we don't leave. Tell us the unfinished business that keeps your ocs ghost on Earth, who your oc would haunt, how they would haunt, or anything else related to your oc being a ghost!

Day Twelve: Supernatural AU

Make your human oc a supernatural creature or your supernatural oc a different supernatural character.

Day Thirteen: Video Game AU

Show us some of what your story would look like as a video game or put your ocs into your favorite game.

Day Fourteen: Musical AU

The doctor said I couldn't talk, he didn't say I couldn't siiinnnggg! Put your oc into your favorite musical such as Hamilton or Mean Girls, or come up with some original lyrics to show what you think your story would look like if it were written as a musical.

Day Fifteen: Nostalgia

Take the books, shows, or movies you enjoyed as a child and put your oc into them! Or, show us what your oc enjoyed as a child.

Day Sixteen: Fairytale AU

One of the most classics of classics. Make your oc a character in your favorite fairytale, whether you prefer the Grimm or Disney version, or make up a fairytale about your oc!

Day Seventeen: Being is Believing

For day seventeen, think about superstitions, urban legends, or folklore and either make your oc a part of them, make your oc experience them, or tell us which ones your oc believes.

Day Eighteen: Beloved Pet or Object Turned Human

It's not unusual for someone to grow an emotional attatchment to an animal or an inanimate object. What would your ocs beloved pet or object say if they turned human and could speak your ocs langauge?

Day Nineteen: Genre Switch

Whatever the genre of your story is, swap it with another one. Maybe your romance story is now a horror story, your comedy is now a tragedy, or your historical realism story is now future sci-fi.

Day Twenty: Darkest After Dawn

Things can go so right for so long and then suddenly so wrong. Show us what happens when something rains on your ocs parade, when a perfect day turns into a horrible night, or a dream vacation turns into a nightmare trap.

Day Twenty-One: Apocalypse AU

Put your oc into an alternate universe that's been thrust into an apocalypse whether that be because of zombies, aliens, radiation, or the Earth trying to reclaim its land.

Day Twenty-Two: Time Problems

Let's play with time for this challenge. Picture your story as if it has always taken place in a different time, throw your oc into a time loop, or have them somehow travel through time.

Day Twenty-Three: Horrorify A Song

Take your favorite Halloween song and tell it's story, or even take a perfectly innocent song and give it a horrifying meaning! Both using your ocs, obviously.

Day Twenty-Four: What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

It wouldn't be Halloween without some good scary movies. Put your ocs into one of your favorite scary movies!

Day Twenty-Five: Horror Location

This is an easier throwback to one of the week long challenges we've done for this event. Make something that tells a horror story of your oc at a certain location such as a Hospital/Asylum, Summer Camp, Place of Worship, Cemetery/Tomb, House/Apartment, Hotel/Cabin, or Farm/Ranch.

Day Twenty-Six: Horror Subgenres

Another throwback to a week long challenge we've done for this event. Make something that tells a horror story of your oc within a horror subgenre such as extraterrestrial, apocalypse, monster, time loop, isolation, time loop, cult, doppleganger, or anything else you can think of.

Day Twenty-Seven: Horror Archetypes

Which horror character tropes do your ocs embody? The Final Girl or The Killer? The Accomplice or The Harmless Antagonist? The Harbinger or The Nonbeliever? The Comedic Relief or The Hysteric Annoyance?

Day Twenty-Eight: Solo Costume

Show us what your oc would dress up as for Halloween! Would they dress sexy? Scary? Lazy? Practical?

Day Twenty-Nine: Couples Costume

Show us what matching costume your oc and their love interest would wear! Peanut Butter & Jelly? Morticia & Gomez? Bert & Ernie?

Day Thirty: Group Costume

Show us what costumes your oc and their friend group would coordinate. Are they the Scooby Gang? The Wiggles? Mario Party Characters?

Day Thirty-One: Here's A Treat!

The Halloween potluck isn't happening this year but we still want to encourage interaction and giving. So, choose someone to give a treat! This could be an ask, an edit, some writing, or even a playlist.

#origin post #ohc2024 #h: 2024 #halloween challenge #admin: ali #ocappreciation #allaboutocs #queerocs

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 24 days ago

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Tale of the Cursed Raven -- Author’s Notes & Afterthoughts

The full series:

Miss Raven sketch is by shimmeryspark!

Well, it’s been quite the journey but we’ve finally made it to the end of ✨ Raven’s origin saga ✨. It was such a wild experience to write it all and hear your feedback for each installment. I hope that you all enjoyed reading it as much as I loved creating it... and I hope that it sheds more light on why Raven is the way she is.

Now that the series is done, I’m feeling really nostalgic about it (maybe it’s Mis Raven’s enchanted inks working their magic on me)💦 so I wanted to relive the memories a little, and share some of the feelings, insights, and thoughts I had before, during, and after writing the saga.

If you’re interested in reading that, it’ll all be below the cut for your convenience.

“May those who accept their fate be granted happiness, may those who defy their fate be granted glory.” — Edel, Princess Tutu (2002)

The Origins

I’ve always loved stories—more specifically, fairy tales. When I was little, they’d always be on my mind. Actually, they still are to this very day. If I wasn’t reading them, I’d be watching them or thinking about them, making theories and spinning stories of my own.

I loved the fantastical elements, the whimsy of magic and talking animals, the witches and the monsters, the royals and the warriors that protected them... I loved it all. That childhood love of fairy tales followed me into adolescence and adulthood. That’s really where this all began.

Of course, I gravitated towards media that prominently featured elements of, or borrowed from, fairy tales. This would lead me to the rabbit hole that is Twisted Wonderland 😷 (you all knew this was coming). Due to the blank slate nature of the game’s protagonist, Yuu, TWST was ripe for an OC community to crop up.

I saw a lot of unique characters in the fandom, so I wanted to create a character too. However, no matter how hard I tried, I struggled to develop a “Yuu” that I was satisfied with. At times, I even felt uncomfortable because I felt I was either putting too much of myself into “Yuu”, or not enough. It was then that I realized I would have much more fun making a character based on a preexisting story. A theme, a concept—they’d all be pre-set for me, and I could let my imagination run wild from those.

I didn’t want to adapt a character from a Disney movie (say, the Mad Hatter or King Triton). While I had seen many cool interpretations made by other people, I didn’t want to limit myself to personalities and character traits that were already determined by the movies or stories for me. I started looking into fairy tales themselves, looking for a character or a concept vague enough for me to base my OC on—and I found it in the wording of a riddle from Alice in Wonderland.

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

It captured the spirit of whimsy I wanted to evoke in the OC. Ah, but there's also an underlying sadness and dread to her character. It's mostly Alice in Wonderland with a whisper of Edgar Allen Poe.

And thus, Raven was born.

Tsunderes — but why???

At first glance, you might look at Raven and label her personality as “tsundere”. It’s a popular trope in Japanese media where a character that is initially cold and harsh shows or develops a warm, friendlier side over time. One problem that I’ve always had with the tsundere archetype is that the media that employ it rarely, if ever, explain the reasoning for why a character is a tsundere. More often than not, tsunderes are used to comedic effect nowadays, with the tsundere characters acting violent towards their supposed love interests—and that’s something that has never really sat well with me. I don’t think that’s necessarily good writing, but I won’t fault the people who do enjoy that kind of thing. I personally prefer it when we get to know the characters and the reasoning behind their personalities and decisions more. Character-driven storytelling is my jam.

Familiar of Zero’s Louise lacks the magical power to back up her noble lineage, and she has an inferiority complex as a result of that. Toradora’s Taiga has a complex family situation which has left her distrustful of others. When writing Raven, I didn’t want her to fall into the trap of “no explanation” tsundere. I wanted to outline a clear reason for why her personality is “hot and cold”, like Louise and Taiga. Even more than that, I wanted Raven’s reason to line up with the concepts of “freedom” and “expression” that tie with her bird and storytelling motifs.

And so, her story started taking shape in my head. (If you want to read more specifics on my thought process, I’d check out this post. I also talk more about the concepts behind her there.)

Her Magic

I wanted to tie in her personality and philosophy into her unique magic too. After all, it's a spell that defines who she is as an individual. In the beginning, Raven was excited about the prospect of writing, as it would help her comes to understand others--however, she struggles to come to grips with their emotions and keeps holding herself at a distance. Only when she empathizes with her characters and with the people around her does her unique magic come into fruition. With it, she can see into others' hearts and rewrite their feelings--that is, if her willpower and coaxing can convince them to.

I didn't want Raven to be a particularly gifted magic user; she's someone that had to work hard to come into her own. I think of her humanoid form as something still awkward and developing, which sometimes interferes with her spellcasting. What really makes Raven shine is her determination, and the strong imagination that pairs with it. All she truly lacks is the ambition and the confidence, things that I hoped would be honed at Night Raven College.

The Characters for the Series

Initially, I wanted to feature a much larger cast of characters. At some point, I was ambitious enough to think I could somehow include every NRC student in the plot... but thank goodness I realized that just wasn’t feasible. I saw the narrative mess that happened whenever a creative piece tried to get too many characters involved. It just made it hard to keep track of and care about anyone on an individual level. Sometimes, it also distracted from the central themes and conflict. Now, that’s not to say that Raven has never canonically engaged with other characters (because she definitely has)! It’s just that those interactions aren’t as important to this story, so I left them out of it.

In hindsight, I’m so glad that I kept the core cast (up to a certain point) small. That way, I could dedicate more of my time writing each of their individual thoughts and emotions. Raven remains the main character throughout, while Rook, Crowley, Jade, and, to some extent, Azul, Floyd, and Octa A, are secondary characters. Idia, Vil, Epel, the Fates, etc., are very much tertiary characters that showed up a few times total 😂 but they all played their parts and still contributed the overall story.

A character that was introduced in part 6 was the timid but well-meaning Octavinelle A-kun (whose name is Kon, like konbu, or Japense kelp). He was actually included as a gag character because I couldn’t think of someone from the main cast for the role he ended up filling. I unintentionally got attached to Kon and decided to bring him back later in the story, because I guess I like the irony of a mob character that lacks eyes having more screen time than two Dorm Leaders (Vil and Idia). I think the inclusion of Kon also really helped the themes of the story, because, in a meta way, he’s like Raven. He’s a “background character” who ended up having time in the spotlight (and even earned himself a small but dedicated fan following), which proves that it’s possible for Raven, who also sees herself as a “background character”, to ascend and become a “main character”.

Speaking of semi-original characters, I also had fun doing my interpretation of the Fates in part 10. I doubt that’s what they’re like in canon and watch TWST prove me wrong, but it was super fun to write regardless of that. I think my favorite thing about them was how they bicker when they’re out of the public eye, but it was also interesting to come up with their idol poses and phrases.

The cast noticeably expands around part 15, and that was a very purposeful move on my end. Raven has had her revelation then, as well as a stronger understanding of how her unique magic works. Art that point, the story shifts from Raven being on the outside looking in to the characters witnessing her tale unfold. It's to indicate that Raven has finally properly begun integrating herself with the stories that she has always isolated herself from. Characters that have previously had smaller roles before (Vil, Idia, Azul) return for a reprise and to add their own context to what's happening now, and the characters never previously mentioned (Lilia, Riddle, Kalim, Leona) give their perspectives as people who had no direct involvement. I wanted to show the shades of familiarity that they have with what Raven's been up to on her lonesome, and how these different kinds of relationships and points of view are all important when looking at a story.

I was very excited to introduce the Enchantress (Estella) as an onlooker that has a tenacious history with Lilia; she's an original character I've been working on and hiding in the shadows until her first appearance late in this saga. Estella is a very complex person, whom I would describe as a mix of the Enchantress (Beauty and the Beast), Giselle (in both Enchanted and Disenchanted), Isabela (Encanto), Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), Mother Gothel (Tangled) and Fairy Godmother (Shrek 2). She gives... "tough love", but often acts in morally self-righteous and self-important ways, believing that it is for the "own good" of the people she becomes entangled with. Sadly, I was not able to go into her own background and motives, but someday I'd really like to!

The Plot of the Series

There’s a lot that you don’t see that goes into writing. I went through several iterations of Tale of the Cursed Raven, especially with the rising action and climax. You should see my writing drafts--there’s no rhyme or reason to them! You might see some bullet points to show a sequence of events, but the rest of the document is just random lines or ideas I think would “sound cool” that I just scribbled down while on the bus or something.

When I write a story, I usually know how I want things to begin and how I want them to end, and I have trouble filling in everything that’s in between. I usually took large chunks of time between the release of each installment to review information from the previous part and make sure the continuity carried over to the part I was currently writing.

