#you can't cite when they were the enemies in enemies to lovers

[slowbison]

Heyy!! I love your writing and was wondering if I could request a Resident Evil 4, Leon S. Kennedy x male reader. Reader and Leon always had that little competition between them, always trying to be better than the other which lead to them not liking each other. They got sent to various missions together but always ended up fighting with each other on how to do things instead of focusing on the mission. It just didn’t work between them. Additionally, Reader is sarcastic and acts a bit like an a-hole sometimes, flirts with Leon in a joking way and Leon just can't stand that.

After Leon was sent to save Ashley Reader is sent to back up Leon (and Leon didn’t know that so he is kinda mad that they thought it would be a good idea to choose Reader for it) on his mission and after a long and annoying search, he ends up finding Leon in the village. At first, he thought Leon was some sort of villager and attacks him. He pins him to the ground but then realized who he is and reluctantly apologizes which just makes the situation worse between them.

When they find Ashley and then lose her later Leon gets injured badly because he just rushed in without thinking to save Ashley. But he couldn’t and they ended up fighting when the coast cleared. In reality, the reader isn’t mad about the fact that they lost Ashley again. He is mad that Leon got hurt in the process and Leon noticed that the reader was worried about him. That could lead to an angry make-out session. Enemies to lovers type thing

a/n: you plot stuff down like me (T-T)7 except yours makes more sense and less sporadic. for inspo on reader i used baptise/cassidy from overwatch (if ya know the game, i personally am a rein main, love the big guy)

Bottom! Leon S. Kennedy x Top! Male Reader

words: 3.7k

warnings: hand jobs, praising, nsfw, leon is going through it with reader

The air was moist when the car dropped you into the woods. You were assigned as a back up to an agent in ensuring the rescue of the president's daughter as the villagers proved to be much more troublesome than they thought. At first you weren’t interested in the mission, citing it as not challenging enough for your skills. But when they mentioned the agent already deployed was no other than Condor One, you agreed without any hesitation.

Condor One, or better known as Leon Kennedy, was your greatest rival yet amazing partner; if only you two could get along that is. The higher ups had always placed you and Leon as teammates due to the impressive career history. Both were top of the police academy, senses far sharper than the average agents and able to complete missions despite the numerous unknown factors. Which is why you were both often paired up. But what they didn’t know was how much fuel they fed the flames of competition between you two and how long time was spent arguing rather than maintaining focus on the task.

Leon for one, couldn’t stand your arrogance citing the times you would dismiss his suggestions with your own better option or making decisions on your own, leaving him to “pick up your mess”. Much less the many times you were more focused on teasing him or flirting in the middle of an intense situation.

On the other, you found it entertaining to annoy the blonde, enjoying the banter following after.

Worse was when you both started fighting over who gets to open the door first for the other, Chris lost brain cells hearing this story. Least to say that you both always miraculously managed to complete the mission, receiving high praise while the field agents tasked with providing information through both of the men's earpiece quietly cringed inside.

A smile grew on your lips as you made your way into the woods. “Now, where could you be, little puppy.”

The woods weren’t much of an issue to navigate as you walked up to a muddy path that led to what appears to be a desolated home. Cracks formed on the outer shell while flies circled around a heap of trash, possibly dead carcasses. You had been warned that these people didn’t treat strangers from the outside world kindly and kept your guard on as you moved closer.

With a gun in your hand, you entered the home and scanned around the dimly lit room. Blood splattered the wall, trailing to two dead bodies of what appears to be the cultists villagers mentioned from field operators' information. One appeared to be an old man whose throat was slit and the other riddled with bullet holes in the head. Picking up one of the empty shells on the ground, you found that it to be the same as your own ammo — meaning only one thing.

“Heheh, you’re still around here somewhere, huh?” You murmured, a slight grin on your face.

From the countless times you’ve spent working and being with Leon, you were rather knowledgeable with how the man shoots. Partially because you wanted to beat him at weapon handling in the academy, but from the many times your eyes lingered on every move he made.

The way his arms flexed as he held his gun, steadying it against the recoil or when he slightly pouted his lips to focus more on the target while your mind kept wondering how they’d feel if their attention was directed elsewhere…

Needless to say, you consider yourself an expert when it comes to the man and the knowledge proved useful today.

The grin dropped as soon as loud banging followed by heavy footsteps could be heard down the hall. Three rather angry looking villagers came crashing through a door, jabbing their axes and pitchforks at you before charging. You sighed, already having to deal with nuisances and shot at two of their kneecaps causing them to fall on the floor, quickly moving to punching the one still running square in the face — switching to your own combat knife, slitting the man’s throat.

