#yes it hurts but she has excellent tolerance and knows how not to show it

[binah-beloved]

(lor good ending spoilers below)

after the final reception ends with the hrad's enforcers leaving, and the library is banished to the outskirts, you immediately rush to Binah's side to tend to her injuries and comfort her. after all, she'd done the same for you after every prior reception you handled

oh, you're terrified.

see, this is the first time you've seen her truly injured. she's told you about her first near-death experience, the almost imperceptible stiffness on her shoulders lost on everyone but you. you had merely given her hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance, watching her slowly exhale and give you a subtle smile. her hand is elegant and strong and covered in scars of all sizes, and she laces her fingers with yours in a firm, unbreakable grip

but now, now when you see her bleeding and unsteady on her feet and still looking at you with that small, soft smile, your heart shatters like glass and you rush over to support her, as she's done so many times for you. Binah chuckles, breath coming out short and clipped as you help her sit on the floor, her hand raising slowly to cup your cheek and wipe away tears you hadn't even noticed

"Hush, birdie. It'll be alright."

you sob and cling to her, unable to stop staring at the wounds inflicted by that other Arbiter, the one with short hair and an unbearably smug smile, carefully wrapping them in gauze as you would for any other employee. Binah merely sighs, somehow content, leaning her forehead against yours. she insists on tucking you in her cloak so she can wrap an arm around your shoulders, hugging you close with a gentle murmur and a kiss on your cheek. you're finally away from that wretched City, that horrid district, together

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Ugh all the Evermore/Midnights/Joever discourse this morning has been excellent and set my brain on fire and I love discussing all the themes and motifs etc. In her music!

The Evermore marriage stuff is really sitting with me today. I know the music is only a glimpse into a moment and isn’t an eyewitness account of facts but rather an exploration of feelings etc. But to be parasocial for a minute, it just really is fascinating how the topic of marriage/commitment is referenced almost giddily on Lover (I’d marry you with paper rings/the bridge of Lover/Wedding imagery in It’s Nice to Have A Friend).

Then on folklore, it’s like shit finally gets serious: one single thread of gold tied me to you (I have stated numerous times how much I’m obsessed with that line and implications), I want to give you my wild and a child, but is it enough if I could never give you peace? It’s like on Lover, the idea is exciting and new (ahem like when us plebes get engaged, not that I’m saying that’s what happened to them), then folklore a year later is when realizations set in when you’re starting to actually plan for that life. It’s no longer a hypothetical “one day” when that day is barreling towards you at a breakneck pace. She’s overjoyed by the idea of getting married on Lover, but understands on folklore that wedding =/= marriage/commitment, that there are very serious, very real implications in the act, and they’re also very scary. She wants to build a family with this person, but the implications of what that life will entail for them both are overwhelming. This is what I want, but is it fair of me to do so? (Obviously, the answer we believed at the time was, yes, because presumably her partner wanted it, too.)

Evermore like many of you pointed out paints marriage/commitment significantly darker, even under the guise of fictional characters. Marriage traps the protagonist in Ivy, it kills Este in No Body, No Crime, it scares the protagonist and breaks the heart of the subject in Champagne Problems, it crushes the spirit of the narrator of Tolerate It and Happiness, it’s elusive for the characters in Tis The Damn Season… It almost feels like she’s playing out the worst case scenarios of the fears from Peace through these songs. Am I going to get hurt? Am I going to hurt someone else? Are we falling into a trap of our own making? Are we bound to destroying each other like so many of those who came before us?

Obviously there’s no way to know how much of this was based on diaristic elements vs. what truly was inspired by the movies, shows and books she was consuming as she said at the time. However, to jump on the parasocial train for a minute, it then makes me wonder… If the question on Folklore was, is it enough if I could never give you peace? The characters in Evermore seem to indicate, no, it actually may not, and these are the different reasons why. Was it because she was scared from her own past experiences? (E.g. her previous relationships, her parents’ divorce, her best friend going through a divorce at that very moment, etc.) Or was her partner now giving her reason to doubt the commitment she so happily declared in Lover coming to pass?

Of course, with Renegade coming out the following year, it seems like there’s another piece of the puzzle in the commitment/marriage motifs: Are you really going to talk about timing in times like these? Is it your anxiety that’s stopping you from giving me everything, or do you just not want to? That’s a lot more damning. (In the sense of, painting the picture. Not damning in terms of judging people with struggles, just being clear!) She’s been working through her own fears and concerns through Folklore and Evermore and the conclusion she seems to have drawn is, yes, it’s still worth it, but now it seems perhaps her partner isn’t. The “or do you just not want to?” Always gave me pause, because it’s a moment of brutal honesty, wondering if her partner just isn’t ready, or doesn’t want to be, full stop. It’s clear that she’s ready for the next step (e.g. “is it insensitive of me to tell you to get your shit together so I can love you?”), but he appears to not be.

So it seems that at some point post-Lover but particularly post-Folklore, something has given her reason to feel anxious about marriage and what it entails. It could be her own experiences absolutely, but the lines in Renegade imply a little, er, direct input in the matter as well. She wasn’t the first renegade to need somebody (and get help), and now she’s holding her hand out to her partner to help him do the same so they can move forward on the plans they’ve been building since Lover. But the song leaves the resolution up in the air.

Then by the time we get to Midnights, the topic has a lot more shades of grey. There’s the obvious “All they keep asking me is if I’m going to be your bride/The only kind of girl they see is a one night or a wife,” in Lavender Haze, and to this day I still don’t think she’s rejecting the concept of marriage with that, but what she is saying is that it’s a sore point because she’s sick of being reduced to her marital status in the media. At the time, I assumed the frustration over the marital status was because (rightly) it’s infruriating for women to always be reduced to who they are married to and the children they produce, especially one as singularly successful on her own as Taylor is. Now, we can also assume with the benefit of hindsight (and Tree’s takedown of DeuxMoi) that it was also a very sore subject for her on a personal level, perhaps because it was looking more likely that she wasn’t going to be anyone’s bride anytime soon. Then You’re Losing Me later spells it out, that marriage was on the table, but seems like it was almost weaponized. I still think her spitting out “I wouldn’t marry me either,” isn’t coming from a place of self-loathing or insecurity, but an argument used against her about their future plans. It’s scathing and devastating in how it targets one of her deepest hurts, calling back right to how the album opened.

If I had to guess based on the albums, the trajectory of the topic goes I can’t wait to marry you -> The closer we get to it the more scared I am that I may destroy this -> Is this going to destroy us? -> Actually you may be the one destroying us.

(It does seem like there’s an obvious shift between folklore and evermore, and not to get too dark, but like many of you I wonder if the success of Folklore precipitated the fears and anxieties and hurt she sings about on Evermore, iykwim. Which becomes abundantly clear by Midnights.)

I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I’m just feeling soooooo tingly about how these themes are going to be explored on TTPD, because I almost can’t see how they won’t be given what a big part of her life it was for years. I know she doesn’t owe us anything but… Taylor, we just want to talk.

[dgttwisted]

Lilith!

art by @oriigirii​

name: Lilith

Birthday: December 25th

Floyd’s nickname: Shrimpy, krill

Rook’s nickname:  petite étoile

species: human?

age:Child (don’t fight me on this she is baby!)

dorm: Ramshackle

Lilith was an orphan she didn’t have any friends kids that were there thought she was creepy becuse of her snow white hair they thought she was cursed. many nights she would go to sleep hungry on some occasions she would go outside even though it was cold to look up at the stars in hopes of seeing a shooting star to make a wish on it. 

“i wish to no longer be alone” as soon as she whispered those words who shuold appear but the carriage to take her to NRC. 

“I’m Grim I’m the greatest mage ever!” Lilith with no frame of reference assumes that this must be true.

same song an dance as the opening ceremony except for the fact that Lilith is in fact a small child an can’t quite tell what this weird crow man wants with her she just knows he freaks her out.

i believe that certain things that happened in the game happened much differently due to the fact that Lilith aka Yuu is a tiny child.

The Rose-Red Tyrant

with Lilith being a child Riddle was a tad easier on her for not knowing all the rules he was not easier on Ace though. Ace made Lilith cry on her first day saying how lame she was for not having magic. everyone in the dorm collectively smacked him over the head for that one.

fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it Duece an Lilith are on the same level of learning when it comes to a lot of things like math an spelling. Riddle has taken the role of there tutor with positive reinforcement  

outside of studies Deuce( @forgottenxmuses​  ) refers to Lilith as boss he says it’s due to how straightforward she is. but as a child Lilith naturally doesn’t have a filter for what she says Deuce still finds it endearing.

Riddle points at the board “who knows the answer” Lilith raising her hand “yes Lilith?”

“2+2= 4!!” Riddle hands her a lollipop “good job Lilith, Deuce whats 2x2?”

Duece was way to silent for Riddles liking “4?” riddle hands him a lollipop but he’s on thin fucking ice -3-

Trey spoils her he makes excuses to come over an give her cakes an pies she’s not complaining an neither is grim XD

Cater gives her a phone shows her how to use it an helps her set up a magi account.

The Usurper from the Wilds 

Leona tolerates Lilith to an extent most times he’ll use her as a pillow so as a result Lilith Leona an Charlie(  @oriigirii​ ) take big naps together.

during the section of the chapter where Leona forced them into the magic disc game Charlie put Lilith on the bench he wasn’t about to watch this little child get hurt especially sense she is close age wise to his own younger sister.

Charlie actually introduced Lilith to Asha so she could have a friend her age Charlie also with sam’s help gave Lilith a toy wand so she could feel included in class. looks like a magics pen an all lights up an makes that butterfly magic music that 90′s kids toys used to make as well as laser sound effects an all. 

much to Leona’s annoyance Lilith an Cheka became fast friends. Jack is very nice to Lilith after all he has a bunch of younger siblings as well.

Ruggie does to however he likes to think he’s doing an excellent job on being a role model “when you walk into a store go to the clearance section first”

“ok” she says

“then steal everything there an sell it at a higher price”

“whats stealing?”

she doesn’t understand what he says a lot but Lilith still thinks he’s cool

The Merchant from the Depths

Lilith isn’t old enough to sign legally/spell bound contracts nore does she understand how they work. Azul asked her to sign an she drew a picture of the 5 of them playing together an smiling.

“hay Azul can i keep this contract i want to hang it on mine an Jade’s fridge!” Floyd ask’s reaching for the contract to try an do just that. Azul holding it away from him “you most certainly can not do that!”

“the magic doesn’t seem to be activating maybe she is to young?” Jade states.

Lilith looks up at Jack “we got them on the ropes!” she says exactly hearing that quote from a movie. Jack is wondering how this child is still ok with the amount of crazy people at this school.

later down the line Floyd helps teach Lilith learn how to swim an has a blast playing games with his little shrimp.

Lilith always eager to lean an try new things which Jade takes full advantage up an slowly gets her to like mushrooms XD

like most eveyone here Lilith doesn’t understand most of what Azul says but thinks he’s cool an admires him also Wendy likes him so Lilith figures he must be a good person if the adult she trusts the most likes him to.

Schemer of the Scalding Sands

there is only one main difference in the story where Jamil overblots but it’s significant an terrifying for Lilith. When Jamil smacked everyone into the desert his tail missed Lilith by a few inches leaving her there with Jamil an the mindcontroled students.

Lilith runs down a hallway hides behind a vase next to large pillar not far behind is the sounds of large slithering snake coming down the hallway “to think there is a prefect more uselss then Kalim!” Jamil hissed looking for the little prefect as he spoke. A crash could be heard as he knocked down one of the pillers that was further away, then the next on, and the one after that till he arrived at the one Lilith was shaking behind. “come out little one i’ll make it hurt a lot less if you-” Lilith jumped out from where she was hiding and out window to the sands below running towards the courtyard for a place to hide.

she could hear Jamil’s yells to grab her an to not let her get away. Lilith had to think fast sense she knew the brain washed students were on her tail. she hid inside the water fountain even though it was deep and hard to move in she thought it would make a good hiding spot she however didn't account to the fact that she would be soaked to the bone with the frided air but she wasn’t sure where else to hide. She could hear footsteps and tried to crouch down low hoping not to be spotted. Said brainwashed student did in fact see her. However when he tried to grab her she ended up tripping into the fountain which gave Lilith a chance to escape someplace safe or at least someplace out of sight. She found a room it was dark and she couldn't see she ended up tripping and scraping her hands and knees. It took her everything she had not to cry out from the pain in fear that the students or worse Jamil would hear her. She was quietly sobbing on the ground when something brushed up against her she was frightened but then she realized it was the flying carpet from earlier it wrapped itself around Lilith doing it's best to keep her warm.

After Kalim an the others defeated Jamil Grim was mad as all hell despite Kalim’s tears “You can cry later where is my human where is LILITH!” despite how tired everyone was they had to so a search for Lilith an unfortanatly for Lilith the un overblotted Jamil found her first “Don’t touch me get away from me!!”

damage had been done she was terrified of Jamil the next day Lilith had a very bad fever Jade an Floyd an to nurse her back to health she was sick for a good week after the fact.

She is still afraid of Jamil that fear most likely won’t go away anytime soon. 

Kalim on the other hand she loves a lot Kalim like most of the guys at the school treats Lilith like his little sister. Kalim an Wendy will take Lilith on flies through the night to cheer her up when she is feeling down.

A Beautiful Tyrant

nothing makes Vil happier then spoiling the heck out of his new daughter friend after finding out she doesn’t have much in the way of cloths Vil bought her new dresses an shoes started teaching her how to dance an most importantly apply skin care an make up on. he participates in the custody battle that half the school is in to adopt Lilith.

Rook! Rook calls Lilith petite étoile which just means small star clamming that even on new moon cycle her hair still shimmers just like a small star. Lilith think that Rook is funny she doesn’t really understand hunting but she knows when Rook talks about it he’s happy.

Deuce respects Lilith so Epel tries to as well even though she’s an actual child.

Ignihyde

Lilith is fast friends with Ortho she’s always excited to see new upgrades that idia gives to him.

Lilith has never seen idia or even spoken to him but Ortho talks about how great he is so Lilith thinks he must be super cool to!

( during the ghost bride event Lilith enthusiastically asked to be the flower girl which Eliza said yes to. everyone thought she was trying to have an in on rescuing idia but she actually did want to be a flower girl. she saw it in a movie an it looked like fun. 

“what a sweet young girl you are when your are older I’m sure your wedding will be just as perfect as mine!”

“really?”

“truly i mean look at you. you’re even dressed like a princesses!” all the students who are frozen there:(like hell we'll let that happen!)

Diasomnia

of course Mal is her night time gargoyle buddy Hornton who Lilith invites to do things with all the time sense Lilith just assumed they were friends. 

Lilia ecstatic to have another child “her hair is similar to Silvers it’s fate!”

“you know she sort of has a strong similarity to that star fairy queen-never mind just my imagination” he clearly knows more then he lets on

silver Lilith an Matilda all nap on the same couch together Sebek holds in on his yelling sense Matilda is one of the ones thats sleeping.

Lilith at first was scared of Sebek’s yelling but now finds it funny even shouting back minor things like “I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A NICE DAY TODAY” an such things like that

Lostaria ( @oriigirii​ )

Wendy is the adult that Lilith has the most trust in period he takes her out on night flights doesn’t talk down to her always supportive on whatever she is doing. Lilith may have slipped up an called him dad once or twice.

Wendy sometimes takes her out on night flies for the purpose of giving some people small pranks. one such prank was with Ace they put a bucket of water on the edge of the door they were about to tie the rope when Ace walked in an a heavy bucket of water fell right on his head. 

Wendy grabbed Lilith an ran the next day the plan was to calmly explain an apologize but as soon as Lilith saw Ace she bursted into tears an apologized. Lilith doesn’t handle people getting hurt well at all.

The Truth

Lilith is in fact a star fea an a princess but do to some unforeseen actions out of her control. she isn't aware she has magic for it's sealed with in but slowly ever so slowly that seal is breaking.

it will start slow first she will glow in her sleep then whenever she is happy an her need or want to help someone might be so strong she will be able to grant there wish.

but for now she is just the cute child at ramshackle who is a prefect to a troublesome grim.

[justanotherlifeff]

If you're not comfortable with this, it's okay to skip. Aizawa has feelings for an "old soul" type of student in her last year at UA (so they're 18), but doesn't want to act on it for obvious reasons. She's had a crush on him since day 1 but respects him too much and doesn't want to get him in trouble. He shadows her on her first real mission and she gets hit with a quirk that makes her horny af, and is a poison that can only be expelled via lots of sex, so he has to "help" her or she'll die.

Urges

Hehehehe guess who's also 18 and a simp for Aizawa sensei? 😏😏😏

Warning: NSFW, Smut, age gap, Teacher-Student stuff

Guilty was one way to put how Aizawa felt when he found himself checking you out yet again in class. You were the embodiment of perfection. You were smart, matured, quiet, you liked cats as much as he did, and ofcourse, you were the mom friend to all the rowdy students in his god forsaken class. Yes, that exactly was the only thing holding him back (besides the huge age gap). You were his student. Sure, you weren’t one of the big 3 in your class like Mirio, Nejire and Tamaki because your quirk wasn’t as strong as theirs. However, you were infact the one in class to get top grades in tests. Infact, you even helped Aizawa grade papers since you somehow understood the barely legible handwriting of some of the people in this class. You were this little ball of sunshine, bringing a bento for the students who always forgot to bring any, keeping everyone out of trouble, tutoring anyone who you felt was having a hard time studying... Hell, it seemed like your schoolbag had everything that a person could need in it. Anyone forgot a pen? Ask (Y/N). Anyone forgot their umbrella? Ask (Y/N). Anyone forgot to even bring themselves to school? ASK (Y/N) CAUSE SHE'LL PERSONALLY TAKE THEIR NOTES HOME AND GIVE THEM A LECTURE ABOUT MISSING CLASS unless they are sick. In that case, she'll take a bento full of healthy food. The entire class saw (Y/N) as this motherly figure who pretty much dealt with their problems on a daily basis with a smile. Aside from your extreme maturity, you were extremely creative beyond your age. When Present Mic was struggling to make the class read basic Shakespeare, you were already quoting Jane Austen's pride and prejudice, something that was not even in the syllabus. Needless to say, you shared various intellectual conversations with Aizawa while the two of you graded papers as the grumpy man also happened to have an interest on literature. While your friends went out to do random shit together, you were the one staying back home because ofcourse, messing around in random amusement parks wasn’t your thing. You liked staying in the background like an adult, watching the kids have their fun and guiding them. Could you really blame Aizawa for falling in love with you?

Then again, you were his student. That made all the perfects imperfections because he shouldn’t be looking at you this way. Little did he know that his feelings weren’t one sided. You had a crush on your teacher ever since you stepped into UA. Did you feel guilty about it? Yes, yes you did. Did you ever think of confessing to him? No, no you didn't. You were okay with loving him from a distance because you knew that you would only create trouble for him if you were to come out about your feelings. However, you couldn’t help but show that you cared through certain gestures. You'd go out of your way to help him grade papers so that he would get a few extra hours of sleep. Every morning, you'd buy an extra cup of coffee or his favorite jello drink for him on your to school just to make his day more tolerable. You never expected him to return your feelings, however. He was your teacher after all. This was wrong after all.

Things were going fine to be honest. Both of you admired eachother from afar, knowing that confessing wouldn’t lead to anything good either way. That was until you were sent on a mission for your work studies. Your employer was busy with a different mission and your quirk was compatible against the villain you had to capture which is why, you were sent alone, much to Aizawa's displeasure. It wasn’t that he didn't believe in you because he did. He knew that you were strong but you were still a student. You didn’t have the experience that a pro hero had and they didn't even consider the fact that there may be unprecedented situations. Hence, he found himself staring at you more than often, trying to memorize every inch of you visible to him so that if something goes wrong he'd atleast... No. Nothing was going to go wrong. Not when he had something to do about it.

Hence, after class was over, Aizawa found himself following you discreetly, making sure that you didn't notice him. Aizawa was excellent at hiding his presence since that was the type of hero he was, which is why, you had no clue that he was following you. You followed the plan laid out by your employer flawlessly and almost caught the villain until a second party decided to show up. Aizawa recognized the other villain from his hiding spot. She had been wanted for quite long time however, before Aizawa got out of his hiding place to aid you, the villain had already used her quirk on you. Now that Aizawa had to choose between going after the escaping villains or checking on you, he did the latter since that's what a doting teacher who totally didn't have feelings for a certain student would do.

You were panting on the ground, your hands gripping the fabric of your hero costume near your thighs tightly as you were avoiding Aizawa's gaze. "(L/N), are you alright? How do you feel?" Aizawa asked you, worried. You tried to answer to him but you only managed to let out a patheric whimper. Only if you could stop how horny his voice was making you... Your whimper suddenly reminded the erasure hero of the certain villain's quirk. Cupping your face with one hand to make you look at him, he met with an extremely flushed expression from you along with lust blown eyes. The view before him did nothing but create a certain straining inside his pants. The villain's quirk made people horny, he recalled. Not having sex would make their body overheat and cause a complete organ failure, he remembered.

"S-sensei... I can't... I'm sorry..." you half whimpered half moaned as you hugged your teacher, desperate for any form of touch at this point. You couldn’t help it. His musky scent was way, way morr prominent to you now and your body was betraying your mind relentlessly. "Shhh (L/N)... It's gonna be alright. We need to get out of this alley first though..." Aizawa muttered, a small amount of pink dusting his cheeks. He was at loss on what he should do at this point. He knew that there was no other way out of it without you having sex at some point. Was he okay with you doing the deed with someone else all while he was aware of it? A selfish part of him told him that no, he wasn’t okay with it. Honestly, this was the perfect opportunity for him to get a taste of you. If things got out, he could tell everyone that he did it to save you. If you didn't return his feelings, this would be that one chance at ravishing you.

Shouta Aizawa was a good teacher and an honourable man at most parts. However, he didn’t hesitate in being selfish when his actions clearly wouldn’t hurt anyone. Which is why, he took you to his home. On his way, in the cab he hired, he explained the quirk of the villain to you. You tried staying normal as you constantly held hid hand, squeezing tightly as your horniness only increased drastically. By the time you reached his home, your legs were shaking and you could barely walk. Aizawa helped you walk into his apartment, avoiding picking you up since that would look awkward in public. By the time you were in his living room, your legs completely gave out as you were engulfed by his scent, the feeling of his touch messing you up.

"Sensei... I'm sorry.. Please... I can't take this anymore... Help me please...." you whimpered into his chest, hiding your embarassed face from him as the two of you sat on the ground. You knew things would never be the same between you and your beloved teacher anymore. Hell, he'll probably hate you for this. You were scared. Very scared. On the other hand, Aizawa was turned on beyond belief. Your soft whimpers, ragged breathe was just as good as he had imagined for months and more. He couldn't keep his hands off you any longer. He didn't intend to either. "I'm sorry, (L/N). I'll help you. I know you probably wouldn’t want me in normal circumstances but you don't have to talk to me again if this ends up making things awkward for you." Aizawa muttered to you soothingly before kissing you, making you lose all control as soft moans elicted from your mouth into his. Your clothes were taken off skillfully and fast as Aizawa touched your twitching groins. A rather loud moan escaped your mouth at that making Aizawa smirk. 'How cute...' he thought as he proceeded to enter a finger into your sopping pussy. However, your reaction to that was not quite expected. You flinched and held him tightly, biting your lips. He immediately took his finger out only to find blood coating it.

"You're a virgin?" Aizawa asked with a grimace. You were always popular among the class thanks to your maturity and he assumed that you had some experience. "Yeah... I've been waiting..." you gasped at the lack of his fingers. "I'm sorry, (L/N). I wish I could avoid this because this must be something very special to you and..." Aizawa was contemplating his decisions but you stopped him with a teary smile. "I was waiting for you... Please take me... I'm so happy now..." you told him, surprising him. These mere words made him feel as if his entire body was on fire as he kissed you furiously, gently easing his fingers back into you, waiting for you to adjust. His passionate kiss distracted you from the pain as he made you sit on his lap comfortably while you wrapped your hands around his neck. Just when you started bucking your hips towards his hands, he started pumping his finger in and out of you, adding an extra finger with time and stretching you out as fast as possible so that he could move to the main event.

"Let's take this to the bedroom shall we, (Y/N)?" Aizawa asked you with a lazy smirk as he looked at your disheveled self. You already had an orgasm from his fingering since he surprisingly was rather skillful in this department. You only gave him a lustful gaze as he picked you up only to place you on his bed moments later. "I need you... Please sensei..." you whispered to him, making him harder than he had ever been in his entire life. "God you're so cute..." Aizawa hissed as he unbuckled his pants only to reveal his huge length, precum dripping from the tip. Taking a box of condoms from the drawer of the bedside table and putting the condom on hurriedly, Aizawa positioned himself over your entrance as he rubbed his length on you a few times making you squirm before entering you in one go making you yelp in pleasure and pain. He tried his best to stay still, letting you adjust to his length but damn it was hard since your insides were squeezing him so deliciously, almost making him lose his sanity. However, Aizawa was a patient man and he would never hurt you. Just as you began to move around under him, trying to grind against him, he started moving. While Aizawa was a patient man, the way your pussy made him feel could break even the most patient man in the world. Hence, Aizawa just couldn’t help it but pound into you for dear life. While it hurted you slightly at the begining, in a few moments, you started to enjoy it just as much as he did. Your legs were wrapped around his hips as you marked his shoulders with your nails while you moaned loudly much to Aizawa's delight. A string of incoherent words escaped your mouth including something similar to "please sensei" and "more", which only increased Aizawa's determination on pleasuring you. His mission to make you a blabbering mess was infact successful since at the end of it all, you just went through your third orgasm for the day, you were drooling as your eyes were rolled back. You could barely speak as you moaned loudly, not aware of how loud you were being. At this point, Aizawa was chasing his own orgasm and he had to say, your state infront of him made sure that he was close, very close.

