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igetthedisneybox · 1 month ago

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Alejandra Madrigal (formerly Delgado), Bruno's wife

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(text under the cut)

Fun Facts:

Her full name is Alejandra Mariel Delgado Madrigal.

She is fifteen years younger than Bruno, making her thirty-five when Encanto takes place. Yes, she wanted to (and did) fuck that old man.

Her parents were Ileana and Sofronio Delgado. She is half Filipino on her father's side.

She and Bruno have three daughters: Miranda, the child from Alejandra's previous marriage, and twins Amelia and Sofía.

Before befriending the Madrigals, she was cold, stand-offish, guarded, and honestly kind of a dick to everyone except her daughter, due to the abuse she suffered from her late husband.

After she heals a bit from her trauma, she's still very prickly, but also understanding, funny, loyal, and very protective of her new family.

She feels safest and most comfortable with Bruno, even before they get together.

She doesn't mind Bruno's superstitions and quirks, and in fact, encourages him to be himself.

She and Bruno are a very touchy-feely couple in private, but more subdued in public.

She's an expert fencer, and practices every day.

She's a very proud woman, and while that could be perceived as vanity, she is actually all that she says she is.

Roses were very important to her mother, as she loved the way they looked and smelled, so Alejandra wears them in honor of her.

Her shawl is a bit of a 'fuck you' to her late husband. She should be wearing mourning black (like Alma), but instead chose flowers and bright colors.

While she is protective of her whole family, it gets out of control when it comes to her girls. Any suitors that dare to call on them are met with her blade, and must prove themselves worthy.

She dislikes both Amelia's girlfriend, and Sofía's crush. She is so unbelievably glad that Miranda is uninterested in romance or sex.

She gets along swimmingly with Pepa, with their matching firey attitudes.

She has the greatest respect for Alma as a mother. She does however, hold a quiet grudge over her for how she treated Bruno, and even Mirabel, though she wasn't even there.

She loves all her nieces and nephews. Isabela is her favorite, don't @ her.

Backstory:

Her family owned a rather lucrative farm near Bogatá, passed down from her grandmother to her mother. Everyone wanted a piece of the land, so marriage planning for Alejandra started before she could walk.

Due to some very unfortunate luck, Ileana died when Alejandra was seven, from circumstances unknown at the time. The farm was to go to Alejandra after both Ileana and Sofronio were dead.

She was raised mostly by her father, who had zero idea what to do with a daughter. So, he raised her to be stubborn, headstrong, and powerful, like he would a son. And taught her sword fighting to boot.

When she came of age, the pressure for her to marry became intense. Sofronio just wanted to see his girl happy, so respected her wishes to kick out and deny all of her suitors.

However, when she was twenty-five, Sofronio died of illness, leaving her his sword, and the farm.

The sharks that were her suitors pounced, basically giving her the ultimatum that if she didn't marry, the town would seize her farm, because there wasn't a man there to run it.

Panicking, she decided to marry the seemingly most decent of her suitors (and the closest to her in age), Cristian Barrera.

However, as soon as they were wed, Cristian dropped his decency and showed his true colors.

He was controlling, vain, and just generally an asshole. They fought over control of the farm, what to do with the land, ownership of the farm, and the fact that Alejandra wasn't getting pregnant.

In fact, Alejandra didn't get pregnant until five years after their wedding, which made everyone in their community certain that she was infertile, and therefore, a laughing stock.

Cristian was hoping for a son, so when their daughter was finally born, he was outraged.

Alejandra named her daughter Miranda Ileana Barrera Delgado, and promised to always keep her safe.

It was at this point that Cristian turned physically abusive. Alejandra delt with it for Miranda and the farm, but by this point, under Cristian's jurisdiction, the farm had fallen apart, and was making almost no profit.

The breaking point was the first time Cristian laid a hand on Miranda. She was three, and had broken a vase while Alejandra was out. He hit her unconscious, just in time for Alejandra to walk in.

She grabbed her father's sword from the wall and ran him through.

Knowing that she'd either be jailed or even hanged for murder, she packed her and Miranda's things and left. It broke her heart to leave her mother's legacy behind, but for her daughter's sake, she had no choice. Her father's legacy, his sword, on her hip.

She made it to Bogatá, where she met Raimi and Rosa Cadenza, and Rosa's family, the Peñas. They let her stay in their inn, while she worked first as a laundress, then as a construction worker, once they discovered that she perfered hard labor.

For two years, she stayed there, befriending Raimi's family. She told only Rosa and Raimi about what happened with her husband, and they understood, and promised to tell no one. The information got out anyway, from Raimi's grandson, Matteo.

Rumors of course, grew like wildfire, which led to the community not entirely trusting Alejandra, or deeming her bad news and to stay away.

Eventually, due to troubles with raiders and settlers, Raimi and a large group of people decided to leave Bogatá and go south, trying to find the village that Raimi was from. Alejandra and a now five year old Miranda were apart of the group.

After travelling for some time, the group stumbled upon a mysterious mountain range with a large crack in it, and between the crack, an even more mysterious town. And in that town was Raimi's long thought dead twin sister and her own crazy family, including her son, Bruno.

Relationship with Bruno and the Madrigals:

While Alejandra didn't hit it off right away with the Madrigals, being stand-offish and guarded, Miranda very much did.

She and Antonio were thick as thieves from the moment they met, and would spend every waking moment together. So, Alejandra ended up being forced to spend time with the Madrigals by proxy.

The older Madrigals had heard rumors from their cousin/nephew Matteo, that Alejandra was a gold digger who killed her husband for his money and farm. And Alejandra wasn't about to correct them. They disliked her for these rumors, and her attitude, Alma especially, even though Raimi and Rosa vouched for her.

That's how she met Bruno, who purposely ignored the rumors around her, knowing that they aren't always right. It took a bit to get past her defenses, but they soon became very close friends. He learned the truth about why she killed her husband, and was a bit in awe of her, and she learned about how his family and the townsfolk treated him before. She became very protective of him from then out.

She eventually wins over the Madrigals, firstly by protecting Bruno from the ire of the townsfolk and newly integrated cityfolk, and then by fully explaining why she had to kill her no-good husband.

Alma especially warms to her after hearing the legnths she'd go to protect her daughter, and Bruno.

After a year of close friendship, the younger Madrigals (plus Miranda) decided to get the ball rolling and try and set them up.

I headcanon Bruno as demiromantic and demisexual, and Alejandra has trauma from her past relationship, so it takes some time for any romance to actually bloom.

Once they actually start dating, three years into their friendship, it takes another year for Alejandra to be comfortable with the idea of being married again.

After they get married, on Miranda's next birthday, she got a magical door and a gift of her own, which worries Alejandra some, after hearing how bad things could get with the gifts, but Bruno assures her that he won't let what happened to him happen to Miranda.

The twins:

She and Bruno don't plan to have any other kids together. Life, as usual, has other plans.

Eight years after their marriage, when she's forty-seven, Alejandra gets pregnant.

Both she and Bruno are surprised, but elated to expand their family, and Miranda, now sixteen, is ecstatic to be a big sister.

Bruno's gonna Bruno, however, and he's extremely anxious the entire pregnancy, but he's determined not to have a vision about it. That lasts until Dolores spills the beans that they're having twins (she can hear their heartbeats), and he caves and has a vision to make sure the birth goes well (it does.)

The birth was rough, due to her age and the fact that it was twins, but Amelia Alma and Sofía Sara Madrigal Delgado were born safe and sound.

And then Alejandra and Bruno's worst fears come to fruition when the twins get the gifts of emotional manipulation. That's a lot for anyone to handle, let alone two five year olds.

The aftermath of the twins' ceremony was one of the only times they fought. It was a very emotional time, and they were both scared. But they pulled themselves together, made up, and carried on.

TL;DR: Alejandra is a boss ass bitch, and Bruno loves his scary sword wife.

#encanto oc #encanto concept art #encanto original character #encanto deleted characters #encanto scrapped characters #bruno madrigal #bruno madrigal x oc #bruno madrigal x female oc #might add more later

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avatar-idv · 1 year ago

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Today’s match was too wild for anyone own good and it is a miracle that the survivors managed to win the match after a wild ride. Although Brendan found himself injured here and there no thanks to the hunter who didn’t went easy in anyone.

They weren’t really that bad and can be left to heal by themselves in time after taking a good shower, although it seem that Gabriel, other wise known as “The Fencer” wouldn’t allow such injuries to go unattended.

So here they are now… Gabriel and Brendan in the nurse’s room where the doctor wasn’t there at the time they arrived so Gabriel took it upon himself to treats Brendan’s injuries himself. It seem that it wasn’t his first time treating any injuries since he seem to know what he is doing, he didn’t really say anything the whole time so it was an awkward dead silence for awhile.

That until he finally talked and said “I must admit, you are quite the skill survivor in a match. Despite all the injuries the hunter inflicted upon you, you somehow still managed to kite them for a good while… still, you could had come to where I was much more early to allow me to help you and take the hunter from there.”

Well. This was kinda weird. He wasn’t really used to someone else treating his wounds for him, much less someone he’s only just met. Still, he wasn’t going to complain about it. It meant he didn’t have to get his hands even dirtier after the match.

“Heh. If you think I look bad, you should’ve seen the Hunter. But I didn’t run to the others since I was trying to stall time so you guys could get out. My thing only works if I’m the only one left, so it’s way better that it’s me and not someone else who’d have to run to the gate or find the dungeon or something.”

It’s still a bit strange to him that he can participate in games with no real stakes after his own main game, where people who should’ve never met end up working together, and instead of actually being slaughtered they just get rocketed back to the manor. Even if someone does bleed out, they just end up back here anyway.

“I should probably lay low for a bit anyway, though. Sangria is probably pissed at me after I, y’know. Killed her. I’m surprised she wasn’t warned that I could do that before hand, she seemed genuinely afraid while I was doing it. Felt weird.”

#brendan || avatar

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nobodyfamousposts · 2 years ago

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If Adrien didn't have the ring, what do you think he would be doing? For me, he wouldn’t be at school al all, so probably just complaining about his life and doing model work?

Not salt, just genuine curiosity. I mean with the way the writers made him, there’s a 5% chance of him EVER suspecting his father as Adrien isn't curious about him and his relationship with Kagami would basically amount to "she's the girl I have fencer with, oh your mom is friends with my dad?"

So, at most we'd get his poutiness over not being out there or seeing his extra curriculars. It's not like he has a BIG interest in gaming, even when they say he watched anime, we're not really shown that.

It really depends on how you mean. Narratively vs storywise? It differs.

The biggest issue is that narratively speaking, the main source of entertainment in Adrien's scenes is usually Plagg. Adrien himself doesn't actually do much that's interesting. To be fair, he does more as Chat Noir, but criticism has been made that his personality as Chat Noir is so detached from his personality as Adrien with very little cross between the two that the two sides could arguably be two separate characters.

If you take the Ring away from him, Adrien has neither Plagg nor Chat to make him interesting as a standalone character. Most of the Adrien focused scenes are dependent on how other people react to or around him rather than anything he himself does. The stance of the writers and Thomas that he's perfect and never wrong wouldn't work in this way as Adrien is a passive character who is reliant on having others in the scenes with him. As it is, he's too insubstantial on his own to be able to carry a scene.

And made worse by the fact that most of Adrien's relevance to canon comes from the attachments the writers have given him to other things. Son of the villain. Top model. User of the Black Cat Miraculous. Hero of the city. Friend of Plagg. One half of the love square. But taking away the Ring removes a majority of that relevance. He'd still be the son of the villain, but we're going on five seasons now where that has yet to really matter.

So narratively, either Adrien would need to be removed from the story to offer time and energy to other things or some change would have to be made to Adrien and how he acts to make him work as a character. He would have to DO things. And without the Ring—without either Plagg or his identity as Chat to work off of, he would need to be able to stand out on his own. He would need to have real flaws that he would need to address and a range of emotions that isn't stuck on one of three settings. He would need to be a person instead of a plant. And he just can't do that with the current setup of canon.

That's just narratively/meta wise. But if I was to go story-wise...

Treating Miraculous as a real story and Adrien as a person, I'd imagine that without the Ring, other things would fill in the gaps in his life.

Let's bear in mind that Adrien got the Ring because he helped Fu that first day. Let's say he didn't. Fu wasn't there. So there was nothing to distract him from getting into school and he makes it day one. Good news is that this prevents the gum incident that made up his first meeting with Marinette. Bad news is that without that, the classmates really only know him as Chloe's friend and are less than willing to befriend him as a result. Cue Adrien having to make more of an effort to interact with his classmates and make friends.

