#what are the ship names lmao?? oh well
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Peter Quill’s got some words to say…
#I finished this in an afternoon LMAO#tony stark#doctor strange#iron man#peter quill#starlord#stephen strange#mcu#marvel#animation#ironstrange#my art#idk what tony’s and peter’s ship name is oh well#i was going to clean this up but meme videos are so much better low quality
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Hello! Random whipper snipper! Share a WIP of your work!
ooh, with pleasure. six the musical araleyn fanart? in the year 2k24? more likely than you think xDD
i realize this looks finished, but technically i'm still deciding whether to add a background or not lol. still, for the sake of sharing a proper WIP, here's a line or two from an araleyn brainworm WIP that i started reworking yesterday (mild tw for religious guilt and period-typical internalized homophobia from aragon's pov):
She remembers sharing her bed with Anne at Henry's behest, remembers the nights of tossing and turning and trying not to think about Anne asleep next to her-- remembers waking up to dark hair spilling across her pillow and the press of blood-warm bosoms against her own, softer than sin, as hot as the Devil, remembers lying still as death, mouthing prayers into the heat of Anne's neck like an act of penance.
#six the musical#six the musical fanart#six the musical araleyn#araleyn#araleyn fanart#i... cannot remember if it's fandom custom to use the full name tags#ah so it appears it is in fact fandom custom#catherine of aragon#catalina de aragon#anne boleyn#today we hazard a fleeting glimpse into the abtruse psyche of the dusty...#what other fandoms do they contain? wouldnt you like to know weather boy#well i mean honestly i don't know either but we'll find out as they rotate thru my conciousness#not trek#yeaaah i'm a spones girl (gender neutral) through and through. The more you know#and before you ask no this is not the og old married couple that went so hard i gained a type in ships forever after#though they are pretty up there in my blorbo rotation cycle#... on some level i may be yelling into the void with this one but no harm in that yeah?#but maybe the six fandom isn't as dead as i've been assuming. who knows? this is my self indulgent blog dammit#ill be self indulgent <33#also i keep forgetting it's pride month xDD my straight irls wish me happy pride and im always like OH Right nice yeah#but i haven't drawn these two in so long!! feels so good stretching the old married sapphics muscle again#dust writes#so happy about the vibe in this one ngl! theyre Soft ok. i like that very much. And also this aragon is so my type LMAO#really rambly tonight whoops. but i guess its the closest to a non-art post i can get to keep my page navigable? mm#...dammit now I'm thinking about araleyn in spones' roles. also i REALLY really should study#in hugely dire straits right now yall except i can't stop drawing/writing. whooooops.#sapphic#pride month#dust talks
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you’re really special, you’re so next-level! ❤️🔥🌈💫
burn pygmalion album art redraw featuring pandora and verity 🫶 the entire album is in my panderity playlist so!! twas inevitable, truly :3c
#HAPPY LESBIAN VISIBILITY WEEK. kicking it off with a BANGER#look at my girls my terribke awful doomed yuri girls who i love so very much#billie bust up#billie bust up oc#bbu pandora#bbu verity#yeah im putting bbu in their oc tags what about it#panderity#the ship name too also. hehehehe#oh my god wait have i ever even introduced pandora and verity on tumblr before???#pandora is the weasel (she/any) and verity is the dove (she/her)!#they are lesbians and in love… kinda. they may or may not have broken up by the time they enter the billie bust up picture#as in when their whole chapter with billie happens#pandora’s MY EVIL EDGY MURDER VILLAIN!!!! she steals magic capacities and enchants her gem with it making her stronger hehehee#they come in well after bbu 1 btw LMAO#i’ll elaborate on them more in a different post but yknow basic rundown. MY AWFUL DOOMED LESBIANS WHO I LOVE!!!!#band tags? sure why not#the scary jokes#burn pygmalion#The Panderity Chapter
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the b-side to the satoshi-kun compilation video...except, "gou-kun" didn't get a rise out of him, so to establish dominance gary just pretended to forget his name instead - until he couldn't seem to STOP saying his name, anyway
#pokemon#anipoke#pokeani#shigegou#splitdecisionshipping#sticking to my guns on that ship name since more than HALF of this video is from that episode#mine#*video#pokemon journeys#day 278345768493 still no jp raws but oh well the subs are fine. flavour text. i guess#btw gary TECHNICALLY has a +2 on the gou counter but i didn't count anything that wasn't or couldn't be translated as a direct address#there is one moment in jn113 where he says goh's name in relation to something when goh was the only other person in the room though#which is so funny because like. it was obvious what he meant. he did not need to say his name lmao#sorry for the repost i noticed a typo and it was driving me crazy and it was early enough to fix so i acted quickly#if u saw anything....no you didnt dkjfgjhfk
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Okay, I've spoken to several of you who like both of these things and I need to know how deep this runs because it's an 'if I had a nickel for each time this thing happened, I'd have (x) nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened (x) times' thing-
#contestshipping#shuuharu#totally ok to rb/add commentary in the tags. i am so nosy#I am TRULY curious because I have anecdotally/personally found such a huge overlap lmao. I can name like five or six of you.#which-again- not a lot but given the community's dwindling current size that feels rather notable?#it makes total sense to me tbh. obviously there's large differences#but I feel like it taps into a similar 'poorly socialized guy x the girl who hates him but oh wait there's mutual growth because of E/O'-#- kinda thing.#again obviously there's way more to P&P than that. literary besties don't kill me. but like you see my simplified point right lol?#there's also way more to Lizzie and Darcy than that but you know what I meannnnnnnnnnn#sorry for the disclaimers but i can hear the 'shipping has ruined your ability to do literary analysis' brigade from here lmfao.#like okay well maybe for you. i can multitask but this is my shippy blog so of course I'm focusing on that part more BUT ANYWAYS#i've just met way too many people who like both things for me to not make a poll about it at this point.#or is it just a thing of how p&p is so popular and iconic that ANY random fandom niche would have a similar overlap???#idk. does anyone want to make a poll for their fandom niche and see if it's just a P&P thing???#let's compare. besties. let us band together#someone else do this for their own ship/corner/niche/etc#and of course tumblr polls are statistically useless in most ways available BUT it's interesting.
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I had to open the ship combat rules doc I made for Rook's campaign the other day, and man, that thing was (and still is tbh) my fucking magnum opus. I put so much effort into creating rules for a type of combat that dnd doesn't naturally support, and it was SUCH a fun challenge. I'll admit it's not perfect, but it works for our campaign, and everyone seemed to like it during our one test so far, so that's good enough for me.
I think between the stat blocks, the rules themselves, and the maps of the ships, I spent easily 48 hours total on making this sailing arc happen. (No, I'm not the DM, I just like homebrewing shit, and also happen to be the one who decided to play a pirate and make that involved in the story.)
#morrigan.text#morrigan plays dnd#dnd#if anyone wants to read the ship combat rules doc or anything just lmk. I will gladly share the link. This thing is my baby.#actually if anyone ever wants to see ANY of my dnd stuff I'll gladly share. I need to find a nicer way to share it than roll20 screenshots.#I will accept any suggestions as to how to do that and also gladly welcome any chance to infodump about my silly little homebrew shit.#it's so funny because I think that a lot of people would look at the stuff I do for this DM and go ''huh??? why??? you're a player???''#and yet MORE that I've promised to make but haven't done yet. (Like the fucked up Nightwalkers I'm using the Aeor monsters as a base for.)#but it's genuinely so much fun for me and I practically BEG him to let me do this stuff lmao.#I've made SEVERAL maps (both battle and regional) and well over a dozen stat blocks for this campaign.#probably close to two dozen atp actually. I mean the Sea Snake crew alone was at least 4 stat blocks plus the 3 ships.#and then there's the Drowned Maidens we're fighting next session. And the Tentacle Monster and the Sea Drake.#and the beefed-up Kuo-Toa plus their idol and the Marriages.#so what's that. 13 stat blocks for just the first part of the sailing arc?#and then there's the wind roc/phoenix thing I made for Red Lotus Island.#and three chimeras I made for the labs. So that's 17. And I know for a fact there's more I'm forgetting about.#my all-caster party is going to hate me lmao. (It's fine. 90% of the monsters I make are worse for me (the rogue) than anyone else.)#as for maps I made the map of Red Lotus island and I made all three ship maps (which took probably close to 24hours total)#and I made a map for the fight against Andrassi THE NIGHT BEFORE THE SESSION (by voluntary choice).#idk I just have fun with this kind of thing. I'm not organized enough to DM a campaign but I love figuring out technical challenges.#I mean. that makes a lot of sense since dnd and its mechanics is literally my special interest. So. Not really surprising.#oh and for my (heavily modified) CoS game I made a super powerful divine assassin of the Raven Queen for us to meet.#he's cool as hell. His name is Kazimir and his stat block is absolutely insane.#it's almost 3am why am I like this. time to go the fuck to sleep!!!
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pertaining to the idea of tenax’s band of strays i do think it’s touching that the kids are the ones who saved him and waited outside the door to make sure he’s okay. for all tenax claims to be harsh and cruel it’s a fine indicator of his character that the kids won’t rest without him and are there every time he’s in danger.
#AND I CAN’T FUCKING BELIEVE I HAD THEM STEALING THEIR WAY OMTO#THE PLATFORMS WHAT DO YOU MEANNNNNNN oh i love being right#also that all the kids are there watching when he kills the guy whose name i forget because i simply cannot hold names in my brain but the#evil one. who i was like oh thank GOD he died i was so sick of this plot he kept killing everyone & i screeched when he almost got claudia#something something calla saying ‘you’re not a child anymore’ about tenax’s cruelty to the brothers (which in my twisted narratives. sorry.#there’s only one scorpus who KNEW the child tenax was. the child he’s still healing and caring for. all of the children whose eyes he looks#into and sees a hurt that’s just like his? the children tenax saved whether he’ll admit it or not? scorpus saved him. and that’s all)#(also this is a terrible thing to say i knew it about but like. oh i knew it about the master of the house. tenax making sure NO ONE#touches the kids or does anything with them really but Claudia and him—the people he trusts which also now includes calla but he makes sure#it’s someone he knows. also do we have a claudia backstory??? or would i just get to invent a reason why she’s there and what she’s doing#and why she’s so loyal to tenax. did she also see the child he was and that’s why she’s so protective of him but also why she gets along#with calla so well because the two of them see how he’s festered in that. like calla fully has the rights here i think she should rip him a#new one for his lack of decency and good qualities he can be corrupt without being cruel y’know. and he should be called out on his#peter pan ass behavior you’re not a child!! there are such consequences!!! dream a little bigger a little kinder!!! change the dream you#made up with scorpus when you were a young angry teenager and make it fit who you are NOW. the life you want NOW not the life you thought#you should have & deserved. what did you learn from growing up. what changed. what do you need now & what do you want. not the same things#and i too wish that this was 30k and covered their entire backstory#BUT IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION of i also need it to be 100k canon-divergent (presumably. i’m only through episode eight. but i can’t imagine#that they will follow the plot EYE would write because they need to have a second season & you can’t have that without conflict which means#titus overthrown scorpus is gonna die metaphorically or literally etc etc the gold faction in shambles but technically triumphant with#domitian on the throne and tenax in a position of patrician power accepted into their society but still not equal and happy. whereas lmao#domitian you’re getting shipped off to some other city because your plot to overthrow titus failed and yet he is merciful enough he won’t#kill you he just sends you and hermes together (at which point over the months long journey you forgive and re-learn each other bc titus#didn’t know of the betrayal he thought it would be kind to send your (ex-)lover with you. do we see how this works perfectly) & tenax falls#back into the underworld where he now knows he belongs because blood is everything except when it isn’t. when he realizes what he has is#worth more. no matter if the blood he has is tainted or patrician the blood oath he swore with scorpus iron on their tongues means more.#calla’s split lip defending him and their winnings. kwaame’s blood on the hard packed sand of the arena fighting to stay alive and to come#home to them. the fire in aura’s cheeks when she laughs at ivy. SURPRISEEEE EVERY NARRATIVE IS A FOUND FAMILY I GUESS IT SPRUNG ON ME TOO.#and tenax doesn’t mind a little dirt and bribery every now and then. doesn’t aspire to former heights and shining brilliant out of shadows.#the gaudiness of gold &flash of fools’ dreams. YES CAN I FINALLY PLS GET MY BLACK FACTION TO REPLACE THE ILL-FATED GOLD THATLL COLLAPSE W/D
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Thank you to the one person who added that confession executive committee was also Honeyworks because I would never have caught that without you.
#going through and being like mmmm I’ve not seen most of these things#like if some people submitted it under one name and others under another#it’s unlikely I’ll be able to tell unless someone was kind enough to put both names#me out here like oh wait ‘joker’ is the same character as this other one#so it’s like 4-5 submissions for a ship that I thought was two different ships lmao#thank god I know BNHA really well because I definitely would have no hope of anything without that knowledge#like if someone in the street was like ‘I ship All Might with Toshinori Yagi’ I’d know what that means#but like thankfully I have written like 20+ pieces of BNHA fanfic so I don’t have to be clueless on that front#anyways I’m really bad with names so if things get missed#oh well. I’m trying my best#right now I think we are at ?? 54? submissions when I find ones I missed lmao
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i know n*gisagi has its fans and while for the longest time I've considered myself neutral towards it, I think I'm realizing that this is the only ship in bllk that truly gives me the ick
which is weird bc platonically, I actually fw it pretty hard. romantically though....
