#he shouldn't have been able to do shit about making a Federation. like at all. everyone in Leicester should've rejected it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

butwhatifidothis · 2 years

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THANK YOU for that post regarding Leicester waging war on the Central Church, actually, because I thought something just wasn't clicking for me as I was playing the route. It's like--in order to make waging war make sense, they had to frame the Central Church as unimportant so they wouldn't lose something important when they killed Rhea. But then. If the Central Church is so unimportant, there's no way they're so evil and corrupt and pervasive that they have to be uprooted with violence. I thought my brain was really just turned off but turns out this route was really just written that poorly??dflgkdj

No cuz like that's. The exact problem, you hit the nail on the head.

Claude can't be straight up evil, and thus can't be portrayed as doing something that's actually that bad - it's clear that they're tryin' to portray him as a guy just trying to get by as best he can for his own people. But herein lies the conundrum: if the Central Church is important to the people of Fodlan (both on a personal level and a pragmatic one), and Rhea is the leader of the Central Church and is the one doing all of these good things for everyone, and Claude is trying to get rid of it and kill her, then he's clearly doing something objectively wrong. So it has to be the case that the Church isn't that important to his people then - now he can retain being a good guy trying the best for his people.

But. Then. If it's so unimportant that literally no one gives a shit about taking it down - they're not rioting nor are they rallying, they're legit described as "calm" - then the Central Church is clearly not that impactful to Leicester. The people of which Claude is supposed to be doing all of this for. Their complete nonreaction to the declaration of war - starkly different from the Empire, who needed actual propaganda to even be remotely calmed, and to the Kingdom whose nobility and people place high value in the Central Church's existence - should tell Claude and everyone else that they're barking up the wrong tree.

The game can not decide whether it wants to portray the Church as something bad or not to save its life. Dimitri takes it in only for pragmatic purposes, Claude wants to take it down, Edelgard wants to take it down, all this shit gets flung at it, and then you fuckin' pan the camera over to them and the Church is pickin' daisies and making flower crowns for lil' kids. There is no justification ever given as to why the Church is constantly looked at with a side-eye by literally everyone; 3Hopes doesn't have WC to make Rhea look sus, so why does everyone... act like they've been through WC? 3Hopes wanted to have its cake and eat it too, and it impacted just about every single character.

I'm just confounded that Claude - Mr. Curious, Mr. I-Want-All-The-Answers, someone who is open-minded enough to see the merit of being positively compared to Rhea and who wanted to hear her side of things despite everything - is drowning in evidence that points directly to the Church not being guilty of pretty much everything he accused of it, and he just... well, even saying that he ignores it gives the writing too much credit, at least in this specific instance. These facts are ignored by the narrative itself. No one brings these facts up. No one notices this, even when they're actively talking about it. It's like the writers didn't even notice this when writing it out. The closest this instance gets to being "acknowledged" is in Claude's support with Dimitri (where he does just flat out ignore Dimitri's points, because why write Claude when you can just write EdeIgard instead lmao), and even then it never brings up any of this. Just mind-boggling

#ask #fire emblem warriors three hopes spoilers #fire emblem warrior: three hopes spoilers #but yeah the way 3Hopes wants the Church to both be sus but keep the genuinely good nature it has fucks with just about everything #because Claude being able to do everything he does wrt the Federation like. spits on every single ''Church Bad'' thing #that he claims is true #like if the dogma of the CENTRAL Church is so overbearing as to need violent upheaval to force change then like #he shouldn't have been able to do shit about making a Federation. like at all. everyone in Leicester should've rejected it #if Claude were any kind of right #like if there was dogma about ''Outsiders Bad'' for example yeah #and it was so rooted in Fodlan's culture specifically because of the Central Church #then how tf was Nader accepted into the ranks as easily as he was? by a Major House descended from the 10 Elites no less #actual garbage tier writing. it STINKS #clyde discourse

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travelling-on-the-octopath · 2 years

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S Plays Golden Wildfire - Part . . . i can't remember

Chapter 9 - The End of the Alliance

All right motherfuckers, we're really in it now. This one is longer than normal because of the sheer volume of SHIT we have to wade through.

Story Content

All right so four months have passed since Almyra's attempt to ream Leicester's borders.

Holst is now the head of the house, though I can't remember if that was already established. Brain melty.

Anyway hot take, the federation would have been cool if it were something like the War Measures Act, in that it was a set of laws passed only during war, and shows that Claude does what has to be done when the situation calls for it. (You'll see why the current execution of the Federation falls flat soon.)