Gamer would mean more if Adrien was the one to beat Max in the tournament because he only took the time from his supposedly busy schedule in order to try to make friends and it backfires. Same with Horrificator as he would be dealing with Nino trying to use his involvement in the movie for some fame points. Plus all the issues that would come with Chloe still regularly bullying everyone and him being forced to actually witness and respond to it. Slowly but surely, he'd make friends with the others in the class.

But most of all, I personally would see him becoming buddies with Alya. They both like heroes and could bond over that interest and their favorites, as well as their admiration for their city's own hero, Ladybug. Alya canonically likes comics and makes herself into a sort of Lois Lane. Adrien seems to have a thing more for anime, given his seemingly practiced magical girl transformation ready to go from Origins. So I could see the two of them becoming friends. Alya running the Ladyblog and being a journalist. Adrien being her assistant, her Jimmy Olsen if you will.

Cue the two of them having more dual screen time and shenanigans as they record akuma fights and hang out with each other. This would also add to more issues with Adrien's relationship with Gabriel since he would no doubt disapprove of his son's interest. It could also play into Adrien's development of his own interests outside of being a model, especially if he realizes he'd rather be the one on the other side of the camera than the one in the photos.

Then grow into Alya and Adrien trying to track down who Hawk Moth is...and the implications as they start to get ever closer to THAT particular revelation...

#ml salt #ml analysis #adrien salt #adrien and alya friendship

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flushed-for-the-trolls · 3 years ago

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Why I dislike Marinette

It may shock anyone reading this, especially knowing why people usually dislike Marinette, but my reasons actually aren’t for her actions in canon. Well, of course I take issue with what Marinette does. My issues are more with the creators of the show and her more toxic stans. The issue I have with Marinette is the fact that her actions are usually framed as just, or okay when they should be called out to teach a lesson to people watching. We can argue about favourites, but when Lila lies and she’s punished by LB, and when Marinette lies or does even worse things, it’s clear there’s a bias in favor of Marinette. Marinette has flaws... But the show rarely calls them out as flaws. LB is bossy and CN is just a sidekick? Well the show compliments that by making her a GUARDIAN, able to dispense Miraculouses at will, and CN is having less of a spotlight. Is Marinette an uninteresting character? Spruce her up by making all of Adrien’s drama about HER instead! LB needs to look dependable and smart? In AntiBug, even though Chat is in the top of his class of Fencers, being taught by the best Fencer in all of Paris, he gets bested by Chloe. CHLOE, you know, the girl that’s so clumsy she incapacitated herself in Lady Wifi when she got tangled up in her own Yoyo? Yep, Chat’s such a doof that he’s useless without LB at his side to steer him like a guard dog.

I hear people say that the creators hate Marinette, or love Adrien when that’s just straight up false, Adrien goes through retcons and character assassinations. Hell, the whole Lukanette side romance started out because Gabriel Agreste, Adriens ABUSIVE father prevented him from going, and what does Marinette do? Oh, that’s right, she makes it about HER, what’s her reward for valiantly surviving the next 5 minutes moaning about how “‘tis not to be after all!”? She gets Luka, she gets another option immediately. None of this is considered a flaw of hers, her selfishness rarely gets called out as such and when it does, it’s even rarer that the lesson ACTUALLY sticks with Marinette. She’s uninteresting, does bad things and she’s the main character, not Adrien, a deep complex character that could go through a whole bunch of character arcs and personal growth, the kid that’s the SON of the main villain, as if that’s not bad enough, his “destined” soulmate is Marinette, a selfish girl that sabotages her love rivals chances, absolutely atomizes his personal boundaries like it’s going out of style, and as LB, keeps him in the dark, inadvertently hurting him, in spite of all of this, he must end up with her, hell, Chat Blanc features that Retcon I mentioned earlier, where Adrien, despite knowing LB committed an actual criminal offense still loves her, and dates Marinette, a girl he’s never ONCE considered dating before because the show writers clearly are obsessed with the ship, and favor LB/Marinette.

I think with all these examples, it’s clear the show favors Marinette to an absurd degree, and will happily sacrifice Adrien so he can be a good little doggie.

Now onto the fandom and how it holds Marinette on a pedestal. Marinette’s actions are often excused “She’s a teen,” “she’s under a lot of stress,” “I used to do that too!” (That one is very concerning when it comes to the stalking tbh). They’ve got so many excuses for the things she does. Rarely can this part of the fandom admit that the girl they like the most has flaws she needs to work on. What happens when they see Chat flirting with LB or he destroys an inanimate object in a fit of rage at being sidelined repeatedly? “What an incel neck-beard nice guy!” “He should get his Miraculous taken away” “He clearly doesn’t care about Paris!” “#Marinette Deserves Better”

Can you blame us when we’re jaded on criticism directed at Adrien? Most of the time it’s worded like we’re all sexist pigs and Adrien is the worst character in the show, why would ANYONE want to listen to what some of you have to say?! Even if it’s valid at it’s core, the dress-up of the message makes it hazardous to deal with and it only makes people hate the message because some of y’all can’t act like respectable people when you deliver it!

Adrien is treated like shit by both the show creators and the fans. What’s the point in swiming in the Adrien hate? Lord knows ya’ll can pump out enough to last until the heat death of the universe so it’s not like you need us to contribute.

So yeah, that’s why I hate Marinette, the show makes her insufferable and only a small subset of fans will actually acknowledge how terrible she is, the rest will ignore it or turn it into a sexism issue where it doesn’t even exist, and it makes Marinette more terrible by proxy.

#ML fandom #ml fandom salt #ml fandom critical #marinette salt #Venting #vent post #leave adrien alone challenge #adrien deserves better #Adrien Sugar #ladybug salt #Miraculous Ladybug salt

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checkoutmybookshelf · 2 years ago

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Sisterhood of the Stab Stab

Both teenage asthmatic me and 20-year-old newly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis me desperately needed this book, and I am so, so grateful that 30-year-old me had the chance to read it so I can point kids and peers who might need this book as badly as I did toward it. This book has just stunningly well-done chronic illness (specifically POTs) representation, and some really excellent LGBTQ+ representation. It's also rare I get in on preorder goodies, but when I saw how beautiful these character cards were, I couldn't resist! Let's talk One for All.

The tagline for this book is a gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, but honestly the chronic illness representation is what made this book so impactful for me. I'm not a POTsie, but I knew exactly how the crushing fatigue, the constant fight against your own body, and the cruel responses of people around you feel when you have hard physical limits.

Tania is a lovely character to follow and share a headspace with throughout the book. Her complex relationships with her parents, her peers, her musketeer mentor, and her fellow lady musketeers are nuanced and always interesting. As a former dancer (the RA didn't actually kill that activity for me, that was the pandemic), I also strongly identified with Tania's insistence on honing her skills in her chosen sport--fencing--to the fullest extent of her abilities, and accommodating the very real physical limitations her body has rather than pushing to try to be like fencers without POTs. The space that Tania and the other musketeers make to accommodate the POTs rather than trying to magically fix it, ignore it, or insist that Tania could somehow "overcome" it is absolutely incredible. I would love for that accommodation to be the norm rather than the vanishingly rare exception.

Tania is not the only kickass character, however. Our other three lady musketeers are full, round characters who grow with Tania even as they prove that they will never ever let her fall. Each of our girls has a clear character all her own, and they mesh with and bup up against each other's personalities in ways that were never not a treat to see.

Simply put, I adore this book and cannot say enough good things about it. I'm hopeful that we get more stories with Tania and the rest of the sisterhood of the stab stab.

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dont-you-dare-imagine · 4 years ago

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If you’re currently taking requests for ML, would you mind doing an adrien/reader one (can be GN or female, whatever’s easier!) about them not feeling like they’re good enough for him? Bc he’s this supermodel hot rich successful guy and they’re most likely your average person

“Are You Sure I’m What You Want?”

summary: basically just the request! adrien is dating the reader (obviously lol) and she feels like she’s not good enough for him.

words: 573

warnings: kinda sad, the reader is insecure, but fluffy in the end! if there’s anything else i need to add, please let me know!

a/n: OH MY GOD YOU CANNOT BELIEVE HOW HAPPY I WAS WHEN I GOT THIS. THIS IS MY FIRST REQUEST EVER AND I KNOW IM OVERREACTING BUT LIKE YOU HAVE ALL MY LOVE THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 🤍 anyways...

—————-—

Adrien Agreste. Famous model, super rich, super adorable. Everyone knew who Adrien Agreste was. Every guy wanted to be him, every girl wanted to be with him. Adrien also happened to be your boyfriend. With all of these people constantly obsessing over him, sometimes you felt like you just weren’t enough for him. You were only a high school student with passing grades and that’s about it.

Other people who liked him were people like Chloe. Chloe Bourgeois was rich. Famous. Beautiful. Or Lila. There wasn’t really much proof, but she claimed to have done all these awesome things. She claimed to have met all these awesome people. Who knows if it’s true or not? But if it was, then that was pretty amazing. And Kagami! She was such a talented fencer. She was super smart too. And she saw Adrien almost everyday. They had very similar interests. There’s also Marinette. She’s super pretty. She’s very talented at sewing and designing clothes, something a model needs constantly. He was around her a lot too.

Were you really the girl he wanted? He had all of these other interesting people on their knees in front of him, begging him to date them, and yet he chose you. You just felt like he could do better. Like he deserves better.

You were sitting on his bed, and he was just talking to you about... something. You weren’t exactly paying attention. For some reason, you just felt extra insecure and needed some reassurance. So, you spoke up.

“Adrien, I’m sorry to interrupt, but can I ask you what might seem like kind of a stupid question?” you asked quietly. “I’m sure it’s not stupid! What’s up?” he asked, smiling at you. He could see that you weren’t smiling, and that you looked kind of worried. Maybe even sad. He took your hand in his and then squeezed it tight. “You can ask me (Y/N). What’s wrong? You’re worrying me.” he says, a concerned expression on his face.

“Well, it’s just that...” you started. You took a deep breath and then began talking once again. “There are so many people who like you Adrien. Like, ‘wanna date you’ kinda like you. Marinette, Chloe, Kagami, Lila, and so many other girls who are just so talented and smart and beautiful and rich and famous and just...” You took another deep breath. “Better than me. I feel like I should be your last choice rather than the person you’re dating. Why isn’t it any of the other girls? You could do so much better than me. Are you sure I’m what you want?” You had tears in your eyes at this point. You’d felt this way before, sure, but it had never been this bad. And you’d never told him when you felt like this before.

“(Y/N)...” He said, wiping the tears from your face. “You are so beautiful. You are so smart and you are so kind. You’re such an interesting and amazing person, how could I pick anyone over you?” He squeezed your hand even tighter than before. “It doesn’t matter how famous you are or how much money you have. I like you for who you are, and how you treat others.” He pulled you into a hug, and you suddenly stopped crying. You sniffled a little, and wiped your own tears while clinging onto him. “I love you (Y/N).” He said quietly.

“I love you too, Adrien.”

—————-—

and that’s a wrap! i’m sorry it’s kinda short, but i hope you enjoyed it! requests are open to anyone else who wants to request something like this! i also write for other fandoms, so make sure to check out my master post type thingy to see a list! have a great day 🤍

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #adrien x reader #adrien agreste x reader

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youvebeenlivingfictional · 4 years ago

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The Long Con Part One

Prologue | Masterlist | Next Part Pairing: Marcus Pike x Reader Rating: T Notes: Oh hey there! Welcome to Dany Has Been Googling Art Stuff For Like Two Months The Series. Warnings: Cursing (meant to mention that before WHOOPSADOODLE sorry) Summary: You’d never seen Agent Pike look anything less than collected, even in the thick of a case.

“The Raft of the Medusa, huh?”

You didn‘t bother to look away from your laptop where you were stationed at your lectern.

“Géricault did good work,” You answered as you finished answering the email that you were working on. You knew that this couldn’t be a terribly timely or pressing matter, because the FBI agent that had shown up had bothered to sit through the second half of your lecture that morning.

“How long have you guys been up to romanticism?” He asked.

“Oh, just this week. Géricault’s got a good range...Landscapes, horses, portraits… horses... current events… horses…”

“Lots of horses.”

“Yeah, he was kind of a horse girl.”

You finally sent the email off and turned to look at Agent Marcus Pike. The man was, mercifully, still looking at the recreation of the Géricault painting.

“This one of your old ones?” He asked. You laughed a little, leaning against the lectern.

“No. I’ve got a friend in Atlanta that specializes in recreations of Delacroix and Géricault.”

“He’s talented. I’ve seen the original, this is… Incredible.”

“Mm, I know. The corpses almost look happy in this version.”

Pike’s brow rose and he gave you a look out of the corner of his eye.

“So?” You asked, “How can I aid the bureau today, Agent Pike?”

He gave a small smile, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck as he turned to face you more fully.