#bllk#I DONT KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE ITTTT#I thinks its just the characterization of Nagi... I just can't ship him with anyone besides Reo#bc while Reo would've likely ended up at blue lock regardless Nagi would have definitely never been there without Reo#his love for Reo is such a big part of his character that hearing him say that he loves anyone else especially isagi just feels so...#I think they can be good friends. the kind of friends where Nagi is openly a pain in the ass and isagi wonders why he even hangs out with h#although tbf I feel like pwc and other official stuff just makes it seem like Nagi is deeply disappointed that isagi's a boring person#and doesn't have a speck of interest in him besides his soccer abilities#i was rereading school zone girls earlier and there's this chapter where matsuri realizes her feelings for kishiya bc it's the complete-#opposite of what she feels around her friend yatsude (aka her emphasizing she feels nothing around her compared to kishiya-#and yatsude starts to feel insulted)#and low-key this would fit the Nagi and isagi dynamic in my head so well#Nagi has feelings for Reo but because he has no emotional intelligence whatsoever he doesn't realize this#until Nagi brings up Reo for the millionth time and isagi's just like 'omfg just ask him out already'#to which Nagi's like '.... huh?'#he hadn't even considered that he just knows that he wants to be with Reo forever#and isagi's says 'thats what I mean. that's romantic love right there. you don't feel the same way about me or any of your other friends no#and nagi's like 'oh god no. I think I would die if that were the case'#and isagi's just like '??? tf ouch😭'#I like to think that Nagi is a lot more careful with his words around Reo bc he cares about him a lot#meanwhile with Isagi or others he isn't afraid to openly insult him and can just be plain rude half the time#reo and isagi have both equally similar yet vastly different experiences with nagi lmao#(for the record I censored the ship name bc I didn't want ngis shippers to find this post dunking in their ship)#(and I was too lazy to add the anti- tag)
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I would like to make an addendum to this piece with the new chapter out and say that I was wrong about Phillip, he's great, 10/10 he went from being a giant red flag of a character to being genuinely relatable and man do i feel bad about side-eyeing him for that line he said last chapter
Also this chapter finally wrapped up another plot thread I was waiting for it to return to and waaaaaah seeing someone else's POV on Helene is so nice (and we finally got another flashback of OG Helene for like,, the first time in literally forever). Helene being called out as a lonely person who hides her kind feelings behind a cold expression...man suddenly my fondness for Helene is increasing thousandfold
Like literally how the fuck does this manga keep making Helene better and better there's literally nothing disappointing about her character and im STILL shook about it
#The Mighty Extra#no fully colored art today gotta process my feelings over the Helene bits in today's chapter LMAO#Helene continuously getting the best treatment in this story utterly shocks me as someone who is too used to seeing female characters in-#shounen-esque ending up as wasted potential fgkjggfkj#Helene is literally so perfect as a character i love her i love her i love her I LOVE HER I LOVE-#i don't draw Helene enough to show it outwardly but rest assured she occupies 99% of my current brain capacity 24/7#also the way I went from going “oh god why are you like this” to Phillip to “ohhh OHHHH okay no i get it you're very baby” is very funny#that last line makes complete sense for Phillip and it's so cool to see him show off a lot of character development in one go#for a character who is relatively minor i love how the creator made him really understandable and sympathetic like damn#i don't usually care for second lead male LIs but Phillip is surprisingly a strong and endearing character#so much so i think he's now going to forever be embedded in my mind as what a well written character looks like#me before 77: ehhh im not sure if im as excited for this chapter as the next few bc it's probs just gonna end up as#Phillip just being an ass and Fian being jealous about him#this fucking manga every goddamn time i doubt it: hey so want to learn more about Helene and see Phillip get massive character development-#that shows how mature he's gotten but also go back to several plot threads and mysteries and showcase how Lyla is severely in danger and th#war that Fian is starting is something that legitimately needs to happen to keep her safe and also here's a OG Helene flashback that-#you totally haven't been craving for promising to return to why Lyla shipped Helene/Fian in the first place and why she feels guilty about-#taking Fian from Helene (and also suggests Helene deeply loved Fian in the OG timeline which is one big awwwwWWWW and now it kind of-#sucks that Lyla DID rip Fian away from Helene but hey at least Helene has Paris now instead (oh the irony))#fun fact i actually kind of do ship Fian/Helene#at least the OG versions of them#idk seeing how attached Fian is to Lyla and imagining him doing the same to OG Helene is really fucking cute#i am SO FUCKING DESPERATE for the original story behind TME's plot to exist you have no fucking idea#and 78 looks promising as to revealing how OG Helene (/Lyla) reacted to OG Fian's death so like#im begging for next week's chapter already i NEED to get a continuation to that death scene#(also calling it now but if Lyla's real name is actually Helene im going to fucking scream)#(for more reasons than one oh my god)
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Lmao so I just had the weirdest art commission process I've ever experienced. All I did was ask them, on the platform where I encountered their art, if they did commissions. They said yes, asked for details and reference photos bc it's that kind of art. I talked to them a bit, sent them some pictures, expecting them to... like... come back to me with payment info?
But they just started working on it. By the time I realized they were doing this, they'd already started - and this is a PHYSICAL ART PIECE, SOMETHING THAT USES ACTUAL MATERIALS, SOMETHING THEY WOULD HAVE TO SHIP TO ME.
Just got photos of the final outcome, it's beautiful and reasonably priced and we're paying for it, but like... man there are some steps in between someone asking "hey do you do commissions, here's what I'd want from you" and actually making the art, namely... ANY DISCUSSION OF PAYMENT.
In the artist's defense, I get the sense their first language might not be English, and their art is good and well-priced enough I'll probably commission them again one day, but boy that commission process could've come with a little less "oh shit you're doing it already? but what do you even want as payment...?"
#art#commissions#I'll probably show off their art when it gets here#it is genuinely beautiful#and it was almost exactly what I expected it was cost before they actually... told me what they wanted#but lmao girl#YOU HAVE A WEBSITE WITH A FORM WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SEND ME THAT???
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Off Track Pace | MV1 , ?
Ships Max Verstappen x presenter! Reader , ? x presenter! Reader , Platonic! Charles Leclerc x presenter! Reader
Genre : Fluff , Angst
Sub tags : mutual pinning , She fell too early , He fell too late,
Summary : A new f1 presenter and journalist has entered the paddock and she brings chaos along the way. And as competition looms , will the current Champion be as fast outside the track?
Face claim: Sofia Wylie
A/N : I’m so sorry luvs! I’m working on updating Clash of Champions , i promise ~ it’s my uni’s finals exams so I gotta focus on that first… so here’s a peace offering.
Part 2.
Media day, usually on a Thursday — a day that most Formula 1 drivers dread. A day where cameras followed their every move, interviews with journalists that twisted their every word and silly PR stunts forced on them by their teams. It used to be just all racing and winning podiums, but modern Formula 1 is all about media politics and sponsorships.
If you were to ask any driver on the grid if they were given the chance not to do PR, they would say yes to skipping it. But not everything about media day is horrendous.
Not when a new motorsports journalist joins the paddock that was an absolute sweetheart and delight to have around. A natural on the job — she always made sure that every driver that she interviewed was comfortable and enjoying their time with her and the segment.
the.Y/N
liked by skysportsf1 , lissiemackintosh, f1 , and 689,270 others
the.Y/N first day on the job? . i’m not nervous, you are! (She said literally shaking)
skysportsf1 Welcome to the team Y/N! ❤️
the.Y/N thank you kind employers. 🤍
lissiemackintosh Babe!! It’s finally official. Congratulations!
the.Y/N Thanks to you Babe!! I swear I would’ve been lost without you 😭
User1 who is she?
the.Y/N literally no one
User2 Ohhhh a new commentator? 🤔
User3 maybe she’s a journalist?
scuderriaferrari the kids had fun. They want their clay statues on display!
User2 Clay statues?? Hello?? Wut?
User3 Same question, Clay statues??
the.Y/N wait and see 🤷♀️ , the interview would drop tomorrow? Maybe~
User4 Its her first day and she literally had an interview with Charles and Carlos in Ferrari???
the.Y/N well no , the first interview was with Lewis Hamilton … so. 🤭
User5 WHAT?? Ok , queen slay!
User4 damnn , imagine being new to your field and already interviewing the big guys.
mclaren Do us next please 🙋♂️
redbullracing get in line!
the.Y/N gotta stop by Aston first , sorry besties.
User6 OK WHAT IS HAPPENING, ms. Y/N who are your connections 😭 i want in.
User7 why are all the teams here??
Y/N L/N was the F1 presenter and journalist who put drivers willingly out of their comfort zones and made them try something new. You genuinely loved what you do and you were passionate about it. You never showed partiality among the drivers, you treated everyone with the same attitude — this earned the respect of all drivers on the grid.
You were quickly becoming a paddock favorite. The fans enjoyed the content you put out and the drivers looked forward to your interview when they saw your name on their schedule.
Interviewing with you usually meant cheat meals and unusual activities that you thought they would like.
the.Y/N
liked by charles_leclerc, carlossainz55, maxverstappen1, and 740,155 others
the.Y/N maybe bowling isn’t the best idea. @charles_leclerc you suck, ngl. New vid out on Monday at the sky sports channel🤍
charles_leclerc i hate you ❤️
the.Y/N no you don’t 😌
charles_leclerc no, i don’t
User1 I love their dynamic so much!! I need more of the Paddock siblings pleaseee
User2 I can’t wait for more of Y/N bullying Charles into weird things and Ferrari doing nothing about it🤣
landonorris but why is charles in a cowboy costume?
the.Y/N i dunno? He just showed up in that 🤷♀️
charles_leclerc You told me we were riding horses and you wanted me to wear smth cowboy!!
the.Y/N oh yeah! Lmao
landonorris should i feel bad?
the.Y/N Nope. He’s happy either way. Aren’t you @charles_leclerc?
User2 NOT THE LMAO . Y/N thank you being you
User3 Y/N giving us Cowboy Charles , yes ma’am
User3 JUST DATE ALREADY!
the.Y/N EW. No
charles_leclerc Ok , the ew was unnecessary. But same. No thanks :)) i’m not dating my sister .
User4 Charles call y/n his sister 🥺
However, No matter how much you tried to keep things professional by being just a driver: journalist, something your boss commented during a quick meeting because fans kept shipping you with every driver. What you found weird is that most drivers you see as older brothers and some even uncles (don’t tell Nando). Plus most of them had girlfriends!
Nevertheless, your relationship with them seems to always end up with them hanging around your office at Sky, whenever they are free. Even the older drivers like Nando, Lewis and even Nico and Kevin use your office as an escape from the chaos of their motorhomes.
You didn’t mind hosting the older drivers in your room, as they were usually tame and kept to themselves as they read the books on your shelves in peace. They usually plop themselves down your couch and place the oversized plush you always bring on their lap. They always brought you snacks, so you looked forward to the times when their heads popped in your door and asked if they could come in.
But when the younger drivers visit your office? And if they came in groups — which they usually do. Oh boy, it was either a clusterfuck of them stealing snacks from your secret stash or your office becoming a den for hot gossip in the paddock usually led by the one and only Charles Leclerc.
Case in point. You now have Charles, Carlos, Max and to your surprise Checo in your office. The older Spanish-speaking driver was a rare visitor, but a welcome one nonetheless.
But considering the topic in discussion, you understood the presence of the two Red Bull drivers.
You were in the middle of typing away on your laptop when suddenly they barged in with ice cream tubs and spoons at hand then found a spot to sit and made themselves comfortable.
“Is Newey leaving Red Bull?” Charles asked Max and Checo, as he scooped a bite from his ice cream.
“We have no clue! Christian is saying nothing to us. Nothing” Max exclaimed exasperated as Checo nodded in agreement.
“So Adrian Newey is moving to Ferrari?” You questioned as you pointed your spoon at Charles
“Y/N, I love you like a sister and I know that you’re incredibly smart, but sometimes you are stupid. We’re clueless in Ferrari, hence my question ”
You threw your wooden spoon at the Monaco-born Ferrari driver. Which he easily avoided thanks to his fast reflexes. Freaking f1 reflexes!
“ I wasn't the person who got named for being stupid— HEY! Max give that back!! You don't even like salted caramel” You were trying to rebut Charles’ insult but were distracted when Max took your ice cream for himself.
Max just shrugged and placed his half-consumed chocolate brownie fudge ice cream in your hands — his spoon still in it. You didn’t complain further as you took his spoon and took a bite yourself. Yum! Brownie fudge is your favorite.
“Dude, what is even going on inside Red Bull? What was Horner under investigation for?” Carlos pressed on, trying to find answers. You were curious yourself
“Everyone is being weird. They’re keeping things from us. “ Checo added. You knew that they were truly left in the dark because if they knew they would’ve spilled instantly. NDAs be damned.
“Every interview, people keep asking if we know something! one more journalist and I swear I’ll run them over with my car! I hate each one of them” Max grumbled to himself.
You coughed. You knew that you were an exception but you couldn’t help but mess around with your friends.
“Don’t even, Y/N. You know you don’t count. “ Max waved you off.
“Wow! Thank you for that babe. Way to make a girl feel special” you said jokingly to the Dutch driver, as you winked dramatically. To which he only rolled his eyes — making you and the rest of the drivers laugh.
Max was immune to your flirting, unfortunately. It sucked especially when you had a tiny …. Ok big … HUGE crush on the 3 time world champion.
Max to you was like an Older brother’s best friend — Where you were the little sister crushing on him and you didn’t have a chance. You knew that like the other drivers, he just saw you as a little sister. But still you couldn’t help but fall the star driver of Red Bull.
Everything started when you brought your niece to the paddock because your sister had an emergency. You were scheduled to interview Checo in the RB motorhome and your niece was starting to feel fussy and you were slightly panicking on what to do— when Max suddenly came to your rescue and took your niece out to ice cream.
You admit you found Max attractive even before— like so damn attractive, but that was it— nothing more. But when you found Max carrying your niece in his arms as they played inside his garage, you knew that you were a goner to the charms of Max Verstappen.
You have been pinning for Max for a year now. You wished that you had the confidence and courage to just confess. But the fear of rejection freighted you, so you settled to just keep your friendship with the devastatingly handsome Red Bull champion.
As time went on, and nothing but friendship between you and Max developed — You’ve come to terms with the process of letting go of your feelings. Even when you’ve already met his mom and sister, hung out in his yacht and spent nights over his place when movie nights with Charles and his girlfriend went too late. You knew not to think anything of it.
And you were right to think nothing of it. Because not a week later, rumors had spread all over the paddock that Kelly Piquet had set her eyes on Max. You didn’t believe it at first, but when you saw with your own two eyes them engaged talking happily in his garage. The sparkle in Max’s eyes had solidified your will to move on.
A few weeks had passed and Kelly’s presence was constant in the paddock. Everyone had speculated that she had become Max’s girlfriend. But no one was sure, not even you — Max had been silent about it.
You tried to be happy for them you did. But you can’t blame yourself for wishing that it was you instead. Even to this day, you are still trying to forget and bury your feelings for Max.
“Y/N? Y/N? Oi Y/N” You suddenly were startled out of your thoughts. You forgot that you were still with the drivers in your office.
“What? Sorry, I just remembered something. What did you say?” You asked Charles as he was the one who called you.
“I asked if you had an interview today” Upon hearing the words of the Monegasque, your eyes grew wide as you remembered that you did have a job to do and you were indeed almost late.
“SHIT! I DO I’m late! “ You suddenly sprang up from your seat and quickly gathered the things you needed — while the 4 drivers looked at you with amusement.
“Who’s scheduled for you today, Y/N?” Max had also sat up from his seat and gave you an opened bottle of water.
You received the bottle from Max. You didn’t have to thank the driver — just one look from you and he knew.
The other drivers looked amongst themselves as they saw your exchange with Max. Everyone had a knowing look on their faces.
“I'm going to Mclaren today! I have the whole day with Lando. “ You said as you closed your once abandoned laptop and placed it in your bag — the one Max gave you on your birthday.
“What have you planned for Lando, Y/N?” Checo asked curiously. He still remembered his interview where you both made bracelets and stuffed toys for his daughters — his daughters loved it and went to sleep with it every single day.
“Oh! I’m taking Lando to a rage room, then drive-thru for food.” You explained happily to the older Mexican driver.
“Which part of that is the interview?” Charles had interjected
“While we eat the food in the parking lot, duh,” You said as if they should’ve already known. Well, they should by now.
“You know Y/N, Lando likes you right? ” Carlos had suddenly dropped a bomb on you. You didn’t expect it at all.
