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#she's the only child of my dad's sister who married a man through a rich man dating agency
immortalsins · 1 year
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giving my little cousin uni tips like how to save money on food and whether an ensuite is worth the price etc etc but realising too late that she’s rich as hell and has no need to consider these things
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morganbritton132 · 1 year
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The other day I read through all your officer noodle/ uncle Phil Callahan au posts and god!!!! How that would change (but also not!) the Dynamic S1 & S2 especially. Like Steve is the only kid without any parent on screen who is In His Corner. He’d finally have an Adult who gives a shit and, while he may not Like Steve, loves him & would be able to say ‘why is this teen getting the shit kicked out of him every 6 months’ and make sure he’s actually getting medical treatment every time he gets his shit rocked lol. Also the angst potential of Callahan & his mom (Steve’s grandma) realizing his sister abandoned them when she found a rich husband/ family but now she’s abandoning her own kid like she did them and like, ‘fuck is he my responsibility now if she’s not even in the country??’ Idk, would love to hear if you (or anyone else!) have any more Thoughts abt it!
I have thoughts! This is kinda long.
Phil was never particularly close with his sister, but the six-year age gap between them never felt wider than it did when he saw his nephew for the very first time. He was twelve, gangly and awkward, and his legs hurt all the time from growing, but he didn’t feel like an uncle.
Everybody said that he was an uncle now, but Uncle was a grown-up word and Phil was just a kid. He thinks that Mom is a grown-up word too and that just because Angie was eighteen and married, that it didn’t make her an adult.
When he saw her, tired and exhausted, holding her little bundle of baby like she didn’t quite know what to do with it… it felt like she was just playing pretend. He didn’t think that she should be having a baby or that she should be married to twenty-five year old Richard Harrington no matter how good his job was, but that was what happened.
Phil was technically the first man – boy – to hold little baby Steven because Richard had stepped out to make a call and didn’t come back until an hour after Steve was born. He had lipstick on his collar, wasn’t particularly interested in the baby, and Phil was left with this sinking feeling that they were all going to fail this kid.
Phil graduated from high school, tried college, dropped out, joined the police force, and that feeling remained there. It never really went away – not when Angie stopped coming around for holidays, not when they went five years without hearing from her, and not when he found out that she left her ten year old home alone while she followed her husband out of the country.
Phil’s dad died when he was young and he didn’t really remember much about the man, but he knew that he must have been a fierce man because that fierceness lives inside of Angie, or maybe it was just something that Richard Harrington put there. Their mother was not fierce. She was timid and kind, and she didn’t put up a fight when Angie came to collect her child after a week because she didn’t know how.
Angie said a lot of hateful words that day – mostly to Phil – and Richard threatened worse, but Steve didn’t cry when he was dragged away even though he looked like he wanted to. Phil was put on a week’s suspension after Richard threatened to sue the police department for harassment, and life went on.
Phil always pictured a life where he left Hawkins but it never came to fruition. He never moved out of his mother’s house. He made plans to but they fell through when her health took a turn. He stayed. He slept in the same bed that he had his whole life, he continued his work at the police department under Hopper, made a life-long friend out Calvin Powell, and he did not check in on his nephew. Though maybe he should have.
Phil’s interactions with Steve were few and far between and each one filled with more disdain and attitude than the one before. He saw him running out of parties that the police broke up, grinning through the window of his daddy’s car when he was pulled over for speeding, and he saw him beaten halfway to hell sitting in the waiting room after Will Byers was found.
“Did a nurse look you over?” Phil asked, crouching down to catch Steve’s eyes when it was just the two of them and a sleeping Ted Wheeler left in the waiting room. Steve squinted at him and shrugged, but otherwise didn’t respond. “You could have a concussion – you probably do.”
“I deserved it.”
“Yeah, I know,” Phil said because he probably did. He put his hand on Steve’s knee to lift himself back up but stopped, “God, you’re shaking like a leaf. Are you-“
“Just shut up, okay?” Steve snapped at him. He looked angry and panicked for a second, and Phil was left with that sinking feeling of failure again. “I’m sorry. I’m just – I’m sorry. Just – I’m tired.”
Callahan went to get Steve a cup a water and came back to an empty chair. Steve cleaned up his act after that and then Billy Hargrove happened. Steve was in the hospital with a concussion, cracked ribs, and three broken fingers, and neither Angie nor Richard answered the goddamn phone. Fall passed into winter, spring, summer, and Hopper died.
Hopper was dead and the mall was in flames, and the only goddamn thing that Callahan can see is his nephew beaten half to hell again. Steve’s on a stretcher with a shell-shocked look, and when Callahan approached, Steve startled so violently that it looked like everything hurt.
He asked what happened and Steve told him with a choked voice that Hopper was, uh. That Hopper was gone. And Phil asked if Steve was okay and he said in barely a whisper, “No.”
Phil took Steve home that night. He made up the bed in Angie’s old room for his nephew and the Robin girl that he insisted had to stay with him, and he knows that he’s missed a lot – a lifetime – but he vows to himself that nothing else was going to happen to this kid anymore.
He doesn’t pick up the phone this time.
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cozypancakes · 1 year
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I know we are talking mainly about Peter and Rose in the fandom, but omg, Maddie Redfield was such a tragic character. This girl never caught a break since she was a kid. First, her mom died, and then her dad blamed her for her sisters death when she was 5/6. Like how insane is this? First of all, he was already rich at that time. He could have afforded a nanny to watch the kids. Even more crazy he blamed her publicly for it. Maddie said in the tape that her dad would go on stage and say Sarah drowned because of her. This man was a red flag from the beginning, I'm wondering how he got so many fans (I know he is corrupt, but people at the college campus were excited to see him there). And then after everything, he's sorta responsible for Maddies kidnapping, plus she had to watch the man she liked getting murdered in front of her while also learning at the same time she was groomed by that man and later got shot by an assassin. Her only friend is Chelsea, someone who is hired to be there for her. Maddie deserves all the happiness in the world. Please let her go to Italy, where she paints all day. I know she won't be in s2 (I hope Chelsea is), but yeah. Also, imagine having to testify against your dad who wanted to kill the president. I know she hates him, so that's gotta feel good in the moment, but if you think about it, she won't get peace. She will always be linked to him, like Peter is linked to his dad and Maddies kidnapping. The conspiracy freaks won't just let her be. Even worse that her dad created the narrative, she's responsible for her sisters death. Maddie is just my girl, and she was suffering the entire time, I need her to be happy in the future.
Maddie definitely deserves some attention, anon. I bet that Redfield didn't get a nanny simply for "appearances". Bet he soaked up the single father card and all the sympathy that got him. And how horrible for Maddie to be publicly known for being the reason her sister die! Like he says that they built a foundation after her sister?? What was the foundation for?? Forcing your eldest child to do a parent's job?! Imagine growing up like that and EVERYONE thinks you're the reason your sister is dead! Parents, classmates, teachers, everyone knows! Some people may ridicule Maddie for having fallen for her art teachers lies but after everything she went through from such a young age I think she was very put together. AND THEN HER FUCKING THERAPIST BETRAYS HER LIKE THAT??? WTF!? How do you go running to the President's chief of staff like that?
She probably won't show up in season 2 and it's probably highly unlikely but I would love a scenario where her and Peter bond over their shitty father's and the conspiracy theory idiots. Peter giving her pep talks before she testifies in court. Peter taking on an older brother role with her and helping her through anxiety attacks or self doubts that creep up about whether she deserves all of this. Peter even learning and accepting that, no, they don't deserve to be punished for their fathers' actions. They are their own people and can only be responsible for what they do. They can't atone for their fathers' sins.
I need them to be each others found family now. Peter being the first person (okay, maybe second after Chelsea) that she sends drafts of her newest artwork to. Introducing Peter to any significant other she has over the years and Peter giving them the "if you ever hurt her, we will hunt you down" (rose standing threateningly behind him). Peter dropping in to visit whenever he is nearby (M: oh you were in the neighborhood, huh? P:England is in the same continent so yeah). Maddie reassuring Peter that he's going to be an amazing father because he is so caring and will always protect them. Peter walking Maddie down the aisle if she ever got married...
Okay that got away from me real quick
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talesofstyles · 3 years
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Drs Styles
paediatric heart surgeon harry, husband harry and dad harry. honestly the holy trinity.
warning: they did it in the car. bloody animals.
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Harry
“Move your car, please!”
“What are you going to do? Write me a ticket?”
“This is in the interests of safety for the children!”
I look at the time in the car. I’ve still got about twenty to twenty-five minutes to watch this drama unfold at the school gate. I just wish we had popcorn because drop-off and parking situations at the school gates are always more entertaining than Good Morning Britain. 
The school gate is a strange social scene, and honestly, I don’t blame my wife for trying to avoid it like a plague. Sometimes, you don’t even have to talk to these people to know everything about their lives and more. I swear there are more gossips in the class WhatsApp group and daily playground chattering than in the copies of The Sun and Daily Mail combined. You know who’s married, who’s getting a divorce, whose husband shagged the au pair again, whose party you haven’t been invited to, even who’s looking for a builder. 
I see the school caretaker chuckling to himself as he sweeps the autumn leaves off the pathway, no doubt also enjoying our morning entertainment. 
“Why is Mrs Chambers screaming like that?” Alma, our eldest daughter, asks from the back of the car. 
“Because that man parks his car in a drop-off zone,” I reply, still watching him as he removes a child from his car seat. “Do you know who that is?”
“I think the boy is your classmate,” Alma turns to her sister.
Fiona, our youngest, peers over to inspect. “Oh yeah, that’s Rufus and his dad.”
“Do we like Rufus?”
“Not unless we like boys who pee down the slides,” Fiona scrunches her nose up. “He stood at the top and peed down like a waterfall. I haven’t gone down the slide ever since.”
I shake my head and let out a chuckle. “M’sure they’ve cleaned it up since, button.” 
Did you know that choosing a school for your child after nursery can be a head-throbbing, stomach-twisting, heart-pounding experience? Well, it can. How is one supposed to choose a school anyway? According to the proximity? Leavers Results? Adorable uniforms? Parents’ agendas?
After many, many discussions and visits through more schools than I can count, we ended up with Thomas’s Kensington. It’s a great school, and only ten minutes away from our home, making school runs easier. The downside of this school is the fact that it costs us an arm and a leg and that they’re always trying to rip us off any chance they get. Also, they only take the kids until 11, so after that, we’ll have to look for other schools again. But since our girls are only seven and five, we can worry about that later. 
There’s a strange mix of parents at this place. I went to school up in the North and the school gate scene is nothing like this. Here there are more au pairs, fancy cars, nicer clothes and people coming with impressive tans from their last weekend break in Antibes. The kids here are suited up too: the PE kit is the size of a small weekender bag, and we put them in uniforms that make them look smart, hoping that will increase the size of their brains. A child walks past our car with a cello case, another with a hockey stick. It’s a different land here. One that my socialist in-laws constantly tease us about and one which my mum was hysterical about because she was scared her grandbabies would be little Tories. I promised her I’d keep them grounded by only giving them plain hobnobs. None of those luxury chocolate covered ones.
Jokes aside, my girls are happy here. They’re thriving. They learn French and Spanish and Mandarin, even if they share a class with kids who have ridiculous names like Kitty and Archibald. 
A knock at my window calls me to attention. I wind it down.
“Are you Fiona’s dad?” A mum asks me.
“I am.”
“It’s about Ophelia’s riding party this Saturday at the riding stables.” 
Like I said, it’s a different land here.
“I thought we RSVPed to that?” I look at her in confusion.
“Yes, you did, but we have to change the food options as one of the partygoers is allergic to nuts. I’m making everyone aware and we need to let the guests know that they can’t bring any nuts on the day.”
A dirty joke is right there on the tip of my tongue and I’m trying my hardest to keep it in. My wife would definitely find it funny though, I’ve got to remember this and tell her later. 
“Noted,” I mean, I wasn’t going to send my daughter to a party with a packet of cashews anyway but I nod politely.
“And just gift vouchers for gifts please. Smiggle, if you can.”
Again, I nod, biting my tongue at the presumptuousness. But then I suddenly panic, because we haven’t entered the realms of pony riding just yet. Do I have to buy jods and boots? If I don’t, will my daughter be the odd one out? But Ophelia’s mum saunters off before I’ve got the chance to ask.
“Do I have to go to that party, daddy?” Fiona asks. 
“Well, we’ve already replied, poppet,” I tell her. “Did you not want to go?”
“I’ll go if I have to.”
I don’t answer because I get distracted by a vacant space. I edge the car forward so my girls can hop off. 
“I love you both. Have a good day, make good choices.” 
“Bye daddy! We’ll see you after work!”
***
Evelina London Children’s Hospital is our second home. Of course, as a children’s hospital, we try to make the place as fun as possible as not to freak those little patients out at being ill. It is bright and primary coloured, and each ward is decorated according to its own theme with different colours and lovely artworks. There are televisions and toys almost in every corner. We have a giant slide on the ground floor, and even the bins are shaped like red London buses. The aim was to help the children to forget that they’re in a hospital and take their minds off their sickness.
Since my wife and I are in the same department, our offices are next to each other, both overlooking the Thames. It’s nice up here. Would’ve been nicer if we could sneak in a quickie, but that’s practically impossible with our shared secretary’s desk sitting literally in front of our doors. 
Speak of the devil.
“Good morning. Here’s your tea,” my secretary follows me into my office with a cup of tea and a tiny plate with a couple of rich tea fingers. “Clinic until 3 pm, scheduled PDA ligation in the laboratory for 4 pm and then evening rounds on the wards.”
“Mornin’ Rhonda, you look lovely today,” I greet her cheerily. She’s a stern-looking woman who definitely likes her tea as strong as tits and who has probably never cried in her life. With such severity, she runs a tight ship, but she secretly has this affectionate side in her too. Not only is she a great secretary, but she also takes care of us in a way as a grandma does. She makes us tea, feeds us in between surgeries with biscuits or nice baby cheeses and crackers just so we wouldn’t starve. 
See that sofa over there in the corner of my office? Rhonda got me that. It was around the time when I had just become a new father with the sweetest, most gorgeous little baby who did not sleep. Alma wasn’t a fussy baby though. For some reason, she just wouldn’t go back to sleep after her midnight feed for months. Believe me, I tried everything. I changed her nappy, I swayed and jiggled and rocked and sung her to sleep. Odd nonsensical songs like, ‘Alma darling go to sleeep. Sleepy sleep sleep. Pleeeeease. I’m so tirrrred. My eyeballs may actually exploooode. I don’t want you to see thaaat.’ And she would just look at me all wide-eyed like I’d lost the plot. Those were song lyrics? That was rubbish. Please don’t give up your day job. Also, it’s not sleeping time. I’m awake. I’m ready for life. Come on, entertain me, old man. Isn’t this nice, just you and me? Tell me everything you know. EVERYTHING. 
Except of course she didn’t say all that. She would just stare at me and I had no idea what was going on in her little head. 
I took over my wife’s patients at the hospital during her maternity leave, so I had longer hours at the hospital. One day Rhonda found me napping on the floor between surgeries, so she sweet-talked some porters into looking for any old sofas on the go and paid to have this one reupholstered. She even bought me a fleece throw for it too. We really don’t deserve her.
“You hittin’ on me?” She deadpans. “Yer wife not doing it for you these days?”
“It’s the blazer. I’m a sucker for a blazer.”
“If I’d known, I would’ve worn it more often,” she replies. “Did my nice dress yesterday not give you the fanny flutters?”
“It’s schlong shiver for me,” I roar with laughter. “And it’s the tartan, makes you look well old.”
“YN, yer husband’s a bloody git, did I ever tell you that?” Rhonda says loud enough for my wife to hear, and I can hear my wife’s laughter from her office next door. “Drink your tea. Your first clinic appointment is in twenty.”
“Yes ma’am,” I salute her. 
***
The Arctic ward in the Evelina is home to many of our imaging, heart and kidney services. The name is probably giving it away, but everything is decorated in blue and white to go with the theme. We have several zones, and since paediatric cardiology clinics are held in the Walrus zone, I spend a great deal of time each day looking at walrus and snowflake decals. 
“Doctor Styles!” I hear a little voice shouts in excitement as I walk towards the waiting room in the outpatient ward. I smile, because I recognise that voice even before I see the little person.
The waiting room is very open here compared to other hospitals. There’s a sea of noise, snacks, tiny juice boxes and colouring pages. There’s also always a look of expectation, judgement on the faces of parents and guardians every time I walk in. They want to see if their doctor is old or qualified enough to see their children. There’s always one child who has the whole gang with them; parents, two sets of grandparents and even several aunts and uncles, and there’s also at least one child running around in circles out of boredom. 
This little lad bounces off his chair and hurls himself at me in a way like a little puppy would when its owner comes home from work. I put an arm out, hoping that he’ll apply the brakes but no such luck and he bundles himself into my arms. “Nice to see you, mate.”
His parents smile as they watch their son’s antics, who then runs off as I shake their hands. I turn around to see what caught his attention, and I can’t help but chuckle when I realise it’s my wife. 
“Doctor pretty Styles!” He exclaims excitedly as he bundles himself into her arms. She gets a mouthful of curls in the process. 
“Hi Rory,” she greets him as she runs her fingers through his curly mop. 
“Oi,” I pout as I walk towards them. “You don’t think I’m pretty?”
“Your wife is prettier,” he says with a shrug, his tone matter-of-fact.
She laughs and gives him a high-five. “Rory, you are officially my favourite patient.”
She is right. Rory is one of our special patients for sure. We’ve both known him for about six years now, ever since Rory’s mum gave birth to this tiny human next door at St Thomas and his heart was literally broken. I remember watching proudly from the theatre when my wife replaced two of his valves when he was born. It was in our early years of training. Long time patients like Rory almost always feel like family. We’ve seen all their parents’ tears and watched over their children throughout the years. They send us cards and wine every Christmas and despite all attempts to keep a professional distance, their kids do feel like our own.
Rory shrugs off his dinosaur rucksack and unzips it, pulling out a drawing of a blue whale and an opened packet of KitKat. I like that the whale wears a top hat and appears to also don a moustache. 
“I drew you both a picture. Only one though, because I figure you can share,” he says with a big toothy grin and hands the packet of KitKat to my wife. “And I’ve got half a KitKat here. Do you want it?”
“I’m good for now. Keep that KitKat for later on the tube,” she smiles and waves at Rory as she begins to walk away towards the fetal cardiology ward just down the hall. “Bye Rory, thanks for the picture.”
“Bye doctor pretty Styles,” Rory replies, making my wife laugh as she walks away. I give her a wave and a wink. 
“Hey Rory, did you know a blue whale has a heart the size of a small car?” I ask him and his eyes widen.
“No way! That’s mega!” He exclaims. “Do you think you could operate on a whale heart?”
“I would need a very big ladder,” I tell him. “And a wetsuit. I’d give it a go though.”
A senior nurse from the outpatient ward, Florence approaches us with a junior nurse trailing behind her. “Dr Styles, always a pleasure.”
I smile at her. “Florence. How are we today?”
“Busy as usual,” she replies. “We’re about twenty minutes behind I’m afraid. We had Dr Goodridge in this morning and you know he likes to talk.”
“He always runs over,” I chuckle. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll skip lunch and get us back up to speed.”
“I’ll make sure to send some snacks for you. Here’s your chart, your files are already in your office. And this is Alice, your nurse today. She’s newly qualified so might need some instructions.”
The new nurse looks terrified so I smile at her to try and calm her fears. I totally get that. When you work in medicine, unfortunately, you’ll realise that there are a lot of rude self-important wankers. 
I look down at my chart and find Rory’s name on the top of the list. “Well, look who’s coming with me to the exam room.”
Rory reaches out to hold my hand and we walk towards the examination room. His parents follow us closely, carrying the usual coats and devices that people do when they know they’re bound for a hospital waiting room. I see them inside and sit behind the desk.
“So, young man, I hear we’ve had a touch of drama with you. Can you tell me what happened?”
I’ve actually already got the information in the file, but I like the way this kid tells a story. He reminds me of my youngest. 
“So… I was at school and we were doing PE and I wasn’t really feeling it because it was cold and really we should have been inside but Mr Witter makes us go outside because he used to be in the Army apparently and he says we should get used to the cold but that’s what they do in prisons.”
I smile. “Go on.”
“And then my heart started running.”
“You mean racing?”
He nods firmly. Racing isn’t even the word. It sprinted to the finish like Bolt at 252 beats per minute, three times the speed it should.
“It felt like bubbles in my chest and then the school went crazy panicky and they called the ambulance and they brought me to the hospital but not this one, it was another one and it wasn’t as good because you weren’t there and they had really bad biscuit.”
His mum adds. “And they gave him some drugs to bring it back to a steady rhythm; they were close to shocking him.” Her voice trails off and both parents’ faces look drawn and pale remembering the incident.
Rory looks absolutely unbothered by this. To be fair, we have put this little man through everything. We’ve cut his chest open more times than is necessary for someone so small, we hook him up to machines and put him on treadmills. His resilience and character amaze me, and I really can’t imagine what it feels like to see your child so vulnerable and helpless, to be paralysed and weighed down with such worry.
“Alright then, little man, we need to make sure that your heart is working as it should. This is Alice, and she is going to take you over for an ECG and we just need to make sure your tick-tock is in good shape.”
Rory nods and jumps off the chair. His dad offers him a piggyback, and his mum smiles at them. I can hear Rory offering that half KitKat to Alice as they leave the room. 
His mother turns to me as the door is closed, her shoulders relaxing, allowing herself to breathe. “And how are you?” I ask her.
“You just think it’s done and then something like that comes along to scare you,” she says with a sigh.
“Let’s have these tests and then see if it’s anything major to worry about,” I try to calm her. “Episodes of rapid heartbeat is quite common in Rory’s case, and we can look into drugs to remedy that if necessary.”
She smiles, nodding.
“Did you have any other questions for me?”
She studies my face for a moment too long. “I… well, it will show up in Rory’s records soon, but my husband I are… I mean we’re getting a divorce.”
I pause for a moment. Of course, I know these things happen in life, but I’ve known this couple for years. I’ve seen them at their lowest ebb, bound by friendship and their love for that boy. I really do feel sorry for them.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I mumble.
“We just… we’re terrified about telling Rory.”
“He doesn’t know?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “We’re scared of breaking him. I mean, look at him. All of this stuff he’s been through and he carries on like nothing has happened. We don’t want to upset him.”
“It took a team of us the best part of six years to build Rory’s heart. There's a warranty on that workmanship,” I reassure her. “Have that chat with him. He’ll be fine.”
***
“Have we got time for dinner first?” I turn to my wife as we walk out of the hospital. We don’t normally have the luxury of ending our shift at the same time, but today is exceptional. We have parents’ evening at the girls’ school so Rhonda made sure to clear up our schedule after our evening rounds at the ward. 
“No, but we can raid M&S and eat in the car?”
I’m starving and I almost cry with relief at the suggestion. “Always knew I married the right woman.”