“I’m actually not here on bureau business,” he told you, peering at you nervously. Your brows rose. You’d never seen Agent Pike look anything less than collected, even in the thick of a case.

“You’ve got my attention,” You reassured him.

You were trying so hard not to laugh, if not for the earnest look on Pike’s face. You watched him as you ran your finger along the handle of your coffee mug. The two of you had taken up residence at your favorite coffee shop and bakery, There Ain’t Muffin To It. It was a little out of the way of the college’s campus, but you preferred that - you hardly ever ran into your students that way.

Pike had insisted on paying for your coffee, and then he’d explained his… Situation.

His fucking hilarious situation that you were really, really trying not to laugh at.

“So…Just-- To make sure I’m on the level here,” You said, “Your sister Marnie is getting married in two weeks, and she was probably going to set you up with some cute hometown girl, and instead…” You had to pause, biting your lip to tamp down a laugh before going on, “Instead, you told her that you’re bringing… Me.”

“That is the long and short of it.”

“And can I ask what possessed you to blurt out the name of an ex-fencer-turned-art-professor?”

“I panicked and I was looking at the Coleman file.”

“Ah,” You nodded. You’d assisted Pike’s team on that case. A man named Augustus Coleman had recently come forward, claiming to have found Oudry’s White Duck. The work had, in fact, been a fake (though it was a very, very convincing one). You’d spent time with Agent Pike, looking over the painting itself and helping his team track down Coleman’s forger. It had been a lot of long nights, a lot of hard work, but Pike had given you implicit trust, and you’d gotten the job done.

And now, apparently, he was trusting you with this, too.

“I don’t… Lie well,” Marcus added, and you couldn’t help but laugh then.

“I can see that.”

Marcus smiled, “I know this is an inconvenience. I wouldn’t ask you to fly down for the week I’m gonna be there--”

“But you’d want to?”

Marcus winced, “My sister’s already passed your name on to my mom and I’m getting questions. You could just come in for the weekend. I’d pay for your airfare,” He tacked on.

“Wow, you are desperate.”

“What you said, about my sister setting me up with some-- hometown girl? It’s accurate, I’m pretty sure I know exactly who she would’ve tried to set me up with.”

“Bad?”

“No, she’s nice, but we don’t suit and Marnie hasn’t quite gotten that message.”

Your brow furrowed, considered something.

“Tell me something,” You leaned forward on your forearms, watching Marcus.

“Sure.”

“You could've found someone else to bring along, asked them to use my name and fake it to your family for two days. You’re actually asking me instead. Why?”

Marcus’ eyes searched your face.

“Couple of reasons. Remember a minute ago when I said I was bad about lying?”

You chuckled, “Uh-huh. The other reason?”

“I need to go down there with someone that I trust. Someone that I know will have my back.”

“And someone that can lie?”

“Exactly. See what you just said, about asking someone else to use your name? Didn’t even occur to me.”

You were quiet for a moment, considering Pike. The week that he’d named for the wedding was spring break-- you didn’t have any plans set in stone, just papers to grade.

“...Can I think about it?” You asked. Marcus’ smile brightened at that.

“Of course,” He nodded, “I appreciate it.”

You believed that-- the man couldn’t lie for shit.

That evening found you in your apartment, grading quizzes for your Intro to Greek and Roman Art course. Most of the students had a good handle on the subject, so the grading and corrections didn’t take you long. Once you’d finished, you poured yourself a glass of wine and settled down on your couch to find something to watch for the evening.

Once you’d chosen a show, though, you really couldn’t focus on it. You had, after all, told Marcus that you’d consider his proposal. You were...Fond of Agent Pike. The agents that you’d worked with prior to his transfer to the D.C. office had all treated you with varying degrees of contempt when asking for your help on a given case; they’d kept your interactions to the barest of bare minimums, held you at arm’s length in regards to the cases that you were being asked to assist on, and hardly ever updated you on case outcomes - not that they were required to do so, but you had often wondered. Marcus Pike was so different from his predecessors. When he’d come to the D.C. office and had first needed your help on a case, he’d gone out of his way to introduce himself, the particulars of the case, and to say that, “any assistance that you could provide would be greatly appreciated.” And it hadn’t felt glib, either. You’d felt like the man actually wanted your help, wasn’t that he was just reaching out to you to cover his bases. You’d assumed that after that first case, the niceties would fall away, but Marcus had never been anything less than kind to you - even when he was stressed. He treated you with respect, understood that your time was your own, that you’d put your criminal past behind you. You were now using what you’d learned in that world to help the Bureau, and to teach.

The time you’d spent with him on the Coleman case had been the biggest eye-opener. He’d come to understand more about how you used to operate - the way you’d sold forgeries to money-grubbing, self-involved wealthy elites that cared more about owning a one-of-a-kind artwork, uncaring of where it had come from or why you had it; they hadn’t cared about the questionable and fake provenance, had only looked so close when examining the work itself. Your grandmother had been a painter, and a masterful forger - she had been the one to paint most of the forgeries that you’d helped to fence. She had taught you her tricks, connected you with the network that she operated within - she had gotten you arrested, and had been furious when you hadn’t taken the fall for her. You and Marcus had spent a lot of time together during the Coleman case - mostly working, but you’d had some downtime. There were times when he insisted that you sat down and ate, else the food would get cold. Others, when he had a question, he’d come to your office at the college, but he’d bring coffee with him, or some kind of snack - a little way of showing thanks before he even asked his question, even if you didn’t have an answer for him. Marcus was a good man. It was no wonder he needed help lying, especially to his family. Something he’d said to you that afternoon had stuck with you, though, something that was floating above the rest: “I need to go down there with someone that I trust. Someone that I know will have my back.” Marcus Pike trusted you. He was comfortable with you having his back - he was comfortable with you being around his family for a week.

You picked up your phone, scrolling through your contacts to find Marcus’. You hit the ‘call’ button before raising it to your ear. He picked up on the first ring. “Hello?” He asked, and you smiled at the anticipatory tone. “Think they’ve still got any seats left on your flight?” You asked. Tag list: @hufflepuffing-all-day-long ; @spideysimpossiblegirl ; @blueeyesatnight ; @elen-aranel ; @yespolkadotkitty ; @artsymaddie ; @phoenixhalliwell ; @lunaserenade ; @winniedaboo ; @empress-palpat1ne ; @randomness501 ; @nutmeg-20 ; @leonieb

#The Long Con #Marcus Pike x Reader #Marcus Pike x You #Marcus Pike/Reader #Marcus Pike/You #Marcus Pike Fic #Marcus Pike imagine

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tazatouille · 4 years ago

Text

this is how the story goes

word count: 4249

warnings: mentions of death, disassociation, alcoholism and small mention of toxic masculinity

ao3 link

summary: In which Fabian deals with the fact that he doesn't always have to be the hero.

“Let me read to you tonight, my darling.” Mama says to him, holding out her hand. Fabian, being the small boy he is, lets out a giggle and runs over to her, taking it excitedly. She smiles down at him and he sees his own dimples on her cheeks. Fabian can’t help but think that she must be the most beautiful lady to ever live, because of course that would be his Mama. Her silver hair falls like waves down her shoulders and he wonders if one day his hair will grow as long as hers.

She leads him to their library, hoisting him up briefly so he can pick out a book. He can’t quite read all the titles yet, so he picks the one he can reach, which is a small picture book. Mama brings him close to her chest, holding him with one arm. “Ah, that’s a fine choice, Fabian.”

“What’s it about, Mama?” He asks her, letting her flip the book over in his hands.

“Hmm… let’s see.” She says softly. “It looks like you’ve picked an Elven tale tonight, one about a handsome adventurer who sails the seas in search of a great sea monster.”

“That sounds like Papa!” This earns a laugh from his mother, who kisses him on the cheek.

“It does, doesn’t it?” Mama lets go of the book, letting Fabian press it to his chest. Then she carries him out of the library and towards the stairs. “It’s time to get you to bed now, Fabian.”

---

Fabian recalls that day as one of the last days that his Mama ever read to him before bed.

But that was alright, because he’s been fine with that for a while now. He knew even then when little boys grow up, their mamas don’t read them to bed anymore.

When Fabian gets up for school that morning, he sees her when he glances out his window. Cathilda is patiently watering the rose bushes as she always does in the mornings and Mama is sitting in one of her kimonos, beautiful as always, but carrying with her the heavy weight of time. Time that has caused bags to form under her eyes, her frame to grow thinner and dull her eyes each passing day. Time that has aged her, with every sip of wine she takes from the glass in her hand.

He turns away from the window.

Fabian’s morning routine is easy. It’s about a half hour of dancing, then he takes a cold shower to wake himself up. Usually, he would go straight to training afterwards, but his Mama has allowed him this single day without morning training. He takes another hour to do his hair and then his makeup. It’s nothing too fancy, just a bit of eyeliner and the tiniest amount of concealer. If it was too heavy, he would sweat it off during practice and Fabian Aramais Seacaster does not let his makeup run.

By the time Fabian heads downstairs, Cathilda is now cooking in the kitchen. She’s humming an old sea shanty, one that she’s sung for him time and time again as a child. When he walks by, he hums along with her, dancing around her to grab his green smoothie.

“Good morning, Master Fabian!” Cathilda greets him, shaking the frying pan. “Do you mind taking this plate to yer mother? She’s waitin' in the dining room.”

“Good morning, Cathilda!” Fabian says proudly, placing a kiss on her cheek. “Of course, I can.” He scoops the plate up off the counter, carrying it to the dining room. Mama sits at the head of the table, where Papa used to sit. To her right is none other than Gilear, thankfully not in his father's robes again. Fabian tries hard not to fling the dish right at his head and keeps his shoulders up.

"Oh Fabian, my baby boy, how are you this morning? Off to that little adventuring academy again are we?" Mama says, nurturing a glass in her hand.

"Morning Mama," Fabian greets, setting her plate in front of her. Mama puts down her drink to lovingly pinch his cheeks. He laughs, hoping she doesn't notice when he slides it further away. "I believe me and the boys are going to meet at Basrar's this morning before school, since we aren't training today."

"We stop training for one day and you're already eating ice cream for breakfast? Whatever will we do with you?" Mama teases with a wave of her hand. He takes the seat to her left, purposely not making eye contact with Gilear.

Here's the thing about Gilear. He may be the Chosen One, something that Fabian is willing to admit and even defend, however, Gilear is still Gilear, and Gilear is a sad, pathetic little man who did not deserve his Mama.

Fabian could admit that his Mama and Gilear did have some similarities, as they seem to be both inept at the simplest of tasks. That being said, Hallariel Seacaster was an accomplished and renowned fencer, who dashingly took his father's own eye. Gilear Faeth was an ex-diplomat who couldn't get the yogurt stains out of his shirt even with the highest levels of magic money could provide.

This isn’t how the story is supposed to go. After Fabian heroically killed his own father, his mother was supposed to find another adventurous and even in some ways, more deserving man. In the story, Mama does not end up with a man like Gilear, but with a man far better than maybe even his father ever was. Or perhaps, she remains a widow, vowing never to remarry because her love for her deceased husband is so strong.

And in the story, Fabian is supposed to feel proud for killing his father, laying the final blow that his Papa craved so adamantly. But all Fabian is left with is a vacancy, the same vacancy that still rests in his mother's heart.

At times, it almost feels hereditary.

He stares down at his smoothie and thinks he hears Gilear say something to him, but it goes unaddressed.

Fabian thought it would get easier after sophomore year. Seeing his Papa was a treat, surely. Knowing his father is having such a good time in Hell helps him sleep a little easier, but it’s not enough to snuff out the flames of guilt that still burn in his chest.

Ever since his Papa died, his mother used the sensory deprivation egg less and less. To Fabian’s surprise, it was his mother’s decision, with Cathilda helping her steadily ease out of it. Cathilda told him that if they were able to get her out of the egg, they might be able to move onto her sobriety. He still holds onto that hope, even on the harder days when his mother can only greet him after school and then retire to her room soon after.

“You know she loves you with all her heart, Master Fabian.” Cathilda said to him one night. “People are complicated, ya see… Just because she’s struggling doesn’t mean she loves you any less.”

Fabian comes back to reality when he hears his mother’s laughter. He downs the rest of his smoothie, a little too warm now, to distract himself. He pulls out his crystal to check the Boyz’ group chat. “Well Mama, I think I’ll be off!” Fabian says, getting up from his chair.

“Off already, darling?” Mama asks him, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. She’s barely touched her food. “Come here.”

He leans down and lets her place a kiss on his cheek. “You have a good day, my boy.” She tells him.

“Of course, Mama.” Fabian smiles at her, then nods his head. “Gilear.”