It was also common for me to write, rewrite, and rewrite the parts again several times over before I actually put it to the public. Sometimes I would almost be done with an installment, and I’d delete it all and start over because I thought of something much better. I’d be irritated with myself in the moment for wasting all that time and hard work, but I think it ended up working out.

sadibasudbad Okay, I want to talk about some of the plot points that I scrapped, because some of them were actually interesting... They just took the story nowhere or caused issues with other things I had planned, so I had to drop them 😅

After Jade’s betrayal is revealed in part 3, I was going to have Raven become Azul’s business rival. Not in the restaurant sense, but more like she would offer similar “wish fulfillment” services as Azul, mostly because she needs something to do to keep herself positive. Her services were going to be called “Fairy Godmothering” and involved sending wishes on slips of paper in little black boxes she placed all over campus. However, she’d probably need a lot of help or strong magic to make that happen, neither of which really applies to her. I guess the tradeoff would have been that Azul offers more but asks for a price, whereas Raven offers less but works for free. She’d write stories as kind of a “road map” or “plan” for how she would personally fulfill her a wish, as opposed to Azul’s contracts, and which required a mutual agreement to the terms. I also didn’t know where to take the story after this point was introduced, so it had to go.

Part 8 was originally going to open with Raven and Riddle having a tea party and catching up. Floyd was going to emerge from some rose bushes with Cater and Trey chasing after him 😂 and Floyd was going to kidnap Raven from there for the boat scene with Jade. Like I mentioned before, I decided to cut this out to keep the number of characters the story had relatively short. (Plus, I guess Floyd would have had to run a shorter distance to the lake if Raven was already in the forest area than if she were all the way in Heartslabyul?)

There was a large hiatus between part 10 and part 11, because a lot of rewrites had to happen for the latter half of the series. Part 11 in particular went through several different versions—one of which would involve Prince Rielle visiting NRC for a magift game and knocking Raven out cold with the frisbee. Because Raven didn’t remember the face of the “prince” that saved her from drowning when she was a bird, I was going to have her mistake Rielle as that “prince” (similar to how Eric mistook Ursula/Vanessa for Ariel). Djsbsjsbshs But I already took a huge chance by writing my interpretation of the Fates, so I didn’t want to also do my interpretation of Rielle in case TWST gives us more details about him later. Rielle is based on a Disney princess, so I thought it was more likely that he got more details revealed about him over of the Fates, and I didn’t want to make my series too reliant on headcanons or unconfirmed information about a character we haven’t even seen yet.

Finally (and this is the biggest change of all), parts 10 through 20 were originally going to be heavily focused on action and adventure. Raven was going leave NRC in search of the Enchantress (who originally cursed the Storyteller several years go) and ask her to lift the curse, and the Enchantress was going to send her on a series of heroic quests to prove that she is “worthy”. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought the scale was too grand 💦 At the end of the day, Raven is just a bird trying to be a normal human girl... and I wanted her development to be more of a traditional coming of age story instead of a literal hero’s journey where she confronts dragons and saves villages. Something more down-to-earth makes her more relatable, so I went with that route instead of the action-adventure one.

I don’t know if you noticed, but the saga happens alongside the events of the main story (as some main story events, such as Overblots, are referenced). The last 5ish parts happen around the transition from the Ignihyde arc to the Diasomnia arc, sooo... :)) You can think what you like about whether Raven’s happy ending is reality or a dream conjured up by Malleus~

I argued with myself a lot while writing the series, especially about the ending. I had a lot of my friends (and readers, too) telling me “you’d better not kill Raven” and “Raven and Jade should kiss and make up/date each other at the end” (some of which came true, some of which didn’t). I was so conflicted at the time because while I never intended to kill Raven, it was clear that my audience was expecting a perfect “happily ever after”... and I didn’t know if such a conclusion would fit the overall tone of the series. I think what I ended up doing was satisfactory, though. It’s happy, but not overly so, and it keeps the door open for future shenanigans in a light-hearted and hopeful way. I think leaving it open-ended like this suits the theme of the saga and Miss Raven's struggle to find her freedom.

Raven’s Growth and Development

Raven has come so far.

The saga here is written kind of like “oh, this is her main story”, but it’s meant to be supplemented by “vignettes” and “event stories” (ie all the side content of Raven which fleshes out her relationships with other characters). The idea is that all her experiences at NRC helped her to develop her own sense of self, and granted her the confidence to fly in the face of her own fate, which she was once so hopeless about. When I look back on the last few years, I’m amazed at how much of it there is, whether produced by myself, by friends, or by fans. It’s really humbling that I get to share this journey with you all.

Raven used to be scared and shy, a timid bird with little to no understanding of the world, or of the creatures in it. Then she picked up a quill, ink, and paper—and a whole new world opened up to her. Her story is one of how freedom of self expression and creative works can connect us not only with others, but with ourselves. Because of that, Raven was able to grow and become a much more mature person (with the support of her friends and family, of course)!

Just because the saga is over doesn’t mean Raven is suddenly perfect, though. She still very much struggles to be emotionally expressive and honest with her feelings of affection (since she has gone so long burying those), so she’s still got a long way to go in that regard 💦 She also has some lingering self-esteem issues that she’s got to work on. Raven’s always changing...! Always willing to learn! Jade and Rook, please help her—

When people read Tale of the Cursed Raven, I don’t want them to “just see it as a love story” or “TWST OC x TWST Boy” fanfiction 💦 because the focus isn’t just on romance, but on Raven discovering herself, and her voice, in a world that once confused and scared her. It’s not just a story about finding love, it’s also about a girl growing up, gaining confidence, finding new family and friends to support her... It’s a lot of things, and I feel that it’s doing the saga a disservice by calling it just a love story.

I’ve mentioned this a few times before, but while Raven is not meant to be a self-insert character, I feel that her struggles are very relatable and I hope that you, too, can see some part of yourself in her and her journey. A lot of the writing process involved me analyzing and coming to terms with difficult feelings, particularly ones of self-loathing, self-acceptance, coming to terms with emotions, and trying to find one’s place in a world that can be confusing and scary to navigate. I feel that writing Raven’s tale was able to help me through those tough times in my life. For that reason, this saga will always hold a lot of sentimental value to me.

So... What’s next?

There were originally plans for me to make a follow up/spin-off series where Octa A/Kon was the main character. The theme of that series was “even the unnoticed and ordinary can be noticed and extraordinary!” It was going to focus on Kon and his mob student friends (one from each dormitory), along with their struggles of being “noticed” (as they are often just one face in a sea of mob students) and “fitting in” with their respective dorm’s ideals. I think it would have been a series that resonated a lot with introverts and people who see themselves as “less than” others or as “not fitting in” with others’ expectations. I might still do this, but it would probably be another huge project that would take months of planning and revision.

Another idea I had was to write a series of stories that are just flashbacks of Raven’s life prior to Night Raven College, whether as a bird or whether as the Storyteller’s apprentice. I also considered writing in-depth about how the Storyteller was originally cursed, and about the Enchantress responsible for it. I would like to get into her backstory and her motivations for spinning the Storyteller’s curse to begin with. (Maybe I’ll do those as blog anniversary or follower milestone specials?) Some friends of mine also jokingly suggested I write a sequel series focused on Raven and her relationship with L*ONA 🤢 dfhlbahefvqoeuq Lots of ideas, lots of possibilities!

As for Raven, she’s definitely not going away just because her origin saga is done. She’s still the beloved poster child of this blog, so of course I want to continue writing about her! It’s just that she’ll be a little freer to speak her mind now that her curse has been lifted. After all, "the end" is just "the beginning" of another story!

I kind of feel like a proud parent, seeing my bird daughter growing up, making friends, finding love, and developing her own sense of agency and independence 😭 I’m excited to see where this next chapter of Raven’s life takes us.

Before I sign off, I’d like to thank you, dear readers, for following Miss Raven’s story until the very end. None of this would be possible without you!

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softspaceboibrian · 1 year ago

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Fell in Love with the Fire Long Ago || Jamie Tartt

Chapters: 1 - more to come

Pairing: Jamie Tartt x Y/N - Social Media Manager for AFC Richmond || I used she/her pronouns, but there is no actual physical description, so the pronouns can be switched with whatever anyone wants or prefers!

Summary: When Y/N received that email, she couldn't believe it. He was coming back.

Warnings: maybe some swear words. hints and mentions of sexual acts (still SFW). S1 Jamie Tartt aka a dick. a little angsty. Sam being is lovable self.

Characters: Jamie Tartt, Sam Obisanya, Isaac McAdoo, Colin Hughes, Dani Rojas, Ted Lasso, Rebecca Welton. Some others may appear as mentions.

Wc: 3800 (this works as a pilot or a prologue, to set up the story)

A/N: this story is based on this idea I had and that a few people seemed to like. hopefully you enjoy this first chapter/prologue. and if you want to read more, feel free to leave a comment. If enough people like it, I was thinking to do a taglist, so that people can stay updated. anyways, thanks for reading <;3

When you first heard the news, you couldn’t believe it. You couldn’t believe that they could do such a thing. Not to the team, not to you. That was the reason you were stomping up the stair, the clinking of your heels echoing against the walls, as you reached Rebecca’s office.

You didn’t knock, you didn’t wait for them to welcome you in. They knew you were coming. Especially after the email they had sent out. The email had been sent only to the “necessary” people that needed to be involved, and you, being the social media manager for the club, received it. It was probably a way for them to warn you to start preparing the content for the announcement. But you obviously didn’t take it well. They knew about your history, they knew how things had gone down. They had to be expecting you.

“How could you?” Your loud, clear voice, full of anger and disappointment filled the room.

“Good morning, Y/N!” Ted’s cheerful greeting made you want to scream. “To what do we owe the pleasure?” The sarcasm was obvious.

“How could you? After what he did to the team? After what he said about you?” Your tone was loud, so much so that you were sure people from downstairs could clearly hear every single one of your words. “How could you?” You choked on your last words, and as you finally met Rebecca’s gaze, you could feel the familiar sting of the tears that threatened to fall, spill, pour.

The woman sighed, getting up from her chair to make her way around the big desk. “Listen, love, he’s a great player. When Ted told me about their talk, I knew we had to get him back.” She explained, walking over to her. “We cannot let our feelings get in the way of the team’s success.”

You shook your head, taking a step back. “I never thought you would become this cynical.”

“I’m not cynical, just rational.”

“It’s all the same thing. He’s a prick. And pricks don’t change.” You were furious. “And it’s not just my feelings, but the team’s feelings. But you obviously don’t remember how he used to treat everyone.” You lingered on that last word, looking briefly at each of them, before turning around and making your way out of the office and down the stairs. “No one understands.” You whisper, your fists so tight you started to feel that burning sensation of your nails leaving marks on your palms.

Keeping your head low, trying to hide the tears streaming down your face, you made your way to the changing room. You knew you couldn’t say anything to any of the boys yet, but still, you needed some comfort. You needed Sam.

You quickly reached the locker room and knocked, waiting for them to give you a sign to let you know you could come in. And, as soon as you opened the door, you ran straight to Sam, immediately burying your face in his chest.

“Hey, Y/N/N. What is going on?” His thick Nigerian accent immediately bringing comfort to you. “Did something happen?” He asked as he tried to pull away slightly, trying to understand what was happening.

“Just… hug me… please.” You pled, the voice muffled by his jersey. And he did. He wrapped his arms around you, softly placing a kiss on top of your head, before laying his chin in the same spot. You’re immediately comforted by the warmth of your best friend’s embrace. However, you didn’t fail to notice how the familiar chatter of the changing room had started to slowly simmer down until it ultimately came to a halt. A sense of pain and anxiety washed over you at once, and your head started again to fill with the same questions you had asked Rebecca and Ted. Why? Why him? Why now? How could they?

But soon, your stream of thoughts was interrupted by Isaac’s voice. “Who do we have to kill?” You didn’t need to raise your head from Sam’s chest to know that the feeling was shared by most if not all the team’s players.

“No one. Yet.” You mumbled, sniffling. “It’s complicated.” You added as you finally pulled away from Sam, yet still remaining extremely close to him, as if his presence was the only thing keeping you sane and calm at that moment.

“When the moment comes, just call, okay?” You gave a quick nod to the team captain, accompanied by a shy smile. To any casual passer-by, the comment may have seemed sarcastic, the usual banter between friends that care about each other. But the team knew that that was not sarcastic at all and that Isaac would indeed, without a shadow of a doubt, kill someone for you.

You couldn’t exactly remember when, but somewhere down the line, the team had become your chosen family. However, you could clearly remember how that process had started.

You had started working for AFC Richmond around the same time that Ted and Coach Beard did. You didn’t care much for football or sports in general, but you had just recently graduated from university and had found this work through Keeley. You and her had met at your cousin’s going away party a few years before, when he had decided to move to Greece to become an archaeologist. You had immediately bonded over who can even remember what, and remained close friends ever since. So, when she heard that the position had just opened up, she immediately sent your CV to Rebecca, without warning you first. You found out about the job only when you received a call from a certain Mr Higgins, who told you that they had read your curriculum and found it really interesting. And so, you ended up moving to Richmond-upon-Thames and started working for the club.