When Aizawa finally had his orgasm, he could say that this was the best sex he ever had in his entire life. Your overstimulated body laid under him, completely exhausted and panting while he laid beside you trying to catch his own breathe. That's when it all hit him like a brick. He fucked his student. Someone who probably told him that she was waiting for him only because of the effects of the quirk. What if you regretted it now? How could he show his face to you again? As if you were reading his mind, he felt you cuddle up to him with a shy smile on your face. Wrapping an arm around you, Aizawa asked with a stoic expression, hiding the insecurities inside him, "(Y/N), did you mean it when you told me that you were waiting for me?". It seemed as if the question made you even shyer than you were already as you hid your face on his chest and he didn't know what to make of it. "I had a crush on you ever since you stepped into the classroom for the first time in my first year and it only grew. I never told you because I didn't want to be a bother or get you in trouble. I understand if you don't return my feelings." you answered, your voice sounding rather sad. "(Y/N), I feel the same way. The only problem is, you're my student. Would you be okay with me taking you out after you graduate?" Aizawa asked you in a soft tone. You looked up at him, surprise and adoration lacing your face. "I... Ofcourse sensei..." you answered with a blush. "It's Shouta for you when we're alone, kitten. Except maybe in bed cause you look absolutely sinful when you're calling me 'sensei' " Aizawa smirked at you making you blush and hide your face on his chest yet again.

"Shouta? Remember when you asked me out?" you asked your husband as you looked at the album in your hand as you sat on his lap on a rainy afternoon. "Hmm... We had good sex that day..." Aizawa muttered lazily as he took a sip from the cup of coffee in his hand. "Huh? That's all you remember?" you pouted. How could he not remember the extremely romantic cuddling session afterwards? "Mhhm... Would it be weird if I said that it was kinda hot that you were my student back then?" he asked with a lazy smirk. It was both of your day off and somehow, the weather was extremely romantic at the same time. That was until your husband decided to act like a pervert and ruin the mood.

"You really are a perverted old man you know..."

"And yet you still love me, kitten"

[Author's note: Guess I kinda went overboard huh...👀. Alright, so I REALLY appreciate long asks with more description cause they are SO FUN TO WRITE cause they give me a better idea on how to write the fic. This was my most favorite ask so far tbh]

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Hi Soapy, How are you doing? It's been a long time since I've dropped a message here. I had a good time reading your posts on the terrace scene and why the Guptas made a mistake by hiding the truth. They ruined some potentially great scenes by poor writing. Do you have any alternative conceptualizations on how these tracks could have been taken forward? Also, side note: chef's kiss for your rab raakha vm. It was mesmerising <3 Love, Rdx.

Dearest Rdx,

You always fill my heart with immense joy by sending the sweetest messages. Somehow it always conveys how you truly read without imposing your views but simultaneously approaching mine and sharing yours! #richconversation

(Ruining potentially great scenes with poor writing could be a totally different list! But they did have the best writers)

Oooohhh... honestly I didn't mind how things went. It's the little things in this whole track/series of tracks that really bothered me.

1) Everyone hates Khushi - I know, behcari-ism really sells the TRPs but I ABSOLUTELY hated how everyone pounced on Khushi regardless. Like yes, you have seen how much Khushi can have control on decisions that involve Arnav *sarcasm alert* Arnav, clearly, has the easier shit to deal with the aftermath of this only because of... patriarchy. And it doesn't help that the two people sympathetic to Khushi are people who can't speak - Shashi and Akash *shrug* And I wouldn’t have minded this if they showed this as a problem. Like this is not the realism anyone is asking for. 

(Rest under cut because *LONG* answer)

2) Shyam, An Open Harasser - literally. He just harasses Khushi left/right every other day and there's no payoff. Khushi needs to just tolerate it cause he's Anjali's husband? And the weirdest part is, once Khushi tells the truth to Arnav she keeps behaving like as if she did have a thing with Shyam. Not like she wants to tear out Shyam’s eyes the minute she sees him. This is when it’s painfully evident no feminist is writing Khushi at this point in the plot. 

3) Arnav, an emotionally abusive husband - what could’ve been an excellent, angsty rollercoaster marriage with unintended moments of comedy turns into an absolutely abusive marriage. From physically hurting her (it doesn't matter if he slams the wall next to hurt and ‘unintentionally’ slams the door on her hand - we know the next time her face would be there, an abuser is not an abuser just cause the the physical injury is not imminent). 

4) Wasted everyone’s time for 3/4 months - from the pointless Swami, Heer Ranjha, Changing Arnav room scheme to half of Gupta house.... there is no change in the characters. Null. They characters are back to square one every single time. It’s frustrating. It’s like they forgot what parts of the plot they had added in the first place. 

Alternate tracks I would’ve put?

1) Fix Shashi - this man has all the major plots, secrets and key to the misunderstanding. He literally knows everything and I’d focus a track of his recovery and Khushi/Arnav understanding Shyam has a hand in messing up Shashi’s life and why. Uff, the angst if Arnav questioned why would Shyam screw up his lover’s father and the well deserved anger Khushi would blast on Shyam. It’s that perfect straw which would break Khushi’s silence because a man like Shyam deserved that blow! 

2) Keep unintentional comedy - I’d keep a track where the family tries to fix Arnav and Khushi’s wedding and they both don’t want that. Imagine the horrors when Di thinks it’s a wonderful surprise to have colorful bedsheets and Devi Maiyya but both Arnav and Khushi are horrified by it. They’d fight each other, pleased at who’s horrified more but ultimately there’s that silent growth and truce that grows. 

3) Have a track dedicated to Arnav trying to calculate things - I don’t know what could trigger this. But I’d have a track where none of Khushi’s behavior while living with him points to a woman who’d gladly have an affair. Since this show is from Arnav’s perspective, it would be wonderful to see his brains are working day and night. 

4) Payal and Akash try to find out the truth - Payal, unable to sleep cause of not telling Akash the truth tries to bring the truth forward in subtle ways and Akash, always in tune with his brother, realizes that his newly married brother’s version of events and what he’s seeing in front of his eyes do not match. 

5) A track revealing Shyam’s necessity to ruin the Raizada's / his obsession with Khushi - Shyam was an excellent villain. But he went from this mysterious man to a dude who wants to be a freeloader. Why is he behind money? Why does he want to ruin Arnav so much? Is there something deeper here? I don’t need a big story - I honestly don’t. I just think it was time to make him 3 dimensional. 

6) A track dedicated to Arnav and Khushi fixing things for each other. Khushi fixes Arnav’s relationship with his family, because regardless of who he is, the family shouldn’t suffer. Arnav ends up doing the same because regardless of who she is, her family shouldn’t suffer. 

I'd treat Arnav and Khushi the way they were pre marriage - as in two people who don’t want to be in the same room but are unexpectedly put together. Now because they’re married there’s no extra effort to put them together but I think that’s where all the fun is. 

I’d put an inverse of all pre marriage tracks here. 

- Arnav and Khushi, regardless of their issues, come together to fix some problems in Payal and Akash’s life. 

- Rewrite the whole bangle scene. Have Arnav regret who he has become but also the difficulty of giving his most precious possession to the person he loves and hates. And Khushi rejecting to wear those bangles because his mum doesn’t deserve her memory to be smirched by someone wearing this for six months. Especially someone her son hates. 

- Bring in Khushi’s parents barsi. 

- While pre marriage Khushi tries to save Anjali’s marriage, post marriage Khushi starts giving Anjali hints about the kind of man Shyam is through subtle ways because enough is enough.

- Have the Shashi Shyam dynamic with Payal and Shyam. She’s keeping a check on his every move and this could lead to Shyam doing something drastic to Payal like Shashi. 

Phew, these are a lot of ideas!!! Hope you liked them :)

Love, as always, 

- Soapy

P.S: Pic credit - Phati Sari and Indi

[jawabear]

Marcus Moreno fluff alphabet

Not my GIF

A/N: As promised, here is the fluff alphabet for Marcus the super daddy! I hope you enjoy it! Sorry for any mistakes. Stay safe.

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Fem!Reader, loads of fluff, mentions of self doubt, not much else

Summary: An A-Z of Marcus Moreno’s relationship antics

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Marcus would show affection in every way in the book. All day, every day if he could. And he will. He just wants you to know how much he loves you and how much you mean to him. He doesn’t feel words are enough.

He’s especially fond of hugging you from behind. That’s his go to for showing you affection as well and kissing behind your ear or the underside of your jaw.

B = Beginning (How would the relationship start?)

He’s pretty out of touch in the dating front. He doesn’t really know how to go about asking you out, so it’s Missy who actually does it. Basically sets the two of you up on a date with out either of you knowing but you both take it in stride and start dating immediately after that.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

He loves to cuddle, yes. But he doesn’t make a habit out of it. You disagree, but he thinks that the more you cuddle the less effect it will have. You understand where he’s coming from but you don’t think it’s true. So really you only cuddle when he finds it absolutely necessary (which is quite often to be honest).

It’s mostly at night in bed or if either of you have had a particularly right day at work.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

He was a single dad for a while so he’s pretty good at that sort of stuff. When he puts his mind to it, he’s a pretty good cook. And he does make sure everything that has a place is in its place.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

He probably wouldn’t have the heart to do it. But if he really had to, he would just tell you that it wasn’t working. But he wouldn’t ever end it with you.

F = Fiancé(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

I don’t see Marcus as the type to get married a second time. He’s kind of put off the idea after his first marriage. Although it wasn’t his fault that it ended. But I just don’t think he’d want to get married again...

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He is a very gentle man. He knows exactly what to do in any situation. He knows how to comfort you. He himself is pretty sensitive and can get quite emotional. But he is an excellent support blanket for you.

Physically, he’s super gentle. He knows how to touch you to make you feel better. He has the most comforting touch.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

As mentioned, he loves to hug you from behind. It’s just a more comforting hold he finds. This is mainly in the mornings. You would be making breakfast or something and he would appear behind you, wrapping his arms around you and resting his chin on your shoulder before gently swaying you side to side as he told you how much he loved you.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

The time in between him realising he loves you and saying it is quite long. He’s scared of telling you because he’s scare you’ll leave him.

So he waits for you to say it first. And when you do, he doesn’t stop saying it back.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Marcus does get jealous quite easily, this comes with his protective nature, but he is good at not acting on it. At least not in an overbearing way.

If someone is flirting with you, he casually slide up beside you and wrap his arms around your waist, pulling you close to him and kissing your cheek to make sure who ever it is that had tried it on you gets the message that you are unavailable.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Because he loves to hug you from behind so much, he loves to kiss behind your ear or the nape of your neck. Or even just the back of your head. He loves to bury his nose in your hair and just breath in your smell.

His kisses are all sweet and full of purpose and love. He never kisses you just for the sake of it. He kisses you to tell you how much he loves you.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Clearly he’s an excellent dad and clearly he’s good with kids. But he doesn’t really know if he wants another one. Of course he’d love to have one with you, so you can have something that it both of yours, but he’s a little on the fence about it for reasons he doesn’t even know. Perhaps he feels he’s getting too old to take care of a baby...

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Marcus is usually up before you so it’s not that often that you’ll get to cuddle in bed, even on weekends his up with the sun. But that doesn’t matter. You’ll go down stairs and see him making a coffee or something so you’ll take it upon your self to initiate morning cuddles before Missy wakes up, not that that would stop you anyway.

But on the rare occasion you get a lazy day with him, that is what it is. I’m talking not getting out of bed until lunch time. Just laying in bed, in each other’s arms. (Maybe doing some other stuff). Just overall being soft.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Nights are more tender than the soft mornings. It will usually be that you’ll be laying in bed facing each other, just looking at each other. He will lift his hand to gently stroke over your cheek. And you will do the same. There are no words needed in the night. These small actions are enough.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Marcus is a pretty open person I feel. I don’t think there is much he would hide from you. Besides, life as a hero means he’s pretty exposed anyway. But he wants to be straight forward with you, he doesn’t want to keep anything from you so he knows that you really do love him for him and not for who he pretends to be.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Marcus is very patient. He has been trained to keep his cool no matter what. And dealing with the Heroics has made him build up a pretty high tolerance for messing about. It take a lot for Marcus to get angry. So much so, that you’ve never seen him properly angry.

But you’ve heard stories. When he gets angry, he gets angry.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

I get the feeling that Marcus would remember absolutely everything that’s ever happened in your relationship. He probably remembers everything you’ve ever said or done. He probably knows more about you than your own parents.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

The first time he hear you say “I love you” and meaning it is probably his favourite. You had said it a few times, but he got the feeling you had only said it to get him to say it back.

But there was one night where you were together, just being together and you looked into his eyes for a moment. You just looked at him and he looked right back at you. And then you said it. You whispered it. And he could hear the amount of truth sown into every letter. He would never forget that night.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Marcus is very protective. He has to know you’re safe. It drives him crazy if he doesn’t know where you are. But he’s not controlling. He just needs to know your okay. As long as he knows where you are and that you’re safe, he’s fine.

Should you ever end up in danger, who better to protect you than the leader of the Heroics?! To be honest, most people would be too scared to even think about hurting you if they knew that Marcus was your boyfriend. No one would want to go up against him in a fight.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Marcus always tried his best, he may not always succeed but he always tries. He wants to make sure you’re 100% happy. What he doesn’t understand is, just being with him makes you 100% happy.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

He has a habit of doubting himself over the smallest things. He always worries that something is going to go wrong. He’s quite easily panicked and slightly paranoid. But that’s all a result of his job. It’s not something he can easily fix, but you try and help him as best you can.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks? Do your looks bother them?)

Looks on his partner doesn’t bother him. It’s not that he’s looking for. He just wants someone he can be with.

But he is very self conscious about that way he looks. Seeing himself on TV daily has caused this. He doesn’t do it to look good for anyone in particular (besides you), he does it so that seeing himself on the screen is a little more bearable.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

If he really thought about it, no. He wouldn’t feel incomplete as such. It’s hard for him to explain. He wouldn’t feel right with out you, but he has got Missy who has been his heart since she was born. You understand that. Regardless of how much he loves you, Missy will always come first for him. Granted, this has lead to a few complications in your relationship but you managed to get over it pretty quickly.

But he wouldn’t want to be with out you. He needs you in his life.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.

Marcus loves how easily you mix in with his family. He knows that perhaps having a kid can put people off. But he was so happy that it didn’t put you off. And he loves how good you are with Missy. How playful and helpful you are. How you’re always willing to join in, even though he knows how anxious you are about it. He just loves what you add to his family. What you add to his life. He just loves you.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

He wouldn’t really like really tall girls. As I said, he loves to hug you from behind and bury his nose in your hair. This would be a little bit difficult if his partner was taller than him. But it’s not completely a no. He doesn’t really care about something like that. He’ll find a way to get it done should his partner be taller than him.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs? Does it change around a partner?)

Marcus struggles to sleep. He hasn’t really slept soundly since he was a kid. He’s a light sleeper so even when he is sleeping, he’s not really resting.

But he does find it easier to get to sleep when he’s got you by his side, you bring a comfort with you that relaxes him.

10/01/21

Taglist: @linkpk88 @phoenixhalliwell @lunaserenade

[jiejie-eonni-onee-sama]

I’d put a crown at your feet... (Part I)

For the dearest @marilynmonroefanfics​ 💝👄

Hope you’ll like the story.

TW: mentions of smut

June 1972. Castle of Balmoral.

Walking through the Scottish lands, Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, was in a foul mood. 

He felt like his life was falling apart for two years. Or maybe for more years? 

He did not remember when it went sour, but for sure, he knew that his life was a complete mess.

First of all, his marriage was falling apart: he and Elizabeth grew distant from each other. Farewell, the sweet romance of the beginning! Even the birth of Edward, their last child, did not manage to patch things up between them.

Secondly, his “dear” wife did not show any maternal love for their children. She cast Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward away, often scolding them for their mistakes and barely complimenting their efforts or successes. 

Philip had to admit that he was not really present for his children, but he was not at ease with them. Moreover, Elizabeth took perverse pleasure remembering his royal duties.

But the final straw was when he discovered that his spouse enjoyed the company of other men, to say the least.

Amazing! And he was the one the press accused of being a cheating husband! It is a topsy-turvy world!

As he was brooding over the disaster of his personal life, he did not hear the sound of a four-wheel-drive coming near to him until a familiar voice called him:

"Hello there, dear brother-in-law!"

He turned around and saw Margaret at the wheel of her vehicle, a slight smile on her face.

"What are you doing here?"

"Invading Scotland! Seriously, I'm escaping from my sister's boring sycophants! They were wasting my day!"

Philip smirked: his sister-in-law was the best person to understand how he felt in this oppressive world. Even if they did not have the same character, Philip and Margaret managed to get along. Especially since they had to tolerate Elizabeth's obnoxious behavior for some years.

"If you talk about the Daniels and the Furlingtons, you took the best decision! I would do the same!"

"Is it not what you're currently doing? Escaping from my dear sister at long strides?"

The prince shrugged.

"Maybe..."

"I see... Fancy a ride?"

"Is it risky?" joked Philip.

"Oh, don't be such a coward! Get in the car!"

"How could I refuse such a lovely request?" said her brother-in-law with irony as he climbed in the car!

Soon after, they were driving into the Scottish countryside, enjoying the view at every turn. Philip admitted that his legs needed some rest after his long walk.

After half an hour of driving, Margaret stopped the car, and they appreciated the point of view.

"Well, I have to tell: you are an excellent driver!"

"Oh, I had a good teacher! Dad and I used to drive there when I was younger!"

She sadly smiled.

"I remember his laugh... He told me how bold I was!"

"I wish I could have those kinds of memories with my own father!" answered Philip.

"Sure, you were not lucky!"

Both stayed silent, watching the calm landscape until Margaret spoke again.

"If Dad were among us, he would never let Elizabeth behaving that way with you or the children!"

"You're probably right. Unfortunately, I don't know what your mother thinks about it!"

"Don't worry about that! She often criticizes Lizzie for her lack of maternal love! She said that the monarch of Great Britain should never forget both their royal obligations and their parental duties!"

"Regrettably, your sister does not really care about it!"

Margaret scoffed.

"You bet she did not listen! My dear sister repeats that her children are more a burden than a blessing!"

She turned towards Philip.

"Speaking of that, make some effort, damn it! It looks like you're trying to avoid them at any cost! Don't you love your children?"

This question hit Philip like a punch!

"What are you talking about? Of course, I love my children!"

"Then, act like it! They are craving affection, and they cannot count on their mother for that! They need their father, and if you don't do anything to rectify the situation, you will regret it!"

The Duke of Edinburgh sighed.

"I know that it's not an excuse, but nobody taught me how to be a father. I tried my best, but I only witness the disaster I've created!"

"Don't be so pessimistic, or you're going to make me depressed! Sincerely, between you and my sister, you are the better parent! You just have to improve it, and it's not too late!"

She frowned.

"But I can't even believe Lizzie dared cheat on you with this jackass!"

"You know the name of her lover?"

"The most recent one? Of course, I know his name... and you know him too!"

"Who is it?"

"You won't like it... But it's Roger Acherville, one of your squires!"

Enraged, Philip struck the dashboard.

"DAMN IT! THIS RASCAL BOWED AND SCRAPED IN FRONT OF ME, BUT SHARED MY WIFE'S BED!"

Margaret bit her lip: she wished she never had to tell that news to her brother-in-law, but she must tell him the truth, even if it hurts like hell!

"I'm sorry, Philip. I'd prefer never tell you this..."

He interrupted her.

"No, you were right. You did well to tell me who my wife is cheating on me with right now!"

Philip was upset. How could Elizabeth do such a thing to him, after all they have been through together?

"But now I don't know what to do ..."

He turned to Margaret and saw that she was wearing a big, mischievous smile.

The kind of smile that announced that she had an idea behind her head and that didn't promise well.

"What are you going to tell me again as a twisted idea?"

"You know the law of retaliation: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth..."

"I know this motto, indeed. And then?"

"Well, what I mean is... I allow you to get your own back on my sister!"

Philip opened his eyes wide: he thought he hallucinated? Did Margaret just authorize him to cheat on Elizabeth? 

Years ago, she would have torn his eyes out if he ever imagines that possibility!

But now, the circumstances were different, and she was his best ally in Buckingham Palace.

Moreover, the idea of finding solace in someone else's arms was not unpleasant... 

He nodded.

"Alright! You convinced me!"

"Really?"

"Yes! After all, why my dear wife should be the one having fun?"

"That's the spirit, dear in-law! Before you start finding a lover, do you know what would make me happy?"

"What?"

"Shave that goddamn beard! You look like a caveman!"

The prince consort laughed: he almost forgot his bushy beard!

"What is the problem with that? It looks nice to me! People would think that I am an explorer! Or a Viking: after all, I am a Danish prince! Or maybe Socrates, as I am a Greek Prince too!"

"Of course, and I look like the lost twin of Marilyn Monroe!" she taunted the Duke while playfully punching him on the shoulder.

The two royals laughed and spoke for a long time, far from their daily issues. After all, this day was the beginning of a new journey for Philip Mountbatten...

Two months later. August 1972

Philip adjusted his bow tie: he hoped he wasn't doing anything stupid by accepting Margaret's invitation to one of her parties. She had promised him that he would not be bored and that he might find the perfect person.

He sighed: he knew he was running a risk looking for a mistress. 

If ever the press caught him in the arms of a woman, his reputation was gone! And his wife would not hesitate to put him down!

Straightening his chest, he gave a satisfied smile and got ready to join his sister-in-law when his son Andrew entered the room:

"Good evening, father ... Oh, you are very elegant!"

"Thanks, Andrew."

"Are you going out tonight?"

"Indeed, yes. I'm accompanying your Aunt Margaret to one of her parties. According to her, I am the guest of honor."

The 12-year-old boy nodded.

"Does ... Mother approve of this?"

"I have to. At least, your father will stop my sister from doing something stupid!" answered a familiar voice.

With these words, Queen Elizabeth entered the room. Dressed in a pearl gray satin dress, she had put on her most exquisite jewelry. She looked stern, almost disdainful. 

"Good evening, mother. You are beautiful tonight!"

The queen ignored the compliment and turned to her husband.

"Can I count on you so that Margaret doesn't end up dead drunk in another man's bed?"

"I'll do my best ... And you, what have you planned tonight?"

"I'm attending a reception at the Indian Embassy. As for Mother, she spends the evening with her lady-in-waiting, and Edward stays with them."

"And what about Charles and Anne?"

"I have no idea, and I don't want to know!"

Philip raised his eyebrows.

"I thought every parent should be worried about their children's nighttime activities!"

She replied in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, don't say such nonsense! They are old enough to fend for themselves! Besides, I have other priorities!"

She glanced at the clock that sat quietly in the back of the room.

"If you have nothing else to tell me, I'll leave you! I have to go to the embassy! Have a good evening!"

She turned on her heels and took off at a brisk pace, leaving her husband and son alone.

The Duke saw the sad look on Andrew's face and felt pain for him: how many times has he witnessed his wife ignore their children's words?

He tried to cheer his son up:

"Come on, it's nothing. I'm sure your compliment made your mother happy!"

Andrew replied:

"Don't bother too much about it, father. She does not care what I tell her. And she does the same to Charles, Anne, and even Edward!"

The young boy turned his gaze to his father:

"Even you, she snubs you all the time!"

"Well ... let's say that between adults, things can get more complicated!"

"Well, that doesn't make you want to be an adult!"

Philip laughed at the clear opinion of his third child.

"Don't worry, it won't be like this all the time! I'm sure you'll find someone you get along with!"

"I hope so too..."

Changing the subject, Philip asked:

"So what about you? What are you doing tonight?"

"I'm staying with Grandma and Edward. At least, I am sure to have a good evening!"

"I think so too. Well, I have to leave you: if I arrive late, your aunt might strangle me!"

"What are you waiting for? Go ahead!"

"I'm going! See you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow, father!"

Philip kissed his son on the forehead before heading outside the palace, where a limousine awaited him.

He got into the back of the vehicle and ordered his driver:

"We can go, Henry! Let's go to Princess Margaret's residence!"

"Right away, Your Highness!"

And the vehicle set off, taking the prince to the place of the party.

A few minutes later, he arrived outside Kensington Palace, where several luxury cars were already parked in the driveway.

With a steady step, he entered the house where a butler greeted him with deference:

"Welcome to Kensington Palace, Your Royal Highness."

"Thank you. Could you tell the Princess that I have arrived?"

"She's in the main living room, Your Highness. If you please follow me, sir ..."

The Duke of Edinburgh followed the servant into a large room with dancing music and laughter.

Philip spotted Margaret, in her best dress, chatting happily with her guests.

The butler walked up to his employer and announced:

"Lady Snowden, His Royal Highness Duke Philip of Edinburgh has arrived."

"Perfect! He's coming at the right time! Thanks, Howard!" Margaret exclaimed before going to greet her brother-in-law.

"Good evening, Philip. I see you dressed up… But you still haven't shaved your goddamn beard! What did I tell you?"

“This must be my rebellious side…” smirked Philip.

This remark amused the princess, who grinned.

"You got the point!"

She took his wrist.

"Come on! I have some lovely people to introduce you to!"

And so Philip became acquainted with singers, actors, dancers, musicians, artists, and other socialites of good English society.

Suddenly, he noticed the presence of a young man who was talking to some artists.

Although he tried to stay focused on the conversation, he found it difficult to take his eyes off this mysterious young man.

The latter had dark skin, raven hair, and intense ebony eyes. Dressed in an elegant black suit, he was rather slender and had elegant hands.

Philip saw that he was wearing light makeup that showed off his face. 

Margaret saw that her brother-in-law seemed hypnotized by the young man. She smiled:

"Tell me, Philip, would you like me to do the introductions with that handsome brunette over there?"

"What? Come on, Margaret, you don't have to ..."

"No way! Follow me!"

Letting out a long sigh, the Duke followed the Princess, who addressed her guests:

"So, are you having fun?"

"Absolutely, Maggie! This night is awesome!"

"I am delighted about it!"

She turned to the man who accompanied the mysterious young man.

"Jonathan, you nasty little secretive! You did not present me this delicious young person who accompanies you!"

"Where are my good manners? Margaret, Prince Philip, let me introduce you to Piero De Angelis! He is a model of your husband Anthony!"

"I should have guessed! Anthony has always had an eye for beauty!"

The British princess turned to the man named Piero.

"And you, my dear, how do you like this evening? Are you having fun, I hope?"

"Oh yes, Your Highness. I'm having a great evening!"

The prince noticed that he had a voice that was soft enough for a man.

"I am delighted about it!" smiled Margaret, who nudged Philip lightly.

The latter, having understood the message, cleared his throat before asking:

"Like that, your name is Piero? Like the character from commedia dell'arte?"

"Not quite, but I admit it sounds like it! My name is spelled P-I-E-R-O, while the character is spelled P-I-E-R-R-O-T. That is all the difference!"

"I see ... When you take a closer look, you look a bit like him!"

"Oh, really? Do I look melancholic?"

"No, but your makeup is as subtle as his!"