Arval knows what the fuck is up fgkljdflgkj "Yes, [Claude being able to do what he wants is] probably for the best. Probably."

Real talk though, for Shez to put it like "Claude can do whatever he wants now" makes him sound like a child wearing the crown rather than the capable leader he's shown himself to be (at least in Houses), if not an outright abuser of his power. I'm not saying that's what he is, but it doesn't instill in me a great deal of confidence to hear a leader can now do whatever they want.

All right so the three amigos of the Alliance (Albany, Siward, and Burgundy) are planning on defecting to Faerghus because fuck the Federation

Hm. Okay. Interesting.

Claude says they're going to send these territories a heads-up for the incoming army to settle unrest. Lorenz suggests instead that they send envoys to first learn of the situation, and Claude says they would just lie.

I'm like. That's not wildly out there, but it certainly makes me skeptical.

Bold fuckin move to maintain the old banner with the Crests of the previous five noble houses now that power lies with one man

Shez and Lysithea acknowledge that kingship might be a little messy because of Claude's tendency to get . . . carried away? Is that a characteristic that's at all congruent with a pragmatic schemer?

Holst says the minor lords weren't in favour of the federation. Tracks, seeing as Claude seemed to only get the approval of the roundtable lords in doing so

"The whole thing was Claude's idea right? I'm sure it'll be fine" BUT YOU GAIN SUPPORT POINTS WITH LEONIE FOR BEING SKEPTICAL SO . . . . .

Nothing kind to be said about Viscount Burgundy apparently. I'd be interested to see if this is like Crown+Eastern Lords v. Western Lords in Faerghus.

Huh, so it is a little different; Dimitri has a line in AG where he says that because the lords are his vassals, even in the west, he cannot disregard them entirely. What funky Leicesterian general over here is telling me: "It's not like the minor nobles were ever allowed to participate in the roundtables. They'd be told about the discussion topics beforehand, and could submit a complaint if they had any objections. And now without that, they won't have a say in how the region is run."

Judith corroborates this; what she doesn't have a comment on is how their dynamic is going to shift now that the Federation is instated, which I think the general was right about, but that's just me.

Soldier in the camp wants to align with the Kingdom. Why isn't she leading the Federation again? And that's not even a bias talking; she says the only reason they couldn't before was because the start of the war had fucked up Faerghus too, but now that things have settled down, it would be a good chance to improve relations with them--and it would. Leicester's and Faerghus' resources are complimentary in that the former excels in agriculture while the latter has what is arguably the most skilled military in the continent, even if it's not the biggest. Both of these exports/specialities are what the other lacks. Seeing as they're BOTH being reamed by the Empire, there's really no reason outside of patchy narration that they shouldn't make allies out of each other, because they . . . literally do that in Azure Gleam.

Ignatz says pilgrims on their way to garreg mach used to occupy the territories Claude mentioned before, and now that there are Imperial forces in that area, unrest has began to rise.

HUH. IT'S ALMOST LIKE THE EMPIRE IS THE BAD GUY IN THIS. WHAT A CONCEPT. CLAUDE GET YOUR FUCKING HEAD ON STRAIGHT.

BYE GFKLGJ???FGISHLgkh Federation soldier: "I wonder, what kind of man is Claude? He led us to victory against the Empire and Almyra, and now he's suddenly our king. I can't imagine a man of his caliber would listen to the opinions of those beneath him."

Oh that is JUICY, keeping that in mind.

Oh yeah by the way, I plan to inconvenience Claude at every turn. I even said he didn't have my full support just yet on the making of the federation <3 sorry not sorry king

NOW WAIT A DAMN FUCKING MINUTE?????????

Church person (sorry can't remember their station gflgkjd I think it was a priest?): "The bishop and I went to Derdriu to bestow the goddess' blessing upon the coronation. Just between you and me, King Claude said he'd be perfectly fine without a ceremony. But the bishop convinced him it would help give Leicester's citizens peace of mind. That's why King Claude gave in and had a short ceremony. It's certainly possible to become king without the goddess' blessing, but the world isn't ready for that yet. That's waht the bishop said, anyway."

I'm not even. Oh boy.

Reminder to anyone who's managed to forget: The Alliance was formed without religious involvement; and as was pointed out by anvils-of-history in this post, the idea that the Church somehow birthed the Kingdom is a retcon at best.