It didn’t take you long to get to know the team and become friends with them. Obviously, you had your prejudices against footballers, who you thought were self-centred egomaniacs – and you weren’t completely wrong about that – but, to your surprise, most of them turned out to be great people. You quickly became very close with Sam; Roy tolerated you; Isaac and Colin were always kind to you. Even Jamie Tartt, the prick of the team, would usually drop his dickhead persona when he was with you. And that was how you two ended up together. For the first month or so, you would notice his constant flirting, but you never really gave it too much thought. You had read about him in the tabloids, and you knew how he was famous for having a different girl every week. You weren’t that oblivious, you knew he was fit. But, every time he would flirt with you, you would play along for a while, before brushing it off and going back to your business. I’m just his latest challenge, he will move on sooner or later, you thought. Until, roughly a month and a half after you had started working there: he started waiting for you outside the clubhouse, asking you if you needed a ride home. Which then turned into him asking you to grab a coffee with him one day before practice. Then it was dinners. Movie nights at his place. Stolen glances in the hallways of the clubhouse. Sneaking in the boot room to secretly make out. And sooner than you could realise, you were sleeping over at his place most of the time.

You asked him to keep things private for a while. It wasn’t that you were ashamed of him. You just needed to be sure about him. So, you kept sneaking around. Avoiding each other as much as possible, too worried that the team might just figure it out. Let me show you off, Jamie would whisper into your ear, in-between wet kisses, as he stood behind you in the kitchen in the morning, wrapping his arms around your waists. Let me take you out to a restaurant, on a proper date, he insisted. But you kept declining his offers. Not yet, baby, you would reply, as you slowly melted under his touch, I need a little more time, you said as you turned around in his arms. And the conversation would die there, with Jamie immediately picking you up and placing you on top of the kitchen counter, his lips trailing their way down your neck, your collarbone, your chest, down, down, until your vision turned hazy and you had to grip onto the marble countertop with all the strength you had in your body, too afraid you might fall off of it, as his lips met finally met your core.

You were able to keep your relationship private longer than you had expected. It was after almost 4 weeks that Nate eventually walked in on you two in the boot room. You weren’t doing anything too private, you were merely making out. But Nate being Nate, froze on his feet as he saw you two holding onto each other, too stunned to move. I was… I needed to… sorry… I didn’t…. As usual, he was too embarrassed to form a complete sentence, so he simply left the room. You two looked at each other and knew that it was only a matter of time before your secret would be out. And you were right. The secret didn’t last the entire day, and when it was time to go home after practice, you were met by a horde of football players, asking you when it had started, how long had that been going on, if you two were official, and so on.

Somehow, but still not completely unexpectedly, the news reached the press in less than a day. The next morning, as you lied in bed with Jamie’s head on your chest, you were woken up by the constant buzzing of your phone. Check this article from The Sun, said a message from your high school friend, with a link attached to it. Is it true? Asked your mother. Congratulations! read the message from your aunt from whom you hadn’t heard in ages. And the messages kept coming. Yes, it was true. You were now in a relationship. Yes, your boyfriend was a famous footballer. Yes, you knew about his fame. Still, you didn’t care. Because, when Jamie was with you, he wasn’t Jamie Tartt, star striker for AFC Richmond, but just Jamie. And you loved just Jamie. He was sweet, he was passionate, he was kind, he always made sure you were feeling well, he brought you flowers once a week, he left some coffee for you in the pot in the mornings, he always made sure you were sexually satisfied – something he was really proud of.

Sadly, you hadn’t realised that, with going public, also came the hate from his fans, who thought that you would be too distracting for their beloved favourite player, and from the girls, the actresses, the top models, the reality tv stars, who had hoped to one day end up with him and whose dream you had shattered overnight. You pulled through it, and that was also thanks to Jamie, who never missed the chance to remind you how much he loved you and cared for you.

However, two months after going public, things started to change. You couldn’t understand why if it was something that you had done or said, but he started to become distant, cold. He would invite you less and less over to his place, and when he did, it was mainly to have sex, to ‘release the tension from practice’. And whenever the team lost, the sex would be rough. He was always on his phone, texting, dming, emailing. A part of you knew it was girls he was talking to, but you couldn’t bring yourself to confront him about it, so you just said nothing and held on. He soon stopped asking you how you were, telling you how much he loved you. You tried asking him what was going on, but he would always deny everything, saying that you were imagining things, that you were just paranoid, and that everything was fine. Fine. Oh, how you came to hate that word. You asked him how he was. Fine. You asked him if he wanted to spend the night together. Fine. You asked him if he wanted to drive to the clubhouse together. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. You hated fine. In Jamie’s language, fine meant if you really have to, or I would rather you left me alone, or I don’t really care. You hated it. And you hated what your relationship had become. But still, something stopped you from leaving him, maybe the hope that soon things would go back to normal, that soon he would go back to being just Jamie.

But that never happened.

And things only got worse when Ted decided to take him out during a match. You knew that Ted was doing it to teach him a lesson, and he was right to want to do so. But as you watched your boyfriend leave the pitch, you knew things would only get worse. So, you stopped constantly looking for him. You stopped texting him every day. You only met when he asked you.

It was in that period that you grew closer to Sam. You could distinctly remember the day he walked into your office to ask you for a few suggestions on how to make his Instagram page more appealing. Instead walked in on you sitting on the floor, with your back against the wall and your hands in your hair. You didn’t even have the strength to pretend things were okay, so you simply looked up, black lines scarring your cheeks, and met his eyes. “Sorry, Sam, it’s… not a great moment.” You struggled to get the words out.

But Sam didn’t say anything. Instead, he closed the door behind him, made his way across the room and took a seat on the floor next to you. “Is it Jamie?” He asked with his thick Nigerian accent that you would grow to love and even find familiar. You nodded silently. “Do you want to talk about it?” You shook your head. “Do we just sit in silence?” A nod. A beat. Then your head slowly fell to the side, until it found its resting place on his shoulder.

You don’t exactly know how long you stayed there, on the floor, in silence. It could have been a few minutes or entire hours. In either case, Sam stayed there, and didn’t leave your side. He never once took out his phone to check his messages, even though you could feel it buzzing in his pocket. He only changed position once, to move his arm and wrap it around your shoulders. That was the first time you had spent that much time in silence with someone without feeling the need to fill it with superficial chatter.

From that day forward, you and Sam were inseparable. There was something about him that simply brought you comfort, a comfort that not even Jamie had been able to give you. Whenever you weren’t sleeping over at Jamie’s, he would come to pick you up and drive you to work. He would drive you home in the evenings, making sure you were all the way inside your house, before sprinting off the road to go home himself. You would start having lunch together, usually joined by some of the other guys – in all of this, most of the time Jamie was nowhere to be found. And whenever your boyfriend acted like a dick with you in front of everyone, he would speak up. Are you his boyfriend now, Sammy? Jamie would mock him, using your nickname for him. I don’t think so. She’s me girl, so I’ll talk to her how I want, a’ight? He would puff out his chest, trying to look bigger and intimidating.

That evening, after practice was over, Jamie sprinted off to who knows where or to who knows who, leaving you there, alone. And, as per usual, Sam would come to the rescue, offering you a lift home.

“Why are you still with him?” Sam asked you as he stopped in front of your house. “You deserve better, not an asshole like him.”

You shook your head. “He’s not like that when it’s just the two of us.” You would always find a way to make excuses for him.

“I don’t care how he is when he’s alone with you, Y/N! If he really loves you, he should treat you well in public as well!” You had never really heard Sam raising his voice before, and it would have been a lie if you had said that you were not intimidated. But, despite everything, you could feel the care and preoccupation in his voice. “You deserve someone that truly cares for you, and that isn’t afraid to show it!” You knew he was right. Yet, you couldn’t bring yourself to say something, to break up with him.

But you never had to.

It was maybe a week after your discussion with Sam when you showed up unannounced at his place. It was cold outside, and you were only wearing a thick jumper. You stood there, in front of his door for at least three whole minutes, before finally knocking on his door. You knocked instead of ringing the bell so that if he was already asleep, you wouldn’t wake him. But he had heard it, and less than 10 seconds later, he was opening the door.

“Y/N, what are you-” He didn’t even finish his question. He took one look at you and knew exactly what had happened. He took your hand gently in his, and immediately pulled you inside, guiding you to the living room. “Wait here a moment.” He said, making you seat on the couch, before running off in search of a blanket. “Okay, wrap yourself in this while I put the kettle on.” He opened the blanket and put it around your shoulders.

“Stay here, please.” You whispered, grabbing him by the wrist before he could move away again.

“But you’re shivering.”

“Just… please.”

As soon as he met your eyes once again, he felt his heart drop to his stomach. He had seen you in distress before, he had comforted you multiple times after your fights with Jamie. But this time he didn’t even need for you to tell him what had happened, he already knew. He took a seat next to you, fixing the blanket so that it was properly covering your entire body, before pulling you to his chest.

“He said that I was too much work.” The words left your mouth watery. “That I asked too much of him. And that, since he was going back to Man City, it was better to call it quits.” You whispered. You could feel Sam’s body tense, the air blowing through his nose. You knew he wanted to say a lot of things. He wanted to tell you that he was a dickhead, that he never realised what he had in front of him, that he had just lost the best woman he could ever find, that he was a moron, a jerk, an idiot, a fool. But he didn’t. He remained silent. And he did the best he could to comfort you. He stroke your hair and your back, he rocked you and hummed to you, until you fell asleep.

After that night, it didn’t take long for the rest of the team to find out what had happened, and how it had happened. Every single one of the boys sent you a text, saying, each in their own way, that they were sorry, that Jamie was a dick, and that they were there for you if you needed them. And you were glad to know so many people cared for you, people that up until a few months ago didn’t even know you and that you would have never expected in your life to end up being friends with. They all stopped and hugged you when they met you in the corridor for the first time after it had happened. But some of them surprised you.

You hadn’t been able to sleep for the last few nights, which was made obvious to everyone by the way you dragged your feet against the floor whenever you walked around the clubhouse, your legs too heavy for your exhausted body to properly move. You had also stopped taking care of yourself. Yes, you showered and brushed your teeth because you hated not being presentable for work. But you had stopped brushing your hair every morning and every night, like your grandmother had thought you when you were little. And you had stopped wearing make-up. Not that you would normally put on a full face every day, but you stopped using mascara because it made your eyes burn whenever you cried, and the light concealer you used under your eyes to make yourself look fresher, more awake. And now your puffy red eyes and dark circles were there, on display, for everyone to see, a reminder of how you were feeling.

That morning you had opted for a very comfortable pair of sweatpants and a warm AFC Richmond hoodie. Using supportiveness as a way to hide your depression. Smart, you thought. Sad. You were sitting in your office, alone, working on the new social media campaign, when suddenly you heard someone knock on your door. “Come in.” You said flatly. As the door opened, you looked up from your laptop, only to see Sam walk in, followed by Isaac, Colin and Dani. “How can I help you, boys?” You forced a smile on your face.

“Want to watch a movie with us tonight?” Asked Isaac, taking the lead. You looked at the quartet in front of you, unsure of what to say. “We can watch whatever sad movie you prefer, and Dani can bring some Mezcal.”

“Boys, I-” You started, but you were instantly cut off.

“Uh-uh!” The Welsh stepped forward. “We don’t want to hear any I’d rather be alone or I don’t want to be a bother bullshit, okay? We want to do this.”

“Yes, we only asked to be nice, but if you say no, we will just kidnap you and force you to do it.” Said Sam, a soft, warm smile on his face, as he leaned over your desk.

“Por favor, Y/N” Dani pled, showing you his big, brown puppy eyes.

“Fine!” You gave in. “On one condition: we order Chinese.”

They all look at each other, before bursting out laughing.

A/N: if you read all the way through, thank you ! feel free to leave a feedback/comment. i would love to know what you think about it and if you would be interested in reading more of this story. let me know if you would like to be put in a taglist for this fic! love you <3

#jamie tartt #jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt fic #ted lasso #softspaceboibrian writings #ted lasso fic #sam obisanya #isaac mcadoo #colin hughes #dani rojas #rebecca welton #roy kent #keeley jones #coach beard

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charmwasjess · 1 year ago

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Uh, I got into the Clone Wars last night. I mean, the Clone Wars wasn’t stored safely out of my reach. I chewed it all up and left the little pieces everywhere like a cat with a roll of toilet paper.

Anyway, you know that one episode where Savage Opress visits Planet Dumpster Fire to rescue Maul with help from the talking snake from Disney’s The Jungle Book?? Cool, yeah, that one.

–so could I have a moment to theorize why Dooku thinks Savage being loose in the galaxy is such a big fucking deal in the first place? When Asajj, who hates him a lot more and has tried to assassinate him repeatedly, is like, right over there? When, actually, the galaxy is full of powerful Force users who want to kill him, including some members of his own family?

Could it be that Dooku, in a characteristic spiral of destabilization after losing Asajj as a Padawan substitute right hand man, actually behaved pretty embarrassingly in front of Savage? Does Savage have some pretty bad shit on him?

Embarrassing Bullshit Dooku Probably Said to Savage During Their Infinitesimally Short Apprenticeship:

multiple incriminating monologues about his plans to "secretly" use Savage to finally fuck up Sidious and take over as the King of Bad Ideas instead of the apprentice*

“Here is my annotated childhood diary containing all my most cringe moments, my feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability, some gay subtext, and the origin story of my daddy issues, beginning at age 12…oh, don’t forget the attached media file, so you can see how cute I was as an initiate…!”

