#i also just want to let you guys know that when i do finish p5s

[tastesousweet]

⭒ the girl with the tattoo (vii) - pt 1 pt 2 p3 p4 p5 p6

matt sturniolo x fem!oc / reader

summary : a little weed sure eases theses two up.

warnings : implications of sex & use of weed

mickey speaks : sorry this took a while to get out friends, hope u love it. also lowkey self inserting w the hawaii trip :P

THIS IS PART SEVEN GO READ THE OTHERS FIRST!!!

“OH, he’s obsessed!” andrea exclaims across the table, a wide smile smothered over her face.

it didn’t take long for asha to call you and begin debriefing her month-long europe trip to you, only for you to cut her short (because matt began knocking on the door, complaining about how long you’d taken to piss) and ask her to finish her tell-all over lunch. she of course agreed and texted you the location of her favorite ramen place along with: “tell your roomie andrea that she can come with i wanna see u bothhhh!”

she’s spent the last half hour detailing the total princess treatment she’d experienced from a guy she met at her stop in london. “yeah, too bad i won’t see him again,” she pouts.

“you didn’t get his phone number that entire time?” you ask, fiddling with the chopsticks in your hand.

“oh of course i did, i just won’t be using it,” asha laughs and tucks a piece of her dark curled hair behind her ear. “it was nice while it lasted but i’m definitely not trying to deal with the hassle that comes with dating anyone right now,” she shrugs.

“you’re so bad!” andrea shakes her head and giggles, "but you know what, i get it."

asha hides her laugh by guiding noodles towards her mouth.

your phone buzzes softly against the counter and lights up, showing off a new text message from your mom, but more importantly your lock screen wallpaper displaying a sleepy figaro on your chest.

asha squeals through her chews as you pick up your phone to decide whether you’ll confront or procrastinate the text message (that will most likely sour your mood). andrea’s eyes widen at the girl as asha finishes up and starts to explain, “who’s cat is that?!” her acrylic nail taps against the table.

“oh, it’s ours,” you peer over your phone, deciding you’d rather not answer your mom’s text (she's asking how degree-related job searching has been, again).

“what?!”

“oh yes, he's my babyyy,” andrea coos while unlocking her phone to show off the many photos, “his name is figaro-.”

asha swipes through the phone in awe, “and when the fuck did this happen?”

“like a few weeks ago, i wanna say…” you turn to look at andrea while trying to remember.

“i’m coming over way more now. oh my god.” she gushes over the many photos of the playful black kitten before returning andrea’s phone.

“please do, it felt like you were gone for so long.” you whine out the beg before taking another sip of the warm broth.

asha sighs (in a way that causes her lips to flutter a little), “i know, i miss hanging out with my friends!”

“and we miss you! your ass is always traveling somewhere we have to soak up all your LA time while we can,” you joke.

the two laugh along with you, “i think i’ll be here for a while…not until like, my birthday.” asha thinks through her schedule and her mouth widens at the thought of her birthday, “oh my god! i forgot to tell you- mostly because it’s kinda far out? so, the past four years i’ve hosted trips for my birthday in late november... and i want you two to come this year!”

your eyes widen in excitement and your mouth is full of noodles, keeping you from letting out the loud 'yes' you wanted to. so andrea answers for the both of you, “well of course, we’ll come!”

asha’s face can’t possibly be stretched further with happiness as she celebrates, “yay, this’ll be so fun! you’ll get to meet some of my girlfriends and f’course the boys will be there so you’ll know a few people already!”

“and where are we going?” you ask with big, curious eyes.

“hawaii!"

౨ৎ

a distinct berry shade drips over the room in full swoops as the leaving sun peeks through matt's curtains ever so gently. your lips are now almost the same shade of the woven fabric, especially after enduring matt's undying and bitter kisses.

you hear him breathe a soft laugh, finding your body's limp, laid-out position to be straight out of an erotic femme painting: right leg and arm stretched above and below you, left arm above your waist to cradle your tits, and left leg bent and falling over the opposing leg.

you turn your head when you recognize his return, whispering, "hey."

matt’s bed dips accordingly when he lowers himself next to you, fixated on your still-exposed silhouette that hosts a few deep hickeys (he’s recently taken a liking to giving you them, his ego gains a small ignition at the thought of him placing them only where he gets to see), rather than your observant eyes.

he finds one he’d kissed into the skin under your printed hello kitty, leaning closer to lick and suckle at it more. you squirm and push his head away with a whine of his name.

he chuckles and moves his hair from his face, “put some fuckin’ clothes on then.” he lays your sweatshirt and panties, he gathered on his way back to you, against your chest.

you lift yourself easily, though a sleepy yawn still makes its way to you as you fit into the hoodie. matt shifts himself to slouch against his headboard. you finish your redressing before moving yourself higher on his bed as well.

matt thinks your phone screen is severely bright and headache-inducing but he doesn't complain as he normally would, instead he's more focused on balancing his joint-rolling necessities atop his wife beater clad torso.

you pay no attention to him as you exchange texts with remi:

REMI - 6:43 PM

OMFG

REMI

this guy im friends w thinks i should set you up on a blind date with a guy he knows :D

REMI

HE JUST SHOWED ME A PIC AND ... fuck

REMI

PLS SAY YOULL DO IT

REMI

u deserve a nice date night

Y/N - 8:36 PM

hi WHATTT

Y/N

idk rem😭😭

REMI

ABOUT TIME U RESPONDED HELLO

REMI

rlly you dont wanna??

Y/N

ill have to think about it

you sigh while turning off your phone, moving your body to better face matt, who's hands work to add the potent plant into his detailed silver grinder. there's obviously no need for you to stay in his bed or hang around for any longer, but as of late you both aren't necessarily itching to kick the other out as soon as clothes are back on.

"i wanna learn," you declare as you sit up more, looking down at his slouched figure.

"to roll?" he asks pausing his smooth routine and licking over his lips expectantly.

"yeah," you move your hoodie’s long sleeve cuffs away from the lower half of your palm, showing him your dedication and anticipation.

matt smirks and continues to zip the plastic bag once more, shaking his head.

"what? why not, matt?" you pout.

“because i’m already good at it,” he shrugs, “you can smoke with me but you don’t have to be the one to roll.”

“‘kay, whatever. i’ll just get someone else to teach me then, like chris or lucas or somethin’” stretching as you collapse back onto his bed and bury your face in the crook of your arm. when matt does nothing to pull you out of your dramatic fit, you decide to mess with him further, grabbing his phone from its place near his thigh and rolling over so that you lie on the plush of your stomach.

you pretend to type (actually just tapping against his uncharacteristically soft lockscreen, displaying a vintage looking photo of a woman you’d only assume to be his mother) then putting the phone up to your ear, mimicking the ring with a burring noise in your throat. “hey lucas! yeah it's me, matt never gave me your number! i know. that is really selfish and unfair!” you nod along while staring at matt who thinks you look and sound so stupid that it’s kind of cute.

you twirl your hair and bite your lip, really getting into character, “you're right, he is the worst. he won’t even let me roll up with him! but that’s fine, i think i may just need someone more skilled and sexy like you to hel-”

matt taps your barely covered ass harder than he intends to, shocking you in the best way. “alright, stop fuckin’ around and pay attention ‘cause i’m not repeating myself,” he softly demands, gesturing you to sit up with his fingers.

"ow!" you rub at the spot and roll your eyes in faux irritation, fighting the urge to smile now that you've successfully recaptured matt's attention and can still feel the heat of his hand on your ass. you try to give yourself grace in moments like this but you can't help but reflect and feel a bit pathetic when having a crush on someone like matt.

matt, who would never take a relationship further than casual sex and unserious after-sex smoke sessions, especially not with you.

"shh. come here, bruh" he hushes you and you obey, shifting to sit next to him, reflecting his bent position. "'kay," he hands you the grinder, mumbling, "take a look," as he grabs one of the natural hemp rolling papers and places the packaging on his nightstand.

you open the silver lid gently, eyes widening slightly and impressed with the dollops of finely crushed weed laying in the container. "how much do you use?"

"all of it," your head practically snaps over to look at him and he sighs, "y/n, it's like half a gram."

you fight the urge to dip your index finger in the crowd of weed and move it around, "still looks like kind of a lot."

"well, it's not," he shakes his head and adjusts his shoulders. "now you're gonna take some in your fingers and place it in this paper," he taps your distracted arm with his hand to bring your attention to the rolling paper he has curled slightly around his thumb. as you begin to take a hold of some of the substance he warns, "and don't do too much at once- i don't need you spillin' any on us or my bed."

"you're such a diva," you huff and softly sprinkle the weed into the wrapper he's holding.

once it's full enough matt shows you how his fingers guide the paper and fold it into its proper joint shape. he moves his hand towards your mouth, "now you gotta lick and seal it." you inch closer, hesitantly peeking your tongue out just a little to lick at the small flap. "okay, you need more than that baby-ass lick. but don't over-do the spit 'cause that'll fuck it up too," he eyes your mouth when you expose more of your tongue, successfully sealing the joint (with matt's guidance).

he finishes off the end of the joint before presenting it to you, "voilà," matt fiddles with the joint in front of your face before you boldly grab it from his hands.

you immediately encourage him with a wave of your fingers, "gimme that lighter, please."

he's slightly impressed with your sudden confidence and adjusts himself (removing the remaining items from his lower stomach, including the lighter you ask for) and reaches over to light it for you.

matt's lip falls between his teeth due to natural anticipation. the sharp, orange hue sparks to life and you gain a shyness as he approaches the joint in your mouth with it. suddenly your fingers take it away from your mouth as you whisper, "wait, matt."

matt dramatically throws his arm down, "yeah?"

"i don't actually know how to do this," a smile spreads across your face when you see matt's mouth slightly ajar and eyes disengaged.

"seriously? you started talkin' like you've at least smoked a couple times."

you hold a laugh in, "well like, i wanna try it. you just have to tell me what to do..."

"inhale the shit," matt gestures his hands, "hold in your lungs, blow it out. it's simple as fuck," he points to your hand holding the joint, "let's see it."

you deadpan, "you're so unhelpful," you shake your head and place it back in your mouth, "just light me up."

he rolls his eyes as his hand moves back up to you, you lean into the flame and immediately inhale as it comes to life in your mouth.

matt just smirks from next to you, amused at your attempt. you focus on holding it in your lungs and close your eyes as you exhale. the smoke exits smoothly and surrounds your head, when you open your eyes you immediately look over to matt who laughs when he sees a cough brewing in your lungs. you push his shoulder just as you begin a small coughing fit.

he goes to grab the joint from your hand but you raise it away, finishing your cough and putting it back into your mouth to taste the odd plant flavor again.

matt's laugh is still there just died down, "who the fuck are you?! 'just light me up' and then here you go actin' like you own shit." he points a finger at you with his eyes big and playful.

you smirk sarcastically, and your eyes crinkle in the softest way, when you lean closer to him in response, blowing smoke in his face.

౨ৎ

"so why're nick and chris staying so late at the warehouse?" you ask and play with the strings of your hoodie.

matt draws lines across your inner thigh with his fingers, "it's nick's month to do inventory and chris bought some crazy wall art shit he had to finish setting up-"

"you're not gonna help them?"

"oh yeah sweetheart, i'll actually go there right now and help them out." his eyes are so dewy and red you find yourself excusing his annoying sarcasm and instead wanting to kiss him and his puffy eyelids and his flushed cheeks, especially when you're sat on top of him like this.

"still, they probably wanted you around," you explain.

"why do you care so much about shit that doesn't involve you? i left them and invited you over so you should be happy." his voice eases his delivery to not come across so harshly while his eyes squint a little.

"you're right, s'not really my place to have a take on y'all's dynamic." you shrug and feel as his hands stop running over your thighs and instead squeeze harshly as he looks in your eyes.

"mmm, thank you for telling me i'm right," he smiles and leans forward to give your jaw a kiss with his wet, pink lips, "say it again and i'll be fully hard."

"you're a dog," you laugh as he pulls away. "what'd you do today?" you whisper, ignoring the sensation that comes with him feeling up your lower half.

"guess." he blinks slowly.

"mmm... i don't know. you tattooed some people, fucked me, made fun of me, smoked..." you list off on each of your fingers.

he nods along as you list each, making different facial expressions depending on the task. "those are all definitely things i did.."

"did you eat?"

"i mean, yeah...ish." he rubs his eyes and his mouth begins to curve slightly, knowing your next sentiment well enough he could say it with you.

as if on queue, you prompt him with a question that tends to come up quite often when the two of you finish fucking, "can we get food?"

౨ৎ

the doorbell of matt's shared townhome rings through the house as the two of you giddily stand near the door, "3, 2, 1.." you count through giggles before opening the door and facing the young man dressed head to toe in papa johns gear.

"oh. my. god!" you exclaim in a ridiculous country accent, "baby come here, they sent a man to sell us insurance or somethin'!" you call out and pinch your eyebrows.

before the man can get a word in matt comes into frame, cowboy hat in tow and his mocking accent deeper yet identical to your own, "now who 'den sent you here to harass my woman? huh?" he holds a tooth pick in his mouth and squints his eyes. "and how much would i owe to have whatever you got in them boxes, son?" he points and you try not to laugh from behind him.

"uh, it's just a pizza delivery that was ordered to this address, sir..." he looks around, checking the numbers displayed next to the door once more.

you peek your head back in, "you know what, charles, it was probably little john, you know he's always orderin' that amy-zun and what not from that tablet!"

"mmm..." matt pretends to think and not laugh as he holds onto a fake belt around his black sweatpants, "my lady's right," he cracks a smile, "you know how the kids get," he tuts and gestures to the man again while pulling out his wallet, "i owe you?"

"only $12.57."

"right," matt grabs a few bills and whistles, "wife, come grab this box for little john would you?" he hands the money over as you reach for the pizza box, "keep the change, boy." he tilts his hat in dismissal and as soon as the door is shut matt's falling to the floor with laughter as you laugh and place the pizza box down, screaming about how close you are to pissing yourself.

౨ৎ

"asha told me about her birthday trip in november," you say, licking your lips of excess pizza sauce.

matt nods and swallows to respond while wiping his mouth, "yeah she does that shit every year."

you adjust yourself on the bed and grab another slice of the cheese pizza in between you two. "it sounds fun, i'm excited," you say before taking a bite.

"yeah, it's usually fun. usually." he laughs.

"meaning?"

"last year in mexico nick almost fist fought asha's boyfriend because he was bein' shitty to her on her birthday. it was a fuckin' brawl everyday of that trip, i swear."

"damn."

"yeah. but don't trip, asha's not letting anything ruin her birthday this time, she loves herself too much to do that." he rolls his eyes in endearment towards his friend.

"well, how about you? your birthday's next weekend.."

matt shakes his head and looks to the side for a moment, "we always struggle to figure out what we're doing for our birthday. the three of us wanna spend that time together but chris wants a party, nick wants a small get together with games, and i'd want a lowkey dinner or something."

"you could always do all of the ideas but on different days."

"that drags it too much, we'll most likely host a party like we did last year, chris will probably nag us enough to make us give up." matt shrugs and takes a bite of his slice.

"well, i'll be at whatever you decide to do," you smile.

"oh will you now?" his eyebrows lift for just a moment in humor.

"well duh."

"and who's inviting you? cause it won't be me," he smiles and stuffs his mouth again right as you push his shoulder and laugh off his bad joke.

꩜⋆ ˚｡⋆🎱˚

tag list (ily):

@rootbeerworshiper @deadxrx @breeloveschris @saintsturn @honestlybabymiracle @hearts4chris @starrysturniolo @blissfulbellss @aoxash @st7rnioioss @blondiesjailer @cupidsword @nickmillersn1gf @sturnioloa @thinkingabkinkyshit101 @tcvazq @novasturniolo03 @imaslutforwhitemen @trinity2058 @taking-a-footnote-in-your-life @1horrormoviewhore1 @keira324 @st7rnioioss

@whicked-hazlatwhore @matthewsturnioloswifey @mayhem-72

#sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo #chris sturniolo #matt sturniolo fanfic #chris sturniolo fanfic #christopher sturniolo #sturniolo triplets fan fiction #nick sturniolo #matt sturniolo smut #sturniolo triplets smut #sturniolo #nicolas sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo x you #matt sturniolo x reader #matthew sturniolo fanfic #matthew sturniolo x reader #matthew sturniolo x you

[strandbuckley]

Pole Position (F1)

Summary: Charles gets on pole at Spa. The boys celebrate the best way they know how (Pairings: Max Verstappen/Daniel Ricciardo/Charles Leclerc/Lando Norris; Oscar Piastri/Logan Sargeant [background])

Read on ao3 here

Daniel barely restrained himself from cheering as he watched Charles cross the finish line and clock the second fastest time in Q3. He knew that standing in the Alpha Tauri garage, shoulder to shoulder with Yuki, was not the time to loudly celebrate his boyfriend’s success, but seeing him bounce back at a track he loved so much made Daniel want to jump around like a lunatic. He knew that due to Max’s grid penalty, Charles would be on pole Sunday. Lando had also managed to qualify P7, which wasn’t quite the achievement he’d had in Silverstone and at Hungaroring, but considering the floor damage done when he’d hit the gravel in Q1 it was an impressive feat. 