Claude's agreed to meet with the Emperor. Someone fucking kill me.

EdeIgard you little-- (essentially, she's pinning the whole thing on Acheron turning tail on the Alliance, which gave the Empire the chance to attack them, though Claude knows it was an unprovoked attack and that "dead men tell no tales." SOMEHOW, he still allies with her. Fuck knows why.)

CLAUDE. HONEY. I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHY YOU AGREE THAT THE CENTRAL CHURCH HAS TO GO.

okayyyy waiiiitttttttttt he literally says the same thing dimitri says in the dimiclaude support! "Oh, I read [your letter] all right. And from a personal standpoint, it's something I can get behind. But as the leader of the Federation, I can't say the same." SO HE LITERALLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CHURCH GFJLSFGJ I CAN'T STAND THIS

EdeIgard's whole thing truly does make me a little . like. "We do not care where the Federation places its faith, so long as it is not with the Central Church." That feels so slimy to me god flgjdflgkj

Okay so the gist of this is: EdeIgard and Hubert are like "Wouldn't it be NICE if you finally had peace at the border :) wouldn't that be so fucking neat :) we'll compensate you for the war we wrought, by the way!" and claude and holst just go "Meh, sure."

This fuckingggggg gameeeee HOW did it peak with Azure Gleam

Shez being the ONLY one on this fucking bridge with brain cells and saying "??????? The Church and Kingdom are suddenly our enemies? People aren't gonna like that . . ."

Shez: "[Rhea and Seteth] aren't what they seem to be. If what the Empire says is true, that is." SO YOU'RE REALLY WAGING WAR ON A MILLENNIUM-OLD INSITITUTION AND A NATION BECAUSE OF THE WORD OF HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY? MY SIBLINGS IN CHRIST WHAT--?

Oh god almighty-- Claude: "By cooperating with the Empire, we can expand our influence and power as much as they do, if not more." WHEN WAS THIS EVER A CONCERN FOR HIM????

My head is fucking hurting dfgkljdfgkj Claude dredges up past conflicts as some sort of fucked up justification for reaming the Kingdom now. When the Empire was attacking, Faerghus fucked over Leicester, and Claude--look to the brighter dawn, forget past grudges Claude--uses that as some sort of gotcha/justification for trying to dick over the Kingdom now.

NOW HANG ON, HE THINKS FAERGHUS MEDDLED IN DAPHNEL? HUH? Didn't someone from house Daphnel want to defect????? And regardless, it wasn't even that Daphnel moved to the Kingdom/became part of the Kingdom; Galatea is split off from that house.

This is a letter from the shadow library, by the way, written by Claudia of House Riegan, emphasis mine: "My Beloved...You were right. It seems he would not hesitate to divide the house. What's more, I hear he's considering taking his half of the territory and joining the Kingdom. I can't believe he would even consider dragging another region into this, not to mention stirring up trouble over his inheritance, at a time when the Alliance desperately needs to unite."

But, yeah, blame the kingdom for that.

Claude: "I've always been skeptical of the dogma they preach. It's just a way for them to force their own belief system onto everyone else. Their creed legitimizes Fódlan's system of nobility, which values Crests above all else leaves no room for people of different backgrounds or faiths. And if what the Empire is saying is true, then I couldn't even begin to count the number of crimes the Central Church has committed."

Claude you oblivious little shit if you would just think about this for TWO SECONDS:

You come from a royal family. You KNOW that power structures are as arbitrary as they are necessary, and it's HOW they're used that matters. You KNOW that if it weren't Crests, it would be something else, because you grew up in it.

Shamir was one of Rhea's most trusted knights. She is not of Fódlan.

Petra, Princess of Brigid, was welcomed with open arms; IN FACT, the real hostility there was her being THE EMPIRE'S HOSTAGE. But working with the Empire is the means to an end, right <3

Not sure if you met Cyril, but oh boy! He was given free room and board at the monastery because he had nowhere else to go.

Dedue! Right hand of the literal prince of Faerghus, and in this game LITERAL, OFFICIAL RIGHT HAND TO THE KING OF FAERGHUS

Why would the Empire, the leader of which just lied to your fucking face at your acknowledgement, suddenly be telling the truth now? Using them to your own advantage or not, you are allying with the aggressor, which you LITERALLY COULD NOT DO IN THE BASE GAME.