His sister-in-law slapped her forehead: she feared Philip might bring out one of his sharp sense of humor. His jokes tend to upset those involved. 

However, she did not expect Piero to respond maliciously:

"Beware, Your Highness: appearances are often deceptive. For example, when I look at you, I can say that it must be several centuries since you last saw a shaving foam!"

This gibe amused Margaret, who gave a fit of laughter, while the other guests gasped in horror: how dared this young commoner speaking to the prince consort with such poor manners?

As for Philip, he was taken aback: no one ever ventured to respond to one of his jokes. But he had to say: Piero had some spirit, and he liked that!

He laughed:

"Well played! I appreciate people with some character!"

Philip offered his hand to the young man:

"I know when I lost the game."

Smiling, the young Mister De Angelis shook hands with the prince:

"It was an honor verbally sparring with a member of the Royal family!"

At the second their hands touched, Philip felt like electricity went all over his body. He thought it has been years since he underwent such emotion... 

As for Piero, he was mesmerized: he always found Prince Philip attractive when he saw him on official pictures, but now, the young man could affirm that the prince consort was handsome, to say the least. 

The young man also observed that Philip's piercing eyes hid something else, but he could not tell what: sadness? Or melancholy? Hope? 

Yet, he was sure that the Duke of Edinburgh was not as happy as he seemed.

When they stopped shaking hands, Piero bowed respectfully before Philip:

"It was a pleasure speaking with you, sir."

"The pleasure was mine, Signore De Angelis."

Amused, the young man slightly bowed his head before he turned his heels and walked away.

Philip smirked: this young Piero was the most interesting man he ever met so far.

He glanced at Margaret, who smirked slightly. Looks like she had something in her mind...

"What?"

"Nothing... I just confirm that you find your match!" she muttered as she sipped her glass of Martini.

Rolling his eyes, Philip answered:

"Please, do not make overly ambitious plans!"

"What? Do not give me that stern look!"

Shaking his head in disbelief, Philip glanced at the young man with a sly smile on his face: he had the feeling that Piero would have an intriguing role in the future...

Two weeks later, at Kensington Palace.

In the main living room of the palace, Philip and Margaret talked about many gossips and their respective marriages.

"I'm glad to hear that you and Anthony are on better terms!"

"Yes. I would not lie, it was struggling. But, in the end, it is worth fighting for!"

The prince nodded before sighing:

"I really hoped that things would get better between Elizabeth and me. Unfortunately, I have to certify that it only worsens! She avoids me most of the time, and I am sure she pretends to have different appointments to be with this Acherville!"

His sister-in-law puts a sympathetic hand on his arm.

"I am sincerely sorry for this, Philip."

"Thank you, Margaret. But, my hardship only strengthens my desire to see someone else... Someone who can love me for who I am!"

An impish smile came across Margaret's face.

"A little bird tells me that you have a specific young man in your mind, am I right?"

The Duke of Edinburgh raised his hands in defeat.

"There's no fooling you!"

The princess squealed in delight.

"I knew it! I saw this little sparkle in your eyes that says a lot about your feelings!"

"Wait a minute... Are not you upset by the fact that I may be romantically involved with a man?" 

She shrugged.

"As if I care! Choose whoever you want to sleep with, as long as it gets on Lizzie's nerves!"

"I recognize your open-minded character!" chuckled Philip.

"Indeed."

"Speaking of him, what can you tell me about this Piero De Angelis?"

"Are you reading on my mind? I was about to tell you what I know so far!"

"Go ahead!"

She cleared her throat and answered:

"Well, I asked my best friend, Lady Anne Tennant, to give me some pieces of information about him. According to her, he was born in a middle-class family who fled Italy during World War Two. Loving parents, close relationships with his siblings. A nice life, to sum up. 

He is six years older than Charles. She also told me that he graduated from Oxford, but he prefers modeling. He sometimes worked as a tutor for children of noble families. I approve of his model career: he has such good looks! It would be a shame not to take advantage of it!"

"Sure... What about his temperament? His hobbies?"

"As far as I know, he is an artist: he loves drawing, sculpting, dancing, taking artistic pictures, painting, acting, and singing! A perfect artist, I tell you. Those who know him say that he is patient, charming, cultivated, smart, polite, and humble... He has some humor, but you have already noticed it. Ah, I almost forgot! He has some... unusual tastes!"

Philip raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't imagine something scandalous! It's just that he loves good fashion, jewels, and perfumes."

"He has a fondness for feminine things..."

"Exactly. Is it not a problem?"

"Oh, I would handle... At least, I'll have someone to give those kinds of presents!"

"That's the Philip I know! I might add that he currently lives in the area of Westbourne, in the neighborhood of Notting Hill... which is not far from here!"

"You planned everything, did not you?"

"I learn to anticipate, dear in-law! He lives in a small house, so you won't be disturbed by potential housemates."

Philip smiled before saying:

"Alright. So, am I supposed to go there, and ask him out?"

Her grin confused the prince consort.

"Oh, dear... That won't be necessary!"

As Philip was about to ask what she meant, a butler appeared:

"Your Highness, Mister De Angelis is here. Shall I let him in?"

"Perfect, just in time! Let him in, Howard!"

The prince could not believe his ears:

"You invite him?"

"Of course, dear in-law! Like this, you would get to know each other better!"

At the same time, Piero entered the room, escorted by the butler. Margaret gave her warmest smile towards the young man:

"Piero, caro mio! What a pleasure to see you! How are you since the last time?"

"I am fine, thank you. I did not expect an invitation from you..."

He noticed the presence of Philip and bowed:

"Your Highness..."

"Mister De Angelis..."

Suddenly, Margaret stood up from her place and said:

"Well, you know what? I'll pop over Lady Anne and picking some pastries, while you two have a nice little conversation. I would not be too long..."

"What? But..." started Philip.

"No protest in my house! Alright, see you later!"

She turned her heels and walked out of the palace, followed by her butler.

The two men stood silent, looking at each other. Piero broke the silence as he tried a joke:

"I see that you finally shaved your beard..."

The prince chuckled:

"Yes, indeed. As you can see, my interview with the shaving foam went well."

"I hope my joke didn't offend you."

"Absolutely not. I'm fond of that kind of blunt humor, and I was pretty happy to find someone to share it with!"

"You see me honored, Your Highness."

Philip shook his head negatively.

"No formalities with me: we are not at Buckingham Palace! You can call me Philip!"

Piero was surprised by this inquiry but didn't really pay attention:

"However you like, Philip. In that case, you can call me Piero. Or Peter, if you prefer."

"Understood, Piero."

The young man asked:

"Did your wife ask you to shave?"

Piero regretted asking that question because he saw a glimmer of sadness in the Duke's eyes.

The latter sighed:

"No, I was the one who took that initiative. And to be honest, my wife doesn't really care about my hair choices. In fact, she doesn't really care about me at all!"

This revelation surprised Piero: he did not expect Prince Philip to make such a confession to him about his married life!

"You ... are you arguing?"

"If only that was all that! But unfortunately, there is also indifference, contempt, and estrangement!"

"I am sincerely sorry for you, Your Highness. But you know, all may not be lost: things will surely work out ..."

Philip laughed bitterly:

"How I would like to be as optimistic as you! But when the person you love goes to seek passion elsewhere, you no longer have any illusions!"

"Indeed, seen from that angle, it is a bad start to save a marriage ... But why are you telling me all this? You do not have to tell me these things."

With these words, the prince approached the young artist and replied:

“That's right, I'm not supposed to tell anyone about it. But I've been looking for someone for so long who could listen to me and understand me. I'm tired of feeling isolated… Nonetheless, ever since I met you, Piero, it's like the light has returned to my life. Yes, I know we barely got to know each other, but I've always trusted my instincts when it comes to people I meet, and I've been right every time. "

Piero began to understand where the duke was going and panicked:

"Huh? Oh no! No, no, no, and three times no!"

"What do you mean?" Philip asked, confused.

"I can see exactly what you want to ask, and I refuse! I don't want to be a simple consolation prize! I saw what it was like to be the lover of a king or a prince, and it doesn't make you want to be one! "

He continued in a calm tone:

"I have no doubt that you are a handsome man with many qualities, but I cannot accept being just a passing lover until the day you reconcile with the queen. I do not like the idea of being a simple shoulder to cry on that you give up as soon as everything is better. "

Philip was speechless: he expected everything but that! However, he should have waited a bit before declaring his love. But the tension in his relationship was so unbearable that he despaired finding someone he could love unconditionally.

And this young Piero was the person he needed ... he still had to accept!

Philip dropped to his knees in front of the young man, and took his hands between his while looking at him with pleading eyes:

"I swear Piero: if you were to become my lover, it's because I feel like no love exists anymore between Elizabeth and me. I suffered from abandonment when I was just a child, and I know only too well the harm it does. I would never do this to a person who is dear to me..."

"But get up, damn it! If we were seen like that ..." Piero stammered, panicked.

"I don't care! I know you are suspicious of beautiful promises, but I swear to you that I will never disappoint you. You will always be showered with gifts ..."

"Hang on! I'm not a materialist!"

"I know, I know ... I will make sure to spend time with you, I will call you regularly ... I will be the most devoted lover that can exist!"

The young man laughs lightly:

"Please, it feels like a Barbara Cartland novel!"

"Thank you for this unflattering comparison!" grumbled the prince, who smiled.

Philip stood up and asked:

"What are you going to decide?"

Piero bit his lip: to tell the truth, he was torn between two feelings. On the one hand, he was scared to become the lover of the Duke of Edinburgh. He did not want to betray the Queen and being the next prey of the press!

But on the other side, he had to admit that he was always fascinated by Prince Philip and his magnetic charm. And then there was this vulnerability in this man that the young man found irresistible.

After a few minutes of thought, he replied:

"I admit that this somewhat surprising declaration of love took me by surprise. And even if I do not want to be an accomplice in adultery, I want to give you a chance!"

Reassured, Philip dared to kiss the young man's tanned forehead and replied:

"I promise you won't regret it! How much time do I have ahead of me?"

"Two months. I think that will give me time to see if I can give it a go or not."

"And that will be more than enough to convince you!" Philip laughed.

10 months later. May 1973

The spring sun sneaked through the curtains, caressing Piero's sleepy face.

The latter woke up slowly and opened his eyes, a smile on his face.

He turned and fondly looked at his sleeping lover. 

The young man smiled when he saw Philip so appeased: he was happy to have accepted the prince consort's proposal.

At the same time, the latter succeeded in his probationary period: he was a considerate, loving, affectionate, and caring boyfriend. 

Piero had never had so many presents in his life: the number of beautiful clothes that filled his wardrobe was impressive. And what about the magnificent jewelry that Philip brought back from his official trips?

All this had convinced the young man to become Prince Philip's lover, but also his confidant: it was to him that the Duke of Edinburgh told of his marital misfortunes and his doubts about his ability to be a good father for their children. And Piero felt privileged to be one of the few to know Philip's emotional wounds.

But what made their relationship so intense was when they had sex. Although the prince was a middle-aged man, he was an experienced and vigorous lover. The first time they had sex, they took their time to get to know each other's bodies better and to have fun.

The other times, the antics were more intense, even passionate ... as was the case last night, when they "celebrated" Philip's return from an official trip to America.

He remembered the feel of Philip's rough yet gentle hands on his body, their bodies moving against each other, their cries of pleasure filling the air... It was a pleasant experience, even if it was the umpteenth time they made love.

Of course, the two lovers would like to see each other more often, but they had to be discreet so as not to attract the attention of the media, let alone that of the Queen.

But hey, that didn't bother Piero who was delighted not to become the new darling of London.

Suddenly he felt Philip stretch and wake up. The prince turned to his lover and smiled at him:

"Hello, mein Liebe. You are very early."

"To believe that I took your bad habit!" the young man smiled.

"But it's not a bad habit to be early in the morning. On the contrary, it gives me more time to enjoy your presence ..." the duke replied before kissing his lover.

"Speaking of having time to spare, wasn't it today that you promised Charles to have lunch with him?"

"Damn, I almost forgot!" Philip exclaimed, hopping out of bed before rushing into the bathroom.

"What a scatterbrain!" Piero laughed while getting dressed.

"I heard you!"

"That was the goal, amore!" replied the young man, teasingly.

5 minutes later, the Duke comes out of the bathroom, ready to return to his obligations.

"Am I presentable?"

"Honestly, you are still handsome!"

Smiling, Philip kissed his lover's cheek:

"I'll call you tonight, I promise."

"I will wait impatiently for your call ... Come on, go join your son!"

"I'm going right now. See you tonight!"

"See you tonight!"

As the Duke left the house, Peter lay still on his bed, a thoughtful smile on his lips.

He was glad that the relationship between Philip and his children had improved, especially thanks to his advice.

Piero had relied on his life with his parents and siblings to empower his lover to be a more present father to his children.

Speaking of which, Piero would love to meet his lover's offspring: seeing how Philip talks about it, they must be very nice young people.

He would love to talk about the arts with Charles, who seemed to be very passionate about it. 

He would also appreciate being able to walk with Anne and talk about lots of things or reassure her about her future as a young bride. 

He would love to give fashion advice to Andrew who was already paying attention to his appearance when he was only 13 years old.

 And he would be happy to spend time with Edward, the youngest of the siblings. 

This boy worried his father a lot because he was silent and always seemed sad...

Suddenly the phone rang, interrupting Piero's thoughts. 

He picked up the phone:

"Hello?"

"**Dear Piero, how are you?**"

"Oh, hello, Margaret. I'm fine, thank you. How about you?"

"**Oh, it's okay. As much as I wish I hadn't had tea with Sally Frodenborough! This woman is so boring, I thought I was going to fall asleep!**"

The young man laughed.

"Now do you understand why I politely decline her invitations for tea?"

"**You'll tell me so much ... But let's forget about it! Tell me instead about your relationship with my esteemed brother-in-law! How is it going?**"

"It's a fairy tale, I can't say better!"

Piero knew he owed it all to Margaret: she was the one who introduced them at that party at Kensington Palace. Since then, she had become an ally and a friend of the couple and did not hesitate to invite them to her home so that they could meet again.

All this with the benevolent complicity of her husband, Anthony.

Over time, the princess and the young artist became good friends, and she often invited Piero to have tea at her place.

"**Glad to hear that, darling. Besides, I have to say that your relationship is very positive for Philip. He is happier, more serene, and closer to his children. You did a great job!**"

"I only encouraged him, he did the rest!"

"**Don't be so modest! However, I think my sister is suspecting something!**"

Hearing this, Piero felt a chill run through his spine: if the queen ever learned that her husband was cheating on her with a simple artist, he feared the worst!

"When you say she suspects something, do you mean she suspects Philip of adultery?"

"**No, I wouldn't go that far. But she can see the change in Philip's mood and she knows it's not her responsibility. She's not really trying to find out, but let's be careful!**"

"You're right ... But, I admit that there are times I wish I could spend more time with Philip. I understand he's doing his best without raising suspicion, but ..."

"**I see what you mean, and I understand you ... Oh wait: I just got an idea!**"

"Again? But it never stops"

"**My dad always said I was the most imaginative of the family. Okay, here's what we could do...**"

A week later, at Buckingham Palace.

In one of the palace rooms, Queen Elizabeth was having tea with her mother, Queen Mum.

"But what is Margaret doing? She should have been here since 10 minutes ago!" the sovereign said impatiently.

"Don't be so harsh on your sister, Lilibeth. I've heard that traffic in London is a bit chaotic right now. If so, she got stuck in a traffic jam."

"Maybe ..." Elizabeth replied.

Suddenly a servant entered the room and announced:

"Her Royal Highness, Princess Margaret, your Majesty!"

"Finally, here she is! Let her in, thank you!"

The servant shifted and let Margaret in, accompanied by a dark, smartly dressed young man.

"Hello, my dear sister! Hello, mom! Sorry for the inconvenience, but there was an accident near Piccadilly Circus which disrupted all traffic. I thought we would never get there!"

"You see, Elizabeth: I was right ..."

"Indeed, mum. But tell me, Margaret, who is this man with you?"

"I was just going to explain it to you: you see, I thought back to your history of tutoring for Andrew and Edward. And it turns out that this young man, Piero De Angelis, worked as a tutor in very good families. Here, I have some letters of recommendation from them. " she said, handing out a few missives.

Elizabeth took the letters and read them in silence. After reading it, she said:

"My word, your former employers are heap praise on you, Mr. De Angelis. They compliment your pedagogy, your intellect, as well as your patience with children."

She gave a slight smile.

"Since my sister seems to find you suitable for her nephews, I think we can take you on for a trial period."

Piero respectfully bowed while giving the monarch a hand kiss.

"It would be a great honor for me to serve you, Your Majesty!"

"This young man looks very pleasant to me. In my opinion, your sons will be in good hands!" said the Queen Mother, amused.

"Thank you for placing your trust in me, Your Excellency!" Piero replied, giving a slight bow.

At the same time, the door opened and Philip entered the room.

"Ah, Philip: at the right time! I present to you Andrew and Edward's new tutor."

Seeing who it was, Philip thought he was having a heart attack: but what was Piero doing here? It was too risky!

When he saw Margaret by his side, it didn't take long for him to realize that she had yet come up with a completely crazy idea.

Straightening up slightly, he cleared his throat and politely said:

"Welcome, sir ..."

"My name is Piero De Angelis, Your Highness. It is a huge honor to meet you in person!"

The duke refrained from smiling: he had forgotten that his lover was an excellent actor. And he had just proven his talent in front of everyone!

"And how did he convince you to hire him?"

"He was warmly recommended to me by several high society families. All were satisfied with the work of Mr. De Angelis. It seemed logical to me to have a competent person to supervise the education of your youngest sons."

"Sounds perfectly fine to me!" replied the prince consort.

Satisfied with her husband's response, the Queen said:

"Perfect. Then maybe you could introduce Mister De Angelis to his future students?"

"But of course. If you will follow me, sir ..."

And as they were about to leave, Margaret followed on their heels:

"I'm going with them, just to make sure Philip would not terrorize the poor schoolmaster!"

"Hey, I am not a monster!" scoffed Philip.

The three left the room. The duke waited to be far from his wife to scolding his lover and his sister-in-law.

"What's got into you? Did you ever think about the risk of being caught?"

"Oh, don't be such a coward! I thought you would be pleased to have your lovebird here!" whispered Margaret.

"And I thought it would be easier for you if I work here. You won't have to find excuses to see me... Besides, I wanted to meet your children."

The prince consort raised an eyebrow.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me: I wanted to meet your children. You talked about them since we started dating, that I aspired to know them better."

Philip pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed: it would be a miracle if Margaret and Piero did not drive him crazy. But, at least, he would manage to spend quality time with his sweetheart. So, why not take the risk?

"Fine, you convinced me. But, we have to intensify our discretion. Otherwise, we will be doomed!"

"I'll be careful, don't worry!" promised Piero as he gently held his lover's hand.

"Aw, you are so cute!" mockingly cooed Margaret.

"Please, Maggie: stop killing the mood!" grumbled the prince consort, rolling his eyes.

4 months later. August 1973.

"How do you find my drawing, Piero?"

"Let me look at it... Oh, it's beautiful! You have some talent, Edward!"

The young boy happily giggled: he really appreciated his new tutor. Unlike his predecessor, Piero was kind, patient, funny, and really interesting. Thanks to him, the little prince quickly understood his lesson by heart, and his grades improved. The same evolution can be noticed for Andrew: the teenager preferred learning with Piero to listening to his teachers at school.

"You think I am talented?"

"Absolutely! And for who you draw this?"

"For Anne! It would be her present for her wedding!"

"That's absolutely sweet, Edward. I am sure that she would love it!"

Speaking of the princess, she entered the room.

"Good afternoon, Mister De Angelis! Hello, Eddie!"

"Hi, Annie!"

"Good afternoon, Your Highness. How are you today?"

"Fine, thanks. I just come back from a horse-riding session with Mark!"

"Oh, lovely. How it went?"

"It went nice until it started raining. But we finished fast, so I would not soil the clean wooden floors of Buckingham Palace!" snickered Anne.

"Annie! Look what I've drawn for you!" cheerfully exclaimed Edward as he handed his drawing to his sister.

"Oh, thank you: I love it! I will show it to Mark: he would be impressed!"

"Can I draw something for him?"

"Why don't you ask him when he will come back?"

"Alright, I will wait!"

At the same time, Andrew entered the room, dressed in a nice suit.

"Good grief! I thought Mr. Brownsfield would never let us go!"

"Watch your language, young man! If your mother hears you, you will end up being lectured for hours!" gently advised Piero.

"I know, I know... But I am so relieved to be here!"

"I have noticed!"

Anne lightly cleared her throat.

"Piero, can we talk... in private with Andrew and you?"

"Of course! Edward, could you go with your grandmother? I have to discuss some important topics with your siblings."

"Are we finishing the lesson?"

"Yes, indeed. You can go!"

"Alright!" nodded the young boy as he exited the salon.

Soon as Edward left, the young man asked:

"What do you want to talk about, Anne?"

The princess sighed before answering:

"Well, it's about Charles... He is not well."

"Do you mean he is ill?"

"Depressed would be more accurate!"

"Oh, dear! And what depress him?"

Andrew explained:

"Well, his ex-girlfriend got married in July! And he did not really cope with their separation, months ago!"

Piero nodded: he knew that Charles was heart-broken since Camilla Shand, his former sweetheart, ended their love story last year. But he did not expect to be downcast to this point.

"And do you want me... to have a conversation with him?"

"Anne and I thought it would be helpful. After all, you are close to his age!"

"Mark tried to cheer his mood, but it did not work well!"

"Mh, I see... Fine, I will see what I can do!"

The two princes seemed relieved.

"Thank you for your help, Piero."

"That's what I am supposed to do. Where is he?"

"In the gardens. He needed some air..."

Thanking Anne and Andrew, Piero walked downstairs to the gardens where he found Charles, wandering like a lost soul.

"Charles?"

The Crown Prince looked at the schoolmaster and the latter saw deep grief in his eyes.

Slightly sighing, Piero kindly asked:

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I... I don't know."

"As you want. Perhaps it would take a weight off your mind..."

The prince breathed before asking:

"Could you walk with me... please?"

"Sure, of course."

The young man joined Charles, and they started walking through the gardens.

"I don't know how it happened... I should have known that she favored that Parker-Bowles over me! But I still clung to the last straw of hope until I heard of their engagement!"

"I'm sorry for your heartbreak, Charles. But that was another life lesson, even though it hurts..."

The Prince of Wales sadly sighed.

"And as if it was not painful enough, Mother still pressures me to find a suitable bride... Even Father worried about it!"

"You are only 25 years old: you will find her, I feel it!"

"If only my dear parents were as optimistic as you, Piero. But no, they repeated all day long that Father married Mother when he was my age, and I'm exhausted hearing it all the time!"

"What does your grandmother think about it?"

"She says that I should not hurry to find my future wife, because a hasty marriage would inevitably end in a disaster!"

Piero nodded.

"Your grandmother is right, Charles: if you only follow what your duties command, you will bitterly regret your decision for the rest of your life. Of course, you have to find your future Queen, but you must love her as much as she loves you!"

He saw tears forming in Charles's eyes.

"I know but... I feel like everything I do is not enough for my parents. Am I just a good for nothing?"

Instinctively, the young artist knew that he would break the etiquette... but who cares? So, he did hug Charles in a comforting embrace, gently stroking his back.

"It's okay, Charles. I am here."

The prince did not cry, but he felt relieved that someone finally comforted him, so he hugged back Piero.

"I know this is not very formal, but I thought it would help you!"

"To hell with formality! I needed someone listening to me..."

They stopped the hug and Charles stated:

"I understand why Andrew and Edward appreciated you, Mister De Angelis: your patience and your kindness are helpful for the four of us!"

Piero shrugged.

"I just... do what I think is the best for everyone!"

"And I am glad that someone like you ensures our well-being..."

The young man smiled.

"You have no idea how much I am honored to have your trust, Charles. Listen: I will talk with your parents about it, and we will sort it out!"

"Thank you, Piero."

Unbeknownst to the two men, Philip was looking at them from the window of his office. The Duke of Edinburgh smiled while seeing his lover bonding with his son: indeed, he was happy that his four children appreciated Piero. Even though neither of them is ready to tell the princes the truth about their relationship: they have to wait...

In the evening...

"Do you want your son going bonkers? Stop pressuring him about his love life!"

"But he is still unmarried! At his age..."

"Yes, yes, I know the story: at his age, you were already married to Elizabeth!"

Philip pinched the bridge of his nose: Piero and he argued about Charles's single status. His beloved artist thought that his eldest son would go down into depression because of the familial pressure.

"Piero, I understand your concern about Charles, but he knows his duties..."

"Oh, please: don't start lecturing me about duties! If you were that meticulous about duties, you would never choose to cheat on your wife!"

"Don't muddle up things, would you? She started the war!"

"Don't change the subject, would you? We are talking about your son, in case you forget it!"

Piero sighed.

"Charles believed that he felt like a failure towards you. And he can't count on his mother to dismiss his fears! For God's sake, be more supportive of your son!"

"But..."

"No buts! You have to admit that your eldest son is not your carbon copy!"

"I admitted it! But people start talking: he is unmarried, had no official girlfriends, and he prefers attending parties! Rumors are spreading all around the kingdom."

His lover gave him a dark look and said with a cold tone:

"Let me ask you this simple question, Philip of Edinburgh: what matters the most for you? The public image or the well-being of your son?"

Philip stayed silent, much to Piero's displeasure:

"Fine, I see... You know what? You have all night to think about it."

He turned his heels and walked away.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Did you really think I will spend the rest of the night with someone who does not listen to my advice? I really want to help you, Philip, and especially because I love you. But if you don't pull your weight, there is nothing more I can do. Good night!"

As he watched his lover walking away from him, the prince stood, desperate and worried. He messed up everything with his children, and now he messed up his love affair!

Philip sighed: why everything was so complicated? But, he had to acknowledge that Piero was right: he went back to his wrong habits, once again. 

And if he wanted to save what mattered the most to him, Philip had no other choice: he had to repair his faults...

14th November 1973.

The Westminster Abbey bells happily rang in the air. Indeed, the United Kingdom celebrated the wedding of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips. A joyous day for the kingdom, and also for the royal family... Well, almost for Philip. Of course, he was so proud to walk his daughter down the aisle: what kind of father would not be happy for his child on this special day?

But what saddened the prince consort was that Piero barely talked to him since their argument about Charles. He could not blame him: the young man cared more about Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward than their own mother. 

