#the needed training to do a career just yet but hopefully in 2 years i will !! and ill be OUT and ill be able to see my best friends and bf | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ferrariprince16 · 2 years

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okay here we go. i will leave the link of the podcast and the transcript with the translation under. it's mine translation so any errors is mine, it was a lot of work so if u use pls jus tag me and that's it. hopefully it's helpful.

youtube

Fedez: "Guys, we promised, actually no, but you asked a lot, it was the comment with more requests for 2 years straight at Muschio Selvaggio."

Charles: "Ah 2 years, wow"

F: "2 years I believe"

Luis: "Since the foundation, since 2020"

F: "Since 2020 and if Charles Leclerc doesn't go to Muschio Selvaggio, Muschio goes to Charles Leclerc, so here we go with Charles Leclerc at Muschio Selvaggio"

C: "Good morning, good morning"

L: "Thank gou Mr. Charles"

C: "No problem"

F: "Today, I didn't prepare to where we are"

C: "Fiorano"

F: "Today we are in Fiorano, one of the historical residence of Ferrari,"

L: "In the historical residence, it's the only one"

Denny: "Of Enzo too?"

L: "There's Enzo's house"

C: "The house where he worked a long time ago"

L: "If u don't know, it's in the Modena province, near to Bologna"

D: "Where this accent came from?"

L: "They talk like this here, they eat fried gnocco. Did u eat it?"

C: "Yes. Not too much because I have the diet to follow, but I like it"

D: "It's the diet hard?"

C: "No. I do it with pleasure"

L: "Bc you assum speed equals vomit, bc at 300 km/h maybe the food goes up. What did u eat before a race?"

C: "No in the car I need to be careful bc at that speed, well-- you tried so you know now"

D: "I ate before going in the car and I was afraid"

F: "If u didn't know we did a lap in the car and now I'll put a clip"

L: "U can't heard anything bc we were going at 200 km/h"

F: "And its hard. So we have a theory"

C: "Say you theory"

F: "Bc we tried and u go very fast and ur body goes (he moves around) and u have a big neck. Do u train ur neck?"

C: "It's very hard to train the neck, obviously during the lost season when I don't race for 2 months from December to February more or less, I need to train the neck"

F: "And how do u train a neck?"

C: "Elastic bands"

F: "With the elastic bands"

D: "But like u put the elastic band under ur feet and go like this"

C: "No there is my trainer Andrea--"

F: "That we say hi"

L: "Andrea surname? Ferrari"

C: "He's the best"

F: "His surname is Ferrari"

L: "Acoincidence "

C: "We have a thing on the head where u put the elastic and u do the movements"

D: "With weights too?"

C: "Yeah with weights too but to me no the elastic is better, I prefer."

F: "But it's a something all the drivers do? Bc I never notice the neck of the other drivers, I mean everyone has a muscular neck?"

C: "Yes all of us have a big neck"

F: "But do u do collo di ferro (arm wrestling but with necks)"

C: "No we didn't try yet"

L: "I don't know if have the right number but I read that u have raced in 96 gps"

C: "I don't count the gps"

L: "Bc this is the 96th episode of Muschio Selvaggio"

F: "Wow Gigi ur so good"

C: "But why do u call him Gigi? He's name is Luis"

L: "Yes is Luis, it's just italianized, Luis, Luigi, Gigi"

C: "Okay"

D: "How many poles do you have?"

C: "17 i think. But we have to catch up with the wins, because Saturday often goes better than Sunday"

L: "U have to know that Denny here is the one that help us bc he's a f1 fan"

D: "I follow the sport and I try to bring him (Fede) in this world"

F: "He's my good friend and I said to him come"

C: "Do u understand now?"

F: "Well I learned a lot of things"

D: "Now he knows what drs is and now he will now explain"

C: "Good"

F: "Well it's not that interesting. I have an interesting question for u. I have a relationship" (he used the term rapporto)

L: "with my wife" (they made a joke about having sex)

F: "It's a question I made to a lot of athletes, even too Bonucci, Chiellini, when do u have to pee during a race? What happens?"

C: "Yes, so i keep it if i can. It happened 2 times in my career, one time in f1 in spa and then one time there was an incident and we have to stay in the car for 2 hours."

F: "They still haven’t invented a pee-vacum?"

C: "No. They made the suits to not see it"

F: "Fuck yes bc if u win u don't have the stain"

C: "Exactly, it's studied, but we try to avoid it as much as we can, but it happens"

F: "And for poo? It had to happened to athletes to poo in their suits?"

C: "I don't know them and I don't want to know them"

D: "But do u tell to the box if u pee on yourself?"

C: "No. I keep it to myself, but the poor mechanics they see it after bc they have to take it off the seat"

L: "They have to turn the car to let it out"

F: "These were the smart questions. No. U start so young and F1 is a elitist sport but u have a story a little bit different from others"

C: "I started when I was 3 and half"

D: "They put u in karts"

C: "The first time I went with karts and I went with a friend of my father and there was attached a cord between the two karts to see bc at that age u don't know if the kid will turn to right, to brake"

L: "You barely spoke"

C: "I spoke a little bit earlier"

D: "3 yo is little"

C: "Yes"

D: "But every driver start at that age?"

C: "Well no in f1 a lot of drivers start not late than 7 yo"

D: "So you grow up in a single seater"

F: "And the car grows with u"

C: "U start with karts which are little, but at 3 yo there are not karts for that age so we had to adjust it to let me seat and drive and then after a little bit the karts get more powerful"

D: "So u start with karts and then?"

C: "Then depends, from 14/16 yo u go in the single seater and then there are real cars"

D: "It's already f3?"

C: "Yes. Now there is f4 that is the first step for the single seater, f3, f2 and f1"

D: "U did f3 and u won, f2 u won"

C: It was a little bit messier for me bc it wasn't that easy bc there were other categories that were in the middle of f3 and f2 with different names, but yes I won the equivalent of f3 now and f2 and then I went in f1"

D: "And u went in Alfa Romeo"

C: "Yes the first year"

D: "And then in Ferrari"

C: "And then in Ferrari"

D: "How it went Sunday?"

C: "Good, well Monza is always special"

D: "We were there and it was amazing"

F: "Is it true that u breathe a new air in f1? We were talking about this with ur girlfriend at the box yesterday and she said that u breathe an air like the fans are more and more, a fan base very big"

C: "It's true. So Monza is always has been a crazy thing. There are lot younger fans in the last few years with Netflix"

F: "That's with the Netflix series?"

C: "Yes and with the younger drivers and we use more socials"

F: "I always use this comparison in this podcast, but it's like u are the Justin Bieber of f1, its a compliment"

C: "Thank u"

F: "For me JB is like God come after JB"

D: "There were a moment when Charles's name was always around and still is"

F: "I have theory. Denny is convinced that a part of the new fans comes from the videogame"

D: "I tell u, like 5 years ago, I was a super fan, I played too the videogame for fun and everyone were calling me a boomer, it was an old thing and now in the last two years there were a switch and everyone wanted to be to the gps, play the videogame and during the pandemic, u too were playing. The game exploded"

C: "Yeah during the pandemic, with other drivers since there wasn't any race, we organised championships with the videogame"

L: "With the simulator at home"

C: "Yes and then yes it's true it helped to have an interest with the virtual world and then with the real f1"

F: "Yes there is an hype around it"

L: "And around ur name. Bc yesterday coming from Milan to Monza, hundreds of ppl were reading Ferrari shirt for u and for Ferrari"

F: "But they took off tags"

L: "Yes this is my thing. Anyway I was feeling the pressure on u or on Ferrari. It's something I wouldn't know how to handle and with that nickname that was given to u"

C: "Nickname" (nomignolo in italian and he didn't know what it meant)

F: "Yes the nickname"

C: "Ah yes il predestinato"

L: "Yeah to have hundreds of ppl that scream ur name and being called il predestinato"

F: "It's not easy"

L: "How do u feel it?"

C: "To me it gives me a lot of motivation. When u go from the hotel and u struggle a lot bc there were so many pp, but it's incredible. U drive from the hotel to track that is like 1 km and its so full of ppl wearing red and it motivates u but not only me but the mechanics too, so I took it like motivation for the team and do u see how much support there is and everyone have great expectations on Ferrari and in particular on this gp, so there is some pressure but when u drive and work for Ferrari there is always pressure"

D: "If Sunday there wasn't that sc"

F: "Let's not say controversial things"

D: "No, no I was about to say that he could have won easily"

C: "No, no easily no. But we could have race a little bit"

F: "We could have at least a race"

C: "Bc in the last laps it was too bad no to race again but it went like this"

F: "It went like this and we need to move on. To be a true predestinato u have to move on, see the target and I u can't do it in that race, forget everything and go on. What is it ur philosophy like how do u face a gp?"

C: "To keep working on your own targets even in difficult times and and to have clearly in mind where do u want to go, like always in every career in everybody life there are some obstacles to get to those target but u have always to believe it and work in the right direction"

L: "An incredible lifestyle. Yeah and living today a simulation of what it means to be in f1 car we were tossed around mentaly, physically"

C: "And its hot too"

F: "And now that u told me that the suits are studied to pee to know it I would have pee on myself"

C: "I'm happy I didn't tell u"

F: "I could have done it now and u don't known it."

L: "Fireproof too?"

C: "Yes"

L: "We are now wearing fireproof things"

F: "How did we know each other?"

C: "I have a question for u actually"

F: "Go go"

C: "What Muschio Selvaggio means?"

L: "It's very short. First of all we bought a podcast studio but we asked what our background could be and what location we give ourselves. Moss background. Okay. What name do we give it."

C: "Aaah this is moss"

F: "In the office we have real moss"

L: "We did this for u"

C: "Nice"

D: "Btw Muschio Selvaggio on the road for the first time"

L: "The name it was from the background. But the branding worked I think"

C: "I didn't made the connection with the background, in fact I was telling it wasn't a normal green background"

F: "But look at the destiny how everyone asked to bring charles leclerc and this summer-- What happend it was that I was in Ibiza, Lapo (Elkann) called me saying that Charles gf is my wife fan and they want us to meet, so we texted during dinner and got to know each other"

C: "Exactly"

F: "And how many things we talked about that we can't tell now. No it's a joke"

C: "We told everything."

L: "I prepared a mini slide"

C: "Okay. I'm ready"

L: "No but its nothing special. I usually prepare mini presentations and today I did the same. 'Charles Leclerc, driver' 'When did you get your drivers license?'"

C: A"At 18 yo and 2 days"

L: "You don’t need it for karts, right?"

C: "No you don’t, you didn’t even need it in f1 some years ago. When Verstappen came into f1 didn't have one"

F: "Really?"

D: "What is it the super license?"

C: "The super license is what u need to arrive in f1, but before u didn't need the driver licence"

L: "Bc the tracks are private, today I couldn't drive bc I don't have the driver licence."

'U say "bruuuuum", "meeeeee", "vroooooom" or "vvvvvvvvv"' What it is the sound that u do for cars

F: "Like the animals in different languages"

C: "Yeah yeah repeat. "Vrooooom""

L: "Favorite means of trasport?"

C: "Car"

L: "I hoped. I didn't know what to expect honestly." And a question semi serious 'If u could change somenthing in f1 what would u change?'

C: "Personally the engine and I would change it with the engine u just heard this morning"

F: "The V10?"

C: "Yes"

F: "Why?

C: "For the sound"

D: "The sound is amazing"

C: "In comparison to yesterday the sound is different, this goes more revved up, I like it more the sound, for the performance is also-- in the world we are living a much greener world I'm super pro for the new engines"

D: "They're hybrids, this is not hybrid"

C: "No, this is not. But for the excitement and the sound these are amazing"

D: "So f1 is much more green"

C: "Yeah yeah now. This year they changed the gas with more ethanol, which is a more green gas and the plan in the future is always to go in that direction, but always maintaining the f1 dna"

D: "So always a combustion engine. It will arrive an electric engine?"

C: "Always more hybrid with greener gas"

D: "U dont imagine in the future f1 electric?"

C: "Idk bc there are many alternative for the electric that for now are not so developed but I'm sure that in like 4/5 years it could get better with these theologies that go forward."

F: "Combustion with zero emission"

C: "Yeah but there is even the hydrogen that is arriving, yeah there are more technologies"

F: "For u there is a big difference being a fe and f1 driver?"

C: "Well yes"

F: "It changes a lot the car"

C: "Even in the way of driving. I never drove a fe car but it's very different. For the performance is not similar, bc the tracks are different bc there are streets tracks very little. It's nice bc the championship goes in many big cities, New York"

D: "Maybe even Rome"

C: "Yes they did Rome, London, Paris, they did many beautiful cities"

F: "I thought u had tried, so u could tell me the difference"

C: "No, but there are two championships very different"

L: "It's a life always traveling. U always move around like it is normal"

C: "Yes. I like it, travelling is amazing, but it's also true that on an entire season when u do triple headers ending with Monza, much more pressure, the tifosi and everything else even if it the most beautiful weekend of the year, it's also the most tiring one. So now it's Monday, after the race--"

F: "Is monza the track where u feel more pressure? There is a track that u feel more the pressure or for the kind of track or for the audience?"

C: "Once again I feel like motivation, it is a great motivation"

F: "But do u feel more motivation from the fans or to be in your rivals city?"

C: "Both things but Monza is unique"

L: "And do u live the race like a game, there is competition ofc, but during those 50 and more laps do u want to play?"

C: "Play is probably not the best term to use, but I have a big smile on my face when I'm in the car we have a big responsibility"

L: "Always focused"

C: "Exactly but I'm very aware how lucky I am to be in this situation, position. I always dreamed to do this job, to be a f1 driver and even more with Ferrari and doing now it's incredible, so I'm so happy to be in this position but we know it's not just fun"

L: "Bc today we say u play and it looked like u were having fun"

F: "Yes with us yes, at one moment he was like "now I will make u throw up" and honestly I was about to"

L: "I though it was so cool bc everytime I hold my camera I don't go like "yeaa" and instead I saw u like it was the first time u did this"

C: "But days like this for me is just fun bc I don't have to get the last tents or to do the perfect time anyway, u now got in the car and I brought other ppl in the car and every ppl react in a different way to be in a f1 car and it's amazing bc u see ppl go crazy"

D: "I went crazy"

F: "U remember the human survival mode bc it's a very hard thing"

D: "Extreme"

L: "It's a rollercoaster driven by u"

F: "It's harder than a rollercoaster for me. My brain went like"

C: "I always compared f1 to a rollercoaster that I can control bc at the end it that the feeling with those wings, bc at the end for u it was the first time to be in a f1 car with the wings that help the car to push on the ground and u have more grip than a normal car, so it's very incredible"

F: "How the fuck do u train ur reflex? Bc u have to have incredible reflex, bc besides the neck that u have to train to counterbalance the weight of the g-force. But how do u train the reflex?"

C: "It's true that the reflex are very important, but in f1, for u it seems reflex, for me is more to anticipate what is it about to arrive bc u are more in the anticipation in the reacting to what the car is doing"

F: "U have to foresee"

C: "U know more or less what the car will do if u do something"

F: "So it's very much like a mental training"

C: "It's more the training, the reflex I train naturally when I'm in the car I started at 3 and half yo I trained enough"

L: "U really lived 21 years driving, but not a 50 km/h"

C: "Trying to do perfectly on the track"

L: "The fact that u have drive more than walk it's amazing. I don't know other examples that we brought that are so focused in the sport bc we brought many professionals of different areas"

F: "Society champions. It's the first time we have a guest that have a big pressure bc obviously now u are here and u say that everything is amazing, but fuck I can imagine that before a race u are like--"

C: "No there is the adrenaline, there is the pre race pressure"

F: "There is even a big part of stress"

C: "Obviously there is this adrenaline pre race even tho the safety of this sport in the last thirty years it changed so much"

F: "Most important thanks to the halo"

C: "Yes. U told that u wanted to talk about it"

F: "No halo is so cool"

C: "No, no it's incredible, it saved a lot lives since 2018"

F: "If u don't know halo is this bar-- and it saved a lot of ppl"

D: "That is on the head of the driver"

C: "It was very criticised at the begginig"

F: "Why? Bc it wasn't pretty aesthetically"

C: "Yes"

D: "It's a little bit ugly but it worked. But the helmet u can personalise as u want, obviously with the sponsor"

C: "Yes there are the sponsors parts and then with the design I can make it like I want"

F: "We can be ur sponsor"

C: "Of Muschio Selvaggio? Make it a helmet of Muschio Selvaggio."

F: "We could take Muschio Selvaggio under the armpits of Charles"

L: "If u have the armpits free"

C: "I think the armpits are free"

F: "We have to ask for a preventive for the armpits. I have two fast questions: first is: the competition, the rivalry between the others is-- a sane competition, everything amazing, but u can go out ot eat something together or its a competition?"

C: "No we can"

F: "U can? Bc I couldn't"

C: "I have to say that we don't do it but honestly I could see myself do it, depends on who bc I have some friends-"

D: "Who is the most nice colleague u have?"

C: "The one I am more bonded that is really a true friend is Pierre Gasly. We know each others since ever, we went vacations together when we were younger"

D: "U went together on the karts too?"

C: "Yes, yes. Our families were also very close, we have a special relationship but there are more drivers that I comfortable with, sometimes we go together to play golf, when we are at home we try to unplug a little bit bc we see each other more than I see my family"

F: "Well I would close (the podcast) with the ritual question I made to every guest we have. Mrs (Silvia) look at me is a naughty question."

C: "I expect the worse now

F: "No, no this is a question that I ask to everyone But being Charles Leclers make u fuck more?"

C: "U should have look at my gf before asking this question"

F: "I would end this with silence"

C: "No, no I'm in love and very lucky"

F: "And with this long live love, love triumphs at Muschio Selvaggio"

C: "Now good luck"

F: "It's a question I do to everyone"

C: "I know, I know"

L: "And thank u"

F: "Thank u to Charles to have been here with us he's the number one, thanks to the Ferrari family to let us this interview and to let us do this amazing experience today. A very incredible day"

L: "And foot on the throttle"

C: "Always. I liked it this"

#charles leclerc #p.text #Youtube

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avoxrising · 8 months

Text

Capital Nights

Episode 1 ~ On the Universe’s Time

Decided to post a chapter on Tumblr as the story isn’t getting as much traction on Wattpad and I have a much larger following on Tumblr. Episodes 1-5 are already on my Wattpad- link in Masterlist.

☆64 AW☆

Before leaving District 4, my boyfriend Rian comes to say goodbye. He's my only visitor, as I'm an only child and haven't spoken to my parents in years. Adrian, one of the victors who trains at the academy, found out about my situation a few years back and lets me sleep at the academy in a spare room. It's not much but it's home.

Rian and I met at the academy a few years ago. He's two grades above me and is hoping to volunteer next year. We've been officially together for just over a year now. He knows I live at the academy but I can't live with him because he "doesn't have space".

"Hey it's going to be ok," he states as he hugs me. "Either you or Crey is coming home."

Wow we love the confidence he has in me. I just give him a nod as I reply, "I'll try."

"I love you Brooke"

"Love you Rian"

We are the "it couple" at the academy. It was my plan to volunteer the year after he did so we could win back to back games like Cashmere and Gloss, brother and sister who won the two most recent games. I guess we can still win back to back games if I win this year and his plan to volunteer next year and win goes through.

"Be careful," he tells me as he exits. I need to focus on the games and not on missing him.

☆☆☆

Boarding the train, I'm taken aback by the luxury of it. Decedent plates covered mahogany tables and the walls were adorned in rare artwork. If I succeed in bringing glory to my district then I will have to get used to all of this.

"Brooke, Crey," Adrian greets us as he sits at the table. Mags follows closely behind him but she is a woman of few words.

"Good afternoon Adrian, Mags," Crey states. "I'd like to train together if that's ok with you Brooke."

"Yeah uh that's actually perfect," I respond. "I'm pretty decent with a sword but I need to brush up on my hand to hand and survival skills." Mags gives me a nod and quietly states that she can help with survival.

"I don't think my spear skills need much brushing up but survival skills would be nice," Crey states as he piles food onto his plate. "Maybe I could even pick up another weapon before we hit the arena." We all chuckle at this.

Although I wasn't a volunteer, I'm still a career through and through. I've been top of my class for 3 years straight now and have worked extra hard to perfect my skills. By allying with Crey and the other careers, I know I'll have a real shot at winning the games.

After eating our lunch, we decide to watch the reapings. I take note of our soon to be allies. Khan and Honey from District 1 seem like a strong pair. Both are probably top of their class from the academy and they have some serious muscle on them. Reece and Coco from District 2 are also volunteers from the academy. Coco is surprisingly small for a 17 year old but she seems agile. Hopefully she is good with weapons.

We don't pay too much attention to the rest of the districts. They aren't threatening and should be easy enough to defeat. I need to strategize how I'm going to gain the careers trust while also plotting their downfall. After all, there can only be one winner.

Before we arrive in the capital, we talk strategy with Adrian. Crey and I need to pick out our capital personas so we can get sponsors. Crey already has his mastered, being a suave gentleman, but I have yet to reach the level in the academy where we work on sponsors.

"Ok Brooke what are you thinking?" Adrian asks. I hadn't really thought much about sponsors. I was hoping I had a few more years to decide.

"Uh I'm not sure," I reply. "Crey what do you think?"

"Well most academy girls go for a flirty persona," he states.

"Nope," Adrian butts in. "She's underage so nothing like that." Gosh if he thinks I'm ugly he can just tell me. I'll be of age in like 4 months.

"How about a fierce persona?" Crey suggests. "People may question your age so show them how deadly you are."

"I like that idea," I state. "Do you have anything that could help me?"

"Wear something that screams power," Adrian states. "Smile and wave at the crowds but let your smile be more of a smirk. Act like you could kill any of them at any moment. You're a tall girl so make them fear you."

I like this idea, so I go off to my room on the train to pick out an outfit. We will be arriving in the capital shortly so I need to get out of my reaping outfit.

Being poor means wearing the old clothes of neighbors in District 4. Some of the older girls at the academy would give me their old clothes but they usually didn't fit right. The green dress I'm currently wearing stops at my mid calves instead of my ankles. Miriam gave it to me last month for the reaping.

I pick out a maroon crop top and some black skinny jeans for my grand capital debut. Finishing off the outfit, I thrown on a black blazer and make my way back to the lounge. The journey was just beginning.

☆☆☆

Crey grabs my hand as we arrive at the train station. The crowds are insanely loud for us and I can't help but feel nervous. What if they don't find me intimidating?

I take a deep breath as I step off the train and into the crowd. Adrian and Mags keep people away from us while Crey and I walk hand in hand to our car.

"Well they just love you!" Apple squeals. I honestly forgot she was here. She spent our 5 hour train ride changing her hair and makeup.

The car door closes and I let out a sigh of relief.

"It's stressful being so popular," Crey smiles.

"Tell me about it," I yawn. I'm already exhausted and the week has barely begun.

There's more people waiting for us as we exit the car and enter the tribute center. Districts 1 and 2 stand in the lobby sizing up their competition. The parade isn't till tomorrow as the further districts won't arrive until late tonight but for us the games have already begun.

"Let's go introduce ourselves," Crey whispers to me, nodding at the careers. I agree and we make our way over, my hand on Crey's arm as walks me to the group.

"We'll look at you two," Reece smirks. "Here to size up the competition?"