Guess who was able to reform their nation, top to bottom, without a single peep from the Central Church! THE EMPIRE! The one with arguably THE deepest roots in religion! WHY ARE YOU DUMB

Catherine, literally Rhea's most devoted knight and hailing from the not-so-Holy Kingdom of Faerghus does not concern herself with the teachings of Seiros, but rather protecting Rhea/executing her commands.

Okay Claude is starting to piss me the fuck off, even beyond his butchered character.

With his ANGRY PORTRAIT, mind you: "Honestly? I want to break this place wide open and tear down every last one of its insular customs."

What is wrong with you? WHICH of its insular customs?????? It's one thing to want to break open borders so people can meet in the middle; it is ANOTHER THING ENTIRELY to want to "break a place wide open" and "tear down" a portion of its supposed customs that YOU failed to understand. You are LITERALLY everything that made your life a nightmare, how are you not seeing this.

God he fucking pisses me off, where is my actual Claude. I might just have to suck up my distaste for dead dimitri!routes and play Verdant Wind to wipe this taste out of my mouth.

??? Strange; unlocking the Claurenz support before the event/gallery scene was strange enough, but now it's saying I haven't talked with two people in the camp when I already have? GW the route of glitches?

Plonking this (Lysithea/Claude B support) in the story content box because it does WONDERS for characterizing Claude the way he should be, and because I know the battle I'm about to enter will contradict this: "In the grand scheme of things, your life is far, far more valuable than a few measly days of combat. [...] You know, it's not just your own life you're rolling the dice with. Every single soldier you command would die with pride by your word." Claude prioritizing the life of the people that fight for him over everything else, because death is the only thing you can't reverse.

Main Battle

Aiding Imperial forces at Ailell.

Are we sure I can't just let them die--

Arval senses a Claude Scheme(TM) in the works.

Okay so yeah Claude just straight up let people die to get the advantage. (Catherine and Shez say as much.) who are you and what have you done with my dude.

Oh yeah I've decided that no one gets recruited anymore. Everyone suffers. I'm not gonna go for the alternate ending and people are gonna die.

The Church and Imperial forces were wiped out

Okay either this is the worst "I keep fucking up" story in the world or Claude loves lying to himself.

"Not one enemy made it off the battlefield alive. From a tactical standpoint, that's an ideal outcome. At least . . . it's supposed to be. But it still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Even so, the only way I can go is forward. Now that I've taken this first step, there's no turning back." And then I missed the last line verbatim but it was essentially "not after what i've done. these hands will never be clean again."

God this is giving me such "the path I walk soaks my feet in blood." Like either fix your mistakes and do better, or shut the FUCK up. Honestly.

Everyone is Very Displeased with Claude. God bless.

Claude says he'll give thought to being a better leader. Says he might not come to the conclusion Judith wants.

WELL SEEING AS WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN SRENG--

Side Battles

Aid imperial troops, protect Leicesterian supplies, and I'll be honest I want to be through with this route as soon as possible so I skipped the rest.

Miscellaneous

(this was unlocked at the beginning of the chapter, when the discussion event was only triggered after you leave the camp for the first time) I WAS ALLOWED TO UNLOCK THE CLAURENZ B SUPPORT WAY TOO EARLY??GFDKLJRIJT LORENZ IS TALKING ABOUT CO-OPERATING WITH THE EMPIRE? FUCK

Claude now apparently sees little to no benefit in the Alliance's previous structure?????? Even though he praised it as a peacetime method???? Regarding a non-hereditary monarchy: "But I can't stand to think about going back to making that decision via roundtable. It'd be no different from how we used to do things in the Alliance."

Claude suggests democracy

For some reason they got a CG in their support???gkljdflgj lol

Claude for some reason finds it sooooooooo easy to talk to Shez. God fucking knows why. He says it's because they don't come with strings (merc life) but. Ayo KING, guess who's the last person you want to trust with your secrets? A mercenary !!

Going on dates with hilda fixes everything (though her japanese voice actress is doing a lot of that work. I just love the way she speaks

I find it really funny that one of the dialogues you get when observing Lorenz is basically "can you PLEASE stop trying to eye-fuck me!! We're in public!!"

I love Lorenz an embarrassing amount fdgkldjfg (yes i gave him the merc whistle leave me alone)

Me, cooking up literal braised pheasant for Lysithea: :D

This seventeen-year-old menace: SO YOU COOK ME CHILD'S FOOD, DO YOU?

