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batsplat · 5 months ago

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hi! I don’t know if this is the type of question you’d like to answer, but I was thinking about how being born in the same year would have affected valentino and marc’s careers (as in both born 1979). would they or could they have started in the same year? would they be teammates at honda, and if so, would valentino still make the switch to yamaha? how does this affect rivalries with other riders? I just think it’s interesting to think about!

it sure is interesting to think about!! tossing it under the cut because this gets long and kinda dumb

well, look, let's set some basic conditions here. first of all, obviously we don't know if 1979-born marc reaches the same level of success because of how the sport changes over time, everything is super circumstantial, what even is 'talent' bla bla bla (kinda the stuff I talk about here). he can't use his signature riding style on those bikes, demands of the bikes are different, competitive ladders are different, local motorcycling scene is different, etc etc etc... hey, by the same token, maybe he'd be even more successful and would never lose a race. we're going to throw out all that nitpick-y shit and assume that he makes it to the top of the sport. we're also going to assume that marc and valentino are both able to compete with each other on relatively equal terms and go from there. we'll obviously never know either way, but this is the most fun way to approach it, like obviously either 'marc wins zero titles' and 'marc wins ten consecutive titles' are deeply unsatisfying outcomes... I do think you can get fun and nerdy into figuring out how exactly their respective strengths and weaknesses as riders compare, what their title fights might look like, the nitty gritty of which tracks they'd beat each other at... but I reckon this post is probably long enough as it is, so I've mostly skipped over those bits. they both win some titles, that's what we're going with

the precociousness question is interesting because, again, obviously marc's development timeline would inevitably look at least somewhat different in this universe. would he start grand prix racing a little later? would he need a little longer to adapt to those 500cc bikes than he does to motogp bikes? who knows. let's just play this the most simple, straightforward way possible and again assume he hits his early career milestones at the exact same rate - most importantly, of course winning the premier class title as a 20 year old rookie. it's an editorial choice that lets us skip to the fun stuff

so, the fun stuff. let's compare and contrast their journeys to the premier class:

top row is ages, bottom row is years in this timeline, the cells indicate championship positions, the colours indicate class (green = 125cc; blue = 250cc; lavender (?) = 500cc)

this actually works out quite nicely! they're not even really encroaching on each other's titles at this stage. if you really want to get into 1998 lore, obviously that title becomes way more complicated... aprilia is the strongest team, they had that 'super team' set up already filled up, do they supply four guys? is marc somewhere else? does valentino have worse machinery in that year? one of the two other guys? who knows, and also this feels like maybe a tangent for another day. let's assume they're both competitive here, and then it doesn't really matter so much if valentino ends up p3 in that championship - crucially, he still needed a big chunk of that season to adapt to the bike

so then! let's start with this time period, and rattle through some random thoughts about what the competitive landscape looks like pre-2001:

if marc is that good that early, he kinda hogs up a lot of the limelight. some folks took a bit of a punt on valentino in 1996 to get him into gp racing - yes, there were already signs of something special, but it was still all a bit more uncertain

so valentino is basically always in the position where he's hunting marc... he's constantly a step behind

now, it's actually possible to wager a good guess at how he reacts to that! the answer is 'not great': when he was constantly asked about biaggi, whether he was the biaggi of 125cc and all that, he came out with the line that biaggi would dream of being the valentino rossi of 250cc. in this timeline, I don't think the biaggi thing completely goes away because that's still italy's darling... but the first point of comparison would always be marc. and valentino unsurprisingly doesn't enjoy always being second best

of course, they do have enough overlap in the lower categories that they do actually get to fight each other on-track. 1996!valentino was, as he describes it, "an absolute pest". even though he only finished in ninth in the standings, he did get a win and was often in the front-running group, so let's say they do have a few on-track run in's during 125cc. chuck those two together as seventeen year olds, and this sounds like *checks notes* a bit of a health hazard. there is a genuine argument to be made that valentino is worse at this stage - from oxley's reference book about france 1996: "valentino was once again in the mix at paul ricard, ducking and diving in the midst of a leading group that numbered up to 16 riders, but he was riding harder than ever, using all the kerbs and then some and occasionally kicking out at rivals with his knees and elbows"

marc likes to respond to aggression by one-upping his rivals, so this feels like it just goes wrong. several times. while they're still in 125cc. also, marc is mostly winning that year, which really lights up valentino. if anything, he'd probably be even more motivated during those years, because now he's got someone to chase and someone he would just love to piss off

let's say marc still narrowly misses out on a rookie 250cc title in large part due to injury. they spend a year together in that class too, where valentino is doing a lot of learning - but is a frontrunner basically from the word go - and marc is going for the title properly now. they have a lot of intense annoyingly tactical battles this year, plenty of dramatic last lap battles, and it takes valentino around half the season until he starts winning some of these (irl, he won one of the first ten races of the season and then the last four - and also crashes a lot. marc was the class of the field)

this is the year in which marc is just... a lot. plenty of controversy!! practise crashes! back of the grid penalties! and if marc does stuff like 'trying to run his rival off-track', there is a bit of a risk valentino attempts to one-up him here. they are both starting to get real reputations, and valentino's probably gets worse by association lol

then marc heads off to the premier class. valentino dominates his 250cc title, but he's being overshadowed by marc doing the thing. which means he will be extremely fired up once he gets to the premier class himself... which might not actually help him. too much exuberance on those 500cc bikes sounds like a recipe for painful crashes

let's assume marc dominates the first half of that season and it takes valentino a while to get going. the second half is more competitive when valentino finally clicks with the 500cc's and marc starts making more errors... setting up what's to come

let's also say marc immediately gets to the repsol honda team because they really want the next big thing and the contract situation is different from when valentino joins a year later - whereas valentino still gets a shell satellite team set up for himself in 2000. he's still obviously highly rated by honda and they still give him doohan's old crew and presumably quite heavy factory backing... but there's also not quite the same urgency in the succession planning. you kinda want to sign the kid so nobody else gets him, right, and he did beat marc a few times at the end of 1998... who knows who ends up turning out better, yeah? but at the end of the day, marc is still Plan A and he seems to be working out pretty well for them

this is all well and good, but obviously a rivalry is a bit more than just a general vibe and on-track incidents and a list of results. so, my general thesis for how this relationship goes is that it kinda oscillates between 'pretty good vibes!!' and 'breaks your geiger counter'. this goes in cycles of about 2-3 years, becomes a lovely soap opera for the paddock to follow. so let’s say for instance that they go through a rough patch in 1998, and then again in 2001, and then again 2003-04, and so on…. then you get marc’s injury years and from then on it gets proper messy

so, here's a stab on what the interpersonal vibes look like during the early years:

valentino embraces the underdog position. you get this with the biaggi stuff but also you get it throughout his career... he actually likes it! he's so much about surprising people, subverting expectations, proving them wrong... he thrives in the role where everyone thinks marc is going to be the next big thing and dominate the sport for fifty years

he does also have the potential to be a major thorn in marc's side, especially if the title fight is as close as marc's canonical 125cc title was. but they do run into the same problem here that they unfortunately will always run into: they get on as people! their chemistry has never actually been an issue. back then, you'd also get more like... socialisation in the paddock... it's a bit more casual, less professionalised, they hang out more and are teenagers and are both young and annoyingly good and eventually get to that irritating 'you're the only bitch in this house I respect' thing

valentino is still very good at making marc laugh, and seems to find marc funny too so. that's a thing. marc canonically glomps onto a very small number of people, and he's already shown in real life one of those people can absolutely be valentino. we all know what we're here for and it's the most BORING outcome if they're just indifferent towards each other. but why would marc be! of course, he's completely taken in by the super talented charming rival who is actually willing to match his viciousness step for step. he wants to fight valentino forever and ever

marc does really want to be friends... once he knows valentino he decides he really likes him... sometimes he's a bit oblivious to how tough he's making valentino's life, sometimes he's wilfully disinterested... valentino is sucked in a little bit in spite of himself, though I still reckon valentino's cynicism about friendships with rivals was learned over time (hey ho sete). at the start, valentino is happy enough to be friends with his close rivals, and really it's only later that all those subconscious issues of keeping rivals at arms' length develop. he's there to have fun! it might be vicious on-track, but it's a party off-track!

and he thinks it'll totally be fine!! he's not adverse to chatting up rivals and trying to get a sense of how they tick for future reference... some of the stuff marc does bothers him, but it's not like he can immediately even articulate why. and it is tough, with how marc has long been the chosen boy... just how brutal marc gets when valentino gets close to beating him... and usually valentino reacts Just Fine to that, but he does file it all away for future reference, because he sure doesn't think marc is reacting that way to just anyone on-track...? and then sometimes marc is perceived as a real rival, sometimes he just makes valentino uncomfortable, and valentino suddenly remembers that Actually, this is a Work Relationship. in general valentino runs very hot and cold with marc, in a way that does make sense according to his internal logic but can get very confusing to anyone else, not least marc

the slight mismatch between their rates of progression also gives you these gap years where they're not directly competing... and valentino is really coming into his own in 1997. so, yes, valentino is constantly chasing marc from a competitive standpoint... but marc is watching valentino's celebrations and thinks they're just like. the best thing ever. accidental valentino rossi fan, poor soul. a big fan of the hairstyles and will enthusiastically defend them to any critics, including that one time when one of his parents made a derogatory remark about the green hair

what if they're proper friends in 1997 (age eighteen) and hung out and gone to parties together and gotten drunk and have just become Real Actual Teenage Friends while they're not racing each other... when marc gets his diplopia, what if valentino is kinda freaked by this, he'd been planning to get to 250cc to beat marc's ass next year... what if he goes to visit marc, what then...

still, this is probably around the time when valentino first says mildly annoying stuff about marc to the press (going by the biaggi precedent), which is how you set up them really going at it in 1998. it gets vicious... but also, they're young, they do kinda get over it, and then marc progresses to the premier class and they can just socialise normally again... all the while, valentino is watching what marc is doing and thinking about just how badly he wants to beat marc

valentino's rookie campaign in the premier class is also fine - because valentino is too busy adapting to the bike, marc is dominating, and traditionally those are not the circumstances in which valentino picks his fights. they have a lot of fun here together, and they're both very generous about each other's successes. marc is so impressive, I can't compare myself to him yet, valentino's adapting so well to the premier class, he'll definitely be fighting for titles soon, etc etc. fair fights (by their definition of 'fair', anyway) and them both being really complimentary towards each other afterwards. everyone who wanted beef is disappointed and disgusted, but at least you've still got the vale/biaggi thing going on in the background (btw marc also for SURE would've picked a fight with biaggi in 1999, so they can bond over that and pointedly chat to each other in pressers while ignoring biaggi)

valentino's ability to make marc laugh is particularly lethal in this year, because valentino’s struggling just enough that maybeeeee marc is being suckered just a little into thinking he’ll always have valentino covered. so he can just let himself have fun with valentino without feeling too threatened... this sets up the title fight in the following year being a complete and utter nightmare… late 2000 is already ringing a few alarm bells when marc’s results start getting messier and valentino is clearly finally properly getting to grips with the 500cc bikes (first dry race win late that year). oh well! I'm sure their relationship will survive just fine!

and then... well, again, super conveniently, valentino's first premier class title at age 22 matches up with... you know. marc's 2015

let’s just say marc does suffer a bit of head loss when he encounters his first real challenge in the sport, when there’s finally a bit of real adversity after so much success. valentino wins the first few races while marc has some patchier results, and then marc kinda tries too hard to close the gap - and then, whoops, he’s gone too far and he’s left himself with too much work to do. I did run the maths for their average points at xyz age just to have a rough measure of how the seasons compare… as in how valentino’s compare to valentino’s and marc’s compare to marc’s, because any comparison between the two is completely meaningless, very different competitive pictures. that being said, fun fact: biaggi actually scores slightly more average points per race in 2001 than marc does in 2015. still, I don’t really believe you can get marc to sepang 2015 that title fight, just isn't close enough… the marc/valentino relationship does still sour, but it’s because you get an assen equivalent... valentino wins in a slightly dubious manner, and marc doesn't react well... after which valentino goes ‘aha so it’s all right until I’m winning, yeah?’

valentino in this timeline has just like. such a massive victim complex. helps fire him up that everyone’s constantly underrating him NOBODY believed he could ever take on marc (this is mostly not true). the way the assen 2015 equivalent plays out is not just ‘what a sore loser’ but also ‘MARC NEVER BELIEVED I WAS GOING TO BE A SERIOUS THREAT AND THIS PROVES IT’. it’s like… deeply insulting to valentino and also triggers the bit of valentino’s brain where he has to prove everyone, most of all marc, wrong. that's how you get the interpersonal hurt! valentino fully believes marc has switched up towards him and can't handle any version of their rivalry where marc doesn't have the upper hand. and marc does need some time to get over it and maybe he did write off valentino just a teensy bit but also... this is just how he competes... he thinks of a lot of things as 'fair game' that others don't... and he does also view valentino differently when he's a real competitor, so valentino isn't even completely wrong... marc does react badly to losing for the first time... but it's also more complicated than that, because marc is genuinely fond of valentino and really does want to put all that aside when the title fight is over again, except valentino thinks marc has shown his true colours. whips this controversy out later on in the season as he has a habit of doing, presumably when there's not even really any title fight impetus because that's been mostly wrapped up. (which would be a bit unusual for him but, hey, he's young and silly, he doesn't start feuds in Sensible Ways back then.) so they just kinda both end up escalating it and making it ugly, and by the end of the year it's all a mess. without any competitive justification... it's a bit argentina 2018 vibes, like there's not really any point to it apart from how they both drive each other insane occasionally. big public controversy. nobody wins here!

my guess is that the general pattern of this relationship is that it’s fine any time marc has a clear edge, and devolves every time valentino challenges him. this isn’t necessarily because I think marc throws a fit every time he’s challenged - it’s primarily because valentino prefers to attack from a position of strength. basically, if you want to get something proper nasty from him, you either need to get him with his back against the wall where he reckons blowing shit up is his best choice… or you wait until he has the upper hand, at which point he attempts to press home his advantage. bite harder when the opponent is already bleeding, if you will. a big believer in being a mean winner over being a sore loser, valentino is, and you do see this trait at various stages of his career. also, mostly there has to be a competitive justification to start drama? if he can't fight properly on-track, then why bother? so at times, it’s all civil on the surface when he’s on the back foot… but when he’s on top or close to the top, then the knives really come out. incidentally, this is one of the reasons why irl he was relatively restrained with marc post-2015 (look, I’m aware it might not seem like that but he definitely was way less indiscriminate with the snide jibes lobbed at some of his other rivals than he was with marc). there was never a situation where it really felt worth it with marc, and it’s just… a better look to have a go at your opponent when you’re winning, right? in this alternate timeline, there absolutely are times when valentino feels like it’s worth it... first premier class title is still baby valentino who isn't really deliberately picking fights and is more genuinely hurt by what he believes is marc playing dirty, so it's all less deliberate and calculating. but from then on you do see this pattern a lot I reckon

in terms of fallout, obviously you’d have to assume their popularity would be at least a little more balanced - and at the very least there’d be more national loyalty from the spanish here (boo!! vale!! at!! jerez!!) BUT valentino is just very good at the charm offensive… all the quirky celebrations, plus everyone loves an underdog who takes on the big bad dominant athlete of the time… idk, I reckon he might still get the love of the masses. if their relationship completely deteriorates in 2001, that feels like disproportionately it gets uglier for marc. but it's too much for both of them!! valentino gets a bit spooked in a way he didn't irl after the biaggi rivalry… he really did like marc and against biaggi he did just end up being everyone's sweetheart ridwe in a way he can't quite pull off against another young star… and it's just all so polarising! the factionalism takes valentino aback a bit - I still think it's worse for marc, but valentino goes. hey. this isn't fun any more :(

and oh, by the way, valentino switches to repsol honda for the 2002 season

everybody is extremely hype to see what the two do to each other as teammates, Will They Murder Each Other, but they are initially disappointed… contrary to popular perception, valentino is in fact capable of biding his time, and he goes into that season deciding it’s in his interest to Not have any more drama - which marc broadly agrees with him on. this detente doesn’t last long, obviously, but I feel like this is the time period where they're both a bit more settled, a bit more consistent, less susceptible to complete head loss, can really go at it in the championship... you get a couple close title fights here I reckon, ones where they're trying not to reawaken the feud between each other but... hey, let's say they actually have a crash where they take each other out (the one thing they canonically did not get to do!!) while fighting for position. massively try to downplay it afterwards, they're both hard racers after all :))) but everyone kinda knows it's only so long until this goes badly again. except at the same time they're kinda forcibly exposed to each other a lot in their capacity as teammates and they remember how they were actually Friends and the line between pretending to enjoy each other's company and not pretending is blurred... and the initial drama wasn't as bad as sepang 2015 (also helps valentino that he won the equivalent title in this timeline lol) and valentino knows he's going to see so much of this guy... he's someone who doesn't want to spend much of his life in awkward silences... they're kinda destined to be rivals forever and ever and they're also teammates and there was way too much drama... so actually they do get back to a friendly jokey place... is it sincere? is it not? who knows (not them)

dealer's choice who wins these two titles. we can chuck in one of those where valentino wins the major on-track battles but then marc wins the title fairly comfortably or something... valentino would really relish those fights lbr, even when they don't alter the momentum of the season as much as he'd like. maybe they do get a super close title fight for flavour, one where they're both actually consistent and the big on-track battles do make a difference in terms of momentum and all that stuff. crucially! they still have FUN fighting each other! that's the key thing... plus, they have that annoying vibe where they think they're the only guys who can match each other... there's that mutual understanding that's built in the heat of battle, like they're the only one who really gets what the other is all about, nobody else can... if anything, marc is forced to respect valentino even more now that vale has actually managed to beat him over the course of a full season at least once. biaggi is still a personal antagonist for valentino, but even irl he does very much fade as a threat after the first title fight - and it's all kinda defanged by marc's presence. how borderline obsessed valentino ends up with marc. maybe biaggi still ends up being the real title threat in 2001 after marc nukes his hopes early that year, maybe you still have some of that canonical vale/biaggi drama, but by the end of that year it really is more about marc and THEIR whole thing

brief interlude for a list of jibes valentino likes throwing at marc on a semi-regular basis as he gets better at using the media:

inconsistent stewarding: easy one. valentino was canonically an absolute menace in his early days, but by the time they compete in 250cc I’m sure there’s some mildly phrased insinuations that marc really seems to be getting off lightly with his penalties. valentino isn’t as skilled a media operator back in those days - but with marc’s hit rate of controversial incidents, it’s just incredibly low hanging fruit. valentino picks it with ease

Stop Asking Me About Marc: see the biaggi of 125cc thing. valentino gets sick of being constantly compared to marc! he's his own girl! it's what prompts the first insults he lobs in marc's direction, and it becomes a bit of a running theme. it's not even that anti-marc, but the more sick he gets of The Narrative the more implicitly anti-marc it becomes (marc, who's a lot more into the idea that they're Eternal Rivals, doesn't start drama over what valentino says but it just makes him a bit sad :( like HE doesn't have any problem being compared with valentino Actually)