The two villagers staggered their way to you, but you threw the now-dead third villager into them, crashing them both back onto the floor. You watched for a moment as they squirmed on the ground, reloading your gun before popping a bullet in between their heads, sending them to the next life. Sighing as it proved right that this mission wasn’t a match for your skills, but the thought of working with Leon lifted your spirits and made your way out of the home through the back door — marching into the forest.

Passing through the woods once more, going over a shoddy built bridge, you arrived at the main entrance of the village hidden behind a large door. Along the way you found more and more bodies, leading you closer to the man’s possible location. Hiding behind a pile of rocks, you watched as the villagers mindlessly yelled and prayed around a burning cross with a burn man tied.

Not wanting to watch for much longer, you moved further in, crouching as you rolled to hide behind a wall. Taking a moment to collect yourself, you sensed that there was a possible threat around the corner — most likely a villager.

Pausing for a moment to hear any movement made, an opportunity showed itself as the villager peeked at your corner only to be quickly pushed against the wall, gun clicking to the back of their head ready to shoot. You faltered as you realized who was at the end of the barrel, your grip on the gun easing, but a devious smile crawled on your face.

“Guess who, doll.”

The man tensed and immediately broke free from your hold, attempting to kick you at the side, one which you caught in your arm effortlessly.

“C’mon this ain’t no way to greet your partner Leon, dont’cha miss me?” You quipped, the man releasing his foot from your grasp. Leon huffed, moving back to peeking behind the wall, eyeing the villager’s for any reaction to the sudden noise.

“Just my luck I had to be paired up with you, was everyone out on break or what.” He spat, turning to finally address you.

Out of everyone they could have possibly sent out as assistance, he didn’t understand why they would send someone barely qualified to rescue the president's daughter. It just had to be a joke. You softly laughed, shaking your head at the man.

“Ouch, that hurts to hear Lee. I think we make quite the team, yeah? So long as you follow my lead, of course.”

Leon felt himself slowly losing his sanity the more he listened to you talk and moved to hide behind another home, you trailing after him. The first meeting didn’t seem to be going very well as the man decided to ignore your existence as he ran past homes, only turning to glare at you to ensure you were still real, smiling and waving as he turned.

So your brilliant mind decided that it was time to hit him with the old Y/n charm as you adjusted your clothing, wiping at the imaginary dirt. Clearing your throat and moving closer, whispering softly, “If it’s anything worth, you look great. Even if you got a little dirt on ya cheek.”

“Would you shut up for one second while I concentrate?” Leon hissed. You grinned, enjoying his reaction.

“If you’re having trouble, why don’t you leave this to me, doll? I’ll get us outta this shithole quick.”

“I don’t need your help, just shut up and stay-“

You quickly wrapped an arm around the man’s shoulder, pulling him close to your chest and fired your gun at the villager that had silently crept onto him — body falling lifelessly to the floor.

Leon snapped his head at the body before turning to meet your gaze on him, a sly smirk slowly spreading. “This is the part where you say thank you, sugar.”

The man grumbled before pushing you down, firing at the man on the floor who began convulsing, sprouting tentacles from his head. Ensuring the man was dead, Leon turned to face you with a smirk on his face.

“Guess we’re even now, huh darling?”

Your eyes slightly widened as the man referred to you with a pet name, something he never does and by the look on his face, he must’ve realized what he said. Though you could barely see it, a hit of red dusted his cheeks as he hid himself from you. You were about to tease the man some more when you heard the sound of many villagers walking in your direction, probably from the sounds of your arguing and guns.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to continue our little chat later, love. Maybe we could go out to dinner after all this.”

“I’d rather play bingo with these people than having to go on a date with you.”

“Oh?, never said it’d be a date, but if you insist.”

Leon let out an annoyed huff as he began firing at the villagers appearing, alternating between his combat knife to reserve ammunition. Overwhelmed by the sheer amount, you began busting through homes and fired at ones that broke in. The real challenge being a chainsaw wielding maniac that absorbed bullets like a sponge, barely reacting except for some staggering here and there.

Soon, the battle was over as many of the villagers lay dead at your feet as the last one standing was the chainsaw man who collapsed to the floor, blood painting the ground.

You and Leon shared a long stare as you both caught your breath from the long fight. Gaze landing on his lips while he scanned over your body before landing on your own mouth. You felt yourself pull closer to him and licked your lips while the other stayed still, eyes still focused on you. Only for the moment to be ruined, just as you were so close to him that his field operator Hunnigan, called asking for a progress report on the mission. You groaned as the blonde pulled away, speaking to the woman before turning to face you.

“Let’s go, they’ve got Ashley trapped in some big building up ahead.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s get this over with. I’ve got a date to attend after this.”

Leon let out a defeated sigh and walked off, following the dirt path as you joined him at his side, chatting as you both dealt with more villagers. Though the talking stopped as you both ran into a tied up Spaniard who you later learned his name was Luis after being thrown into a wall and awakening tied up in a room.

