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landitolover · 4 months

Text

𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒊’𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍, in which pedri loves to get on charles’ nerves by flirting with his girlfriend.. ౨ৎ charles x fem!reader

Liked by pedri, charles_leclerc, lilymhe, and 768,092 others

yourusername great game today 💙❤️

tagged pedri, fcbarcelona

View all 578 comments

user jersey yn is back 👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾!!

user BARKING 🐶

user ugh 😭😭😭😭😭

user is it jus me who finds it odd that she rarely posts charles .. and is always posting pedri ?

→ user not rlly idk..? she lives in barcelona, and so does pedri, they see each other more often = more posts of pedri, bc charles is always away for his races ….

user the world stopped. everyone and their mother is screaming at this post, people died, people cried— the world actually DIED!!!!!!!!

user im crying shes so gorgeous :’’’’)

user im gonna throw UPPP SHES A GODDESS 🛐

user MAAMAMAMAAA 😍

user my oh my

user she’s the reason i am bi .

user IM MALFUNCTIONING

user i’m fighting charles and pedri for her

user wait r they dating ?? i’m new around here 😭

→ user no, she’s dating charles_leclerc

charles_leclerc SO GORGEOUS MY LOVE

→ yourusername I LOVE YOOOUUU 👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼👩🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏼

charles_leclerc get rid of the blue and just wear my red x (or nothing at all)

→ yourusername GET OUT….

→ landonorris I think i just threw up

→ lilymhe thirsting on the main is crazy 😭😭 (real)

→ carlossainz55 children are on this app, charlitos…

pedri my jersey looks amazing on you

→ charles_leclerc yeah? and i’m the one ripping it off at the end of the night 🤣

→ pedri 🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼🖕🏼

→ charles_leclerc LOLL YOU’RE MAD

pedri 😍😍😍

→ yourusername 😇😇❣️

pedri gorgeous girl

→ yourusername thank you pedri ‼️

lilymhe THE PRETTIEST EVER ML 😭😭😭

→ yourusername YOUUUU.

lilymhe the only thing I like abt ur white man, is you 😍😍

→ yourusername kiss me lily

→ lilymhe 👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾

carlossainz55 I don’t like this post

→ charles_leclerc same, I don’t like seeing my girlfriend in other mens teams shirt 😒

→ carlossainz55 become a madrid fan !

→ charles_leclerc I might just have to

→ carlossainz55 welcome mate 💪

→ yourusername blocked and reported, both of u.

→ charles_leclerc I’m your BOYFRIEND???🤧🤧

→ yourusername does it look like i gaf?????? GET OUT MADRIDISTAS!!!!!

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

Liked by yourusername, fcbarcelona, and 872,728 others

charles_leclerc Such an amazing game! 😃

tagged fcbarcelona

View all 998 comments

user who forced u to go.

user we ❤️ a bf who supports his gfs bffs game x

user forced ass smile dawg 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

→ user LMFAOO RIGHT

user hes so mamalicious

user weird way to propose but yes !

user screaming crying throwing up i cant do this anymore

user i literally just died dead

user my new fav culer xxx

→ carlossainz55 he’s a MADRIDISTA.

pedri I hope I impressed your girlfriend

→ charles_leclerc blocked and reported

→ charles_leclerc GET OUT MY DAMN COMMENTS YOU SPANIARD

→ charles_leclerc you did NOT IMPRESS HER

→ pedri says the man who dnfs basically every race

→ user OH NAAHHH 😭😭

IMESSAGE GROUP CHAT, “BABYGIRLS’

LILY 💋

how long til charles breaks

PEDRI 🫂

he’s a very hard man to break

you guys are so evil for setting him up

LILY 💋

it’s so funny seeing him fight for his life in the comments though 😭😭

PEDRI 🫂

right

LILY 💋

it’s also funny how you forced him to go to a game

yeah and I’m gonna force pedri to a race

PEDRI 🫂

and watch him dnf? no thanks

LILY 💋

THAT’S CRAZY 😭

ur foul for that pedri

PEDRI 🫂

my bad

my hand slipped on the send button

you’re so MEAN 😭😭

PEDRI 🫂

I’ll go to the race ????

alrighty 😁😁

LILY 💋

pedri in the paddock soo ooo ooon 🗣️🗣️!!!!

You loved “pedri in the paddock soo ooo ooon 🗣️🗣️!!!!”

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

Liked by charles_leclerc, scuderiaferrari, and 89,919 others

yourusername CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING MY LOVE 🥹🥹❤️❤️ SO PROUD BABY 🤧🤧

tagged charles_leclerc, scuderiaferrari

View all 783 comments

user OH MY WORD AAUASDXC

user ur JOKIIING 😭😭😭😭 Im crying i havent been this happy since lime forver 😭😭😭

user third pic too real :///

user YN WHAT DID U DO FOF HIM TO WIN 🤧

→ user she bribed ferrari strategist to actually strategize x

→ yourusername it’s true, i did

user i 😭 cant 😭 take 😭 it 😭

user hes so gorgeous i might cry

user real tears coming out of mg eyes do not tlakn to me.

user her very rare post of charles 🤧

pedri surprised he didn’t dnf

→ charles_leclerc YOU’RE EVIL.

→ pedri 😘

→ lilymhe enemies to lovers type shit

→ yourusername “pedri x charles. 10k words. enemies to lovers”

→ charles_leclerc hello what ???? 😭

pedri he’s so fugly

→ charles_leclerc I KNOW YOUR ASS AINT TALKING WIT THOSE SKINNY ASS JEANS BRUH 🤦🤦🤦🤦

→ yourusername ik both of you guys aren’t talking.

lilymhe good job charles 🏆🏆

→ charles_leclerc thank you for not being a hater (unlike other people I know.)

charles_leclerc MA CHÉRIE I LOVE YOU 🫶🏻

→ yourusername I LOVE YOU MORE ❤️

charles_leclerc red is more your color

→ yourusername I think so too

INSTAGRAM

Liked by charles_leclerc, yourusername, and 98,929 others

pedri congratulations on winning, I guess 🫡

tagged charles_leclerc

comments have been limited

yourusername charles said to let him comment 🤧

→ pedri is this post not good enough for him? he’s quite greedy.

yourusername you’re too kind pedri xoxo 💋 —charles

lilymhe ITS HAPPENING, THEYRE GETTING ALONG

→ pedri never

lilymhe awwwwwww!!!!!

IMESSAGE GROUP CHAT, “BF & BFF”

CHA ❤️

pedri

PEDRI 🫂

what.

CHA ❤️

are we like bffs now

PEDRI 🫂

not in a billion years

BRO 😭

please be friends with my bf..

CHA ❤️

i second that

i’m quite lovely

PEDRI 🫂

😒😒

i guess

I’ll still hate on you on insta though

this friendship be between only us.

CHA ❤️

🤓☝️

alright….

omg finally

ur getting along 🤧🤧!!!

INSTAGRAM

Liked by lilymhe, pedri, charles_leclerc and 98,029

yourusername when the plans actually make it out of the gc …

tagged lilymhe, pedri

View all 678 comments

user they’re all so hot

user ynlily is real to me

→ lilymhe i agree

→ yourusername lets ditch our bfs

user lil bro don’t wanna be there

→ user cause hes third wheeling

user sometimes babygirls are three ppl in their 20s 😢

user i’m actually sobbing

user MAMAMAAMAMAMAS 🤤🤤😍😍

user they’re gorgeous, and pedri is just there..

pedri never let the plans get out the gc again

→ yourusername yk you had fun…

→ lilymhe SUCH A HATER…… 🤧😢

pedri you took that picture without my consent

→ yourusername my bad lil bro

→ pedri 😐😐

lilymhe you’re so gorgeous 😍

→ yourusername ur more gorgeous ;)

lilymhe next time it’ll just be us baby

→ yourusername 💋💋

charles_leclerc why am i never invited

→ yourusername cause ur always away going vroom vroom in a car

→ user I feel bad for him 🙁🙁

→ user fr yn is always going everywhere without charles

charles_leclerc you look so gorgeous, i miss you :(❤️

→ yourusername thank you, i miss you more 🫶🏾

TWITTER

IMESSAGE GROUP CHAT, “BABYGIRLS”

LILY 💋

CHARLES’ FANS ARE ON UR ASS RN 😭

PEDRI 🫂

“charles always gets left out 🥺”

that man is 25 he do not care

LMFAOO

right 😭

like I love him but some of his “fans” are so …

LILY 💋

Fr they’re dramatic sometimes

u hangout with him too much = ur a clingy girlfriend

u don’t hangout with him as much = ur a bad girlfriend

NO LITERALLY

these bitches r never happy with what i do

like its MY relationship ??? 😭

INSTAGRAM

Liked by charles_leclerc, lilymhe, pedri, and 99,908 others

yourusername he is fine y’all, perfectly fine.. please don’t call paw patrol 😐

tagged charles_leclerc

user 😭😭😂😍🤣😍😁😊😃😂😁💔💔💔

user PLS THE CAPTION 😭

→ user shes sick of THOSE charles fans

user they r so 🤧🤧❤️❤️

user they’re SO taylor coded .

→ user specifically you are in love ://

user god i see what you do for others

user im

→ user me too girl, me too

user officially my favorite couple

user the last pic. I AM DISGUSTED 😂😂😭😭💔💔

user sliding down mt wall i cant trake this 😊😊😊😊

charles_leclerc Je t'aime 🤍

→ yourusername I love you more 🤍

charles_leclerc MY GIRL MY GIRL

charles_leclerc you’re so lovely

→ yourusername 🥹🥹❤️

pedri cuties

→ lilymhe OMG PEDRI NOT BEIN A HATER !!!!!!

→ charles_leclerc i knew you secretly loved me xx

→ yourusername HES EVOLVED 💯💯‼️‼️

pedri i took the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th pic 😒😒😒

→ yourusername oh yeah, sorry 🤧. PEDRI TOOK THOSE PICTURES EVERYONE!!!!

lilymhe CUTEST COUPLE EVER

→ yourusername YOUU AND ALEX 🤧🥹

carlossainz55 give me back my charles, he was mine first 😞

→ yourusername no cause you’re gonna make him go to the devils side.. madrid…

→ carlossainz55 come to the good side, to madrid! porfa yn 🙏🏼

→ pedri they’re both culers forever 🥰🥰

→ charles_leclerc true !!!!

