#i just..... i loved the champions so much.... and they're barely there....

[moinsbienquekaworu]

okay so your tag ramble on the tulin great eagle bow/revali's absence post was really interesting and I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on that tbh (like, you have the time/inclination of course!)

(for posterity: this is re: my tags on this post)

Thanks for actually asking me!! I'll just rewrite the gist of the tags that got cut, but in a more legible format.

I was talking about not liking that Tulin is descended from the original sage of wind, which, I understand why it's like that, but I dislike it. It feels 1) contradictory to the theme of the Rito "chosen one" being first and foremost a good warrior rather than the leader of their people and of their power being acquired rather than inherited (which is not bad, I liked what Yunobo had going on with struggling to live up to great grandpa Daruk, I just also liked seeing different stories with the different characters) and also 2) since Tulin's power is so similar to Revali, it kind of implies to me that Revali's power was lesser (and by extension the champions were less important than the sages as a group) ? In general this game feels like the story is bigger and more important than BotW's, and it comes out as replacing rather than supplementing it sometimes to me.

Plus, when the sage of wind said that Tulin was his descendant, it didn't feel like they were just tiptoeing around Revali, it felt like they were ignoring him completely. You can assume the lightning, fire and water powers were hereditary all along and the champions just showed them in their own different way, but for the Ritos it doesn't work, and it gives me vibes of discarding a plotpoint you mentioned in an earlier chapter because you realised halfway through that it wasn't relevant to the story you wanted to tell. Plus I don't like unnecessary familial ties when it would've worked fine without them.

I mentioned Revali making me think of Satine in one of the tags, which could be obscure if you're not also obsessed with the same guys as me, so I'll explain. Warning, I'm going to be a Star Wars nerd for the rest of the paragraph, but for real it did give me pause. Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore is a character introduced in a side show to be Obi-Wan's love interest (which is why she's named that). She's the pacifist leader of her people, but they have a history & culture of war and violence, so she struggles with that a fair bit. She dies because an old enemy of Obi-Wan wants to get to him by killing his love interest, and encourages unrest on her planet. In The Mandalorian's latest season, her sister Bo-Katan becomes an important character, and her arc is apparently (I'm not done with it so I'm basing this on what I've seen on here, ie all the important scenes giffed) about becoming the leader of her people and turning her back to her violent past. She does the thing her sister did decades ago, her sister who died in part because of her, her sister whom she disagreed with on pacifism, and not once is Satine's name said once in S3. There is a Satine shaped hole in that thing, it's all about her, she was the one trying to bring peace to her planet 30 years ago, but people didn't like her character much so she is ignored when it makes absolutely no sense to ignore her.

Okay I'm done with SW now but you see what I meant? There is a them shaped hole in a narrative that should by all means include them! The way they handled Mipha wasn't ideal but they could have given the same treatment to the other champions! The way they really wanted to separate TotK from BotW in terms of story doesn't work because it doesn't feel like you're really coming back to the same place. They couldn't have known if you'd already met the characters, but honestly I think it couldn't have hurt to have more mentions of what happened about 5-6 years ago in universe. Riju doesn't mention her dead mom or feeling like she lives up to Lady Urbosa now, Yunobo isn't even going to talk about Daruk when it would be a cool thing to have the old boss compliment his personal growth that way, and it would have been so easy to have Teba do that too, go "you showed the same prowess as Revali, the warrior of old, you're worthy of wielding his bow"!

It would have been easy and it wouldn't have stuck out if they'd mentioned it more! If people still made casual references to these old figures, to the warriors who fought Ganon the first time! It could have been a neat piece of background lore, the way the stone tablets of Zora's domain were in BotW!

Plus nobody says anything but the divine beasts were modelled after the sage's masks then?? Because the fact they reused the design means there IS a connection right??? I'm going crazy, that was a great opportunity to mention the divine beasts and the legacy of the sages and tie it all into the tapestry of this Hyrule's history! But no. The guy who wants to see a big horse can come back but Link's fellow champions aren't cool enough I guess. Same issue with the towers & Sheikah tech. I don't know why they did it that way, I suppose it was a way to delineate which game is which and create stronger boundaries?

My last grievance was extremely petty and not serious at all, it's just that when I saw Teba giving Tulin the bow my Link always kept on him I kind of lost my mind lol. Like the 28x3 easy to draw bow with a cool design and lore did not leave my inventory, you best believe that. I won't nitpick that Link lost his whole inventory to the point that his childhood BFF's cultural equivalent to a wedding ring went all the way back to Zora's domain, but I was kind of peeved haha. Like that is MY bow give it back if you're not even going to mention Revali's name!!

Anyway this was me losing my mind over a game I really really love! Thanks again for giving me an opportunity to ramble I love doing it.

[pantherxrogers]

hey! could you write a san version of the sugar daddy/boyfriend smut👀

one-shot: sugar daddy!san x fem!reader ⋆。°  ✮   ⁺

⭐️ pairing: sugar daddy!san (+ boxer!san) x fem!reader

⭐️ warnings: smut (18+ only), explicit language, oral (f receiving), dry humping, swearing, gentle dom!san, slightly sub!reader, crybaby!reader (but they're happy tears), incorrect boxing terminology (boxer!san is just sexy lmao i know nothing about boxing), pet names galore, spit as lube, super fluffy too

also...pee after sex!!

⭐️ summary: sugar daddy!san comes home from Europe with a special gift for his spoiled girl. she's a little bit of a crybaby, but he knows how to remedy that. he may be a boxing world champion but he's devoted on making the reader feel like the winner 😼

⭐️ a/n: lmao, i got carried away writing this one because San is my bias. it's definitely longer than Mingi and Yunho, so i'm calling it a one-shot.

i re-watched the bouncy music video recently, so i had the idea to combine sugar daddy!san with Boxer!san. and also non!idol san. it's a trope salad LMAO. enjoy! 🫶🏾 thank you for the request darling! <3

my masterlist (you can find the mingi and yunho versions here!)

This is a work of fiction and is not meant to represent real events or the actual personalities of any K-pop idols mentioned. All characters and situations are purely imaginary. This story is created for entertainment purposes only, and no harm or disrespect is intended toward the idols or their fans. Enjoy!

"Good job, baby!" You squeal, rushing towards San as soon as he steps into your shared penthouse.

"Thank you, pretty girl," your boyfriend mumbles, weighed down by jet lag, but already feeling lighter in your presence.

"So proud of my undisputed champion! I wish I could've been there," you coo, basking in the feel of him.

"Me too, baby," he confesses, finally content in your arms. It's always nice to win, but nothing beats his greatest treasure. You.

Standing on your tippy toes, you press a firm kiss to his lips. He meets you with a hunger. San traces his tongue along your plump bottom lip, asking for entry. When he delves into your mouth, you can't help the little moan that slips out. The sound makes San's pants feel tighter.

Your heart's beating faster now, and you melt into your boyfriend's warmth. The thin, silky nightie barely covers anything. A warm chill goes down your spine when your nipples brush against San's firm chest. As you lift your leg to drape around his waist, you notice his arms are locked behind his back.

"Ummm…" you trail off, breaking the kiss to ask for an explanation. This is your first moment to really get a good look at him, which doesn't help the wetness gathering in your thong.

He's smirking at you, and he's just so sexy. The chandelier lighting of the foyer reflects from his thin, gold chain. You notice that he's dressed comfortably, likely still wearing whatever he wore on the private jet to get home.

He's wearing his own merch, Choi San (K-Rocky) World Champion printed across the front of the gray hoodie. It makes you beam with pride every time you see it. Trailing your eyes down, you're met with his matching sweatpants and growing bulge. More pride surges in your chest, happy to know he missed you as much as you missed him. As a result, a girlish giggle slips through your lips.

"Something funny, pretty girl?" he chides, playfully raising an eyebrow at you.

"Is there something in your pocket or are you just excited to see me?" you grin, loving the ways his eyes light up at your cheesy joke. He crowds your space again, smiling down at you before he whispers in your ear.

"Well, I'm definitely excited to see my baby, but I also have a little surprise for her," he grumbles, sending warmth to your lower belly. He steps back again, arms still locked behind his back.

You're fighting back a smile, remembering the promise he made before leaving to reclaim his title.

"Close your eyes, sweet girl," he murmurs. You can't see him, but he smirks again, cock stirring in his pants at your obedience.

"Are you ready?" he teases, chuckling softly at the furrow in your brow. He can't ignore how cute you get when you're feeling bratty.

"Sannieeeee, c'mon," you whine, growing more impatient by the second.

He feels like a pervert the way his eyes lock on your full breasts, biting his lip when they sway in tandem with your little tantrum. He thinks about how they'll feel in his mouth when he gets you underneath him.

"Stop staring at my tits and let me have my gift!" you growl, knowing how spoiled you sound but you've lost the ability to care.

"Hey, be a good girl," he commands, the serious tone in his voice putting an abrupt stop to your antics.

" 'm sorry, sir," you whisper breathily, clit throbbing at the way he effortlessly switches into his dominant side.

San heart aches a little bit when he looks at you. He knows you love playing rough, but he doesn't have it in him to torment you any longer.

" 's okay baby, open your eyes for me," he coos. He nearly jumps back at the shriek you let out.

"Ah! I knew it!" you cry out, reaching forward to snatch the Hermes bag out of his hands. Reaching inside, you almost burst into tears when you feel the handbag of your dreams.

"Sannie," you whimper, looking up at him with teary eyes. He's on you before you can continue, wrapping his strong arms around you.

"Don't cry, baby," he begs softly, unable to watch you cry, even if they're happy tears.

"I can't help it," you sniffle, "I'm so grateful for you," the words are muffled against his chest, you find it hard to continue opening the bag.

"I couldn't do any of this without my baby. This is the least I could do," he answers honestly, pulling your soft body away from his to look into your eyes.

"I love you more than anything." You tear up again at the sincerity in his eyes.

"I love you too," you whimper, trying to stop the tears that flow down your cheeks. San's hands come up, brushing away the tears as lightly as possible, so you don't feel his rough callouses.

He holds you for a few more minutes, quieting your tears with affirmations and soft kisses. You stand there in silence for a while, calmed by the steady sound of his heartbeat.

"How do you feel now, baby? he asks softly, tracing his hand down your back. Another smirk rests on his face, when he watches the goosebumps raise up on your skin.

"Think 'm good now," you answer him, remembering the task at hand.

You finally open the bag, admiring the heavy Birkin in your hands. As you pour out a stream of thank you's and I love you's, when San catches you by surprise.

One moment, you're standing in the foyer and the next moment, he's scooped you up and into the living room. He gently places you on the vast leather couch, settling in beside you.

Drawn to his warmth, you cuddle up next to him, loving the way his strong arm cradles your waist. He carefully takes the bag from you, placing it on the marble coffee table. The two of you sit in a comfortable silence before the TV catches his attention.

"Are you watching my highlights, baby?" he teases, knowing full and well that you always tune into ESPN when he's away.

"Don't tease me, Sannie. I missed you," you mumble, nestling further into his side.

San looks down at you, enchanted by the exposed skin that the nightie doesn't quite cover. He brings a rough hand to your thigh, tracing the smooth skin, admiring how it feels in his grip. He can hear your breathing pick up, knowing exactly what effect he has on you.

"Missed you too, pretty girl," he sighs, using one arm to shift you onto his lap. San helps you adjust, finally content when you're straddling him.

"I missed you more," you breathe out, finding it difficult to concentrate.

He's so warm and strong beneath you, his muscular thighs being the perfect pillow. His hands are lower now, softly groping your ass through the lingerie. You can't help but to grind down on him, both of you letting out a content moan.

"Not possible," he murmurs, "But you're welcome to try to prove it," he finishes his sentence with a sharp smack to your ass, triggering another moan from you.

"Shit," you huff out, overwhelmed by the feeling of his body underneath yours.