"Actually we're here to make allies," Crey responds. "I think the six of us would be a good team."

"A lethal team," I smirk. I want to be intimidating without annoying the other careers. The last thing I need is them not trusting me.

"I like the sound of that," Reece grins. "Are you two any good?"

"Crey is top of the academy," I state matter of factly. "I may have not volunteered but it was only a matter of time before I did. I'm top of my class."

"Well you can prove that to us in training," Honey smiles. God she is hot. I need to focus.

"Sounds like a deal," Crey nods as we exit the conversation. I need to lay down before I pass out. I hate dealing with people.

☆☆☆

Adrian wakes me up a few hours later for dinner. When did I fall asleep? Yawning, I make my way to the dining room.

"So what did you think of Districts 1 and 2?" Adrian asks as we eat.

"Strong contenders definitely," Crey says. "I think it would be good to ally with them."

"Brooke what about you?" Mags asks.

'Attractive,' I think but that's not an acceptable answer. Also I have a boyfriend.

"I agree with Crey," I respond. "We will be a strong alliance if we can gain each other's trust during training."

"Trust can only get you so far in the games," Adrian warns. "The deadliest killers trust no one."

"I'll keep that in mind," I swallow as I glance at Crey, who is also looking a bit stressed.

After dinner, Crey and I chat in the lounge. Adrian had business to attend to and Mags went to sleep.

"I know Adrian said not to trust people but I trust you," I tell him as we stare out the window. It's not completely a lie but it's a bit far from the truth. Crey could completely overpower me in mere seconds but I can't let him see that I know that.

"That's good," he replies. "I hope I can trust you too."

"I can't kill you," I sigh. "You're from home and my ally. I'd only fight you if it came down to the two of us."

"Same," he sighs. "Do you wish you had more time to train at the academy?"

"Yes and no," I respond. "I wish I had volunteered at 17 after completing more of my training because then it would have been on my terms. At the same time, I feel like being reaped means it's my time. It's like the universe wants me to go now." Crey hums in response.

"I wish I had more time," he states, catching me off guard. "I don't regret volunteering but my entire life has been devoted to these games. I wish I had time to experience other things like lazy days at the beach or taking hikes through the outskirts of District 4."

"Well you'll have plenty of time to do that when you get home," I smile at him as I stand up to leave.

"Goodnight Crey"

"Goodnight Brooke"

AN: What did you guys think of this chapter? It is technically a Finnick x OC fic but we haven’t reached the part of the story where she meets Finnick. Also I shifted Enobaria, Cashmere, and Gloss’s games up by one so Brooke’s games are the year before Finnick’s. Pls lmk what you guys think this far :)

#finnick odair #hunger games #hunger games fic #finnick x oc #finnick imagine #the hunger games

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winderrific-moved · 3 years

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my grandma said she expects me to move out in 2 years... need that optimism

#wind howls #PLEASE <3 #i would say 1 year but i know thats not possible... i havent finished college yet or have a full uhhh. whatsitcalled. ehatever i dont have #the needed training to do a career just yet but hopefully in 2 years i will !! and ill be OUT and ill be able to see my best friends and bf

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thelostgirl21 · 3 years

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For those of you still arguing that Kaidan does not outrank Shepard as an Alliance Officer during the Citadel Coup...

...he does.

Actually, being a Staff Commander in ME2, Kaidan Alenko was already outranking Shepard when they met on Horizon.

First, it is important to understand that, while inspired by it, the Human Systems Alliance does not use the exact same ranking system as the U.S. Navy / Marines. [Edit: I've fixed some (hopefully, most!) of the "he/him/himself" pronouns I'd missed the first time around... And that was... like... 90% of the time I was referring to Shepard. *Facepalms* Sorry about that! I'm so used to writing for M!Shep, that I instinctively say "he/him/himself" when referring to them (and my brain does the weird French thing of including the feminine into the masculine while proofreading, apparently!). If you still spot a non gender-neutral pronoun in there, please feel free to let me know.]

Therefore, according to the System’s Alliance’s own ranking system (that can be found in the game’s codex entries; I’ve also added that information at the bottom of this post, with in-game examples) the rank of Major (and, in ME2, Staff Commander) is above that of a Lieutenant Commander (Shepard’s own Alliance military rank) within the Alliance.

It is the rank of an Alliance Captain (Navy), not that of an Alliance [Lieutenant] Commander (Navy & Marines), that is considered as being the equivalent of that of an Alliance Major (Marines).

Meaning that, by the beginning of ME3, Major Alenko has now risen through the ranks to the point where he holds a similar level of responsibility within the Systems Alliance as Captain Anderson used to hold in ME1. At the very beginning of ME1, Captain Anderson was a Navy Captain, and the Commanding Officer (C.O.) of the SSV Normandy.

Lieutenant Commander Shepard was his Executive Officer (X.O.).

And Staff Lieutenant Alenko was head of the ship's Marine detail*

By the beginning of ME3, Major Alenko is now a Marine Major, and the Commanding Officer (C.O.) of the 1st Special Operations Biotic Company, a covert operations unit of the Systems Alliance.

*Note: I just discovered yesterday what “Marine detail” means, and I just have to say Kaidan’s position on the Normandy is ridiculously cool!

Basically, it’s Kaidan’s job to determine which personnel position, assignment, or duty station each Marine should have on the Normandy. While basing his decisions on the person’s professional milestones, taking into consideration the Marine’s personal aspirations and stated preferences, considering their marital status / family lives and responsibilities outside of the military, evaluating whether they have the proper qualifications for the job or require further training, looking at performance reviews...

They are described as the Marine’s “advocate”, trying to make sure that not only are they the “best Marine” for what their actual job requires, but that it’s the job that will bring said Marine the greater level of work satisfaction / align with their needs and personal ambitions.

So basically, after Jenkins was KIA at the beginning of ME1, it was Kaidan’s job to find a suitable replacement to take over his duties on the ship.

So, after Shepard wakes up in the medbay, and expresses that they’re glad that Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams was still on the Normandy, because she’s a good soldier that deserves it, and Captain Anderson answers them: “Lieutenant Alenko agrees with you. THAT’S WHY I added her to our crew.”

He literally means “After seeing her in action, Lieutenant Alenko reviewed her file, checked her qualifications, past performance reviews, family status, her documented professional aspirations and stated preferences, numerous past (denied) applications for a transfer to a shipboard posting, and based on his very own assessment of Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, determined that she was the single best Marine in the System’s Alliance for the open position we now had on the ship.”

I’d always assumed that Kaidan had more or less informally gone “Gunnery Chief Williams was really impressive down there! Maybe we could use her!”

And Captain Anderson had essentially gone: “Sure! Why not? We’ve got an open position. Let’s keep her!”

But I’d all but forgotten that, with Nihlus dead, there was absolutely no Spectre on board that ship at that point in the story, and they were thus likely bound by the System’s Alliance rules and protocols when it came to handing out assignments to fill the vacant positions available on the Normandy.

It’s therefore highly likely that whoever was in charge of the ship’s Marine detail (in this case, Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko), would have had access to a list of applications of suitable candidates that had expressed an interest in serving on that ship.

And that, whenever there was a position vacancy, or a need to add a new position on the Normandy, then the head of the ship’s detail would have the responsibility of taking a good look at those candidatures, and selecting the very best suited Marine for the job.

As a Spectre, Commander Shepard might have had the level of authority required to spontaneously go: “they followed me home, I’m keeping them!”

But Captain Anderson most certainly did not. And, while he was the Normandy’s C.O. (meaning that he’d likely have the final say on whether or not Ashley got the position)...

Well, the person officially in charge of finding someone to fill the position left vacant after Jenkin’s passing - after having carefully reviewed Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams candidature against those of other potentially qualified System’s Alliance soldiers - was literally Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko.

And one would assume that the reason why Kaidan got his own position as head of the ship’s Marine detail, would be because he’d be considered as being very proficient at determining whether or not a given soldier is going to be the right fit for their job, and the best asset for their team.

So, when Captain Anderson tells Shepard that the reason he added her to the crew was because Lieutenant Alenko believed she was a good soldier that deserved a position on the Alliance’s most advanced starship, that was because it was Kaidan’s job to make such decisions.

He had to choose which Marine in the System’s Alliance would take over Jenkin’s duties, and he chose Ash. Kaidan’s the reason Ashley was assigned to Captain Anderson (and later, Commander Shepard)’s ship. He’s the one that made it happen and allowed her to advance in her career.

Should Commander Shepard have tried to do the same (i.e. be the one to request Gunnery Chief Williams assignation to the Normandy, in a context where Ashley wouldn’t already have been added to the team while they were out cold); then Captain Anderson’s most likely answer would have needed to be: “I’ll let Lieutenant Alenko know about your commendation, but he’s not done reviewing candidatures and making his choice among them yet.“

I don’t understand how anyone can call Kaidan “boring”. He's such a layered, fascinating character...

As he once told Shepard:

“I’m an enigma. I’ve got skills.”

Yes, yes you do... and, over 10 years later, I’m still discovering some skill-sets that you have that I’d never even suspected before!

And boy, am I pissed we'll never get to know about your run in with the vorcha mafia, five thousand credits, and a bottle of whiskey!

Still, no wonder Anderson was so adamant on Major Alenko being the one offered the Command of the 1st Special Operations Biotic Company.

Besides his very own unique history as a L2 and ability to relate to those kids, he apparently has an eye for military talents, and he likely trusted him to be a very good judge of character when it came to assessing whether those young biotics would be a good addition to the Company, and able to handle working with the rest of a team while on high risk missions without needlessly further endangering their teammates.

However, as a Spectre, when operating under Council authority, both Commander Shepard and Major Alenko are no longer bound by the Alliance military’s chain of command.

And it seems that most players do not realize it, but when Captain Anderson stepped down as the SSV Normandy’s C.O., Shepard did not receive a promotion within the Alliance military in terms of overall rank; but exclusively one regarding their position in regards to their assignment.

They went from being the ship’s Executive Officer (X.O.) to the ship’s Commanding Officer (C.O.), but they still remained an Alliance Lieutenant Commander, regardless of the position they held on the SSV Normandy itself.

I’m thus guessing that Shepard dying so shortly after the Battle of the Citadel, had prevented them from being promoted to the rank of Staff Commander (or even Captain / Major).

And then, in all of the investigations surrounding their claims of having been dead for 2 years, brought back to life through Cerberus technology, the time they spend working with them to hunt down the Collectors, Shepard destroying a batarian system (Arrival), the time they spent in detention between ME2 and ME3 after having been stripped of their rank, etc. Well, I’m guessing the Systems Alliance never thought to offer them a promotion, either.

At the beginning of ME3, the Normandy SR-2 has been recovered by the Alliance, and is intended to be used by Admiral Anderson (who would have become the SR-2′s Commanding Officer).

With Earth and the Alliance Headquarters under Reapers attack, Admiral Anderson chooses to reinstate Commander Shepard’s rank as a Lieutenant Commander within the Systems Alliance instead, and puts them in charge of his ship (thus, stepping down, once more, as the Normandy’s C.O. in favor of Commander Shepard).

Therefore yes, Commander Shepard is not as highly ranked an Alliance Officer as Major Kaidan Alenko is. However, they were given an assignment as the Commanding Officer of the Normandy SR-2 by Admiral Anderson.

Meaning that, after the Citadel Coup, when Commander Shepard offers Major Alenko a position among the Normandy SR-2′s crew, accepting that position means agreeing to recognize, and respect, Shepard’s authority as the ship’s C.O. as well.

Regardless of Kaidan technically becoming the highest ranking Systems Alliance Officer on board the Normandy SR-2, the position as the Normandy’s C.O. was given to Commander Shepard by Admiral Anderson.

So, if Major Alenko has a problem working under the authority of a lesser ranked officer as part of a Lieutenant Commander’s crew, then it is his responsibility to either refuse the offer and request another assignment (something that Kaidan can do in the game, actually - he can be the one to turn down Shepard’s offer), or take it up with Admiral Anderson, to try to request a change in leardership.

What I also find particularly interesting, with how those scenes play out, is that in both versions where Kaidan doesn’t join the Normandy’s crew, he shakes Shepard’s hand, but does not salute them.

Otherwise, after the handshake, when Shepard tells him “Welcome aboard, Major”, Kaidan straightens up and tells them “Aye aye, sir / ma’am” with a military salute, therefore acknowledging Shepard’s position as his new C.O.

Essentially, Major Kaidan Alenko is not bound by rank to obey Commander Shepard’s orders or accept to serve on their ship...

It is only once he CHOOSES to join the Normandy’s crew and take that offered position that there is this obligation for him to respect that Commander Shepard is the acting C.O. of the Normandy, and that they report directly to Admirals Anderson and Hackett.

As a Spectre, they report directly to the Citadel Council.

And so does Kaidan. I’m guessing that, should he ever wish to leave the Normandy, he’s got the required authority to do so, and would simply need to ask Admiral Anderson or Admiral Hackett for a new assignment.

He may discuss his decision with Commander Shepard first, out of respect. But I doubt that Commander Shepard could try to force him to stay and continue to work under the Command of a lesser ranked Alliance officer if he wished to leave the ship.

The only known people that could deny his request for a transfer within the Alliance would be either Anderson or Hackett.

And, as a Spectre, he could very well go “yeah, screw this! I’m out!”

So yeah, his being willing to take orders from Commander Shepard, and join the Normandy as a member of his crew regardless of him being a higher ranked officer in the Systems Alliance, only highlight the amount of trust and respect he has in Commander Shepard’s abilities and leadership.

Knowing Kaidan, he likely values Commander Shepard as his C.O. based on the man’s actual military, leadership, combat qualifications and training, rather than rank. Not to mention his ability to recognize their more personal, human qualities, how much they care for their crew, and Kaidan’s own willingness to help them share the burden that’s been put on their shoulders.

I think that, in order to gain Kaidan’s respect and have him gladly follow you, you need to use the power you’ve been given by whatever position or status you hold for the benefit of those serving under you, and/or those under your responsibility, rather than try to dominate and overpower others with it.

Kaidan won’t hesitate to call Udina “a bastard” for what he perceives as him “selling them out”, express dissent when a superior officer is out of line, question the motives of those in charge, and often flirt with insubordination.

He’s one of the most NEUTRAL good characters of the series - letting his integrity dictate his actions first and foremost, rather than being strictly and rigidly bound by ranks, rules, or protocols.

His main source of worry, when it comes to Shepard potentially cutting corners, appears to be the price that THEY may have to pay in the aftermath.

He seems more concerned about the Council or the Alliance openly using Shepard as a scapegoat if things go south, and/or disavowing their actions and leaving them without support, rather than over Shepard themselves breaking the law in such a way that they would make innocent people suffer.

I've always seen him as trying to make Shepard understand that they won't let them go down alone with the ship, figuratively (and perhaps event literally speaking... He sure tried in ME2 until Shepard reminded him that the rest of the crew were also in need of his assistance and counting on them to keep them safe) and share the responsibility of the decisions Shepard makes as long as he also supports them.

And yeah, Kaidan did put his own happiness first when it came to breaking the rules of fraternization.

He even says that the galaxy will just keep going and the only thing that will never happen again is them. And that they are what's most important in that moment.

If it wasn't for how very lucidly attached to the Alliance he is (he sees the flaws, but still considers that the Alliance does more good than harm overall, and is proud of being an Alliance soldier / officer), I'd almost have been tempted to put him into chaotic good territory.

He's dedicated to "doing what's right" (the principle of goodness itself) and acting with integrity, but not so much to "honoring human / citadel laws" or even moral codes per say.

His moral code is very much about remaining true to your own ideals and who you are in a way that promotes the greater good, and allows you to be at peace with your actions. And he's seen constantly questioning his perspective of good and wrong in the world, and adapting what acting with integrity truly means to him (for example, when he was trying to come to terms with the fact that Cerberus scientists could also be good people).

So, I very much consider him someone that is more Neutral (chaotic leaning) good, than Neutral (lawful leaning) good.

Rules and institutions need to make sense and serve a useful purpose to him, and avoid getting in the way of him doing what he believes to be right according to his own personal moral compass that no one dictates him but himself. Otherwise, screw the rules!

It may also be good to remember that Spectres have absolutely no command structure. To prove themselves to the Council, they have to demonstrate both exceptional abilities and self-reliance. If they thought that Major Kaidan Alenko would be the type to defer to Commander Shepard’s judgment based on seniority and rank alone, I’m guessing the Council never would have agreed to grant him Spectre status in the first place.

Yeah, Councillor Udina was the one that submitted his candidature, but he couldn’t have actually granted him Spectre status without the Asari, Turian, and Salarian Councillors’ approval.

Meaning that they all saw something in his service history that made them go “Yeah, this is a guy that can totally go rogue, disrespect orders, and do whatever must be done for the sake of the greater good of the galactic community if need be.”

People that see him as some sort of “whiny, Alliance lapdog” seem to forget that we are talking about a 17-year-old kid that continuously got in trouble with Vyrnnus for talking back (to the point where he started punishing the other kids to get to him), found a way to hack communications on the station to secretly contact his parents on Earth, after having been explicitly forbidden to do so, and angrily stood up to Vyrnnus after Vyrnnus crossed a line while bullying more vulnerable than himself.

Commander Vyrnnus taught Kaidan that some would-be leaders only cared about holding power over others, and were not worthy of being respected nor followed.

Major Alenko simply is not someone that can easily be intimidated into obeying orders, and/or be impressed by power or rank. What will make him “fall in line”, is the belief that the one giving the orders is the very best suited person for the job.

So, when it all come down to it, I’m pretty convinced that he could care less about Shepard “only being a Lieutenant Commander”.

He cares about Shepard doing the right thing, and about being able to trust their leadership and intents more than anything.

And, while Kaidan Alenko may have all the required qualifications and abilities to handle his own command, too...

...this is not what makes him the happiest.

He’s a soldier. He likes getting his hands dirty. He likes being right in the center of the action, and making a tangible difference.

My own partner, whose personality often reminds me of Kaidan (or, actually, Kaidan’s personality often reminds me of him!), has been offered countless of times the job of a team supervisor or coordinator in his work as a computer programmer (systems architect).

Sure, it would come with a salary increase and some advantages...

And sure, he’s a rather assertive guy, with a talent for seeing the greater picture, quickly noticing people’s own individual strengths and resources in a team, finding ways to take full advantage of said strengths and resources while organizing the work to complement every skill-sets they have, and thinking about creative solutions to a problem that others might be missing...

But what he loves most about his work is the coding itself.

He’ll gladly offer his input (actually, nothing you do or say will stop him from voicing his opinions, suggestions, and solutions to an issue... especially if he thinks you’re being inefficient in the way you’re approaching it, and/or overlooking some variables), but the thought of actually being in charge of the whole working team all the frakking time, and having to manage complaints, conflicts, etc. - when his time would better be used in front of the computer, figuring out why something isn’t working properly - is enough to drive him insane.

He has everything it takes to be a good, efficient, more than qualified supervisor and coordinator...

...except the interest and motivation.

The things that make him happiest at the work he does, lie within the programming itself.

Similarly, I very much perceive Kaidan Alenko as being someone that has every required qualifications, skills, and abilities to be in Command of his own ship or his own squad...

...but typically prefers being a soldier, getting out there in the field and doing his work without having to handle what everyone else has to be doing on top of it.

He made an exception for Admiral Anderson by indulging him, and eventually agreeing to assume Command of the 1st Special Operations Biotic Company. And, from the way he speaks about his students, it seems that the nature of his job, and his ability to connect with what they are going through and nurture their potential as soldiers, fellow “freaks”, and human beings, ended up making that command worthwhile and an overall positive and stimulating experience for him.

This is one of the many reasons why I lament the lack of interaction between Kaidan and Jack. They are both powerful biotics that were abused in the hopes of getting results and making their powers stronger. They both share a deep seated hatred of Cerberus. And they both ended up becoming teachers and mentors to younger generations of human biotics.

Beyond the potential for humor and entertainment, I think it would have been interesting to see how they might have related to each other, talked about their students, shared a few tips, etc.

But otherwise, Kaidan seems to be happiest while doing his own thing (ex: being sent to investigate certain situations for the Alliance / Council), or serving on a ship while using his skills to offer his support to his Commander, rather than being the one in charge of everybody else.

Given how he tends to be more task than ego oriented, I therefore really don’t think that he has any issues following the leadership of a Lieutenant Commander regardless of his own rank.

As long as he can trust Shepard to be a good leader and get things done, he’ll gladly let them assume command.

But during the attack on the Citadel, Commander Shepard is not Major Alenko’s C.O., as Admiral Anderson never officially assigned him to the Normandy, and after they left Earth in a hurry and headed for Mars to retrieve data, he ended up in the hospital.

If we want to argue that Major Kaidan Alenko was showing any kind of disrespect towards Commander Shepard by refusing to stand down in front of a superior officer during the Citadel coup (an argument that’s occasionally been brought up by those that highly disapprove of the confrontation)...

Well, I hate to break this to you, but per Systems Alliance military protocol, Shepard should have been the one to salute Kaidan, not the other way around.

But it simply doesn’t matter either way.

Because that confrontation was not an “Alliance Lieutenant Commander vs Alliance Major” issue.

This was very much “Spectre vs Spectre” issue.

You simply had two highly trained, experienced, and dangerous Spectre operatives that were interacting on absolutely equal footing, outside of the Alliance’s chain of command.

And they both had the exact same objective: Protect the council from Cerberus.

In the end, it all boils down to trust. And to whether or not Commander Shepard has the required empathy to understand that Kaidan Alenko has every right to be human, to have doubts, to question people’s motives - regardless of how much he loves them - and to be scared to make mistakes based on his personal feelings towards them.

Kaidan (and Ashley) have the most realistic, healthy, and human reactions that one could possibly have to someone being brought back from the dead by a terrorist organization.

On Mars, he wasn’t trying to attack or hurt Shepard.

What he clearly told them was “I’m confused, I’m scared, I do want to trust you, but I don’t know how. I’ve seen some of the abject horrors of what Cerberus is capable of doing, and the thought that they might have been using you, or are still planning to use you, against the rest of the Galaxy terrifies me. I need to know it’s really you - that you haven’t been cloned, brainwashed, or they didn’t plant a chip in your head or something - and I’m at a loss at where to even start.”

(I’m thinking that should they have discovered that Shepard had been altered in some way and/or was being manipulated by Cerberus, but was still in there somewhere, then Kaidan would have wanted to do anything he could to help free them from Cerberus’ grasp, too.)

And he has every right to feel that way, to be afraid, to be concerned, and to express it.

Actually no one owes any of their friends their “blind trust”.

If someone I strongly care about is doing something stupid or I disagree with, I fully reserve the right to oppose their actions and let them know I’m not on board with it.

I can trust that they are a good person and believe in them. But I can also occasionally distrust their judgment and whether the decisions they are making are the right ones.

So by openly verbalizing his fears and doubts, what Kaidan is actually doing is letting Shepard in. He’s reaching out for that connection they share, not shutting them down.

He’s almost desperate to try to explain to them how he feels, so they can open the dialogue and start figuring these things out together, rather than remaining alone in their little corner while allowing those fears and doubts to fester and take root.

If Shepard is able to understand that. If they can reach back towards Kaidan, show interest in getting to know each other again, rebuild trust, and work through those issues, then as I’ve already demonstrated a little while ago, getting Kaidan to stand down is so ridiculously easy it’s almost laughable.