→ yourusername very very true

yourusername just added one new story

viewed by charles_leclerc pedri carlossainz55 and 78,729 others

INSTAGRAM

Liked by yourusername, pedri, and 987,778 others

charles_leclerc you areee in looove, true love 🤍

tagged yourusername

View all 878 comments

user SHUT UP

user whatcha know abt taylor.. CHARLES….

→ charles_leclerc a lot actually, when your girlfriend only listens to taylor 24/7 you start to get some t swizzle knowledge 🤷🤷

user Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc, THE CAPTION 😭

user get out OH MY GOD

user im so sick like actually.

user they are so cute i physically cannot do it anymore

user 🤢🤢😭😭💔💔😠😠🤧🤧😐😐

user babies my babies

user charles quoting taylor? ur twisted.

user charles lerizzler

pedri she’s giggling over this post

→ charles_leclerc 🤭🤭

lilymhe alex_albon why aren’t you this cute with your captions

→ alex_albon 🖕🏼🖕🏼

→ lilymhe SEE, YOU ARENT BEING VERY ROMANTIC!!!

yourusername i’m crying this is so sweet

yourusername this made my caption look bad

→ charles_leclerc I thought your caption was funny

yourusername do NOT talk to me I’m currently giggling and kicking my feet

→ charles_leclerc call me, chérie

→ yourusername yes yes

carlossainz55 down bad

→ charles_leclerc of course I am!

౨ৎ hi guys… yet another reupload from my old blog… (BOOOOO 🙄🙄) i hope u guys enjoyed nonetheless :) i will HOPEFULLY be working on part two of ‘say don’t go’ 🤓🤓

taglist @moneygramhaas @kortneej81 @leclercsluv @landovilla !

#𓇼 landitolover #꩜ my writings #formula one #f1 #f1 fanfic #female reader #smau #black reader #charles leclerc x female reader #charles leclerc x you #charles leclerc #pedri gonzalez #pedri gonzalez x reader #lily muni he

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novaandmali · 1 month

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ARTISTS WANTED!

We’re making a new book filled with pulpy sci-fi illustrations based on classic artworks (pre-1800), and, as always, LGBT and POC inclusive <3

Applications open March 25th at noon - the application will NOT be available before that time and will be removed after apps close. HUGE shout out to @ Nukeillustrate for this absolutely stunning piece, lovingly borrowed from “And They Were Monsters.”

The application will NOT be available until that date - we will post it here, instagram (nova_mali), bluesky, and tumblr (novaandmali). The application will be open for five days (March 29th) or until we hit 1000 applications. Please be sure to set an alarm and get your application in ASAP - we will not be able to take any applications through email, dms, or after they close.

A tentative schedule:

Results emailed by April 3rd - everyone will get an email! Sketch due May 15 Final work due June 15 Kickstarter runs July 1-31

We are looking for 50-60 artists (who MUST be 18+ years old by April 3) to join us to create a piece of digital art and/or merch. Traditional art is also accepted if scanned/photographed at a professional level.

We're looking specifically to increase the diversity of our artists, both in regards to race and gender - we want to be including all kinds of voices. Same thing with our art - we're looking to increase the variety of cultures, body types, and disabilities represented.

This is a PAID job. We’ve paid in the range of 200-300 for similar projects in the past, based on a set contract amount plus anything left over after production and shipping, split between everyone. Example: $150 in the contract and $100 extra per artist share. The additional amount will depend on how successful the Kickstarter campaign is.

I’ll post more later this week but first and foremost, get ready to go looking for interesting classical art to re-do into pulpy sci-fi! Your app will ask you what you’re thinking about creating. This is not a final answer but we want to know what vibe, what era, etc what you’re thinking about.

We’re asking for art pieces that are pre-1800. I want you to really get digging and find some epic cool old stuff, particularly from more women artists and artists of color. Non-Western art is very very much included in our scope of work - we can’t wait to see your ideas!

I know older art tends to have weird people or weird perspectives - that doesn't need to translate to your final art. Just get funky with where you're finding inspiration! We will discuss this in more detail once we’ve hired everyone.

We really want to play with the idea of taking something very very old and make it very very futuristic - it should be funky and fun, and of course full of delightfully gay art <3

I’ll post exactly what questions the app will entail later this week.

The application will include things like: a link to your portfolio (instagram and twitter are NOT accepted as a portfolio) and an idea of what art pieces you’re thinking about and how to transform them.

We also ask for a short artist bio, like twitter style - short and sweet. Please don’t talk down about yourself or your skills - talk yourself up! Make me excited to see your art!!

About us: we’re two non-binary lesbians who really love cats and gay art. We’ve enjoyed our work as a queer publishing house and can’t wait to do more! Some of our previous works include classics but make it gay, And They Were Monsters, and Cover Me Queer.

Check out our work at www.novaandmali.com .

#scifiart #scifiedit #art history #lgbtq books #lgbt art

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bbybluemochi · 9 months

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bbybluemochi's F.A.Q. ✧･ﾟ

Hi! Arun here! I thought that instead of answering your submissions one by one I’d gather all the frequently asked questions and answer them in a single post (this is a mix of art/OC/commissions related q's)!

Please note that I do read all your messages and I’m so grateful for every one of them!!!! I keep all your words really close to my heart, thank you for liking my art and loving my Ocs as much as I do, it means the world to me <3

What’s the name of your OCs?

They’re called Cotton (the blonde one) and Puppy (the dark haired one). The original idea for them was to make some silly wolf/bunny OCs (that’s why Cotton is called like that, it was supposed to be a joke about her tail…) but somewhere along the way they took over and became something completely different!

Is there a webcomic for your OCs?

Not currently! I don’t have the time or the skills (for now) but I’d love to give it a try in the future!

I was wondering if you mind people using your OC art as character art/inspiration for DnD?Just games with friends that are for fun, nothing for commercial.

Go ahead! I find that really flattering.

Just out of curiosity, are any of your OCs bisexual?

Both Cotton and Puppy are lesbians. That’s what I feel comfortable drawing since I’m a lesbian myself. If I ever do draw a bisexual OC I’ll make sure to mention it! <3

I think you said Cotton was a dominatrix in a previous ask, but is Puppy on the opposite side of the spectrum or is she just glad to be there whichever way?

Puppy is very much a sub. They both switch (Puppy as a service top and bottom and Cotton as a top and power bottom), but the dom/sub dynamic never changes. Also I wanted to mention that these dynamics do not transcend outside of the bedroom that much, there’s more to them than their kinks but I do love to draw them deep in their submissive/dominant headspaces.

Are one of the lesbian fairytale characters trans?

I didn’t design either of them with that in mind, but I’m super OK with people headcanoning them as trans!

May I use your art as a header/icon?

Of course! Remember to credit me tho~

Do you allow people to use your art freely?

I don’t allow reposts of my work (not that it matters that much, since almost all my art has been already reposted a million times ))): but I’d really appreciate it if you just shared my posts instead of reposting my art). As for phone backgrounds/wallpapers or stuff like that, yeah!

Do you have an instagram account or other social media, I would love to follow you there.

My main platform is twitter (same @), I post all my drawings there and I’m usually more active over there. Tumblr is kind of like an archive. I really like the community here but I find it easier to reply/interact with people on twitter! As for instagram, I do have an old art account (same @, again) but I haven’t posted in so long. I may start posting there soon if a certain rich guy decides to keep destroying the bird app tho.

I’ve always thought about this… how do you think it’d look if the aesthetics/styles [of your OCs] were reversed?

I’ll have to explore that in a future drawing, I haven’t thought much about it!

Do you write fics for your characters or has anyone else written fics about them?

Not yet! A couple of my friends have offered, tho! I usually like to stick to drawing because that’s what I do best, I don’t wanna subject anyone to my writing (it’s not very good,,,,). When I share some of my Ocs stories, I think it will be in comic format.

What's the story behind your OCs?

There are several, actually!! I like to put my OCs in different universes. As for now, there’s the Fairytale AU, the modern setting AU (this is the original one), and now the Werewolf/Vampire AU. I also did a drawing of them as spiderwoman and black cat but I don’t think that AU is gonna make a comeback for a while. I’m also planning a scifi AU but I’m not sure I’d be able to pull off that aesthetic with my current art style so I’m still working on it.

The Fairytale AU is the one I’m working on most of the time. I wanna release a small artbook with their story + illustrations. That was my main goal for 2023 but life got in the way, so maybe,,, 2024??? *crosses fingers*

Is your shop down? It’s saying that it’s not available.

I open my shop for 1-2 weeks every now and then, that’s why it’s closed most of the time! My plan is to open the store again in september, if i manage to finish all the merch in time! I’ll announce it on my twitter and tumblr account when I do.

Would you ever share a tutorial on how you make your art?

Yes, of course! I’m not very good at explaining my drawing process but If it helps anyone I’d love to! Just let me know what part of the drawing process you’d like me to focus on, because If i try to make a full illustration tutorial it’s gonna be too long/difficult to follow.

May I ask what brush do you use for your lineart?

I use a different brush almost every time I start an illustration, I’m not very consistent when it comes to that (I think it’s mainly because I haven’t found the perfect brush yet!). But let me know what illustration you’re curious about and I’ll try to remember which one I used!

Do you come up with poses off the top of your head or do you use some type of reference? I always struggle with them.

It depends on what I’m drawing! Some of my drawings are reinterpretations of paintings (I’m obsessed with pre-raphaelite painters and arthurian legend paintings in general), so in those cases I try to adapt the poses to my art style. Even If I’m trying to recreate an already existing painting I end up changing the poses/proportions a lot along the way to fit my personal taste/art style.

Other times, I just sketch from imagination (this is more entertaining, I think, since looking at references can make the drawing process a bit tedious). If I find it hard to draw a certain pose/part of the body I will look up references on printerest, no shame in using pictures! If I still can’t find the pose I need I’ll just take a picture of myself (this is like, a last resort for me. I’m too lazy for this).

My personal advice would be to use references for the pose and then tweaking the pose and trying to make it more personal

I love the way the armor was designed and rendered! Can you share some tips on designing armor?

Drawing armor is something I still struggle with most of the time. I think I’ve learned a lot in the past year (please don’t look at my armor drawings from 2022,,,,, sigh) but I still struggle to draw certain poses/angles. My advice is: don’t hesitate to draw non-functional armor!!! There’s always gonna be someone like “actually, that armour makes no sense :)” well !!!! it looks cool as hell so who caresssss !!!!!