She chuckles. “Damn right you did.”
We leave the car at the hospital and she drags me along the walkways to Waterloo, the breeze biting at our cheeks. I pull her into M&S, dodging the marching commuters and grab a basket. 
“I’ll look for some wine,” she says before she saunters off. “Oh and I want sushi. None of that crap with the mayonnaise please.”
“Alright.”
I skipped lunch today so the whole place calls to me. I start taking very random things off the shelves: a packet of raspberry iced buns. That’ll do. I also take some hummus for my wife because she bloody loves hummus. I’m not even joking, I’ve seen her down a whole pot of it. Then I take some sushi as requested, some coleslaw, a family bag of mature cheddar and red onion crisps and a trifle. I hope I don’t bump into Rhonda. Next are cheese twists, noodle salad and cocktail sausages. 
It takes me a while to notice that there is a man right next to me with a roll of yellow stickers in their back pocket. Hello there, you are one of my favourite people tonight. Have I managed to find that sacred hour when all the food is being marked down? He labels some prawns with dip and even though I get a little squeamish about eating fish near its expiry date, I put it in my basket. I then follow him around the corner. Now, this is dinner. I put all sorts of random food in my basket and smile at the thought.
Ooh, knockdown pizzas. I should get a pizza. That’s tomorrow’s tea sorted, the girls will love it. Although I can’t help but wonder, what’s the limit for us to feed our daughters frozen pizza in a week before they get taken away from us? But eh, we might be able to get away with it if we give them frozen peas on the side. 
“Look at you,” says my wife, depositing two bottles of red in the basket. 
“Yes, it’s me. I’m the yellow sticker bitch.”
She snickers as we turn to head for the tills. “Excellent work.”
***
“Mr and Mrs Styles, welcome.”
“Mrs Ebner, always a pleasure,” I shake the headmistress’ hand who’s standing at the door. 
“Busy evening?” My wife asks her as she shakes her hand next.
“Always,” the headmistress replies with a smile, then proceeds to speak like she’s reading out of brochures. “But such a wonderful opportunity to connect with our parents and build on the special relationships we have with our school community.” 
Two uniformed minions appear.
“Lewis, Maggie, could you please show Mr and Mrs Styles through to the drinks reception?”
They both nod in unison. The boy holds his arms out like a waiter showing us to our table. We follow them through the school’s grand corridors to the main hall. It’s the one thing I like about this place. It’s very Hogwarts-like with hefty engraved name boards and sepia photos of successful sports teams. In the hall, a throng of parents mill around waiting to see respective teachers. It’s the same every year. We all dodge the people from the PTA trying to sell us quiz tickets, and the bowls of crisps out of hygiene concerns.
“Red or white?” Asks a lady in an apron.
This right here is the very reason we get through parents’ evening. From the look of the bottle, it’s decent wine too. I think that’s where a good proportion of our fees is going. 
“Red, please.”
We both take our glasses and walk to the corner of the hall. It’s essentially a holding area without the background music. The idea is that all the parents will get on and create a party vibe but it just becomes a strange family gathering. As terrible as it sounds, it’s sorted into cliques: parents who know each other via NCT groups, the international expat brigades who keep to themselves, the parents who’ve ostracised themselves by gossip, the ones who you know regularly brunch and ski together.
The boy from earlier suddenly appears in front of us. “Mrs Hughes is ready for you.”
I put my hand on the small of my wife’s back as we walk towards the classroom. Fiona’s teacher first and then Alma’s straight after. Right, we can do this.
“Mrs Hughes, we meet again,” I shake her hand. I’ve got no qualms about Mrs Hughes. She’s a seasoned teacher who likes a slack and sensible moccasin and we’re familiar with her since she taught Alma two years previously. When we enter the classroom, Lewis bows in reverence, taking his leave and I wonder whether to tip him. 
“It’s always lovely to have another Styles girl in my classroom. Fiona is a particular delight.”
My wife and I smile proudly. I’m sure Mrs Hughes says this to every parent here about their child, but that’s always nice to hear. 
“She talks a lot about you,” my wife says. “She seems to have settled in well.”
Mrs Hughes opens up a couple of books and it’s classic Fiona. Alma is ordered and neat—if she makes a mistake then she erases it completely and she underlines things with a ruler and listens to instruction carefully. She gets that from her mum. Fiona though, on the other hand, she’s all me. She has more wild abandon about her; no rulers, no rubbers. She puts giant crosses through things that don’t work and likes her bubble writing decorated with doodles of many, many cats.
I glance around the classroom as Mrs Hughes talks to us about standardised scores. The theme of the school is to show you how smart and educated these children are. Look at the copperplate handwriting, their reproductions of Van Gogh and our languages corner where they’ve all had a go at telling us what they like in French. I spy a contribution from my girl. J’adore les chats et le gâteau au chocolat. 
I’ve lost track of the conversation so I try to catch up.
“So to push Fiona into those top scores, perhaps we can look into tutoring? For maths, in particular, so she can grasp some of the concepts a little more tightly,” says Mrs Hughes. 
My wife and I look at each other confused. “Uh, I don’t think there’s a need, right? She’s only five.”
“It’s never too early,” replies Mrs Hughes. “We run an after-school tutoring club on Tuesdays that would help.”
Back when I was a youngster, clubs were fun endeavours that involved matching baseballs caps or were a chocolate biscuit that you had in your lunchbox. Maths tutoring session was not a club.
I ask her. “Is it free?”
“It’s fifteen pounds per session.”
See? My point being this should be a parents’ evening, not a sales session.
“Well, then it’s something to think about,” says my wife. “It could be that Fiona catches up with people throughout the year.”
“Possibly,” Mrs Hughes nods. Still, though, she proceeds to go into her folder and passes me a form. Sneaky. “Fiona has also shown great interest in languages and art. Her pictures have been a joy.”
Mrs Hughes goes to a file and pulls one of Fiona’s drawings. I glance down at it. It’s a standard child piece of art. The grass and sky are strips of colour to the top and bottom. It’s a family portrait, and we are as tall as the broccoli style trees. Wait, hang on a second. I count the number of people in the picture again. Is that-
“And Mrs Styles, I gather congratulations are in order,” she says with a smile. “Such lovely news.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Fiona told me it’s a boy,” she adds, and the sheer terror on my wife’s face at the realisation is priceless. “You must be very thrilled.”
I study the picture. There’s a house in the middle, and standing in a line in front of the house is our family. The one slightly taller than the broccoli tree is me. I’ve got my white lab coat, and I look like a serial killer because I’m holding a scalpel with the size of a butcher’s knife. Next to me is my wife, also with a white lab coat, but instead of a scalpel, she’s holding a very chunky baby who rather looks like a basketball with a head.
“Oh dear,” I chuckle. “Guess now we know what she’ll ask for Christmas.”
“Yeah,” my wife shakes her head. “We’re not expecting.”
“Oh, I apologise,” Mrs Hughes says with a sheepish smile.
“No worries, Mrs Hughes,” I tell her. “So, what else has our girl been up to here? Besides gossiping of course.”
Mrs Hughes laughs under her breath. “Well, in class, Fiona is attentive, bright and very helpful. She is a credit to you both.”
***
“I swear your daughter, Styles.”
We’re sitting in the car now. Finally done with parents’ evening, still laughing at the slightly creepy, chunky basketball baby in Fiona’s picture and the fact that three people, including Mrs Hughes, have congratulated us for the ‘baby’.
“You haven’t called me Styles in years,“ I turn to her with a grin. “Not since medical school.”
I can’t help but flashback to the good ol’ days when we had matching university hoodies and we’d test each other on the parts of a kidney whilst walking into lectures, sitting next to each other, sharing pens and cans of Lilt. 
“Well, after that I became a Styles too,” she chuckles. “Would be confusing then, wouldn’t it?”
“True,” I laugh under my breath, then I grab her hand and pull it to my mouth so I can kiss her knuckles. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For being a Styles.”
“Aw, aren’t we soppy tonight?” She smirks. “Alright, stop the car.”
“What?”
“There,” she points to a dark empty spot and I oblige. 
Then, before I can even ask her why, she reaches over and grabs me by the collar. Pulling me close to her and gives me a kiss. I kiss her back, and I smile when she bites gently on my bottom lip.
“Oi, oi. Something’s got you randy.”
The next thing I know, she undoes her seatbelt and then rolls her trousers down her legs along with her knickers, fumbling and giggling at the awkward movement. I push my seat back and pull my trousers down. 
“Don’t fall on gearstick now,” I joke as she climbs over to straddle me. “Well, unless you want to, of course…”
She laughs as she lowers herself over my lap. I really can’t believe what’s happening here.
“Mrs Styles, we’re about to have sex in a car. Around the corner from our daughters’ school.” 
“I know,” she says with a smile before she runs her tongue along my neck. “Not our first rodeo though.”
“Oh right, we did it in our Volvo years ago, didn’t we? Thought the suspension couldn’t take it.”
“And it turned out fine. Told you that you needed to have more faith in the Swedes, they’re a reliable breed.”
“I love it when you talk about Sweden.”
“Ikea.”
“Fuck.”
“Meatballs.”
“Billy Bookcase.”
She throws her head back in laughter and I take this as an opportunity to run my tongue along her collar bone. She gasps. I reach down to lift her before I slowly lower her over my cock. We both sigh as I enter her, a long exhalation with our lips barely touching. 
“Viggo Mortensen.”
“Isn’t he Danish?”
“Tomato, Tomahto.”
I smile at my wife and push my hips up, silently telling her that we don’t need to talk about Swedish people anymore. She grabs onto the car seat and levers herself up and down. I look at her in the eye, a goofy smile still plastered across my face.
But then I squint. Light. Bollocks, what’s that? Where’s that light coming from? Crap, that’s bright. Shit. I see the flash of a hi-vis jacket, a knock at the window and someone shaking their head.
Oh sodding fucking bollocking shit wank.
1K notes · View notes
johnsamericano · 3 years
Text
“Corruption. Epilogue.” w.y.h
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A/n: I APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY. I hope you'll still enjoy it, thank you for reading.
warnings: unprotected sex, dirty talking, corruption kink per usual, lingerie, that’s it.
corruption m.list.
“Mommy, where’s Mr. bear?” You closed the zipper of your suitcase, placing it on the floor and extending your hand towards your baby boy.
“Daddy already put it in the car, let’s go, he must be waiting for us.”
Your husband was leaning against the car, a pair of sunglasses hanging from the neck of his sweater. You gave it to him a few days ago, it matched with the one you and your son were wearing.
“Youngho, guess who’s coming with us?”
“Mr. bear?” He tilted his head to the side.
“Better.” He opened the door of the car, revealing your best friend, a big smile on his face.
“Uncle lele!” His little legs ran towards the vehicle, Chenle taking him into a bear hug as soon as he was close enough.
“Let me help you with this.” Your husband approached you, taking the suitcase from your hands to load it into the trunk. “I’m kinda nervous, I feel like your parents still don’t like me.”
“My mom likes you.” You giggled, hugging his waist tightly. “My dad still thinks you’re the teacher who seduced his little girl. And I mean, you kinda did.”
“But we’ve been married for more than two years, he should’ve warmed up to me at this point.” He whined desperately.
“Well, I mean, he appreciates you more ever since Youngho came around.”
“Are you suggesting that we need another baby for your father to like me? Cause I’m in.”
“Am I going to have a little sister?” Youngho’s small head peeked through the door as well as Chenle’s.
“Congrats you guys.”
“No! We’re not having another kid, I haven’t recovered from the last one.”
“But I want a daughter.” Lucas complained. “Imagine how cute Youngho would look as a big brother.”
“I’ll get you a female dog and that’s my final offer.”
“Declined. I’m sure I’ll convince you, my baby girl will be here in no time.” He said as you walked to your seats, closing the doors and putting your seatbelts on.
“There’s no guarantee that the baby will be a girl.” He started the engine, taking a look at the backseats to make sure Youngho was on his car seat.
“Even if it’s a boy, I’ll love him with all my heart. Just like I love that little monster in the back.”
“Aw, thanks dude.” Chenle answered.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
The trip continued between constant bickering from your husband and Chenle along giggles from your son.
“Alright, we’re here.” Lucas parked the car, turning to look at you with a nervous smile.
“Don’t worry, as I said, at least my mom likes you.” After unbuckling your seatbelts, you both exited the vehicle, opening the backseat doors to wake up the passengers.
Lucas gently picked up Youngho from his seat while you flicked Chenle in the forehead to wake him up.
“What is wrong with you?” He whined.
“Hurry up or I’ll lock you inside.”
Lucas waited in front of the door for you and Chenle to arrive, he was too scared to knock on the door himself.
Your mother received you all with a warm hug, specially Chenle, whom she had known from the moment he was born.
“You’re so big, Chenle. Come in, I baked your favorite cookies.” You scoffed at your mother’s behavior as she dragged him to the kitchen.
“Let’s go, my arms are feeling numb.”
You entered first at Lucas’ request, the smell of your favorite dishes making you smile. Your father was chopping some vegetables while your mother stuffed Chenle’s mouth with food.
“My baby girl is home.” Your father smiled widely before running to you and taking you into a bone crushing hug. “You should move here, we miss you.” He kissed your temple.
“Hello sir.” Your husband saluted politely, bowing slightly while he held your son tightly.
“Hello Yukhei.”
“Why are you two so tense?” Your mother, as laid-back as ever, continued. “Give each other a hug, come on, give me the kid.” She took her grandson from Lucas’ arms. “Go on.”
They awkwardly wrapped their arms around each other, the sudden sound of a camera taking a picture causing them to separate.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” You giggled, looking at the picture in your phone. “This is going straight to our family album.”
“Y/n.” They both whined at the same time.
“Wait, am I in that family album?” Chenle asked, mouth full of cookies.
“Mayhaps.”
“Show me.”
“Make me.”
“Oh, you two, stop it. You seriously are like brother and sister.” Your mother spoke a bit too loud, causing your son to wake up. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his small hands.
“Daddy?” Lucas noticed and immediately took him back into his arms.
“I’m here, kiddo.”
“Can we get Mr. Bear?”
“Sure, let’s go.”
You all stayed silent as he walked out, your mother finally speaking as you heard the sound of the door closing.
“He’s a great father, y/n.” You smiled to yourself, heart full of pride. “And You should stop intimidating him.” She pointed at your father.
“I am not intimidating him. I’m just making sure my little girl is with the best man.”
“That’s sweet dad, but we’ve been together for a long time. Hell, we even have a kid.” You dad huffed.
“Fine, I’ll try to be nice.”
Meanwhile, Lucas was searching for the teddy bear in the trunk while Youngho sat on the edge of it, his short legs dangling.
“You Wanna know what I asked Santa for this year?”
“I know. An iron man suit, a pet dinosaur and a little sister.” Of course, you were only able to get one out of three, despite Lucas insisting you could get him a sister too.
“I secretly asked him for one more thing.” He signaled Lucas to come closer. “I asked him for mommy and you to be together forever.” Lucas couldn’t help but smile at his son, taking him into his arms once he found the stuffed animal.
“That’s a very sweet petition, I bet Santa will make it come true.” He left small pecks all over his face.
“Stop!” He demanded between giggles.
“Why? You don’t like my kisses?” He teased, leaving a big smooch on his cheek. “Too bad, I’ll give you as much kisses and hugs as I can before you become an unbearable teenager.”
“I don’t ever want you to stop hugging me.”
“Why are you guys leaving me out? I want hugs and kisses too.” You came out of your house, jogging towards the two loves of your life. Your son grabbed your cheeks with his tiny hands to peck your nose.
“Give her one too, daddy.” Lucas leaned down to press his lips against your forehead. “On the lips, daddy!” Your son’s sudden demand had you blushing like crazy.
Lucas smiled while grabbing your chin to connect your lips.
“Alright, let’s go back in before your grandma starts yelling at us for not helping with dinner.”
(...)
“Oh my god, Chenle is that you? You look like a cocky rich kid.” Lucas laughed hysterically as he looked at a picture of you two as kids.
Everyone was dressed in the Christmas onesies your mom bought, you and her had a thing for matching outfits. Lucas looked adorable in it, the rain deer patterns making him look even more child-like than usual. Chenle, on the other side, looked like an elf.
“I look amazing, shut up.” He replied when you made a comment on his looks.
“Hey Chenle, why didn’t you spend Christmas Eve with your parents?” Your father asked.
“They went to China to visit my grandparents, but I had too much work here to go with them.” He looked a little down, but his frown was quickly replaced with a bright smile as your son sat on his lap to hug him tightly.
“Don’t worry, uncle lele. We can be your family too.”
Your mom entered the living room with her hands full of sweet treats.
“What are we gonna watch?” It was a family tradition to watch a holiday themed movie on Christmas Eve.
“Elf?” Your father proposed and everyone agreed.
You sat on the large couch, Youngho sitting between you and Lucas as you cuddled him. Chenle sat on the floor while your parents on a small couch.
Right after the movie ended, everyone went to their respective rooms. Chenle and Youngho decided they wanted to have a slumber party, so you and Lucas had the room for yourselves.
“You look cute.” You smiled, lacing your fingers behind his neck as you tiptoed to kiss those addicting plump lips. He placed his hands below your thighs to lift you up, smiling against your lips.
“Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You are literally the definition of cute.”
“Am I now?”
“Yes you are.” He kept smiling, suddenly starting to dance with you between his arms. “I love you so much that the mere thought of being apart from you again makes me want to jump off a building.”
“That’s not gonna happen.” You finally asked the question you’d been keeping for yourself for a few days. “Are you okay, Xuxi? I mean, ever since you came back you haven’t seen your family and maybe you’re feeling bad, so please know that you can talk to me about anything.”
“But I am with my family.” He didn’t miss the family that rejected him after choosing to give up the company. “You, Youngho, Chenle and your parents are my family, even though your father still doesn’t completely approve of me.”
“Are you sure?” You placed your hands on his cheeks, still uneasy.
“Positive.”
He kept holding you in his arms for a while more, simply staring into your dreamy eyes.
“Well, it’s past midnight so technically it’s Christmas already.” You got down on your feet. “Do you want your present now?”
“What do you mean? Isn’t it under the tree?” He tilted his head, oblivious to the true meaning of your words.
Your hands hesitantly reached for the front zipper of your onesie, slowly opening it to reveal a white lacy lingerie set.
“I know it’s not my style but I thought you’d like it.” You rubbed your arm awkwardly, standing there while he eyed you. “What do you think?”
“That we are gonna have to be extremely quiet to not raise suspicions.” He helped you out of the comfortable outfit, slightly raising your arms to take a better look at you. “My lord, we’ve done this so many times and you still blush?” You looked away.
“Don’t mock me!”
“I love that about you.” He placed his hands on your waist, pulling you closer to his body. “You’re just as innocent as the first time I made you mine.”
“I am not.”
“Really?” He rubbed a finger over your clothed heat, causing you to gasp. “Your cheeks look like the red lights in the Christmas tree.”
“X-xuxi.” You held onto his arms as he continued to pleasure you. “I was supposed to make you feel good, not the other way around.”
“But I like to make you feel good.” He slipped a hand into your underwear. “Shaved? Wow this must be a really special occasion.” He enjoyed the soft texture of your lips, tracing random patterns over the warm skin. “Let’s lay you down, hm?” You nodded, letting him carry you to the king size mattress.
He started to strip in front of you. Once the only piece of clothing left on his body was his underwear, he crawled up the bed.
“I love you so much.” His fingers started caressing you inner thigh, slowly creeping up until one of them hooked around your underwear, pulling it down.
He placed his hands behind your back, raising your torso to un clasp your bra. He pulled away the slightest to admire your naked figure, his eyes stopping at the scar crossing your belly. A product of Youngho’s birth.
“Is it ugly?” You asked, suddenly feeling self conscious.
“Of course not, baby.” He kissed your cheek tenderly. “Every single part of you is beautiful.”
Before you even had the chance to be embarrassed, one of his fingers was already moving in and out of you. You shut your eyes tightly.
“I need to prepare you first, angel.” You were as sensitive as ever, his long finger reaching for all the right spots. “Look at me when I’m touching you.” His harsh tone only added to your arousal. “That’s a good girl.” He cooed as soon as your big doe eyes met his.
He retrieved his finger as soon as he felt your walls convulsing around it, earning a small whine from you. He chuckled while taking his underwear off, proceeding to sit against the headboard with you over his lap.
“Don’t look so scared, this isn’t the first time we’ve done it.” Lucas smiled at your expression, eyes glued to his inflamed erection.
“Yes, but it still hurts when...you know.” Even after all those years you had a hard time dirty talking, and Lucas found it adorable.
“I’ll make sure you’re well prepared so it doesn’t hurt.” He placed you right above his length, gripping your hips to move your body back and forward. “You make the prettiest noises I’ve ever heard.”
“Xuxi, I can’t hold it back for longer.” You whimpered, hiding your face in the crook of his neck.
“Of course you can, sweetheart. Because you’re a good girl, right?”
“Yes.” Your nails started digging crescent moons into his back, trying your best to contain your orgasm.
“Lift your hips for me, princess.” With wobbly legs, you did your best to keep your body up while he aligned himself with your entrance. “Hold onto my shoulders.”
You did as he said, slowly letting him sink into you.
“It hurts.” His heart ached with your words.
“I know baby, just hang in there.” He hugged you, feeling like the first time you had sex. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
It took a while for you to get used to the stretch since it had been a while since the last time you had sex, but the pleasant feeling of being full soon replaced the uncomfortable burning.
“I’m ready, Xuxi.” He helped you bounce up and down his length, soft groans escaping his plump lips.
They looked so tempting, you couldn’t help but kiss them. He grinned into the kiss.
“You’re so pretty.” You murmured, cheeks completely red.
“You’re pretty too.” He kissed your temple, thrusting up. “My pretty little girl.” You couldn’t keep moving up and down, so you allowed yourself to take a rest. “Such a good girl.”
“Xuxi.” You tried your best to hold back the moans forming at the back of your throat. “Can I...?”
“Let go, sweetheart. I’m here.” Your body shook uncontrollably as pleasure took over every inch of it. You bit Lucas’ shoulder to avoid screaming from the intensity of your high.
Lucas came with your walls deliciously clenching around him. Thick ribbons of white cum painting your core as you both tried to regulate your breathing.
“You did so well.” He pecked your sweaty forehead. “Now let’s clean our little mess.”
(...)
The next morning, your son bursted into your room, waking you both up while screaming ‘it’s Christmas.’
“Come on, I want to open my presents.” He jumped into the bed and tried to lift your body.
“Come here, Youngho. Let mommy rest for a little longer.” Lucas took him between his arms, tucking him inside the comforter. His hair was a mess, the strands pointing to opposite directions as he tried to open his swollen eyes.
“But the presents.” He whined.
You hugged the little boy from behind, pecking his silky hair.
“Come on, I’m not tired. Let’s go open your gifts.” He squeaked exitedly while getting on his feet.
The three of you walked to the living room holding hands. Your parents and Chenle patiently waited for you to arrive.