If they do cut themselves off from Kaidan following Mars, and never reach back towards him, then they are allowing all those doubts and fears to keep on growing... thus leading to tragedy during the coup.

But yeah, anyone reasonably expecting Kaidan to just step aside the moment those doors opened (when he was fully expecting to see Cerberus operatives come out of the elevator shaft) - especially based on supposed “higher ranked offircer superiority” - is having utterly unrealistic expectations regarding Major Alenko’s personality and behavior.

Either they were too quick to dismiss him as whiny and boring, and thus kept him out out of every mission, skipped conversations, and/or quickly rushed through them without really listening and seeking to understand the character...

They are unable to perceive videogame characters as well-rounded people, but are rather exclusively seeking to immerse themselves in some fantasy world where every single person they encounter either automatically adores them or fears their superior power and influence; and those characters are something that should solely exist for their own entertainment (unlike reality, where they can more easily recognize that each of their friends have personal aspirations, opinions, thoughts, careers and dreams that exist entirely outside of themselves; and they never would realistically expect one of said friends to “drop everything” they are doing on the fly in order to blindly follow them into a private jet that’s being borrowed from a well-known right-wing terrorists organization instead).

Or, they literally have a God complex.

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Systems Alliance: Military Ranks (Mass Effect)

The Alliance uses a modified version of the ranking system that has been used for hundreds of years. Soldiers are classified into rank-and-file enlisted personal, experienced non-commissioned officers (NCOs), and specially trained officers.

The divide between naval personnel and ground forces (“marines”) is small. Ground units are a specialized branch of the fleet, just as fighter squadrons are. This unity of command is imposed by the futility of fighting without control of orbit; without the navy, any army is pointless. The marines, as a matter of pride, maintain some of their traditional rank titles; for example, marines have Privates and Corporals instead of Servicemen.

In ascending order of responsibility, the ranks of the Alliance are:

ENLISTED

Serviceman 3rd Class/Private 2nd Class

Serviceman 2nd Class/Private 1st Class

Serviceman 1st Class/Corporal

NCOs

Service Chief

Gunnery Chief [ex: Gunnery Chief Williams (ME1)]

Operations Chief [ex: Operations Chief Williams (ME2)]

OFFICERS

2nd Lieutenant

1st Lieutenant

Staff Lieutenant [ex: Lieutenant Alenko (ME1)]

Lieutenant Commander [ex: Commander Shepard (ME1, ME2, ME3), Commander Williams (ME3)]

Staff Commander [ex: Commander Alenko (ME2)]

Captain/Major [ex: Major Alenko (ME3); Captain Anderson (ME1)]

Rear Admiral/General [ex: Admiral Hackett (ME1)]

Admiral [ex: Admiral Hacket (ME2), Admiral Anderson (ME3)]

Fleet Admiral [ex: Admiral Hackett (ME3)]

#Kaidan Alenko #Kaidan #Mass Effect #Systems Alliance #ranking system #My Posts #My Thoughts

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makeste · 3 years

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BnHA Chapter 299: No Chains Left

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “and then AFO broke out all of the inmates from six other prisons and took a nap. well anyways, here’s the hospital angst.” Kacchan woke up two days later and was all, “WAIT BUT HOW ARE DEKU AND TODOROKI AND ALL OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS EXCEPT IIDA DOING” and then we cut to Shouto’s room where the other U.A. kids were sitting around being Mutually Traumatized and giving each other moral support and such. Everyone was alll, “...”, and then the rest of the Todofam showed up, INCLUDING POSSIBLY REI?! which, omg. The chapter ended with Kacchan STOMPING THROUGH THE HALLS all “WHADDYA MEAN DEKU HASN’T WOKEN UP YET”, dragging along Satou and Mineta behind him, fueled by the power of ALL OF THE FUCKS HE NOW GIVES. He gives so many fucks now you guys. This boy cares so much he can probably deduct it on his taxes.

Today on BnHA: SPEAKING OF PEOPLE WHO GIVE A LOT OF FUCKS, the story cuts abruptly to Hawks, freshly recovering from his near-death experience, and pondering the threads that have weaved the tapestry of his life and led him to this moment. Basically he grew up in poverty with his Jerk Dad and Jerk Mom until his dad got arrested one day and his mom sent him off to go Find Money Or Something, and so he rescued a busload of people and found himself a new career. Back in the present day, Hawks and Jeanist ride around town in Jeanist’s Jamborghini having awkward encounters with civilians in a country on the brink of social collapse, and visiting Hawks’s mother’s home. Hawks is all “I know from an outsider’s perspective it must look like my life currently sucks, but now that the HPSC is gone, my public image is shot, and my parents are finally out of my life, I’m actually feeling SURPRISINGLY GOOD.” Anyway so he’s gonna go meet up with Endeavor now, and p.s. this chapter was fucking fantastic though, damn.

oh my god?? is this Hawks narration?? something about him growing up watching the heroes on TV and thinking of them as fictional characters

okay I scrolled down a little bit more to see the rest of that “Keigo” panel, and wow

this is basically a shed. poor boy definitely grew up rough. let me tell you guys, I came in here ready for some BakuDeku shenanigans; I was not prepared for Hawks Flashback Angst. I AM HERE FOR IT, but also wow I gotta brace myself now lol

HELLO MISTER HAWKS’S JERK DAD, SIR

BnHA sure does have an array of Jerk Dads, doesn’t it. makes me appreciate characters like Masaru and JirouDad all the more for bucking the trend

anyway. so Horikoshi, you really thought that one itty bitty chapter of hospital catharsis would be enough to calm us all before you went right back to showing us child abuse huh. my god man can we rest

BABY HAWKS

swear to god this kid can’t be more than five or six, and yet he has this completely blank look on his face even with his dad looming over him being all threatening and shit. like he’s shut down his emotions to protect himself. imagine what has to happen to a child for him to have learned this at such a young age. fuck

AND MEANWHILE THIS GUY

don’t mingle with humans?? not “other” humans, just humans?? what is this implying here?? and also holy shit Hawks definitely didn’t inherit his looks from his dad orz

then again he doesn’t really bear much of a resemblance to his strung-out mom here either

omg omg omg. and this child is basically trapped here in this environment with these two people. this explains a SHITLOAD about Hawks’s personality though you guys. his ability to completely separate his real thoughts from the face he presents to the outside world. his pragmatic approach to analyzing and solving problems. his layers of emotional walls. turns out almost none of that came from the HPSC training -- that was all learned hands-on in his own personal do-or-die survival nightmare childhood!! oh, boy

and small wonder then that he latched on to Endeavor so strongly if he really is the one who brought down his dad and inadvertently saved him from this. also, just putting this out there, I know people are always talking about him and Dabi being foils, and I think it’s very interesting how Touya grew up in a household where he saw firsthand the dark side of hero society, and so ended up becoming a villain in order to bring it down. whereas young Keigo had almost the exact opposite experience, growing up experiencing the dark side of villain society and becoming a hero in order to bring about a world where no one else has to experience that. just. both of them are so determined not to become their fathers. some interesting parallels there

so Hawks was sort of an accident after his parents had “thanks for helping me not get caught after I killed that guy” sex, and now this little boy is growing up in squalor and being beaten by his father for things like Sitting In The Wrong Out-Of-The-Way Corner Trying Not To Be A Bother To Anybody. holy fuck. this is so rough to read through you guys

wait so does Jerk Dad have a an eyeball manipulation quirk?? because he doesn’t have the wings like his son, but wth are these things??

this presumably also means that Keigo has never been to school or anything either. he basically doesn’t exist. he thinks heroes are fictional characters, he doesn’t realize that they’re real people. these are people who could help him if he could escape and find them, but he doesn’t know, and they don’t know about him

OH MY GOD HE’S JUST SITTING IN HIS CORNER HUGGLING HIS ENDEAVOR PLUSH OH MY GOD

how could this child possibly have an anti-fandom when he’s done NOTHING WRONG HIS ENTIRE LIFE. huh. just explain that to me. lol I mean I’m not looking to pick a fight with anyone, but also, MAYBE I AM, idk?? this kid has gotten me all riled up lmao

anyways, Protect Keigo 2021, and thank you Horikoshi for these three very terrible pages. I am pleased to inform you that you’ve effectively gotten your point across and you may now commence saving this kid already

YAY

oh no, Keigo’s dumbass jerk dad tried to steal a car and the popo nabbed his ass and now his mom can’t just sit around neglecting her VERY YOUNG SON all day long, oh horrors. sorry lady my tiny violin is on backorder. just imagine that I’m playing a very sarcastic song on it for you

anyway so what are you gonna do now, abandon him? I can hardly imagine he’d be worse off, if anything it might be a near-instant improvement

LMAO HE’S ALL “WAIT WHAT ENDEAVOR’S A REAL FUCKING DUDE?!”

AND THEY SAY THAT A HERO CAN SAVE US~~~~ I’M NOT GONNA STAND HERE AND WAAAAAIT~~~~~ I’LL HOLD ONTO THE WINGS OF THE EAGLES, WATCH AS WE ALL FLY AWAAAAAAY~~~~

lol what a randomly pivotal moment in his young life. TIME TO GO MAKE THESE MEMES INTO DREAMS YOUNG ONE

anyway so his mom freaked out and grabbed him and they wound up at a train station with her TELLING HIM TO GO GET HER SOME MONEY, oh my god. SURE MOM LEMME JUST WALTZ RIGHT ON DOWN TO THE “JOBS FOR FIVE-YEAR-OLDS” STORE AND TELL THEM I NEED SOME CASH. ffff manifesting someone to come help him in 3... 2...

...

SIGH, JUST GO RESCUE THE PEOPLE FROM THE BUS, KEIGO. is this the outfit he was wearing when that happened?? it must be, right?? I can’t imagine them surviving more than a couple days out here unless this starts getting REALLY dark in a way I know that even Horikoshi won’t explore, so yeah. cut to the HPSC now please. never thought we’d be glad to see them. I mean sure, it may be an “out of the frying pan...” case, but good god

THANK YOU!!

and I guess it was his mom’s eyeball quirk then. anyway, whatever, see you again never, hopefully. lol oh man. thaaaat, was upsetting. need to center myself here for a sec. NAMASTE

OH YAY THE PRESENT

so we cut from Baby Hawks Angst straight to Present Day Hawks Angst, huh. not that this exhausted and traumatized lil lad isn’t still a baby to me too, I’ll have you know

BEST JEANIST, ALWAYS WITH THE JOKES

“WHEW, THOUGHT YOU DIED ON ME FOR A SEC THERE KID.” lmao. Caleb will no doubt ruin this by making his word choice all stiffly formal as usual, so I’m just going to treasure this “WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, I’M FRESH OUT OF FUCKS” version of Jeanist while I can

look at him, driving his Jeanistmobile

again, is it any wonder Kacchan was bitching about Endeavor’s dinky little car when he was used to riding around town in style like this. anyone else staring at this panel trying to figure out how this car is somehow secretly made of jeans

NOOOOO

FUCK YOU DABI LMAO. PUTTING THESE VOICE ACTORS OUT OF A JOB ONE BY ONE

anyway so Jeanist is all “GOOD THING IT’S THE FUTURE AND WE’RE SO GOOD AT MEDICAL SCIENCE” to handwave how Hawks went from one step shy of being a very handsome corpse, to sitting around texting Jeanist in a car all of two days later

OH MY GOD, AND FINALLY AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS

wait a minute. I’m so confused lmfao. soooo, was Hawks all “anyway, here’s Jeanist’s dead body, you can examine it but please don’t look at him too closely and also I’m gonna need that back unharmed.” how tf did you pull that off lmao

(ETA: also isn’t this technically confirmation of the ol’ Noumu Jeanist theory lol. I’m gonna go ahead and say it is.)

NO BUT PLEASE, CONTINUE. I unironically love reading Horikoshi’s overly convoluted “SEE IT’S NOT A PLOT HOLE” explanations

lkldslfk so wait, you’re telling me Hawks convinced Dabi and the League to put Jeanist’s body in storage, and basically just hoped they wouldn’t use him for any experiments until he could put his plan into action and have the HPSC’s people break in and find and revive him?? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG. A FOOLPROOF PLAN IF I’VE EVER HEARD ONE

fff this man really asked Jeanist to risk it all to prop up his little cover story, and Jeanist was all “sure why not” omfg. anyways, thanks for recapping all of this out loud for no particular reason in your car conversation you two

LMAO NOW WHAT

TROUBLE YOU SAY? GOOD THING THE NEW NUMBER ONE HERO IS ON THE JOB THEN

okay no it’s just some random thugs strolling around terrorizing the downtown. fuck ‘em. so Jeanist is making short work of them now

uh oh

won’t come? not can’t, but won’t?? what???

WOW

well I guess that makes the local heroes A BUNCH OF SHITHEADS now doesn’t it?? jesus

and okay, serious question, if the cops are spread too thin and the heroes have literally walked out on the job, what exactly is stopping everyone from deciding to use their quirks to defend themselves, legal or not? nothing, as far as I can tell. society just got a hell of a lot more chaotic

anyway so this is an interesting panel here

man, Dabi really did pull it off, didn’t he. well anyway so here’s that better world all of the villains were wanting, you guys! isn’t it so great?? everyone’s terrified and angry and losing hope and society is inches away from collapsing into total anarchy! but hey, at least we exposed the number one hero as a hypocrite

anyway so what are these guys up to

fucking hell, he’s visiting his mom. I really wasn’t prepared to commit this much emotional energy towards reading this chapter today. BUT VERY WELL, WE PRESS ON

?? wait she’s not there?

is this supposed to explain how Dabi knew who Hawks really was? except that there’s the little matter of how he even know where to find his mother in the first place. feels like we’re still missing something there, but oh well

OH MY GOD

RHA I TAKE BACK EVERY WORD I EVER SPOKE AGAINST YOU. YOU ARE A SCANLATION GROUP FILLED WITH ANGELS LMAO. I WILL TAKE THIS PANEL IN MY HANDS, AND TREASURE IT AND KEEP IT SAFE

ANYWAY, BECAUSE MY TIRED BIRD SON’S LIFE SUCKED SO MUCH ALREADY, IT TURNS OUT HE’S ACTUALLY PLEASED WITH THIS NEW TURN OF EVENTS LOL HOW ABOUT THAT

GOOD FOR YOU BBY. YOU GO OUT THERE AND BE YOUR OWN PERSON

and in all seriousness, I love that identity he chooses -- chooses, because it actually is him making a choice now, possibly for the very first time in his life -- is “guy who helps people”, though. it really is nothing short of miraculous that he held on to that kind of optimism and desire to do good even with everything he’s been through. there were so many times he could have chosen to turn his back on the world in retaliation for the way it treated him. but he didn’t!! and here he is now, finally free, and what he wants to do with the rest of his life now is simply to help others. anyway please excuse me for a moment, I need to go find some sort of basket or a big vase to put all of my fresh new Hawks Feels in, pardonne-moi

YEAH BOIIIIII

“FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS, MISTER JEANIST, WHERE DID YOU FIND YOUSELF THAT SWEETASS CAR.” hey, all I’m saying is if this boy’s wings really aren’t growing back, he’s gonna need to find himself a new means of transportation y’know?

oh my god you guys it’s a flashback to his mom buying him the Endeavor plushie when he was like two because, and I quote, ALL MIGHT WAS TOO EXPENSIVE

oh my god oh my god. my boy out here with a new lease on life finding hope in the darkest of times

wasn’t your throat supposed to be all fucked up lmao. Horikoshi was suddenly all “oh shit the VAs are gonna be pissed at me if I keep this up huh”

“that’s why Bubaigawara was such a great guy” motherfucker IT IS A TERRIBLE DAY FOR RAIN. FORECAST SAID NOTHING ABOUT THIS

:’)

yes ma’am. yes indeed. confirmed, I really will straight up fight some motherfuckers for this child. well not really, but YOU KEEP YOUR DISCOURSE OFF MY LAWN AND OUT OF MY BLOG YOU HEAR. THIS IS A HAWKS-FRIENDLY SPACE. WE RESPECT TAKAMI KEIGO IN THESE STREETS

and he’s saying (or is he thinking?? what a weirdly shaped speech bubble this is) that even if what Dabi said about the Todoroki household is true, “I’m not sure it’s the same now.” which happens to be ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. man this whole chapter really is all about saying “fuck the past” and moving forward and I am living for it

SON!!!!

“the first step is at my beginning” fklkjlk. what an iconic fucking line??

AND HIS WINGS!!!! THEY ACTUALLY ARE GROWING BACK AHHHHHHH. “PUT A RAINCHECK ON THAT CAR, JEANIST-SAN.” THE HAWKSMOBILE CAN WAIT, RIGHT NOW HE HAS TO GO INSERT HIMSELF BACK INTO THE TODODRAMA WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT

you guys. I came here ready for some BAKUDEKU HOSPITAL ANGST, and I got DIDDLY SHIT of that, and none of my other kids were even in this chapter, but!!! ASK ME IF I CARE LMAO omg. because bird son is hanging with his new best friend, and he’s out here Finding Himself and picking up the pieces and putting them back together stronger than ever because RESILIENCE HAS A NAME, AND IT’S SPELLED H-A-W-K-S, and you guys. profound, my love for this child. holy shit. hey google, play Silence by Marshmello

#bnha 299 #takami keigo #hawks (bnha)#best jeanist #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #I found peace in your violence #can't tell me there's no point in trying #I'm at one #and I've been quiet for too long

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jade-parcels · 3 years

Text

Modern au careers

For Kaeya, Jean, Zhongli, Ningguang and Venti

Something quick between longer posts!

Kaeya:

Kaeya would totally rock being a police officer you can’t convince me otherwise

He and Diluc went though the academy together. Diluc dropped out and took another career path which left Kaeya feeling kinda betrayed cause they were going to be awesome cops together! That was the plan :/ oh well

He’d excel in the police academy, he’s physically fit and fast which makes it easy for him to go through training

He won’t be a captain/commander for a long time since that’s a high position that takes years of testing and promotions to get to so for now let’s just settle for officer

He loves being out on the road doing real police work! There are plenty of times where he has to sit at his desk to write reports which he doesn’t exactly enjoy but oh well, it comes with the job

He won’t be promoted for awhile since he’s only 23 but man oh man, he’s been on the job for 2 years and he already has the best stories of chases, public interactions and just general stories about messing around back at the station

Kaeya isn’t exactly supposed to but when the K9 is in the building, he’ll neglect his work to go play with the dog :’)

He doesn’t have a long term plan, he’s taking things one step at a time and loving every minute of it

Jean:

She’s also a police officer, she ranked very high in the academy and graduated the year before Kaeya! They work at the same station

Jean and Kaeya work together a lot! They are even partners most of the time! They have a lot of laughs but Jean is really the one keeping Kaeya in charge

Her goal is to be the chief of police one day! The first female chief in a looooong time

She takes her paperwork seriously, she almost never makes mistakes. Additionally, she patrols populated areas so citizens will see her face and she can chat with people! She wants them to trust her! And she wants to learn about the people she has sworn to protect

There are female bosses above her who she really looks up to and aims to impress! She hopes they’ll be the ones to promote her too :)

After her long shifts she’s always happy to come home to her sister Barbara to tell her alllll about what she did at work that day! She’s Barbara’s biggest role model so Jean strives to do her best at work in order to come home to tell Barbara all about it

Barbara has her mom drop her off at the police station on the weekends to bring lunch for Jean! They eat together in the break room away from everyone else to catch up! Jean also helps Barbara with her schoolwork when she can :) she’s a great older sister

Zhongli:

A history professor who looks....really good for his age

He’s 40 but he doesn’t look a day over 25, all of his students either want to date him or hate the way he drawls on for hours

He’s super qualified for his job, he’s studied in China, Japan, Russia and Italy, he knows pretty much everything anyone would need to know about history

He specializes in Chinese history though and even teaches a Chinese history course for honors students who are truly interested in the subject

Zhongli is super patient with his students though he can be strict when he needs to be. If he sees them falling behind he’ll meet with them after class in order to figure things out “if you need more time to finish these papers, I can give that time to you. However, I would hope you take these seriously. Education is important. Not only that but you paid to take this class, I’d hate to see you fail...’

Zhongli is a father of two, Xiao and Ganyu and failure in school is not an option for either of them lmao Zhongli helps them with every subject. Failing math? He’ll get a tutor. Failing english? Don’t worry, he’s multilingual and will help. Failing science? He’ll stay up all night watching videos about chem or bio in order to reteach it to his kids the next day.

He loves his kids very much...he has tons of pictures of them on his desk at work and he constantly gets notifications saying he’s almost out of storage on his phone lmao

Ningguang:

M’lady <3

Ms. Ningguang is a super successful businesswoman. She is super into the stock exchange, she is constantly buying and selling stocks

She is also the CEO of a luxury makeup brand. She took over the position and turned the basic, bland brand into something truly special

She’s been on the cover of many magazines all over the world with her success story! She went from wandering the streets as an orphan to a wealthy businesswoman.

Ningguang has a gorgeous house and two, luxurious sports cars. Dayum...You go girl!!!!

She sponsors multiple orphanages and plans on adopting kids when she settles down a little cause she is constantly on the move, she doesn’t have time for a kid right now...though she would love to be a mother :’)

Venti:

Venti has multiple jobs and his additional job history is hilarious to look at because this man gets bored too easily!! So he’ll just...quit spontaneously

He’s had 3 past jobs as a bartender and got fired from all 3 for excessive drinking, he worked at a dog shelter for a month and quit because a dog puked on his shoe, he was a receptionist for a dentist’s office and was fired for yelling at an old lady (she deserved it though!!), he worked at a Target for 4 months and quit because his coworkers gave him too much stuff to do (they did not but he felt like they did)

He’s really done everything!! He has plenty of good stories to tell at the bar with his buddies!

Now he’s a songwriter. Well, he’s been a songwriter for a long time but now it’s official

But being a songwriter isn’t exactly...profitable for him yet. So he’s holding down 3 jobs. A Starbucks barista, a KFC cook and a Khols cashier. He’ll get you that sweet, sweet khols cash baby!

Is he successful? No, not yet but he will be!! Hopefully!! He makes a lot of money when he sings at bars or restaurants so he has a lot of faith in himself!

Venti is the definition of a free spirit so who knows what he’ll be doing in a month from now!! He sure as hell doesn’t know lmao

#series: modern Au #genshin impact #genshin imagines #genshin impact writing #genshin impact Jean #genshin impact kaeya #genshin impact zhongli #genshin impact venti #genshin impact ningguang

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msiconoclast · 3 years

Text

Again - Chapter 3

Pairing: Jaebeom x Reader

Genre: romance, angst, smut, slow-burn

Summary: Im Jaebeom was the single most significant part of your college experience. A chance encounter brings you together again many years later when you’ve both settled into your careers (Jaebeom is a music producer and Y/N is a journalist). As you take a walk down memory lane, you reflect on your understanding of love and its many trials. Some loves are meant to make you grow, and some are meant to help you heal. And some are destined to be both.

Word Count: 3.4k

Rating: 18+ (this chapter only)

A/N: This could be The sex scene of this whole story. I haven’t decided. Hopefully it serves its purpose. Guess we’ll see. And.....oh yeah, this story is not going to have a linear timeline.