#s starts a wildfire

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sadachmesarthim · 3 years

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towers for your honeycomb chapter 3: no i do not condone underage drinking i just think it's a good plot devic-

content: the boys have One Beer Each™, peter both sets and completely ignores his own boundaries, author remembers the communion chapter from "how to read literature like a professor" and bastardizes it, both of them have anxiety but neither say anything about it, smoking

words: 2k song: outskirts of paradise - bad suns

Looking Tony in the eye was like staring at the sun. Peter could barely hold his gaze, always finding an excuse to turn away.

He was sat in front of the other man a few weeks later, sharing drinks and pizza at a new brewery down the road. It’d cost him his liquor license, and potentially a clean record, if anyone found out, but Richie (their most beloved regular) offered to let the pair try the latest house brew if they ever swung through.

Peter wasn’t one for beer, but he’d accepted Tony’s invite anyway.

He wasn’t entirely sure why. Since their fight, they’d worked all of maybe three hours together. No other shifts, they avoided each other at meetings, and neither were particularly willing to reach out off the clock and apologize.

It was like the world was screaming at them to stay away from each other.

Peter wasn’t sure he wanted to listen.

After his shift that morning, Peter found Tony outside, leaning up against the hood of his car & working through his second cigarette. He drummed on the side of his thigh, keeping his empty hand busy as he waited for Peter to come out. Tony jumped at the sight of him, tossing the half finished cig down a storm drain.

“You know those lead straight to the ocean, right?” There was more amusement than anger behind his words. Peter wasn’t entirely sure what Tony was up to, but he was too tired to start shit. He crossed to the passenger side of his car, tossing his belongings to the floor.

“Even if it didn’t go through the city’s filtration system – fuck the fish.” Peter rolled his eyes. Funny as he was, Tony always had to be contradictory.

“Don’t you have, like, a school of them on your shoulder?” Tony’s normally visible salmon tattoos were safely tucked away behind a denim jacket Peter’d never seen before.

“Irrelevant.” Peter rounded the hood and turned, facing the other man. “Did you need something or were you just here to argue about my town’s plumbing system?” He huffed the words out, arms crossing in front of his chest expectantly.

“I, uh…” He suddenly went silent. The ground crunched under Tony’s feet, gravel scraping asphalt under his shoes. They were a rattier pair he owned – more tape than sole, oil staining the canvas.

“I wanted to know if you’d come to lunch with me. Today. Like, right now?” He hesitated at the last few words, like he wasn’t sure he could say them out loud. “I, uh. I’m pretty sure I have some things to say to you, and Richie’s got some good stuff waiting for us at the Pub House…”

Peter was astounded. “Who are you, and what have you done with my Tony?” My Tony? What? “I- why should I trust you? I’m sure as hell not getting in a car with you.”

Tony’s face fell. A bit of- what, disappointment? flew across his face. Peter would’ve missed it had he not been staring, impatient for his answer. Tony, floundering at the rejection, couldn’t give him one.

“Okay, maybe- how about this. I’ll think about it. Give me five minutes to go wash up and I’ll be back.” He turned & headed inside, not waiting for a response.

The cool water felt good against his burning, salt-stained cheeks. Peter hadn’t realized just how tired he was – opens had always taken it out of him, and the early spring temperatures didn’t always prevent the stand from turning into a heater during rush hour.

The soap in the stand was always too fragrant for his taste, but it did the job – it felt good to wash away the day’s work and come back looking like a new man. He smoothed his eyebrows down and dried himself off, wetting his hair a bit as he finished.

He wound up with grind in it again, brushing it out with a comb he found in the first aid kit. One of these days he was going to have to start wearing hats to work. Shampooing his hair every single day was taking its toll on his curls, and he wasn’t a fan of burnt coffee smell.

Stepping back, he squinted into the warped mirror in front of him. Much better.

Back outside, Tony’d lit up his third cigarette of the day. The shakes’d largely abandoned him, allowing his anxiety to drift inward. The sticks only did so much – he missed the higher, stronger hit of his Suorin, but he was trying to quit (ironically enough).

He was actually able to finish this one by the time Peter made his way back outside, looking significantly better without $5 worth of product on his face.

“Okay, some rules.” He came up, stopping just short of Tony. “You’re paying for both of us. We leave whenever I want, without complaint. We go straight there and come straight back - it’s eight blocks, I don’t want any bullshit scenic routes.” His tone was firm – something Tony’d never encountered with him before.

“Yes. Yes, anything. Okay.”

Tony’s car was a lot nicer than Peter anticipated. He’d recently sold his truck, swapping it for a silver Mini Cooper instead. It was a pretty little thing, just up his alley.

