#it doesn't feel like a ��sugar” dynamic so idk if i should call it that LOL

[gomzdrawfr]

Cash and Strawberries

♡︎ sugar daddy!Price x sugar baby!Raven, ftr [oc] Orion and Gaz ♡︎ they're both new to this, so unconventional sugar daddy/baby dynamic I guess? slow burn, mutual pining, eventual smut...no promises ♡︎ brief mentioned of injuries part 1 (you're here :3) ⋆ part 2 ⋆ part 3(?)

Price didn’t think he’d ever end up where he is right now, reclining against his couch, scrolling through a bloody sugar dating site like some desperate sod. He wasn’t lonely, Well, maybe a little. It was a different kind of loneliness. 

He had his friends, his job, his entire life structured around a routine and responsibilities. He was used to this lifestyle, but the emptiness gnawed at the back of his head sometimes, like he was missing something. 

A wife, but that would be a stretch, consider his work and the life he led. Not to mention, he’d had enough of messy entanglements that turned his already complicated life into a disaster. He didn’t want commitment. He wanted company, a little softness. Someone on his side when he wanted, no strings, no attachment, no expectations.

Something easy.

He never considered himself the sugar daddy type, but Kyle had a way of convincing another, planting ideas in his head.

“You’re lonely, mate, and there’s nothin’ wrong w’ that,” Kyle mentioned, beer in hand and amusement in his eyes. “Try it out, worse comes to worst, you can just drop ‘em.” 

Price had been sceptical but decided to give it a shot. 

His first experience was horrible. The girl he requested on a whim had been pushy, greedy and treating him like nothing but a blank cheque with legs. He never imagined he could develop such disgust towards perfume until that night, when the sickly, nauseating sweetness clung to his shirt so stubbornly he had to throw it out. So much for his favourite T-shirt.

Never again.

Well, until he met up with Kyle again, this time the lad had brought along someone. Sweet, charming, soft-spoken in a way that was natural.

“How the hell did you find her?”

Kyle, the smug bastard he was, grinned. “It’s all about filters, mate. You gotta be picky, can’t just click anything you first saw. Read the reviews, ratings, check the preferences and so on.”

Reviews? Ratings? Preferences?

Begrudgingly, Price asked for more help. He learned the ins and outs of the site, what each symbol meant, studied the grading system, set up a proper profile, refined his preferences. He sure as hell wasn’t about to get suckered again.

The screen refreshed. 

“Don’t go for the new ones, though,” Kyle advised, rambling off. “They don’t have ratings yet, so—"

Price stopped listening after he saw her.

Raven.

No ratings. A new member. Joined roughly three weeks ago. Simple profile with three sets of photos. Black hair, possibly mixed Asian, multilingual. Preferences that nearly mirrored his: discretion, quiet, no unnecessary chatter, looking for a mutual agreement of presence rather than performance. Sexual preference wasn’t checked—a shame, but he could work with that.

So he chose her, much to Kyle’s side eye and obvious disapproval. 

Raven never thought she’d find herself here. Hell, she never would have considered it if she’d had any better options.

Becoming a sugar baby hadn’t exactly been on her list of options, but life had a way of making things difficult. She had lost her job a few months back—an injury to her wrist made her old work, and any similar jobs that required precision and repetition, nearly impossible. Other fields felt tedious, like a downgrade, and money was running tight. Choices were slim. This… sugar baby business… seemed easy.

In theory, that is. 

Orion had first proposed the idea over a cup of tea, offhandedly mentioning that plenty of rich schmucks would pay good money just to have a pretty girl on their arm. Raven had been curious despite the feign disinterest, but with the strict boundaries she set on her profile, she knew she had put herself at a disadvantage among hundreds of other girls willing to offer more.

“You’re not going to get any man like this, rotisserie chicken.”

 “Shut it. I don’t want weird old men, alright? I still have some dignity.”

 “No one wants a sugar baby they can’t coddle, y’know.”

Hours were spent refining and adjusting her profile, much to Orion’s amusement. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better. If she could land just one decent client, she might be able to survive for roughly three months or more if she was lucky.

Three weeks passed with nothing. She had nearly given up, considering swallowing her pride and taking the job at the car shop instead, despite the ominous boss with the skull mask—

Ding! New match! JP.

Raven had never dropped everything in her hands so fast. Pressing herself into the corner of her bed, she flicked through his profile.

Military. Captain. A little older. Blue eyes. Serious in most of his photos, but he almost looked like a quokka in one of his smiling photo for some reason....cute?

She tried to ignore the weird flutter in her heart as she filled up some forms. His profile was just as minimal as hers. But their preferences aligned.

Surely, this wasn’t a scam. 

She stared at the screen, lingering on the smiley face longer than necessary, then shared the news with a very stunned Orion.

“Holy shit, you lucky bird!”

Holy shit indeed.

Raven was every bit as composed in person as she was in her profile, arriving precisely on time, dressed in a simple but elegant dress. She greeted him politely, proper and quiet, but Price wasn’t fooled.