Story Index:

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2

It started with a trace of fingers up the legs. Or maybe it was a whisper behind your ears. But here you were, pinned down by his strong frame on top of you, writhing as JB nibbled away at your neck. The air was thick and damp inside the cave. Even with the small fire crackling red hot just six feet away, goosebumps still ran up and down your spine. Your cheeks, however, were flushed. You think his fingers would probably incinerate if he touched your face right now. Time was hazy inside this little seaside cavern and you don’t know how long it’s been since you ducked in to hide from the relentless storm outside. Cuddling for body heat had quickly escalated to lips smashed together and hands wandering to explore each other. As fingers sought to capture and memorize every single curve and turn of your bodies, it felt as though you had been here, in this hideaway, kissing since the dawn of time.

His lips broke away from your neck and started moving lower across your chest, your stomach, leaving behind a trail that electrified your skin. They were heading towards the part of your body that had tensed and contorted itself into a bundle of nerves. The epicenter of desires. You bit your lips and sank your fingers into his hair, not sure whether you wanted him to speed up or slow down. Just as you prepared yourself for the next wave of pleasure though, everything stopped.

Confused, you tried to crane your neck and find his eyes. But you were surprised by gentle taps on your thighs as his hands then led them to open up wide in front of his face. His lips reattached to your body at your knees and the journey now moved north along the longitude of your thighs. It was slow, and agonizing as he administered every lick and tickle, clearly intending to subjugate you to his whims utterly and completely. You arched your back every time his tongue made contact with your skin. It felt as though he had a map of your most sensitive spots and with a clinical focus, he attempted to mark off every one of those spots on your legs. And every time he found one, he got a whimper out of you as a reward. You tried to rub your legs together for some friction but was punished by a bite instead. If it weren’t for the fact that your hands were clamped down by his, you’d probably be digging your nails deep into his arms.

When his mouth finally made contact with your soaked panties, he pulled away again. And the next thing you felt was a draft of cool air up the insides of your thighs towards your core.

“Oh.” was all you could stutter and swallow.

JB wasn’t known for his patience but he did have a thing for control. You were always exactly where he wanted you to be, locked into his grasp but an arm’s length away both physically and emotionally even when he brought you to the highest of highs. The same intensity with which he gave you pleasure, you wanted to find that in his eyes. Though his sight was always trained on you, watching your every reaction, it was as if his gaze was always behind an impenetrable glass shield. All you ever saw were your own desperate desires reflected back at you.

You felt completely exposed to him, not just physically, but as if he could see through your skin and touch every raw nerve. While you could not deny the pleasure he granted, it frightened you to be exposed like this, each thought and emotion under someone else’s scrutiny and him the master of your sanity and satisfaction. You didn’t understand this fear. You never did, but it was as much a part of you as your need for intensity and frenzy. You liked to think that the mix of the two led to defiance, but to someone from a distance it probably looked a little more like recklessness. Regardless, control was not something you would hand over to JB on a silver platter.

So you managed to untangle one of his hands from your legs and led it to your mouth. A lick of the fingertips and your sweet warm mouth gently enclosed his finger. Before he knew it, he’s pumping two fingers in and out of your mouth while your tongue caressed the pads of his enclosed fingers. You clearly took him by surprise as he tried to stifle the low grunt that escaped his throat. For a minute, he was fixated on the sight of his fingers disappearing in and out of your mouth and appeared to be in a trance. You used the moment to push him down on his back so that you end up sitting straddled on top of him. Your fingers brush across his taut abs before making a quick exit of his belt. And as you tug his pants down, you could see that he was hard. Oh, he was very hard.

The tip of his cock twitched as you carefully traced its veins. You moved directly on top of his bulge and started to grind your hips into him. Circular and back and forth, you varied the friction and pressure so that you could bring him back down from the edge every time his jaw gritted a bit too tight. Eyes closed, JB was a sight to behold. Skin covered with a bright sheen and hair tousled from sweat, you’ve never seen him so compliant in this position before. In fact, you couldn’t remember any other time that he’s allowed you to be on top. You knew he was enjoying himself by the way he thrusted up his hips to meet yours and the loud hisses, the almost-grunts, that he let out. But you wanted more. You wanted to crack through that veneer of calm and cool and see what was really underneath it. What was he hiding from you? Was he also in free fall every time your bodies touched? And did he also pray that you would be there to cushion the fall at the end? So many questions yet no answers were ever found in his beautiful fucking face. Well, you just had to force the confession out of him then.

Taking his fingers out of your mouth, you suddenly leaned down and pushed him into a deep kiss. This gave you the opportunity to place his hands above his head and, using the silk scarf that was tying your hair up, restrain his hands to the camping packs nearby.

“What are you doing?” He finally caught on to what was happening and turned his face sideways.

Something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.

But you remained silent and continued to undress him. Once he was completely naked beneath you, you decided to take a moment to simply take in the glorious view. You always felt that women’s bodies were more pleasant to look at, with the natural harmony of its curves and smoothness of its skin. But you now realized that the male form, this particular male form, with its dramatic cliffs and implied strength, held a power that was perhaps even more mesmerizing.

You backed yourself off so that you could wrap your fingers around his cock. Giving it a tight squeeze, you then began pumping it at a languid pace. He seemed to relax thinking that he knew where this was going. Only if. At the same time, you moved your other hand to your own clit and started touching yourself to the same pace that you were stroking him. As the arousal spread from your core, your grip tightened bit by bit until your rhythm became almost totally erratic. Though his face revealed no clues, his hands dug into the blanket by his sides. He threw his head back in pleasure and his breathing got shallower. You were starting to feel light-headed and ready to give in to the delirium that was overtaking your body.

It was a loud groan from JB that brought you back from the edge.

Wait a minute, this wasn’t the plan.

It took all of the willpower you had left to push yourself off of him. As extra precautions, you backed up a good distance away entirely. For a minute, you just sat panting and trying to gather your wits. JB tried to tug his wrists free from their restraints. Good thing you had been a girl scout in your youth and had actually learned how to tie a proper knot. Never know when these things come in handy. Finding his predicament to be more than a little temporary, it finally dawned upon him that you were the one in charge now.

“Let’s pick up where you left off, hmm?”

Stretching yourself out, you opened your legs as wide as possible to give him a good view of you dripping wet core as your fingers encircled your clit at a feverish pace.

“Like what you see? You like to watch me right?” You asked in between heavy breaths.

For a good show, you slowly rolled your body up and down to exaggerate all of your curves. You did always have a flair for the dramatic. Then you dipped two fingers into your core and used your other hand to tease your nipples. The new sensations pushed you to the edge and you couldn’t help but let out a breathy whine. That whine then turned into loud moans. You wanted to make sure he knew just how much pleasure you were giving yourself. Somehow, you managed to lock eyes with him all at the same time and to your great satisfaction, you finally saw his eyes flinch and his jaw lock shut.

“Looks like I can get myself off without you just as well.”

That must have stung because it finally sparked something in his eyes. You weren’t sure if it was anger or lust but it looked like brilliant fireworks either way. It’s no fun if a girl can’t play with a little fire once in a while.

“Stop it! No, come here.”

“What did you say? Sorry, I’m a little busy here.”

He let out a sigh and his chest sank in resignation. You were ready for his retort but he took a long pause instead. Something seemed to shift in the air and a heaviness creeped up on the mood in the cave.

“I know you don’t need me.” He finally spoke in a soft voice. “There was this candle that you really liked. The one that smelled like a fig tree. We got it from that little apothecary with the birdcages down in Japantown, remember? It was the only thing I could find after you packed up and left. You were...so thorough.” He closed his eyes and seemed lost in thought. “I kept going back to that place to buy that same candle over the years. When I couldn’t sleep, I’d light the candle and sit in the dark…...the apartment would smell like you. The place closed down two years ago. I showed up one day and it was just gone. Nobody knew if they’d moved or where the owner went. And I never found that candle again anywhere else.”

Eyebrow quirked up. This was not what you expected. With your legs brought back together, you curled up, put your head on your knees and stared at him.

“There were nights when I woke up in the dark…...and thought you were still there. It’s like I could hear you humming in the bathroom.”

You didn’t realize you were holding your breath until he stopped speaking. The silence sat between the two of you like an unwelcome guest.

You had painted this epic battle of will with JB in your head. Him surrendering at the first skirmish was not something you had prepared for. But wasn’t this exactly what you wanted? Didn’t you want him to finally put his feelings on the table and show his cards?

It dawned on you in that moment that you had long lost sight of what you were fighting for. This push-and-pull with JB was all you could remember now. Winning was all you could remember now.

In silence, you moved back to his wrists and quickly undid the constraints. You felt tired all of a sudden, like someone had popped you like a balloon and let all the air out of you. All you could do was lay yourself down on the blanket and curl up into a fetal position. You wanted sleep to wash over you and put you out of this state of confusion you were in.

As you drifted in and out of sleep, you felt JB’s body envelop you as he curled up behind you and pulled you into his chest. You could feel him pull your hair back and kiss your cheek and ear. You relaxed into the warmth of his body and exhaled as he planted tiny kisses on your shoulder and elbow. There was something intimate in the way he deliberately avoided any gesture that was remotely sexual. Something tender in the way he softly hummed some unknown tune while he stroked your hair. And when he finally threaded his fingers with yours, you felt safe again for the first time in a very long time.

“I missed you.”

There it was. Three little words that you never thought you’d hear him say. You wanted to pinch yourself to see if you were dreaming.

Instead, you pinched him on the side. Hard.

“Ow! Hey, what was that for!”

You rubbed where you had pinched him. Then you pinched him on the other side. A little less hard this time.

“Say it again.”

“I missed you.”

“Say it again. I want to hear you say it again. Don’t stop until I tell you to.”

Upon hearing this, he nuzzled himself into your neck and whispered those three words repeatedly until you finally turned around and shut him up with a kiss.

You’d kissed JB countless times before. Knew the outline of his lips by heart and nibbled them in your sleep. But you always had to chase those kisses. This time though, it was as if he was discovering how to kiss you for the very first time and he threw his whole body, his entire being into it. Soon he was on top of you and crushing your lips with full force. You felt as if you were going to suffocate and your lungs would explode. But you didn’t want him to ever stop. As his tongue parted your lips and entwined with yours, you find yourself moaning into the kiss.

“Let me make you feel good, hmm? Remember how good it used to feel?”

You kissed him back as tacit consent. With that, he moved his mouth down to your nipple and as he teased it with his tongue, his hand sought out your clit.

“So wet already…so wet for me.”

That was all the encouragement he needed to insert not one, but two fingers into you. With his thicker knuckles, the stretch was incredible. When his finger found that familiar spot inside of you, you both hissed and tensed up with anticipation. You felt like you were losing your mind and all you wanted was for him to be inside and fill you up. But he was clearly in no hurry. It was like he was determined to go all day and all night. He kept one finger curled at the spot while the other one pushed in and out of you. And when he added his thumb back at your clit doing circles, you finally broke down. A tsunami of pleasure swallowed you and threw you up and down like a broken boat. It felt like forever before the waters finally calmed down.

“Mmm…...you did so good baby. So hot.” He inserted his index finger into this mouth and licked it clean. “So sweet. Are you ready to cum again?”

He said it so casually as if he was asking if you wanted a second serving of ice cream. Meanwhile, you felt like you were still floating in outer space.

“You don’t have to do anything. Just rest.”

As he said this, he got behind you and cuddled up to you once again. You were both drenched in sweat at this point but you didn’t mind one bit. After he made sure that you were comfortable leaning into him, he pulled your hips towards him and proceeded to attack your clit again. This time he took it slow and as he massaged your clit, he pushed himself into you so that you could feel his hard cock against your ass. You whimpered and bit your lips as you felt overwhelmed and overstimulated. Seeing this, he alternately cooed at you and nibbled at your ear.

“Sshh……..just a little bit more. Open up for me babe. Let me take you home.”

And with that, he started to push his cock into you. Even though you were still slippery from your last orgasm, you couldn’t take more than an inch of him at a time. You both grunted as he pushed ever so slowly into you until he was finally fully sheathed within you.

“Stay still. Please. Just for a minute.” You muttered in a high pitched voice.

He felt so incredibly full inside of you that you felt goosebumps up and down your arms even though you were burning up in heat. With his body wrapped around you and your bodies connected fully, you had never felt so close to JB before. Your bodies had finally merged and became one, and as you rested your head back, you could feel his heartbeat syncing up to yours.

So this is what it’s like to feel whole.

“Babe, I have to move.”

And with that, he began to thrust long strokes into you. With every stroke, he winded you up tighter and tighter. Though his breathing fastened, his lips never left your ear or your neck, somehow planting the most tender and delicate kisses over your skin. Your bodies moved to the same rhythm. As he pushed into you, you pushed back so that you could feel him deeper, closer, and fuller. Sensing that you were inching towards the edge again, he moved one hand back on your clit and started attacking it at full force. At the same time, he buried his head in your neck and started pounding into you at a ferocious speed. You wanted to scream from the intensity and the pleasure, but you found yourself unable to get a single sound out of your throat. And it was in this silent cry you both found your climax and came with hands joined together and bodies melting into each other.

“I love you.”

Three little words again. But these three words startled you. If you weren’t tired to the bone, you’d turn around and pull his face up for close inspection. But as it were, all you could do was reach back for him with your arm.

That is, until all you could feel was the blanket where he laid just a moment ago.

Off at the end of your feet, the crackling fire all of a sudden seemed to burn ten times bigger and hotter. Before you could even react, a spark jumped out from the fire and landed at the edge of the blanket you were lying on. The flame flew towards you with full intent. You wanted to get up and run but found yourself completely immobile and anchored to the ground. In that moment, you did the only thing you could do.

You screamed.

Then you opened your eyes.

And it was Wednesday morning.

Your heart felt like it was going to burst out of your chest and you were still out of breath.

You’d just had a wet dream about JB after seeing him for the first time in seven years.

Fuck.

And it was only just Wednesday.

#got7 #got7 jaebeom #got7 jaebum #jaebeom #jaebum #got7 jb #kpop smut #kpop fiction #got7 fanfic #got7 fic #got7 imagines #kpop writing #got7 jackson #jackson wang #got7 jinyoung #got7 smut

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justlookingvm · 3 years

Text

Tessa Virtue’s leap from Figure Skating Olympic Champion to Executive MBA | Kneading Dough Canada

https://youtu.be/JAAkEDRFJ1A

Host: Vinay Virmani

T: If you’re going to build something, you need options in your life. I’ll say this especially as females, it’s important to be independent. To feel like you can be self-reliant and to take care of yourself.

[Intro presented by Tangerine]

V: Tessa, welcome to Kneading Dough Canada.

T: Thank you so much for having me.

V: It’s a pleasure. Kneading Dough Canada is a financial empowerment platform as you know, where we talk money, we talk mindset, we talk about financial lessons that you’ve learned along the way to hopefully inspire the next generation.

T: Well I’m so grateful to be on, I really appreciate it. I think it’s always refreshing to hopefully lend that female lens but also maybe that perspective from the amateur sport world too.

V: Yeah, you know Tessa you’ve accomplished so much, both in your personal and in your professional life. As an athlete you have achieved so many incredible honours, you’ve represented us, this country of Canada at the highest of international levels, but what I’m really excited about is you’re about to add another accomplishment in the form of three very special letters, MBA behind your name. Talk to me about that decision.

T: It’s been you know lingering in my mind for a long time. Education was always a priority in my household growing up in my family, and I thought about law school for quite some time and then I retired at 28 or 29 and thought maybe that’s too long (giggle) and realized also I wanted to flex a bit of a creative muscle. So this MBA program has been a dream of mine for quite some time. I want to be a student again in every sense of the word and I’m eager to learn the ins and outs of the business realm and that corporate sphere that I’ve had a unique perspective of, you know for 10 15 years, but if I’m going to take on a new role whatever that may be then I really want to feel like I’ve adopted that rookie mindset once again, and earned my stripes, I’ve gotten the credibility to to deserve a place there.

V: I want to take it to the world of figure skating though, because the world of figure skating is so glamorous as a sport. You know

T: I wasn’t sure where that sentence was going to land. It could have gone so many directions.

V: I I’m so like fascinated by the world of figure skating because the glamour, the imagination, the costumes, the drama, the whole production value. It looks so beautiful and elegant, but behind it there’s also rigorous routine, training and it’s not cheap.

T: Uh huh

V: So growing up, dd you have those conversations with your family and did you understand the investment that it was taking to sort of put you through the highest levels of figure skating.

T: The 2 things that my parents were always wiling to invest in or prioritize were education and sport. And it was important to them that we were exposed to as much as we could be. I’m the youngest of four. You know I’m of two minds because on one hand I do believe they tried to shield me from the burden of that sacrifice, that they made for all kids and for you know all of these adventures. But I was also keenly aware of it. I knew the the toll and I knew the cost and um you know I felt that responsibility…

V: Was there anything that you remember early on where there was an incident or a moment where you were like, I recognize like you talked about the toll.

T: My parents were so conscious to ensure that I wasn’t carrying that weight, and yet I moved away from home when I was 13 and I was kind of budgeting at that age for groceries and 7-eleven runs (laughs), whatever it is that a 13 year old needs. Taking taxis everywhere and I made a decision when I was 15 um to be able to do it on my own. My mom was always quick to say you know you have to look after yourself and you always have to make your own way and she was all about sort of creating that sense of security and freedom, so that I had options.

To be honest I had a tumultuous relationship with my father when I was a teen and I think it was just a decision, at that point. I didn’t feel right.

V: Yeah

T: I didn’t feel right accepting that kind of support anymore um and maybe it was a bit of pride you know, not wanting to

V: You don’t want to be dependent on anybody.

T: Totally. Yeah, and that’s not to say that I’m not aware of the privilege that I had growing up to have those opportunities. It was just a real marker of OK, if this is the path I’m choosing, um and I really need to make sure that I can I can do it on my own or in a way that really isn’t such a burden.

V: You know talking to you today has reinforced independence. You know being independent, not being dependent and and just being self-sufficient. And how gratifying that is, you know I think a lot of people, especially as you said, I hope a lot of young women watch this show and and really listen to your advice. And the fact that you took that decision at such an early age.

T: You know it’s interesting I found old journals not too long ago, and there was a page in one and I don’t know, judging by my handwriting I might have been 12? 11 or 12? And I had written my goals and that were, you know the to win the Olympics, be on Oprah, which I’ll settle for uninterrupted and Kneading Dough, uh buy a cottage, like buy a family cottage

V: Right

T: And at 12 that was on my mind and the feeling of walking into this cottage that my mom and I were able to dream of and then buy together, is so visceral and it’s it’s so much about, like I think back to being young and maybe not having, especially for her like that sense of security and and just really feeling like that can be a safe place now. Um so again it’s more of the representation of that.

V: I’ve heard you say something that has really resonated with me always because it’s something that I believe in. That the highs are so much better when you’ve experienced the lows. And obviously Scott Moir and yourself accomplished so many great things together. Something that I always try to tell the younger generation is, sometimes you have to just sit back celebrate your failures.

T: Well we learned to embrace it by making it part of our process, in that, not only did we anticipate failure and expect it and embrace it, well, we practiced it. So we learned to fall on demand, get back up, refocus, and

V: OK

T: be back into our program still trying to amalgamate as many points as possible.

V: You know I remember once um I must have been in grade school and I and I failed a few subjects. I was never a good student.

T: OK

V: And you know we didn’t have a lot of money at the time and I remember my my dad, I was really afraid to tell him that you know I’ve failed these courses and blah blah blah, but he said to the family, he said, alright everybody get ready we’re going for dinner. And we went to this restaurant that was only saved for like birthdays or anniversaries. And so we get there and he’s ordering all these great things on the menu and I’m like “dad, I don’t think you heard me like I failed, like I failed and here you are taking it t the restaurant.” And I remember he looked at me and he said “You know I want you to celebrate this failure. I want you to take it in because if you’re winning all the time, you’re not going to learn anything.”

T: Wow, and obviously that stayed with you

V: Oh yeah, you’re always going to learn so much more from the losses.

This next set of questions is called the two cents round, so you can’t overthink these things.

Tessa, we all know about your discipline but what do you splurge on?

T: Clothes

V: Clothes, OK, all right. What part of your budget are you working on lowering?

T: Clothes (big laugh). Actually not really because I will say, it’s more what it represents like part of that is like my I love it and it’s become also intertwined with my career and my brand if you will. Um

V: Its an investment in yourself.

T: I think so, that’s how I twist it

V: So, what is us the best financial decision you’ve made so far?

T: Hire the right people

V: Building the right team around you.

T: Yeah absolutely.

V: Describe your financial persona in just one word.

T: I want to say careful?

V: Careful.

T: Careful in that I’m strategic

V: I like that, OK

T: But I’m willing to have some fun.

V: OK, all right. Tessa if you could run any business, what would it be?

T: My own.

V: Your own. OK. All right I’m not going to push you more. [Tessa laughs]. They say patience is a virtue, how long did your first paycheck last?

T: I mean I spent my whole career basically operating at a deficit, so everything went back into training. I worked towards certain things and the you know I was really fortunate to get some funding and bursary grants, and then eventually sponsors and um was able to build this little nest egg, but mostly it went right back into training.

V: Tessa, this year we’ve been having such important and meaningful conversations about women in sport. And you know of course there’s such a long way to go for those conversations really to achieve equality, but as somebody who’s such a big advocate for women’s empowerment in sport, how do you feel that you want to lend your voice to those conversations?

T: I think, currently the biggest impact I feel I can have is really connecting with those young female athletes at that precipice of maybe dropping out um for all the heart breaking reasons that we’re learning about through research. Whether that is you know body image, or lack of self-confidence, lack of self-worth, it’s just not good enough. Like the access to resources, there are opportunities, um I think those conversations are really important and that’s where I’ve been feeling most fulfilled, when I’m able to connect with those athletes and you know I’ve been able to benefit from all of the lessons and the opportunities that sport has lended it uh to my life. And I just so want that for other female athletes. And you know we’re seeing that there are more mentors, more representation, more access to viewing these formidable female athletes, and I hope that resonates.

V: Tessa, we’ve uh had the opportunity to work on a few branded campaigns together. There’s this Tessa grace, and there’s this element of everything being held to a certain standard. In everything that you do, especially things that are public facing. Talk to me a bit about that.

T: I hate the word brand but I’m going to say it, my brand has been

V: I mean you definitely have a very strong brand

T: Well it’s been built on the very foundation of me and my personality and if those values aren’t upheld in every sense of you know the word, then I’m I’m not useful to anyone. Then I’m then no brand would want to hire me, um because it if it gets diluted, then I then I just think um it’s losing the very essence of what resonates with people. And I’m really careful about that like I only partner and pair with brands that I would authentically stand behind and feel really good about promoting.

V: I love that

T: And I’m conscious of where I lend my voice and my likeness, a very clear mission statement, and you know I love to be hands on but that’s where like the creative fulfilment comes in

V: Right

T: And honestly that’s where the most successful engagement also comes. If I’m involved and it’s a collaborative process, um it’s much more successful for the brand too.

V: You know, over this past year, there’s been such a strong connection to mental health and financial wellness. Many Canadians have a very high debt to income ratio, which can be very stressful. For you, how do you protect not only your mental health, but when it comes to financial wellness. How do you really protect your sanity?