‘woe be on me for taking on Big Honda’: listen, irl obviously valentino was increasingly annoyed in 2003 when both sete and biaggi argued he had the better bike than them because he was in the factory team. irl that ‘satellite team’ of his in 2000-01 barely was an independent outfit. still, would he have hesitated in 2001 to remind people that his number one rival was decked in repsol honda colours and he wasn't? well, probably not. just rhetorical positioning, right - he’s not even attacking marc, he’s just politely questioning whether honda really would prefer the satellite team to win the title and whether that might not have an influence on what bike parts they’re sending to which riders… just mentioning it! just reminding everyone of what an underdog he is! in case anyone had forgotten!

unequal treatment: this type of thing probably wouldn’t stop when valentino switches to the repsol honda squad. also probably would be justified lol - we’ll get to this in a second, but if he's facing a marc who has had time to make this team his own and is going to fight to keep it that way? yeah, hm. the way this works is that marc is waging most of this war behind the scenes and valentino, who'd be constantly on the back foot in this scenario given it never would have really been his team, is repeatedly taking it public. doesn't work particularly well beyond making marc's life more unpleasant - the public takes valentino's side, honda doesn't

'someone doesn’t like a challenge :((': again, the assen 2015 equivalent, where valentino points out their relationship was just fine until he started seriously challenging marc. young!vale doesn’t really have a reputation for being a particularly nasty competitor, especially if the biaggi feud is defanged just a little… so I reckon he could actually pull this off quite nicely. marc does rub a lot of people the wrong way, even without the valentino factor! he's so obviously rough and ruthless and so committed to winning that valentino can easily play victim here

'marc races me differently': basically the silverstone 2016 thing... it's not really something valentino complains about once they're through the 2001 title fight, and there is the understanding that this behaviour is kinda mutual - but valentino does occasionally throw in a snide remark. just to remind everyone that marc treats him differently!! he's extra aggressive with vale!! of course valentino is totally fine and chill with it, just wanted to remind everyone. in case they'd forgotten. just. a. reminder.

of course, there's also another major issue: the unique stresses of the teammate dynamic. here's the big question - does the switch of valentino to yamaha still happen? yeah, sure! I think he could well get flighty. marc would be the established guy within honda and someone that valentino would never be able to completely displace. plus a lot of valentino’s canonical complaints do still hold, about how honda doesn’t care who’s winning as long as it’s a honda, the stifling culture of winning, the joylessness… marc wouldn’t leave honda unless he absolutely has to because he loves that team, that's his home in a way it never is for valentino. but he is also obviously an absolutely awful teammate to have and, bit of a hot take here, when it comes to the development war stuff he kinda is worse than valentino. so you've got marc ensuring vale's input into the development process is constantly ignored, marc's entire team attempting to isolate valentino within honda, and he never does manage to ruin valentino's title hopes entirely, but inevitably the internal war is one valentino never comes particularly close to winning. in real life valentino sticks it out in repsol honda for a grand total of two years, aka the length of one contract cycle, which sounds about right for the length of time that team would survive until they do just start attempting to strangle each other. so vale goes to yamaha! this would not be a pretty divorce, and it would be even more obscenely risky than in real life, flat out insane from valentino. irl people think he's kinda crazy for doing it, in this universe people would think he's just an idiot. how on earth is he planning to beat the marc marquez on a yamaha?

interpersonally, the yamaha switch is. not good vibes. valentino has spent an entire year implying he feels imprisoned in a team with marc (LOVE brno 2003 in this universe), and marc finds this move a) baffling, and b) kinda loser behaviour because valentino can’t handle taking him on in the same team, so he’s essentially conceding the fight to marc. this dynamic is basically two years of marc attempting to bully valentino behind the scenes, trying to make his life hell, just endlessly gnawing away at him, and then valentino's like 'right lads I'm out' and marc goes :( why would you do this :(( I'm losing my main rival :(( I thought you were better than this :( I thought we had something special :(. for valentino, yes partly he's throwing a fit because he knows honda would never choose him over marc, partly it's justifiable frustration at being stuck in very much The Marc Team, but partly it's also kinda... not really fun for him... he does actually want his team to care about him... but honda doesn't care... so that's that

now, realistically, in this timeline marc has zero right to be losing to valentino in 2004 - not with that bike disparity. maybe if he loses his head completely! that’s… hm, 2018!marc, who we know did have some capacity for head loss. if marc builds up an early advantage while the yamaha is still at its dodgiest, it should theoretically be game over. if he does something silly… hey, who knows. that one’s a fun one psychologically because obviously marc would be the overwhelming favourite that year and valentino can completely embrace the underdog role. I do also reckon whoever wins this one, you can have a real big proper falling out either towards the start or maybe even towards the end of the season. it's all more serious now, somehow... being at honda together meant it just kinda felt like they'd be exchanging titles, honda didn't mind who won - but now both manufacturers are super into it, the press is even more into it, they're more into it... it's personal! they both have a point to prove! maybe marc dropped a few kinda mind games-y comments towards the end of their time together that he doesn't get why valentino felt like he had to leave, that it's not really what a rider does when they think they can win in a fair fight, kinda implying maybe valentino thinks he's already won enough titles and knows he isn't beating marc again anyway. valentino responds in a sane and proportionate manner (bottling it all up and then using any controversy that happens the following year to just unleash on marc). let's say marc wins that title (and valentino gets second place just ahead of sete), but valentino wins a big dramatic fight late that season, and there's some kind of justification for him to really lay into marc, to set off the feud all over again... all sets up their title fight the next year, of course

irl this is when they're both at their very best (2005/2019 respectively), so they get to be at their very best here too. in the name of balance, maybe you should let valentino have this one... or maybe not, swap these titles around at will. but if he DID, then he obviously builds that title charge around a big dramatic victory against marc early in the season on spanish soil. it feels lazy to just copy paste jerez 2005 and valentino being booed to this scenario, but let's assume marc does have his canonical early season crash at a friendly track (á la cota 2019) and that valentino does get that big victory at... hm, catalunya (ik, switching jerez for that is very creative) (but at least he can't get skittled by jorge lorenzo in this timeline). and the win is in somewhat controversial fashion and national partisanship is at a high here... canonically, valentino gets more aggressive in his racing during his switch to yamaha out of necessity, though in this world I imagine he would've already gone more extreme earlier while trying to match marc. they both kinda have to be careful to not go... too far, constantly flirting with the limit, exploring how much they can get away with, but they do have a duel here where they really push it. cause some controversy. give the season the right vibe (x)

no misano on the calendar unfortunately for an equivalent marc being booed moment, and I actually quite like the idea they both keep their respective mugello and sachsenring streaks (so no booing a victorious marc at mugello). each of which isn't the favourite track of the other, though vale in particular has had some great sachsenring scraps... and valentino's margin over the field at mugello is way smaller than marc's equivalent margin at sachsenring. but again, mugello's not really a fantastic marc track, and even without facing prime!valentino he didn't win after 2014, so it feels reasonable valentino could still get a bunch of consecutive wins there. I reckon we give marc a donington park victory, which was basically like valentino's second home race and a track valentino did really like. plus the british fans are canonically absolutely out of their minds so it works. the way the timeline works out that would unfortunately steal one of valentino's most iconic wins, but let's not overthink this eh

let's say their interpersonal relationship is actually slightly on the mend again after the nadir of the previous year, but the public has never been more divided... this is basically what everyone had wanted, right? the competition and the racing has never been better bla bla, they're nicely contrasting characters who are both happy to play dirty, and they give the press a lot to work with. (there are also a vocal minority who despise them both for being 'dangerous assholes' but what can you do.) hey, maybe they actually manage a season where they're the only two guys to win races, that would be kinda cool - and if you look at 2005/2019, surely it is possible... (I suppose sete is a bit more competitive here at least than he was irl because valentino has had the decency not to crush his soul.) narratively, of course it's a bit too neat to let them have this showdown just before it goes to shit for both of them, but they're the type of guys to make things narratively pleasing so I'll allow it. two nations divided, plenty of sniping at each other in the press, but #realfans will note they actually start meeting each other's gaze again in pressers and even manage to shake hands... let's say valentino does most of the points damage early that season, bites at marc from a position of strength (or something) to create a bit of a buffer, before running a bit of a defensive campaign, while marc is gradually ramping up the sheer levels of on-track terrorism. valentino does not remember the last time he had an fp2 session where he didn't have a honda-related jump scare. bless

anyway, listen, I don't really care about the order of these titles, beyond it being more fun for our purposes here if they're more or less balanced (though I do think it's neat if valentino is always kinda stuck chasing marc). they never get quite to the same relationship lows of sepang 2015 because, well, you needed a lot of very specific circumstances to get there irl - and I do think them being peers and being more familiar with each other does help... there's also no real power imbalance, or certainly not as extreme. plus, they're kinda aware from early on that they're stuck with each other. they're primed to spend their entire careers as rivals, like it or not! (I imagine valentino would very much Not like that at times.) they are both deeply pragmatic a lot of the time as racers, and valentino in particular would be less inclined to completely burn his bridges in this scenario I reckon. life's easier when you remain civil... and unwittingly they do keep remembering how fond they are of each other

brief interlude to ruminate on how this all actually affects them as people, vs their canon selves!

valentino never gets to be The One Guy in the sport, which does take something away from him in a way... a little less confidence, always a little more to prove. again, I do think he's quite comfortable in that underdog role and manages to make it his own. he's not as popular, he's not singlehandedly breathing new life into the sport... but on the other hand, what do people love more than a great rivalry? people would have gone crazy over them both, and valentino would've taken full advantage, turned them both into even bigger stars... still, there's a little more insecurity in there over his own abilities than there is irl where he was the single lord and master of the sport for years

the thing about marc is that so much of who he is as a racer feels to some extent influence or inspired by valentino that it's kinda tough to imagine who he is without that. then again, having valentino as a peer does allow valentino to still exert some of that influence (if obviously in a different way). they'd learn a lot from each other, at the end of the day - and even if marc doesn't hero worship valentino... he can still think vale's really cool... it's not star struck, but it's maybe a little bit star struck - given valentino is just so different to anyone else marc has ever come across

the power dynamic does change how they both approach the interpersonal relationship too... irl!valentino does really like adjusting his interpersonal warmth settings to what exactly he's attempting to accomplish in any given rivalry at any given point (even though, again, he's not that deliberate with it from the start of his career). but he's also less likely to completely freeze marc out... not for long, not forever. they basically do the 2016-18 cycle several times because they're competitive enough for long enough to be able to do that shit. warm with each other before there's another big fight, again and again

you do flip the dynamic a little bit in that valentino is the one to shape himself in response to marc a bit now... always chasing, perhaps a note of envy, perhaps some resentment of marc's role in the sport... perhaps also wishing he could get some independence, some freedom from marc and this joint legacy (also helps motivate the switch to yamaha). marc is way more into that shared legacy lbr, but they are both the types to get themselves nicely fired up over an enemy... so consciously or subconsciously they do play up that feud at times when it suits them competitively

no sepang 2015 trauma for marc! this valentino stuff might be bad, but it would never be that bad. he's a bit more happy to pick fights! a bit more happy to do his psychological warfare in the open! a little more openly annoying! less worried about how he's being perceived! more willing to meet valentino head on! let the man have some fun

okay. misery town... 2006

so, look, obviously we're applying some artistic license again here if we're keeping both the arm injury and valentino's dramatic last round loss. like, if you really want to get into it, valentino needs to lose the championship to someone and in this universe there's no seat available in repsol honda in 2003 so do you put hayden somewhere else within honda... but after that rookie season does honda still have enough faith to actually promote him... also does it make a difference if he doesn't have valentino there to directly give him advice... also, dani would PROBABLY just be promoted directly to the factory team in 2006... like idk I do feel this universe might kill nicky hayden's career and valentino should reallyyyyyy win this title. but like. fuck it. who cares. there's also a more abstract argument to be made about how irl!valentino does feel that he left something on the table in 2006 (personally I think it's one of his most impressive seasons but sure, I do get what he's saying) - but surely you wouldn't be 'complacent' in the same way if you hadn't won the last five titles? but again. nobody cares. let's assume they both still have broadly the same year they had irl, partly because there is something.... pleasing? sad? about how the ages DO actually match up here in terms of when their domination of the sport kinda collapses (if to completely different degrees). which would be a massive shock for the sport, right! both of those things irl are already a big shock, but if you have two super dominant forces you would kinda assume one of them would be able to pick up the pieces in any given year, even if the other falters? especially if 2005 was like, this ultra dominant season from the pair of them! but no, suddenly they're both diminished, maybe it is possible for someone else to actually win a title

(another 'fun' coincidence is that jerez is actually the season opener for the very last time in 2006... until 2020. so you can directly layer these races onto each other rather nicely, with valentino's first corner crash and marc's gravel excursion happening at jerez, two early disasters they're attempting to recover from before marc's crash)

on this year:

not really MUCH to say about it on-track if we're assuming it broadly plays out the same...

idk, guess it's about how you want to interpret their relationship. does valentino give marc a call? does he have an aneurysm watching marc attempting to race the following week in *checks notes* qatar? does he get quite stressed out about how cavalier marc is with his own safety, because unfortunately he does care about the guy? does he feel like he's missed his big chance to exploit marc's absence? does the press give him a lot of flak for this? any more insecurities to work through here?

hey, at least there isn't a pandemic in this universe

the thing is, right, if you've spent your entire racing career hunting down this one guy, who's always a step ahead of you, using him as a way to motivate yourself - so much spite, as ever, with valentino to get himself going - and then he just disappears... like they've been sharing the paddock for ten years, for valentino's entire grand prix career. his first memorable battles were against him, he was watching marc win titles in a higher category than vale, then this gradually escalating rivalry with more and more history and hatred and genuine friendship... you kinda inevitably end up defining yourself by the other, right? you can't avoid being shaped by that relationship, by that competitive push and pull. without quite the same interpersonal breakdown... well, valentino is someone who loves to hate his enemies. like, he does enjoy the animosity! he enjoys sniping at his rivals! he enjoys fighting them flat out on the track and off it! and if marc is suddenly gone, he's left feeling bereft. he doesn't get WHY, but he misses him...

marc starts getting long phone calls from valentino where he goes on increasingly incoherent rants about whatever aspect of the sport has annoyed him today. marc doesn't understand what's going on but he's not going to complain. it's a nice distraction

on to 2007! so, obviously the honda in 2007 is better than the honda in 2021, and irl dani does actually end up outscoring valentino by one point (after valentino attempted to ride in valencia with a broken hand and immediately had a mechanical dnf lol). (also idk what to do with the honda situation, let's pretend like honda panicked and created a three man team.) I'm gonna go ahead and say that this version of marc would get considerably better results than 2021!marc, but is not getting particularly close to winning that title. maybe he finishes fourth in the championship idk. he's missing races, honda's definitely not on ducati's level that year, honda/yamaha are still on the michelins at a time when the bridgestones are very much the tyre to be on

one rider who is guaranteed to insert himself into that rivalry in any timeline is, of course, casey stoner. now, casey does get a bit of a grace period from having to deal with marc... marc is absent for his rookie season and is still preoccupied with his injury afterwards. mostly, this is valentino’s problem… but also!! marc can multi-task. so you know how casey complained about valentino hazing him in practise sessions in 2006? and you know how marc would make himself a nuisance in 2019 when following around rookie fabio during quali? and how he followed around his new yamaha hire and rival vinales in pre-season testing in 2017 on a fact finding mission? and how irritated casey was when elias kept following him in successive races in 2007 (see here)? and how much marc was using this tactic post-2020, including by repeatedly picking on new big name pecco? how he generally does this in quite a targeted manner against his main rivals? and how he also tends to do it more when he knows it'll piss people off? so, let’s put all of those things together. how do we think that plays out?

this is why I reckon that despite how casey is nominally fighting valentino for the title, somehow you’d manage to have more open hostilities between casey and marc. again, remember how the casey/vale dynamic went irl: yes, casey was increasingly pissed off by the end of 2007 because he thought valentino wasn’t as nice to him any more and was also annoying in the press about him. but like, relatively speaking… this is still all quite small scale stuff. valentino mostly just does some wink wink nudge nudge stuff to the press that gets back to casey and annoys him because he thinks it’s contributing to an overall unfair narrative about his title… but it’s all still fairly subtle. valentino waits until laguna the following year to go all in, where he completely changes up his on-track tactics and - once he’s got his big win - he really makes sure to rub it in. there's a clear competitive justification for the laguna escalation, but his baseline level of on-track aggression with casey is relatively restrained until that point

by contrast, in this universe you get at least three or four incidents that year where casey extensively complains marc and marc just does the equivalent of a thumbs up (or a literal thumbs up, as he has been known to do). valentino determinedly stays out of it but probably silently enjoys it. by virtue of the negative effect marc and valentino have on each other, racing standards are really not at casey stoner acceptable levels at this time. casey doesn't enjoy valentino's media whisper campaign, but the marc stuff broadly bothers him more... in the races, outside of the races... irl valentino sort of retreated and regrouped late 2007, early 2008 and was less focused on fighting casey, more focused on exerting pressure on yamaha and figuring out the tyre switch he'd forced through. marc does NOT have a title fight to worry about and can instead dedicate himself to making a nuisance of himself. the thing is, casey is generally more inclined to expressing his annoyance through the media than on-track (unless he literally punches you, which he has of course done), so that's probably one of those weirdly one-sided situations where marc does drive casey absolutely insane but also doesn't really talk about it publicly while casey. does

all that being said, I don't really see any reason why casey wouldn't still win that 2007 title pretty handily, which brings us on to 2008. marc goes off halfway through to get his arm fixed, so no tricky title fight questions there. MY main question is whether he mimics valentino in switching to bridgestones. (irl!dani was still on michelins for like. most of the season until they pissed him off so bad he made the switch, which basically made a bunch of riders copy him and kinda brought about the single tyre era lol.) I think he does! bit awkward with michelin (as it was for valentino), but I reckon he'd also subscribe to the principle of wanting to take on his rivals on equal footing - and even if the tyres don't make as much of a difference as valentino says, at least everyone's in the same boat. so maybe that already kinda kills off the michelins at the start of 2008... and it's almost an act of silent solidarity, like marc has had an on and off enough 2007 that he's not fully on top of where he can make the michelins work and where he can't, and honda's telling him to stick with what he's got, but he's looked at what valentino's doing and gone. eh. if he can't do it then maybe it is a better idea to switch, so it's like an unspoken way of showing that he does kinda trust valentino's judgement... (I'm aware the two people still reading this likely don't give a shit about this, but I swear the tyre thing was a big enough deal that it does have major characterisation repercussions.) so valentino takes that title. you kinda assume marc would have considerably better results on that honda, certainly doesn't just have a single podium, hopefully gets a win somewhere. who knows

I do however have one specific suggestion for 2022-inspired drama

marc takes out defending champion and eventual 2008 runner-up casey lap one of his comeback race. valentino sends him flowers

brief interlude to talk about rivals!

again, think the main thing with biaggi is that it just takes a bit of attention away from the whole thing... the feud still happens because it's a rivalry between two italians that gets a lot of press hype, and valentino still doesn't shy away from pissing biaggi off - but there's still less of a spotlight on it. and yeah, wouldn't just be valentino who gets into some feisty exchanges with biaggi, looking at biaggi's track record

I feel bad for doing sete dirty up until now, so as the number one sete gibernau scholar currently active on this website (and quite possibly any website), I do need to address the sete question. the thing is, right, the appeal of the sete rivalry in canon is that it's kinda like. valentino fighting his internal demons. trying to figure out the honda thing. fighting sete who is a way of externalising the internal demons. inevitably, having a straightforward number one enemy and friend and rival and object of his obsessions does kinda distract from sete? who has to play the third man role in that dynamic, and finds it tougher to asset himself in any title fights (especially if we give 2004 to marc in a fairly straightforward manner)

I think sete would still have dramatic on-track battles with both of them! but it's also different if those fights don't have quite the same Implications, because the media narrative around them ends up being completely different. sete isn't being used to judge whether valentino is washed or not, basically

valentino/sete friendship saved!!!!

maybe sete wins the 2006 title for gresini in this timeline idk. sorry sete unfortunately I don't think u get cursed in this timeline :(

and now to the most important question: does casey prefer marc or valentino before he joins the premier class? so u can kinda go both ways on this... on the one hand, I think casey is more directly inspired by marc's style. also, he's a big fan of dominance, and the way this works out in my head is that marc does have more 'dominant' wins than valentino where he just comfortably gaps the field

then again... valentino does tend to go that extra step on the interpersonal stuff, is a bit friendlier with a bunch of riders including the up-and-comers, just generally more outgoing than marc is. (yes, I realise marc being more closed-off is partly the aftereffects of sepang 2015, but it's also a vibe idk. valentino is aggressively a people person, marc is charismatic but is really only interested in about four people at any given time.) plus, you've got the australian connection via valentino's crew chief, and vale probably does have a somewhat better reputation than marc in terms of being a dickhead on-track?