His cock is fully hard now, protruding through his sweats. Your thong is basically nonexistent, clinging to your wet pussy. That sensation combined with San's lazy grinding make it hard for you to think clearly.

His lips are on your neck now, sucking on the sensitive skin. He loves the way you moan out into his ear, harshly grinding his hard cock against your pussy.

"C'mon baby, you gonna prove it to me?" he teases, warm breath against your ear.

His words finally click in your head, knowing what you want to do. You start to shimmy off his lap, trying to get on your knees, but San's arms lock you in place.

"Wanna show you how grateful I am," you beg, hooded eyes staring back into his own.

His head lulls back onto the cushion, finding it hard to concentrate when you look at him like that. Messy curls, hard nipples poking through your nightie, and your lips swollen from kissing. You look fucked out and he's barely getting started.

"Then let me taste you, baby. That's all I really want," he groans, quickly switching your position. Your head spins for a moment, barely registering how you changed places so fast.

You're on your back, San's rough hands pinning your thighs to your chest. The leather couch is cool beneath your skin, helping you think a little more clearly. Raising up on your elbows, you look down at him, eyes almost rolling back at the image.

He's bent over in front of you, gray hoodie long forgotten. He's wearing a white tank, muscles on display for you. As you admire him, his smooth lips trail along the sensitive skin of your inner thighs. Always the tease, he softly kisses your clit through your thong, your hips bucking in response.

"S-Sannie, please," you moan out, trying to push up against his mouth. He pulls back, smirking up at you, loving the neediness in your voice.

"Tell me what you want, pretty girl," he murmurs, faintly tracing his fingertips up and down your plush thighs. He looks at you expectantly.

"Want your mouth," you whine, hating when he does this. It makes you feel shy, but maybe that's why your heart flutters a little bit. Even if you'd never admit it to him.

"Want me to lick your pretty pussy?" he coos before lowering his head, pressing another kiss to your bundle of nerves.

"Mmmm, yes" you moan, eyes rolling back at the light pressure.

"Such a good girl. What my baby wants, my baby gets," he growls, peeling the soaked fabric away from your pussy.

"Fuck," he groans, eyes locked on the trail of wetness still clinging to your thong. He can't help dipping his tongue in it, eager to have a taste. You yelp, surprised by the sudden contact.

"Y-yes, Sannie, feels so good," you pant, unable to focus on anything but the intense pleasure from San's tongue.

He alternates between sucking on your clit and bringing up a finger to rub figures eights. Your hips buck up, doing anything to maximize your pleasure.

"You like that, baby? Like how it feels against your little clit?" The look of pure ecstasy on your face gives him his answer.

He latches back onto your pussy, using his thick tongue to delve between your sopping folds. Your high-pitched moans spur him on, sliding his tongue into your tight hole.

The lewd noises of your boyfriend tongue fucking you is too much for you to bear, your pussy starts to clench around the wet muscle, teetering on the edge of your orgasm.

"F-fuck, yes sir," you huff, spreading your legs even wider, "Gonna cum soon."

He hums against you, the vibrations adding to your pleasure. He's back on your clit again, flicking the nub with the tip of his tongue. When you thrash against the couch, San tightens his grip on your thighs, trapping you into place.

"You can come for me, sweet girl. It's okay," he soothes you, switching back to rubbing fast circles against your clit.

Your hips have lost their rhythm now, aimlessly bucking into the pleasure of San's thumb. He lowers his head again, lewdly spitting on your pussy.

"C'mon on my tongue, baby. That's it," he hums, gravelly voice going directly to your clit.

"Ahhh, fuck," you whine out, feeling his tongue enter your hole again. The pleasure is too much. His rough thumb against your clit and tongue stretching out your pussy push you over the edge. Your orgasm crashes over you in waves, San coaxing you through it.

He sits back on his heels, taking in your body. He keeps circling your clit, letting you ride out your high and come back down to him.

When you've calmed down, you see your boyfriend hovering over you. That kind smile is on his face now, stretching all the way up to his eyes. You swear you can feel your heart expanding in your chest.

"Hi, my pretty girl."

"Hi Sannie," you whisper shyly, cheeks burning at the way he admires you.

"C'mere," he snuggles you back into his lap, adjusting your nightie and smoothing down your curls. You giggle at the wet kisses he's pressing to your cheeks, loving the way he cares for you.

"Missed my baby so much," he accentuates his words with a tight squeeze, making your heart do the same. You let out a soft missed you too, feeling sleepy in his arms.

Cradling your body, you feel him rise from the couch. He turns off the TV, but alarm bells ring in the back of your head.

"Sannie."

"Hm?"

"Can you take my Birkin to my wardrobe please?" you mumble. San tries his best to hold in his laugh, so he doesn't disturb you. Not even a mind-shattering orgasm could make you forget about your Birkin.

"Of course, baby," Is the last thing you here before your eyes close for the night.

[yandereunsolved]

☾ — Yandere Revali — ☾

"Impressive, I know. Very few can achieve a mastery of the sky. Yet I have made an art of creating an updraft that allows me to soar. It's considered to be quite the mastery of aerial techniques, even among the Rito."

"Hmm?"

"W-Were you not watching my feat of aerial mastery?"

"Sorry, Revali! I got distracted by one of the other Rito."

"Oh? What was this 'gracious' Rito speaking to you about? Was it that much more important than me?"

"It's nothing like that! I just got offered to be taught a few archery techniques. The Great Eagle Bow you gave me should be put to good use!"

What...? Some moronic half-cocked Rito is trying to teach you the thing I am greatest at? They're trying to teach my dear, my darling, my dove. How dare they.

"Ugh—such a betrayal. If you really want to learn something, then be taught by the master. Thousands have asked to receive my teachings, and I have turned every single one of them down. Yet, I extend my wing to you so you don't look so pathetic with that graceful bow on your back. Do you accept?"

"I kind of already made a promise that I'd go practice with them. You're really busy anyway. You have all that champion stuff you have to do. I wouldn't want to be a bother."

It seems like that Rito is about to have a flying accident. It'll be such a pity that they accidentally broke their wings and plummeted towards the ground. Their body will be barely recognizable. A pity. Such a pity.

"Nonsense. I could not allow my Hylian visitor to look like a fool in my village.However, if you already promised, it would be disrespectful of me to try and twist your word. Just take one of my feathers, will you? As good luck for your practice."

"Thank you for being understanding. It's such a kind gesture."

A gesture that you are mine. Such a silly Hylian. You don't know how courting is in Rito culture. Keeping that feather on you means that you are my new mate; you have accepted me. I hope that twat sees my feather in your hair before I kill him. 

"I am nothing if not generous." my love

( @sunset-peril @sixofcrowley )

[wildflowercryptid]

now that kieran's champ look dropped, i could finally draw their mjverse designs for indigo disk. there's a 1 year timeskip between the 2 dlcs in my canon so i wanted to make them look a lil different to show that passage of time, ( carmine's not here bc i don't really see her look changing much. )

some info about what juliana and florian were up to during that 1 year gap under the cut! ⤵

JULIANA : after attaining her champion title and helping solve the team star situation, juliana's skills as a battler have become pretty well known around paldea. this new status initially ostracized her a bit from her peers, much like what nemona experienced, but she was able to show others that she was still just as approachable as she was before by tutoring some fellow students that wished to improve their battling skills. she's also realized that she really loves teaching others and is pretty damn good at it, too.

besides battling, juliana has also found a love of art thanks to hassel's art class. if you couldn't find her at the academy's battlefield, she'd most likely be working on a new piece in the art room. as a result, a lot of her clothes have speckled with paint ( like her favorite sneakers. ) seeing her passion for art and hoping to help her hone her skills, hassel took up the position as her mentor and is a great source of encouragement and support for her. juliana has also started dating penny soon after the end of post-game story.

FLORIAN : after getting back to mezagoza from his trip to kitakami, florian was a bit of an emotional wreak ( to say the least. ) he spent well over a month languishing over what happened with kieran, most of it spent moping around juliana and his shared dorm room while listening to heartbreak playlists. the rest was spent coming to the realization that his skills as a battler were still severely lacking. his last battle with kieran was an extremely close call, he only barely won with the skills he had gained during his journey through paldea. with how things were, there was no way he could fufill the duties of a pokémon professor if he couldn't effectively protect the pokémon entrusted to him, let alone himself or others he cares about. he couldn't keep resting on his laurels, he had to work towards improving himself.

so, for the past year, florian's poured himself into improving his battling skills with nemona and his sister's help. while he still isn't on their level, he's become quite the formidable battler. ogrepon, which he's given the nickname "pon-pon," has also become a staple of his team. the rest of his time is dedicated towards studying in the hopes of becoming pasio's next pokémon professor, being the most interested in mythology and terastallization. he still talks to arven frequently after he ( finally ) graduated, along with becoming friends with ortega and atticus. he even dated ortega briefly, but it was very clear that florian was still hung up on kieran so the relationship didn't last long, ( they're still good friends, though. )

when cyrano approaches the cavallari siblings and asks them to come to blueberry academy as exchange students, florian accepts the offer without hesitation. this could be his only chance to reconcile with kieran so there's no way he'd pass it up. juliana is happy to tag along since a school that focuses on battling sounds right up her alley, that and she's still peeved about not getting to go to kitakami. though, she's a little concerned for her brother and what may be waiting for him when they get there.

[musiclovingmoth]

after barely a day of my poll being up it seems like so many people know about and really love natural history collections which makes my heart sing!! i would love for my fellow natural history nerds to rise up and sign this petition to protect one!!

duke university is CLOSING its herbarium which holds over 800,000 plant/fungus/algae specimens including 2,000 types spanning 180 years of collection effort all across the planet. it is the second largest private university herbarium in the entire united states. this is really bad!! i will explain in short terms:

every natural history collection's purpose is to collect and maintain specimens, which are collectively supposed to be a thorough representation of biodiversity across time and space. when sampled at regular intervals at the same places, specimens can tell endless stories about changes in shape, abundance, range, genetics, and SO much more. basically, they are a big sample size to use in all manner of studies, including those that concern climate change and biodiversity loss! new species and evolutionary relationships are constantly discovered at collections even when specimens are like 100 years old. duke has recently championed itself as a global leader in biodiversity research which is honestly in jawdropping conflict with its move to close its herbarium. this herbarium not only supplies duke researchers with material but researchers all over the world. specimens have been cited in over 46,000 publications and over 13,000 since 2019 alone. we have old shit in our cabinets but the science is anything but history!

faculty and staff have 2-3 years to move the specimens elsewhere which is NOT enough time for 800,000 old dried plant/fungus specimens. this is an issue in even the BEST natural history collections at the biggest institutions but collections are pretty much always understaffed and underpaid. a university collection usually relies a lot on student labor and you know they do not have the time to be contributing to this move. to find collections that would take these specimens AND allocate the manpower and time needed to send them off is not feasible. types, especially holotypes should really NEVER be transported because they serve as the exemplar for the characteristics of the species it represents. i do not feel good about hurrying 800,000 old, fragile specimens including 2,000 types getting moved in a short amount of time by a few people. i do not want to know what will happen to the remaining specimens that don't make it out in time.

this sets a really dangerous precedent for other university collections across the world. this is not a random state school, this is duke university, which is practically an ivy league. if they close such a prominent and respected collection just because they're not 260% maximizing their profits, it may let other greedy university admins know they can get away with the same. i've only been in the professional collections world for a short time but shutting down a collection let alone one as big as duke's is almost UNHEARD of. i haven't seen scientists band together so strongly and quickly over an issue (i'm in an ENTOMOLOGY collections listserv and someone advocated for emailing duke admin against this decision), probably because they can all agree on how strongly this could impact climate and biodiversity research and policymaking down the road.

tl;dr if duke herbarium really closes, we would be losing a vital hub for ongoing and future research that helps us understand how our world is changing through the dynamics of our plants and their allies. other institutions might see this and follow suit with their own collections.