T: As an amateur athlete I grappled with that um day after day. I think it’s important to find purpose in saving and planning. So, you know my mom started those conversations with me when I was young but that was all to sort of plant the seed of like you need to plan for this. And if you’re going to build something you need options in your life. For me you know it’s helped having a corporation for example, because a lot of my money is tied up there and it it’s great um but, it’s also made me very careful and strategic in how I spend it.

V: What is your one big piece of financial advice to all young women out there?

T: Surround yourself with the right people and set yourself up for independence.

V: I love that. Financial freedom.

T: Financial freedom.

#Tessa Interview: Kneading Dough

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i-am-distressed · 3 years

Text

RIDE ALONG: Part 1

Prologue-Part 2

Warnings: none

You thanked the officer that held the door open for you, nodding to one you recognized as ‘Nanami’ as you made your way to your destination, Captain Yaga’s office. When you committed the misdemeanor, you were 3 days away from starting your first day as a rookie for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. When you punched your ex, a few of the higher ups deemed your actions as ‘inappropriate’ and ‘out of line’, and they put your admission into the unit on ‘pause’ while they figured out what to do with you, but they weren’t the ones who decided what would happen to you.

It was the man who would hopefully be your new boss, Masamichi Yaga. The Chief, who apparently trained Yaga first hand, decided whatever he decides will be best, so this is your one shot to get this right. The other new recruits were starting today, so they put you on a ‘3 day probation to think about what you did’. You walked up the flight of stairs, letting your eyes wander as you did. The station was in nice condition. It had been remodeled a few years ago, so it was really sleek and new looking. It had an open concept layout, and most every room had plenty of windows in it, keeping the station open and light. It was much different from the 30+ year old academy you had spent that past 5 months training in, where every time you stepped into daylight your eyes spent a good 5 minutes adjusting to seeing an adequate amount of light. Already, this was a promising change, you just needed to not screw this up any worse than you already did.

You got to the top of the stairs and proceeded down the hallway the dispatcher you ran into had directed you to, Miwa? She was nice, much better than the other 2 girls who were sitting at their desks throwing balled up pieces of paper into a far off trash can. Walking down the hallway you found the second floor was much more closed off and professional than the first. It had more closed doors and private offices, not surprising since you saw a few doors with ‘Sergeant’ and ‘Lieutenant’ on them. You got to the end and stopped when you found the door that had ‘Captain Masamichi Yaga’.

You stopped taking a deep breath before you squared your shoulders and knocked. Just before you did, you heard the captain talking to someone, you didn’t recognize the voice, but it was clear it belonged to a man. “Come in.” You turned the knob before stepping in the door. “Go ahead and close the door, please have a seat.” Yaga motioned over to the second chair he had sitting in front of his desk, diagonal to the chair the unknown man was sitting in. You nodded as you closed the door, making your way to sit in the chair, keeping a professional posture and a steadfast expression.

“I don’t believe either of you have met before, no?” You looked over at the man. He had pinkish hair with a dark undercut, his eyes were dark red and sharp, even with how lazy his gaze seemed, it was intense. You could feel his eyes wandering you, not in a creepy perverted way, but in a scrutinizing judging way. And to be honest, you couldn’t tell which one would tick you off more. Beyond having hair that was definitely too long to be within regulation, he was also covered in tattoos. Maybe he was a C.I? “Never seen her in my life, can I go?”

Your eyebrow raised as you turned back to look at the captain, who had an almost visible tick mark appearing on his forehead. “No.” Sighing the man leaned back in the chair, crossing his notably muscular arms over his chest. You couldn’t tell since he was sitting down, but you guessed he was in the 6’0 range, probably taller. He was very fit, that much was for sure. And he definitely was no professional, that much was also for sure. Whereas you came in wearing a very nicely fitting pair of slacks and a silk button up, he came in wearing a tight white t-shirt and dark wash jeans, he was wearing what looked like a black flannel over his shirt, it being left open and the sleeves rolled up. It definitely didn’t meet the uniform standards, but it didn’t exactly look bad either.

Yaga cleared his throat and you directed your attention back to him. “I’m sure you’re aware of the possible consequences of your actions, yes? Your record shows good grades, good conduct, and overall a spotless record. Nevertheless, what you did could get you in serious trouble a few years down the line, you’re lucky he didn’t decide to press any charges. I should tell you to go find another career, since it’s clear you don’t process emotions well.” You looked down at that, your arms had crossed over your chest and you held your tongue, he had a point.

“But, My wife happened to be there, and when I confided in her on what to do about the situation, she told me if I treasure my marriage I should show you some mercy. Our daughter was cheated on, so I can’t say I hate what you did. In light of that, a punishment is still in order,” He paused to lean on his elbows, gaze serious, and honestly intimidating as he stayed quiet for a moment.

"For the next 3 months, You, Y/n L/n will be doing a sort of probationary trial with this man sitting in front of me." The man's head shot up, his crimson eyes wide open as his face contorted into a scowl. "Yeah, no, she won't be. I don't take passengers." Yaga sat up, his glasses casting a menacing gleam, "If you'd like to keep your job, Corporal, you will be." The ‘corporal’ in question ‘tsk’d’ before sinking back into the leather chair, leg crossing lazily over the other as his hand gripped his bicep. He was muscular alright…

”Ms. L/n, this is Corporal Ryomen Sukuna, he’s just recently been taken off of suspension and is in a probationary period of his own. If at the end of these 3 months the two of you are deemed fit for duty, you will proceed on with your careers with no problem.” You looked over at the man, his red eyes finding your e/c ones as he raised an eyebrow, your own narrowing slightly at him before you smartly returned your gaze towards Yaga. “Do I make myself clear?” You both responded with ‘yes sir’ and he dismissed you.

You both stood from the chairs, him grabbing the badge that was slid over the desk while you made your way to the door. “Your first day is tomorrow, don’t be late,” Yaga turned to Sukuna, “I hope you understand, it doesn’t matter how good of a cop you are, this is your last chance, mess this up and you're done. Please cooperate.” Your eyebrows raised at that before you felt yourself cringe, great, the ‘probation officer’ they assigned you was some kind of delinquent? You opened the door and stepped out, Sukuna passing by you without a word, going his own way as you sighed, shutting the door and making your way back out of the station.

On your way to the front desk to sign out, you heard your name being called. “HEY! Y/N!” You stopped and turned, finding two of the new recruits who had graduated with you, Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro. They were nice, and good at what they did, so you were happy when you heard they’d be going to the same unit as you. You watched as Fushiguro smacked Itadori upside the head, “We’re inside, idiot.”

Your lip tugged up at that, watching as Itadori rubbed his head with a pout before turning to you, giving you one of his smiles. “Anyway, what did the Captain say? Are you gonna be able to continue with us?” You nodded as a small smile made its way to your face, “With conditions, yes.” Fushiguro nodded as Itadori gave you a thumbs up and ‘nice!’, “You’re lucky you didn’t get cut, the higher ups can be really cut throat when they want to be, i’d watch my back.” You nodded at Fushiguro, remembering the stories your dad had told you about people being let go for trivial things, although back then it was mostly family politics.

Fushiguro was from the Zen’in family, who was known for being exemplary cops, and had a strong presence in the station. From what you knew, there were at least 5 of them in this unit alone. “I will, they’re letting me join, but for 3 months i’ll be doing a probationary trial with one of the corporals.” Fushiguro nodded at that, Itadori’s eyes lighting up, “Which one did you get? We get assigned our T.O’s (training officers) tomorrow.” You felt your eye twitch as you thought back to the disrespectful and presumably problematic individual you had just met.

“Ryomen Sukuna. From what I know he just got back from suspension, so this is a punishment for him too.” Your eyes narrowed in confusion when Itadori’s widened in shock, “wAIT!? Does he have hair like mine?” You nodded, “Tattoos??” You nodded again, “Really bad attitude and terrible social skills-” “I think she gets it, what’s your point Itadori?” You almost laughed at how tired Fushiguro looked, despite being friends all throughout high school, and going to the academy together.

“Dude...her probation officer is my cousin Ryomen.” You watched as Fushiguro’s eyes now widened, his lips fighting a smile as he turned around, grabbing the collar of Itadori’s uniform as he dragged him off with a wave, “Good luck then, you’re gonna need it!” Your mouth opened to reply before you decided against it, just shaking your head and finally making your way to the front desk. ‘Ryomen Sukuna...I’ll ask dad about him later, I swear i’ve heard it before..’

**20 minutes ago in Yaga’s office before you arrived**

“Corporal, please have a seat.” Sukuna walked in, sitting down on the chair and bringing his elbows up on the arm rests, hands clasping together in front of his mouth. Sukuna had been on a 2 month suspension after yet another misdemeanor. The only reason he hasn’t been fired is because he’s truly good at what he does, and the department really doesn’t want to let him go but…”You’re aware of how we handle discipline in this department. So tell me how it is you’ve been dealt 7 out of the 8 disciplinary actions and you still have yet to change?”

The department had a sort of system for disciplining it’s cops. 1. A verbal warning (which Sukuna had ignored), 2. A written warning (Sukuna had thrown away), 3. Performance Improvement Plan (He had on multiple occasions ditched his supervising adviser), 4. Temporary Pay cut (He practically lived at the station, it didn’t phase him much), 5. Loss of privileges (see #4), 6. Suspension (recently completed), 7. Demotion (...up until 2 months ago it was Sergeant Ryomen Sukuna…) and 8. Termination. He could handle everything else but...termination meant he was done, and he was anything but.

“I told you captain, it’s not me who needs to change, the departments way too stuck up.” Yaga took a breath before he sighed, leaning back in his swivel chair, “I know the higher ups don’t always act accordingly, but they’re still your higher ups, and I can only defend your job beyond so many offenses.” Sukuna glared at the ground as his arms crossed against his broad chest. *Knock knock* “Come in”

TAGLIST: @alohablue 💙

#sukuna x reader #sukuna x y/n #jjk au #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen au #sukuna ryomen #ryomen sukuna #sukuna ryomen x reader #sukuna x you #jjk x reader #y/n

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ourloveisforthelovely · 3 years

Text

A Perfect Storm Part 3

Harry Potter Marauders Ers- Post Hogwarts

Link to Part 2

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader

Rating: M

Song in Chapter: Weather by Molly Parden

__________

I've been watching the weather where you are to see where it is that you're taking my heart. I've been praying that you haven't lost it yet. 'Cause it's times like these I don't want to forget

For the next few days, you decided that you weren’t leaving your room or talking to anyone. It didn’t matter how many letters and expensive pieces of jewelry that you received from Regulus or how many times that your mother came to harass you; there was no coming out. Evan didn’t bother, you knew that you brother was smarter than to even try.

It wasn’t until day 4 did the family elf Curly turn up in your room did you speak to someone.

“Mistress Y/n, your father ordered Curly to come up and tell you that the dark lord is coming to dinner. Master told Curly to inform you that you are to get decent and…”

Before Curly could finish there was a knock at your door. Your father’s voice came from the other side.

“Y/n, I want you to open the door this instant. I want to have a word with you.”

You quickly pulled on a robe before opening the door. It was very few and far between when your father came to your room for anything. Something had to be very wrong for him to show up.

Opening the door, you faked a smile.

“Father, I’m glad you’re home!”

You said as cheerfully as possible before wrapping your arms around your father’s shoulders. He held you back for a moment before motioning to the sofa in the corner of your room.

“We need to have a chat.”

You had a feeling of just where this was going to go but decided to play dumb.

“Of course.”

Your father, for the most part, decided to leave the child-rearing and decisions to your mother or nannies. He only came when something was unmanageable for the previously mentioned parties.

Sitting down beside your father, you decided to let him make the first move. Maybe he wanted to talk to you about something else. Maybe he needed advice on a new necktie or something? If you were lucky that was going to be the topic.

When am I ever lucky?”

You thought bitterly as your father smiled before cupping your cheek.

“You’re always such a pretty girl, Y/n. I think that is why your mother and I worry so much about you. While we support your career and the wonderful growth that we have seen in you over the past few years there is a topic that I need to discuss with you. If I don’t, I wouldn't be a good father, in my eyes. Your mother informed me of the situation regarding Regulus Black. I believe that it would be in your best interest to take him up on the offer of a proposal.”

You swallowed. This was going to be the conversation that you expected.

“He never mentioned that.”

Your father chuckled.

“Evan also told me everything that happened. I don’t think that Regulus really was able to get to that point. Y/n, you used to be so crazy for Regulus.”

You scrunched up your nose. This behavior would have earned a slap from your mother but your father was more willing to let you speak your mind.

“That was before he left me for another woman. Father, I don’t care if it was due to a love potion. I was and am still hurt but I do love him. I suppose that I am afraid of being hurt again.”

Your father nodded.

“He apologized and is trying very hard to earn your favor again. You can’t blame Regulus for situations that he couldn’t control. I don’t think that he would go to the extent of sending you such nice gifts if he didn’t care. This brings me to the topic of our discussion. I have spoken with Orion Black and the dark lord himself, we have all decided that it is in your best interest as well as our family’s best interest that you marry Regulus…”

“Father...where was I in this…”

Your father held up a hand.

“You will marry him, Y/n. Like it or not, I have to think of all of my children’s futures. Felix is in Italy. Evan is busy with being a death eater. For you, my only daughter, I have to make sure that you secure a smart match with a good family. The Black family is more than a smart match. I know that you and your children-to-be will be more than financially secure and your history with Regulus makes the decision either. The dark lord, although he typically doesn't get involved in family affairs, agreed to this match as well. Now, Regulus will be here soon as will everyone else. Get up, put on a nice dress and fix your hair. You will not embarrass our family. I have worked too hard to disappoint the dark lord. Therefore you will not disappoint me. Do you understand?”

As much as you wanted to fight back, you knew it would do no good. To be a woman and fight back in a pureblood household, yours especially, would just get you banished. Knowing your luck, your parents would find some way to sabotage your career and leave you penniless.

“Yes, father.”

You finally replied. Your father grinned before patting your face.

“Wear the black dress.”

Your father was gone before you were able to make an argument. He left you sitting alone on the sofa with wide eyes and a completely shattered mental state. Had this been five years ago and your father dropped this kind of bombshell on you, you would have been thrilled. You would be marrying the man of your dreams. There would be no confusion on either of your parts. Regulus wouldn’t be in a state of panic and you wouldn’t feel like a mess of nerves,

As you pulled on the black dress that your father requested you finally let your mind go to Regulus. As much as you didn’t want to you couldn't help it now. All you could see were those grey eyes locked on your face, the way he smiled (when actually did that), the way he had always been beyond gentle with you when other boys weren't...everything. Even with everything that you had gone through it was impossible to stop loving Regulus. You couldn’t just stop loving someone that you had loved since childhood.

The two of you had been shoved together at any spare opportunity by your mothers. Both Walburga and your mother had it decided since before the two of you were born that you would be for each other. To both mother’s delight, both Regulus and yourself “clicked” from day one.

That is what made Regulus’ betrayal with Ambrosia all the more painful. You didn’t just lose your lover...you also lost your best friend. Regulus (whether it was by love potion or not) was gone and wanted nothing to do with you any longer. The pain was more than words could really say or anyone could understand. It felt as if you were missing your right arm. The person that you went to for everything was gone.

Maybe you were being harsh on him now...especially since you knew that it wasn’t his fault but one had to protect themselves right? You had, for the most part, figured that out over the past few years. Sure, Evan was there but you wouldn’t have your brother forever. There was also the realization that Evan would agree with whatever your father (and most certainly the dark lord) ordered. It wouldn't matter what Evan actually felt. If it interfered with his sense of duty, his feelings would be placed on the back burner. Your other brother Felix didn’t really care either way. If he had to step in to fight for your honor he would but he would rather not be bothered by your train wreck of a personal life. His comment on the matter to your parents was “Betroth her to someone else. Problem solved.”

The sense of duty...That had been shoved upon Evan, Feliex, and yourself from dayone. As much as you wanted to throw your hands up and say “fuck it” you couldn’t. You could be like Sirius and say to hell with everyone but you weren’t able to do it. There was the very real knowledge that you would lose your family as well as the possibility that you father would have you killed. This was one way that the Rosiers was even crueler than the Blacks. If you were Walburga’s daughter, she would simply blast your name from the family tapestry and “forget” that you were ever born. Your parents, however, were not like that at all.

Your eyes had fallen to the photo of Regulus and yourself that you had never taken off of your vanity. It was the picture taken on the day that he had given you the engagement ring. You smiled at how “in love” the two of you looked. Regulus was nuzzling your face before kissing you softly.

Maybe it can be like this again?

You thought, hopefully. It would take time that was for sure. Regulus would have to gain your trust back and maybe you would need to let some of the walls that you had built fall.

That would be easier said than done…

After taking more than enough time, you finally decided to go downstairs and face the music. Walking through the formal living room and dining room, you saw more than plenty of familiar faces...just not the face that you were expecting. You had expected Regulus to be waiting for you to come out of hiding.

You know better than that. He isn’t going to draw that much attention to himself.

You thought as your attention went to your mother who was talking to Walburga Black. Smirking to yourself, you couldn’t help but wonder if that pairing is where bad ideas came from?

“Hey, you’re alive.”

You turned to face Evan, who had come to join you. Focusing on your brother’s face, you narrowed your eyes on him.

“Have you heard about my apparent engagement?”

Evan nodded.

“I have.”

You were suddenly unnerved by Evan’s calm stance.

“And your feelings?”

Evan shrugged. He wanted to say that he thought that it was a train wreck in the making but he couldn't. Evan believed that the tension between Regulus and yourself could be fixed but it would take a lot. Was he worried that Regulus would hurt you again No, Regulus had clearly learned his lesson but that didn’t stop the older brother in Evan from worrying.

“Father nor the dark lord asked for my input.”

Evan watched as you made a shocked facial expression.

“You’re supposed to be on my side, Evan!”

Evan wrapped an arm around your wrist and pulled you into the empty drawing-room.

“I am on your side...for your information but I have a job that I have to do. When the dark lord says something is a certain way, we go with it. You know this. Do you love Regulus?”

You nodded. Evan sighed.

“There...then this will work out. Y/n, we have duties that we have to fulfill no matter how personally difficult.”

Evan replied in his cold death eater voice. He looked over his shoulder before his eyes softened.

“Look, if Regulus is unkind to you in any way...I’ll know about it. I’m bigger than he is so I think that you will be just fine. Now go back in there and put a fake smile on your face...like we do all of the time.”

You wanted to say more but knew that it would be useless. Evan was on the right side of the tracks and apparently you were just being difficult...whatever.

Stepping back into the dining room, you noticed Regulus finally. He had apparently just walked in. You were thankful that he hadn’t seen you yet. Looking him over, that desperate feeling of love returned again mixed with the undying need to run for your life. Turning you slipped into the kitchen without making a peep.

I've been watching for the tiniest warning signs, and I'm afraid they might be right, I've been praying for a tell-tale sign, So I can keep you there in the back of my mind, I'll keep you there in the back of my mind,I could never understand, I'd have to ask him again and again, It was out of my hands, I'd have to ask him again and again

You stood in the kitchen focusing on the song coming from the record player that your mother was listening to. Resting your head against the wall, you wanted to come to a conclusion if things were really out of your hands or if you had the “chess pieces” as your mother suggested a few days before. If your mind wasn’t such a pretzel of emotions this situation may not be so damn difficult.

“Y/n?”

You looked up to see Antonin Dolohov standing in the doorway. This was the last person that you wanted to really deal with at the moment. You found Dolohov as interesting as a block of wood.

“Hello.”

You replied as he stepped further into the kitchen. He looked around the room with a forced smile (that he never needed to do again.)

“You look awfully pretty tonight...if no one told you.”

Internally gagging, you forced a polite smile. You wanted to tell the man that was obviously desperate for companionship to go find someone else. There were enough “man” problems in your life without his help. If Bellatrix hadn’t married Rodolphus Lestrange, you would have pointed Dolohov in her direction. They would make the perfect psycho couple.

You internally sighed as the realization that Bellatrix would soon be “family” to you. This day was just getting more and more magical by the moment!

“Thank you, that’ s a very nice compliment.”

You said. Dolohov smiled again.

“I was wondering if you would like to have dinner sometime. You’re a fine woman of quality.”

Oh, Jesus Christ

You thought, mentally giving yourself a facepalm. This had to be the worst “please date me” proposal that you had ever experienced.

“She’s engaged.”

Both Dolohov and yourself turned to see a very annoyed-looking Regulus in the doorway. You smirked as Dolohov put two and two together.

“To you, I am assuming? Black, you waited no time to move on. I can’t compete with this.”

He turned to you with a smile before walking from the room. Regulus scowled at the other man until he was gone from the room. Once Dolohov was gone, Regulus turned to you.

“Are you alright?”

You nodded, rolling your eyes.

“He’s repulsive.”

Regulus nodded. He waited a moment to say anything. This was the first time that you spoke to him like the “old” days. Even if it was about another man and only two words, Regulus would take what he got.

“Try working with him.”

You turned back to the kitchen sink, pretending to be doing something.

“I suppose you heard the same news that I did?”

You questioned, as you cleaned up a mess that Curly obviously forgot. Where the elf ran off to, you had no idea. What you did know was Regulus had moved beside you. You smelled his scent and internally sighed. Regulus being this close to you was both a comfort and wrecking your nerves at the same time.

“I did. Just so you know, I didn’t plan any of this out.”

“I know.”

You replied. Regulus blinked a few times. He had expected a bit more of a “spark” out of you. In fact, he was half expecting you to start throwing things at him. When you didn’t, he wasn’t for sure what he was supposed to do. You had always been the one that was quick to anger and he was the one that had to talk you down over whatever the event was.

“Y/n, I’ll be a good husband and I think that you know that.”

You still didn’t look up, which annoyed Regulus a bit more.

“I know. We’ve been pushed together since we were babies. I know everything about you, Regulus.”

Regulus finally got annoyed enough and reached out to take the cleaning cloth away from you. You quickly looked up as Regulus turned your body to face his.

“Then you know that I never...ever...would have hurt you intentionally. I think deep down under all of the stubbornness that you were blessed with that you know that too. I also think there is also a part of you that is still in love with me no matter how much you want to deny it.”

“I never denied it.”

You replied as Regulus wrapped an arm around your waist. The two of you stood quietly for a moment before you pulled away. Regulus looked as if you had taken his heart and smashed it.

“Regulus, we’ve both changed since school...since all of this nightmare began. I am not the wife and mother type...I don’t want to be like my mother or your mother.”

Regulus crossed his arms over his chest. He decided to go with the “olive branch” that he had saved for this conversion. It didn’t matter how much he disliked what he was about to say. If it helped him get back with you, he would be willing to give it a shot.

“I’m not asking you to give up your life. You can still be a model if you want. I’m not asking you to give up your life for me. In fact, I would prefer that you don’t be like our mothers. They are horrible enough. As far as my daughter, I don’t want her having the kind of example that we had growing up. Y/n, i’m not asking you to take the place of her mother but she needs a good example of what a woman should be. I can’t do everything on my own. I miss the us against the world thing that we used to have going. What do I have to do? What do I have to say? I am running out of ideas. I am almost to the point of pulling out the sass card and telling you to get over here…”

Regulus stopped his monologue when you smiled.

“Why are you smiling? What about this is amusing?”

You shook your head. When your mouth opened, you weren't sure yourself what happened.