He could feel himself itching to get out of there as he made his rounds in the media pen, wanting to be with his boys to celebrate. His phone was buzzing in his pocket, no doubt texts from Max, who wasn’t in the media pen, but instead was waiting to participate in the post-qualifying press conference before he was finally allowed to go home. He could see Lando glancing at him occasionally, which made him think Max was also texting him. Eventually Daniel was able to excuse himself and pull his phone from his pocket as he huddled in a corner away from the media circus. Max had started a group chat with just him and Lando, and it seemed they were on the same wavelength.

Super Max: Come back to my room tonight. We’re celebrating Charles on pole

Muppet: Good. I have ideas

Apparently Lando had also escaped back to the comfort of his driver’s room and was able to text back.

Danny: Ooh do tell

Muppet: Redacted, redacted, redacted

Muppet: Sorry Danny, not safe for work

Danny: Guess I’ll find out myself tonight ;)

Super Max: Stop flirting please, I’m gonna vomit before the press conference

Muppet: Like we didn’t all see you giving Charles heart eyes when you got out of the car

Super Max: You saw nothing

Super Max: Gotta go, press conference is starting. Love you both, see you soon

Muppet: Love you <3

Danny: Love you too Maxy

Daniel waited at the back of the Mclaren motorhome for Lando to come out. He was sure his boyfriend was changing out of his race suit and fireproofs and also talking to Oscar before they went their separate ways. Sure enough, he heard Lando before he saw him, coming around the corner with Oscar not far behind. Their voices echoed back to Daniel as they walked, though they hadn’t seen him yet.

“What are your plans for tonight?” Oscar asked.

“We’re celebrating Charles being on pole,” Lando said, wiggling his eyebrows at his teammate.

“Gross mate. I’m not sure if that’s a euphemism or not but I don’t want to hear about you having sex with all three of your boyfriends.”

“Don’t pretend you aren’t on your way over to Williams. You’ll be in Logan’s room tonight helping him lick his wounds and we both know it. You’re just jealous I get laid three times more than you do.”

“Shut up Lando,” Oscar’s face went bright red at the mention of Logan. “Also how do you know about that?”

“Alex is the one that lets you in. He can’t keep a damn secret to save his life.”

Oscar groaned and looked up, blushing when he met Daniel’s eyes. “Oh hey Daniel.”

Oscar noticed him first, waving awkwardly, assuming Daniel had heard most of their conversation.

“Hi Oscar,” he greeted the younger Aussie. “Congrats on P5 mate, that’s awesome.”

“Oh thanks,” he said. “Shame about your lap time, I’m sorry man.”

“Eh,” Daniel shrugged. “Shit happens. I’m just proud of these guys.”

He pulled Lando into his side and pressed a quick kiss to his curls. Lando bumped his nose against his jaw before turning back to Oscar.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Have fun with Logie bear.”

“I hate you,” Oscar said, flipping Lando the bird.

“Love you too Oscar.”

*****

Max and Charles arrived at the hotel an hour later than Daniel and Lando had. They were tired after the long day they had, but that didn’t stop Max from pushing Charles against the wall of the elevator and kissing him.

“What was that for?” Charles asked, slightly out of breath when Max pulled away.

“I’m just so fucking proud of you.”

“You’re not upset about the penalty?”

Max raised an eyebrow at him, “Schatje, do you really think a five place grid penalty is going to stop me?”

“No, I suppose not,” Charles laughed. “I’ll give you a good fight though.”

“I expect nothing less,” Max pressed a single quick kiss to his lips as the dinging sound signaled they had reached their floor and the doors slid open. Max led him down the hall to his room where Lando and Daniel were waiting for them. Max had said in the car on the way over that they had plans and Charles wasn’t getting his hopes up about what they were but he knew his boys probably had some ideas. 

As soon as the door opened he was all but tackled by Daniel who swung him into his arms and pressed kisses all over his face.

“Daniel,” he laughed, grabbing his face but making no move to push the older man away. “What are you doing?”

“Giving you love,” Daniel settled him back on his feet but didn’t let go. “We’re so proud of you baby. Pole position, that’s fucking incredible!”

Charles felt arms wrapping around his waist from behind and a cheek pressed between his shoulder blades. The curls tickling the back of his neck told him it was Lando.

“You did so well today Charlie.”

Charles reached an arm behind himself to fist in the fabric of the younger man’s hoodie and pull him close. 

“We have plans for you tonight,” Max said, pressing in from the side to get his hands on Charles. “We’re celebrating you schatje, whatever you want, you’ll get it.”

Lando pressed small kisses to the back of his neck and Charles had to take a deep breath to be able to concentrate. Daniel cupped his chin and tilted his face up so he was looking in his deep brown eyes. 

“Tell us what you want, baby.”

“I want You and Max to decide.”

“Yeah?” Max pressed a soft kiss to his jaw. “You want us to decide for you? You trust us to make sure you feel good?”

“Yes.”

“Sweet boy,” Daniel praised. “Tell me your colors.”

“Red to stop, yellow to slow down, green to keep going.”

“Good. Get undressed and get on the bed. Lando, you too.”

They both obeyed, pulling away from the other two to take off their clothes and discard them haphazardly around the room. They climbed on the bed together and Charles settled back against the pillows. Lando curled up against his side and kissed his neck softly, biting gently at the skin but taking care not to leave marks that wouldn’t be covered by his clothes. He could almost guarantee that his body would be covered in hidden hickey’s by the time the night was over. As if to prove his thoughts correct, Lando moved his head down to suck a mark on his pec, flicking his tongue against his nipple teasingly. Charles groaned and grabbed the back of Lando’s head, keeping him close.

“Lando baby,” Max called his name, distracting him. “Do you want to suck Charles off?”

“Yes please.”

“Go ahead.”

Lando reached up to give Charles one last kiss before moving down to where his cock was showing an interest in what was going on. Lando moved to take him into his mouth, but was stopped by Daniel.

“Nuh uh,” Daniel made a spinning motion with his finger. “Turn around, let Charles make you feel good too.”

Lando whined, scrambling to turn around and straddle Charles’s chest. He backed up slowly until his ass was at eye level with Charles, who immediately grabbed two handfuls of it, silently thankful for all of the extra training he had been doing lately. Once he was settled, Lando resumed his earlier goal and took Charles into his mouth, sucking lightly on the head and using his hand to hold the rest. He went slowly, almost teasing, knowing exactly how to drive Charles crazy. Daniel joined them on the bed, kneeling by Charles’s head and leaning down to talk quietly in his ear. 

“I want you to get Lando ready. Stretch him out on your tongue and your fingers yeah? Then he’s going to sit on your pretty cock while Max and I fuck you. Does that sound good sweetheart?”

“Yes,” Charles moaned.

“Good boy. Get to it.”

Charles did as he was told, grabbing Lando by his hips and pulling him back so he had better access. One of Daniel’s big hands grabbed one side of Lando’s ass, exposing his hole. Charles licked a wide stripe over it with the flat of his tongue, getting him wet. Lando moaned around his cock and pushed his hips back further.

Daniel tightened his grip,” Stay still Lando. Keep making Charles feel good and he’ll take care of you.”

Lando groaned again, the vibrations sending shivers up Charles’s spine, but otherwise stayed still. Charles continued to lick into him, getting him wet and relaxed before carefully rubbing one finger around his rim, testing the waters. His hand was stopped by Daniel, who produced lube seemingly out of thin air and coated two of his fingers in it. Charles massaged it between his fingers for a few seconds to warm it before slowly pushing on finger in. At the same time, Lando sank further down on his cock, one hand moving to gently cradle his balls as he bobbed his head up and down. 

“Fuck cheri,” Charles moaned, flopping his head back against the pillows. “That feels so good.”

Daniel stayed by his head, running his hands through his hair and whispering dirty things in his ear. 

“Does that feel good baby? Lando gives good head, doesn't he? You’re making him feel so good baby, he’s drooling for it. You’re such a sweet boy Charles, I’m so proud of you. We’re gonna make you feel so good tonight baby.”

His words made Charles whine, biting down on the back of Lando’s thigh, which made the younger boy whimper. 

“Are you getting close, baby?” Daniel asked. Charles nodded his assent and Daniel gave Max a look over Lando’s back. Max was somewhere by Charles hip, presumably making Lando just as turned on as Daniel had made him. Max grabbed Lando’s curls, tugging lightly to make him stop. 

“Charles is getting close schatje. We don’t want him to come before we get to the good part do we?”

“Nuh uh,” Lando wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and turned to look at Charles over his shoulder. “Was it good?”

“So good,” Charles praised, rubbing his hip. “You always do so well.”

Lando preened at the praise and maneuvered himself so that he was no longer straddling Charles, before leaning down to kiss him, obviously not caring about where Charles’s mouth had just been. 

“Lando, do you want to help me prep him?” Max asked. 

“What do I need to do?”

“Come here and I’ll show you.”

Lando joined Max at the end of the bed, eager to learn. Daniel kept his position by Charles's head but moved so that he could see his face and kiss him. 

“First get a pillow so we can prop his hips up,” Charles heard Max say. Daniel reached behind them and handed one to the younger boy, who passed it to Max. “Lift your hips for me liefde.”

Charles followed directions, planting his heels into the mattress and pushing himself up so that Max could slide the pillow beneath him. Daniel passed the lube down to them and Charles could hear Max giving Lando instructions. 

“He likes it when you tease a little,” Max said. “Use one finger without any lube and just rub him gently.”

Lando did as he was told and Charles whined against Daniel, pushing his ships down into the touch.

“Very good baby. Now get some lube and start with just one finger. He can take it.”

Charles heard the sound of the cap opening and closing and Daniel pulled him in for another kiss just as Lando breached him with one thin finger. They continued trading kisses as Max talked Lando through it, working him up to three fingers. 

By then, they weren’t really kissing, more like Charles breathing against Daniel’s mouth as Lando opened him up and praises flowed from Max’s lips. 

“You’re doing so well my loves. Making each other feel good. Such good boys.”

“Is he ready?” Lando asked when three fingers were moving easily and Charles was whining shamelessly. Max reached down, feeling where his hole was stretched around Lando’s fingers, making Charles moan and cum suddenly. It spurted against his belly and Daniel moaned into his hair.

“Fuck baby, look at you.”

“I think he’s ready. Be gentle,” Max told Lando as he helped him pull out. “He’s sensitive right after he cums.”

Lando crawled up Charles’s body, carefully avoiding his now sensitive cock that was still partially hard, to kiss him.

“That was so hot,” he whined, grinding his own leaking dick against Charles’s abs. 

“Do you still want us to fuck you sweetheart?” Daniel asked.

“Yes please. I want it.”

“Okay baby. Do you still want Lando to ride you? It’s okay if you don't, you can still make him feel good while we fuck you.”

“Sit on my face?” he asked Lando.

“Fuck yes.”

“Slow down for a minute,” Max laughed. “Let us get settled before you do that okay? Who do you want first, Charles?”

“Daniel.”

Daniel and Max traded places, swapping a few dirty kisses along the way. Daniel slicked up his cock, pushing into Charles gently, letting him get used to the stretch. He wasn’t massive, but he was bigger than Lando’s fingers and it burned a bit as he slowly bottomed out. Once Daniel was fully seated, Max helped Lando straddle Charles’s face. Charles grabbed his thighs and pulled him down so that he was seated properly. He began licking him open, his hole still tasted somewhat of the lube he had used on him earlier but he didn’t mind. Under that was a taste of soap and something that was distinctly Lando. Charles was silently grateful that Lando had taken care to wash well when he was in the shower earlier. Something told him they had planned this, all of them knowing how much Lando liked to be eaten out. 

Max had taken up Daniel’s role, laying next to Charles and whispering dirty things in his ear as he gently fisted his cock that was hard once again. 

“You’re so perfect schatje. So good for us, making all of us feel so good. I’m so proud of you Charles. You’re fucking amazing.”

Charles whimpered, before resuming eating Lando out with vigor. He wanted to make him feel good, wanted him to come just from Charles playing with him. 

“Fuck,” Daniel groaned. “Charles, baby, you feel so fucking good. I’m gonna cum baby.”

A few more thrusts and Daniel was cumming, filling Charles up. He continued to fuck him slowly through his orgasm, riding out the aftershocks before pulling out slowly. Charles clenched to keep his cum inside, which was one of the hottest things Daniel had ever seen. He expected Max to follow right behind Daniel and pick up where he left off, but was disappointed when Max stayed where he was.

“Max,” he cried out, pulling away from Lando enough that they could hear his voice. “Please.”

“Make Lando cum first. Don’t be greedy baby, he deserves to feel good too doesn’t he?”

“Yes,” Charles whined.

“Good boy. Take care of Lando then I’ll take care of you.”

That spurred Charles on, and he removed one of his hands from Lando’s tight, wiggling it between his chest and Lando’s ass to get fingers in him. It might have technically been cheating, but neither Max or Daniel said he couldn’t so he continued. It wasn’t the most comfortable and his wrist started to cramp fairly quickly but he didn’t care, working two fingers inside of him and moving them until he found his prostate. It only took a few sharp jabs to the bundle of nerves and a few licks where he was stretched around his fingers for Lando’s legs to shake and him to cum over the pillows behind Charles’s head. 

Daniel helped him off of Charles, holding him close to his chest and whispering praise in his ear as he came down from the high. He settled them down on the other side of the bed, close enough that Charles could still reach him if he stretched his arm out but far enough that they had space for Lando to sprawl out across Daniel’s lap and make himself comfortable. 

Finally, finally, Max positioned himself between Charles’s legs, slicking himself up with the lube and cum that was slowly starting to drip from him. He hooked one of Charles’s legs over his arm and pushed in, not stopping until he bottomed out. Charles came immediately, sensitive and worked up.

“Fuck,” Max groaned, pulling back before fucking back in slowly. “That was so hot. You’ve done so well for us tonight Charles. You’re perfect.”

“Fuck me please,” Charles whined, grabbing at Max’s shoulders to pull him in as closely as he could get him. 

“I will baby. I’m going to make you feel good because you deserve it. You’re done so well, and I’m so proud of you. We all are.”

Charles turned his head to look at Daniel and Lando. Daniel smiled at him and reached out to take his hand.

“I love you sweet boy. You’ve done so well, just a little more. Make Max feel good sweetheart.”

“Je vous aime.”

“I love you more.”

“I love you Charlie,” Lando whispered.

With a few more thrusts, Max was spilling inside him, pressing soft kisses over Charles’s face as he rode out his orgasm. He pulled out carefully, mindful of how sensitive he probably was after taking both of them and having two orgasms himself.

“I’ll take Lando next door to shower in my room,” Daniel said quietly, so as not to disturb the two boys currently feeling very fucked out and floaty. “You take care of Charles here yesh?”

“Of course.”

Daniel leaned over to kiss him and cradled the back of his head gently, “I love you Maxy. You did so well tonight too. You take care of our boys so well. I’m so proud of you.”

“I love you too Daniel.”

Daniel pressed another quick kiss to his lips and pulled away. He gathered Lando up and herded him through the door that attached his room to Max’s, silently praising whatever Red Bull executive thought that it would be a good idea. He stopped briefly to grab clothes for both of them before getting the younger boy into a steaming shower. 

Max gave Charles a few minutes to recover feeling in his legs, taking the time to get the hot water running and pick out comfortable clothes for both of them. Once he was steady enough to walk with minimal assistance, Max got him into the shower, pushing him under the spray so he could wash his hair. They took their time, holding each other in the steam, trading soft kisses back and forth until they got tired of standing. Once they were dressed and had their teeth brushed, they made their way back into the bedroom, where Lando and Daniel were already snuggled up in bed. They had stripped the dirty sheets and replaced them with the ones from Daniel’s room, since they wouldn’t be using them anyway and housekeeping would come to change them in the morning. Daniel was laying on his back, scrolling on his phone with Lando mostly on top of him, the younger man drifting in and out of sleep. Max pushed Charles into the middle, where Lando moved himself partially off of Daniel to snuggle into Charles more. Max hugged him from behind, sliding one hand under his t-shirt to rub gently across his chest and stomach.

“Did you enjoy your night schatje?” he asked quietly so as not to disturb Lando, who was snoring softly now that they were all in bed, and Daniel who was well on his way to being asleep as well. 

“Very much.”

“Good. I am very proud of you Charles.”

“I know Maxy. Thank you for showing me that, but I am tired. Sleep now.”

“Of course. Goodnight Charles.”

“Goodnight cheri.”

*****

Lando woke a few hours later, warm and comfortable in Daniel’s arms with his head on Charles’s chest. He laid there for a while, hoping he would drift back to sleep. However, that was not the case. So he wiggled around, being careful not to wake his partners until he could reach his phone where it had fallen between himself and Daniel.

He scrolled through his chat notifications, responding to an offer from Carlos to play a few rounds of golf when they arrived back in Monaco before leaving on their holidays. As he clicked out of his chat with Carlos, preparing to put his phone down and go to sleep, he noticed the green icon by Oscar’s name, indicating that he was active. He acted on a whim and shot off a quick text.

LN4: Must have been a pretty good night if you’re still awake (wink, wink)

Oscar read it almost immediately and began typing, the gray dots appearing on his screen before disappearing again. Just when he was about to put his phone down, a message appeared from Oscar that made him want to laugh and coo at the same time.