A bit of jealousy flared within you as the man, eyes lingered far too long for your liking on Leon. Feeling dissipating once the man ran off, throwing the key which you caught and removed the chains from your hands as well as Leon’s. You couldn’t tell if you wanted to befriend that man or eliminate him as a possible contender for Leon.

Either way, it didn’t matter as you and Leon continued the search for Ashley after traversing the village, buying items from a strange hooded man, fighting an overweight mutant pet fish and finally arriving at a church where it’s believed to imprison the woman.

The first encounter, much like your own with Leon, was a short fight that ended with her screaming before calming down and thanking you both for rescuing her.

“I’m so sorry for attacking you. I-I thought you were one of them.” She said softly, wrapping her arms around herself.

“Yeah we look like decrepit old men and got the whole cultist gear going for us,” You scoffed, the woman meekly apologizing once more. Leon punched your shoulder and moved to place a gentle hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about him, he’s just an asshole. We’ll get you home, promise.”

Ashley gave a faint smile and nodded, seemingly feeling a little bit better at his words. You huffed, turning to walk out the church doors only to shut them at the sight of a large mob of villagers outside.

“If you two are done gossiping about me, we’ve got company.”

Leon rolled his eyes, warning Ashley to carefully follow them and equipped his gun. You pushed open the doors, alerting the mob that began shouting — a fight ensued.

The mob proved to be overwhelming as your group slowly backed into a corner after making it outside, forcing you all to run for cover. Ashley desperately tried to keep between you and Leon, but was caught by a few villagers that dragged her back to the crowd. A shrill scream was all you heard as they ran off with Ashley, most likely to another building to imprison her in.

“Ashley!” Leon yelled, aiming for one of the villagers that held her arms. You quickly turned to look at the man, alternating between hand-to-hand combat and firing your gun at villagers surrounding you. Your eyes widening as one of the knife wielding villagers rushed to impale the unsuspecting man.

“Fuck, Leon! Watch out!”

Leon turned to dodge and hissed as the blade struck the side of his torso, blood gushing from the wound. Swiftly roundhouse kicking the villagers around you, you went to pick up the man and ran as he fired shots at the mob chasing.

You both managed to lose the horde after hiding in a dense thicket, holding your breaths as the villagers ran over your head. Your arm wrapped around the injured man’s shoulder while the other held out a gun. Once the sounds of the horde began to die down, you directed your attention back to the man who let out soft groans of pain. A mixture of worry and anger swept over you as you helped him to his feet.

“What the hell was that Leon!” You spat at him, putting an arm around his waist, helping ease his balance. “You could’ve gotten stabbed! Use that damn head of yours smartass.”

Leon grit his teeth in anger before letting out a painful hiss. “Our mission is to save Ashley no matter the cost, you should’ve chased after them instead of being here, asshole.”

“Fat chance we’ll save her if we both get hurt and I’m not going to leave you here bleeding out.”

“Since when did you care about me?”

“I’ve always cared, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Goddamnit, you’re always so hard to tell. I can never figure-“

You crashed your mouths together, teeth clacking. Leon let out a surprised noise but he didn't let it deter him from returning the kiss — threading his fingers into your hair, licking into your mouth. The kiss turned increasingly desperate as you pulled him close, not wanting to separate from each other’s lips for even a moment. Though eventually, the lack of much needed air forced you apart, bumping your head against his as you stared into his eyes.

“Can you figure that out, puppy?” You quipped, trialing your hands over his ass, kneading the mound in your hands.

Leon pressed himself against your chest and hovered his lips over yours.

“Just shut up and kiss me.”

Not wanting to waste anymore time talking, you decided that your body could do it for you. Attacking his lips once more, tongues dancing together as you pressed him against a tree. Slotting your leg between his, feeling the blonde’s own hardness grind down on you. Leon’s soft muffled moans slipped past the gaps in the kiss, locking his arms behind your head to steady himself as he humped your leg.

The sound of the forest drowned in the background as the kiss got more heated, lips swollen, breathing heavy against each other — mind swimming in fog lustful daze. Trailing from his lips to his neck, you marked the man, leaving dark marks littered on his pale skin.

Leon clasped a hand on his mouth, hoping to suppress the drawled out moans and whining as he continued grinding on your leg.

“Shit, ah- not enough, need more please,” He whined, digging a hand into your shoulder before hissing at the pain from his side, blood still seeping into his clothes.

“Take it easy there doll. I've got you, I’ll make it quick alright?”

Leon groaned and nodded, pushing himself onto the tree — shoots of pain and pleasure coursing through him. Not wanting to prolong his suffering, you worked off his belt along with your own and brought the hard shafts together after freeing them of their confinement. Both letting out a soft groan as you started off with gentle stroking that got increasingly faster and tighter. Thumbing over the slits, letting the precum act as lube, making it

Leon threw his head back and arched his back, feeling the pleasure overwhelm the pain from the wound festering at his side.