“This little monster woke me up at like 5:00 a.m.” Chenle scoffed, causing Youngho to giggle.
“Sorry, uncle lele.” He let go of your hands, running to the tree to find his gifts. “There’s one for mommy.” He handed you a big box with your name written on it. “And one for daddy.” He kept putting aside his own gifts and handing everyone else theirs.
Everyone ended up with at least three gifts, even Lucas, who didn’t expect to get anything from your parents.
“You go first, honey.” Your son started ripping the Christmas paper to uncover his gifts.
“An Ironman suit!” He gratefully received all of his gifts, even the hideous sweater his grandma knitted for him. “Thank you, nana!”
Your heart filled with pride for having raised such a beautiful child. After Youngho was done, you all opened your presents at the same time. You asked Lucas to save yours for the last.
“Oh my god, Xuxi.” You covered your mouth at your recently opened present.
“It’s okay if you don’t like it, I can get you something else later.”
“I love it!” You couldn’t help but cry.
“Won’t you show it to us?” Chenle asked, trying to take a look at the contents of your box.
You pulled out a cement board with both your husband’s and your son’s hand printed on it. There was also an album below it.
“There’s more?”
“Just open it.” Everyone gathered around you, even Youngho sat on your lap, curious to see what the album had inside.
It took you a while to figure out what was on the first pages of it.
“Are these my college exams?” He nodded. “How did you...?”
“I found them in a box with all my teacher stuff, now keep going.” You passed the pages with nostalgia, meeting with memories from your past.
The album was filled with photos and significant documents of your life together, from the ticket of the takeout You had on your first date to a picture of you holding Youngho for the first time.
“Wait, that’s me!” Youngho pointed at the small baby between your arms.
“Yes, that’s you, sweetie.” You kissed his cheek while he kept turning the pages of your album. “Thank you, Xuxi. I love it.” He smiled widely. “Now you open mine.” You turned to face him with your son still on your lap.
He pulled out a smaller box, containing a pair of wireless earbuds he’d been ranting about for the past few months.
“Oh my god!” He smiled widely, his big hand covering his mouth. “I love them, thank you.” He gave you a big hug.
“There’s more.” You winked at your mom while he looked for his other gift. “Don’t judge, my mom taught me how to do it through facetime.”
“A pair of socks?” He stared at them, his gaze going back and forth from Youngho to the yellow, knitted baby socks. “They’re adorable, sweetie, but I don’t think they’ll fit him.”
“We’ll, thank goodness they’re not for him.” It took a while for his brain to process the whole situation, but when he finally figured it out, he let out the loudest scream you’d ever heard.
“We’re having a baby!” Everyone in the room covered their ears, except for your little boy, who joined his screaming.
“Am I having the baby sister I asked for?”
“Yes you are!” He lifted Youngho, smiling ear to ear with him.
“It’s the best Christmas ever!”
It was, indeed, the best Christmas ever.
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moonlit-imagines · 4 years
Text
Headcanons for being Tony Stark’s stepkid
Tony Stark x Potts!child!reader
warnings: alcohol mention
a/n: i rushed these so bad i just wanted to post dhhshsnsna
prompt: y/n is pepper’s kiddo!
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it was just you and your mom for a long time
pepper and y/n potts
she couldn’t keep up with you sometimes, too busy dealing with the manchild that was mister anthony edward stark
speaking of—
“uh, who’s this?” -tony, pointing at you
“mr. stark, i am so sorry, the school closed because some kid set fire to the science lab and i didn’t have time to find a sitter—”
“no, it’s fine, no need to apologize. hey, kid, you wanna sit in the boss’s chair? i’ll let you run the company for the day!” *cue you nodding* “sweet, would you mind that, ms. potts?”
“oh? no, not at all” *mouthing* “thank you”
“so, uh, what’s your name? no, don’t tell me: ketchup.”
*giggling* “y/n”
“no way! that was my second guess!”
tony wasn’t used to being around kids
he had no idea that he was actually kind of good around them
despite a few minor hiccups
“you sit in my chair and im gonna spin you around, sound like fun?”
he spun you around WAY too fast and you were diiiiizzy, also you fell off the chair
“don’t tell your mom that we did that. she may be my assistant, but she scares the shit out of me. also, don’t say ‘shit’”
dude he just thought you were a cool kid!!!
“hey, you know, ms. potts, you dont really need to hire a babysitter anymore. y/n’s doing just fine hanging out here”
“how am i not surprised you befriended an actual child?”
she still took him up on his offer, you seemed pretty happy
when your mom worked late, you passed out in tonys office
tony and you had your own little secrets (like falling off the spinning chair), tony showed you around stark tower, and you practically lived there
“i got you a happy meal from mcdonalds!” -tony every day after your school
in all honesty, you weren’t the “popular” kid at school...not even close
but tony made up for it
“y/n! i found this old racecar toy in a box of old stuff, you wanna hold onto it for me?”
you kind of grew up in stark tower tbh? it was pretty cool
and as you grew up, you started to notice more
“mr. tony, do you have a crush on my mom?”
“do i what? no, no, i do—who the hell am i kidding? you caught me”
“called it!”
after that you did everything to try and get them together
when your mom was talking to tony, you would stand behind her and wiggle your eyebrows and just taunt tony endlessly
no! tony cannot remember your mom’s birthday for the life of him! you are his calendar now
“dude, why dont you just ask JARVIS to remind you?”
“i may be a genius, but that doesn’t mean i have common sense”
“wise words, sir” -JARVIS
when tony disappeared for 3 months you were so sad???? like you were not okay at all
no
and when he came back, he literally exited the plane saying “WHERE’S ‘T-POTT??’”
(your wonderful nickname. ‘t’ for ‘tony jr.’ and ‘pott’ for ‘potts’)
“my mom missed you”
“oh, i bet she did”
“you turned my child into you, tony. i will never forgive you for this”
“well, at least y/n was here to fill in for me, huh?”
tony wanted to show you the arc reactor but he was actually afraid of scarring you lmfaoooo
but he did let you in on the iron man secret (he knew you wouldn’t snitch)
and just to make sure:
“if you dont tell anyone, i’ll buy you a car when you turn 16”
“man, that’s like, forever away”
“good, maybe you’ll forget by then”
ur mom kinda maybe sorta found out abt iron man :/ she told you that tony was a bad influence
“mom! no, tony’s cool! he’s like a superhero”
“no, sweetie, he’s a rich guy with issues. we’re leaving”
that didn’t last long
not long at all
and soon they FINALLY got together
“jeez, i thought you two would never stop pining after each other”
“couldnt have done it without my wingman” -tony *fistbump*
“as thanks can i have my own iron man suit?”
“yes.” *pepper glaring at him* “no.”
sooner or later your mom and you moved into tony’s house and you got a really big room!!!!
it was completely decked out
king sized bed, flatscreen tv, mini-fridge, microwave, computer, your own bathroom with a smaller tv, a poster of tony??? (you vandalized it and put it in his workshop), and more!!!
okay you were spoiled
“do you like it here? are you sure i made the right choice?” -pepper
“are you kidding, mom? this is awesome! plus, you’re happy, i’m happy, tony’s happy, i think JARVIS is even happy!”
“i am, mx. potts. simply ecstatic” -JARVIS
pepper was really happy!! it was a pretty cool family
you started giving your school tony’s number if you ever got in trouble, you knew he’d cover for you
“mr. potts, is it?”
“sure”
“your child, y/n, punched another student in the face today. we’re very disappointed in their behavior”
“why’d they punch the kid?”
“well, the other student punched y/n first”
“HAH! thank you for wasting my time. send y/n back to class and call me back if something important comes up”
he literally gave you a high five when you got home
“i gave him a black eye!”
“i couldn’t be more proud. i mean, i dont condone violence, but self defense is a whole other story”
a little help in the workshop, tony asks you to hold the flashlight
“why don’t you get one of your robots to hold this for you?”
“are you kidding me, you’re complaining? we’re having stepdad/stepkid bonding time! and dum-e can’t do anything right, i dont trust him”
youve had a few theme park trips as a family ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
also tony has 100% told you to wait in the car and then left you alone for 2+ hours
“i’m not like a regular dad, im a step-dad. want some beer? you can have a little sip. i’d rather you do it in the house”
your mother actually does love how he actually cares about you!
“y/n is 12% my responsibility” -tony
“tony, you are impossible” -pepper
no avengering for you! pepper said no!!!!!!
disappointed but not surprised
iron man 3: y/n potts is put through the wringer
Text Message to Mr. Tony: bro you better come get your girl, me and happy are watching this other guy flirting with her. he’s showing her pics of his ‘big brain’
Mr. Tony: HE WHAT
Text Message to Mr. Tony: Tony he looks creepy i don’t want him to be my new stepdad do something!!!
anyways ur house kinda blew up and ur mom and you kinda got kidnapped and u were right abt that guy being creepy and thankfully no experiments were done on you but like your mom kinda almost died and her and tony were fine!!! all good in the end
you met mr. col. james rhodes that day
“aw, you’re the kid ive heard so much about” -rhodey
“you mean the coolest kid in the world?check.”
“you cant tell me you aren’t tony’s biological child, good god”
you got to meet the avengers later on too! (you’d already met natasha tho, only briefly)
“i know it can be a little overwhelming, right? meeting all these heros, legends even—” -rhodey
“oh, my god, is that thor? thor!!” -you, leaving rhodey in the dust
literally why does pepper trust you around tony something always goes wrong there were literally robots attacking, you were only at avengers tower bc your mom was busy with the company and she thought you’d be safe with the avengers. the AVENGERS.
“please dont tell your mom that i created a bad robot that tried to kill us. the robot will be the least of our problems” -tony
he made happy pick you up and you had to miss out on FUN and it sucked a lot
“it’s okay, y/n! i’m fun, too!” -happy
then your mom and tony took a break and your life got mega-boring for a while, but they weren’t separated for that long. you try not to think about it. it was brutal
Mr. Tony: Does she miss me?
New Message to Mr. Tony: I think so. Either that or she’s crying and drinking wine in the dark for no reason.
Mr. Tony: Damn it, now I feel bad. I miss her a lot. Oh, also, the Avengers say ‘hi,’ I’m in Germany with some bad news, I’ll explain later if you don’t see it on TV first, and I found you the perfect friend! His name is Peter and I think you’d like the school he goes to, it’s in Midtown. Smart kid school.
New Message to Mr. Tony: I’ll look into it, thanks. Also, I don’t like how those all connect. Please update me asap
watching the news to see several avengers arrested, cap on the run, and more!
“maybe it was good i didn’t fall in with the avengers”
tony and pepper finally got back together and you actually transferred to midtown high! peter and his friend group accepted you quickly, it was great. you and flash unfortunately had the most in common
you’d literally text happy right next to peter and he’d immediately reply to you. it hurt peter’s feelings
Momma: Sweetie! I’m working in the office late, leftovers are in the fridge, hope you have a wonderful day at school! 💕
👉👈the vulture tried to kill you for being tony’s stepkid, tony made peter promise to protect you
“y/n, you gotta stay out of harm’s way. mr. stark gave me an actual mission and it’s terrifying, i have to make sure you stay safe”
legit why the fuck was this old man tryna kill you bro grow up
anyyyywayssss your mom and tony got engaged!!
“wow, i thought the day would never come!!” -you
ppl told you tony isnt your stepdad bc ur mom and him werent married but who tf asked
why is the earth always in fucking danger
you and peter were just vibing on the field trip bus and all the sudden: space donut
“go! i’ll cover for you...FRIDAY, call tony”
“...hi there, little one”
“what the fuck”
“oh, so you see the aliens, too? well, at least im not crazy”
tony stark has left the atmosphere
you and your mom were kinda......not chillin tho
she and you didn’t sleep for a few nights, then ppl just straight up disappeared
plot twist: you survived the snap and your family was lucky to be alive, you even got a little sister who became a big handful!
only bad thing was all your friends dusted and you were pretty lonely
but watching morgan grow up kept you busy
“ahhh, shes so big!”
happy times in bad times
bad times!!!!! bc after five years thanos came back as thanos from like ten years ago. outdated thanos. obsolete thanos.
but you made your first and only appearance in the suit tony actually designed for you many years ago
you should have just stayed home tho bc that fight didnt pass the vibe check
“please dont tell me he...no, no, no, no, no”
you and your mom latched onto each other in tears, tony was one of the best people in your life, he made you and your mom two of the happiest people on earth
best stepdad a kid could ever ask for
taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @rorybutnotgilmore // @locke-writes // @sweetheartliz07 // @queen-destenie // @natasha-danvers // @lokihiddles // @frostedgiantfavs // @emygirl // @lotsoffandomrecs // @johnmurphyisbisexual // @teenwaywardasgardian // @pappydaddy // @captainshazamerica // @freya-xo // @ravenmoore14 // @purpleskiesstorm // @ofthedewthesunlight //
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seattlesea · 3 years
Text
bad representation in the riordanverse
Racism:
-Gave Hazel and Piper gold and ‘kaleidoscope’/brown-blue-green changing eyes and pretty much went ‘Let’s add some characters of color but they cANT HAVE BROWN EYES THAT’S NOT PRETTY ENOUGH’ as if whitewashing isn’t more than just the skin.
-East Asian characters: Riordan pretty much went 'Here are my East Asian characters- one of them looks like a fat baby on steroids and is super undeveloped, his mother is strict and cold, and all the others are just described as 'Asian' because different countries in Asia don't exist and there's obviously no difference between Japanese, Chinese, and Korean'. His portrayal of East Asian characters went like this: Frank: Chinese, chubby, hates himself, underdeveloped, described to look like a 'Chinese Canadian baby man' and a 'panda' as if that's not stereotyping, and only learned to love himself when he looked hotter.  Drew: Asian, villainized, rude, shallow, vain, and selfish. Ethan: Asian, rude, evil, a traitor, and deceased. Grandma Zhang- rude, strict, cold, traditional, and deceased.
-Hazel: Has gold eyes. Has 'cinnamon brown' hair even though dark brown or black hair would be way more inclusive and realistic. Had a mother portrayed as a rude and selfish witch who sacrificed, used, and trafficked her own child. Was the only character called or described as a witch while African-Americans were usually accused of witchcraft just for their skin color. Was the only character who was cursed. Had a mother who literally practiced voodoo. The only African-American character in the series before ToA who isn't dead (but she also died). Was paired with a sixteen year old guy even though African women are constantly forced with older men and that's blatantly racist stereotyping. 
-Piper: Had 'chocolate brown' and then 'mahogany' hair? Has kaleidoscope eyes. Put a feather in her hair (which is stereotyping)- and it was an eagle feather, which is also wrong because eagles are extremely sacred to First Nation tribes and only spiritual leaders or warriors can wear it or it has to be gifted by an Elder of the tribe, and Riordan basically went 'Feathers are very important and it's racist to make a character wear one at inappropriate times but I'm going to make my character wear one as a cute accessory to make her look cool, pretty, and headstrong and to add to her 'Aesthetic'’ even though Cherokees didn’t wear feathers (which proves he did the bare minimum of research). Constantly oversexualized (56% of First Nation women are sexually harassed and Riordan had the audacity to put Piper in an 'embarrassingly low v-neck' and to have her constantly drooled over by a WHITE MALE and have her sexualized by her 1000+ mother without her knowledge or consent).  It's said that her father was from a reservation in Oklahoma...but there are no reservations in Oklahoma, only cultural centers (which also proves that he did the bare minimum of research).  She's the only First Nations character and she's the only character (besides Nancy Bobofit) depicted as a kleptomaniac (First Nations people are constantly called thieves by racist assholes). “The week before, he’d turned down several million dollars to play Tonto in a remake of The Lone Ranger. Piper was still trying to figure out why. He’d played all kinds of roles—a Latino teacher in a tough L.A. school, a dashing Israeli spy in an action-adventure blockbuster, even a Syrian terrorist in a James Bond movie. And, of course, he would always be known as the King of Sparta. But if the part was Native American—it didn’t matter what kind of role it was—Dad turned it down.” (The Lost Hero, page 165). So her father is fine with playing an extremely racist and stereotypical Middle Eastern role but not a First Nations role. Uses a cornucopia as a weapon (how she got it- cutting it off a half-bull- is disrespectful to her culture as hurting an animal is banned and she used a cornucopia- a symbol of Thanksgiving- as a weapon). Cut her hair, which is basically taboo in First Nations culture.
-Samirah: Had an arranged marriage (at age twelve, and she believed that she was groomed to be married to a rich and respectable family and nothing else). Ripped off her hijab in front of tons of male characters. The only Muslim character. The only Muslim character and she's the only character who married her cousin (you're supposed to break stereotypes, not enforce them).
Thomas Jefferson Jr: Said that he was thankful to the British for not siding with the South during the American Civil War even though they needed the South's cotton (but they didn't side with the North either). AKA a black man and son of a freed slave was thankful to Britain for not openly oppressing him? And at the same time he was named after a racist slave-owner.
Reyna: She's brown and her entire story revolves around her being independent, strong, alone, and self-sufficient but also desperately needing love and support but then Riordan says that she can't get her heart healed AKA she went through an abusive home, killed her father, left her sister, felt alone her whole life, worked a two-person job alone for months, and had to put on a brave face for others throughout all this then was literally told 'Shut up no one wants to hear about your struggles, just suck it up and deal with it’ and have you seen all the shit brown girls have to go through and keep silent about it? 
Extra: -Latino, Puerto Rican, African-American, Chinese-Canadian, East Asian, First Nations, etc. characters and the two most powerful, best, and most skilled characters and who the stories mostly revolve around are two white guys AKA white supremacy.
-"Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortals on her Underground Railroad for just this reason" and that World War II was caused by a child of Zeus and a child of Hades fighting very blatantly erases the shit those people went through and Riordan just went 'Let's use these racist movements as little easter eggs in my story'.
-Thanatos, who was chained and enslaved, is described with dark skin.
-Riordan writing the characters went a little something like this: Drew: You get common Eastern Asian features like dark hair and eyes because you're arrogant, selfish, conceited, and rude, and because you're an antagonist and you're going to be used to make one of my protagonists- who has unique traits- look good so you're going to have the basic, 'boring' physical traits so the readers know who's the more superior of the two of you. Leo: You get common Latino features like curly dark hair, dark eyes, and light brown skin cause you're the weird, hyperactive unattractive one who's very flirty but constantly gets rejected and you're the only main character without a love interest and the only way you can get a girlfriend is when she's forced to fall in love with you through a curse. Frank: You get common Chinese features like dark hair and eyes cause you're the fat unattractive loser who catches the eye of the African character who already has unique and 'special' traits so you don't have to be super attractive. Reyna: You get common Puerto Rican traits like dark skin, hair, and eyes cause you're the stoic, lonely, intimidating, and cold one who wants all the guys (two white guys for that matter) but none of them want you and they both have girlfriends with traits like blonde hair and gray and kaleidoscope eyes so the readers know who are the more interesting couples.  Piper and Hazel: You two get eurocentric features because you're the main characters I have to set apart from everyone else- including other females whom I'm going to make one of you rivals with- so the readers know who's more superior so I'm giving you unique eye colors that literally cannot be found in humans so I'm going to try to validate it by saying that it's from something mildly associated with your godly parent even though neither of them have those traits. Riordan basically said that the common features are bad and boring and that unique and special features- aka features not found in those ethnicities- are good and cool. Also- if gods don’t have DNA how can their traits be passed down to their demigod children checkmate Riordan.
-Cecil Markowitz is the only Jewish character in PJO and the first thing used to describe him is "That kid, always thinking about the potential payout".
-Lavinia said that she was going to bring her date to her bat mitzvah even though you don't bring dates to bat mitzvahs or bar mitzvahs and she said that it was 'awkward' to tell her rabbi that someone was going to be her date even though you don't explain your guestlist to your rabbi, and they're most likely not even going to be at the party.
-Only three Latino and Puerto Rican characters (Leo, Reyna, and Hylla) and all three came from abusive households.
-Leo said 'Mamacita' as if that's not stereotyping.
-Made Nico ‘pale’ even though he had olive skin and gave him black hair and dark eyes despite Italians usually having light hair and eyes just to add to his ‘Goth Boy Aesthetic’.
-Hazel described Pluto to look like Adolf Hitler.
-Carter Kane said that Elvis took African-American music and made it sound like rock 'n roll and described it as cool- like no it’s cultural appropriation. 
-Leo was abused and Riordan thought that it'd be funny to make all the other characters line up to punch him and then try to make it look funny. 
-Gave almost every single POC character a white name and sometimes gave them white first names and POC surnames, and Reyna and Bianca are the only POC characters with names from their culture/native language and one of them is dead and reborn as someone else and the other’s full name wasn’t revealed until the fourth book in her series and she hates using it.
-Made two POC characters with names from their culture- Samirah and Olujime- go by white nicknames (Sam and Jamie) to make it ‘easier to read’ despite having white characters with the same amount of syllables in their names (like Annabeth) that didn’t go by nicknames.
-Never actually described the characters of color with physical traits from their ethnicities (Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with big eyes, thick eyebrows, brown hair, wide noses, full lips, etc., Piper with almost-oriental eyes, shovel teeth, high cheekbones, black hair, etc., Nico with light or brown hair and eyes, olive skin, a narrow nose, etc., Hazel with a wide nose and lips, dark brown eyes, black or dark brown hair, big eyes, thick eyebrows, etc.).
Anti-LGBTQ+:
-Nico was forcibly outed by Cupid and Riordan and the fandom didn't care and the only thing they thought was 'Aww, he has a crush on Percy! So cute!' AKA romanticizing a forced outing. 
-Riordan said that he didn't want to make Reyna lesbian or bisexual because he thought it'd be stereotypical making her LGBTQ+ because she didn't want men anymore even though she could've been bisexual all along but Riordan casually dismissed the idea of that saying "Having a girl end up with a woman after dating men is a bad stereotype" and basically said that real bi girls don’t exist.
-The Hunters of Artemis were made so Artemis/Diana could protect those girls from men and their behavior towards women but Riordan dismissed lesbian relationships- even though nothing about that was said in real Greek mythology- meaning that he thinks that women need protection from other women just as much as they need protection from men.
-Alex Fierro is the only gender-fluid or transgender character and she/he’s seen as rude, snarky, and sharp and Magnus could magically tell when Alex changed gender.
-Riordan said that he wouldn’t make Reyna a lesbian because of stereotypes despite the reader asking if Reyna was going to get a girlfriend, not come out as lesbian AKA Riordan thinks ‘Girls liking girls’ is automatically ‘lesbian’ and completely dismissed bi, pan, poly, omni, etc. girls.
-Used a self-insert to make fun of wlw readers who saw themself in Reyna and thought she could be a cool character to relate to.
-Enforced LGBTQ+ stereotypes like the cold-hearted Asexual, the flamboyant bi/pan, the snarky gender-fluid, the emo gay, the laid-back and rebellious lesbian who dyed her hair pink and chews a lot of bubblegum, etc.