I reckon casey is fairly neutral on this rivalry and cites them both as inspirations in the generic sense, but does get on with valentino a touch better before they become rivals

he does end up kinda hating them both

valentino subconsciously probably does benefit from the emergence of casey as someone he can actually focus some negative energy on in marc's semi absence. gives him some fire again... gets him out of his funk... at heart he's a hater

maybe casey's relationship with valentino is a little better than irl because valentino is no longer the sole representative of everything that's wrong with the sport. like, you still get mad about laguna, right, but then you're also being crashed out by marc on the first lap of his post-injury comeback a couple of races later... like I said. he hates them both

casey already wants to unionise along age lines irl, in this universe he's lobbying for a new rule to force riders to retire at age 27

dani's a fun one, because inevitably he does kinda have a rough time of this scenario. first of all, he's not really honda's golden boy in the same way any more. you've already got marc. second of all, it's not completely implausible marc would've quietly tried and failed to block dani from joining the team at all

I actually think if you put those two respective versions of marc and dani against each other... more beef? puig surely becomes a bit of a nightmare in that team, even more than irl, constant ugly press briefings and insinuations that marc has developed this bike to shit (obviously would be ironic given what a marc... propagandist? puig became in irl post-2020 but y'know)

kinda like a worse version of the dani/hayden dynamic that's also a fusion with marc's dynamic with his post-2020 teammates, where it's just interpersonally quite cold and frigid and there's a lot of scrapping about who gets to lead the team in bike development. not ACTIVELY hostile 'let's kill each other on-track' but not really good vibes

is jorge lorenzo a marc fan in this universe? .... or. actually. is he more likely to be a proper valentino fan? canonically, the being a biaggi fan thing was a bit of contrarianism from jorge - but if you're going to be contrarian against the guy who is winning everything in this universe, it'd primarily be against marc. also, presumably a lot of his immediate circle would root for marc on the basis of national loyalty, so maybe that... could push him in valentino's direction?

on the flip side, if valentino is more popular, maybe he goes marc. god knows, maybe he'd still be a biaggi fan, but I kinda feel like this version of motogp in the noughties you have to choose a side. I think you can make a case for either direction

not that it really matters... if we're still slotting jorge into valentino's team, he was more committed to keeping that relationship respectful than with his other rivals, which.... uh. hate to say it, but I reckon you could give marc and jorge early beef too?

kinda depends, because there's only an overlap of two races where marc is back and before jorge is crashing himself to pieces in his rookie season, so he'd have to strike FAST. then again, he managed to piss off both dani and casey during that time period! he's efficient!!

still, long term jorge's number one priority remains valentino, and that's also where the more serious drama would likely originate

anyways!! one more year and then we're 'up to date'. honestly, there's no elegant way to integrate 2009 and 2023, so just do whatever really. the issue here is obviously the honda... which did have some proper gremlins in 2009, but like, normal gremlins not 2023 honda gremlins. obviously, if marc injures himself a bunch, he's not in the title fight, but presumably he's not injuring himself as much and not as reckless in frustration if he's not on that bloody murder honda. you could have him play the sepang 2015-lite role in the jorge/valentino title fight? I seem to remember the commentators at some point in 2009 saying that valentino had talked about how dani might end up playing a significant role in the title fight by way of like, taking points from the others in crucial places (something like that, I'm sure he phrased in a way that sounds less condescending). irl 2009 is a bit meh as a season apart from like. seven interesting races. (jerez le mans mugello catalunya sachsenring phillip island sepang iirc, and three of those are wet races.) so adding in extra marc marquez would probably spice up the product at least a little bit? a fit marc would presumably be in that title fight but y'know, given the yamaha was the best bike that year (apart from maybe the ducati, casey seems to think that was the best bike they ever made but who knows), maybe it still ends up being very much an intra-yamaha war. not super committed to any particular title fight scenario that season idk

and on the interpersonal relationship post-2006:

man the aliens getting involved does make it more complicated. over the course of his career, valentino generally doesn't really deliberately escalate feuds when he's not fighting someone directly for a title? of course there's a very obvious exception to this rule who is relevant here

I think to both of them it's still the Special Rivalry, even though valentino does not embrace it to the same extent as marc does. but subconsciously he still does embrace it...

they do have this fun thing where they very clearly race each other differently than they do anyone else (excepting days when valentino has something special cooked up for casey)

realistically obviously these on-track battles happen less because we are now in a dire dire era for racing that can't entirely be blamed on the riding styles of the other three aliens. but like I'm sure they still manage twice a year at least to cook up something fun

I've turned this around in my head a few times now and I... just don't really see valentino starting shit with marc during this era? and because he is a bit more the active instigator in that dynamic, but he'd be more inclined to brush off whatever shit marc is sending his way... I kinda think they'd be fine here? if anything, you might get to this slightly absurd place where it essentially mimics the 2013-14 vale/marc dynamic where they do low-key back each other up whenever a dispute rocks up. deeply confusing to anyone who has been around to see the years and years of relentless toxicity to see them repeatedly publicly agreeing like this

but like? if the other aliens (especially casey and dani) complained about marc and valentino's riding style...? hey maybe we get some good old-fashioned generational warfare, marc and valentino both going fuck them kids

also again as a baseline dynamic, they are fond of each other... they may have a lot of problems, but the interpersonal chemistry isn't one of them. if this is a period in which valentino is racking up a couple more titles and marc isn't, obviously this would be like. deeply distressing to marc. but also again I do feel you'd need two parties to escalate this feud again and I just don't think valentino would?

world peace era

kinda the question, right... irl you have 2018 as a new nadir and then the relationship edges back towards civility in 2019, minus isolated spats... and then you have enforced separation by way of covid/injury and that's kinda it for their interpersonal interactions. but in this universe, they do just... keep interacting... also they have so much more history with each other! less hero worship less active betrayal but more just them being teenagers who got drunk together a lot. they'd figure it out again imo!! it's still weird and loaded because they're both ultra competitive, but at the end of the day throwing in a bunch of other rivals into the mix makes them think about how maybe they do actually like each other a whole lot

and the injury does spook valentino... marc was suddenly gone... marc keeps hurting himself... canonically, valentino does show some real concern about marc's antics in 2012 - and okay, here valentino isn't the older one and isn't as traumatised and still believes in his own immortality a little more, but he's still not marc. and marc makes a stupid, reckless decision, and he leaves valentino... given how long they have been friends in this universe, it's just about enough of a scare that it maybe prompts valentino to reevaluate that relationship just a teensy bit? not enough to hold too firm in the face of competitive pressures, but enough to make valentino worry a little more about marc hurting himself than he's worried about marc being the biggest star in their world or their legacies being tied too closely together or whatever... and marc does infuriate him in this, but he does also care...

after this, you would have to get more creative with this universe. valentino breaks his leg, I guess. obviously, marc is not riding a satellite ducati. does valentino still go to ducati in this universe? who wins any of the titles going forward? do you really want to steal any of jorge's titles? what about casey? what happens when we hit the 2013 onwards stretch? idk I'll revisit this in three years time to compare and contrast with what happens irl in marc's timeline (psst since he's currently as old as vale was in 2010.... casey/marc teammate feud starts next year....?) and decide how to forcibly graft that onto this timeline. I'm not really attached to specific title numbers.... going forwards, you can have them compete 4eva - fuck the other aliens - or have only marc win titles or neither of them wins any more titles and that's that. who's to say!

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

so... like... what does this alternate universe change? obviously there's a bunch of cool on-track battles that would've been neat to see. they're both just fun racers to watch - with very different styles that match up very nicely - and of course the thought of both of them in their prime slugging it out week after week is tantalising in itself. I do think in general, valentino doesn't match marc's aggression as much as he assen 2015's his way through his problems... but also, you'd get some fun 'wow you've both taken each other out' races where both feel like they can't get away with yielding to the other. also, one of my favourite things about sports rivalries is how the way they engage with each other changes over time, how each new encounter inevitably in conversation with all the past fights they've had. in this universe you end up with a bigger sample size inevitably than irl (though honestly the irl one compares pretty positively with a lot of rivalries this century in terms of quality of on-track competition), plus it's over a larger time span. what do they learn from each other? what tricks do they pick up? how does that dynamic change over time? the most obvious shift informed by real life is that [2000 -> 2001] [2014 -> 2015] you go from marc winning the proper battles to valentino winning the proper battles, which helps bring about the marc head loss that season as valentino gets more comfortable with the bikes and the premier class and marc struggles for the first time. where you go from there... again, tbh it's dealer's choice, but the key thing is you have that dynamic of constantly revisiting old haunts and old battles and building on their history more and more and more... it's also super formative and constant for both of them in a way that none of their actual irl rivalries can quite be, like something that caries through from 125cc to 250cc to the premier class?? kids crashing into each other in 1996 and revisiting that same track in 2009 to fight it out again? they end up just sharing a lot with each other that completely eclipses any other on-track rivalry

but there's something... hm, I do really like the generational aspect of marc/valentino and to me it's one of the most interesting aspects of that rivalry, so I'm almost loathe to strip them of that, which is obviously why I've written a reasonable length tumblr post about this. when you make them peers, marc cannot steal valentino's moves, he can't supplant him, he won't have this hero worship that makes him construct himself in valentino's image. you kinda want to find a way to maintain aspects of that dynamic, right, where marc still sees valentino as like. the coolest thing ever. and doesn't model himself after him as much as admire him, sometimes from closer and sometimes from afar... valentino's always making racing fun - which it obviously is to marc too, marc's also a cheery kid, but they are a bit different in how... y'know, marc's constantly inventing new ways to overcome the pain barrier whereas valentino looks at all the more unpleasant aspects of racing and goes 'no thank you <3' (one of my favourite anecdotes about young valentino is what a wimp he was about the rain, which never quite went away). also they come from different enough backgrounds, valentino with his deeply laissez faire parents where he had to grow up quickly himself and occasionally parent them, marc with his deeply not laissez faire parents where the growing up is a bit more about the money of it all but he's still fairly sheltered and living the Professional Child Athlete Lifestyle... and whenever they're not actually racing each other, marc can still construct a bit of an idealised version of valentino in his own head, where he doesn't as much want to be him as he wants to be around him. the reflected glow of all that joy

you tease out the most interesting elements of valentino's side of the equation by going all in on the resentment imo. marc might not be replacing him in this universe, the stuff he 'has' in this universe is fundamentally stuff valentino can take from him if he's good enough... but marc's just everywhere, isn't he? always a little ahead, always seen as the next big thing, burns bright very very early. valentino wants his own legacy! he wants to be his own guy! but he's also a storyteller, and there is a story to be told here... one about how he's just a girl, in a big big world, taking on the big bad marc marquez. so in his head he'd just love to get rid of marc, but also he gets to this weird place where he kinda needs him.... he ends up defining himself against marc, both in the public's eye and in his own mind. they're both each other's biggest points of reference, to where they're eventually each other's only reference. and just like in real life, valentino never quite escapes how all this resentment stems from self-recognition... it's resentment based on how similar they are and how unfair it is that there's someone who's this good who's this much a match for valentino... all because they're similar enough in their approach to competition, grinning while twisting in the knives, vicious in the heat of battle... and because they do both fundamentally want to have fun! so sometimes valentino might love to hate marc but mostly he just loves to fight him...

anyway. what would this timeline adjustment actually add beyond a bunch of on-track battles? I think the main thing you get here is the kinda.... intimacy... from having been teenagers at the same time, having been given the time and space to actually build up a relationship as peers that constantly gets chipped at and reconstructed again and again and again. they kinda function as each other's foils, which they do anyway but here it's from a position of equality. irl, you actually have to jump through some major narrative hoops to even put them both in a position where they'd consider becoming friends (thanks real life for jumping through those hoops). you don't have to do that in this universe! valentino did get more cynical about being both friends and rivals over time (or at least that's my theory, see here) - but when he's a teenager, he's not going to be cautious in the same way! if he likes marc, which the evidence we have suggests he very much would, he'd just be friends with him! the normal way! valentino isn't prepared for the entire thing turning ugly because he's never done this before, there's no past experiences he'd be drawing on here and would be inspired by in starting feuds with his friends-turned-enemies. they'd both be young and innocent and kinda get into the process of feuding in an organic manner, as it should be

and, yeah, the other element is that valentino... well. look. he's really not the fully formed package at the start of his career, including when it comes to media manipulation. but it's always in there somewhere... there's something fun about this being baby's first feud! irl he kinda stumbles into the biaggi one, right, where he says some shady stuff about biaggi and then he's like 'wait a moment the journalists actually report on what I tell them??' and then it escalates from there. very trial and error! in this universe, valentino can trial and error this feud, where he just says some kinda feisty stuff to the press about how he doesn't always want to be compared to marc marquez and maybe they should be asking marc about him, y'know, the cocky little shit - and the public animosity comes and goes in waves where they have one serious spat in the lower categories, then patch it up again, then a proper feud, then it gets better again, then more feuding, etc etc etc.... and in all of this, they're both very into using the media as the way to litigate this feud - especially when they really aren't speaking to each other. and valentino's occasionally quite deliberately drawing the public to his side to make marc's life less pleasant, which he gets better and better at as the years pass. valentino does help turn marc into a bit of a heel, someone the public loves to hate and to root against. (though, again, it is very very important to me you get some crowds booing valentino.) marc's just too good! too vicious! and unlucky to have valentino, the people's princess and poor wee underdog, as his primary rival! but even then, because valentino is younger and less jaded, there's also a level of hostility that he would shy away from. and the fact that they're so inescapable to each other also helps the feud die down each time. because you don't want every single podium until the end of time to be unbearably awkward...

in a way. the direct competition does make things more vicious but more straightforwardly so? and in a more equal way. broadly speaking they do have a better shot of figuring things out in this world imo! maybe valentino finds a qatar 2004 equivalent to burn everything to the ground, but I reckon he flirts with that line without quite crossing it... they have more argentina 2018 equivalents, stuff where one of them (probably marc) does something insane on the track and one of them (probably valentino) says something insane off it... but that's a bit more straightforward! what really makes sepang 2015 so fucked is that it's not a direct title fight between the two of them, like that's why it's the wound they can't heal from! irl it's almost like a commentary on the age gap, right, that they're barely overlapping in competitive windows and how the feud itself can't stem from something so direct... it had to happen in a more roundabout way that allows it to curdle into something far crueller and far more bitter... but the moment you make them peers, then it's all fair, really - a lot of the stuff they do to each other is more 'acceptable' and just part of being rivals and easier to eventually look past. (cf how they're both mostly still focused on sepang 2015 to this day, not argentina 2018.) for better or for worse, they're trapped with each other... irl, part of the unequal power dynamics stem from the simple fact that valentino was integral to marc's childhood but marc wasn't to valentino's. marc can't escape valentino not only because of their shared history, but also because valentino was such a big part of growing up, of figuring out who he'd become... hero worship as a formative process - where however marc feels about valentino now, there's still elements of his identity as a racer and as a person that are inexorably linked to valentino. but here, when they're peers, neither of them can escape that - and when nostalgia comes calling, it does so for both of them. valentino can't just dismiss marc as part of his story, because marc has managed to so thoroughly make himself a part of it. which can make everything worse between them too... and they know each other so thoroughly they'll figure out some nicely brutal ways to hurt each other, again and again and again. they're so similar, so combustive, stuck with each other for so long that they can trial so many flavours of cruelty. but hey, let's be optimistic, just this once. they can't escape each other so they might as well learn to forgive each other

#i have notes for four different versions of yamaha!casey trust me idm answering this question!!#obviously i started with my casey takes and worked my way back to all the other stuff #irl fabio is so nice and forgiving about what happened at aragon 2022. *squints at my jerez 2011 notes* casey would Not be #also the way this works out timeline wise you'd obviously make this one of casey's two canonical dnfs right after laguna #they're tag teaming tormenting casey... leave my daughter alone you monsters...#brr brr #//#batsplat responds #spec tag #one of those asks where 90% was written comically fast and then I got stuck on the remaining 10%#this is like the reddit version of rpf #i was gonna say i finished this off while watching my favourite choker choke BUT I WATCHED MY FAVOURITE WINNER WIN #deeply fraudulent win and we're gonna be turned into mincemeat in three days anyway but y'know what. that's what it's all abouttttttttt

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just-my-fandom · 2 years ago

Text

Rocky Road P3 (JJ Maybank x Routledge! Reader)

Season 2 chapter 3

Summary; Popes appointment in Charleston takes an omnious turn over a proposed trade.

Warnings; Cursing, Pope almost gets kidnapped lol, Reader gets shot (yep), lots of time skips.

Note; Back at it again, I haven’t updated since February 2022 and I’m excited to get back down to business. Let’s GO!

Edit; So I’ve realized that the end got cut off, my Tumblr has been glitching to where it’s cutting off the last two sentences of anything I write. Please disregard as I try to fix this!

Tag list; @sinisterspidey @parkerhale13 @thoughts-elsewhere @b-lueberryy @deamus-liv @bubs-world @bibliophilewednesday @sexualparkour @jjpouggues @poguestyle17

You stand with your arms crossed. Head tilted up, your eyes squint against the bright afternoon sun to eye the wire gate in front of you.

“So like,” JJ brings a hand to rub the back of his head, “Are those spikes to keep people out?”

“No,” Kiaras answer is simple, sad, and you glance over to look at her,

“The slave quarters are over there,” Popes head nods across the yard past the gate, and your eyebrows raise in realization, “These spikes were to keep people in,”

Minutes later, and you watch as Pope knocks on the front door once, twice, three times before stepping back, his gaze flickering between you and your two other friends, “Think that was too much?”