I think it’s more important for you to get comfortable drawing armor before you start beating yourself up for not drawing accurate ones. It takes a lot of practice (I’m still learning!!!), especially if you’re trying to draw historically accurate ones, so start by having fun, and then work your way up from there.

Most of the tips I can think about are really hard to explain without a visual example, so let me know if that’d be a tutorial you would be interested in and I’ll try to make one (I’m cringing a little just saying this bc I swear, my armor skills are so bad compared to some amazing artists out there………..).

Do you allow cosplays your OCs?

YES…. YES PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM BEGGING YOUUU ILL LOVE YOU FOREVER !!!!!! *rattles my cage*

Do you allow fanart of your OCs?

Again,,, PLEASEEEEEEEEE !!! Just tag me so I don’t miss it and remember to give me credits if you do !!!!!!!!!!! :D

I was wondering if you use procreate , clip studio, or similar apps?

A mix of both. I used to draw on procreate only until I got a tablet and now I’m a clip studio user (csp sponsor me please), and now that’s all I use. I’m so used to drawing on PC now that I don’t think I’d be able to go back to procreate, but I still like that app a lot! All my drawings (even the ones I do on csp) always get retouched on procreate because I like some of the effects (*dreamy sigh* chromatic aberration filter,,, love u).

I wanted to know if the marks Cotton has on her waist are tattoos or like a scar?

Those are tats! Puppy is a tattoo artist ~~~ (I’m actually not sure if i’ll keep the waist tats on Cotton or if I’ll end up redesigning them,,,)

I was wondering if you take commissions?

Not right now. I also don’t have any plans of opening commissions any time soon! When I do, I’ll post a google forms on twitter and here on tumblr with the prices and type of comms I do. But there’s nothing scheduled.

Even tho I'm not doing commissions atm, I’m currently looking for illustration jobs (specially book covers), so don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected]

That's all for now, thank you for reading!! I think I covered most of the questions, I'll make another q&a post in the future! Bye~~

#frequently asked questions #faq #ask

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ramblingoak · 9 months

Text

The Cardinal's Bride, Chapter 7: The Ministry

Previous Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 ~~ Pinterest Board ~~ Spotify Playlist

Thank you to @tasty-ribz for the wanted poster! Lots of other amazing people have done fanart of Cowboy Copia so please go check it out: @meowsaidmissy (1 / 2), @snail-shell2335 here, @vahvco here, @ghulehgwen here, @rabidghoul here, @nocterish here, @enjoy-my-swearing here, @blacktie-whitenoise (1 /2), z-xmyers (1/2/3), _simpera_ on instagram and valkyrieinpink on twitter. Also a huge thank you to @kissingghouls for aggressively holding my hand and letting me scream at her about cowboys.

~ Cardinal Copia x Female Reader: western au, slow burn, romance, NSFW, 18+ only MDNI, 7,100 words ~

(This chapter includes the interlude that was posted previously, but please read through again so you don't miss sheriff Terzo)

“Copia did what?”

Secondo watched as Alpha nervously shifted from foot to foot. The Ghoul cleared their throat before continuing.

“He, uh, kidnapped Saltarian’s fiancé. Sir.”

Of all the fucking stupid things his brother could have done. He clenched his fists on top of his desk and resisted the urge to flip the damn thing over. When would Copia learn to let shit go?

“How did you find this out?”

“There was a courier that rode through about an hour ago. Dropped off some updated fugitive info and some new wanted posters from around the area.” Alpha pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and nervously set it in front of him. “This was in there too.”

Secondo unfolded it and groaned. There was the familiar picture of Copia that was posted everywhere with a damned window but next to it was a picture of a young woman. He got progressively angrier as he skimmed over the text. The Cardinal and his Ghouls kidnapped the generous Mr. Saltarian’s fiance. The poor woman was being held for ransom less than a month away from her wedding. It ended with a quote from the banking magnate that a generous award would be given to anyone with info on the whereabouts of the devil worshiping outlaws.

Unholy fuck.

“Should I wake up the sheriff?”

“What do you think?” He crumbled up the paper and set it on his plate from dinner. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a cigar and his matches. “Wake Omega up instead. I need to know where the fuck mio fratellino is.”

“On it. I’ll have him come here right away.”

Secondo ran a gloved hand through his hair and took a few puffs on the cigar to get it going. After it was lit he flicked the match onto his plate, watching as the paper turned black. His eyes flicked back to Alpha and he called out to him before he left his office.

“Deputy…don’t tell anyone about this, do you understand?”

“Got it, Papa.”

Secondo nodded towards the door but it burst open before Alpha had even turned around.

“What now?”

Mist narrowed her eyes at Secondo’s tone as she shoved past Alpha.

“Got a problem on the floor. Some asshole thinks Cirrus is cheating him at poker.”

He pushed his chair away from his desk and ripped open a drawer. His gun belt rested inside, something he rarely wore anymore. Mostly because he’d be too tempted to shoot anyone that pissed him off.

“She’s supposed to be playing the piano.” Secondo settled the belt around his hips and then grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. “Who the fuck is on stage right now?”

“Cowbell.”

Fucking Cowbell. He straightened his jacket and stalked around his desk, glaring at Alpha when the deputy still hadn’t left.

“Shouldn’t you be doing something?”

Secondo narrowed his eyes when Alpha hesitated.

“Uh, are you going to shoot someone? I could stick aro—“

“You’ll do what I fucking tell you.”

Alpha held his hands up and quickly turned, heading out of Secondo’s office. He could hear the Ghoul’s boots thunking down the hall as he went.

“You ready? Cirrus might’ve killed him by now.”

“I’m not that lucky.”

Mist snorted and turned on her heel, Secondo trailing behind her as she headed out and down to the casino floor. Secondo used the walk to check things over. He could hear the piano playing and Cumulus’s voice accompanying it. The sounds of glasses clinking and dice hitting tables got louder as the pair started down the stairs. The place wasn’t particularly busy tonight, but there was still a low hum of chatter from the patrons. Secondo easily picked up the sound of an angry customer as they started weaving through the tables.

“I know you fucking cheated so just admit it!”

“You can say it as many times as you want, asshole. It ain’t gonna make it true.”

“I know what I saw, you had cards up your sleeve! I didn’t come to this shithole to be cheated on.” The man took a step towards where Cirrus was still seated and spit at her feet. “Especially not by a woman.”

“I don’t know sweetheart, you look like the kind of guy that gets cheated on by women a lot.”

“You fuc—“

Secondo had reached them right as the man advanced on the Ghoulette. He reached a hand out and stopped the man’s progress, splaying his fingers wide on his chest and shoving him back away from the table.

“What’s the problem here?”

“The problem is this stupid bitch has been cheating and costing me money!”

Cirrus slammed her fist into the table and jumped to her feet.

“If you say I cheated one more fucking time I’m going to slice your damn throat.”

“You’re a fucking che—“

“That’s enough.” Secondo once again had his hand on the man’s chest but this time he grabbed his shirt in his fist. He yanked him closer, blowing smoke down into his face. “My games are fair. My employees don’t cheat. I think you’re just having a bad night friend.”

“I ain’t your friend.” He shoved away from Secondo, stumbling back and falling onto his ass. “Should’ve known a bunch of Satan worshippers would cheat.”

Secondo narrowed his eyes and took a step toward him. He pushed the right side of his jacket back and tucked his thumb into his belt so his palm was close to the handle of his revolver.

“Care to repeat that?”

“You heard me. Everyone knows about you guys. Fucking sacrificing people and animals and shit.”

“Well if you believe the rumors why did you come here? For someone with such a strong moral code you seem willing to revel in sin.” Secondo smirked when Mist stepped close and lifted up on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “You even spent the night with one of my fallen angels.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Liars. Devil worshippers. Cheaters.” He shook his head as he stared the man down. “Serious accusations from a drunk that can’t back them up.”

Secondo smirked when the man growled and clumsily got to his feet. He was itching for the man to try something. Despite how pissed off he was at Copia, he wasn’t planning on shooting him.

Maybe he’d get to shoot this stronzo instead.

“Oh I can back them up.” The man clumsily got to his feet and reached for his belt. “But first I’m gonna shoot you in your smug fucking face.”

“Are you?” Secondo clicked his tongue and let his palm rest on the handle of his revolver. “What a pity. I had plans for later.”

“Yeah well fuck your pl—“

The man had finally gotten a grip on his gun and pulled on it. He barely had it out of the holster before a gunshot rang out and echoed through the now quiet casino. Secondo watched as his body jerked and collapsed in on itself. The bullet had lodged between his eyes, blood quickly pouring from the wound and dripping onto the floor. Secondo grimaced for a moment before he turned to look at Mist.

“Take care of this please.”

“Yes, Papa.”

Mist pointed at some nearby Ghouls and snapped her fingers. While Earth and Water lifted the body up Secondo uncocked his gun and spun it back into its holster. He turned and took a few steps towards the bar before glancing back at the Ghoulette that was still sitting calmly at the table.

“Cirrus, a moment por favore.”

As he walked towards the bar he shot a look towards Cowbell. The Ghoul took the hint and started playing again, Cumulus’s voice joining not long after. At the bar he leaned against the front of it and nodded towards Air who quickly poured him a whisky. The liquid burned down his throat, but he held it out for a refill. Before he could tip that back Cirrus stepped up to his side and slipped the glass out of his hand, coughing after she tipped the contents into her mouth.

“Lucifer, how do you drink this?”

“You get used to it.” Secondo held his hand out for his glass and nodded towards Air again. As the Ghoul filled it once more he met the Ghoulette’s eyes. “Are you that bored?”

“Can you blame me? There’s nothing to do.”

He raised an eyebrow at her statement, downing his drink in one gulp. When Air filled it once more he handed it to Cirrus.

“Let me guess, you’d rather be riding around with my brother.”

“Well yeah, those shitheads need my help.”

“Do they?” Secondo watched her throat move as she gulped the drink down. “Help with what exactly?”

The only answer he got was Cirrus coughing as the liquid burned her throat again. The fact that she wouldn’t meet his eyes was answer enough though. Copia’s Ghouls were loyal to a fault. When she finally spoke, Secondo froze.

“Don’t you want revenge? For what Saltarian did to your family?”

��What I want is to live my life without looking over my back waiting for the next Saltarian.” He also wanted more whiskey and another cigar. Cirrus sighed and set the glass down at the bar before turning to head back to the poker tables. Secondo shot a hand out and grabbed her wrist tugging it towards him. “I also would like you to take over for Cowbell please.”