“Come here, Regulus.”

“You’re not going to hit me are you?”

He asked with a small smile earning an eye roll from you.

“No, I am not going to hit you. I need you to prove to me that I can trust you fully.”

You replied as Regulus wrapped his arms around you. He considered trying to kiss you but decided against it. Pressing his luck at the moment didn’t seem like a great idea.

“That isn’t asking much. I’ve missed you.”

He said in a near whisper. You lay your head on his shoulder as all of the emotions of the past five years hit at once. If you were much of a crier, you would be sobbing right now.

“I’ve missed you too.”

Regulus didn’t dare attempt to let you go. Having to let you, the person who provided the most comfort to him, go was not about to happen. You were the one that fixed a lot of the bad things in his life. He wanted to hold you for as long as you would let him. Part of Regulus was surprised that you hadn’t tried to kick him.

“I have a feeling that you are still a bit of a handful.”

Regulus said with a small smirk. You scoffed.

“A bit?”

Regulus tilted your face to his with a small smile.

“Not that I’m complaining. I am kind of looking forward to a life of wondering just what in the fresh hell that I have gotten myself into.”

Before he was able to kiss you, your parents stepped into the room with Walburga, Orion, and Voldemort behind them. Regulus quickly let you go, choosing to ignore the look of approval that his mother was giving him. Walburga had sent him a scathing letter the day before with the news of the engagement arrangement that he better step up his wooing game. Expensive jewelry clearly wasn’t winning you over and if Regulus wanted to win you back then he better do something quickly before another man stepped in. Regulus would have rather taken his time and repaired the broken relationship in a “healthy way” but with parents like his and yours...that wasn’t going to happen. If he was lucky all of the bullshit that just oozed out of his mouth would be enough to please you for the time being. Things were a lot easier when the two of you were 10 years old and your biggest worry was what kind of bug that the two of you were going to throw on Sirius.

The moment that Voldemort stepped into the room, you watched Regulus go from himself to death eater mode. You hated how both Regulus and Evan would become almost cold robots anytime that Voldemort was around. It was required of them, you knew this, but that didn’t mean that you had to like it. Watching their faces turn ice-cold wasn’t something that you really enjoyed. Now you were going to have to forever watch it (unless something truly sudden and unexpected happened to the dark lord).

You also knew to limit your own thoughts as well as not be too “showy” when it came to emotions. If you touch or babied Regulus or Evan too much, you would hear about it later. You had to sit by either Regulus or Evan and be the supportive fiance and sister. It seemed only Bellatrix was able to get out of the “female norm.” If it meant doing things that Bellatrix did to step out of the norm, you would remain where you were. You wanted no part in having Bellatrix Lestrange as a mentor.

“Good, there the two of you are.”

Your father replied.

“Father.”

You said, simply as Voldemort strolled over.

“I suppose the two of you have been informed of the arrangement at hand. While I normally don’t get involved in domestic affairs because I don’t want to, I really think that the two of you have a lot to offer. I have been informed of the love potion incident and this is to be forgotten. Do you both understand?”

Both Regulus and yourself nodded.

Forgotten my ass.

You thought, hoping the dark lord didn’t pick up on that. To your relief, he didn’t seem to.

“Yes, sir.”

Regulus responded as Voldemort turned to you with a smile.

“The both of you have been arranged to marry since you were children. There is no sense in letting a little roadblock ruin what is good planning. We need more purebloods in this world. Y/n, dear, I will make sure that the Parkinsons are punished for their daughter’s doings. You can be assured of that.”

Voldemort turned his attention back to Regulus.

“As for you, take care of this pretty girl. Now, we have a meeting to get to. You’ll be okay without your fiancé for a few moments.”

________

@amelie-black @regulusslut @truly-insatiable @fandomsxxregulus @quuenofblacks @teletubiswszpilkach @mimisparkle12 @fific7 @acciosiriusblack @jessyballet @knreidy1 @rubyroscoe1 @bennyberry @hazncalsgal @criminalyetminimal @whymyparentscheckmyphone @lucasfilms77 @exhsle @spiderxalmighty @authoressskr @brokencasbutt67-writer @fandom-trash-worth-it @hankypranky @summer-novak @emiwrites3reads @shaylybaby2032 @li0nh34rt @tas898 @shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @knight-of-gleefulness @marichromatic @stuckinsaudi1 @untoldshortsofthefandoms @sprnaturallover @deanwherescas @wontlookaway @shitfaceddaniel @mycuddlycorner

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himbeaux-on-ice · 3 years

Note

KK deserves more than 6mil for 1 year and there is no way Habs CAN'T match that. It was so low I thought it was a joke of an offer as petty revenge for the Aho one. Literally had a $20 signing bonus tf. With both teams picking up racists this is good PR frankly to excite fans.

Sorry, I actually disagree pretty solidly with almost all of this, but the reasons are complex and lengthy to explain, so I’m going to put it all under a cut.

Listen, I personally believe based on what we’ve seen from him in the playoffs that KK can eventually develop into a $6.1 million dollar player — it seemed like he did well once the team had been put through Ducharme’s mini-training camp before the playoffs that actually allowed the chance to cement his systems, and put up good numbers generally during the run for someone his age. If they can find a way to get that kind of stuff out of him in the regular season, he could very well be worth $6.1 or more down the road. I really truly think he has it in him with the right coaching and the right work put in.

The problem is, owing possibly to how the Habs have chosen to develop him (remember, he came to the NHL pretty much straight out of the draft) and how very young he actually is, he has not yet actually PROVEN that he can be a player of that value consistently for most of a season at any point. I’m willing to put an asterisk on his struggles this year, because it was a weird fucking season and the Habs had a rough go of it in several points, especially down the stretch, and because we’ve seen the ability is there in the playoffs. But given what we’ve seen while he’s been on his ELC, there has been no guarantee so far that a team that signs him to $6.1 million is going to get $6.1 million in value out of him this coming season.

Like, set aside league-wide valuations for a second, and think about what the Habs, based on their budgeting and philosophy and management choices, are paying some of their top foundational players right now in terms of cap hit. Toffoli makes $4.5 million, so will Hoffman. Anderson makes $5.5 million, as does Drouin. Petry makes $6.2 million. Edmundson makes $3.5 million. Jake Allen, a player so valuable to this team that we risked “Price to Seattle” to keep him, is $2.87 million against the cap. Gally, the lifeblood heart and soul of this team who has given his literal blood sweat and tears to it for almost a decade, only makes $6.5 million against the cap. They apparently weren’t even willing to offer Phillip Danault, defensive cornerstone of the playoff run, the $5.5 million he got from LA. With Weber on the LTIR, if KK signed with the Habs at $6.1 million, he would be the third-highest paid player on the active team when you exclude dudes named Carey Price (who is an outlier and should not be counted). I love the kid. I think he’ll be a bonafide star someday. He has NOT earned that kind of payday yet, based on the established scale of how the Habs reward their players.

Based on my amateur understanding of NHL contracts and the market, a reasonable deal with KK from the Habs would have been somewhere in the area of $2-3 million (so, what they pay for players like Lehkonen (2.3 mil) or Byron (3.3 mil) or just signed Armia to (3.4 mil)), for maybe about 2 years. By the time that runs out, he’d be 23 years old and heading into the prime of his career, and you would probably have a better idea of whether he’s made that big next step or not — if he has, you probably just got two years of great hockey out of him at a STEAL, and can at that point sign him for a nice juicy contract that will pay him to that level and lock him up through his prime years (which is what you would dangle to entice him to take the short deal for now). And if when that short deal is up he hasn’t made that next leap, then you either sign him back at what he is worth, or if that’s an impasse, part ways. He has said he wants to help bring a Cup to Montreal, and do it with the core of young guys they’re assembling (and close friends like the other Finns on the team) — with that, maybe some performance bonuses if he really kills it, and the promise of something bigger down the road once he proves himself (plus the knowledge that he might not get higher offers elsewhere because of how he’s struggled) you could probably get him to sign a deal like that with the Habs.

HOWEVER.

Now that he has signed this offer sheet, he WILL get $6.1 million. Not only for this year, but once the one-year deal expires, any extension offered to him by anyone is required to start at that number. Regardless of how he performs. Unless he has the breakout year of all breakout years, this will really screw him over — because if he DOESN’T perform to the $6.1 million level, a team (be it the Habs or the Canes) is not going to want to sign him to a second deal at that pricetag. He’ll have to go hunting as a free agent, or get traded before he expires and become another team’s problem. (Note: I’m not exactly sure if the offer sheet process allows Montreal to match with a contract at the same value but longer term, but that doesn’t really solve the problem of being locked-in at $6.1 million after next season even if they can). I understand why he signed the offer sheet — his career earnings so far total just over $2 million, and of course both he and his agent would jump at the chance to guarantee adding triple that in just one year, with the promise of more of the same on his next extension. I’m sure he probably thinks he’s worth it, or can prove he is worth it. He probably thinks the Habs believe in him enough to match it, too — I don’t think he wants to leave Montreal, but he probably sees this as simply an earlier achievement of what they would hopefully be paying him anyway someday, in his eyes.

But even if he DOES perform up to that level, if he remains on the Habs that creates another massive problem crunching up against the salary cap: Nick Suzuki and Jake Evans are both RFA’s at the end of the 2021-22 season, and THEY will be looking for their “grown-up” contracts at that time, the SAME time KK will need to be signed again. Nick is probably going to develop into the better player between him and KK (look at where he already is right now), so even if KK performs excellently next year as say 2C, Nick looks like he will be even better at 1C — and if I’m Nick’s agent, I’m definitely starting my contract negotiations with what the Habs would be paying KK as my absolute lowest starting figure, if not higher. Jake probably has more of a 3C/4C upside, but if KK struggles and plays at a 3C/4C performance level and Jake does that well or better, then if I’m Jake Evans’ agent I am definitely putting my starting figure for negations right around $6.1 million, because I can argue “well, you’re paying Kotkaniemi that much, why not my client?”. Romanov is due up for his post-ELC RFA deal after next year too — because he’s more of a defensive defenceman who isn’t expected to score much, he likely can’t command the kind of figures that an offensively productive centre does, but you still need to have enough cap space to actually sign the guy for what he’s worth; Romanov is eligible for arbitration in that negotiation, so lowballing him too hard could get complicated and contentious fast. And all of this isn’t even including factors like depth players on one-year deals who will need to be replaced or brought back after this year, etc.

Accepting/matching this contract creates a dozen new problems the Habs didn’t have before at all. It carries massive risk and could cause problems for the cap and for roster construction even if KK takes off like a rocket and lives up to the figure on the sheet. I didn’t even touch on the absolute hell the fanbase and media will put him through if he is in Montreal on that kind of payday compared to the rest of the team and fails to live up to it. Alex Galchenyuk only made $4.5 million while he was here and struggling. Look how that turned out for him. You’ve seen how people get when Carey has a rough patch, how the $10.5 million gets brought up and thrown around, and that’s with Carey goddamn Price. I have been around this fanbase long enough to see what happens when people don’t feel you’ve lived up to your pricetag. It gets nasty. Think whatever you’ve seen hurled at Mitch Marner this year, then multiplied by a factor of “fanbase whose expectations have been disproportionately raised probably beyond what’s realistic by the miracle playoff run” and “the Montreal hockey media eats people alive even in good years”. He has been lucky so far in his struggles because he’s still young enough to be cheap. And I’ve still seen plenty of people already writing him off anyway.

Make no mistake: I love KK, I love what he brings to the team, I love how he fits in with the rest of the young core and their dynamics, and I really believe he has the potential to break out into a formidable 2C lowkey-superstar. And I was really, really looking forward to hopefully watching that growth and achievement happen with the Habs, as part of the super exciting future that has been building here. I will be heartbroken if this leads to him leaving, genuinely. My biggest worry with having this bright and shiny new core was always that I would have to watch it get torn apart and turn sad just like the last one.

But now that this contract, right now, at this point in his career is going to be the price of keeping him? I don’t know if matching it will be what’s best for the team as a whole, or even what is best for KK. I don’t know if Carolina actually gives a shit about him as a player enough to use and develop him right if they keep him, or what their end goal here even is other than definitely very literally getting petty revenge for the Aho thing, just look at their Twitter (I think the idea of this as DeAngelo counter-PR has become a bit overblown as an explanation, because surely they MUST know they could end up holding the tab for this and all the risk of it in the end, and that this will die down eventually, so either they’re incredibly stupid or there’s some other benefit here).

And regardless of which way everything goes, I can’t think of anyone I trust less to make the best choice for everyone involved than Marc fucking Bergevin.

#long post #sorry not trying to be mean just literally don’t agree with this at all #habs #Jesperi kotkaniemi #wnylanderthals #asks #montreal canadiens

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mammonshuman92 · 3 years

Text

- Homecoming - Pt.2

(Keishin x F!Y/N)

**TW: cussing, implied seggs

He stood up slowly and turned around. His eyes as big as saucers when they fell on you. Was he actually asleep right now, having the dream. This couldn't actually be happening..

You took a step forward and smiled. The same smile that was forever etched in his mind.

"Hi, Keishin. Long time no see."

"Y/N..?"

His heart hammered against his rib cage so hard the sound flooded his ears. For a moment, he was sure you could hear it too.

Is this.. real? I’m not dreaming..? This kind of crap doesn’t actually happen outside of cheesy movies..

But, much to his surprise, it was.

You were actually here, standing ten feet in front of him. How many times had he thought of this exact scenario? What was he supposed to say after ten years?

God, you were just as beautiful as you had always been, maybe even more so. Your eyes, big and full of life, still shined so brightly. You radiated warmth and light that was enough to put the sun itself to shame. He still couldn’t help but be captivated by you.

Pull yourself together, moron. You can’t just stare at her, she’s gonna think you’re a creep..

“Yeah, it’s me.” You said, nodding your head with a smile.

“Wow.. You look great.”

WHAT?! Why’d you say that?!

You giggled, “Thank you. I almost didn’t recognize you with the long hair. It really suits you though, I like it.” He was pretty sure he spotted a little pink on your cheeks, but couldn’t be sure since his brain had pretty much stopped functioning.

“Oh, t-thanks, um, w-what are you doing here? I-I mean, h-how are you?”

Smooth, dumbass.

His stuttering elicited another giggle from you. It was bubbly and bright and made his heart ache.

He held up a finger, gesturing for you to wait a minute. He took off his apron as he went behind the counter and hurried into the back room. He asked his mom if she would watch the shop so he could leave for a bit.

When he emerged a couple minutes later, you were still standing where he had left you. He was scared that when he came back you’d be gone, only having been a figment of his desperate imagination. But, there you stood, looking around the store. When your eyes fell on him, you smiled. The one that had both haunted him and brought him comfort the last several years.

“Sorry about that,” he began, as he rounded the counter and came closer to you, “Uh, do you maybe wanna take a walk? Or, I don’t know, get some coffee and catch up a little?”

“I’d like that.” You said with a smile.

“So, where were we?” Keishin asked nervously, mostly to himself. He was so flustered that he wasn’t acting like himself. His brain wasn’t working the way he needed it to. Hopefully you wouldn’t catch on. The last thing he needed was for you to think he was a weirdo.

“Well, I think you were trying to ask me how I’ve been but it kinda came out jumbled and messy.” You teased, pulling a groan out of him.

No, yeah. She definitely caught on. Is there a rock nearby I can crawl under..?

“Stop, I’m kidding!” You smacked his arm playfully before continuing. “Let’s see. I suppose I’ve been good. Went to college and got my degree in education. High school English to be exact.” You said, the two of you arriving at the coffee shop.

The coffee shop was just down the street and after ordering, you decided to sit outside at a small table under a tree.

“You always did want to be a teacher. So, uh, how about your s/o? What do they do?” He silently prayed to himself that you weren’t seeing anyone and that you also wouldn’t see through his not so graceful way of bringing it up.

You laughed, “I’m married to my career. Dating is...not for me.” Keishin silently let out the breath he’d been holding.

“What about you?” You asked curiously.

“Not really interested.” He said with a shrug.

“So, high school huh? Teenagers are quite a handful.” He said, changing the subject.

“That they are. You have a lot of experience with teenagers?” You asked, blowing on your coffee and taking a sip.

“Yes. Well, only since recently. I started coaching the boys volleyball team at Karasuno.” For some reason that little bit of information made you smile.

“You still play volleyball?” You asked, seeming excited.

“Yep, mostly coaching though. Besides, it kinda runs in the family.” You nodded in agreement.

“That it does. I actually ended up playing in high school and college.” He sat back a little in his chair, eyebrows raised slightly.

“Really? What position?” He asked, a little shocked.

You always played volleyball together growing up, but he thought you only did so because it’s what he always wanted to do. He didn’t think you actually enjoyed it.

“I was the Ace.” Your answer made him laugh.

“What’s so funny?” You asked, feigning a pout. It only made him fall for you harder, if that were even possible.

“Nothing. Just, when we were younger you kinda sucked at it.” He confessed. You smacked his arm again.

“It was honestly one of the main things that reminded me of my time here.” You explained, tone becoming serious. You looked kinda sad as you reminisced.

Did she ..miss me too? No, she had a whole life here. Don’t get your hopes up..

“And, I got to learn from THE Ukai’s. It would’ve been a shame to let years of free training go to waste” You added sounding more upbeat, quickly changing the mood.

You leaned back in your chair and looked up at the tree the two of you sat under. The sun was shining brightly, illuminating your face, making you seem ethereal. He was positive he’d never see anything or anyone else as beautiful as you.

“So, what brings you all the way to Japan? How long are you staying?” He was kind of scared to ask. You just came back. He didn’t want to let go of you yet. Or at all, for that matter.

You sat back up, practically bouncing in your seat.

“Well, I accepted a job offer.” You said, prompting Keishin to pause for a minute.

“What?” His voice was barely above a whisper. His heart started beating faster.

“I actually got here a few days ago. I closed the deal on a house a few weeks back, but had to wait for all the paperwork to be finalized. I picked up the keys this morning.”

She's...moving back?

"Wow. Wait, when you say job offer..?"

"You're looking at the new English teacher at Karasuno High!" You beamed.

He didn’t know what to say.

He imagined you coming back countless times. But, now that it was actually happening? He was speechless.

“You’re coming back?” Was all he could manage.

You nodded, smiling at his obvious question, “Technically I’m already here, but yeah.”

“And you’re staying? You’re not gonna leave again?” He noticed your expression change slightly, a subtle look of sadness creeping in.

He didn’t intend for the last question to sound so desperate, but he couldn’t help it. He was desperate.

“I’m staying.” You said, nodding. Your voice was soothing, almost as if you knew why he’d asked.

*bzzz* *bzzz* *bzzz*

“Who the hell..” He grumbled quietly, making you laugh.

He not so silently cursed whoever was calling and interrupting his time with you, as he dug his phone from his pocket.

Takinoue..

“What?” He hissed into the phone.

“Whoa, attitude. Just calling to see where you are, man. Everyone is waiting on you.”

“Huh?”

“The scrimmage game? With the boys team? Ya know, the one you planned weeks ago?”

Keishin checked the time, “Shit! Okay, I’ll be there in a few.” He looked over, you looking back at him questioningly. He didn’t want to part ways with you just yet. There was still so much to catch up on.

“If you don’t have anything else planned, how would you feel about watching a game?” He asked as you both stood from your seats, hoping you’d say yes.

“And get the chance to see the newest Coach Ukai in action? Count me in.” You smiled brightly at him, his cheeks felt warm at your unexpected excitement.

“Everyone, this is Y/N. She’s gonna watch the scrimmage game.” Keishin announced.

To say that everyone was surprised, was an understatement.

On one hand, the Association team members that also knew you, never would have expected that you of all people would be here and also be the reason Keishin was late.

And on the other hand, the boys team never expected to see their coach with a girl. Especially a pretty one.

“That’s her, Coach! The absolute goddess that was looking for you the other day!” Tanaka yelled, pointing at you.

“You’re right!” Nishinoya agreed, “Man, she’s way out of his league.”

You pressed your lips together trying not to laugh. Keishin glared at you, then at the two boys.

Daichi smacked both of them on the back of the head.

“I’m so sorry, ma’am.” Suga said, bowing to you.

“Maybe I should’ve mentioned that Y/N, will actually be Ms. L/N to most of you, since she’s the new English teacher.” Keishin explained with a shit eating grin, thinking that they’d be embarrassed at the thought of talking to their teacher like that.

You put your hand up, waving slightly, “It’s nice to meet all of you. I look forward to having you in class.”

“We get to see her everyday?!” Noya asked, perking up.

“Did I die? Is this Heaven?” Tanaka added, looking toward the ceiling, hands in a praying position.

Two more smacks could be heard, as well as another apology from Suga.

The game was close, the neighborhood team holding onto a lead over Karasuno for most of the first match, but Karasuno pulled through and took the set. During the second set, neither team could get much of a lead over the other, Karasuno managed to break up the momentum though, taking a solid lead and winning the game.

“You coming for drinks?” Takinoue asked, stopping you both as everyone was leaving.

Just like every other game, the association team was going out for drinks at their usual spot. It’s pretty much a tradition now. But, this time you were here. He doesn’t want to forfeit a single ounce of time to anything else unless he absolutely has to. For the first time in such a long time he felt like the weight on his chest was gone, he could breathe again.

“Sure, that sounds like f-”

“We have plans.” Keishin interjected, giving his friend a look.

Takinoue looked at his friend a second, then nodded in understanding.

“Next time then.” He said, smiling at you before walking away to join the rest of the team.

When they were all far enough away, you turned to Keishin.

“So, plans huh?” You asked casually.

It was still kind of early when the game ended, the sun was just barely starting to set, the sky streaked with brilliant pinks and oranges as you left the gym.

He rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, sorry. That was an excuse to get out of going with them. They can be kind a handful once alcohol gets involved.” He explained.

“Ah. Well, that’s probably best. I’ve got a lot of unpacking left to do anyway.” You groaned slightly at the thought of unpacking.

“Need any help?” He offered immediately.

“Really? No, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not, I’m offering. And anyway, we didn’t get a chance to finish catching up.”

You nodded, smiling, “Okay, we can order take out. I’ve also got beer.”

If you’d have suggested bobbing for electric eels, he would’ve done it. He would do anything to continue spending time with you, because after all these years he finally felt whole again.

“So, what’d you think of the game?” He asked, picking up a box labeled ‘glassware’ and taking it to the kitchen, setting it gently on the counter.

“I think you’ve done a great job with them, Keishin.” You said, getting bites of take out in-between the boxes you were unpacking in the living room, “Those first years are really something to be reckoned with.”

“That they are. Hey, maybe next time we scrimmage I can talk you into playing on the neighborhood team.” He said, as he re-entered the room.

“Maybe. I don’t want to hear any complaining when you lose though.” You said, smiling devilishly.

He laughed at you and picked up the box next to his feet, this one was unlabeled but had a volleyball sticker on it and random little doodles. Your eyes widened when you realized what box it was.

“I can take that one.” You said, crossing the room quickly. You tried not to be obvious, but it didn’t work. He could tell something was up.

“Oh, okay.” He said, extending the box to you. Before you could reach for it, he pulled it back, seeing something extremely familiar through the slightly opened box, he reached inside.

“No, wait!” You squeaked, turning red.

He pulled out a delicate gold necklace. The very one he’d given you as teenagers. The one with his name on it. He looked at you, holding it gently in his hand.