Gilear nods back. “I wish you a good day, Fabian.”

He walks out of the dining room, giving Cathilda a wave before heading towards the front door.

“Hangman,” Fabian thinks. “Ready for the day?”

He hears the purr of the engine start up as soon as he closes his front door. “I am ready for anything, sire. Where shall we go?”

“Head to the Ball’s apartment. I’m picking him up this morning.”

“Hangman...” Fabian warns, watching him roll out of the garage in front of him. The Hangman revs in response. “We are picking up the Ball.”

“Master, I remind you that the Ball no longer needs a ride to school.”

Fabian is sure if the Hangman could, it would sigh in disappointment. “Of course, sire.” He leans slightly to let him climb on. Then, Fabian revs the engine himself and tears down the street towards Strongtower Luxury Apartments.

---

“Fabian, for the last time.” Riz starts, walking out of the apartment building. “I’m never gonna get enough driving hours if you keep giving me rides to school.”

Riz lost his hat after sophomore year, and thank goodness because Fabian didn’t have the heart to tell him it wasn’t going to work forever. He wouldn’t admit it to Riz, but he was quite fond of the way his hair fell. It seemed impossible to Fabian that Riz didn’t style it in any way, but one day while they were hanging out, Fabian spotted a bottle of all in one shampoo and conditioner and chucked it into the garbage can.

Fabian laughs, putting a hand on his chest. “As if you would prefer to drive your mother’s car over a ride on the Hangman?” The Hangman revs underneath him for emphasis. He can see the smile creeping on Riz’s lips, so he keeps going. “Besides, everyone lies about their driving hours anyway. Who has the time to drive a whole forty hours both night and day? I certainly don’t.”

Riz looks like he’s about to protest, but instead his face spreads into a big smile. Fabian pats the Hangman’s seat victoriously. “Come on, The Ball. To Basrar’s.”

With a roll of his eyes, Riz climbs onto the Hangman, situating his briefcase against his chest. Then, his arms wrap around Fabian’s torso tightly. “You aren’t always gonna be around to give me rides, you know. I should-- uh, probably learn how to drive at some point.” He says. It’s supposed to be casual, but in reality, Riz just dropped a whale sized weight on Fabian’s chest. It threatens to leave him breathless and not in a good way.

Fabian revs the engine instead, letting the purr drown out his thoughts. “Don’t say stuff like that, Riz.” He says under his breath, before taking off down the road. He isn’t going to start thinking about this right now.

They are almost to Basrar’s when Riz shouts over the wind, “Oh hey, Fabian! Do you want to come over to the office after practice?”

Fabian smiles. “Cracking another case, The Ball?”

“You know it!” Fabian can practically hear the smile in his voice. “I always need someone to hold my string.”

Fabian feels the laughter bubble from his chest. “Yes, one of my many talents. Fabian Aramais Seacaster, holder of string!”

“It’s extremely crucial to my casework!” Riz adds. “I couldn’t solve them without it!”

Fabian feels Riz’s arms tighten around him and he lets out another laugh, pulling into Basrar’s.

---

They walk into the cool air of the shop and see Gorgug sitting at a booth in the corner. He waves to them as they approach.

“Hey guys!” Gorgug greets, giving them a toothy grin. He’s hunching over, like always, with a pink milkshake in his hand. He always ordered strawberry with extra whipped cream.

“Hey Gorgug!” Riz greets, letting Fabian take the window seat. “Dude, I gotta tell you about this show I’ve been watching. It’s awesome.”

“Oh yeah?” Gorgug says, sipping his milkshake. “Zelda’s been looking for more shows to watch, cause you know, all her parents watch is like those crazy reality TV shows.”

Fabian watches as Basrar floats over to their table. “Boys! Good to see you, and so early in the morning too. What can I get you?”

Riz orders a weird concoction of chocolate mint, coffee, and pistachio ice cream topped with gummy bears and chocolate drizzle. Fabian never understood why the gummy bears had to be added to it, something that Riz no doubt picked up from Fig. The gummy bears become hard as rocks because the ice cream makes them too cold, but he’s been friends with Riz long enough to know he would eat almost anything. And so, Fabian orders a simple banana split with caramel sauce.

By the time their ice cream gets here, Riz is already waist deep in the intricate world building of the tv show he’s been watching. The thing about Riz is that whenever he got really excited about something, he’d explain it so fast he’d have to keep back tracking and then return to his previous thought. It could get a bit confusing at times, but the Bad Kidz, at least Fabian, didn’t mind. They just made sure to ask a lot of questions.

"Here's the real catch, though. It wasn't the butler, but it was actually--" Riz gets cut off by his crystal ringtone buzz loudly on the table. He grabs it immediately and presses it to his ear. A few moments pass before he says, "Mom? What's going on?"

Fabian immediately sits up straighter before Riz holds his hand out. "I'll be right back." He mouths to them, scooting out of the booth. Fabian watches as he walks out of Basrar's.

Gorgug plays with the straw of his milkshake for a moment."So… how are you and Aelwyn doing?" He asks innocently, because Gorgug would never ask a question he didn't want the answer to. Fabian suddenly feels a little sick, putting his spoon down.

"It-- uh, well--" Fabian is tripping over himself now. He hates when he gets like this. His thoughts race through his head and try to force themselves out his mouth all at once before he can even think of what to say.

"I--I get it, if that's like--" Gorgug stumbles a bit. "Too private or something, I just, you know, was wondering."

"No, no, it's fine, Gorgug. We just… broke up a few weeks ago."

"Oh." He says simply. "Why didn't you…"

"Say anything?" Fabian finishes for him. "I guess it was somewhat embarrassing."

"Embarrassing? Did she break up with you?"

Fabian shrugs. "No, it was more mutual, if anything." He starts playing with his ice cream now, getting spoonfuls of caramel sauce and pouring it back into the bowl over and over again.

"Then why would you be embarrassed?" Gorgug presses. "I mean, my parents would say that's pretty mature."

"It just wasn't what I-- We? Expected it to be." Fabian admits. It feels weird to say it out loud after it's been rattling in his head for weeks. "I guess, maybe I expected it to be like you and Zelda. Two matches made in nerd heaven."

"You know, not every relationship is gonna be perfect, Fabian." Gorgug reminds him. "Zelda and I get along great, sure, but that doesn't mean I don't fuck up every now and then or that I never get upset with her." He shrugs. "But that's a part of like, I don't know, loving someone. You guys kinda just get to figure stuff out together."

"I guess Aelwyn and I never really tried figuring anything out together."

"Maybe you just expected too much from each other." Gorgug shrugs again. "Cause, you can't only love the best version of someone, you know?"

Fabian opens his mouth to speak, but before he can, the front door jingles and Riz makes his way back to the booth.

"Sorry about that guys." Riz says, sitting back in the booth next to Fabian. "My mom needed to know where I put the law books I borrowed from her last weekend. Where was I?"

Gorgug responds, but not before casting a reassuring glance at Fabian. "Uh… I think you were about to tell us who the killer was, right?"

Fabian can't tell if Riz notices and adds, "Oh yes, something about how it wasn't the butler?"

"Right, right!" He says excitedly. "Okay, so…"

He continues telling them about the tv show, which Fabian doesn’t mean to tune out of, but he can’t stop himself from thinking about Aelwyn.

Their breakup had been mutual. They quickly realized that they simply weren’t compatible with one another. Fabian wishes he didn’t take it hard, but Aelwyn was technically the first girlfriend he ever had, and his first kiss.

Fabian was supposed to go straight to Fallinel, take on the Elven army and break Aelwyn out of imprisonment in a feat of gorgeous heroism. Which, if you left some parts out and moved a few things around, he did, technically. But then Aelwyn was supposed to be so impressed with his prowess that they would start dating, eventually get married out on the sea and then have beautiful children, born out of both Aelwyn and his exceptional talents.

At least, that’s what he told himself.

But when they actually got together, Fabian realized that he didn’t understand Aelwyn at all, and she didn’t understand him. They had both been through copious amounts of stress during sophomore year, with Aelwyn having to adjust to a new life without her parents, and Fabian having to grapple with the events of Leviathan and his own residual fears. It was just too much for them to sort out together, too many parts of themselves that they didn’t understand, so how could they ask the other to?

“You have this version of me built in your head, Fabian.” Aelwyn said to him. “Maybe, before all of this, I could have been that person for you. But, I’m not even sure who I am right now.”

And he agreed with her, and that was that.

Their crystals all buzz on their table, and Fabian reaches over to check the message.

figgy pudding: Hey losers, where you guys at?

He types back.

fabian: Basrar’s, be there soon.

“I guess that’s our cue, huh.” Gorgug says, gathering the dishes onto the table, like he always does. “Make sure to text me the name of that show, Riz, so I won't forget.”

“Will do.” Riz replies, already sending the text to Gorgug. He gets up from the booth to let Fabian out and turns to him. “You ready to go?”

From the way Riz is looking at him, he can’t help but feel like he’s asking a different question, but he brushes past it. “Yeah, of course.”

---

"Is something wrong?" Riz asks that night, because Riz is too perceptive for his own good and Fabian acknowledges that he hasn't said a word to him in over 10 minutes. “You were kinda acting weird today.”

"Hm? Oh it's nothing, The Ball. Don't worry about it. What were you saying?" Fabian replies, sitting up a little straighter.

They are sitting in Riz's office, with it's stale mugs of coffee and scattered evidence. If this was anyone else's office, Fabian would hate being here. Sometimes, Riz is so deep in a mystery it becomes cramped with case files and boxes, but it always feels good to be in a space that is truly lived in. It’s nothing like home, and maybe that’s why Fabian likes it.

"You can talk to me, you know." Riz says, taking the red string Fabian's been playing with out of his hands. He pins a photo up on his corkboard.

Fabian doesn't respond. He knows he should, but at this moment, talking to his best friend seems like one of the hardest things he can do.

Riz notices this, and looks at him. "I know how you get. We don't have to talk about it." He runs a hand through his hair. "You, uh-- wanna watch a movie, maybe?"

Fabian blinks at him for a moment before replying, "You want to take a break?"

Riz laughs at that. "Come on, Fabian. I'm not that bad."

Fabian scoffs. "Please, you almost missed homecoming because you were here piecing together your clues." He gestures to the corkboard.

"And then I closed that case the same weekend." Riz says proudly, puffing up his chest a bit.

Fabian smiles, then makes the mistake of looking down at the floor beneath them. He runs his fingers over the scratch marks carved into the wood.

He tried to call and Riz didn’t pick up. Riz never ever misses his calls and his ringer is always on, so why wasn’t he--

Riz’s eyes go from soft to panicked almost immediately. “Hey, don’t do that.” He tells Fabian, pushing his hands away from the floor. “I, uh-- still need to get someone to fix those.”

“I could get someone to do it.” Fabian says immediately. Riz shakes his head.

“You know I wouldn’t let you.”

“But I could.”

“Fabian, it wasn’t your fault.”

And when Riz says this, Fabian lets out a breath of air.

Because he knows, deep down, the situation with Riz last year wasn’t his fault. But maybe if he had been a better friend and called more, or came around the office more, or had just been there when it happened... then Riz wouldn’t have to pay someone to replace his floorboards. Maybe, he wouldn’t have such a hard time looking at himself in the mirror.

“You aren’t the only one who fails, Fabian.” Riz continues, seemingly reading his thoughts. He sighs. “Y--You do this thing where you think you are the only person in the world who can do anything. The only person who can save the princess in the tower, the only person who can kill your father’s rival, like you are trying to hold the whole world up on your shoulders because you are Fabian Aramais Seacaster. And I get it, you know? I’ve had some pretty big shoes to fill myself.” He lets out a short laugh. “But, you don’t have to… prove yourself to me. Or to-- uh, anyone, really.”

“Riz, I--” Fabian’s words fail him, because figuring things out was always Riz’s job. He knows he will pay to get Riz’s floors done, because maybe Fabian didn’t have to prove himself to anyone, but as well as being a Seacaster, he was also Riz Gukgak’s best friend, and that he needed people to know.

“It’s okay, Fabian, really it is.” Riz says, interrupting him. “I’m not gonna lie, you haven’t always been-- uh, a perfect friend. I know I haven’t either.” He shrugs. “But you always try to be, and that means more to me than you probably know.”

Fabian reaches over and pulls Riz into the tightest hug he’s given since he got out of the Forest of the Nightmare King. He feels Riz tense up at first, but then his arms wrap around his neck.

“You are my best friend.” Fabian says into Riz’s shirt, because if he doesn’t say this now the flames that stir inside his chest will burn the words to ash before they reach his mouth. It was easier to say when Riz wasn’t staring back at him, picking him apart. A habit that Riz could never shake, but sometimes, Fabian welcomed it. He didn’t have to say much, because Riz always just seemed to understand.