Cirrus nodded her head, but when Secondo didn’t let go she turned back to him. He brought his other hand around and slipped his fingers into the sleeves of her top. When he dragged out the two aces he smirked at her and flicked them behind the bar.

“Oh no, how did those get there!”

Secondo snorted and let go of her before pointing towards the stage.

“Piano, please.” He winced as Cowbell hit a few wrong notes. “Before I shoot him too.”

He watched as she made her way to the stage and unceremoniously shoved Cowbell off the piano bench. When Cowbell looked his way he jerked his head towards the bar. Secondo sighed as he watched Cowbell wander over, reaching out for his glass that Air had thankfully refilled again. Before his fingers could close around it another hand intercepted it and Secondo gritted his teeth when he turned to look at the hand’s owner.

He really hated his little brothers.

“Was that a gunshot I heard? In my good Christian town?” Terzo drank the whiskey and then slid the glass back across the bar towards his older brother. Secondo glanced up towards the door when it banged open, an out of breath Alpha stumbling in. He froze when he caught Secondo’s glare, his eyes glancing towards Terzo before he quickly turned on his heel and left. “Oh don’t be mad at Alpha fratello.”

“I needed Omega, not you.”

Terzo smirked and lazily leaned back against the bar.

“Well, I was in Omega’s bed so…” His smirk grew at the look of annoyance on Secondo’s face. “You have become surprisingly uptight for someone in your line of work.”

“I just wish you’d stop sleeping with your deputies.”

“You know me fratello,” Terzo grabbed Secondo’s glass again and held it out for Cowbell who had settled behind the bar. “I sleep with everybody. Right, Cowbell?”

Secondo turned his glare to Cowbell when the Ghoul fumbled the bottle of whiskey in his hands, thankfully catching it before it hit the floor. He turned back to his brother and leaned in to stare him down.

“Did you know what Copia was up to?”

“You mean did I know our little brother planned on kidnapping Mr. Saltarian’s fiancé and ransoming her for a shit ton of money?”

“Si.”

“I did, actually. Thought it sounded like a good time.” Terzo ignored Secondo’s clenched fist slamming onto the top of the bar and turned his eyes toward the casino floor. “Didn’t know he planned on attacking the wedding though.”

“The what?!” He ignored the glances their way and grabbed onto Terzo’s ridiculous velvet vest. “He’s going to do what?”

Terzo’s demeanor changed immediately, his hand shooting up and gripping Secondo’s wrist.

“You’re not as observant as you think you are, fratello. If you were, you would have noticed that Copia has been planning this for a long time.” He dug his fingers into Secondo’s flesh causing the older man to wince and let go. “You also would’ve noticed that you had some of Saltarian’s men here.”

Secondo yanked his arm away and looked out over the crowd. Most had gone back to whatever card or dice games they had been playing. The only face he saw looking his way was Mist’s. She was leaning against a pillar by the roulette table, her steely gaze watching the brothers with interest. He took a deep breath and looked back at Terzo. The shorter man was smoothing his hands down his vest and straightening the sheriff star pinned there.

“I take it Copia is heading back here?”

Terzo snorted and shook his head before looking back at his brother.

“Where else would he go? Should be back tomorrow if everything went well.”

Secondo pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut at the impending headache. That fucking idiot, of course he would come back here. Copia wouldn’t give a second thought to dragging that girl to The Ministry. Probably where he expected to exchange her for the ransom money as well. Willing to endanger everything in order to get his revenge.

“That selfish prick, when is he going to move the fuck on from this?”

“Never, you know this fratello. Copia isn’t going to be happy until Saltarian is dead.”

“Yes well, more then Saltarian is going to die if he continues this idiotic plan of his.” Secondo nodded towards Mist and watched as she slowly made her way over. “I need to buy some time before he gets back here.”

“To do what?”

“To let Saltarian know we aren’t involved in Copia’s bullshit.”

“Who gives a fuck what Saltarian thinks?”

Secondo resisted the urge to grab Terzo again, his wrist still aching from the man’s grip.

“I do and if you could bring yourself to give a shit about anything but getting your dick wet you should too.” He waited for Mist to get to his side before speaking again, “We need to keep Copia away a little longer. Do you know where he is?”

“Somewhere west of the Missouri River.”

Lucifer, please save him from these two. Secondo looked out towards his customers when the majority of them started whistling and clapping. Cirrus and Cumulus were bowing and waving at the crowd before they started another song. His eyes lingered on Cirrus for a moment, an idea forming in his head. She of all people would know where Copia might be. He could send her out to stop him and keep him away while he tried to sort this mess out.

“Cowbell, go switch with Cirrus.”

“But I ju–”

“Now.”

Secondo turned back to his brother and placed a hand on Mist’s shoulder. He could feel how tense she was and knew she had picked up on the seriousness of what was happening.

“Fratello, what are you going to do?”

He ignored his brother and looked back out at the crowd. Secondo could see them now, a few men scattered about that were paying more attention to him and his brother than the games they were supposedly playing. Too involved in whatever game Saltarian and Copia were playing with each other. A game that could easily destroy everything Secondo had worked to build after they settled here all those years ago. He couldn’t let that happen again.

He wouldn’t let that happen again.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Ethel had to come back and get you both.

With Copia’s lips on yours it felt like you were the only two people in the world. You really had no idea that kissing could be so…involved. There had been a few quick pecks from would-be suitors back home. “City boys” that kissed like it was expected and something to get out of the way rather than something to enjoy. Both kept their hands to themselves and stayed a respectable distance away from you as they leaned in for a brief pressing of their lips against yours.

Kissing The Cardinal was a completely different experience.

Copia kissed with his whole body. As it continued he had kept one hand tangled in your hair and his other arm curved around your back. He didn’t seem to want any space between you, something that you had zero complaints about. Your own hands wandered wherever you could reach and you kept track of where he seemed to enjoy being touched the most. So far he had reacted the strongest to your nails running across his scalp, a deep rumble vibrated in his chest whenever you did it.

Even in the midst of your wildest fantasies you had never felt like this before. It felt so good to kiss him, to feel his hands on you. You whimpered into his mouth when his arm moved from behind your back, but he quickly placed his hand on your waist before sliding it down your leg to your knee. He squeezed there and your leg jumped causing him to pull his mouth away and laugh a bit. Copia leaned his forehead against yours, both of you looking into each other’s eyes and panting trying to catch your breath.

“Principessa…” His fingers started to move against your knee and you waited for him to squeeze it again, but instead you felt the cool air of the room hit the skin of your leg. Copia was slowly pulling the hem of the nightgown up. Your skin began to break out in goosebumps all the way from your ankle to your thigh. Copia let his other hand leave your hair and he cupped your cheek instead, his eyes not leaving yours. “Is this alright?”

You had been trying to get the word ‘yes’ out of your mouth, but the sudden feeling of his bare hand on your knee turned the word into a gasp. He had your nightgown bunched up and his thumb began to trace circles against your skin. Your legs had begun to tremble in anticipation and maybe in another life you would feel embarrassed for being so needy, but all you felt right now was want and what you wanted was Copia. He was right here, right in front of you and he wanted you too.

Unfortunately that was the moment Ethel decided she had waited long enough and after a series of sharp knocks she had told Copia to leave you alone so you could get dressed. He had called out an apology and then pressed a kiss to your forehead before dropping the hem of your nightgown and letting it settle back at your ankles.

“We’ll pick this up later, eh Principessa?”

He grabbed his clothes from yesterday and then he had turned and left the room with a smirk, telling Ethel good morning again before going to track down Harold and the Ghouls. Ethel had turned her own smirk on you and you could only imagine what you looked like right now. Hair messed up from Copia’s fingers, your lips swollen, not to mention how your cheeks were burning from the scrape of his beard. At least he had fixed your nightgown before he had left.

“Let’s take a look at those clothes, alright dear?”

The rest of the morning was spent with Ethel as she sorted through piles of clothes to find a few things for you to take. You had tried to convince her there really wasn’t room to pack anything extra, but she had her mind made on setting you up with some more practical traveling clothes. Hopefully Copia would be ok with it because it would be nice to have some things that fit you better than someone’s spare pants. At the very least Copia would probably be happy you wouldn’t be wearing Swiss’s shirt anymore.

Ethel spent the time talking about random subjects. You learned about where she grew up and what originally brought her across the country. She shared a few funny stories about her two boys, both of which she and Harold had adopted rather than have any of their own. Ethel’s life had been so different from yours and it was amazing to hear her talk about it all. She had lived a full life even before she met her husband.

“How did you and Harold meet?” When Ethel didn’t say anything at first you thought maybe it was a story she didn’t want to tell. However when you looked at her face the older woman had a small smile and her cheeks had pinked up a bit. “If you don’t want to share that’s ok.”

“Oh, no dear. I don’t mind sharing.” Her smile grew a bit and she held up a blouse before continuing. “I stole his horse.”

“You stole…are you serious?”

“I was a handful when I was younger, driving my father crazy with all the things I’d get up to. But my mother had passed away many years before and he was mostly focused on the general store he ran. I was angry over losing my mother and angry over him ignoring me to work there so I caused a bit of trouble around town.”

You had a feeling that when she said ‘a bit’ she meant a lot.

“Did Harold live there too?”

“No, he was just traveling through one day looking for work. I was minding the store while my father ran an errand and Harold refused to talk to me, saying he would only talk to the owner.” Ethel sniffed and shook her head. You could tell the memory of that still irritated her. “So as soon as my father got back I stormed out of there, jumped on his horse and rode the hell out of town.”

She was quiet for a moment, lost in her thoughts before she continued.

“Well, long story short, the sheriff caught me not long after. He tried to get my father to bail me out of jail but that old bastard refused! Said I should finally face the consequences of my behavior.” Ethel turned and smiled at you, bumping her shoulder against yours. “So Harold bailed me out.”

“Really?”

“He did, he bailed me out and I haven’t been able to get rid of him ever since.” You laughed with her, imagining a young Ethel moving around town with a lovesick Harold on her heels. She quieted down, still smiling at you as she reached over and tucked some of your hair back behind your ear. “Now, how about you tell me how you and Mr. Emeritus met.”