“Yes, fuck yes, I’m close k-keep going please.. ah!”

Denying the man felt unacceptable, especially when he was begging so nice just for you. A satisfied grin emerged from your face as you continued working on bringing you both to climax.

“You look so damn pretty right now doll. Can’t wait to see what you’d look like when I fuck that tight ass of yours.” You panted into his ear, tugging at your cocks in your hand, leaving the blonde a sobbing mess in his hand.

“You’ll be good for me won’t you? I’ll make sure you can’t walk right for a week.”

A shudder traveled up Leon’s spine at the thought of returning back to the country only to be fucked into oblivion, feeling the ache of your thrusts all week. The fact it would be from his own rival no less, one that he swore up and down to never get involved with unless forced to. He didn’t know what was worse, the idea that he wanted nothing more than to submit to the same man that frustrated him to no-end or that is exactly what he felt missing in all the interactions shared with you.

Leon’s moan became louder as he started realizing the feelings he refused to acknowledge and buried his head into your neck, blush spreading across his face.

“I know you want it darling and I’ll make it a dream come true, now come for me.” You whispered into his ear, tightening your hand even more that proved to be enough for the man to spill.

The blonde concealed his broken cries into your neck as he came, coating your hand before dripping to the ground. You soon followed after and gently jerked the last few spurts of cum, stopping to wipe your hand on the tree, tucking you and him back into its restraints.

Leon panted heavily against your neck, heart rate dropping as he caught his breath. You placed soft kisses along his neck, moving your head over his.

“I’m serious when I say this Leon, let’s get that dinner and make it a date. I want us to be more than just.. rivals.”

Leon bit his lip in thought, conviction flicking between his eyes as he stared into yours. Gaze softening before speaking, “Alright then, but I’ve had enough seafood right now. I can still smell that thing’s breath.”

You laughed, bringing up a hand to rub a gentle thumb over his cheek. “I know this killer place downtown with a nice view, no seafood menu too.” You murmured, removing a strand of hair from his lips.

Leon softly smiled and leaned into your touch. “I’ll hold it to you then.”

A laugh escaped from both of you, only stopping when Leon hissed in pain, eyebrows furrowed as he bit back a groan. For a small moment, you both forgot that the man was still injured from a knife earlier and you quickly worked on fishing out some miraculous herbs. You weren’t too sure how they always helped heal such wounds, but it was the least of your concerns so long it worked. Digging out a large bandage to wrap around his torso, Leon stifled any pained noises.

You were slightly worried as the wound wasn’t anything deep, but it was a contender for possible stitches or better treatment than you could provide. Just how did the man ignore such pain during the heated moment shared between you two was beyond you. Unless..?

“Say you got a thing for pain or something?” You mused, a grin forming on your face as the man’s face flushed.

“What? No! I’m just used to getting hurt sometimes, this is nothing.” He huffed, pushing himself off the tree and adjusted his clothes, avoiding your pointed look.

“Is it also why you like it when I throw you on the ground back at the academy?”

Leon grit his teeth and shook his head, refusing to speak anymore unless he was to give away how he truly felt about being manhandled.

“Quit speculating and let’s get back to saving Ashley, again.”

You quietly laughed and made your way out of the thicket, returning back to focus on the operation. Though your mind couldn’t help wandering back to the man at times as you ran up to the new location they hid the girl in. Wanting nothing more but to end it quickly so you could spend more time with Leon than slaughtering villagers and cultists, even if you were good at it. A determined look set across your face as you watched from the door Leon helped free Ashley from her chains.

I’ll make sure we get out of here. No matter the cost.

a/n: yeah the reader is slightly psychotic when it comes to Leon at the end. i had thoughts of making a part two of this, but not all that sure. regardless of that, hope y’all liked this :]

if anyone’s interested, here’s a rough cut dialogue that i didn’t use.

“Think that merchant guy sells lube? Rather not hurt ya while we fuck doll, I can get pretty rough.” You grinned, watching the man’s cheeks burn.

“We are not fucking during a mission!”

“Damn, that was on my bucket list.”

Leon gave you a questionable stare.

“What? Why do you- forget it, I don’t want to know anymore.”

“C’mon, it’s a pretty good list and I just thought up a few more of what I could add.”

up next: reader request! Rocket x Male Reader. rocket isn’t fond of new people, more importantly a stranger that he’s to fight alongside with, but eventually comes around to you.

[waitmyturtles]

Well -- I think a lot of us on the internet were and are concerned about PerthChimon's chemistry. But there's a lot going on for Dangerous Romance, episode 1, that has gotten me HOOKED besides and beyond that chemistry issue, and I think what I saw today has got me at least less worried, if not intrigued, for reasons down below.