It was also fucking obnoxious. He’d bought it with a modified exhaust and had plans to make it even louder. You could almost always hear him coming, little pop pop pops audible for quite a ways.

It was… less clean than Peter expected. Tony was always so well put together, so well-maintained - seeing stray gum wrappers and drink cups littered around the interior was almost jarring. He didn’t realize he was staring until Tony spoke up.

“She’s nice, isn’t she?” Peter nodded. He silently took in his new surroundings, nerves on fire. He’d never done well around strangers, in new places. His mind’d always screamed at him, danger unsafe bad run, overriding his sensibilities.

“Hey, are you good? I can take you back if you need.” They’d barely left the Outback parking lot.

“No- no, I think I’ll be okay. Just… not where I thought I’d end up when I woke up today, y’know?” Peter tried to laugh it off, but he’d always been pretty transparent.

Tony turned a corner, cutting back into the lot they just came from and turning the car off. “Seriously, Peter. If you don’t want to come to lunch with me just say so. I’ll take you back to your car and we can pretend it never happened.” Okay, seriously, who the fuck is this guy and what did he do with Tony?

“No, I- I think I’m okay. Seriously. Let’s just go and get it over with - I kinda want to hear you grovel anyway.” He settled further into his seat, failing to shake away the agitation.

The flatbread was actually really good. It was more of a hipster take on pizza - white sauce and pearl onions definitely making it stand out - but it wasn’t a bad lunch by any means.

The beer definitely wasn’t Peter’s favorite. He was barely sipping by, trying hard to keep a straight face as he swallowed. Damn Richie anyway.

It’d started off awkward enough - discussing where to sit, small talk about their week, the weather. It felt more like a bad first date than an apology, but-

“I really am sorry. For what happened in the fridge.”

Oh.

“Okay. Why?” Peter tightened the hand around his glass, bracing for Tony’s next words.

“I.. I was kind of an asshole when I was younger, too. I figured I could make a fresh start here with a brand new town of people that didn’t know or assume anything about me.

“I was doing okay for a little while, too, but I don’t know man I just.. something happened and I just- I don’t know why I’m a dick to you. But I’m trying not to be. This is that, like, ‘first step’, I guess?” Peter nodded along, attentive.

"So, I don't know. I'm sorry for being a dick to you at work. I'm sorry for being a dick to the girls. I shouldn't yell at you or drag your family into this bullshit - I'm sorry, Peter."

There it was again, that name. His first fucking name.

“I- thank you, Tony. It’s a start, and I certainly haven’t forgiven you, but… thank you. Seriously.” Tony sighed, shoulders visibly relaxing. Peter let go of his glass and wiped it off, standing and walking around to Tony’s side of the table.

“Okay then, time for a do-over! Hi, I’m Peter Parker. I’m 19 and I’ve worked at Outback North Espresso for a little over 9 months. What’s your name?” He stuck his hand out, waiting for Tony to make the next move.

Tony laughed, pushing his chair back and standing to meet the other teen. “Okay, uh, I’m Tony Stark, I’m 18, and I’ve worked at Outback for almost 6. Nice to re-meet you, Peter.” He shook Peter’s hand, awestruck at just how soft��it was. He quickly steeled his face and sat back down, releasing Peter and allowing him to do the same.

Once he was sat back down at his side, Peter looked up, confused. “Wait, you’re still 18?”

Tony laughed. “Not for long. My birthday’s at the end of next month.”

“Wow, I can’t believe I’m older than you!”

Tony rolled his eyes. “That’s - it’s literally three months, that barely counts.”

Their debate lasted well into the afternoon, alongside several other discussions. Peter’s childhood in Richland, and what it was like growing up there. What Federal Way was like, and why Tony left. Peter could tell he was remaining intentionally vague, but didn’t push it.

Their beers were warm and the pizza was long gone by the time they abandoned their table. Tony guided him out the back, hand high on his arm.

Once they were back in the car, Peter’s anxiety returned. It was like he’d spent the last few hours speaking to a completely different person, and now that he was sitting mere inches from Tony…

He wasn’t scared. He wasn’t. He wasn’t… sure, exactly. What it was.

Tony spoke up when he noticed the tension in his passenger seat.

“Hey, we’ll get you back to your car soon, I promise. Eight blocks, remember?” His right hand made its way to Peter’s knee, digging soft circles into the denim. Just like in the fridge.