As he watched his lovely Anne and Mark exchanging their vows, the prince spotted Piero, sitting near the Duchess of Gloucester. 

He knew that his wife allowed the presence of the young man at the ceremony to look after Edward, who was the page boy of his sister.

Piero was dashing in his pearl-grey suit, his white gloves, and his perfectly combed dark hair. Philip never ceased to be amazed by the angelic beauty of his lover. If only they did not argue 4 months ago, the prince would have already told the young artist how amazing he was.

But the young man was not inclined to speak with him yet, and this situation saddened Philip. 

Meanwhile, Margaret saw the two lovers with a sad smile: she hoped that this argument between Piero and Philip would not last long, as she feared it would break her brother-in-law's heart. She knew that the young Mister De Angelis was the only one for Philip, and she could not let this match made in heaven falling apart. 

Margaret smiled as she got another idea: the wedding reception will be the perfect occasion for a reconciliation...

Soon as they reached Buckingham Palace for the wedding lunch, Margaret whispered to Philip:

"Please, I know that you suffer, but talk to him!"

"I want to, but every time I look in his eyes... I only see anger and sadness. And I am the one who upset him!"

She gently patted his shoulder.

"You know what? Weddings are the best occasion to prove our love... or heal a relationship."

She winked before walking away, congratulating the newlyweds. As he thought about Maggie's musings, Philip smirked: after all, he learned to never give up what he held dear. And he would never give up on Piero... 

Later that day, as the guests were too busy dancing, gossiping, or enjoying food, the prince slipped away from the crowd and wandered in the corridors when he spotted Piero in a room, retouching his make-up. 

Smiling, Philip entered and said:

"Oh, dear: you do not need to change anything. You are already beautiful!"

Startled, the young artist stammered:

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk, I think.

Piero raised an eyebrow: 

"Really? About what?"

Philip closed the door behind him before answering:

"We need to talk about us. It feels like years since I hold you in my arms..."

"And why you do not hold me in your arms, precisely?"

The prince sighed.

"Because of my stubbornness, we are apart. And I regret it every second since that night. You were right from the beginning, Piero: what is the purpose of your help if I did not listen to your advice? I should have known that you're the right person since you only wanted the best for me. My words might sound hollow, but I will be grateful to you for being here when I felt alone!"

The young man sighed before looking at his royal lover with a sheepish smile:

"I had to confess: at first, I did not speak to you because I wanted to be sure you learned your lesson. But then... I took pleasure letting you stew for a moment."

Philip was shocked.

"Are you bloody kidding me?"

"Not at all. Besides... I already forgive you, my stubborn Viking!"

The prince smirked:

"And they said Arlequin is the trickster in chief... Looks like they underestimated Pierrot!"

"And you love it!"

"Oh yes!"

Piero laughed wholeheartedly. Then, he stated:

"So, you said that you missed the sensation of holding me..."

He opened his arms:

"Why don't we make up for lost time?"

Philip did not need to be asked twice and rushed into his arms, kissing him feverishly. Their hands rediscovered their bodies, every touch drawing breathed moans of pleasure from the two lovers.

"I love you, Piero."

"Ti amo, Philip."

And while the kingdom celebrated the wedding, the prince and the artist rejoiced in their reunion. 

June 1975. Balmoral Castle.

The summer went well for the royal family, and everyone appreciated the peacefulness of the Scottish countryside. For Piero, it was like discovering another place. He was amazed by the soft colors of the countryside and the calm surroundings, far from the lively Londonian life. 

To be honest, he did not expect the Queen to invite him to spend some days at Balmoral, but apparently, Edward insisted, and she accepted. How could he refuse the opportunity to be closer to his dear Philip? 

However, they both tried to be careful as he did not want to be caught by Elizabeth or the Queen Mother. 

But everything changed one day, as Elizabeth left with some of her friends for a horse-riding stroll with some of her friends, and her dear Mister Acherville.

It did not bother Philip, as he took advantage of her absence to spend some time with his dear artist. Once his wife went away, he looked for Piero until he found him in the gallery room, looking at the different pictures hanging on the walls.

Coming near to him, the prince gently held the young man from behind and said:

"Are you judging the quality of the paintings?"

"Well, I have to be honest that the painters were talented. Your wife should add your own paintings!"

"Seriously? She said it would look out of place... Besides, you are far more talented than me!"

Piero chuckled:

"You flatterer!"

"It is the truth! You're my perfect little Da Vinci!"

The young man turned around and put his arms around Philip's neck:

"And you're my handsome Saint John the Baptist with a mischievous smile!"

"You like my mischievous part of me!"

"No, I don't like it... I adore it!" chuckled Piero before kissing his lover.

Amused, the prince answered the kiss with the same passion... until they heard a collective gasp of shock!

They turned around and saw Charles, Anne, Mark, Andrew, and Edward who stood near the door, astounded and silent.

Horrified, Philip stammered:

"I... I can explain everything..."

"You better explain, yes!" said Anne with a cold tone.

Mark closed the door behind them, preventing any gossiping from the staff.

"Now that we are alone, can you explain what happens?"

"This scene does not really need an explanation..." smirked Charles.

Ashamed, the prince started to explain:

"I guess that we do not have the choice. As you have noticed, your mother and I do not have a good relationship for some years. I thought that it would improve, but she decided to spend some time with another man. I was so desperate, and I neglected you - and I am sorry for that. And then, your aunt Margaret introduced me to Piero..."

"Auntie Maggie and her plans!" snickered Andrew.

"You got the point, Andrew. And so, at the very moment I knew Piero, I felt like something changed... To be honest, I felt that I fell in love again. I would be forever grateful to Piero for everything he did for me."

"Was it your idea to hire him as Andrew and Edward's tutor?" asked Charles.

"No, it was again Margaret's idea. And I saw how you felt better since he spends time with all of you!"

"Do you plan to tell us the truth one day?" asked Andrew.

"We aspired to, but I do not want you to see me as an intruder in your family. But I can assure you that I deeply love your father as he loves me!" explained Piero.

The five young people looked at each other before Edward answered:

"You know, Mister Piero, I don't mind if you are in love with Papa. Besides, you love all of us more than Mum does. So, I am happy to have you here with us!"

"He is right: at least, you listen to us and you try to encourage us, unlike Mother!" added Andrew.

"I do not really care about my parents' affairs, as we all know that their marriage is doomed. But now, let's be honest, Piero: you made him happy, and it matters the most for us!" stated Charles with a genuine smile.

"I have to confess that this is quite unusual... But, my dear Anne has a high opinion of you, Mister De Angelis, and so am I. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone about your affair!" smiled Mark.

"You see, Father, we all support you, and we are happy to have Piero with us at Buckingham Palace. So, there is no need to worry." grinned Anne.

The two lovers sighed with relief: at least, they accepted their relationship. 

"Thank you very much!" breathed Philip with a slight smile.

"You're welcome, Father. But, the next time you want to show Piero your affection... Try being discreet!" laughed Andrew.

"He takes that from you, dear!" chuckled Piero.

"I guess so..." sighed Philip, even if he could not help smiling.

It looked like, after all, that they gained new allies... 

27 August 1979.

In his house, Piero was dozing on his couch, reading a collection of poetry works by Oscar Wilde while he listened to some trendy music on the radio.

Suddenly, he heard the voice of a journalist interrupting the music:

"Ladies and gentleman, we interrupt our program as dreadful news has just been released by Buckingham Palace: today, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Admiral of the Fleet and former Viceroy of India, has been killed by a bomb planted aboard his fishing boat while he was spending his holiday with his family in his summer home in Mullaghmore, in the north-west of Ireland. 

We deplored also the tragic loss of his grandson Nicholas Knatchbull and Paul Maxwell, a young local crew member. The remaining people present on the boat when the attack happened, suffered from serious injuries and were transported to the closest hospital..."

Piero dropped his book, troubled: it could not be! He rushed to his phone and dialed Philip's number. After a few seconds, he heard his lover's voice:

"**Hello?**"

"Philip, it's me! I have just heard about your uncle! Is that true?"

The slight sobbing on the other side of the phone answered his question:

"**They... They murdered him, Piero! They killed him! And they took his grandson's life! How dared they?**"

"I am terribly sorry for your loss, my love. I know how much he was a loved one to you..."

After all, Louis Mountbatten was not only the uncle of Philip: he was his paternal figure, a role model he praised so many times. Piero could not imagine how his lover suffered from this tragic loss.

"My condolences, amore mio. You are in my prayers, you and your family. I hope that the injured will recover soon."

"I hope so... Thank you for your call."

"You're welcome. How are the children?"

"Charles is deeply upset, Anne is crying, Andrew cannot believe it, and Edward tried to cope with this tragedy."

"I imagine... Don't hesitate to comfort them."

"I will... I am sorry, but I have to quit: Elizabeth required my help to organize the funeral. I'll call you later."

"Don't worry, it's fine. See you later, my love."

"See you later, angelo mio!"

As he hung up, Piero felt bad for Philip: his lover endured so many hardships in his life that the young man wondered if he can handle this new tragedy... 

5th September 1979.

Sitting in his living-room, Peter watched the funeral of Louis Mountbatten on television. He watched the royal family, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis, and some major figures of the kingdom attending the obsequies, all dressed in black and showing a sad expression on their faces. 

The young man wished he could attend the funeral, just to be here for Philip and comforting him. But it was the mourning of a family, and he did not belong to this family...

Later that day, he heard a knock on his door.

"I don't remember to entertain someone today..." muttered Piero as he opened the door.

Much to his surprise, Philip stood there.

"Philip? But what are you doing here?"

"I needed to see you... Because I have something to tell you. May I come in?"

"Of course!"

The young man stepped aside and let the prince enter the house. Then, he closed the door behind him and asked:

"Do you want something to drink?"

"No, thank you."

"Alright. May I know what are doing here?"

He noticed that Philip held a large box under his arm.

"Hm, what is this?"

The duke sighed before explaining:

"Since the murder of my uncle, I thought about everything that happened in my life, both good and bad memories. And then, I thought about us, and I realize how important you are to me since we started our relationship. I wish I had met you sooner, but there we are. This tragedy casts light on the most significant person in my life: you."

He opened the box, revealing a golden crown before he put the ornament at Piero's feet. Then, he gets on one knee and said:

"You deserve everything, Piero. And moreover, you would be a wonderful consort. That's why I wanted to put a crown at your feet..."

"Wait for a second: it looks like a proposal... But you are already married!"

"I know, I know. I cannot divorce Elizabeth, and I think you understand that. But it is my way to say that I will belong to you, and you only for the rest of my life. And I wanted to know if you feel the same..."

Piero nervously chuckled.

"Oh Lord, that was unexpected!"

He kneeled near Philip and replied:

"I won't ask you to nullify your marriage, because I know what are the consequences. But I am moved by your gesture, and if you want to know, I will never look at someone else the way I am looking at you. I love you, Philip Mountbatten, and it won't change..."

"I love you too, Piero De Angelis." smiled Philip, relieved, before he kissed Piero.

As they tightly held each other, the two lovers felt like the sadness was less oppressive. They had the impression that nothing could tear them apart and they will surpass everything together.

October 1979.

"So, tell me more about this charming girl. What is her name, already?"

"Her name is Diana. Diana Spencer."

"What a lovely name! Is she the daughter of Count John Spencer?"

"Exactly."

Walking through the halls of Buckingham Palace, Charles and Piero were talking about the Crown Prince's new girlfriend, the young Diana Spencer.

"I know that you're dating her for perhaps one month, but how is your relationship?"

"Quite good, to be honest. She is calm, smiling, quite smart... Of course, she had different hobbies than mine but... I guess it's alright."

"I would like to meet her. I can invite both of you to my place if you want."

"It would be a pleasure."

A servant arrived.

"Mister De Angelis."

"Yes?"

"Her Majesty The Queen requires your presence in her office. If you please follow me..."

Piero was intrigued: why would the Queen want to see him?

"Alright, I arrive. See you later, your Highness."

"See you later, Mister De Angelis."

Piero followed the servant until they arrived in front of the door. The man knocked at the door before he announced:

"Mister De Angelis, Your Majesty."

"Perfect, George. Good afternoon, Mister De Angelis."

"Your Majesty," replied Piero.

The servant left the room. 

The young man politely said:

"Your Majesty, I renew my condolences after the tragic loss of Lord Mountbatten... I shall say that I share your pain."

The Queen answered in a neutral tone:

"Thank you for your consideration, Mister De Angelis. However, the pain is not the only thing we share..."

Puzzled, Piero asked:

"May I know what are you talking about?"

She looked at him with contempt:

"Don't you dare think I am a fool, Mister De Angelis? I have learned that you have an affair with my husband!"

Piero stared in amazement: how could she know about it? He was sure none of the children told their mother, neither Margaret nor Philip. So, it must be a servant...

"I am astounded by such accusations, Your Majesty. Your husband and I have only cordial relationships, and that's all!"

"Stop spreading your lies. I know that you are the mysterious person my husband comes to see almost every day."

She came closer to him and snarled:

"I gave you my trust, I even left my children with you, and this is how you thanked me?"

Usually, the young artist would have lowered his head and being ashamed. But this time, he stared defiantly at her and said with a cold tone: 

"Maybe I would be the rudest man in your kingdom, Your Majesty, but I can't stand such hypocrisy. Especially when it comes from someone who hurt her children and cheated on her devoted husband..."

"How dare you?!"

"I can ask you the same. You did not expect that I knew your dirty little secrets, am I right? After all, your lover was not really careful: he put his latest love letter in my office. What a big mistake!"

He restrained himself from smiling as he saw Elizabeth grew pale.

"But, I am a gentleman: I won't tell the media about your romance if you let us alone. Otherwise, the entire Commonwealth will hear about his adulterous Queen..."

"You have some nerve to threaten me as you do, Mister De Angelis..."

"I don't threaten, I warn: this is all the difference. After all, you would not have hesitated to destroy my life. Let's say that we are on equal terms for now..."

Suddenly, Philip and Margaret burst through the door.

"Ah, right in time, Philip. I have just tell Mister De Angelis that I knew about your affair."

As Philip was shocked, Margaret raised an eyebrow.

"And then? It's not like Philip was the only guilty!"

"You were supposed to support me, not to defy me!" snapped Elizabeth.

"How am I supposed to do that, as you enjoy belittle all your family members - it is a miracle that Mother is the only exception. And you deserve what happened..."

"Should I understand that you are behind this?"

"Absolutely, and I won't regret anything I did! And I am so glad that Philip has someone who did what you are supposed to do!"

The Queen fumed as she understood that her sister and her husband joined forces against her.

Philip added:

"You see, Elizabeth: you throw me away, but I won't running after you anymore. I finally find love again, and if you dare to mess up everything, I would not mind telling your friends about your relationship with Acherville."

Seething, Elizabeth raised her head in an arrogant gesture and declared:

"That is not going to happen for long, Philip. You know where your place is, and you will give this entertainer up!"

"I don't think so, dear wife. I am not the one who gives up so easily..."

He smirked.

"Now that you know everything, shall we leave you?"

"You're dismissed. Now, go!" she replied with a short tone.

The trio left the room, a relieved smile on their faces. However, they won't drop their guard, as they knew how embittered Elizabeth can be.

But it looked like she lost the war. Now, it was Philip and Piero's turn to conquer Buckingham Palace... 

To be continued...

N.B: This request is written like an AU and changed many things from the characters to the events. 

Please be kind and comprehensive and don’t snap about it!

Anyway, I hope you liked the story and I am waiting for your requests.

See you soon! 😘😷😍🥰💖

[cupidcreates]

yay! I’m gonna rapid fire send a few short ones but there’s no rush in getting them all answered! okay so you’ve mentioned that suki’s love language is touch, but what about everyone else? -😌✨

Ooooh! Good ask! I’m assuming you want the L.Y.E cast but I’ll add a few extra characters into the mix. I’ll do just the male characters for this post and do a female list at another time if y’all want it!

I also separated giving/receiving love languages because a few characters I feel would give love different to how they would like to receive it.

(Also this took SO LONG to finish I’m sorry for making you wait!)

Love Languages

💥Katsuki Bakugou💥

Gives in Touch / Receives in Touch

Receiving: As I’ve said before, Bakugou’s love language is touch, and as I’ve also said he’s super uncomfortable with people touching him casually because he just expects physical contact to hurt in some way or another. So once he does get a SO it’ll take a while for him to open up to any sort of physical affection, especially in public. At the start of the relationship the best they’ll get is holding hands, and even that is more a possessive gesture than anything else, it’s meant to signal to anyone passing by that this person is his and his alone. 

However, after a bit of time Bakugou will open up to his SO and allow himself to accept the affection they give. It’ll start with the hand holding, progress into accepting hugs without complaint, to even letting his SO play with his hair while he lays in their lap and tells them about his day. It’ll eventually become apparent that Katsuki loves to be touched, craves it even, though he’d never admit to this outright. It’ll take a while to get there but gain his trust and he’ll accept any sort of physical affection his SO has for him.

He’ll still never tolerate anything further than a chaste peck on the cheek in public though. He loves the gesture don’t get him wrong but Pro-Hero Ground Zero (Bars Dude ✌🏽) does have a reputation to uphold you know.

Giving: Katsuki loves to be touched sure but he also loves to touch. Similarly it’ll take time for him to get comfortable with giving physical affection but once there he can’t help but wrap himself around his SO nearly all the time. 

If he’s out with them he’s got an arm around their shoulders or their waist. 

If he’s home with them and they’re doing something he’s right there next to them, bumping shoulders so frequently he might as well just press himself to his SO and stay there. Or he’s behind them, arms wrapped around their waist and head on their shoulder watching whatever they’re doing.

If they’re laying down or relaxing in anyway he’s laying under them, next to them, on top of them, doesn’t matter to him as long as he’s there with them. Katsuki has never been good at expressing his feelings verbally, so he Koala’s himself to their form and just hopes all his emotions can transfer through his body and into theirs and they can understand how much he loves them. 

🥦Izuku Midoriya🥦

Gives in Gifts & Words of Affirmation / Receives in Words of Affirmation

Receiving: Listen, after a childhood full of being looked down on a belittled for being Quirkless, Deku has developed something of a mental blockage about his own self worth. The fact that the most common way for people to refer to Deku is as “The Plain One” doesn’t help his inferiority complex. Even after years of having One for All he still has lingering doubts about his capabilities and desirability.

So when his SO tells him something they like about him, even if it’s something as simple as “I like your outfit today” he is over the moon about it and won’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day. 

He’s more than a little embarrassed about it, he thinks it makes him narcissistic and shallow in a way, but he simply can’t get enough of the praise his SO gives him (maybe or maybe not has a praise kink like who knows ya know). 

It gives him a rush to hear it, to know that he means something to someone, to know he’s appreciated, loved, and desired by at least one person. A simple “I love you” is all he needs to make his day, any sort of affirmation is the highlight of his week and he craves it like a starving man craves food.

Giving: Izuku loves to compliment his SO, but he also tends to assume that they, unlike him, already know their value. He doesn’t think his words hold nearly as much weight to his SO as their words do for him. So while he’ll definitely lay on the verbal affection pretty thick he’ll also supplement it by going out of his way to never let a week pass without getting his SO a gift.

It’s usually something small, just something to let them know he was thinking about them throughout his day. Since Izuku never let his fanboy behavior of obsessively taking notes go, he definitely knows his SO’s favorite everything ever so they can expect to frequently receive their favorite candy, flowers, etc, on a regular basis.

❤🤍Shoto Todoroki🤍❤

Gives in Gifts & Quality Time / Receives in Gifts

Receiving: Now Gifts as a love language often get a bad rap for being the choice of the rich and materialistic; it’s seen as the shallowest of the love languages by a non-insignificant number of people. Shoto, however, is not interested in expensive and highly-sought after gifts like cutting-edge tech, lavish jewelry, or any other similar staples of wealth. He’s too used to his father getting him things like this to try and win his affection and display the affluence of the Todoroki family. No, Shoto’s not interested in that, Shoto loves gifts that indicate the giver was thinking about him.

What I mean by this is that if someone were to give Shoto a nice watch as a gift he’d say thank you and would definitely wear it but wouldn’t give it a second thought; but if someone where to give him something they hand crafted, like a painting, a ceramic vase, or hell even one of those shitty friendship bracelets everyone who went to bible camp had to make, Shoto would cherish it like it was his own child. He’d be up thinking about it for weeks, completely overwhelmed by the genuine love behind the gesture.

If his SO is not the creative type and isn’t prone to making things, they can still achieve this same affect by just getting him something he likes. Pop in to his agency with some cold Soba or his favorite candy? He’d be flustered to the point of needing to take his lunch break early just to calm down. To Shoto, the ultimate display of love is taking time out of one’s day to make him something or bring him something he enjoys.

Giving: As much as Shoto dislikes the giving of expensive gifts as a way of showing love, it’s really one of the only ways he knows how to express it. Gifts were they only way he was shown affection as a child, so gifts are the only language his brain really understands. He’ll get his SO anything they could possibly want, anything they even vaguely express the desire for they’ll have in a heartbeat. 

His SO was talking about a cute outfit they saw the other day that was slightly out of their price range? Consider it theirs. Were they thinking about replacing their old laptop? He’d get them a new one shipped to their address in less than a week. Even if they just need their tires replaced Shoto wouldn’t hesitate to get it taken care of.

Naturally, this can be incredibly overwhelming and discomforting, especially if his SO isn’t wealthy to begin with. So when it becomes apparent that his SO is uncomfortable with this indulgence his backup way to show affection is to spend time with his SO. Shoto is an excellent listener, and there’s nothing he loves more than to listen to his SO tell him about their day.

Shoto is attached by the hip to his SO most days; when he’s not at work he’s with them, doing his best to fill their average days and menial tasks with fond memories together. He turns a regular night at home into a cluster of warm and loving moments by spending as much time with his SO as possible. He simply cannot fathom ever wanting to be apart from them.

💜Hitoshi Shinsou💜

Gives in Acts of Service / Receives in Words of Affirmation

Receiving: Hitoshi Shinsou has a lot of self-doubt, even after years of training and proving to himself and others that yes he can and will become a Pro-Hero, he still cannot overcome the lingering sense of uncertainty about himself and his abilities. Imposter syndrome who? Hitoshi’s never met her and yet she lingers on his shoulders and weighs him down even after all these years.

So when Hitoshi does finally open up and start dating someone, he’s not entirely sure how to handle being frequently told that he’s loved. Being complimented on his appearance sure, he thinks he’s cute enough and dresses well; but being told something like “You did great on your last mission! You really handled the situation so well” or “Your cooking is excellent, you always know exactly what I like!” will send him into a mini identity crisis. 

He never really thought he did anything exceptionally well, and yet here is this person telling him he’s doing everything exceptionally well? It doesn’t make sense to him but that doesn’t mean he won’t eat the praise up and revel in every kind word.

Giving: Hitoshi has spent so much time focused on his Hero Career, (working twice as hard for half the recognition someone with a flashier quirk would get, yes I’m still bitter) that he’s spent very little time getting to know other people. Mr. “I’m not here to make friends” has suffered in Human Interaction department because of this, getting close to other people is not his strong suit.

So once he does get an SO he’s not entirely sure how to let them know he loves them? Sure he can tell them but actions speak louder than words right? So he takes to doing things for them whenever he gets the chance. If they work at the same agency he’ll handle some of their paperwork for them. If they live together he’ll be sure to keep up on the laundry and dishes, even if he’s the one doing them most of the time. He doesn’t mind taking responsibility for the chores, it’s how he shows his love.

Hitoshi might not have the best intuition when it comes to other people but one thing he does know is that everyone likes to have their work load lightened, even if it’s only a little bit. So any chance he’s got to do that for his SO he’ll take it in a heartbeat.

⚡Denki Kaminari⚡

Gives in All of them / Receives in All of them (lmao)

Receiving: There’s no one more familiar with rejection on this list than Denki Kaminari. Much like Mirio he’s a natural flirt, but unlike Mirio he lacks the overwhelming brightness and charm that lights up the room the second he walks in. Because of this Denki has become rather close with the concept of being curved.

Denki doesn’t let it get him down; he’s got a very easy going personality, so it’s not like he’ll never find someone! It’s only a matter of time before he comes across someone who likes him for him, right?

That was easy to believe back at UA, but he’s an adult now with a flourishing career as a Pro-Hero and yet still can’t seem to find someone. The last thing he wants is for this to make him bitter and reserved, but it becomes increasingly difficult to deny that it hurts. Is there something wrong with him? He can’t help but feel like he’s just unpalatable to the majority of the population.

So when Denki does manage to find an SO he’s over the moon about it. He’s so desperate for any type of affection that he’s open to any kind of love his SO can give him. Is their language gifts or words of affirmation? He’ll cherish every present and kind word they can give him. Is their language Quality Time or Acts of Service? They can expect him to never leave their side, or to shower them with praise and thanks, never letting them forget how much he appreciates them and all they do for him. Is their love language touch? They’ll have full access to his body 24/7, anytime, any day, just say the word. Denki just wants to be loved so badly.

Giving: Just as Denki is open to receiving any kind of love, he’s also open to providing any kind of love. If his SO wants gifts he’ll go bankrupt just to shower them in any material possession they want. If they want his time he’ll give it to them, his touch his hands will never leave them. If they want his praise he’ll be sure to never shut up about them and their accomplishments, if they like acts of service than call him Nicki Minaj because yes he’ll do the cooking, yes he’ll do the cleaning. 

Anything his SO wants he’ll do it for them, he’d let them walk on his face as they come in the door if they wanted to. He can’t stand the idea of his SO leaving him, he’d die before letting go of the love he has with them. He’s convinced that if they leave him he’ll never find it again, at the end of the day he might just be right.

💎Eijirou Kirishima💎

Gives in Words of Affirmation / Receives in Words of Affirmation

Receiving: Eijirou Kirishima is not full of himself, not in the slightest, but that doesn’t stop him from getting butterflies every time someone compliments him (especially on his quirk or pro-hero work). He knows he’s not as flashy as others in his field, but he’s making due with what he has. If anything, he’d just like to have his hard work recognized every now and again.

Eijirou dislikes that his love language is words of affirmation, but he can’t deny the fuzzy feelings he gets when his SO praises him, or compliments him, or even just tells him they love him. Much like Denki, Eijirou just needs to be loved to feel fulfilled, and he’s not one to question the motives of the people he cares about. So just telling him how appreciated and loved he is will make him believe it. Just being the world to one person is enough for him.