Beneath that poised exterior, he could tell she was nervous, likely inexperienced. The signs were subtle, her gaze lingered on him for half a second longer than necessary, the few times she adjusted her dress, the slight pause and hesitation when she first looped her arm around his as they moved, the stiffness in her walk.

It was…endearing, sweet in her own way. Breath of fresh air. He didn’t pressure her, just offered a small, patient smile.

They didn’t talk much, just like they agreed. Content to walk down the block and have a meal. She noted he didn’t care about the formalities of fine dining, much to her relief, he ate with whatever utensils he deemed fit and had been nothing but a proper gentleman the entire time. It eased something in her, the tension loosening just a little. 

But, sitting across him at dinner, she wondered if she had overestimated herself. While Price—his name, as she’d come to learn—has not expressed anything thus far, at least negatively, she couldn’t help but wonder what he thought of her.

She wasn’t prim and princessy. She wasn’t giggly, overly affectionate, or flirty. None of those qualities were things she wanted to pretend to be either. She was pragmatic, quiet, logical, a nervous wreck. But she wanted to try. Compelled to do at least something to make his money worth.

So she scooped a bite of food and hesitantly, gestured for him to lean forward. 

Price blinked at her, caught off guard. That made her cringed internally, almost pulling away with regret.

Too much, too soon?

But then, he leaned in and took the bite from her spoon. A flicker of approval showed in his expression, whether it was towards the food or her, she chose not to think too much of it.

He didn’t know why that moment nearly made him short-circuit, but it did. Something about the gesture, so small and yet so intimate, made his stomach twist in an unfamiliar way. Maybe it was the way her shoulders relaxed, or the way her eyes light up slightly when he smiled back, or the way she was eager to feed him again.

Strawberries never tasted sweeter while fed by a pretty girl. 

He thought he was done with surprises, walking her back to her place, or rather, the place she said she was staying. One look and he knew it was a lie. 

Smart girl. He didn’t press.

Outside the door, he handed her the envelope, watched as she opened it and counted, making sure the amount was right in front of him before giving a small nod of satisfaction, albeit awkward.

Likely not used to this much cash in your hands, birdie?

Then, just as he was about to say goodnight, she tiptoed closer and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, whispered a quiet, “Goodnight, Price.”

His cheek burned where she’d kissed him, rendering him speechless when she disappeared inside hurriedly, his heart doing an embarrassing little flip.

He stood there for a good ten seconds before he exhaled, shaking his head to himself as he turned to leave.

Yeah.

He was definitely requesting her again. 

[haleigh-sloth]

I've been thinking about what Ochako meant when she still has to talk about love with Toga and at first I thought it was just to get her attention but what if it's something along the lines of Ochako finally saying out loud that she's let go of Deku and is focusing on herself, her heroism and does a sort of speech on how Toga can be her own person and be loved the way she is. I would love something like that because I've always hated how Ochako and Toga's character plots have been sorta boxed into this love Deku thing

Hmmm, okay I hear what you're saying, like I get where you're coming from. But I can't say I agree.

Saying Ochacko has to ditch her crush so she can focus on herself and her goals is...idk, not a great take? People can still foster relationships while living their lives.

I think this is pretty reductive of what they actually have going on with each other. It's reductive of Toga most of all. But it's kind of a disservice to Ochacko too tbh.

I don't agree that Ochacko is like...cringe or bad for having a crush. I just don't agree that she should have to drop her feelings and "focus on herself" in order to be a valid character with a meaningful arc. Especially because the whole "drop your feelings" take is exactly what Toga struggles with literally her entire arc.

And I mean...their issues aren't literally about Izuku. Toga? She doesn't even know him. Her "crush" on him is very surface level, and the story doesn't try to sugar coat it into something deep. And there isn't anything in the narrative pitting them against each other over him. Like....there is in NO way a love triangle thing going on, and I think it's been made clear that their talk about "love" is more of a talk about values, because that's what Toga wanted to talk to her about during the first war:

If there is anything about Toga that has been consistently shown, it's that she is really envious of people's relationships. She sees Tsu and Ochacko during the camp raid and immediately gets excited over calling Tsu by a "friend only" nickname. She envies their friendship.

She sees Izuku and Ochacko during the licensing exam

—and we even get follow up on it later:

--she's envious of their trust they put in each other. That was also a time when she witnessed Izuku's heroism--which plays a part later since she seeks him out during the final arc for answers.

Toga wants relationships, friendships, connection with people. She's been robbed of those things, and the ones she did have during her school days she was suffocating the whole time, to the point that she eventually snapped, and obviously those relationships weren't strong enough to keep hold after she ran off.

The thing about the TogaChacko dynamic is that they view feelings toward other people opposite. Ochacko shuts them away because she can't let it interfere with her life, it's bad, gotta pretend they're not there. Toga on the other hand views those feelings as something to cherish and as a strength, as she's spent her whole life shutting them away and it just hurt her in the long run.