“It echoed the entire house, that’s for sure,” JJ flicks his eyebrows up, shrugging, “So they definitely heard it,”

“Maybe nobody’s home,” Kie hopes, Pope reaching forward to knock again, only this time the door jerks open, and you step back as a man steps into view, snarl stuck on his face as he looks between the four teenagers,

The man suddenly smirks, finger raising to point at your friend beside you, “You must be Pope,”

“Um,” Pope pauses, “Are you Mr. Limbrey?”

“Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday,” The man raises an eyebrow, eyes scanning across you, JJ, then Kie before settling back on Pope,

“I’m sorry,” Pope clears his throat, “My car broke down on the way up here,”

“Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville,” JJ speaks up, so the man’s eyes then stared at JJ, slowly shifting to you so your brows furrowed,

“Yeah she was real upset when you didn’t show up,” The man stares at Pope once again, Kie shrugging a weak shoulder,

“We tried to call, but there’s no number on the invitation,”

“We got here as fast as we could,” You exhale, the man grunting as he, a third time, stares at you, before looking back to Pope,

“She also expected you to come alone,”

“I mean, these are my friends,” Pope glances back as the man rolls his eyes, “They helped find the Royal Merchant too. Y/Ns dad-,”

“Yeah the instructions were explicit,” The man cuts, “Your friends can stay outside,”

Your eyes flick to the man, nodding, silently, “We’ll keep the car running, then,”

. . .

“Look, if Limbrey is legit-,” Kiaras sudden conversation dies down at the weird sight of the man and Ms. Limbrey leading Pope to the back of the house.

You worriedly look at JJ, confused, “Does that look voluntary?”

“That would be a negative,” JJ mutters, Kiara already beginning to open the passenger door,

“Come on,”

“Whoa hold on hold on,” JJ immediately reaches to grab her arm, “They’re going into the alley,”

“Go around back,” You order, JJ throwing the truck into drive before he begins to round the house, your head shaking as you lean forward, searching the front and back window, “I don’t see them,”

“There!” Kies sudden shrieks leads JJ to slam on the breaks, his arm instantly sticking in front of you when you lurch forward, your hand grasping his forearm as you watch Pope climb in, yelling for JJ to get a move on.

It only takes three road turns before the hood of the truck begins to smoke a second time, JJ slamming a hand down onto the wheel when the truck stutters to a stop, looking at Pope next to Kie in a panic, “Now what?”

“Go around!” As everyone climbed out the truck, JJs arm slide around your back to push you forward, immediately beginning to sprint down the road behind Kie and Pope.

“Does he have a gun?” You gasp, JJ tugging on your wrist to pull you down an alley, Pope skidding in an attempt to follow, before you rush out onto the street, nearing getting hit by two people on a motor bike,

“Sorry-!” Your hand raising on reflex automatically halts upon getting a look at the rider, eyes widening as John B grins, very much alive and well in front of you, “John B?”

“Get in!” John B alarms, JJ pushing you into the back seat of the motorbike as John B began to pedal, and soon enough you find yourself on the beach, pushing a boat into the water and finally getting a gasp of air,

. . .

“He’s taken care of you while I’ve been gone, right?”

John Bs words are quiet. Your eyes move away from the warm fire in front of you, shifting your gaze over to your brother who sat next to you, beer bottle in hand.

“Just like he promised,” You hum, nodding with a small smile, “It’s really good to have you back, JB. Therapy’s been shit-,”

“Wait, you’re taking therapy?” John B questions, quietly, eyebrows pinched as his head ducks, “How’re you paying for it?”

“The school offered it after you went missing,” You explain, “Hence why it’s shit. And they’re still trying to put me in the system-,”

“I thought Kies mom would’ve let you,”

“Will you stop interrupting me?” You narrow your eyes, John B raising his hand in surrender, “We tried. But the system isn’t budging. Plus with Kie getting in trouble for hanging out with pogues, I doubt I would’ve gotten far with it,”

“Well I’m here now,” John B drops a hand onto your shoulder, shaking it, lightly, “And we’re not going anywhere,”

Your smile drops almost as soon as it comes. John B is standing on high alert, your brows pinched in confusion as you sit up in your seat, “What is it, John?”

“I heard a car door,”

You pause, eyes skimming the dark yard as JJ made his way next to your chair, “You’re probably just paranoid, JB,”

Silence, before John B is suddenly grabbing your arm, tugging you onto your feet before pushing you towards JJ, “Hide. Now,”

It’s a solid five minutes before you see him. Rafe, Barry close behind. You sit on a tree branch feet above where you once stood, hugging the large trunk for support while feeling JJs hands at your hips, keeping both you and him steady.

“Anything?” Rafes voice startles you, body jerking slightly so JJs grip tightened, leaning forward to press his chest to your back,

“Nah, there ain’t shit in there, bro,” Barry’s grumble is audible as he stomps out of the Chateau, “Nothing,”

“They were obviously just here based off the smoke,” Rafe points to the abandoned fire pit, Barry scoffing out an irritated chuckle,

“Great observation, Boy Scout,”

“They gotta be around here somewhere,” Rafes head shakes, his body turning to face the tree you sat perched on, eyes landing on the engraved memorial on the tree for John B,

“P4L,” Barry snickers, Rafes jaw clenching as he nods, “Yo sisters a pogue for life now, huh, Rafe?”

“Shit!!” Rafes shout is loud, Barry even stepping back once as Rafe raises the gun in his hand, shooting once, twice, at the tree, before Barry rushes forward, grabbing at Rafes arm.

The movement jerks the gun upwards as it continues to shoot, JJs arm jolting out in front of your face as his other fully wraps around your front, nearly shielding you as your hands fly to your head,

“Rafe, chill!” Barry demands, “You’re gonna get our asses busted, man! Let’s bounce. Let’s go!”

The two take off in a sprint. JJ raises his head from your shoulder, eyes immediately gazing down at where your breaths heaved, hand clutching at your thigh- that stained red,

“Holy shit,” JJs hand tugs your arm up, leaning back to fully look at the grazed bullet mark on your thigh, “Holy fuck, John B, she got hit,”

“What?” John B forces himself to climb a branch over to you, your gasp wheezed in a panic as JJs arm tugs you to face him, hand pressing down hard on your thigh,

“She got fucking shot, dude!” JJ lifts his hand momentarily from the wound to lift you off the branch, your arm immediately coming around his shoulders for support as he leapt off the branch, catching you from impact, “I need towels, and water- where the fuck is Kie when we need her?!”

JJ lowers you to sit against the tree, John B rushing inside the Chateau as Sarah stares in a panic, JJs hands raising to your face so one cheek was stained with blood,

“Baby, you’re okay,” He sounds like he’s trying to reassure himself more than you, but the quickness of your breathing worries him to the point of you passing out, “The bullet just grazed you, you’re okay,”

Your head knocks back against the tree with a pinch of your eyes, JJ looking over his shoulder as John B shoves a towel in his face, followed by a roll of tape and bandages while a water bottle remains clutched in his free hand,

“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” JJs mutter leads your eyes to open, instantly shutting again at the sheer pain of JJ tightening the bandage around your thigh,

Your hiss is loud, hand grabbing at JJs shoulder so he looks up, eyes softening at your pinched brows and glossy eyes,

“There’s blood, everywhere,” Despite the wound being patched, you still seem in shock, eyes wide on the blood staining your hands and his, which now stained his tank top,

“Let’s get a shower, baby,” JJs arm slides to your back, heaving you up on your feet so your own hand grips the fabric of said tank top, “You’re good, you’re good,”

“Holy shit,” John Bs hand raises to his hair, eyes flicking to Sarah when she squeezes his free arm, assuringly. His eyes flick down to her own bullet wound, heaving a breath, “Fuck,”

The next morning, Kie and Pope park the boat at the dock, Kiaras brows pinched as the group of four rushed down the dock, JJs arm supporting your limped form,

“What’s going on?” Pope stands from his spot, eyes zooming in on your leg, “What the fuck happened?”

“Rafe knows they’re back,” JJ hisses, “Went fucking nuts and shot a gun. Hit Y/N,”

“It just grazed, she’ll be okay,” Sarah reminds, as JJ steps into the boat, first, arms reaching out to you to help you step in,

“We’ve gotta go, there’s no telling when he’ll be back,” John B rushes, Kiara nodding before moving back to the boats wheel.

. . .

“Look, if Rafe and Barry know, it’s only a matter of time,”

You settle yourself on a rock perched, eyes watching as Kie, Sarah and Pope took seats, while JJ and John B continued to stand.

“I told you,” JJ scoffs, “We should’ve gone south, man,” JJ jabs a finger towards John B, “Why does no one ever listen?”

“I get it! I get it, I understand,” John B tries, JJ shaking his head as he spins, gesturing a hand out to you,

“Obviously not! Not only did you let Rafe shoot Sarah, but he shot your sister! You better be fucking glad that bullet grazed her!”

“J,” You murmur, raising your own hand so he heaves a sigh, taking your hand while standing beside you, refusing to sit,

“I know my dad,” Sarah speaks up, “He’s going to have to choose between me and Rafe, he’ll choose me. I just need two hours,”

JJ raises his arm and let’s it drop to his side as Sarah moves towards the boat, your eyes watching, silently, as she leaves without another word.

“J, sit down,” You murmur, tugging at his fingers, so he finally sunk down next to you, head fallen forward with a deep sigh.

. . .

“So, how’d it go?”

As John B helped Sarah off the boat, JJ peeled the old bandaged from your thigh. Your small hiss leads him to whisper an apology, taking the roll of fresh bandages from Kie to unravel,

“You were right,” Sarah sighs, glancing over her shoulder where JJ tucked the bandages over one another, before rolling down your shorts, taking your hands to stand you up, “It didn’t work,”

“Welp, then that settles it, guys,” JJ snips, looking over his own shoulder to narrow his eyes at her, “Now y’all need to load up in the paddy wagon and get the heck out of Dodge right now,”

“Yeah, you’ll need the supplies,” Pope nods, “Then y’all will need to split as soon as possible,”

“Guys I think it’s too late,” Kie speaks, your eyes shifting to the side of the water, squinting at three police boats,

“They followed you here?”

“We gotta go,” JJ rushes, throwing your arm over his shoulders while his own loops at your waist, beginning to pull you after John B, who did the same with Sarah, “Go!”

“Oh my gosh,” You heave, looking over your shoulder in a panic, “We won’t get far- with two injured people-,”

“I’ve got you,” JJ breathes, following your eyesight to a man trailing behind with a gun, “We’re good,”

The group ducks behind a large tree, your body turning to press your back to it, eyes staring at two cop cars skidding to a stop in the sand, “Guys,”

“What do we do?”

“We’re not getting out of this,” JJ heaves, your eyes watching him pull something- his gun- from his pocket, “We gotta make a stand,”

“J, no,” Your hand grasps his shirt, fisting it, “No, that’s not the answer,”

John B rushes to grab JJs wrist, grasping the gun with his free to toss it at your feet, head shaking, “Listen to her,”

JJ looks at you, watching your foot shuffle to throw dirt over the gun, covering it, JJ side stepping halfway in front of you as Shoupe and several officers rushed forward, all heading for John B.

“No no no- stop!”

. . .

“They’re gonna kill him in there,” You tug your cardigan over your front, sighing. Your eyes glance across the outside of the courthouse, sighing as JJs fingers grasped your upper arm, keeping you next to him.

“I’m sorry about what happened to you and your family,” You hear a man, glancing over to see him speaking with Ward, “Thank God for the system,”

“Can you shut the fuck up?” You spit without thinking, JJs fingers tightening in warning as the two men looked over, “Of course you think the system worked because it was made to protect people like you,”

“He’ll have his day in court, a jury will decide,”

“He shouldn’t even be in court!” You pull your arm free, pointing to Ward, “You should, because you’re a murderer!”

“I know you’re upset,” Ward speaks, your eyebrows flicking up, “I know he’s got you all fooled, about this, about your father,”

“You know what really happened to my father, because you were there!” You step forward, JJ instantly sliding in front of you to grasp your arms, Shoupe behind you,

“No, no, get the fuck off her,” JJ jabs a finger to Shoupe, “Why don’t you go arrest a Kook for a change, huh?”

“You wanna get arrested? Get out! You need to go,”

“You’re a piece of shit Ward,” You hiss, “No wonder your daughters with us,”

“Okay, baby, you gotta stop,” JJ grasps your shoulders, spinning you around so Kie took your hand, “Let’s go,”

. . .

“I’m gonna testify under oath,”

Your eyes can barely stay open at this point. Curled on the couch on the patio, your halflidded eyes watch Sarah pace, “I was there! I just need to get in contact with my sister,”

“Sister?” JJ grumbles, your shrug light as his fingers trail across your bare legs.

“Wheeze was the only one who knows Rafe wasn’t home that day!”

“Wheeze?” JJ questions,

“I don’t know what else to do!” Sarah panics, “I got us into this mess, I have to get us out!”

“She’s right about one thing, we have to think of something,” JJ sits up, hand now grasping your calf,

“And do what? Kidnap Shoupe?”

“That’s not actually the worst idea, Kie,”

“It’s not?” “No!”

“That’s actually the worst idea ever,” Pope cuts, JJ jabbing a finger towards him,

“Okay, Pope, we’ve been doing everything your way, and how has that been going?”

“Okay so what’s your plan?” Pope stands, now nearly hovering over both you and JJ, “You’re gonna storm a jail, guns-a-blazing?”

“All I’m saying is that they have our boy,” JJ stands up, you sitting up to grab his wrist, warning him, “And we’re just gonna sit on our asses? No, we’re gonna do something about it!”

“We are not storming a jail. That’s not happening,”

“That’s fine man,” JJ mutters, “Sit in your comfy chair. Do nothing. I’m gonna see what I can do. Make something happen, even if I have to do it myself,”

“JJ,” You stand up, hand still ahold of his wrist, “Come with me,”

JJ fixes his hat onto his head, jaw rolling as he fixes your grasp to take his fingers, letting you pull him into the rain outside the patio. He allows you to drag him to the hammocks, your hand running through your now wet hair as you look up at him,

“JJ, we can’t do this again,”

“I’m trying to save him, Y/N,” JJs brows pinch, hair sticking to his forehead as he looks down at you, “Do you not want that?”

“Of course I do, but not in a wreckless way!” You speak loudly over the rain, hands now grasping his shirt at his sides, “I need you to think this through. Last time something like this happened, we got in a fight and nearly broke up. I’m not watching you do something like this again, okay?”

His head tilts back to look up, wet hair falling back as his chest heaves in a deep sigh. Your hands raise to his jaw, tilting his head down to you, eyes instantly closing when your lips press to his, his own hands pressing to your face.

“Are you calm?” You barely pull back, him instantly pulling you back against him, his grasp lightening as he leans back, eyes flicking between yours.

“I’m going to think of something,” You blink, JJ pressing a kiss to your wet forehead before releasing you, stepping towards his dirt bike.

“I love you,” You call, waiting for him to look at you, “I really do,”

“I love you too,” He breathes, fixing his hat, “Stay safe,”

. . .

“That’s a lot of wax on your board. Put too much wax, it’s gonna be slippery,”

“Are you telling me how to wax my board?”

“I’m just saying,” Pope raises his hands as JJ raises an eyebrow, “That’s a lot of wax,”

“Guys, chill out, please,” You heave, JJ looking at you upon a distanced honk,

“You hear that?”

You look over, sitting up straight in your chair to see the Twinkie driving up, your smile wide as you push to stand to your feet, “Nuh-uh,”

“Yuh-huh!” Your brother grins as he slams the door to the van, running up to embrace you, “Guess whose out of the clink boy!”

“Uh, they dropped the charges,” John B sheepishly grins, JJ raising his brows,

“So all that work, I did for nothing,”

“Oh, the most elaborate escape plan of all time?” Pope jokes, John B looking around in confusion,

“Wait, where’s Sarah?” At everyone’s pause, he looks at you, “Where is Sarah?”

“She went to see Wheezie last night,” Kie speaks, “She hasn’t come back,”

. . .

“So,”

You lift your head from the hammock you laid on, JJ stretched out beside you, opposite end, hand messing with the anklet on your foot, “He’s out, huh?”

“Yeah, he is,” You breathe, foot jerking when JJ tickles the bottom, your giggle light so he smiles,

“There she is,” He murmurs, grasping your ankle to tug on it, “C’mere,”

You sit up, shifting to turn around without rocking the hammock too much to knock you off, laying tucked against JJs side as his arm hooks around your shoulders.

“What’re you thinkin’ ‘bout, pretty girl?” JJs lips press to your forehead, resting there when you exhale through your nose,

“How we can’t seem to catch a break,” You murmur, hand twisting his t-shirt mindlessly, “Ever since Dad went missing, we’ve just been running. And now that Limberys involved it doesn’t seem to be getting any better,”

“We’re gonna get a break soon,” JJ speaks, tilting his head to rest overtop of yours, “And I mean hey, when’s the last time we sat in this hammock, hm?”

“Yeah, I have missed this,” You slide your arm across his chest, before he twists, facing you. Your hand reaches up to comb his blonde hair from his face, the back of your hand brushing across his cheek. “I love you, JJ,”

JJ hums, head leaning forward to kiss your lips, hand reaching for the back of your head, “I love you, too, baby,” A peck, then two, and you giggle as he continues, moving to kiss your cheek, “So so so much,”

“J!” You cackle, JJ rolling to hover above you, the hammock rocking against his movements, “J, we are gonna fall if you don’t quit,”

“You’re just too irresistible, baby,” JJ leans down, your hands cupping his neck to hold him still, “Can’t get enough of you,”

You allow his teeth to dig into your bottom lip, hand sliding up your flowy shirt to graze your rib cage, inching to your chest,

“Guys!” Kies shout startles you to lean back, looking over in alarm as JJ sits up with his hands at your hips, “We gotta go, Wards at the dock.”

#jj mayback x reader #jj maybank x routledge!reader #jj mayback imagine #jj maybank #jj maybank one shot #outer banks #outer banks x reader #outer banks one shot #outer banks imagine #Rocky road

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theoneprecioustome · 11 months ago

Text

P3R Opening Aikoto Thoughts

I finished working so I can finally sink my teeth into this Aigis sequence!

This post will contain spoilers about Persona 3, The Answer and Arena, so it'd probably be a good idea to skip it if you haven't played them yet!

So, first things first:

Aigis' sequence begins with her falling to her knees, looking pretty roughened up. The Moonlight Bridge being the background tells us all we need to know about the setting: this takes place during her battle with Death/Ryoji. As if to make it even more obvious, her sequence directly follows Ryoji's (which, let it be known, is hands-down the best shot in the opening).

Now, the question is... which fight are we witnessing, exactly? As we know, Aigis fights him twice. She fights him as Death 10 years ago, and then as Ryoji during the course of the game.

I think the opening sequence is meant to be the first fight: the one against Death, because we see Aigis falling asleep at the end of it. But I'll get back to that later. For now, assuming that it's that first fight helps contextualize the shots that follow:

Aigis is surrounded by the 13 arcana while the Fool lies right in front of her. The 13 arcana are, of course, the 12 shadows that Death was split into and Death itself.

And this is when the Aikoto comes in, because I believe this sequence is meant to serve two purposes at once: Symbolism and foreshadowing.

On one hand, they symbolize Aigis' meeting with Makoto in the Moonlight Bridge 13 years ago. The Fool represents him, both as the child that she had to seal Death into and as the boy that she swore to protect.