“Please don’t- don’t touch me. Without asking.” It came out harsher than intended.

“Okay, all good. No worries. We’re like, two minutes away.” Tony eased off the clutch, turning right out of the parking lot and onto the road. The windows rolled down and Peter let his head fall back in relief. Fresh air always helped him clear his head.

It really was a short drive - right turn, left turn, right turn - and they were back at Peter’s car. The doors unlocked, and he was out in an instant. A bit too fast to be respectful, if he was being honest, but he knew he needed out. Tony stopped him before he was able to get in his car.

“Hey, for real. Thank you for today. I’m sorry if it was too much.”

Peter looked over and down to meet his eyes. “I- yeah, of course. No, yeah, thank you. For the apology. I’m sorry I freaked out on you. But no this- it was good. Yeah. Thank you, Tony.”

He turned, unlocking the door and closing it before either could say anything else. After turning the key he sped off, without throwing even a glance behind him.

Tony watched as Peter peeled away, reaching for the box of Pall Malls in his cupholder. He lit one, shifting into first and heading in the opposite direction.

Not bad. Not good, but not bad.

lmk if u want on or off the tags list!

@snowstark @kaleidoscopeluli @parkerrbitch @carelessannie @bluestarker @longlivestarker

#starker #peter parker/tony stark #.mine #peter parker x tony stark #ironspider #coffee shop au #.text #.fic

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msmarvelouswinchester · 4 years

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Love In Sin

Chapter 8

Summary - Special Agent Winchester is forced to go undercover with his frenemy Special Agent L/N when they try to track down a notorious drug dealer. How will Y/N and Dean complete their task? Will their relationship worsen or will new feelings emerge between them?

Pairing - AU Detective!Dean Winchester x Reader

Word Count - 1.5k

Series Warnings - Angst, Slow burn, Fluff, Implied Smut, Mentions of crime and drug, Swearing.

Chapter Warnings - Swearing, mentions of drug and prison

A/N - Sorry for the delay, guys. Thanks for being patient with me and thanks for all the feedback on the previous chapters!

Thanks to @deanwanddamons for beta'ing this (she is an absolute sweetheart)

Divider by @talesmaniac89 (do check her blog out, she is an excellent writer and does amazing edits)

Series Masterlist

You stared at the group of police officers standing outside your house, shock evident on your face.

“That can't be-what..there has to be a mistake,” you finally managed to croak.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Campbell, I don't think there has been any mistake.” The officer smirked and waved at one of his colleagues.

“There has to be a proof as to why you are arresting us,” Dean said firmly.

“I am very sure that we will have proof,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, “we have a warrant to search this place.”

“You can't just-”

“Mrs. Campbell.Did you organise a party yesterday at your house? We got information that suspicious activities were noticed during that party,” the cop said.

“Yeah we had a party, but we invited only our neighbours. That's not-”

“Mr. Campbell, I am asking you for the last time to let us do our job. If we find everything is normal, we will leave and apologise for the inconvenience caused, but we have a search warrant,” the cop said, once again waving the piece of paper, “ and there nothing unlawful about searching your house. Now, I would advise you to stand outside the house so as to not interfere with our operation.”

You nodded when you saw there was no other way to stop the cops. Two other officers guided you both outside the house and stood in close proximity, guarding you since you had acted in a not so friendly manner.

Dean stood beside you, his jaw set and his eyes cast downwards.

“What're ya thinking?” You whispered.

He looked up at you, his eyebrows knitted together, a deep frown etched on his face.

“Thinking about the case,” he replied shortly.

“I need to know more than that, Dean,” you huffed.

“What can I say? We are screwed!” he said, “even if Officer “I-have-a-search-warrant” doesn't find any drugs, our cover is blown, Y/N.”

“You two have a lot of answering to do,” the cop stepped out of your house with a plastic bag in his hands. Your jaw hit the ground. You noticed Dean was mirroring your actions. How did those drugs get into your house?

“We don't-”

“Save your answers for the court. Arrest them,” the officer ordered.

Immediately two cops came forward and started to put handcuffs on you both. Your mind was still reeling over what just happened. You barely acknowledged it when the cops shoved you into their car. You were still trying to process everything, trying to remember every tiny thing that happened in that party.

“Hey officer, can I ask you a question?” Dean asked.

“No.” The deep baritone of the officer resounded throughout the car.

“Okay.” Dean remarked and puckered his lips, thinking a little.

“Who was it that called you?” Dean asked again.