“You still have this?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper, heart pounding away in his chest.

You sighed heavily, still blushing hard. Without a word, you opened the box in his hands the rest of the way, showing him the rest of its contents. He gasped lightly.

She kept it all..

The box was like a time capsule. CD’s you’d burned together for summer volleyball drills, movie ticket stubs from your first real date, notes passed in class, the stuffed iguana he gave you for your ninth birthday, and so, so many pictures from your childhood; birthdays, holidays, summer vacations.

There was something else in there under all the pictures. He dug to the bottom and found several dozen envelopes. All addressed to him. His eyes widened, slowly pulling them out of the box.

“Ah! I forgot those were in there!” You screeched, trying to get them away from him.

“Oh, yeah? Must be good if you’re this desperate to get them back.”

After struggling to jump up and grab the envelopes from him, where he held them above his head, you admitted defeat.

“Fine! You win.” You threw your hands up, walking into the kitchen “I need booze for this.” You muttered to yourself.

They were letters you had written to him after you left but never sent. They all seemed to be around the time you’d lost contact with each other. Dozens of letters, telling him how everything was going with starting over in America, how much you missed him and wanted to come back to Japan, ...how much you loved him. They held so many words of love, but also their fair share of sadness.

His heart hammered away in his chest as he skimmed over the letters.

She missed me too..

Although he hates to see that you were sad after leaving, it also makes him feel relieved. After the two of you lost contact, he was sure you’d just moved on with your life and had forgotten about him. In a way, he wanted that for you; to move on and live a normal happy life. But on the other hand, he hoped he stuck out in your mind, that you’d always love him like you promised you would, the way he loved you. The way he still loves you.

Calm down, idiot. We were teenagers then. Just because she felt that way at one time doesn’t mean she still does. It’s been a really long time.. she probably moved on...

“I was hoping to avoid this conversation..” Your voice startled him, unsure of when you re-entered the room. He looked up from the letters to see you leaned against the doorway that led from the kitchen to the living room. You pushed off the wall and walked over to the box and picked up a handful of pictures, smiling as you flipped through the memories.

“Why didn’t you send them?” He asked curiously, scanning the letters again.

“I didn’t think you’d want them.” You shrugged.

“What made you think that?” He looked over at you.

“Well, it was after we stopped talking, I kinda just assumed you forgot about me.”

As if I ever could

“I thought the same thing about why you stopped talking to me. Looks like some serious miscommunication on our part.”

You laughed lightly, “Yeah, I guess so, huh?

“Kinda makes me wonder how things would’ve turned out had we stayed in contact.” He said.

There were so many things he wanted to say to you, wanted to tell you. The years of being miserable, trying to keep himself together with your memories. He swore that if he were ever given the chance to reconnect with you, he’d tell you everything he’s kept bottled up inside the last ten years.

Yet, here he was, in the exact situation he’d always begged the universe to give him, and all he was doing was trying to avoid anything that might make you disappear again. He was scared, terrified. He didn’t want to lose you again. He couldn’t lose you again.

But, he couldn’t live like this anymore. He couldn’t live another ten years like the last. He knew what he had to do.

He put the letters he had been holding back in the box gently, still holding the delicate necklace in his hand, he turned to face you.

Here goes nothing..

“Y/N, I love you.”

“What?” You choked out.

“I said, I love you. I never stopped, actually.” He began, your eyes widening in shock.

He took a deep breath then let it out slowly before continuing.

“The day you left was the worst day of my life. After I didn’t hear from you anymore, I thought you had moved on. I thought about going to the US a few times to find you, but I didn’t want to disrupt your life. If you were happy, then I could be happy for you. Even if it wasn’t with me. Not a single day has gone by when I didn’t feel like part of my soul was missing.” He confessed.

“I’ve been wishing for the opportunity to see you again, to tell you everything. I don’t expect you to feel the same, you don’t even have to talk to me anymore if it’ll be too awkward, but I needed you to know.”

“Keishin..”

“I know it’s a lot, and I’m really sorry to just dump it all on you..” He kept rambling.

“Keishin.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. Do you want me to leave? I’m gonna leave.”

“Keishin!” You yelled, finally getting his attention.

He stopped his nervous rambling and looked at you. Your cheeks were flushed, eyes looking down as you fidgeted with the hem of your shirt.

“I had been looking at houses in this area for a while and I checked out the school just out of curiosity. When I saw the opening for an English teacher, I jumped on it. It felt like a sign, as cheesy as that sounds.” You laughed.

“I didn’t really think any of it through, I just...did it. It wasn’t until this morning when I was walking to the shop when I thought that maybe I messed up..”

“Messed up?” He echoed, prompting you to keep going.

You nodded sheepishly, “I wasn’t sure what I was going to walk into. I didn’t know if you were married and had a family, or if you were even around here anymore. I actually turned to leave after I came in because I was too nervous to follow through with it, but then I heard your voice and I couldn’t help myself. I needed to see you.” You moved closer, stopping only a few feet away from him. “What I’m trying to say is, I never stopped either. Never stopped thinking about you, missing you..loving you. I, too, haven’t had a day go by without you being on my mind, without wanting to see you again and tell you how much I still love you.”

He closed the small gap between the two of you, staring into your e/c eyes. He reached both hands behind your neck and fumbled with something for a moment. You felt a new, added weight. He removed his hands, one moving to the pendant that first adorned your neck so long ago. He smiled as he ran his fingers across his name.

“I wore it everyday for a long time, but the chain eventually broke. Once I got it fixed I put it up so nothing else would happen to it.” You explained, heart racing. Your cheeks felt hot and your breathing was a little fast because of how close he was.

He moved his hand from the pendant to the side of your neck, thumb resting on your jaw. His free hand resting gently on your waist. He leaned down until his face was just inches from yours.

“Since the summer before fourth grade and even now, it’s only ever been you. It will always be you, Y/N.” You stared into his eyes as your own became glassy, your cheeks turning red.

“Can I?” He whispered, glancing down at your lips, then back up to hold your gaze again. You nodded eagerly as you wrapped your arms around his neck, fingers quickly finding their way into his hair.

He wasted no time, pressing his lips to yours in an instant, you let out a tiny whimper. You both had only dreamt of this moment for so long, now that it was actually happening it felt so surreal. Your lips moved together in perfect synchronization as you stayed tightly pressed to one another, terrified that you’d wake up from a dream if you were to let go. What lasted only a few minutes, felt like hours. You were in heaven.

When you finally broke apart, drunk on one another and breathless, you rested your forehead on his, soaking up the moment.

“I love you, Keishin. I don’t ever want to be without you again.” You cooed.

“Marry me then.”

“What?” You pulled back to look at him, expecting him to be joking but he was absolutely serious.

“I was lucky enough to get a second chance and I’m not going to waste it. So, instead of wearing it on a necklace, I’ll get you a ring and it can be your name too.” He was beaming. He hadn’t been this happy in so long. He felt so light, full of love and life.

You nodded vigorously, unable to form words because of the growing lump in your throat. He pulled you in tight, pressing his lips to yours once again. The rest of the night was spent catching up. In more ways than one.

When he awoke the next morning, tired yet well rested, with you curled up sleeping peacefully at his side, he realized that he didn’t have his usual nightmare. And he never would again, thanks to you. He was finally at peace.

#haikyuu fluff #haikyuu fanfiction #ukai keishin #keishin x y/n #haikyuu ukai

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flightsoffandom · 4 years

Text

Co-Conspirators

Pairs: Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Words: 5421

Summary: Getting your career at the BAU started gets interesting when you realize you're attracted to your boss.

Warnings: None

Notes: Left completely gender-neutral. I had been interested in watching Criminal Minds for a long time, but a friend of mine finally got me to start it. Suffice to say my damn ass completely fell for Hotch. Was there other things I was planning on writing… Yes… but I couldn't help myself. Hopefully, now my obsession will chill out enough I can work on other projects for a bit.

I found this writing prompt @witterprompts and went with it. The original prompt is below.

"Look, I think it's a fairly simple question. Do you or don't you want me to work with you?"

Continuation of Co-Conspirators –Part 1*–Part 2–Part 3–Part 4–Part 5 –Part 6

You had initially gone to college for something completely different. Or at least you planned on using your degree for something else. One of your classes had Jason Gideon come in as a guest speaker, which sparked an epiphany. So you picked up some extra classes and buckled down, reading as many books as you could on the subject, David Rossi’s books were among the ones you read. Whatever college social life you may have had was put on the back burner, so you could pour all your energy into learning. It took a lot of hard work, but you managed to do it. You wanted to help people. This seemed like one of the best ways you could do that. When you were ready, you pushed ahead and got an interview with the Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico.

You had been beyond nervous. For the past few years, you had been training for this moment. So you steeled yourself before going into the FBI building. You made sure to wear something very professional, wanting to make an excellent first impression. Walking into the building was easy enough. When you got into the BAU area, you saw some of the other employees there. They were already watching you. It was easy to tell that they knew you were there for the job opening. While you walked up the stairs, you tried to absorb all the information around you. You reached the office and knocked on a door that read 'S.S.A. Aaron Hotchner', the man who would be interviewing you. You heard a voice call you in. You were thrown off when you entered Hotchner's office. He was older than you, but even with that scowl sculpted into his face, you immediately found him attractive. So that caused you to begin your interview precariously. You knew he was a profiler, so you did your best to bury your attraction to him. Agent Hotchner was your boss. You were going to handle this professionally. You closed the door behind you, "Nice to meet you, Agent Hotchner." You introduce yourself as you take a few steps closer before stopping a respectable distance from him. Hotchner motions to the chair on the other side of his desk, "Sit. Despite what the other profilers might say, I don't bite." You chuckle, moving to sit in the chair. Hotchner moved some papers around on his overflowing desk, “Hotch is fine.” He looked over what seemed to be your personal file. You weren't sure what to expect before you came here. There were rumors about the team and gossip sure. Agent Hotchner was supposed to be intimidating and mean. While he gave off those vibes at first glance, that wasn’t the feeling you got from Hotch when you took a second to read him. Hotch looked up at you from your file, “Your look qualified for the job, but you’re young. What makes you better for this job than other applicants with more experience.” You hum, quickly thinking to yourself. You make sure to thoroughly look around the room, trying to get every detail. You look back at your interviewer, “There are no other applicants.” You said with a very matter the fact tone. Hotch leans back in his chair, a ghost of a smirk on his face. “What makes you say that?” You sit up enough to get another look at the files on his desk, “All these files are paperwork for cases, the dates, and how they are labeled. Applications aren’t labeled like that.” Hotch narrows his eyes at you, signaling for you to continue. You smile, “You don’t have any other applications on your desk. Which means either I’m your last applicant or there were no others. ” You glance down at your watch, “Judging by the time of day, the stacks of paperwork on your desk, and the bags under your eyes, you don’t have a lot of time for interviews. This is why you’re doing this on your lunch break, and I don’t think you’ve actually eaten lunch yet. I imagine you would have scheduled all your interviews in one day to get it taken care of quickly. Limited time, limited people you are willing to bring in and try to fit into your already busy schedule. I'm guessing that I am the only applicant.” You pause and shrug, “I suppose I could also be the only application you deemed had enough potential.” Hotch leaned forward again, closing your file, “Can you start tomorrow?”

You curiously peek at the papers on his desk. Interestingly trying to see if you missed anything as you respond, “I can start right now if you need me too…” You pause for a second, before looking back up at Hotch, “Was I right?” Hotch tucks your file away, “Yes.” You perk up. You had done exercises in classes and during training, but you always found them too easy. So being able to test your skills on something more challenging and being right was exciting, “Which one I am then? Only applicant?” You assumed you were the only one. Figuring if someone with more experience had applied, they would have easily won out over you. Hotch shakes his head, “The only file I saw with enough potential to bring in was yours.” You slowly stand up, making a curious noise. “Thank you, then.” You reach out your hand. Hotch raises his eyebrows and shakes your hand, “Don’t thank me yet, You'll still have to prove yourself in the field.”

That was how you got your job with the BAU. To start out, Hotch partnered you and him together a lot, you were assuming it was a probationary situation. You did some cases with other people while you were learning. After you had been at the job long enough to handle yourself, you were still partnered with Hotch most of the time. Part of you chalked it up to the fact that you could handle Hotch’s grumpy and bully-like behavior. Quickly the whole team became your family. You spent most of your time at work, which meant you spent all your time with the team. You enjoyed hanging out with everyone on the team.

Emily would help you learn new languages if there was time. You found it oddly soothing listening to Reid talk about whatever he was excited about at the moment, plus you usually learned something. Rossi shared a love for classic art, the two of you also shared a love of snarky banter. You and Penelope shared anything nerdy with each other, whether it was movies, shows, or comics. Derek would discuss books with you, and he would introduce you to new music. You were always happy to look at pictures of Henry while talking about family life with JJ. You and Hotch were workaholics together. Hotch got onto you about it a few times, but you always turned it back on him. It was hard to explain, you and Hotch kind of just gravitated to each other. There was always a calm mutual understanding between the two of you. Working so closely with Hotch didn't exactly help with your attraction to him. You were a professional. So you ignored it for the most part. You had resigned yourself to the fact that Hotch wasn't interested in you. Even if he was interested, he was such a stickler for rules that it wouldn’t matter.

You had been good at remaining professional for a few years. However, you slipped up one night when you and the team went out to celebrate. A case had gone really well, and you all knew you deserved a break. Emily and Derek were the first two to get the idea rolling. Soon everyone was ready and willing to go, except Hotch. Since you both worked way too much when the team went out, it was usually down to either you or Hotch to be what Penelope lovingly referred to as the ‘designated buzzkill’. You agreed to go but kept wondering if you should invite Hotch. Reid quickly caught onto how you were glancing up towards Hotch’s office, “Shouldn’t we invite Hotch?” Everyone except you and Reid made a face. It was a collective look of ‘We could try, but he’ll just say no.’ Their skeptical looks sealed it for you. You moved away from your desk and to the stairs, “I’ll ask him.” Penelope let out an excited squeak, practically bouncing as she spoke, “You’re the only one of us who can speak fluent ‘Hotchner’. You can do it, sugar.” You chuckled and rolled your eyes as you walked up the stairs. You knocked on Hotch’s office door but didn’t even wait for a response before going right in. You and the team had only been back for maybe 30 minutes, and Hotch had already buried himself in paperwork. You walk over and sit in the chair in front of his desk. Hotch doesn’t even look up as he addresses you, “Yes?” You shift about in the chair using the sweetest voice you could muster, “We have all been talking…” Hotch looks up, cutting you off “A night out? I have paperwork.” Hotch had his scowl on, but it no longer affected you unless he was mad at you personally. You grin at him, “It will be fun.” Hotch just stared at you, waiting. You sighed and rolled your eyes quickly, dropping being overly nice, “Why do you make me do this?” Hotch leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. A smirk threatens to slide onto his face, Hotch still just stares at you. You glare at him, “Fine, you asked for it.” Hotch just waits, already knowing he pushed you to the point where you lose your verbal filter. While he had gotten onto you before for your lack of filter on cases, you think he enjoyed it when you spoke candidly in more casual situations. You point to his desk, “When is the last time you went somewhere that wasn't this building, the plane, or a company car?” Hotch goes to protest. This time you cut him off, “This stack of paperwork has been like this since you hired me... What two years ago now? You always do all your work. Go above and beyond. The files have changed, but the stack remains the same size. It can wait twelve more hours. At which point, you’ll realize trying to sleep is pointless. You'll come into work early anyway.” Hotch makes a face, doing what he does best and avoids the main parts of your argument, “It’s been two years and six months.” You open your mouth, ready to argue again, but are temporally confused. “What?” Hotch moves some papers around, “It’s been two years and six months since I hired you.” You gave him another confused look, “You remember how long it has been?” Hotch once again dodges the main issue. “Also, I’d like to point out that you also haven’t been anywhere other than here or on a case in a while, either.” You scoff, “I totally have…” Hotch rolls his eyes, “Sleeping in your car in the company parking lot doesn’t count.” You grumble and lean back in the chair. You decide to do what Hotch does and just avoid that statement, “What if I promised you I would help you with the paperwork after the teams’ little night out?” You could tell you were starting to win when Hotch sat up in his chair. Hotch motioned to the paperwork on his desk, “This is important.” You stand up and put your hands on his desk, raising your voice in a nonaggressive manner, “Mental health is important too.” You glare down at Hotch, “And I swear to god if I have to drag Reid in here and make you listen to the statistics about mental wellbeing and overworking yourself, I will be so pissed.” You get a bit more dramatic with your voice, “Aaron Hotchner, I already got that lecture from him the other day. If I have to listen to it again just to get you to go to the bar with us, I will.” Hotch puts his hands up in defeat before pushing himself away from his desk, “Please don’t subject me to that.” Hotch stands up, and you start grinning, “Thank you for caving.” You walk to the office door, waiting. When you looked through the window, the whole team automatically looked away. Trying to hide the fact they had been watching. You chuckle, shaking your head at how bad they were at ‘acting casual’. You walk down the stairs, “Stop pretending you weren't paying attention. Bossman agreed to join us.” Derek claps you on the back, “The boss whisperer has triumphed for us once more.” You roll your eyes, going over to your desk. “Why do you all act like Hotch speaks a completely different language?” JJ giggles, commenting, “Asks the only person who understands him half the time.” Hotch walks down the stairs from his office, “Let’s keep it that way. If the rest of you catch on, then I’m doomed.” You laugh. Now that you all were ready, it was time to go. The team went back to their excited chattering as you left the building as a group.

At the bar, the team stayed together for the first few drinks. After that, though, everyone slowly splintered off on their own. You flitted from each small group for a while until like always, you ended up sitting next to Hotch. Hotch was nursing a drink while watching the rest of the team have fun. You ordered another drink. After a few moments of comfortable silence, you spoke up, “We are supposed to be having fun.” Hotch chuckles, “Is sitting over here with your boss your definition of fun?” You smile leaning back against the counter to relax, “Actually yes.” You take a large drink from your glass, turning to look at Hotch, “But you knew that already.” Hotch turns to face you, “I do. It’s the ‘why’ I could never figure out.” You laugh, playing with the small amount of alcohol in your glass, “You’re a profiler, you tell me.” Hotch glared at you before taking another drink. You couldn’t help the cocky look that fell onto your face. Hotch looks back out at the mixture of people floating around the room, “Really want to go down this road?” You scoff, getting another drink, “Hit me with your best shot Hotch.”

Hotch motions to all the people mingling in the bar, “You’re as bad of a workaholic like I am. So you don’t have a personal life.” You make a fake offended noise, but let Hotch continue. “You find flaws in anyone who would be considered a potential romantic interest before even speaking to them. Convincing yourself, there is no use in trying.” Hotch glances back over to you, “It's why you like hanging out with me that I don't understand.” You cock your head, “I’ll answer that after I correct you on a few points.” Hotch crosses his arms, leaning back, waiting. You chuckle, “You guys are my personal life, my family. Your right about the romantic interest part, though... Hard to stay interested in someone when you can profile them in one glance...” You pause before knocking back your drink, “I like grouchy, serious people. Lots of nice silence that isn’t awkward gives me time to think. No bullshit, you’ll tell me if I did something wrong or whatever else. Plus, My mouth normally gets me in trouble but not around you. I can be a sarcastic asshole or brutally honest.” Hotch makes a noise, “Your mouth is a huge problem.” You nervously rub the back of your neck and chuckle, “I mean… I’ve at least gotten better when we are on the job.” Hotch smirks, “You have.” He pauses for a second, “What else? You’re leaving something out.” This is the point where you would usually come up with a convincing lie to hide the fact you had feelings for Hotch. You were a few drinks in. You could handle your liquor, so you weren’t drunk per se, but you had drunk enough that you didn’t really think about the need to lie. You smile to yourself as you let out a small hum, “Because… seeing a sullen person smile… and I don't mean smirking… a genuine smile... It’s a special thing to be able to see that.” You realized that was the first time you had said something like that or even admitted it to yourself. You let out a curious hum. Turning back around in your seat, facing the counter. When Hotch turned around, that’s when you notice the two of you were shoulder to shoulder now. You glanced over at Hotch. He had a real smile on his face. It made you happy seeing him like that. You forgot where you were and that there were rules against fraternization at work. Hotch was so close to you, so when your eyes met his, all logic left your body. You closed your eyes before leaning in and kissed Hotch.

Hotch even kissed you back. It felt so right that you got caught up in it. Both of you kept kissing each other. That was until your brain quickly started to catch up to what you were doing. It only took a split second for your bliss to come crashing down. You had just kissed your very handsome, regulations focused boss. At a party with your coworker’s nonetheless. When you realized that you just put both your and Hotch’s job on the line, you pulled away. Hotch looked confused. You couldn’t tell if it was because you kissed him or because you stopped kissing him. Not sure what else to do, you decided to bolt. Digging cash out of your pocket before putting it on the counter to pay for your drinks. You avoid looking at Hotch, “I… I have to go.” You said it so fast it sounded more like one word then a sentence. You didn’t wait for a response. Booking it out of the bar and straight to a taxi to take you home. You were mad at yourself. You managed to stay professional for over two years. Then it only took one night out for you to ruin that. Though deep down, you knew the real reason you were so upset was that kissing Hotch had felt perfect, but there were multiple rules against things like this. You didn’t want to forget about that moment but thought it might be easier if either you or Hotch just forgot about it by the time morning rolled around. As soon as you went home, you went straight to bed, hoping to sleep it off.

When you woke up a few hours later, you hadn’t forgotten. It was actually the first thing you thought about. Making you realize that maybe it was more than a crush you had on Hotch. You pushed the thought back in your mind and decided to just go into work. Knowing you couldn’t go back to sleep even if you wanted to. Even though you were walking into work a few hours before anyone else should be there, you weren’t surprised when you saw Hotch’s car already here. You had your fingers crossed that he had forgotten about last night, and you never had to think about this ever again. When you walked into the bullpen, you got your answer. Usually, when you came in early for whatever reason, especially helping him with paperwork, you would sit in Hotch’s office while you both worked quietly. However, today Hotch’s office door was closed. The paperwork you had promised to help him with was sitting on your desk. Last night may have just fucked up your usual routine and, even worse, a friendship. You sighed to yourself and just sat down at your desk and worked.

Over the next few months, it only got worse. Where you and Hotch typically gravitated to each other, now you were both constantly apart. He no longer paired you two together on cases, never sat next to each other on the plane. The worst part was probably the early and late hours both you and Hotch always worked. You both were the only two in this part of the building at those times, and still, there was no real communication between the two of you. Just basic, stiff sentences. Neither you or Hotch talked outside of team meetings and cases. It was a shock to your system considering how close you two had been before that night at the bar. But you felt you had no one to blame but yourself. You also felt lucky you still had your job considering Hotch could have fired you.