You couldn’t help but freeze for a brief moment. This wasn’t something you and Copia had talked about. You weren’t sure what he would want you to say. Obviously not the truth, you were sure Ethel wouldn’t take kindly to finding out that Copia and the Ghouls had kidnapped you, despite how much the…situation had evolved since then. You would need to get creative, come up with something that would be easy to believe. Your lips began to pull up in a smirk when you thought of how worried Copia was for you to be able to think on your feet.

Time to show him what a city girl could do.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

After spinning what you felt was a grandiose, but still believable tale of how you and Copia met and fell in love you helped Ethel wash some sheets and blankets. She had looked at you like you had two heads when you told her you had never washed anything before. Thankfully her look of disbelief was quickly replaced with the familiar kind look she had been giving you. Once again you felt an ache in your chest, wondering how different your life might have been with someone like Ethel as a mother.

It wasn’t that you didn’t love your own, but it was more just a feeling of indifference. The home you grew up in was cold and empty despite the numerous fireplaces and furniture. You had always felt alone there. The maids and cooks were instructed to converse with your family as little as possible. There had been a few people you had befriended when you were younger, but it always seemed like as soon as you got close to someone they’d be replaced. Your parents were so strict when it came to you, so cruel. You had always known it wasn’t fair or even normal, but the more time you spent away from them, from that environment, the more you realized how wrong it had all been.

The farmhouse just felt so right.

Ethel had given you a basket of things to hang outside while she took some lunch out to everyone else. She had a few rope lines hanging behind the house and walking out to them gave you a chance to see the farm in daylight. It was so beautiful you kept finding yourself stopping to take everything in. The house itself had a large porch in the front with a few benches and seats scattered about. There was even a swing and you were tempted to take a moment to sit down and enjoy the scenery, but you didn’t want to be caught not working.

As you walked around the front of the house you took in the large pasture that stretched out from the porch up a hill in the distance. There was the barn not too far away, with a few other smaller buildings nearby. You thought you heard shouting and laughing so that had to be where they were doing the repairs from the storm. The house and barn definitely looked like some work could be done, but nothing that really stuck out to you as dangerous.

Behind the house was where more fields stretched out. It looked like at some point there might have been crops there, but at the moment everything looked like random plants and weeds had taken over. Large patches of dandelions had cropped up and you took a moment when you set your basket down by the laundry lines to pick one. The bright yellow flowers were always your favorite, despite many thinking of them as weeds. Your father would always make someone go out and pick them from the yard around your home, but you tried to sneak a few into your room whenever you could.

You twirled the dandelion stem between your fingers as you watched the grasses and tree limbs move in the breeze. It seemed silly but you let yourself have a moment imagining what it would be like to live here. Maybe you could start growing crops again, harvesting things to take to a market somewhere. Growing things to use for your own cooking. Your eyes fell closed as you let your mind wander even further…thinking of who you wanted to share this dream with. The question you were afraid to ask yourself was at the edge of your thoughts, ready to ruin your daydream any moment.

Would a man like Copia be happy in a place like this? With you?

You tucked the flower into one of the button holes of your blouse and then threw a blanket over the line, smoothing it out before a growing noise behind you made you pause. Hoofbeats were getting closer and you quickly turned your head, the momentary fear instantly leaving when you saw Copia approaching on Brizio. He had an easy smile on his face, looking more relaxed than you had ever seen him. His black hat was perched on his head like always, but otherwise he was only in pants and his red button up. The shirt was barely done up, probably unbuttoned as the air got warmer. Your eyes couldn’t help but drift to the exposed portion of his chest, lingering there too long and risking him noticing. When you quickly looked up to his face you sighed at the smug grin on his face.

Of course he noticed.

He chuckled when you turned and started clipping the blanket in place. You knew ignoring him wouldn’t actually work but at least you could hide your own smile. Fueling his ego would just make him even more insufferable, not that it bothered you so much anymore. Especially when it made you feel butterflies in your stomach or when it led to him being close to you. Brizio stepped close enough you could feel his snout bump against your shoulder so you spun around again to glare up at his master.

“Copia I’m busy.”

“Looked like you were daydreaming to me.”

When Brizio started snuffling into your hair you pulled away, reaching down to grab another blanket.

“Well what are you doing?” You glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be helping Harold?”

“I was, but his beautiful wife brought us lunch so I decided to come see my beautiful wife.”

To hide your red cheeks you ducked around to the other side of the blanket as you clipped it to the line. You saw his and Brizio’s shadow grow as they moved closer to the blanket, the sun bright on their back. The blanket moved when Brizio pressed his muzzle into it and you pulled it away from him.

“Copia! These are clean sheets keep him away.”

“Ai, Brizio is clean.”

You rolled your eyes when he gave the horse a pat on his neck.

“Yes I’m sure he’s just as clean as his master.”

“Principessa, I can’t believe you. Here I am wanting to spend time with my wife and she chooses to mock me.”

When you walked back around the sheet he moved to block your way, smirking when you huffed and crossed your arms.

“Copia I have work to do.”

“It can wait, come on a ride with me.”

“A ride? Where?”

He shrugged and looked around, much like you had done earlier.

“Eh Harold has been talking about the farm all morning. I just want to take a little tour.” He turned and smiled down at you. “Come with me.”

You hesitated a moment, biting your lip as you peered up at him. Going on a tour was something you wanted to do, but after this morning you were a little nervous being so close to Copia again. You wondered if he would kiss you again, you hoped he would kiss you again. But you weren’t sure if you’d be able to make the first move. Even for something you desperately wanted.

“Will we be gone long?”

“Not long at all and I promise the laundry will still be sitting here safely when we return.” You took a few steps closer and reached out to rub Brizio’s neck, looking up at him when he clicked his tongue. “What if I promise to keep my hands to myself?”

You gave him a smirk of your own as you studied his face.

“What if I don’t want you to?”

Copia gaped at you a moment, but before he could speak you both turned toward the house when you heard Ethel’s voice.

“Mr. Emeritus!”

“Quickly now, Principessa.” He laid the reins on Brizio’s neck and held his hands out for yours. “Come on, before she catches us.”

Ethel shouted for him again so you quickly made up your mind and placed your hands in his. A little squeak escaped you when he started lifting you up. You placed your right foot on top of his and pushed off the ground, laughing when he spun you around so you were sitting in front of him. He kept an arm around your waist as you settled against him and adjusted your skirt. It was a large billowy thing Ethel had given you this morning, perfect for horse riding.

Copia grabbed the reins with his other hand and turned Brizio away from the laundry line to face the house. You snorted when he waved at Ethel, the woman clearly not amused at Copia’s antics. Her hands were on her hips as she stared him down.

“Don’t worry signora!” He pressed his heels into Brizio’s sides and said something in Italian to the horse. Brizio immediately took off in a trot away from the house. Copia turned in the saddle to face Ethel again before you got too far away. “I promise to bring her back!”

He wrapped his arm more firmly around you and dropped his head into the crook of your neck. You shivered when you felt his stubble tickle the sensitive skin there. His warm lips pressing kiss after kiss onto your skin. After a few moments he brought his lips to your ear, his mustache scratching along the edge. You took in a quick breath when he nibbled on your earlobe. At the same time his hand started to wander along your waist, moving up higher and higher until it was resting right below your breasts.

“Copia!”

He shushed you, leaning down to press a few more kisses on your neck before he straightened up again to whisper into your ear.

“Are you ready for a ride?”

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

It was dark before you made it back to the farmhouse. Copia stopped at the barn first, leaving Brizio in Aether’s care before he took your hand and led you back to the house. You were both quiet as you walked. Copia kept looking out over the fields and you found yourself stealing glances at him.

The tour had turned into more of what had occurred between you both that morning. His hand on your chest had continued to wander, his lips on your neck making you shiver. It wasn’t long before you were squirming against him, quiet whimpers leaving you. Eventually he stopped Brizio under the cover of some trees and turned you so you were sitting sideways across his lap.

“Principessa?”

You were startled out of your thoughts by his voice and you looked over at him. He had paused at the bottom of the porch steps, pulling you against him as soon as your eyes met. Your eyes fluttered shut when he pressed a gentle kiss into your forehead. When he pulled away he tucked your hair back behind your ears and gave you a small smile.

“What?”

Copia shook his head at your question and just continued to smile at you. He glanced down at your chest and gently pulled the dandelion you had tucked into it away. You were surprised it had survived his wandering hands while you had been on the ride. He twirled the stem between his fingers much like you had done before lifting it up and slipping the stem behind your ear.

“Let’s get inside before Ethel comes looking for us.”

Thankfully Ethel didn’t seem too upset by your absence for most of the afternoon. She came over and squeezed your shoulders before shooting a quick glare at Copia. You expected him to make some sort of smart comment but instead he broke out into a wide yawn. Amongst the lamps and candles lit inside the house you noticed how tired he looked. There were bags under his eyes that were normally hidden by his dark makeup. Ethel took a few steps towards him and gave him a quick pat on his shoulder.

“How about you go clean up and your wife can help me set dinner out.”

All she got was a quiet nod before he took his boots off and wandered down the hall. You followed Ethel into the kitchen and helped her put the finishing touches on dinner, stealing bites as you worked. Harold packed a few baskets and left to take the food out to the Ghouls while Ethel sent you down the hall to collect Copia. As you approached the door you didn’t hear any noises so you quietly opened it to peek inside. The only light illuminating the room was from the moon shining in from the window, but you could just make out Copia’s form on the bed.

“Copia?”

You took a few steps into the room, about to call out his name again before you noticed how still he was on top of the covers. There was a pile of clothes on the floor by the foot of the bed and you carefully stepped over them as you crept closer. He had changed into a clean shirt and pants at least before laying down. You studied his face and could see that the dirt and grime of the day had been removed. A few wet strands of hair had fallen across his forehead as well.

The urge to brush the hair away was strong, but you didn’t want to risk waking him. Copia looked so peaceful, it almost felt like a spell had been cast upon the room. You found yourself holding your breath and you had to be careful letting it out slowly to not make too much noise. The floorboards creaked when you took a few hesitant steps back and you winced. After waiting for a few moments and not seeing him stir you turned and carefully crept back out of the room.

Ethel wasn’t upset about dinner changing, she just gave you that familiar soft smile and told you to take care of him. You and Copia could join her and Harold for breakfast in the morning instead. When you got back to the room Copia had turned on his side to face the wall. You quickly removed your clothes from the day and grabbed the nightgown, pulling it over your head and immediately glancing back over to the bed to see if he had been watching. The brief pang of disappointment you felt when he continued to sleep made you nearly roll your eyes.