“I can't, or rather won't tell you,” the cop warned, “now shut your damn mouth.”

“No need to be rude, I thought we were vibing,” Dean said.

“What are you doing?” You whispered.

“Just being friendly,” he shrugged at you. You squeezed your eyes shut, taking a deep breath. You were already under so much pressure, and Dean wasn't making it any easier for you.

The police car came to a stop and the door on your side opened abruptly.

“Come out you two,” the cop barked out orders and you stepped out of the car, your hands still in cuffs but Dean was taking his sweet time to get out of the car. You rolled your eyes at his cockiness. The cop tapped his foot impatiently. Huffing, he reached out and grabbed Dean's arms, pulling him out of the car.

“Hey, hey no need to manhandle. This is a precious cargo, baby,” Dean smirked. You wanted to reach over and smack him on the head.

The cops shoved you into a cell. At least they put you together in one prison and told you that you get one phone call.

“So we don't exactly have a lawyer. I think we should call Mr. Singer,” you said, Dean nodding his head in agreement.

“You both are kidding me right? You want to make a call to one of the top tiers in the Bureau?” The cop laughed after you told him to whom you wanted to make a call.

“Yes.” You firmly stated

“Huh,” he had a mocking smile on his face, “shouldn't you call your lawyer? You really think that this federal agent can save you?”

“Yes because we are feds too. We were undercover on a mission and it was going really well until you arrested us and walked all over it,” Dean said in a hard tone.

“You expect me to believe you?” The cop had a smug smile on his face, “I have heard a lot of alibis but this one stands out - really original. Anyways, phone's yours. You get one phone call so I can't really refuse.”

You hurriedly dialed Bobby Singer's number and waited for it to ring.

“I hate him,” Dean exclaimed, “he is one cocky son of a bitch.”

“So kinda like you,” you said as a matter of fact. “Mr. Singer, it's Special Agent Y/L/N speaking,” you said into the phone when Bobby answered. Dean kept staring at you with a frown on his face, trying to read through the conversation you were having with Singer.

“Our phones have been confiscated….we got arrested..no! They found class A drugs with us….in the house….we don't know exactly, it can be possible….okay….both of us….sure, Sir,” you hung up the phone call after telling him the address of the police station you both were being kept.

“I see your phone call is done,” the cop said and guided you both towards your cell, “let's see if your federal agent shows up.”

“This is the worst thing to ever happen.” You exclaimed and started pacing around the small space inside the jail.

“You gotta stop pacing, sweetheart. We will figure it out,” Dean said.

“Really Dean? What is your plan?” You asked but he didn't say anything, “Exactly, we don't have a plan.”

“I am working on it,” he argued back.

“Hey you two, this is not a place for a couple’s fight. Save it for when you get out of here,” the cop guarding your prison cell warned.

“Yeah right. We’ll save it for when we get out of this shithole,” Dean turned towards you, “I promise we will get out of this mess.”

The next few hours were spent trying to figure out any possible way to prove yourselves innocent, but you both came up with zero ideas.

“So I guess we are back to square one, Y/L/N,” Dean said and leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes.

“I am telling you Winchester, there is no way we are getting out of this. They caught us red handed for God's sake!” you exclaimed.

“No one's perfect. Neither is this person. There has to be a loose end and we have to find that,” he said, stretching his hands.

“What did you two idjits do?” Bobby Singer grumbled as he walked towards the prison cell accompanied by a cop. The latter started opening up the gate of the prison and went to get rid of your handcuffs.

“Ah it feels so good to finally be able to use your hands,” Dean said, “and no we didn't do anything. We were set up. This is all a set up.”

“I bailed you out,” you let out a sigh of relief at the words of your boss, “for now. We need to prove you both not guilty within one week. The court date is next week.” You both stepped out of the cell and started walking towards the main door.

“Well we only need to gather evidence and I am sure the bureau will-”

“No they won't. You are both suspended.” Bobby said and guided you towards the car.

“What?” You and Dean exclaimed together.

“The police caught you red handed. The bureau, no matter how good you are as a detective, they are not willing to keep you as agents anymore,” Bobby said, opening the door of the car.

“So what do we do now? We have no evidence, no resources,” you said.

“I know, but I will help you two to get out of this shit. I put you both in this situation, but first we are going back to the house. You will collect your belongings and we are getting out of Kansas,” Bobby said and started to drive the car back towards your house.

Let me know if you all want to tagged in this!

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