Giving: Likewise, Kirishima will give back all his lover gives him tenfold. He knows there’s not enough kindness in the world so any chance he gets to tell his SO how wonderful they are and how much he appreciates them he’ll take it. Kirishima loves to see his lovers face light up when they receive a compliment from him, even if its something small like how nice they look that day. It’s like an addiction, he can’t get enough of the pure unadulterated joy.

🥢Tamaki Amajiki🥢

Gives in Words of Affirmation / Receives in Quality Time

Receiving: Tamaki Amajiki is an introvert, that much is readily apparent after meeting him for the first time. He wouldn’t call himself a loner per say, he just prefers solitude to spending time in big social groups. He’s got a very small social battery, it gets depleted very quickly and takes a while to re-charge.

So when Tamaki’s SO offers to spend some time with him and a day he had scheduled to be alone he’s every so slightly disgruntled about it. He loves his SO with all his being but he really does need the time alone.

Of course he can’t turn them down though, so he just makes peace with the fact that he’ll have to re-work his brain to get into the “human interaction” mode again for a while longer that day.

That is, until it becomes apparent that actually he loves to be alone with his SO. Anything he had planned for that day is made infinitely better with their presence. Anything from reading, to shopping, to just cleaning house, he’s not sure how they do it but the tasks just somehow become exponentially more palatable and enjoyable with his SO around.

Tamaki quickly starts to take little blocks out of his day just to spend with his SO, even if it’s just something small like getting a coffee together and chatting for twenty minutes outside the café. Life is just better with his SO around, easier with them around, and he every time he has to leave he’s counting the minutes till he can come back and see them again.

Giving: Tamaki has never been good with words, but that doesn’t stop him from needing to shower his SO in praise and love. He just can’t hold back whenever he sees them, he has to pay them a compliment on something, even if it’s just what scarf they chose to wear that day. He just needs them to know that he sees them, sees the effort they put in every day, and admires their dedication and work ethic.

Tamaki hates that his stutter gets in the way of this, but another thing he loves about his SO is that they never seem to mind. They don’t get irritated with him about it, nor do they tell him to just spit it out. It really helps his anxiety and nervousness and he can’t help but bring it up every time they meet as well. He knows he sounds like a broken record, but it kills him inside to think of his SO going even one day without knowing how wonderful and special they are to him.

☀Mirio Togata☀

Gives in Quality Time & Touch / Receives in Quality Time

Receiving: Much unlike his best friend Tamaki, Mirio is an extrovert through and through. He loves spending time with people and can’t get enough of being around them. He’s invigorated by company and is always open to making new friends. 

That being said he also makes it a point to make time for the most important people in his life, and the best way to let him know that he’s cared for is to return the gesture. Nothing excites Mirio more than getting a text or a call from a loved one inviting him out to spend time with them. He’s so ecstatic that someone would not only be thinking of him, but actually want to take time out of their day to see him. Just wanting to be around him is the quickest way to his heart.

Giving: Mirio loves spending Quality Time with his SO, not a week goes by that he doesn’t plan a date with them. He pulls out all the stops as well, romantic picnics atop a hill, stargazing on the roof, catching a movie, or even just going to the beach for an afternoon. Mirio will never cheapen out on a date, he wants the time with his SO to be memorable so he’ll put his heart and soul into treating his SO right while out with them.

Mirio has also gained the reputation of a flirt, and for good reason. He’s incredibly charismatic and charming, the only thing smoother than his words and cheesy one-liners is his hands. He keeps them soft and moisturized so he can run them over his SO’s body with little to no resistance.

Mirio loves capital L LOVES touching his SO. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t have his hands on them if he can help it. He wants his SO to feel cared for, appreciated, and above all loved to the highest degree, and if that means he gets to grope them for hours on end to prove that then so be it. If his extended deep tissue massage ends up getting more physical than he had first intended it to be than no one will hear him complaining about it. It definitely wasn’t his plan in the first place...

🦅Keigo Takami🦅

Gives in Touch & Gifts / Receives in Touch

Receiving: Keigo’s had a hard life, which is to be expected of a man taken in by the Hero Commission at such a young age and essentially turned into a pawn. He’s not used to letting people get close to him, for both their safety as well as his own.

It’s highly unlikely that he’d end up with and SO, but Keigo’s never been good at telling himself no, so should he find someone he really wants to pursue he’ll do it, consequences be damned. 

Keigo’s never had a normal romantic relationship with someone, but it doesn’t take long for him to find out that his favorite part of it is being physically intimate with his SO. He loves having their hands all over him, it sets his skin alight and electrifies him in a way he’s never felt before.

Touching doesn’t have to just be sexual either, he can spend just as long cuddling with them, wrapping them in his arms and dwarfing them as he covers them with his wings.

Speaking of his wings, he absolutely loves when his SO touches them. He leaves a feather or two with them every day, just so he can always be touching them in one way or another. He loves to be on patrol and feel them gently stroking it, running their fingertips over it or brushing it across their skin. He nearly plummeted out of the air the first time he felt them kiss it. Keigo would rather pluck each and every feather out of his back one by one than not be able to touch his SO again, he couldn’t even bear the thought of losing their physical affection.

Giving: Keigo isn’t one to take without giving back, so touch for touch Keigo will match his partners affections. He’s definitely into body worship and can spend hours on end just running his hands over their body, mapping every inch of them under his palms. His favorite pass-time is to sit and massage his partners back and shoulders while they tell him about their day. Any excuse to have his hands on his SO he’ll take it.

Keigo sometimes doesn’t feel like that’s good enough though, he feels like when he offers touch as a form of love he’s simply offering himself to his SO. That just won’t do for Keigo, that’s just not enough in his mind. To him it’s pompous to assume that he’d be enough for anyone at all, no matter how much is SO might tell him differently.

So to supplement this he’ll shower his SO in gifts, often of the more expensive variety. What’s the point of being a famous and wealthy pro hero if he can’t spoil the people he loves. He definitely has some bird like tendencies as well so his SO can expect to get a lot of random gifts with “It was shiny and I thought you’d like it” as they explanation behind it.

🔥Touya Todoroki🔥

Gives in Acts of Service & Touch / Receives in Acts of Service

Receiving: Listen, Touya is used to people only doing things for him out of hear or because they need something from him in return. He ran away from home and was presumed dead from a pretty young age, so he’s had alot of time to figure out that if he wants something done he’s either doing it himself or threatening someone to do it for him. People don’t do things for Touya because they like Touya, they do it because they fear Dabi.

So when he, against his very nature, decides to settle into a relationship with someone he’s not entirely sure how affection is displayed between partners. So he’s reasonably skeptical when his SO starts to just do random nice things for him, like cleaning up a mess he’d left for later or bringing him dinner when they knew he missed lunch and breakfast.

He just can’t fathom why his SO would do something like this on a whim, and just decides to bring up that if they needed him to do something for them, they didn’t have to butter him up like everyone else did. Needless to say he was surprised  when they told him they just do these things for him because they love him.

Well he’s not entirely sure about that but he’s never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth now has he? Since they last person to genuinely give a shit about him was his mother Rei and brother Natsuo he’s not about to let someone who says they love him go. Especially not if they continue to do nice things for him.

Giving: Touya Todoroki would never deny being an absolute asshole, he just doesn’t give a shit about anyone or anything most of the time. That being said, he’s not one to be in debt to anyone either. If his SO is performing acts of service for him then dammit he’s going to do the same. 

He can’t help with things like house work (not that he would if he could) but he can definitely do things a little more underhanded than what his SO is comfortable with. Should his SO need something they can’t afford they can consider it theirs as long as they don’t ask where it came from. If they’re having trouble with someone at work, be it a manager or just a co-worker, they needn’t worry about it for long. Again, just don’t ask where that person might have gone off to...

Another thing about Touya is that he despises being touched, absolutely hates having anyone's hands on him for almost any reason. If you’re not fucking then don’t touch him without expecting fiery repercussions. 

That being said, Touya also knows (or at least he assumes?) that most healthy couples enjoy touching one another, even when they’re not fucking. So he’ll suck it up for his SO and let them cuddle into him on a cold night, but he’ll make it a point to bitch about it the entire time.

🎮Tomura Shigaraki🎮

Gives in Quality Time and Acts of Service / Receives in Touch

Receiving: For very obvious reasons Tomura Shigaraki does not touch people, not unless he intends to harm them of course. His biggest fear is hurting someone he cares about simply because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

Fortunately for him he rarely lets anyone get close enough for this to be a persistent problem for him, occupational hazard of being a villain you know; but should he manage to find himself an SO he’ll quickly be overwhelmed by the need to touch them in some way or another. Even if it’s just letting them sit in his lap for a minute, he desperately needs to be in contact with this person who (against their better judgement, in his own opinion) has seen past his flaws and enjoys being around him.

A loophole is quickly found though, he can’t touch his SO, but his SO can certainly touch him. He absolutely loves it when they do it as well, any sort of physical affection he eats up with a rabid fervor. It can be something as simple as brushing their knuckles across the back of his neck as they pass behind him that’ll make him go absolutely feral. Their touch is like a drug and Tomura is hooked.

Giving: While Tomura would love to express his affection with touch he’s really just not able to do so without getting sick with anxiety. So instead he makes sure to spend as much time around his SO as possible. Being a villain gives him quite a lot of down time, these evil plots don’t just appear out of thin air! So while he is planning his next move he goes out of his way to include his SO, or at least make sure he’s near them while doing so. 

Having his SO around near constantly not only ensures that they’re safe but also helps to make the time he has to spend around the rest of the LOV more bearable. His SO really is the only person he can tolerate for an extended period of time.

That being said, should his SO need help with anything Tomura will gladly oblige. He’s not one to help with dishes or cleanup, but say his SO needs someone to disappear quickly? He’s got no issue getting his hands dirty and reducing said person to dust. Tomura would dust the entire world if it meant his SO would be happy.

[pitch-pearl-void]

12 Days of Pitch Pearl, 2

decorating, presents, jealousy, sharing

Starr made a delicate little cough. When Phantom failed to look away from the barista draping garland over the counter, she leaned forward and whispered "Ghost Boy?" into his ear.

Phantom looked away from Danny and met her gaze. The green eyes of the town hero turned Starr's insides into butterflies, his attention making her feel light-headed. "Yes?"

Starr smiled and ducked her chin a little, peering at Phantom from beneath her lashes. She twirled a lock of blonde hair around her finger. "May I kiss you?"

Instead of blushing or smiling or even shaking his head in a gentle no, Phantom frowned at her, confused. It wasn't a reaction she had expected, let alone what she had hoped for. 

"You're the sixth person to ask me that," he said. It almost sounded like he was complaining. 

Danny snorted and muffled a cough/laugh behind his hand. 

Phantom's attention snapped back to the employee so fast Starr jumped. "What did you do?" he demanded.

Danny grinned at Phantom. "Me? I haven't done anything." He adjusted the garland on the counter, making it more visible on the customer side of the counter. "I'm only putting up Christmas decorations like Mr. Lancer told me to. I don't want to get in trouble again so soon after you jumped the counter and broke our glass mugs."

"That was your fault and you know it!"

"I didn't tell you to jump the counter!"

"No, you just wouldn't stop talking about the Box Ghost knocking me into the lake!"

Danny snickered. "On national television. Oh my god, dude. How have you not died a second time out of shame?"

"Um," Starr interrupted pointedly, trying to regain Phantom's attention. "It's because you're under mistletoe, Ghost Boy."

Phantom pulled the garland out of alignment, ignoring Danny's cry of dismay. "Spite."

Phantom blinked at her. "Missile what?"

Danny snorted again.

Phantom glared at him. 

Starr touched his arm, pulling Phantom's attention back to her. "It's a human tradition," she explained, her fingers lingering on Phantom's bicep. "When someone is under mistletoe, it's tradition to kiss them..."

As she had hoped from the beginning, Phantom's cheeks gained a green hue as she stared into his eyes. A die hard fan, Starr knew it was the ghost boy's version of a blush, and she smiled sweetly at him. 

Danny ruined things. Again. 

"It can be on the lips, but most people go for the cheek," he explained. He wasn't even looking at them, he was adjusting his stupid garland again. "That's why that old lady kissed your cheek earlier. It's what you do for strangers."

"Oh." Phantom blew out a sigh, his blush receding. "That's alright then. That was kind of sweet." He smiled somewhat goofily. "She said I was an excellent hero, Fenton."

"I heard."

"An excellent hero. And then she kissed my cheek and said Merry Christmas." He seemed ridiculously excited about some old lady's good opinion of him, almost floating out of his seat on the bar stool. Danny smiled at Phantom, his eyes softening for just a moment as his gaze lingered, but Phantom missed it, already having turned back to Starr. Starr wasn't about to point it out to him. "You can kiss my cheek, I guess. Since it's one of your traditions."

Starr's lips wobbled, wanting to pout. If Danny hadn't opened his dumb mouth...

But...kissing Phantom was still a dream come true, even if it was just on his cheek. Thinking of it like that, Starr felt her spirit rising, her smile reflecting her happiness. She touched her fingers to Phantom's chin, partly to hold his face in place, partly to feel his skin against hers. It was cool to the touch, but there was an odd sensation to it. Not quite static, certainly not enough to hurt, but something that sang of restrained power and made Starr's skin tingle. 

Excited to feel that skin on her lips, she began to lean forward. She held Phantom's gaze as she moved in, allowing her eyes to slowly close. She pressed her kiss against his cheekbone, just below his left eye. She lingered longer than was warranted, enjoying the tingle on her lips, before she forced herself to lean back. 

Phantom's blush had returned, a brighter hue than before that actually lit his face in a green glow. He couldn't meet Starr's gaze, his eyes shyly aimed away from her. Starr knew how a boy looked when a kiss affected them, and Phantom was showing all the signs. Despite the chasteness of the kiss, he had liked her kiss.

He liked her kiss!

Starr's hand was still on his bicep, fingers on his chin. She parted her lips, feeling breathless, brave, as an invitation to go for a walk leapt to her mind. Phantom was looking at her lips. He was looking at her lips!

Danny suddenly laughed. 

Phantom's head jerked toward him, Starr's fingers left holding empty air. "What?" Phantom demanded. "What's so funny?"

"You got lipstick on your cheek," Danny answered, still laughing. Phantom squawked and reached up a hand to rub away the mark left by Starr's lips, but Danny caught his wrist quickly by leaning over the counter. "Whoa there, ghost boy. You're just going to smear it and get red lipstick all over your glove. Here. Let me get it." 

Danny let go of Phantom and searched around his side of the counter until he found a white rag. He ran it under water for a second, damping the cloth. He returned to Phantom's seat and gestured for Phantom to lean forward. 

Without a second thought, without any hint of embarrassment, Phantom set his hands on the counter and leaned forward as Fenton had silently asked, half floating out of his seat. Starr's hand fell from his arm, forgotten. Danny placed his free hand on Phantom's opposite cheek, bold as you please, and began to lightly drag the damp white rag over the lipstick Starr had left on Phantom's cheek. On accident, certainly, but...

Phantom stared at Danny. He stared and stared like he was oblivious to Starr standing right there, like any move on his part, even to blink, might ruin...whatever was going on between them. Even Danny seemed affected, a red blush of his own slowly moving over his cheeks as he wiped away the lipstick.

Starr pouted. "He could just clean it off in the bathroom," she reminded them. 

Phantom twitched. 

Danny flinched, jerking his hands away from Phantom.

Instead of returning to his seat, Phantom asked, "I've been sitting under mistletoe this whole time, Fenton?"

Danny's eyes rose to meet Phantom's before moving away again.

Phantom waited a moment, hovering over the counter. "...Did you not want to kiss a ghost?"

Danny's nose wrinkled. He turned away, washing the lipstick off his white rag. "I'm working, stupid. I'm not even allowed to sit down right now, do you think kissing customers is anywhere close to being tolerated? I'd get fired for inappropriate behavior, and then who would make your ultra specific coffee?"

"Ah..." Phantom lowered himself into his seat again, his tail curling contentedly around the legs of his stool. "Speaking of which..." He lifted his cup and half smiled at Danny. "Refill?"

Danny dropped his rag in the sink and turned back to Phantom, snatching his cup and quickly turning away, but not before Starr--and Phantom--noticed his red face. "If Mr. Lancer didn't like you so much..." he muttered. 

Phantom braced his chin on his hand, his elbow on the counter, and grinned sly at Danny. "Oh, it's only Mr. Lancer who likes me, is it?"

Danny chose not to answer that. 

Phantom continued to watch Danny brew his coffee, his smile softening until it was as gentle as Danny's had been earlier. He lifted his head from his hand and shifted in his seat. Speaking slowly, almost cautiously, he asked, "If...if I wait until your shift--"

"Yes." Danny's ears turned red, his blush spreading. "Yes. Just. Wait. Please?"

Phantom crossed his arms over the counter and hid the lower half of his face behind his forearms, but not before Starr saw the giddy, excited grin stretching his lips. 

Starr stepped back, backing away from the ghostly hero. He didn't notice. His attention remained on Danny as it had before Starr had even arrived. Starr turned away, letting herself release one quiet sigh of regret. She left the cafe without ordering the drink she had entered for, not wanting to see the moment Danny's shift ended and Phantom allowed him a kiss. 

An actual kiss on the lips and not on the cheek.

-----

Because the POV was from Starr's perspective and she doesn't have the full context, here you go: Danny hung the mistletoe above Phantom on purpose. He wanted Phantom to receive platonic kisses like from the old lady and maybe drive him a little bit nuts because of all the people trying to kiss him. It was just another prank between "enemies". But the desire to be one of the ones to kiss Phantom snuck up on him, especially after seeing Starr kiss him, and now Danny has thoroughly played himself lol

[tuiyla]

Ngl I don't really think Britt was shown to have a good heart. She was really rude to people, and unlike Santana, I don't remember her normally doing things to help people other than her girlfriend.

The only two I can think of are helping Marley ask out Jake and telling Kurt that he should move on from Blaine instead of moping and being sad, and even in that second one she was throwing shade at him (which is understandable bc he interrupted her proposal, but still. I wouldn't fully count it as a moment of Brittany having a good heart).

She wasn't like Santana, who showed her love for so many people in different ways. She seemed wholly disinterested and unconcerned about most people that weren't Santana.

Why do you think she has a good heart? (not sarcastic I genuinely do wanna know since you explain things well)

I appreciate your open mind but I'm not really here to convince anyone. I've just accepted my perception of Brittany is probably different than most. But yeah I do appreciate the open mind so not sure how well but I'll try to explain what I see of her heart.

Not remembering examples is fair but there are quite a few that disprove "disinterested and unconcerned". I have another ask Imma answer real soon and they bring up the excellent point of Brittany being a sweetie with Becky in what is one of her first proper scenes. And it's not just in season 1, they still have a bond in season 4 that was founded on Britt being nice to her when few others were. Another example that came to mind was wanting to be Kurt's campaign manager purely because she believed in him as a person. Was she misguided, yes, but she just wanted to help and there was zero in it for her. She ended up running against him but I don't think that can be held against her given the circumstances.

I'll give one more friendship example and this might not seem like a particularly nice thing at first but hear me out. So by the time Guilty Pleasures rolls around, Kitty has been integrated into the Glee Club but what she did to Marley hanging over her and her general attitude still making her an outsider to ND. So Brittany reaches out in a way only Britt would, straight up telling Kitty that no one likes her because she's really mean even by the standards Britt herself is used to. You might say, are you tripping OP, how is that caring about people. Well you see I think this is Brittany openly bringing something that's been a shared, secret opinion to the surface and it leads to change. She helps Kitty prove that she is trying to do better and gives her the space to. And it turns into Spice Girls and Kitty being much more open about how much she enjoys being in the club, and in turn being less mean to others. Britt wanted to help and she did, and it had nothing to do with her cat, Santana, or her current boyfriend Sam. Well, maybe Sam was happier with Kitty being easier to tolerate.

Then there's how she cares for not just Santana but anyone she's in a relationship with. Brittany has so much love to give and the shines through in her relationship with Artie as well. Her wish in A Very Glee Christmas is misguided because it can pour salt into old wounds for Artie, but it's so, so genuinely well-intentioned. She doesn't want to hurt him at all and stays with him even after Santana's confession, which I've seen her get a lot of crap for in the fandom but I'm assuming she'd get equal amount for just dumping her boyfriend out of nowhere. But she doesn't because she does love Artie and doesn't feel it'd be fair. Yes she does cheat on him and that's like two separate can of worms but I think the overall point stands.

I can see how Britt could come off as a bit callous and only caring about Santana, and honestly I think it's a bit funny how the tables turn from people saying the opposite lol. I'll get into that more with another ask but staying just with Brittany, I think she’s shown that she cares. Her kindness is more casual than Santana’s and she is most definitely nicer but even if she doesn’t go to the ends of the earth for people other than her wife (and cat) she still cares. I think Brittany’s way can be misguided for sure and she just has such a unique way of approaching everything that it can come off as bitchy even when she’s not trying to be. I interpret her convo with Kurt in 6x03, for example, not as throwing shade for the interruption but that being her default way of talking. Funny Santana’s seen as the brutally honest one when no, when Santana says stuff it really is just her lashing out and being a bitch. But Brittany means every word even if it comes off as blunt and shady. Idk shady isn’t Brittany’s way, if she had a problem with Kurt she would have just said that but he’s one of the people she actually really likes.

I think she has the spirit of being kind-hearted even when she isn’t presenting it in an expected way or when her actions don’t convey her good intentions. And I don’t think she’s all-encompassingly kind, either, that’s not what I mean by saying Britt also has a good heart. She’s simultaneously a lot more approachable than Santana or Quinn but also selective with how, or rather who she cares about. And has an unconventional way of showing it. I also think it’s important to note and I can’t believe I’m only bringing this up at the very end of this long post, but so much of Brittany is a joke. You might not think it’s funny, you might not think it works in the context, but that is the intention and what we have to work with it. So no wonder many of her attempts at showing care go wrong for comedic purposes or that she has these blunt moments that, in a realistic setting, would betray callousness. The majority of the time when she is allowed to be a more grounded/dramatic character she’s with Santana, so stands to reason that it can seem like she only cares about her. I personally don’t think that’s the case.

[k-s-morgan]

A crazy fangirl here. I sometimes wonder how difficult Will really is and every time I watch I keep adding some negative traits to him. In the current rewatch of season 3 my boyfriend is watching with me and he suddenly said he thinks Will indirectly 'knew' Molly-Wally could be harmed. Sadly I could see some truth to it and I am now finding Will less relatable. How far can he go ? Harm Alana's kid ? Who is more dangerous between the Hannigram duo ? And what's the line of difference between them

Ooh, I relate to this so much! Will is endlessly frustrating, and I found him more and more terrifying with each my re-watch. I definitely consider him more dangerous in his and Hannibal’s duo. Hannibal has a system, Will doesn’t. He technically prefers to be a righteous killer, but he harms and sacrifices innocent people so easily, without even blinking, that I get a feeling he could do literally everything for reasons unclear. The reason why Hannibal appears more violent and terrifying is that he has fully embraced himself and enjoys his life as a murderer. Will keeps struggling and tries to pretend to be good, but the more he does that, the more hypocritical he looks. 

Let’s take even Randall as an example - sure, he attacks Will and he’s far from being a good person, but the point is the same. Will kills him brutally, deliberately choosing to discard his gun and use his hands. He beats him until Randall is incapacitated and then still snaps his neck. He admits to Hannibal that he’s never felt as alive as when killing him. He admits to himself how much he enjoyed it later on and calls it his design. He stores his meat and brings it to Hannibal to eat even though there is no need for it, Hannibal already trusts him completely. 

He toys with Chiyoh just out of curiosity - he’s cold and creepy in their scenes. He sets her up to kill or be killed without even knowing whether her tortured prisoner is guilty. And then by Digestivo, in yet another (hopefully final) cycle of denial, Will basically says, “No, I’m actually not a bad person - unlike you, I just tolerate darkness, I don’t delight in it.” That’s infuriating because it invalidates the death of people he murdered, the suffering of those he hurt. His violence toward Chilton is chilling because this is not something anyone could see coming. Will is growing more and more chaotic because he keeps his darkness leashed for too long in an effort to pretend to be normal. When he sets up all those officers in TWOTL to be killed by Francis, he also shows zero remorse - he even casually lifts the gun off one of them.

Now, the whole Molly and Walter thing... first, Will is a terrible person for even dragging them into his world in the first place (though of course I love him dearly). If he really wanted to try living a normal life, he had to make an actual effort. No marrying the first woman he met, the woman he lies to through his teeth, the woman whose “I love you” he doesn’t bother to return and who he doesn’t want to interact with the second she raises the topic he finds personally uncomfortable. He had to make sure he can keep himself stable, that he can live without being tempted to go back to Hannibal and darkness. But he rushed into marriage and just 3 years later, he resumed his Becoming. Molly deserved so much better.

With the attack, the interpretation that a part of Will knew Hannibal might target Molly and Walter is definitely valid. Personally, I don’t have a strong “yes” or “no”position on it - I think @hannibalized introduced great points about it before, but in short, it may indeed seem so. Hannibal gives Will such clear hints that even my mother, who’s usually oblivious to double-talk, kept asking me how on earth Will didn’t get it. Like...

Will: Tell me who [the killer] is.

Hannibal: I don’t know who he is. When you close your eyes, Will... is that your family you see?

[Will scoffs at this.]

Will: Do you know who they are? 

Hannibal: Yes. 

Will: And you're willing to let them die. 

Hannibal: They're not my family, Will. And I'm not letting them die. You are.

These are huge hints, and since Will is supposed to be an excellent profiler - more than that, a profiler who understands Hannibal intimately, it’s strange that he didn’t even suspect anything. Maybe a part of him subconsciously wanted proof that Hannibal is in love with him - since he goes to Bedelia with his question right after the attack. Maybe he wanted reassurance that the passion is still there. Maybe he even wanted an excuse to abandon Molly and Walter (and he does it very easily an episode later). 

Ultimately, I don’t think Will consciously wanted it - he seems genuinely infuriated by the attack, but it’s possible that “the enemy inside him” secretly hoped for such outcome. With Alana’s child, again, everything’s possible. I didn’t think Will would be ready to hunt her and Margot down, but Bryan and Mads (or Hugh, still didn’t get my notes) said he will join Hannibal in this, so there is that. So I don’t think Will would hurt the child, but I also can’t deny it’s possible. Will is very, very unpredictable.   