Fabian has never had a best friend before. His family sailed so often when he was younger that it was hard to make friends with any of the kids. He was constantly being pulled out of school and thrown into the next. Every time he did so he would play his little charade of being Fabian Aramais Seacaster, impressing the children in his class, and then his family set sail once again.

Near the end of freshman year, Riz pulled Fabian aside to thank him for the briefcase and the business cards. Fabian had brushed it off, saying it wasn’t that big of a deal, but it took him hours to hand write all those business cards. Something that, to this day, Fabian still hasn’t told Riz.

After that, Riz never stopped calling him his best friend, and Fabian quickly realized that Riz is one of the only people who had ever really tried to be his friend. He denied it at first, but eventually he came to accept it as a fact.

And maybe it was the same for Riz too. Like Fabian, he didn’t like talking about personal issues. It wasn’t until sophomore year when Riz was finally able to talk about his dad in front of everyone. And much like Fabian and his own charade, he much preferred his role as a detective versus a teenage boy trying to figure the world out.

But that was just it, wasn’t it? Because maybe, they could be two teenage boys trying to figure out the world together.

And so, Fabian may not write his name upon the world. Every living being in Spyre may not know the name Fabian Aramais Seacaster, but he is okay with this.

Because Fabian doesn’t always need to be the hero, the knight who saves the princess, or the son who kills his father’s rival. Because even when he’s not the hero, there are people who still love him. And to be a part of a story that continues to write itself, that is bigger than his own, with Riz and the rest of the Bad Kidz?

Fabian couldn’t think of anything else he would rather do.

#fabian aramais seacaster #dimension 20 #fantasy high #riz gukgak #gorgug thistlespring #this took a lot out of me #but i hope someone enjoys it #its a fabian character study!!#my writing #d20 #d20 fic

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amberwild420 · 3 years ago

Text

OSB, TSF (pt. 54)

masterlist

enter; the super sons

Marinette looked at the eye bags under her eyes. The nightmare were getting to her and she couldn’t even stop anyone from worrying. The withdrawal of the inactive black cat was getting to her.

She looked at the dream catcher on the side. Kaylan gave her a dream catcher to lessen the number of nightmares. She can only imagine what the nightmare would be if not for the dream catcher.

Sighing, she got up. At least she got four hours of sleep. It was a victory against her sleepless nights in the beginning.

A new day Tikki.

A new day Marinette.

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Emerald green eyes glared at the crowd before spotting his friend. Damian Wayne was scowling at his tardiness.

Stop slowing me down, Kent.

Jon, the sunshine, smiled before eagerly looking around, taking in all his eyes could see. It was so new and so………different.

Back at the league, after the chimera attack, the league choose the two of them to investigate and help with the akuma attack and assure the miraculous team of their full support.

Damian agreed right away. As long as he can stay away from his crazy brothers, he can take all he can get. And trying the Luna to be is adopted sister was just another plus of this trip.

Jon agreed because he was a pure sunshine who wanted to be with his best friend and make sure that Damian wouldn’t stab someone. What’s more, it’s a good trip paid by the Wayne’s. There is no way he will say no to that.

So where do we start?

We are going to take a look around, if we’re lucky we can get to see an akuma attack, if not, then we’ll familiarize ourselves.

Damian walked forward, his famous scowl present as always. Jon smiled before joining him as well.

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

Are you sure?

Yes Kagami, I’ll be fine.

Marinette smiled brightly at the fencer, who still looked unconvinced. Chloe sighed; Luka strung his guitar while Kaylan nibbled on the chocolate chip cookies that Marinette has provided them. The Kwami floated around while nibbling on their treats.

When the whole gang gathered the first thing that they discovered was the dark bags under her eyes and thus Marinette was forced to talk about her nightmares. And that brought the mother hen within Kagami.

Mari-hime, you…..you need to tell us when you face such things.

But I’m okay.

Actually Mari-bear, you look terrible.

Luka!

You have to listen to them melody.

Marinette make a face before turning to the last person in the room. But instead of paying attention to any of them, she was observing the dream catcher.

The gem is turning black.

She stated before looking at the bluenette.

Sorry Hun, you’re on your own on this one. I can’t save you.

The dream catcher in her hand floated before black gem started returning to its original color.

The indicator was clear. She didn’t say anything about extreme nightmares and she had to listen to her teammates nagging her. Marinette slumped her shoulder sighing in defeat and listen to Kagami nagging her for the next hour.

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Sabine knocked at the trapdoor, stopping the rowdy noises in her daughter’s room. With a smile, she greeted them.

Marinette, can you look after the counter? Your dad and I have to fill a large order.

We can help as well.

Don’t know who said but all of them dragged Marinette downstairs, with her mother laughing in the back.

Luka took a seat near the counter before stinging her guitar. Chloe, Kaylan and Kagami started small chores, while Marinette took the counter.

Just in a moment, the small bell rang and two teenagers entered the bakery. From the looks of it they looked quite new to the place.

Welcome to Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie.

Marinette greeted while the rest just looked at them up and down. Luka ignored and kept stringing his guitar.

Jon looked up at the bakery with awe. Just looking at it was enough to make him curious what’s inside. So here he was dragging Damian to the bakery.

The pretty blunette welcomed them with a smile making Jon animatedly asking for recommendation. Damian, who normally doesn’t interact with anyone, also looked interested in what the blunette was pointing at.

In the end they bought all the macaroons (courtesy of Damian) and promised to return (Damian even nodded at the girl making Jon shocked).

#One Step Back #two steps forward #super sons #Miraculous Team #miraculous ladybug #Miraculous Friends #marinette had nightmares #kaylan helps #kaylan cares #kagami cares #luka cares #chloe cares

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purplerose244 · 4 years ago

Text

It was always you

Hello everyone!! 😊

I’m a bit late but I really wanted to contribute to the @lukadrien-june event, I hope this is okay! Based on the third prompt, while throwing in some character study for sunshine boy! 💛

Enjoy!! 😙😙

Summary: Love was supposed to be easy, at least in his head. A pure perfect fairy tale... except it was not. Adrien takes probably more time to realize it than other people but he is getting there. Especially not alone.

Read it on the AO3 here

If there was one thing that Adrien wished he had known, before giving up homeschooling once and for all and finally starting to build a life, was that loving wasn’t nearly as simple and dreamlike as his extremely well-developed imagination had led him to believe. He truly wished that he could borrow Bunnix’ Miraculous sometimes, just to head back to that room where he used to spend his entire time on his own dreaming of himself and his soulmate and getting married at sight, and tell him that if living was hard outside, heart matters were even harder.

Love wasn’t that ideal, it wasn’t reductive.

It wasn’t nearly that basic either. It took him a while, but he had figured it out.

It had all started with Ladybug of course, most of his new experiences in the real world had started with her. He had fallen in love with her pretty much two days after meeting her… granted, being stuck into his own house for years thinking of himself as a poor prince in waiting of a savior rather than a knight out to get the princess, might had developed in him a bit of an eagerness for romance. She was smart, beautiful, courageous, resourceful and a hero, what was there not to love? Besides they were Chat Noir and Ladybug, they were meant to be… because… that was Ladybug. The moment he had realized how much he loved that image – if he used to fantasize before looked at him now –, and how he had started to slowly care less and less about knowing what was hiding behind it, that was the dealbreaker. He didn’t want to be in love with a figure, an icon for Paris, because it was what all people had always reduced him to. It would have not been a good way to start, and it would have not been fair for her either.

Getting over all those dreams about the marriage, the children and the hamster – oh the hamster, heart stay still – that he had wished for so intensely had been… easy? Not exactly, but smooth. A strong emptiness and pain that had slowly faded away with time. After all, Ladybug was never going to be far from him, and she cared about him a lot, he knew that much. He could love her, no matter what, no matter in what way.

After that singular and very one-sided experience, a spectacular sequence of disasters had made him slowly and steadily feel aware of how much messier the concept of relationships really was. One thing was dodging Chloe’s overly affectionate tendencies or his fans’ intense assaults over him; the other realizing that Kagami was ready to commit into something he wasn’t sure of, that Lila was still somehow convinced that he wanted something to do with her after all of her lies – for a fox this sly she sure was in denial… why did that sound hypocrite? –, and that Marinette had apparently harbored feelings for him almost as soon as they had met – oh yeah that was why. Life, a real, multifaced, worth living life was chaotic and confusing, it hurt, and it saddened, and he was behind everyone, struggling like mad to catch up.

Rejecting so many people he cared about had been awful. Some of his closest friends, all important parts of his life in different ways, and all because he wasn’t smart enough to understand feelings and his own clearly weren’t right. When Marinette had smiled at him with tears in her eyes, saying that it was okay and that she understood, Adrien had decided that it was enough. He wasn’t going to attempt anything else, if it always ended up with hurting someone he cared about.

He could deal with his feelings on his own, he always did, without paining anyone. There was no problem anyway, after Ladybug no one had ever shaken his heart.

No one, no one at all… and during that time, between slowly realizing that perhaps looking for wedding rings after two days sounded a little unreasonable and somehow managing to hate his face plastered all over Paris even more than before, the Music Festival had occurred, along with the awakening of Captain Hardrock. The famous tripping over the bridge had happened, a goofiness that had somehow gotten him into a band.

Him had happened. The charming, kind, intriguing guitarist of the Liberty, that had welcomed him the moment he had been there.

Luka Coffaine.

… Adrien was starting to hate his heart a little bit.

Luckily or unluckily, around that time he had found himself too caught up in his and other people’s messes to even realize how he had always unconsciously smiled at the boy whenever he was there, and how it had become normal for him to stay with him after band practice, without caring on how father could had reacted to his delay – just how dense was he about his feelings… never mind. It took Lila to finally focus on something other than plotting, Chloe to start paying attention to her own life instead of worsening others, and Marinette and Kagami to begin exchange sweet looks for him to finally find some normality to think – and develop an extremely intense fanboy soul.

Enough to realize that ever since Desperada, with the brilliant introduction of Viperion to the team, Adrien had found himself as Luka’s confidant, the only one besides Ladybug aware of his secret identity. Exciting stories, confessions, insecurities, all while the guitarist was making such an effort to communicate with words, because he trusted him enough not to judge his mind.

And Adrien was enjoying the confidence, the vicinity. A lot. Truly a lot.

… way too much for it to be normal.

It had woken him at night. He had teared up in his bed, curled on one side while Plagg had been purring next to his ear all night. It was the first time that being in love had felt this terrifying. He didn’t want to mess everything up, not again, not with Luka. The freedom he felt with being on the Liberty, the time spent with his friends in the band, the warming welcome he had always received from captain Anarka and Juleka – and by extension Rose, those two always came in pair –, and every single moment spent without having to care about who he was and what did he represent because Luka didn’t care about covers, he cared about the real music coming from people. Everything could disappear in a moment.

With that set of mind, he had spent some of the most tense moments of his life, constantly pondering about what to do next. What exactly was a person supposed to do if he liked another without making a mess? What was the alternative to confess his undying love and hope to plan a wedding at the end of his studies? Was there an alternative??

His anxious attitude had inevitably gotten the attention of his group of friends, that for some miracle hadn’t gotten tired of his denseness, especially Marinette. She hadn’t seemed to care much, especially not while distractively holding the amulet Kagami had made for her – somehow love life had made the fencer even deadlier during practice, like she was fighting was someone, impressive. It had taken them to bribe him with a new recipe of croissants from the Dupain-Cheng bakery to be forced to talk, a necessity that had exploded out of his lips the moment his friends had been gathered on Marinette’s bed to listen. The sweets had been amazing. Just a bit salty… but that was probably because he hadn’t been able to talk without tearing up all over the food.

At the end of the discussion, Marinette had squeaked so loudly his ears had started to ring.

“You have to confess and get together, you two would be a great couple!” To which he had responded that he didn’t want to risk it, especially since he didn’t know how it was going to end.

Alya had slammed her hands over her own knees – ouch –, standing up.

“You have to man up! Don’t think about what could happen, go for it and make him yours!” To which he had said that he didn’t want to be insensitive again in case it didn’t go well – also that that kind of wording was a little confusing, enough to turn him bright red.

Then Nino had looked up from his phone, looking a little baffled. He had changed too, considering that love matters used to make him all nervous.

“Why don’t you ask him out first and see how it goes from there? You don’t have to become boyfriends if it feels too soon.” The table had gone silent, all eyes were on the DJ, who simply arched an eyebrow. “… you do know you can go on a date with someone, realize that it’s not working without actually get together, right?” More silence had followed. Adrien was sure that he had felt a weird mixture of disappointment and relief, while Marinette had looked so very shocked.

In conclusion, Nino was amazing. Like that was new.