[pablitogavii]

Panic

Everyone around you kept telling you 'he will cheat' or 'you'll never be enough for him' or 'he's probably thinking about those instagram models' and it was all you could think about.

What if they were right?? You were just a normal every day girl and Pablo had grown women on their knees for his attention. All of this was giving you so much anxiety!

"Good evening señora Y/l/n. How are you?" Pablo asked politely as your mom welcomed him inside smiling at his kindness. Unlike all your friends, your parents were very supportive of your relationship with the young football star.

"I'm doing pretty well Pablo, but Y/n is worrying me these days..she's barely eating and doesn't leave her room unless it's to go to school. I don't know what's wrong with my babygirl" woman said and Pablo got curious now also starting to worry what was going on since you haven't told him anything.

He's been busy last could of days preparing for champions league so you only had to face time before bed but you still didn't say something was bothering you.

"I will talk to her, don't worry. I am sure everything will be alright." Pablo smiled kindly walking upstairs where your room is at knocking at your door.

"Amor? Are you sleeping preciosa??" Pablo asked peeking into the dark room seeing you cuddled up on the bed with your phone in your hand highlighting your face.

"Pablo!!!" you said excitedly moving the blanket and opening your arms welcoming him in and he chuckled closing the door and laying besides you scooping you in his arms.

"How are you preciosa? Todo bien?" he said and you tried to fake a smile which he saw right through asking you the same question again making you sigh.

"Um..I'm feeling very anxious lately cariño.." you admit feeling tears collecting in your eyes already and he sits up a bit wanting to be able to look you in the eyes as you spoke.

"Why is that amorcito? Something happened at school or is it something about us?" he said and you got scared to answer. In your past relationship saying that something was wrong meant long hours of constant arguence.

"Um..it's nothing..don't worry about it Pablo" you try to dodge the subject but he wouldn't let you especially after hearing how worried your mom was about your health.

"If it makes you anxious, then it's something I want to worry about. It's alright, preciosa. You can tell me anything, I promise. Bueno?" he caressed you hair while speaking in a soothing tone that made you more relaxed.

"Um..everyone tells me that you will cheat..that I am not enough for you because you're a footballer..and..and I know that's not who you are but..I get scared..and then I panic" you were mumbling the last part afraid that Pablo will take offense but instead he held you tighter pulling your chin up and kissing your lips lovingly.

"Is this why you weren't eating and taking care of yourself huh princesa?" he asked holding your face gently and you nodded your head.

"And then..then I read today that Neymar cheated on his pregnant girlfriend for the second time because they sent it to me..so I just felt sick..and um I couldn't eat anything." you spoke feeling dumb for comparing someone else to Gavi who you knew loved you purely but constant pressures from the sides made you go crazy.

"Amor..listen to me. I know you're my smart girl and you already know this but every man is different and it also depends on the type of relationship he is in with a girl. Most of my friends don't want anything serious because they want that crazy lifestyle while they're young. Joder, I was the same until I met you at that coffee shop and you spilled tea into my lap..I fell in love with you amor. That's different from being attracted to you or thinking you're pretty. It's something worth staying loyal to and I would never do anything to hurt you my sweet girl..I could not bare it. All I want to do is hold you in my arms and protect you from their poisonous words!" Pablo finished hugging you tight and you sighed finally pushing those thought out of your mind and focusing on his words instead. You believed him completely, and you knew you both loved each other unconditionally.

"Are you mad at me now?" you ask fearfully looking up at his still very much soft eyes as he gave you a small smile.

"Why would I be mad amor?" he asked and once again your past relationship made you assume he would be toxic which he is not at all.

"Um..b..because I let them get into my head" you say and he shakes his head while kissing your forehead.

"No, I'm not mad because I get it. Hearing someone constantly saying something will happen makes you worried that it just might. They are jealous of us amor. They don't want us together because they can't have what we have with each other. But no way in hell am I going to let their poisonous words destroy the purest love i felt for someone in my life!" Pablo said and now you were the one who moved up and kissed his lips passionately.

"Neither will I...I'll stop talking to every single one of them. There is no one I care about more than you cariño. Tu eres mi vida." you say and Pablo kissed you again nodding his head in agreement.

"Whenever you need reassurance, just tell me preciosa..I will always give it to you." he promised and you smiled nodding your head and nuzzling it into his neck.

"Te amo Pablito.." you sigh in relief glad that was finally over and he was right there with you.

"Yo te amo muchisimo princesita" he said and the two of you cuddled up in silence for a few minutes. Shortly after, your stomach was rumbling and the two of you giggled because of it.

"Um..maybe we can have some dinner now??" you ask and he chuckled getting up and grabbing your head while walking downstairs.

"Mamá! I'm a bit hungry..is there any dinner" you say and the woman looked so relieved smiling at Pablo who nodded his head glad he could do something to help.

"Yes, it's done. And she already told us what you can eat on your diet, so don't you worry Pablo" she answered as you followed after her to the dinning room sitting at the table.

"Muchas gracias. Looks delicioso" Pablo said really loving the fact that he felt so comfortable with your family just as you do with his.

"Hopefully tastes the same! Bon appetite!" she said bringing the food while you and Pablo held hands underneath the table looking at each other longingly. It made you wonder how could you ever believe such stupid nonsense your fake friends told you.

It's really horrible what happened to Bruna again..I'm speechless but praying for her and her daughter to be finally happy <3

[theonceandfuturequeenoftarts]

Harry really should’ve expected something like this, but he’s still bewildered.

(And more than a little pissed off.)

Of course some bastard managed to enter him as the fifth champion in the Triwizard Tournament.

...Well. There are four schools participating, but “Quadwizard Tournament” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

There are several people shouting at each other and him in a variety of languages, and while he has no idea what they’re saying, he gets the gist of it: how did this scrawny fifth year have the audacity to trick the Goblet of Fire and enter the prestigious (and deadly) tournament?

He wishes they’d ask him so he could clear up that he hadn’t done that, and he doesn’t want to take part in this tournament, and they’re all being world-class prats right now.

Well. Except for Cedric Diggory. He just looks a bit confused, bless him.

Dumbledore asks him if he put his name in, and he says no, and maybe he overestimated these people because pretty much all of them scoff and don’t believe him. 

The Koldovstoretz champion’s voice cuts through the hullabaloo and says, in barely accented English, “If he is required to participate, why not let him forfeit?”

Thank Merlin, there’s a voice of reason in all this idiocy.

All eyes turn to the tall young man – Tom Riddle, Harry’d heard the name said by his love-struck peers enough times since the other schools arrived to remember it – who looks politely disinterested in the chaos around him.

“That sounds good to me,” Harry says, hoping that’ll be the end of it.

But of course it isn’t. 

The Durmstrang headmaster sneers something that sounds awfully rude at Riddle in a language Harry doesn’t recognise, which makes the boy tense and darkens his eyes. And then the shouting starts up again.

For all that the gathered headmistresses and headmasters and students were arguing against his participation before, they’re now demanding that he take responsibility and not besmirch the tournament’s prestigious history nor the Goblet’s choice by bowing out. Harry is once again of the opinion that there is no continuity or logic in the thinking of magical people, so he zones out like he does when Uncle Vernon wants to rant at him.

As the group finally quiets down and Dumbledore explains what the next steps are for the champions, Harry tunes back in to listen with half an ear. The other schools’ representatives send him dark looks as they depart, while Cedric gives him a pensive frown. Dumbledore ignores Harry’s attempts to catch his eye and disappears as soon as the discussion ends.

Well that’s just great.

Harry decides to head back to the Gryffindor common room – he needs to vent his anger at this madness to his friends, who will hopefully have his back.

(Though, the look on Ron’s face when Harry’s name had been called… No. Ron knows him better than that.)

Before he gets too far, he hears a voice call, “Harry Potter.”

He turns reluctantly, hoping it’s not another person ready to call him an attention-seeker or cheat, to find Tom Riddle.

Feeling his shoulders lower from his ears where they’d risen in pre-emptive defensiveness, Harry manages a half-hearted smile for the older boy. “Hey. Thanks for trying to help, back there.”

Riddle shrugs and somehow makes the motion elegant. “It was obvious you did not want to be chosen." 

Harry thought so, but apparently they're the only two of that opinion. “What did the Durmstrang headmaster say to you?”

“Nothing I didn’t expect,” Riddle says dismissively. When Harry doesn’t relent, he clarifies, “Igor Karkaroff rejected my application to Durmstrang because I’m not a pureblood. I’m sure you can imagine his opinion of me – and my blood – hasn’t changed in the intervening years.”

Harry can feel his hackles rise. Yes, he can imagine – he’s heard what the pureblood bigots have said about Hermione and the other muggleborn students over the years.

“Well, there’s only one thing to do, isn’t there?” Harry says, grinning sharply. “We’ll both just have to–” absolutely crush them all “–prove them all wrong.”

Riddle’s eyebrows rise slightly and one side of his mouth twitches. “I suppose we will.”

Harry holds out a hand. “May the best champion win.”

Riddle accepts the handshake. “Indeed. I’m glad to have your support.” 

Delivered in a perfect deadpan, it takes Harry a couple moments to realise the other boy is making a joke. He laughs, and Riddle finally lets his face break into a grin.

—

When Riddle uses parseltongue to get past the Peruvian Vipertooth (“What were they thinking, including a human-eating dragon?” Hermione demands when Harry first sees her after the first task) and retrieves the egg in less than two minutes, it causes an uproar. How did someone with Slytherin’s gift, who was born on British soil, not end up going to Hogwarts? The details of Riddle’s first introduction to magic and meeting with Professor Dumbledore are splashed across the front page of the Daily Prophet the following day.

Needless to say, the headmaster is in a bit of hot water with the Hogwarts board of trustees and the pureblood crowd.

(Karkaroff is looking decidedly pale, too.)

Harry thinks he’s the only one who sees the vengeful grin on Riddle’s face while everyone else is staring at Dumbledore getting dressed down. When Harry congratulates Riddle later that day, he knows the older boy understands it’s for more than just retrieving the egg the fastest.

(As for his performance in the first task, Harry’s content with how he did against the Hungarian Horntail, even if he’d gotten a little singed. He might be in second place, but he’s nipping at Riddle’s heels.)

[silvervioletvalentine]

🖤☠️Sick in love ☠️🖤

Pairing : Max Verstappen x teammate Cherrie!

Word count : 5k

Summary: - @be-your-coffee-pot so i have this little idea where like cherrie is like a driver for redbull right with max and they do not get along because they're both hard headed little shits. but this once before a race shes gets rly sick with high fever and what not and shes almost completely out of it during the interviews and press conferences and max cant help but yk coddle her a little bit. and they're on the couch with the rest of the drivers during the press conference and shes leaning against him and she just falls asleep and max falls in love lmao

Warnings/ AN- just fluff basically. Max and Cherrie are petty little bitches to each other . I hope you like it! @be-your-coffee-pot !! 🦋 I strayed a little tiny bit away from the plot but this is what I came up with in my sleep deprived , who the hell am I, how am I still awake. Oh my god it’s night time , form! So enjoy! It’s not edited because I can’t be bothered and that’s just not me. Lemme know what u think coxo

When Cherrie woke up that morning it was to her skin layered with horrible sweat , feeling like her blood was boiling yet as she wiped at her face with her trembling hand, all she felt was cold and clammy .

Groaning in misery to herself as she sniffled her way through getting ready , only managing to pull on a redbull hoodie before she was stumbling out of her room to see her assistant waiting for her , a look of concern immediately washing over her face at the sight of her driver .

Jenny gasped , taking in cherries pale skin and bright red cheeks.

Looking like a blushing bride despite the fact that Jenny had seen the most hottest of men flirt with her all summer, and not once had her cheeks even tinged with colour .

"You're sick." She stated the obvious in concern , knowing how stubborn Cherrie was and how much she hated being sick.

She liked to go into denial about it whenever she was ill, claiming that she was fine and that the flu and bugs going around never affected her. Like she was some superhero with powers to divert viruses and bugs from kids that never washed their fucking hands before touching things.