On the other hand, I feel that the fact that they chose to set the scene this way also serves as a nod to The Answer. After all, if this were simply meant to symbolize Aigis sealing Death into Makoto, then Death should've been right in the middle alongside him. Instead it's just The Fool, because the Moonlight Bridge is the place where both — Makoto's and Aigis' journeys began.

And Aigis journey began with Makoto and ended with her becoming the Fool and carrying his legacy.

Coincidentally, these seem to be the lyrics during the portion Aigis is on screen (credit to the Wiki):

No matter how far (No matter how far) How you go (How you go, how you go) How long you may last (F* tears, no time to waste) It's your life, burn your dread

This is not the first time Atlus references The Answer in an Opening. Burn my Dread foreshadows The Answer, and even Our Moment features a reference to it.

As such, it doesn't mean that we will see a The Answer re-release. All it means is that Atlus acknowledges its existence and, above all, the journey that Aigis goes through during it.

Now, back to Makoto! If you look closely at Aigis' expression, you will see that she looks sad, guilty even, as she looks down at the card representing him.

We also see this shot lingering and Aigis' pupil contracting right before she closes her eyes, which to me represents the fact that Makoto — and what she had to do to him — were likely the last thing she thought about before she fell into her deep slumber.

Coincidentally, the only ones that are within Aigis' eye — and thus, her focus — are herself and the Fool.

This, in turn, ties in not only with P3, where Aigis wakes up from her slumber when Makoto arrives to Yakushima:

It also ties in with The Answer:

And even with Arena. After all, thanks to Arena, we have an idea of what it is that Aigis thought about as she fell into her deep slumber. Or rather, what she wished for:

Aigis' sequence in the opening (the longest one after Makoto, if I'm not mistaken), ends with her falling asleep, her Papillon Heart shining brightly in the dark.

And of course, once she finally opens her eyes 10 years later, we get...

#aikoto #aigis #makoto yuki #meta #games #p3r #I may be wrong of course but the upside is that there's only 1 month left before I find out lmao

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twilightknight17 · 9 months ago

Text

On this round of P3R, we’re heading to the red-light district!

But first, I just want to say, Fuuka’s link requires MAX COURAGE to start? Omg. Now I’m assuming Mitsuru needs max academics. Good god. NG+ is absolutely gonna be needed for this.

So it’s now the third (technically fourth) full moon! And now that I’m thinking about the Magician and that whole mess, I think it’s a little funny that no one in SEES, in any of our downtime, has ever questioned, “Hey, what the fuck was that thing that ripped itself out of Orpheus and bodied the Magician in one shot? It might help with some of these slogging battles.” But no. It’s fine. We don’t need to know what that vastly powerful persona was. Whatever. Let’s rock.

Shirakawa Boulevard, despite Ikutsuki’s attempts to talk around it, is where the love hotels are!

I’m pressing X to doubt, sir!

So we’re off to the Champs de Fleurs hotel, and actually other than the weird curtained waiting area and sexy price list next to the front desk, it does look pretty normal? Like, it’s a hotel. It’s got hotel hallways and elevators and stuff.

And then we get to the third floor and the equivalent to the presidential suite.

This is labeled as the Hierophant’s Chamber, and… Lovers is supposed to be here? Did the P3 movies just straight-up skip the Hierophant Shadow and I never noticed? XDDD The Hierophant is very round and kind of looks like a really big guy with a lady with a head made of coral behind him.

Hierophant wasn’t bad, actually, and we get to explore the room afterwards before heading back downstairs. The kids clown on a lot of the décor, but like, the silly round bed would be cool for the novelty, and who DOESN’T want a tub that big???

But when we try to leave, we all get knocked out, and Minato wakes up in a different room, where Yukari is taking a shower.

This sounds very like Orpheus, but it’s definitely not Orpheus, because Orpheus would know that Yukari is not our soulmate!

Yes I will continue being biased. XDDDDD

If you say anything other than the correct answer, you get a “wait, that doesn’t seem right” thought bubble, and the dialogue just loops back to the start. You cannot fuck up the mission and game over on a night of brainwashed debauchery. XD

Minato comes to his senses, gets up from the bed, and Yukari comes out wrapped in a towel. She abruptly realizes where she is, screams, and slaps Minato before running back in the bathroom. And… Yukari? I was literally just standing here. Holy shit. Is this the pre-Kyoto warmup scene? God.

NONE OF THIS WAS MY FAULT???

Fuuka gets through to us, and we go back up to the second floor to meet up with Junpei and Akihiko.

I can only assume Junpei and Akihiko were put in the same room.

No one accused you of anything. Although now I’m giggling wondering what would have happened if I’d brought Mitsuru along instead.

We roam the hotel to find the mirrors we need to break to get back into the suite, and this is weirdly hilarious, all things considered.

But eventually we find our way back into the boss arena, and the Lovers has the perfect design, honestly.

GOD is it a bitch to fight, though. This fight took AGES because EVERY time it cast a spell with a charm effect, people got brainwashed. God forbid anyone other than Minato ever dodge an attack. Jesus fuck. I used every single one of my patra gems and dis-charms. Plus it cast diarama halfway through and of course when a boss does that it heals THOUSANDS of HP back to full health. Just give it salvation if you’re gonna do that.

As a brief side note, I love that when Minato casts the Jack Bros’ fusion spell, he just casually walks “offstage” afterwards and leaves them to it.

But finally, we’re out of here.

...Yukari volunteered so that I couldn’t take her out of the party and ruin my scripted undeserved slap. X’D

Gee, Yukari, I wonder if it’s because no one ever has anything nice to say to him? He just gets treated like the comic relief.

Also, we’re being watched by these dudes.

So when you say “we” do you mean you three, or like… humanity as a whole?

Back to the dorm to sleep this bullshit off, and then we move on with our week!

...christ, dude, I just came to see how you were doing. Can I please have a dialogue option so we can talk about this??? No???? Okay… God, this is Mona all over again. My god damn Magicians are always having problems.

...well, that’s nice. I wasn’t expecting that.

People at school are gossiping about how the school was rebuilt after an explosion ten years ago, and I’m getting texts from my attendant, who I apparently haven’t added to my phone? But at least she texts nicely.

It’s pre-exam week, so all my social links are busy. Instead, my academics are lagging, so I’m studying with the members of SEES who aren’t cranky with me. That means Yukari and Fuuka, and Mitsuru and Akihiko. Akihiko recommends doing a quick workout after every few problems, because then, you’ll power through the next set in anticipation of getting to your next workout!

Everyone I live with is insane. I love them. :’D

Ikutsuki calls a meeting to discuss something important, but before he can get to it, Yukari wants to speak. She’s had Fuuka looking into some stuff from the incident that happened ten years ago, and now she wants answers, because she thinks Mitsuru has been hiding things from us.

Other than the explosion, students were sent to the hospital, even though they were formally noted as just “absent”. It’s the same thing that happened to the girls bullying Fuuka; they fell unconscious and were unresponsive. Turns out, yeah, it was the same sort of thing. And it was Mitsuru’s grandfather, Koetsu Kirijo’s fault.

In greater Persona lore, knowing that he broke off from the Nanjo Group, he probably had access to tech that made his bullshit significantly easier to pull off. At the very least, we know he had the blueprints for a prototype anti-shadow suppression weapon, and the method to create artificial persona-users. But of course, he pushed too far.

(Sorry that these subtitles are kind of blurry. Basically, they gathered up a shitload of shadows and then lost control of them, because of course they did.)

Tartarus and the Dark Hour exist because of all of this. The lab explosion happened because they lost control, and because the lab was around/under Gekkoukan, it ended with the school needing to be rebuilt as well.

Yukari is not pleased with this development. She feels like we’re just being used to clean up other people’s mess. But as Ikutsuki puts it, we’re the only ones who can fix things. Normal people can’t fight shadows.

He also says that no one knows why the Arcana Shadows suddenly reappeared after ten years, but… Well.

No one is okay after this.

Junpei is angry because he feels like nothing he does is good enough, and that all he’s really good at is fighting, which won’t be necessary anymore if the Dark Hour vanishes.

Akihiko goes to see Shinji, who he apparently grew up with in an orphanage with someone named Miki, to tell him that they know how to stop the shadows now. But Shinji still won’t come back to SEES.

Me and Minato aren’t okay because I’ve finally started this guy’s social link, and he’s a dick.

Yukari’s dad was the lead researcher on the shadow stuff that led to the explosion, so I assume that he’s the one who got blamed for everything. Ikutsuki mentioned that the media picked one dude and demonized him.

I think this date is wrong, though. If it was ten years ago, that’d be 1999. Right? :/ It’s also just funnier if the lab exploded like 3 weeks after the Sumaru crisis ended.

But I saved the cat! So everything is not a complete wreck.

Pharos comes back to see me and implies some sketchy shit about my parents.

My parents (and my sister, shush, I’m pretending it’s canon) did not explode, though. So this isn’t their fault.

We’re absolutely friends.

After affirming that at least one person will stick by me to the end, even if that one person is a strange child who keeps waking me up at midnight, I come home from school the next day to find everyone sitting around experiencing the most awkward silence ever conceived.

Akihiko, no!

Thankfully, we manage to talk through what’s bothering the group as a whole (Junpei is still mad at me, I think), and Ikutsuki shows up to suggest that after exams, we all go on vacation to Mitsuru’s family’s summer home on the island of Yakushima. Her dad is going to be there, apparently!

Mitsuru reluctantly agrees, Yukari apologizes to her for being too gung-ho and accusatory the other night, and I think we’re all chill again. Which is good.

…….it’s my last night before exams and my option for study-buddy is Ikutsuki???

Nah. I’m out.

#Li plays P3Re

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arcplaysgames · 2 years ago

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didn’t you keep saying you didn’t even like p4g when playing? how is p5r worse? genuine question. is it the pacing/characters/story?

cw: P5R negativity, fans might wanna skip this

I think you missed my final round-ups on P4G because outside very specific criticisms (Izanami being bad writing, the P4MC being an anchor around the throat of the game, and JESUS FUCK THE MUSIC WAS SO BAD) I was overall pretty positive on P4G. It has ups and downs, but the ups far outweigh the downs. I think if you check this blog with /tagged/p4 you'll find my two big Final Thoughts posts. I honestly think P4G gets a bad wrap. I'd give it a final score of, like, 7 out of 10.

It's just not Persona 3 Portable Girl Route, which I still maintain is the best scenario writing and some of the best character writing of the series, and I think the structure is much more solid. Also the music is the best I've heard yet.

P5R, I am currently doing the Kaneshiro Arc and I have recruited Makoto. My issue with P5R is probably three-fold.

One: I think that the cast is dramatically weaker than P4 and P3. Like, I'm kind of shocked at how weak the cast is. So far I like Morgana the most, but I think it was my friend Bane who pointed out that Morgana tends to be a very divisive character because he's such a strong character compared to everyone else. Me, I need this. I desperately need this because I think Ryuji and Ann feel incredibly weak, and while I am thrilled to have Yusuke, he's.... like mid-tier. For P5 he's godtier but he's mid-tier for P4 or P3.

I was talking to a friend and basically said that this game fails the Homestuck Rule of Writing, honestly. Like, when you are writing really distinct characters, one of the best shortcuts is to just.... make them passionate in uncool ways. Give them weird hobbies your audience probably will not share, but let the level of passion they have make them feel stronger.

Like, Chie is obsessed with kung fu, Akihiko and Shinjiro have a running fight about protein vs vegetables that's really funny, and Kanji just keeps a sewing kit on him and will fix people's hems on the street. Remember when Junpei met a gothic lolita girl by the train station who was making art in her own blood and was like "haha awesome you seem cool! Wanna hang out?"

God, I miss Junpei every day.

So far, honestly? No one in P5R passes the Homestuck Test. I keep complaining I need some weirdos and that's what I mean. I am kind of just "ugh" on this idea of "oh so and so gets better" but like. No one in P3 and P4 needed to "get better" (okay except Yukari but her arc fucking rocked).

Two: The technical quality of the writing of this game is so much worse than P3 and P4 imo. It's something i have a hard time explaining and I'm to a point I have just given up on even cataloging it because it feels like I'm complaining about something small, but it's a small thing that keeps happening over and over and over and over, until it's just this overall severe lack of polish to the entire game. Which, when I am dealing with a game that feels as overproduced and maximalist as P5R, having the actual script be this rough in a way that was easily fixable with another pass is just a rock in my shoe.

Three: I am severely fucking torn on the entire concept of Joker. In a way, Joker feels like a direct answer to my biggest criticism of P4G, that the MC was such a non-character, a complete void with nothing to balance the story on, a problem so severe that by midway through, P4G was about Yosuke instead of P4MC. And that sucks. Having a MC with no impetus, only reaction, just didn't suit the structure of P4G.

Now, we have Joker, who frankly is a great character who addresses those complaints perfectly. He has an easily detectable personality, he has more frequent and more interesting dialogue choices, he has quirks and oddities, and he has a compelling backstory that lends itself to the core themes and mysteries of the game.

Except: the Gay Options have been removed.

I was able to play P4G as a homogay from start to finish, which frankly softened some of my anger about the entire experience. Not to be flippant, but Reverie The Fourth's only traits were "calm dude" and "fuckin GAY".

After how queer P4G was, the complete absence of that in P5R is.... isolating and disappointing. It's something I am pushing through but the game's repeated calls for rebellion and pushing against what people think of you feels trite with how relentlessly cishet it all is.

At the end of the day, at the moment, I consider P5R easily the weakest of the Big Three. Maybe my opinion will change! But at the moment it's really not getting better.

I was talking to a friend and I think that the Perfect Persona Game would be

fully gender neutral protagonist, just don't refer to their gender at all, don't gate anything around gender, just don't

the setting of P5R

the cast of P4 or P3

Frankly if you gave me the same game, Persona 5 Royal, but inserted SEES or the Investigation Team, you would have the fucking greatest modern Persona game.

#Anonymous #persona liveblog #p3p #p4 #p5 #criticism

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pridewishes · 6 months ago

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i was going to send a follow up ask about persona but my grandparents picked me up and made me drive. anyways persona time. persona 3 reload is soooo good. ive been wanting to get into persona for a while (like years while) but never did until recently and p3r was such a good start. i beat p3r in like a week and im really excited for the answer to be remade. im playing persona 4 right now and im also really enjoying persona 4. i was playing as i sent that last in actually! im about 15 -ish hours in? as for persona 5, i also plan on playing p5 myself, but im also watching my friend play, though he skips most the dialogue so im mostly just watching combat stuff lol. i dont know a lot about whats going on there. persona is a really cool series and i really like it so far! i wish i did get into it sooner

Yes yes! I really enjoy the atmosphere of p3 a Lot and I wish the characters in p4 were better written (Naoto....) but p5r I like a lot I've been really biased bc I hate the fans of it but in watching with my partner it makes me super happy I love it sm... I hope you have fun with p4!!

#mod 🍒#asks

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unsaidcurses · 2 years ago

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can you please write smth with reader comforting marcus and being his support system after todays shit show.

i rly need it, i just want to forget todays race happened 😭😭😭

you don't have to go through this alone// m.a.

summary: marcus needs some comforting after monza and you're there to be his support system

pairing: marcus armstrong × reader

wordcount: 2.7k

warning: angst, graphic description of a breakdown, monza weekend (it's a tw itself basically), tiny bit of cursing

a/n: i swear he's cursed or it doesn't make sense + probably he can pass the curse because tumblr deleted half of this and I had to rewrite :D anyways, is this more dramatic and cheesy than it should have? yes do i care? not particularly

the “delete” button doesn’t exist in real life, right? because if it did, you would certainly have pressed it by now, for marcus’ sake.

it was monza weekend and you accompanied marcus. thank god you did because it had been a real shit couple of races for him, and just the thought of leave him alone dealing with them destroyed you.

he qualified pretty well, to be honest, ending p3, which meant he would start in decent positions both in the sprint and feature race.

it looked so good on friday, you were confident about it.

saturday came and the sprint race with it. you were watching in from the motorhome, nervousness eating you alive as you looked at him overtaking some cars. nothing too bad happened. but then the last three laps arrived and when jack and liam started pushing him for sixth place, marcus had little choice but to skip across the run-off area, keeping his position. you didn’t think much of it, since your main concern was to see him on the track and not in the wall, and you just continued watching the cars speeding around.

when he crossed the line, you were content and satisfied. he finished p6 gaining one position from where he started, which meant a couple of point to bring home. at some point you heard the commentators saying that someone got a 5 second penalty, therefore out of curiosity you asked a mechanics who got it, and your face dropped hearing his answer.

“it’s marcus. he went off track and gained advantage. 5 seconds will bring him back to tenth.”

you tried to rub off your sad expression when you saw him coming closer to the garage. you didn't know if he was aware of the penalty and you didn't want to worry or scary him off in case nobody told him yet.

you kept your eyes on him all the time, from when he spoke to his race engineer, who you assumed announced him what happened, to when he went patting every mechanics’ shoulders murmuring small apologies for his mistake. after he was done, he made his way towards the back of the motorhome, close to his driver room, where he knew you always awaited him.

he stood there in front of you with a disappointed expression on his face. the only thing you thought of doing in that moment was to circle his body with your arms, trying to comfort him a bit, to which he responded just with sliding one hand on the small of your back. it made you frown: he never hugged you like that, if you can even call that a hug.

“hey, hug me properly. you love my hugs.” you tried to cheer him up, looking up at him when you noticed how his eyes were fixed on the floor.

“i don’t love when i finish out of the points though.” the remark came out with a serious tone you hardly ever heard him use. you were almost scared that the usual “make jokes to lighten up the mood” wouldn’t work as it commonly did, so you gave one last try.

“and your hatred for bad races is bigger than your love for my hugs? is it so debilitating?”

“mh, i don’t know let me check.” he placed both arms around your shoulders, gently stroking them. although you couldn't see each other's faces, his action put a smile on both of them.

“i guess i love you a bit more.” he chuckled. you were glad he still had some optimism, after all the next day he would have a huge opportunity starting from second row.

“why don’t you go shower and then we can celebrate with felipe and have some fun?” you hinted at the championship winner, bringing marcus in his room by pulling his hand.