“What?” Max had suddenly said — catching all of you off guard. You didn’t understand, why Max had reacted so suddenly. But you pushed that aside for now as you continued to stuff everything you need in the bag
“What do you mean, Lando likes me?” You asked Carlos, with your eyebrows scrunched together.
“He likes you. Like you know? Take you out on dates and all that” Carlos replied as he gauged your reaction.
“Ohhhh, that’s cute! how did you even know about it, Carlos” you asked not taking any of it seriously.
“Cute?” You heard Max muttered under his breath.
“He told me. I won’t spoil anything else. I’m not even supposed to say that he likes you, but oh well.” Carlos shrugged as he finished off his ice cream.
“What do you think about Lando?” Charles suddenly asked you. The Ferrari driver leaned forward
“Will you date him if he asks you ?” Checo then joined the conversation.
“ You should say yes, I mean you two are the same-“ Charles had suddenly grown excited.
“Ok whoa, calm down dads. He hasn’t asked anything yet! “ you exclaimed
“But will you say yes if he asked?” Max then asked you, his eyes piercing your soul. After all of the other questions, Max was the one to Catch you off guard.
“Uh yes, I guess? I mean, why not? Lando is fun And he is single right … ” You were panicking so you said yes, even when you knew that you weren’t ready for anything like that since you still held feelings for Max.
“ YES! I thought that you-“ Charles wasn't able to finish his sentence when you cut him off.
“OK, bye guys! See you later. I need to go!” And just like that you were gone, leaving the four drivers in your office — not letting them question you further.
“I swear, that kid is weird.” Charles shakes his head from side to side at your actions.
“Lando likes Y/N?” Max had asked again just to make sure that he had heard the Spaniard correctly.
“ Lando is a good kid. They’ll make a good couple, no?” Checo asked no one in particular, as Max was not moving from where you left him.
“Wait, wait… since when did Lando like Y/N?” Max asked confused, looking green with jealousy. Fingers tingling as they clenched on itself
“Well he was interested in Y/N since the beginning but he backed off since everyone thought that you two had a thing” Carlos explained as he stood up and went to raid your snack stash.
“Yeah, but now you’re with the daughter of Piquet. what’s her name again? KELLY! yes, kelly. So Lando is taking his shot” Charles added
“You knew? Charles, you knew about Lando?” Max was aghast at the knowledge that was just receiving now.
“Well yeah? I was the one to encourage him to ask Y/N out. ” Charles shrugged nonchalantly. He knew about your feelings for the Red Bull driver, but he also saw how hurt you were when Max started seeing Kelly out of nowhere. Charles wanted to help his friends — specially the ones that he grew to love like his own sibling in any way that he could. Plus it was time for Y/N to have fun, and Lando Norris is exactly that.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Max was conflicted. His emotions growing uncontrollably by the second.
“ Mate, we haven’t seen you for how many weeks! You were always out with your new girlfriend. Even Y/N had no contact with you “ Carlos explained to Max.
silence filled the room, when suddenly pings of notifications sounded all over the rooms.
And Charles couldn’t help but whistle.
“Well he sure does move past” he had added.
Your story
As Max looked at his phone. Your Ig story flashed. His heart had started to hurt and the feeling of a pit in his stomach grew. it was as if someone punched him right in the gut.
And another notification ping had popped . And it only made Max’s stomach churn even further.
landonorris
#f1#formula 1#formula one#f1 imagine#red bull racing#mclaren#max verstappen#f1 fic#formula 1 fic#ln4 x y/n#ln4 fic#ln4 imagine#lando norris x reader#lando norris x y/n#lando norris imagine#max verstappen x reader#max verstappen imagine#mv1 fic#mv1 x you#mv1 imagine#charles leclerc#cl16 x you#mclaren formula 1#ferrari#lando norris x you#lando x reader#lando imagine#max verstappen x you#cl16 x y/n#f1 grid x reader
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i know its a classic. possibly cliche already. but i do wonder about Tumblr In The Death Note Universe probably more than i should
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💅 toxicbff Follow
if i see one more post attributing kira's powers to ~supernatural powers~ instead of the obvious fact that the cia is doing a coup I'm going to start giving You the heart attacks
💅 toxicbff
of course i saw the news how does that not prove my point further
the idea that all the police around the world could be mobilized by one single person is ridiculous (just look at this list of how many civilian militia there are globally)
heart attack victims don't seize the way "lind l tailor" did
i don't know how to tell you that You Can't Kill People Just By Knowing Their Name And Face because this is Real Life and not the newest grimdark marvel villain
people need to stop being scared of the ~bogeyman in the closet~ and wake up to the fact that usamerica is trying to take over the goddamned world
💅 toxicbff
im going to kill you all and nuke this website
#sayonara you weeaboo shits
2,925 notes
👾 lets-go-geeks Follow
DO TRUMP NEXT
🕵🏾♀️ penny-penelope Follow
LIKES TO CHARGE REBLOGS TO CAST
16,375 notes
❤️🔥 lovesickened Follow
i know its stupid but im so fucking scared for my brother i heard that seven people died this week at the prison he's in and iinjust dont kenow what to do ihate him for ehat he did to mom but i never wanted him to die
#vent tw #delete later
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🏎 fastandyurious Follow
if i get a single more comment about why i don't tag "genderbend" on my kiratective fics i'm going to blow up the entire building. we don't know EITHER of their genders. why don't YOU tag your mediocre yaoi genderbend instead
🔆 sparkling-world Follow
…OP, you realize the news reports all consistently use "he," right?
🏎 fastandyurious
of course i do???? just because you see something on the news doesn't mean you have to believe it?????? they don't have any information on kira yet but i'm supposed to believe the fbi knows their gender already??????? also kira is literally a fucking girl's name my classmate in elementary school was called kira
🔆 sparkling-world
Kira comes from the Japanese romanization for "killer," it isn't gendered whatsoever.
Also, evidence shows the majority of serial killers are male, so I'd argue that the statistics favor the fujoshis here.
🏎 fastandyurious
well evidence shows that female serial killers are just more fun to write about and I'd argue that you're ignoring my fucking POINT which is that we DON'T KNOW KIRA'S GENDER and if people don't want to read lesbian kiratective they can FUCK OFF MY BLOG
🥚 i-offer-eggman Follow
I offer you an Eggman in these trying times.
🔮 I-stands-for-le-gay Follow
@lashitpostcalligrapher yo can i get "the statistics favor the fujoshis" on my tombstone
#fandom: kira rpf #ship: kiral #never heard it called kiratective before… #also uh. prayer circle for op's classmate lmaoooo
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💃🏻 modelingmadness Follow
BOYCOTT EIGHTEEN MAGAZINE
THEY ALLOW KIRA-SUPPORTING MODELS AND ARE COMPLICIT IN THIS MASSACRE
SOURCES HERE AND HERE (TRIGGER WARNING: KIRA DISCUSSION)
PUSH BACK AGAINST HEART ATTACKS
🧚🏽♂️ harubaru Follow
golly gee ^_^ suddenly i feel like taking to the high seas in a way that the eighteen company cant get profit from. oh no ! who left this link here
🐦⬛ kuro--misa Follow
thanks for the link but jesus fucking christ man what happened to free speech. misa-misa's parents were killed by a burglar who kira punished. did you all expect her to just sit there, look pretty, and say nothing about it?
you people only like models when they're nice pictures for you to consume. you only like them two-dimensional and smiling and hot. the second a woman actually speaks her mind she's thrown to the wolves
💃🏻 modelingmadness
DID YOU NOT SEE MY BANNER YOU PIECE OF SHIT
#BLOCKED
140 notes
🐦⬛ kuro--misa Follow
lol. lmao even
#they blocked me but whatever #official eighteen site just said misamisa wont be in the next issue #(eighteen sucks but i kind of want to use it more out of spite now) #so much for apologism huh? #god. i feel sick. #hasn't she been through enough.
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🥷🏻 kira-imagines Follow
Imagine you're going home after a long day. Suddenly there's a sound. "Huh? Whose there" you ask, dropping your keys on the floor. Then you feel it. A knife pressing in your neck.
"Don't move kitten" Kira purrs behind you. "You're all mine now…"
#kiraxreader #kiraxoc #kira #kira rpf #kira investigation #kira fucker #kira fudger #kira lover #kira haters dont touch #kira haters please touch #kira supporters please touch #l
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asahi-the-student-deactivated201
Hello, everyone! My little sister told me about this microblogging platform (I admit, I'm a Twitter refugee) and that many of you are discussing the Kira investigation on here. I'm really interested in hearing what your thoughts are!
💋 sunny-sayu Follow
let the record show he lasted like. a day
#i think it was the imagines that did him in #bro is so sensitive :p
15 notes
kiyomitakada
the world could be beautiful
[ @deathnotetober day 14: trigger ]
#death note#light yagami#sayu yagami#misa amane#lawlight#by uh. technicality.#does 'trigger warning' fit the prompt i hope it does…#also there are two (2) rickrolls in this post#the other links are all to actual fun stuff :3#good luck#deathnotetober#edit: fixed the FUCKIGN reblog dividers GOD DAMN IT#unreality#caps#edit 2: fixed the reblog dividers again theyre transparent now#…………wow i really just. spent four hours on this huh.#maybe i am experiencing slight mania#only slight#death note tumblr
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KLANCE FIC RECS FOR THE NEW YEARS RECAP PART TWO
Ghost of the Future & Shadow of the Past by wittyy_name/@wittyy-name, Zizzani/@zizzani | 300k+ | Time-travel | Dual fic
These fics were genuinely so. What the fuck. Oh my god. I came into it not expecting too much and I came out of it like ahjhsihfs. I’m so so upset that it isn’t finished, that too right before the last chapter. There are so, so many good aspects to this fic. First off: the plot and its delivery. The idea of switching places with a past version of yourself is not an uncommon plotline. However, having the story be split into two stories following both the past and the present with each chapter parallelling each other was flawlessly executed. I would read one chapter where they would do xyz which affected the past, and then be so excited to see what happens next, and then be even more excited that I could simply read how it happened in the past. It felt like I was time itself, reading through parts of these characters' lives non-linearly. The KL chemistry is beautiful, the plot is beautiful, I sincerely love it.
it’s five o’clock somewhere by soulreapin/@soulreapin | 8.1k | Bartending AU | First Date
This fic was so so soft and funny. There were parts of the fic where I was so floored by the comedic writing that I was like damn why didn't I write this? Also, their first date is just so cute!
Run into the Bright Lights by peanutbutterapple/ https://hugoweasley.tumblr.com/ | 36.8k | April Fools Day | Canon Compliant
I've never seen an april fools day fic before and omg I wish there were more. The miscommunication between KL is so genuine and not a product of stupid actions. There's beautiful hurt/comfort. I've reread this two billion times.
AITA by perfchan/@jacqulinetan | 34k | Post-War
This fic is so so funny and just. It sums up the whole let down of returning back to civilian life after war very well and the way Lance shuts people out. So so good.
to breathe in this mirage by existwound/@existwound | 34k+ | Time-travel | Domestic KL
This fic is so good!?!? Astra writes KL fighting so well and it leads up to beautiful ANGST which leads to beautiful hurt/comfort. This fic is not finished but I love it so so so much.
Spider-Man Klance AU by iwriteshipsnotsailthem | 102.6k | Spider-man!Keith
This author captures the essence of spiderman in a fic so much. Many other spider-man aus will focus more on ships than the spiderman aspect, but this author balances it so well. There's a perfect blend of action and romance.
finally, you're mine by nezueye/@nezueye | 7.2k | Friends to Lovers | Modern AU
This has to be hands down one of the best fluff fics ever. Every scene with KL, which was all of them, was so satisfying and cute. I loved it so much I reread this all the time.
Even the People in Your Dreams Will Lie to You by popering/@roylustang | 314k+ | torture | angst
This fic is INSANE!!! Literally!! There's so much thought and detail that goes into the worldbuilding of the fic despite the world literally being canon VLD! This is a fic where every detail counts, and where you yourself might doubt your hindsight and knowledge too. I feel so bad for everyone in this story, and I eagerly await the last chapter (author take ur time w it tho plz)
my my, how can i resist you? by nikkiRA | 1.7k | Est Relationship | Watching Mamma Mia
This is a follow up to a fic where KL get together, but this snippet just has my heart. It's so beautiful to see the way Keith loves Lance.
what makes you beautiful by seventies | 4.5k | MMA!Keith x Nurse!Lance
The funniest fi in the world. I wish I knew the author IRL so I could laugh at their jokes everyday. They're so funny. This fic is so so funny.
I love you more than fried chicken by AsterikaMay/@catsushinyakajima | 9.1k words | Asexual!Lance
This is one of my fics...I included it cuz I'm ace and I LOVE ace fics LMAO
part one here
#klance fic recs#klance#klance fic#klance fanfic#keith kogane#lance mcclain#vld fic#vld fanfic#vld fic rec#voltron legendary defenders#asexual lance mcclain#spider man keith#time travel vld fic
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I don't know why I did this.
(0 notes)
🍒 ch3rich3rry Follow
omggg I need to stop hyperfixating on red/blue ship UGH
🍒 ch3rich3rry Follow
THIS POST IS ABOUT WISPSTYLE NOT FUCMING VOLTRON
(758 notes)
🍒 ch3rich3rry Follow
Anonymous asked: omg wait is DC and wisperers ship name actually wispstyle? that's so cute
YEAH!!! they're super cute dude I love them so much
⭐️ ten-dollar-bananas Follow OKAY BUT HAVE YOU SEE THE WAY THE WISPERER LOOKS AT VIRION HELLOOOOO
🍒 ch3rich3rry
ohmygod this post has nothing to do with you you have your own corner of the fandom!!!! I thought we were done having ship discourse
🐀 rattusrattus Follow
what if you two kissed
(53 notes)
🎲 glaring-gambler Follow
didn't expect to see PD ship discourse on the dash today but
#oh hey rattusrattus we thought you were dead
(5 notes)
🎸 trapped-in-hell Follow
RATTUSRATTUS WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD
🐀 rattusrattus Follow
alive and well 👍
(27 notes)
🐀 rattusrattus Follow
I much prefer Tumblr to Twitter, I saw someone get publicly executed for shipping the Prime Defenders together the other day.
🍝 tide-apologist Follow
EXECUTED ?!?!
🐀 rattusrattus
Yeah, that's what happen when you get canceled. They cancel you.
(57 notes)
🧭 insert-username Follow
does anybody remember pdspotter. what happened to them
🍕 pdspotter Follow
i do :(
(62 notes)
🍕 pdspotter Follow
when will my husband (the prime defenders) return from war (dropping off the face of prime)
🍕 pdspotter
OMG. HOLY SHIT. PD SPOTTED
(307 notes)
🍕 pdspotter Follow
Prime Defenders spotted in the downtown New Haven area working with a freelance hero!
Days since last spotting: I've lost count!
#pd spotted! #hero spotted! #guest appearance! #HOLY SHIT ???? GUYS IS MY HUSBAND (the group of heros I'm attatched to) BACK FROM WAR???