The cowboy was getting to you.

There wasn’t an easy or quiet way to get into the bed and under the covers, but you crawled up from the foot of the bed as carefully as you could. The only light in the room was from the moon shining through the window, just enough to illuminate the side of his face not smooshed into the pillow. He looked so peaceful, his breath quiet and his body still. More hair was hanging down and you couldn't help but hesitantly reach out to brush it back just like he did to your own hair.

“Go to sleep, Principessa.”

You jumped at the sound of his voice, jerking your arm back and shoving it under the covers. He peeked his green eye open and it sparkled when the moonlight hit it. When you saw his mouth slowly pull up in a smirk you huffed and turned so that you faced the wall. The bastard had probably been awake the whole time. A few moments passed in silence so you settled further into the bedding. It wasn’t until you felt his arm slip around and pull you closer to him that you let your eyes close to drift off to sleep.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Secondo hadn’t felt this tired in a long time.

Not since the first few years after the attack, when he still expected Saltarian to show up with more men. To see another home burned to nothing, to see more people he loved killed. It wasn’t even just the fear of Saltarian though. It was also the constant fear of if they would make it or not. If they’d be able to keep everyone safe and fed. He and his brothers had worked tirelessly to rebuild things. A new home and a new way of life for the members of the Church of Emeritus.

After those first few years things had seemingly relaxed. There had been no word or sign from Saltarian or any of his associates. The Ministry, his casino and his home, had steadily grown since then. It wasn’t just his home now, so many of the Ghouls and Ghoulettes called it home as well. Most of them worked there or around the town in some capacity, Impera was what they ended up calling it in the end. Secondo and his brothers had settled somewhat comfortably in their own roles there, with Primo eventually moving a few days ride away for some peace and quiet. Everyone seemed, if not happy, at least content with their new life.

Everyone except for Copia.

A knock on his door interrupted his brooding, but it opened before he could tell the person to go away. Terzo waltzed in, looking rumpled and like he’d spent the last hour at the bar. Not the best look for the town’s sheriff, but everyone was so used to it that if he didn’t look this way that’s when people would be concerned. Either way Secondo didn’t have the patience to deal with him at the moment.

“What do you want, Terzo?”

“Ah, I see you’re in an excellent mood like usual.” Terzo flopped down into one of the chairs across his desk with a heavy sigh. “What happened? Did you have to shoot someone today?”

“Not yet.” He glared at Terzo when he brought his legs up and set his feet on the edge of his desk. “Don’t you have someone’s bed you could be warming?”

“Always.”

“Then what the fuck do you want?” His brother’s face sobered a bit and Secondo felt a quick pang of regret for snapping at him. Terzo was getting dragged into this nonsense of Copia’s as well. He was at risk of losing his family and home too. Secondo took a calming breath before continuing. “Has there been any word from Cirrus?”

“That’s what I came to ask you.”

Secondo shook his head and turned to look out the balcony windows behind him. Cirrus would hopefully be back tonight or tomorrow morning. It was a long trip for what would hopefully just be a quick conversation with Copia. His brother might be pissed at Secondo for interfering, but he would at least listen to Cirrus. The extra time would make sure his letter had gotten to Saltarian. A letter Secondo had written in a hurry before sending Alpha and Earth off with it. Hopefully it would be enough to keep the man at bay.

“Fratello?” Secondo turned back to Terzo and his face softened a bit at the look on his younger brother’s face. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for Terzo to continue. “What do you think Saltarian will do?”

Before he could answer the door to his office burst open, Mist quickly striding in. The look on her face was one Secondo hadn’t seen for nearly 10 years.

“What is it?” He got up and moved around his desk, reaching out to place a comforting hand on the Ghoulette's shoulder. “Is Cirrus back?”

Mist shook her head and took a steadying breath before she shared her news.

“Saltarian is here.”

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Chapter 8: Playing House

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#my fics #my writing #the cardinal's bride #cowboy copia #the band ghost fanfiction #cardinal copia x female reader #copia x female reader #cardinal copia fanfiction #copia fanfiction #western au #secondo fanfiction #papa emeritus ii fanfiction

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chelseachilly · 9 months

Text

THIS LOVE - chapter two | the lights are so bright but they never blind me

pairing: ben chilwell x reader

rating: T

word count: 2.1k

summary: you have to adjust to life in the public eye as ben’s supposed girlfriend...and ben has to adjust to the sight of you wearing his chelsea kit to a game

A/N: thanks for more lovely messages, they really encourage me to update faster lol! i’m sorry this one’s a bit shorter, the next update will definitely be longer 😌 chapter title is from welcome to New York

previous chapter | view all chapters

The morning after the gala, you wake up in Ben’s guest room feeling relaxed and refreshed.

You always seem to get a better sleep when you stay at his, though you’re not sure if that’s due to his comfy mattress and expensive sheets or the fact that he lives out in Cobham and it’s significantly quieter than your own flat.

This state of relaxation lasts for about five minutes, or until you get a text from your friend Valerie asking if you’ve been on Twitter today.

Bracing yourself, you open the app and already see Ben’s name trending.

You’ve gained some followers over the years when Ben has posted you on his socials, but it’s nothing compared to the way people are currently talking about you all over the internet.

It’s not just on Twitter - your Instagram following count has already grown exponentially, and your comments are filled with everything under the sun, from praise to cruelty.

You know Ben gets shit like this all the time, and Mia warned you it would be coming your way, but it’s still surreal to read about yourself online.

Especially when none of it is true. Even the nice tweets about what a lovely couple you make are based on a lie.

You can’t resist going down the rabbit hole for a few minutes, reading pages of tweets from Ben’s fans speculating about your relationship, some negative and some positive. Eventually, you can feel your brain starting to hurt, and you know it’s in your best interest to shut your phone off for a while.

Begrudgingly, you force yourself to get out of bed and face the day. You make your way downstairs in your pyjamas, stretching your arms out as you enter the kitchen.

Ben is already awake, like he usually is at this time, and he’s standing by the stove in joggers and an old Nike sweatshirt, flipping pancakes that you know are not a part of his diet plan.

“Pancakes?” you question, startling Ben a bit as he turns to face you.

“Morning,” he says with a small smile. “Yeah, with blueberries. They’re for you. Figured it’s the least I could do since-“

“Since I’m being torn apart online by football fans?” you joke - or, at least, you mean it as a joke.

Ben’s face falls, his eyes wide with concern, and he sets down the spatula to walk over to you.

“I am so sorry, Y/N,” he says seriously. “I didn’t know it would be like this. I’ve obviously never had a real girlfriend before, so I didn’t think about it.”

“Ben, it’s-”

“I called Shreya as soon as I saw everything and had her prepare an exit strategy, she’s already confirmed our relationship to the press but she thinks we can back out of it if-“

“Ben,” you say a bit more firmly, placing a hand on his arm. “Why would we need to back out of this? Does she not think it’s working?”

Ben just blinks at you for a moment before shaking his head. “Well, no, actually. Apparently I’m getting great press from it, and you’re the one getting all the shitty comments. But I-”

“I’m fine with it, then,” you shrug. “I’ll just make my Instagram private, you know I don’t really care about social media anyways. I’ll be fine.”

Ben still doesn’t look convinced.

“Are you sure? I hate the thought of you having to read that crap,” he mumbles. “I’m used to the pricks, but you shouldn’t have to be.”

“It’s fine, Ben, I swear,” you insist, squeezing his shoulder. “Actually, some of your fans seem to like me. Or they like that I supposedly keep you grounded or whatever bullshit Shreya fed the press.”

“Well, that part’s not total bullshit,” Ben says with a small smile that makes your cheeks flush slightly. “Thank you again for doing this. And you can still change your mind at any time, you know.”

“I know,” you say, mirroring his smile. “Now hurry up before you burn my pancakes.”

“Oh, shit!”

By the next weekend, you’ve gotten pretty used to “dating” Ben.

You go private on your socials as you discussed, with the official statement from Ben’s publicist being that you two ask for privacy as a new couple. Naturally, this only makes everyone more interested, including the media.

As Shreya hoped, the headlines now describe Ben as a “man in love” and someone ready to “settle down with a nice girl.” There are tabloid articles with pictures of you two - some from before you were even pretending to date - and all the information they could dig up on you, including your job.

It’s all a bit weird, but the weirdest part is definitely when you have to actually corroborate your story of being Ben’s girlfriend. Which, as far as everyone outside your inner circle is concerned, you now are.

It definitely feels strange lying when, for example, one of the doctors you work with congratulates you on your relationship. (Turns out her son is a Chelsea fan and she wants to know if you could ask him to sign a kit or something, which you promise to make happen.)

You’re relieved when the only event you have to attend this weekend is Ben’s game, which you would’ve gone to anyways. You’re also going with his sister Alex, who is obviously in on the whole thing, which makes it easier.

She meets you at your flat, which is conveniently only about ten minutes away from Stamford Bridge on the tube, an hour before the game.

After you tightly embrace Ben’s sister, who is like a younger sister to you as well, she grins and passes you a small gift bag.

“You got me a present?” you ask in confusion.

“It’s not from me, it’s from Ben,” she chuckles. “He also said to say he’s sorry and that it was Shreya’s idea.”

You open the bag and pull out a familiar article of clothing - a brand new Chelsea shirt with Ben’s name on the back.

Of course, as Ben’s girlfriend, it would make sense that you be wearing his kit.

“Oh, god, let me go change.”

Once you’ve replaced the plain blue t-shirt you were wearing with the shirt Ben sent over, you walk back out and find Alex with an amused look on her face.

“How do I look?” you ask a bit sarcastically as you do a twirl.

“Like a proper WAG,” Alex laughs. “Let’s go, my future sister-in-law.”

You groan as Alex grabs you by the arm and you depart for the match.

Although you’ve come to see Ben play at the Bridge more times than you can count, you have never felt this many eyes on you as you make your way to your seats. There are people not-so-subtly taking your photo as you walk up, probably made all the worse by the Chilwell kit you have on - though you suppose that’s the point.

The match begins, and you cheer at the top of your lungs for Chelsea, just as you have from the day Ben signed for them. You never really cared that much about football, and you didn’t support any particular club growing up, but you’ve always been Ben’s number one fan.

Today, he’s playing well, making you as proud as ever. It’s not hard to pretend to be the supportive girlfriend when every flawless pass or run forward has you leaping out of your seat with unrestrained enthusiasm.