“of course, i’ll be back in a flash.”

sunday morning was a repeat of the previous day. in hitch's garage, watching your boyfriend's car race with headphones on, but starting from third today.

you were hopeful. marcus was determined to fight for the podium today, if not even for a win. he wanted to prove himself after the two awful years he had in f2 that he was meant to be there, that he was fast and talented, just extremely unlucky. you perfectly knew it was not an easy game, considering the two drivers who pressured him from the back yesterday were in front of him today, but a huge smile appeared on your face as you see jack in pole struggling when the lights went off, allowing the new zealander to overtake him on the inside.

not even five seconds since the race started and marcus was already in second place, not bad right? wrong.

six laps later, felipe passed marcus right before a huge incident that caused the deployment of a safety car. he slipped into third again, but regained the position as soon as the track was clear.

after a couple of laps, another incident took place and similarly as before, it resulted in a safety car.

hitech wasn’t particularly famous for making the most efficient pit stops on the grid, especially when it came to marcus’ car, so you hoped they didn’t mess up everything when you saw a silver car pulling in the pit lane. little did you know you didn’t have to worry about the pit itself, but about the way he got in. everything happened too fast, you didn’t understand if the engineer called him late or if he didn’t brake in time, the point is that the boy entered beyond the entry bollard, which caused him a ten second stop and go penalty.

you pulled your hands to your mouth in disbelief. each time he qualified high enough to compete for big points, something had to happen. It’s not like you wish anything bad to any driver, but sometimes the question “why always him?” passed through your mind. did he do something horrible in his past life to deserve this? was he a serial killer? judas? it’s not possible he was so unfortunate all the time with no explanation.

seeing his car getting on track, you didn't have time to rationalize your last thought as a red graphic with his car's number appeared on the screen.

another stop and go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

“you can’t be real!” you couldn’t contain your shout, removing the headphone from your head and walking away from your spot. it’s absurd to throw away a race in less than 500 meters, yet it happened and clearly marcus was the victim, who else otherwise?

you were disappointed, as the whole garage was, after all, but you knew that none of that compared to what marcus was feeling, and you felt the world breaking in your hands realizing how devastating that could be. he was so positive that morning, only to get it snatched from his hands.

continuing watching the race was so painful, looking at him trying to gain as much ground as he could, but with his gap, you could consider that a wild-goose chase. the only thing that prevented him from being last was liam, who lost a lot of time after being hit by juri.

the race felt interminable, but eventually the checked flag brought an end to this disaster. marcus rushed out of the car, did the bare minimum he had to do publicly without even removing his helmet, like weighting himself and giving an apology to the team, and then left for his room basically running

“marcus, it’s me, can i come in?” you walked to the door and knocked on it, waiting for an answer that never came. you stood there some seconds and tried to lower the handle and then you realized: he locked himself in. you acknowledged the fact that he didn’t want to see, nor be seen from anybody, not even you, which explains why he purposely avoided the side of the garage where you usually were.

so you just waited there, with your forehead resting on the cold material of the door, counting minutes passing and watching all the mechanics moving around and leaving.

you heard a faint click, but at first it didn’t sink it was the key on the other side twisting in the lock. it did only when the solid object that was sustaining you wasn’t anymore, and you almost fell on the ground. you looked up to your boyfriend who had a blank expression on his face.

“can we go get lunch? i’m exhausted, i just want to eat and go to our room.” you wanted to check up on him and ask him if he was okay but he beat you to it by talking first. his face shifted to a pleading look, so you did not insist and just nodded as you walked toward the restaurant he found the other day in front of the hospitality.

not a word left marcus’ mouth during the meal. he didn’t even order, he just mumbled “the same” after you asked the waiter some dishes. some of his friends were with you and he didn’t laugh at their jokes, sometimes he smiled slightly but nothing more.

you slid your hand on his thigh, his eyes left his plate to meet yours and softened immediately, then he moved and placed his head on your shoulder. seeing him like this made you feel so powerless, you at least hoped that the contact could give him some comfort.

the lunch carried on and shortly after he finished his dishes, marcus tugged at your hand still on his leg as an indication to leave, therefore you said goodbye to everybody and headed to your hotel room.

as soon as he entered the room, the driver laid down on the bed. you observed him from the main door with his back turned to you, curling up with his legs close to his chest as to shield his body from all the thing that happened to him in the previous hours and shut them out of his existence.

your heart clenched at the sight. you didn’t know what to do, how to act. looking at the person you love knowing that they’re hurt, that their world is crumbling under their feet and not being able to stop it and protect them, it’s a nightmare.

you stepped closer to the bed and sat on the edge, brushing his hair with your hand in a soothing way.

“are you sure you don’t want to talk about the race?” the question came out as a whisper, not wanting to break the bubble you were in even more than you already did by just talking.

“what do I have to say about it? It was a shit show!” he answered turning briefly towards you, showing his defeated look, returning to his original position after finishing the sentence with an harsh tone. “and we can’t change how things went, it’s useless wasting time on it. just drop it, okay?”

“marcus-“ you called him passing on the other side of the bed to look at his face. “you don’t have to go through this alone.”

this was the last straw of keeping it together. he didn’t want to complain or bother you but when he realized you just wanted him to decompress and share his thoughts with you, he finally opened up.

"i'm tired of putting so much effort in this sport and always being walked all over. when i have the pace, i don’t have a good pit stop. when i have a good pit stop, i don’t have the qualification. and when i have the qualification, i mess up everything anyway!” he ranted sitting up. his hands were moving in the air and his eyes were darting in every direction.

“the fda dropped me, and i will lose my seat in formula 2 the end of the year.” listening him reviewing every single bad event he went through was a stab in the heart, and you really wanted to stop him and disagree with him, but he was unravelling everything he bottled up not only for months but probably years at this point, so you waited in silence listening to him.

“i left home when i was a fucking kid, i didn’t see my siblings grow up, i gave up time with my family, i give up time with you!" his voice progressively increased, breaking at the end of it.

“all of these sacrifices to just get a slap in the face."

he almost started rambling again, but it was clear he couldn't continue. his head fell in his hands, and hot tears escaped his eyes. he didn’t even have the strength to try to stop it, he just let everything go.

you immediately pulled him as close as humanly possible, his head naturally went in the crook of your neck, muffling some of the sobs of despair that left his parted lips. you hold him tight, as a way to tell him that you were there and he was not alone.

imagine how long and how much he held off to explode like this, to end in such an agonizing cry. with a lump in your throat, you whispered sweet nothings to his ear, hoping it would calm him down, and with some swinging back and forth, it did. after a good amount of time, his breath steadied, except for some hiccups sometimes.

there weren’t big words of comfort you could offer him, after unfolding years of frustration and disappointment. you just wanted to make him realize that the majority of the things he said were none of his fault and that he deserved his place.

“i’m so sorry you have to deal with all of this. I wish I had a magic wand to make all of this go away,” you let your hand wander through his hair, moving his head to look him in eyes. you meant every word, and you wanted to be sure he understood that. “but I do have time to listen. always. please don’t ever keep all of this to yourself, okay? you’re my boyfriend and best friend, helping you in any way I can is my top priority. we go through things together, and will work them out.”

the grey eyes turned teary once more, but from happiness this time. your words made him feel so supported and loved, he couldn’t find a better way to show you his gratitude than hugging you back, holding on to dear life, with your legs tangled together.

minutes passed and you slowly moved backwards, till you completely laid down on the mattress, marcus using your chest as a pillow while being wrapped safely around your arms as if you were the only thing who could protect him from all the atrocities the world may hold.

“i’m booking a flight for christchurch, okay? we can’t do much about the past, but you have ten free weeks ahead before the next race. spending some time with your family surely won’t hurt.” after meditating about how you could actively help him, you broke the silence.

“are you coming too, right?” he asked in a tiny voice, doubting you would let him down like the whole feeder series world did.

“of course, if you want me to.” you pulled the blanket over your bodies. “why don’t you rest a bit now, mh? you really need and deserve that.”

you felt him nodding subtly, a small yawn following. it wasn’t just for the play when he said he was exhausted, at the end of the day he still had an eventful feature race in the morning.

as you glanced at his face while caressing it continuously, you were met with a peaceful expression, finally. you let your cheek fall on the top of his head, letting your body relax at the thought of him sleeping.

except for the fact that he was still awake.

“thank you. for being my support system and choosing to be by my side every day. I couldn’t ask for anything better honestly. I love you.”

it was unusual for him to make this kind of confessions, wearing his heart on his sleeves, spilling what he felt deeply, but if he didn’t say it today, when was he supposed to?

“i love you too marcus. dearly.”

and with that you both doze off, with the awareness that you were there for each other no matter what, through thick and thin, whatever your lives offered you.

#marcus armstrong #marcus armstrong x reader #marcus armstrong imagine #f2 #f2 imagine #f2 x reader

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marvels-bitch-boy · 2 years ago

Text

Emerald Eyes Part 3: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: (No Ones POV)

Word Count: 5k

A/N: hey guys! Part 3 might be a little slower releasing than the last two because I want to make the chapters longer to incorporate more into them. Hope you guys enjoy it!!

Master List , P1 Chapter 1 , P2 Chapter 10 , P3 Chapter 2

The Rebirth...

The air in Lagos was dry, Wanda sat waiting at a coffee shop. She took a sip of her tea and listened to Natasha on the coms. She felt something was different here, it was a deep feeling in her gut. She sat uneasily surveying her surroundings. “Alright what do you see?” The captain spoke in her ear. “Standard beat cops. Small station. Quiet street. It’s a good target.”

“There’s an ATM in the south corner, which means…” he waited for the witch to give her answer. “Cameras” Natasha sat at a table nearby and smiled to herself. Although the two of them had been in love with the same man they bonded over their grief for the fallen soldier. She was proud of the girls' progress in the field. As the two continued to speak and Steve quizzes her on the details he’s already clocked. “...red one? It’s cute”

She inserts herself into the conversation “It's also bulletproof, which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us.”

“You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?” She took another sip of her tea with a slight smile. “Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature” The bird man hears this and another smile joins the team.

“Anybody ever tell you you’re alittle paranoid” the spy exhales through her nose in amusement at the jab.

“Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?” Once she says this Steve cuts the banter to the side and they all begin to focus on the mission.

---time Skip like fuckin 10 mins later or something---

As Steve has Rumlow on the ground and knocks his helmet off he sees a face covered with bandages that shook him to his core “no…”. Natasha steals a glance from a distance and catches only a small glimpse that she chalks up to her grief, at least she does until she hears Steve's words in her ear. “Y/N?”

That name causes both women to freeze in their places. Wanda stares at the man's face which seemed to be filled with rage as he stared up at the Captain. She covered her mouth as she watched the man she loveds’ memory become tarnished in her head.

“That man is dead…” Steve released his grip on him “The avengers killed him, you killed him… All of you did” Steve clamped his grip back onto his collar and demanded from him the same information he came here for.

“Where the hell is Bucky?” Y/N simply laughed at him with a laugh that could only be described as cold and distant. Natasha felt her body chill at the sound even under the direct gaze of the sun. “They told me you’d ask that… wrong question though” he released a smoke bomb and escaped the super soldiers' grip. As the heroes waited for the smoke to clear they stood in shock. Steve kicked a nearby chair over as he took off his helmet and hung his head. Natasha ran towards him and held him in her arms.

---

Unbeknownst to them Y/N discarded his previous garb and watched from a distance as he loaded into his convoy. The sight of the two made him sick and fill with even more rage towards the captain and widow. He pulled away from the scene as the dozen of police vehicles raced by. A ring came from his pocket and he answered the device. “Hello…yes ma’am, I did as you asked… we are on our way to the extraction point now… ma-ma’am I don’t think that would be the wisest move… no ma’am I’m sorry…” he lowered his head as the voice began berating him. “Yes ma’am… I will” the call ended and he dialled a second number.

Back at the city centre, a phone that sat on a table began to buzz and Natasha eyed it suspiciously and slowly made her way towards the device. Picking it up she answered, the silence on the line only confirmed her suspicions. “Agent… how have you been? Hope you didn’t miss me too much.” she clenched her jaw at his words and looked around attempting to see him. “I’m guessing this isn’t a courtesy call…” she heard the same cold laugh from before. The differences between the one that used to fill her with heat and joy became highlighted in her heart. “On the contrary, I missed you…” she didn’t respond, this only lit a spark of anger inside him.

“did you know that after a bomb almost blows up half your body the only thing you think about is the people you loved… the people who already moved on-” she attempted to speak but he stopped her “-no, I’m not finished… I will never be finished till that team is ripped apart, you destroyed me.” the line went dead and suddenly the booths around them began to explode one by one. The crowd descended into panic and Wanda attempted to contain the blasts to each stand but they broke through and entered the crowd. She could only look on in horror at the scene.

---time skip 4 days later---

Wanda sits on the edge of her bed and listens to the news. They spewed hate and blame toward her. It didn’t seem to end. The words they used began to infiltrate her head. A knock at her door brought her out of her head. Looking up she found the captain eyeing her with sympathy “you know those outlets don’t have the most reliability.” he joins her on the bed and she stares at the screen. “No, I’m pretty sure they’re right… I mean they saw what happened.”

“It’s not your fault…”

“Oh well they seem to disagree” she points at the TV and a frame of her failing to contain the blast is shown on the screen as if they are listening to her.

He turned off the tv and placed the remote back down. “Turn the TV back on. They’re being very specific…”

“I should have ordered an evacuation once the fighting started… He was a good match and I wasn’t thinking straight.” he looked down at his hands, the ones that held Y/N in them “I saw his face and my brain didn’t know what to do”

“I couldn’t concentrate when I saw him… it felt like I was standing in the rain with him again… his eyes were completely different… and people died because of me” She stared at the black screen and Steve placed his hand on her shoulder.

“This job . . . we try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, next time . . . maybe nobody gets saved.” As he finished speaking Vision phases through the wall and catches her by surprise.

“Vis! I thought we talked about this” he looked confused and motioned towards the door.

“Well the door was open so I only assumed… sorry, but Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving.” Steve didn’t make eye contact with Vision but nodded. The android began to exit through the door. “Oh, and he’s brought a guest” Steve looked at him and cocked his head. “We know who it is?” the synthezoid mirrored the captain and responded.

“The Secretary of State”

---

As Wanda sat there listening to Ross speak to the team. “Sokovia” she saw her home country in ruins and lowered her head. Vision sat next to her and held her hand. Her stomach churned at his touch. Pietro sped out of the room without a word and only a perturbed look. Next, he showed the images and video from Lagos. That’s when Steve spoke up “That’s enough” he stared down at the secretary in front of the room who nodded his head.

“For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution.” he placed a thick document in front of Wanda and spoke once more. “This way we can avoid any more unnecessary collateral to the public and prevent rogue agents… like L/N” She slides the document down the table and remains silent. “The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries . . . it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.” His words command steves attention and he looks up from the thick document.

“The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that.” His stern stare doesn’t phase Ross. who simply looks down and places his hand on the table before maintaining eye contact with the Captain.

“Tell me, Captain, Do you know where Agent L/N is right now? Do you know where Thor and Dr. Banner are?” He takes the man's silence as his answer and continues. “If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes . . . you can bet there'd be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. . .Believe me, this is the middle ground.”

Rhodey speaks up finally “So, there are contingencies.” Ross ignores his words and gets to his next point “Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords.” he looks over towards Tony “Talk it over” as he begins to move towards the door Natasha asks him “And if we come to a decision you don’t like?”

He stops for a moment and looks back at her. “Then you retire.” and with those words, he leaves and a small smile is stifled by the spy.

---

As Zemo is currently attempting to gain entry into his targets' house in Cleaveland. Y/N sits in the car playing a game on his phone. He laughs for a moment before he hears a body drop and looks up. He spots Zemo entering the house and dragging a body, the door remains open which is Y/N’s signal to join in on the fun.

Minutes later the two are ready to begin their interrogation.

“You have kept your looks, Colonel. Congratulations.” he speaks to the man who is dangling above a filling sink “Mission Report: December 16, 1991” The man has fear in his eyes and begins to see a second figure approach from the shadows. “Who are you, people?”

“With none of my respect sir, answer the man's question,” Y/N speaks up with his face still hidden in the shadows. Zemo holds up a hand and answers the mans question “My name is Zemo, This is a companion of mine… I will repeat my question. Mission Report: December 16, 1991?”

The Colonel ignores the question once again changing the subject. “How did you find me?” Y/N lets out a small laugh and approaches the man now fully in the light. His face is seen without bandages and now we see the scar that crosses from his nose down to his neck. The indent in his chin from the shrapnel only makes his scowl more intense. “He didn’t… I did, my old friend -you know the black widow, well when S.H.I.E.L.D fell she release HYDRA files to the public. All I needed was a man who could decipher them, and here we are.” he slapped the Colonel's cheek and backed away. “Now answer him.” his face became stone and he let Zemo speak.

“Mission Report: December 16, 1991” the man spits in his face “Go…to…hell” Y/N attempts to move forward but is stopped by Zemos arm. He leans towards the Colonel and turns the tap off. “HYDRA deserves its place on the ash heap. So your death would not bother me. But I'd have to use this book . . . and other bloodier methods” he motions to the man behind him “…to find what I need. I don't look forward to that. You'd only be dying for . . ." he shrugs at the Colonel "your pride.” he studies his eyes and nods before turning the tap on once again. The water level rises and the Colonel attempts to lift his head but Y/N quickly holds his head below the water line as he thrashes and slowly but surely begins to go limp.

“Where to next?” he watches as Zemo takes the red book and begins up the stairs “We go to Vienna, my friend”.

---

As the Avengers begin to bicker like school children, Vision speaks up “I have an equation.”. Sam stops his fight with Rhodey and turns to the robot, he holds his temples with one hand and speaks “Oh, this will clear it up.”

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially for example Agent L/N who is a known threat. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.” Steve looks away from the Accords and up at Vision.

“Are you saying it's our fault?” She cocks his head and crosses his arms.

Vision looks as though he is thinking for a moment before he responds “I’m saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict … breeds catastrophe. Oversight... oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.” Rhodey looks over at Sam and mouths the word ‘Boom’ while making an explosion effect with his hands.

---

As the Avengers continue their spat Y/N is making a call from a pay phone. The line picks up and he hears a chipper voice “Ma’am… yes I promise the plan is going well… I made the call as you asked- no ma’am she fell right into the trap… Once I am in Vienna the next phase will start…”. He looks around the street and up at the former Avengers tower. “They will pay for the people they’ve hurt… " he nods his head at the voices requests being made "I assure you Zemo will be dealt with once his use is served.” the line goes dead and he makes his way down the street once again.

Zemo sits and waits near his car for the man in the ballcap and hood. As they drive off towards the airstrip Y/N asks him a question.

“Why did you reach out to my employer of all people? You seem capable of doing this all yourself.” he fiddles with a piece of concrete in his pocket. A piece of the rubble The other man continues to look forward and drive as he speaks “We had a common goal… and I saw the resources they could provide” the passenger nods his head and stares out the window at the passing landscape.

---

Believing in something strongly can more often or not end in pain. Fighting for your belief can hurt you at times. Especially when you lose those closest to you.

Steve stood in the isle of the church alone. A pair of footsteps approach and he doesn’t need to look up to know who it is “When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone. Then I found out that she was alive. I was just lucky to have her.” Natasha looks at him sympathetically “She had you back, too.” He sighed and figured the reason she showed up was the talk politics. He gave in and ask his question “Who else signed?”

She looked at her clasped hands “Tony. Rhodey. Vision”

“Clint?”

A light smile appears at the mention of the man “He says he’s retired” she says it as though she doesn’t fully believe the words he uttered to her.

“Wanda?”

Natasha remained quiet for a second before speaking “She’s TBD… I think after Lagos she might need some time, more reasons than one…” She pushed herself off the isle “I’m off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. There's plenty of room on the jet” Steve bows is head and sighs. She knows that he’s already made up his mind. “Just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path. Staying together is more important than how we stay together.” After losing Iggy she was determined to make sure the team stayed the family it was. She was not only trying to convince steve of her choice but herself.

“I know that since you lost him this team has meant more… but what are we giving up to keep it?” She let out a sigh and he shook his head “I can’t sign it… I’m sorry”

“I know…” she stared into his eyes and saw slight confusion rise on his face “I didn’t want you to be alone… you were there for me when I grieved, it's the least I could do” She held her arms out for an embrace and pulled him into a tight hug. She wanted him to know that even though they were on opposite sides that she was still his family. He wasn’t alone.