(1,286 notes)
🪲 getmeoutofthewater Follow
I don't mean this as like. discourse. but what is the appeal of hero shipping
🪲 getmeoutofthewater
not ypu tidalwave fandom I love you guys this is about prime defenders
🎲 glaring-gambler Follow
[A blurry photo of DC and the Wisperer standing next to eachother after the flesh battle, covered in blood.]
🪲 getmeoutofthewater
of all the responses I've gotten I think this is the only one which has swayed me
(53 notes)
🎱 imgoingtoeatachaosdemon Follow
wispstyle this virisp that WHAY ABOUT SOLSTYLE.....
#idk virion and wisperes ship name sorry moots that like them
(18 notes)
🎲 glaring-gambler Follow
Anonymous asked: who???? is rattusrattus???????
blog that shitposts abt pd a lot lmao theyre sort of a cryptid. they recently came back
🐀 rattusrattus Follow
Fianlly out of the building.
🍒 ch3rich3rry Follow
WELCOME BACK KING ❤️❤️❤️
(82 notes)
🥰 aestheticsandassthetics Follow
why are we shipping child soldiers
🥰 aestheticsandassthetics
walks out of the notes covered in blood. nevermind.
#delteing this post omg
(302 notes)
🍕 pdspotter Follow
Prime Defnders spotted? Winnebago seen driving through New Haven!
🐸 whereislefrog Follow
oh yeah sorry that's my blorbo
🍕 pdspotter
WAS ANYONE GONNA TELL ME THERE WAS AN ACCOUNT TRACKING LE FROG OR WAS I JUST SUPPOSED TO FIND THEM IN MY NOTES
(66 notes)
🐸 whereislefrog Follow
Le Frog is in New Haven :)
#frogger #hopping around #hiii pd spotter
#just roll with it#prime defenders#fake dashboard#dashboard simulator#I literally do not know chat. pd in universe shipcourse be upon ye
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Never Shall We Die (2)
«« Nothing is too outlandish when it’s a life of liberty on the line. »»
PAIRING: kwon soonyoung x reader
PLAYLIST: right here!
pirate lingo glossary (pls refer!)
SYNOPSIS: Deadliest pirate on the high seas or a damn fool? The stupid King and his men have snatched Hoshi's precious pirate ship with their too clean, too soft hands; grounds to question his own vices. Except, when he and his crew land in the quarters of a navy ship, revenge on their roster, they stumble across a princess in its gallows. Hoshi wonders if he's just struck gold, or if you'd become the final tread to his downfall.
GENRES: pirate!au, enemies to lovers, slowburn, angst, fluff, smut [minor dni], some pirates of the carribean vibes but ? idk
WORD COUNT [full fic]: 48.1k
Part 1: 17.07k | Part 2: 15.2k | Part 3 [final] : 15.8k
@highvern's out of context comment box: new fear unlocked: hoshi with explosives, victorian ankle moment, HATE HIM (need him carnally), hoshi covered in soapy water would distract me enough, strip for me pirate mingyu [hes litrally taking off his jacket], your honor hes a bitch, freaks!, mingyu crushes hoshi's head like a grape, WONWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, massive dick, the way i literally gasped like an old scandalized woman
masterlist
WARNINGS: slowburn, plot heavy, happy ending bc no angsty endings in this household, being taken hostage, knives, bombs, and guns, mentions of blood, mentions of SA (does not happen and it is not explicitly mentioned), alcohol, mentions of death (patricide), hoshi is ✨selectively moral✨but kind of moral nonetheless, side character death, [pls lmk if im missing something its alot] smut tags in following parts
[AN]: part 2 !!!! ty for reading pt1, hope you guys will enjoy this too <3 as always, ty to @highvern for beta-ing and sitting through this entire thing lmao <3 happy reading, and remember to tell me what you think !!
THE FOREVER EMPTY DECK, for whatever reason, was occupied when you trudge up the stairs in an attempt to free yourself from the stuffiness of your quarters.
You make out Seungkwan sitting cross legged on the floors, very carefully pouring himself a bottle of something unmarked into a bowl. Chan is there as well, very meticulously explaining a happening to…Hoshi, who sits by with an interested expression, mouth turned into a frown with his brows furrowed. Chan is using his hands as he continues, unaware of your presence.
“Oh!” Seungkwan calls you out by name, causing the rest of the clique to turn their heads to you. “Come have a drink!”
“What’s this?” Hoshi starts. He’s smiling, but his reddened cheeks give away his very obviously intoxicated state. “Has miss princess decided to grace us with her presence?”
You ignore him, acknowledging Chan when he asks why you were up at this hour as you sit between him and Seungkwan.
“Just needed some air,” you mumble.
“Well,” Hoshi is loud when he spills half the drink out of the cup he was pouring it into. “Air pairs well with rum.”
He holds out a cup of the liquid for you, swaying slightly from the effort of holding it far out towards you.
“I am a lady.” You resist the effort to turn your nose up.
“Okay lady, bottoms up!” he slurs.
When you continue to keep your hands folded, he retracts his hand with what you think is a prominent scowl, but it looks more like a disappointed pout if anything. He takes a dejected sip from the cup.
“Come on, just one!” Seungkwan tries to convince you.
“Leave her alone, Kwan, miss princess is too good to be drinking with pirates,” Hoshi chides.
You aren’t sure if it was meant to be a jab at all, considering the strange switch in behaviour he seems to have adopted as his drunk persona. You watch in silence as he reaches over to plant a big kiss on Seungkwan’s cheek in affection, grabbing his head strongly. He yelps, pushing his captain off with a face.
But regardless of what he meant, the defiance sparked within you anyway, and you find yourself gripping the neck of the poorly dusted bottle that sat in the middle amidst even more bottles, cups and twine. The motion has all eyes on you, even as you bring the bottle to your lips, preparing yourself for one of the dumber things you’ve done.
Locking eyes with Hoshi’s sharp ones over the bottle, you chug it of its remnants, ignoring the fiery burn and the trickles of liquid that trail down the corners of your mouth.
You hear Seungkwan and Chan cheering, Hoshi remaining stoic as he refuses to be the one to look away from above the bottle.
By the time you’ve slammed the bottle back onto the hardwood, you’re struggling to maintain your vision and you’re forced to tear your eyes away from the man that sits across from you, unwavering.
Resisting the urge to vomit, you can only smile weakly at Seungkwan and Chan who are overly excited over your endeavour, clinking their own cups as they down another one in your honour.
It kickstarted your spree in any case as the night commenced, continuing to accept refills as you sip slower than before, savouring the taste that you couldn’t really say you enjoyed. The feeling, however.
Seungkwan and Chan took longer than you’d expected to pass out, noting the way they continued to clink and drink with no regard.
Hoshi seemed to need little to be washed away, something you found yourself silently snorting at, even as both boys continued to snore quietly behind you.
“What’s so funny?” Hoshi asks, taking a sip from his cup.
You snap your head up, drunk and hot. You consider shaking your head to indicate a null, but you can’t say you have much control over yourself at the moment.
“You take so little to get tipsy,” you comment with a little giggle.
“What makes you think I’m drunk?” he asks.
His red face? The uncharacteristic warmth he’d been treating you with all night? Who knows? But right now you ignore his question, zeroed in on something. He’s wearing one of his stupid linen shirts that are always buttoned too low, the ones that make it impossible to keep your eyes on his face.
Your eyes find the distorted slash of tissue that resides on his chest, right over his left peck, right over his heart. You’ve noticed the scar on multiple occasions. Not that he seems to ever try to hide it. You decide to mention it.
“How’d you get that?” you whisper. It feels right to talk like that; the deck is silent, the sea is calm in her regard to pushing the ship where it needs to go. Your legs are pulled up to your chest, cheek on your knees.
He follows your gaze to his scar, coming round to answer you with a drunk, dopey smile on his face. “Got hungry.”
Possible, but you also get the feeling he wasn’t about to give you a straight answer if you pushed anyway. But your gaze remains on his chest, ingraining the ridges of the scar to memory.
And with every moment that passes, it looks less and less like a scary altercation of someone trying to carve his heart out, and more like he may have fallen off his horse while riding. Accidentally cut himself with a steak knife at the supper table. Took a bad blow during a practice sword fight.
And with every moment that passes, the backgrounds of your mind’s pictures turn from the rugged sea to the grassy training grounds of the palace, the hay and brown of the stables, the silver glints of the dining hall. The thuds of rusting cups and cheap sailors rum turn into clinks of wine glasses, Hoshi’s hand wrapped around the stems, skin free of every scar and darkened slash.
And with every moment that passes, you imagine what this deadly, ferocious pirate would look like if his life was a little different. If his life was a little like yours. Would he be able to be a better match against your father, would he have taken every missed opportunity to become a ruler that you only wish you could be? Could he lead a kingdom as well as he leads his beloved band of pirates?
There’s not a thought of what you’re doing in your mind as you find yourself reaching over, not to the bottles that lie empty, but to the pirate captain’s hands, taking his rough calloused palms in your soft, unscarred ones.
He does little to resist, letting his hand fall limp in yours.
“What’s this one?” you ask, tracing over the biggest scar that slashed across his knuckles.
“Piece of wood sticking out of the mast.”
It’s an older scar, clear with the way his skin has settled into the healed wound like it’s always been that way.
“This one?” you ask, tracing over another nick.
“Fell on glass.”
“This one?”
“Punched Mingyu.”
You frown at that, looking up at him and in accusation.
“I apologised,” he defends.
Was it strange that a pirate captain would apologise for assaulting his crew? Slightly, yes. But you liked to think you understood Hoshi a little better than you’d first met him, and that he considered his crew more like his family than anything else.
Never in a million years, in your pirate hating household, would you have thought that the deadliest band of pirates would soon be the ones you’d be sharing drinks with, tracing scars with, feeling somewhat secure being alone with.
Entrusting to save your future with.
You turn his hand over to his palms, now staring at a fresher looking gash that seems to still be healing. It looks painful, the redness yet to fade into its darker hues.
“What about this one?” you ask, being extra careful to not touch the wound.
Hearing him let out a small laughing exhale, you look up.
“Thought you’d recognize your own work.”
And then you remember.
The spray of blood in the air as your dagger made its first ever maim at your hands.
“Oh,” you breathe out.
When you look up from your hunched position, you’re closer to Hoshi than you’d initially thought. He went from an arms length away to brushing shoulders with you, his palm remaining cradled in both of yours.
“Do you regret it?” he asks as he looks at you like he’s gotten lost somewhere in your face.
His breath hits your face in a delicate fan, the smell of alcohol mixing from your own mouth.
Glancing down at his scarring wound, you look back up at him with your lips in a tight line.
“No.”
He smiles, less of disbelief and more of contentment, a pleasant look on his face as he reads your expression.
You felt like you’d passed some kind of test.
“Good.”
And then you’re so close you can barely make out the tip of his nose, his warmth infiltrating your own. You can smell him past the rum, a faint woody scent that makes your head spin. You push up to the alcohol.
Your stomach is on fire as you expect the final push to come, the eager build in your chest becoming near unbearable.
Just as you’re about to flutter your eyes closed, ready to take whatever he might give you, you find his face disappeared.
Hoshi turned his face away, your face infiltrated by the cool breeze once more. Your palms are cooling as his warmth retracts from them as well, leaving you cold and confused.
Blinking, pushing your chin closer to your chest, you attempt to catch your bearings, catch the notes in the air as you feel him move to his feet quickly.
“Get some sleep, it’s late,” he announces in a low, gravelly voice before trudging towards the staircase. He seems to have sobered up.
All that’s left on the deck is your empty palms, the stinging sea spray, and two snoring pirates.
HOSHI SPENT THE REST of the morning trying to sleep off the imminent feeling of spontaneous combustion.
The tingle in his right hand refuses to go away, even when he plunges the darn thing into a freezing bucket of water next to his cot, assuming his wound was acting up.
He sleeps fitfully, the frustration that simmers refuses to let him have a staggering moment of peace. His head is as dense as a whale, throbbing in the seeping light. The sounds of the sea, ones that once brought him calm, were now triggering an irrational reaction from his entire being.
Swinging to his feet is easy, it’s the aftermath of such a reckless action that has him stumbling like a fawn. Slipping into his boots, he thuds to the lower decks, to the storage area where all of the rations are.
And where all of the alcohol is.
He bumps into Minghao on the way down, who’s filling his canteen as he keeps morning watch on deck.
“Go sleep, I’ve got it,” he says to him, and Minghao does little to refute as he makes a beeline for his beloved hammock.
It’s too early for anyone to be awake, despite the afternoon sun that lingers. He takes full advantage of it as he hauls the first crate of rum up to the deck.
There isn’t an inch of hesitation as he lifts the death juice and sends it splashing into the ocean. He stares for a moment as heavy bottles disappear under the water, still full of the very thing he’d shoot his crew for wasting a single drop of.
Even more determined than before, he goes back down into the brig, this time lugging two more crates of rum, all to be met with the same fate, going down to touch the bottom of the ocean.
With every echoing slam of the wood hitting the water, he feels himself freeing.
But you plague him anyway.
Lifting a particularly heavy box, he thinks of how close you had gotten to him on this very deck. How he could breathe in your exhales. How he could feel the tactile of your fingertips tracing over every mauled slash on his hand. How you consumed his mind in ways he couldn’t fathom.
It was the rum. The rum was doing this to him.
At least, that’s what he’d chosen to blame.
Who was he to deny the effect you seemed to have on him?
The answer was that he was a pirate, especially with the way he chalked his muddled brain to not having had a woman around for so, so long.
He’d considered indulging once they reached Port Ash, slipping away for an hour into one of the beaded doors of women ready to give him what he wanted. The thought seemed like an unwanted remedy.
Every solution felt fruitless, a balm that only seemed to make the itch worse. Even as he commits a sin as heinous as feeding perfectly good rum to sea foam, he only does it in the hopes that the sea will take it as a sacrifice, to give him the kind of peace his being has begun to crave.
Hoshi has been moved to insanity.
Even as he feels the cool cylinder of Jun’s revolver on his temple, he pushes the last crate overboard as his final answer.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hears Jun ask.
When he turns around, the revolver remains stationary as it now points into the smack middle of his forehead. He has an audience, Mingyu’s face has leftover sleep on it, a mildly horrified look on his face. Chan looks like he could slice his own Captain’s throat open.
“Where’s the rum?” Mingyu asks in an airy voice, disbelief prominent.
“The rum’s gone.”
“Why is the rum gone?”
Hoshi doesn’t answer as he moves Jun’s loaded gun out of his face and makes his way back to his cot downstairs, in no mood to squabble with his too sober crew.
There’s calls of his name that follow him all the way to below the deck, even as he snatches a stray hat on the floor, placing it above his face in the hopes that he was relieved enough to sleep.
It’s snatched away as Mingyu stands above him like an angel of death, his hat in his equally deathly grip.
“Did the spirits possess you?”
“No,” he replies begrudgingly. “But good sense has.”