Starting from there the blonde had been practicing in front of the mirror every day, terrified of rejection but less tense over how things could go. Despite fans and admirers his past relationships, if those could be called, weren’t giving him much of a booster or a good feeling about how this chance was going to play. Somehow it hardly mattered. Luka was a very reasonable person, he was going to reject him very nicely. It had been almost uplifting the idea of the guitarist treating him with absolute kindness, even while shattering all of his dreams.

One day Luka had called him over for an improv session. It happened often, this artist was extremely instinctive when it came to music, and he had told him that having a more rational and accurate player like Adrien around grounded him to his usual style. It was flattering every time he was called for that same reason, it was an occasion that made the blonde ignore all about his current schedule – of course he was at fencing right now, Kagami could cover- uhm, confirm for him –, to finally focus on something that he really wanted to do. Luka was always waiting over the bed of his room, playing a few notes, stopping for minutes then going again. It was calming and endearing, like Adrien was allowed to hear the inside of his mind.

He had been standing there, legs crossed at the end of the bed while Luka was lying down with the instrument. There had been only sounds for all of this time, without additions or suggestions or anything. It was nice. Really nice. Adrien had wondered what else could he discover out of him just by stay close like this, and how much he wanted to. The need to let those words out had been steadily growing without him realizing it.

“Luka?” Until they were out. “Do you wanna go on a date with me?” Mirror practice had helped, it had come out almost mechanically. There was a spark into his stomach, the adrenaline pouring out. The melody in the air had stopped for a pretty terrifying second.

Then it had come back as a full, real song. It was timid, sweet, and sincere.

“I’d love to.” In his own giddiness, Adrien could admit of being wrong. Yet he was almost sure he had seen the calm and controlled guitarist blush the tiniest little bit.

A single date at the restaurant where Alya’s mother worked at without people in the way – he loved his friends so much – had followed another one walking hand in hand through Rue Montorgueil in disguise – at last he had achieved his long-lasting dream of looking like someone else without the mask –, that had followed another one at a secret party Chloe had organized at Le Grand Paris for her classmates – she had given him such a smirk at seeing his plus one, gossip was coming. It had nothing to do with the dates of his daydreams, the ones he had lived through his head for years: every single time his stomach was so tense it felt like it was burning, painfully, making him question if he really wanted this. Then, the moment they were there talking, engaging themselves into an interesting topic while letting time pleasantly leave them behind, the stress was gone and there were only the two of them.

They had gone like this for months. Some absolutely lovely months. At some point Alya, stopping him at school, had calmly stated that him and Luka combined with Marinette and Kagami were making her feel single, and she had a boyfriend, so it was probably time to make it official. He had agreed with her, of course he had. He liked Luka… yeah right, he loved him. Everything with him felt so real, so close and intense, like he was finally living.

His feelings weren’t the problem… Luka’s were.

Not that he doubted him. Not after all the little orange blossoms left over his keyboard before band practice – they meant eternal love, oh heart stay still once again –, the songs sung for him whenever he felt upset or angry at his father, or the hand kisses at the end of every single date, like he was being cherished every single time. One of the guitarist’s biggest qualities was his sincerity, Adrien was absolutely sure he could trust him and his heart. Just how he had never blamed anyone before, not Chloe, not Kagami, not Marinette, not even Lila, for their feelings towards him.

They had been real, like his own feelings for Ladybug used to be… but they were for Adrien only, the supermodel, Paris’ iconic pretty face and perfect boy. That perfection in him, one he had been forced to practice in order to please his father, that was attracted others, but it wasn’t in any way all that was in him.

What was all the rest? It was also there. But it came out only whenever he wore the mask.

With time, the image he had been forced to wear for the profit of his father had grown into an uncomfortable, old sweater that he hadn’t known it had felt unbelievably itchy until he got the possibility to take it off, to try something else. And that black-leather armor was his absolute favorite. Nothing felt like freedom as that, nothing felt like him as those moments, whenever he jumped into the sky holding hard onto his staff. Thanks to his Miraculous he had discovered himself. Thanks to that he had found out that he liked making jokes, he loved puns, he liked making a fool of himself for the sake to have fun. He liked risking, he liked dancing, he wasn’t too keen on closed places, and he absolutely loved how the moon reflected into the Seine at night after patrol. Everything was him, so vividly him it made him choke a little at the mere thought of it.

Adrien Agreste was another mask, one he was growing considerably tired to wear. He had been through some love experiences now, even though they did not end quite well: there was no point into pretending to be someone he wasn’t, there was no meaning into hiding himself when he truly wanted to establish a bond with someone. He had known this, he knew this.

But if everyone liked Adrien better… if Luka liked Adrien better, how was he supposed to do that?

The tension coming from those thoughts was there only when he wasn’t around his favorite guitarist, making him at least forget about the dilemma coming with. Even so, around those times he had found himself at least wondering exactly what kind of opinion his date had about Chat Noir. He wasn’t sure, they had never talked much in their superhero personas, because of the urge of the moment and because with his lady’s strategic mind and a power like Second Chance it was unfairly easy sometimes to solve the situation – Ladybug needed to start bringing Viperion more often and yes, maybe just a little bit to see more of Luka in sexy snake cosplay. He was fairly sure he didn’t mind him, he seemed to even smile at him sometimes – total heart eyes –, but he wanted to be sure.

It had been night at the Liberty, they had ordered pizza. Sugary drinks made Rose giggle like mad, so Juleka had brought her to her room to take a nap and probably cuddle, leaving the two of them alone. That wasn’t weird. Wondering if the guy Adrien was dating liked his cat counterpart, that was weird. At the end, looking at how relaxed the boy over the sofa was while distractively bending the last pizza crust, he hadn’t been able to do pose a potentially confusing question, asking instead what he thought about Ladybug – he had made a mental post-it to whine loudly into his pillow later.

Luka had brought up stuff he already knew, how she was a great leader, an inspiration, extremely smart and courageous. Despite the failure of questioning him Adrien had smiled, he was weirdly happy they thought the same about his partner.

“She has a huge responsibility and deals with it incredibly, that’s commendable… with that being said, my favorite is Chat Noir.” A boom inside. “He’s hot.” A second, bigger explosion had occurred into Adrien’s head – in a feeble spark of lucidity he had begged his brain not to produce smoke out of his ears. Luka had laughed, playing some more, without looking directly at him. “And he’s such a selfless, reliable person, you can tell from how he doesn’t hesitate to help others or support me or Ladybug. He’s incredibly loyal, and… really funny.”

It had taken perhaps a second too long, in which a thousand of tiny little Adrien running all over his brain had been screaming out loud hysterically about how this handsome guitarist was a Chat Noir fan, and it had been the best day ever. Then he had managed to talk, ask, his voice was a little raspy.

“You… you like his puns?” Luka had scooted closer to him, smirking a little.

“It’s our little secret.” With that he had put a hand around his shoulders, bringing him closer to him. The blonde had abandoned himself into the embrace, trying to hide the giddy smile in his chest.

It got easier to let himself go from that moment forward, knowing that at least some parts of Chat Noir Luka didn’t mind at all. Having Nino groaning like mad after they had all taken their matchmaker ice creams from Andre, with Adrien coming out with a “I scream for an ice cream”, had been worth it just to see the guitarist rolling his eyes with an endeared smile. It had felt good. He couldn’t fully let go, being a model and famous and all that baloney, but he could stop pretending for a moment and embrace a little bit more about himself.

It had hit him much later that perhaps, maybe, possibly, the matter of telling Luka about his superhero identity was meant to come up at some point. It hadn’t seemed an important matter before, he was not supposed to do reveal it anyway according to Ladybug. Then again, this wasn’t a relationship behind masks like that one, it was as open as it could be. Also Plagg wasn’t exactly the biggest fan or rules anyway, he had doubted he would have minded. Hearing Luka talking about his latest adventure with Viperion, basically summarizing everything Adrien already knew from his point of view, made him feel a bit guilty about not coming clean. Still, it was hard to recall that unpleasantness with Luka always ending the discussion making a comment about Chat Noir, probably catching up over the fact that Adrien was also a ‘fan’. Knowing that such a charming boy like Luka considered his pun machine alter ego attractive, stating that the only blondie with green eyes as handsome he knew was Adrien, was definitely a good way to end the day.

Then, that had happened. Apparently, Hawk Moth had thought that the idea of unleashing once again Gorizilla over the powerless city of Paris was a hilarious idea. It had taken them forever to calm him down, the bodyguard had been all agitated since there had been no sign of his protegee – at least for what he knew. Cataclysm, Lucky Charm, Miraculous Ladybug, the script was old and overused and after the most tired pound it ever Adrien had called it a day, sinking into his own bed as soon as he had been home.

The unconscious was a calming place, a pleasant one, just like Luka.

Just like Luka… Luka… the date.

Out of pure will and terror he had managed to get on his feet, realizing with horror that not only he hadn’t just fallen asleep, but he was also late. Two. Hours. Late. Dread didn’t describe properly the feeling that had taken over. Begging a very annoyed looking Plagg he had launched himself into the night sky, running on all four out of pure despair. When he had arrived at the restaurant, miserably closed, Luka was leaning over the wall of the entrance that was off, humming a very mellow, very melancholic melody. And he had dressed up, for once in his life wearing something classy, a white dress shirt and a black jacket without sleeves. His hair had grown a bit in those months, enough for him to pull a little ponytail.

What a waste, Adrien had thought. What a waste on someone like him, this beautiful person lightening up as soon as he was there, running to hug him, saying that he knew there had been an akuma today and he was happy to see he was okay. Except he wasn’t, this wasn’t, it was not okay. He was taking advantage of his position, the fact that there was stuff he was keeping for himself. It wasn’t fair for himself, most importantly it wasn’t fair for him.

“And you’re okay with this?” He didn’t know what he had been implying with those words, he had felt the need to get them out. To be heard. Because Luka always listened.

The guitarist had given him a weird, aware look, holding up his hands.

“I am if you are.” Unfair. Unfair. Unfair. Nothing but that feeling of guilt had filled his heart, and Adrien had rushed in, hugging him as closely as he could. Luka had embraced back, caressing his back slowly and gently as it was his way of being, telling him that they could postpone on a day with a less dangerous akuma terrorizing the city. Adrien had kept his eyes shut, choking silent sobs against his jacket. Thinking that maybe it was okay, maybe they could still keep going like this. H was scared, besides there was no need to change anything, or even better there was no need to say something that wasn’t needed. This was enough, this could be enough.

Adrien had then opened his eyes, only to feel them pinching. From the window of the restaurant, he could see the lonely white table with two dishes and two glasses, and all around… were candles and roses. Luke remembered. He had remembered the mention of the romantic gesture the blonde had done for a girl that hadn’t gone as planned. He had remembered how Adrien had always wished for something like that for himself. He knew how much of a hopeless romantic he was. Luka knew him.

At the same time, he didn’t. He didn’t know him. It was not okay.

It was not okay, and it was not enough.

Mirror sessions were back after that, more frantic than ever but less frequent than he would have liked – he was dense he could admit, not enough to proclaim to his father or Nathalie that he was Chat Noir while in the shower. He had wished it was like preparing for a shooting, or even imagining to be an actor like mom was. The tension was nothing like. The number of warnings coming from all directions was massive, starting from how once again his friends were getting worried about him – he wasn’t going to resist the bribe of chocolate chip cookies for long –, how Ladybug had expressively told him no one was supposed to know about their real identities, how there was no telling how Luka was going to react over the fact that his date was the cat boy with whom sometimes he fought crime with – man that was a weird line to say out loud. He had found it hard to sleep, too tense to get lost into his dreams, questioning his decision all night long.

One night, after a particularly harsh internal battle between him himself and he, he had rolled over a little too much forgetting about his poor little cheese-eating friend. He had been on his way to apologize to the squished kwami, but with a single firm gesture coming from his tiny arm Plagg had gotten him to shut up, eyes widened and extremely pissed.

“You’re telling him.” His eyelid had twitched a little. Right, he had kept him awake as well. “I don’t care what Ladybug says, I don’t care what Tikki says, you’re telling him.”

“Huh, okay?”

“It’s not a question Adrien, it’s an order. Do it or else you won’t find Atlantis that much of a natural disaster.” Wasn’t for experience he would have doubted that this tiny guy was able of much. Good thing he did have precedents, so Adrien had opted to nod and lay down once again. Following orders was still pretty normal for him anyway. “… besides…” Plagg had scooted closer to him, nudging against his shoulder while closing his eyes. “No secret is worth taking away your happiness, kid.” Adrien had found no problem sleeping from then on.

