#but they're partners

[softquietsteadylove]

would you write another chapter with Thenamesh spies AU? your last prompt with them was just amazing and i would love to read a bit more with them!

Thank you for your work!

"Eyes on me?" Thena asked, seeming to talk to herself as her earpiece picked up her words.

"Are they ever."

"Gil," she chastised, trying not to smile to herself in the midst of the lavish party. She floated through the crowd, pretending to admire the decor, the artwork on the walls, the many a-list guests swimming about.

She had argued that Gilgamesh would be a better choice for actually roaming the party. He was talkative, charming, would be much more useful in getting key clues from those in attendance about their target.

But her ability to visually stand out but remain quiet would come in handy--she was just close enough facially to another family of guests to get in by recognition with only a fake name on the guest list.

"Anything yet?" he asked from his end, where he was working the coat check-in, hoping to get an early look at everyone in attendance.

"No word," Thena sighed into her untouched glass of champagne. She tipped it up to her lips periodically, pretending to take delicate little sips. "Any sighting?"

"I've seen two associates who were present at the last deal, but no sign of the man himself," Gil muttered back.

Thena heard him accept the coat of another guest in her ear and slipped around a corner.

"He's here."

Thena gently pulled the skirt of her dress, walking only slightly more briskly from the depths of the party to the coat closet. She could slip in through the back of it because of a vent panel Gil had left loosened for her.

"Good evening, sir," she heard Gil greet warmly.

"If I see a speck of dirt on that-" their target huffed at Gil immediately.

His debt was showing. Only the truly wealthy didn't care about the condition of their luxury items. Their target evidently hadn't embezzled enough from his multiple black market deals to feel secure again yet.

"Of course, sir," Gil responded and probably even smiled at the ass hole. "Nothing but the best."

"Prick," Thena muttered under her breath as she closed and locked the study door behind her and made her way to the corner of the room and up the bookshelf.

"Don't make me laugh, I have to be serious," Gil whispered to her.

She did her best not to laugh either, but it was hard not to with Gil as her partner. She slithered up the shelves and into the vent near the top of the room. It was a little smaller than she would like; these old houses had miserable ventilation, but luckily the modern H-Vac installations still made them manageable. "Meet you in there?"

"I've never had the opportunity to sneak off to the coat closet before," Gil teased her as he made his way away from the front entrance and into the walk-in closet.

"You weren't a ladies man in the academy?" Thena teased right back as she made her way one room across.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just ask me that."

Thena let out a real laugh as she reached her destination. She pushed out and caught the vent cover in one clean move, poking her head out. "Got me?"

"Always," Gil smiled up at her, ready to catch her as she slid out of the vent in her slippery silk dress. She turned herself over mid-air and landed in his arms like a princess from a fairy tale. He bounced her in his arms, making her laugh again. "Miss, if you needed your coat, you could have just asked."

"This way was faster," she shook her head as he set her down in her stocking feet (her shoes would have only caused unnecessary noise in the vent). She tiptoed through the room behind him as he led her to their target's coat. "Ugh, men like this need to learn that less cologne is more."

"I know, I feel like it's all over my hands," Gil lamented with a sigh as he pulled it off the rack. "Nothing at all in the real pockets, but I thought there might be something in the lining."

Thena ran her hands over both sides of the heavy wool and its satin lining. It was a beautifully made garment, and Gil was right to be suspicious of the pockets. "In the side here."

Gil held it taut for her as she pulled the slit of her dress upward. He averted his eyes, blushing as she reached up to the inside of her thigh.

Thena shook her head at it as she retrieved the knife she had snuck in. Gil had quite an innocent side to him--a belief in chivalry, of sorts, even in their line of work.

"Where is that coat boy?!"

"Shit," Gil cursed, rushing to hang the coat up again. But they were pretty far from their exit point and the front doors were already opened. "Sorry--c'mere."