It was a photo of Oscar in a hotel bed that looked very similar to the one Lando was currently occupying. Except Oscar wasn’t alone, instead Logan Sargeant was curled up against his side, hair a mess, sticking his tongue out at the camera while Oscar laughed.

OP81: Pretty damn good

Lando smiled to himself and snapped a quick photo of his own. It was hard to get them all in it at this angle but he managed to catch where Daniel was drooling into the pillow and Max’s face squished against the back of Charles’s neck. He sent it off to Oscar with a short caption underneath.LN4: Yeah us too

#formula 1 #formula 1 rpf #lestappen #maxiel #norstappen #dando #charles x lando #charles x daniel #charles leclerc #max verstappen #lando norris #daniel ricciardo #loscar #logan sargeant #oscar piastri #my works #quartet verse

[callmearcturus]

Out of curiosity, what would the premise of your dream Persona game be?

Well, let's see. What were the strong points of each game?

Persona 3 Portable: Girl Route. Team members have important relationships with each other instead of just orbiting the MC. Extremely strong theme. Structured in such a way that the player doesn't control what day they have a mandatory dungeon/plot event, making for better pacing. Best final boss. Best music. Greatest of the Best Friend guys. My favorite UX by far.

Persona 4 Golden: Best cast. Most interesting mystery. Was extremely queer, especially for the time. Most naturalistic writing. Best villain (not final boss). Easily the most polished script. Combat had the best balance of things to do and friction without being overcomplicated or simplistic.

Persona 5 Royal: Most interesting, sprawling location. Social link bonuses that matter. Jawdroppingly good bonus campaign. Best exploration. Only MC that fully feels like his own person. And I'll admit it, it has the best social links for NPCs.

So, the best Persona game would have:

A protagonist with as much personality as Joker but not gender locked. For the love of god just make a gender neutral protag.

Set it in another city that's based on a real place since it feels like real life designs better locations than Atlus does off the dome.

Honestly at this point I would love to see Persona do a game that doesn't take place in high school. I wanna see some young adults getting up to shit. If you absolutely need the school structure, then have it set in university/college. But the need for structure for the calendar can come from anything.

When everyone is cishet, the cast suffers. P5R proved it. (Okay, it's also because P5R literally has more teammates so no one gets properly developed but the cishetness does not help.) Lets get some queerness back in the cast, it does absolute wonders.

Morgana should be in it again. I don't know why or how, but I do know that carrying a cat around everywhere made Persona 5 was part of why I finished that fucking game.

I personally like the structure of having a central mystery with uncertain mechanics to solve, I think that's really engaging and helps with the episodic nature of Persona. However, once the mystery is solved, DO NOT ADD IN ANOTHER MASTERMIND CHARACTER WHO IS "REALLY" BEHIND IT ALL. JUST FUCKING STOP! GOD I HATE IT. Stop having a really cool set up and then deciding in the last 5 hours that a Mean God Did It All, I'm so DONE with that shit. Fuck Izanami and Fuck Yarblegarble.

While we're at it, if one more Persona game turns out to be a parable on how them kids are on their phones too much, I'm done.

Regarding music, either: A: Create multiple main battle themes so if they Fucking Suck again like in P4 it doesn't make your players want to scream by hour 30. B: Just use "Wiping All Out" again for the main battle theme. We're never going to surpass it, why not accept that.

LET THE PLAYER START A ROMANCE SEPARATE FROM SLINK RANKS. If I hit level 10 on someone and decide later I wanna date them, I should be able to do that. That way I can actually meet everyone, THEN decide who I wanna kiss.

Just gimme back Igor using shiny key of solomon shit to combine personae, fuck P5's edgelord bullshit. Also Margaret bc she was funny and also really hot and flirty.

Bring Maruki back just for funsies.

there we go, the perfect persona game

#flashybaby #persona

[cynamonowo]

001 999, 002 shukita, 003 do-yoon

i love u so much let's Go

(link)

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character:

akane!! girl of all time. she did nothing wrong (except everything) and that's so cool. she's so cool

Least Favorite character:

uhh that'd be a draw between the ninth man (bc he makes me feel queasy) and ace (bc i liked him at first. betrayal)

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

lotus/seven, junepei, junpei/santa, junpei/snake, but tbh this isn't a fandom i'm in for shipping reasons

Character I find most attractive:

lotus... hot

Character I would marry:

see above lol move over, seven, i will parent her daughters instead

Character I would be best friends with:

santa! we'd bitch about our little sisters while drinking shitty coffee and watching the timeline get tangled like a pair of cheap wired earphones

A random thought:

while ppl have been saying vlr is decent, to be fair idk if i wanna check it out :/

An unpopular opinion:

uh. none? idk

My canon OTP:

junepei i guess

Non-canon OTP:

lotus/seven

Most badass character:

either clover or snake. to be fair seven too... and akane in a way

Pairing I am not a fan of:

shrugs. idk. anything with ace? or clover/a man

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

uh. i don't know? maybe lotus bc while she is sexy af her outfit is. yeah.

Favourite friendship:

mm. maybe junpei and clover? or clover and seven. those would be nice

002 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

when or if I started shipping it:

about a month or so after finishing p5 lol at first i wasn't sure. then the brainrot got me

my thoughts:

it's such a good pairing like?? they're helping each other become better people while acknowledging the darkness in their hearts

What makes me happy about them:

THEY'RE JUST SO FUNNY SOMETIMES like the crucifixion pose gdhdhdg

What makes me sad about them:

that they're not Canon. what the fuck.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

yusuke being Smooth and Collected. i can see him having some confidence, but that autistic boy would be quite surprised to find out his crush likes him back

Things I look for in fanfic:

i see transmasc yusuke and i go ape

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

i guess it'd be pegoryu & akekita lol

My happily ever after for them:

after a few years of brooding and navel gazing, they get their shit together, start a relationship, move in, and live a quiet, happy life, with akira as a counselor and yusuke as a well-known and respected painter

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you

How I feel about this character:

THAT'S MY SON but he's also sooo me. he's so autism. i love him. i want him to rest but also to go through even more horrors :> do-yoon han you are my everything. you deserve a chocolate bar

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

that'd be just gyu-hyuk and woosuk lol the latter as a past fwb that'd rather eat a flipflop than admit anything

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

oh man i love do-yoon being inha's chew toy and juyoung's pet cat. every lesbian deserves a weird guy to care for and/or pester

My unpopular opinion about this character:

there's only like ten ppl in the fandom so i wouldn't say it's unpopular but. he's autistic and also trans. spot a pattern :P

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

oh man it's kind of a shame we didn't hear him laugh... to be fair there was little to laugh about in the Horrors

My OTP:

gyuyoon ftw <3 there's so much you can pack into their dynamic.

My OT3:

platonic ot3 but, as mentioned above, do-yoon and the girls is such a fun squad. to me. inha as the wise guy, him as the straight man, juyoung as the unwitting audience to their bickering

#asks #thank you bestie sorry it took this long to reply lol #sylwek.txt

[lumeha]

Persona for you? 👀 Feel free to pick one game in specific if you’d prefer.

I'm gonna focus on 4 and 5 because those are the ones I finished most recently and discussed the most, but

(sends kisses to 2)

I'm traumatised by this pair of bastard games <3 very good

Favorite character

hm hmmmmmm HMMMMMMMMMM

Gods. Urgh. I know the second part is the second favourite, but I do have to say, it is a toss up between Teddie and Yosuke ?

I didn't expect to love Teddie as much as I ended up doing. I may be doing some abstraction about the womanizing, for the both of them lmao, but Teddie genuinely has one of the most compelling character arc I've seen ? I think what they did with him is what P5 tried with Morgana, but it did end up working much, much better with Teddie, because Teddie loose his role as navigator to Rise but he's taking himself to a different role in the group because they are his friends and. His discovery of friendship, his relation with Nanako, even with Yosuke's parents, is just so fucking good, and I am still a little heartbroken from the bad end when Nanako is in the hospital okay : )

Yosuke's just a mess as a character lmao but that is what makes him interesting to me. He's just a teen who doesn't really know what he wants and how to care, in a lot of way, and he's also incredibly bad at grieving, and it's just really fun to see. Also. Great Shadow to start with. Would bet he would easily get to confront his Shadow again later down the line. Love him though. A nerd. I also share his music tastes and that's funny.

Second favorite character

(carries Ryuji above my head) look at this momma's boy he's so fucking cute I love him and he deserves better than what P5 gives him goddamnit !!! Love ! Him ! So ! Much !!

Like, yeah, he's rude, but you know what, he deserves to be, it's not like people have been good to him. Glad Strikers actually let him say fuck. It was deserved <3

... More seriously, I am insanely soft for a rude guy who is actually really caring. He's trying. It's also kind of amusing to have him try to hide a sweet tooth in some scenes ?? He's just. I like him a lot.

Least favorite character

Akechi

... I still laugh thinking about my late evening meltdown when faced with his goddamn boss fight and all I was commenting to my friend was "I just want to go to sleep fuck you man" (couldn't just stop the game or I would have lost a good two or three hours of gameplay <3) (I'm still mad lmao)

But yeah it's Akechi

I just wish I didn't find him in unrelated tags on tumblr sometimes

The character I’m most like

... I have no idea, frankly.

But I definitely was very much like Mary when I was a teen, angsty bad poetry included. Y'all are lucky I have *some* shame AND no actual translation skills or I would have shown it lmao.

Favorite pairing

I. hm. which one. That's a good question. It might genuinely be a battle between Yosuke/Teddie and Ryuji/Mishima. Which. Are not the same vibes at all but there's just something specific about these two ships about caring and loving someone and loving the flaws as qualities that I just really enjoy

Least favorite pairing

... Yes it's Aki///ren. do I really. do I need to.

I think it's obvious why.

Favorite moment

P4, will have to go with the murderer's reveal in the TV world when you go along his Social Link and it changes arcana, it's genuinely a *fantastic* moment and it has some really cool shit going on aesthetically. Also as much as I hate the guy he is an absolutely fantastic antagonist and I love to hate him.

(but also shout out to Rise's boss fight and how she takes control of it. I love Rise. She's so good. And it's really cool to have her retake control like this !!)

P5 I'll have to go with Kamoshida's Palace. Just. In general. The game starts on such a fucking strong leg. Too bad it kind of falters after that but Kamoshida's Palace has many good moments, from the first Persona awakening of the MC and Ryuji and Ann to just them all discovering what the fuck is going on. Just. good. aesthetically interesting too. Yes that's important to me XD

Rating out of 10

A solid 8 out of 10. Might be a little higher, but I just think - 4 and 5 both have some glaring problems with their stories that did drive me a little insane. But I was compelled to go through them and finish them which means a lot too because I'm a scatter brain jfsdklfk

#barks.txt #Persona

[russellius]

bruh if i have to see one more take where someone complains that merc are favouring george or they are giving him the superior strategy....... please stop. common sense. wheel knowledge. embrace it.

lewis was always gonna lose position to george no matter if he pits or not. if they double stack under the vsc he is still behind him, if they leave him out the tyre advantage was always gonna help george (which is exactly what happened. also they can say thanks to valtteri for messing it up because if that didn't happen and george had lost more time fighting lewis he might not have had the chance to challenge for p5...) it was a choice between losing the position on track or in the pits. plus lewis had no medium sets left, and the softs weren't that great if you look at esteban's last couple of laps (edit: add to this the fact that he only had used softs so putting those on could have been an even bigger L)

lewis' strategy was the optimal one, the same one most drivers were on. the fact that he was jumped by someone who started in the back with a relatively fast car and gambled on a SC does not mean he was shafted by the team. it's how strategies and SCs work. this was the same strategy he'd used in jeddah when he was the one who'd started from the back, there the SC came out at a similar time, only difference is he didn't pit when he could/should have done, because of the car that was parked on the pit entry.

i get his frustration, he was unlucky to lose that position to george, but... wtf is george supposed to do about that? he was driving his own race, he earned that position with a good stint on the hards, why are people so pressed he finished one place above lewis when these two are not in a championship fight and at the moment maximising the points for the team is the priority (had it been the other way around i'm sure the same people would have demanded george to let lewis through so that he could have fought valtteri straight away). i know the media and a lot of fans are absolutely and utterly disgusting when it comes to lewis and i hate seeing it too and i feel y'all on that one, and believe me the lewis vs george comparisons are driving me up the wall too, but george is literally the last person you guys should hate on lmao. he's been praising and defending lewis in the media for months and months, and some of y'all suddenly want to burn him alive for overtaking lewis on track. you know, the thing racing drivers are supposed to do. there wasn't a whole lot more merc could have done for lewis there, it was an unfortunate situation for him. let's just appreciate that both drivers are still able to get the maximum points out of that kangaroo w13

#r #george russell #lewis hamilton #(needed to vent about this somewhere 🥴)

[skrrtscree]

My main persona AUS but literally no one asked

Yes they're all Persona 3 related how did you know-

Strega/SEES roleswap AU

This one is a fairly new one I literally just made it up a few days ago but I already thought of alot for it.

Basically what it says on the box: it's persona 3 but strega are the 'good guys' and SEES were the ones who were experimented on.

In this AU, Itsukui took Minato, Hamuko, Junpei and Yukari to be tested on but only 3 of them escaped. The twins still do have Death inside them, thus why Itsukui was so interested in them. He still hasn't given up on searching for the escaped twin, as he knows they're of importance for Nyx to rise...

Strega, on the other hand, were adopted by Itsukui after he realised that the kids he tested on weren't going to become his willing servants so easily. He searched for kids he knew he had the potential so they can aid him in his plan. And who knew that you didn't have to force kids to awaken and just wait it out, absolute shocker! Strega is completely devoted to their father at first as the year progresses they start questioning everything they were raised to believe...

3rd Semester AU

This AU explores how SEES were effected by Marukis reality, but it mainly focuses on two people..

What happens when Junpei wakes up on New Year's Day and sees that his wife is talking to his old best friend, who shouldn't even exist?

The story only gets werider when he reunites with their old leader and his other best friend who has been dead for 7 years.. Everyone is acting like everything is normal, except for Junpei and he just can't let it go.. After everything that happened, only for it to not matter...

Maybe with the help of a younger persona user who fills him in with everything that he's missed over the past year, he can try and sense of all this.. and maybe for the younger persona user it would be helpful to have an older ally...

Arcana/RoleSwap AU

Obvious title, it's an arcanaswap but I'm still not sure if every character is getting arcanaswapped or if it's just certain characters?

There are 2 versions of this AU to exist:

1. The one where Aigis and Ryoji swap

2. The one where Aigis and Ryoji are the protags

Let's start with the first one. In this version Aigis is Death and Ryoji (going by PHAROS in this) is the robot. The 'official' version has Hamuko as the main protag but she looks a bit different and is a bit edgy in contrast to her canon counterpart.

Second one has Ryoji and Aigis as the protags taking up mc and femc respectively, so they're both human(not sure if they're related in this AU). So that means Minato and Hamuko take up their old roles but I'm still not sure which one takes which role.

ryomina DILF (dad i'd like to friend)!AU

OK, that's not actually the name of the AU, I haven't actually thought of one yet so I've just been jokingly calling it that. This is the main one I've been thinking about. It has a beginning and an end but it's all blank in the middle.

Once again the title is pretty self-explanatory. It's Persona 5 but Ryoji and Minato are Akiras parnets. Important specification: the gap between p3 and p5 is bigger in this AU so SEES are like in their 40s in P5. Sounds really simple right? Somehow you would be wrong..

Yeahhh... this idea spawned from a completely different thing and somehow devolved into a Royal New Game+ but the first game didn't actually finish (thank a certain false god for that..) and it somehow resolves itself in the end..

Is this AU completely self-indulgent and technically my comfort AU? Yes absolutely.

There's also a LOT of angst and people being edgy, so be warned..

That's all folks, (unless I think of another one then I'll update it...)

Also feel free to ask about them cause i just want to talk to someone about them. I feel like im gonna explode if i just keep them inside lol!

#persona au #persona 3 au #persona 5 au #do i tag normal persona for these? does anyone actually care? #ill just leave it for now #just wanted to post abt my aus #this is a warning i do have aus and i like to share them #but only if they're accompanied by art lol #persona

[rehcciardo]

Unpredictable Hungary never fails

It’s Saturday. It’s raceweekend. It’s Qualitime. A real wet one today.

I’m writing this review whilst watching the Qualifying this time. Let’s see how it works out :D

But one of the highlights of today happened during the FP3 session. Nicholas Latifi was the fastest guy on track. What the actual fuck? Charles didn’t belive it too. At least he asked his mechanic about Latifis time and if he was also on inters. And Alex got P3. Honestly it looked so wrong on the result screen xD 

But let’s see what they are dooing in the Qualifying now. Could be interesting with the mixed conditions in Hungary this afternoon. The track is dry enough to use slicks but there are some really dark clouds in the sky. So you never know if there might will be rain.

Q1:

I’m  glad that Aston Martin could fix Sebs car after his crash earlier today. Would be a shame if Seb had to skip Qualifying due of a broken car. I want him to have a good last season. As good as it can be in a Aston Martin.