“Captain,” he hears Chan begin, looking about five seconds away from committing a murder on the seas. “You know I can’t fight sober.”
“Learn.”
“What is this about? Where was the rum at fault?” Jun grits.
Hoshi swings up once again. If Mingyu was an angel of death then he was the king of hell.
But he has no threats left to give, his menacing soul left with the rum. There is only a snarl that turns into him dropping his head, sighing a loud, loud sigh.
He tells his crew a sad affair as he expresses his sorrows like a eulogy. Blaming the rum was stupid, but it was what he had done. And now the fruit of his decisions sit forgotten in the reefs so far below.
His crew is not happy when they find out, in any case.
“But what did the rum do?”
“Kissing beautiful women is part of life’s pleasures!”
“I have half a mind to make you fish it all back up.”
Mingyu has simply crumpled onto the floor in his heartbreak, Chan has his face in his hands. Hoshi doesn’t look up to witness Jun’s reaction.
The crew would get over the lack of alcohol on board, perhaps a morbid brawl or two to help them get by, but what was more concerning was whether it did anything for Hoshi at all.
At the very least, he knows he won’t go around kissing people sober, but when it comes to the matter of the war inside his chest…
A phantom ache throbs across the scar on his chest.
Perhaps his heart would finally be the next to go.
PORT ASH WAS A depraved man’s heaven.
One that could easily become his downfall if he doesn’t play his cards right.
Too covered was suspicious, too much of the opposite was an open invitation to all the drunk and debauched population of Ash; pirates, criminals and councilmen alike. You were comfortable enough in what you were given to put on, to become the perfect blend in the rowdy, barely lit streets of the brothels and bars.
Despite everything, Seungkwan assured you that no one would bother a woman flanked by obvious pirates, for whatever reason that may be. If it were up to you, you would’ve remained on the ship, safe and buried in your quarters, but the threat of an ambush on the docks plagued the crew enough to risk bringing you directly into the dragon’s den.
Jun disappeared quickly, ducking behind an unmarked curtain with a nod to his captain. You could only assume this was where he’d obtain his remaining supplies for the explosives he seemed to be so good at creating. You’ve awoken to multiple median bangs during the night, so you can only assume he knows what he’s doing to a certain extent.
“Jun said it might take a while, so we might have to wait on him a little bit.” Hoshi stands at the front of the group, addressing his crew.
“Spread out, do whatever. Don’t linger, don’t drink yourselves to death—” he sends a pointed look at a shifty Chan and Mingyu, “—and meet back at the ship at six bells or we’ll leave without you.”
The announcement doesn’t seem to apply to you. You’re sandwiched between Hoshi and Seungkwan as they lead you into the throng, to wherever it was they were to pass the time till it was time to return.
If Ash was anything, it was alive. Men and women scatter in all states of drunk and sober, arms latched with their partners for the night as they let the oil lamps carry them to their abode for the night. It’s a wilder Hasry, a scarier Hasry.
The nighttime does nothing to help your nerves, every single face shrouded in the half shadows, seemingly resembling every person you’ve ever met in the Kingdom.
It makes you feel better that both men are pressed against your sides, as strange as the thought sounds in your head. Safe between two pirates.
“Nobody’s tried to kill you yet, I’d call that a record,” Seungkwan comments, but it’s not directed towards you.
Hoshi scowls as you shift your gaze from Seungkwan to him. The usually nonchalant pirate captain looks…cautious. His eyes dart around the crowded streets, like he was looking for familiar faces all the same as you.
Your eyes land on his curled lips and force down a shiver. This was the first time you’d been around him since that drunken night, since you’d promised to never drink again.
He doesn’t mention it, so neither do you.
“Captain Hoshi Kwon? How wonderful of you to show your face again!”
A woman’s voice rings shrill amidst the loud buzz and hollers of the streets, emerging like a white ghost from the throng. Dressed to the nines, face painted intricately, fan clenched in her hand that perches on her hip. She’s joined by another gaggle of women that crown behind her, displaying a rainbow of coloured gown and fans, but holding the same disdained look.
The pirate captain freezes beside you, and you feel Seungkwan’s hand on your back burn.
He seems shaken at the sight of the new woman initially, but puts on a smile you’ve only seen a few times. One that dazzles with his teeth on display, eyes squinted.
“Delilah!” he exclaims, almost too happy to see this mystery woman. “How’ve you been?”
“Who did that? I’d like to send them flowers,” she refers to the scar above Hoshi’s heart.
“Jellyfish don’t really like me, learned that the hard way.”
His answer seems to only annoy her. Delilah has a wicked snarl on her face, threat in her stance. “When was the last time I saw you?”
“Uh,” Hoshi stumbles.
“The Crowded Inn, was it? When I fell asleep to a promise and woke up to an empty bed?”
“Our dear captain seems to have thrown memory at sea,” one of the girls behind her calls out, followed by a collective giggle.
Hoshi looks cornered, at a loss for words as he attempts to save face. Regaining his prior easygoing expression, he continues.
“There’s no promises after I’ve had a drink or two, you know that, Delilah.” It scares you a little how easily he can inject all the sugar and honey in the world directly into his words, flirting his way out of the predicament.
Except, she doesn’t seem to be buying it, because as soon as the words leave Hoshi’s lips, you hear a loud thwack and a blur of colour. You gasp before you can help it, covering your mouth in shock.
There’s a reddenning mark on his cheek in the shape of a hand. Hoshi remains face scrunched, coming round, hand slowly coming up to touch his no doubt stinging cheek.
Your reaction seems to have roused this woman, because she sends you nothing but a look laced with pure venom, completely ignoring Seungkwan who stands aside doing nothing to help his captain.
“Where’d you pick this one up?” She asks, her fan now shucked open, fanning herself even in the pleasant weather. Her pale face, red lips, dark eyes all remain on your shabby form, a hint of a smirk on her face. “Is she as disappointing of a performer as she looks?”
That seems to do it, as you watch Hoshi’s facade of a cheeky bed trotter image drop to something with more depth.
“Delilah,” he says, warning in his voice.
“Ah! Looks like I’ve struck a nerve.”
You watch Hoshi take a step forward and you’re suddenly hyper aware of the crowd of people that continue to pass and linger, reminding yourself of the repercussions of causing a scene in a place like this. Turning slightly, you attempt to push Seungkwan to do something.
“Captain,” Seungkwan says, a casual but careful voice. A starting attempt at calming things down.
“That’s enough,” Hoshi says, ignoring Seungkwan’s warning. “Quit pretending you weren’t warming that privateer’s bed right after I left.”
There was no reason for you to say anything, do anything. But when you find yourself pushing forward, leaving Seungkwan’s hold, you can’t stop. Perhaps he’d have punched Seungkwan, his own crew, if he’d done the same as you were right now, but you’d like to think you know the pirate captain enough to assume he’d react less so with you.
There’s a shift in the woman’s jaw as she watches you wrap your arm around one of Hoshi’s, trying your absolute best to mimic a bright smile.
“We should go,” you announce, the stretch of your cheeks unfamiliar even to you. You turn to catch Hoshi’s stare, he’s looking at you like you’ve grown an extra head. “Right, Hosh?”
“Go on then, Captain. Your little princess awaits.”
You flinch without meaning to. Princess.
This woman doesn’t know what she’s talking about, at least, that’s what you recite in your head as your trio goes back to pushing walking through the streets. She doesn’t know who you are.
“She doesn’t know,” you hear Hoshi say under his breath, but you hear it loud as day.
You exhale, “I know.”
“Sorry about her. And him, “ Seungkwan says, before turning to Hoshi. “I told you not to get involved with that one, she’s a menace.”
You’ve let go of Hoshi’s arm at this point, now simply watching him attempt to calm himself down as you walk. He doesn’t reply to Seungkwan’s jab.
You feel strange, a feeling you can’t exactly pinpoint. You’re too aware of yourself, in a way that’s different than just the fear of being recognized. Shifting your eyes to your attire, your usual linen skirts and corset, an added grey shawl for your own anxious sanity.
The woman’s voice rings in your head. Shabby.
“You didn’t let her get to you, did you? She’s always been vile, she can’t live without being a bitch about something every five minutes.”
Seungkwan’s grumbling goes in one ear and out the other as you don’t answer. He seems to read you better than you thought he could. He sighs.
“Congratulations Delilah, you’ve made a princess feel shabby,” he says in a sarcastically chipper voice, one that earns a hiss from his captain for being too loud.
Before you know it, you’re being led down a flight of stone stairs and you’re informed that it was an underground pub of sorts. Something about his undertone told you it was probably more, but you ignore it as the darkness is let alight beyond the musty curtains of the basement entrance.
It’s a sizable expanse, a bar on one of the long ends of the hall, busy and overflowing with mugs, jugs and plates. Wooden tables and chairs, almost all of them occupied by patrons of all kinds that do nothing to regulate their volumes. It smells like a rancid mixture of alcohol and people, but you push past as you find yourself seated on one of the wooden seatings in the corner.
“I’ll go get us drinks,” Seungkwan announces as he walks up to the bar. You watch as he’s greeted by nearly every passing customer, all smiles.
Hoshi sits beside you like a begrudged toddler, arms crossed and glaring at nothing.
“Didn’t realise how popular you were around these parts,” you comment, scanning the crowd in excruciating detail, blaming force of habit as you do.
He clicks his tongue, and you can’t see him, but you can almost visualise his grimace.
A too clean councilman that has his hands on the upper thighs of an outlandishly dressed woman. A man so grimy and dusty who has nothing but an array of empty jugs for company. Another flock of fan yielding, hair towering, gown exploding women that swarm a man you cannot see past the bodies.
It’s organised chaos, immoral yet is the only thing that seems to work on this island.
Another entrance is being made from the curtains that block the pub from the outside, you steer your eyes automatically.
Looks like he could be a pirate, beyond just the dark hair and chiselled face. He has a girl under his arm, a pretty brunette that giggles at his side as he whispers something in her ear. She’s wearing something similar to you, a corset and a linen skirt, and a pirate's hat that’s too big for her that’s perched on her head.
Subconsciously, you feel better about being so severely underdressed.
Hoshi sits up next to you and you glance over your shoulder to assess his shift. He’s also staring at the couple that’s just walked in. You briefly wonder if this was going to be another showdown.
The man catches Hoshi’s eye from across the room, and you notice how his smile falls a little.
“Who’s that?” you ask quietly.
Your question is answered when the man himself begins to walk towards your table, leaving the girl at his table, a confident strut as he makes his path.
Hoshi rises next to you before you realise what’s happening, and you have the sudden urge to call out for Seungkwan.
“Why are you getting up?” you hiss. He doesn’t answer, yet again.
“Captain,” the man greets.
“Captain,” Hoshi replies.
Captain. So he was a pirate.
“Hm. That’s not gonna go away, is it?” The man comments with a smirk, eyes trained on the scar on Hoshi’s chest.
“Wonder who’s fault that is.” Hoshi’s voice is levelled.
Oh. Was that scar his doing?
“I hope you won’t mind if I don’t apologise?” The smirk on his face remains as he continues, motioning towards his own cheek, eyes trailed on the side of Hoshi’s face. “Looks like you’ve got enough enemies without me trying to carve your heart out.”
Hoshi doesn’t answer as he grimaces, a frustrated blink and a hand that runs over his sore cheek.
“Delilah was quite adamant on having your head on a pike after that,” the stranger adds with a chuckle of his own, before trailing his eyes behind Hoshi. Right where you sat watching the two men interact. “Perhaps she does have some consideration left.”
“Delilah cared more about looking like a fool than she ever did me leaving. You’d know all about that wouldn’t you, Wonwoo?”
There’s a flash of irritation on Wonwoo’s face at the jog of a memory. “Handled it better than you did. At least I wasn’t walking around with a handprint on my face.”
“No, no you weren’t. Just a leash around your neck,” Hoshi’s own eyes darted towards the girl seated at Wonwoo’s table, a silent jab.
Wonwoo’s face morphs into something a little more dangerous than just irritation, his jaw tightening as he takes a step forward. They’re nearly nose to nose.
To your surprise, Wonwoo smiles. “I guess brothels don’t teach many manners after all. My mistake.”
For the second time that day, you spring from your position in the shadowed table, giving up on praying for Seungkwan’s arrival. The man seems to have disappeared somewhere along the barline, and you curse both the men that stand before you for their horrid temper management skills.
You don’t have to do much, however, as you find Wonwoo pulling away by himself. At least, you thought so, finding a hand wrapped around his upper arm. The brunette spares neither of you a glance as she simply murmurs furiously under her breath, hand now on her lover's chest as she pushes him to move back from the brewing altercation.
Hoshi doesn’t seem to be breaking, remaining standing with his eyes shooting daggers at the man that’s reluctant to walk away from a budding fight.
Being gentle wasn’t going to work right now, and you weren’t feeling so soft anyway. Instead, you reach over to grab his wrist tight, positively yanking him back as hard as you could.
“Wh—ow!”
He slams into the seat next to you, deadly eye contact with the other captain broken as he winces at the impact. When you glance up, Wonwoo is gone.
“You said to blend in, how is this blending in?!”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“You were two seconds away from drawing knives,” you hiss. “We’re in a pub, for goodness’ sake!”
Despite your irritation, and with the newfound information that rests in the back of your head, it’s difficult to keep your eyes off the scar that stands against the lamplight of the pub.
Someone did try to carve his heart out.
Context for an altercation that could lead to something like that remains unknown, and you doubt you’d ever get a straight answer from him if you asked—as always. Besides, you forget they’re pirates.
Hoshi goes back to simply ignoring you as he festers in his grumbled silence. Choosing to keep his arms folded and staring straight ahead. You make no moves to entertain him.
“I guess brothels don’t teach many manners after all.”
This mystery captain’s left you with enough ammo to keep you wondering for days. What on earth was that?
As if Hoshi’s (and yours) mood wasn’t sour enough, your attention is brought to the front of the room where another entrance is being made, quite loudly so. You very quickly recognise the gowns and fans and shrieking giggles of women as Delilah and her posse.
You note the woman herself is nowhere near.
“Fucking hell,” you hear Hoshi swear under his breath. He’s sitting up, eyes darting around the room, almost like he was trying to find a hiding spot. You doubt he's too excited over another conversation of similar nature, let alone a matching mark on the other side of his face.
The women hadn't seen him yet, and were approaching far too quickly for him to get up and leave anywhere to hide. A quick scan of the room yourself and you realise there’s only one remaining option.
They didn’t seem to recognise you for your title before, and you assume the current extent stays within simply being another seductress in the pirate captain’s company. You push the sickening feeling away as you realise you might have to play the part.
So you do the sensible thing and push Hoshi’s head under the wooden table, forcing him to leave his seat and crouch beside your legs. In a split second, you’ve lifted your linen skirt and draped it over his hunched body.
This would have to do.
And it seems to have been the right move because as soon as the man is out of sight, you find the opposite end of the table more occupied than you ever would have been comfortable with.