Thena didn't have time to ask why he had apologised before he pulled her in, arm around her waist, sealing their lips together. Her eyes fluttered closed and - intentional or not - she let out a moan.

"Who's in here?!!"

Gil moaned against her as well, moving his hands over her back to her bare shoulders. He leaned his body, deliberately shaking the coat racks on either side of them.

"What are you doing?!" one of the house's main staff demanded loudly, shining a flashlight at Gil.

"Uh, s-sorry, Boss!" Gil stuttered, turning around and making a show of rubbing her lipstick off his skin.

"And you!" the flashlight bounced around as Thena made an effort to pull out a few stray hairs from her immaculate bun. "I do not--Madam!"

Thena raised a cool brow at him, dabbing at her lips delicately (as a woman of her cover's raising would).

"I-I-I am terribly sorry to disturb you," the butler bowed to her as he would any guest, turning down his flashlight and scurrying out of the room.

Both spies waited to the count of five before letting out a breath of relief.

"That was too close," Gil sighed, putting a hand over his pounding heart. He glanced at Thena as she tucked back the hair she had just pulled out. "Sorry to, uh, jump you like that."

Thena cleared her throat, glad they were back in the near pitch black of the room, feeling an unfortunate surge of heat under her skin. "It was quick thinking, although I'm sure the staff are already whispering about the heiress of a prestigious Russian family making out with a coat check boy."

"Well, maybe he was a very charming coat check boy," Gil shrugged, giving his same old smile as he pulled the coat off its hanger again. "Round two?"

Thena retrieved her knife again, ready to cut open the coat seam and find his secret dossier of information. It gave her something to concentrate on at least, aside from not letting Gil know she was breathing a little too hard after that kiss.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

historical drama/sitcom where two gay best friends (woman and man) get lavender married--and proceed to spend the Fancy European Honeymoon their parents paid for acting as each other's wingman

[professor-pants]

Genre of character: submissive like a guard dog is submissive

[objectamour]

am I into 'rope and rigging'?🤨 uh yeah I guess you could say so

[metanarrates]

I genuinely feel like an alien compared to my coworkers when they try to chat with me about things like dating and weight loss. like what are you SAYING about "oh you know it's just so hard to make your man understand the instructions you give him?" why are you trying to connect with me by complaining that you gained 15 pounds? is this how most people form connections in the workplace? i for real do not get it

[dawnatlas]

(raven neil au) wanted to draw them napping together again....

[nobie]

#ineffable idiots

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in ALT] I've made posts before about Talia/Dick co-parenting Damian moments (will never happen but let me dream) and this came to me in a vision. Took me ages to finish for some reason 😭 and then even longer to post

[starlit-mansion]

there's something so poetic about coyote vs acme being the thing that causes wb's 'the producers' ass scheme of shitcanning movies for tax breaks to blow up in their face and cause them to turn to the camera, blink twice, and dissolve into a little pile of ash that their eyes fall down into with a little bounce

[unicornpopcorn14]

Chuuya's reaction to Dazai getting hurt during the Lovecraft fight has always been so interesting to me...

Because it's the kind of worry you'd never expect from a character as gruff as Chuuya, who had displayed nothing but hostility towards Dazai so far. Usually, characters that are labelled as "angry" or "anger issues" (which Chuuya is much more complex than that but you get my point) act more as a tsundere type of way when the one they "don't care about" gets hurt. And show their care in very, very subtle ways (ex. their eyes widen, their mouth parts and closes again, etc) before putting up their front once more.

Chuuya, however, is open, and vocal about it. His worry is clear not only to us, but to Dazai himself, the one he shouldn't be displaying the concern to (as per the cliche). Shouldn't it be some sort of secret that Chuuya does care? Isn't that what skk's dynamic has been shaping up to be until now?

I'm telling you- the way my mind blanked when Chuuya just casually.... showed concern not once, but twice, was a sight to see.

Besides, the context makes it much more confusing, because Dazai isn't some rookie, and Chuuya knows that more than anybody. He was the youngest executive in Port Mafia's history, of course he can handle a hit or two. Of course he'd seen him handle a hit or two, sometimes without batting an eye.