At half-time, Chelsea are up by 1 against Newcastle, and you and Alex are happily chatting and catching up over a beer.

“I saw all the pics of you guys at the gala on Twitter,” Alex says with a smirk on her face, lowering her voice so nobody overhears. “I know it’s weird to say since you’re basically part of the family, but you actually look quite good together.”

“Ew, Alex, there’s no way,” you insist, a slight blush creeping onto your cheeks. “He’s…Ben.”

Alex just laughs and drops the subject as the game resumes and the boys come back out of the tunnel.

Around the 85th minute, with the score now tied 1-1, Ben comes running up the side and makes an excellent pass to Conor, who scores and secures the win. You jump out of your seats to cheer as the guys celebrate on the pitch, you rolling your eyes with affection as Ben and Conor jump up and down with excitement.

The whistle blows shortly after with Chelsea leaving victorious, and you and Alex make your way down to the tunnels to meet up with Ben. With this being their fourth win in a row, the atmosphere at the Bridge is electric, a far cry from last year’s rough season.

It’s so nice to see Ben so happy again, and the smile on his face only seems to grow tenfold when he spots you and Alex making your way over to him.

You can’t resist picking up your pace to a light jog as you move toward him, and his arms are already open to pull you into a tight hug that lifts your feet off the ground and makes your heart soar in a similar fashion.

“That assist was brilliant,” you murmur into his shoulder before he sets you down.

Ben pulls away, still beaming at you, his sweaty hair curled down over his forehead.

“Thanks, Y/N,” he smiles, his eyes wandering to the shirt you’d almost forgotten you were wearing.

It’s not the first time you’ve worn his kit - his England debut and the Champions League final come to mind - but those were special occasions, with the rest of his friends and family wearing it too. This is obviously different, and although Ben sent it over for you to wear, his eyes are locked to you like he’s trying to memorize every thread of the fabric.

You can’t figure out why he seems so transfixed, but you don’t have much time to dwell on it before you’re interrupted.

Alex clears her throat, snapping Ben out of whatever trance he was in, and he pulls her in for a hug.

“So, to celebrate the win and Ben’s assist, I’m thinking he should take us out for a nice dinner?” Alex suggests, smiling and nudging your arm.

“Shouldn’t you be buying me dinner?” Ben raises an eyebrow. When you both just laugh, he rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Alright. I’ll go shower, you make a reservation somewhere.”

After you and Alex have picked out the fanciest-looking sushi place you could find online and collected Ben from the changing rooms, you make your way to his car. Just like after every game, the paparazzi are out trying to get videos and photos of the players leaving the stadium.

This time, however, most of the attention seems to be directed at you.

The lights begin to flash the moment you exit the building, and Ben reaches down to take your hand without a second of hesitation. Whether it’s to flaunt your “relationship” further or just to comfort you, you’re not sure, but it’s definitely working either way.

“Y/N, did you enjoy the match today?”

You know you don’t have to answer any of their questions, but you’d rather not be branded as cold or rude as the media loves to do when a woman ignores them.

So you squeeze Ben’s hand and nod, smiling at the man recording you.

“Of course, the team played really well.”

“And what did you think of Ben’s performance?” they fire back at you.

“He was amazing,” you say without missing a beat. “I always love watching him on the pitch.”

You can see Ben smiling at you as you speak - a genuine smile that you know has nothing to do with the cameras surrounding you - but he startles you slightly when he leans in to peck your cheek and lets his lips linger there for a moment. They’re soft and warm against your skin, and you feel significantly colder when they pull away.

You’ve clearly spurred on the media even more with this sudden display of affection, but Ben begins to pull you along with him and help you into the car before either of you has to answer any more questions.

You breathe out a sigh of relief as you settle into the passenger seat, Ben and Alex entering the car moments later.

“Nice show, you two,” Alex laughs, obviously still amused by the sight of you and Ben pretending to be a couple.

“You okay, Y/N?” Ben asks, looking over at you. “Sorry if the cheek kiss was too much. I know it’s a bit awkward.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you assure him, rolling your eyes. “It’s fine. Of course it’s gonna be awkward sometimes, but as long as it’s helping with the PR plan, right?”

Ben nods gratefully and smiles at you once more before asking Alex for directions to the sushi place.

You’re grateful for her chatting away about how hungry she is, and for the song Ben is playing loudly through the speakers as you drive to the restaurant, both of which are helping to distract you from how alarmingly not awkward this all feels.

A/N: let me know what your thoughts are after this chapter!! things start to heat up in the next one i promise ;)

tag list: @lunamelona @kathb59 @captainwans @amandaaa1025 @bbygrlllllll @cinderellawithashoe @batmansb1tch @ncentic (let me know if you would like to be added!)

#ben chilwell #ben chilwell x reader #ben chilwell x y/n #ben chilwell imagine #chelsea fc imagine #this love #my fics

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honeybadgercomeback · 1 year

Text

Come Back, Be Here (Part One) | DR3

Five years pass in the blink of an eye and you’ve sacrificed so much to support the man you love. But you can’t keep doing it. When you make the decision to end things you have to carry through to find who you are again.

AN: Part two will be up in the next couple of days. If you’d like to be notified leave a comment and I’ll tag you!

Warnings: heavy angst, breakups, lying.

—

The day you made your decision was really just the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was more hotel rooms, more planes, more lines added to your flight tracking app. You’d travelled around the world more than twice already in the year and it was only August.

You’d end up at yet another race track where you’d had your photo taken more times than you could count. Those professional photos that you were never happy with got posted to instagram accounts run by people who claimed they knew who you were and what you stood for. To yet more flights and more frequent flier miles than you ever thought anyone could have. Planning flights based on airline rather than price to keep earning them, your permanent status just increasing. First class tickets you never could afford to every location, sitting in airline lounges and smiling when people came up to Daniel to wish him luck or ask for a photo.

And every few months you got dressed up for one event or another. A gala, a charity, some sponsor party because everyone wanted to see “Daniel Ricciardo’s other half”. Getting dressed up in a dress you didn’t buy and jewellery that was loaned to you by designers. Standing on a red carpet with your fiancé’s arm around you as he gave that familiar wide grin and you played the fawning date.

You hated every single moment of it, and you didn’t know when you’d started hating it.

It was all for Daniel, and you loved him so you did everything that was asked. You did the busy days and the ridiculous travel. Ignored the hate comments on every single photo you posted on your instagram account - even a photo of the cake you’d baked for a friend’s birthday got comments about how it didn’t look good. You used Twitter Circles and Close Friends judiciously on social media, all of your accounts with that familiar blue tick because you were a “public figure”.

Instead of taking the first choice job you wanted to have you’d declined it because it was in an office five days a week. You’d taken the one you didn’t want as much because it was flexible work and you could do it from anywhere in the world so you got to travel with Dan. You made it to every race on the calendar with him, a fixture in the back of the garage of whatever team he was racing with. You’d wear his merch and have headphones on to listen to the team radio as he raced. Wherever he went, you followed because you were The Ricciardos and of course you were there. The engagement ring that had been on your left hand for eighteen months just proved it.

But you still saw what people said whenever you were in the paddock. How people made snide comments about your job because you were always there, and if you weren’t in McLaren hospitality waiting on Dan you were in Red Bull with Kelly. You were friendly with the other wives and girlfriends of drivers, you’d been there the second longest now. You were the one who was at every race, and when women came for the first time with their now public relationship you were the one who welcomed them to the chaos. And set up the new whatsapp groups whenever they were needed. You blamed Pierre for how many you needed most of the time really.

It was you and Kelly as the focal point of the group. Your partners were best friends, you got along and knew what was going on, it was a natural fit. You could put the smile on and grin and hug, helping everyone keep their head up high. When a crash happened you’d seek out whoever needed comfort and remind them of the safety that was there now. It fit you well.

But you were drowning in it.

August was supposed to be the summer break but Dan was in Woking for yet more McLaren meetings. He’d told you it was normal, part of the organisation for the third year of his contract. You were plugged into the paddock gossip, you knew what was being said, how people talked about your fiancé. The way people talked about how Dan was getting what was coming to him, a new young Australian taking over from the washed out one. The way Blake looked at you sadly, as if he was barely biting his tongue, every time someone mentioned contracts or gossip.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

You were supposed to be in love, be loved. Racing would always be Daniel’s first love but you could fit in there somewhere with him. Be a priority for him. Except you weren’t his priority anymore. The fact that your fifth anniversary came and went without him acknowledging it or even texting you a hello. That was the crystal clear moment that whatever you wanted was not a priority compared to his career, and you deserved better than that. You deserved to be more than an afterthought.

Once the decision was made it was easy to organise moving out. Finding an apartment in Nice was the first thing to do and it was shockingly easy. Monaco was out, the streets too small and filled with memories. Once you were settled in an apartment you could look at a new job or new country, but away from the principality was enough for now. Then it was packing up your life.

Most of your belongings were presents from Daniel. It had become his habit to try pay for everything, the income disparities clear between you. It was with the kindest of intentions but had become a gilded cage that you couldn’t escape. You didn’t know who you yourself were anymore. You didn’t know how to be anyone except F1 WAG. Daniel Ricciardo’s fiancée. The woman with so many gossip column inches it felt wrong. The Daily Mail had a category for your name at this point and that was never who you wanted to be. You’d lost yourself and you needed to find yourself again.

You got the train to Nice and signed your month to month lease for a furnished apartment. It was unusual to have one, but the letting agent recognised your face and accepted it without a moment’s thought. Once it was signed your next stop was to rent a car to bring your belongings to the small apartment.

It was simple and you had a plan. Pack your boxes of your belongings, put them in the car, drive. It took two trips to get most of them over, the final set sitting there until you decided to leave for the final time.

You had to tell Daniel in person. He deserved to have his heart broken in front of you, rather than by phone or text. He was good and loyal and he wasn’t a bad guy, this just didn’t work anymore. He deserved someone who could support him fully. It wasn’t something you could keep doing.

You sat in the living room after getting the text that he’d landed in Nice, knowing that this was the last time. You weren’t going to see him again and that hurt. You were leaving for good and never coming back here. Your engagement ring was in the green leather jewellers box he’d proposed with, sitting on what had been your bedside locker. Taking it off your finger and pushing it into the velvet cushion was when you’d shed your first tear. It was small and neat and exactly what you’d wanted, and you’d loved it from the moment he flipped the box open. Asses online had said it wasn’t enough for a millionaire’s fiancée, that you obviously didn’t mean much to him.