Firstly: we smell SOTUS on this show's breath, right? In a lot of ways, which I'll talk about below. I like the sinister turn that bullying and hazing has taken here -- weird to say that I like it, not by what's actually depicted, but by how it's been updated by its source inspiration in SOTUS and how the bullying is being leveraged so far as a storyline. As I'm always looking at teams behind shows for the Old GMMTV Challenge, I am noting that one of the directors of this show is Lit Phadung -- the screenwriter and director of SOTUS and SOTUS S. Despite the KristSingto chemistry issues of that franchise, Lit actually told a decent story in SOTUS, and an actually kind-of-compelling story of growth in SOTUS S and Our Skyy x SOTUS. So what we have in Lit is: a director who knows how to balance titchy issues of hazing along with actors with developing chemistry. Dangerous Romance is starting out FAR stronger than SOTUS, which is good for him, and which I'll get into more in a second.

One more note about the show's team. We got two of my favorite writers on the screenplay in Bee Pongsate and Pratchaya Thavornthummarut -- Bad Buddy, A Tale of Thousand Stars, etc. Big shit shows. I've talked with @chickenstrangers about this before, particularly in the context of when Bee and Pratchaya co-wrote 2gether -- when Bee and Pratchaya write together WITHOUT Backaof Noppharnach and Au Kornprom on their squad, the stories can get a little looser and messier. So I'm keeping my eye out for this. (Bee and Pratchaya wrote Vice Versa without P'Aof and Au, and... I know people have feelings about VV.) Anyway! Let's keep sharp eyes out for the writing.

I like where the screenplay is headed -- a battle of wits, enemies-to-lovers (ETL). I agree with @lurkingshan when she shared with me that ETL will need sexual tension.

Alright, so. On this. First off, this is my first show where I'm seeing Chimon in a starring role. I wrote to @neuroticbookworm and @lurkingshan as I was watching this: I WAS SURPRISED BY THE SASS LEVEL. Chimon's sashaying into this.

(Sailom: "Do you want to be my heroin(e)?" Welcome back, kinda, Kongpob, WITH SASS, SMARTS, and a hella survival streak.)

Secondly: these dudes are so young that they could be my children, but let me note that both Perth and Chimon are now YEARS-LONG veterans at GMMTV. Sure, they're wearing those damn high school uniforms again, but when they workshop, they have that many more years behind them to know what they're doing and what they need to achieve. I know there were some quibbles about Gawin Caskey's and Krist Perawat's chemistry in Be My Favorite, and I wonder if we might run into a similar issue here with DR. But that being said: what I appreciated about Gawin and Krist is that they had clearly workshopped the hell out of their partnership, with Krist really making strides beyond his early days with Singto in SOTUS (oh, the cringe). I ended up really loving GawinKrist together, and I think they managed Krist's character's slight aversion to sexual tension well within their pairing.

I don't smell cringe here with Dangerous Romance. I smell risk-taking. Perth = leather daddy? I'll fucking take it. And Chimon is grabbing faces and playing with fire against the big boy of school. I can't find the post (darn it! I will cite it when I find it!), but someone wrote that Sailom KNOWS he's smarter than Kang, and is willing to take risks to exploit that against Kang, and I am here for it. A battle of wits and wills.

I have my hopes seriously up that Perth and Chimon know what they need to do to make this GOOD. I think both of them have it in them to know what to do to make this ship not just successful, but dramatically compelling. I hope the screenplay can hold up to not eff it up. (I should have said this earlier, but I have NOT seen Never Let Me Go, and I understand that NLMG left folks feeling underwhelmed about PerthChimon. I am not tainted, so I will hold optimism for myself and anyone else who wants me to hold it for them!)

Other passing thoughts: I LOVE VIEW. I CANNOT WAIT FOR VIEW TO HAVE A STARRING ROLE! Her and Perth on screen together?! STRENGTH.

Euro is excellent -- I understand his turn in My Precious was great, too. Good to see you again, Marc Pahun. Let's see if Pawin can get a role that's not just being a high school side-buddy. I'm interested in Kang's daddy issues. I want to know what happened to Kang's mom. Papang as a potentially unethical doctor? Oh yeeeaaah.

HOPES ARE HIGH, FRIENDS! This was a banger of a first episode. I'm hanging a lot on PerthChimon succeeding -- I REALLY like what GMMTV is doing to mix ships up. More, more, more!

[josefavomjaaga]

Hi, I'm curious about what you mentioned on Alexander having a not-so-platonic crush on Hortense. Could you elaborate? (no need to answer right now if you can't!)