It was bound to happen sometime and yet Cherrie refused to admit it, she had work to do after all.

She didn't have time to be sick.

"I am not." She refused to be.

Head feeling heavy and the room spinning slightly as she clutched onto the table , blinking as slowly as she could as she tried to clear her foggy head.

"This is all Max's fault." She croaked out in distain as she let her body fall into one of the chairs heavily , sniffling again. Swearing that she saw the kettle move and dance out of the corner of her eye , but when she glanced over at it again. It had not.

She swallowed dryly , then winced to herself in pain as she felt sharp pin pricks in her throat .

"Fucking bastard." She sniffled again . Sounding like she had out a peg over her nose , barely able to breathe.

Jenny just rolled her eyes, hands on her hips , ready to hear what max had done this time to get the blame. Used to hearing the both of them bitch at eachother and about each other at every chance they got.

You would think that with max and Cherrie being teammates, that they would get along just fine . Both of them world champions and both of them leading nearly every race , always a redbull 1-2. And yet...despite everyone's wishful hopes . That just didn't happen at all.

Instead , Cherrie, with her usual attitude and terrible humour , had taken it up to herself to tell max exactly what she thought of him at the time.

Coming straight from Mercedes , she had not been his biggest fan at all.

But hey, she wanted to be a winner and she knew that redbull was the only way that she would be going fast enough to do so, so when checo was out , she was in without any hesitation.

And it might have went well had she been able to shut herself up. But Cherrie had a problem with keeping every bad thought and opinion in her head, having lacked a filter since the day she could say 'fuck' and 'you' in The same sentence.

Max just happened to be at the end of her target this time around and he was like a walking orange dot for her to focus on, refusing to leave him be. Going out of her way to annoy him, on and off the track.

She just couldn't help herself. It was too easy.

But it wasn't all her fault because max was exactly the same way. Both of them too stubborn and hardheaded , way too blunt with awkward humours that most other people just never understood .

They clashed like the red bulls that they were .

Max gave it back to her just as much as she did. He didn't hesitate in insulting her back, picking at every little thing that she did or said just to see the way she would immediately flare up and glare at him, threatening him creatively each and every time .

It was entertainment to him, he could selfishly admit it to himself . And no matter how much times Christian had tried to force them to bond and just be nice , neither of them would give in. Much too prideful to admit that they were both at wrong and that they were both just bullying each other for the fun of it now.

And maybe max wouldn't have been so bitter and upset if Cherrie hadn't started dating the biggest prick around after a particularly nasty fight they had.

Max , at the time, had stupidly took a low shot at her lack of relationships , telling her meanly that 'no man would ever want to put up with her bullshit'. When what he wanted to say was 'I want to put up with your bullshit but we can't stop bullshitting each other enough to even have a conversation.'

And he should have known that he hasn't won that argument when she just levelled him with a cold look and walked up . He had naively forgotten how petty she was . Because she had taken it up a extra level and come straight back with a brand new boyfriend to shove in his face , far too smug and pleased with herself as she watched the look of anger and annoyance on his face when she brought him to the garage , kissing him right in front of max until he stormed off in a rage .

He had dnf'd that race and things hadn't ever been the same since then. Their bickering and fighting had only gotten worse to the point where her assistant tried to pull her away from max as much as possible.

But only so much was possible at the end of the day . He was literally her teammate , it was in her contract to work with him and be around him. And that included doing videos and joint interviews together , she barely ever not go to see his stupid face. It was irritating.

"Where the ghost?" Cherrie croaked out , head pounding as she looked blearily down at the plate of food in front of her that jenny had made.

Her assistant paused, then blinked slowly "ghost?" She repeated in disbelief "what the hell are you talking about?" She looked around the room with worry as though an actual ghost was going to pop up and scare them.

But Cherrie just frowned back at her, looking equally as confused. "My toast. Jenny." She whined .

Jenny sighed loudly , hand on her face with worry . "You are so sick! Are you sure you're going to be well enough for today?" She worried .

Cherrie sniffled "but I didn't say that." She denied , slowly blinking . "I'm fine."

She then began to slowly eat her breakfast , toast included , in silence . Barely able to keep her eyes open.

Yet she still managed to let out a loud groan of misery when Jenny told her just who she was paired up with in interview today.

"No!" She whined , practically pouting. "Why are you torturing me like this Jenny? Don't you like me?" She turned into a baby when she was sick. Looking like she might cry as she peered over at her with wide eyes.

Jenny just sighed , used to her shit by now. rubbing at her head in stress. "Just play nice okay? Don't make this harder for yourself Cherrie. You're already sick, don't let max give you an even bigger headache than you have ."

Cherrie just groaned again.

Max actually paused what he was doing when he saw her sluggishly walk into the room, his brows furrowing deeply as he scanned her from head to toe. Worry tugging at his chest as he took in her dropped eyes and pale face , looking like a absolute mess.

He told her so "you look terrible ." He stated , shocked .

"What the hell is wrong?" He demanded to know coming over to her .

Cherrie just huffed tiredly , smiling a little because she has taken some strong pain meds right before they left the hotel and she could already feel them kicking in. Her head felt like it was floating away and her chest tickling like she was going to giggle.

But max was there, standing in front of her and looking at her like she had grown an extra head.

So she frowned back at him while scowling . "So lovely." She sarcastically replied "it's a surprise that you're not a virgin if that's how you speak to ladies." She said bluntly .

Max rolled his eyes , crossing his arms over his chest. Not taking his eyes away from her .

"It's a Surprise that you're not single. What kind of boyfriend lets you leave like this, when you're clearly not well?" He threw back at her, annoyed and hating that he felt so damn concerned in the first place.

He shouldn't care at all. She was a pain in his ass and practically loved to annoy him. So why did he want to carry her back to the hotel, wrap her in a blanket and cuddle her like a baby until she was well again?

That was a weird thought . He swallowed a little . Quickly pushing it away.

"I am single now." She let him know blandly as she pushed past him to head over to the couch set up for their interview .

"So I'm going to fuck all your closest friends." She told him with a grin, practically throwing herself down onto the couch. Yawning and sniffling , coughing too.

Max's frown deepened "you are not." Then he realised what she had said and had to fight back a smile . "He dumped you?" He sounded gleeful even to his own ears.

Cherrie glared at him for it "no!" She groaned out "I dumped him. He just wasn't scratching that itch anymore." She complained, giggling. Looped from the meds.

Max paused, then said "get a back scratcher then." Smartly like the ass that he was.

Cherrie just snorted "the itch is not on my back it's in my-"

Max let out a high pitched noise and quickly shut her up. Sitting down next to her. "Shut up! I didn't care. I don't want to hear it." He exclaimed , face flushing.

He then smacked his palm over her forehead , startling her . But his face was cold with concentration .

"You burning up! What is wrong with you?!" He exclaimed , worried. Brushing her hair away from her sweaty face without even thinking about it.

Cherrie slapped his hand away without missing a beat , "it's 'cause I'm so sexy. Like a fire ball. I am fire- so I'm hot- like- like.."she was looped and max didn't know whether to be endeared or scared by her behaviour . "Like the sun." She finished off , sneezing .

Max groaned a little , still frowning at her . Then the interviewer came in and he wiped the Worry from his face , not wanting the cameras to see him looking at her like that.

So he stared straight ahead instead , crossing his arms over his chest so he wouldn't do something as stupid as hold her hand.

"If you get me sick, I will kill you." He muttered.

Cherrie just snorted , coughing. "No you won't. You're too soft to kill me. You'd cry." She replied simply . Believing it .

Max just huffed but didn't bother to deny it. He may have enjoyed winding her up but murdering her was a little too far .

Maybe giving her a good shake  when she was acting up.

"Fuck you." He mumbled instead. Lamely.

Cherrie laughed "you wish. Grow balls first , i like sucking em." She joked.

Max went red , gasping and smacking her leg , flustered by her lack of filter. She had No shame at all. Giggling at the look on his face.

"There's something wrong with you Cherrie." Be hissed at her. Placing his hand over his cheek so that she couldn't see him blush. How embarrassing.

But come on. Hearing a beautiful woman tell you that she liked to suck balls was going to make any straight man squirm.

He was just a man after all. He wasn't immune to her beauty , just intimidated by her lack of charm, it was like dealing with the devil.

"Yeah." She looked at him like he was stupid "I'm sick."

He groaned. "So you admit it! You are sick!" He smugly responded .

But Cherrie just shook her head , sniffling agin. "I didn't say that."

"Yes you did!" He looked incredulously at her, mouth dropping open.

She blinked "no I didn't. Don't lie max. Your Pants can't take anymore fire."

He groaned.

By the time dinner time came around, Cherrie was well and truly sick of max verstappen. And Baffled and so fucking confused. Because he wouldn't leave her the hell alone.

He had taken to taking her temperature every fifteen minutes. Mumbling underneath his breath and forcing her to drink cold water when it didn't go down quick enough for his liking .

Then he was forcing her to tell him what she had been eating and if she had been anywhere that she could have gotten a deadly virus from. Hand cupped over her forehead in her worry , having followed her back around . Like a needy puppy looking for it's owner , Cherrie was exasperated.

She looked up at him in disbelief "I've only been where you've been max! What's wrong with you?" She moaned moodily . Head pounding.

She shoved his hand off her head , again, and stomped straight to the couch, laying on it. Closing her eyes and ignoring him.

He placed his hands on hips and glared down at her . Almost biting his nails out of worry the whole morning . She was clearly out of it , otherwise she wouldn't have even let him into her motor home in the first place.

It literally had 'no max fartstappen allowed' written in marker on the front . Yet here he was, and he was worried and trying to deny why he was so worried for in the first place.

It wasn't going very well.

And now he was making her honey tea and wondering if he could call out a doctor without her realising he had done so.

"Cherrie! You've called me maxie twice!" He exclaimed like that was enough evidence for Him

to be like this. Coddling her like a Damsel in distress.

She just shoved her face further into the pillow, frowning tiredly . "So?" She mumbled.

He huffed "so?" He scoffed while gently pulling her body up so that she would sit up right.

Ignoring her complaining and her glare, he lifted the teacup to her lips. Glaring back at her just as hard when she refused to take a sip.

"drink it Cher. It'll help your thirst. It has

honey In it ." He told her sternly , tapping it against her lips, not giving up.

She eventually gave in with a another stubborn groan, sipping at it while he held the cup up to her lips. Hand on the back of her hand to keep her steady so she didn't spill it. Like it was a totally normal thing for him to do.

It was not.

He continued in quietly "you've called me maxie and you usually call me asshole. So you're clearly dying." He stated. Serious as shit.

Cherrie sniffled, side eyeing him judgmentally . Heart pinching a little as she saw the way he was looking at her , his thumb rubbing soft circles in the back of her stiff neck without even realising it. Trying to make her feel better .

"Why do you even care? This is your fault anyways!" She accused him. Coughing.

He groaned, side eyeing her straight back. He should have known she would rope him into the blame somehow .

"how?!" He raised his voice a little then winced to himself when she winced in pain , quickly lowering his voice again . "How?"

She turned her stuffed nose up at him "you covered me in cold champagne in the rain!"

Max glared at her "because you won! Lando did it too!" He was incredulous .

She just  huffed stubbornly, because when In doubt blame a man . "But you did it with Cruel intention' you wanted me to get sick so you could win!"

He glared at her, taking the now empty cup away from her lips. Then flicking at her chin with his fingers making her flinch , wide eyed .

"I can win with you not sick, thank you! You think that I want to hear you whine about like chewbacca?!" He shot back at her. Annoyed at her stupid accusations. She was just grasping at straws, wanting someone to be annoyed at .

She gasped then , insulted . Wide eyes glaring  at him "I do not sound like chewbacca!" She cried out.

He smirked "you kinda look like him too." He said. Then laughed as she hauled a cushion at his head.

"Get out asshole!" She snapped. Too tired to shout.