(during movie night) “...and the Wicker Man, for me, as an actor, is definitely the best film…in the end horrifying, but not what I would call a horror film. It was about growth, not decay…”

it’s a EU/Legends situation, and Sifo-Dyas’s corpse is actually in a cryopod in the basement. Dooku monologues at it constantly. Sometimes, Savage swears he can hear two people talking down there, and doesn’t know if that’s real or if Dooku is doing the other voice, and is legitimately unsure which alternative is more terrifying. Sure, he grew up with witches and everything, but this is a bridge too far?!!

*lol this one's real

#the clone wars #count dooku #savage opress #star wars shitpost #star wars meta #star wars theories #oh dooku #there's nothing scarier than your homelife #the sound of crying in the bathtub should probably be on this list too #for real though Wicker Man is Christopher Lee's best film and my favorite movie #I don't tell a lot of people that #because of all the sex and screaming about burning Christians it's just a vibe

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mayakern · 3 months ago

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Hiiii

I'm a writer who makes queer supernatural horror/dark fantasy/sci fi stories I was wondering if you might be okay with talking about your process in getting an editor/getting published? I know the basics, but I'm interested in hearing how people who are also writing queer stories have managed to gather followings for themselves and put their work out there

Thank you!

previous to self publishing, i participated in dvpit/pitmad which were events for unrepresented authors to pitch their works to agents and i also queried a number of agents and pubs separate from that. i received only rejections, which wasn’t really surprising because most publishers only accept fantasy romance manuscripts of a maximum length of 150-170k words. at the time, spitfire was 307k. i didn’t really take this too hard because i knew it was a long shot, since being outside of submission requirements is almost always an automatic rejection for new authors. i just wanted to be able to say i tried, honestly.

because of this and because i did not feel equipped to split the book into two by myself, i decided to self publish the book. it sold… surprisingly well. well enough that i suddenly had the budget to fund an audiobook with just enough money left over to hire a line editor to get the book polished before someone cemented my words in audio form.

i put out a call for editors on social media and got over 100 applicants. i requested editing samples from the people who were in my budget and seemed like potentially good matches. i had a lot of very strong choices but the moment i read danielle’s editing sample, i knew she was the one because she just got it, plain and simple. i was primarily looking for a line editor but i also had a couple non-syntax issues that were small enough to not require a huge structural overhaul of anything, but were big enough that my exhausted brain just wasn’t untangling them. i needed fresh eyes.

and then, as danielle and i were just hammering out our plans for our edits, claire contacted me. they’d seen some of my tiktoks about the book and were intrigued, then realized that they already knew me/my work and had actually bought a skirt from me at a con a few years back. they requested my manuscript, read it over, we had a couple meetings and then i signed with them. they suggested splitting the book into two and now that i was equipped with both a fantastic editor and agent—and now that trad pub seemed on the table and it seemed i wouldn’t need to self fund my own audiobook—i suddenly had the funds and support needed to tackle a huge structural overhaul of the once duology, now series.

all in all things only really worked out because i already had an audience who was willing to give a new author a chance. i think it helped a lot that i initially posted the book on ao3, meaning people could read it for free and didn’t have to spend money to risk being disappointed in something. it make the buy in very cheap for people. and somehow enough of them decided that they liked the book enough to buy it, giving me the funds for an editor and the numbers to look attractive to prospective publishers.

anyway don’t use this as a guide for how to get published. i have not been picked up by a publisher and even if i had, the path i’ve taken is really fucking weird and not viable for most people.

regardless, i hope this helped somehow and i wish you luck!

#ask #writing #self publishing

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ladykailitha · 8 months ago

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Batshit Soulmates Part 9

We have just a tiny little epilogue after this that will be released next week and then this story is done. I know I tend do to happy endings, but this is more ambiguous (and hopeful) and with the epilogue I'm not nice. So if you want to stop here, you absolutely can.

In Medias Res| Prologue|Pt 1|Pt 2|Pt 3|Pt 4|Pt 5|Pt 6|Pt 7|Pt 8

We get everyone safe and sorted. And Steve's the one to break it to Wayne about Eddie.

****

The hospital was in chaos when Steve arrived. Whatever had happened, had torn the town literally asunder.

Lucas ran up and threw his arms around him. “She died! I could feel her die! Then she came back, but my mark–”

Steve had shown up at the hospital after hiding Eddie at his place until the whole murder charge thing could blow over.

“Hey, hey,” Steve murmured softly. “Let’s see it.” Lucas refused to let go, so Steve gently steered him over to a set of chairs and sat him down on one.

He knelt in front of Lucas and gently removed the shoe, followed by the sock. Lucas’s skateboard wasn’t black, like it would have been had Max actually died, but it was a sickly green and pulsed eerily.

“Oh, buddy,” Steve said and threw his arms around the young boy. “I’ve never see a mark do that, have you had it looked at by a doctor, yet?”

Lucas shook his head. “I’m afraid of what they’ll tell me.”

Steve nodded, but before he could open mouth the sound of cries erupted from behind him.

Steve turned around to see Charles and Sue Sinclair standing at the front doors to hospital. He barely managed to move out of the way before Lucas’s parents scooped him up.

“They tried to kill Erica and Max!” Lucas wailed. “So I hit him. Hit him until he stopped.”

Sue took his face in her hands. “Are you okay?”

Lucas nodded, but held up a bandaged hand. “Hurt my hand, but I’m fine.”

Sue nodded. “Is Erica okay?”

“Mama!” a voice cried out and Charles suddenly had an armful of Erica.

“Baby,” he whispered, “are you okay?”

He pulled back to look at his daughter, she had bruises on her face and arms but she didn’t appear hurt beyond that.

A doctor came over. “Are you the little girl’s parents?”

Charles nodded. The doctor preceded to go over her injuries and said that Lucas was quite the little hero taking care of his sister the way he did.

“How’s Max?” Charles asked, Lucas knowing the doctor couldn’t answer, not without speaking to Susan Hargrove first.

“She won’t wake up,” Lucas sobbed.

Sue hugged him tightly. “Her body needs to heal whatever was done to her, so it’s shut down until it can function. Okay, baby?”

Lucas nodded.

Steve watched the touching scene in awe. He was about to go home back to Eddie when he came face to face to an angry looking Robin.

“Robin!” he cried and swept her up in a hug. “You’re safe. Is Nancy okay? Max got hurt, but Lucas and Erica are going to be okay.”

“Nancy is fine,” Robin said, “and I did hear about Max. I hope she’ll pull through.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “But where do you think you’re going?”

“Back to my soulmate?” Steve asked with a lopsided grin.

“Not until you get your sides patched up properly and you get your back looked at.”

Steve opened his mouth to argue but knew it was futile. With a sigh he dug into his wallet and handed her a dollar. “See if you can get some quarters so you can let my soulmate know I’m getting looked at?”

She took the dollar and nodded. She spotted a vending machine and got a candy bar and the change she need for the pay phone.

Steve went up to a nurse and pulled up his shirt. “I need medical attention?”

She looked at the oozing bandages and then back up at him. She let out a long suffering sigh. And she told him to follow her. Steve did as he was told.

As she was stitching him up, she noticed the bats on his right forearm. It was pulsating black.

“You got yourself a truemate?” she asked.

Steve looked at the bats and nodded.

She chewed on her lip a moment and then said, “It’s that boy, isn’t it? The one everyone says done those murders?”

He just looked away.

“I’m not a superstitious woman,” she continued, “but my daddy was medical examiner for years, and let me tell you, there is no way one person could have done the damage the cops are saying was done to those poor kids.”

“You don’t think he did it?” Steve asked warily.

The nurse shook her head. “No I don’t. And you shouldn’t either. All this nonsense that Carver boy was spouting about your boy having demon powers or some shit, then why were there any survivors? If he could kill that McKinney boy with his mind than why did Carver and that other boy live to tell the tale?”

Steve just blinked at her in astonishment.

“And if Chief Hopper had been alive he would have put a stop to this bullshit before it even got going,” she insisted. She tapped his arm. “There, you’re done. I’ll have a doctor come in and subscribe you pain killers and give you instructions on how to take care of it.”

She yanked off her gloved and nodded curtly before vanishing out the door.

Steve didn’t have to wait long for the doctor to arrive. He went over how to take care of the stitches, when to come back and have them removed, and how to apply the lotion on his back to prevent scarring.

He nodded, taking the papers the doctor gave him as he wandered back out to the hospital waiting room.

There Robin was waiting for him, arms crossed, glaring at her parents. Almost as if she was daring them to deny her this, but from what Steve could tell, they were quietly waiting, too.

Steve called out to her and suddenly he an armful of his best friend.

“Careful,” he muttered. “I’ve got stitches now.”

She smacked his arm. “See? I told you needed to see the doctor. Now let’s get you home.”

Robin’s mom slipped into the driver’s seat of Steve’s bimmer and drove him to the pharmacy to get his medicines. Then she drove to his house where Robin and her dad were waiting.

“Take care of yourself,” Robin said into the huge, but gentle hug she gave him. “I want twice daily updates and if I miss one, I will hunt you for sport.”

Steve gave her a jaunty salute. “I’ve got someone who will take good care of me.”

“He better.”

Steve slipped into the house and sighed in relief as the pain in his arm subsided entirely. That meant Eddie was here.

And sure enough, Eddie came out of the front room and kissed him deeply.

“Are you okay?” he asked, cradling Steve’s cheek in his hand.

Steve nodded, leaning into the warmth of the touch. “I’ve got stitches and pain medicines and weird smelling lotions for my road rash.” He paused for a second. “Can it still be called road rash if I didn’t get it on a road?”

Eddie just shrugged. “I mean when you get it on a carpet it’s called rug rash, so...”

Steve frowned. “Rodent rash? Because bats are flying rodents?”

Eddie threw back his had and laughed. “Yeah, babe. Rodent rash.”

He bullied food into Steve and got him to lay down and sleep. It was a good thing Steve slept on his stomach as it was considering how torn up his back was.

Eddie radioed everyone he could reach and told all the news as far as Steve knew it.

Max’s condition was the biggest loss felt by everyone. Knowing that Lucas and Erica were fine, that Steve was fine, that settled a lot of the nerves that had been sparking through the Party.

Now all they had to do was wait.

****

Steve woke up the next morning to Eddie watching the news in the front room.

“What are they saying?” he murmured as he sat down next to him on the sofa.

“An earthquake,” Eddie murmured. “A fucking big one. Never mind there aren’t any tectonic plates for there to be an earthquake, but whatever.”

Steve didn’t know what he meant but nodded along anyway.

“How are you feeling?” Eddie asked after a moment or two of them just watching the videos of the destruction of their small town.

“I’m alright,” Steve said, leaning his head on Eddie’s shoulder. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“How’s Lucas?”

Steve sat back up. “He’s fine. Or as fine as he can be considering. His soulmark is still there, but it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. It looks like a zombie or some shit, all green and pussy.”

Eddie grimaced. “That sucks.”

Then an ad came on saying for all those that need aid or for people who wanted to donate to come to the high school.

“I don’t have much of my own,” Steve murmured, “but I think I want to donate.”

Eddie nodded.

They went up to Steve’s bedroom and began sorting things. Clothes he didn’t wear anymore or didn’t fit for one reason or another. Steve really didn’t have a lot to give considering his parents took away anything they thought he had outgrown. Even before he had actually outgrown it.

Eddie’s heart ached for this boy who waited his whole life for someone to love him unconditionally. He made a vow then and there to be that for Steve.

****

The next day had Steve picking up Robin and Dustin to go to the high school. He pulled up next to Nancy and she got out of her mom’s car.

They all unpacked their donations and went in.

Robin and Steve went up to volunteer. She lady in charge eyed them warily but put Steve in charge of sorting the clothes and putting aside the stuff that was unusable. Then she put Robin with Vickie at the sandwich station.

Steve couldn’t hear what the two girls were saying but judging from the bright smile on Vickie’s face, and soft, shy smile on Robin’s that they had finally got on the same page.

Steve smiled and looked down at the little bats on his forearm. It was a little dark, but not the massive wound from their run in with the Upside Down.

Perhaps it was the danger they both were in that made it so angry.

Steve looked up and saw Wayne Munson taking down a missing poster for Eddie. His hand went up to guitar pick necklace that Eddie had given him when he got home from the hospital.

Suddenly he had an idea.

He got one of the stickers they were using to mark the non-clothing items for donation and stuck it to one side of the pick. He wrote something down really quick and walked over to Wayne.

“Mr Munson?” he asked gently. Even though he was sure of who he was because Nancy had described him, he didn’t want to presume.

Wayne looked up at him, his bloodshot and weary. “Yes, and you are?”

Steve closed his eyes and opened them slowly. “I’m Steve Harrington, your nephew is–was my soulmate.”

Wayne’s hand went to his mouth as tears threatened to spill.