Well, mostly that’s me being malicious as usual 😁. But yes, people in Paris at the time did of course wonder what made the tsar – called by some the most handsome man of the era, according to Hortense’s biographer Marie-Hélène Baylac - go to Malmaison of all places during his time in Paris 1814. And they surely did not assume it had anything to do with 50-year-old Josephine, but with her daughter Hortense. Who may not have been as beautiful, but had the reputation of being very distinguished and rather … friendly, especially with men.

Hortense and the tsar met for the first time on 16 April 1814, according to a footnote by Jean Hanoteau in volume 2 of Hortense’s memoirs. Hortense makes a big point about how she at first behaved in a very dignified, almost cold manner to this enemy of France and how it took both Josephine’s persuasion and the efforts of several diplomats, Caulaincourt and Nesselrode among them, for her to befriend him. This is to some degree confirmed by the memoirs of her reader Louise Cochelet. However, that degree may not be very high, considering that Louise Cochelet’s memoirs were published and edited (rewritten?) by Hortense herself. Memoirs of contemporaries indicate that it was rather Louise Cochelet who ran after the new Russian masters of Paris and tried to win them over to the Beauharnais cause. Even if Hortense claims it in her memoirs, it seems doubtful that Louise (Hortense’s closest confidante, keeper of all her secrets down to the existence of a certain Duc de Morny) would have acted on her own accord.

In the end, it does not matter. A close friendship developped, that much is sure. As Hortense states in her memoirs:

What's most appealing about him is that his need for affection seems to be part of his character. He inspires confidence because he knows how to show it. [...] I liked his character. I felt friendship for him and it is painful to expect any service from those whom we would like to love for themselves. So I left my initial reserve and allowed myself a greater degree of abandonment [...].

Both had an interest in the spiritual, both were rather romantic and enthusiastic. According to Hortense’s memoirs, Alexander even pondered inviting both Hortense and her mother to Saint Petersburg. The tsar went out of his way for Hortense (as he later would for Eugène, when the latter reached Paris). It was probably he who bullied Louis XVIII into making Hortense a "Duchess of Saint-Leu", and into allowing her to keep her sons with her in France, when technically, she was of course a Bonaparte and should have been affected by the law that exiled all members of the family, just like her husband. Hortense’s sons were, after the little ex-King of Rome, the next pretenders to the imperial throne. So Louis XVIII had to agree to have his own rivals grow up right before his eyes, that’s surely asking a lot from a monarch.

When Josephine died, Hortense was so overcome with grief – she writes – that she did not see anyone. Except for one visitor: Tsar Alexander.

Finally, when Alexander left for London, his depart started a very personal and, from Hortense’s side, sometimes gushy correspondence between them. They also must have met during Hortense’s stay in Baden. Interestingly, both Hortense and Alexander at that time have troubles with their longterm lovers: Handsome Flahaut, the father of the Duc de Morny, does propose to Hortense after Napoleon’s fall, suggesting Hortense should officially divorce. Hortense however refuses, and her relationship to Flahaut takes a severe blow (he will soon find a bride elsewhere). Alexander, as to him, during the same year ditches his mistress Maria Antonovna Naryshkin. And he confides about this to – Hortense.

Baylac cites one of Hortense’s letters as follows:

[…] when I think of the sovereign who has shown an interest in me, who has looked after my affairs with kindness, I am grateful, I wish for his happiness, and that is all; but when I think of the man who showed me friendship and confidence, when I remember that he tried to love me, my troubles advise me to hope in providence; finally, he knew how to speak to my heart, for how many times since, feeling emotion or fear about the future, I have resigned myself by saying: My God, I trust in you! Ah, the one whose feelings are so similar to mine, he is a friend, a support that heaven has sent me.

It’s maybe not completely astonishing that the tone of this correspondence has made, as Baylac puts it, "certain biographers doubt the platonic nature of their relations".

This relationship, whatever its nature, continued until the Hundred Days. At this point, Eugène was in Vienna, taking part in the Vienna Congress. The secret police (allegedly?) intercepted (falsified? - it’s so hard to find the truth about what happened within all these intrigues!) several letters, at least one from Hortense, badly hidden in a brush she had sent to her brother. I have read that Hortense in one letter openly mocked the tsar. The intercepted letters were shown to Alexander, who then passed them on to Eugène – ostentatiously opened – before breaking off all relations with both Beauharnais siblings.

Interestingly, his friendship with Eugène was soon healed. With Hortense? Not so much. To my knowledge, never. Alexander obviously felt truly hurt by her, in a similar way as he felt hurt by Caulaincourt’s behaviour. Admittedly, I have not looked into Hortense’s years in Bavaria much, but it seems when the tsar and tsarina visited Bavaria, and the tsar insisted on Eugène being of the party (much to the chagrin of queen Karoline 😊), Hortense was very much not invited. (Though, truth be told, it seems she was only rarely invited to Munich ever.)

So, that’s the base for my maliciousness 😁. Make of it what you want. As i do not have much faith in Hortense’s professed virtue in general, I am probably not the best judge of character in her case.