Heck, Chuuya himself was hurling Dazai like a ragdoll in their reunion, which was their last meeting. And you could argue that he was going easy on him, but Dazai has mostly withstood the same damage (as far as I could see), and Chuuya was as bitter as ever.

So that kind of contradicts both what we knew of Chuuya so far, and how their dynamic was shaped to be. I mean, that just makes Chuuya a hypocrite, yeah? What makes him care now, all of a sudden? What makes him care at all?

Well, to me, this backasswards reaction implies one (or more) of the following:

- Dazai rarely got physically hurt during their partnership and thus this is an unexpected thing for him to see (during a mission).

- The four years of separation made Chuuya unsure of how much Dazai can withstand physically now. Also the fact that he isn't in the mafia anymore, aka fighting enemy organizations on the weekly, would naturally make Dazai lose his touch in a way, what prompts Chuuya's reaction.

- Dazai getting taken off guard took him off guard which led to panic. Especially since the situation was (momentarily) out of their depth. Seriously wtf even was Lovecraft?

- During the dungeon scene Dazai was an enemy, while in the Lovecraft fight he was as an ally. The difference might be significant to Chuuya.

- This has always been Chuuya's reaction to Dazai getting hurt regardless of the situation.

- "Only I can hurt him like that" ahh logic

- Asagiri was still experimenting with their dynamic and thus there are some inconsistencies.

This scenario didn't play out again (after their reunion) for me to exactly determine which one is more plausible, but it is 100% canon for Chuuya to shamelessly show his concern and run to Dazai to check on him before properly dealing with their opponent, which I find to be such an appealing layer to their dynamic, and a good spin on the type of character he gets stereotyped as.

Bonus: Dazai also becomes a softy when Chuuya's hurt, especially post corruption. Dead Apple alone displays that multiple times.

All in all, Skk are doing a terrible job at maintaining their 'hostile' and 'antagonistic' relationship post their reunion. Freaks.

[kiwichils]

kiss that dwarf

[haventacluewhatimdoing]

Okay but Donna. DONNA. She gets to live her life with both her husband AND her platonic life partner. She'd wanted to be with him forever and now she CAN. She gets both a permanent romantic and permanent platonic partner. Who like each other. Who don't resent the other's existence. Do you understand how MONUMENTAL that is???

[warpedpuppeteer]

It's interesting how Buck's love interests are all written in a way that ends because of the reason they meet/happen in the first place and then of course, we have Eddie.

Abby, who changes Buck's view of a healthy relationship but then turns around and ghosts him, making him wait for months on end and letting him realize she's not coming back on his own.

Ali, who meets Buck during a dangerous situation in his line of work and then leaves him for how dangerous his work is.

Taylor, who lashes out at Buck for using her as a fake date and saying she thought she could trust Buck to be a friend who then ends up using him for her career and chose to put his friends in danger.

Natalia, who's there to help him embrace and deal with his temporary death but it leads to their break up because of the constant talk surrounding death when Buck's not comfortable with it.

We can't confirm for Tommy till it ends but it's important to note how he offers to get Buck into his interests like flying and muay thai yet doesn't show effort with Buck's interests like dressing up according to the bachelor party theme despite Buck being stressed about it. And we also have the fact that the entire reason they got together was due to Buck's jealousy for Eddie which he then claims to be was for Tommy. Makes me think they are either going to end because of differing interests OR because of the jealousy issue popping up again.

Funnily enough, every scene above has an Eddie parallel:

Eddie co-parents with Buck and not only does this not stop after a dangerous event but Eddie also has Buck down as a legal guardian (healthy relationship - Abby).

Eddie is in the same dangerous line of work and they have each other's backs. This happens right off the bat too.(dangerous job - Ali).

The Lawsuit era and The Dispatch era - both where they "betray" each other but manage to work through it (betrayal/lie - Taylor).