Steve handed him the pick. “He sacrificed himself to save a lot of people, Mr. Munson. He was so brave. I think he’d want you to have it.”

Wayne nodded and Steve went back to sorting the clothes. He watched as Wayne’s rough fingers caught on the sticker on the back and turn the pick over.

His eyes went wide and met Steve’s. Steve winked but went back to working as if nothing had happened.

In as tiny writing as Steve could muster, he wrote: ALIVE, SAFE, HOME

He hoped it would give Eddie’s uncle the peace he needed for the time being.

****

Epilogue

Tag List: @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

@spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369

@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi

@messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv

@wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @vecnuthy @bookbinderbitch

@littlewildflowerkitten @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @scheodingers-muppet @cinnamon-mushroomabomination

@genderless-spoon @anne-bennett-cosplayer @irregular-child @oxidantdreamboat @mogami13

@samsoble @xandriumbat @ellietheasexylibrarian @lololol-1234 @y4r3luv

@disrespectedgoatman @king-zacharyy @chameleonhair @tinyplanet95 @thelittleclare

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #soulmate au

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fl3shm4id3n · 11 months ago

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Bₑᵢₙg ₐ ₛᵢₙgₑᵣ/ᵣₐₚₚₑᵣ ₐₙd ᵢₙ ₐ ᵣₑₗₐₜᵢₒₙₛₕᵢₚ wᵢₜₕ: ⱼₒₕₙₙy Cₐgₑ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ᴊᴏʜɴɴʏ ᴄᴀɢᴇ x ꜰᴇᴍ! ꜱɪɴɢᴇʀ/ʀᴀᴘᴘᴇʀ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

Tw: Age gap (Johnny is 58 and reader is 28), mentions of fans/people being weird.

A/N: Reader is heavily inspired by Doja Cat, I may write more stuff about this. I'll read any feedback of any kind.

Masterlist

When the public found out that you and thee Johnny Cage were in a relationship, a lot of people lost it. Some assumed that the only reason he was in a relationship with you was because so that he could still be famous or whatever other things they say. All you both did was just ignore those people comments.

That wasn't the first time some of your so called 'fans' tried bashing you for the decisions that you make. Same with Johnny. He isn't with you because of your fame and money, you and him actually had chemistry.

You and him were made for one another believe it or not. You both were like soulmates, literally. They were times where you and Johnny shared a braincell.

The thing about Johnny, as much as self absorbed that he is. He actually a very caring and sweet person to be around. He also is very good at making people laugh and get them to be flattered. That's what made you fall for him. He is a himbo in a way, but he is your himbo.

He is very supportive of you. He knows how much potential you got and you should show share it with the world.

Johnny likes to listen to your music, he's the type to listen to all kinds of music. At times you may hear him humming to your music and even singing under his breath while he's doing something.

He may not know very much about music, but he'll help in any way you need help in. For example, if you're having a difficult time trying to come up with lyrics or a beat for your song, he'll try and help. He loves to help you in all ways possible.

If that doesn't work with your writers block, you'll stop what you're doing and do something with Johnny. Whether is watching a movie, cooking together, simply just lay together in bed, or whatever you can think of.

A thing that he likes about you, is how you call out your some of your 'fans' on their weird and toxic behavior. He's had his fair share of his strange over the top fans. But he's never really had the guts to tell them off. He liked that you did, that gave him some sort of courage for him to do so as well.

You and Johnny have blast reading comments and watching videos in how you have become 'satanic'. It was funny because it all started when you began to work on other projects, that aren't what you normally do. This stuff isn't new though, every time a music artist does something new and is successful at it, then they've become a 'Satanist'. That's old news, probably as old as Johnny.

He's goes to your concerts and even on tour with you. He becomes your personal assistant in a way, because he knows you like the back of his hand. He doesn't mind it at all, he enjoys being your personal assistant. (He takes your kisses as payment.)

He also makes it his mission to record all most everything about the concert, mainly you since you're the star of the show. His star.

Johnny buys your merch. He doesn't have a shame in wearing it. He'll wear it 24/7. Whether is a shirt, hoodie, sweater, socks. He wears it.

Most of his social media, is of pictures of you and him, sometimes mainly just you. He also posts in his Instagram story your posts about your new album or shows. He loves to show you off to everyone. (He's probably do that one Will Smith meme when he is with you in public. Specially when it comes to events.)

Johnny is a dog person, but if you have pet cats. He'd end up spoiling the hell out of your cats. He'd also refer to them as yours and his kids.

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mykneeshurt · 1 year ago

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War

Image from Google

Captain Price x F!reader

Warnings - 18+, minors DNI, dub/con bordering non/con, Price is not a good person in this fic, explicit smut, themes of coercion, allusions to torture

Please take note of warnings before you proceed, I am not responsible for the media you consume.

Waking up in the damp cell you heard faint shouting of your team mates in the distance. Wincing you tried to sit up but your muscles ached, throbbed with each minuscule movement. The pungent taste of iron seeped into your tongue, suffocating your tastebuds. Running your tongue around your mouth you counted all of your teeth, some more tender than others.

As your eyes adjusted to the cell you were able to make out a small window at the top of the rotting wall. Looked like evening time, the last of the suns rays kissed the brick, a faint hum of the light above you filled the short lived silence.

After you eventually managed to sit up you realised your hands were cuffed, tight at that. The steel cuffs bit into your wrists, staining your skin a crimson red. Your head throbbed from where you were hit with the butt of a gun. The blood had since coagulated and congealed where your scalp had been split open. Bastards.

The distant telling started again, you instantly recognised the voice. Cole. Your captain. He was being tortured, well that’s what you guessed from the noises he was making. Guttural, agonising screams, his voice was hoarse and brittle. Must have been going at it long before you woke up.

Panic began to set in, the last thing you remembered was working your way through an abandoned complex looking for your target.

John Price.

He used to be the captain of a well respected team, 141. That was until one of his own was killed, he flipped, lost who he was, what he was meant to stand for. All he cared about now was war.

He wanted to punish the US army who had hired his team. He wanted to cause as much chaos and destruction that he could. He didn’t care who got in his way anymore, completed blinded by anger and hurt. Nothing is more dangerous than someone who hasn’t got anything to lose. And in this case, he’d already lost everything.

Once you felt strong enough you tried to stand, your knees were weak, your tac pants stuck to your skin from the dried blood. As you hobbled around the cell you tried desperately to find a weakness in the structure. A loose brick, a screw, a bolt, anything you could use to your advantage.

But it seems this was at a loss, the walls looked rotten and decrepit when they were actually solid. Tears stung the backs of your eyes, threatening to fall over your blood stained cheeks. You slid back down the wall and curled into a ball. So this was it? This was how you were going to die.

You led pondering your fate for a while, trying to block out the screams of your teammates. You were surely next.

That’s when your door was unlocked, you shot upright, frantically wiping away the tears from your bloodshot eyes. The end of a cigar illuminated the darkness, the orange embers gave light to a bearded face staring at you from the abyss.

‘Mmm they did tell me you were a pretty one’ he hummed from the doorway. His voice was raspy as he chewed on the cigar. ‘Knew it was a good choice to keep you for myself.’ He stepped into the room, the door squeaking shut behind him.

‘Don’t you fucking touch me’ you spat, huddling yourself into the corner, ‘what the fuck do you want?’ He sighed as he took a drag of the cigar, his eyes never leaving yours. ‘I want to know why you’re rooting round my base. I want to know what you want.’ He crouched down in front of you, gripping your jaw in his hand ‘I want to know who you are.’

Scowling up at him you chewed your lip ‘I think you know why we’re here. I know you’re not stupid.’ Smirking down at you he blew smoke into your face, causing you to cough. ‘Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. Maybe I wanna hear what bullshit cover story your bosses want you to tell me. Or maybe … I just wanna have some fun with you.’

Feeling utterly disgusted you drew back and spat at him, saliva landing directly onto his cheek. ‘Feisty. I like that’ he chuckled as he wiped it away with the back of his hand. ‘I was like you once, wanted to save the world. To help people. Till I realised people just fuck you over, they twist the knife at every opportunity.’

‘You can still be like that’ you pleaded, trying to appeal to his human side. If one even existed anymore. ‘Let me go, please.’ Tears began to spill as you begged, pure adrenaline now fuelling your body. ‘Shh shh shh’ he cooed as he wiped away your tears, you began to tremble at his touch, fear took over your mind, body and soul.

He kept his hand on your cheek, caressing it with his thumb. He watched as you shifted uncomfortably on the stone floor, hissing at the pain that permeated your joints. ‘Please let me go John’ you sobbed, all your training about interrogation out the window. Your hard exterior crushed by fear, this was everything you weren’t meant to do.

He held you firm ‘you know I can’t do that love. In fact I’d quite like to keep you.’ He trailed his thumb along your lower lip, it quivered at his touch ‘no, please I have a family. Please John.’

‘You say that as if I give a shit. But you sound so pretty when you beg. Think I’d like to hear that some more.’

Stubbing his cigar out on the floor he stood up, pulling you up with him by the scruff of your t-shirt. He pushed you flush against the wall as he slipped his thigh between your legs. The only way you’d survive is if you went along with it. It was your only option.

So you did.

He scanned your face, not really giving a shit if you consented or not. He knew what he wanted and he was going to take it. He pushed his lips against yours, grunting as he did so. His beard was rough on your skin, the taste of iron was replaced with whiskey and cigars. Forcing his tongue into your mouth you reluctantly allowed him to, his kiss was rough, demanding, humiliating.

He pushed he knee against your cunt, pulling an involuntary moan from you. As much as you hated this, hated him, you’d forgotten how good human contact could feel. Your mind was conflicted, your body responded like it should, your body enjoyed this.

But your mind.

Your mind was screaming at you to pull away, to kick him and free yourself, to run away. But it also urged you to enjoy this, to savour his touch, he relish in his kisses.

He broke off the kiss and trailed his lips along your blood and tear stained jaw. Moaning with pure ecstasy at your taste. He nipped at your neck, biting and kissing a trail of destruction along your tender skin.

A sob burst from your chest, a sob of pleasure or confusion you weren’t sure. He felt good, but you didn’t want to admit that to yourself. Feeling lost in the moment, lost in your mind you rolled your hips along his thigh. The pressure caused a rush of pleasure to run through your core.

Smiling against your skin he in did your belt and pulled your tac pants down with force. With one swipe of his finger he groaned at how wet you were, ‘fuck love, knew you wanted it. Fuckin soaking.’ You could only whimper in response, a confused haze descended over you as you desperately tried to detach yourself from this.

Jerking your forward he spun you round and slammed you against the wall, kicking your legs apart. You heard his buckle behind you and within seconds the tip of tip of his cock pushed into you. He threw his head back as your cunt greedily pulled him in, ‘so tight love, fuck’ he growled as he gripped your hips like a vice.

You kept quiet, all bar moaning and whimpering into the damp wall. He built up his pace quickly, fucking you from behind. The sound of skin on skin echoed in the cell, it made bile rise from your stomach. He stretched your cunt open as he thrust into you, you hated to admit to yourself it felt good. It felt so fucking good.

You felt a warm sensation on your pussy as he spat on his cock, desperately trying to add lubrication. ‘Taking me so well’ he praised as he slid his hand round to play with your clit. He was masterful with his touch, knowing the exact pressure and pace to use. It began to push you over the edge.

As he spanked your ass he pulled you backwards, holding your throat as he continued his assault on you. Tears streamed from your eyes as he applied pressure. Your cries were stifled, almost silenced as he nipped your ear.

He felt you tensing up on his cock, he knew you were near, he knew how to manipulate an orgasm from you. Gripping onto his forearm you dig your nails into his skin, he hissed as the skin broke. ‘I can feel you’re close. Do it. Let me feel you love. Do it. Now’ he commanded as he bit into your neck.

And just like that, he pushed you into the void of pleasure. You threw your head back on his broad chest as your orgasm swallowed you whole. You moans ricocheted off the walls in the cell, moans of pleasure mixed with a sob of regret. Regret that you enjoyed it, that you let him touch you.

That he used you.

He kept his pace going, whimpering in your ear ‘gonna cum, fuck … you’re gonna take it aren’t you?’ You stayed silent. He gripped your throat tighter ‘aren’t you?!’ Your chest heaved as you found the words you needed ‘fuck, yes … please.’ They were a strangled cry, a plea to get him to stop.

He pushed you back into the wall, thrusting himself deeper and deeper into you. With one final thrust he came deep within you. He gripped onto your shoulder as you felt him pulsate into your cunt. ‘Goddamn’ he muttered as he tried to catch his breath.

As he pulled out, you fell to you knees, vomiting into the corner of the cell. ‘Hmph, that bad am I love?’ He chuckled darkly as he refastened bis belt. Kneeling down once more he gripped your hair before whispering into your ear ‘you’re mine now.’

#call of duty #captain price x you #price x reader #captain john price #captain price x reader #captain john price x reader #captain price smut #price mw2 #captain price #john price x reader #cod mw22 #modern warefare 2 #fan fic smut

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imasinnerimsorry · 1 year ago

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Smoking Is Bad For You

Fei and Harry are step-siblings, and Fei is curious about Harry’s smoking habits. A bit too curious. And Harry decides to teach them all about it.