She is wanting Ochacko to basically admit that shutting feelings away is painful, and to acknowledge Toga's pain for having to do that for so long. She poked the bear during their scuffle during the first war by threatening to take the All Might keychain, and Ochacko obviously reacted, which Toga noticed.

It's the whole internalizing vs externalizing feelings debacle. Which one is gonna win (both sides need to be understood). Ochacko is valid for wanting to not make her crush a priority over school and her job as a hero in training, just as Toga is valid for wanting to have relationships in the first place.

And on the note of how Ochacko shouldn't have to drop her crush, Toga shouldn't have to drop her feelings. The whole point is for Toga to stop hating herself. She's been demonized because of how her quirk mixes with her emotions and how it has manifested in a harmful way toward others. She wasn't demonized for having a crush on someone. The quirk issue is what made it a problem.

The other reason I simply just don't agree that it's been boxed in to revolve around Izuku is because Toga reached out to him for a reason other than romance. Like, the boyfriend question was obviously to evoke a reaction. I mean she took it to the extreme right off the bat. But what did she do after?

What did she really want to ask in the first place?

She repeated her question that Ochacko didn't give her a satisfying answer to. So I mean, Toga and Ocha are not about to duke it out over him, nor is their entire fight about to be about him.

Toga wants to know if heroes consider her a person. A person worth saving, a person worthy of relationships, or would they just kill her the way they did Twice.

[b612sunsets]

Hi! Just a thought. Do you think Soohyun sees Yohan as a love rival? Cos it feels like she knows the person she cares about is falling for another n she's doing everything n her power to separate them. That's why she told Gaon to not do anything and to stay away from Yohan. Also can we talk about Gaon being lost in thought whiles talking about Yohan. The soft voice nd the ghost of a smile. He doesn't even know he's falling! Love thatttt!! Now i just need Yohan to get hurt for him to notice. Haha

Hi anon~

I have a dilemma with wanting Yohan to get hurt when Gaon isn't around or acting as a human shield for Gaon, just so we can see worried Gaon taking care of him this time around, and not wanting Yohan to get hurt at all :') same with Gaon.

Idk if Soohyun sees Yohan as a love rival and wants to separate them in that way (officially) but it does look like it, doesn't it? If TDJ was your typical romance drama (sometimes it is, the cliché romantic tropes don't lie), Yohan is the main male lead and couple with Gaon, Soohyun is the second love interest with the one-sided love for one of them hahaha

Every time she questions Gaon about Yohan and them living together, from the staircase scene onward, she notices Gaon changing little by little. It starts with finding motives for Yohan's doings. Then protecting Yohan by avoiding her interrogations, sympathizing and speaking more fondly of Yohan. Yes, that soft voice, thoughtful face and little smile. It totally looks like a guy falling in love without noticing while Soohyun is trying to separate them and paint Yohan as a dangerous company to keep. Huh... You're a cop and that means you're a dangerous company too? She did put Elijah in danger when she could have done a better job to avoid it. She really can't judge here. None of them can.

Soohyun said Gaon is putting in too much effort taking care of his plants, the gruff guy and weird girl from the weird mansion. That confirmed what I had said before. Gaon meant Yohan as well not just Elijah in this (I think he straight up meant Yohan and part of caring for Yohan is caring for Elijah too, she's a must in Yohan's life):

And each time we can see Soohyun displeased, the last one she admitted to be jealous of their closeness, be it as a friend or more.

Another nice detail is Gaon's response to her jealousy. He was literally like, "I see. But Yohan needs love and I want to be the one that gives it to him." He doesn't try to reassure Soohyun or make any promises. Instead, he focuses on the part she called Yohan rich/someone from a different world, defending the Yohan he is getting to know and care, trying to make Soohyun understand that both of them have each other and much more than Yohan when it doesn't come to money.

Gaon doesn't see Yohan as an outsider or that much different from him. When Soohyun called them weird, Gaon's reaction was "I'm just as weird". He feels pretty comfortable with their few differences, like Yohan's wealth. e.g. Gaon doesn't return the watch Yohan gave him as a gift, he just asked why and still wears it, even when he suspected Yohan and they had fights. Drives Yohan's car and wears his expensive clothes without protesting, isn't afraid to mention and ask for Yohan's money to bribe the secretary... (sugar daddy hehe).

That's a nice thing. There's no unbalanced power dynamic with them that would make one of them hesitate or feel bad when the other one is providing something. Above all, they can be themselves and show their most vulnerable and darkest thoughts. Something Gaon isn't fully able to do with Soohyun anymore. He said he can't trust anyone above her but that was before confirming once and for all the type of person Yohan is and that he didn't fake a situation to make Gaon change sides. But he could if needed to and he warned Gaon of it, he'd go through any lengths to not have to get rid of Gaon and have him as his enemy.

Conclusion: Gaon is so protective of Yohan and Elijah, of their little family and Soohyun should just move on of trying to make Yohan look like the villain, her one-sided love and accept the fact they're a major part of Gaon's life now.

Thanks for sharing your thought, anon!