At last, after a bit more of self-convincing, it had all come down on the matter of when. Adrien wasn’t exactly sure if the news was particularly good or bad, consequentially he had no idea if the reveal had to be organized during a joyful or tense situation. Was a date a good idea? Or was it better to simply invite him over, or go to his house and talk? Luka was a great listener, but he didn’t always like to talk much, maybe he was going to feel pressured in the second case. He communicated better with songs… but writing a jingle about how he was a superhero in a leather suit with a ring that could pulverize the Tour Eiffel didn’t sound like a hit – maybe… or maybe it was, he had to ask Luka later if the matter was going to be solved. After so much time pondering, he had been left with nothing concrete, no ideas. He couldn’t ask his friends, nor Ladybug. Maybe this was a bad decision after all – never mind Plagg that was still glaring.

He had been trying to focus on his Chinese homework all afternoon, his mind running miles with him unable to make it stop. Then his phone had lightened up, a welcomed distraction that had blossomed into absolute delight at reading the sender’s name. Despite the migraine coming along with the situation, it was all worth it just for a chance to be with him.

Melody: Hey Sunshine

Melody: If I remember right you’re free tomorrow

Melody: Do you want to come over?

Me: Of course I do :)

Me: My schedule ends early afternoon

Me: Is the evening okay?

Melody: Perfect

Melody: Dress nice, it’s a date

Melody: A special one, for a special day

Me: Why? What’s tomorrow?

Melody: Wanna guess?

Me: …

Me: Thursday?

Melody: Ahah, well also

Melody: But also exactly one year since the Music Festival

Melody: It’s the day you and I met

Somehow while melting into an absolute puddle of tears and adoring whines, Adrien had realized that this guy was too wonderful. In his heart the last thing he wanted to do was ruining something good, especially a night Luka had prepared for him. But this wasn’t about himself anymore, this was about giving him what he deserved. Hopefully they were going to have a date still after this.

Hopefully. Adrien had tried to forget about that eventuality, at least enough to finish his homework. It had taken him a while to fall asleep that night – Plagg had simply whispered “thin ice” in a very grumpy tone.

The next day he had used all his experience as a model to look his best, raised two thumbs up at his mirror, and headed out. He had begged his bodyguard to leave him alone on this one and the big guy had actually agreed, somehow seeing his seriousness and commitment more than his father – granted that the bar was pretty low on that one. The path leading to the Liberty was not exactly short from his house, yet he had felt the absolute need to rethink everything. Perhaps to find it in himself the strength to blame himself for wanting to come clean only now. It had been a year, a year since he had met Luka. He had changed so much, his thoughts, his world, himself. He was there to make just another change and take control, it was terrifying and exciting…

…

… and there he was.

When he saw the Liberty, his stomach did that fluttering again. Pure tension and longing mixed together, because this was about him and it was making him grow terrified; but this was about him, and he loved everything that involved him. The sight of the ship covered in aromatic candles and roses with the table prepared on the bridge, the most romantic place once again, should had not surprised him after all. He still had to close his eyes for a moment to recollect himself.

Luka was waiting on the dock, smiling at him. It was such a lovely view, and when he extended his hand towards him it turned into the perfect view.

“You look amazing. You’re ready?”

He was. He finally was. Adrien sighed, shaking his head.

“I have to tell you something first.” Huh, something was wrong. The guitarist had changed expression, he looked so confused and hurt all of the su- wait. “Ah! No! Not that kind of ‘I have to tell you something’, an actual ‘I have to tell you something’!” He had practiced this moment for so long, how was it possible he had never noticed how off it sounded? Luka let out a nervous laugh. Ah, his hands were sweating already, where was Chat Noir’s confidence when he needed it? “I really need to get this out of my chest.”

“Oh, okay. I’m listening.”

“And if afterwards you have doubts about…” He didn’t like it, but he needed to state it as it was. “… all of this, I’ll understand.” He was in. He was doing it. No turning back. That most likely didn’t sit right with Luka, he wasn’t looking any less distressed.

He reached for him, grabbing one of his hand for comfort. Even though he didn’t understand, he was still doing his best to be there. Gosh, Adrien loved him, so much.

“Don’t jump to conclusions, tell me what it is and then we can talk about it.” He looked for communication in his relationships, he had told him from the start and even before, during the times they used to talk about anything and everything, waiting for the sun to set behind the bridge over the Seine. The blonde hoped they were going to talk too.

He closed his eyes again, took the deepest breath in his life, and nodded.

“It might sound crazy, but please listen to me and believe me.” Luka nodded immediately. “I…” He had composed a whole speech about how much these last months had been amazing, how he was sorry that he had kept quiet over something important for so long, and how he hoped that they could still try and be together for real. A convincing discussion slowly leading to the reveal. “… I’m Chat Noir, and I love you.” Out of all of that he had taken seven words max and blurted them out without a single thought in his head.

The cat was out of the bag, classic cat superhero style. If only that knowledge wasn’t making him feel worse. He was tense, sweating, completely still, waiting for his judgement. Every second was turning into a minute then an hour then it was getting lost into his own misty head.

It was warm outside, even at that hour.

Those long fingers clenched around his hand.

Adrien looked up. Luka was smiling tearfully at him, his blue eyes were mesmerizing. He laughed happily, then he reached for his cheek. Heartbeats echoed into the blonde’s head as he got closer, eyes narrowed but still open as to catch any kind of rejection. It hit him very very slowly that this was actually true, this out of world fantasy was not a fruit of his messed up imagination, and the moment the realization took over Adrien closed the distance between them. Wow. Luka kissed nothing like he would have expected. His hand on his cheek was careful and gentle like him, but his lips were caressing his with want and passion, like they had lost all the patience behind the moment they had met in electric need. Closeness was something Adrien had missed for such a long time and could never get enough of. Luka’s closeness was whole, real, his. He reached for his jacket, just to hold onto something and have another proof that this was happening.

They parted, and then got closer, kissing again and again, happily trapped into a bubble in which time and space couldn’t reach them. When they back away with trembling breaths, Adrien felt his lips getting immediately cold and couldn’t help himself as he reached for one last peck. Luka laughed into it, pressing back then leaning his forehead over his. There was an amount of sweetness into those eyes that it made the blonde want to look away, his sight getting all blurry.

“I love you too.” His hand was still over his face. “Will you be my boyfriend?”

The answer was the clearest of his life. It was screaming from the bottom of his stomach, it was highlighted in neon in the middle of his brain. He was almost tempted to tackle him to the ground and let his actions speak for himself – alright he needed to chill for a moment –, then confusion hit him. He… he said it, he had said it, right? He told him the truth about his identity. Then what was this lack of reaction? Where was the amazement, the fright, the confusion, even the anger? Adrien Agreste had just confessed he made a habit of running over the roofs of Paris in full cat cosplay and this was the reaction?

“I… you… what’s going on?” Luka giggled, probably still caught up with the latest nice mood. Maybe he didn’t believe the blonde, maybe he didn’t hear him at all. For a musician this talented it sounded farfetched to miss a sound, but you never knew. “I’m… I’m Chat Noir, Luka.”

The guitarist blinked, smile slowly decreasing but without disappearing.

“Yeah, I heard that.”

“As the superhero, Chat Noir.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“Then why aren’t you saying anything about that?” A little shrug. The last thing he would have expected was this nonchalance. It was maddening. “I’m a superhero, I’m Chat Noir! Why aren’t you mad? You deserved to know! You should’ve known for a…” Suddenly the guitarist’s eyes were not as easy to find as before. Like they were hiding something. “… a… while…” Again, Adrien was extremely dense emotionally, and some things were harder to understand for him. But he wasn’t stupid, most important, he couldn’t ignore that little guilty grin of his taking over. “… you knew.” The pressure that had assaulted him for the last period disappeared completely, now there was only absolute shock. “You knew I was Chat Noir?!? What in the world, since when?!?”

The guitarist passed a hand over his neck, looking a little reluctant. It was a little weird of an emotion on him, on someone so on track with himself and proud of his persona. He took his hands, gently guiding him onto the bridge. That was one relief at least.

“To be honest, I was never completely sure. If you hadn’t told me I wouldn’t have known one hundred percent… but at some point I started to have my suspicions.” He led him near the rail, the moon was mirroring into the water of the Seine. His heart soared at the view. “It was the kind of thought you pay attention to only when something comes up, so I never actively tried to prove it was real.” He sounded relaxed. Perhaps he had made peace with it for a while.

Adrien nodded absently, feeling a weird limbo between relief that he wasn’t completely recognizable and that there were at least doubts in people’s minds.

“Okay, but there has to be a time when you started to think about it.”

“… there was a moment.” Once more Luka looked guilty, while smiling still. He looked at him, raising his hands. “Again, it was a doubt, not a certainty. I never actively knew for sure you were Chat Noir, okay?” The blonde frowned but nodded. “Well… remember the Desperada incident?”

He gaped, so strongly he almost chocked.

“You have a suspicion for months?!” Luka laughed a little, that managed to calm him down a little.

“An idea, a speculation, call it what you want. It got me and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.” He leaned against the rail, looking pensive. “We were hiding in the lockers, and while I was in there I heard you opening and closing a locker… then opening and closing a door.” Holy Miraculous he was an idiot. “When I found you with Ladybug in the sewer you left, and I got the snake Miraculous. Right after that Chat Noir was back.” He grinned, eyes lightening up. “From that moment the possibility has never really left my mind, and nothing has happened that made me think it couldn’t be real.” Of course not, Adrien was never around Chat Noir and Chat Noir was never around Adrien. It almost made sense – sure, ‘almost’.

Adrien took a few deep breaths, still recovering from that sudden reveal – a confession that did not go the way he would have expected. He looked at this guy who so calmly was taking everything in, a view that was calming like very few other things and, slowly, he smiled, joining him at admiring the Seine. He let his head fall onto his shoulder, closing his eyes for a moment.

“I was so worried about this.”

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t know what to do. On one hand I didn’t want it to be true, because it made me feel anxious whenever I looked at the news and saw another dangerous akuma.” He wrapped his arm around him protectively. It felt so nice. “On the other, it was kind of an endearing thought, that the two gorgeous blondes I knew just happened to be the same person.” Gosh he was going to die, this person did not hold back with compliments with either of them.

Speaking of…

“Wait, if you were thinking about it since back then… were you teasing me on purpose whenever you talked about Chat Noir in front of me?” Whoa, he had to take in the fact that this very zen guitarist was able to make such a suggestive smile. I made his entire face burn. “Oh my gosh.”

“You were always blushing whenever I did it, I couldn’t help myself.”

“For real??”

“It was too adorable. At that point either you were really him or you found him attractive as well… which I would’ve understood.”

“Stooop!!” Adrien covered his eyes, his heart bursting out of his chest, laughing out what was left of his fear. “… you really don’t care? I’m the one who asked you out, not Chat Noir.” A bit a sadness made him step away just a little. “And people like me better when I’m not him…”

“If people aren’t into you when you’re a blonde superhero with a sexy catsuit, maybes there’s something wrong with them. I suggest blindness.” It got him to laugh. Luka brought him closer, arms around him. “Besides, there aren’t two people here. You are Adrien, and you are Chat Noir. Being a superhero is a part of you. And I love it, because it makes you… you.” Truly sincerity was his biggest quality. Adrien didn’t doubt a word that had come out of his mouth. He leaned his head into the crook of his shoulder.

“Are you sure?” Luka nodded, his hair tickling his cheek.

Then he pulled away. He put a finger under his chin, raising it up. Their eyes met. There was such a calm, comfortable world behind those blue globes. It made him want to never leave.

“You’re a rare symphony, Adrien Agreste, one that had been kept hidden for far too long. I wanna hear that song, your soul, finally free to be heard. I want to know its beauty, because the echo alone is astonishing.” He knew him. He knew all of him. “The kind and selfless to a fault, the professional and determinate model, the mischievous and enchanting superhero, these are all notes that play in your life, that make your life. And I wanna be part of that song, if you will let me.” He pressed another, shorter kiss on his lips, as to seal this moment forever into his body, forever into his heart.

There was no way Adrien would have been able to stop tears. Luka gulped. The blonde smiled, a horribly wide, unsophisticated curve that would have made all of his photographers shudder at the same time. Perhaps that was why it felt so immensely good.

“You… y-you’re not allowed to say you’re not good with words after this.”

The guitarist laughed, relieved, holding him closer.

“It’s a yes then, Sunshine?” Adrien smiled, reaching forward again, thinking that there was no imaginary world of his able to replicate this.

“It’s a yes, Melody.”

This was pure, unparalleled, wholesome reality.