[flying-elliska]

Skam France Season 6 Review

It’s that time, I guess. My feelings are, like many, mixed. I think I enjoyed the season more than most people here, but the ending was a massive let down. Overall it boils down to this : Skam France is great at moments and very bad at structure. A lot of my issues with the season is what is not in it. I saw so much potential that never quite materialized, and it left me frustrated. At the same time, Lola is a really cool character, her arc is really interesting, her relationship with her sister is one of the best things they’ve ever done, and the actors killed it. Loved La Mif, discovering other sides of Eliott, the urbex backgrounds, and Maya. A lot of fascinating character moments. This is definitely my second favorite season after s3 - at times I even thought it would equal it. Sadly, though, Skam France will remain a bit of a one hit wonder for me. Because they are so good at bringing up problems in a nuanced layering way - be it addiction, grief, eating disorders, internalized ableism, racist microagressions - but when it comes to resolving what they brought up, they default towards a ‘let’s all be nice to each other, hug or kiss, love saves the day yay !’ story. Which is, when you claim to deal with real world issues, simplistic, immature, and at times quite offensive. It works for s3, which is at its core a tale of self-discovery, self-acceptance and romance. But niceness doesn’t solve racism, and family problems aren’t solved with a hug, and addiction recovery doesn’t hinge on having someone to kiss, and the series came dangerously close to implying that at times. 

All in all, this is a show that often manages to be both brilliant and terrible at the same time. At least it’s not dull. 

Positives/Negatives/Meh breakdown :

Positives :

- Sisterly love : My favorite thing without a doubt is the relationship between Lola and Daphné. Flavie and Lula killed it. Almost all the clips that made me cry were the ones with the both of them in it. At the beginning their rivalry is so relatable to me : the responsible sibling who takes on too much burdens and is too controlling and parentified vs. the problem sibling who acts out to express the issues the rest of the family are repressing - i have been in both of those spots. you can see how they slowly realize that the gap between them didn’t need to be there, that it wasn’t their fault, that it was the result of their parent’s bullshit and even shittier circumstances. seeing them make little gestures to recognize each other’s pain, to nurture each other, to give each other support, but also to tell each other some unpleasant truths, was so incredibly powerful. Relationships between sisters can be just so...complex, and loving, and petty, and jealous, and supportive, and feral, and annoying, and understanding, and ugh, they made me feel all of that and more. I have a sister, and I have a relationship like that with her, and this season gave me some very important perspectives. Really, relationships between women aren’t explored enough, and this season really did this one thing excellently and if only for that, it deserves to be watched. That moment where Lola talks to Daphné about her self destructive tendencies...so important. I am so happy that Daphné was the one finding Lola in her tower of solitude, and the moment where she says ‘you pay too much attention to what other people think, Lola’ was the emotional turning point of the season for me, because it was Daphné recognizing Lola really cared behind her mask of coldness, but also that she was hurt by that and that she needed to love herself regardless of the love her parents didn’t give her ; and also that she heard Lola saying it to her and that it inspired her too, so there is this amazing reciprocity. It was so powerful, I’m still reeling from it. And it was a beautiful full circle from the beginning of the season. 

- Family of outsiders : the urbex gang was such a wonderful new group this season. It was bound to be tricky getting us to like this new generation, and I think they did a pretty good job. Even tho I wish we got to know them a bit more, they were all intriguing and interesting on their own, and the vibes of Lamif as a whole were just so fun and lovely. Loved the neuroatypical vibes I got from Sekou and Jo. Love that they introduced a trans guy character. Loved Maya as group mom. And seeing them warm up to Lola was really sweet. The social media of them hanging out was more or less the only good social media we got this season lmao. The urbex thing was a great symbol for Lola finding a home with the outcasts, a bit on the fringe of society, and the start of acceptance, of bringing her in from the cold. Maya and Lola’s relationship fit in that really nicely, especially the bits about them talking about their shared experiences of grief, and my favorite scenes with them is showing Lola that her scars can be beautiful and that her rough experiences are part of who she is. The way she didn’t take Lola’s bullshit was great, and even tho I think their relationship was rushed, overall they really fit well together. Love Maya’s character as a concept in general, this funky purple haired lesbian environmentalist with amazing sense of style, and I really hope we see her again in upcoming seasons. And finally, I also really liked Eliott and Lola’s friendship (except for the ending) - the fact that they understand this darkness that they share, but that Eliott has succeded in climbing over it, and so he can give Lola support, understanding, guidance. I loved that we got to hear a bit more of his perspective on mental illness, the good and the bad times, that we saw his passion for movies become more real. I loved the fact that they bonded over creative things and photography, too, and that she found a safe space in the video store. And even tho it wasn’t resolved properly, the scene where he comes to get her and punches Aymeric really made me cry. Also, BASILE. Best bro in law ever. Their scenes together were so homey and warm and sweet. They will have such a good relationship in time. Overall, I really like how central friendship was in this season, shown as so powerful and important. They could have done more with it but I love a lot of what we got. I am just a sucker for found family, man.

- Lola herself : I know she was a controversial character right from the start. She’s been called manipulative, selfish, out of control, toxic. And honestly at times...maybe she was a bit. I still love her. She is just so interesting to me. The lack of compassion towards her in the fandom was seriously depressing at times, and often felt like a symptom of something I’ve seen in a lot of different fandoms, ie the capacity to only tolerate moral ambiguity when it’s attached to attractive white male characters - and to only tolerate mental illness symptoms when they can be romanticized. In the end, she’s a struggling teen from a deeply dysfunctional family who’s had a very rough life, of course she’s not going to be well adjusted. All in all, I think she’s so brave, and she is a fighter. I adored her feral energies in the trailer. I also really liked her blunt honesty at times, even if it was sometimes hurtful and excessive. I think because I have the opposite tendency to be afraid to speak my mind, I really dig a character who isn’t afraid to speak the ugly truth. Even though, again, ‘the truth’ isn’t always cut and clear, and what Lola is often doing instead is listening to ‘depression voice’ who tells her to believe the worst in people. I find that fascinating, because in my experience, yes, depression comes with this terrible lucidity that makes you see through a lot of bullshit but at the same time, is distorting your perspective because of fear and shame, and kicking that, and disentangling your perception from that fatalism, is very complicated. I loved how genuine she was, how mature too sometimes through the pain, more mature than she should have been. It was rough watching her relapse, but I think the portrayal of addiction was pretty very well done overall, not romanticized and explained in a very coherent way. I wish the show had given her a bit more of a clearer view of her inner thoughts towards the end and let her apologize a bit more. And a clearer realisation that her parent’s lack of well expressed love didn’t doom her. But...yeah Following her really made me question my own - more hidden - self destructive impulses, linked to family shit, that pushes me to sabotage and isolate myself. Like Eliott said to her - it’s really a lifelong struggle. I think overall her arc was pretty satisfying, learning to step away from the edge, letting people in, seeing that she isn’t alone, accepting she deserves better and that her failures don’t doom her. That it is about getting up and trying again. Love her using her mother’s camera and wanting to get a phoenix tattoo, a perfect symbol for her. Also Flavie was amazing, she’s got a bright future ahead.

Negatives :

- No follow up to the assault storyline : The thing that I am, without any single doubt, most mad about, is the fact they didn’t bring up the sexual assault again. Along with Charles’ rape apologism, this creates a very dubious pattern of trivializing the issue ‘as long as it’s not real rape’. The fact that the morning after immediately turns to Elu drama is what sort of started my disconnect from the season, and the fact that they don’t bring it up afterwards even once made me angry. I think Lola, before going back to the hospital, should have told someone about the abuse she endured there, and should have told someone about Aymeric, even if only to acknowledge she wants to be done with that part of her life. Aymeric is like...Lola’s biggest villain, in a sense, he is a horrible predator but he also somehow represents her worst impulses, that part of herself that tells her she doesn’t deserve better, and I think that as a character, he was interesting, and he should have been adressed/exorcised better. If Lola was a real person, of course, she would probably have to deal with this in therapy, down the line, later, but as a story, never adressing this again left it unfinished. And this is really the kind of event you NEED catharsis and resolution for. Otherwise, it’s irresponsible.

- A generally overstuffed and disjointed structure : My biggest problems with this season are about what isn’t and what isn’t it. I liked most of the clips, I don’t have an issue with them going dark, strangely enough, but the way they were put together was just...messy. Like many people have said, too much stuff not properly adressed. Palm of most annoyingly useless subplot, the whole Tiff thing. Yes, it was cool comparing her clique to Lamifex and Lola realizing she wants nothing to do with those shallow fake bitches. Sekou hacking her account to replace it with pigeons, amazing. After that though, it should have been DONE, and in general, it should have taken a lot less time and attention. Comparing Tiff’s social media addiction to Lola’s issues felt like some trivializing bullshit. The whole thing was just so annoying. It would have been good if it had led to some discussion of social inequality but like...not this shit. Char, equally useless (although, cool actress, cool style). Another MASSIVE problem is the lack of follow through on big clips. A great thing about SKAM, usually, is that it shows you the aftermath of big moments - characters lying in bed, cuddling, talk to their friends, crying in the shower, etc. It allows the viewer to breathe and really get into the character’s perspective, to be comforted and process drama, and for the emotions to resonate better, to have space to develop richly. Here...we had Lola brush off her assault, we saw nothing after Daphné got her back from the tower thinking she could have killed herself, we learned that they had money problems and the father didn’t go to work and then that was never adressed again and the light was turned back on by magic (????), we saw Eliott go on a major bender and didn’t really see how he got better, etc. Big lack of introspective clips in the latter part of the season took me out of Lola’s head. It was all stressful and breathless, all intensity and no pause like one grating high pitch note instead of music, it felt oppressive, with poor contrast, and very badly paced. It made everything blur together and feel less relevant. The problem with that is it really takes you out of the story ; it’s hard to care when you know whatever is happening might not have a resolution, and it doesn’t put you in the shoes of the character. This was compounded by how mediocre the social media was, when it is usually used to bridge in the gaps. And then to finish : the structure was so uneven, especially in the second part of the season. Towards the middle we had some very short episodes with very underwhelming endings, and Vendredis that felt like non events, and there wasn’t a lot happening - and then, bam, ep 9, drama overload, almost like misery p*rn, and then a super rushed resolution in ep 10. Like they cared more about twists and giving the opposite of what was expected instead of solid coherent narrative and rhythm. The romantic back and forth felt repetitive as hell too. All in all, it made for a very unsatisfying live watching experience, pretty sure anyone who didn’t watch live would like it a lot more. 

- The last two episodes : Really, I could have overlooked all the problems with the season if they had given us a good ending, but...they really really didn’t. And contrasted with last season, where my problems were focused on the middle, for me the ending is really the worst part of this season. I didn’t dislike the controversial club clips, I liked having the insight into Eliott’s insecurities, but they should never have brought those up if they weren’t going to let him adress them properly. Having everything go to shit in Lola’s life at once felt like overkill - they really should have solved those problems earlier, and then dealt with a few ones properly, showed us Lola freaking out on her own, and taken out the bullshit at the high school. Thierry slapping her was also too much, he could just have said these clumsy things. She could have distanced herself from Maya instead of pushing her away again. Also, they really should have had this happen in episode 8 again, and given us a proper resolution. While the tower sequence was incredibly powerful, I pretty much liked nothing after that. It was so annoying that Eliott brushed off Lola’s apology because while he wasn’t wrong that he decided to get drunk himself, she still needed to apologize and actually state that she wanted to get better so she didn’t hurt her friends, so as a resolution it was very mediocre. Thierry recognizing they should have given Lola the choice to go the hospital was a step but really not enough. And the moments with Maya were cute sure but mostly cheesy and unearned. Same for the ending clip. Mostly it’s such an unsatisfying farewell to the old generation, and it really feels like they wanted us to force to move on - didn’t want to properly recognize the end of an era, gave us almost nothing about their BAC or their future plans, etc etc. Also, letting Charles talk and having Arthur and Alexia kiss again ? SO BAD. UGH. I will be forever disappointed they didn’t give us a Multi POV or at least sth better on social media. And not having Eliott’s POV or at least a real Elu conversation (pretty much all season...) so frustrating I will never not be bitter about that. So yeah. The season started so powerfully but went out with a whimper instead of a bang. That whole ‘romantic love solves everything!!!’ shtick...very undercooked tbh. 

Meh : 

- Mayla’s development : I wanted to stan them SO BAD. Like, wlw in skam (that doesn’t turn into a panphobic mess?) YES, all the way yes. Maya and Lola had great chemistry, great dynamic. I loved their first few clips, the kind of confrontational flirting, the boldness, it was like...damn girls ! we love a non useless lesbian ! But...somewhere along the way, their relationship really suffered from the wacky plot structure. They should have shown us more bonding before we got to the angsting (esp during first urbex night). Also, their first kiss was sweet but I hated the ‘you’re my addiction’ line and that kind of put a damper on it. I liked the scenes where they open up about difficult things, the love Maya showed to Lola’s scars, the dandelion symbolism was lovely, but it wasn’t balanced enough with other stuff, and I felt Maya was way too stoic at times. And I really, really didn’t like the ending, honestly. They kept a good balance all season showing Lola wasn’t relying entirely on romantic love, that her family and friends were also important - but saying ‘i’m okay as long as you’re here’ at the end...honestly that sounds unhealthy and codependent as fuck. I really wish they’d done a more subtle, taking it slow ending for them.

- The financial issues : Again a storyline with much potential that wasn’t dealt with properly. It’s really good that we got a main that wasn’t from an economically priviledged background. Especially it felt very relevant to Daphné’s storyline, with the shame she felt at her friends seeing her place, the pressure to make it work, tying into her ED, etc etc. But cutting off the power, the father not working going nowhere...it’s like the plotline meandered and then vanished into thin air. Instead of that, they could have given us a scene of Daphné freaking out over the bills like in OG w Vilde, keeping the focus on her for that plot because she’s the most affected ; and then in the end of the season the father taking them over from her and telling her he’s found another job and that those things shouldn’t be her responsibility. That would have been relevant, instead of just...a loose end.

- Family issues : The Lecomte family dynamic seemed fascinating to me at the start. The mom being this shadowy complicated figure. The inability of the father to deal with anything. Daphné being parentified, Lola becoming the symptom child. They could have done a lot with this, but in the end, it felt like it was brushed aside too easily by saying the mom sent letters so she wasn’t too bad and Thierry is making breakfast so he’s trying. Not enough. I wanted them to let Lola acknowledge she deserved better and that their parent’s crap wasn’t on her. That her mom should have looked for help and the other two shouldn’t have pretended everything was okay. In general, there is way too much pressure to overlook toxic parent behavior and I wish they’d been clearer about this. 

- Mental health portrayal : Some parts of it were really good. Showing Daphné’s ED, letting Eliott talk about his episodes and relapses, showing some of the dark sides of depression and addiction. They just needed to show more of the recovery, because that is often the representation that they lacked the most. I don’t blame them for showing the bad sides of the mental healhcare system (which is terribly outdated and dysfunctional in France, I’m speaking from experience) but they should have shown the good too. Like do they find recovery boring or something ? Because as a person w MI, that’s actually what I’m dying to see, and they’ve been a real letdown in that department. I also think they should have acknowledged that the Lecomte family has mental issues as a whole, that the mother should have gotten help, and the father probably needs it too (still think they should have gone to therapy as a group lol).

- Elu and Eliott’s development : Honestly, not a big fan of how they wrote Lucas in s5&s6, in a lot of clips he was the angry guy with a temper, I miss s4 Lucas who was so compassionate and showed real growth and emotional intelligence. Here it just felt like they were fitting his character to plot needs, and it’s so sad for a character who had such an amazing story development. Now, I loved the glimpses of domestic Elu we got, how Axel and Maxence really showed the intimacy that had grown between them, they really felt married with all the nonverbal conversations and touches, that was sweet. But it’s so annoying that they hinted at Lucas’s insecurities and Eliott’s lack of communications and just brushed it away with ‘oh they love each other they will be okay’ sure bitch but then show us how ? that’s the interesting stuff ? it really feels sometimes like the writer(s) didn’t like how strongly the fans focused on the romance when they wanted to be talking about MATURE dark stuff not that frilly fluffy romance shit *eyeroll* male writers who think they’re above that stuff is so annoying as is the conflating of dark and mature - anyway. Again I liked seeing Eliott in his element this season, he is really thriving, with his movie and the video store, and that made me very happy. I don’t think it’s unrealistic he didn’t make a lot of friends in uni - French university can be so isolating, there isn’t a campus or a vibrant social life like in the US, it’s a very common experience to feel lost and isolated for newbies and it was also my case - but ? Sofiane ? Idriss ??? They could have found a better excuse to implicate Lamifex in the movie making tbh, like Jo egging him on about her passion for directing or whatever, and Sofiane could have been there chilling with them it would have been so cool. I just wish Eliott would have had more of an arc like Daphné did. It wouldn’t have taken much, and since he is my favorite character, I will never not be disappointed at all the wasted potential. 

Yeah so in the end i think this was a very good story they didn’t entirely give themselves the right storytelling tools to tell. Like there is something in the way they prioritize certain moments over others that...I just find very frustrating and weird. So...flawed, but still very interesting overall.

[kingbennyboyyy]

benny’s RWBY rewrite: team JNPR

 it’s time for part 2 of my character ramblings, and this time i’ll be focusing on team JNPR! while i’ll be going into individual characterization and themes for these characters, my main goal is to analyze their uses are narrative foils for team RWBY. one of my main critiques of the show as-is is that there’s too many main characters, so i’ve opted to delegate team JNPR to side character status. this is nothing against them, this is purely a structural decision. with the preamble out of the way, let’s get to team JNPR!

jaune arc:

- ah yes, vomit boy. i’ll admit, my personal opinion of jaune isn’t the best: i thought he took up way too much time in the first few volumes of the show, time that should have been spent telling the viewer about the rules and power systems that exist in the world. despite this, i think jaune as a character has the potential to do a lot for the main cast. as a character in his own right, he’s defined by his bold nature, contrasted with his deep emotional concern for the people around him. i think that his issues with cardin can stay (so long as cardin is less of a cartoon bully and more of an actual issue), and i think that somebody else should have issues with cardin: weiss.

- i think that the contrast jaune and weiss have is part of the reason a romance was originally written between the two. they have very stark similarities and differences: both of them care extremely deeply about their family names and expectations, and act somewhat carelessly to keep up appearances. jaune cheating his way into beacon, and weiss’ spoiled princess routine, are both direct results of them taking their expectations very seriously. i think that cardin should be the key to both of these characters thinking more critically about what their family names mean to them. for weiss, it could be cardin expecting weiss to be in on some kind of malicious prank against velvet, or even blake after defending velvet. for jaune, it could be cardin insulting jaune’s living up to his family name, or even (and this is mostly me being dramatic) breaking his family heirloom after insulting its effectiveness as a weapon. dealing with cardin should bring these two characters together despite their initial difficulties in getting along. both of them should have to think critically about what their families represent, and if they even want to live up to those expectations.

nora valkyrie:

- now i like nora a lot. i think she fills in the position of “traumatized happy-go-lucky tank” very well, almost better than yang does. she and yang are a bit too similar for me to feel comfortable pairing them up, though. nora’s later development is what intrigues me most: having grown up with ren for a majority of her life, and having had to keep the trauma of losing her hometown and her family to herself by masking it with overwhelming joy and energy, she holds a lot of conflicting feelings and emotions. as much as she comes to resent it, the role of the ditz that smacks things with a hammer is a role that has its benefits. this masking of true emotions with a wall of a conflicting one is something i’ve described in another character: blake.

- as different as these two characters appear to be, they do have a lot in common. both blake and nora have expressed concerns with being defined by the people they surround themselves with. i am in no way at all trying to say that ren and adam are similar characters or people, but i am saying that they debatably play similar roles for nora and blake. for nora, ren is her rock, the person who keeps her grounded, and the person she’s had to change and mask aspects of herself to appease. adam, although much more abusive and violent, forced blake to do similar things: to mask her emotions, do what was expected of her, and to give and give until all that was left was a tool. for both of these characters, learning to be more authentic without fear of hurting the people around them is key.

pyrrha nikos:

- i fucking love pyrrha. the fact that we only had her for two volumes is a crying shame, because i think that her place in the story is really important. it’s easy to forget that past the fantasy high school backdrop, these are children training to become killing machines, who will almost certainly die in battle. pyrrha has embraced this expectation: she’s one of the most competent fighters in her age group, has essentially a cult following, and has somehow gotten through that being pretty well-adjusted. however, the burden of excellence has made it impossible for her to make decisions for herself, for fear of letting down the people who have placed her on a pedestal. this fear is a pretty stark contrast to another character: ruby.

- ruby and pyrrha should have been much closer in the original story. it would have made her death hit ruby a lot harder, but i also think that these two working together makes total sense. pyrrha is the ideal that ruby is striving for in her huntress training, and the two having a mentoring friendship would be really nice. as much of a good fighter as ruby is, she has room to improve in the leadership department, and learning from pyrrha would be great for her. in addition, she and pyrrha have opposite issues: ruby knows what she wants to be, but not what she has to be, and pyrrha knows what she has to be, but not what she wants to be. where ruby’s naivety and optimism drives her to make decisions based on her personal ideals, pyrrha’s comparative maturity makes these decisions much harder. ruby would not sacrifice herself to become the maiden in the same way pyrrha did. i think that pyrrha’s death should be a lesson for ruby: a lesson in sacrifice. it should remove the rosy tint from her gaze, and show her that being a huntress isn’t just about fighting monsters and saving lives- it’s also about giving up your own.

lie ren:

- finally, it’s ya boy. ren is a really interesting character, especially when contrasted with nora. he and nora went through the same trauma, but he came out the other end much different. ren’s semblance is literally masking emotions, and he’s come to do this extremely well. while he’s more recently exhibited a propensity for exploding, for the most part, he’d much rather sit and broil in his angst and anger than let it be readily seen. similarly to blake and nora, he’s the opposite side of the emotional coin to our final main character: yang.

- these two have very different demeanors: one of them is calm, cool, and collected, opting to simply tolerate things that bother him. the other one is almost exclusively at 11, wearing her emotions on her sleeve at all times. however, these exaggerated displays of emotion both serve the same purpose: to mask their suffering. where ren sits in his emotions, slowly and methodically boiling off feelings that are inconvenient,  yang is the kind of person to pour gasoline over her feelings and throw a match onto the pile. make no mistake, these two characters are 100% prone to lashing out, and both of them often lack the ability to see how their explosions harm the people around them. ren and yang, at the beginning, shouldn’t get along. ren should see yang’s emotional nature as a distraction from more important matters, and yang should see ren as a doormat, perfectly willing to be walked all over. however, something should unite them (their loved ones being endangered, perhaps), and allow them to see how similar they are. maybe they’re surrounded by grimm, yang’s semblance has accidentally activated, and her holding onto ren is burning him. ren and yang talk about emotions, how deeply they both feel them, and where ren comes away learning to emote more freely, yang comes away learning to be more cognizant of what her anger does to people. these are both deeply emotional people, but they need to learn that being completely unhinged or completely repressed are far from perfect.

with that out of the way, i hope you’ve enjoyed my thoughts! they’ve gotten a bit more jumbled as time went on, but i really think that team JNPR’s role in characterizing the main 4 is a really important one. as for what happens after the fall of beacon, i think that they should go their separate ways, ren, nora, and jaune splitting up to contend with the death of pyrrha. this mirrors the split of team RWBY, where yang goes home to recover from her injury, ruby, no longer accompanied by team JNR, goes off on her own to try and stop cinder’s forces, weiss is taken home by her family to contend with its newly-illuminated legacy, and blake ventures off to put a stop to adam. i think they should reunite at the end of the volume, after a bit of emotional work is done. but that’s a discussion for another post.

[my-spiritualweapon-is-a-lollipop]

Holding Hands

Synopsis: Essek tours the tower for the first time and he and Caleb have some honest talks. A little bit of angst and a little bit of fluff. Just how I like my wizards. 

It had been a long day in Eiselcross. The Mighty Nein were all weary on their feet, many of them hurt from their various encounters along the way and everyone could probably use the rapport boost of a warm bed and good food. Still Caleb was leary of using the tower when Lucien had proven he could easily dispel it.

“But Caleb” Jester pleaded while grabbing onto his arm with her charming little mittens. “If Lucien’s not nearby yet then we wasted a night of good, safe rest. Wouldn’t it be better to fight him with a good night of sleep before? And besides, the tower is harder to find than the dome.” and she blinked up at him with that particular Jester pout that Caleb found particularly difficult to resist.

“Ja… we could…” He left room for Fjord or Beau to interject with a discussion of the best tactical decision, but they were surprisingly quiet. He glanced at them and saw that Beau was leaning hard against the wall, favouring the leg that hadn’t been hurt in their last run in and trying to play it off. Fjord’s face was etched with exhaustion. That settled it for Caleb. It was worth the boost in moral that an evening in the tower would provide… even if it served to be only a temporary situation. “Ja. We could” He repeated more firmly and began his preparations for the tower.

It was a challenging spell and Caleb had plenty of experience tuning out his companions when doing this work, but Beau and Caduceus couldn’t help but notice the almost imperceptible pause and tensing of Caleb’s shoulders that accompanied Jester grabbing Essek and delightedly declaring:

“Oh, Essek you are going to love the tower! And not just because it’s all wizardy and stuff but Caleb made it so nice. There are lots of cats, and everyone has a special nice room - I bet he’ll make one special for you” she pumped her eyebrows “- and the cats make like WHATEVER food you want! It’s amazing!”

Essek responded in the slightly shaken way he did whenever he encountered the full force of Jester’s jovial attentions:

“I-I-’m certain that it is. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a talented wizard.” and Essek looked hard at Caleb’s back for a moment and then looked away with a perceptible sadness in his eyes but Jester pushed on as was her way:

“Pro-tip: call all of the cats to come snuggle you. You will never. Sleep. Better.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” Essek said nodding at her and trying to extricate himself from where she had her arms wrapped around his. He floated over to the wall to drift near Beau where he expected he would be left to sit in sullen silence, which was what he wanted. He wanted to observe everything about how Caleb cast this spell. This was the kind of magic he wasn’t particularly familiar with and it was endlessly fascinating. To his surprise he was interrupted by Beau leaning close to him and whispering savagely under her breath:

“If you talk shit about Caleb’s tower, I will fucking kill you. I know you’re a supposed to be amazing and all but it’s clear your opinion matters to him, so you better play nice got it?” Essek visibly deflated in response but whispered back with a surprising intensity.