Thank you for the Ask! 💝💝💝

[southslates]

lol don't you know the show ended when zuko tied katara to that tree? that was it. they never interacted again obviously. /s

Avatar had a pretty good run from The Boy in the Iceberg to The Waterbending Scroll! ;)

Nine iconic episodes ❤️

[pub-lius]

Yo I haven't read Chernow's bios for a while and they were really my first introduction into the AmRev and shit but anygay- Could you give me a quick list of some of the reasons he's shitty at this? I know he is but it's been years and yeah

I am so. glad. you. asked. I have been compiling a mental list of his bs for the past year. (I'm only going to speak on Alexander Hamilton because it's the only one I've read so far).

Now, let me say a few nice things about the bastard before I talk about why I hate him. He goes really in depth, and I appreciate at least someone making the effort. He's clearly put a lot into his writing, and as a writer, I can appreciate that. He's also done a lot of research, and you can't not respect that. He's also very eloquent and clearly a very intelligent person. I don't think he shouldn't have written history books, since they are very influential books that have a lot of information, but they're still shit <3 (just my educated opinion)

Despite all the research he clearly does, he really wants you to believe whatever story he decides is the most entertaining. A lot of the time he will over exaggerate certain aspects, burying the facts of the matter in his ideal version of the events. Most authors prioritize the facts, and then give what they think might be the most accurate. Chernow still proposes alternative explanations, but in such small degrees that you've forgotten them by the end of the paragraph.

Speaking of paragraphs, he has too many. So many of them are repeating the same information, and not adding anything substantial. I know I'm not the best with brevity myself, but holy shit bro, shut up. His book could be easily cut in half if he just. stopped. talking. about. THE SAME THINGS

Also, for a man with such definite claims, he certainly cites a lot of other secondary sources. He does cite a lot of primary sources too, but there are. so many secondary sources in his notes and bibliography. I don't have as much of a problem with this, it just makes it hard to find definite evidence of the stories he tells.

We also need to talk about his glorification, of Hamilton and Washington specifically, more so Washington. He acknowledges some things Hamilton did wrong (at least at the point where I am in the book, which at the beginning of the 1790s, before a lot of Hamilton's controversy), but he largely glosses over them. He also exaggerates Hamilton's abolitionist beliefs. With Washington, he glorifies him a lot more. Now, Washington is very easy to glorify, since you can justify most things with "he was trying his best", but he still wasn't perfect, or even close. He was kind of a dickbag sometimes.

Also he has a weird obsession with giving Hamilton and Burr a lovers to enemies storyline, it's really annoying. Every five seconds he's like "here's what's CRAZY guys... while hamilton was having explosive diarrhea... burr was.... TAKING A PISS!!!!! ISNT THAT CRAZY THAT THEY WOULD BOTH USE A CHAMBERPOT AT THE SAME TIME AND THEN DUEL EACH OTHER??????" Which kind of makes it seem like Burr and Hamilton were more connected throughout their entire lives, when uh, they weren't. Like at all. And it makes it seem like Burr betrayed Hamilton, which explains why the musical makes him look like some kind of Judas.

Also I hate the way he talks about the women in Hamilton's life. Especially Eliza and Angelica. He makes it seem like they only existed to further Hamilton's empathetic, but horny character that he's trying to portray. The way he talks about them makes it seem like they weren't their own people. (i feel like i don't even need to mention how he dedicated half a chapter to Hamilton and Angelica's alleged emotional affair, but only a page to his relationship with John Laurens, who maintained, at the very least, a homoerotic "friendship" for like six years. whoops i did it anyway).

Now, part of me wants to go chapter-by-chapter calling out his bullshit, but these pretty much sum up the entire book (or at least the half I've managed to struggle through) because it is. SO. REPETITIVE. It's just the same things, but slowly moving through the timeline at a snails pace. I highly dislike Chernow's writing, and I don't recommend it if you already have a good understanding of whatever his book is about, but if you want to learn a lot of information from one source, go for it!! You'll learn a lot of really interesting things, just keep in mind that his writing isn't the most accurate, and to always fact check historical facts even if they're not Chernow. It's very important to try to be as accurate as possible when dealing with real people (unless ofc you're not portraying it as truth). Question everything, it's how you learn!!

I hope this helps, and thanks for the ask, bestie!!!