---

In Vienna Natashas’ attention is pulled away by a UN staffer. “Excuse me, Ms. Romanoff?” She seems nervous to speak to the spy, apparently, even those who work for world leaders still get anxious around superheroes. “Yes?”

“These need your signature.” She hands her a clipboard with a document on it and Natasha signs it “Thank you” she gives the staff member a light smile to put her at ease and thanks her as well. Suddenly she hears a voice next to her that is smooth and charismatic “I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight.” she faces the voice and it's none other than T’Challa the crown prince of Wakanda, a small nation that is in the heart of Africa.

She smiles at the prince and indulges him “Oh, well, it’s not always so flattering” she knew this from first-hand experience. The press had attempted to capitalize on Y/N's death, they ran stories about the Avengers all the time but the way that they demonized his legacy hurt her deeply. They ran stories uncovering his S.W.O.R.D. training incident and some even said they were glad he was gone… those outlets were quickly bought up by Stark industries.

“You seem to be doing alright so far. Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill . . . I wouldn't think you would be particularly comfortable in this company.” He had very keen observation skills, she gave him that. “I’m not” It was the truth. Not since her days in the red room did she trust politicians. No matter how clean their hands seemed she could always see the blood they wiped off. “That alone makes me glad you’re here, Miss Romanoff.” She cocks her head at his comment.

---

Outside we see a van pull up to the exterior of the building, one man gets out dressed in a perfectly ironed suit. His lapel holds a pin of the Russian flag. His badge clears him for entry by security and he gets searched. While the room upstairs begins to assemble for the king of Wakanda T’Chakas’ speech, he makes his way as he enters the room he sees the bright red hair that used to capture his attention. She was in her seat awaiting the meeting to begin. He feels the corner of his mouth rise and makes his way to his own seat. Sitting next to the woman he can feel his heart racing. He can feel his old feelings for her begin to surface and he commands himself to control them. He takes a sip of the water in front of him and then turns to the woman as the King begins to speak to the room. He leans towards her and whispers low enough that only she’d hear.

“I did miss being close to you~” her head turns towards him and first notices the pin, she moves her eyes upwards and her Emerald Eyes lock into his own E/C that she could recognize anywhere. Her breath is stuck in her throat and she feels as though he is frozen in place. “What? You surprised to see me?...” he gives her a cocky smile “as if I’d ever miss our big day…” his words begin to sink into her brain. Our? What does he mean by that? She notices he now has a clenched fist between the two of them and she can feel the scalding heat that is radiating from it. She doesn’t dare to move as he continues to speak. “This is just the beginning” he reaches for his glass of water once again and seems unphased by her fear “you should have never unlocked my heart… All of this would have been avoided” He gets up and makes his way slowly to the left-hand side of the room.

He spots his partner drive away and begins to heat up both of his arms. The sleeves of his suit are beginning to steam and soon enough his arms have caught fire. The voice of T’Challa bellowed through the room and he raced towards his father. A scream of pure fury was let out of the human bomb and the room was filled with broken glass and fire. He hit the room with a burst of smoke and took one last look at the shocked woman. She looked into his eyes but felt a tug on her arm. When she looked back the man was gone. At that moment she knew the man she loved was gone too…

---

As Steve says goodbye to Sharon Sam walks over to him urgently. “Steve. There's something you gotta see” He walks the two over to the TV mounted on the wall playing the breaking news from Vienna. The anchor begins to list off all known information on the event “A bomb that was smuggled into…” Sharon pulls out her phone and begins to make calls as Steve and Sam are glued to the screen. “...Ripped through the UN building in Vienna. More than 70 people have been injured. At least 12 are dead, including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect who they have identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier. The infamous HYDRA agent, linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations. He was able to get past security and detonate the device from inside the meeting itself.” Steve exchanged looks with Sam and they both couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

---

Natasha knows it wasn’t Bucky… She knows those eyes anywhere. His voice was the same, he didn’t even attempt to hide it. He wanted her to know it was him. He wanted to torture her with this knowledge. She watched as T’Challa walked away with determination in his heart. Her phone goes off and she knows exactly who it could be. “You alright?” Steve sounds concerned but she knew that he had another reason to check-in. “Ah, yeah, thanks. I got lucky…” she looks around at the faces that pass by her. She knew the reason she survived… he wanted her to. He wanted her to watch what comes next. She also knew that she couldn’t give up who the real culprit was. There was no evidence yet to clear Barnes of the blame. “I know how much Barnes means to you. I really do. Stay home. You'll only make this worse. For all of us. Please.” she can feel Steve's tone shifts and the smile on his face simply through his voice “You saying you’ll arrest me?” she continues to look around at the emergency responders hoping to catch a glimpse at him.

“No. Someone will. If you interfere. That’s how it works now” still no sight of him

“If he’s this far gone, Nat, I should be the one to bring him in.” She wanted to tell him how he had the wrong guy but his reasoning hatched a plan in her. “Why?” she prodded in an attempt to keep him on the line “Because I’m the only one least likely to die trying.” with those words he hung up and she knew what she had to do.

---

3 hours later in a dark hotel room.

Y/N removed his hood and cap as he set his food down on a small table. Turning on the light he was surprised by the woman he left in the dust earlier. Literally. She sat on the edge of his bed in her mission suit. He recovered from his shock and eyed her up and down. They stayed in silence for what felt like an eternity. Finally, he spoke. “Took you longer to find me than I expected…” he walked towards his food and began to unload the takeout. “-well, given your last attempt ended with me covered in the rubble for a month” This made her body tense as she thought over the times the site was searched.

“I came here to try and understand why you’re doing all of this…” she examined the way he moved as though he was walking on needles. He sat in the small armchair opposite her and began to eat. No emotion laced his face.

“It’s simple… I’m getting paid and I get what I want” She examines his body language as she asks him the question he’s been begging her to ask.

“What exactly do you want?” He stops eating and puts down his food. Staring up at the ceiling he pretends to rack his brain “Well… I want the end of the Avengers, you left me in that rubble to rot… I screamed for weeks and nothing happened.” he leaned forward and stared into her Emerald Eyes “I waited to die… I wanted to die by the time I was saved.” he got up and walked to the minifridge where he grabbed two beers. “Now I owe a debt to those people who acted like angels. And your downfall is simply my reward.” he hands her a bottle and sits back down. Natasha is attempting to piece together the information she just heard. “No one but S.W.O.R.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D. had access to that site. Who could have possibly saved you?”. He releases one of his new bone-chilling laughs, it was as if someone else had taken his body.

Taking a sip of his beer he cracked a smile “Oh… they are a group that isn’t even on your radar. -it’s shocking isn’t it? Tell me what went through your mind when you saw me in Lagos?” His smile was gone in an instant and he was back to being made of stone. He didn't move his eyes away from hers for a moment. “Tell me…” His tone showed his anger and his cards bled. She saw the emotion in his eyes as he scooted his chair closer to her and she could feel the heat radiating from him as his anger rose.

“I felt like I was dreaming… I was in disbelief” she now took a sip of the drink and kept her eyes locked on his. “I’ve been grieving you and suddenly you appeared right in front of me. -I didn’t want to believe it was you” he rolled his eyes at her words. “No… you finished grieving me as soon as Steve swooped in. He saw a chance and took it…" He got up and stood close to her. "...so did you” Looking down at her didn’t feel as good as he thought it would he was only reminded of his time with her. As she looked deep into his eyes she saw a glimpse of the man she loved. She saw a reflection of herself in his eyes and she knew she was doing the right thing. She jabbed a needle into his leg and injected him with the highest dosage of tranquillizer Tony would supply her. “I’m not going to let you leave me again” She was promising to him this time. His eyes filled with rage as he ripped out the needle and collapsed to the floor. She knelt beside him and dialled on her phone. “Tony. I got him…”

---

As he woke he felt the cool air of the containment cell wash over him. Jumping to his feet swiftly he took in the exact surroundings. Glass encased him from all angles and there was only a bed, toilet, and small sink. As he reached the glass barrier he began an attempt to melt through it but to his surprise, he had no effect on it. He began to hit the glass repeatedly until his hand became bloody. Quickly in came Tony who seemed to have a face of disappointment on display. “Please know this is for your own protection.” Y/N laughed at the man and hit the wall once again.

“You just think I’m a hazard… like the rest of them…” he motioned around the cell “some kind of animal who needs to be on display?...” sitting down on the bed he watch as Tony circled the cell.

“I just want to help you… you’re not yourself. This-” he waves his hand in a circle “-I’m not buying it, first of all, you decided to attack the two people you care about most, then you blow up the UN… the boastful yet shy little agent I knew would have only been forced to do all of that…” he saw a shift in the man in front of him “am I right?... I there someone forcing you to do all of this?”. The man shifted away from Tony and hid his face. “Tell me now, I can help you Y/N” Suddenly Natasha burst into the room and pulled Tony out. “Romanoff! What the hell! I was getting throu-”

“You were getting played!” she tugged him along to the surveillance room. As soon as the monitor showed his cell you could hear his laughter echo through the room as he mocked the man who attempted to reach him. Chills ran down Tonys' neck as he heard the man. He looked at Natasha who only gave him a solemn expression. “Tony, I think he’s gone…”.

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sunjaesol · 3 years ago

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to build a home with you

chenford | drabble | post-canon | written on the commute | title: to build a home // the cinematic orchestra

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"Luce... what are you doing?"

His girlfriend looks away from cleansing their living room, not even fazed by his dubious tone and expression. "Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"After that guy broke in—"

"Asshole."

"—it disrupted the peace of our space," she explains.

An amused smile quirks up his lips. "You sound like your mom."

"Uh, that's not a compliment, Tim."

"I know," he quips. "Look, babe, it's just sage."

She stands her ground. "What if it makes me feel safe?"

"That's great..." Meeting her in the middle, he gently grabs her shoulders. "But I don't want you to rely on superstition."

Reflexively, her arms curl around his neck with a smirk she adopted from him, one that looked awfully good on her. "I'm sorry, officer Bradford, but... who always wears their 'lucky' socks to a football game?"

His eyes narrow, once stern yet now playful, and pulls her closer. The sage really hits his nose from this proximity, but his focus solely stays on Lucy. The nauseating memory of finding her buried alive, of having to hand over control to Nyla because he wouldn't understand, to then later realise she had terrible nightmares and couldn't date anyone without an otherwise thorough background check. Which, according to her, sucked the romance and intrigue out of a date.

Lucy Chen has many quirks and sometimes he needs to remind himself that a handful of those aren't by choice. Sage it is, then.

"Okay," he utters, kissing her forehead in lieu of surrendering. "You're amazing, if I haven't told you that recently."

She grins. "I know. Why now?"

"Someone broke in two days ago and you're..." Struggling to make sense, forever the half of the relationship that needed to dig for words, he presses his forehead against hers instead. "And you're really brave."

"Tim..."

"I don't know how else to put it, but it's true," he says, matter-of-fact, and cups her cheeks so she won't bashfully look away — though he must admit that's what made his heart start skipping beats in the shop, seeing her face light up like that. "And you know it."

Her smile widens and pecks him on the lips, chaste, and he almost chases after her when she continues cleansing the apartment. Tim moved in soon after they started dating. His house had long lost his luster and joy after everything with Isabelle and his suffocating loneliness, that he needed a change of scenery regardless of Lucy. It was hell of a convenient timing though.

Lucy and him needed to feel what it's like to live together. Staying over for a couple days is one thing, but seeing the dirty laundry, smelling the farts and catching one another in a bad moment? — whole other ballgame.

"Oh, and also—" Her head pops from behind the bathroom door, mischief clear in her shimmering eyes. "—what're you going to do with that ring in your pants drawer? Has it been there a while, or...?"

"Detective exam isn't for another year, Chen," he smoothly replies, hopelessly trying to keep his voice levelled. His girlfriend may be seven years younger, but she sure isn't less observant because of it.

Her brows raise, unimpressed. "You're making me wait a year?"

Tim smirks, "I can make you wait however long I want, babe."

"Not really. I'm thirty-one. But sure, Tim, maybe I'll just cleanse the romance out of the opal then." The humor wipes from her face to show a tender gaze, her body leaning against the threshold as she takes him in.

He stares right back, drinking her in like he's done since the first day, though different circumstances, and quietly wonders how in the hell this amazing woman chose him.

Playing along, he grabs the sage from her grasp and throws it in the sink, wanting her full attention. He knows what she means with thirty-one, a biological clock he'll never fully comprehend but Angela made him quite privy of during her pregnancy of Jackson. He knows she wants to be married first before she gets pregnant. He knows it all.

Placing kisses on her lips, cheek and ear, he whispers, "If I proposed to you tomorrow, would you say yes?"

"Depends," she mumbles, feigning casualty when he can feel her accelarating heart, "if you mean it. If you actually want to propose. If it's not a Tim-test."

"You're a P3," he chuckles. "Is this a Lucy-test?"

She kisses him, long and languid, and he figures that yes, he could propose to her tomorrow. He won't, still needing to buy groceries for her favourite meal and making sure everyone's up for drinks on Saturday, but he could. He could drop on one knee right now and be so sure, more sure than anything in his life.

Whispering against her lips, he goes, "I love you, Luce. I love you." And then, bolder, "And I love whatever we make... together."

Her eyes shine with ardent love, face burrowed in his chest as he presses his nose in her hair.

"I dream of a girl," she quietly admits.

His heart stutters in place, holding her tighter to him. A game of House people their age liked playing, fantasising about children and school districts and book clubs. He normally rolls his eyes at that behaviour, but now he loves participating. Because it's Lucy. Because he wants all of that with her.

"Hm?"

"She has your eyes and my hair and she doesn't like psych or policework at all. She's her own... little person."

"I want her to have your eyes," he counters.

She looks up. "What if it's a boy?"

"Same answer."

"What if it's twins?"

He smirks. "Then we give one away."

Gently swatting his arm, Lucy retracts herself from the embrace and plucks the dwindling sage from the sink, shooting him a look that reads: don't mess with me anymore until I'm done.

So he lets her — but not before he scoops her up and kisses the taste of soon on her lips, breath and bloodstream. Soon, he'll propose. Soon, they'll marry. Soon, a little human will waggle around the place.

They'll have everything they ever dreamed of.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

@alphinias @chenfordsource @tim-lucy @jjskiaras

#chenford #legit wrote this in one flow so idk how good this is #the rookie fanfiction #the rookie #otp: save me a dance

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ghost-town-story · 2 years ago

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heylo!! i saw your wbw post and i’m interested in the technology aspect of your world 👀 as well as the magic aspect!! feel free to ramble about it :D [@fiercely-raging-writer]

Hi! Thanks so much for the ask! <3

So before I get too far, I'mma quick define some shit. Since ASTHC is, in part, a portal fantasy, as well as a sci-fi adventure, there's a couple places I'm gonna give placeholder titles. So!

Place where Jazz, Jason, and Alex are from: Base Universe (or World)

Universe where they get dumped by portal: Adventure Universe

Planet where Jazz ends up: P1

Planet where Alex ends up: P2

Planet where Jason ends up: P3

Now onto the actual question :)

Technology in Base Universe is essentially whatever it was circa mid-2010s. That's the boring part of this answer lol

Now, for the Adventure Universe, here's what I have so far:

Spaceships and interplanetary travel/faster-than-light travel. How that looks is probably gonna depend by planet tbh. P2: super "outdated" (inefficient and such) bc they don't go anywhere. P1: Clunky but effective. P3: Essentially engineered to where they can use their powers as part of the propulsion system.

Holograms, especially tactile ones. I def have a vibe I wanna achieve with this lol

There's one city that I wanna make look like that bright shiny futuristic aesthetic, so hover vehicles, robots, the whole shebang

(Jason: *drooling over all the tech* Jazz, grabbing him by the collar: Keep walking ya nerd)

I think that's all the kids will interact with, but who knows, more stuff might pop up as I dive deeper into this project lol.

As for magic..... time for a read-more lol

In the Base Universe, magic is this sort of "in the shadows" type deal. It's pretty hereditary, but also pretty random. Jazz and Alex come from a family with a long history of magic, but it just completely skipped over their grandfather. Meanwhile Jason's family on his mom's side has 0 magic other than his mom and her brother. People with magic tend to have 1-3 distinct powers, and I'll list those out in a bit.

Also, because you're enabling me to ramble, I'mma mention something that's uh, not a thing that was created crucially for ASTHC, but is a thing in my own character lore and therefore does make an appearance in ASTHC.

So there's some people with magic that are (tentatively) called star-touched, and the difference between them and say, Jazz or Jason, is that their magic is dormant until awakened. Once awakened, they get 1 power, period. This type of power is way less random than typical powers and very consistently hereditary, leading to the star-touched being kinda a lil bit culty. This gets to be somewhat relevant because Alex's mom was star-touched who said "fuck your lowkey culty shit" and married his dad (not star-touched, but has powers), which therefore makes Alex a unique lil bean lol.

(I really like this bit of lore. And just the entire complicated Lunacen-Evenstar family drama lol)

Anyhoot, enough about Base Universe, that's just to set up Jazz, Jason, and Alex, let's get onto the Adventure Universe!

Functionally, it's mostly similar to how powers work in the Base Universe, with the same set of powers existing in each universe. The key differences are:

In Base, powers are random and are not necessarily related to what parents and/or family members have. In Adventure, kids always have the same powers as their parents.

1 power per person all the time.

Due to The War, all of the different powers have been split up and are now living on separate planets

Due to being allowed more openness/freedom about using/learning how to control powers, they are a lot stronger and better controlled in the Adventure Universe.

There are, as far as anybody knows, there are no people who don't have any powers anymore.

Now, I did promise a list of wtf types of powers people have, so *blows dust off the old Word doc* here's the incomplete list I have so far (incomplete bc I do want to add more I'm just... stuck on what else to add lol) (and, for funsies, I'm also including which of my OG characters has said powers so. That's who all the names are lol)

Shapeshifters: Can shift into 1 or 2 animal forms. (Melody (wolf and phoenix), Finn (wolf), Celia (dragon), Jason (fox), Alex (dragon))

Time control: As basic as it sounds lmao. Stop, slow down, or speed up time. (Was Jared's, may be his once again)

Elemental: Control over water, fire, air, and earth (yes, just like ATLA lol). (Melody, Jared, Jason)

Werewolf: .... Yeah lol. 1 key difference from typical werewolves though, it is the one power that is absolutely hereditary. Also there's typically only 1 per generation. (Will Hayden, Jazz, Will Daniel)

Telepathy: Another of those (hopefully) self-explanatory ones lol. (Will Hayden, James)

Telekinesis: Able to move stuff with just a thought. (Sasi, Hayden)

Seer: Able to see the future, often in dreams. (Jared, Alex)

Illusions: Able to create illusions. Stability of the illusion depends mostly on strength of the creator, but none are able to hold up to physical touch. (Jake, Hayden)

Storm Twisters: Able to control storms and electricity/lightning. May or may not have lore in Base Universe that Storm Twisters are always twins. (James, Will Daniel).

So, as a fun bit of knowledge about Adventure Universe: P1 is the planet where the werewolves live, P2 is the seers, and P3 is elementals.

So yeah! I believe I've rambled on enough about all this lol. Thanks again for the ask!!