Max just rolled his eyes playfully , watching as she laid back down. He placed a pillow in his lap, patting it. Casually

She ignored him.

"No. I'm not leaving." He stated seriously . Patting his lap again.

She side eyed him "I'll Hurt you." She threatened him. Sniffling loudly .

Her nose was red and eyes droopy, max felt his heart soften. She was always beautiful but now she just looked cute.

He stifled a grin. Knowing how much she would hate being called cute.

"What you gonna do? Sneeze on me?" He responded smugly . "Shut up. Come here." He patted his lap again, impatiently this time.

She let out a mocking laugh "fuckoff. I'm Not lying I'm your lap." She muttered, yawning, blinking and seeing three Max's.

She blinked hard again, and saw just one max looking down at her , sighing loudly at her stubbornness .

"I'll fuck off after you've had a nap." He promised her.

"You'll smother Me In My sleep." She let him pull her up and position her so that her head was in his lap instead. Too tired and head hurting too much to fight him on it physically  , but her mouth did.

"Bastard." She huffed.

Max just rolled his eyes , tapping his fingers gently against her forehead . "I'll smother you for real if you keep arguing with me. Just shut your fucking eyes so I can leave you sooner. You're getting on my nerves." He told her, twirling her hair around his finger. In awe by how soft it was.

She punched his thigh, he gently tugged her hair . She closed her eyes, huffing tiredly.

She was asleeep in minutes. And max didn't leave.

Hours later and she was still so sick and so tired and max was coddling her, it was weird and strange and they were getting looks from everybody that saw them together .

But she was too sick too care , just giving in and letting him baby her. She couldn't find it in herself to complain this time.

Maybe when she could finish a sentence without coughing her guts up , she would tease him for his level 100 clinger personality that had suddenly appeared .

The way he wouldn't leave her side, holding a flask of soup in his hand that he had made just for her after searching up a recipe on his phone when she was sleeping . He made her drink it from the small cup as they waited for their next press conference.

"You look like you're dying." He winced as she coughed horribly again "sound like it too." He added unhelpfully  .

She groaned a little, leaning into his side and sipping the soup slowly . Barely able to keep her eyes open.

"You loook like that all the time. What's your excuse maxie?" She weakly resorted back.

She missed the way his cheeks flushed at the nickname falling so easily from her lips, clearing

his throat and placing his hand on her arm to steady her. Just as Daniel saddled up to them, looking far too amused for his liking .

Cherrie paid him no mind but max saw the teasing look on his face and sighed long and hard ,

Knowing just what was coming.

He flushed bright red "what?" He defensively snapped at him already .

Daniel just laughed loudly "nothing!" He grinned smugly , then watched as max made her take some more painkillers. Taking her temperature again like a worried mother hen.

"You a doctor now?" He teased him.

Max just huffed "shut up." He muttered . "She's sick and I don't want to get sick too." He said.

Daniel giggled "then maybe you shouldn't be standing so close to her then. I'm surprised you're not giving mouth to mouth yet." He joked.

Then dodged the empty flask cup flying at his head. Laughing the whole time.

Cherrie was completely out if by the time the press conference was happening, body sagging against Max's on the couch. Not paying any attention and just mumbling her barely there answers , max answering most of them for her without missing a single beat . His media training kicking in perfectly .

Then she eventually went quite and he glanced down at her for a moment , feeling a heavy weight falling on-top of his shoulder. His eyes widening in surprise and cheeks flushing bright red as he noticed that she had drifted off too sleep on him, lips parted with small breaths. Frowning a little still in her sleep.

He gently smoothed the frown from her pretty face away with his thumb. Smiling a little to himself at the grumble she let out, squeezing his arm between her own as she cuddled up against him. Out if it, mumbling nonsense beneath her breath.

Then he looked up and caught Daniels eye,

His friend smirking at him as he held up his phone to take a picture for evidence . The other drivers looking between the two teammates that 'hated' each other in shock.

Charles was blinking at him In disbelief "but she called you a dirty, two faced, lying sloth last week." He was gaping, gobsmacked by the sudden change.

Max just flushed a even darker shade of red .  Not answering .

Then lando was giggling at him Knowingly  "-and you said that she was the most annoying person you had ever met. That you wouldn't touch her even if someone paid you." He pointedly glanced down at his arm around her shoulders and the way he was placing his hand Gently on Her forhead to check her temperature again.

He quickly dropped his hand and cleared his throat awkwardly "that was last week." He muttered , swallowing audibly .

Embarrassed to be caught acting like this in front of his friends. "And I don't need to be paid to touch her." I'd do it for free . Beg if I had to. He thought.

The sudden realisation was shocking and he actually flinched in shock to himself , hissing a little beneath his breath as he froze up just as she startled awake. Glaring up at him dazedly , hair sticking up and face sweaty. Delirious and sick.

"Max! For Fucks sake!" She whined , still

half asleep.

Pushing at his shoulder weakly . "Have you got worms you asshole?" She sniffled. Rubbing at her tired eyes like a child .

Max blushed , heart pounding in his chest as he just Looked at her with wide eyes, mouth gaping open a little bit.

Because what the fuck was this?

"Shut up." He weakly replied. Catching Daniels eyes again, his friends wiggling His brows teasingly .

He was So completely fucked. Oh my god.

The only problem with realising his feelings was that max had a problem with keeping his Mouth shut. The words were practically tearing at his lips as he carefully led her back to her hotel room, not taking no for an answer .

He made her another hot tea , placed a wet flannel over her head and tucked her into her bed without even blinking . Like this was normal, like he did this all the time.

He did not. But he wanted to.

He swallowed thickly as he looked down at Cherrie then , taking in her drooping eyes and red rosy cheeks, hair a mess on the top of her head. He felt his heart pound in his chest.

A year of being teammates  and it was just hitting him now ? Jesus Christ! What the fuck?

His mind raced just as fast as his heart was and he couldn't hold it in. He felt like his brain was going to explode.

"Cherrie?" He spoke up quietly after Clearing his throat awkwardly . Stood by the end of her bed still , hands shoved into his pockets as he looked down at her tired frame in the soft sheets.

She hummed, coughing a little . "Yeah?" She didn't even Open her eyes.

He took a deep breath and then without even thinking about it , his heart opened straight up.

"I love you." He blurted it out bluntly . Cringing deeply to himself as he did so . Face a permanent bright red as he tensed up, eyes wide and feeling like he was a bit to have a heartattack and keel over right in front of her.

His nerves got the better of him and he started rambling . "I mean- it's weird but I am so in love with you and that's why I was so mad when you got a boyfriend. Because I wanted to be your boyfriend and thats stupid because we hate each other-"

"We don't hate eachother." Cherrie simply

muttered. Still not opening her heavy eyes, but there was smile tugging at her lips.

Max swallowed thickly "yeah _ well-I love you. Okay?" He finished up weakly. Feeling sick to his stomach .

He watched as she took a deep Breath , shaking her head a little with a small smile on her face, cracking open one eye to look at him.

She hummed a little "max?"

He exhaled shakily "yeah?"

"Can you tell Me that you love when I can breathe through both nostrils again?" She casually replied. Smiling softly at him. Fondly.

Max rapidly nodded his head, laughing nervously  . Biting down on his bottom lip as he felt a rush of hope and excitement fill him.

"Yeah of course! Sounds good. Sounds like a plan. I like plans. Okay." He nodded his head again. Smiling widely at her.

Then he thumbed over his shoulder and awkwardly shuffled to the door "I should go. You need to rest." He stated , still grinning happily .

He opened the door, heart pounding in his chest. His head quick to snap back over to her when she quietly called to him

"Max??"

"Yeah?"

"I love you." She told him easily , yawning. Then coughed again. Ruining the sweetness but it was more than enough for him.

Max smiled giddily, laughing a little nervously . "Cool. Cool. Yeah okay! That's good- thank you." He rambled on. Giving her a thumbs up.

Cherrie laughed. Then coughed.

Max grimaced to himself at how lame that was , face a dark red by now. He hesitated at the door, about to leave.

"Can I-" he took a deep breath to gather his courage "can I kiss you when You feel better please ?" He asked her quietly, face hopeful.

His grin filling his face when she sleepily nodded her head. "Sounds like a plan maxie."

He sighed happily "cool."

"Now get out. Come tell me you love me tomorrow." She croaked . Already falling asleep again. The meds kicking in.

Max nodded excitedly . Feeling like a teenager in love all over again.

"Cool. Love you." He blurted out , happy. Then he slammed the door shut behind him, fist bumping the air as he laughed gleefully too himself .

Exhaling loudly  , he then held his hand over his pounding chest.

He sighed shakily "holy shit. She loves me." He breathed out. Grinning like a maniac .

Who thought that it would only take her getting sick to get them to admit it?

[scrollonso]

First Kiss (Race 8)

A strollonso AU where 18 year old rookie Lance Stroll falls helplessly in love with the notoriously mean world champion. (1.5k words, some angst at the start, jealous lancey? it'll be important later) [@v3lnys @biancathecool] {This took longer than i expected but I'm fine with how it turned out so! Lancey home race is next}

last part - masterlist - next part

Lance reached the Racing Point garage, barely getting time to put his stuff down before Nico dragged him away, it seemed like this was just gonna happen every race week now.

When Nico let go of his arm they were in a crowd of reporters, all asking the teammates questions as Lance shot an unserious glare at Nico, earning a laugh in response.

Fernando was wrapping up interviews as Lance started, the two making eye contact as Fernando began to head towards the Renault garage.

The Spaniard was stopped by his teammate and two girls, a blonde and brunette in tight black tops and Renault racing suits tied on their hips.

The teenager watched as Fernando stopped in between them, wrapping his arms around the girls with his hands settling on their waists, Lance hadn't even noticed he was still in the middle of an interview, completely distracted by the Spaniard's closeness with the women by him.

A few photos were taken of the four of them before Fernando let go of the two girls, both of them still staying attached to either side of him as they struck up a conversation. Lance wasn't sure what he was feeling, he didn't like it, he figured he must've been jealous at how liked Fernando seemed to be and how he had two beautiful girls practically on top of him.

"Earth to Lance" Nico said in a sing-song voice, waving a hand in front of his teammates face "They're pretty, right?"

"Huh?" Lance responded, finally looking away from Fernando "Oh- the girls? yeah, yeah. Pretty." He stammered, the man who was interviewing him simply laughing, figuring it was just a teenage boy being a teenage boy.

Quali was horrible. Like, Lance was embarrassed at how bad he did.

"I'm sorry, Brad" were the first words out of Lances mouth as Quali came to an end

"Don't be, you tried" His engineer smiled at him, Lance knew it wasn't true. He didn't, he was too distracted to.

He knew exactly why he did so bad, he couldn't stop and focus on the track, his mind kept replaying the sight of Fernando grabbing onto the blonde womans waistz seeing how he pulled her incredibly close to him. It made Lance feel weird, he felt like he had something in the back of his throat as he was constantly forced to relive it while qualifying.

Time seemed to pass slower, Lance hadn't talked to Fernando all day and it was almost time for him and Nico to go back to the hotel.

He felt weird, the day felt incomplete, he was wondering if maybe he had done something wrong, if maybe Fernando was sick of him, or maybe he was just being clingy. Either way he missed the older man.

Just as Lance was gathering his things to head back to the hotel with Nico his phone buzzed in his pocket

"Perdóname, Lancito. Have you left yet?"

He couldn't help but smile at the message, it was odd but since Fernando had begun to speak Spanglish with him he'd started learning Spanish. He felt smart for knowing what exactly Fernando had meant, forgive me.

"I'm still in the garage"

"I am coming, will you wait?"

"👍👍"

And Fernando did come, he was there in what felt like seconds

"Lancito, am so sorry I did not see you today. The team had me doing so much" The Spaniard apologized, a genuine look in his eyes, causing Lance for momentarily forget the scene from earlier that had been affecting him all day.