“Oh! You’re that Hoshi’s girl aren’t you?” one of the women who's made themselves comfortable asks, fan in front of her mouth and nose as you note her sharp eyes.
“Uh,” you laugh nervously.
“Oh, nothing to be embarrassed about,” she assures, a snap in her voice.
Another woman decked out in a green ensemble speaks in a teasing voice, “We’re all quite accustomed to his…mannerisms.”
The table erupts in a fit of giggles and cackles and you’re forced to laugh weakly along, hyper aware of the man that sits under your skirt right below. You try not to flinch as you feel his clothes brush against the side of your calf.
“So, tell us,” she says, taking your hands in hers, a contact you really wish you could break free of. If only you weren't quite as terrified of the women seated at your table. “How far along in heaven has this man taken you?”
She spares you an answer as you gape with square shoulders. She fans herself in a whimsy as she looks like she’s reminiscing. “He’s almost as good of a pirate as he is a beast in bed, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that night.”
“Quite generous with the tongue too, if you know what I mean.”
The pirate captain’s breath hits your bare knees in its own fan, goosebumps almost immediately erupting across the expanse of your skin. You fail to suppress a shudder.
Goodness, this man stays busy.
“Oh look at her, she’s gotten all flustered!” one of them laughs. You take it as an opportunity to slip your hands out of the tight grasps of the bold ladies. “It seems he’s taken to a newer liking. How innocent.”
These women seem to like talking more than they wish to hear a word from you, of course, you couldn’t tell them anything they already didn’t know. Of which, according to their interests, you knew nothing of it anyway.
“Don’t get too attached now, we’re all mere expendables in this busy pirate’s—”
Slam!
Rum. You smell rum.
It’s like you’ve been transported back onto the main deck, the smell of rum mixed with….with—
“Ladies!” Seungkwan announces, slamming bottles of alcohol on the table with a force unnecessary. “Funny seeing you again.”
For a moment you may have even thought Hoshi had clambered up to the table to announce himself, and you feel a hand fly down to your skirts.
He’s still there, head now actively leaning against your knee. You pray the man hasn’t fallen asleep as you attempt to greet Seungkwan.
“Took you long enough,” you grit through a sickly sweet smile.
With your hand somewhere on Hoshi’s upper back, you guide him with you as you make space for Seungkwan next to you.
“The—oh!” Seungkwan is quick to notice the breathing lump under your skirt as he sits himself next to you, but manages to compose himself with a cough. “Long line. What were you ladies talking about?”
One of them smiles big as ever, slowly lifting themselves from their seats, “We were just…leaving. Wonderful speaking with you!”
And with that, you can finally feel your breath coming back to you, the table significantly lighter with the lack of colours, perfume and humans.
Releasing a long exhale, you let your shoulders drop and lean backwards.
“Are you going to explain why the captain is hidden under your skirts?”
With a jolt, you're forced to consider his presence under the table, scanning the room to find the women gone from the pub altogether.
Hoshi emerges from under the fabric, and shuffles over to the other side of the table to sit down, bringing an instinctive hand towards the fresh bottles on the table. Halting, he instead reaches for the jug of water on the edge and pours himself a helping.
You refuse to look at him. Refuse to acknowledge the red in his face. Refuse to acknowledge the sudden cold under your skirt.
Seungkwan’s stare is burning holes into the side of your head, even as he uncorks one of the bottles as an offer. You also refuse; both to look him in the eye and the drink itself.
Bottle to his lips, he moves his glare to his captain, who sits nursing his water like it was something stronger.
“I haven’t gotten an answer yet,” he finally breaks.
Instinct has your eyes lifting to meet Seungkwan’s inquisitive one’s, answers frozen in your throat.
“Why are you asking like you don’t know who they were?” Hoshi snaps.
“I can understand not wanting a matching handprint on your other cheek!” he refutes. “But how do you decide the solution is to dive into yet another woman’s skirts?”
Your only solace to the heat that prickles your body is the way Hoshi himself flushes.
Seungkwan sighs as he takes another sip of his drink, eyeing Hoshi’s still red cheek. “I’m starting to think you deserved it.”
Hoshi makes a motion like he’s about to send his half full cup flying into Seungkwan’s face but stops short. Perhaps he’s realising he’s become the problem child for today.
You contemplate telling Seungkwan about Wonwoo and the near pub brawl you would’ve had to deal with, but decide it to be a story for another time. Besides, you weren’t about to risk mentioning his name while it was still fresh.
You realise just how unstable this island can turn a person; not just the pirate captain.
Because as you look at Hoshi on the other side of the table, you find how difficult it is to look away.
“YOU NEED TROUSERS.”
“What?”
“Oh don’t look so scandalised, you’ve been prancing around with pirates for goodness’ sake.”
Seungkwan haggles with the stall owner over the price of padded coats, blankets and an array of other things the crew would need. The journey was only going to take the ship further North, and it was only going to get colder as you neared the icy water of the Green Islands.
Seungkwan’s suggestion to buy you trousers came out of the blue, but it seems you couldn’t refuse when you find both Hoshi and Chan (who joined you after he was tired of the others) agreeing.
“You can’t possibly stay warm in linen,” Chan argues. “Trousers are the only way you won’t freeze your limbs off.”
“Too much airflow in a skirt,” Seungkwan agrees, eyes closed, head shaking solemnly. “Captain would know.”
“Hm?” Chan looks at him confused.
“Fine!” You snatch the folded brown lump in Seungkwan’s hands. You keep talking in a louder than necessary voice in the hopes that Chan won’t ask any more questions. “I’ll wear them.”
“Perfect! Now we need to get you boots.”
“I have boots!”
“Warm boots!”
“But—”
It was difficult to argue with Seungkwan once he’s got his mind set on something. But that paired with the loud noises of the Ash port market was sending pulsing throbs across the sides of your head. You simply surrender as Seungkwan leaves Hoshi to pay the vendor before pushing you across the street to where a stall held boots and slippers for sale.
In the midst of his bargaining, Chan had disappeared into the throng, returning with a steaming plate of something that smelled doughy and delicious.
“What is that?” you ask as Chan shoves the tray in front of you.
“Whatever they are, they’re delicious. Try one.”
He was right, one bite of the warm, soft goodness covered in syrup had you taking a moment to ponder. It melts in your mouth, barely registering the rest of the group scarfing down the tray like it was their last.
“God, you can never get them this good on the mainland,” Seungkwan cries. “We’ll get another tray before we leave.”
Speaking of leaving, you turn to ask about the time.
“How many bells has it been?” you ask Seungkwan whose cheeks bulge with the amount of dough balls he’s stuffed in. He looks like a child caught stealing when you ask.
“Oh—”
“Five,” Hoshi answers instead, eyes remaining on the pile of goods that he’s gathered to remain in his line of sight. You suppose there was no delivery system here like in Hasry, and you doubt how secure it is to be walking around with a pile of supplies on this island in particular.
“You need to hurry, I told the rest of them to meet at six bells.”
Seungkwan’s quick to wrap up, but not before shooing Chan away for another tray of those sweet dough balls for the journey. You manage to whisper to him to bring extra.
By the time Seungkwan’s done with the last vendor, dropping the giant coil of rope onto the already large pile of supplies, you begin to wonder how you were supposed to get all of this to the ship.
“Shove those in a bag and carry some of this,” Hoshi says to Chan who has returned, brandishing another steaming tray of the sweet treat. He grumbles as he complies, complaining about how the sticky sweet syrup was going to ruin the inside of the pack.
You look a little lost as you attempt to help, all three men grabbing their share of the load.
“Let me hold something,” you attempt, reaching for a wrapped pile.
You watch as Hoshi snatches it before you can grab it for yourself. “Keep an eye out instead.”
“But—”
“Here.” Chan drops the pack with the now rolling dough balls inside. “Snacks for the walk too, how lucky.”
There’s a light push from behind you as Seungkwan urges you to move forward, face slightly obstructed with the tower he’s holding in his arms. “Go on, straight and then left. We’re close to the port anyway.”
You’re left feeling slightly useless as you remain caged with Chan in front while Seungkwan and Hoshi follow you from behind. The walk is short, but crowded nonetheless.
It’s only later in the night, which means the crowds in the bustling streets and alleys of Ash only multiply, clear with the case you’re pushed into right now. You pause in front of a particularly busy patch, needing to take a breath before following Chan’s fearless footsteps.
It’s immediate suffocation, bodies on all sides as you try your best to not lose Chan in the midst of the crowds. Perhaps they were right to keep your hands mostly unoccupied—it would’ve been impossible for you to not completely lose yourself here.
Gaining a rhythm of walking with the crowd before moving slightly against to near your exit, you’ve almost made your way out.
Just as you find the bend leading to the open air of the port, you hear a distinct rip sound from behind you.
If your skirt was airy before, it was a windstorm now.
Craning your neck at an impossible angle, you find the bottom of your skirt ripped so high up the back of your knees are out for the population of Ash to see.
Gasping loudly, you halt in your tracks. A horrible mistake, because you’re only being bumped and shoved by the evermoving bodies.
“Why are you stopping?” Seungkwan hisses, before realising what’s just happened. “Uh oh.”
“I…”
Both Seungkwan and Hoshi push past the throng making their way out of the crowd, leaving you there frazzled and practically naked
You barely consider that they’ve just left you there as you scramble to cover your calves with what overlapping fabric you had left, registering the threats and curses being sent your way for being the idiot that stops in what is essentially a fast paced parade.
The rational part of your brain checks out, refusing to consider that perhaps the back of your knees were the least scandalous thing this island has seen, especially after the conversations you’ve had in your short time here. But alas, a few months of the pirate life wasn’t enough to push the princess out of you, and you stand like a paralysed fool about to get stampeded.
Just as you’re convinced you’d die here, embarrassed and utterly panicked, you feel a body press up from behind you.
It was too close to be a bystander pushing past, which was saying something since most of these patrons were practically climbing over your form.
You whip your head back to look at the person who’s invading your space more than usual, hands tight around your upper arms in an effort to push you forward.
Hoshi stands behind you as his body covers the ripped damage of your skirt, eyes trained in front to survey the crowd.
“Come on, I’ve got you,” he grunts, pushing to get you to move your legs. You stumble in the beginning, still not registering anything.
He was helping, but with the way you can feel every dip and shallow of his chest and abdomen pressing into you, you can’t help but think he’s only made matters for your already speeding heart worse.
Your legs move automatically, letting him steer you wherever. Trying not to think about how his entire front is pressed onto your back like a mould. He’s so close you can even smell him despite the crowd.
Like your head isn’t spinning enough.
By the time you’ve exited the main rush of people, you’ve begun counting your minutes.
Emerging to the bend that leads straight to the docks, you find the rest of the crew already there, running sprints to get all the new supplies to the ship that remained a few yards away.
Despite having left the crowd behind, your exposure remained, which meant you’d have to be tailed all the way to the ship. You curse your luck as you watch Jun quirk an inquisitive brow at the both of you stuck like you’ve been glued.
You pray you never have to show your face here again, because the looks don’t seem to stop until you’ve reached the ship. Perhaps the crowd where nobody was paying attention was better.
In any case, you respond to Minghao’s questioning noise with half shut eyes and a joint sprint towards the stairs leading to the lower decks.
Hoshi keeps behind until you’ve gotten to the heavenly doors of your quarters, springing inside before Hoshi could register looking lower.
It’s silent for a few sparing moments as you breathe tightly, convincing yourself that you were alone and uncompromised. You're pressed up against the door, almost like you’re afraid the entirety of Ash would barge through to witness your calves.
“I’ll handle the boys, don’t worry about that,” you hear Hoshi speak from the other side of the door.
There’s nothing you could do other than slide down the door in a beyond dramatic fashion, head in your hands as you grip the strands like you were moments away from ripping them off. Every instance of your upbringing flashes before your eyes, every crack of your mentor’s canes on your thighs and calves, every waking pain in your back from the impossible postures, every bruise and nick on your feet from being stepped on and trodden over.
Despite the ridiculous nature of the situation, you feel your eyes grow heavy with tears.
Was this panic?
Taking in the circumference of your cramped quarters; the unmade bed, the strewn clothes, the thrown covers.
It was nothing. Yet, at the same time, it was everything.
Amidst the pile, there’s a glint of metal where your knife lies on your nightstand, the tiniest smear of uncleaned blood on the blade. From your position on the floor, you find the half broken lamp discarded under your bed, shunned from your sight. The desk in the corner is empty, save for the staggering mountain of letters from your father.
The only suggestion of normalcy, yet the one you itch to be rid of the most.
The letter opener necklace that was exchanged for the ring on your finger sits warm against the valley of your breasts, a reminder of the first weapon you plucked from this very room. The weapon that began it all.
The smell of gunpowder fills your nose, the forever echoing bang of Jun’s revolver as you took that child sailor’s life with your own two hands.
You lay like that, on the cold floors of your quarters. Refusing to touch the court appointed comfort of your bed, for fear of reigniting the guilt with a fire stoked.
You aren’t sure if you sleep, but you do dream.
LIDS OPEN, EYES WIDE, but nothing to perceive.
It’s a pit of obsidian, unrelenting and unproposing in its press against your lungs.
The familiar ball of prickling embers makes itself known in the pit of your stomach, rising and penetrating your senses in ways worse than even the darkness. It's alarm, dread and swivet; the concoction sticking to the walls of your lungs, throat and mouth.
And then there’s pressure.
Something envelopes you from behind, an unidentified lump that pulls you into something warm and sturdy. There’s another pressure at your stomach, another pull keeps you grounded between a wall built just for you.
The air is perfumed, something beyond a flower or an incense. You know what it is.
And then you're falling, slipping into nothingness and landing between sheets warm enough to suggest you never left.
The scent remains, and this time, Hoshi towers over your frame in something that might have been domineering. But with the distinct feeling of a wet mouth over your collarbone, a small whisper of words unintelligible, you melt like frost in front of a fireplace.
“What?” you question his muttering, hands hovering just above the expanse of his covered back, barely touching.
He rears his head like a gentle beast, wet lipped and zeroed in on your face. His response comes in the form of his lips enclosing your own.
He tastes like rum.
OPENING THE DOOR TO an expectant Seungkwan, you only wave off his reference to you looking like you have one foot in death’s mouth, grabbing the stack of clothes and boots he delivers.
He leaves you alone, something you cannot decide is a blessing or a curse as you take in the unchanged state of your quarters.
Sleep gives you nothing but more troubling images to keep your mind utterly occupied, so you take what you can control in consciousness.
You drop the clothes on a cleaner corner, yanking one of the thinner pairs of dark brown trousers to change into from your still torn and tattered skirt.
Moving inside the room, you pick the littered papers, ropes and rags on the floor, swerving and crouching with more vigour than necessary.
Hoshi’s scent sticks to you.
Grabbing the pile of letters on your desk, you shove them in a sack and throw them under the bed.
Hoshi holds you like he might die if he doesn’t.
Ripping the covers off the bed, you fold them into a giant ball of fabric, hoisting it into your arms as you strut to the door.
Hoshi’s lips have left a bruise on your chest.