Eddie doesn't pressure Buck to talk about his temporary death until Buck's ready and is more focused about him living than in his death (death doula - Natalia).

Eddie who has different interests than Buck (poker, basketball and UFC/MMA) but also manages to show interest and actively takes part in whatever Buck comes up with; he suggests their outfit for the themed party AND ends up staying there for Buck even when others leave (different hobbies & showing interest/taking part - Tommy).

Absolutely fascinating when you start noticing that Buck's relationships keep failing for one reason or another and then we have him and Eddie who face the same sort of situations but they still come out of it stronger together.

It's clear that there's a reason Buck is able to overcome anything when it comes to Eddie (that conversation with Maddie about being there for each other even at their worst 👀) and we've already established that everything Eddie looks for in a partner is already something he has found in Buck. So really, all that's left is for them to realize that hey, the one I'm looking for is right in front of me! 🤷🏽

And yes, it's been said to death (hah) but you don't find it son you make it. And Buck and Eddie have already made it.

[wimbledon2008]

when christopher turns eighteen and no longer needs a guardian in the event of eddie's death and buck and eddie have to come up with a new symbolic legal arrangement to bind them together and marriage would be the obvious option but they're just friends we can't get just friends married eddie if i was going to marry you i'd marry you for love 🥺 so they form a limited liability company

[bixels]

Taking the current topic as an excuse to ask you to tell me all the reasons you love Rarijack. Your art for the ship is so sweet and intimate I'd love to hear any in depth thoughts you have.

Breathes in.

I think what makes their dynamic really strong is that they have opposing personalities but aligned values. It's deeper than just "opposites attract." Rarity's fancy, prissy, and femme while Applejack's modest, rough, and "masculine." But both value hard work (to the point of being workaholics), their families (both have guardianship over their little sisters), running successful businesses, and eventually each other. Their relationship can be boiled down to, "Despite our differences/disagreements, I still like you because we value the same things."

We see their relationship develop so much. In the first season, they can't stop bickering about surface-level differences. By season four, they still bicker, but will mend their relationship because they can't help but do nice things for each other. In Trade Ya, they start off arguing over personality differences (Applejack likes old junk and Rarity likes useless crap). Then they pivot and start arguing that they value their relationship more than the other. In the end, they mend things by sacrificing their needs and buying each other a gift. Even if they don't understand it, they know it'd make the other happy. And that's all that really matters. It's a genuinely sweet moment that shows how arguing can be healthy and necessary for relationships to strengthen.

We even see them dropping their hang-ups about each others' personalities. In Made in Manehattan, when Rarity runs off in dramatics about someone's fashion, AJ doesn't roll her eyes or scoff, she smiles. Oftentimes, their conflicts are very common domestic conflicts romantic couples face. Applejack's Day Off is about a woman's inability to balance work and life and find time to properly spend with her partner, causing her partner to feel neglected.

By season seven, they're actively participating in each others' interests. Any problems or conflicts that arise are dealt with, and they come out the other end stronger and closer. In Honest Apple, AJ pretty much spells out why their relationship works so well: even though she doesn't understand fashion, she can recognize and appreciate how much work it takes and wants to respect that. When she realizes her mistake in the episode, AJ goes above and beyond to fix things and apologize to Rarity. They care about each other so much.

The two go out of their way, sacrificing their personal desires and beliefs and doing things they normally wouldn't, to make the other happy. That's just love.

There's Simple Ways, where AJ gets stuck in an unwanted love triangle between Rarity and her hipster crush. And her frustration and anger can be so easily interpreted as AJ finding herself in a terrible position; the girl she loves wants another man, and that man wants her.

I dunno. I've always had a preference for opposites attract ships, but Rarijack's stuck with me like a brain worm because they have the perfect chemistry. The way they show they care, or do things for each other, I've always read it as the truest representation of romance in the show.

[hollis-art]

turned my childhood LPS guys into cool college kids :)