The last minutes were thrilling! The track got better and better. I literally screamed at McLaren to let Daniel out again, when he was 15th and everyone became faster. There is no time to stay in the box guys!!!!! But in the same moment he went out of the box. Please Mclaren I can’t do this everytime! But he landed on P7 and Lando P5. Okay go on like this but please don’t make it more exiting than it has to be. 

Noo Seb is out. He sounded so sad and it broke my heart into pieces :(. Lance showed Q2 was absolutly possible.

Both Alpha Tauri didn’t make it into Q2 as well. Gaslys time was deleted because he exeedet track limits.Let’s hope he can gain a few positions tomorrow but I don’t see him in the points sadly.

To end Q1 with something nice: Hamilton and Russell finished the first Qualifying session on P1 and P2! Good job mercboys

Q2:

Lando started the second session with a fantastic lap. It’s always lovely to see a McLaren on P1 even when it’s just for a short time.But P6 isn’t that bad. And Daniel’s fastest lap was pretty close to Landos time! YES! That’s my boy!!!!!! Q3 BABY!

They deleted Checos lap time at first due of exeeding track limits but he got the timed lap back and I would say it was the right desicion I don’t think i was off the track at all.But it didn’t help. He ended on P11 because he had traffic (Magnussen) in the last lap. But this don’t explain Checos huge gap to Max. I hope he will figures out what’s wrong this weekend.

I’m sad that Mick and Kevin were both out after Q2 but in the moment Haas is struggeling very much and I wouldn’t expect them in Q3 anyways. I hope that Hass will find out how to get the best out of the updated car as soon as possible.

Q3:

The best thing of Q3 is, that Daniel will start in the top ten. And he ended P9. Okay he was benefited of max having engine issues and without that he would be p10 but I’m a happy little papaya girl right now <3

What an amazing lap by Carlos in the beginning!

Max messages at the team radio was shocking. But to be honest I wouldn’t mind if Ferrari could get some points back in the championchip. But it’s sad to see Max on P10. 

GEORGE GOT POLE!!!!!!! WOW! Who would thought? Merc pole on Ferrari soil. Not me to be honest. As much as I want to see Charles win.... I wouldn’t mind if George will win the race tomorrow either!

Lando is a beast. P4. This guy is amazing!

A really lovely top 10 for the race tomorrow. An Hungary is always good for a surprise. I’m more excited for tomorrow than I would have though I’d be. Lets hope for an exciting and surprising last race before we head into the summer break. Se you tomorrow!

#george russell #lewis hamilton #carlos sainz jr #charles leclerc #lando norris #daniel ricciardo #esteban ocon #fernando alonso #valtteri bottas #zhou guanyu #max verstappen #sergio perez #yuki tsunoda #pierre gasly #sebastian vettel #lance stroll #nicholas latifi #alex albon #kevin magnussen #mick schumacher #f1 #formula 1 #hungarian gp 2022 #reviewtime

[otg2012]

“All I Saw Was You" Timeline

Summary:

My Stiles/Jackson series called "All I Saw Was You" starts 14 years after the end of season 2 which is what I call the "present". At the same time, you also find out what happened in the "past" and what happens in the "future". This timeline establishes an order of the chapters throughout the years but personally, I recommend to read it in the order in which is posted on AO3. 

* This timeline will be updated when I post more parts.

* I’m posting it here to link it on the description of my series and delete it from AO3, so it needs to edited another day after deleting 3 chapters like this one that were not “stories”. I can’t risk losing my account or having it frozen again for something like this.

* I love to know what people think of the story, the OCs, the voices, etc... so feedback is very welcome and always cheers me up. I reply as soon as I can.

Notes:

I never expected to write this timeline and that's why I had not done it in six years—Because I still think that it's better to read the story as it's been posted, but Aceadams asked me last month if I had done one and I remembered that Wam6996 had also asked me about it a lot of time ago... so I started to think about it as a way to establish a sort of layout of the story in a more visual way (not as a reading order although people are free to read it as they wish/prefer), and finally, I was like "okay, why not?" So, I decided to write it down.

This has taken some time to finish, so it'd be nice to know if it's useful for anybody... because I also thought that, apart from those two people, maybe nobody would care about it.

Let me know if you have any doubt.

This post will be updated when I post more parts.

P105. Humans, Werewolves and the Beginning of Everything

P114. Tell Me I'm Strong Enough

P115. You're still you… Mr. I’m fucking "perfect"

P116. Thank you, Dr. Whittemore

P119. Broken Promises Will Come Back to Haunt You [+ Q & A]

P52. Chocolate Muffins, Nightmares and Some Xbox

P154. A Werewolf's Charade Is a Human's Unlikely Opportunity (Part 1)

P155. A Werewolf's Charade Is a Human's Unlikely Opportunity (Part 2)

P26. It's in the Way You Look

P121. Fantasy. Reality. Fucking Figure it Out

P100. Why Did You Kiss Me? — * 4th anniversary post

P36. Three Things You Love, Three things You Hate

P45. Jackson Never Says "I Love You"

P29. A New Kind of Secret

P11. Not Lydia 2.0

P57. Who Knew You Wouldn't Be Nobody Anymore

P102. How many "Stiles" do you know?  

P107. The Right Amount of PDA

P112. No More Secrets  

P16. My Asshole Boyfriend

P50. If Anybody Is Breaking Something Here, That's Gonna Be Me

P90. I Could Kiss You on the Mouth Right Now

P124. It's You and Me, and the Distance in Between — * 5th anniversary post

P108. A Christmas Miracle: Santa, Blue and Broken Rules

P147. Your True You

P148. Zero Kissing Involved

P150. About the Guy with Jackson's Freaking Heart

P151. About the Relationship Kane Can’t Get in the Middle of

P152. Four Things Jackson Hates and One Thing He Loves

P153. The Start of a Stiles and Jackson Fan Club

P156. Dealing with the Kanes of the World

P18. Derek Is Not Your Boyfriend

P39. The Kind of Christmas Gift You Can't Return

P110. I Want "You"

P111. Stiles Is All Kindness (aka Not Bad)

P14. No More BB-8

P3. No Other Option

P35. Part of You and Part of Me  

P40. More Than a Cuddle

P41. True Love Lasts Forever

P42. My Path Is Bound With Yours

P43. Unconditionally

P72. Not Your Typical Family Dinner

P46. Not Weird, Special

P47. Part Whittemore, Part Stilinski. Can You Imagine That?

P48. The Ultimate Proof of Love

P62. Say Goodbye to Yesterday

P63. Stiles Is the Exception Except When He Isn't

P64. The End of the World as You Know It

P65. Our Story Is Just Getting Started — * 3rd anniversary post.

P51. 911. What's Your Emergency?

P59. He's Coming Back to You

P67. Do You Believe in Fate?

P78. Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten

P1. All I Saw Was You

P2. On the Wire

P4. Beautifully Unfinished

P5. My Blue Skies and Grey

P6. That Little Consequence of Being Mates

P7. Broken Frame

P8. Into the Wild

P9. Out of the Darkness

P10. So Close But Yet So Far  — * 1st anniversary post

P12. 50 %

P13. Blue Eyes, Perfect Cheeks

P15. Without the Shadow of a DoubT

P16. My Asshole Boyfriend

P17. Bound Together

P19. A Second Chance... Maybe

P21. I Know What You Like

P22. Revelations, Memories, and Coke Zero

P23. I Want To Kiss You. Right Now

P25. Put Your Arms Around Me

P26. It's in the Way You Look

P28. Not Just a Bite

P30. I Can't Make Any Promises — * 2nd anniversary post

P34. The Big Spoon

P44. Moving on

P49. I Don't Want to Lose You

P58. Love Came in Between

P66. This Is Me Now

P71. How Do You See Me?

P73. Don't Let Your Past Hunt You Down  

P106. Call Me by My Name

P74. This Time, It's Jackson's Turn

P94. Don't Forget There's No Logic in a Partially Human Supernatural Creature

P95. I Want You Back

P96. I'll Make All Your Fantasies Come True

P68. A Matter of Trust

P69. Exactly What I Need

P70. Son of Superman

P75. A kiss Is Just a Kiss

P76. As the Light Breaks Through

P79. Little Monsters

P80. Too Young for This Shit

P81. Reasons to Hide Your Tears

P54. I'd Rather Get Shot by a Wolfsbane Bullet

P55. But You Are Married to an Asshole

P56. Consider It Temporary Insanity

P60. From One to Ten, He's a Twenty

P61. Killing Is Always the Last Resort

P20. Guard and Protect

P37. Nobody Said That Werewolves Couldn't Shoot Arrows

P38. Nobody Said You Can't Be Shirtless to Have a Conversation

P133. Ten Years Too Late

P134. Emotionally Compromised

P103. Never Let Anybody Make You Feel Like You Are Any Less Than What You Are

P139. Lying Runs in the Family

P140. Forever Young

P141. Only 50 % Human

P142. Everything Is Connected

P82. Run Kyle Run

P83. You're Married to a Dude?

P84. That's His Thing

P85. Maybe It Was Meant to Be

P86. An Atypical Client

P87. All Alone in the Danger Zone

P88. Rules Are Made to Be Broken

P89. Your Trust Means Everything

P91. Are You Ready to Take My Hand?

P92. Too Many Horror Movies

P93. Maybe Fate Is Actually a Thing

P97. Who Makes All the Rules?

P98. That’s Not Who We Are

P99. Is There Anything Your Father Can’t Do? (aka Right in the Middle)

P101. Under the Radar

P122. Lifeboat

P104. A Portrait of Self-control

P109. If It's Easy Then It Can't Be Love (aka No Way in Hell)

P113. What I'll Whisper in Your Ear

P117. Fate Had a Different Plan Than the One in Your Head

P33. The One

P24. Only Half Wolf

P120. An Alpha, His Husband and a Future that Remains Unclear

P123. With You, Everything Is Crystal Clear

P125. Set Your Fears Free. Find Your Truth

P126. Variety Is the Spice of Life

P127. Practice Until You Can't Get It Wrong

P128. Defying Laws of Gravity

P129. Romantic Ideas Not to Keep

P130. Empty Space

P131. Whittemore, Hale & Associates

P132. Hale, Whittemore & Associates

P135. Throw All the Darkness into Gold

P136. The Adoption Thing

P137. Life Happened to You

P144. Pancakes, Orange Juice, Plus Some Breakfast News

P145. Taboo Topic and All That — * 6th anniversary post.

P146. I Love You Both

P164. You’re Only Half Stilinski

P159. Too Explicit for Television (a.k.a. Call Me What You Want)

P160. It's Right to Assume

P161. Unreal

P162. No One Like You

P163. You Don't Need to Know Everything

P177. So, This Is a Date?

P178. He's Gonna Be a Star.

P157. Yesterday No-one, Today You're a Star

P158. I'm at the Top of the Pyramid

P165. Full Moon Calling (Part 1)

P166. Full Moon Calling (Part 2)

P167. A God in His Bed

P168. Not Running Out

P169. Not the Kind of Secret You'd Expect From Your Celebrity Boyfriend

P170. That Time You Got That First Gig You Never Knew You Wanted at an Interspecies Affair

P171. Jackson Is Not Your Regular Werewolf

P172. Blood, Pain and Regrets

P173. A Disorder in a Not-So-Human Body

P174. Second Nature

P175. Destiny Is Not Bullshit No Matter Who Believes in It

P176. Two Brothers. Different Paths.

P32. Alive: An "All I Saw Was You" Fanmix

P118. End of the Earth: An "All I Saw Was You" Fanmix

P27. An "All I Saw Was You" Companion

P53. Poll I (Deleted from AO3)

P77. Poll II  (Deleted from AO3)

P119. Q & A [+ Broken Promises Will Come Back to Haunt You]

P138. After the Crash

P143. An "All I Saw Was You" Visual Guide (Up to part 142)

P149. The "All I Saw Was You" Timeline  (Deleted from AO3)

Notes:

In case you don't know, I have other stackson stories that you might find interesting if you like this series:

* What If It's you? (Human AU / Crossover with "Spooks | MI-5" ) * Throw Your Weight On Me (Alpha/Omega AU) * No Infinity (Human AU in space) * Hollywood (Human AU in 1950) * The Chemicals Between Us (Human AU)

#all I saw was you #stackson #jackson x stiles #teen wolf fanfiction #stiles x jackson

[magioftheseas]

TWO WEEKS LATER I want to say thank you for the P5/AA AU details :D I actually had to step back, because even though I like AA quite a lot, I wasn't done with the first game and needed to finish for the right context ^^" You definitely surprised me with "EdgeKoto" but your reasoning makes so much sense, especially with Akechi in a supporting detective role. I really enjoy Gumshoe in the game, but it definitely makes more sense for the Defense to have a talented (private) detective on their side than... a spirit medium XD Maya is great don't get me wrong, it just means the AU relies way less on "over-eager Labrador of a detective leaks information to the Defense" if Akechi is a disgraced star detective. I also love the through-line of Akechi "done wrong, doing right" and what questions that would force the story to raise about true justice. Is there such a thing as an unforgivable crime, if the perpetrator truly repents? Of course society needs a justice system, but what if a criminal's choices are more redemptive than the crime's required punishment? And since Akechi's crimes are so heinous from the get-go, when can he actually be let off the hook, even if those around him sincerely believe he's changed? Exactly the kind of deep questions that would keep prosecutors and defense attorneys up at night. For the last case, yeah, I'm not sure either?! I guess the only other character not "addressed" is Futaba, and I did enjoy the pressure the statute of limitations created in the 4th trial, but those concepts don't mesh together well. It doesn't actually set up a clear pattern of accused/victim/perpetrator, and unless characters have their ages drastically changed, it's unlikely any crime Akechi committed could be erased by running out the clock. I don't have answers, mostly questions, but GOD I was so happy that you were combining two super great things that I am having so much fun with! I had to make sure you knew that! Happy Wednesday! ^_^

Continuation of This Post:

ANSWERING THIS TWO MONTHS LATER BECAUSE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, I'M SO SORRY.

But yeah! I know a lot of AA AUs go with Akechi as the prosecutor because he's meant to be Akiren's rival, but I thought one where the two were on much friendlier terms would make things more interesting. And since they're the main ship, it's also very AA if they had an established bit of history.

Further ponderings on that last case are gonna be under this read-more.

Thinking more on the final case, I was considering actually changing the culprit to...idk Owada from Strikers. I'm not super into Strikers, but Zenkichi's already in the AU so it works out. If I recall, that guy's trying to be the next Shido, like, canonically anyway. (I guess this means Konoe is a more benevolent force? Sure, why not.) Either way, all of Shido's dirty laundry gets aired out, and Akechi is still exposed so he's not just going to face no consequences. I think it'd be fun if he was still heavily suspected and he fully expected to not be believed, but Akiren DOES BELIEVE IN HIM BECAUSE THEY'RE BOYFRIENDS AND HE KNOWS AKECHI'S CHANGED.

It may not be an entirely happy ending, but it will still be very, very gay. I can promise that much.

I think I'll keep Zenkichi's backstory intact and hearing about it is what drives Futaba to be more helpful and involved. And after the whole trial is done with and Owada is jailed, she does just go up to Akechi and demand answers about what happened to her mother.

It'll uh, definitely be a bit of a roller coaster but whatevs. Final cases tend to be pretty complicated, haha. But at the end, with all of Shido's dirty laundry aired out and even his "successor" arrested, there is like...an uncertain sort of contentment afterward. Akiren gets Akechi to swear that they'll meet and duel again no matter how many years it takes, and everyone else can finally move on without the shadow of the conspiracy. (And having developed to be a bit more well-rounded, in the other characters' cases.)

#Persona 5 #persona 5 strikers #akeshu #shuake #goro akechi #akechi goro #futaba sakura #Magi answers #Magi ponders fic ideas #crossover maybe? #lostozian #God sorry again for the wait #A lot...happened

[kareofbears]

see y’all on the other side 

#are these memes too specific to me? #anyway basically the point of this post was to tell yall that im blacklisting p5 #ill be back #im just not taking any chances #p5s #mine #i also just want to let you guys know that when i do finish p5s #im still going to tag it as p5s #no spoilers or anything unless it's specifically request by someone #because its a hassle to tag things twice

[vroomvroommbtch]

Always been you - DRxfem driver!reader

Masterlist

Summary: She loved the rain, but she hated races with rain. She hated every single thing that happened that cloudy day in Italy, at least until Daniel changed everything in a second.

Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo x fem driver!reader

Warnings: Some angst, swearing and Gio being the coolest BFF in the universe. 

Word count: 4.4k

A/N: I was supposed to be writing charter 18, but this happened in the middle after a happy/sad race for my papaya heart. Couldn't get it outta my head and this happened. Its probably a big mess so bare with me, kiddos. Also I miss Gio, so I had to add him in this. Whatever, I hope you like it, enjoy, and let me know what you think! And I promise to be back with chapter 18 of SIG soon! Okay bye! ✌🏻

---

Always being you.