**NOTE: This is a Dark!Fic, so there will be dark themes mentioned in this story, such as drugging. Please be warned, and do not read if you are sensitive to themes like this.

SMUT; Kinks include: Dark!Harry, CNC, choking, slapping, spitting, degradation, smoking, dacryphilia, squirting, manipulation

Harry sat in his room by the windowsill, his sativa sitting right beside him. He brought a blunt up to his lips, taking a puff and inhaled the smoke that tried escaping his mouth and nostrils. He loved to smoke, it gave him a feeling that was second to no other. Actually, no, it was second to the feeling of sex.

He loved the feeling of euphoria that a hole could bring to his cock. The way the walls of the cavity he was inside of would wrap around him and wring the semen out of him like a damn rag. The way the person underneath him would squirm and cry and let out noises that they dare wouldn’t do in public. That was his favorite feeling. But he hadn’t felt it in a while, and he was yearning for it very badly. So, he smoked to at least feel some sort of pleasure through a different medium.

As he stayed in thought, Harry suddenly heard his door creak open from behind him. “Hey, Harry!,” he heard a voice greet him. It was that of his stepsibling Fei.

His dad and their father got married about six months ago, and their parents’ relationship was something beautiful to see evolve. Fei and Harry’s relationship was pretty symbiotic- not anything negative like how the media portrayed stepsibling relationships. He was quick to learn a lot about Fei, they’re nonbinary, love videogames, and they’re booksmart. They’re a bit too booksmart to be honest; they didn’t know anything outside of their academics. He could imagine that they’ve never been to a party, drank alcohol, smoked, done any sort of debauchery; they’ve probably never even had sex, which was sort of intriguing to Harry.

As they walked into his room and closed the door behind them, their nostrils inhaled a peculiar odor. They had only smelled it outside whenever Harry had his friends over to play some football, but never smelled it inside of their house. What could it be?

They looked at the small object he had in his hands, and their nostrils pinpointed that that was where the smell was the strongest. Maybe it came from there? “What’s that?” Fei asked him while they pointed at it, genuinely curious about this object. “It looks kind of like a cigarette.”

Harry looked down at the blunt in his fingers and then back at Fei, letting out the most guttural laugh he could at their innocent statement. He answered, “It’s a blunt. I guess it’s sort of a ‘weed cigarette’?”

Fei was amazed. A cigarette made with weed! That’s how people smoked it? But then their concerns started to creep up, remembering the nightmares they were taught in school about smoking. “Isn’t-” they made sure to lower their voice when speaking because they felt naughty talking about such things, “Isn’t smoking bad for you? And what if our dads found out?”

Harry scoffed at his sibling’s concerns and took another puff of his joint. “First of all, my dad knows I smoke. And your dad will just have to deal with it, I guess.” He took another puff. “And second of all, smoking is bad only if you do it too much. Many people do it because it makes them feel good. They wouldn’t smoke if it did them more harm than good.”

Fei had such an intrigued look on their face as their brother explained this all to them. It was such a taboo thing to talk about, but hearing Harry’s simple and nonchalant explanations to their questions made them feel ashamed for thinking of weed in such a negative way. Fei wanted to make it up to their stepbrother, and only thought of one way.

“Well, what if I tried your weed?”

Harry coughed and choked on his own spit after hearing his step-sibling’s request. It was so sudden and so bold, yet so innocent in their delivery. He didn’t really know how to tackle this. “My weed? You wanna try it, Fei?” Fei nodded in front of him with a cute little smile on their face, sparking Harry’s intrigue even more. “Hmmm,” he thought for a second. Then, he smirked as a lightbulb lit up in his head. “No.”

Fei was confused. “N-no?” they asked Harry, as to which he shook his head “no” in confirmation. “But why? You just said it could make people feel good?”

Harry put his hand on Fei’s shoulder, looking directly at them as he responded. “Well, the one I have isn’t for beginners. Maybe I can get you one that you can try tomorrow?” He noticed Fei’s face light up again at his suggestion, making him smile as well. Thank God his and Fei’s dads were away for work for the weekend.

“Okay, I guess that makes sense! It’s like when people drink alcohol. You don’t wanna drink… what’s the one that starts with a ‘V’ again?” Fei scrunched up their face as they tried to remember the name of that one beverage.

Harry couldn’t help but to chuckle. “Vodka?”

Fei laughed. “Yeah, vodka! You don’t wanna try vodka as your first drink! You gotta start with champagne or wine or something small!”

Harry chuckled again, but was curious about Fei’s knowledge of alcohol. “How do you know about liquor?”

“My classmates do it at college a lot,” Fei began to explain. “Sometimes, it makes the girls really dizzy and clumsy, so their boyfriends or girlfriends and their friends have to help them out. At least that’s what I hear them say.”

Harry’s smile remained, but his eyes got darker as he listened to Fei’s story. It was funny to hear their innocent description of girls getting blackout drunk at college parties. But, that made him think of the plan he thought of earlier that made his lightbulb’s shine even brighter.

Fei began to walk out of Harry’s room, having a little skip in their step as they thought about trying weed with their step brother tomorrow. “I’ll see you later, Harry!” They turned the corner to head to their bedroom, and Harry took a puff of his joint again. He chuckled at himself, still thinking about his plan for tomorrow. He knew it would fall through.

***

Harry was thrilled as he drove away from his friend’s house with the pack of weed and drugs in a black plastic bag sitting in the passenger’s seat. He was pretty much about to taint his stepsibling’s innocence, which he wasn’t at all guilty about. He’s helped some of his friends over the years try out some pretty weird yet exciting things, and they all enjoyed it. But, this wasn’t just the weed he was thinking about- he was about to drug Fei.

The plan in his head was simple: Go home, roll a couple of blunts (one for him and one for Fei), except one of the blunts was going to have something his friend referred to as “pussy powder”. His friend justified that it would make anyone with a pussy “automatically wet and ready for taking”, something Harry definitely wanted for Fei. He knew Fei was a virgin and that virgins get wet due to literally anything, but he was afraid that his sexual advances would scare Fei into running away or even telling their dad about it. Or worse- Fei would tell his dad about it. So, he had to improvise.

Harry arrived home, running to his room and slamming the door behind him, quickly setting the scene of his plan. He dumped everything out of his plastic bag, and got straight to rolling up. He had never laced someone before, but he had seen his friends do it especially when he himself was in college, so he was familiar with the concept. So he took his timed to get it correctly.

Until Fei knocked on his door.

“Harryyyy?” Harry heard as Fei called out his name from the other side. “Can I come in?” They asked, their cute voice ringing in Harry’s ears as he started to rush his process. He stammered out his response, “S-Sure, Fei! Come in and lock the door behind you.”

Fei walked into the room and made sure to follow their older step-brother’s instructions, locking the door behind them, even using the chain to close it tightly. They walked by Harry’s bed and sat themselves right beside Harry, who was quite the nervous wreck as he finished rolling up Fei’s designated joint.

“Hey,” Harry said as he forced a smile upon his face. “This one’s for you!” He handed Fei their joint, and watched as Fei observed it like it was some specimen in a science lab. “Just gotta light it,” he lit up his own and brought it to his mouth to take a puff, “See?”

The younger step-sibling let out an “Oh,” as they watched Harry light up their blunt for them. They fidgeted in anxiousness awaiting for the moment they could finally give smoking a go. And finally, Harry gave them the okay to give it an inhale. Fei took a puff of their joint almost immediately, and Harry chuckled as he watched them. It was a nervous chuckle, but Harry was quick to smile and cover it up. Fei coughed and let out a gust of smoke from their nostrils and mouth, they used their hand to move some of the smoke from their face. “Whoa, that was nuts!” They exclaimed as they looked at Harry for a response.

Harry could only nod his head. “Yeah, but you get used to it after a while.” He took another puff of his as his own anxiousness started to get the best of him. He and Fei took some more inhalations of their blunts, and Harry didn’t even bother to engage in any sort of conversation. He just really hoped his plan would work and that the “pussy powder” or whatever it was called would work.

About 30 minutes had passed, and Harry noticed Fei crossing and uncrossing their legs repeatedly. Briefly, they would hump the bed, quite obviously to Harry, as they tried to adjust themselves. They seemed to be frustrated, not only in a confused way, but in another way he knew all too well: sexually. Perfect.

“Why are you fidgeting, love? Something the matter?,” He inquired, knowing what was wrong, but wanting to hear how Fei would explain themselves.

“I- I don’t know. After I inhaled the blunt, something started happening to my body,” Fei responded, stopping themselves from looking at Harry as they spoke. They were confused and slightly embarrassed. They didn’t really want to tell Harry anything. But, maybe he could help because he knew about weed and he was also older than them, so he definitely had much more knowledge and experience than them

“Aw, what happened, honey? You can tell me anything! I am your big brother after all.” He made sure to reassure them and stress that this was a judgment-free zone. They could tell him anything. “Tell me, please? I won’t tease you or anything.”

Harry noticed how Fei closed their legs more tightly and kept their head down as they replied to his question. They still felt embarrassed, but were also willing to tell him after the reassurance. “Um, I’m feeling a bit tingly and I- I think I’m leaking.”

Harry slyly smirked at their response. “And where is that happening?”

Fei looked down between their legs. Almost as if they were indirectly pointing at their nether-regions. “Um, d-down there?” Hopefully, Harry knew what they meant.

“Aw, sweetheart, down there?” Harry said with a phony-concerned tone. Fei nodded. “I know this sounds a bit embarrassing since I’m your step-brother and all, but I think if I get a closer look at it, I’ll know what’s going on. Besides, I know all about weed and studied medicine when I was in university!”

Fei thought for a moment. Were they really about to let Harry look at them down there? No one had done that before with them- not even they themselves had done it before. But, Harry had a point. He did know about weed and did study medicine. So maybe he could help. So, Fei laid back and kept their legs spread, lifting up their oversized shirt and exposing their panty-covered cunt to their step-brother.

Harry placed his hands on top of Fei’s thighs immediately. As he tightened his grips on the inside of their thighs, all he saw was a literal river of their juices pouring out of their little hole onto their panties. Harry was amazed; he should have laced them a long time ago.

“Let me take a closer look at it-”

“No!” Fei screamed. They really didn’t want him to see them down there. What if they were on their period? Does weed even start periods like that?

Harry calmed them down with a stroke of his hand on their thigh. “It’s alright, dear. It may be a bit embarrassing, but I’ve helped my other friends through this when this happened to them.” He was lying slightly. Of course, people got horny when they smoked, and he’s fucked people whenever they were high, but he had never fucked his friends through a laced blunt. He could never do that to them. But with Fei, it was different. He was intrigued to know what it was like. And honestly, he had to try however he could. “Let me take a look, okay?”

Fei was super embarrassed when Harry looked at them between their legs, but because Harry’s grip on their thighs was so strong, they couldn’t move from his grasp. So, they just let him do as he pleased. And hopefully he could help them with their problem.

Harry pulled Fei’s underwear to the side and his eyes widened as he looked at their bare cunt. Their lips lacked any hair, but were covered in their wetness. “It’s not your period, sweetie! You’re just getting wet.” Getting wet? Like there was water coming out of them?

“You might be horny, Fei,” he said with a conclusive tone, almost like he was a doctor.

“Horny?” Fei’s heard the term before, but didn’t know what it meant or even if they were, in fact, horny.

Harry laughed at their confused tone. “Let’s run through the symptoms, and you can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if you have them, okay?”

Fei nodded their head as they happily agreed to it. “Sure!”

Harry put out his hand as if it were a piece of paper, and used his other to simulate him checking boxes off of a list. “Alright, are you feeling needy? Like you really want something, even if you don’t know what that something is?”

Fei thought for a minute, then answered, “Yup! I don’t know what it is, but I want something soooo bad.”

He checked an imaginary box, then continued. “Is it throbbing here?” he asked as he placed a hand on their cunt and opened their lips just a bit to expose their clit, and he felt Fei squirm a bit at his touch.

“Y-yes. Quite a lot actually,” they said with a bit of hesitation in their voice.

Harry began to rub his palm around in slow circles, seeing how Fei would react. He then noticed them squirm even more and screw their face in a way that looked desperate. “I just tested you to see how you would react. And yes, it aligned with my ‘horny’ diagnosis. Everything you confirmed to me actually aligns with that diagnosis, too.”

“So, I’m horny?” They questioned him with a tinge of sadness in their voice.

Harry sighed. “Yup, it happens sometimes when people smoke. It’s not a bad thing. But, there’s only one way to cure it.” The man continued making circles over his step-sibling’s panties as he spoke, watching the reactions their face made very closely.

Fei managed to speak through Harry’s touches, soft pants escaping their lips throughout each word they spoke. “How- how do you cure it?”

Harry’s hand stopped rubbing on the mound of her cunt and he laid it onto the inside of one of Fei’s thighs. His other hand made its way onto the other thigh, and Harry collapsed onto his knees on the ground, his head landing between Fei’s legs and in front of their pussy. “You have to have an orgasm.”