“I understand that I have not given you much to trust Beauregard, but if there is one thing you can, please trust in my respect for all of your abilities. Even if you believe me to be arrogant, foolish or any other of the myriad of likely accurate and unflattering descriptions you may have in your mind, please know that you have each earned my respect time and time again and Caleb more so than anyone. If anything, I wish to prove my capabilities as an ally to you... not judge yours.” Before Beau could respond, Caduceus (who hears just about everything) put an arm around Essek and spoke.

“That’s nice.” and looked at Essek with a natural sense of hope that Essek couldn’t tolerate so he stared hard into the ground.

“Ready” Caleb said to the group. Those who knew him well picked up on the slight nerves in his voice. It would have been easy to attribute it to the long day of difficult travel, but they were all inclined to think that it was more likely to do with the wizard floating a few feet behind the rest of the group with a curious light filling his eyes. They began to file in and Jester paused at the back of the group to whisper to Caleb conspiratorially:

“Don’t worry. He’s going to like it.” and as she stepped inside, she threw her voice out to obviously and loudly proclaim:

“Oh, Caleb it is as beautiful as always! You are so talented! So amazing! So…” as she paused to look for the next description Veth cut in:

“Truly powerful. One might say a prodigy” She said making eye contact with Essek in a less than kind way before beginning to float upwards.

“Yes!” Jester began as she too started drifting upwards “an absolute prodigy! The best ever!” she feigned swooning and Beau cut her off.

“Yeah, yeah Caleb’s great. We get it. What’s for supper?”

“Uh ja” Caleb started, and he summoned a cat nearby “please prepare a good-sized roast and several -uh- vegetable dishes for our pink friend here and also some black moss cupcakes please.”

“Thank you” Caduceus said and began drifting upwards following the rest of the group. Essek looked like he was about to say something until Fjord shouted:

“UP!” right next to him and nearly caused him to leap out of his skin though he quickly recovered his unflappable mask. Everyone drifted up whilst chatting until it was just Caleb and Essek left on the platform.

“Ah I see.” Essek said as he began drifting up off the platform. “A clever design.”

“I thought that scaling many staircases seemed less than enjoyable after a day of adventuring.” Caleb put in, clearly trying to keep the pleasure at the compliment out of his voice.

“Actually, I was rather inspired by a time we found ourselves in the astral sea briefly.”

“Indeed” Essek said having some experience with the nature of that space. “I don’t believe I have heard that story yet.” He continued.

“Probably you will, some day” Caleb said and Essek could sense that this meant the tale of that particular adventure contained sensitive information, information that Caleb did not trust Essek with and he looked at his floating feet once more, unable to make eye contact with the closest friend he had had in years who was saying in no uncertain terms that he was still not to be trusted completely.

“Ah I see… someday then”.

Caleb didn’t want to leave the mood too low for too long. Afterall, he wanted to tell Essek every detail about those halls and their experiences there, but the happy fun ball seemed like it would probably be more of a temptation than was necessarily a good idea, especially if the two of them could work on it together. So, he began floating on ahead and offered Essek his hand.

“Would you like the tour then?” Essek briefly looked up at Caleb floating above him, stretching his hand down to carry him up to his level and couldn’t help but feel the weight of the visual representation of their situation. Caleb looking down, wreathed in light from above while Essek looked up at him and reached for his hand. It was almost like an art piece and he hated to give in to the symbolism.

Still, he grabbed Caleb’s hand and thought “up” to himself until they were level. Much to his surprise Caleb kept their hands intertwined as they floated up to the first floor and it was almost enough to distract Essek from the beautiful library they found themselves in next. Almost. He was a wizard after all. He couldn’t resist the sight of any good collection of books. Essek quickly moved over to the nearest shelf and began scanning title after title and slowly came to a realization.

“You create this space anew every time, correct? It’s not permanently established?”

“Ja, I create it new every time, though I try to keep it close to the same for the most part.”

“So, all of these… these only exist here meaning that these are simply books that you have memorized?” He said with audible admiration.

“Ja. I have a good mind for storing facts.” and he watched as Essek pulled a book from the shelves and began thumbing through pages and couldn’t help but feel to a certain degree as if he was being tested. Essek saw that these books were not just visual representations or the spines of Caleb’s favourite books but complete volumes, written exactly as they were. He found himself feeling that odd mix of jealousy, admiration and something else that he hadn’t quite pinned down that often-accompanied Caleb’s displays of mental prowess. He looked back at Caleb, and though he had had trouble meeting the fellow wizard’s eyes for days - he did not want to see Caleb’s disappointment - he felt compelled to make strong eye contact now to drive home his point.

“I am considered excellent at what I do. I have a keen mind. But this… this is astounding even to me.” Caleb felt the weight of his eyes on him and felt himself flushing somewhat.  

“Well… this is available to you if you wish to read, though I must let you know that many of them are in my original tongue and plenty of these are repeated. Though I have a great love of reading, I have found that I cannot fill an entire library with only my own knowledge just yet.” Essek waved his hand dismissively and Caleb saw just a small hint of the old, confident Essek peek thorough.

“I have arcane means at my disposal to translate. That is not a problem. I thank you.” He bowed his head slightly and stashed a book under his arm.

“But this is only the first floor? Though I would be happy to remain here in the library if that were your wish, I would gladly see more if you would show me?” Though he masked it well from his voice, Caleb could sense the hunger, the eagerness to see more that was familiar to him. Not for the first time, Caleb longed for simpler times in the other wizard’s tower when there was no betrayal hanging between them, simply peers enjoying the pursuit of knowledge and each other's company. Now even the memory of their victory that day felt tainted with the cost of how Essek had acquired much of his knowledge. Caleb pulled himself out of the spiral and offered:

“There is more to seen to be sure. Come. I’ll show you” and he proffered his hand once again. He knew Essek was perfectly capable of following but there was a small part of Caleb that couldn’t resist the small bit of pleasant contact between them that felt safe and distant enough, at least until he could make up his mind about what to do about Essek. Essek for his part noted the texture of Caleb’s hand, memorizing it and studying his internal reaction for future reference- when he had time to unpack all that was causing him to feel. He also noticed the scars just visible at the bottom of the arm of Caleb’s coat but chose not to interrupt this small precious moment of goodwill with a question that may bring up pain for Caleb.

And so, Caleb showed him the majority of the lower levels, going from place-to-place hand in hand, to a point where both hands were clammy and almost asleep but neither wizard was willing to give up their tenuous bond just yet. Essek thought the summoning space in the hall was “quite a brilliant solution” and Caleb informed Essek that he had had to install tiny locking doors on his cat travel system after Jester’s first polymorph escapade and thank goodness he had for Jester decided to provide Lucien with that little tidbit of advice upon first arriving. This caused Essek to actually laugh out loud which took Caleb by surprise.

“Yes, I am unsurprised by this. Jester is a talented person in her own right, but I would not describe her as pragmatic in any sense of the word.” Essek chuckled again. Caleb stopped and looked down at their joined hands a moment.

“Herr Theylyss, may I ask you something? It may be personal” Essek felt a pit of concern begin turning in his stomach but responded:

“Uh- why yes. I thought you were aware that I have made the decision to be fully -uh honest with you ever since… yes you may.” Caleb noted that Essek was fidgeting with his other hand.

“I had wondered why you seem more comfortable around Jester when it is clear that you still struggle to be at ease around … the rest of us at times? I understand that Jester is very talented at - uh-bringing out the best in people shall we say but… I had wondered…” Essek thought for a moment.

“I believe the answer is twofold. Firstly, Jester was the voice of your group to me for many months. It was through her that I was first annoyed with you all, then simply exasperated and then, I will admit, excited to hear from you. In my perspective she was the voice of my...my first friends. I believe to some degree I still expect her intrusions” He looked away at this “Secondly, I know I disappointed her as I disappointed each of you when I… when my decisions came to light but I can tell that Jester wants to forgive me and believes in the good she sees in me, just as Caduceus has hoped for me but I suppose, with the rest of you, in many ways I know that the damage is done and that the days of eating and drinking in that ridiculous hot tub are well over and I-” he paused to collect his thoughts “though I know I deserve it, it can be difficult to face that our bonds will never be what I was hoping they would be.” Essek hadn’t met Caleb’s eyes through this whole speech but a visible dark purple flush was creeping across his features.

“Ah I see.” Caleb began, “yes Jester’s capacity for seeing the positives in life is an admirable quality but” Caleb touched Essek’s chin feather light and turned his face towards him. “You do us a disservice if you think that each of us does not hold hope that you will redeem yourself or see the best in you. You would not be here if we didn’t but I have already told you… it takes time.” Both of them thought back to the moment of his discovery when Caleb managed to stop an oncoming panic attack in its tracks with a kiss on the forehead and his stalwart belief in Essek’s capacity to redeem himself. Looking into his eyes now, Essek saw something almost worse than his worst fear and the reason he been avoiding Caleb’s gaze. He had expected to see disappointment, sadness or even derision in Caleb’s eyes but instead he saw a warmth and a genuine affection that he felt undeserving of. It was never something he had seen before from anyone else; not in the eyes of his parents or siblings, the bright queen, or even his students that viewed him with adoration. Caleb had looked at him that way a few times before but Essek had not dared to hope that look remained after his deceptions were revealed. He felt a wetness swelling in his eyes, but he couldn't pull his gaze away, desperately catching every last second of affection that he could. Caleb was glad to see behind Essek’s carefully laid mask to know that he was being heard and heard truly. He ran his thumb over the soft purple skin along Essek’s jaw.

“Time.” He reiterated. Then he pulled his gaze away and broke them both out of the moment. He dropped Essek’s hand, afraid he’d clench too tightly if he didn’t, taken by a swarm of his own emotions of hurt, betrayal, and still warm caring and concern “I better leave you a little time before supper to clean up ja? Come. I will show you your room.” Essek didn’t say anything but simply nodded, hoping to clamber his mask of semi-indifference back into place.

They got to the landing with all of the doors to the individual bedrooms and both caught a glance into Yasha’s bedroom where Jester could be seen to be braiding Yasha’s hair in a particularly spectacular updo.

“Do you think Beau will like it?” Yasha wondered while looking in the mirror.

“Oh Yasha! She will love it!” Jester started a whole torrent of compliments before Caleb opened the door to the guest bedroom and both of them were distracted by the reveal.

Caleb had a tense knot in his stomach as Essek cautiously stepped, or floated rather, forward. He had hoped that this room could act as a small kind of gift, to show Essek that he still held space for him.

It was a chamber much like the rest of the bedrooms with its bathtub and fireplace, but Caleb had modified the architecture to be more reminiscent of Xhorhos, more specifically the design Caleb had seen in Essek’s tower. The furniture was inspired by that as well, though in different arrangements to accommodate the layout. Fine silver instruments laid upon the desk. Wall hangings precisely as they had appeared in Essek’s tower. There was space for mucking about and chalkboards for scribbling out theories. There was a small library space that was empty save for the books Caleb placed in every room and the large comfortable reading chair in the deep blue velvet that Caleb remembered, with the important distinction that this reading nook had two reading chairs as opposed to the one in Essek’s original study. Caleb watched as Essek floated from place to place taking in the details.

“Uh-ja” he interjected as Essek moved toward the desk. “I only included instruments I could recall from the limited view of your tower I had but if you require more, I have a study and lab that I share with Veth that you are welcome to share with us if you should have anything you wish to work on.” Essek moved over to touch one of the velvet chairs and Caleb cut in again:

“I have – that is- I know what it is like to be far from a patriot but to still miss home so I thought I could include a few familiar touches” Essek nodded silently, and Caleb worried he may have missed the mark.  Essek finally spoke near the bed:

“I haven’t used a bed in many years. I typically just trance at the desk in my study.”

“I was worried you’d say that” Caleb said rushing forward in a fervor that he only acquired when he’d had a particularly exciting idea “thus I have innovated something for wizards everywhere. This will save our necks and shoulders” He tugged on a cord by the bed and revealed on the roof of the four poster was a chalkboard with a floating bit of chalk. He laid down excitedly and pointed up and continued “it works much like transit throughout the space. Simply think what you wish, and the chalk will begin to draw” and the chalk began drawing the figures related to fortunes favor from Caleb’s notes. “This way you may think and rest your body at the same time.” Essek was craning to look up at the chalk board with a small look of amusement glowing in his eyes. It truly was a good idea but far better was the excitement in his friend that accompanied it.

“Truly inspired” he affirmed and began peering around the rest of the space when his eyes landed on the stained glass above the fireplace. Essek floated over to peer at it and Caleb sat up to watch him. The stained glass depicted the Xorhaus as the nein affectionately called the home Essek’s Den had gifted them during their time in Xorhos, with the tree growing up out of it with it’s glittering branches. And in the house could be seen 8 colourful figures sitting around a hot tub. All of the mighty nein were silhouetted in their signature colours and in the very centre were two male silhouettes looking at one another. One purple and one orange. They seemed to be laughing in their pose. Below this there was a scroll that read “Welcome to the Mighty Nein!”.

Essek’s feet hit the floor with a loud thud as he stared at this stained-glass piece. Caleb had never seen Essek lose concentration in his levitating outside of a fight before and instinctually stood up. Essek looked over and then down at his feet somewhat embarrassed.

“My apologies, uh, I just didn’t expect…” and he moved to begin the spell again.

“You have nothing to prove to me Essek.” Caleb cut him off and essek let the spell die, looking back up to the stained glass.

“I had hoped to provide you a sense of home here, but I apologize if I misjudged or over stepped. I had already designed that stained glass before our discussion earlier and I see now that it may be more harmful than helpful. Tomorrow night I can-

“It is perfect.” Essek said quietly as he stepped, actually stepped, towards Caleb, looking as if he was searching for the right thing to say before landing on:

“Thank you. I am humbled by your insight and your skill.” Caleb looked uncomfortable at such high praise and stood, uncertain what to do with himself for several moments before he began moving toward the door.

“Supper in the dining room in fifteen minutes” he said, fleeing all of the feelings that Essek’s presence had caused.

Essek spent the next fifteen minutes in quiet contemplation about the feeling of one hand in another until he heard Caleb shouting as he descended from his room:

“Supper is ready. Please come down everyone.”

Essek opened his door as the other’s spilled onto the landing as well. He heard a massive noise from upstairs roughly the direction Caleb had specified for the lab and everyone paused to look up until Veth leaned out the door with ash covering her face and said:

“I’ll be down in 5 minutes!”

“Is everything alright?” Fjord asked semi-suspiciously.

“Absolutely! Everything is fine. Perfectly and absolutely fine.” smoke was billowing out of the door and dissipating. “I just need five minutes for um...lady stuff. BE RIGHT DOWN!” she shouted as she slammed the door closed again. The rest of the mighty nein seemed to shrug somewhat to Essek’s dismay:

“Should we help her?” he enquired.

“She’s more likely to bite than accept help she hasn’t asked for” Fjord chuckled. “She does this from time to time. I’m sure it’s fine. Besides, I’m starving”. Fjord wrapped an arm around Jester and hopped off the landing and said “Down!” and they began descending. Essek could hear Jester going:

“Oh Oskar! You are so strong” and the beginnings of Fjord’s protest at the jibe.

Meanwhile Beau and Yasha were squaring off and Essek wasn’t certain if they were likely to kiss or fight or both.

“You look...really good Yasha.”

“You like it? I had never tried this style in my hair before.”

“Essek, tell Caleb we’re skipping dinner.” Beau said with some fervor

“What-” Essek began before his question was answered by Beau pulling Yasha into her room and slamming the door. “Ah… I see”. A sudden thud could be heard from the otherside of the door and Essek did not wish to question what had caused it. Suddenly a large hand was patting him on the shoulder.

“You get used to it” Caduceus said.

“What is that?”

“Being a part of something.” Caduceus finished with another pat on the shoulder, then he began to descend for supper as if he hadn’t said something that hit Essek at his very core.

They had a pleasant supper all together and planned some tactics for the next day before everyone adjourned to their various places of rest for the night. Essek went over to the library and collected an armful of books. Frumkin appeared through a little gap in the wall and Essek leaned down to him.

“Do you have a message from your master?” he said hopefully. Frumkin just butted up against him looking to be pet.

“Do you require something?” Frumkin flopped at Essek’s feet. In this moment alone, he smiled a small smile for the cat that contained none of his usual bravado. He crouched down to pet Frumkin exceedingly gently. After a few moments Frumkin was purring loudly.

“I’m glad we are still good friends at least” Essek sighed. “Do you wish to enjoy some reading with me?” Frumkin gave a slight meow that seemed like a yes and Essek picked him up and placed him on his shoulder giving him a little nuzzle on the way. They began to ascend to Essek’s room and Caleb watched them go. He felt somewhat disappointed in himself for this scheme, particularly after seeing Essek’s sweet nature with his cat, but he would not be fooled twice.

Once safely in his room Caleb watched Essek through frumkin’s eyes. He watched and waited and expected some sort of betrayal though he did not hope for one. He waited until everyone else had gone to bed and Essek was the only one remaining awake. He had expected Essek may message someone, scry or even perhaps begin taking notes of the tower. In that whole time Essek had done nothing but read and cast comprehend languages. Eventually Caleb realized he wasn’t going to do anything else. He wasn’t going to betray them. He then spent the better part of an hour wrestling with himself and doing a good amount of internal reflection before coming to a decision. He went down to knock quietly on Essek’s door.

“Yes?” Essek asked, coming to the door in the least precisely put together look Caleb had ever seen from the wizard. His hair was amuck in places, his robe was gone and the shirt beneath was half untucked and he had the slight dark purple imprint on his cheek where he had been leaning his hand. It made him look more approachable than his typical visage as the “Shadowhand”. Perhaps more endearing too.Caleb also noted he wasn’t floating and wondered if that was to do with his earlier comment.

“Have you happened to have seen my cat?” Caleb enquired. Essek was not fooled by the pretense, knowing that Caleb could summon Frumkin at will, but played along.

“Ah my apologies, I have been detaining him to keep me company while I read.” At this Frumkin ran out of the door and began weaving between Caleb’s legs.

“So, this is where you were?” Caleb enquired of him in mock surprise.

“Yes, well it seemed fitting to have him around while reading my first empire fairy tales about such a one.” Essek said brandishing the book.

“You read der katzenprinz?” Caleb asked, legitimately surprised. He had assumed that Essek would have immediately gravitated towards the arcane books.

“I started with another regarding transmutation but this one seemed a bit of an odd one out in the collection so I assumed it must be of some importance to you…” Essek paused getting slightly embarrassed and then noticing how long they had been standing in the doorway.

“Would you like to come in?”

“Actually, I had a thought, if you are too tired, we don’t have to but,” he looked almost pained and rubbed his hand across his mouth and he seemed to make a decision or resolve himself “but we had not quite finished our tour I think.”

“Oh” Essek was somewhat surprised but still eager. “Yes absolutely. Lead the way.” He placed the book on a nearby table while Frumkin ran to his exit in a hole in the wall. As they began to ascend. Essek spoke up softly:

“Is there a reason that Fjord always declares his direction?”

“Other than showmanship? Absolutely not.” Caleb replied.  At this Essek grinned while Caleb opened up the next level.

“I ask that you never come up here without me please Herr Theylyss. Please” he repeated while making pointed eye contact.

“Of course. Whatever it is your wish.” Essek responded genuinely but somewhat surprised as they came to a room full of doors. “What is this place?”

Caleb did not reply but instead said:

“I have only shown the others of the mighty nein this place.” and he opened the door labelled 1. Caleb closed the door behind them as Essek stepped into the humble space and began looking around.

“What is the significance of this house?” He asked before noting the far off look in Caleb’s face.

“Well, I wanted you to know why I found your choices so challenging to ignore. I wanted you to know why it is that I seem to understand so deeply the challenges you face in learning to forgive yourself for what you have done for it is still something I struggle with myself. Deeply.” Essek could sense the gravity of the space for Caleb and came closer.

“I wish you  for to know, as I know your greatest transgression, but you do not know mine and it seems there is an unfair imbalance between us  of late that I  hope to dispel.” Essek was surprised that Caleb thought there was anything comparable to his “transgression” as he put it but thought back to some of the sadness in Caleb and some of the truth in his eyes whenever he talked about the path ahead of Essek and knew there must be something  substantial coming.

“This was my home. I am sure it may be challenging for you to imagine ,coming from such a high-ranking family, but we were happy here.”

“Wealth does not inherently create happy families. In fact, I think it is likely the opposite” Essek put in softly. Caleb nodded and pointed to the small kitchen counter:

“My mother used to make bread here. She used to allow me to take small portions of the dough while she was kneading it and I would make little figures. I would -uh- use them as puppets and tell her stories of magnificent wizards who saved all of the empire from the evil creatures that threatened it. She would turn them into small buns when I was finished and told me that if I ate them, it was like making a wish, and that one day I might become that powerful wizard.” Caleb touched the surface of the table and closed his eyes for a long moment. Essek tentatively put a hand on his shoulder which remained until Caleb went over to the hearth.

“This is where I learned to love fire. My father would feed the flames and show me how to keep it well. He’d tell me that fire could hurt and burn but it could also sustain life. Once I became old enough to manage without harming myself, he let me create the fire every night to practice. Later I practiced control flames here, the first spell I ever learned from a spell book.” Caleb turned to Essek and held his gaze. Essek saw the shame and pain that was written in Caleb’s features.

“You have killed many good people in your thirst for knowledge and power. I … I am no different. I killed good, loving people who only wished that I could have been the powerful wizard who saved the empire… “Caleb swallowed and realization sunk in for Essek. “I killed my family and destroyed this home as a result of Trent Ikathon’s teaching methods. It was seen as a ‘required step in becoming the capable wizards we needed to be to protect our nation’. Still to this day he attests that it is what my family would have wanted though I don’t think our stories in the kitchen could have ever prepared them for their end.” Caleb paused attempting to collect himself. His hands were shaking a great deal, but he pushed forward “I have only just begun the journey to forgiving myself. I keep this room here, not to torture myself but to ensure that this happy home is never forgotten, never lost. Each room on this floor is a moment to be captured and preserved. I will show you another.” A few tears had fallen on Caleb’s face, but he did not seem to notice. Essek didn’t have feel he had an adequate response, but he did not want to leave this space without saying anything.

“You have performed your own dunemancy here. You fixed this in time. It is beautiful. Thank you for showing it to me.” Essek said, hoping he did not say the wrong thing. He had very limited experience with people he would consider loved ones and he had never lost one. Caleb didn’t say anything, but he nodded a thank you and pulled Essek across the hall to another room. It was Caleb’s bedroom in the xorhaus. Essek recognized it immediately by the charming cat figurines on the shelf.

“This was the space where you first entrusted me with dunamancy but I did not preserve it for this reason… I did so because it was the first time we worked together, and I realized you were very much someone I wished to know more. I saw a like mind in you...Essek, I understand exactly what the cost of knowledge and power can be and the folly of chasing them, you have seen this now, but I also understand that draw, that pull of power in a way almost no one else will. I know how easy it is to slip off the path and become a tool for destruction once more, and this is why I find it difficult to fully trust you as you have proven to me that we are too similar, and I do not trust myself even with that.” He had finally said it out loud. Essek had been hanging on the word trust ever since Caleb had said he was more trusted than Trent Ikathon, but here it was. More did not mean much at all. And how could Essek blame him when he was correct? They were very much alike, that was one of the things that had drawn Essek in and convinced Essek to teach Caleb dunamancy against his better judgement. Essek looked and stared at a cat figurine, willing his breath to slow, his eyes to focus. He did not understand what it was particularly that hurt him so much about Caleb having a perfectly, reasonably low opinion of him.

Caleb saw Essek beginning to have difficulty containing his emotions and he closed the space between them to once again place a small kiss on Essek’s forehead before placing his own against it. He put a hand around Essek’s neck gently pulling them together.  

“I have said it takes time and I believe that. My path out of the pit did not move straight forward and I had many setbacks, but I have begun the journey. I did so by taking small steps -and sometimes large ones - every day to leave the world slightly better than I found it.  I will never expunge my past crimes, but I can hope to maybe outweigh them in my overall impact on this world. I see you at the beginning of this journey and I know that one of the most important things in the path to redemption was having companions who walked alongside me on my way to finding it. Having the mighty nein who cared for me and loved me unconditionally, despite these terrible pieces of my past was so...essential… in my ability to begin to overcome them.” His whole body seemed to be sagging with the weight of the world and he pulled away to look in into his eyes “Essek, I know it is easy to see only our faults and everything we have done wrong, but I also know that I am still worthy of forgiveness by some, I am still worthy of friendship and chances to redeem myself and even still worthy of love. And I do not believe this myself many days but Veth and the rest of the nein refuse to allow me to forget it and on days when my belief is not enough, theirs is. And that makes me wish to strive to continue to be worthy of their belief in me. You see?”

Essek was nodding but Caleb could see he was drowning in all of his thoughts.

“Come. I have one more room to show you.” He said gently and walked out of this room. Essek blinked and felt the suddenly jarring distance between them and followed Caleb out of the room. His mind was a swarm.

Caleb placed his hands out for Essek who looked at him somewhat quizzically but took them, nonetheless. They floated up while facing one another to the final floor and Caleb revealed it to him. The floor inspired by dunamancy. Essek’s jaw dropped, and his head swivelled as he took in the room.

“It is no secret that I have a great interest in your craft, but I bring you up here not to remind you of all the power to be gained or lost but to show you of what you already have. You have unlocked so many secrets of the world, but you were never given the chance to study the most important lesson. One that also eluded me for many years. All of this “Caleb gestured out” feels so important, the stretching endless expanse of time and the motes of possibility that we can affect. But” he said firmly “It is not nearly as important as the moment we are living right now, and the people that we share that with.” Essek peeled his eyes off the expanse around them and turned his attention back to Caleb who was looking at him with an expression that he had only seen once before as they unlocked the key to the transmogrification spell. It was a mix of adrenaline, elation, apprehension and excitement. Caleb was building up to something and all Essek could do was be shocked that he was floating in this space of utter beauty and being looked at like that, as if he were the most important thing in the room, as if he was a great spell Caleb was trying to learn the inner workings of.

He began to understand the lesson Caleb was trying to impart as he could not pull his eyes away, despite being surrounded by a veritable playground for his mind, his focus was solely affixed to Caleb and what he would say next. He understood what Caleb meant to say with this room about what really mattered in a way that surprised even Essek himself. Caleb tightened his grasp on Essek’s hands and continued.