-Has one-hundred fifty-five characters total minus gods/goddesses, Titans, giants, nymphs, dryads, satyrs, monsters, etc. and only has fifteen confirmed LGBTQ+ characters (do the math, that’s exactly one out of ten regarding OCs).
-Only one character that isn’t cishet.
-Saves most the LGBTQ+ for the side characters or only confirms characters LGBTQ+ once they’ve become a minor character despite being a main character before.
-Only stated that Reyna was Asexual outside of his books and on Twitter as if that’s not exactly what J.K Rowling is doing.
-Used the LGBTQ+ community to make Piper seem like the ‘special snowflake’ and to set her apart from her siblings to make it seem like she’s better than all of them and used Hera/Juno and Aphrodite/Venus as excuses for his homophobic mindset that believes that straight is the default cause “Suddenly, much of what she and I had talked about started to make sense. Not being defined by Aphrodite’s expectations. Or Hera’s ideas of what a perfect couple looked like. Piper finding her own way, not the one people expected of her” in synonymous words is 'The expectations for love and the idea of a perfect couple are a heterosexual relationship, and anyone who 'finds their own way instead of the ones people expect' are different'. ‘Different’ and ‘default’ are antonyms AKA if he thinks that LGBTQ+ people are ‘different’, he thinks that straight is the ‘default’. Remember- an author writes their own personal beliefs.
-Josephine is the only black LGBTQ+ character.
-Reyna is said to be Asexual despite feeling sexual attraction towards Percy cause no one likes someone five minutes after knowing them and it’s anything but sexual attraction.
-Magnus and Alex are the only LGBTQ+ relationship whose growth and development is actually shown in the story (while there was also Apollo and Commodus, Piper and Shel, Will and Nico, Apollo and Hyacinthus, Emmie and Jo, Lavinia and Poison Oak, etc.).
-Riordan never canonically said the name of any sexuality and is clearly uncomfortable with the LGBTQ+ community shown by his little to no writing regarding physical affection and deep emotions in his LGBTQ+ relationships.
-Only added in LGBTQ+ relationships for publicity- Percy Jackson and the Olympians release dates: 2005-2009. 2005-2009: LGBTQ+ support was nearly at an all-time low. No LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or references in the books. The Lost Hero-The Mark of Athena release dates: 2010-2012. 2010-2012: LGBTQ+ support was still very low. Still no LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or references in the books. The House of Hades release date: late 2013. Mid-2013: the giant spike for LGBTQ+ support and allies. One confirmed LGBTQ+ character. The Sword of Summer release date: late 2015. 2015: LGBTQ+ support was good and gay marriage was legalized. A few LGBTQ+ references but no confirmed characters. The Hammer of Thor and The Ship of the Dead release dates: 2016-2017. 2016-2017: LGBTQ+ support was quite high. Two confirmed LGBTQ+ characters and the first canon LGBTQ+ relationship and kiss. The Trials of Apollo release dates: 2016-2020. 2016-2020: LGBTQ+ support was very high. More LGBTQ+ characters confirmed in one book than all the other series combined. Kind of obvious he was just following the public opinion.
-Legit said ‘Reyna can’t like girls cause she has had crushes on guys before’.
Ableism:
-It was heavily implied in The Battle of the Labyrinth that Rachel Dare had schizophrenia/psychosis but it's never brought up again.
-Grover's fake feet made it look like he was disabled from the Mist and it was said that he was bullied because of it but it was never brought up again.
-It was said that Tyson looked like he had down syndrome from the Mist covering his one eye but it was never brought up again. 
-It was stated that every character but Frank has ADHD and dyslexia but never actually showed any symptoms after Percy Jackson and the Olympians and characters like Piper and Leo were even able to read English writing throughout The Lost Hero and the only symptom of ADHD Riordan showed through his characters was ‘a lot of fidgeting’ as if that’s not a blatant stereotype. 
Pedophilia:
-Luke, a twenty-two/twenty-three year old had a crush on Annabeth, a sixteen year old. That's a six-seven year age gap. 
-The only two girls put into relationships with much older men are black (Hazel and Sadie).
-Hazel, a thirteen year old, got together with a sixteen year old guy. Hazel's crush on Frank is normal- a girl having a crush on an older guy, but Frank's crush on Hazel is disgusting- an older guy looking down at a child and thinking about making out with her.
Misogyny:
-Aphrodite's kids are seen as useless, weak, snobby, shallow, vain, and selfish just because they’re feminine. 
-Riordan portrayed Aphrodite’s kids as feminine despite Aphrodite being the goddess of love and beauty, not femininity, as if romance and beauty are reserved for women only. 
-Piper is the only 'tomboy' child of Aphrodite and she's portrayed as tougher, stronger, and better than her feminine siblings (and it's portrayed that way multiple times throughout the story like other characters telling Piper she’s "-tough for a child of Aphrodite").
-Piper immediately stereotyped and disliked every single feminine character like Drew and the rest of the Aphrodite cabin just because they liked makeup and skirts as if that’s not shallow criticism. 
-Feminine characters like Drew, Isabel, Khione, and Medea are used or even created solely as antagonists to make Piper- the tomboy- look better.
-Calypso is the only feminine character and she sucks at everything. 
-Riordan’s take on female characters: Drew: a vain, rude, selfish, snobby, and bitchy mean girl. Silena: a shallow traitor. Reyna: a cold-hearted robot. Piper: internalized misogyny that was never brought up again. Calypso: an island whore. Athena: a rude, aggressive bitch with no emotions. Aphrodite: shallow, vain, conceited, and self-centered. Hera: completely evil with no backstory added into it. Marie: an evil witch who selfishly used and sacrificed her daughter.
-The Hunters of Artemis were blessed by Artemis to protect them from men but Riordan made it only about the men in their lives (again) and portrayed the whole 'losing men' thing like it was a burden and that they're 'giving men up' even though they join the Hunters to leave men. He distorted the original meaning of the Hunters- protecting women- by making it about the Hunters hating and being forced to leave men even though they're asking to have no men in their lives, cause that's the point of it. 
-The Amazons and Hunters of Artemis despise men and literally attack them if they so much as speak as if sexism is reserved for women only.
-Portrayed femininity as weakness (and masculinity as strength, it’s even in the word- tomBOY).
-Constantly pit women against women for the sake of romance and love triangles instead of normalizing women getting along despite liking the same people and let the female’s relationships get controlled and influenced by the men in their lives.
-The men always outpower the women in powers and skills. Riordan’s portrayal of powers and characters- Percy: You’re going to have epic water powers and can even create your own personal hurricanes and even though you’ve only been canonically training for eight months total you’re going to be the best swordfighter despite multiple characters having years more training than you. Jason: You’re going to be able to fly, control lightning, create storms, and electric shock people into another dimension. Leo: You’re going to be able to create and control fire and blow shit up with just a screwdriver. Frank: You’re going to be able to shape-shift into any animal you want, even a whole dragon. Nico: You’re going to be able to control darkness and shadows, literally teleport, and raise a whole army of undead soldiers. Reyna: Powers? Nah, your only ability is to lend strength to others as if that benefits you at all. Annabeth: Powers? Nah. Piper: You’re going to be able to manipulate and seduce people and are literally going to use your body and attractiveness as a weapon and your power is literally called charmspeak. Hazel: You have more powers than all the other characters combined that can literally destroy anyone in less than a second but you’re never going to use them or even remember that you have them cause screw the female character being more powerful than the males. 
-The men always accomplish the most incredible feats and if the females ever do accomplish something great (Reyna healing the riff and defeating Orion while the Hunters and Amazons couldn’t combined, Annabeth going through Tartarus, Hazel learning to control the Mist, etc.) they are never praised or rewarded or all the credit goes to the men. 
-Ares/Mars in real Greek/Roman mythology was the feminist patron of the Amazons who loved his daughter very much and killed a rapist but was portrayed as the dumb, cruel asshole who loved nothing but bloodshed and tried to kill a twelve year-old kid who was trying to help him while Poseidon/Neptune in real Greek/Roman mythology was a greedy, short-tempered, and arrogant asshole who raped almost as much women than Zeus/Jupiter but was portrayed as the kind, caring, and gentle father figure. 
Fatophobia:
-Frank is the only chubby character and he hates himself because of it, was constantly fat-shamed, and only learned to love himself after he got rippling abs, muscles, and looked hotter (because fat = ugly in Riordan’s mind, even though it's not). 
-Clovis was depicted with a pot-belly and Drew described him as 'repulsive'.
-Dionysus/Bacchus is also depicted with a pot-belly and he's portrayed as a useless, rude, lazy, and drunken asshole. 
Lookism:
Basically how Riordan wrote his characters- Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Reyna, Hazel, Piper, and most minor protagonists: You’re all going to be super attractive, have at least one character or more pining for you, have your looks constantly commented on, and some of you will even use your looks as a weapon cause that’s not obvious sexualization cause you’re all the main characters and protagonists that readers need to know are the protagonists. Nico, Leo, and Frank: You three are originally portrayed as unattractive but at some points are described as cute and two of you are insecure about your looks cause you’re scrawny and chubby and one of you hates yourself cause of your body and only learn to love yourself once you magically gain abs cause more muscle obviously equals more attractiveness.  Luke, Silena, Chris, and Ethan: You four are going to be super attractive because you’re traitors but all of you make up for your actions and decide to help the demigods and become protagonists again. Octavian, Bryce, Michael, Titans, giants, etc.: You all are the antagonists so you have to be super ugly with multiple physical imperfections cause you’re not allowed to be attractive since you are against the protagonists and I have to set you guys apart and show the readers who’s the better and more superior character. 
-Frank hated himself cause he was chubby and only loved himself once he got skinnier and gained muscle through magic but even then was called ‘cute like a panda’.
-Leo was described as scrawny and unattractive and was insecure about being short but even then was called ‘cute in a scrawny way’.
-Piper had facial imperfections and even a pimple on her nose but once she got claimed all of those disappeared and they stayed gone even after the blessing washed off despite all the magic being gone and only then was Piper’s looks commented on multiple times. 
-Lester/Apollo hated his appearance cause he had a little flab and acne and his physical imperfections were used as comedy by making fun of it as if insecure readers don’t exist.
-Percy and Annabeth had one canon physical imperfection- a gray streak in their hair- and that magically washed away.
-None of the other characters were described with any physical imperfections like pimples/zits/acne, body hair (despite none of the characters having the care or time to wax or shave), bushy/frizzy or messy hair or eyebrows, big or small hands or noses, blackheads, super thick or thin eyebrows, blemishes, birthmarks, scars, stretch marks, braces, lazy eyes, yellow or chipped teeth, eye bags, glasses, moles, dimples, love handles, flab/fat, visible veins, freckles, etc. unless it added to their ‘aesthetic’ despite none of those being bad and saves it only for the antagonists as if ‘physical imperfections’ = ‘evil’. 
Bias:
-Riordan portrayed the Romans as cold, cruel, ruthless, strict, and overall horrible despite them being the more inclusive camp regarding family and godly parents, have multiple families and rules that ensure their camper’s safety, and hold the nicest characters in the series while the Greeks are portrayed as fun, wild, reckless, silly, and cool despite holding the most prejudiced and rude characters, outcasting and ostracizing characters of certain godly parents just for their parentage, stereotype almost every single cabin, and make some campers without siblings live, sleep, and eat alone. 
-Every Greek traitor (Luke, Silena, Ethan, and Chris) were portrayed as powerful, kind, attractive, and awesome and each made up for their actions but each Roman ‘traitor’ (Octavian, Bryce, and Michael, and only one of them are actually a traitor) were portrayed as unattractive, cruel, ambitious, ruthless, and extremely weak and never actually did anything useful.
-The Greeks were part of the Union and the Romans were part of the Confederacy (adding on to Riordan adding racist movements as fun little easter eggs in his stories).
-Four out of seven of the main Seven are Greek.
-There are at least 70+ Greek characters and less than thirty named Romans.
-The Battle of San Francisco Bay was used for the sole purpose to weaken the Romans and make the Greeks seem stronger than them and while the Greeks went through two whole wars, their camp laid almost completely untouched but the moment the Romans are introduced, half their population is wiped?
Romanticization:
-Romanticized Annabeth judo-flipping Percy AKA romanticized physical abuse/harassment (emotions, angriness, feelings of love and affection, ‘they went through a lot together’, etc. do not excuse hitting someone) despite Annabeth knowing where Percy’s Achilles Heel was and not knowing he lost it and flipping him on his back anyways (if Percy didn’t lose the Achilles Heel, Annabeth would’ve killed him).
-Romanticized Leo killing himself to see Calypso again and to take her off her island AKA a romanticized suicide.
-Romanticized Calypso yelling at and insulting Leo and Annabeth insulting and canonically lowering Percy’s self-esteem AKA romanticized verbal abuse/bullying.
-Romanticized Will trying to help Nico through his loneliness and depression as if that can’t be portrayed as someone just wanting to help another person AKA  romanticized mental illness.
-Romanticized every character kissing another character without asking first and without their consent AKA romanticized sexual harassment.
-Romanticized Piper taking advantage over Jason’s amnesia and mental state and jumping onto him despite knowing there might be a girl he couldn’t remember AKA romanticized manipulation.
-Romanticized Piper and Annabeth’s possessive, overly-jealous, and controlling behavior over Jason and Percy (even before they were canonically dating).
-Romanticized Nico being forced to confess his crush on Percy AKA romanticized a forced outing.
Rick Riordan:
-Refused to apologize for his actions even after being called out by people from the groups he was writing inaccurately and stereotyping (Muslim, Jewish, African, First Nation, lesbian, gay, Puerto Rican, etc.) and tried to make himself look like the victim.
-Claimed he was being ‘bullied’ by readers half his age who were just pointing out his books’ racist flaws.
-Showed time and time again that he is not willing to listen to the voices of minorities.
-Clearly didn’t do his research on ethnicities, sexualities, religions, etc. shown by how he got the simplest things wrong.
-Tried to say that he- a straight white man- was right when people of the actual groups he was writing about (gay, First Nation tribes, etc.) were wrong.
-Used excuses like having a ‘headstrong’ and ‘stubborn’ character who wants to ‘show their culture in their own way’ for his stereotypes. No, Riordan, you want to show the culture that way, not Piper. She’s a fictional character, you’re real. Dumbass.
-Literally said ‘Sorry I put feathers in Piper’s hair, I can’t change what I wrote in the past and I didn’t know that sensitive readers existed’ then continued to write feathers in Piper’s hair in the future books. 
The Fandom:
Note: Not to all of the fandom, obviously
-Draws Piper with light skin, light hair, and kaleidoscope eyes with feathers, hippie bands, and beads (yes, it's canon, but you're allowed to change it if it's blatantly racist, and the bead and hippie band thing was created by the fandom and that's also stereotyping).
-Almost always draw Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with light skin and Caucasian traits (props to the few artists who drew them with the right skin tones).
-Draws Hazel with gold eyes, ‘cinnamon’/light brown hair, and an adult body.
-Sexualizes female characters by drawing them in sexy and revealing clothes and giving them all the same exact sexy, slim, and perfect hour-glass shaped bodies.
-Almost never include physical imperfections, muscle, scars, stretch marks, etc. in drawings.
-Fancasts white actors for characters of color and puts actors/faceclaims of white people or people of different ethnicities in the moodboards or aesthetics for characters of color.
-Participates in cultural appropriation by wearing feathers when cosplaying Piper and wearing a hijab when cosplaying Samirah.
-Supports Riordan, tries to defend him, and condones his clearly racist and bigoted actions just cause they ‘like the books’ (if you are straight, white, and/or cishet, I definitely don’t want to see you trying to defend a fifty-five year-old multi-millionaire who is clearly racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic).
-Romanticize physical abuse, verbal abuse, mental illnesses and panic/anxiety attacks, etc.
-Ship pedophilic, manipulative, abusive, and wrong relationships.
-Barely allow others to have their own opinions (looking at you Perachel haters) without yelling at, insulting, cursing out, and/or even threatening them for liking or disliking different things than them including ships, characters, books, plots/faults, and Riordan himself.
-Straightwashes characters like shipping Nico with female characters or setting him up with a female character in fanfics.
-Whitewashes characters like drawing Hazel and Piper with eurocentric features, Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with white skin and Caucasian traits, Nico with white/pale skin, etc.
-Try to excuse and explain abusive, manipulative, possessive, and overall very wrong and toxic behavior.
-Fail to recognize and/or admit the toxic, racist, homophobic, sexist, transphobic, wrong, abusive, etc. faults in the books, ships, and characters just cause they like them.
The Percy Jackson franchise does not add good representation. You can still like the series as long as you don’t condone Riordan’s racist and toxic writing and actions and don’t try to ignore the horrible and stereotypical faults just cause you don’t want to admit that your favorite or childhood story is horrible. 
157 notes · View notes
chaeiimimi · 3 years
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06 𝓑𝓪𝓫𝔂 𝓟𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓬!
Synopsis: Sakusa Kiyoomi, a young ravishing man, an athlete for the Japanese volleyball team and comes from a very prominent family around Japan. He was perfect, looks, wealth and fame. But you can’t have everything in life, can you? Sakusa, the germophobic athlete, suddenly wakes up one day and sees a baby boy in a basket in front of his door step, in the basket was a letter, a letter from his past lover, saying that the child was his. The panic look on the spiker’s face was almost comical, knowing that his life would turn into a complete 360, that day was his first time ever to miss a volleyball practice and to call Komori to ask for a babysitter. You.
Notice: the only thing I own is the plot, the art and the characters aren't mine and they all belong to their respective owners.
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Safe to say you didn’t get as much sleep as you hoped that night
“eh?” you were shocked, you didn’t expect him to do it so soon
“yeah, they work from home tomorrow, we should pay them a visit”
“we?” you were flabbergasted, you? You’re meeting the elite and respected Sakusa Family?
“yeah, do you have any problems with that?” yes, a lot
“n-no sir”
So now you left a note on the kitchen counter saying you are going to the market to get some ingredients for the dish you were going to cook for Sakusa’s parents
Since you were young, your parents always taught you that you cannot visit a home empty handed, it was proper courtesy and showed respect and appreciation for having you in their home.
You strolled along the market looking at fresh produce, you opted for seafood, since it’s healthier for older people
A huge salmon caught your eyes and miso-zuke salmon immediately popped in your head, you looked at your watch, it was only five in the morning, you can let it marinate for how many hours and grill it for 30 minutes, which will be enough time to bring it for lunch
You bought it from the vendor who was very kind and even gave you a discount, after that you went to a bakery supplies to get some carrot décor and some ingredients to make icing, you were planning to make a cake less sweet so Sakusa’s parents can eat as well
With that, you head home
You saw Sakusa seating by the coffee table, sipping coffee and reviewing the forms you filled out
“good morning sir” you say as you take the things you bought to the kitchen
“we really don’t need to bring them anything you know” he says as, eyes still not leaving the papers
“I know, but my parents always tell me to not visit anyone’s house empty-handed, it’s a sign of courtesy”
He just nodded and said “suit yourself”
You begin making the marinade, thankfully the fish vendor was kind enough to slice the salmon up for you
About half way through you heard Kaito’s cry and you were about to wipe your hands to get to him when Sakusa stood up
“I got him, continue your work”
You nodded and did exactly that, it took fifteen minutes to make the marinade, you soaked the salmon in it , coverd it, and put in inside the freezer
Sakusa went out with a calm Kaito, he sat in the coffee table , his son carefully cradled in his one arm as his other hand held the forms he hasn’t reviewed yet
Looks like he got the hang of carrying Kaito you said inside your head as you smiled to yourself
You slowly mixed the ingredients together not noticing that Sakusa was now behind you
“what are you doing?” you flinched , surprised by your boss sudden speaking
“I’m making a cake sir” you said holding your chest
It wasn’t clear, heck if you didn’t spend your three months with him you wouldn’t have noticed the small smile grazing his lips
And you regret noticing because you were now flustered
You cleared your throat
“where’s Kaito?” you asked, focusing your attention back to your task
“he’s sleeping” he answered
Your mouth formed into an ‘o’
“is it normal for babies to sleep so much” he asked, his voice genuinely concern
You chuckled  “apparently, it is sir, sleep is actually healthy for baby, aside from them having small stomach and get full easily, their tiredness can also be the cause of a growth spurt or developmental leap” you say in as-a-matter-of-fact tone
He nods as he watches you pour the mixture to a cake mold, which he didn’t even know he had
“does your parents like cake sir?” you asked as you put the dough into the oven
“my mom eats it occasionally, my dad is a sucker for it, we try to make him cut it out for a bit, it’s bad for his health”
You nod, Sakusa has been a bit talkative since your talk last night
“in that case, I’ll make the buttercream frosting less sweet” you say as you washed your hands to prepare to make the frosting
Sakusa watched you as you make the frosting, a lot of thoughts inside his head
“is she doing this to impress my parents?”
“why would she want to impress my parents?”
“does she likes-“
Sakusa shook his head profusely muttering small no’s you were just nice and polite, yea, that’s it
He cleared his throat and went to the coffee table, he finished reviewing the forms you filled out and all of them were perfect, he opened his desktop and began with his work at the company again
The timer went off and it was time to take the cake out of the oven
Kaito was awake and mindlessly babbling in his crib while Sakusa watched replays of some volleyball games
You set the cake on a cooling rack to let it cool down for a while
You decided to clean the house while waiting for the cake to cool down
you wiped some shelves, throw out the trash and vacuumed, by the time you were finished cleaning , the cake was already cool, you begin frosting it, putting crushed nuts at the side of the cake and decorating the top of the cake with candy carrots and some edible decorative leaves, you slowly put it in the fridge
you sighed
“you need to rest” Sakusa says as he gets himself some water
You looked at the time and it was already 10
You shook your head “I just need to grill the salmon sir” and so you did grill the tuna for thirty minutes, gave Kaito a bath for twenty minutes, showered and changed yourself into a simple sundress
By the time you were done packing everything it was already 11:30
You and Sakusa made your way to his car, Kaito was in his baby seat and his father placed him on the back seat, you were about to seat beside Kaito when he cleared his throat
“won’t I look like a personal driver if the both of you sat there?”
You immediately got up and sat at the shotgun seat
The ride was quiet, it was a comfortable silence though, Kaito’s occasional babbles while you were still amazed by the rich neighborhood and Sakusa’s eyes are focused on the road
You arrived at his paren’ts place in fifteen minutes and you could hear the voices of people from afar
You entered the house-no, this was a freaking castle, it was huge, there was a guard, some gardeners and maids
Sakusa parked his car, you got out, he carried Kaito’s baby seat which had a handle while you carried the cake and the salmon-sizu
You walked to the backyard where you saw some children, you recognize some of them as Sakusa’s older siblings’ children, they looked like they were having an outdoor barbecue by their pool-side
Sakusa cleared his throat
They all stopped dead in their tracks eyes wide open
Sakusa glared at them “geez you guys don’t need to act like you saw a ghost”
“well what do you expect you barely visit us here?!” you assumed that it was his brother you spoke
His mother and father looked at you, and you felt very small
“woah and you- you- holy crap your married?!”