There were counted things that she hated almost as much as crushing on races. When anyone of the other nineteen drivers on the grid crushed everyone said it was racing and part of the sport; but when she crushed it was a completely different story. There it wasn’t something that happened; it was because ‘women weren’t as good at driving as men’. It was because she wasn’t made for the sport and didn't deserve that seat. She hated crushing or touching someone else’s car, but when she touched Daniel, it just felt worse. Between the craziness that always came with the start of the race, turn one, the rain and slippery track, it just happened. She couldn’t help it even if she tried, and really tried. That’s how she ended up touching Daniel’s car, which made him end up touching Carlos’ car. It was racing and she knew it, but she couldn’t help but feel awful. The only thing she could do was push it to the back of her head when it happened. She needed to focus on her race, so she did. She managed to get unharmed from the incident, put her full focus on driving the sixty-three laps that she had ahead and get in the points, which was nothing but absolutely wonderful considering the complicated year her team had the previous year. She was happy for her P5 considering it was her best finish since she was in Formula 1. It was the best finish she had since her F2 days when podiums and trophies were her thing, but it got tainted as soon as she found out Daniel finished P18. He finished last because she ruined his race. She wanted to apologize to Daniel as soon as she got out of the car, but she couldn’t because he was talking with Mick and Sebastian. Same thing happened in the pen, but every time she tried, he was in some interview, and then every time he was free, she was the one busy. Even when she couldn’t do it, she made sure to say in front of every single camera that she was absolutely sorry about what happened. She made sure she said she was going to apologize to Carlos too, because she was going to do it, but also because she knew she needed to name him and not just Daniel. She needed to do it because it was the right thing to do, but also because the whole Alfa Romeo press team was gonna kill her if she didn’t do it. Being the only woman on the grid not only included the sexist and misogynist comments but also the rumors. From the first day she stepped into the paddock for the first-time during winter testing four years earlier, the press always somehow found a way to make rumors about her love life. Normally the rumors included her and Antonio, but she understood it happened because they were best friends. They used to laugh their asses off about it because more than once people thought they were more than friends, but one day it stopped being fun. It happened when it seemed like she couldn’t spend more than five minutes talking with another driver because the next day there was gonna be rumors and even questions about her dating, whoever was the new chosen guy, no matter if she was seeing someone or one of the other drivers had a girlfriend. First was Charles, then Pierre, then Lando, and then George, but the only recurrent name besides Antonio’s was Daniel’s.

She knew the fact that they were teammates didn’t help. The fact that they were really good teammates made everything worse and as time passed and they became really good friends, it just made the situation worse. As everyone talked about Carlando, the other super team on the grid was them. It gave the Renault’s press team more than one headache, but they were a couple of mischiefs together. They were always joking and chatting. They were always pushing each other to become better drivers and doing every single thing in their power to push the team forward even when the conditions weren’t the best, for more than one reason. They even went out together to do stuff, and that’s why people and the press ended up placing his name next to hers. It was always Daniel's and for Antonio it was nothing but hilarious. Antonio knew her crush for Daniel, but he kept the secret as a good friend. He only sent her an accomplice look every time they were in the paddock and she and Daniel were too close to each other. Antonio was also the one who asked and insisted that she should say something and try to make a move with Daniel. He was the one who understood when she said she didn’t want to ruin their friendship, make things complicate and jeopardize her career but he was also the one who knew that deep down that wasn’t the only reason. She didn’t need to say anything because Antonio knew and he was the one who hugged her when they saw Daniel and some blonde girl at some party in Monaco. Everyone knew Monaco was a small place and they normally went out to the same places, but she wasn’t expecting to see that scene right in front of her. Antonio was the one who insisted they should leave because they didn’t need a damn party to have fun; they could always go home and find something on Netflix or play some video games or go straight to sleep, but as some kind of masochist she wanted to stay. It took his best friend and favorite Italian a good amount of time and insistence, but then she decided that it was time to leave. She was staying there to convince herself that she could get over him and her crush, that she didn’t need any coming from him, but deep down she was dying to be in the blonde girl’s shoes. She wasn’t drunk for obvious reasons, but after a couple beers, and once they were back at their place, she admitted to Antonio that the exact reason why she didn’t say anything to Daniel was simple. She knew he could have any girl he ever wanted, and she knew he wasn’t going to want the girl who was racing as his teammate. She said between tears she didn’t want to end up with her heart broken like she was, but the plan failed miserably.

Things between her and Daniel didn’t change between them after that night. She didn’t want him to see a change in her attitude towards him and Daniel didn’t have any fault because he was just living his life, so everything stayed the same. The only thing that changed was her attitude on the track. Maybe it was because she was mad at everything and nothing at the same time, but all that was shown on her driving. She ended up being more aggressive and bolder, which took her to get more and more points, but never took her to a podium. Antonio was also the one who held her when she lost her seat on Renault. The team was changing and rebranding, Cyril was leaving, Esteban was coming back in Daniel’s place when he decided to leave for McLaren and then Alonso decided he wanted to come back and the only one left over in the equation was her. She knew how Formula 1 worked; she knew nobody’s place was promised for forever because it was like the musical chairs game, but it hurt to lose her place. It hurt when she was doing everything and more in her power to improve and take the team to a better place than it was. What also hurt was knowing she was going to lose Daniel as her teammate and she didn’t hide it away. After two years of working together there was no need to hide it, but she threw it away in form of jokes and silly comments. She made that every single time someone asked about it, not really caring if a camera was there, and that only made the rumors worse, but she ignored it.

What she couldn’t ignore were Daniel’s eyes one morning after he took her to a side and asked if she was really mad at him about leaving. It happened right after they recorded some interviews and one of the questions was how she was feeling about going to Alfa Romeo with Antonio but not being teammates with Daniel anymore. She made a silly comment, threw a joke; they both laughed, and kept going with the next question, answering again what was their favorite circuit. She knew Daniel enough to know he was really worried when he asked if she was really mad at him, but what she wasn’t expecting was the look on his eyes when she brushed it off with a simple ‘I’m not mad at you, D. We’re friends and that’s not gonna change because we're on different teams’. She wasn’t silly; she could see how his eyes changed when she said the word ‘friends’ but she decided to brush it off, just like the question. She convinced herself that being away from Daniel was going to be good to make her forget her silly crush about him. Besides, being on the same team with her best friend was a dream that came true, so it was good. She repeated that it was going to be okay, and in part it was. The season ended, winter break came and she tried as bad as possible to forget about Daniel, and she almost did. Almost, because as soon as she ran into him on the circuit in Bahrein, it all came back to her. She wanted to punch herself or even ask Antonio to punch her as she felt the butterflies and the knock in her stomach, but seeing Daniel was as good as any punch. They waved at each other, and his ‘Sorry I can’t hug you, Cherry’ was the biggest punch she could ever receive. He had to go and use that silly nickname that he had invented for her. She couldn’t help but remember those first days at Renault when they were trying to get along and Daniel was trying his best to make her feel welcome in her first year on F1. He was trying to make her feel like one more and not a rookie, and he did it. He did it and it all started with one silly cherry lollipop.  

It happened after their first photoshoot they did together for Renault when Daniel spent the day dancing as they took pictures of them. She spent the morning whispering she was insane but laughing her ass off as he moved with the music. To make her get loose, Daniel made her dance with him as if photographers weren't surrounding them, cameras recording and people on the team. It worked; God knew it worked to the point she almost forgot how much she didn’t really like that part of her job. Her favorite photo of that day ended up being one where Daniel was with his arm around her shoulders, trying to get his index finger in her ear as she was holding his face with one hand right on his cheek. It was stupid, but she loved it. Once the day was over, she was eating a lollipop as she was ready to leave the building, but Daniel followed her, asking how she was feeling after all the pictures, videos and dancing. She said she was really happy and that the photoshoots were actually better when they included a dance party. She had no idea how it happened, but she took the lollipop out of her mouth for a second, and the next thing she knew, Daniel was stealing it from her hand and placing it right in his mouth. With the cheekiest grin on his face, he affirmed ‘We’re gonna be good friends, Cherry’ as he winked at her before he walked away, leaving her tongue tied and with her jaw hanging.  

He didn’t stop calling her Cherry after that, but never in public. Only once did she have the courage to ask why he only called her like that in private, and his answer was as simple and short as ‘I’m not letting anyone else use that nickname with you’ and his answer was enough, so she never complained. Once they went their separate ways, she wasn’t expecting Daniel to call her like that, but there he was, throwing her that holy nickname in front of Antonio.

She really thought her friendship with Daniel was going to be over as soon as they went their separate ways, but somehow it didn’t. As soon as the season started again, it also did the texts, comments on pictures on Instagram and the silly little talks any time they could while they were in the paddock. What she wasn’t expecting was their worst year in Formula 1 to bring them closer. Hers and Antonio’s year at Alfa Romeo wasn’t as good as they were expecting, just like Daniel’s year at McLaren. As the races came and went, she used to make jokes trying to make them both feel better. She would say that at least he won seven Grand Prix more than her; that at least his car was actually fast, and that he was able to get points, not like her. Every single time he would smile at her, saying things were going to get better, and she believed him. Heaven knew that she really believed him and any word that came from his mouth. She was ready to believe in anything he said as long as he smiled at her. Just when the rumors about her seemed to disappear or at least calm down, they fucked it up going to have dinner on their own. She wasn’t expecting to find a text from Daniel when she was in United States for summer break, but it happened. She was in Los Angeles too, but she never said a thing to Daniel about it when some weeks earlier he asked her plans. She said she was going to the beach and nothing else, but then she made a post on Instagram while she was on the beach. That’s when, five minutes later, she got a text that said ‘Dinner tonight?’ and she couldn’t say no. She knew it was just a friendly dinner, but they made the wrong decision of going out instead of having dinner at his house or at the place she was renting. Even if they went to a really private place and kept it low-key, someone recognized him and the rumors went back. She was pissed because if the guys on the grid went to have dinner it was just a bunch of boys having a night out, but if she did the same then she was fucking the guy. She was pissed, but she decided to ignore it and just focus on the memory of how happy and handsome Daniel looked that night in the chair right in front of her.

Things eventually got better, at least for him. She couldn’t help but hug the hell out of him when he won Monza. She felt as happy as if she or Antonio had won, hitting Daniel’s helmet as they hugged in the parc fermé, yelling over their helmets how much he deserved it because he really deserved it. On that Italian circuit she decided that if people wanted to invent shit, they could write whatever they wanted, and damn, they did. Speculation after speculation was written down, but she ignored it over the happiness she had for him. But just when she thought things were getting better, at least for one of them, it all went to hell in one single day. Like every single time, she ignored the silly season, but one day she and Antonio found out one of them was going to lose their seat. She didn’t want to believe it; she actually wanted to ignore it, but it was all true. She was thankful to have her best friend by her side, but damn, it was hard to know one of them was going to be out. It was their dream to be there and it was their dream to be teammates, but after the last race it was all going to be over. When it all happened, the last thing she was expecting was Daniel being the one promising her that everything was going to be fine. She also wasn’t expecting him to be her shoulder to cry on when she found out Antonio was leaving. It happened one night when she didn’t want to bother her team and she ended up knocking at his motorhome, not really knowing where else to go. That’s when they reached a level of friendship she wasn’t expecting to reach, but she loved it, even if she wanted to be more than friends with him. When the new season started, Daniel was also the one making her smile every time he could when she felt weird for not seeing Antonio there. She knew Antonio technically was there sometimes, doing his thing in the Ferrari garage, but it wasn’t the same as doing silly interviews and press with him. They would wave to each other, hug fast and tightly as they walked by each other, and promise to catch up later, but once it was all over she felt weird. It wasn’t as funny as before, but Daniel was the one stuck by her side every second he could, talking to her about everything and then some to keep her mind away from things because he knew her mind was everywhere and probably over-worrying about every single possible thing. That’s why she felt nothing but terrible when she was crushed into him. Daniel didn’t deserve to end up P18, but it happened and it was her fault. The first thing she did as soon as she could, and before she went back to the hospitality for the debriefing, was go to the red building in the paddock. She apologized to Carlos for a short moment, and as soon as it was all fixed and settled, she went to the orange building. She felt terrible asking if she could come inside to see Daniel for a second. She felt terrible walking into the Ferrari’s building, but she felt worse going into the McLaren’s one. She felt as if she had a scarlet letter right in her chest, letting everyone know she was the guilty one for what happened. She had to wait by the door as someone obviously asked Daniel if he wanted to talk to her and those seconds felt like an eternity. It was cold, she was tired and she still had hours ahead to work and then a fly back to Monaco, but all she wanted was to do was see Daniel and then sleep.

She was thinking how much she missed her pillow when the glass door opened and someone in an orange uniform told her to come in because Daniel was in his room waiting for her. She tried to keep a straight face, knowing perfectly fine there were cameras everywhere behind her, all of them dying to record the ‘friends fixing things after the fucked up’ encounter. She tried as much as she could, but then she knocked at his door; she was terrified. The seconds waiting for him to answer felt like an eternity, but then she heard a ‘Come in!’ from the other side, which made her open slightly the door, enough to give her room for her head. She was expecting Daniel to be absolutely pissed at her, and he had all the right to be, but it wasn’t the case. He looked like he was tired like always after a race. She was also expecting to be with his team, but he was all alone, which, in part, made her get more scared.

“Hey Dan, you have a minute?” she murmured, her voice being a mix of tiredness, worry, and fear. The last thing she wanted Daniel to get mad at her, so she was even scared to speak too loudly and ruin the silence of the room. “Just come in, kiddo” he affirmed, getting up to open the door enough for her to walk in. “If you stay outside, they’ll film everything, so come in” She knew he was right, so there was no point in arguing about anything, so all she did was walk inside and wait for him to close the door behind them. She knew there was no much time, they both had things to do and she had to leave that hospitality before it was worse and before people started talking again, so she tried to find the perfect way to apologize. “Dan, I’m so fucking sorry. I just-” she breathed, finding impossible to explain what happened even if both of them just knew. “The car just slipped, mate. I knew you were in front of me and couldn't fucking stop it. I couldn’t hit the brakes or it was gonna we worse, but I swear I tried, Dan. I’m so fucking sorry” she apologized.

She was normally good with words, but this time she was a complete disaster. Not only did she feel terrible for what had happened; she also was absolutely nervous to be in front of Daniel. It had been so long since they had been alone in a room that she felt shy. That added to the guilt she was feeling made her an absolute mess, not being able to make a logical phrase. The fact that Daniel was looking nothing but perfectly and absolutely handsome wasn’t really helping. His race suit was half undone and around his waist, his curls were a beautiful mess, and the white fireproof was leaving too little to the imagination. Besides, his stubble was a bit longer than usual and for a second she asked herself again how it would feel against her skin, but she had to stop herself and focus on the important issue. “It's fine, Cherry” he started, and the second her nickname left his lips she felt like a weight leaving her shoulders. “It’s racing, this shit happens. I know it wasn’t on purpose or any of that. I know you and know you wouldn’t do that, so no hard feelings” Daniel smiled tiredly, pinching her cheeks with his fingers as he was sitting at the massage table, right in front of where she was standing. Daniel always did that. Every single time she was feeling bad about something, he would say something to cheer her up and then he would pinch her cheek to make her smile. It always worked because feeling her fingers onto her skin never failed to make her smile, but this time it wasn’t enough. But even when she didn’t smile, the butterflies on her stomach suddenly woke up, but there was also no time for that, so she ignored it. “I know this shit happens, but goddamn, I feel like shit. God knows the last thing I ever wanted to do was fuck up your race. I mean, it’s you, D. I can’t fuck it up with you, mate” she exhaled, scratching the back of her head thanks to the nervousness she was feeling. “What do you mean it's me?” It took her a moment to realize what had happened. It took her a second to realize she had lowered her guard. It took her just one look to realize Daniel knew. She could see in his eyes that he knew she wasn’t just talking about racing. After all those years, after all the times, Antonio insisted that she should say something, and after more than one flirty thing that happened to them, that was her change. It was her change to jump to the pool. If it didn’t have water, then all she had to do was run from there, act like nothing happened, and then avoid Daniel for the rest of her or his career. But she couldn’t risk losing her chance if there was actual water there. She knew there was a small percentage of having a change, so she decided to take a leap of faith for once in her life. “It's you. Since the day we met at the factory in Enstone. It’s always been you, Dan” she finally admitted. And damn, how happy she was that she finally did it. Just like that day when he stole her cherry lollipop, Daniel didn’t ask for permission. He got up from the table, placed one hand on her lower back, the other on the back of her head, their bodies together, and then his lips over hers. The soft moan that left her lips when they kissed was nothing but pathetic, but she couldn’t help it. He kissed her like a man on a mission, almost desperate to make it up for the lost time. In that second, and as their lips and tongues moved together, he couldn’t help but wonder if Daniel had been waiting for as long as she was, but she wasn’t going to waste time on questions. No when his hands had her hair and her race suit in a tight grip. Not when she was finally able to lip and bite his lower lip as she always dreamt about. No when her own hands were holding onto his back for dear life, but especially not when he smiled against her lips as they moved away just enough to catch their breath. “I need to go. Everyone its outside and press and debrief and shit” she murmured out of breath, stealing one last kiss, in part because he was absolutely addictive and in part because she wanted to do it again and prove it wasn’t all a mistake or a dream. “Are you gonna be in Monaco this week?” Daniel asked her in the lowest voice, surely trying to keep it quiet in case someone was near the door. The last thing they needed was more rumors, but as he looked down at her, she wanted to go and scream from the rooftops so everybody would know. She didn’t have the strength to talk again, so she kept looking at him and nodded twice, letting him know that she was gonna spend the week in Monaco. “Dinner?” This time she nodded again, but instead of leaving, she kissed him again.