#writing #worldbuilding #asthc #ramble ramble #asks

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fjsj · 4 years ago

Text

fake dating p3 (final)

Frank Morrison x Reader

wordcount: 1482

warnings: blood, suggestive content, brief background!Julie/Susie

A/N: heyoo, this is the last chapter for this little drabble. I hope you guys have enjoyed it :3c //please forgive me I was very tired when I wrote this but hopefully the quality is up to par

With little to no thought, you reached out and grabbed ahold of Frank's hand before he could get too far into the lodge without you. Your fingers easily slipped between his, but he did not return the grip. The gauze wound around his fingers was surprisingly soft, a stark contrast to his exposed flesh that was rough with callouses. Perhaps you had gone too far? His hand remained limp in yours, and your heart sank into your stomach. You weren't sure how this would be too far after the little scene on the porch, but you began to withdraw your hand anyways. Before you could even untangle your fingers, he finally returned the gesture with a grip like a vice. It was borderline painful as if he was trying to keep sand from pouring out from between his fingers.

You winced and opened your mouth to complain, but shut it once again as Joey rounded the corner. His eyes honed in on where you and Frank were attached, a grin quickly splitting across his face. "I never thought you'd actually have the balls to ask them out, Frankie." He ribbed, crossing his arms across his chest and looking the two of you up and down.

"Shut up." Frank grumbled, his grip on your hand only increasing in pressure. His head turned away, and you had to wonder if it was to hide a blush.

The dull pain spreading through your digits was ignorable, especially at this new admission. Joey could just be teasing, but...what if Frank really had been contemplating this for a while? Sure, it was just a rouse for Julie but he had said your name instead of anyone else's, hadn't he?

"Y/N, blink twice if he's holding you against your will." Joey teased, and you couldn't help the smile it brought to your face even as you rolled your eyes.

"Nah, I'm here voluntarily. I think...how long does it take for Stockholm to set in?" You bumped into Frank's side gently, a substitute for elbowing him.

"Haha, real funny." Frank responded, completely deadpan, before forcibly dragging you past Joey and into the living room. Obviously, he wasn't amused with the conversation, but you weren't really sure what had set him off. Usually, he instigated stupid jokes like those, especially with the other Legion members.

You stumbled after him, not having much choice in the matter. He only released you when he made it to the couch, hopping over the back of it to flop onto the old cushions. The springs creaked from the sudden weight. One of these days that couch was going to snap in two, and you doubted the Entity would be kind enough to provide them a new one.

"Hey, while you're here see if you can pull that stick out of his ass." Joey called out after you, sarcasm dripping from his tone. You turned to give him a two-fingered salute, "Aye aye captain. Should I beat him with it after?"

You could practically feel Frank glowering behind you as you and Joey burst into laughter. "Please do." Joey finally said once the giggles subsided, before leaving the way you two had come in. The door shut firmly behind him.

"What the fuck was that?" The bite in Frank's tone made your blood run cold, and you turned to look down at him on the couch. He looked angry and...hurt? No, that couldn't be right. Your smile faltered and your brows furrowed together, "What do you mean?"

"You're supposed to be flirting with me, not Joey."

You had to pick your jaw up off the floor and bite down on your tongue to keep from laughing again. You looped around the couch and sat down next to him. You propped your elbow up on the back of the couch, sitting facing him, your knees knocking against his. "Aww, is baby jealous?"

From the corner of your eye, you caught Julie coming down the stairs with Susie in tow, their pinkies looped together. You quickly averted your gaze back to Frank, who was still bitching about your 'flirting' with Joey. "Frank," You said, voice low, hoping he'd shut up for a moment as you sat up on your knees. Your left hand came up to rest on his shoulder, your right cupping the side of his neck, using his body to steady yourself as you swung a leg over his lap and straddled him. Your knee slotted between his leg and the arm of the couch before you sat back onto his thighs.

The new position made him freeze. Big, bad, overly confident Frank now a deer in the headlights. Your fingers trailed along the tattoo at his throat, and you leaned into his ear. "Don't lose your nerve now." You whispered, pressing a chaste kiss to his jaw. His hands found their way to your hips with a firm but gentle pressure to hold you in place. Not that you were planning on going anywhere.

You pulled away, just far enough to look him in the eye. What you saw there was unexpectedly hungry.

There was no going back now. Frank lunged forward and captured your lips with his, if it hadn't been for his hands anchoring you to his lap, you both might've landed on the floor. There wasn't a doubt in your mind he wouldn't have chased your touch if you had tumbled off the couch. He kissed you like you were a lost little lamb and he, the wolf, was only sampling what was to come.

There was a passion and ferocity behind it that you weren't expecting, at least not from something that was just supposed to be pretend. Your hands ran up along his chest and across his shoulders before linking together behind his neck. Your hips hitched forward on their own accord, the sudden friction causing a growl to rip from Frank's throat. He bit down on your lower lip, a mixture of a moan and a squeak escaping your mouth into his as blood burst into your mouth.

Abruptly, Frank's forehead connected with yours and your teeth clinked together harshly. You pulled away in confusion, and Frank did the same, hand raising to rub at the back of his head. Julie's shoe rested beside the both of you on the couch, and she stood smugly a few feet away. "Who needs a fucking room now?" She jeered, and for a moment you thought Frank was going to shove you onto the floor to go after her. Instead, his grip on your hips returned, strength renewed, as he deliberately dragged you against him. Your face buried into his shoulder, hoping to muffle the noises that wanted to spill out of you. You were sure your face was blood red from embarrassment if nothing else. "Fuck off, Julie, I'm in the middle of something." Frank raised one hand to flip her off, without even bothering to turn and look. He would give up everything just to keep the sight of you blushing and trying to hide in his hoodie in view.

You heard the two girls going back up the stairs and you let out a shaky breath. "Just remember, I know where you sleep." Frank called out over your head, his touch leaving once again only to chuck her shoe at the staircase. Or at least that's only what you could assume. You weren't about to look and let Frank see how flustered you really were. Besides, he didn't seem to mind, as his arms easily coiled around your waist.

When their steps finally faded and your breathing leveled out, you turned your head, cheek now pressed up against his shoulder instead. "So, uh...are we done now?" You asked, unsure. You'd held up your end of the bargain, right? Now you'd leave and in a couple of days the whole thing will have blown over. The thought made your heart jump into your throat, could you even face him after this? He would return to his usual cold indifference to you, while you struggled to push the phantom feelings of his lips on yours away.

He pulled you closer to him, this time without the suggestive motive behind it, just an attempt to keep you close. He turned slightly, his lips ghosting against your forehead. "Do you want to be?" His voice was a whisper, hesitant like he was afraid of your answer.

Your heart skipped and you pulled away from him, leaning back in his lap. A grin tugging at your lips, and you tilted your head questioningly. "Frank Morrison, are you asking me out for real?" A faint blush that reached all the to the tips of his ears blossomed across his features. "If your answer is yes...then yeah, I am."

You closed the distance and kissed him again, mumbling a happy 'yes' into his mouth.

#frank morrison x reader #legion x reader #dbd x reader #most of you asked for a happy ending so :)

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sardonic-courtney · 4 years ago

Text

Crowley x Reader. We Met Before. P3/7

Summary: You end up living with Bobby after your parents die. You go to church and meet Priest Crowley and you end up getting along (if you know what i mean). A few years later when Bobby passes you move the the bunker with Sam and Dean and end up meeting Crowley again.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Warnings: Mention of loss, Spelling mistakes, you go to church?

Around 2500 words.

Let’s Get Coffee.

“Yay thank you” You yelled heading up the stairs to get changed…

Training went well, although you didn’t really do much. Bobby who was still reluctant helped you to shoot inanimate objects and some basic hand to hand combat with no weapons, because in his words “you won’t always have a weapon on you so that’s the best place to start.” You are pretty sure it’s just because he is buying time before the brothers come into town so they can deal with the more athletic training. Not because Bobby wasn’t good, he was but he was quite impatient and not the best Teacher.

Time Skip to the Next Saturday Night brought to you by Juliet.

The last week consisted of a few training lessons here and there, you were starting to get really good with a gun, and to Bobby’s ‘luck’ he did some blade training and you actually weren’t half bad. Right now, you were eating takeaway, 8pm, on the sofa with Bobby watching some old tv show.

“So kid, Winchesters are coming round tomorrow. Want me to pick you up from church to save you walking so you can see the two idjits sooner, I know you miss them”. He said emphasising miss in a teasing manor.

“Oh yeah soo much” You replied rolling your eyes. “But no, I’m good, I’m actually going out after for some coffee”.

“So, you and Lena finally meeting outside of church?”

“Nope”

“Wait so who are you meeting with then? A new boyfriend of yours? If so, I want to meet him first.”

“What? No, I’m not completely sure, just a group of us meeting up after church.”

“What do you mean you don’t know. Who asked you? That old woman that lives next to the church because if so, I wouldn’t go she will just talk everyone’s ear of about her cats”

“No, the Priest actually just to share ideas about the bible after.”

“Right well err have a good time?” He replied unsure

“Thanks Bobby I’m gonna head up now and sort everything out and go to bed”

“Don’t use up all my water, I’ll see you after your coffee, call me if you want a lift.”

“will do, night”

“Night kid.”

*Beep Beep* Your alarm read 8:30 Sunday. You go up and got showered and dressed. You opted for an outfit which made you look good but it was still simple and casual, whether you were trying a bit harder because you were seeing Crowley or because the boys were coming you wouldn’t say. You grabbed an easy snack and decided to take the scenic route as you had 30 minutes to get there and you didn’t want to wait around. You arrived exactly at 9:32 and waited a few minutes before walking in, no sign of Lena anywhere, strange. Your seats however remained empty, so you sat once again on the seconded row back. Just as you received a message.

Lena- Sorry my mums not feeling well so I’ve had to take my brother to football. Hope service is good.

(Y/N)- No problem, have fun at football.

You replied before muting your phone and sliding it away just as Crowley came out.

“Good Morning…………………………………Thank you all for coming. Bless you all and I shall see you next week.”

Looking up at the clock reading 10:30, everyone stood up and headed out the door, you however being unsure of where you were going for coffee waited at the end of the pew, letting other passed. You didn’t really focus on the topic at hand but hoped you could blag your way through the teachings of rich man and Lazarus. As everyone left Crowley once again was behind you smiling.

“(Y/N) how are you?”

“Hi, I’m good thank you, how are you doing?” you reply, once again you feel strangely flustered.

“Better now that’s over and we can go get coffee.”

“Oh yeah about that where are we meeting?”

“I was thinking the little café down 3 blocks over. Small and easy to find a table.”

“Mrs Wolowitz’s?”

“Yes, That’s it”

“I think I know the way; well you better go, and I’ll meet you guys there” You say about to head off.

“I’m sorry love, you must be mistaken I meant just the two of us. If that’s alright”

“Yeah no sorry that more the fine, I just assumed.” You stuttered out. You hadn’t meant to jump to a conclusion but that seemed more likely then just you two going out for coffee. Alone in a small café. Damn it (Y/N) stop thinking again.

“Do you want to follow me in my car? In case you get lost?”

“Oh um.” You awkwardly laughed. “I actually walk here so I’ll get it up on my phone”

“No, no don’t be stupid you’re going in my car.”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude”

“No come on let’s go.”

The car ride was short and pretty much silent but not awkward. You were nervous but also happy you weren’t going to be stuck with a bunch of old Christians arguing about meanings. Before you got out the car, he took his clerical collar of leaving him in a normal black shirt. You got out, got a table and ordered your drinks, and reluctantly allowed Crowley to pay.

“So, Y/N how did you find todays service?” Crowley asked looking straight at you for an answer.

“Oh um, it was good” you replied suddenly feeling nervous and unsure of how to answer. You were sat in a café, with an attractive Pastor whose stare seemed to go straight through you.

“Anything to add? Any views on the passage?” Crowley said seeming slightly distracted.

“Not really no. Sorry maybe you start an idea and I’ll add?”

“I don’t really have any either, well to be honest with you I would rather get to know you then your views on the bible.”

“Me?” you smiled, this just got better now it’s apparent you probably aren’t going to be sat discussing the bible over the next half hour or so.

“Yes you” he replied a small smile resting on his lips.

“Well what do you want to know?” you didn’t really know what sort of thing to tell him so thought it best to just ask.

“Well how about we play a game?”

“A game?”

“Yes, a game, you know an activity one engages in for fun?” his smile turning slightly into a smirk.

“Oh, thanks I didn’t know what a game was, what sort of game?”

“I ask a question and you ask one back?” he paused “if you would like, if you wanted to sit around and talk about bibles, we could ask biblical ones”

“No normal questions are fine; you can start since I don’t know what games are” you say sarcastically.

Just then the waiter came and delivered your drinks, nodding his head slightly at your companion before he left. You took a sip of your drink as Crowley moved on; this wasn’t what you though this evening would be but it’s definitely an improvement.

“If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?”

“(Y/A) {your answer}”

“Why?”

“It just seems perfect. I could see myself walking around and just admiring everything there you know?”

“Well hopefully one day you’ll go.” Crowley took a sip of his steaming drink and returned to looking at you. Really looking at you, it was weird, like he was genuinely interested in what you were saying. “I’ve been a few times and I must say the {landmark} is beautiful to visit.”

“One day I will see it, anyway you seem like you’ve been to loads of places where have you been?”

“Pretty much everywhere, I do enjoy travelling.”

“wow, I wish” you sigh out.

“Do you travel?”

“Not really, when I was younger me and my parents would move around America but that stopped a while ago.”

“Oh, how come?”

“They died so I moved in with my godfather and haven’t left town since, I know if he could we would go but he needs to stay here for work and everything and now I’m blabbing on again sorry.” You said it more as a fact mentally ready for the normal oh I’m sorry and what happened and are you okay to come.

“No don’t apologise I’m interested and I’m sorry to hear about them but your godfather sounds like a good man, and maybe one day you can travel again, maybe even the world, what do you plan on being in the future?”

“Definitely the plan, and I’m not sure yet. What about you have you always dreamed of being a pastor?”

“No, definitely not. I’m only a substitute pastor anyway if there’s such a thing.”

“what do you do then when you’re not?”

“I guess you could say I’m a businessman, I mainly make deals and such.”

“oh, is that why you always travel?” You say looking down at your drink and sipping.

“Exactly why my job requires a lot of popping to places. Now if you will humour me, I’m curious, you go to church but don’t seem completely religious, is that so?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean to offend you, but I notice you zoning out during teaching and you just seem… I don’t know how to put it.”

“Well if I’m honest I’m not sure about it really. The whole believing in God thing. I mean I’m sure he’s there, but I don’t think there’s much he can do.”

“So why go?”

“Well my mum used to always take me and well it makes me feel closer to her, I’m sorry if that offends you.”

“Not at all, not at all” he said a slight smirk on his face again.

This was weird, not in a bad way but weird. As the time passed, he started to become even less like a pastor and more like a friend. You continued sharing random stories finding out how he grew up in Scotland and all about his random like and dislikes. He was a nice guy and you no longer felt nervous. Time went by and you both ordered another drink. Now your cups were sitting empty and you were discussing what the best era would be to live through, when your phone beeps.

12:51

Bobby: Hey, hows the discussions going, what time do you think your going to leave I dont know if I can deal with them alone any longer and theyve only been here 3 hours as it is.

You: oh, sorry I didn’t realise the time, um ill finish my drink and leave soon. Tell them I say hi.

You slid your phone into you pocket and looked back up at Crowley. Wow you had been sat talking for over two hours.

“Everything okay?” he asked

“Yeah everything is fine just didn’t realise the time. Sorry I’m going to have to go in a minuet I have guests over and completely forgot.”

“No problem, would you like a lift back?”

“I can walk it’s fine.”

“Please at least let me drop you of at the church, I need to pick up some things there anyway.”

“Okay.”

With that the two of you got back into his car and arrived back at the church both getting out and standing in the completely deserted parking lot.

“Thank you for the lift, and the drinks.” You smiled checking you had everything and looking up at him.

“No problem I had a good time, and maybe if you would like I could get your number and we could do it again sometime, get to know each other a bit more, maybe over some food.”

If you didn’t know any better it would sound like a date offer, in fact part of you wishes it had been but pastors don’t date, do they?

“Yeah sounds good today was fun.” You grab your phone pulling up your number.

“I’m sorry that may not have been clear enough” he said looking at your phone and entering your number into his. “I was referring to going out on a date.”

“But you’re a priest?” you blurt out before thinking. Mentally slapping your head.

“A substitute priest love, and like you I don’t hold religion too close to my heart” he said chuckling and putting his phone away.

“Well in that case that sounds great. I better start heading back but text me.”

“I will, safe walk home, if you’re sure you don’t want a lift.”

“I’m sure, goodbye Crowley”

“Goodbye Y/N”

And with that you left. What just happened?

*Times Skip Home*

You walk through the door into the lounge greeted with the boys and bobby drinking beers and talking, coming to a halt when you walked in.

“Y/N, hey how have you been” Sam asks looking up at you smiling. Before you could answer Dean butted it.

“Y/N Bobby here tells us you’ve been out talking about the bible, please tell me you haven’t it’s like half one.”

“Nice to see you to Dean, and no I haven’t I met with a friend. I’m great thank you Sam, how are you?” you reply going to sit down before realising a pair of legs in the way. “Deans move your legs”

Reluctantly he swung them over the coffee table allowing you to sit down.

“Good thank you” you’re not sure if Sam would have continued but bobby spoke up.

“A friend? You said you were meeting with a group of you, lying, now are we?”

“what? No, I just got a bit confused we were going to talk about the service but we got distracted. But what’s more important is what you two have been up to.” You reply casually leaving out the fact you had spent the last two hours with a male and had half planned a date.

“No, what’s more important is you are 18. And we have something for you.” Sam said poking his head around Dean.

“Sammy’s right Dean said pulling something out his duffle bag. It was neatly wrapped and slightly battered around the edges. Sam definitely wrapped it.

“Guys you shouldn’t have.” You said unwrapping it. At first you saw a leather-bound book. It was bound with a rope wrapped around and decorated with a light house on the front.

“Open it up (Y/N/N)” Sam said.

Unwinding the rope, you opened it up to find postcards and pictures from the boys, all in Sam’s writing.

“We, well I thought you could have a journal to note down anything you want its always good to have one. The postcards and stuff are from each of the places me and Dean have been. We knew you wanted to go, and you always want to here stories so I thought it would be a good way to make it seem like you were there.”

“Sam it perfect thank you so much.” You stood up and hugged him before taking a seat back down noticing Dean had a scruffier package in his hand.

Accepting it and opening it Dean began.

“I’m not as thoughtful as Sam but I saw this, and thought would like it.”

It was a rope necklace with a stone on the end. Under the stone was a small piece of card with a handwritten message explaining the stones properties of protection and healing. You read it and put it on twiddling the stone in your fingers (You can change stone to your liking).

“It’s beautiful Dean thank you very much” you say leaning over to hug him.

“I’m glad” he says pulling back smiling.

The evening goes on, you order food and joke with each other, Bobby leaving to go to bed and the three of you falling asleep sprawled out on the couch and armchair around 11pm

Wow that was long and mainly build up, but don’t worry romance will be in the next one. I hope you enjoyed this though, thanks for reading.

#crowley #Crowley Supernatural #crowley x reader #crowley x you #crowley x y/n #y/n #supernatural #supernatural x reader #xreader

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