Fei gulped as their stepbrother said those words. They knew what having an orgasm was; their friends would go on and on about orgasms or “cumming” in college. But, did that mean Harry wanted to have sex with them? They never had sex, and honestly didn’t really know how it worked. So, naturally, they asked him.

“Um, I have to have sex with you to get rid of it?”

Harry widened his eyes, a bit shocked that they knew that sex led to an orgasm; they seemed a bit clueless to him rubbing their pussy, so how did they know about sex? Harry replied, “Well, yes. Do you know what sex is?”

Fei didn’t know quite exactly. All they knew was that it’s how people had babies. And honestly didn’t want to figure anything more out about sex from their stepbrother. “Um, no. But I’ve heard my friends talk about having it?”

Harry spread Fei’s lips again and began to use one of his thumbs to circle their clit. “Oh, yeah?,” he questioned, and he brought his mouth down to Fei’s entrance, placing a kiss onto their skin around it.

Fei gasped and nodded their head. “Uh, huh,” they answered. “Harry, wh-what are you doing?”

Harry continued placing kisses over Fei’s exposed cunt and pressed his circling thumb down onto their clit more. “Tryna get you to orgasm! Isn’t that what I just said would help you feel better?”

The young one let out something of a moan as Harry sped his movements up a bit, and felt something fleshy enter their hole. It was wet and moving around inside of them, feeling every ridge of Fei’s core. Although confused, Fei leaned their body onto the bed, their back arching a bit as the sensations started to make them react to Harry’s touch more.

Harry moved his tongue a bit farther into their core and continued to rub his thumb against their clit. From the sounds falling through Fei’s mouth and the way their back arched, he could tell they were enjoying this. He decided to try something else, bringing two of his fingers into her cunt and moving his mouth to replace his thumb. He pouted his lips around Fei’s cunt and began to suck on it. His fingers started to make thrusts inside of them and and his mouth made slurping noises as he continued.

“Harry, I don’t think we should keep doing this,” they said with a pleading tone as they looked down at their step-brother going ham with their cunt.

“If you really didn’t want me, you wouldn't still be here, bunny.” He had a point there, Fei thought to themself as Harry continued his little sucks on their clit and thrusts of his fingers in their wet, warm pussy. They moaned as Harry swirled his finger around their walls, and a certain spot made them moan even louder. Fei covered their lips in shock and embarrassment.

Harry noticed this, and forced Fei’s hand from their mouth. “No, I want to hear you make as much noise as possible. That can help the horny go away.”

Fei nodded and Harry started to fasten his movements. He looked up into their eyes which encouraged Fei’s moans to get louder without much embarrassment.

Harry suddenly grabbed their thighs a bit too tightly, making them wince in pain. Fei tried to move away from Harry’s hands, but Harry pulled them back towards him and slapped Fei’s inner thigh. “Just stay fucking still, Fei! Fuckin’ hell you can’t fucking listen? I’m sure you’re a good student at school right?” Fei nodded, they were a great student. They always listened to the teachers and stayed obedient with them at all times.

“So why can’t you fucking listen to me, bitch!” Harry slapped Fei’s cunt a couple of tmes before shoving his fingers back inside of them and repeatedly curling them in a “come here” motion. “Take my fucking fingers! Scream and cry all you want, I don’t care. Just fucking take it,” he voiced drawing out at the end as he continued his previous motions with their clit to his mouth.

Then, Fei felt something build up inside of them- felt like they had to pee. “Harryyy,” they called out to him, drawing out the last syllable of his name, “Harry, I think I have to pee.”

Harry kept circling his tongue around their clit, his fingers thrusting in and out at a pace that was too fast for Fei to handle. When he heard Fei cry out about having to pee, he knew what was really happening. “It’s okay, honey, just let it out for me,” he said, continuing with his motions.

But Fei protested, pushing at the top of his head for him to stop. “Harry, I really need to go, please stop!” But Harry ignored them.

Instead of stopping, Harry pushed down at Fei’s lower stomach, intensifying their feelings. He was pushing at their bladder, almost like he was encouraging them to pee on him. Fei kept their thoughts to themselves, wondering why he wanted them to pee. But, they let out the loudest moan of the afternoon so far as they released onto Harry’s face.

When Harry noticed the substance pumping out of their urethra, he quickly moved his mouth around the entrance of it. He wanted to drink up everything Fei shot out.

Fei was so scared at this moment. Harry was drinking their urine! How could he do that? But as they continued to observe the scene, they noticed the liquid wasn’t as yellow as pee. So, of course, they asked their older stepbrother, “What- what was that?”

Harry gulped up the last bits that poured out of her, licking his lips of every drop that landed there. He smiled up at Fei and reached his hands up to the sides of their abdomen, caressing their love handles in a soothing way. “That wasn’t pee, Fei. That was-” he paused for a second trying to think of a fun phrase to call it, “That was horny juice.”

Fei tilted their head to the side as they heard the phrase. “Horny juice? Is that a good thing?”

Harry was lying to them again, of course. He knew it was pee, more specifically squirt, but didn’t want to tell them that. He liked the fact that Fei was so naïve, so innocent. He continued, “Yeah, it’s horny juice. It comes out of the little hole on top of the bigger one right here,” he rubbed their pussy as he spoke to emphasize what he was referring to, “and it comes out when people are feeling horny. And since weed can make people horny, like you are, it makes them pump the juice out even more. Kind of like how you just did.” He smiled at the end of explanation, swirling his finger around Fei’s cunt to get some of their juices onto it. “You want a taste? It’s really healthy. Makes you feel real good.”

Fei bent their head a bit to reach for Harry’s finger. They were intrigued to taste their horny juice, wondering how good it really could be since it came out of her little pee hole. They moaned at the flavor. “Wow, you’re right, Harry!” Harry was pleased with himself as he heard them say this. He watched as they sucked up every drop from his finger. If only they knew how taboo this was, them sucking their own orgasm off of the fingers of their older stepbrother who was just fingering them.

“Well, thank you, Harry,” Fei said, getting up from the bed. “You really helped me out a lot.”

Harry was confused by the sudden change of mood. “Wh-what?”

Fei smiled and made their way to his door. “I don’t think I’m horny anymore. I don’t feel those symptoms you mentioned before, and you got all my horny juice out!” They smiled as they felt so pleased with themselves and the fact that they were able to have an orgasm. It was their first one, and the fact that they were able to do it with their lovely step-brother’s help was all the more rewarding.

But Harry wasn’t pleased. Yes, he was able to make his step sibling cum, that was good. But, he didn’t cum, and Harry hated when he didn’t cum. In fact, he decided he wasn’t done with them. So he made his way in front of his bedroom door, blocking Fei’s path from exiting.

Fei looked up at him, quite confused by his actions. “Um, Harry, I have to go now,” they said with a quiver in their voice.

Harry grabbed Fei by the shoulders, rubbing them a bit. “No, you’re staying in here.”

Fei tried to shake their shoulders in a way that could remove themselves from Harry’s grasp, but to no avail. “Harry, no, I wanna go!”

Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes as he lifted Fei up. “I’m not done with you yet, Fei.” He dropped them back onto the bed, back into the same missionary position, holding Fei’s legs apart with each of his hands on each of their thighs. His grip was much tighter than before which made Fei wince in pain. “You see, when boys get horny, they need to have an orgasm, too.” Harry let go of one of Fei’s thighs, using the one hand to unzip his pants. “It’s just a bit different than someone with your parts. See?” He pulled down both his pants and his underwear, and placed his hand on top of his hard cock. The tip was red and dripping of precum, hinting at his need for release. Harry pointed his cock at Fei’s dripping entrance as he continued, “We need to get our horny juices out, too” He slapped the tip of his cock onto Fei’s pussy a couple of times, making them groan at the feeling. “Even if it means they have fuck the shit out of their virgin, younger stepsibling”.

Fei took a second to process Harry’s words until they realized what was happening. Harry was going to have actual sex with them. That was his penis, and it was about to go inside their vagina. And their thoughts were confirmed as Harry shoved himself into their cunt, making them scream out in agony.

Harry didn’t waste time to begin his thrusts. He wanted to hear every scream, see every tear, feel every section of Fei’s walls rip apart to take him. He listened to Fei’s screams as he continued his thrusts, and it got him harder than he already was, which he thought was impossible. It was something about Fei that just did something to him. They made him a different person.

“Harry, stop! It’s too big please!” Fei yelled at him, trying to push his body away with as much force as their much smaller frame could do. But, Harry took that as a challenge and thrusted inside them even deeper.

“But, you’re taking it like a champ, love!” Harry exclaimed as he continued his little thrusts to fit himself inside of them. “Why would I stop?” They were so tight, but Harry would make it work. He saw a spot of blood stain the shaft of his cock, probably from Fei losing their virginity in such a sudden way, but this only gave him more confidence fo fuck into Fei harder.

Meanwhile, Fei was in pain. “Please, Harry! It hurts!” Fei screamed as their body rocked with every thrust Harry gave them. It was so forceful, and the concerning pain between their legs was too much for them.

“Alright, I guess I’ll make it a bit easier for you,” he said as he brought his thumb down to their clit. It started to rub them in circles, making Fei’s screams turn into pure moans of pleasure. Fei moaned out loud, and Harry’s ears rang. As much as he loved to hear their moans, Fei was screaming a little too much. They started to become more harrowing. They almost- just almost- made Harry feel guilty for what he was doing. But that didn’t stop him.

Harry got himself into a mating press, digging his cock deeper into Fei’s cunt, making Fei scream even louder. So, Harry grabbed their neck with both hands, not only to shut Fei up, but to also use it as leverage for him to fuck into them deeper and harder. All Fei could hear at that moment was the sound of skin slapping and Harry’s animalistic growl. They tried to scream and even breathe, but after a couple attempts failed, so they laid there limp and their cunt just took his cock with every thrust.

“I don’t give a fuck about what you’re trying to say- just take my fucking cock, whore,” he said, making his thrusts more impactful and much deeper than before. His pubis constantly hit against theirs, the vibrations of the impacts spreading to Fei’s clit and maximizing their pleasure. Fei just laid in the bed, taking it all.

But Harry didn’t care about Fei's pleasure at this moment. He was too caught up in finding his own and building up to his release. “You smoked my blunt and got yourself horny like a fucking slut. You deserve what I’m giving to you. You should be fuckin’ thankful.” He thought for a moment, before continuing, “Y’know what? Say thank you.”

“Wh- What?” Fei stuttered.

Harry stopped his thrusts and leaned over Fei’s body to bring his face to theirs. He grabbed onto their jaw and spat directly onto their cheek. Fei whined as it made contact. “Use your ears!” he yelled at her, slapping the same cheek. “Are you fuckin’ deaf? Jeez…” He went back to his thrusts, but they were deeper and slower. He wanted Fei to feel every inch of his length inside of them, tearing them apart from the inside. “I said thank your step brother for helping you have an orgasm”

“Th- thank you, Harry, for ma-” They felt a sting to their cheek, stopping them in their tracks.

Harry wasn’t satisfied. “No, no, no, say ‘thank you for fucking me and making me cum on your big cock, stepbrother.’”

Fei took a couple of seconds to process his words, their brain still fuzzy and cheeks still running with tears, but finally gained the strength to speak again. “Thank you for fucking me and m- making me cum on your big cock, stepbrother,” they said, forcing a smile on their face as they said it.

Harry evilly smirked, satisfied with Fei, as he started to increase the velocity of his thrusts, his balls hitting against Fei’s ass as he did so. “You’re so good to me, Fei,” He said with a growl. “Takin’ me so well, draining me out.”

Fei shook on the bed as Harry fucked them, and their screams were again shushed as Harry wrapped one of his hands around their neck and pressed down. Harry let out an evil cackle and spat on Fei’s face again, barely missing their lips, before he spoke, “Imagine what your dad would think about all this? What he would say about you smoking like a naughty and disobedient child. He would look at you so differently, right baby?” Harry cooed at the end of his statement, almost to rub it in to hurt Fei’s feelings. Fei cried and tears were running down their face, but their grip around Harry’s cock became tighter, forcing Harry to take harder thrusts.

“You’re fucking your stepbrother for fuck’s sake, Fei! How dirty of you! You must feel like such a slut right?” Harry looked down into Fei’s eyes, and Fei could notice how dark his irises became. “Say it,” he commanded them. “Scream out loud about how much of a dirty slag you are!”

Fei sniffled the mucus running down their nose as they continued crying. They managed to scream out, “I’m such a slut, Harry!” They were ashamed of themselves for feeling so good. “I’m so sorry I’m a filthy slut! Please don’t tell my Dad.”

Harry bent down and used his tongue to lick the tears from Fei’s face, never quitting his thrusts. They were salty but so good. “I won’t tell your Dad, honey; it will be our little secret. It would probably give him a heart attack anyway. And don’t be sorry, sweetheart. I can tell you’re lying about not liking being slutty. You’re squeezing me so tightly! And you loved how my tongue felt on your little parts right here, right?” he patted his hand on their pussy and rubbed on it a bit to emphasize where he meant. Fei nodded, but continued to cry.