And with just one sentence there was a fiasco
“Uncle Kiyoomi is married? We have a new aunt?” a kid who was about nine said and rushed towards new but his sisters were already all up on you
“woah when did you guys get married?”
“when did you meet?”
“what company does your family own?”
“your dress looks so good?”
“do you like chanel?”
You were overwhelmed and couldn’t talk
Your boss sighed “she’s not my wife, she’s my son’s nanny and househelper”
They stopped on their tracks, as you stood there and smiled awkwardly
“but you’re too pretty to be a nanny!”
One of his nieces explained
“you have a son?!” Sakusa’s brother exclaimed
“I know right” Sakusa says nonchalantly
Sakusa was a calm compared to his very lively family
“you impregnated your househelper?” Sakusa’s father asked confused
Your eyes widened and you shook your head profusely
“it’s Nami’s” Sakusa sighed and handed his parents a letter, his brother and two sisters stood beside their parents to read the letter as well
They were dumbfounded when they finished reading, you can’t blame them, you had the same reaction when you first read that letter as well
“what a cruel woman…” Sakusa’s mother says, it seems like she was the first one to recover
Sakusa looked at his son who was looking up at him while sucking on his pacifier
“I don’t need her to raise my son” Sakusa says sternly, his family members looked at him
Sakusa took Kaito in his arms “everyone, this is Sakusa Kaito, my son” he says while Kaito babbles and cracked a toothless smile
There was a moment of silence
When...
 “Oh my lord! what a handsome baby!” Sakusa’s mother gushed and approached Sakusa and took Kaito from him
“holy hell bro he looks just like you!” his brother also says, as he pinch Kaito’s cheeks
“I want him to model for my baby line AAAHHHHH” his sister, which you assumed to be Aiko Sakusa a famous fashion designer
Sakusa Kairo the eldest among the siblings, a pilot and owns an airlines company
Akemi, the third child, a famous architect, she owns an architectural firm
And Sakusa Kiyoomi the youngest, Athlete-Entrepreneur manages a chain of hotels and restaurants
And of course Sakusa Arisa and Sakusa Katashi, the founder of Sakusa Empire
These people are one of the most influential family in japan, yet when you looked at them they look quite normal
Sakusa looked kind of distant, but you could see the softness in his features as he stares at his son being cradled and passed around by his family members
You did notice that his father was emotionlessly staring at the scene
“Kiyoomi you haven’t introduce your “helper” to us yet” Akemi says teasingly
Sakusa shook his head
“this is Y/N she’s Komori’s friend , she helps around my house and takes care of Kaito” he says as stood beside you
The whole family except for Komori’s dad looked at you with almost teary eyes
“thank you for dealing with our ill-mannered kiyoomi” his mother says
“You’re too pretty to be a nanny though, if you ever consider modeling come to me” Aiko says as she held both of your hands
You bowed to them politely “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Kiyoomi is a good boss to me” you said, feeling all stiff and awkward
“chill out Y/N-san we don’t bite” Kairo chuckled
You nodded awkwardly, Sakusa nudged you and pointed at the items you were holding
“oh, we bought you some salmon-sizu and carrot cake, I hope you like it” you said as you showed them the things you bought
“Y/N-chan I love you already” Akemi says as she took the carrot cake from you and led you to the table
 In no time the family were all eating and having fun, you had Kaito in your arms and was feeding him
“Y/n dear, this salmon and cake are so delicious, where did you buy them?”
You quickly realized that your boss’ mother was a sweet lady
“oh, I made them ma’am, my mother is a baker, it’s her recipe, I tweaked it a bit for it to make it less quick, my father is a fish broker, he told me that salmon is a healthy fish to serve” you smiled at her
“Y/N-chan you’re too kind, I hope my brother isn’t being a jerk to you” Aiko says as she eats cake
You chuckled at them
“Y/N-chan, how is our Kiyoomi?” Akemi asked
“Sir Sakusa is doing fine I think, he’s just a bit tired from volleyball and the company, he also makes time for Kaito whenever he can, he’s still a little bit confuse and clumsy”
Kairo, Akemi, Aiko and Mrs. Sakusa nodded together
“Y/N-chan do you like Kiyoomi?” Aiko asked which made you flustered
“I-I- yes-yes b-but- as a boss- I like him as a person-like a boss-“
“geez no need to get flustered now, we were only asking” Kairo said as he chuckled
“we don’t mind if you like him though, we’ll be delighted to have you here” Akemi says and smiled at you
You were now as red as a tomato
After the conversation, you were left with Kaito, he was now wide awake and you were playing with him
Only then did you noticed Sakusa’s father staring at you two
You cleared your throat, you got up, carrying Kaito, you cleaned up the plates near Sakusa’s father
Kaito pointed at his grandfather
You quietly approached the man
“sir, do you want to hold him?”  you asked
He looks up at you, you smiled at him and slowly sat Kaito on his lap
He looks at Kaito emotionlessly, when Kaito smiled at him and babbles “babababa!”
For the first time today, you saw a soft smile made its way to Sakusa’s father’s face
“he looks just like him” the elderly man mumbles
“I can see that sir” you smiled softly at them, slowly taking out your phone and quietly took a picture of the scene, not knowing that some of the eyes of the family were on you
 “she’s a good woman” Sakusa’s mother says to his son
“she is” Kiyoomi says as he stares at you, having a small conversation with his father, it’s very rare for him to communicate or interact with people other than business matters, but he doesn’t seem to have any trouble conversing with you
“do you like her Kiyo?” his mother asks teasingly
“mom, no” Kiyoomi sighs and takes a sip of his lemonade
Although his parents were mostly absent during his childhood, him and his siblings maintained a close relationship with them, and both his mother and father always made time for them on the weekends
A lot of people assumed that they were like the rich family from dramas, the tension and stuff but it was far from that, they were pretty normal, and chaotic at times
 “Your salmon-sizu was very good” your boss’ dad says as you took Kaito from him, the baby has already fallen asleep
“thank you sir, it was my dad’s recipe, he says it’s good for your health” you smiled as you cradled Kaito
He smiled and got up from his seat to join the rest of his family, you laid Kaito on his baby seat and wiped the sweat off his forehead
 The rest of the day were spent with you helping the maids with grilling, but Aiko quickly swooped in and wanted you to join the party, so there you were surrounded by your boss’ nieces and nephews
“you’re not uncle Kiyo’s girlfriend?” Arata, who was around seven years old asked you, he was Kairo’s son
You chuckled and shook your head
“but I want you to be my aunt, aunt y/n” Chizu who was Aiko’s daughter, said with pleading eyes
You just chuckled at them and diverted their attention to something else, you told them stories your parents and sister used to tell you when you were young, their eyes sparkled with fascination, even Mika and Eichi who were both teenagers were interested in your stories as well that they tore their eyes off of their phone screens
Later in the night you guys played uno, you taught them the basics, these kids didn’t know anything about games outside their phones
You couldn’t really relate to the adult’s conversation since they were talking about businesses so you hang out with the kids, and you were loving every moment of it, despite being born from rich families, they were really nice and humble, Eichi was very similar to his grandfather and his Uncle KIyoomi but he was polite nonetheless
It was finally time to leave, the kids were tired and the same to the adults
“come visit us soon aunt y/n” Mira says sleepily she was Akemi’s only child
You smiled at them and waved
“you better come back Y/N-chan we want another one of your carrot cake” Aiko says as you bowed to them
“dear, if ever Kiyo fires you, you are free to apply at our house” says Kiyoomi’s mother says as you leave
Your boss sighs as you finally entered his car
“they really like you” he mumbles
“I guess they do?” you chuckled
“hey y/n, thank you”
You tilt your head in confusion “for what sir?”
“just, thank you”
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Taglist: @meri-soni-meri-tamanna @seashellmichellee @tetsuhoes @akaashislovelywife  @strawberryzos  @kuroohoeee @underratedmage @popping-cherries @uwu-iwanttodie @wonhyuksstuff @  @knmsapplepi    @stormcastello @si-m-p
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hot-wiings · 3 years
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The One Where [Y/N] [L/N] Can't Show Up To Her Toxic Family Dinner Alone, So She Turns To Her College Peer For Help.
Edited: 12-4-2020
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Once your college professor dismissed the class as over you were quick to open your phone and check your messages. Once unmuted, it vibrated and chimed a dozen times bombarding you. Messages from your mother overflowed your notification bar. You just didn't have the energy to deal with it right now. With a scowl, you set your phone back to mute mode and harshly shoved it into your backpack.
"Everything all right?"
Your chemistry partner was pilling books back into his backpack when he asked you the imposing question. He zipped the bag close, stood up, and turned to you, giving you a concerned look as he slung his backpack on his shoulder.
"I'm fine."
"We've been partners for nearly a year, I think I know you enough to know when you're not fine."
Your eyes glanced up at the white-haired man before glancing back at your lap. Your chemistry partner, Natsuo Todoroki, was a nice young man. Natsuo was funny and kind, he noticed when you were having a bad day, and he'd try to ease your troubles. Maybe that was why you often found yourself studying your partner more than your notes. Normally you'd relish under the gaze and attention of your charming, pretty partner, but today wasn't just one of those days.
"It's stupid. Like, really stupid, and unimportant."
"If it's bothering you then it's not stupid. C'mon, I'll buy you lunch and you can tell me all about your problem."
You huffed as you stood up and pulled your bag over your shoulder. You followed Natsuo to the cafeteria, while he walked off to get and pay for your lunches, you found some empty seats. Your leg bounced as you waited for him to come back. The idea of opening up about something so personal made you anxious.
"It's Soba Saturday."
"Thanks."
Natsuo took a seat across from you and smiled as you took a bite out of the food. Happy that you were happy with your food, Natsou digs into his own.
"So partner' what's up?"
"As I said, it's really, really, stupid."
"You're obviously worked up over it, it can't be that stupid."
You let out a ragged sigh as you took a delicate bite out of your food. Embarrassed, your eyes avoided him once you swallowed and set the fork down. Natsuo had shared so much with you as a friend and confidant, you knew about his family, every nitty-gritty detail, but you opened so little in return.
"My mom texted me asking if I was bringing a date home for Christmas. My parents... They're pretentious and rich, you know? Marrying, and settling down, becoming a house mouse while my husband takes over the family business. That's the future they want for me."
You clenched your fists just getting aggravated thinking about it. The toxicity was hard and you were trying your best to escape it, but you could only flee so much when you were poor without your parents. Natsuo reached across the table and grabbed your hands, pulling them into his cold ones.
"I know if I show up alone my mom's gonna get in my business, then she'll try setting me up with rich men she thinks are suitable. I just- I can't do another family Christmas alone."
"I understand what you mean. I told you how my dad's a bastard, he's tried setting me and my sister up with suitable people before, never works out, just makes us hate him. I don't even wanna go home for Christmas this year, so... I have a proposition."
"I'd love to hear it."
"I'll go with you."
His voice came out quick and fast, almost making him sound nervous, but Natsuo didn't get nervous, it wasn't a Todoroki trait. You look up from your lap to his eyes. A small smile formed on your face as he proposed the statement. You let out a chuckle as a light blush brushed your face.
"You wanna be my date?"
"We don't have to go like that, we can fake date. Think about it, you need a rich, suitable guy to show up with you. You need me. Someone to convince your pretentious parents you're ready to settle down, and, I, can get out of my own family Christmas and obligations to see the bastard man."
"Fake dating... Fake dating and convincing my parents that we're in love. That's a lot to deal with, you're sure your up for it?"
"Yeah, you might say... We already have some chemistry together."
You laughed as that feeling bubbled up in your chest. That feeling you got whenever you were around your partner, your lab partner. It was stupid, so stupid. The idea of fake dating him bubbled you, even if it was fake, the idea that he got to be your boyfriend for an evening or two excited you.
"Okay, you dork, it's settled. You're my fake boyfriend."
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Your leg bounced rigorously as the car drove on the road. You watched the road signs, anxiously noting how far away from your home you were each time a new one appeared. You lived a couple of hours out from the city you and Natsuo attended college in. Coming from a rich family, you and Natsuo probably would've attended the same social circles and school had you not grew up so far away.
Your thumb tapped away at your leg as Christmas music blared through the radio. Your whole body screamed anxious and distressed. Now that you've had time to brew and process the deal you and Natsuo made you regretted it. What were you thinking, taking your lab partner, who was also your crush, on an overnight trip as your fake boyfriend? It was just going to cause you trouble.
You had feelings for him and your family was toxic. The idea of letting him in was disturbing. It was your home where you grew up, the place you learned to hate yourself, the place that taught you to be closed off, and mean. He'll meet your mom, your dad, and your godawful siblings. He'll see how horrible your family is, and the idea of letting him see the environment you grew up in was so daunting.
What if he decided you were awful too? What if he changes lab partners?
"We're here."
"Great."
Your voice came out placid and tight. Your nervousness and exhaustion could be heard in your voice. Emotions brought out every time you saw your family, he mistook it as nerves brought on by the fear of fake dating.
"We should probably lie down some rules."
"Yeah, I've never fake dated before. I don’t know what you're uncomfortable with, but no kissing on the lips."
Natsuo pulled his keys out of the engine ignition and pocketed them while he lightly laughed at your proposed rule. Heat rose to your cheeks as his voice met your ears.  
"We're supposed to convince them we're in love, but I can't kiss your lips?"
"I know it's silly, but to me it's romantic and I’d like to keep this professional. Besides, you still have my cheek, hand, nose, and forehead."
“I see your points, if it makes you feel more comfortable then lips are off-limits.”
You let out a relieved sigh. You weren't sure you'd handle kissing Natsuo. It was too personal, too romantic. The more you progressed on this endeavor the more you worried. Your parents were gonna know, they were gonna know. 
"No kissing your lips, what about hand-holding?"
"We can hold hands, hug, anything a couple would do, just no sex or kissing."
"Two days, as a handholding loving boyfriend. Let's do this."
Natsuo got out of the car and while you zipped up your coat and fixed your scarf he rushed to the other side of the car and opened your door before you got the chance. His cold hand was on your hand pulling you out of the car, he smiled softly at you as he helped you out.
“Thanks, you didn't have to do that.”
“I wanted to, I'm your boyfriend after all.”
You pushed a piece of hair behind your ear as a light blush spread across your skin. Never had you been more thankful for the cold air for you had been able to play your pink cheeks off as an effect of the cold weather and not his words. 
“You go in, I’ll get our bag.”
“You sure?”
You nibbled on your lip as Natsuo walked away from you. He turned to you with an ever-growing smile present as he winked. 
“Yeah, I'm a good boyfriend aren't I?”
“The sweetest ever. See you inside.”
You made your way to the door and gave the heavy wooden door a hard knock. It wasn't long until one of the servants opened the door. The head butler, Godwin, opened the door and threw you a gracious smile before pulling you into a hug. 
“Welcome back, [Y/N].”
In your time living here as a child, Godwin spent a lot of time with you. It was his job to watch over you and your siblings along with the other staff members when your parents were gone, which was often. He was the one who taught you to be kinder and nicer, more humble than your other siblings. He was the one who encouraged you to go to college despite your parents raising you to live in a world with their racist, sexist ideals. 
“It’s good to see you, Godwin.” 
Your mother came down the stairs with her overly expensive Christmas dress flowing with her. She looked like the average rich person trying to show off her money. Pearls, diamonds, and obvious plastic surgery. Your father followed behind her, adorning an expensive tailored suit and a matching tie, no doubt your mother's idea to make it seem like they had a perfect marriage to their guests when it, in fact, was not. 
“Oh, [F/N], you're here!”
She walked up to you and awkwardly wrapped her arms around your body. It was weird and awkward. Your mother didn't like giving affection out to her children, or really anyone. Now that you were older, you didn't crave the attention from her. Your father didn't even attempt to greet you. 
“I thought you said you were bringing a guest, Oh I knew you were lying. Lucky for you I thought ahead and arranged for one of your father's friends to come over as your date for the evening.”
“Mother, anyone friends with father is going to be way too old to be a date for me, besides that fact, I did bring a date.” 
“Oh, don’t be embarrassed to ask your mother for help, I did give birth to you after all.”
She sneered her words at you. This was a classical move of your mothers because she gave birth to you then that must mean she knows you better than anyone else, she also used it in the stance that you owed it to her to do what she wanted.
“You’ll love him. He's the owner of a multimillion-dollar company, he's rich, and his wife just died! You’ve been single for so long, you need a man to take care of you”-
Your mother is cut off by the sound of Natsuo walking in with your bag and slamming the door shut, trying to keep the cold out. Considering it was an overnight trip, you thought sharing a bag might make you look more intimate and close. 
“Sorry I took so long babe, I didn't zip the bag all the way closed and it opened on the ride here, I had to put everything back in it.”
“Mother, father, this is my boyfriend.” 
Natsuo dropped your bag on the floor and shook your parent's hands starting with your father, and then your mother next, respectfully the way you shook hands with the rich. You supposed growing up as a Todoroki he had to learn these tricks and rules the same way you did. 
“Natsuo Todoroki, nice to meet you, sir, ma’am.”
“Oh wow, Todoroki? Like the hero family Todoroki?”
“Yes, ma’am... Endeavor is my father.”
You could tell by Natsuo's stance that he was uncomfortable with the way your mother was asking about his social status and checking him out with a tight fake smile on her face.
“Yes, I remember now, I saw your family on the news. How did you snag this one [Y/N]? A Todoroki, I'm impressed, then again... He is the brother who chose not to follow the life of a hero.”
You both ignored your mother's catty comment as Natsuo grabbed your hand and pulled you against his side. He kissed your cheek, eliciting a light blush for the second time that day, however, your mother's focus was on your 'boyfriend', and his focus was on your mother. 
“Feels more like I'm the one who snagged her.”
“Well, you must tell us how you met. Goodwin! Take their bag up to [Y/N]'s room!” 
You rolled your eyes as she yells at the butler. You'd think after years of working for her she would've remembered his name, but she didn't.
“Godwin, we can take our bag up, we need to change into our dress clothes anyway. Mother, you really should remember the names of your staff.”
“They're just the help, details like their names don't matter. Ever since you went off to that school it's put silly ideas in your head. Natsuo don't be afraid to remind her who's boss, she might try to force those ridiculous relationship norms on you.”
The comment comes from your father who had been mostly silent throughout the whole conversation. The comment comes from your father and it didn't sit well with Natsuo. As your father laughs at what he said, Natsuo picks your bag up and chuckles at him. 
“Oh, [Y/N] and I both know who the boss of this relationship is. [Y/N] attends more classes than me, so I always make sure the apartment is clean, and food is ready on the table for her. It's only fair, I wouldn't want her to think these ridiculous relationship norms where the woman cooks and cleans and the man provides is right.”
Before your father gets another word in edgewise, Natsuo pulls you along with him to the staircase, letting you guide him to your bedroom with appeased smiles on your faces. You pushed the door open and let Natsuo in before closing it and locking it. You flopped over on the bed, and he followed suit before taking a look at your room. It was the same as always, the way you left it after high school, never changing except for when little things got moved around for dusting and vacuuming by Godwin. 
“So... What'd you think of my parents?”
“They’re... interesting?”
There were a wide variety of choice words Natsuo wanted to use. He did not like your parents, and it bothered him knowing that you grew up being raised with such ideals. Natsuo might have had a bastard for a father, his father might have hurt his mom, and his family in more ways than one, but his father never once told Fuyumi that she couldn't pursue her dreams. He never once told Fuyumi that she had to follow old gender norms, never once was Fuyumi taught to layover for a man.
"It's okay, you can say it. They're good awful."
"I didn't want to upset you or offend, but my father literally drove my mom insane, he gave her a mental illness and he's nice compared to them."
"Just wait until you meet my siblings."
You let out a laugh as your fingers played with the blanket on the bed. Your hands were so close. It was sweet to him, the sound of your voice. He'd never admit out loud, but he was so in love with you. Ever since he first laid eyes on you in chemistry class. Ever since you sat down next to him and introduced yourself, ever since you accidentally blew up your first experiment. Ever since you kept apologising for catching him on fire, you hadn't a clue who he was, or who his father was. You were normal with him. Every little thing you did lead up to his feelings for you. Every little thing you did added to the strong feelings had had, like a brick house.
To the naked eye, Natsuo was a desirable man. He was rich, filthy rich, and he had that Todoroki charm. Everyone wanted him for his status or his looks. They didn't know him, the real him, him with an abusive father and fucked up family. For all those reasons, Natsuo always thought that you wouldn't want to be with a boy like him. Someone who came from such a broken background, someone so weak, unable to stand up to his father. Guys like him never got the girl, at least not the girl that he wanted but Natsuo also never imagined that you came from a background similar to his. It was so ethereal and special to be here with you, to be the one you were opening up to, even if it was a fake relationship, Natsuo was trying desperately to shoot his shot.
"You're so strong, you know that? Your parents raised you with these unrealistic standards on how you should act, but you're in college, you're pursuing your dreams. You're amazing."
Natsuo's hand reached out and grabbed yours, his cold one in yours soliciting goosebumps and a little shiver. You quickly tried to pull your and out of his and stood up to make it look like you weren't trying to avoid skin contact with him.
"Thanks, Natsuo... You're amazing too, I mean hello, they way you subtly told my father to shove his marriage ideals? It was hilarious, he was not expecting that."
You looked away from Natsou to hide the blush in your cheeks, you were thankful for the way he stood up to your father for you. You could never have done that in a million years.
"Anyway, we should probably get dressed, and go down before my mother thinks we've started having sex. You can get dressed in here and I'll go to the bathroom, just knock when it's safe for me to come out."
You grabbed your dress out of the bag and scurried into the bathroom. You started with makeup, then you reapplied your deodorant. You were so nervous that your family would see right through your lie. After taking a few deep breaths you heard Natsuo's knock so you quickly unzipped your silk, baby blue dress and pulled it up to your body. Nervously, you popped your head out the door and bit your lip.
"Can you... Can you zip me up?"
"Sure!"
You let the door open more and pulled the front of your dress tight against your body, worried and nervous to be partially naked in front of him. Natsuo sauntered into the bathroom and zipped the back of your dress up. His cold hands glide up your back and then fell down on your hips. It made you shiver again before throwing him a grateful smile.
"Thanks."
"No problem, you look beautiful."
You looked in the mirror at the two of you together. This time as the blush rose to your cheeks you didn't have the cold to blame or the ability to turn around and hide your face.
"Ready to meet the rest of the snake nest?"
"I survived your parents, I think I can handle your siblings."
Arm in arm looped together you made your way downstairs and into the entertainment room with Natsuo. Your siblings were sitting on the couch, but once you walked in their eyes struck you. They heard you brought a date and they wanted to check him out. Their eyes glazed over him some of them in interest, some in disinterest. All judging.
"I heard you brought a boy, didn't believe it."
The comment comes from your older sister. Her voice was full of disdain and disinterest, undoubtedly ready to leave.
"Yeah, mother said you brought a boy, didn't think he'd be so hot."