You reached your breaking point one random morning after a few months of this. It just hit you how much you actually needed to know what was going on. You didn’t even care what the answer was, you just wanted to know. So while you and Hotch were still the only two at work, you barged into his office. Before you could even get the door closed, Hotch spoke up, “Yes?” You closed the door and crossed your arms, “If you’re pissed at me, could you go ahead and just say so?” You shouted that louder than you meant to. Hotch furrowed his brow and looked right up at you. You didn’t give him a chance to say anything just yet, “I was really drunk, okay? So don’t think anything of… of…” You tried to think of what to call it because calling it a kiss reminded you how much you enjoyed it. You subconsciously touched your fingers to your lips. As soon as you noticed, you dropped your hand and continued, “that situation… It meant nothing.” You didn’t even believe yourself and knew that Hotch saw right through it too. As an effort to hide more of your feelings, you let out a loud, annoyed huff before standing there and staring at Hotch. Hotch narrowed his eyes at you, testing you. “Then why are you yelling at me about it?” You scoffed a few times before you started walking around. You stayed mindful enough that it didn’t look too much like pacing. You calmed your voice, “Because I feel like I’m in the dog house because of it. You stopped partnering with me, practically stopped talking to me altogether.” You sigh, “I understand you could have fired me for that drunken mistake. You didn’t, and I appreciate it. But if you really hate working with me that much now, just tell me.” Hotch leaned back in his chair and watched you. There was some emotion in his eyes you couldn’t pinpoint at the moment. It almost looked like he was amused as he spoke, “You weren't that drunk.” Hotch moves some papers around on his desk, “You know, normally anyone else on the team would think being partnered with me constantly would be the punishment. Not the other way around.” You think for a moment watching Hotch, “I don’t feel that way about it.” Hotch nodded, “I know.” He looked a bit too amused for your liking. So you started speaking louder again, "Look, I think it's a fairly simple question. Do you or don't you want me to work with you?" You paused, but your nerves got the better of you. You let out a loud sigh before adding mostly to yourself, “I knew my mouth would get me in trouble one day… this just isn’t the kind of trouble I thought it would be.” Hotch chuckles at your comment, “I’m not mad at you.” You scrunch up your face, confused. Hotch’s voice turns more serious as he finishes, “I do want to work with you, but I separated us because you’re a distraction.” You glare at Hotch, “What the fuck do you mean a distraction?” At this point, you may not have been thinking too clearly because you automatically took offense. You fully turned to face Hotch, your body language and tone reflecting your irritation, “We have worked with each other for over two years. Suddenly I’m a ‘distraction’?” Hotch stood up, crossing his arms and staring you down. You dug your heels in, “Am I really that bad at my job that I’m affecting your or the team’s work?” Hotch started walking over to you, “Will you stop and listen to me for a second?” Hotch had raised his voice just enough to get your attention. It was stern with no real anger behind it. You let out an exasperated huff but stayed quiet. Hotch stopped a few feet in front of you. Even a few feet away, Hotch seemed to tower over you. The serious look that was normally stamped on his face was softer than normal, “You’re a distraction because I have feelings for you as well.”

You falter for a second, “What?” Hotch lets a smile slide onto his face, “You heard me.” You take a minute to think it over, “Then why didn’t you say anything before.” Hotch shrugs, “You’re the one who ran, and I wanted to cover all my bases.” You glare at him, wondering if this was a joke. Hotch wasn’t one for jokes, so it was unlikely, but part of your brain wouldn’t accept he was telling the truth. So naturally, you challenge him, “Since when?” Hotch raises his eyebrows at you, “Does it matter?” You give him a firm nod. Hotch looks off to the side, “Longer than I would care to admit…” Hotch knew you wouldn’t be satisfied with that answer, so after a pause, he looked back at you with a smirk on his face, “The first time you yelled at me. I was able to see how passionate you were. It started then.” You start laughing, “Really? You also wrote me up for that.” Hotch nods, “It was still against regulations, so, Yes.” Hotch pauses, “What about you?” This time the laugh that leaves you is a nervous one, “Since my interview.” You rub the back of your neck, “Tall, Dark, and Handsome. What else can I say?” Hotch makes a curious noise, “I just read that as regular nerves, not attraction.” Hotch smirks at you, “If I had known you had such poor taste, I wouldn’t have hired you.” You scoff and roll your eyes, “Shut up.” You look out the window down into the bullpen below, “If ‘poor taste’ is liking a man who is constantly pushing himself to do the right thing and can be an ass at times because of that. Then sure, I have ‘poor taste’.” Hotch scuffs, “The word I think you meant to use was jaded.” You smile, looking back over at Hotch, “Nope.” You say it very matter of factly, letting the ‘p’ pop as you speak. You tilt your head and give Hotch a cocky grin, “So you like being yelled at?” Hotch rolls his eyes, “Only when you're the one yelling. If I didn’t, I would have fired you by now.” You chuckle but then have a serious thought, “How much trouble are we in?” Hotch sighs, “None… at the moment, but if Strauss catches wind of this…” It was finally time for other people to start showing up for work, just some background workers. Drawing both you and Hotch’s attention to the window watching over the bullpen. You think, “So we don’t let Strauss catch wind of this.” You tap your foot on the ground. “Everyone on the team hates the bitch, but…” Hotch nods, finishing your thought for you, “But… If we keep it a secret from the team, it will at least buy us time.” Hotch glances at you for a second before looking back out the window, “What do you suggest?” You tilt your head from side to side as you think, “We build upon what the team already knows about… We have clearly distanced ourselves from each other. The team has noticed… So we make it seem like we are actually mad at each other.” Hotch nods, agreeing with you so far, “An event about two months ago that would cause this ‘rift’...” Hotch scowls while thinking about it. You laugh, “It is us we are talking about. There are too many things to choose from. The team knows you can be a hard ass, and they know I have a smart-ass mouth.” Hotch chuckles, looking over at you. Your eyes meet for a second, and you can’t help but smirk. “Are you willing to get this elaborate with lying to our friends and colleges?” You were joking at first, but you had a serious thought. Your tone quickly changed, “In all seriousness… I don’t want to put your job on the line… Don’t get me wrong I want this, but not so badly that I’m willing to risk your career without both of us being on the same page.” You look over at Hotch. He furrows his brow, “It’s not just my job. It’s yours too.” You let out a melancholy chuckle, “Im young, I haven't built up my whole career yet. I could find somewhere else to work.” Hotch shakes his head, “You’d be miserable.” You shrug and smile, “ ‘Miserable’ is a relative term.” Hotch’s frown sets in deeper on his face, clearly he was starting to rethink things. So you quickly spoke up, “I just want to make sure we are on the same page. I’m more than willing, but if you want to back out before we break any rules, I want to give you that chance.” Hotch stares at you for a very long moment, “What event are we going to use from two months ago?” You smile softly, relieved that he wanted to proceed with things. You thought, “I cursed out that cop which you got onto me for even though the guy totally deserved it.” Hotch smirks, “He did deserve it but still inappropriate.” You chuckle and nod, “We could use that… act like someone in the department complained about it more and is riding your ass about it. Could combine it with several other things for more drama or leave it at that.” Hotch nods, “We can work with that.” You move away from the interior window, “When everyone gets in, we fake an argument and let the team see it.” Hotch moves back over to his desk, “They will see it and shouldn’t ask too many questions about it.” You sit in the chair in front of his desk, “From partners to partners in crime.” Hotch glares at you and rolls his eyes, “Crime makes it sound much worse than it is.” You chuckle, “Fine. Why don’t we plan something fun then? Maybe it will make you less grumpy.” Hotch sits down, crossing his arms, “Something fun?” You roll your eyes, “A date. I mean, we literally put all this effort into the lie to cover up something that hasn’t even really happened yet.” Hotch smiles, “Tomorrow night, we are supposed to have it off.” You give him a smug grin, “It’s official, then Aaron, we're co-conspirators.” With a sigh, Hotch leans back in his chair. As he rubs his temples, you can see a large smile on his face.

Continuation of Co-Conspirators –Part 1*–Part 2–Part 3–Part 4–Part 5 –Part 6

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner x reader #gender neutral #criminal minds fanfiction #gender neutral reader #hotch x reader #aaron hotchner #fanfiction #fanfic #series #reader insert #co-conspirators

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dramioneasks · 4 years

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HP FESTS: DramioneFanfictionForum (Part 3)

Sounds Like Dramione 2020:

Not fond of asking by Anonymous - M, 4 chapters - The five times Draco and Hermione cared about each other without owning up to it and what happened when they finally did.

The Scars we Share by Anonymous - E, one-shot - Those who survive war never do without any scars. Some however are invisible. Eighth year Hermione and Draco try to make a go of it, but the past doesn’t seem to want to let go.

The Magic in the Marrow by Anonymous - E, 6 chapters - Auror Inspector Malfoy is making forensic scientist Hermione Granger's life difficult.If he's not dragging her to a crime scene, he's invading her dreams.

Healing by Anonymous - M, one-shot - Returning for his final year a changed man, Draco Malfoy finds that everyone suffered and no one is alright Becoming close with Hermione Granger is healing in a way he didn’t know he needed.

fools with hearts that tried too hard by Anonymous - T, 3 chapters - For the 2020 Sounds Like Dramione Competition on the Dramione Fanfiction Forum. My prompt was "Maybe all we are is fools with hearts that tried too hard/And maybe that's just fine as long as you're here in my arms" from Maybe, I'm afraid by lovelytheband.

Loving Her Was Green by Anonymous - E, one-shot - Their secret shag sessions were a means to an end — mutually beneficial and nothing more. But when jealousy takes over, Draco Malfoy should have known better than to think it could have ever stopped there.

Ghosts That We Knew by Anonymous - T, one-shot - Malfoy keeps following Hermione around Hogwarts. She has no idea why.She traced the scar on her left arm, wondering about Horcruxes and curses, and what marks they left behind on one's soul.“Is that from – was that Aunt Bellatrix?” a voice said in her ear, and Hermione shrieked.“Fucking hell, Malfoy!”He looked sullen. “This is the dungeons, you know.”“Yes,” she agreed, trying to remember how to breathe. “If only you spent all your time here –”

Catalyst by Anonymous - E, 5 chapters - Six years after the war, Hermione has a challenging career and fulfilling friendships, and movie nights with Draco are the highlight of her week. But her impending marriage to Ron fills her with increasing anxiety.

Preying on You by Anonymous - T, one-shot - A chance meeting and Hermione finds out a long hidden secret.

Starving by Anonymous - E, 5 chapters - Hermione has everything figured out. Sex is like food. Club nights are far too expensive. And men belong in the category of 'things that are more faff than they're worth'. You know, like hair straightening charms, lingerie, and mathematical integration. This is a story about food and sex, though not at the same time.

Why Can't We Be Three by Anonymous - E, 3 chapters - One was her unlikely best mate, the other a longtime love newly her fiance. And Hermione felt utterly barmy nestled between the two in the back of a pub, the wrong man's hand toying with the waistband of her shorts. But if her fiance didn't mind, who was she to deny that two could become three? Who was she to refuse her fiance the pleasure that she, too, so desperately craved?

Everlasting Light by Anonymous - E, 3 chapters - no summary

Slowly, then all at once by Anonymous - M, 2 chapters - Hermione begins her training at St. Mungo’s the summer after her eighth year. She’s excited to put the past behind her—that is, until Draco Malfoy turns up in her ward and she’s forced to relive the past, if only so he can remember it. Title of the story is inspired by a line in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Add it up! by Anonymous - M, one-shot - Draco struggles to keep on task while on a case with Granger.

Love is a Beautiful Thing by Anonymous - T, one-shot - How can you choose when you never wanted to hurt anyone?

How I Ended Up Inside by Anonymous - E, one-shot - no summary

Make Damn Sure by Anonymous - T, one-shot - Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy may of overcome their differences and fallen in love along the way, but with an impending betrothal on the horizon, will everything change for them?

Lost Souls by Anonymous - T, one-shot - Broken by war and years of secrecy, Hermione and Draco struggle to find true happiness together while hiding behind double lives.

Hold Me When I'm Here by Anonymous - M, one-shot - No longer on the wrong side of the war, Draco finds himself fighting beside unlikely allies, each day about getting through whatever way he can.Sometimes, that way is her.

Guilt by Anonymous - E, one-shot - Getting a nanny in would work wonders.

Deflower Draco 2020:

Mind and Body by sarena - E, 5 chapters - Hermione tilted her head, taking a step back to look him up and down. “Draco Malfoy, is this your first time?” He winced reflexively but he tried to cover it up immediately by shaking his head. “Of course not,” he scoffed.

Something Deeper by kmd0107 - E, one-shot - Draco and Hermione have to consummate their marriage bond. Draco may have left out one not-so-tiny detail.

Something Unexpected by GaeilgeRua - E, one-shot - Hermione learns that the rumours about her new husband may have been exaggerated a bit. It’s a good thing that the Slytherin Sex God and the Gryffindor Princess work so well together now.

A Stellar Collision by Somandalicious - E, one-shot - They were a white dwarf and a neutron star hurling through space and time on an elliptical trajectory with catastrophic consequences.

Prick the Virgin by Klawdee - M, one-shot - 7th year Au, in which, Hermione (not the Head Girl, but knows a bit about head or at least several different slang words for it) asks Draco for his virginity, but NOT that virginity, and yet she gets both, that is if either really exist at all... Canon divergence - Voldy Moldy didn’t return 4th year or in this fic…at all… -Diggory was the only Hogwarts Champion…but also not in this fic… -Umbridge did teach 5th year but was chased out early due to out of control rise underage rituals…hinted at but not elaborated on… - it’s AU; Sargent and really…there is no plot, what plot? Inspired by an incorrect (as I’ve soon learned doing some minor research) tumblr post assumption on what “Virgin Blood actually” means, and I ran with it anyways. Some humour, or at least some attempts at humour. I know my confidence is staggering, hopefully you give it a go anyhow, and humour me.

In the Twist of a Curl by SlytherinHermione - E, one-shot - There she goes again. Draco couldn’t help but to watch, mesmerized as she took a long strand of her hair, and followed its curled path around her finger.He felt turned around, twisted upside down, and he couldn’t really stop himself from falling.

Waking The Dragon by Lilithmorningstar69 - E, one-shot - Draco Malfoy had very few choices, despite being a spoilt brat, as a pureblood and only living heir to the Malfoys, he is expected to uphold some antiquated traditions. That is until he sees an unexpected pair in a very compromised position.

still got you all over me by HawthorneWhisperer - M, one-shot - “Earl Grey,” a deep voice said, and it was like walking straight through a ghost. Her stomach plunged, her veins turned icy cold, and she made herself count to three before turning around.It was worse than a ghost. It was him, warm and in the flesh, cheeks slightly flushed from the summer heat outside. Draco hadn’t noticed her yet, too busy paying for his tea, and she inched toward the door. If she could just scoot past the cluster of witches waiting in line, she might be able to—“Granger?” the barista asked. Dammit. Draco’s face went several shades paler. She gave up trying to sneak out and sheepishly wended her way to the counter. Hermione accepted her cup with a meek smile and nodded to Draco like this wasn’t the worst thing that had happened to her in years. It had been seven years since she had last seen him, standing alone in front of the lake. Everyone else had been crowded into groups, surrounded by their families and loved ones, but Draco was alone. No one had come to his commencement ceremony, not even his mother.

The Infidelity Clause by melanoradrood - E, one-shot - "It ends with infidelity," he said carefully. "If one of us were to have sexual relations with another, then the contract is broken."Draco's future has been written in ink and magic since he was a child, but now that he faces it, a marital contract, he knows that there's only one way out... but the consequences of breaking such a contract are... permanent.Hermione rather likes the sound of them.Written for Deflower Draco Fest 2021

Not Your Average Sex God by GracefulLioness - E, one-shot - Draco's in love. And that's isn't even the most embarrassing thing he's confessing tonight.

Until You by BiscuitsForPotter - E, one-shot - After a potions accident at fifteen, Draco must resign himself to living with an affliction for which there is no cure. Written for the 2021 Deflower Draco Fest.

The Bowtruckles and the Beasts by PurpleSugarQuills - E, one-shot - Molly Weasley brandished a copy of The Bowtruckles and the Beasts in one hand and a ripe, yellow banana in the other. Hermione could only blink, moments away from receiving The Talk from her ex-boyfriend’s mother.This was, as so many things tended to be, all Ginny Weasley’s fault.And eighth-year fic for Deflower Draco Fest

Fortuitous timing by emotionalsupporthufflepuff - E, one-shot - Rumor has it that Draco Malfoy is a skilled and generous lover.He may have started that rumor himself...But when Hermione Granger wants to find out for herself, will it result in another disastrous event for Draco, or is his luck finally turning around?

This fest is ongoing.

#dramionefanfictionforum #Fests/Exchanges/Challenges

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squarecarousel · 3 years

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Challenge 144: 10 Years, Looking Forward: A-Frame Studio Life Buckle up-- this is a long one! Wow, ten years. It’s hard to believe a whole decade has passed since Square Carousel began, and since I graduated college. In some ways, it feels like another lifetime, and in others, it feels vastly shorter than the decade before that, from ages 12 to 22. Time is fascinating that way. College was such an incredibly impactful time period, but just a measly 4 years-- I could have done college 2.5 more times back-to-back in the years since I graduated, but somehow those four, from 2007-2011 were monumental. It’s hard to believe I’ll be in a post-college world without Square Carousel, since the group has been a constant in my life these last ten years. I’m really proud that we made it this far and are able to choose to end the journey, rather than it fizzling out or dying from lack of interest. Sometimes it felt like that might happen, but other times it felt like we were blooming. There have been many ups and downs over the course of this journey. And damn, it was a lot of hard to work to keep running, but I am so grateful for the learning experience. I know so much more about leadership now than I ever would have before-- the delicate balance of having rules to keep the group running (deadlines, participation requirements, our dreaded “strike system”) and keeping up morale (knowing when to forgive slip-ups, keeping challenges sufficiently entertaining and well...challenging, making sure the group feels like it’s a community). Elizabeth and I were reluctant leaders, just naturally having to take those roles as other original members of the group left and were replaced by folks who needed guidance. We definitely didn’t seek it out, but we knew that if the group were to stay alive, we had to put some structure into the system. Pretty early on we made our rules and guidelines, extended the challenges to 3 weeks from just 2, and worked on our visual image online. Our awesome logo was made by former member Casey Crisenbery, and we switched from Wordpress to Tumblr, purchasing a URL, and Casey using special code for custom organization on the site. Sketch critiques were now a halfway point through our 3 weeks-long challenge, which helped a lot with the community aspect and engagement. We started doing interviews for each member, reaching out to other illustration groups, blogs and submission sites and had our work featured on a few of them. Some of us even got jobs from the connections made through Square Carousel! There was a bad stretch several years ago when I wasn’t sure we’d make it through, with toxic behavior and a few folks petitioning for removing deadlines and structure, making everything optional. One thing I can tell you with certainty after ten years of working with artists is that 95% of us require deadlines to do anything, and incentives/obligations for meeting those deadlines, or it just isn’t going to happen! Elizabeth and I, along with a few other solid members, were able to keep the structure we’d worked hard to create, but the toxic culture had already killed group morale and we lost a lot of members simultaneously. That was a sad and scary time for Square Carousel, but I didn’t want to go out on a sour note. So the small group of us picked the pieces back up again, did a little refocus on our goals as a collective and created an “Admin” so Elizabeth and I didn’t have to carry the entire burden alone. I am forever grateful to Sayada and Jordan for stepping up into these roles to help us get the train back on track. Sayada especially picked up a lot of responsibilities that a newer member shouldn’t have to worry about, and was a total rockstar for Square Carousel. I wish we’d had her with us for the whole ride. I’m so happy that we’ve had a few really great years with some really loyal and talented artists to round out the experience at Year Ten. There is nobody I’m more thankful for than my Good Cop, Elizabeth, though. She was so reliable, always able to provide balance in our leadership roles, and such a wonderful shoulder to cry on when things got too stressful. Elizabeth, thank you for this journey and for being my SC Wife all these years! It’s so funny because of all the original members, you were one of the only ones I hadn’t really known from SCAD classes, yet you’re the SCAD Illustration friend I have remained most connected to most consistently. Nothing bonds you quite like running an illustration collective does! It also cracks me up that in all these years, we hadn’t ever facetimed or talked on the phone until a few months ago--I didn’t even know your mannerisms or voice, but knew you so well anyway. My greatest internet friend! I love you dearly and it truly won’t feel right, the absence of our weekly SC conversations. Thank you for all of the memories! As just a member and artist, this group has helped me grow so much professionally. It was my client when I didn’t have clients. It was my motivation to paint when I didn’t feel creative. It was my source of portfolio-worthy work, but also my safe place to experiment and fail when I was trying something new. The girl who started as a Square Carousel member freshly graduated in 2011 was working part-time at Urban Outfitters, had basically no money, and no clue how to promote herself. The “studio” was a corner of the bedroom and nobody took her seriously. But a stubborn dedication and the security, purpose and structure of Square Carousel helped the slow change from that lost girl to a full-time freelancing woman. Now, in 2021, I have been doing freelance illustration fully for six years, through contract jobs, editorial, publishing, advertising, commission and local work, as well as selling prints and products online, in local shops and events. I am not making the big bucks, certainly, and I still have goals I’m working towards, but damn, if that isn’t a glow-up, I don’t know what is. Thank you for helping me achieve my impossible dream, Square Carousel, and always being a place with the right amount of advice, support and critique. Ten years, 34 artist interviews, 38 artists, and 144 challenges. I’m the only member to have completed every single one. 144 illustrations through the years. Some were game-changers for my style and my portfolio. Some were total stinkers and I hope you don’t go looking for them. But all were an important step in my career. So, in ten more years? I’ll be 42 years old, which is very weird because I have never imagined myself that old before... it’s hard to honestly say what that would look like, especially considering the world we are currently living in and how the last 4/5 years have proven that anything (awful) can happen. Jordan and I have a goal to move to Colorado in the next 4 or 5 years, and I’d love to have a little A-Frame in the mountains with a loft studio, shown in my illustration here. Texas has become extremely problematic, especially after the winter storm in February of this year, and will be impacted greatly by climate change, both environmentally and economically. Right now, Austin is still booming, but at some point the lack of foresight in this state’s government is going to screw over the residents and it will be one of the places from which climate refugees run. Is that tomorrow? No, obviously not. But I want to already be settled someplace more stable, having grown some roots, before other folks start to roll in. But, to be able to do that, I need to rely less on my local jobs and connections and be able to have an “anywhere career.” So right now I am focusing on expanding in that way, particularly with book cover illustration and design. I’ve been doing a lot of portfolio work and self-publishing jobs, and hope to get an agent that can shop my work to big-time publishers sometime in the next year or two. Let’s say I succeed at all of those things in five years-- we’re in our Colorado A-Frame, I’m illustrating book covers (and I’ve also convinced my parents to come with me, and maybe a couple friends!). The next five years after that? I don’t know... hopefully a lot of adventures. Hopefully a lot of cool jobs, but also a lot of work/life balance. Right now, I don’t want kids, so the A-Frame will be filled with cats. Maybe we’ll have an old camper van for regular road trips around the western National Parks. I’d love for my work to reflect those passions-- more jobs with outdoor brands, parks, organizations. More book covers for stuff I’d personally love to read and keep on my overflowing shelf. That’s the vague goal for me in ten years, but I don’t want to plan any further than that, because life just also needs to happen the way it’s going to happen. There are parts of my current life I planned for in 2011... and there are parts I never, ever would have guessed. I hope there’s some fun surprises in 2031, too. Thanks for the decade, Square Carousel. Joining illustration collectives will always be the first bit of advice I give fresh graduates. Caitlin

#challenge 144 #caitlin alexander #caitlin b alexander #goodbye square carousel #ten years

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