"It's okay, Nando" Lance smiled, putting his phone in his back pocket once more "Good job today, P1 as usual"

Fernando smiled back, practically glowing "Yes, yes, am sorry about today though. Maybe you did not do so good because you did not speak to your lucky charm, eh?"

Lance nodded, now being reminded of why "Yeah, you can't ignore me again!"

"Ay, is not ignoring, I am a busy man, Lancito, I'll try and fit you in next time though, okay?"

"Okay" He echoed, feeling better after finally getting to speak to the world champion

The next day came quick, Lance entered the paddock and before he knew it the cars were lining up on the grid, he'd texted with Fernando that morning, the older man apologizing for being busy again but still wishing him luck.

The formation lap was quickly over and the lights shut off, the race beginning and the cars finally on the move.

By turn 5 he had made up 5 spots, Ralf Schumacher and Scott Speed in 10th and 11th ahead of him.

As they went through the 6th turn the drivers ahead of him made contact, giving him 2 free spaces.

He sped up as much as he could, knowing he was now close to a point scoring position when Scott Speed rolled into him, making contact with the left side of his car and shoving him off the track.

He stepped out as soon as it was safe too, Ralf Schumacker on the other side of the track with him and Speed together

"What just happened?" Lance asked, looking at Speed before focusing all his attention on making sure his car wasn't too damaged

"No idea, I got hit and my steering just stopped, I didn't mean to get you out as well"

Lance nodded, not sure what he was expecting, this always happened to him.

He made his way back to the paddock, surrounded almost immediately with cameras and microphones

"What exactly happened out there, Lance?"

"Uhm, well, I was off to a great start but when Schumacher hit Speed it all just went downhill, I understand what Scott was trying to do, getting himself back on track but there was just nothing he could've done to avoid contact."

"Are you hoping for better luck in Canada? It's your first home Grand Prix"

Lance nodded "Of course, Even if it wasn't a home Grand Prix me and the team are always hoping to do better" He finished before making his way back to the garage, away from the journalists.

Nico did pretty well, he ended up in 9th from 12th so even though he barely missed points the team was still praising him (because no matter what he did better than Lance)

The German was bored after the short debrief, deciding to go watch the podium with Lance, feeling it was fitting with another German in 2nd

The teen tried to pretend he was there for Michael, as if he didn't care that Fernando was p1 once again as Nico was explaining how because Michael was p2 technically he was too since they're both German so they're the same person (makes total sense)

"Do you think we'll be up there together one day?" Nico asked, looking over at his teammate

"Of course we will, if not this year then next year." Lance smiled, hoping he was right.

Fernandos eyes settled on the canadian, hair messily framing his face. The race winner thought he looked gorgeous, he wondered how the rookie managed to keep such a gorgeous smile on his face even after being forced to retire so early in the race, it was admirable, even though Fernando was elevated so much higher than the Canadian he still found himself looking up to him in a way.

Lance fell silent as the top three began celebrating, his gaze stuck on Fernando as he was sprayed with champagne by his engineer, such a bright smile on his face.

He could hear Nicos voice but he was far too enchated by the sight of the sun falling perfectly on Fernandos face to register anything else.

The Canadian could tell Fernando loved it, the rush of winning, knowing he's doing well, knowing he is the best, knowing people expect him to win, Lance could tell it motivated the Spaniard.

The podium celebrations came to an end, Lance watching as the older man quickly made his way down and straight to him. It was just like the last time Lance had came to watch, Fernando still covered in champagne but he couldn't care less, he was more than happy to hug him back.

"I did not expect for you to be here, Lancito" He spoke quietly, just the two of them being able to here

"I wasn't planning on it, Nico dragged me out here, but I'm glad I did, you looked amazing up there"

"You are not tired of me winning?" Fernando asked, a smile on his face as he looked at Lance. Everyone knew people were complaining about how well the Spaniard was doing, all people ever did was complain

"I could never get tired of it" Lance stepped back, moving his hands to Fernandos shoulders as he shook him slightly "This just means you'll have to watch me win just as much"

"Deal" Fernando nodded, liking the idea of seeing his Lancito up on the top step of the podium.

[featguler]

their own thing ────── brahim tries knocking some sense into you.

⌗ pairing : federico valverde x reader ⌗ tags : reader's gender, ethnicity, nationality, and appearance is not specified. reader is friends with brahim—dare i say, they're best friends. NOT PROOFREAD ignore any grammatical errors!!!! ⌗ wordcount : 880 ⌗ notes : something for good luck for tonight's match!! good luck bous i love you all but i love you most valverde <3 title and quote from gracie abram's in between, this fic is also based on the song!! ♡ masterlist.

“Do it!”

“No!”

Brahim groans, letting his body fall back into the cushion as you snuggle your back comfortable on the other side of the couch.

Let’s just say that the two of you have had too much to drink that night, celebrating a particularly tough win, are a little bit tipsy, and fully laughing at whatever stupid shit the other decides to bring up.

And of course, the topic of you and Valverde—Federico, as you and Brahim both address him—comes into your conversation.

Because, how can he not be the hot topic around?

Brahim is proud of himself, often can be found boasting about how perfect the two of you seem together. He saw the vision—the invisible red string connecting you and Federico from one ring finger to the other. He was, naturally, the one to set up the simple three-people brunch, cancelling his half at the last minute; he was also the one encouraging Federico to send you a text after, and the one who urged  you to delete all those stupid dating apps filled with men barely over their previous lover.

And though you kind of—kind of—are grateful for Brahim’s involvement in trying to brighten up your stagnant love life, it can be embarrassing for you. You definitely do not appreciate it most times. Maybe because you and Federico are technically not together yet.

It doesn’t even feel like anything.

You’ve got a huge, fat, heavy crush on Real Madrid’s midfielder, and you aren’t even sure if he likes you back.

Brahim thinks you’re an idiot—but, really, when has he not thought that you’re an idiot?

“Okay,” he fishes his phone out of his left pocket. “I’ll give him a call, and” —

“No!” You jump—attempt to, at least—out to Brahim, but he raises his hand so that you can’t reach to snatch the phone away from his hand.

— “you’ll see! And you’ll see what I’m saying!”

You flop back to your previous position, rolling your eyes as a hiccup escapes your lips, your eyes travelling to the other side of the room.

There Federico is, laughing amongst people you mostly don’t know, looking more handsome under the dim lighting of the pub than you have ever seen him, his hair still tainted in white after dying them a few months back for winning the Champions League. Maybe it’s the alcohol in your system, trying to compel your mind into braving yourself to step into his vicinity and sweep him away, but once you look at him, you cannot look away.

Just as Brahim lets out a laugh, you can see Federico feeling his phone vibrate on the island. He turns it over to see who is calling, and presses on the mute button, placing it back on the cold surface.

“Dick,” Brahim elbows your torso and you try wiggling away from him. “Your turn.”

“This is stupid,” you mutter, this time fishing out your phone with a groan. You watch Federico, your vision blurring as you chug down the shot on the floor table before you.

Clicking on his name on your contact list, you see him visibly sighing, and you bite your lower lip. He follows the same step as he did: flipping the phone over, and scanning the name of this caller.

This time, his eyes widened. You see his back straightening, his shoulder broadening, and his throat clearing. He excuses himself from the seemingly important conversation, places one hand inside of his jacket before taking the call.

Brahim’s elbow digs into your torso as his giggles turn diabolical—you raise a foot to kick his knee away from him. The heat rises, then, from the warmth of the tonic in your stomach, up to your chest, then spreading to your neck and ears and face.

“Hey,” Federico’s voice reaches over to you—you see him looking around the room, scanning the crowd for you. When he sees you, he sends you a sweet smile, his crow feet digging deep into his skin.

He looks so gentle, so sweet. Like his smile could take away any pain simmering down on your life.

“Oh, Federico,” you shoot an attempt at not stammering. “Sorry— I was about to call my mom, clicked on your name by mistake.”

Brahim clutches his knee, and then his stomach, before rolling from the couch to the floor, giggling to the back of his hand.

“Are you leaving already?”

His eyebrows furrow in confusion, and you answer with a hiccup. Federico maintains eye contact, as though not aware that Brahim is on the floor, dying with laughter when he proves his own theory right once again.

“Need a ride home?”

“No,” you shake your head, sighing in embarrassment, shooting back a shy smile.

“I didn’t drink,” he glances back at the group of people he was talking to. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

You are the first to break the held gaze, glancing down at Brahim before lightly kicking the small of his back. Brahim turns to you, his eyes glazed with tears from laughing too much at his victory.

“If you insist…”

You take a deep breath, blowing it out softly before glancing back up, meeting his eyes exactly where they were when you left them.

“Alright. Sure. Why the hell not.”

[hendolish]

England NT Fic Recs ♡

never know where to start for a pairing or you're new to england nt rpf? here's a shameless collection of my favourite fics to give you a head start 🫶🏻 ———

Jack Grealish/Jordan Henderson

melt by inlovewithnight (8k)

soulmate au where you feel everything your soulmate does and can't bear being too far away from each other. they're just so at ease and in love with each other in this. probably my favourite hendolish fic! <3

About as subtle as an earthquake, I know by Lizz_88 (Bluejay00) (68k)

jack's a stripper, jordan's himself. so much more than what it says on the tin! all the characters are super complex and it takes a lot of work for these two to get together (with no shortage of lap dances and smut along the way) <3

Calm Before The Storm by preachingdoll (6k)

post-euro 2020 heartbreak jack needs a bit of help coping. jordan's there to offer a helping hand... the smut and dirty talk is 10/10

best worst behaviour by Bellelaide (25k)

kind of a hendolish classic, jordan puts bratty jack in his place.

♡

John Stones/Jordan Pickford

Sun City AU by Bellelaide (series, 40k)

honestly one of my favourite fics ever, let alone footie-wise. jordan's on a very british all-inclusive holiday at a hotel where john works. the vibes are just immaculate, you can visualise everything so clearly and there's so much depth to their characters!

Ice Melts by Bellelaide (7k)

enemies to lovers kinda? john doesn't think much of jordan before the 2018 wc but the further they get in the tournament, the closer they become. amazing characterisation and banter as always.

Helping Hand by slatkomore (14k)

with john's career ended abruptly by an injury, he turns to coaching instead and soon becomes the england u19s manager where he meets the goalkeeper coach, jordan pickford...

your world cup or mine? by Bellelaide (15k)

john goes to sleep at the 2022 wc and wakes up back in 2018 where he and jordan aren't together and barely friends. such an interesting concept and dynamic!

♡

Jack Grealish/John Stones

The Things We Did and Didn't Do by InTheFicOfIt (series, 104k)

john and jack sleep together in the aftermath of the euros, the following fic explores everything that comes after, including jack moving to man city and their friends finding out. i'm never usually tempted by this pairing but this fic is so damn good! it's written so wonderfully and there's so much of it- i couldn't put it down!

♡

Ben white/Aaron Ramsdale

happy together by foxholecourts (1k)

this fic perfectly encapsulates their vibe for me. the back and forth between the two of them is just delightful and exactly how i imagine them to be together, but it's also as equally sappy! i love these two idiots sm <3

watching you watching me by foxholecourts (2k)

ben likes to be watched... 10/10 benaaron characterisation from this author as always.

sweettalker by Anonymous (5k)

smut with a lot of dirty talk about the other arsenal lads. ben is very complex in this- an interesting take on their relationship!

I’m Not In Love by ceraunophilex (1k)

aaron falls in love immediately, ben slowly warms to him. short and sweet.

♡

Jordan Henderson/Trent Alexander-Arnold

Shake Me Into the Night by orphan_account (17k)

always hits me right in the feels. based around liverpool winning the champions league, the writing is so detailed and amazing!!

♡

Jude Bellingham/Reece James

the sun and the rainfall by ohsusie (series, 6k)

jude asks reece about some of the rumours surrounding him to help him broach a sensitive topic of his own. reece gives him some guidence. they're so sweet in this!