Natsou coughs uncomfortably as you showed a tight, fake smile to your sister. You couldn't lie, it hurt that your younger sister would so blatantly flirt with your boyfriend upon meeting him, whether he be fake or not.
"Don't be such a slut, [Sisters Name]. That's your sister's boyfriend."
Your older brother scolded his youngest sister for her lustful behavior and she rolls her eyes before she crosses her arms in a pout. Your brother was the nicest out of all your siblings. He was nice to you and your siblings in his own way, protective of his younger siblings, constantly scolding and trying to keep you all in place. That didn't mean he couldn't be a snake, he could just tolerate you and your siblings more.
"Besides, he's not all that hot."
"Oh he totally is, it's seriously a wonder how [Y/N] got him."
You brought Natsuo over to the couch and sat down next to him. You even made sure to sit close to him, close enough so you could lean into each other like a cute couple.
"I think I prefer your parents."
His words whispered in your ear earning a light chuckle from you. Your sister, the younger one, evidently didn't like how close you both were. With a harsh glare, she rolled her eyes again.
"How did you even meet? Seriously, I wanna know why he would downgrade to someone like you."
Natsuo scratched the back of his head awkwardly and nervously He didn't understand why your siblings were so mean to you. His father was a bastard, that closed you off, that he could get. Despite that, he and his siblings never put each other down like they were doing.
"More like she downgraded to me. We met in school, lab partners. She had all the boys chasing for her in school, but somehow she chose me."
Your sister scoffed and this time you rolled your eyes. She always gave you such shit over the littlest things. You didn't have the energy for this, at least not sober. You whispered into Natsuo's ear softly.
"I need a drink, you want one? We'll need it to get through the evening."
"If your alcohol mixing skills are anything like your chemistry mixing skills, then no."
"Meanie, I'm a great chemist, I practically carry our grade."
Natsuo chuckled against your cheek, before pulling back and kissing it. Again, a blush adorned your cheek with no way to hide it. It was brief and quick, but his cold lips ghosted against your cheek. All you could do was abruptly stand up with a smile on your face.
"I'm gonna go find an alcoholic beverage. I'll be right back, play nice with him."
Natsuo watched helplessly as you walked off into the distance. He sat there quietly, patiently waiting for you to come back. Natsuo was such a cool, calm collected guy, but alone with your siblings, he felt nervous. Seeing the way they acted with you gave him a bad impression of them, but he has to play nice because he was your boyfriend.
"You know, an alcoholic drink does sound great."
Your older sister stood up from the couch and walked off in the same direction as you did, the kitchen presumably, to make herself a drink as well. Soon, your brother left the room as well, your little sister bit her lip as she watched your brother walk off in the direction of the bathroom. She was quick to stand and in the place you once held occupied.
"My sister said play nice, but I'd rather play rough."
She slid her hand over his thigh and inched it closer to his crotch while she smiled up at him, nibbling on her lip.
"What are you doing? I'm here with your sister, I'm her boyfriend."
"Ugh, what do you even see in her? She's not even pretty."
Before Natsou could reply, before he could defend you, your sister climbed across his lip and planted her lips against his. He wasn't kissing her back, but with her on top of him, her pressing her face against his, and her fingers deeply gripping his clothes it was difficult to get her off of him. He wasn't kissing back, he was trying to push her off but as you walked up with two margaritas in hand all you saw was your fake boyfriend kissing your sister.
It hurt. It shouldn't have, but it hurt. He wasn't yours, not really. He was just your lap partner, your friend. He wasn't your boyfriend, you were just fake dating. He wasn't yours. He wasn't yours, but it hurt to see your sister all over him. He wasn't yours, but for the night he was supposed to be. He wasn't yours but for the sake of your lie you did what any girl would do after finding her boyfriend cheating on her: You dumped your margarita down the skank.
"[Brothers Name] is right, you are a slut! And you- you-"
As your sister pulled herself off of Natsuo she looked up at you shocked with alcohol dripping down her body, you ignored her and turned your attention to Natsou. Your eyes were blurry but you had to will yourself not to cry.
"I don't need you here. You can just leave."
You didn't wait for Natsou to get up and leaves nor did you want for him to talk and explain anything to you. You simply took off in the direction of your bedroom, slamming the door behind you. Natsuo quickly jumped up on his feet and took off in the direction of your bedroom. He didn't knock, he didn't wait for permission, he just busted in and ran over to you.
"If you want to make out with my sister, that's fine. I get it, she's pretty, she's hot, she's better than me. She's everything you'd want, but you were supposed to be here with me! You were supposed to be here as my boyfriend! My parents were supposed to think we're in love. You were supposed to be mine, I don't care if it's fake, you cheated with my sister!"
The tears were leaking down your cheeks as you yelled at him. No words could pass Natsuo's lips, no matter how hard he tried. They couldn't. Seeing your tears, a product of him hurt. It hurt. He hurt you. He was trying his best to shoot his shot, he was trying to subtly woo you.
"Your sister came on to me, I tried pushing her away. She's really is a snake, you said it yourself!"
You still sniffled as you nodded at him. He was right, you had said that. He was right, she is a snake and this is exactly what she would do just to screw with your life.
"I'm sorry, your right. I shouldn't have acted like that, you're not actually mine. Natsuo, I do need you, I need you here."
"What if I wanted you to really be mine?"
You sniffling stopped as Natsuo took closer steps to you. He placed his hands on your cheeks and pulled your lips against his. This was different from earlier. The kiss wasn't quick, it was long. It was long and passionate, yet cold. Despite your shivers, you found yourself leaning into him, into the kiss.
"You- You can't do that, it's against the rules."
"Screw the rules. I just- I wish you needed me every night of the year, not just Christmas."
Natsuo ran his hands through his hair nervously. He thought speaking against your father and defending you against your sister was enough to get his point across. This idea of verbally speaking it, it scared him. This was uncharted territory for him.
"I want you [Y/N]. I want you every day of the year. I want to kiss you on the lips, I want to hold hands, I want dates and hugs. I want more than chemistry class and Christmas gatherings."
"Then you can have me! Have me every day of the year. Be mine, every day of the year. Take me on a date, hold my hand, kiss my lips!"
Natsuo pulled you against him and your face collided with his chest. You buried your face in his chest as your arms wrapped around his body and a smile formed.
"Let's not fake date, be my actual girlfriend."
You leaned up and left a quick chaste kiss on Natsuo's lips with a smile.
"I don't want anyone else to be my actual boyfriend, I suppose you might say we chemistry."
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aestheticaxolotl · 3 years
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V.I.L.E Headcanons
- Graham “Crackle” Calloway grew up in the poorer slims of Sydnee Australia where his parents struggled on a day to day basis to provide food for their 4 kids, Graham, being the oldest son felt the absolute need to help his parents provide for his three younger siblings. Doubling down in school, and getting the best grades he could (B’s and low A’s) and then diving into work as soon as he got out. -Graham started with small odd jobs until he got a part time gig with a rather cranky old electrician who had no love for anyone in his life. But he took Graham on as an apprentice because the stupid kid wouldn’t leave him alone. To his chagrin, the kid took to the job like a house on fire. This became important when he joine V.I.L.E -Tigress came from a troubled home to say the least. Her mom was an alcoholic and her dad was a blue-collared working class man who would gamble and chase after his dreams while squandering all the families money She resented her parents for these reasons and acted out as much as she possibly could, whether by robbing small stores or beating up younger kids on the play ground
-She started out trying to make a quick buck to help her momma pay the bills, not because she was showing kindness to her mom, but because the land lord had threatened to kick them out one too many times, and kept making lewd comments and suggestions that even Tigress would not allow her mother to take.
-El Topo’s story isn’t the happiest, seeing as his mother moved into America when he was very young, unable to afford to bring her husband and son with her at the time. Of course, El Topo’s father was not keen on being left behind and took his 12 year old son, attempting to smuggle him into America. Sadly, this would not end well seeing as El Topo’s father was shot and killed, and he was placed in foster care, unable to contact his mother.
-El Topo got out of the Foster care system when he was 18 and was homeless for a long time. He lived on the streets in Georgia, the last place his mom was having known working. He did everything he could to find his mom and was devastated to learn that his mother had moved to New York, remarried and had a daughter.
-Le Chevre’s mother died giving birth to him in Paris, France. His father being left alone to raise their one and only son, they had married young and had a baby younger, leaving the young father devastated and entirely loving of his young son. Le Chevre’s young life was full of music and love. His father worked as a caretaker in a French Theater, working up with the lights and the set pieces.    -Young Le Chevre wasn’t as fascinated with the acting as he was with being high up and above the actors, it gave him a feeling of power and meaning while his father proposed that he take lessons to play instruments for the plays. HE did for about a week to please his hard working father, but took the gold star in thievery. To this day he still leaves large amounts of money on his’s father’s doorsteps as thanks for such a wonderful upbriging.
-Dash Harber grew up with a love of fashion and the stylistic life of the rich and famous. His parents, both very wealthy and distant from him, showered their son with gifts and money for doing nothing but existing. His parents ended up sending him away at the age of 15 (At his request) to his aunt “Cookie Booker” so that he could have a better, proper upbringing. 
-Through his ‘Aunt Cookie’, he met the Dear Countess Cleo, who he took a major liking to the Countess, having a childhood crush on her. Cleo found the young gentlemen quiet endearing and took him under her wing, giving him the life he had know that he’d desired at a very young age. This came to bit him in the but when he started working for V.I.L.E. His parent identifying him during a caper and he had to go into hiding for quite a while. (His parents minds were wiped after this incident, as far as they are concerned now, they never had kids).
-Paperstar’s mother was a prostitute in Japan, and gave birth to her from an unknown father. Paperstar was devoted to her mother, even if she was not devoted to her daughter. She was usually there when her mother brought a man home, covering her ears when ever, what her mother called ‘Business work’, started.
-Young Paperstar started stealing from the men who her mother brought home when she was seven, doing this for many years before one man noticed and turned both Paperstar and her mother into the police. This enraged her mother and she disowned Paperstar, leaving the girl alone and vengeful, only wanting to look out for herself. (She might have killed her mom too, I’m still thinking on that one)
-Mimebomb was born in Ireland with their twin brother. When they were young their parents moved them to France. This is where they saw their first ever Mime, their mother had stopped at a shop and 3 year old Mimebomb had wandered off and stopped to watched a man with paint on his face act on a street corner. They realized they were lost and the Mime just... Scooped them up to help them find their mom and twin brother. This REALLY enforced in them that Mimes weren’t scary or freaky. (Their WHOLE family disagrees to this to this day)
-Spoiler, Mimebomb grew obsessed with Mimes and this really worried their parents. They sent him to a Psychologist, one Professor Maelstrom who was doing freelance work. Maelstrom found the phenomena rather interesting and kept track of Mimebomb for a very long time, it was Maelstrom who brought Mimebomb to V.I.L.E and showed them what their true calling was.
-Boris and Vlad.... I don’t have much for them but what I do have is rather... Boris and Vlad grew up in a very unwelcoming community. Russia at the time was very hostile towards outsiders and while their parents (They are not related, family friends in my eyes) had both of them in Russia, they were still not well accepted by their community, often bullied and beaten bloody by other kids, who forced them to clean up the mess after they finished beating them.
-This horrible childhood instilled a rather off form of PTSD and OCD in both of them that leads them to see every mess that a V.I.L.E operative made was something they had to clean up. Somehow, it was their fault and they had to fix and clean and pretend nothing ever happened.
-Cookie Booker is the Aunt of Dash Haber, she ADORES her Nephew and spoiled him rotten when he was a child, basically taking him in when he asked her too. She took great care to raise him the best she could, never having been able to have children herself, an event that let to her husband leaving her and marrying another woman.
-Cookie was also the woman who introduced Countess Cleo to Professor Maelstorm, a very monumental occasion in V.I.L.E history.
-Neal the Eel was just Neal as a kid. His mom and dad were performers in a Circus, a Magician and his Assistant. He used to adore the circus and wanted to be part of it as a contortionist/escape artist. He was bullied for his hypermobility ( similar to double-jointedness, but if it is progressively more serious it can create more problems for someone.) Causing him to end up resenting his upbringing and parents.
When Neal was 16 he began to break IN to prisons and then BREAK BACK OUT with a TON of the criminals inside. This quickly put him on V.I.L.E’s radar and they decided that they really wanted to recruit him. They made the offer and he vowed that he would never be seen as a joke like he was with the circus.
-MooseBoy was not the brightest kid in school, often picked on for being slow or stupid when he was really just a friendly kid with dyslexia. He almost flunked out of school and would have if not for this dorky looking kid who called himself “Otter”. Thus, a tense and rather abusive friendship formed.
-Otterman was the only reason that Mooseboy was able to graduate Highschool. They were a team, he was the brains (Still is) and Mooseboy the brawn (Still is). HE hated the fact that he was smaller and weaker and really took it out on his partner. Their first crime together was breaking into the school and stealing the principal’s desk on a dare.
-Spinkick and his half sister Flytrap have the same father, and different mothers. Their father lived a double life with his paramours only six miles from one and other. This affair was discovered by their moms and the two women ended up murdering their children’s father and then (unironically) falling in love with each other.
-Flytrap and Spinkick’s mothers moved in and the two kids were forced to get along, they ended up really caring about each other and watching each other’s backs and defending each other in school. Their mother’s never got caught by the way, just think about that.
-The Troll never had friends as a kid and met all his good good friends online, including Player (Plot twist?). Player and Troll got along like peanut butter and jelly, becoming a tag team in learning to hack and work with the internet system. The Troll became invested in trying to figure out how to lock down security systems like banks or Jail facilities (Seeing as his father was put in jail for robbing a back and killing a man who tried to stop him).
-This took Player aback and he began to back away from his friendship with The Troll. This didn’t matter to The Troll, he managed to shut down the security system where his father was being kept. This ends sadly due to the fact that his father doesn’t escape, but ends up dying in the break out. This caused him to draw back from people and remain in his room for a very long time.
Thanks for reading my ramble about V.I.L.E Operatives, I’ll be posting one for the Faculty soon!
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okay-victoria · 3 years
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Random Personal Rant
For anyone somehow here not from the original thread, this started off me getting asked what finishing school is and me getting shit off my chest that is only mildly relevant about how I could both be of the social class that gets sent to finishing school and grows up on welfare.
With an understanding that in many parts of the world it wouldn't qualify as so, as far as the US goes, my dad is from what counts as a very old money family from Baltimore & Philadelphia. Both his siblings went to college and one now owns a major hedge fund, and his sister is married to a C-level executive at a huge conglomerate. His parents went to college. His grandparents went to college. All eight of his great grandparents went to college. My dad...did not go to college. He was not about that life, and while I don't mean it as an insult, when I say his primary occupation until I was ~5 was a drummer in a mediocre band I mean that he opened for a lot of great acts, and if you lived in the Boston to Atlanta area in the 80s you may have heard him play, but he was never a huge national name. But he wasn't an amateur band playing for free at some random local gig either.
My mom grew up on a chicken farm in a Mennonite family in Pennsylvania but also completely rejected her heritage and became a model, sort of like my father, of mediocre status. Not Giselle Bundchen, but had national contracts and if you have a Graco ad/box from 1990-1993 you might see both me and her on it. They met because my mom's friends placed bets, one each, on who could sleep with a member of their favorite local band first and my mom picked my dad and...my mom was actually supposed to go be a model in Tokyo and found out she was pregnant with me and couldn't go 😂
So, after my parents had two kids back to back with a third on the way and determined they needed lifestyles more in line with having three children, they became much poorer than they originally were because my mom stopped working and my dad, with a barely-passed-high-school education but needing a true "day job" worked day labor in construction. My dad's father was too proud to give us money/help if my dad didn't beg for it; despite having eventually four young children my dad never did so we ended up on all the state assistance programs one could imagine. My grandma jokes that dinners at my parents house were BYOC - bring your own chair, because we didn't own any.
My mother and paternal grandmother had no such pride issues and I live in eternal gratitude that my welfare childhood was not as crappy as it should have been because my grandmother would have my mom accompany her on grocery runs and buy us food without my father or grandfather knowing, and every Christmas and birthday my grandparents/godparents could give us the one big ticket gift all the kids wanted that year. But, on the other side, I once got stung by a bee inside my mouth because my brother threw a hairbrush through a cracked window at me and broke it and we couldn't afford to fix it for about two years and a hornet got in one day and rested himself in my coke can (my parents were the very American type that fed me coca-cola in baby bottles at age 8 when I was jealous of my younger siblings lol).
It is hard not to believe in "toxic masculinity" when two men warring over dumbass pride issues would rather their children/grandchildren go without food than suck it up and decide 'help' isn't the worst word in the English language, and you know you've only been saved by two women who came from totally different backgrounds and entirely disapproved of each other but reached out the hand to shake when it came down to toddlers getting the short end of the don't-bend-the-knee stick. It wasn't that either of the men were bad people, I loved them both and got along great with both, but on a societal level I feel they were socialized in a very fucked up way if that was the end result, as both claimed "male pride" in these instances [my dad took multiple thousands of dollars I'd saved from working during college from me during the 2008-2010 financial crisis and didn't tell me and that was the reason I was given for why I hadn't been informed/asked, because it would be too emotionally difficult for an adult man to ask a young woman. My graduation present was them repaying me 1/3 of the money they'd taken from me without asking because I'd like, trusted them when it had been in a joint account that was a holdover from when I was <18 and couldn't have my own bank account].
While in some ways my parents on the surface achieved the American dream of going from nothing to a bunch of money, the real factor in play was that my dad's father was the bank. My parents had no credit and couldn't get real loans. My dad worked construction and during the two major periods that flipping houses was very lucrative, he never had to get an actual loan or pay actual interest, he just had to ask his father to pay out cash and then repay him at a flat 2% interest rate that didn't even accrue over time, just...whenever you are ready, repay the value of the loan + 2%. Because my father was doing something productive, in these instances, my grandfather was happy to pay, because it wasn't giving away money, it was loaning it. I had a very weird situation of mostly being poor but like also getting taken to the "big donors" events at the Kennedy Center and my grandparents regularly buying me a dress as a child worth more than my mom's wedding dress and also needing to pretend I fit in with these people.
And look. When I say "these people"...honestly, by and large, most wealthy people, whether inherited or not, are not the assholes you want to imagine. Most of them are extremely nice. Most of them are generous when it comes to the less fortunate who are in their personal sphere of being. Most of them are just really out of touch. The 100% kindest of all of them that I know once relayed to me that she thought people would be happier if once a year they did what she did...go to the airport with a purse packed full of absolute necessities, buy a one way ticket to the most appealing destination on the flight board, buy your clothes and book your accommodations after you'd arrived, and come back after you felt you'd 'centered' yourself. She didn't understand why there were so many unhappy people who weren't taking this very obvious route to being happier. I didn't quite know how to explain that saying "most" people couldn't afford to do that either financially or from a job/career angle didn't even cover it, as "most" sounds like 70% instead of 99.7%.
I was both my parents eldest son and eldest daughter in the worst combination possible. I was the eldest son because I was the most stereotypically male of all my siblings, in everything from desire to physically fight the battles I was given to dislike of shopping/fashion to lack of emotional connection to my relationships, so I can now fix your average household plumbing/drywall/electrical issue better than most "city" guys I interact with and remain less clingy to them in the process. I was also very much the oldest daughter from a responsibility perspective, I managed our household and from age 10 - 24 managed the finances of our family business, my mom almost died giving birth to my youngest brother after a ruptured uterus that should never have happened in the first place if we had adequate insurance to get her a non-emergency C-section (I was just past 9 years old at the time) and I was informally withdrawn from school for two years to take care of the family when she couldn't because there is no paid parental leave in the US and we got double-fucked by the medical industry because she got a bad "mesh" put in and then had to have a further surgery to repair that which we also had to pay for and didn't have the money to win a lawsuit over.
I don't know quite how to put this, but in the deepest fuck you of the universe, my rich-immigrant-ggggg grandfather's money led to him owning banks, insurance companies, etc, and the family cashed out in a big way when their ownership was bought by and merged with what is now Cigna, one of the biggest US healthcare insurers, and my nuclear family specifically got screwed by the American health insurance industry, but anyway, we were the people selected for that karmic comeuppance so if you want to feel schadenfreude at my expense, I'll allow it without begrudging the sentiment, my family might have fucked up your family’s life too, not just their own.
I got up twice a night to feed my brother because my dad had to sleep unmolested in my room to get to work and my mom was too weak to carry my brother or even hold him against her while she nursed so I had to hold him up to her. Adjusting to living in a city and hearing lots of random noises all the time was not easy when I'd had mom sound instincts from age 9.
I learned to drive the fall my youngest bro was born because my mom couldn't and I had to get my middle brother to preschool and go the grocery store on my own. While I hold absolutely no ill will towards my father or grandfather for this and given that about 1/3 of my paternal family either has an autism diagnosis or should, I fully feel the struggles they both went through to be communicated with, my father wouldn't ask for help, and my grandmother that lived 20 minutes away couldn't give enough help because my grandfather refused to do a single dish on his own as that was outside their "marriage contract" type agreement and she couldn't ever stay with us overnight when there wasn't a clearly-communicated need, so they let the burden fall on a 9 - 11 year old child and that really shaped a lot of my life in both good and bad ways. My youngest brother is 22, and we have only just climbed out of the medical debt his birth left us with between my dad's life insurance and my oldest brother and I paying for the extra cost of out-of-state college tuition.
The irony of all of this is that because my father died before his father, when my grandmother dies, my siblings and I will all inherit enough money (as a non-blood relative my mom, despite keeping her vows to part at death and not having remarried in eight years, is cut out entirely) to make this a non-issue, but my grandfather couldn't conscience spotting his unluckiest child some money in the end of days to pay for my youngest two brothers' education and take that worry off my father as he was dying. The day before he died I had to hold him down in bed to keep him from trying to climb in his truck to go to work because he was so anxious about trying to provide for us in spite of his father having fuck you money, because his father didn't think it was fair to the other siblings (who, at the time, still owned a major hedge fund and were married to a C-level executive of a huge conglomerate). A day and a half later I went back to my job because at the time I was then the sole provider for the family and didn't want to risk asking for the standard week's bereavement leave when I knew I was capable of showing up at work the next day and was fresh out of college so hadn't built up a reputation yet.
My father worked the day each of us was born, so I suppose it is only fair and he smiled at the choice. In spite of what it may seem, I gave a baller and very heartfelt speech at his funeral to all his rich friends that over and above everything, he'd taught us how to be happy with our own lives no matter what, and multiple of them emailed my mom in the aftermath to say they'd reassessed their relationship with their children in light of it, although...tbh I kind of doubt that lasted and they probably changed nothing 😅. The last good talk I had with him, two weeks before he died [his liver was going and it sent toxins to his brain that de-personed him after that and he no longer recognized me as his daughter, but as his sister], I reassured him that though we would all be sad he'd gone, we'd live on just fine without him because that's how he'd raised us, and according to my mom that was what gave him the final bit of peace he needed. Although honestly, I don't think I will ever see the strength in another human again that it took my grandmother to sit next to him and stroke his hand and tell him to close his eyes and imagine he was happy on a beach and die, for God's sake, because he was unaware and in pain and just prolonging it for our sake by then.