Then, the younger sibling’s stomach tightened again and they felt the sensation they did when they released their horny juice before. Harry felt their cunt tighten around him even more, knowing that their orgasm was coming, and brought his hand to their lower stomach to press down on it like he did before when he was eating them out. “Um, Harry, the juices are coming out ag-” they screamed before they could warn him, and their squirt landed right onto his torso. Harry felt the liquid launch onto him, causing him to cum almost immediately afterward. “Fuck, Fei! Take my cum, love. Fuck!”

Fei couldn’t even feel Harry’s cum squirt inside of them as they were busy trying to calm themselves from their own orgasm. Harry could see his own cum leak from their cunt, and the sight was so delicious. They wanted to lick them out again, but decided against it as he thought it might have been too much for them. Instead, he pulled out of them, his dick softening as the last of his cum squirted out. He laid next to Fei onto the bed and sighed.

Harry looked over at Fei, whose face seemed surprisingly elated. “Um, you alright?”

Fei smiled at him. “I liked what we were doing. It felt good, especially at the end. That was the orgasm, right?”

Harry nodded, “Yep, that’s what that was.” He was surprised Fei liked it. He literally laced them and forced them to take his cock. But he guessed he shouldn’t think about it too hard.

Fei managed to take a good look at their cunt, surveying the damage that had been done. It had some weird creamy substance dripping out of their hole. “Is the white stuff your orgasm?”

“Yeah, that’s my cum.” Harry quickly moved on, not exactly wanting to answer any more questions. He valued Fei’s innocence too much. “You wanna do what we did again some other time?”

Fei laughed and blushed at his question. “Yeah, only if you’re up for it though! Even without the weed!”

“Maybe we could try things other than weed, too!,” He suggested, causing Fei to laugh again and walk out of his room, “Bye, Harry!”

#Harry Styles #harry styles smut #imasinnerimsorry #darkfic #dark fic #Smut

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thekillingvote · 1 year ago

Text

No Birds Allowed: Batman without Robin

The usual claim is that Jason Todd was singularly hated by audiences. Dick Grayson, Carrie Kelley, and Tim Drake are proper, beloved Robins—and Jason Todd is the one and only outlier so unlikable that audiences killed him off by popular vote.

But this claim ignores a massive piece of the puzzle—the Robin role has long been treated as an outdated remnant of a childish era, not only by a significant share of Batman fans, but also by Batman creative teams. While there were definitely fans who hated Jason Todd, he was at least partly chosen to be killed as a scapegoat for some long-standing complaints about the Robin role in Batman stories.

The 1988 poll to kill Jason Todd wasn't just a poll to kill Jason Todd—the poll to kill Robin was a poll to kill Robin.

Fan letters columns from Batman #221 and Detective Comics #398, reacting to Dick leaving for Hudson University in Batman #217 (1969):

Denny O'Neil Batman/Detective Comics writer (1970-1980) Batman group editor (1986-2000) on sending Robin away to Hudson University:

Dan Greenfield: Actually, last night I went back through my comics and the one thing that always strikes me is that before you came onto the character, they’d already made the decision to have Robin leave. Robin was up at Hudson University and was used sparingly from that point forward. Denny O’Neil: Well, that was a conscious decision of mine. Greenfield: Oh! O’Neil: Yeah, I mean … I had been offered Batman a year before I did it. Greenfield: No kidding? I wanna hear this. O’Neil: Because that was in the (Batman TV show) camp thing. The comics were very half-heartedly following in the footsteps of the camp because it was having a palpable effect on circulation. That’s not always true but it was in that case. Camp as in the sense — as opposed to the more erudite sense — this one-line joke about: “I loved this stuff when I was 6 and now that I’m 28 and I have a bi-weekly appointment with a therapist and a little, mild drug habit and two divorces, ‘Look how silly it is.'” I would go into the most literary bar in Greenwich Village on (Wednesday) or Thursday evenings and there would be writers and poets and college professors, all looking at Batman! But when that was over, it was over. It was like somebody turned a switch. And that’s when (editor) Julie (Schwartz) said, in his avuncular way, did I have any ideas for Batman? And at that point, I wasn’t going to be asked to do camp. I was going to be asked to do anything within the bounds of good taste, etc., that I wanted to.

O'Neil, quoted from “Notes from the Batcave: An Interview with Dennis O’Neil” in The Many Lives of The Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His Media:

There was a time right before I took over as Batman editor when he seemed to be much closer to a family man, much closer to a nice guy. He seemed to have a love life and he seemed to be very paternal towards Robin. My version is a lot nastier than that. He has a lot more edge to him.

O'Neil in 2015:

Modern Batman does not do camp. He has to evolve but to stay true to the concept he has to stay lonely. The kids, there shouldn't be many. Keep him the lone, obsessed crusader and the stories will be better. We did a story called Son of the Demon. It told a story where he had a kid, a baby. It wasn't in continuity. These days, the kid came back and became the new Robin, and I hear that Batman's got a few more running around.

Jim Starlin, Batman writer (1987-1988), writer of A Death in the Family:

I tried to avoid using [Robin] as much as I could. In most of my early Batman stories, he doesn’t appear. Eventually Denny asked me to do a specific Robin story, which I did, and I guess it went over fairly well from what I understand. But I wasn’t crazy about Robin.

I thought that going out and fighting crime in a grey and black outfit while you send out a kid in primary colors was kind of like child abuse. So when I started working on Batman, I was always leaving Robin out of the stories, and Denny O’Neil who is the editor finally said, "You gotta put [Robin] in."

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In the one Batman issue I wrote with Robin featured, I had him do something underhanded, as I recall. Denny had told me that the character was very unpopular with fans, so I decided to play on that dislike. [...] At that time, DC had this idea that they were gonna do an AIDS education book, and so they put a box out and wanted everybody to put in suggestions of who should contract AIDS and perish in the comics. I stuffed it with Robin. They realized it was all my handwriting so they ended up throwing all my things out. About six months later, Denny came up with this idea of the call-in thing. [...] I didn’t find out about it until I came back [from Mexico] and found out that, just as I expected, my ghoulish little fans voted him dead. But by a much smaller margin than I’d imagined. It was only like 72 votes out of 10,000, so statistically it was next to nothing.

Dan Raspler, assistant editor/associate editor to Denny O’Neil (1988-1990):

Denny wasn’t really interested in comics continuity, and he didn’t like superheroes. And if you read his work, you see his influence was really a pushing away from the conventions at the time—it was growing old, that sort of Golden Age-y, Silver Age-y stuff, and Denny sort of modernized it, and he never stopped feeling that way. Jim Starlin’s Batman appealed to Denny. It was a little more ‘down to Earth. Nobody liked Robin at the time. For a while Robin was not—it didn’t make sense in comics. Comics were darkening, and so having the kid was just, it was silly, and even at the time I kind of didn’t. Now Robin is my favorite all-time character, but at the time when I was twenty-whatever, I accepted kicking Robin out, the short pants and all the rest of it.

Comic shop owner Phil Beracha on A Death in the Family, quoted in The Sun Sentinel (October 22, 1988):

"I got 100 copies, and I don't expect them to last past the weekend," said Phil Beracha, owner of Phil's Comic Shoppe in Margate. "I usually get 50 copies of Batman. I doubled my order, and I still expect to sell out." The readers voted right, Beracha said. "Robin is an outdated concept. He was created in the `40s, and back then in a comic book you could have a kid beating up grown men. I don't think that works today."

Writer Steve Englehart, quoted in "Batman, the Gamble; Warner Bros. is betting big money that a 50-year-old comic book vigilante will be a `hero for our times'" in the Los Angeles Times (June 18, 1989):

Writer Steven Englehart, who did a series of Batman stories in Detective Comics, also worked up some movie treatments. In a letter to Comics Buyer's Guide, he revealed the approach he had in mind, which would have pleased Batfanatics: "My first treatment had Robin getting blown away in the first 90 seconds, so that every reviewer in the country would begin his review with, `This sure isn't the TV show.' "

Michael Uslan, producer and film rights holder for the 1989 Batman film:

I only let Tim [Burton] see the original year of the Bob Kane/Bill Finger run, up until the time that Robin was introduced. I showed him the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers and the Neal Adams/Denny O'Neil stories. My biggest fear was that somehow Tim would get hold of the campiest Batman comics and then where would we be?

"Death Knell for the Campy Crusader" in the Orlando Sentinel (23 June 1989):

For most people, the name Batman summons up a picture of a clown in long johns, a Campy Crusader who - with the young punster Robin - ZAPed and POWed his way into our lives. That's the Batman that appeared on TV in the mid-'60s, and that's the Batman that the world at large knows. Such is the power of television. But this ludicrous image may become obsolete now that the new, $40 million Batman movie has opened. Robin is absent from the film, as are the perky Batgirl and the utterly superfluous Aunt Harriet of the TV series. And though the movie has plenty of sound effects, they don't appear on the screen as words, spelled out in neo-Brechtian absurdity.

Sam Hamm, writer for Batman (1989 live-action film):

The Case of the Disappearing Robin is high comedy. Tim (Burton) and I had worked out a plotline that did not include the Boy Wonder, whom we both regarded as an unnecessary intrusion. Really: Our hero was crazy to begin with. Did he have to prove it by enlisting a pimply adolescent to help him fight crime? Was Bat-Baby unavailable? But the studio was insistent: There was no such thing as solo Batman, there was only Batman and Robin. So, after holding off the executives for as long as we could, Tim and I realized we had better try to accommodate them. He flew up to my house in San Francisco and we walked around in circles for two days, finally deciding that there was no way to shoehorn Robin into our story. [...] We figured that if we managed to squeeze him in, the lame hacks who were making the sequel could worry about what to do with him next. When the film went into production in London, and ran seriously over budget, WB started looking for a sequence that could be cut to save money. And there was one obvious candidate: Intro Robin! So Robin was cut from the movie and shoved back to Batman Returns— from which he was cut yet again and shoved back to Batman Forever.

Grant Morrison on creating Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (written 1987-1988, published 1989) with Dave McKean (see the annotated script's fourth page):

The original first draft of the script included Robin. Robin appeared in a few scenes at the beginning then remained at Police Headquarters for the bulk of the book, where he spent his time studying plans and histories of the house, in order to find a way in to help his mentor. Dave McKean, however, felt that he had already compromised his artistic integrity sufficiently by drawing Batman and refused point blank over for the Boy Wonder — so after one brave but ridiculous attempt to put him in a trench coat, I wisely removed him from the script.

Paul Dini on Batman: The Animated Series (1992), as told in the 1998 book Batman Animated:

The Fox Network, on the assumption that kids won't watch a kid’s show unless kids are in it, soon began insisting that Robin be prominently featured in every episode. When Fox changed the title from Batman: The Animated Series to The Adventures of Batman & Robin, they laid down the law-no story premise was to be considered unless it was either a Robin story or one in which the Boy Wonder played a key role. Out were underworld character studies like “It's Never Too Late"; in were traditional Batman and Robin escapades like “The Lion and the Unicorn.” A potentially intriguing Catwoman/Black Canary team-up was interrupted in midpitch to the network by their demand, “Where's Robin?” When the writers asked if they could omit Robin from just this one episode, Fox obliged by omitting the entire story. Looking back, there was nothing drastically wrong with Robin's full-time insertion into the series—after all, kids do love him. Our major gripe at the time was that it started turning the series into the predictable Batman and Robin show people had initially expected it would be. For the first season, Batman had been an experiment we weren't sure would work. We were trying out different ways of telling all kinds of stories with Batman as our only constant. For better or worse, having a kid forced him, and the series, to settle down.

Christian Bale, star of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy (2008):

If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I'll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work.

Summed up

Among the keepers of Batman, there has been a vocal contingent arguing against the inclusion of Robin. They argue that Robin damages Batman's brooding, solitary persona. They argue that the concept of Robin is too ridiculous and fantastic for the grounded, gritty ideal of Batman. They argue that a respectable version of Batman shouldn't allow, encourage, or train "child soldiers" to endanger their lives fighting against violent evil-doers.

The original and most iconic Robin, Dick Grayson, has definitely benefited from his deep roots in DC lore and his consistent popularity among fans—and yet even he has been shunned from various Batman projects over the decades. When even he struggles to get his foot in the door, his successors face stiffer opposition.

So it's not quite correct to say that Jim Starlin hated Jason Todd. In his own words, Starlin wasn't fond of Robin, and his storytelling (most obviously A Death in the Family) set out to argue against Batman having any kind of "partner" at all. This, following the wildly successful comic that treated Barbara Gordon as a disposable prop. A growing audience welcomed the Dark Age, and the gruesome spectacles made of kid-friendly elements like Batgirl and Robin.

This trend could be broken by the upcoming sequel to The Batman and by the planned slate of upcoming DCU films. But most Robin fans will tell you that many movie-going Batman fans still have their doubts about Robin sharing Batman's spotlight.

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