♡

Dele Alli/Eric Dier

In This World Of Ours by dierdele (53k)

the classic deledier best friends to lovers 2018 world cup get-together fic. you can't beat it, literally so cute oml.

♡

Marcus Rashford/Jesse Lingard

both your hands in the holes of my sweater by yvenger (jjjat3am) (3k)

this one is so much fun hehe, the ~2018 man u squad if they were a sunday league team where jesse's very confident and marcus has a huge crush on him. love the inner dialogue so, so much. ending is super cute!!

i can feel that body shake by princessrosberg (3k)

an england nt night out leads to them getting together and their first time! jesse and marcus characterisations are on point, esp the way they talk to each other <3

♡

Harry Kane/Gareth Southgate

All Good Things... by orphan_account (12k)

their established relationship is so cute in this! post-2018 wc and preparing for the euros, england team banter is perfect.

wished by orphan_account (23k)

gareth is harry's p.e teacher at school. listen… no comment... there's a reason it's the most kudos-ed southkane fic

♡

[longlivedelusion]

hiiii I really love your ashrym fic 🥺 they're so perfectly written that it like actually hurtssss. I was wondering if you'd been open to maybe writing a dorym fic? not sure if you do that pairing but id love like an angsty fic turned comforting at the end? just cause with all the new stuff that's gone on, and how dorians not really opening up as much as he used to with orym (and now braius!)

so yeah like whatever you want with that, just want someone to write my sweet bois cause i miss them 😭

Thank you so much!! 🥹 My friend, I am a Dorym truther. I love Ashrym, don't get me wrong, but I was more Ashrym early campaign. Now, especially having watched EXU, I get it. I get it. (Will always love me a little Ashrym tho)

I love this request though! Happy to oblige ~ It's just a quick little something, but hope you enjoy nonetheless <3

SPOILERS AHEAD UNTIL LIKE EP 101 OF CAMPAIGN 3 <3 you've been warned.

The Distance Between Us (Dorian x Orym)

Angsty, hurt/comfort vibes. Nice ending.

Warnings: mention of grief, death, insecurities. Spoilers up until cr3 ep 101

Orym nearly crash landed into a tree, the force of the sudden teleportation spell from Essek causing the Hells to shoot across this new space. He grunted, slowly pushing himself up as his fists sunk into snow below him.

The air around them was cold, colder than it had been in Aeor where they were moments before. He felt the soreness in this muscles as he pushed himself up, a reminder of the battles they'd just had. A Greater Demon, Ludinus, the fall of Aeor… gods. And a new apparent member of their group, as a 6-foot minotaur now stood and shook off the snow like it was nothing. Orym stood, turning to see his friends all paired off already, trying to figure out where they were, what the hell just happened.

After quickly assessing the area and seeing no dangers, he looked to Fearne. He watched as she blinked her eyes up at the Teven, Champion of Hells, held out his hand for her. Unsure of his presence but also clearly enjoying his attentions, she grabbed his hand and stood up, wiping the snow off her dress.

Ashton was not too far off, their eyes darting between the two while they huffed up. Crossing their arms, they sizing up the new members. Essek looked exhausted, and slightly overwhelmed by the new information. Imogen was right beside him as Laudna creeped behind. Unsure.

And then Braius. With Dorian.

He watched as the minotaur reached down to help the air genasi up, with such a force that their chests collided on impact. There were awkward laughs, some flirtatious eyes and a large hand still settled on the lower back to steady Dorian. Fingers teetering on the edge of chiffon.

Hands that easily fit, bodies that easily fit. A better fit, perhaps for Dorian.

He shook his head, trying to let go of the insecurities. They barely knew each other and truthfully it didn't matter. It'd never work out anyways.

Orym's body grew colder than before, the chills settling into his very bones. But he knew the temperature hadn't changed.

He made his way to the group, aiming for Fearne as he sidled up beside her with his arms crossed. One thing at a time.

“So… what the hell is this contract?”

After a series of arguments and discussions about the fact that Fearne was now contracted to the Lord of the Hells, and that we also had another follower of said Lord of Hells now in our midst. That the weight of everything we'd just seen shedding new light on the gods changed things. We eventually settled on the fact that this would need to be discussed further with the Tempest, with everyone else.

So they now all settled around the Essek's magical hut, each separated to process everything. Too much had happened and too much had been seen.

Orym’s own body was worn, not just from the physicality of what had just happened, but the emotional toll it had taken on him and his friends. He could see the guilt lined on Chetney’s face, the heaviness of his shoulders bearing down at whatever he had seen in his vision. A lot of the group had been shown things that played on their insecurity, according to Teven, but none of them took it as hard as Chetney seemed to. Or Dorian.

He looked to his old friend, the deep creases in his brow a new sight. At least, as of late. He was curled over his knees, sat on the ground. Alone. Deep in thought.

Before it would have been easy to go up to him, talk him through whatever he was going through. Hell, Dorian might've come to him even first. But this was before Dorian left. Before he came back and looked like a shell of who he was, empty smiles and hollow eyes that became the new normal. He hadn't relied on Orym since his return, not really. Not truly opening up, despite their attempts to talk and reconnect. It felt awkward and strange and Orym didn’t know what to do.

He could leave him be, let him work out his things. Or, he could push his own insecurity aside and…

“Hey.”

Dorian’s eyes looked up at the soft sound, sending him a tired, tense smile. “Hey.”

“Mind if I sit?” Orym gestured to the space beside him.

Dorian nodded, his arms reaching up as he stretched his back and legs out. “Of course.”

Orym sat down, far enough away but still close enough so that they could talk without being overheard by the group. He looked up, Dorian's tired features looming over. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” Dorian said, his voice taking on an air of innocence.

“Whatever. What happened in there, before, anything.”

Dorian just gave off a charming smile, not even making eye contact as his hand quickly grasped Orym’s shoulder and dropping back into his lap. “It’s nothing important really, don’t worry about me. How about you, you ok?”

Orym sighed. “I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.”

“I’m ok Orym. Really.” He kept the charming smile, but noticed Dorian's hands tighten and flex.

Orym made a point to look at his hands. “Yeah?”

Dorian's hands quickly moved up and behind his head, trying to play it off. “Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for checking in though.”

The two sat in silence for a time, small whispers and wind the only sounds filling the space. Orym’s mind drifted, filling with memories of the past of his time with Fearne and Dorian. Curled together on their travels, the ease of which they told each other things, looking out for each other. Then everything happened with Opal, and the gods, and his brother… It made the distance between them seem like an ocean. He didn’t know how to bridge the gap, had struggled to since he'd returned. If he was the one meant to even anymore. No matter how much he wanted to be.

“I know it’s been… a lot. There’s so much going on and we’ve barely had a chance to breathe. I know I’m the one who asked you to come here, and this is my fault that you got caught in this but... I wanna be there for you Dorian. I wanna help you if I can. Please, let me help you.” Orym’s voice came out breathy, desperate. Similar to the voice he had the last time he sent a message on the sending stone.

Dorian spinned to face him, his face now open in shock. "Orym, no, I-" He sighed, his shoulders slumping forward. “I don’t know how I feel. Angry? Confused? Helpless?" He paused, words caught in his throat. "They had a chance to destroy them, to end the war, to leave and they-“

The halfling reached over, a comforting hand tentatively touching his knee. Dorian’s shoulders began to shake as he leaned his head forward further to cover his face. Orym's grip tightened as he listened.

“It’s the god’s faults. They did this. They had a chance to leave, to stop their siblings, but they just stayed. And now because of that Opal is controlled by the Spider Queen, Fy’ra probably too, and Cyrus- Cyrus is dead. He’s dead. Because of them.”

Orym didn’t know what to say. He knew grief, the earth shattering loss, knew his own confusion with the gods, but... He also knew how he had been helped by some of them as well. He couldn’t condemn them all for their mistakes, for the good they've done. And would Ludinus still have done and been who he was had there not been gods?

“This is all really confusing. It’s a lot.” Orym said, voice more resolute. “I don’t know what the right answer is after all of this, since it’s something that’s not so black and white. At least, I think. No matter how much as we want it to be. But we will figure it out Dorian, we’ll find a way to make this right. Or as right as we can.”

He looked up to Orym then, his eyes slightly bloodshot from tears but fierce. He could see the hint of anger, devastation, uncertainty. Stains marking down his skin, carrying down his neck. Orym wanted to reach out, so badly to wipe away his pain.

“I don’t know what’s right anymore.” Dorian said, his voice raspy yet the lull was still music to his ears. To hear him speak at all, to hear him be open with him again.

Orym reached up then, insecurities be damned as he wiped away his friend’s tears making the genasi stiffened slightly. “We’ll figure it out.”

Just as Orym was about to pull his hand away he felt a large blue hand encompass his own. Dorian’s eyes met his and he felt his body both warm and freeze in place at that moment. He watched those harsh blue eyes now soften, as Dorian whispered out. “I’ve missed you Orym, truly.”

Orym’s heart was beating so fast, a steady drum against his chest as he swallowed his nerves down. He couldn’t find the words in that moment. All he felt was Dorian’s hand curl around his own. He felt as it was pulled away and down to the ground beside them. Dorian's fingers slowly unfurling before Orym held them back, keeping him in place.

It felt like a dance, seeing who would let go first.

The Halfling struggled a moment, his voice getting caught in his throat as he gazed upon this man. This man he...

“I’m glad you’re here. So glad." Orym choked out. "Even if this all goes to shit, I’m just- I’ve missed you too. So much.”

[kattythingz]

She had us in just two words / “Come inside”

I was supposed to get back to Crown after my last drawing. Why did I jump from hades au to an epic the musical one instead :"D. ANYWAY ED AS CIRCE AND LING AS ODY ANYONE?

This au is another collab with the wonderful @sirchenchen, who designed Greed as Hermes! Check out her art here!! Now 🔪🔪

Au details and edling goodness under the cut, as always~

So, yes, Ling is Ody here. HOWEVER, he has no Penelope waiting for him! So, fear not, no cheating occurs here with edling! Ling's just a king desperate to get back to his people (and we know how much he loves his clan in canon).

As Circe, Ed definitely has her trauma, which—iykyk. All you need to know on that end is that Greed found Ed after the horrific aftermath and killed the culprit dead, dead, dead.

Ed and Al tried to revive Trisha blah blah canon stuff, and while Ed was banished to a deserted island, Al was damned to the underworld as the blind prophet. Although Ed can slip into the underworld from time to time to visit Al, the brothers physically cannot touch each other again; if they do—well, Ed still has the burns from a desperate hug attempt.

Greed is Ed's only company for centuries, before Rose and Noah—two captured nymphs barely escaped from humans—washed up on his shore. They have similar trauma to Ed, and so, he doesn't hesitate to take them in. When he turns men into rats, it's not only to protect himself, but Rose and Noah as well.

Ed also has his darling snakes, of course. They're especially darling when he gets to feed them the men-turned-rats.

The Circe Saga kinda happens same as Epic canon, buuut when Ling turns down Ed—it's because he's pieced together Ed's trauma. His reason for doing what he does. Ed had let Lan Fan go, after all, even though she was part of the scouting group. Turning men to rats and leaving the woman to escape... Yeah, that speaks volumes. Enough that Ling knows to be gentle, and yet firm, when he turns down Ed's advances.

The kindness startles Ed. Against his better judgment, he chooses to patron Ling's journey home. Not because he already trusts Ling, but to test him; keep an eye on him, and truly judge if he's as good a man as Ed hopes he is.

(He is. He is, and Ed mourns when Ling disappears for seven years on Calypso's island.)

(He saves Ling's remaining men from the aftermath of Zeus's wrath as best he can to honor the last of Ling's memory. Their sacrifice had been unwilling on Ling's part. He'd been desperate to take the blame unto himself.)

(Zeus had refused.)

(Well, Ed refused Zeus's refusal.)

Ed can't even pretend the news of Ling's safe arrival to Xing doesn't please him. He's happy for the idiot, damn it.