That type of obsession my grandfather had with assessing his children and grandchildren on the basis of economic productivity and a very black and white idea of "fair" is one you don't easily forget, I promise you. My hedge fund uncle is currently positioning himself to screw us out of our inheritance because of janky writing in the will and I'm doing my fuck all best to gain the wherewithal to go toe-to-toe with this cold motherfucker in court as the oldest and representative member of my happily much nicer and softer younger brothers who I want to remain that way not because I even care that much about the money, I know what bills affect your credit first and what you can put off paying and all of us have good enough career prospects to do our own thing, but just because I want to give the middle finger to a man that was a multi-millionaire and drew lines on his milk and orange juice bottles when I came over so he knew if I drank what my parents couldn't afford when I was approximately six. Anyway, ask me why I support major reforms in wealth taxation. I don't care who it goes to, just not that guy, you feel?
Having expendable income was very exciting for a bit after I started working but once I got to the hateable point of assessing my annual bonus and internally complaining that I'd spent the money I should have spent on a Sauternes cellar to drop five digits on bedset materials (to be fair they are drop dead gorgeous, very comfy and the factory pays a living wage for people to handmake the sheets/duvets/pillows to people in San Francisco, which is not cheap, so maybe I did more good than harm with that), I two seconds later nodded to myself and went "the government needs to confiscate more money from me". The narrative is always that the "undeserving" will use it for dumb things they don't need like iPhones or refrigerators...?...but like...I could also have gone to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a very nice sheet/comforter set for at most a tenth of what I paid so am I really spending it responsibly either....?....who is going to get more joy out of this misspent money....?....not me, that is for sure, I probably would have had more fun going to BBB and laying on all the demo beds and buying something there.
My lifelong dream, which may become possible if/when I do have something of an inheritance, is to provide food security for one of the many towns in the US were most residents don't have it. It's the thing I remember the most distinctly over the years. I never could quite believe it when I got to the point that I could just...pay to eat at a restaurant. One of the most disappointed my mother has ever been in me is when I was twenty five and confessed I actually had no idea how much a gallon of milk cost in a city grocery store besides that it was probably between $1 and $5, because I didn't have to know. For now I make a weekly drop off of my excess produce to a mom group I met under somewhat weird circumstances but I was walking through the cut-through that went through the low-income housing back to my apartment at like 2 AM on a Saturday and these moms were out there partying and smoking weed with their kids all strapped in strollers around or the older ones watched by a rotating member of the group and I felt very safe and like these moms had a very good vibe of both living their own lives [seriously for mental health parents but in most cases specifically mothers need to be able to keep up relationships with people their age] but keeping their children safe and accounted for while doing so and trying their fuckin' best against all the odds to figure out how to make that happen when life had dealt them a shit hand.
...anyway, looping way back to the original question of what finishing school is, when I was almost done with middle school my dad had built a legit construction business that then very quickly took off because we lived in a commutable zip code to the now-rich-in-their-own-right people he went to high school with who trusted him to redo their homes. We eventually moved to that zip code but I stayed and commuted back to my old high school. But, i was a pretty wild kid which my father appreciated for a long while because I would follow him around on jobs and enjoy doing physical labor, but once I was mid-puberty and also he had to maybe show me to his high school friends that did not fly.
I snapped - not broke, snapped - my left thumb and my parents had to trap me like a wild animal to get me to go the hospital. Then I got a deep cut that partially injured a tendon in my leg and at eleven I tried to beat the shit out of my dad to prevent him from picking me up to strap me in the car and go to the hopsital. Next I got a deep splinter due to my eternal-barefoot tendencies and it wouldn't come out so got infected and I refused to go to the doctor [another weird back story but I was minorly sexually assaulted [[to be clear, not raped or anything big traumatic]] when I was eight and had to stay in hospital for a week and my parents couldn't be with me all the time so I have a permanent heebie-jeebie about going to the hospital, not true anxiety, I will go if I know I need to and I don't breathe heavy or anything, and I'm actually not permanently weirded out by sex or anything, just doctors in hospitals specifically I kind of unconsciously try to justify not needing to the extent I can rationalize it] and my dad was tired of my antics so he was like "fine if you don't go I will slice your foot in half with a Swiss Army knife to get it out" and I called his bluff and laid down on the floor, stuck my foot on his lap, and he didn't really know what to do when a barely fourteen year old girl called his bluff so my brothers watched in fascinated but horrified awe as I got my foot sliced open spectacularly so that the infection/splinter could come out and I didn't even make a sound out of spite despite it being quite painful to my recollection almost twenty years later.
They saw me cry from pain exactly one time when while trying to break up a fight between all three of them (it was over ice cream) I got pushed and my ankle got dislocated and what actually made me cry was snapping it back in place and they realized it was not a joke. These dumb assholes that I love have ragged on me for "skipping" chores the day after I was in the hospital because the day before that I had to spend 18 hours running Thanksgiving as a good sub-hostess like I didn't have a serious infection that needed treating and couldn't rest because none of them were up to any task beyond peeling potatoes.
After the Swiss Army knife incident, my dad's discussion of sending me to finishing school became real, which I knew when my mom made me take a walk with her and talked about it. Finishing school is like...etiquette school....? In ye olden day when finishing high school was not the norm for anyone, wealthy men finished high school and wealthy women often went to "finishing" school to have a combined education on being a proper lady but also being able to hold a decent conversation with your presumably-educated husband, so it wasn't entirely etiquette non-academic. It was more just like "what a rich man wants in a wife" school, which was sort of household management and knowing enough about cleaning/cooking to correct the staff if they fucked up, how to be a polite hostess, and how to not entirely bore him when you were alone together and had done your five minutes of sex or whatever so actually had to have a conversation. In modern times it has obviously expanded to be less bleak.
I said miss me with that, I can be a girl on my own, so I went full throttle into the girliest sport they offer in high school and ever since have gained the inestimable advantage of knowing how to also use femininity to my advantage, which I am very grateful to my parents for making me learn. It would be great if we lived in a world where that didn't count, but it did/still does, and they really set me up to operate in all the worlds.
It is weird for me to tell the story to Internet strangers because it's one of those things that makes your parents sound terrible and abusive in the general tone of the Internet nowadays, and while I support gender nonconforming children I don't remember my childhood or parents that way. But, I feel like the bits and pieces of my life I've given don't always make a ton of sense together without the context, so here it is, and in the end, I think a number of parts of it are areas where you can probably understand where it makes me have the opinions I do when I write.
Anyhoo, this makes my life sound far worse than it is, I actually have a great life and I am not unhappy with it at all and feel I was on the whole blessed with many more turns of luck than unluck, so, please, do not take this as a depressed artist rant, it is more like a rant of a very energetic person who rants about a lot of things all the time and didn’t need to come out but just did because the question was asked and the time was right with my life being in a bit of flux to think about how I got where I am and where I want to go and why.
Always remember no matter what problems it seems like I have, if I didn’t solve them on my 2 year round the world traveling hiatus I took from working, it’s my own fault, I definitely had the time and money to solve them and just chose not to.
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proselys · 3 years
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Dude ofc I want to hear about Tsia and Clyde’s hc. Also about Lauren Reynolds and literally any thought you have ever about any of these things
Let’s go gays! These are rough little backstories I have for them, some bits are canon but honestly it’s just me vibing:
Clyde:
He was adopted by an older rich couple when he was a baby. This birth mother was young and didn’t have the means to look after him.
His adoptive parents spoilt him a ton with anything he wanted because they’d always wanted a child.
When he was ten his parents adopted another boy; a younger brother for him and he was slightly pushed out of the spotlight for his parents’ affection.
He grew up around Windsor and went to Eton College before going to Cambridge University and graduating top of his class.
He and his brother never really got along and Clyde started to get into trouble at school.
After university his father, who was a military man got him to change career paths and join the Royal Marines where he became a decorated hero.
Coming out of service he joined the SIS and quickly rose through promotions.
He’s a closeted bisexual for the most part, though Emily, Tsia and some of his colleagues know.
He has so much faith in Emily and her abilities and after JTF-12 disbanded he made sure to push her wish to be in the BAU so she’d get it because he knew she deserved it.
Emily and Clyde bicker like siblings and he’s the og big brother.
Tsia:
Tsia is the second of four siblings. Her parents separated when she was thirteen and her older brother went to live with her dad whilst she stayed with her mom. Her and her brother don’t speak that often.
Tsia’s mom married her step-dad and they had her younger half brother and sister.
Her brother is deaf, and so she became fluent in French Sign Language.
She has a great relationship with her family and loves being at home spending time with them.
Coming from a lower social-economic background, she wanted to get good grades in school and get a good job to help her family.
She’s an expert in kickboxing and hand to hand combat.
After university she joined the RG (Central Directorate of General Intelligence), working in protecting France against terrorism. In 2008 the RG merged with the DST to create the DCRI.
During working with Emily, they became friends with benefits, merging on the edge of a relationship but never much further than that.
She’s one of the only people Emily is awful at lying too because they share such a strong connection.
These are really vague but I would go into more detail if I didn’t want you to get bored haha. I’m gonna be cheeky and say that all my Lauren talk is in Before the Sunrise as I’ll be exploring her character a lot more in there.
But thank you for the ask, I am emotionally attached to these two.
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liss-99 · 3 years
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I'm sorry I had to : 93 × no body no crime
I'm so excited what you do for this :))
I cannot even tell you the reaction I had when I saw this prompt. This might be my favorite one yet. I hid it below the line because I love it that much!
TW: murder and violence, obviously
It was a secret she would take with her to the grave. 
Kate Sharma and Sophie Beckett became best friends during their first year of college. They were both averse to popularity and the social scene, electing instead to carve their own paths in life. Kate wished to become a social worker while Sophie had dreams of being an elementary school teacher. Their first meeting was in a freshman child psychology course, and the rest, as people often said, was history. 
They were there for each other through all of the life moments; their undergraduate and graduate programs, getting that first job, boyfriends, drunken nights, vacations, weekend hikes, vintage clothing shopping on rainy days, living together, everything. 
Sophie met a man eventually, Phillip Cavender. They married after only six months together, Sophie had been completely captured by him. He was from old money and he knew it, and while Kate didn’t particularly like him, she loved her friend, so she did her best to be supportive. Cavender never seemed to realize how great of a person Sophie was, and the veneer of their marriage quickly cracked. 
Both having busy lives and full-time jobs, the women didn’t get to see each other as often as they both would have liked. But, they did have a ritual, ensuring they got to catch up with each other. 
Every Tuesday, they would meet up at the local Olive Garden, their favorite chain restaurant since college, for dinner and a glass of wine, Chardonnay for Kate and Pinot Noir for Sophie. They usually chatted about work, romance, the latest news, whatever was on their minds. But this night, when Sophie arrived she looked more stressed out than Kate had ever seen her. Their wine had already arrived, the staff had come to learn the routine, so Sophie took a huge sip of hers and sighed as she sat down. 
“What’s the matter?” Kate asked, concerned about her best friend. Sophie looked as if she hadn’t been sleeping. 
“It’s Phil,” Sophie sighed. “He’s been acting different, and I don’t have any proof, but it smells like infidelity to me.”
“You think he’s cheating on you?” 
“All I know is he tastes like merlot whenever we kiss,” Sophie replied, “and we don’t drink merlot.”
Kate crossed her arms, waiting for more. 
“I was going through our joint account yesterday, you know, just for maintenance, to make sure everything was in order.”
“And?”
“There was a $1200 charge for Tiffany’s from three weeks ago. He hasn’t given me any jewelry since he proposed.”
“That bastard,” Kate exclaimed. “He’s absolutely cheating.”
“No there ain’t no doubt about it. I want to call him out.”
Sophie’s jaw clenched, which didn’t go unnoticed by Kate. 
“I think he did it but I just can’t prove it. A few undiscussed charges and the taste of wine aren’t enough to accuse my husband of cheating. 
“Ah, corpus delicti,” Kate sighed, sitting back in her chair. “No body, no crime.”
“Exactly. Without any proof, I don’t have grounds for divorce or he’ll ruin me. I think he did it, but I need proof. Even if it takes me until the day I die, I won’t let up.”
Kate raised her glass to cheers with Sophie, silently celebrating that her best friend would hopefully soon be rid of her scummy husband. 
~
Sophie wasn’t there Tuesday night at Olive Garden, at her job, or anywhere. It had been a few weeks since her revelation to Kate that she wanted to leave her husband. 
They’d canceled the previous week, with Sophie texting 
“Sorry, talking to Phil tn. Can’t make it to dinner. See you next week?”
And that was the last time Kate had heard from Sophie. It was unlike Sophie to be non-communicative, especially with her. When Cavender reported Sophie as missing the next day, Kate immediately grew suspicious. The police launched a full investigation, but Sophie was nowhere to be found. They deemed her a missing person. 
Kate drove by Sophie’s house one night, and in the driveway, she noticed something peculiar. Cavender’s truck had some brand new tires. Sophie had always been complaining that he wouldn’t get new ones even though the truck desperately needed them. Cavender always complained it was a rip-off, which was rich coming from someone as wealthy as he was. But now, all Kate could see were the shiny new tires. Also of interest was the way in which one Cressida Cowper had begun taking residence in Cavender’s house. It made a lot of sense when Kate thought about it, of course Cressida was his mistress. Kate had no doubts that Cressida probably slept in Sophie’s bed and everything as if Sophie had never even existed. 
Like a lightning bolt, it all clicked for Kate. The Cavender family was proud of their name, and nothing would ruin them more than a divorce less than a year after marriage. Sophie had told Kate the morning of her last text that she finally felt like she had enough evidence to confront Cavender about the cheating. Putting 2 and 2 together, Kate determined Cavender had done something to Sophie. 
He was a cruel man, and Kate was almost positive he abused Sophie throughout their marriage. But Sophie had been careful to hide any signs of mistreatment, so Kate had never been sure. But, without a doubt, Kate was positive Cavender had murdered Sophie, most likely because she accused him of an affair. 
The police, lousy pigs that they were, had quickly given up searching for Sophie, and without a body, there was no crime. Kate wouldn’t be able to prove that Cavender had murdered his wife, but she could enact revenge. 
It really was quite an easy decision. The world would be a better place without Phillip Cavender, and if justice wasn’t going to be given for Sophie’s death, Kate would take it herself. 
On the night she decided it would happen, Kate pulled her old handgun, dusty, covered in cobwebs, and placed it in her bag. She drove out of town, to Cavender’s mansion nestled on the edge of the woods, near a big lake. Kate knew Cressida was gone; the woman was a pharmaceutical sales rep and she was often on ‘business trips.’ 
Kate knocked on the door, and the look of surprise on Cavender’s face when he answered was almost retribution enough. 
“Kate, how can I help you?” He was cold to her, suspicious. 
“I just wanted to check in, see how you are doing with Sophie’s disappearance.” 
“Oh, of course, come in,” he turned, and Kate knew he wanted nothing less than for her to come in. 
With his back turned, she pulled the gun out of her bag and aimed it directly at his head. When he turned back around to feign conversation with her, his breath immediately hitched. 
“Kate, what the hell are you doing?”
“I know Sophie is dead, and that you’re the one who killed her.” 
“You have no proof,” he laughed smugly. 
“I don’t care. It’s the only explanation.”
“Okay? So you’re going to shoot me? That’s going to go over really well for you, if anything, it’ll just make it look like you’re the one who killed Sophie, even though, yeah, of course I was the one who did it. You really think I was about to let her accuse me of cheating and ruin my family? Think carefully about what you do next, Kate.”
Kate was stone-cold, unflinching, and she could see the terror behind his smirk. 
“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m sure I’ll manage,” she said smoothly before she fired the gun. 
The look on Cavender’s face as he slumped over was one of complete disbelief as if it was the first time he would face consequences for his actions. 
When she was 15, Kate’s dad had made her and her younger sister Edwina get boating licenses. He believed it was important to know how to operate all kinds of moving vehicles, ‘just in case.’ 
Kate was grateful for her father’s thinking as she dragged Cavender, wrapped up in a plastic bag, out back to his dock. She heaved his body into the boat, before boating out to the middle of the slimly inhabited lake. It was pitch black outside, and she’d cut the lights on the boat; no one would ever know she was there. With carefully gloved hands, a trick she knew from her crime podcasts and tv shows, she pushed Cavender over the side of the boat, and listened to the glorious sound of him sinking. 
Later, she meticulously cleaned the house, removing any signs of a murder. She cleaned enough houses throughout her life to know how to cover up a scene. 
The next morning, she sent Posy, Sophie’s stepsister, a text. 
“If anyone asks, swear you were with me last night?”
“I swear it.”
Kate wasn’t the only one who disliked Cavender; Kate knew Posy would say whatever to protect her. 
Several days later, when it became public knowledge that Phillip Cavender was missing, news quickly spread of the big life insurance policy Cressida Cowper had taken out just a week prior. Kate hadn’t known this prior to the act, but it made things all the better for her. 
Everyone assumed Cressida had axed Cavender, in hopes of a large sum of money, but with no body, there was no crime, and they just couldn’t prove it. 
Kate was pretty sure Cressida knew what she had done, the way they locked eyes on each other in the town center. Cressida had flames in her eyes when she looked at Kate, but she would never be able to prove it. 
So, the disappearances of Sophie Beckett and Phillip Cavender were never solved; Kate Sharma was the only one to ever know the truth. 
It was a secret she would take with her to the grave.
Taylor Swift Bridgerton One-Shots
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calypsoff · 3 years
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Sixty.
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When Joyce was telling me how she has told Chris to go to church, I mean back home in Barbados, I would go to church, but it just came to me. We probably do need to go to church because all we get constantly is hate, especially Chris, I feel like bad vibes follow him a lot and it is because like she said, there is a lot of people that don’t like him. Imagine your own family wanting shit on you, those bad vibes can get you, so I decided to come to church, Chris was side eyeing me, he was like I am being dramatic, but I believe in it, I do think it’s right and with the baby coming, Chris going to court we need the luck because I do not want to lose Chris, I need god to help me through it. When I was with Rakim, I felt so lost and I turned to god, he blessed me with Chris. He bought the love of my life back and I feel like maybe we lost that by not going, by forgetting god “this is a cute church, so did you go here with your Sunday best yes?” Chris shrugged “I was forced to come here and I played up, my grandma would beat my ass and give me those looks to stop fucking around but it’s me so yeah, but I did come here until I went jail, after jail I didn’t go even though I could gone to the church in the jail, I just was hating everything, I was so angry at why, why me. Every nigga is dealing but why me, so I was hateful” I can imagine he was “well we going today so come” Rich and Frank got out of the car “mhmm, we will see if this blesses us” he is so negative, his ass “thank you” Frank opened the door for me, I slid out of the car with my ever so baggy clothing, I hate it but you never know, people do take sneaky pictures and I don’t like that so I rather be safe. Also with what I posted, people are guessing now, some believed that it happened. TJ’ son really made me excited, he was so adorable and kept patting my bump anyways.
Frank walked inside the church first, it is so eerily quiet, and I am glad it is, I hope nobody is here so we can get some peace. Walking inside and it’s silent, nobody is here. Frank just stood to the side, looking behind me. Chris is of course dragging his feet because he thinks he doesn’t need this, he does. Only thing you can hear is my heels hitting the floor “you’re very heavy footed” rolling my eyes, Chris is annoying “thanks” sitting down near the front but one back, shuffling along “church reminds me of Dolly so much, we had so many good memories with her” Chris sat next to me “do you not believe in god?” I had to question it because he is being negative “I do” he looked at me “then?” I asked confused with him “just you lose it when so much shit happens, is god playing with my life? Why is it I am always on edge, how is that possible. It just makes me think and lose that, I really do believe in it because he bought me you but now I am always thinking I will never get to see my kids grow, so that is it. God ain’t going to fix the fact I like your feet either” he is so annoying but I understand what he means “I am in no way preaching so let’s just sit here and think for a little, we both have things we need to think of” that is if Chris can keep quiet because he likes to play a lot.
I am proud of Chris, he remained quiet and had his head bowed down. He was thinking, the pastor finally came out. I fully expected him to be here earlier but no, he smiled at me “welcome” he spoke “thank you” Chris lifted his head up “not coming on Sunday?” he asked “I think we will be gone by then, this is Chris’ church more then mine” the guy smiled “I know him” he chuckled “Joyce’ boy” he made his way over to us “I am here if you need to speak, it’s nice to see you here today. Both of you, god is always with you” Chris sniggered “god is out here trying to kill me, like am I supposed to be here? Or is god teasing me with the good?” the pastor smiled and made his way closer to us “do you mind” he asked, I am going to keep quiet because this is Chris’ time not mine “no sit sir” he sat in front of us and turned to us “god will never give you something you can’t handle Chris, do you have good?” Chris nodded his head “yeah, I have the love of my life. My literal soul mate. I am sick and tired of feeling like I have to watch myself, like I want to live but I can’t” the pastor nodded his head understanding “son, it’s because you are losing faith. Once you start to lose faith, you start to feel scared. God can’t protect you, the fear you feel is the devil getting to you, the words you hear and fear you feel is what the devil wants you to feel. You’re letting the devil in more then god, bad times happens son. But you are reaping the bad with the good, stop thinking on the bad. Once you divert yourself away from the devil talk and listen to god, which is the good. You will see the difference. Tell me the good?” he asked Chris “married, going to be a father, moved out of VA, have my own business. I can get my parents their own home” the pastor smiled “and the bad?” he asked “losing my best friend out of this, being shot. Three times I kissed death, I been dead I know I was, then my family wishing death on me” he nodded his head understanding “the good outweighs son, if you lose people now then they aren’t meant for your new life and let them go. Let god in Chris” Joyce really knows her son, he needed this.
In the SUV going to see the house Chris chose, he got it because he likes it and didn’t even go to look at it. it’s out of the way from where he lives originally anyways “how you feel?” I asked Chris, he seems to be quiet “ok, he is right isn’t he. I let the devil speak to me, I think of that. I just need to think of the blessing I am getting, I can’t let the shit my family want to happen to me affect me. The best thing I can do for my parents, sister and nephew is move them from that place, the family that hate me can choke when they see this. Anyways I told them where to meet us, after the realtor is gone. This home is perfect. I just want to say thank you Robyn, like you been my rock. Even though we have disagreements, but you have my back, you’re supportive of me. Even though you know I am thinking of the bad, you’re there dragging me out of it. Also just allowing me to buy a home for my family, the fifteen million is both of ours and it was earnt mostly on your name” I cooed out, that is so sweet of him “Chris, what is money to me. I have what I want in my life. Your family treated me so well, Joyce treated me like her own. They were so good to me and I remember those things, you’re my husband. I want the best for you, I just don’t want your family to be harassed because it can happen, it did for mine in Barbados. Then you don’t have to worry” Chris smiled at me lightly.