---

#daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo one shot #f1 #f1 one shot #f1 imagine #formula one #formula one fic #formula one imagine #formula 1 #formula 1 fic #formula 1 one shot

[ilovejevsjeans]

How Olympian race engineer Tom Stallard helped coach Daniel Ricciardo to Monza victory

Daniel Ricciardo and the ever-improving McLaren team were seen as a match made in Heaven ahead of the start of the 2021 season. But while it all came good at the Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo’s win at Monza was a product of hours and hours of unseen work, and some confidence-shaking moments along the way. F1 Staff Writer Greg Stuart sat down with Tom Stallard, the man who’s race engineered Ricciardo throughout 2021, to trace the arc of that breakthrough Monza win.

You could make a strong case that Lap 52 of the Monaco Grand Prix marked the nadir in Daniel Ricciardo’s first season with McLaren. As the Australian exited Sainte Devote and accelerated up the hill, he dutifully jinked left to allow team mate Lando Norris to lap him, Norris acknowledging the gesture with a wave from his cockpit. Norris would go on to finish third. Ricciardo, who’d brilliantly won in Monaco just three years earlier for Red Bull, finished out of the points in 12th.

That was May – and yet just four months later, Ricciardo had taken McLaren back to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2012, capping off a superb Italian Grand Prix weekend with an emotional victory at Monza, and leading Norris home in a McLaren one-two.

How did that happen? Ricciardo’s race engineer Tom Stallard has been the man F1 fans have heard soothing and chivvying Ricciardo over team radio this year, a year in which success has been harder to come by than many had anticipated – and he was naturally delighted when Ricciardo combined all his learnings to take the assured win in Monza, his first victory since that 2018 Monaco triumph.

“I was super proud,” Stallard tells me as we chat in the paddock in Sochi, “because we've worked really hard this year to be honest, and it was nice to see him executing everything that we'd talked about and worked on.

“Obviously he did a fantastic job, but he actually did the job that we'd been talking about and working on together. He's a top driver, obviously, joined our team as a top driver, but we’ve actually had to work at it quite hard and in Monza, he really executed that.”

Why didn’t Ricciardo and McLaren gel immediately? Ricciardo’s stellar second half of 2020 with Renault – during which he took two podiums and finished every race in the points – combined with McLaren’s sharp upward trajectory and the arrival of Mercedes power units at the team for 2021, meant that many earmarked the Ricciardo/McLaren combination as a potential surprise package this season.

But despite claiming points in his first four races for the team – including convincingly leading Norris home in Barcelona – right from the off, Stallard says, there were issues.

“I think the Bahrain race [where Ricciardo finished P7 to Norris’ P4 on his McLaren debut] he did quite well, but that was with a lot of time in the car in the [Bahrain] test – I mean, not a lot of time but a bit of time at the test, and a circuit that suits him well,” says Stallard.

“And then at Imola [where Ricciardo finished P6 as Norris claimed a podium in P3] we kind of exposed the problems, if you like, that he was having with the car, and we understood the struggle that we would have.”

As you might expect from an engineer of Stallard’s experience (he joined McLaren back in 2008) his first reaction to the situation wasn’t to panic, but to put in place processes to help bring Ricciardo on.

“We put in place a plan of what we needed to do differently and how we needed to react. And since then actually, we've been on an upward trajectory from that point, but you don't always necessarily see that from the outside.

“There have been a number of races where after the race, he's been frustrated and I've been reassuring him that actually we are seeing progress, and we don't have the good results yet but they're coming.”

So what was it about the MCL35M that wasn’t suiting Ricciardo and his driving style?

“Ultimately,” says Stallard, “all the drivers would choose the same thing, which is very good rear stability, and front end that increases as you add steer. That is totally universal, but the truth is that having a car that does that is the Holy Grail of Formula 1 design; every team up and down this paddock is trying to do that, and succeeding to a greater or lesser extent.

“We have a car that understeers and that's been something that he's had to adapt to and modify his natural approach to get the best out of.”

One thing Stallard is at pains to point out is that, for all of Ricciardo’s famously insouciant manner, beneath the gigawatt smile there lurks one of the world’s top racing drivers, with a work ethic to match.

“Obviously Daniel seems like the most laidback guy in the world,” says Stallard, “but behind the scenes, under the water, the duck feet are going quite quickly.

“Because we were in lockdown and he was in Los Angeles [over the winter break], we did most of his initial integration virtually, and during that phase, he learnt all the switches, what all the toys do, how to use the steering wheel.

"We spent a lot of time talking through the strategy with Daren [Stanley], our strategist. And actually all the communication side, all of the switches, all the controls, he had completely down by the time he went to winter testing.

“He's been in the factory loads, doing the simulator, partly working on his driving with that, but also giving feedback to the team about what he wants from the car,” adds Stallard.

“And at no point during the phase where he was getting up to speed with our package did he question that there was any kind of, the team backing the other driver, or the engineers didn't know what they were doing, or the car was set-up wrong. He just knuckled down, got on with the work, and I think that the whole team has a lot of respect for him for that.”

Ricciardo endured an up-and-down run of form leading up to the summer break, the lows including a tough Styrian Grand Prix where he finished 13th to Norris’ fifth and a Hungarian Grand Prix where first lap contact with Charles Leclerc hobbled his McLaren, leaving him 11th at the flag.

But Ricciardo appeared rejuvenated after the summer break, nailing his best qualifying of the year at that point with P4 on the grid in Belgium – while after a race to forget for the whole McLaren team in Zandvoort, Ricciardo then put together what would ultimately be his winning weekend in Monza, qualifying P5 on Friday, racing to P3 in Saturday’s F1 Sprint before claiming that sensational victory in the race.

Indeed, it was Ricciardo’s anger at qualifying P5 on Friday at Monza (and just 0.006s off his team mate) that seemed to indicate that a change had come in the Australian’s expectations of the level he should be performing at – with Stallard noting the key difference in Ricciardo since the summer…

“I think the ‘frustration at being P5’ thing was there all along,” says Stallard. “For me, the difference with the break is that it helped him not overthink it, so he's adapted better to the way you have to drive our car without it being completely conscious every corner, what you need to do.

Daniel's easy to work with, because if you give him a problem to solve, he goes away and works at it, so the work ethic's always been good, which makes life easy,” adds Stallard. “He doesn't defer responsibility away from himself; he takes a lot on the chin, which means some of what I've had to do is keeping him, let's say, up, because he's taken a lot of responsibility for things himself.

“But from my side, that means he's great to work with, and that collaboration is very strong. And when we got to Monza, we both had a lot of confidence in each other, so that made the result in Monza feel very natural.”

Going forward

Ricciardo leading McLaren to their first victory since Jenson Button’s 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix triumph, and their first one-two since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix, was a fantastic moment for all at McLaren, and one that was warmly welcomed by most in the F1 paddock.

But Stallard was under no illusions during our chat in Sochi that Ricciardo is still on a journey to being fully comfortable in McLaren’s MCL35M car this season – a point Ricciardo would then back up himself a few days later when, despite finishing P4 in the Russian Grand Prix, he admitted that “there is still some stuff missing”.

“In Monza, the circuit and our technical package aligned well,” says Stallard, “and actually last year we came second there, so it's a circuit that suits our car and obviously Daniel did a very good job putting it all together, and the strategy was correct.

“He now understands how to drive the car; I think he's felt that himself rather than it just being explained to him, which means we have made another step. But it's a much more linear process than it appears from the outside.”

What Ricciardo does have in his corner, meanwhile – apart from the work ethic and talent that have made him an eight-time Grand Prix winner – is a race engineer in Stallard who has been an elite athlete himself, forming part of Great Britain’s silver medal-winning men’s eight rowing crew at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

And Stallard believes that his own experience as an athlete can help get the best out of Ricciardo, who signed to McLaren on a three-year deal that will take him into Formula 1’s bold new era of regulations with the team.

“In this sport, 20 years ago, the race engineers were very much engineers,” says Stallard. “But now we are coaches, and so we're using the data to guide the drivers in how to get the best out of the car.

“So I see myself now as a coach and I have a lot of experience of being coached, whereas a lot of the other race engineers… don't necessarily have the same experience of being coached. And I think that does give me an insight in terms of the struggles that people have when being coached, especially in a sport where on the way up, drivers often aren't coached that much and it gives me a good ability to manage the pressure and stay calm in what would be a pressured situation as well.

“And I also think that on any journey, although I describe it as a linear process, there's still ups and downs, and there'll be events in the future that are more difficult and that we'll have to respond to and react to. It would be naive to think it's plain sailing from here – but I think that it's a good next step.”(X)

#daniel ricciardo #tom stallard #dan #so long but so good #articles

[halcyon-writings]

Hi! Do u mind doing headcanons of akira/ren, ryuji and akechi from p5 with a rlly extroverted and clingy reader? Thank you 🥺💖💖💖

note(s): apologies for the late answer to these, i’m slowly but surely finishing off requests!!lowkey this request has me soft for these three as well so i’m just 🥺🥰

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all my links (masterlist, rules, etc.) can be found on my pinned post!!!

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slight warning for spoilers in these too!! the hcs are utc, bc long posts without one make me age prematurely

i’ve literally tried to fix ryuji’s and akechi’s banner things and idk why the quality is so different hjdhdhj but i have given up bye

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He may not look it, but he can be just as clingy. So he loves it. At every little thing, whether it’s you grabbing his hand or walking arm in arm at every place you both go, or just laying your head on his shoulder when you’re both just hanging out and chilling in his room.

I feel like Akira would have a much more physical kind of love language, just having you close by is a big reassurance to him and sometimes there are days where the rumors catch up to him and the way he’s still held at a distance affects him more than what he lets on. It helps him when he knows you aren’t going to think of him as a criminal or worse.

As soon as you show any sort of physical affection just know he’ll be quick to reciprocate. And if you get flustered? Then he’s gonna double down on it until you’re both just a pair of very flushed and very sappy goofballs. Sojiro has nearly kicked you both out of Leblanc but apparently the old ladies live for it so they come by a lot, so you can stay but you’re both on thin ice.

He really likes your extroverted personality! If we look at this game mechanic wise, he does one thing and just automatically goes to sleep (morgana leering menacingly in the bg-). So looking at this more like characteristics, maybe his social battery isn’t as full as yours. But he’s also there for you in case you need to step back and relax too.

If you want to see a very red faced Ryuji. then you’ve accomplished that mission very successfully by clinging onto him whenever you’re both hanging out. And for as much as he tries to hide it, the guy blushes all the way to the tips of his ears. You’ll know when you’ve got him all flushed and embarrassed.

He also likes your extroverted nature too, bc mans is also a pretty big extrovert. You both end up as that very excitable pair in high school. Very high energy and people are either jealous of the relationship or want to knock your heads together for being so loud and energetic, there is no in-between. 

Ryuji’s another who acts lowkey about all the shit people say about him. But don’t be fooled, after what Kamoshida did, apart from breaking up the track team and also giving him a debilitating knee injury, and how his reputation plummeted as a result, he bottles up a lot and keeps the negatives to himself. He’ll wait until he’s alone so that way he doesn’t drag you down, he says. But you prove him wrong and he’s all the more grateful for it.

Ryuji definitely brags about you. You’re probably the man’s homescreen/lockscreen. Returning to the first point, the moment you grab onto his hand or his arm when you both are walking to and from places whether it be to school or just on a date, he tries to play it off all cool. No one is fooled because they can see the flush on the back of his neck to the tips of his ears. 

Once again I’m gonna warn for spoilers in these, but especially for Goro.

I’m not going to lie, Akechi will either really like the clinginess or hate it depending on the different stages of your relationship. If it’s the beginning of the relationship, you might honestly have been a cover up for more of the less than savory activities under Shido’s command. However as time goes on he finds your personality and overrall demeanor to be very refreshing compared to the rest of the people he’s had to deal with. 

Not to be like, lowkey angsty, but, I have feeling that just as he’s starting to let himself become closer to you, that lingering doubt that you’re going to either disappear or end up using him in some way rears its head. Maybe it will maybe it won’t but please let this guy know that you’re in it for the long run (however long it may be). That feeling won’t just disappear in a day, so somedays are rougher than others but the fact that you’ll still cling to him like you have previously is a small reassurance. (shido send me your location i just wanna talk-)

But n e ways after you get past that, if you when the two of you are somewhere private, he is probably just as clingy. Think Koala type of clingy, I just know Akechi is touch starved as hell. And dealing with the public image that he’s created for himself and being bombarded with all this attention from both fans and critics alike can be overwhelming at times. So it’s a bit like a relief when it can be just the two of you, away from prying eyes that want to know all about the new Detective Prince and his s/o. 

He greatly admires the way you’re so extroverted. And maybe sometimes has you talk to people for him if the social battery he’s got is too drained, but only if you’re okay with it! That’s another thing that he’s come to respect is the boundaries. You may be extroverted and slightly clingy, but you don’t push him and instead go at his pace. But when the roles are reversed and you aren’t up for being the social butterfly, he’s more than happy to help you out too.

I think he needs a hug. A big hug.

#persona imagines #persona 5 imagines #persona 5 imagine #persona 5 x reader #akira kurusu x reader #akira kurusu imagines #ryuji sakamoto x reader #ryuji sakamoto imagines #goro akechi x reader #goro akechi imagines #mine

[sashi-ya]

{+18} – Cherry Blossom & Tangerines – Trafalgar Law x Y/n – Part 3

Modern AU. Living in Seoul, SK. Everybody is alive. No spoilers.

Female reader. No physical descriptions. Everybody is +18, canon ages. Chopper is human.

Tw: Mostly SFW. ZoSan. Fluff. A/N: I haven’t had the chance to visit South Korea due to Covid, so everything included is pure research. Excuse me in advance if there is something that’s not 100% accurate! Keep in mind is purely inspired ♥

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31059467

» List of parts: {P1} {P2} {P3} {P4} {P5} {P6}«

Word Count: 4.9K

Law’s slender, soft, skilled fingers played over the silky material of my pyjama shorts. I wrapped my arms around his neck, softly brushing my fingers through his black hair. Our lips still pressed, our senses getting lost on the burning sexual tension that was finally being released.

The soon to be surgeon, slid a hand inside my satin blouse, and grabbed one of my breasts. Caressing it softly at first, but then searching for my nipple to press it firmly in between two fingers.  I moaned his name, almost whispering, after all we were in the kitchen of a house living with ten more people.

Law began to trace a path from my mouth to my neck with sweet wet smooches, mixed with little bites, and I was slowly being taken to heaven, until I heard “Saaaaanjiii, foood!”. I whipped my head to the side and saw Luffy entering the kitchen.

Law and I remained still for a moment, until we realized that this was one of Luffy’s sleepwalks for food. He was technically asleep so he wasn’t aware of us, but the minimum sound could wake him up. So, we gently detached our bodies in silence, until Law had to shout to Luffy to stop. My somnambulist friend was about to hit his face with the fridge door, and Law had to catch him in order to avoid him getting hurt.

I was arranging my clothes quickly when I saw Sanji coming downstairs running and screaming, “Damn Luffy, I heard you shouting my name, what happened?”. The blond cook was covered in sweat and had a little red spot on his neck. I giggled a little looking how annoyed he seemed, but hey, at least Law and I weren’t the only ones who were interrupted.

Luffy finally returned to reality after a few slaps from Sanji and apologized laughing. I couldn’t get mad at him; he is just too sweet. Sanji agreed on cooking something fast for him and began with his work.

“So, guys, what were you doing here?”, asked Luffy pointing at Law and I with his mouth full. I widened my eyes, while thinking for an excuse, but Law spoke first, “I couldn’t sleep, so I came to the kitchen to have some water. Y/n-ya was here having tea, and she offered to prepare some for me, that’s it”.  “Uhum, I couldn’t sleep either”, I said.

Luffy looked at us for a moment, but he quickly believed in our words.

Suddenly, we heard from the stairs Zoro’s sleepy voice, “Oi, nosebleed-kun I’m waiting…”. Law, Luffy and I turned our faces to Sanji, who instantly turned red. I bit my lips trying to stop myself from laughing, but when my eyes met Law’s face, we began to laugh out loud. This was the first time I saw Law laughing, my heart skipped a beat on how gorgeous he looked.

Luffy didn’t catch it at first, but after Zoro entered the kitchen with nothing more than his boxers on, the bell rang on his brain, “oh… hahahaha”.

“Marimo…”, said Sanji mumbling, “Go back to sleep…”. The one-eyed man was now standing still in front of us, probably unable to move, and blushed in his entirety. He simply said “We… we were playing with the Nintendo… uhm it was this idiot cook turn, so…. Uhm, whatever, I’m going back to sleep”. He turned around and almost ran upstairs.

We remained silent and the only sound we could hear was the sizzling sound of the eggs Sanji was cooking.

He turned his back at us and focused on the pan, he was clearly embarrassed, maybe a little sad because of us laughing.

Law stood up, told Luffy to go back to sleep and placed his hand over my shoulder, “Thanks for the tea, Y/n. We can continue our conversation tomorrow”. He said and smirked.

Those words made my body react instantly, a strike of pleasure stung my insides, and the idea of continuing what we’ve started that night installed on me, almost as a necessity.