#lukadrien #luka coffaine #adrien agreste #chat noir #viperion #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml #ml fic #ml fanfic #lukadrien june 2021 #fanfiction #fic

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eoharu · 3 years ago

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FIRST OF ALL NA HEEDO CONGRATULATIONS MY GIRL YOU DID IT!!!!!!!!! congratulations for achieving your dreams, both win gold medal again as you promised long time ago and also become yurim's rival!

it's devastating that heedo cannot even celebrate it (i really wanna hug her tight seriously my baby doesnt deserve this after all hardship she went through). it's true that her gold medal were stolen, not by yurim but by media whose only care about rating. the way they ask sensitive questions and corner both of them! even dare to say heedo bribed the referee just because she's just some unknown fencer who suddenly rise and rich enough to do bribe; i seriously wanna smack all of them like they're so fuckin RUDE.

but i just want to say that although many hate yurim and i honestly hate her too since the first time she treat heedo like shit, i don't think she's manipulative. she's just immature and selfish. i do think she genuinely believes she was faster and should've be the winner. i think it's a natural reaction to question the referee if she genuinely feel that way, or cry because she is lost unjustly. i don't think she's being manipulative when she answered the win is a bad call because SHE TRULY BELIEVE SHE WAS FASTER. she doesnt put up a show just to corner heedo. from the way i see it, she's just fighting for a win she thinks she deserve it. heedo said there's no other way the fencer doesnt know who is faster, she strongly believe she was faster, she said she FELT it. keyword: FELT. it's not a matter of fact. it's just her feeling. SAME AS YURIM. she strongly believes, all based on her feeling, she was FASTER and by logic she could use same statement as heedo; fencer know who is faster and in that case she believe she was faster and should've be the winner.

and that's why there's a referee. a third person who objectively saw the match from closest range and professionally judge it, not judging by mere feeling. judge said it's na heedo who is faster and thus become the winner. everyone saying yurim has bad sportsmanship for complaining referee's result, and i agree she's so selfish for that, but honestly if you feel wronged won't you complaint too?? and it's a fucking prestige competition, and people strongly believe she will win. she strongly believe too and her complaining was her last straw to hang on that tiny hope of winning and fulfilling those expectations. it's her coping mechanism. because once again the way i see it, yurim still believe she was faster and the way she act isn't simply to make heedo look bad; rather i would say she unintentionally made heedo look bad. the case would be different if she know heedo is faster but she still insist she's faster, her crying in podium then would definitely a playing victim act and her words in press conference were her being manipulative bish. but we don't know if yurim see it herself that heedo is faster, as of now it seems she still think she was faster. so i think, even i don't excuse her shitty behavior, i understand why she act that way. she's so desperate to win, her poverty and her sickening inferiority complex towards heedo make it much worse. she's still young, so many pressure and expectations weighed her down, she's always told by her coach the only thing that keep her worth is her gold medal. it's a very stressful situation for her. so i understand why she behaved that way.

that being sad, i still madly despise her, lmao. i would pity her if she didn't direct all her frustration to heedo, even being so heartless said she stole it from her. lol, she truly forget the fact that referee is most objective and more trustworthy than her own feeling. i'm so disappointed she even deluded herself heedo win because she bribed the judge. how dare she treat heedo that way, after see it herself how hard heedo work for it! i said before she can complain to referee if she feel unfair, but she should've known by doing so she hurt her opponent; not only her feeling but also her integrity & honor. the best she can do after fulfilling her selfish desire is not hurt her opponent personally. i can't believe she said heedo stole the gold medal from her and she's the VICTIM to heedo, who is just accused of bribe minutes ago. it's very upsetting to see that scene. please stop hurting heedo and behave!!!! learn to accept failures!!! learn to respect your opponent and referee!!!!! your desperation doesnt excuse your behavior to act that way!!! stop being so selfish & egoistic!!! i really hope she would think over it carefully next time she's more composed that referee's judgement is more trustworthy than her own feeling and later properly apologize & congratulations na heedo sincerely.

but still i think the main culprit is media. everyone should've been cheering because korea just won gold medal. but yeah our people loves drama more than anything, and media painted the match like a sob story where heedo the spoiled privileged kid stole the gold medal from poor star yurim; totally dismissed both their effort & hard work from the narrative. if only the journalist ask how she practice or her strategy to win instead of ask is she personally know the referee and possible bribery, things would've not gotten so bad. i almost punch my screen once her mom said it by her own mouth that na heedo stole the medal from yurim. it's so heartbreaking to see no one root for heedo even before the match, not even one she shared blood with, and now whole nation despise her; partially thanks to her mom contribution. the moment heedo said should she give up the medal just because everyone want to see yurim win instead of her, my heart shattered. the way her coach never care for her and even think she's just a hindrance to yurim, the way the coach cheered for yurim although he said he rooted for none, the way yurim's uniform is the blue-red one blatantly showing she's the korea's representative and whole nation side by her... heedo literally only has three people rooting for her and one is dead. how sad is that, knowing only three people want her win, she still strive so hard to win only to say she bribe the referee. IM. SO. MAD.

it's so sad to even see she doubt yijin and think he come as reporter to dig more story from her. moment that should've been a triumph for her become moment where she run away all by herself, lost and not knowing what to do or where to go and even doubt people closest to her. the scene where granpas console her and she's helplessly crying... I'm so thankful she has that moment when she see it herself not everyone curse her and there are also other people who root for her, even put faith on korea fencing's bright future on heedo's hand.

i truly want heedo & yurim work together to make that true. for that to happen yurim needs to work on her inferiority complex and learn she has many things heedo doesnt. i hope she feel grateful for all supports she has and heedo doesnt. i hope she stop see heedo only as rich prodigy kid who has it easy and she's the only one who suffer. i truly hope, soon, she will see heedo as rival and respected her. i hope she see how heedo isn't there to ruin her world and take away her achievement & spotlight, but to make her strive harder and enjoy fencing more despite her burden. and i hope to see their match again later, when they play fair & square, sincerely congratulate each other with smile no matter who wins. i hope their relationship evolve as sweet as they were in cyber world!

#twenty five twenty one #i repeat many things in this rants sorry for that #my: rants #tvn 2521

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aros001 · 3 years ago

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Read through light novel vol. 8. Random thoughts.

It's funny that what's made me the angriest thus far in this series is Priestess getting her clothes stolen. Closest was Wizard Boy's arrogant ignorance. With the goblins I feel horror and disgust and yeah there's anger there too, but for whatever reason I had just such a strong reaction of "That bitch!" when the girl stole the mail from Priestess and made her cry.

The news that the first princess had been kidnapped by goblins was enough to make the king stand up from his throne.

Okay, I was mad but not that mad!

“About, that...” Witch, who had produced her pipe from nowhere, gave Priestess a heavy-lidded look. Erk... Priestess felt her heart skip a beat; she put a hand to her chest. Would she be able to have this effect on people someday? It was going to be a long time coming...

That does make me wonder, has there ever been a design for Priestess as an adult, be it official or fan-art? She is only 16, so even if she doesn't get much bustier she should still reasonably grow a bit. It's interesting to imagine her and Goblin Slayer anywhere near a similar height.

Also, this is me probably looking too deep into things, but between Witch, Sword Maiden and even a lot of her interactions with Noble Fencer, does anyone else ever get the feeling Priestess might be bisexual? I hesitate to say that because usually I dislike how often I see people insist that a deep friendship/connection/admiration immediately equals love, but how the narration sometimes describes how Priestess is thinking about some other women makes it sound a lot more like attraction than just envy over body proportions. I say bi and not just gay because she does seem to have at least some romantic feelings for Goblin Slayer, even if it is just a desire for his attention and approval.

That aside, I do really like that she wants to be more like Witch, or at least how she perceives Witch. Cool, powerful, knowledgeable, elegant, stacked. I've always had a soft spot for characters who have another person they admire as their goal to be like and are so humble that they don't quite see the positive effect they already have on those around them. The person who admires someone for their positive qualities not yet seeing that they too are admired for similar qualities.

The skin her vestments revealed was perfectly white, almost translucent, as if untouched by the sun. It meant that the tinge of rose in her cheeks was probably not just from the light. She almost seemed like a harlot—and there were temples that kept sacred prostitutes.

What the f**k is a sacred prostitute?

Given that we know High Elf Archer sleeps in the nude, that's twice in this book Goblin Slayer just barges into a woman's room while she's not dressed, first with Cow Girl and then with her to wake her up.

“I know it’s hard,” Goblin Slayer said with utmost seriousness. “When I was a child, I would lay in bed trying to find out how long I had to keep my eyes closed before it would be morning.”

Again, one of the big draws of this series for me and why I think it works is that it takes trauma seriously. The raping goblins aren't just a gimmick to make the series seem edgy. It addresses that these creature would really mess a person up and that the lingering trauma is treated with understanding, never like it's cowardice or foolishness. How this series handles Sword Maiden especially is something I really respect. She comes in to save the day at the end but it's clear it's taking everything she has just to be there. How she froze up when she was called on in the court to deal with the goblins and the relief like a bright light when Goblin Slayer came in to take the job. The position she's in of being powerful enough to face the Demon King but unable to fight "mere" goblins and no one aside from those who've personally experienced the sheer horror of the goblins able to understand, adding to her feelings of isolation and helplessness. It's really good stuff.

I remember when I first started with Goblin Slayer and I saw some people complaining that the series was kind of dull because he never fights anything other than goblins. One, that's just flat-out not true, as he's fought many non-goblin creatures. He just has no interest in fighting anything that's not a goblin. But even when it's just the goblins, I think this series does a good job at making the goblins always feel like a threat and shaking things up often enough. Giving them new tactics, new leaders, new bases of operation, even new breeds like the Goblin Paladin. Every time they're doing something even slightly different from the norm for them it always sparks some dread about what's coming. The moment this volume mentioned a band of goblins with identical tattoos marking them it was just an instant "Oh, that can't be good" from me, which leads into the Goblin Priest, a big cause for alarm given how useful Priestess has proven herself to be, which led into the weird demon arm thing. It's like complaining that a character never fights anything other than humans or dragons or vampires. The power level doesn't matter if it's the same kind of human/dragon/vampire every time. Be it the things that use goblins as their minions/followers or the goblins themselves, I personally think there's enough variety involved to keep things interesting.

A nice moment with Priestess visiting Wizard's grave (so this is the leaked image that got the false rumor started) and, something I'm really hoping for, the possible return of Fighter, even if it's just Priestess eventually finding the courage to see her again at least once. Again, the reason the goblins work is because what they do isn't just a gimmick. Several volumes after her first party's wipe, Priestess is still thinking about them, lamenting their loss, thinking about what could have been, and how difficult it'll be for them to see each other again after what happened. They weren't just Priestess' origin story, they were real (albeit fictional) people, taken before their time and violated in the worst way possible and they shouldn't be just a footnote. Be it for Priestess and Wizard's brother, they should and do still matter.

She strengthened her barriers as an attack came from a strange angle; Sage was thinking fast. It seemed likely that this thing, this shade—if it could be called that—learned by absorbing other living things. They were simply lucky that the creature it was trying to parasitize at the moment was so incredibly stupid. But... Sage gave voice to the obvious question. “How did the corpse of a goblin drop onto a mountaintop...?”

Holy shit, that's hilarious. And the best part is, there was build up to it. Back in vol. 6 when Goblin Slayer used a scroll to flood a nest he did believe there were some goblins he wasn't able to get. Throughout the series it's been noted he doesn't like using the same tricks too many times in a row in case the goblins learn from him, thus the importance of making sure every goblin he encounters he kills. If some escaped, yeah, it makes total sense he'd change to a different type of location for the Gate scroll, just in case he ever meets up with goblins whom are expecting a flood to pop out.

Second only to this with how good the set-up was has to be Priestess turning the blood from the Goblin Priest's ritual into water, ruining its sacrifice to the dark gods. She discovered she could do that last volume but it seemed like she never would again because she's forbidden from using her miracles to deliberately harm another living being (even a goblin). This was a very clever way of bringing it back, having her learn from her experiences while still being devote to the Earth Mother.

Priestess noticed that her hand was still clinging to his and blushed. She made to disentangle her fingers—hesitated—brushed his hand softly and, finally, pulled hers away. She was humiliated, pathetic, pitiful...and yet. I want to be... ...a source of strength to him. That day, she stored up the smallest of prayers in her heart. One day, she swore, she would be.

All shipping and such aside, this is something I really hope to see someday. That point in the series where Priestess is no longer Goblin Slayer's sidekick but rather his partner. Someone he can have truly walk and fight beside him as an equal, easing the burden on his shoulders, until the day all goblins are gone.

What kind of world is it where I'm thinking "Thank goodness, the princess was only severely beaten and nearly sacrificed to a dark god"?

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinSlayer/comments/g4llnd/read_through_light_novel_vol_8_random_thoughts/

#goblin slayer #random thoughts #reddit repost

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