Staring out of the window as we drove by homes, the area looks nice “are we here?” I asked, the car cut away and onto a drive “oh my god, is this the home, Chris this already looks amazing” the home is really big and remote “yeah, you like it. The only thing is that it is a five car garage space, and they have one but who cares” he shrugged but who cares, this looks so nice “I love it, it’s very VA. And the price tag on this is amazing, you know this would be millions?” I laughed, I laughed because it’s true because it’s six bedrooms too so that would be over a million” Chris really just bought it so he has to like it either way, Chris jumped out of the car, he didn’t even wait for the bodyguards to open the door, he is excited and I am excited for him. Rich opened the door for me as I got out, I am randomly feeling tired now “Mr Brown we have no had sale like this, where the person didn’t wan tot see it but you won’t find a single thing wrong with this home” walking over to Chris and the realtor “wow Rihanna” he didn’t even stop himself and said it “that is me” I laughed “nice to meet you” shaking his hand “oh yes, erm nice to meet you too” he is shook clearly.
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I have looked through the whole home, this house is amazing. A dream home from when I was a child, I would be so jealous of people with nice homes. The home we had wasn’t bad but it’s tiny, it’s better then what Robyn came from but it’s just something I always wanted to do for them “here you are” pulling back the dining chair “I am tired, I don’t know why but what do you think? How is it? I really love it, see I can see us visiting here and staying here. I feel secure here too, it’s where I know if I don’t come with you that you will be safe here. I am so happy you have done this for them, even so if our baby comes here we can be happy about that. I don’t mind leaving it here for the grandparents to spend time with our baby, it needed to happen didn’t it?” my smile grew hearing Robyn say that “you would let our baby stay here?” I questioned, I had too “of course, I mean now they have moved to a much quieter and remote place. It will be safe for us to do so, it’s a shame they are here in VA but if we go on holiday we can” I like to know that Robyn would be happy to let our baby stay with my family “I think they are here Chris, excited” I clapped my hands “yes! I hid the champagne the realtor left us, I can’t wait” walking off to the door to meet my parents, they are going to think what the hell we doing.
Rubbing the top of my nephew’ head “you good big man? Come, come in” my mother is suspicious “there you are, I was about to say Christopher where is Robyn?” my mother cares for Robyn and that is it “so you renting this place now? It’s a little dead” my sister would point “yes well who cares, you should be blessed I even invited you to see the home Robyn and I are staying at” side eyeing my sister “boy shut up” she waved me off “oh my word, you look so well!” my sister yelped “wow, I wish I looked this perfect pregnant, I gained so much. I was a whale; my thighs were huge. You are glowing, oh my god” my sister complimented Robyn as they hugged “your sister is right, a little empty” my dad is noticing “so what, y’all always complaining. Look how nice the home is, let’s just think of that. Come” waving them over “calm down hyper aren’t you, you sister is talking to Robyn” oh boy here is Tootie taking up my time “it’s ok, Chris is excited. We can talk after” Robyn knows, I just want to say it to them “go on, what you want to show me” my mother gestured for me to walk ahead, I jumped walking ahead of them.
Walking to the back yard, seeing the pool and jacuzzi outside “look at this private land, and pool. What you think” turning to my family grinning “this is so cool, is you and auntie moving here?” Desean asked “auntie? Who that?” I asked all confused “Rihanna uncle” letting out an oh “yeah, no we not just you know seeing but what you think? It’s got six bedrooms and it’s private” Robyn slowly made her way over to me “it’s lovely son, I mean of course you both going to get the best home and we love it. Are you both going to tell us you moving here now?” my dad said with the biggest smile thinking I am going to say it “well I can tell you one thing we won’t be moving here but erm, this home. It’s yours, this home is for you mom and dad. I couldn’t be living the way I do and not have my family living good too” my dad’ face softened “what?” he said in disbelief “the home, everything. It’s paid for it’s yours” my mother looked around in shock “no way Chris, serious. This home!?” Tootie spat “oh my god” my mother of course cried “son, really?” nodding my head smiling “it’s yours, this is yours” my mother rushed over to me in tears “it’s yours, honest mom” hugging my mother close.
It’s crazy seeing my dad crying “I don’t cry, I don’t but this” my dad paused looking ahead “just” he put his head down “I always wanted the best for you kids, I am sorry if you felt I didn’t” shaking my head “no dad, you did a great job but it’s time you both just relax now dad. You are the best parents and I wanted to repay you both with this home” my dad smiled at me “we thank you son, we do. I get to be away with the negativity and just see peace, thank you. Thank you Robyn, I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter in law, you have healed my son and loved him when he needed the most. You blessed us, you have” my dad is emotional “wow, this is really our home now, so I get to have my own room when you come” I chuckled “yes, and then we can also stay over. Mom, I told you I would have you living good, I want to be here for you all” my dad placed his arm around me “thank you god, thank you son” he pressed a kiss to the top of my head “now I am going to need to buy you four more cars huh” my dad chuckled “mom please stop crying, it’s ok. And if you need anything at all, I am here. Robyn is right, this makes you all safe too and we can come here without issues, we want to stay with the family” my dad pulled me along as he made his way to Robyn “and I would like you both to stay with us” he also placed his arm around Robyn “I love you both so much, thank you to the both of you” Robyn cooed out “stop it Clinton” she said, my dad is so thankful but he really doesn’t need to be “Chris said it, he said he wanted to make his money and buy his family a new home, and he did it. I am so proud of him” putting my head down smiling.
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musical-chick-13 · 3 years
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And Theon bc I love him
WHAT A COINCIDENCE I LOVE HIM TOO (this answer is gonna be a combination of books and show)
Send me a character and I’ll tell you the following:
• Did they live up to their potential? / In what ways was their potential unachieved?
-I would say yes. The only negative I have about his general arc is his death (which, see below). But Theon from the very beginning was, though not a particularly nice person, still relatable. Feeling othered, wanting to be accepted by an immediate environment that doesn’t accept you, isolated from and ostracized by your family, and the tension that comes between serving the different types of familial relationships in your life. Theon has no idea who he is, tossed aside by his blood family for not growing up with them and being “soft,” aka sort-of moral and having emotions that aren’t selfish rage or smugness (which, yep, that second part is a mood, see: my entire childhood and how no one wanted to be around an “emotional” “soft” child). And from there, he spirals out of control in a way that, while certainly not admirable by any stretch of the imagination, is still understandable in the context of the narrative and his characterization. And from there, after going through hell and quite literally losing himself (even to the point of straight-up denying rescue), he builds himself back up gradually, to the point where he expressed extreme regret for what he’s done, helps an innocent woman escape a truly horrifying situation, acknowledges that his family is generally garbage, and (in-show b/c again books aren’t finished), helping to restore his sister to power, rescuing her after his PTSD relapses while confronting Euron, and ultimately opting to protect the Starks come hell or high water in order to genuinely atone for what he’s done. He is no longer conflicted because he wants to do the right thing, and that right thing is defending the kingdom from the White Walkers and making sure Sansa and Bran are safe. And it’s no longer about fulfilling a duty or finding a family to fill the void. Because now he has found himself. I will contend that Theon has one of the best, most nuanced, most organic redemption arcs of all time. I will forever be grateful that I got to see that piece of storytelling unfold.
Although, I would love to know what he thought of Dany. A missed opportunity, that.
• How they negatively and positively affected the story.
-Positive: His arc of identity and finding where your loyalties lie ties into the overall theme of “How do you find yourself in a world where goodness, authenticity, and honesty are often punished and increasingly rare?” And it proves that governmental politics aren’t the only defining factors in decisions: familial politics can be just as difficult and dangerous, which adds yet another rich, complicated layer to the overall story. He has a genuine, honest-to-Drowned-God redemption arc, which is...not really present anywhere else in the story (no, Jaime is not on a Redemption Quest, I will die on this hill). But I think the biggest draw of Theon’s presence is that it deconstructs the whole “Character Revenge Fantasy” idea. He does bad things. We want him to be punished. But not like that. No one deserves that. How far is too far? What does retribution really look like? Given how easily that idea can be abused and go off the rails, is retribution even something to strive for? What is the point of using extreme violence/torture/mutilation/breaking someone’s psyche when it doesn’t really accomplish anything? Isn’t atonement and genuine justice a better option? It certainly was for Theon. He could only piece himself back together and do anything meaningful once he was out of his abusive environment. All of these are imporant questions that are posed by his existence in the narrative.
-Negative: Idk if I have much to say here. My biggest problem is his death (see below), but that’s not really a negative story effect so much as...being disappointing and narratively irrelevant. I gotta say, his introduction via his sister was...really weird. I genuinely have no idea why GRRM wrote that. It never came up again or had any kind of narrative ramifications and kind of cast a strange, uncomfortable light on his relationship with Asha/Yara for the remainder of the story. I can ignore and enjoy their later relationship it if I don’t think about it too hard, though, so I guess I’ll chalk it up to GRRM having a Bad Idea.
• What my favorite arc for them is.
-All of it?? Theon’s journey is kind of...one big arc, which is why I think it works so well. He has this overarching redemption plot which spans the entire series and informs every decision he makes (for good or for bad, depending on where in the aforementioned journey he is). The redemption arc isn’t bogged down with side plots or other pieces of narrative clutter, meaning it has time to grow and, thus, be gradual and realistic. If I had to choose a specific point, it’s probably when he tries to reintegrate back into society via supporting Yara. Gaining the Iron Islands’ support for her ruling, spiriting away with Euron’s fleet, and ultimately rescuing his sister after her capture. He can’t just go back into society. He’s scared. He has really bad PTSD. But he recognizes that putting his home in good hands is something bigger than just him because it’s Yara’s home, too. I just...I really love family relationships, y’all.
• What I think of their ending.
-I’m not really sure how I feel about this one. I get that the series is GrimDark™ and that people who make the right choice and fight for good die all the time, but Theon dying just felt...wrong. To me.
And, like...I get it. It makes sense to parallel his original descent into villainy (cemented by executing those two boys and pretending they were Bran and Rickon) with him dying to protect Bran himself. It ties into the whole very common trope of completing a full redemption arc by committing a completely selfless act at great personal cost. It’s kind of like the whole Missy thing in Doctor Who (which...hoo boy, that post is coming, make no mistake), where selfishness is directly opposed by making the ultimate sacrifice with no motivation for personal gain. And the fact that the last words he ever heard were “You’re a good man?” I cannot even begin to describe how much that makes me sob. But...honestly, I’m really tired of this idea that redemption has to end in death in order to be achieved or “complete.” I think it’s much more poignant to have a redeemed character live to help build a better world. Because what’s the point of telling people to be better if the “reward” is death? No one’s going to want to reform themselves if they think that’ll be the result.
I think the thing that Bugs Me™ the most is that Theon never really got to have a moment of peace when he was alive. Sansa gained the North’s love and at least had a secure childhood. Ned and Cat were happily married for years. Arya had parents who loved her and a good relationship with Jon. Jon fell in love with Ygritte and found his Night Watch Bros, and Robb (in show verse) had some very happy moments with Talisa. Davos put great stock in what he considered fulfilling friendships with Stannis and Shireen; Brienne was treated respectfully by Renly, Catelyn, and Sansa; Missandei and Grey Worm had each other and their friendship with Dany, who herself had many personal successes in her quest for the Iron Throne and saw the death of her abusive brother. Cersei even had moments with Jaime (who himself had several notable military victories and at least some time with Myrcella, as well as being gladly and deeply in love, however dysfunctional that love was), times when she successfully fought off enemies (including her dad), and some sweet moments with Tommen, as well as a huge victory via blown-up sept at the end of season 6. Theon was treated as a second-class family member by the Starks his whole life by being “traded” to them as a condition of war resolution AS A BABY, is immediately disparaged and mistreated by his immediate family when he tries to return to them, makes terrible decisions that almost cost him his conscience completely, is brutally tortured by Ramsay, is on the run with his sister from Euron almost immediately after, and has a PTSD attack that ultimatly results in him having to launch a rescue mission. And then he fights ice zombies. And then he dies. He never really...got to be happy at all? There was never any kind of “win” for him. Not even survival. The narrative couldn’t even give him that.
TLDR: Theon’s death seemed less shock-value-y than others (like, for example, Shireen or Missandei or, heck, Melisandre even), and it isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen. It’s narratively-informed and it makes sense as an emotional through-line, but, ultimately, Redemption Cemented By Selfless Death is a tired trope, and I honestly thought this story (which...you know...serves as a deconstruction of common fantasy tropes/book tropes in general) was better than that.
• When I wish they had died. / If I think they should’ve died.
-So here’s where we get personal™ kids.
So, it’s no secret that I am...severely mentally ill. I’ve talked about expression/presentation of mental illness in regard to Cersei a lot on this blog, and how that (as paradoxical as it may seem) helped bring a sense of comfort and emotional resonance to me. Theon, post-Ramsay, has, I think, a very clear case of PTSD. Theon is one of the few characters I’ve seen where his mental illness isn’t the cause of the bad, violent, dangerous choices he makes. It only takes root after he has made the decision and conscious effort to better himself, and it, rather than demonizing him, serve to humanize him. His trauma didn’t define him. And although a PTSD attack led to him unintentionally losing Yara to Euron’s capture, he makes every effort to rescue her, a goal he does end up achieving. It is so rare I get to see a character who goes through these things, successfully fight them and come out with positive qualities at the end. Like...switching topics a bit here, Jaime going back to King’s Landing to (try to) escape and ultimately die with Cersei made sense to me because, as Jaime says, he is a hateful man. He never made much of an honest effort to be anything else. And he never truly wanted to be good; he just wanted to be liked. He wanted to adopt some personality that would make him feel less disconnected from the rest of the world. But Theon...genuinely feels remorse for everything he’s done. He makes a concerted effort to do everything in his power to improve the lives of people he believes are good and deserve to be safe. So, just...killing him off in a Completely Selfless Sacrifice (like...you know how a lot of mentally ill people put themselves through suffering-like OCD rituals, bottling feelings, self-harm, even suicide-in a misplaced attempt to “help” or “protect other people”) seemed antithetical to everything we saw of his arc.
Ultimately, with such a humanizing, empathetic portrayal of trauma and mental health struggles, seeing Theon be killed off just...pissed me off. I am so tired of seeing mentally ill characters die. I really want to believe that I can live through and thrive in spite of the things that afflict me, and I get example after example of characters not being allowed to do that. It feels awful, quite frankly. And it makes hope that much harder. 
I also just feel like...there was nothing the story gained from his death? I get the thematic parallels as mentioned earlier, but it didn’t really move the story forward in any significant way. It didn’t motivate other characters to do anything, it had no political ramifications, it didn’t serve to contribute to any kind of happy ending or commentary on society, it just...was sad. Again, I thought this story was better than that.
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silvertaetae · 4 years
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Rosé and Rolexes {Preview}
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Pairing: Kim Taehyung x Reader (Arranged Marriage!)
Warnings: Love to Hate, Swearing, Eventual Smut, Lots of Arguing, Alcohol, Reader gets mad and throws Tae’s gucci slides out a window.
Summary: The Parks and the Kims had always been enemies. The two most powerful businesses is South Korea, but when a scare erupts in both companies they’re left to fix it somehow. That somehow is Kim Taehyung the one person you hate more than anything in this world. His arrogant, cocky, blunt, rude and most importantly he’s your new husband? As you’re forced too be with this man will you two finally bury the hatchet or will this end in more flames then it started?
____________________________________________
Being wealthy is not always fun.
It’s not always, glitz and glamor.
It’s not always getting what you want or what you need.
It’s just about having money.
That’s it’s.
You may have money, but it doesn’t mean that you have all the power. You can be a pawn for someone else’s gain and that’s exactly what’s happened to you. Your grandfather had hit it big when he bought a piece of what he thought was crappy land which actually turned out to be sitting on one of the biggest oil mines in South Korea. Causing him to go from low class farmer to one of South Korea’s richest men. He ran his business well and always stayed humble throughout.
Giving to the little people and still keeping his business a float. Your grandfather was your biggest hero and even after his untimely death at the age of eighty three from heart failure, he remained your biggest inspiration.
Your father, sadly, had lost some of his humbleness being surrounded with riches at the ripe age of fifteen. He basically got everything handed to him by his mother.
He still remained sympathetic to the people who worked hard to make an earnest living, but he seemed to have forgotten the days where he would stay outside for hours on end working so his family could barely get by. His thoughts had been more preoccupied with how to get money and how fast he could get it. In the first two years since the death of your grandfather he had doubled the money Park Enterprise was sitting on.
He moved your family to a bigger mansion when you were seven and your brother Jimin was eight, making you uncomfortable with having to go to an even fancier private school.
Since that day, all you can remember is the diamonds, glitter and gold thrown at you, but you always remember losing all your friends and your parents not being around as much anymore. You remember being on magazines, but not being able to go out and get a simple ice cream cone without being followed. You don’t even remember the last time you had fast food.
Caviar was no longer something that you dreamed of having.
It was lunch.
All the things you had enjoyed even when you were rich, had not been taken away because of a spotlight. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse. They did.
Around the time of your sixteenth birthday another family had hit the nail on money, but they made their money in real estate.
The Kims.
They built condos and apartment complexes. Even building houses for upcoming celebrities. They were stupid rich and seemed to be competition for the title of richest family in South Korea.
People buzzed about a non-existent feud between you two. Everyone discussed the fall of the Park Dynasty or the Kim Empire.
Your father at first brushed off the talk. Treating it like the gossip it was, but when there was an accidental scare about a certain place where your family was digging and how the Kims could lose money, they both came together to show the press there was no bad blood. As well as, becoming business partners, working together to build upon their massive wealth.
Jimin had even became close to their son.
Kim Taehyung.
The one person you hated more than anyone else in the world.
He was obnoxious, arrogant, spoiled and more than anything he was full of himself.
He always walked around, dressed head to toe in Gucci, thinking that this was his world and never considered the thoughts or feelings of others.
He was unapologetically blunt and said whatever he wanted, and you hated it.
He on the other hand, enjoyed watching you get frustrated with him over his presence. He saw this as a game.
One that he wasn’t willing to lose or so you both thought.
That was up until both companies almost lost everything they had.
Your father and his had made a bad investment and the fear their empires crumbling seemed inevitable, but they made it back.
Rising higher in glory, but it still scared both of them. Made them look past what was just in front of them and into what their companies would look years from now. Which is how you ended up in this situation.
“Jimin what do you think dad wants?” You look down at the carpet below you. Tip of your heel tapping against the floor as you tap the arm of the chair.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be fine! He never calls me to his office. Last time he did, it was because I had almost crashed his Lamborghini.” Jimin was silent and you groaned, sliding into the chair.
“Okay so maybe it’s something big, but it can’t be that bad.” You pout and put your head on Jimin’s shoulder.
“I never thought I would see Y/N pout?” You freeze at the sound of the familiar voice. You open your eyes only to be met Taehyung’s.
“What the hell are you doing here?” You growl, snapping your head off of Jimin’s shoulder.
“I’m as clueless as you are Y/N. I literally just got here.” He sat down on the leather couch opposite of you. Arrogant smile painting his face.
“Why didn’t tell me you were coming man. I could’ve warned her.” Jimin leaned forward and you rolled your eyes. Not understanding how someone as nice as Jimin could be friends with someone as vile as Taehyung.
“I got the call about twenty minutes ago. My dad is in there and he asked me to come.” Your eyebrow arches up and you feel your nerves shoot up again. Heel starting it tapping again. “Calm down. I’m sure it’s something like making a public appearance. Showing the mixture of the family or something like that.”
“I haven’t been called to his office in almost five years.” You mumble out completely ignoring that you were talking to Taehyung.
“Y/N, you’re going to be okay. I promise. As your big brother I swear nothing bad will happen.” You nod, leg still twitching. It’s silent for a while and you see Taehyung squirm on the couch. His thumbs meeting trying to calm his nerves.
“Y/N. Taehyung.” You jump slightly turning your head over to look at Taehyung’s dad who had a small smile on smile. “I need you two in here.” You look at Jimin and Taehyung before looking back at Mr. Kim. You both hesitantly get up and walk into the office.
You fidget slightly and Taehyung grabs your shoulder and you freeze.
“You’ll be okay. I’m sure of it.” He gives you a small smile and you nod slightly, before walking over to your father’s desk.
“Y/N! Taehyung! It’s so good to see you two in the same room without fighting.” You inwardly roll your eyes at his statement. “Sit. Go ahead.” You do, legs crossing in anticipation. You can hear Mr. Kim coming from behind you two, before he finally sits in the chair next to Taehyung.
“You look nervous Y/N?” Mr. Kim says, a smile still on his face. “Are you okay?” You’re silent and you stare at your heels again.
“Answer Mr. Kim Y/N.” You’re fathers more authoritarian tone kicked in and you immediately snap up.
“I’m fine sir, sorry.” You nod your head and make eye contact with Tae who looked almost...angered?
“I’m so sorry for her behavior. She’s never been a people person, but maybe she can be after this.” You finally rip your eyes away from Tae and Mr. Kim, looking back at your father in confusion. “We have good news you two.”
“Y/N, you’re father and I came on to an agreement in a way that could save both of our business.” You look at Taehyung who’s already staring at you with the same confusion.
“You two are getting married!”
You freeze for a solid minute before your able to understand the words that left your father's mouth.
“I’m sorry-what?” Taehyung ask as your mouth hangs open.
“You and Y/N are getting married. Isn’t that exciting?”
“I’m sorry. WHAT?!” You both yelled shooting out of the chairs.
“I can barely stand him?! Why him? Why not Jungkook or Seonghwa!?”
“Y/N! Show some respect!” Your father stares almost in shock at your reaction. You weren’t expecting to hear Taehyung laugh.
“What was all that about Jinsoul and Jung’s huh? You’d of course marry me to my best friend's baby sister!” The room is silent and you feel the tension.
“Taehyung.” His father cuts in. “I won’t be around forever and neither will Y/N’s father. We need to know that everything we’ve made won’t go down the drain once we pass our companies on.” You wince at Mr. Kim's words.
“Dad-”
“You don’t get to choose what you want this time. It’s yes or yes.” You’re stunned at the way Mr. Kim speaks to Taehyung. It’s almost as if he looks down upon his own child. You thought you were the only kid going through things like that.
“Then what about me huh? Where’s my say?”
“You don’t get one.” Your father says almost annoyed. You clench your jaw and you see Taehyung’s fist clench. “Now if you two are done. It will be announced tomorrow.” You look at Taehyung only to see his head hanging and jaw shut tight. “The wedding will be taking place in a couple months. We’ll give the exact date when everything is planned.”
This had to be a dream.
You wanted to open your eyes and wake up in your bed.
“That will be all.”
Then reality hit you.
You’re about to marry the one person you despise more than anyone else.
Lucky you.
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A/N: Sorry for being gone for so long! I have another account and school work and sports. It’s a lot, but I’m glad I can be back! Please be safe and stay healthy! I love you all!💓
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