“Sanji, go back to sleep, I’m sleeping with Luffy and the guys tonight, don’t worry”, said Law and left the room. Luffy followed him.

I waited for them to be upstairs and approached Sanji. “Oi, babe, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to laugh. I’m happy for you two, go back to him. Don’t worry, I’m not saying anything, nor Law, or even Luffy. I’m sure Law is now addressing Luffy at this point. If Zoro or you want to tell us, we will let you do it. Ok?”. I said to my favourite chef, placing my head over his shoulder.

Sanji caressed my hair and finally smiled back at me. “Thanks, Y/n-chan…”. He went upstairs and I put the dirty dishes on the dishwasher. Eventually I went back to bed, and the exhaustion won the fight between my insomnia.

The smell of breakfast made my stomach growl as I was waking up. “Mmm Sanji’s french toasts…”, I mumbled while opening my eyes and stretching my arms. “Good morning, Robin-chan”, I told my friend who had already woken up and was reading a book on her bed. “Good morning, sweetie, did you sleep well?”, she asked, and I nodded back.

Some sun rays were filtering through the big window of our room, we could see the beach and some sailboats on the distance. The sky showed no clouds, it was warm, some sakura petals danced with the breeze and fell to the ground. It was the perfect spring day.

We quickly got dressed and I didn’t even care much about my face. After breakfast I was taking a shower so, I didn’t put too much effort on my image. Robin and I went downstairs and met with the other ones in the kitchen.

Luffy was fighting with Usopp and Chopper for the food, as always. Law was drinking coffee and smiled at me when he saw me enter. Zoro was almost falling asleep over his plate, I guess he had a sleepless night after all… fufufu. Franky and Brook were outside having cola and milk, respectively.

Nami and Vivi come downstairs a few minutes after. Vivi hugged me from behind and scared me, and as she did, my hair uncovered my neck. “Oi, Y/n… what is that on your neck?”, she asked. “What? what do I have?” I started touching my neck in order to feel maybe something. “Is that a hickey?” inquired Nami, almost whispering. Luckily, no one else heard due to the guys fighting. “Nami, shut the hell up…” I sentenced my friend, with my index over my mouth.

“Damn Law, he must have bit me so hard yesterday that now I have a mark…” I thought while covering back my neck with my hair. Suddenly I received a message on my phone. @DrHeartStealer > I’m sorry ;). I looked up to Law and he was looking at me with puppy eyes, that by the way, were fake as hell. He was enjoying this… And I… well… I was kind of too.

“I think last night was a little bit turbulent, right Sanji? Law? Zoro?” Nami, who didn’t want to stop, and that obviously knew everything that happened the night before without even being told, mocked the guys.

“Shut up, baka”, Zoro told her, grabbing his forehead with no energy at all and perhaps affected by the lack of sleep and the hangover. Sanji was more blushed than last night, and Law didn’t show a single emotion, he seemed as if he didn’t give a single fuck about it.

Usopp who had now stopped fighting with Luffy, said “Oi… wait a minute, Sanji, what’s that on your neck?”. I realized Zoro was about to throw a plate at the big nose nosy guy, so I told Usopp to stop only using my expressions.

We finished eating breakfast and decided that today was the perfect day to visit Shinhwa Theme Park. I loved roller coasters and theme parks, so I was super excited to visit the place.

We went to our rooms to get ready when suddenly Nami and Vivi entered mine like a hurricane pouncing on me and demanding me to tell them why I had a hickey on my neck. I couldn’t refuse, so I accepted my destiny and told them of my encounter with Law last night.

Even Robin seemed excited, the girls were jumping and giggling. They were really happy for me, not only because Law seemed like a good catch, but also because it’d been so long since I dated someone.

My girlfriends decided to help me get ready for the park, so they brushed my hair, chose my outfit and even my makeup. I knew I didn’t need all of that, but frankly I enjoyed it, so I didn’t complain at all.

When we arrived at the park, the employees gave us little plastic bracelets and we headed to the first attractions.

I ran to the biggest roller coaster and insisted everyone to come with me, but almost all of my friends refused my invitation right away. “Are you kidding me, Y/n? there is no way I’m riding that huge thing, forget it”, said Usopp.

Luckily, Luffy, who loves new experiences and doesn’t know about fear, agreed on coming with me, as well as Franky. We headed to the short queue and waited for our turn. A few minutes after, Law, who was buying some water bottles when I asked the guys to join the ride with me, approached us saying, “Oi, can I join?”. “Of course, Torao!!” said Luffy, jumping with excitement.

When it was finally our turn, Franky sat with Luffy smirking at Law. “May I sit with you, Y/n-ya?", asked the sexy doctor. "Of course, if you are afraid, you can hug me …", I said, with a defiance expression. "Tsk.. we'll see who gets frightened first…".

“Welcome to the Dancing Oscar! Are you ready to experience extreme fun?! But first, let’s watch the safety rules!”, the safety video began to play on the little screens in front of us. Law and I were sitting behind Luffy and Franky, and as the video finished, he turned to me. “Well, let’s keep you safe…”, he said, coming even closer to my face. Law grabbed the safety restraints that were in between my legs first, caressing the inside of my thighs -that the girls insisted on me showing by using a cute short-, then the ones that were over my hips. He ably fastened them together in the buckle and pulled the belts in order to tighten them real hard. Finally, he tightened the ones over my breasts. I gasped, the pressure, the soft touch of his hands over my skin, the feeling of being taken care of, maybe… even being dominated by him… He was teasing me, and my body was reacting to it. “There, now you are safe”, he said patting my left thigh and smirking.

I closed my legs, pressing my core against the tight straps, mumbling something similar to a thank you.  I was desperate to feel some type of release, and the pressure over my pleasure point was the fastest way. Even though it wasn’t enough.

He secured himself and soon after the ride started.

When the cart slowly approached the highest point took about a minute to finally be released gaining speed faster that I was expecting. Not only me, but also Law, got so scared that we grabbed each other's arms and started shouting. Something flashed my eyes, but I was so scared that I didn’t even think of what it was.

After experiencing the adrenaline of the loops and the ups and downs of the track, it finally came to an end. When the cart finally stopped on the starting point, my heart was pumping harder than ever, my blood pressure was a mess, and my head was spinning. I began to laugh really hard, grabbing my stomach. “Oh, dear Lord, it was amazing!!!” I screamed, Luffy and Franky followed me, while Law looked at me regretting the moment he decided on hopping on. He was pale and seemed as if he were about to throw up.

“Law, are you ok?” I said chuckling. “I am…”. He answered and began to untie the belts.

When we were getting off the ride our friends came to us laughing. “Oi, Y/n, Torao, what is it with your faces? “said Usopp, showing us a photo with the theme park frame of Law and I looking at each other in fear, almost hugging, seconds after the cart began the falling action. “Oh… so that was the flash I saw”, I said while my cheeks turned to fire. Law snickered, grabbing the photo, and said “I’m keeping this one, your face is just too funny”. I looked at him frowning, but I couldn’t deny he was right, after all. Plus, him wanting to keep a photo of us made me feel all bubbly inside.

The day went by with us having fun, riding attractions, buying souvenirs, taking photos. Our cheeks were really sunkissed, as well as our shoulders. The night came, and we were ready to enjoy the firework show the park offered every night.

Everybody gathered in the centre of the park and the brilliant lights drew pretty images over the sky, the soft sea breeze refreshed my cheeks. My friends were smiling, having fun. I could see Zoro and Sanji looking at each other with a love expression on their eyes, Vivi and Nami holding hands, Robin placing her head over Franky’s shoulder. Love was in the air, and it felt wonderful.

I kept enjoying the light show, when suddenly Law approached me from in between the crowd and subtly grabbed my pinkie finger with his. Softly, without taking our sight from the fireworks, I grabbed his whole hand. And we remained like this, holding hands, with a smile on our faces. My heart beating quickly, and soon the feeling of butterflies in my stomach followed. “Is this… more than sexual attraction?” I thought, but quickly decided to stop thinking and simply indulge on the moment. 

The show ended and we let go of our hands. Our friends and we walked to the parking lot and headed back home.

We were so exhausted that we went right to our bedrooms and threw our bodies into our beds. Soon I had the idea of texting Law, and so I did. I grabbed my phone and sent him, “@SunflowerDr > have a good night, sleep well. Remember we got a “conversation” pending…xoxo.” A few minutes after he answered, “@DrHeartStealer > have a good night, doll. I got an idea for tomorrow, we could continue our conversation there…, sleep well”.

“Did he just call me “doll”?” I bit my lower lip wondering about his idea and my body burned in anticipation for the next day.

I passed out soon after until next morning.

The day seemed a little cloudier than the day before, and Nami, who was about to get her degree in meteorologic science, told us that probably a storm was coming to the island at night. So, we thought about a good plan for the day, and Robin suggested visiting “Manjanggul Lava Cave”. Jeju is a volcanic island and the lava flow from the volcanoes had created caves or “lava tubes” on certain places of the island that now are solidified. Who else could suggest visiting a cave more than our archaeologist friend?. We agreed on visiting the place and after breakfast, we quickly drove there.

We all submerged on the underground cold dark caverns. A little train inside the cave took us to the deepest point. Blue, purple, pink lights illuminated the stone pillars and stalactites that were widely spread through the tunnels.

“God, I’m kinda cold, aren’t you?” I said to Chopper who was walking next to me. “Yeah, that’s why I told you to bring a jacket, dummy”, he said to me and was about to give me his jacket when Law appeared from behind saying “Don’t worry Tony-ya, I’m a little hot. Here, take my jacket Y/n-ya”. He took off his black coat and put it on over my shoulders.

Chopper giggled a little and told us that he would be going ahead to take some pictures of a specific rock called the “Stone Turtle”.

We were left alone once again. The ambrosial scent of his coat invaded my senses, a sweet perfume with notes of tangerine, ginger and perhaps a little amber mixed with some marine breeze was the perfume Law probably used every day. I revelled on the smell and kept walking in silence next to him.

Suddenly a few bats appeared flying from a dark spot and I got scared as hell, so I jumped over Law. He held me tight to avoid us falling.  “Don’t worry, they won't hurt you, I read at the entrance that some rare animals live in the tunnel, such as these bats”, he said to me with a calming voice while grabbing me tight in between his arms.

I looked up to him with a pouty face and he smiled at me with cuteness. I wished we could have stayed like that a long, long time, but sadly Usopp, Brook and Chopper came running, escaping from more bats chasing them. “Ahhh get away!!!”, “Ruuuuuun for your liiiiveeees”, “Robin where the hell did you bring us?, yohohoho”. (The bats were obviously being chased by Luffy…).

We separated as my terrorized friends passed in between us. And began to laugh as they kept running to where Nami was. That only meant one thing… a few bumps on their head.

A few minutes after, Sanji started asking us if we had seen Zoro. Of course, we haven’t, he was lost once again. On a big cave, full of tunnels that were almost a kilometre long each.

We spent almost half an hour searching for Zoro, until Robin found him. “Marimo, you have no sense of direction!! I told you not to separate from us!!”, shouted Sanji to the green hair boy, trying to cover how worried he was for him. “Oi, idiot cook, I didn’t get lost, you did!”.

We finally left the cave and returned to the surface. Outside it was warmer enough for us to head to our next destiny, the Sanbangsan mountain hot springs. We only had to drive a few kilometres to get there.

The girls and I were pretty much excited because we could show off our new bikinis, so we got changed into them and headed to the natural pools of thermal water. The boys were already inside, enjoying the warm bubbly water.

“Look at these sexy ladies!, wanna be our friends?” said Franky joking around while helping Robin to enter the pool.

A few beads of sweat ran through my back, but I didn’t know if I was feeling hot due to the steamy water or because of the image of Law half naked, exposing his whole tattooed chest, with his head thrown back, eyes closed and his hair wet.

I fixed my eyes on his anatomy, the well-defined abs, the tattoos on his arms, how his fingers played with the water around him.  I dreamt with open eyes of how I wanted to travel with my tongue all over his tanned skin, every little mark he had, any spot.

Law opened his eyes, and still with his head thrown back, gave me the sexiest look accompanied with a little laugh, “heh”.

If we were alone I might have jumped over his lap and fucked him right there.  “Oi, Y/n!!”. A voice pulled me out of my dreaminess. “What is it Nami?” I asked my friend who was flailing me by my arm. “You two should go and fuck right now, we are getting a little bit uncomfortable with all of that sexual tension you both have”, reprimanded me my redhaired friend. “Shut up…”.

We stayed there chatting and relaxing more than two hours, the sun was setting, and the cloudy sky showed precious colours.

I decided that I should go take a shower to rinse the sodium out of my skin on the community showers of the complex. I had planned the way I was going to stand up, trying to show my “sexy ass” to Law, for the last half hour.  So, I executed my plan almost perfectly… and said almost because when I decided to walk looking at Law over my shoulder I slipped with some sort of slippery substance on the rocks. I almost felt but while trying to keep balance I got a sprained ankle.

Law and Chopper ran to save me, as the good future doctors they were, but I wished I had killed myself. The embarrassment invaded my body… damn.

“You only have a sprained ankle, Y/n-ya, don’t worry with some ice and ibuprofen you’ll be good in no time”, said Law softly examining my ankle.  My eyes were teary, my cheeks red and everyone was trying to hold their laughter. Vivi approached us and told Torao to bring me home first, so I could put some ice there, and as she said so she winked an eye at me. Damn Vivi, she knew me more than anyone there. I realized that   I have created unintentionally the perfect excuse to be alone at last with Law, and she was helping me.

Robin brought me a towel and I tried to stand up, but my foot hurt more than I thought, “Auch, auch, auch…”. Law didn’t hesitate and carried me in his arms bridal style to his car.

“Be careful, don’t hit your head”, Law said while helping me sit on the front seat of the yellow car. I wasn’t speaking, I was too embarrassed to even say thank you.

He started the car and began to drive down the mountains through the winding road. Ahead, a breath-taking landscape was shown. The sun slowly disappeared in between the mountains, and the lights of the city defined the coast. The sky was now fully covered in stormy clouds, and a few lightings began to show in between the menacing cumulonimbus above us.

“Finally, alone”, said Law breaking the silence. I looked how focused on the road he was, worshiping his profile, the piercings on her ear, the muscles on his neck. I plucked up courage and asked, “do you still have the idea you told me yesterday over text?”. “I do, plans might have changed a little, but I think we could still make it, do you trust me?”, he said.

I wanted to know about what was going to happen, but the thrill of it being a surprise, letting him lead the way made me accept right away, “I do, lead the way doctor”.

We finally arrived at the city and the surgeon parked the car without turning the engine off. He grabbed his phone and searched something. The GPS immediately began to give directions to a specific address, so he got back to driving. “Wait a second, do you want something special?, I’m buying you some anti-inflammatories for your ankle”. “Oh thanks, uhm nothing else” I told him while he unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car.

Some minutes later, he handed me the analgesics and a bottle of water. While drinking from the bottle I could see from the corner of my eye how he quickly put away something on the glove box.

I was still using my bikini and a towel to cover me, so I asked Law if he could help me reach my bag from the back seat to put on a dress. He agreed and passed me the backpack, and then helped me put the dress. He also put on a clean shirt over his swim shorts.

“Are you hungry? What about a spontaneous dinner date?”, he said rubbing his thumb over my cheek. I smiled, satisfied, because after all his plans weren’t simply fucking. “Do you prefer something fancy or something more private?, I’m not trying to be cheap, it’s just that if we decide to go somewhere fancy we should come back home to get dressed properly”. Even if I were dressed like a princess I wouldn’t have chosen the “fancy” restaurant.  Truth was that I didn’t want to waste any time, I didn’t want more interruptions, I wanted to be alone with him.

“I prefer something more private. We can go to this place on the beach, it isn’t luxurious, but I saw some photos on my phone”, I said to him while searching for the place web page on my phone. He smiled while looking at the screen of my cell phone. He seemed happy with my choice, and I could see why. He was a quiet and reserved man, so this place was perfect for our “first date”.

We drove to the location and left the car on the parking lot next to the pretty little restó. The intensity of the pain in my ankle was now pretty low so I was able to walk normally. Law, though, told me he would help me and grabbed my arm, so we walked together at the entrance.  I don’t know if it was because of my sprained ankle or simply just an excuse for physical contact. In any case I was happy about it.

A maître that reminded me of Sanji welcomed us inside and took us to a little table next to the sand over a wooden deck with warm yellow lights strips, garnishing the also wooden roof.  In the distance, over the horizon, the moon was vaguely peeping through the stormy clouds. Nami’s predictions for tonight seemed to be a few hours away to come true.

A tall, slim waitress came to us and asked if we had already chosen our food, without taking her eyes off Law. She was clearly trying to flirt with him, and I was burning inside… I got jealous, really jealous. Yet I couldn’t say anything, after all this was our first date. Law calmly gazed at me and told the maiden “My beautiful girlfriend and I will have two bowls of bulgogi”. Wait, what?... beautiful girlfriend?...

The waitress gave me a dirty look and walked away. “Ha, suck it, he is mine!”. I thought and giggled. I preferred not to ask about him calling me “his girlfriend”, but instead I changed the topic. We chatted a little bit about our careers, specialities and about surgery. Despite the unfriendly appearance he radiates, talking to him was easy, I felt as if I have known him for years.