The late morning sun combats the chill in the air, the salt sticking to your hair.
Hoshi’s mouth is hot and wet on yours.
Hoshi stands before you, manning the wheel on the deck.
You halt in your tracks.
He turns to register you with your arms full and shielding most of your body.
Clearing his throat, he states, “You’re up.”
Eyes darting, you respond. “I’m up.”
Somehow, his presence makes you forget the audacity of your own brain to stew the play it did. Depositing the sheets on the floor of the deck, you attempt to look for a reasonably long coil of rope.
In your pointed distraction, you miss how distracted the pirate captain has also become.
His elbows, initially perched on the wheel, slip in a comical manner, unintentionally pushing the wheel to the right.
You don’t expect the minor lurch of the ship, landing on your bum with a yelp when you lose your footing all of a sudden. Your elbows take a worse hit, spiking pain across your upper limbs at the hard contact.
His hands are pulling you to your feet before you can register what’s happened, coming round as you open your eyes to an open mouthed captain.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” you grunt, dusting off your brand new pants as you move past him, refusing to make eye contact.
Picking up a coil of rope, you bring one of the ends to a mast on the end of the ship, stepping on a crate to tie it around the pole. By the time you’re stepping off the crate to tie the other end to the opposite mast, you find it already done, the pirate captain tightening the knot from across the ship.
He meets your eyes for a moment, before you step in the direction of your piled sheets, breathing in a heavy inhale.
Untangling the mess, you pull them over to the suspended rope, throwing the sheets over with a grunt. You’d only ever seen the palace maids do this when they’d beat the carpets to oblivion, dusting the ages of dirt.
“I just…”
When you turn around, the pirate captain is closer than you anticipated, hands encased around a smaller slab of wood. He trails off when you turn to face him, like he hoped he could speak to the back of your head instead.
You take an instinctive step back, putting space between the both of you. You bring your expectant eyes up to him.
“I just wanted to tell you to ignore what happened at Ash.”
You flush, stuttering, embarrassed at your previous predicament all over again. “Oh, um—”
“Wait no!” he drops the wood onto the floor, hands flying as he waves them all over, seemingly as flushed as you are. “I meant—what Delilah and the others said. I just– they’re horrendous gossips—”
“What are you trying to say Hoshi?”
He falters.
“I’m trying….” he exhales. “There’s nothing on my roster. Nobody. You aren’t expendable or disposable or whatever it was she said, you aren’t a used rag—”
“What am I then?”
The question is tumbling out of your mouth before you can help it, stoned jaw and tight fist.
“What?”
“What am I then? If I’m not expendable or disposable, what am I then?”
“You’re…”
Taking a step forward, you move back to your initial spot, closer to him, chests almost touching.
“I’m?”
“You’re a princess and I’m a pirate!” he blurts, his previously apprehensive face morphing into something intense.
You huff a short breath, an incredulous stretch to your lips. Of course.
“What is that supposed to mean?” you ask in a low voice.
“Like what it is,” he heaves, chest inflating and deflating like he’d run the course of the deck about thrice. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
If your ears weren’t deceiving you, it sounded more like he was trying to convince no one but himself.
You take a step closer as he takes a step back.
His face is scrunched ever so slightly, eyes blinking quicker than normal. The sunlight blurs the edges of his features; his usually sharp, stinging stare is hazy, the slant of his nose curvier, the ridges of his lips blending into your muddled perception of his face.
The only thing dividing you is the silence, the bore of your stare and the war in your mind. You cannot speak for him, but you also aren’t a fool.
“Everything they say about you is wrong.”
“What?” he asks again.
“You don’t have a deadly bone in your body. You’re a coward that hides behind his knife and his big bad pirate ship that you can’t even defend.”
For once, he remains speechless while you persist.
“To think we spent all these years trying to subdue you, push you to the edge,” you can feel the anger seep into the hottest centre of your bones. “All for you to be some scared sailor all along.”
“Your father ruined my life,” he says. It’s a strange voice he uses, one that’s somewhere between disbelief and a warning.
“And mine with it.”
He laughs, blinking rapidly, backing away even further, running a hand through his hair. Coming around, he looks over his shoulder. He looks like the man you met the day your life fell apart, a strut in his step that runs your blood cold.
“Are you sure this has nothing to do with you simply wishing to spite the man?” He walks back over. “Prance around with the filthy pirate he hates just for the fun of it?”
“Oh and you haven’t just been itching to ruin the kingdom’s beloved princess.”
Your mouth seemed to have a mind of its own, spewing the accusation with a vigour you never realised you possessed. Lies. Lies. Lies.
This was your own deteriorating mind’s doing. You were the debauched princess painting lewd pictures of a pirate in your mind. It was your heart that couldn’t stand being near the man for longer than necessary. It was you that had the scripture somewhere in your chest, the tiniest speck of a daydream, that perhaps this inner turmoil didn’t end with just you.
Did you want to be another woman he doesn’t have to remember?
You don’t know. All your mind registers is the unbearable twist in your chest, and how it feels like you can’t do nothing about it.
You’re used to getting your way, and you hate that your mind seems to have drifted away from you.
Hoshi’s expression is nowhere in your mind, too preoccupied with sucking in inhales and trying not to begin spiralling right on the main deck.
“You’re projecting.”
Eyes snapping up like he’s proposed to sink the ship itself, you feel yourself hit a mental wall. And a physical one as you feel the brush of the suspended sheets against your hair, having taken an unconscious step back.
He’s cornered you. Yet again.
“Everything about you screams vulnerable,” he says, moving closer. “Not very sharp to show in front of a pirate.”
“Hoshi.” A warning. A sharp, hurtling sting of fear.
“What? Big bad pirate too emotionally removed? Beloved princess trapped and defenceless on unfamiliar lands?”
He’s moving closer, too close.
“I take it back,” he says. “Perhaps drunken Ash does speak the truth—”
Not a familiar plane on his face, like the pirate king had absolved a long held mask. His eyes mortified you, his stance was a walking threat.
Despite the morning sun, the cave of the hung sheets, the shadows of the high masts and the towering gloom of the pirate captain creates enough darkness to throw a shadow in your mind.
It’s like the day his crew dropped on the deck for the very first time. The emotions you wished you’d never have to feel again.
“Stop.” A whisper.
“Itching to ruin the kingdom’s beloved princess—”
“Do not move any closer!” you shout, eyes squeezed shut, hands fisting the suspended sheets so hard you can feel your fingernails dig into your palms. Scarring.
The world halts, and you feel the darkness beyond your eyelids, lighten. The air is forgiving, cool and blowing.
When you open your eyes, you’re alone.
THE WAR ROOM LOOKS the same, but everything has changed.
For one thing, you were significantly more bundled up with coats and lined boots. The cold of the green islands wasn’t the creeping frost you’d anticipated. You simply woke up one day without feeling in your fingers and toes, fog in the air as you breathed.
The coat wasn’t nearly as thick as it needed to be, but you doubt you would’ve found anything better even at the ports. The green islands weren’t meant for life.
“You need to get into the hold unnoticed, and as quickly as possible,” Minghao says. “We don’t know what’s gonna happen after the exchange is made but we know we can’t help you once you’re on that ship.”
Clenching your jaw, you nod tersely. It was high stakes, you couldn’t hurt any of the soldiers to keep it clean; planting a bomb where a King resides was difficult—princess or not.
“Getting you out of the wreckage is our job,” Hoshi says, and you pointedly refuse to look at him. You weren’t quite convinced. “We’ll be on Tigress by the time the bomb goes off. Leave nothing of importance on this thing, we’ll be blowing it up too.”
“You need to get in the water as soon as that bomb goes off,” Jun says. “Their priority is gonna be you and your father. You need to make sure they can’t find you when they realise the ship’s sinking.”
The ship the King should be transported in was the same as the very naval vessel you sat in right now.
“They might be on one of the smaller ships,” you say.
“Why?”
“You know what the ships that hold royals look like, they aren’t risking you having that advantage.”
If your father was bringing out all the guns of deception to take down these pirates once and for all—which you don’t doubt he was—every move you were about to make was based on assumptions. Assumptions that might as well cost this entire crew’s heads.
“Do you know what those ships look like?” Minghao asks.
“I’ve only been on them a few times, but never in the hold,” you say. “I think I’ll figure it out well enough, they’re all the same more or less.”
There’s a blanket of silence, a quiet regard to how utterly unprepared all of you were. Limited information and the most important man’s head at the butt of the target; your bow pulled too taut, too wobbly, your arrow too blunt.
“Are you sure we can’t risk shooting a couple of ‘em in the head?” Chan asks from across the room, running a tired hand across his face.
Sighing, you ignore the burst of fog erupting from your mouth, answering, “I can convince an entire Kingdom their King drowned, but I don’t know if I stop them from trying to find his body. Imagine their surprise if they find a supposedly drowned man with a bullet in his head.”
“It’s fine,” Hoshi interrupts, eyes downcast and arms folded. He leans against the wall of the war room and you can’t help it when your mind flashes to that stormy night. Your hands finding refuge on his chest, the heat of the moment.
Nose flaring, you look away, the rage hurtling up your throat like vomit.
“We’ll just have to figure it out. Stay vigilant, we all know what’s at stake. We all know what we have to do,” he continues, a glance around the inhabitants of the room.
Something about it almost insinuates an underlying question of trust, a confirmation to sweep an unanswering room.
“The bomb’s done,” Jun says, and heat crawls up your entire being. “I made a couple extras, I’m gonna chuck ‘em out into the water for a test and that’ll be it.”
Somewhere on this ship lies the bomb that would kill your father, and if you didn’t do your job like you were supposed to, it might as well kill you all.
YOU LEFT YOUR SOUL on your bedside table the moment Seungkwan entered your quarters with a rapt knock, informing you that the ship was nearing the rendezvous point.
It had only been a few hours since that meeting in the war room, and it felt like only a week since this had all begun.
Seungkwan invites himself in as he continues to talk. You aren’t sure if he’s doing it to calm you down or not, but you appreciate it regardless.
“Keep those trousers on and make sure you look good. You have to look like we cared while we kept you prisoner,” he says, and you can’t help but smile just a little. “Take anything important—pocket it, give it to us. We’re not gonna see this ship after we’re done.”
The idea is strange, that your home for so many months would soon be forgotten, resting on the frozen ocean bed for eternity. You think of what you wish to keep, eyeing the stack of letters on the desk. You won’t be able to keep them on you if you were going to be jumping into the ocean at some point.
Collecting the smaller pile, you hand them to Seungkwan. “You might have to take a dip in the ocean too, but at least you may have a chance to skip that bit if luck’s on your side. Keep these for me?”
Seungkwan smiles as he takes the stack of letters, pressing them to fit inside his coat. “Aren’t these all from your father?”
“Yes, but…” you trail off. “I’d like to remember them in case I forget why I did what I’m about to do.”
Seungkwan stands in front of you, an unreadable expression on his face. “You know this can’t work unless we trust one another. All of us. The entire crew.”
“I trust you,” you say. “Pirates are impatient. If you wanted me gone I wouldn’t be here.”
He sighs, almost like he was dissatisfied with your answer. With a laugh you ask, “Did you want me to say no?”
“No, it’s just,” he starts. “I wasn’t going to bring it up but, since we don’t have time…I don’t know what’s going on with you and Hoshi but…”
You stiffen at the mention of his name.
“I need to make sure you aren’t about to do something rash because of him.”
Your corset lies on the sheets, and you snatch it off, a bite to your movements.Your coat is already off, your linen shirt is the only thing that covers your upper body
“It was my mistake. I misunderstood. I won’t be letting it affect anything tonight.” You push the loosened corset over your head, too frustrated to unlace it and lace it back up. Your fingers are freezing cold, even too much for your palms to bear as they come in inevitable contact.
Beyond yourself, you continue to grit through your chattering teeth, the pulses of irritation in your brain only encouraging you to spill. Turning around, back now facing Seungkwan, you fiddle with the strings on your corset as you rant.
“I can’t say the same for him, but you can ask.” Your arms are bent at a strange angle, but you attempt to make the loops and knots anyway. Having never had to do this by yourself ever, you’d found a practice after your peculiar situation. You were alright, but the cold was making it near impossible to simply loop the string through the existing holes.
“He seems to have a lack of emotional control, of course, you’d know, but I can’t say I find it too charming,” your grunting front he effort as you speak.
Seungkwan seems to have noticed your struggle because you feel a pair of warmer hands replace yours, unlacing the loop you’d just made only to loop it again, tighter this time. He takes the liberty to tie the final knot, tighter than you’d usually have it but you’re too busy to correct him.
“I don’t think I need to explain what happened, your captain seems to be content with the way he is,” you scoff slightly before continuing. “I’m not quite sure what else I was expecting. Actually, I do know what I was expecting, but again, that’s just seems to be my fault—”
“I’m sorry.”
It’s like an entire ocean’s worth of ice water has been poured down your back. Perhaps being buried under the glaciers of the Green Islands would be more forgiving.
Turning around, you find the hands on your waist do not move, Hoshi’s face coming into view instead of Seungkwan’s.
The room is bare besides the both of you, the door to quarters closed. You don’t know when he came in nor when Seungkwan left, but he stands before you now, hands touching you where you shouldn’t let him. But you do.
“I’m sorry,” he repeats, his eyes locked in on yours.
“W-what?” you breathe.
“I’ve been quite stupid.”
“Have you?”
It sounds like he breathes out a laugh, but composes himself. “I didn’t realise I was cornering you on the deck the other day. I’m sorry for making you feel unsafe. I’m sorry for everything I said.”
Every fibre of your being wants him to suffer, to withhold your forgiveness. But then you realise where you are, in the middle of an ocean that’s been designed by the heavens to kill.
“Thank you for saying that.” You don’t have the courage to look him in the eye. “I’m sorry too. You aren’t…you aren’t what I implied you were. You’re right. I was projecting.”
“I don’t want us to go out there walking on eggshells around each other,” he says as his breath fans your face. Warm. “We have to come out the other side. All of us.”
You nod slowly.
“You have it the hardest out of all of us, I just…” he trails off and you feel his fingers tightening on your waist, even through the material of your corset. “I don’t want you to feel like you’re alone. No matter what you lose, I think it’s safe to say you’ve gained me. All of us.”
The thought of not making it out alive has you flexing your numb fingers in front of you slightly. You might die. This crew might die. Your crew might die.
The man that’s begun to mean more than just a saviour might die.
Not considering your frozen fingertips, or the absurdity, your body moves on its own.
In a split second, your iced lips are in contact with the pirate captain’s warmer ones.
You don’t doubt they’re cold as well, but they differ from yours enough for them to feel like the only warmers you need.
Your hands have grabbed his face, light brushes against his skin as you tiptoe to reach his lips. They’re soft. Softer than you could’ve ever imagined on a pirate, and you find yourself forgetting where you are for a moment as you feel the plush of his mouth against your own.
Pulling away first, your noses still brushing, you whisper to him through the creaks and groans of the drifting ship. “I had to do that. Just in case.”