[enrogued]

is it possible that the real reason charles left erik in charge was to prevent in-fighting amongst the x-men? if he didn't believe scott should lead- because scott wants to have a family and raise a child and you can't do that if you're also trying to lead a superhero team- if he wanted to give him a break from the team or the ability to escape then who would he have put in charge? storm, probably, that's what they'd been training for, for storm to be field commander. but would scott have accepted that or would that have driven a wedge into an already tense team? was this just one of xavier's great ploys to stop the x-men bickering with each other by giving them a common...enemy? not enemy, but someone they all disliked(?) equally?

this was xavier playing the x-men almost as much as it was him playing erik too. were they all just that predictable? was she, in her acceptance of erik's presence, living up to her name as a rogue element? oh to know the workings of the mind of charles xavier. or not. she's not sure she'd want to be in that head.

erik cites wanting the x-men to be ready for what was to come, which only proves her point that he doesn't actually believe that the dream can succeed. " well, dang it sugah, that's the whole problem, you're basically tellin' 'em ya don't think they're capable. " he clearly doesn't think they're capable, that's not going to help. " trust has ta go both ways. we've been training for this for years, we've fought and bled and- even died for this already. so yeah, it smarts when ya say it ain't good enough. actin' like you're the only one who sees the threats in a room full of people who've saved the world multiple times, who've lost friends and lovers ta those 'threats' makes 'em feel small. that's gonna put 'em on edge. "

he's right about scott, though. he's not in the mindset to lead properly because he's been through the wringer. previously she might have suggested the compromise of letting storm lead with him but that's no longer an option either, the wound of storm's departure still very much open and bleeding. but they still need a compromise. " just ask their opinions, erik, let 'em know they still have a voice. an' i mean actually listen to 'em, don't just ask a questions you've got the answers to already. show 'em a little respect, and mean it. they deserve at least that. "

as for her own issues with telling the team her little secret? that's not on them, she can't possibly know they wouldn't just accept another blot on her history book. but it feels different. her jaw clenches as he accuses her of lying, accuses the x-men of intolerance. she folds her arms and sets her sights to a glare. " i'm not tellin' them because they don't need to know. it's in the past. " if it's in the past, why is she standing here with him now? trying to reason with him instead of just joining the anti-magneto rhetoric? " ya don't know that it'd change their opinions about me, i've got nothin' to prove to them. or to you. " she's got over half a decade of friendship to back her up. they wouldn't just cast her aside based off of a... what? a mistake? a bad decision? she's not convinced it was either of those things. looking at him now, she knows it wasn't. is that what she'd afraid of? that unlike being a terrorist and almost killing carol- she has no remorse over this? and that's likely to colour the reaction she gets from the rest of the team?

or is it just that she's afraid of one reaction in particular?

Every day he had the same thought: He should have never accepted Charles' last wish. Who was he trying to fool? The X-Men? Himself? This was not the place for him. This was not his way of doing things and he was not even wanted here. He could not lead the X-Men. They would never TRUST him to anyway. But he was still here, wasn't he? Out of stubbornness perhaps, a refusal to be the first to admit he had failed ( again, as he always did ). Maybe that was why he pushed them all like this, maybe he was just waiting for one of them to put their foot down and shove him out the door already, to spare them all any further embarrassment and end things before it could get any more out of hand, before he ruined everything they had fought for just by daring to stand NEXT to them in the eye of the public.

" All I want is for them to be ready, I want them to be prepared for whats to come. " And that was the whole issue was it not? His belief that they would have to fight forever, that much worse was yet to come. He had never given humanity the benefit of the doubt ( how could he after what he had seen in his childhood? ). They refused to share his view on this and he was unable to let go of it. " Do they not see I mean well? I'm TRYING to adhere to Xavier's vision but that does not mean I will risk the team's safety and lives by lulling them into a false sense of security. " All he wanted was for them to be able to survive whatever horrible future humanity had in store for them. He wanted to be proven wrong, wanted to see humanity stop its war on anything they deemed DIFFERENT from the norm but he would not turn a blind eye to the reality of their situation either.

But if he wanted the team to accept him, he would have to try and meet them in the middle. That was easier said than done. " I would offer to share the duty of leadership with Cyclops but given recent developments I don't believe he is fit for leadership. " A pause. " I'm sure he would say the same about me, though. So I am ... unsure how to make compromises, do anything that won't just be taken as a meaningless gesture by your friends or cause them to suspect me of lying to gain their trust. " And her sudden uncertainty which only seemed to prove his assumption about the X-Men's judgement right, did nothing to HELP his own struggle. " For a woman who accused me of lying to myself you certainly don't sound very sure of your words right now. " A harsh accusation but one meant to make her face the truth now rather than later. He was also making his point of the X-Men being a lot less unbiased then they pretended to appear. They held their own reservations and prejudices even if they pretended to be so high and mighty compared to him.

" If they were so tolerant you would have told them already. However, do not worry about this: I won't make you tell them, nor will I betray your trust by telling them myself. I only brought it up because I think it is only fair we are on the SAME PAGE about their acceptance of certain parts of our past. They would think lesser of you just for having been with me in the past. How am I supposed to make them trust me if I seem to TAINT their perception of everyone else by sheer association? "