It's quite the fortunate timing that, shortly after Ling's return home, he finally feels safe enough to ask to court Ed long-distance.

It's quite fortunate that Ed agrees.

They go back and forth with letters, with Greed serving as their middle man, teasing them both plenty along the way.

Ling eventually dares to ask for Ed's hand fully, and—well, Ed doesn't say no.

"You realize I was banished to my island? As in, I can't leave, even if I wanted to?"

Ling has the perfect, audacious response to that.

"Gods often send champions to do their bidding, no? Send me as you please, and I will defy the gods yet."

The balls on this mortal. Ed is astounded.

He's astounded. And he's endeared.

He pretends to scold Ling over his audacity, conveniently listing a series of instructions as to what such a ridiculous hypothetical quest would entail. And, to close the letter, he writes:

"Defy that, champion."

Back in Xing, Ling grins as he lifts a moly flower from the letter. It glitters naturally in the sunlight, however, when he points it at the sun, it shines.

He has a destination: Helios.

He's getting Ed's freedom. And, hopefully, a husband out of it.

(Ed grins as he receives a swift reply, along with the news from Greed that the emperor of Xing has spontaneously set sail.)

(He shouldn't hope—but he does.)

[a-jar-of-beetles]

kristen thoughts plus divine musings

I really want to write out my theory and speculations about last episode but Kristen C. Applebee's won't stop taking up all my brain space so I might as well share my ramblings.

First off it was a really interesting choice to reach out to her parents she could have easily settled for checking in with Bucky to see how he and their other siblings were doing, but decided to talk to her parents anyway which besides being brave also shows a maturity that often alludes Kristen (not that ignoring her parents for the rest of her life is immature but that's not the point I'm making).

Although I wish she could have interacted more with her brothers her conversation with her parents was not as confrontational as I would have expected I for sure thought that Kristen would have bitten back at the "Helio might not have let that happen" comment when Kristen the literal chosen one of Helio has died multiple times.

Another thing that stuck out to me was the way Mac and Donna talked about Galicaea, they acted like she was just some random goddess but in Elysium Galicaea refers to Sol as her brother which is a weird thing for Kristen's parents to ignore so is the fact that Sol and Galicaea are siblings something that not common knowledge? Could it just be something that's forbidden or just taboo to talk about? Mac and Donna were also pretty judgemental about elves when they were first introduced so maybe it has something to do with that?

So that got me thinking about how Cassandra is mostly referred to as Galicaea's sister instead of Sol's while it could just be that they're both associated with night and that they both had elven followers but it made me wonder what type of relationship they had. Were they just never close in Elysium he never mentioned Cassandra but that could have just been because Kristen didn't ask him about her the only real thing we know about Sol is that he obviously approved of Ankarna and Cassandra otherwise he wouldn't have officiated their wedding.

Which brought me back to how Sol followers in the modern/evangelist church of Sol don't seem to actually know or care about what Sol actually represents/represented, which made me think about the inverse. Does Sol even truly know what's going on with his followers? Because of devil's nectar we know Gods can be purposely deceived but we also know that the nectar works by deceiving yourself first so if you truly believe something and tell your God the same they will believe it too because in Spyre the gods aren't omniscient, we've literally seen it with Galicaea who thought that Cassandra erasing her old name was her own idea and the Nightmare King killed her even when there was evidence to the contrary. Do you think her clerics did it on purpose? Whether their words were Honeyed or delusional Galicaea was still lied to. Galicaea who loved her sister, who would destroy anyone that would dare hurt her baby sister, who bared her fangs at the mention of doubt and only spoke of conviction and clarity which belonged to her fallen sister in law.

Do you think that after Cassandra died Ankarna wasn't the only one who got corrupted? Do you think that with out someone to champion doubt and hold peoples hand through the unknown, people stopped questioning the words of their preachers, paladins and clerics? because doubt became hard to speak about was it just ignored and swallowed? Was it the avoidance of doubt that made the followers of Sol demonize Ankarna? Because without Cassandra Ankarna was no longer a part of their family? Sol and Galicaea did they care? How did they when they lost the last part of Cassandra besides themselves? Were they sad?angry? relived? upset? apathetic? Did they even notice it happen at all?

Maybe I've just been thinking too much

IDK

[dracomelody]

Let me start by saying I love the Zelda franchise. I'm a casual gamer, and I haven't beaten every single game in the series (I haven't finished Zelda 2 and I haven't started Oracle of Ages, and I haven't played most of the spinoffs).

When Breath of the Wild came out, it instantly became tied with Twilight Princess as my favorite Zelda game. BotW was a breath of fresh air (pun intended) and I loved how I could play the game at my own pace, and I loved the freedom to explore wherever I wanted from the start. I thought the story was great and the gameplay was unique. The dungeons fell a bit short (they were short and easy, and the bosses kinda sucked), but they were creative, and I loved the champions enough that beating their bosses felt satisfying, if only since it avenged my old friends. Its themes of finally getting closure from the past while helping in the present was handled beautifully, and the final memory brought me to tears.

When Tears of the Kingdom was announced, I was HYPED. I was so excited to see Ganondorf's return and the consequences that would have on the world in this new story. I was wondering how they would handle reusing the same map, especially with the new abilities (Recall was what I was most excited for since it had so much potential to use in puzzles). But the more I saw of TotK regarding its map and game mechanics, the less interested I became.

I thought we would be able to keep the shrines as warp points on the surface (and the focus of the game would be on exploring the Depths and the Sky). Instead, all traces of the BotW's story were lost. No Shiekah tech, no towers, no (Shiekah) shrines. Ok, fine, it's whatever. But that meant you were required to explore the SAME overworld the SAME WAY as you did in BotW: finding dragons tears (finding memories), finding/beating Zonai shrines (finding/beating Sheikah shrines), and finding lookout towers to gain a map of the area (climbing the Shiekah towers). Why? What's the point of all of that in the same overworld, when the focus SHOULD be on making the Depths and Skies interesting instead?

The skies were too segmented and barely had anything in them. The depths were mostly empty aside from enemies and DLC armor from BotW (which makes most of the amiibo useless, btw. Also, THEY GOT RID OF WOLF LINK. I WILL NOT FORGIVE THEM. Lol), and finding the Lightroots as the priority made it tedious to explore. The caves on the surface were so small that they hardly mattered unless you wanted to hunt all the frogs.

I thought the dungeons would be more unique from each other this time around, maybe play on different types of gimmicks or themes. Instead, it's just more of the same gimmick that BotW had: find a few terminals and then beat the boss.

Since TotK is a sequel, I thought its story would be in real time, directly driving the gameplay. Instead, the story takes place forever in the past, and ultimately has no bearing on the plot outside of Zelda's location, AND the exact same story gets replayed after every dungeon you beat. I understood it the first time, thanks.

The ancestors in the past story don't really mean anything to me because they're...nobody. I don't even think they had names. They didn't do anything to make themselves stand out from their descendants, or even have a connection with their descendants aside from being their ancestors. But I digress.

In terms of reusing the world, I thought the old ruins (like the ranch ruins in BotW) would have been rebuilt, or a few new towns would have been added, but INSTEAD it's just the same old world with added monster camps and Lookout Landing and maybe another town that was so forgettable that I don't even remember it.

Ok, so it wasn't what I expected. That doesn't make it bad, right?

Well, I gave it a chance I just really didn't care for the building mechanics. The fusion mechanic is great, but I still feel like I'm cheesing my way through the game instead of actually solving puzzles the way they were intended. I feel like I'm just brute forcing my way through the game, and that doesn't make me feel clever or smart the way older games used to when I'd figure out a unique puzzle.

Oh well. Some games just aren't meant for some people. I still had fun just exploring and messing with Koroks, and I liked that I could have more horses (but they left out the ancient bridle and saddle from the BotW DLC =( )

So now that they've dropped trailers for Echoes of Wisdom, I thought: this is it, they're going to do something different. And we're playing as Zelda!! Zelda has so many cool abilities!!

But instead, the new gimmick in the game is....a rod. That anyone can use. Using Zelda's powers in a game where you play as Zelda? NOPE. Just give her a weapon Link could use, except now we don't have Link's sword/shield or arsenal of other items. We're just a powerless girl with a duplication wand.

Ok, ok, it can't be as bare-bones as that.

The world should be unique and encourage you to explore and navigate the different terrains, right? NOPE, just summon a million beds and climb over everything.

Open world games can be fun, but when you have NO LIMITS then it becomes boring. There's no thought or challenge or maze or puzzles in order to progress; you can easily use the mechanic to build your own solution to every single problem from the start. And building your own solution means relying on knowledge you already have; it doesn't require you to learn how to problem-solve, the way puzzles are meant to. Usually, in this case, I'd WANT to progress in order to see what will happen in the story. But we all know that the Zelda team doesn't gaf about the story, at least not anymore. So what's the point?

Just echo a cucco to fly over gaps, or summon a few objects as a staircase to climb up ledges. Using these echoes in dungeons has the potential to make things fun, but in the overworld? I just don't see the appeal of cheesing your way through every obstacle. And I already had my fill of going wherever I wanted in BotW and TotK. Making the overworld an actual world worth navigating would be NEW at this point.

I feel like EoW should be a short little spinoff game or something. At least then I wouldn't feel so disappointed in a main series game. I'll check it out for the story alone, but if TotK's story is anything to go on, I'm sure EoW's story will be lacking as well.

I'm not dropping out of the fandom just yet. But I feel like they're really cashing in on BotW's success by making every game a worse knockoff of it. They're using playable Zelda as a dirty tactic to win over fans like me who have wanted to play as Zelda with her established abilities.

[howtomakelovestay]

Cedric waits for Harry after he was picked from the Goblet

"Sorry. This... I don't…"

Cedric hugged Harry immediately, wrapping his arms over his.

Harry shifted on his chest, adjusting his glasses with one hand while holding onto Cedric's robes with the other. Then he also placed it on his back, hugging Cedric back tightly enough. Considering that they had kissed once, Cedric thought that this was more out of friendship. The thing was, he liked Harry a lot and he didn't know what was right or proper to do anymore.

His judgment was dubious, confused and blurry when it came to Harry.

Still, none of that would stop him now.

"I can't imagine how difficult this must be for you," Cedric murmured into his hair, resting his cheek on top of his head. "I thought you might need a hug,” he explained when they pulled away several minutes later. "I think I should've asked before."

“Of course you can hug me."

Cedric barely resisted the urge of doing it again.

"I needed it. Thank you,” Harry continued and sighed. "This was not what I expected. You should be the champion… I'm sorry, Ced. That I…"

"You didn't put your name. You do not have to apologize…"

"No one will believe me."

The certainty in his voice as he said it.

Cedric wanted to deny it, but he didn't know.

“And they're not going to find a way to get me out of this. A magical contract that I can't break and things like that," Harry repeated the conversation he had with the Headmaster and the others. "Dumbledore has tried, but… I'll have to."

"You won't be alone," Cedric assured, barely holding him by the shoulder. "We will do this together. What do you say?"

"I say… I'm not familiar with the rules yet, but it doesn't sound like it's within them. Karkarov was quite upset that there were two of us instead of just one."

How could he tell him how much he didn't mind “cheating”?

"I guess I'd call it teamwork. We may be alone in the field, but not out of it. You're my friend and I'm not leaving you because of any kind of rule or anything like that, so we're in this together," he said and as he escorted Harry to his common room, Cedric had a couple of ideas that he shared with him: training sessions for the two of them, practice spells and accompany each other.

He wouldn't abandon Harry on his own.

"Yesterday you offered to help me if I was ever in trouble," he recalled, suddenly slowing his pace. "And here I am, way too soon... You were right. I didn't change my mind about that, but… This time I'll accept it."

"This time you can't refuse."

Harry chuckled softly.

One last hug and he passed through the portrait.

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

There is nothing I love more than rewriting the canon moments but make it hedric's version

Ao3: Always Yours