“If you will allow me to, herr Theylyss, I wish to do for you what has been done for me. I wish to be the person that reminds you that you can and will find your way back to the light. I wish to be the person who believes in you when you cannot believe in yourself, though I suspect I already have Jester’s help with that.” he quirked a small smile “ I wish to be the one who keeps you in the moment and moving forward. I wish to hold your hand” and he looked down at their joined hands “through your journey to finding yourself.” He squeezed their hands together tightly and then he looked back up with nerves clattering “Essek, you are important to me and I have felt a bond with you since the first time we studied together.  That has not gone or broken the way you seem to believe. You have hurt me, yes, but I am still here to hold your hand and hoping that you will prove that my forgiveness is not for nothing. Hoping that you will find a way to be prove that all of this love that I feel for you is not unjustified... for I do not wish for it go to waste.” He searched Essek’s expression and found it unreadable.

Years of practice freezing his face in moments of panic had caused Essek to almost completely shut down while he attempted to process a response. He pulled away from Caleb slightly and sought to pull his hands into a robe he realized he wasn’t wearing. He wished he could hide how his hands were inclined to fidget.

“I uh-” He began “This is much to process.” Essek stammered out. Caleb was already feeling disappointment seep in. He knew that he had thrown a lot of uncomfortable feelings at Essek in a short amount of time, but he had hoped that there would be at least a degree of enthusiasm for his final declaration. Still, he did not want to pressure Essek.

“Of course.” Caleb said failing to hide his disappointment. “I will leave you to your thoughts Herr Theylyss” he said nodding in a formal way.

Essek was still simply busy processing the word love. He was turning it over in his mind and examining it as it was a fully novel concept to him. He tested out how it felt as a description of that odd feeling of warmth in his chest and stomach when he saw Caleb get excited, or smile, or that small tug at an invisible rope in his chest that could be felt when he saw Caleb being good at, well, almost anything. He considered if that had been why Caleb’s opinion had mattered so much more than most. And here he was, standing before Essek and telling him that he could have that love returned. That he felt that way about him. That he was somehow deserving despite all of the things that he had done.

He thought then how he had felt nothing but sympathy and sorrow for Caleb as he heard of what he had done to his parents. He did not blame him for his foolishness in trusting and believing in the things Trent Ikathon had said. Could Essek really be given the same grace?

Around the time that Caleb was just beginning to descend out of the room, Essek’s mind finally caught up with what he had said.

“No!” Essek shouted. “No. No. I did not mean it this way. I just-“ Essek took a breath and felt the mask slipping away and for once he allowed himself to be laid bare in front of someone. Caleb rose back up to his level. “I don’t know if I have ever been loved in the way that you have described. It simply took me a moment to understand. You spoke of loving parents, but I have never been more than a means to end for my family. I was a product of incredible amounts of pressure but never loving care or attention. I was to be useful. Then I became the shadowhand and I had to be distant from the rest. It was my duty to be useful to the bright queen, but it only alienated me further from my peers. It made it easy to betray them when the chance was offered because I had never been close with any of them. I regret so much of what I have done, all the pain that I have caused” Essek grabbed at his own hair and Caleb was surprised to see him allowing himself to be this expressive “but it is made far worse now knowing what friendship and love can be like. To think that I caused people to go off and fight in a war that did not matter and worse that both sides felt losses comparable to what I would feel if you were to be harmed. It feels almost unbearable to know that I could have caused that much pain” Essek began sputtering, tears streaming down his face. “And still, you stand before me and say that I am worthy of redemption and that I am worthy of love?” Essek was ranting now but it was as if so many of the feelings he had always held down couldn’t help but burst forth now that they were given a small bit of freedom. Caleb wrapped his arms around him and held him close, with one hand stroking his hair. Essek rambled on “you had it right when you said I had missed an essential lesson along the way. How could I have been so blinded by my research and studies to never see that the people they would benefit were the point, not knowledge for knowledge’s own sake? And still, you hold me as if I am something precious rather than wretched. It is a kindness greater than I deserve for truthfully, I can tell that you know the weight of what you have done, but until today, until now, I still had never comprehended the depths of the pain my actions caused… to so many.”

At this Essek dissolved into sobs and Caleb held him through them. He kept stroking Essek’s hair and gave him small soft kisses on the top of his hair and waited for the sobbing to peter out. He did everything he wished someone could have done for him when he was going through this. Eventually it seemed Essek had cried himself out. He was still shaking and there were tear lines stained into his purple skin, but he pulled himself back a little to look at Caleb. Before Essek could apologize again Caleb said again:

“It takes time.” Essek nodded sadly and put his hand out for Caleb who clasped it and kissed it his knuckles lightly. “But.” Caleb continued “that does not mean you must spend it alone. I meant what I said. If you wish to be loved and reminded of all the things you are worth and what makes the moment worth living in, I am happy to offer that to you. And perhaps together we can work to make the world a little bit better than when we found it ja? So no other young people go unloved or get led astray?”

Essek was still feeling a whole spectrum of emotions but was able to centre himself enough to unabashedly meet Caleb’s eyes and spoke.

“Yes, I think I would very much like to do that, but with one stipulation.” Caleb smiled at the return of some of Essek’s former, confident demeanor “I know you have many in your life with more experience in affection than I, but I would like to offer my love, as … untested as it imay be, in trade. Together we can hypothesize,experiment and test its bounds until you believe it is up to your standards? Do these conditions seem fair to you?” Caleb was smiling in a way that made Essek pleased, and caused him to consider being reckless once more.

“Ja I think that is accepta-” and before Caleb could finish, Essek pulled him into a kiss. He wrapped his arms around Caleb’s waist and Caleb’s hands found their way into Essek’s hair. They kissed deeply and with the release of the many conflicting emotions both of them had felt over the past weeks.

Essek found the texture of Caleb’s lips and stubble to be a bit surprising but planned on savouring every bit of the feeling. He approached this kiss almost like learning a new spell from Caleb, and followed his lead through the unfamiliar, for though Essek had kissed before, never with much feeling behind it, and this was an entirely different experience. His heart was pounding in his ears, his chest felt full of fireworks and there was something that felt hooked inside of both of them, drawing them closer. It was a startling powerful sensation.

Caleb was surprised not only by the kiss but by the intensity it quickly developed. He felt Essek’s hands pushing into his back and keeping him close, and the soft strands of essek’s hair moving beneath his fingers and the warmth of Essek’s lips and was intoxicated, drinking in every last bit of the experience that he could.

Finally, they broke apart, both flushed and breathing heavily. Essek found himself smoothing down the front of Caleb’s shirt for something to do and pulling a few pieces of cat hair off of it as he asked:

“May I ask something of your path to redemption?” He continued to try to compose his features but couldn’t resist the smile that kept making itself known on his face. It was a broader smile than Caleb had ever seen on Essek and it made his chest squeeze. He thought it would be a new mission of his to procure that smile more often.

“Yes Essek?”

“If we do not have to be alone, are we also allowed happiness? For I must admit that I think this is the happiest I have been in… sometime, perhaps ever.” Caleb thought and looked serious.

“I think so yes. I have to believe that is so.”

“In that case, I think we should kiss more often.” And at that Caleb laughed a full and genuine laugh and kissed Essek on the cheek following by cupping his face in his hands, allowing his thumb draw over the spot that was just kissed.

“Ja. That can certainly be arranged.” and he pulled Essek’s face down for another kiss on the forehead. “But for tonight I think it best if we both get some rest.” He grabbed Essek’s hand once more and descended into the tower, closing doorways behind them until they stopped at Essek’s room.

“I think I may need some time to wind down after all of that” Essek admitted.

“I think I shall be similar.” Caleb agreed.

“In that case, do you wish to read a while with me? Only I had noticed someone had placed 2 chairs in my reading nook.” Essek said with a conspiratorial smile. Caleb seemed to debate with himself a moment before coming in.

“But if I do not recover my spells, I will have to blame you Theylyss.”

“These terms are acceptable to me” Essek replied with a smile that belied his serious tone. And they each took an armchair and began reading, with their hands held between them.

Eventually Essek awoke from a trance he hadn’t even noticed he’d fallen into. His book had fallen into his lap and his hand had drifted out of Caleb’s somewhere in the night. He only required a short trance to be rested but Caleb would need more sleep and was currently snoring lightly from his armchair. Essek cautiously placed both of their books aside and used his levitation spell to float Caleb gently over to the bed. He tucked Caleb in and gave him the gentlest kiss on the forehead and then used the chalkboard above the bed to scrawl I was worried about your neck and shoulders which he felt had just the right amount of cheeky touch.

Essek pondered getting into the bed as well but felt it may be too presumptuous, so instead he sat at the desk at his study and began writing out the events of the night, hoping to capture it’s every detail. Though he had a good memory, he hoped to preserve this turning point for himself the way Caleb preserved history in his rooms upstairs. So, he wrote while Caleb slept.

When the hustle and bustle of the others moving about the tower finally awoke Caleb, he had the moment of concern that arises when waking in a different spot than where you fell asleep, until he saw the message above the bed and smiled to himself.

“The world better watch out if one kiss is all it takes to get Essek Theylyss to start writing jokes” Caleb called out to the room.

Essek came over, looking somehow more perfect than ever this morning (Caleb being unaware that Essek had fussed by the mirror for 20 minutes for the perfectly tousled look…) and handed Caleb a coffee that he had summoned via the cat system. Caleb took it gratefully as he sat up in bed and Essek came to sit next to him on the edge of the bed.

“Imagine what will happen after 2,3 or even 100 kisses?” Caleb continued his jibe. Essek simply raised an eyebrow at him:

“I suppose we will have to test it to find out.”  

“I suppose we will” Caleb replied with a grin.

[boxboysandotherwhump]

Penny and Scamp chapter 2

Finally after fighting with my heat fried brain for days! This drabble is finally finished!!

Thank you guys so much for proofreading this and giving me all those super sweet and extremely helpful tips and comments. <3 @haro-whumps and @finder-of-rings

The whole guard dog concept was developed by the amazing @moose-teeth Mooses guard dog series inspired me a lot and its really amazing <3

Taglist: @eatyourdamnpears

CW: institutionalised slavery typical for the boxboy universe, dehuminasation, stress position, muzzled, mention of handler being beaten to death (very brief), fucked up headspace of whumpee, 

932 is hurt.

The freezing air that had settled in the facility’s every creak and corner made 875’s muscles spasm as he tried to get his trembling legs to stand. 

Must protect him.

Thick leather cuffs pinned his hands against an icy tile wall and his eyes swam with tears while he fought against them.  The training room was a white blur, a void threatening to swallow him whole, colder and vaster than it had ever been before, now that 932 wasn’t by his side.

Where are you?

He bit down on the muzzle’s bit so hard his teeth ached, unable to scream for his other half, his completion.

They were 875932. A pair. A whole. They couldn’t be without the other. 

I promised. I promised. I will protect you 932!

Short strands of black, rugged hair clung to his sweaty forehead as he rubbed his flushed, burning face against his shoulder, again and again in a vain attempt to loosen the muzzle. It was too warm, too sticky with spit and sweat as it dug deep into his chafed skin and set his nerves afire. The need to get it off grew unbearable. But 875’s screams died in his head. Imperceptible to anyone but him.

I will find you. 932 wait for me!

A heartbeat loud like battle drums thundered through his skull, sent waves of pain through shaking limbs. It pulsed behind tear-crusted eyes and burnt holes into his heart. Panic filled his lungs like burning iron, hot and heavy, leaving him unable to breathe around the muzzle and the snot that clogged his nose. 

He hadn’t been able to hold back his tears in those first few hours as the drugs his handlers had put him on had begun to wear off. The inescapable twilight state his mind had been trapped in had finally given way to a semblance of clarity, only for him to realize he was trapped in a different kind of hell. A hell that left him immersed in white light and utter horrific loneliness. The smell of scorching flesh as his other had been dragged away by handlers, screaming and thrashing in their unyielding grips, had become his unrelenting tormentor. 

875 hadn’t heard the soft beep and swish of the opening door at first, nor the three handlers who had entered, accompanied by a blonde woman clad in a black suit. Her hair was pinned in an updo with the same meticulous precision it must have taken to paint her rosy complexion. A hint of rouge and blood red lips. 

“Impressive, that his other half really went so far as to pour boiling water over himself.”

875’s head snapped up so violently his vision spun from the whiplash.  Glad to be trained to withstand the feeling of dizziness impairing his senses, he forced his attention on the intruder.

Focus. Focus. Breathe. Focus. The woman. Threat or safe?  Red smile in a white void. Talked about 932. Breathe. Listen!

The soles of her polished Oxfords echoed through the room as she approached him with wide strides, halting only centimeters in front of his bound, kneeling form. 

The handlers behind her exchanged nervous glances, wary and unwilling to get any closer to 875 than absolutely necessary. The incident from three days ago had bitten deep into their bones, fear sat still buried there unwilling to let go.   

No one had thought it possible for a Boxboy, not even a guard dog, to maim five handlers and kill a sixth. Yet, despite all their security measures it had happened. An unforgettable demonstration of how dangerous the guard dog program could really be. Hard knuckles and trained muscle had conquered black batons and steel tipped boots.

 “Please, Miss Tormadosa,” the handler near her began, his narrow blue eyes fixed on 875. “Don’t get so close to it. It’s not safe for a delicate young lady.”

The woman’s suit jacket rustled as she twisted around and leveled the bulky blond-haired man with a piercing stare. Her perfectly plugged eyebrow quirked up. “I’m neither delicate nor a ‘young lady.’ I am, however, perfectly capable of handling a restrained and muzzled Boxboy.”

The handler’s face flushed, if from embarrassment or anger was hard to tell, as he stumbled over his excuse of an apology. “It’s just… I didn’t mean to-“

“I know what you meant.” Her calm voice cut him off as she crouched down in front of 875. “And I corrected you.”

Not daring to object her, the three handlers watched as she cupped 875 chin with fine boned fingers and bit their tongues in ways unfamiliar to them.

The guard dogs dark eyes found hers and her razorblade smile sent a shiver down his spine.

“It’s easy to tame a beast when it has a heart.”

A cold gentle hand lifted his head. “And 932 is your heart, isn’t he?”

Miss Tormadosa’s words ghosted over his skin, a warm breath smelling of mint and hope. They pulled him towards her and he strained his shoulders to the point of near dislocation as he leaned forward, terrified to miss the quietest of whispers if it would tell him what happened to his other. His joints hurt, twisted out of place alongside his heart as pain closed his throat, more effectively than any muzzle ever could. Still, a low whine tore past quivering lips and thick black leather and 875 shuddered at the way the woman’s smile softened, morphed into something akin to tenderness at his despair. Long delicate fingertips ghosted over his cheek. He did not dare to pull away.

“I know. I know,” she cooed. “Poor thing. You miss your friend. Being all alone must be so, so terrifying.” Her hand wandered up his temple, tousled his black greasy hair and scratched affectionately over his scalp. It sent a pleasurable shiver down his spine, warm little prickles and cold needles danced under his skin, but 875 did not allow himself to move. He fought against the urge to melt under her affection, focusing on her every word instead. Black eyes clung to red lips moving over white teeth.

 “What would you say, my sweet boy, if I took you both home with me? You and your friend?”

875 breath hitched.

Home? The both of us? Together? With her? New owner? Me and 932? I can see him again?!

His neck cracked audibly as he nodded, hasty like a bobble-head toy and new tears spilled over his cheeks, dampening the muzzle as they dripped down onto the floor. Liquidized pain burning hot against ice cold tiles.  

She wiped them from his feverish face, chuckling softly. “I thought so. But let’s hear you say it.”

The quick steps of heavy boots had 875 jerk against his restraints. The handlers had drawn their batons and hurried to his new master’s side.

He had to protect her!

He couldn’t protect her bound like this.

“Ma’am we must ask you to stop. You can’t remove its muzzle. It’s not safe.”

You are the ones who are not safe!

Miss Tormadosa’s hands rested on his trembling shoulders as she paused. Her warm brown eyes never strayed from his face.

“This whole ordeal,” she answered sharply, tolerating no further opposition, “is for me to test the products' safety. That’s what your superior insisted on. So, gentleman let me inspect him properly.”

Unease was written large across the handlers faces as they stopped, batons still resting in their palms. Grinding his teeth the blued eyed man stepped closer, the sound of his heavy leather boots thundering through the small room. His voice was awfully quiet, a roaring beast tampered down to a venomous hiss. “This thing should be taken down, not sold. You haven’t seen what he-“

“I saw the tapes,” The woman snapped as she stood and turned around. “I know what he did. It was exactly what he’d been trained for; protect the people designated to him and eliminate possible threats. It’s not 875’s failing if WRU is unequipped to handle its own creations.”

Head spinning with the warm whirlpool of praise, 875 gazed up at his potential owner.

I fulfilled my duty. Like they trained me. I did the right thing. Ma’am understands.

“So my sweet.” She crouched down again, holding one perfectly manicured finger up as if she’d lectured a child. “If you want to be mine and see 932 again, you have to behave now. Can you do that for me darling?”

Eyes flickered from the finger to her warm smile 857’s heart somersaulted at the possibility to reunite with his other. To feel 932’s soft copper curls against his cheek again when they curled up together, limbs tangled, fingers cupping the shape of ribs finding a home in the soft indentations between them seemingly made for this very moment. One perfect mosaic.

 Two pieces who hadn’t known the other even existed before they became each other’s completion.

857 nodded feverishly, trying to convey all of his gratitude, his devotion with this movement alone.

“Excellent.”

He still didn’t speak as deft fingers undid the muzzles and the silicone bit left his mouth with a quiet wet plop. Instead he nuzzled into the woman’s palm, whining softly at the tender touch while he awaited her orders, eyes dazed, glossed over with adoration. This woman took the muzzle away, banished his fear with one promise alone. She kept the handlers at heel and 932 safe. He could do anything for her. An owner showing him such kindness was more than he’d ever dreamed of and exactly what his other deserved.

“Well, fuck me,” one of the handlers whispered.

 Rubbing gentle circles over 857’s aching yaw and making his eyes flutter, Miss Tormadosa grinned.

 “Will you be my good little guard dog and obey my every command?”

Bowing down as far as his throbbing restrained arms would allow it, he rasped, “Yes ma’am. I’ll be your weapon. Please, use me in any way you wish.”

Her warm laugh echoed through the room while she petted his head. 857 allowed himself to melt into her touch this time, bucking into her palm as a soft whine escaped his chapped lips.

“My, my look at that. Such an eager boy. You and your friend shall be mine,” his master declared. “From now on you two exist solely to serve me.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Everything felt right and wonderful, finally fallen into place.

875932 had a master now. Together. They would serve.

.chapter1

chapter3

[painted-crow]

Do you think house pets can have primaries and secondaries too? If so, do you think they might reflect what their owners have?

They definitely have Sortings! This is an excellent ask 😂

I don't think the owner has a whole lot to do with it, though. They influence the way their pet's Sorting shows up in behavior, but the animal's personality itself is their personality, you can make them more or less stable and confident but I don't think they mold themselves after you.

Sorting my family's pets

My folks have eight animals in the house. Eight. My mom is “slowly” turning into a crazy cat lady and I’m absolutely fine with this. However, this post is actually long (and silly) enough that I’m switching to my laptop to put it under a cut.

Lots of cat and dog stories incoming :D

Tesla (my cat)

Double Slytherin, easy. He's ridiculously sweet towards me and mostly ignores everyone else unless they have food. (He's warming up to my mom though.) He's also a great actor. He's tricked everyone else into thinking he isn't cute and affectionate because he only acts needy and adorable when he's alone with me.

Funny story: he badly pulled a muscle in his back leg from a missed jump the year before last, and he REALLY liked the attention he got from me while I was nursing him back to health. I had a kind of kitty painkiller/anti-inflammatory stuff that came as a paste and could be mixed into wet food, which he normally only gets as a treat because too much upsets his stomach, but he was getting it every day for the medication. I also set up a special bed for him with a heating pad and kept checking on him and giving him attention.

He took a long time to heal, and the vet said I was doing the right thing, but I think I might have made it worse by being so nice to him because he really didn't want to get up and move around! He kept up the "I'm completely helpless, keep babying me" act for a year.

My mom finally took him to the chiropractor, who clicked his tail back into place and gave us some kitty physical therapy stretches for his leg... which he did NOT like, and unless someone was petting him at the same time to distract him, he'd scream like we were murdering him.

So, yes. Slytherin secondary 😂

Aardman (my brother's cat #1)

Huffleclaw. Loves everyone, including kids and babies--he's not only very patient with them, he's really enthusiastic and affectionate with them.

Knows EXACTLY how to get into mischief. Will grab your butt as you pass on purpose to get your attention. Often found in weird places, looking proud of himself: "look, I figured out how to get on top of the kitchen cabinets! I'm gonna knock stuff over now."

Thaddeus (my brother's cat #2)

Double Gryff. He's got big jock energy. This cat actually greets people with a loud meow and that upwards "sup" nod. If he wants attention he isn't subtle about it, and if you don't give it to him he'll play attack your toes. Very charismatic and friendly. He's also kind of an idiot who will fall off of things if he gets distracted while lounging.

He's a Gryff primary because when strangers come into the house, he'll vibe check them and decide if he's going to hide from them or smother them in love and cat hair. My mom was talking to a few different contractors about fixing something in the house, and Thaddeus was totally spooked by one and loved the other. I'm not saying that's why we chose the one he liked, but...

Gracie (my mom's cat)

Slytherin primary. Definitely my mom's cat, reluctant to interact with anyone else but very possessive of Mom's lap.

Possibly a Gryff secondary, or neutral state Slytherin. This house has a lot of cats in it and Gracie is tiny, but she takes zero crap and will smack the others in the face if they think they can push her around.

Isador / Izzy (pack mama cat, doesn't have a favorite human?)

You could make arguments for both Slytherin and Hufflepuff primary for Izzy. She loves all her humans and will yell at any of us for pets. We don't know how old she actually is (all our cats are rescues) but she looks and sounds like a prim old lady, which is appropriate since she's the matriarch of the house.

She does have favorites among the other pets, though. The dogs are her babies, she's known them since they were puppies and is very protective of them (which is pretty silly, since they're 65lbs apiece). She does NOT like Tesla, who is the biggest cat and full of ego, and doesn't really respect her lol 😂

She also didn't like the kittens at first. Gracie and Thaddeus were both kittens, only a few weeks old, that were abandoned in our neighborhood a year ago. Gracie showed up in the back yard, mewling, and Thaddeus was brought over by a neighbor who had found him but wasn't prepared to get up several times a night to bottle feed a kitten. My mom took both of them and we ended up keeping them. Izzy was a little bit hostile towards them at first, but she came around and now they’re part of her pack.

Hufflepuff secondary. If any of the other cats talks back to her, she hisses at them and the dogs come running over to check on her.

Maybe she's a Ravenclaw with a very Loyalist looking system? She cares a lot about keeping the peace. Yeah, you know what, Ravenpuff Izzy sounds about right.

Shawn (my mom's cat #2)

Slytherin primary, I think. My mom was visiting the shelter for dog tags or something basic like that, went back into the cat room to give the strays some love, and this gorgeous gray-and-white long-haired kitten climbed up her shoulder and wrapped himself around her neck and wouldn't let go. She had been Chosen.*

Shawn is also kind of a status hound within the house! The boys keep score of who's top cat... well, I don't know if Thaddeus cares (and Izzy knows it's actually her). Shawn likes to play dominance games with the other cats. He'll pick on Aardman and play wrestle with Tesla (who is twice his weight, but Shawn is very fluffy and he clearly thinks they're the same size, which is hilarious).

One of the Improvisational secondaries. I think he's a Gryffindor.

*Tesla also did this. The shelter lady took him out of the crate and within minutes he'd stretched out on my lap, belly-up, so relaxed he almost fell off. This is how you get a cat. I was actually looking to adopt on purpose, though, which my mom wasn't 😂

Rowan (my dad's dog)

This idiot dog. This absolute buffoon of an animal.

Actually, my mom is convinced he's not all that dumb, and he's tricking us all into believing he is so he doesn't have to be an obedient dog. If so, he's a VERY good actor. Slytherin secondary. (He also weaponizes the 🥺 eyes and my dad falls for it every time.)

Slytherin primary. Every time he misbehaves, my dad insists he's my mom's dog, but we all know better: he waits for my dad to come home and runs up and wags his entire body. He's SO affectionate with my dad and doesn't really care about anyone else's opinion. My dad lets this 65 pound, made-of-elbows idiot creature sit on his lap in the least comfortable positions possible, and baby talks to him.

Alex (my mom's actual dog)

Double Ravenclaw. I know, right? I haven't been Sorting many Ravenclaws in this list.

Alex is a very smart and fairly obedient dog. He is also a border collie (both he and Rowan are). He has also decided that Tesla needs a babysitter, and will follow him EVERYWHERE, doing that border collie staredown thing they normally use to herd sheep.

Yes. This dog tries to herd cats. He's very good at it, actually. All of our cats are indoor only animals (it's dangerous for them outside) but Shawn used to be a real escape artist. I'm not sure how we discovered that the dogs could do this, but we can call the dogs and tell them "get the kitty!!!" and they will work as a team to literally herd the cat back into the house. We didn't train them to do this. They're purebred border collies and they just know.

Anyway, Tesla and Alex get into drama. If I'm holding Tesla, Alex is ALWAYS staring at him. I think it's that, although he likes Tesla, he doesn't trust him and he's trying to make sure Tesla doesn't hurt me. Tesla is Very Dramatic and will yell or pretend like he's going to bite me if he's stuck in a position he doesn't like on my lap or he thinks another cat is going to try to steal my attention, and Alex Does Not Like That. Tesla won't actually hurt me on purpose, but he puts up a front in public that he's only tolerating me.

Alex doesn't care if I tell him to go lay down somewhere else. He is going to stare at this cat no matter what. Sometimes, the thing Tesla is yelling about is that the dog is staring at him and he's not in the mood for that nonsense (or, he also just likes when I scold the dog on his behalf), and this doesn't help matters. Alex has decided he Must Protect, and that dog code is more important to him than my opinion 😂

Alex is a Ravenclaw secondary. He's put in the effort to learn to communicate with humans, and he's very expressive with his body language and pointing with his eyes/nose. I think if we got him a set of those word buttons people give dogs so they can "talk," Alex would pick up on it right away and use it a lot.

That’s all the animals for now! Will update next time my mom finds a cat xD