“In case?” he whispers back.
“In case… we don’t make it.”
It only takes him a moment to remove his hands from your waist. For a heartbreaking second, you think this is him pulling away from you. Again.
And then both of his arms are looping around your waist, pulling you into his chest hard, your lips slamming into each other even harder.
He takes the liberty to move his mouth against your own, hot even in the cold air. Moving with a restrained pace, yet appropriately desperate nonetheless. The cold tip of your nose brushes against his cheek and he pulls away to hiss.
“God, you’re freezing.”
The discovery only seems to urge him to pull you impossibly closer. If your lungs weren’t already occupied, you wouldn’t have been able to breathe. Despite it all, you find your arms coming up around his neck and shoulders, one hand finding refuge in his light hair.
You might never need a drink of anything ever again, not with the way his mouth alone seems to have you drunk and deranged, begging for time to stop so he’d never stop kissing you, never stop moving his beautiful, glorious mouth against your own.
There isn’t a thought in your mind as you pull away for wretched air, eyes closed and breathing heavily.
Hoshi places his forehead flush against your own, both of you exhaling into each other’s faces, still holding you so tight it hurts. It’s warm, his breath seemingly defrosting the formed icicles on your face.
“Hoshi,” you slip from your mouth instinctively.
“Soonyoung,” he breathes, and it takes you a moment to realise he’s talking. “My name. Soonyoung is the name my mother gave me. I want you to have it.”
Opening your eyes, you register his face so close to yours. His eyes are screwed shut, he’s still breathing heavily.
“Soonyoung,” you repeat, hands finding his face again, stroking his cheek with your thumb. “Soonyoung.”
He opens his eyes.
“I like it. It’s very you.”
He smiles and you can’t help but think how beautiful he looks when he does, and when he leans forward to give you another elongated peck, one that has you chasing his lips again. He relents for one more.
“Well, Soonyoung, can I give you something too?”
He looks at you expectantly.
Reaching up to the back of your neck, you find the knotted bind of the leather cord that hangs from your neck. Undoing it, you bring the charm out from under your shirt, leaning forward to tie it around his neck this time.
He stares at the charm that dangles down his front as you give it a light tug, “A letter opener. So that’s what you were getting from that lady at Hasry.”
“You knew when I left?” you ask, brows furrowed.
“I was more worried about you wandering off than I was about anything else, what made you think I didn’t know exactly where you were?” He has a cheeky smile on his face, one that you’ve never seen without an underlying threat or the usual glint of unhinged in his eyes.
You can’t help but grin, of course he knew.
“If you wanted a letter opener as a weapon, you should’ve just asked.”
“Aren’t knives just bigger letter openers?” you ask with a soft chuckle.
He responds with a chaste kiss on the tip of your nose before saying, “Since we’re exchanging gifts—”
“You started it.”
“And I’m ending it.”
He emerges from one of his many pockets with what looks like a bracelet in his hands.
“That’s—”
“From Hasry,” he confirms. “I bought it for no real reason, never even wore it.”
He rolls one of the pink and blue beads between his thumb and forefinger, and you remember it sitting at the stall in Hasry like it was yesterday.
“Didn’t realise I only bought it because I saw you looking at it.”
The twist in your heart is the worst it’s ever been, even while he holds you closer than anyone ever has, you feel the need to squeeze him beyond measure hoping it’ll fix the turmoil in your chest.
He attempts to take one of your hands, in an obvious attempt to slip the bracelet on your wrist.
“Wait.”
Hoshi stops.
“Keep it,” you say as you grab his wrist, pushing the beads down his hand so it sits on his wrist instead.
“But—”
You cut him off with a kiss. “A reason for you to come out of this alive.”
There’s a silent understanding between the two of you as you stand in each other's arms.
“We still have much to talk about. But I think this is alright for now,” you say.
“We will,” he confirms. “But when we go out there and put everything on the line, remember you aren’t just a princess anymore. You’re a pirate, too. So fight like one.”
THE COLD HAS COATED the deck in a fine layer of ice, one that makes it a hazard to simply walk on. Your boots feel unstable and it takes a conscious effort to plant your feet firmly on the wood to ensure you don’t fall like Chan almost has the last four times and the one time he did.
It’s less foggy than you’d anticipated, and you can see Mingyu and Minghao working overtime to ensure the giant ship doesn’t hit one of the absurdly large icebergs that float in the freezing water, the crow’s nest occupied by Hoshi himself as he peers through his telescope. It was strange seeing him use it, you’d begun to think he only kept it like an accessory.
He yells something from his place high up; it’s unclear, but you know.
And then you see it, the naval ship with the unmistakable flag that ripples proud in the cold air. Your family crest is barely decipherable, but knowing what lay ahead was enough to have you taking significantly deeper breaths.
Your father’s—the King’s— ship bobs in the water with a near empty main deck, not a soul on board.
You hold your breath, and as one of the blocks of ice are swerved, you find a second ship. The indicative jolly roger is nowhere to be seen, but it's obvious what ship that was.
The Tigress stands proud with her years of darkened wood, the unmistakable figurehead at the prow in the distinct shape of a fanged siren.
And only a smaller sailboat away, lay a flat of ice.
Another white flag with the royal crest, lines of uniformed soldiers that stand at attention like protectors of the ice, a pattern of dotted blues. The admiral stands next to your father, who’s donned his own Naval uniform complete with a purple cape pinned at his shoulder.
The purple cape of a victor that returns home from battle. The purple cape he’s donned before the battle has even ensued.
The King has noticed your arrival, his face becoming clearer the nearer the ship gets to the block of ice that would act as common ground.
And then the ship stops, you turn around and realise the rest of the crew has their eyes on you, expectant.
“We have a message,” Mingyu says, looking at you but handing the thing in his hand to his captain.
In your fixation, you did not notice the small boat that had floated near the ship, bearing a scroll with the royal seal.
Hoshi reads it, lips tight shut and jaw clenched.
In the next few minutes, all seven of you are cramped into a single, tiny wherry to be rowed onto the iced land. None of you speak, none of you acknowledge the other. The canister that Jun had given you presses against the side of your bare hip, your knife strapped inside your boot.
That was it. That was all you had.
But there was some confidence in it, the way the entire crew was asked to present themselves at the exchange was enough to tell you there was truth in what you presumed of your father’s plans.
He had knives of his own up his sleeve, and he intended to provoke his worst enemy while looking him in the eye.
As the boat reached what was a hardened shore, the crew stepped off the boat one by one. Very carefully, you stepped on the block of ice as the group moved forward, reaching a point where you stood parallel to the other rigid party.
In a purposeful attempt, you were kept in the middle of a herded circle, shielded by the crew as Hoshi stood front and centre, the crew’s mouthpiece. You can’t help but swallow, the ringing in your head growing louder than ever.
There’s a loud voice that plagues the sheets of ice, and your stomach flips so violently you lose both your vision and your hearing. You take an unconscious step back before you feel a hand on your back.
It was Chan, who whispered, “Keep it together. Calm down, it’s okay.”
It was the obvious response from him but you find yourself calming in any case.
“The crown commands you, Hoshi Kwon, to bring forth Her Royal Highness, the princess, at once.” Your father’s right hand man, the royal advisor, and his more trusted friend speaks for the throne, his voice recognizable as it rings on behalf of his king.
From standing behind him, you watch as Hoshi simply raises his fist to place at his hips.
“Captain. Captain Hoshi Kwon,” he corrects, before continuing. “And my hostage will not be brought anywhere till I have my money ship.”
“As proposed by Hoshi Kwon, His Majesty, The King will cooperate in the exchange of Her Royal Highness, the princess for said ship.”
“Give me my ship first.”
“Hoshi Kwon—”
Hoshi groans loudly, loud enough for the other party that stands multiple feet away to hear, before continuing, “This is why I despise dealing with you insufferable lot, why must everything be so formal?”
But you knew what game he was playing at, the deadliest pirate on the seas does not comply with government officials so easily, and he wasn’t about to drop his masquerade now.
“You know what,” Hoshi starts, and you see him eye the wooden boat you had just reached the island on. “We do it this way.”
There’s a pause.
“Me and my harmless little crew will sidestep back over, zip our way to our ship and leave you with your precious princess. Is your royal highness majesty in agreement?”
“Hoshi Kwon is commanded once again to bring the princess forward.” There’s less formality in his tone now, and you realise very quickly that there was no other way to separate yourself from the crew.
“Hoshi,” you whisper under your breath, hoping he would understand. Taking the risk, you move forward in the little space you had, hand very gently placed on his back.
There’s a pause before he speaks, “Fine. Have your princess.”
Turning around, back facing the crowd, he makes eye contact with you before moving to discreetly meet the eyes of his crew. “Let them take you.”
That’s the last thing you hear him say to his crew as you find a larger shadow approach from behind Hoshi.
“Ho—”
Hoshi grabs your arm harsher than he usually would, dragging you forward in his attempt to present you, but you find that Hoshi’s turned back was taken as an opportunity, the dozens of soldiers having already made their way across.
If you hadn’t heard what he had whispered to the crew, his shocked face would’ve fooled you too. He looks like he wasn’t expecting the way the crew was immediately surrounded by swarms of armed soldiers, guns perched directly at each member of the crew. He looked like he wasn’t expecting to be cornered.
But you liked to think you knew this man, and he had once told you to never turn your back to an enemy. Too much to be a rookie mistake of his, so you trust him.
And then you’re being tugged by someone who’s not from the crew, the distinct feeling of softer, more respectful hands that wrap around your elbow, urging you forward.
You find it within yourself to not look back, sending a prayer to every entity in the world to keep them safe, to keep the trust in your heart that they knew what they were doing.
Eyes downcast, you know immediately who you’re being led towards, and when you stop, bracing yourself to meet your father’s eye, you find yourself feeling nothing.
“Are you hurt?” he asks in his strange form of greeting. No embrace, no sign of relief that his daughter and only heir was alive and well.
“No, sir,” you reply, shifting your eyes back down to your shoes.
“Go back to the ship with the guards. We leave as soon as I’m done with this lot.”
Your stomach jolts, but you bite your tongue and let yourself be led to one of the smaller boats. The canister burns against your skin.
Seated in the smaller boat, flanked by guards, you can’t stop your neck from craning to look at the scene behind you.
Far away, on the other side of the glacier, the pirates are being ordered to strip themselves of their weapons.
Hoshi’s dagger glints against the sunlight and you spot Jun’s revolvers in the pile.
Hoshi looks up and catches your eye, face unchanged.
“You’re safe now, your Highness,” one of your guards assured you, taking your gaze as a fearful look back instead of one laced with something else.
Please be okay.
As soon as you're led up to the main deck, your eyes dart. It doesn’t take long for you to figure out that your father had not chosen to take one of the smaller ships as you’d expected of him. Instead, you stand in an exact replica of the ship you had just disembarked, except for the flag that fluttered with your family crest.
You’re pushed into one of the quarters in the lower decks, hearing the distinct click of something outside as you find yourself in the mostly barren indoors.
It looks like a colder version of your quarters on the other ship, the same dimensions, the same window that displays the clear waters of the Green Islands. Except it’s only occupied by a single bed that’s pushed into a corner, stripped of its sheets.
It looks like a prison cell.
When you turn around to try for the door, you try to wrench it open but it refuses to budge. You can’t help but question how many times you’ve landed yourself in this exact situation.
Why on Earth would they lock you in? Did they suspect you of something? But whatever for?
You give up, turning to untuck your shirt from your trousers, feeling for the bomb against your hip to make sure it hadn’t slipped. After that, you crouch down to check the inside of your boot, despite feeling the dagger this entire time, you couldn’t help but need to check.
There was nothing you could do, not when you knew nothing of what was happening on the other side of the door. The window gleams, and you find yourself bolting towards it, peering through the glass to check for any bodies that may land in the water, praying your father would keep them alive.
Hang them publicly. Guillotine them and suspend their heads at the gates of the palace. Just keep them alive for tonight.
The sun is proving a sorry resource of time, especially when you can’t tell how long it’s been since you were shoved in here. The sun seems closer to the seas when you hear the jingle of the lock.
Nearing the risk of whiplash, you turn to the door to find your father walking into the room. He walks in, his cape gone, immediately turning to lock the door from the inside once again.
Once he comes around, he stands with his hands clasped in front of him, eyes boring into your soul.
“It seems the pirates have changed you,” he comments, eyeing your new trousers that you sport. It was strange, a woman in trousers, let alone a princess.
“Not at all, sir,” you respond.
“Your newfound friends are strapped into the brigs, finally subdued and ready to stand trial for their crimes.” His voice is rough, and he looks older than when you last saw him months ago.
He acts in less alarm than you would’ve thought, assuming his definition of ‘friends’ was simply a sick way to prod at you than any indication that he suspected an alliance. But you fight the effort to let out a sigh of relief; they were in the brig, they were fine, they’d stay alive in time for you to get to them.
“I thought David less than for a fool,” he refers to the Admiral as he talks. “He proved me quite incorrect when he showed up on some shoddy fishing boat with a message from a pirate. Like some messenger boy.”
You don’t answer as you simply stare at the toes of your boots. It was foolish to dare make eye contact with him.
“A stupid proposal from a stupid pirate,” he chortled in a genuine laugh. “That pirate ship was easy bait. If only you hadn’t gotten yourself roped in like a simpleton.”
His sentence ends with a harsher undertone as he blames you for something you couldn’t possibly have controlled.
“In any case,” he continues, the gruff in his voice clearing out. “What’s a pirate to a King?”
Everything in you screams at you to halt your already moving tongue, yelling about how horrible the idea was.
“He’s more of a man than you ever could be.”
The ringing in your ears becomes a sounding blare, your vision going white at the sides. Your hands shake and you don’t know why you keep staring your father in the eye.
There’s a furrow in his brow, eyes unyielding and face stoic.
It’s silent for goodness knows how long as you wish you could sink in that very moment.
“That load of filth’s done more than just put you in trousers, is it?” he grits through his teeth. He’s seething. “Henley had said you were acting strange when he saw you at that port market, it seems he was right.”
“No matter,” he continues, exhaling loudly. “It only makes my job easier.”
He unclasps his hands, pulling his white gloves at the fingertips.
“Perhaps we may live in a world where princesses prance around with pirates, but that won’t be the reason I fulfil my duty as King today.”
He slips them off his hands entirely.
“I tried shaping you into something worthy of the throne for so many years, and I’d begun to realise that perhaps, not everyone is fit to be ruler after all.”
Was he about to strip of your inheritance? The crown was why you were born. Despite everything your father had put you through, the throne was your god given right.
“Unfortunately, I cannot simply renounce your title. Not without reason,” he continues as he takes a step closer to you, dropping the gloves to the floor soundlessly. “And while perhaps the court may not consider inadequacy as enough reason, I’m quite sure an exchange gone wrong would be enough, even for them.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, dear daughter, that our time together has come to an end.”
And then his hands were around your throat.
[AN]: HEHEHEHEHEHEHE rb or send an ask telling me your thots as always, one part left to go!!!!!
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