We finished our plates and decided to leave the place. He opened the car door for me and helped me to get inside. To be honest I had forgotten about my injured ankle at that point, but he was still taking care of me in a chivalrous way. Mr. Donquixote raised him well…

“Let’s go to the beach”, he said in an adventurous tone. The storm was then over us and at any moment the rain could start, so I told him, a little confused, “It’s about to rain, are you sure?”. “I am, trust me. You won’t get wet… at least not for the rain”, he said smirking. I squirmed a little with those words, he sounded so sexy…

He drove along the boulevard next to the beach. Suddenly, he parked the car. “We are here, let’s go”, he said. He held my hand and softly pulled me leading the way through a little path over the sand made out of wood.

The path led to the entrance of an old lighthouse. A few raindrops began to wet my cheeks when we got to the entrance of the beacon. “What is this place, Law?” I asked him, curious. “My grandfather was in charge of this lighthouse some years ago, then the government built a more modern beacon on the port of Jeju, so my grandfather retired. Yet the commune decided to maintain it as part of the city, and also because I guess my grandad was appreciated by the people of Jeju.” I saw a copper commemorative plaque with the name “In loving memory of Mr. Trafalgar Law”. “You have the same name, how cute…” I told him as he opened the door, and we entered the place to take shelter from the cold rain that started pouring over us.

He asked me to wait at the entrance and headed to the back part of the place. He turned on the lights and I could see how the place had been decorated with string lights, pillows on the floor, some blankets, and a few candles that he began to light one by one. He did this just for me?...

“I… I hope you like it. I don’t know if you are really into romantic stuff. The guys helped me yesterday, while you went to sleep”.  My eyes got somehow a little bit watery, no one has ever made anything remotely similar to this for me, it was just perfect.  “I love it, Law. This is so perfect…”, I said and ran to him -my ankle did hurt a little, but I didn’t really care -. “Careful…” he said, receiving me with open arms.

I softly planted a kiss on his lips, and slowly we sat over the pillows. He grabbed my face with his hands and stopped kissing me just to look into my eyes. My back slowly approached the pillows and now I was laying there with Law settled over me...

Part 4

#trafalgar d water law #trafalgar d law x reader #trafalgar law x reader #trafalgar law x y/n #trafalgardwaterlaw #trafalgar law #trafalgar law x oc #one piece law #one piece x reader #one piece x y/n #zosan #one piece zosan #one piece zoro #one piece sanji #roronoa zoro #torao #namivivi #vivi nefertari #op sanji #op zoro #luffydmonkey #monkey d. luffy #tony tony chopper #modern au #law x reader

[c-is-for-circinate]

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about why P5R didn't quite land for you. I had the same reaction to it, but I've never quite been able to properly articulate why the last section fell so flat.

God okay so I've tried several times to answer this, and it seems like the answer is 'I still have way too many feelings, personally, to say this in anything less than thirty pages and fifteen hours of work', because Persona 5 the original is a game I loved a lot and care about a great deal. And most of the reasons I disliked Royal feel, in my head, like a list of ways it broke some of the things I liked best about P5--which means explaining them feels like I need to explain everything I loved about the original game, which is a book in itself, complete with referents to P3, P4, Jungian psychology, the Joseph Campbell mytharc, and fuck all even knows what. And that is too much.

But today I realized that I could instead describe it from an angle of, Persona 5 Strikers succeeds really well at doing the thing I think Royal was trying to do but failed at. And that I think I can talk about in a reasonable amount of wordspace, hopefully, behind this cut because I have at least one friend who hasn't played Royal yet.

Note for reblogs/comments: I HAVE NOT FINISHED STRIKERS YET. I got through the jail that pretended to be the final jail and have not yet gone into the obviously inevitable 'ohshit wait, you mean there's something more than simple human machinations behind all of this?' dungeon. (I got stuck on a really frustrating side quest, put the game down, and then dived into Hades to avoid throwing the Switch across the room for a while--and anyone around this blog lately knows how THAT'S been going.) Please no spoilers past Okinawa!

So, one of the many, many things I really appreciated about Persona 5 was its straightforward and unashamed attitude towards abusers and their acts of violence. Because, while yes P5 is a story about the use of power and control to make others suffer, it fundamentally isn't about those abusers themselves. It's about their victims, those that survive their crimes. And this shows up repeatedly over the course of the game.

We do not give a shit why Kamoshida wanted to beat and rape his students. We really don't. Kamoshida does not deserve our attention one moment longer than it takes to make him stop. Because, ultimately, that's the goal of P5, start to end. We don't know for sure if what we're doing is fair, if it's justice, if it's questionable. What we know is that people are being hurt, badly, actively, right now this second. What we know is that victims are suffering. What we know is that we, personally, us-the-protag and us the Phantom Thieves at large, are in danger. And in those circumstances, we don't care about the abuser's side any more. We don't. We don't have the space or time or capacity to care, because that is not the point.

The point is to help the weak. To save the people who need saving, right here and now. To give others the courage to stand up on their own behalf. We're not even out to change society, not really--that's a byproduct. We are reactions. We are triage. We are important.

There's something so empowering and validating about that as a theme, y'know? In a media landscape so full of "sympathetic villains", the idea that, you know, maybe sometimes you don't have to break yourself to show compassion that might possibly heal the bad guy--that sometimes you can just make the bad guy stop hurting people--feels both refreshing and satisfying. I really appreciate it as a message! I liked it a lot!

And yes, there's nuance to that theme, and the game is not without compassion. We save Futaba, because 'make the bad guy stop hurting people', in that case, means 'make this person stop hurting herself'. We give Sae a path forwards, help her fix her own heart. Yet it's worth pointing out that in both of those cases, while we were very glad to do those things, to save those people, we also went into both of those palaces for extremely practical reasons to begin with. We needed Futaba's help. We needed Sae's help. The fact that we chose to talk Sae into a change of heart rather than simply stealing her treasure, while ultimately a very good thing for her, was absolutely a practical choice predicated on the need for her palace to still exist to save our life. And yes, we wanted to save her, for Makoto's sake--yes, we wanted desperately to save Futaba. But Sae and Futaba let themselves be helped, too, and that doesn't change the overarching themes of the story itself.

Akechi (and to some extent Okumura) would not let himself be helped. Akechi's another interesting nuance to this theme, because of all our villains, we do learn the most about what drove him to the cruelties and crimes he's committed. He's at that intersection of victim and villain, and we want to help him, as a victim--but we also know that stopping him as a villain is more important. We'd like to save him from himself if we could, because we save people from their sources of trauma, it's what we do. We regret being unable to do so. But in the end, what matters to the story is not that Akechi refused to be saved--it's that Shido and Yaldabaoth need to be stopped, for the sakes of everyone else they're hurting now and may continue to hurt in the future.

The thing is, there's space and maybe even a need for a corollary discussion of those places where victim and villain intersect. It's an interesting, pertinent, and related topic. Strikers made an entire video game about it, a really good video game. It's centered in the idea that, yes, these people need to be stopped, and we will make stopping them our priority--but they're not going after us, and that gives us some space to sympathize. Even for Konoe, who specifically targets the Phantom Thieves--compare him to Shido, who actively destroyed the lives of both Joker and Futaba, who ordered Haru's father's death, who's the entire reason the team is still dealing with the trauma of Akechi's everything. Of course the game can be sympathetic to Konoe where it can't with Shido. There's enough distance to do that.

But right--Strikers is a separate game. It's a separate conversation. It's, "last time, we talked about that, so now let's take it one step further." And that's good writing. (It's something Persona has done before, too, also really well! Persona 3 is about terrible, occasionally-suicidal depression and grief. P4 is about how you can still be hurting and need some help and therapy even if things seem ok. Related ideas, but separate conversations that need to be separate in order to be respectful and do justice to either one. P5, as a follow-up to P4, is a conversation about how, ok, changing yourself is great and all, but sometimes the problem is other people so how do you deal with that? Again, still related! Still pertinent! Still alluded to in P4, with Adachi's whole thing--but it wasn't the time or place to base a quarter of the game around it.)

So one of Royal's biggest issues, to me, is that it tries to tack on this whole new angle for discussion onto a game that was originally about something else.

Adding Maruki's palace--adding it at the end, which by narrative laws suggests that it's the true point that everything else should be building up to--suddenly adds in about a hundred new dimensions at once. It wants us to engage with "what in this abuser/manipulator's life led him to act this way?" for basically the first time all game (we'll get to Akechi later). It wants us to engage with, "if the manipulator has a really good reason or good intentions, does that mean we should forgive them?" It requires us to reflect on, "what is the difference between control and cruelty?" It asks, "okay, but if people could be controlled into being happy, would that be okay?" (Which, based on the game so far, is actually a wild out-there hypothetical! Literally not a single thing we've seen in the game suggests that could ever happen. Even the people who think being controlled is safer and easier are miserable under it. Control that's able to lead to actual happiness is completely out of left field in the context of everything we've encountered all game so far.)

That's too much! We don't have time to unpack all that! We only have an eighth of the game left! Not to mention we are also being asked to bring back questions we put to bed much earlier in the game about the morality of our own actions, in a wholely unsatisfying way. Maruki attempts to justify his mass brainwashing because "it's the same as what you're doing", and we know it isn't, but the game didn't need Maruki calling it out in order for us to get that. We already faced that question when we started changing hearts, and again several times throughout the game, and again when we found our targets in Yaldabaoth's cells. The fact that we change hearts does not mean we think "changing hearts is fine and kind and should be done to everyone, actually." Changing hearts has been firmly established in this game as an act of violence, acceptable only because it prevents further systemic violence against innocents that we must prevent. The moral question has never once been about whether it's ok to change the hearts of the innocent, only about how far it's ethical to go against individuals who are actively hurting other people. Saying "you punched that guy to keep him from shooting a child, so punching people is good and I will save the world by punching everyone!" is confusing! and weird! and not actually at all helpful to the question of, how much violence is it acceptable to use to protect others! So presenting the question that way just falls really flat.

(And right, I love Strikers, because Strikers has time to unpack all that. Strikers can give us a main bad guy who wants to control the whole world for everybody's own good, because Strikers has earned that thematic climax. It has given us sympathetic bad guys who started out wanting to control the world to protect themselves and ended up going too far. It's given us Mariko Hyodo, who wanted to control the world to protect other people and went too far. It's given us a long-running thread about police, the desire to serve, and the abuse of power that can lead to. And since we are actively trying to care for the people whose hearts we're changing in Strikers, we can open the door to questions about using changes-of-heart and that level of control to make other people happy. We can even get a satisfying conclusion out of that discussion, because we have space to characterize the difference--Konoe thinks that changing peoples' hearts means confining them, but the Phantom Thieves think it means setting them free. We have seen enough sympathetic villains that we as an audience have had the space to figure out how we feel about that, and to understand the game's perspective of "stop them AND save them, if we can possibly do both." And that message STILL rests firmly on Persona 5's message of "it is Good to do what you have to do to stop an abuser so long as you don't catch innocent people in your crossfire.")

It's worth noting that the general problem of 'asking way too many new questions and then not answering them' also applies to how Royal treats its characters, too. P5 did have unanswered questions left at the end! The biggest one, and we all knew this, was Akechi, and what actually happened to him, and how we should feel about him, and how he felt about us. That was ripe for exploring in our bonus semester, and to Royal's credit they did in fact try to bring it up, but by god did they fuck up doing it.

Akechi's probable death in the boiler room was absolutely the biggest dangling mystery of the game. It was an off-screen apparent death of a key antagonist, so all of the narrative rules we know suggested that he might still be alive and would probably come back if the story went on for long enough. So when Royal brings him back on Christmas Eve, hey, great! Question answered. Except that the situation is immediately too good to be true, and immediately leads to another mystery, which leads to a flat suspicion that something must be wrong. We spend several hours of gameplay getting sly hints that, oooh, maybe he's not really alive after all, before it's finally confirmed by Maruki: yup, he really died, if we end the illusion we'll kill him too. Okay, at least we know now. Akechi is alive right now and he's going to be dead if we do this, and that doesn't make a ton of sense because every other undead person disappeared when the person who wished for them realized they were fake but at this point we'll take it. So we take down Maruki, and okay, Akechi really is dead! Probably! We're fairly sure! Aside from our lingering doubts!

And then we catch a glimpse of maybe-probably-could be him through the train window, and I just want to throw something, because come on.

Look, it is just a fact of storytelling: the more times you make an audience ask 'wait, is this character dead or aren't they?', the less they will care, until three or four reversals later you will be hard pressed to find anybody who gives a shit. Royal does this like four different times, and every iteration comes with even less certainty than the last. By the end, we somehow know even less than we did when we started! Did Akechi survive the boiler room to begin with and Maruki just didn't know? Or was Maruki lying to try and manipulate us further? Or was he actually dead and then his strength of will when Maruki's reality dissolved was enough to let him survive after all? Is that even actually him out the train window?

Where is he going! What is he doing! How did any of this happen! What is going on! We all had these questions about Akechi at the end of the original P5, and the kicker is that Royal pretends like it's going to answer them only to go LOL JK NO. It's frustrating and it's dissatisfying and it annoys me.

The one Akechi question that Royal doesn't even bother to ask, though, let alone leave ambiguous, is how does the protagonist feel about him? The entire emotional weight of the third semester rests on the protagonist caring about Akechi, Sumire, and Maruki. Maruki's the person we're supposed to sympathize with even as we try to stop him. Sumire's the person we're trying to save from herself. And Akechi is our bait--is, we are told, the one thing our protagonist wished for enough to actualize it in this world himself. Akechi's the final lure to accept Maruki's deal. Akechi's survival is meant to be tempting.

For firm Akechi fans, this probably worked out fine--the game wanted to insist that the protagonist cared for Akechi the same way the player did. For those of us who're a little more ambivalent, though (or for the many and valid people who hated him), this is a super sour note. Look, one of the Persona series' strengths is the way it lets players choose to put their time and emotional investment into an array of different characters, so the main story still has weight even if there's a couple you don't care about that much. It has always done this. The one exception, from P3 all the way through P4 to here and now, is Nanako Dojima, and by god she earned that distinction. I have never met a person who played Persona 4 who didn't love Nanako. Nanako is a neglected six-year-old child who is brave and strong enough to take care of herself and all of the housework but who still tries not to cry when her dad abandons her again and lights up like the sun when we spare her even the tiniest bit of time and attention. It is impossible not to care for Nanako. Goro Akechi is not Nanako.

And yet third semester Royal doesn't make sense if your protagonist doesn't feel linked to Akechi. The one question, out of all the brand new questions Royal throws out there, that it decides to answer all by itself--and it's how you as a player and your protagonist ought to feel about an extremely complex and controversial character. What the fuck, Royal. What the fuck.

In conclusion, I'll leave you with this. I played the original Persona 5 in March and April of 2017, as an American, a few months after the 2016 election and into the term of our then president. It felt painfully timely. A quick calendar google early on indicated that the game's 20XX was almost certainly 2016, and the closer our plot got to the in-game November leadup to an election destined to be dominated by a foul and charming man full of corruption and buoyed up by his own cult of personality, the more I wanted to laugh/cry. It felt timely. It felt important. It felt right.

I went through Royal (in LP form on youtube, not having a platform to play it on) in summer of 2020, with a hook full of face masks by my front door and protests about racial tension and local policing that occasionally turned into not-quite-riots close enough to hear at night if I opened the windows of my apartment. The parts of the game that I remembered felt as prescient and meaningful as ever, if not even more so. The new parts felt baffling. Every single evil in the game felt utterly, painfully real, from the opening moments of police brutality to the idea of a country led by a guy who probably would use his secret illegitimate teenage son as a magical assassin if the opportunity presented itself and he thought he could get away with it. Yaldabaoth as the cumulative despair of an entire population who just wanted somebody to take over and make things be okay--yes, yes, god, in summer of 2020? With streets full of people refusing to wear masks and streets full of people desperate for change? Of course. Of course that holy grail of safety should be enticing. Of course it should be terrifying.

And then Maruki. Maruki, who was just so far outside the scope of anything I could relate to the rest of the game or my own life. Because every single other villain in the rest of Persona is real. From the petty pandering principal to the human-trafficking mob boss. The corrupt politicians and the manmade god of cultural desire for stability. And this game was trying to tell me that the very biggest threat of all of them, the thing that was worse than the collective force of all society agreeing to let this happen because succumbing was easier than fighting back--that the very biggest threat of all was that the world could be taken over by some random nobody's misguided attempts to help?

No. Fuck no. I don't buy it. Because god, yes, I have seen the pain and damage done on a tiny and personal and very real level by the tight-fisted control of someone trying to help, it never looked like this. Not some ascended god of a bad therapist. All the threats to the world, and that's the one I'm supposed to take seriously? This one man is more of a threat than the fundamental human willingness to be controlled?

Sorry, but no. Not for me. Not in this game. Not in this real-life cyberpunk dystopian apocalypse.

#c plays persona #driveby meta attack #p5 royal spoilers #p5 strikers spoilers #holy crap I did it #I actually wrote a semicoherent essay of a length I'm willing to put on Tumblr #about my problems with this game #I have been trying on and off for MONTHS #I wanted to like Royal SO BADLY #it makes me SO UPSET #anyway #now back to your regularly scheduled Hades blogging #asked and answered #Anonymous