You didn’t want the ring or the money. You wanted Daniel. But you couldn’t have him in a way that would make you both happy.

“I’m home!” His voice echoed around the living room as he arrived in, dropping bags on the floor and you pulled him in for a hug. This was the last one you’d share and doing this when you knew things weren’t good for him professionally hurt but you had to. You couldn’t lose more of yourself.

“Hey. How was the factory?”

“Good. We need to talk about some of my—“

“Dan, I know.” He stopped still at your words. “But we need to talk about something else.”

“I’ve got a couple of offers on the table, and we’ll be—“

“Daniel.” Your voice was soft and he stared at you. His brown eyes opened wide and it felt like he was properly seeing you for the first time in what felt like years. He looked like that Daniel you’d fallen in love with in 2017, a Red Bull star with a wide smile and wild curls. You hadn’t know what you were jumping into when you danced with the man in the nightclub and went home with him. You couldn’t have guessed how your life would change. That the next five years would be the best and worst of your life and he made the highs even higher but the lows so much lower. He made everything better and worse at the same time. He took you in fully and you could tell when his eyes caught the missing jewellery.

“Where’s your ring? Were…were you robbed? What’s going on?” They were halfhearted questions as you shook your head and the reality began to sink into him.

“You know as well as I do that this isn’t working. And I’m so sorry things are ending now. But we…it’s the wrong time for us. I can’t love you the way you need and you can’t support me the way that I need. I’m sorry.”

He looked at you for a solid minute in the silence, it was as if you could see his heart break.

“But we love each other?” That it was a question cut you like a knife.

“I don’t think it’s enough. I’m not enough for you.” It was those words that made his face crumble and you took a step back, looking down at the tiled floor. You couldn’t cry. You were the one hurting him, you didn’t get to cry in front of him.”

“You are. I swear you’re enough. You’re more than enough.”

“Be happy, Daniel Ricciardo. Be happy.”

All you wanted to do was squeeze his hand and take the pain away but you couldn’t. Instead you slipped past him in your worn out sneakers and left through the front door, closing it with a gentle click.

The routine to leave the building was practiced. A few steps to the elevator, down the floors, and out. Except this time you were going to the parking garage in the basement to get the rental car and leave, and for the first time in so long someone else got into the elevator a few floors below what had been yours.

“Hey, I haven’t…is everything ok?” Max looked at your tear streaked face as you blinked back the worst ones, wiping your face roughly with your hand.

“Will you look after him for me? He’s gonna need you now.” It took a few moments for your words to sink in as he stared at you.

“What happened? Did you have a fight? You know he’ll be down in a minute to fix whatever he did, he loves you.”

“I ended things.” The shock on his face was clear as the doors shut to bring you both down. “I ended things about two minutes ago, and he’ll need his friends. I know I’ve no right to ask this, but please. Look after him for me.”

“You can work this out. Come up to ours, stay with us for a night. Think this over.”

“Max I have. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks. He forgot our anniversary and that was the final thing. He deserves someone who can support him the way he needs, and that’s not me right now. He deserves to be happy. I can’t help him be happy. Just please. You and Seb and Estie can help him. I can’t.”

You’d arrived in the garage and Max watched you step out of the elevator with him, heading to the small hatchback that stood out in the area filled with sports cars.

“Where are you going?”

“I got an apartment. I’m going to find out who I am. It’ll be worth it.”

You didn’t expect the Dutchman to wrap you in a hug but he pulled you close, squeezing for a moment before letting go.

“If you need anything. Day or night, no matter where in the world I am, you call ok? You’re like a sister to me, call me whenever you need. And Kelly will be in touch soon to see you, P is gonna miss her aunt.”

“I will.” It was a bare faced lie but it made him look lighter so you told it easily. As far as you were concerned you weren’t going to see them again.

Once you made it into Nice and parked you picked up your phone, pulling up the Find my iPhone app. It took far too few swipes to hide your location from Dan and Kelly, making sure they couldn’t see you. Once you did that you went into the WAG WhatsApp, this one entitled “oh god they’re home for two weeks what’s this chaos”. It took little time to set Kelly as an admin and then leave the chat with a waving emoji and a red heart.

The very last thing to do was to go into an Orange shop and get a new SIM card with a new number. You snapped the old SIM between your fingertips to get rid of it. It was over. You had your new fresh start but it didn’t feel like one.

Part Two

Tags: @vroomvroommbtch

#daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo one shot #daniel ricciardo x y/n #daniel ricciardo x you #f1 fanfic #Daniel Ricciardo angst

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showrunnerihardlyknowher · 1 year

Note

girl yeeeesssss spill the fucking tea 😫 don't go hiding that drama in the tags

Okay, so originally I wasn’t going to say anything because I did not have the energy or desire to rehash all of this to a community that I hardly interact with besides post-dumping every ~4 months. But then, ironically, two people DM’d me about this this week and now I’m feeling spiteful again, so let me regale you with the cringe tales of the Tumblr g/t community and why it gives me a headache to think about. And you know what? This bitch is being a pinned post, too, because I’m not going to let it be swept under the rug anymore. I’m rocking the boat, I’m naming names, I’ll be a little goblin starting dumpster fires.

Now, I will say there are definitely further issues in the community that I can’t personally speak on – rampant racism, transphobia, etc. That’s not to say these things aren’t happening or aren’t important to bring attention to, but I am not someone who witnessed it firsthand or experienced it. In my handful of years being active in this community, they are topics that have been brought up a fair few times, which is enough of a sign that it’s an ongoing issue. However, I also have not looked at any g/t related tags in almost a year, so whether or not these discussions are still happening or have been relatively resolved, I don’t know. It’s not my place to talk about them in depth when I would have no idea what I’m talking about or what to reference, in which case I implore others who have unfortunately dealt with this to please speak out about it. There’s other drama I am able to talk about because I went through it myself or by proxy, and so that’s only what I’m going to be relaying in this post.

I feel like the most infamous implosion was the GTMS/Chamomile-g-tea debacle from half a year or so back, but at the same time based on the messages and DM’s I’ve received, it seems like…a lot of people have forgotten about that, or at least weren’t around/invested enough to know what happened. The quick recap is that @unicornofgt created a written series about giant mech suits that were actually powered by giant humans in a post-apocalyptic setting, inspired by a post made by our shared friend bolshoycorvid about Pacific Rim. It grew into a fairly well known series in the community, and while I had only read the first chapter, I still at least recognized it from my mutuals and some of the tags.

And then Cham found it and became utterly obsessed with it, pumping out fanart left and right and opening the floodgates for its popularity. And that’s so cool! That’s great that such a talented artist with a large following genuinely enjoys someone else’s work that much, and is introducing it further to the fanbase for people to read! It’s amazing to get that kind of feedback to know people want to make art of your handcrafted characters because they adore them that much, it’s one of the best compliments a writer can get!

Except Cham really started getting into it. Like, helping-create-two-Discord-servers-without-permission, kind of into it. Like, posting-fanart-on-multiple-platforms-without-source-credit, kind of into it. Like, repeatedly-responding-to-messages-about-the-characters-without-consulting, kind of into it. And when I tell you her art for the main characters were everywhere, I mean they were everywhere, not just in the Tumblr g/t community. Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, they were posted, and they were never credited back to unicornofgt. I had friends send me her animatics of it, gushing about how amazing it was, totally unaware that it was a storyboard to the first chapter of GTMS (which I recognized and told them, at least).

And was unicornofgt mentioned in any of these posts, was their fic linked, was it even noted that these weren’t her original creations she was spamming to every platform? Nope. Not a word. They actually had to repeatedly ask Cham to credit them as she continued to drop the ball, and even so it was too little too late, finally coming in the few weeks before unicornofgt put a stop to it altogether. Some platforms would only allow an additional note to be added via comment, which was often missed or drowned out by the sea of other messages. Other places like Tumblr could allow a full body edit, however that did nothing for the hundreds of reblogs that were already circulating without a link back to unicornofgt, and are still out there, even if unicornofgt had Cham delete her GTMS posts.

And naturally, if you’re not in the already niche Tumblr community, and even if you’re new to said community, you would have no idea! You would see her post these characters, answer questions about details for these characters, maybe even be invited by Cham to one or both of the two Discord servers for these characters (of which unicornofgt was a member of, but more often than not still not addressed for their story as Cham would take over and talk about GTMS when they were not online to agree/disagree) – Of course you’d naturally assume these are her characters and her story, and even if you knew different, you might become one of the many people swept up in the fandom environment created by Cham, which treated her as the forefront of it.

And please, don’t think I’m taking this out of context. Understand that unicornofgt DM’d me about all of this before they eventually abandoned their Tumblr a while ago due to this situation and the rampant bigotry in the community , and you can read their farewell post here. They told me about the growing anxiety and morphing disdain they felt when it came to their series, because it felt like that creative freedom had been robbed, pressured to morph their original vision to appease Cham, even at the expense of their own passion for GTMS. They felt unheard, ignored, and pushed aside while Cham got to reap the benefits of their own hard work to bring it into existence in the first place. No matter how much they spoke about it in private with Cham or openly on the two Discord servers (they had never wanted in the first place), it didn’t matter.

They told me about the instances in which they had multiple talks with Cham about this crossing boundaries, but ultimately not feeling they could enforce them because as a meager content creator, they should feel grateful that someone so popular was giving their work as much attention as it was getting. Friends and followers agreed with that sentiment because more and more people were becoming unaware who the true creator was, and it seemed on the surface unicornofgt consented. They told me about how Cham had to be repeatedly told to stop and redirect any questions relating to GTMS to unicornofgt, instead of taking it upon herself to answer them, as a majority of the time whatever she said was at best a bad rehashing of unicornofgt’s own explainations that watered down unicornofgt’s characters to “silly stupid little incompenant man” and “big badass woman who loves him sooo much”, and completely ignored bolshoycorvid’s characters altogether. Sure, to Cham’s benefit, she would back down…for a little while, and then start those habits all over again and ignore what was previously requested, especially during the mini internet breaks unicornofgt would have to take since the pressure gave them further fatigue, contributing to their pre-existing chronic health problems.

Let’s not forget the free for all fandom that was created as well. Anyone with questions/comments/concerns all went straight to Cham and rarely to unicornofgt. Art requests, ideas or what-ifs, AUs – all to Cham. Her friends and mutuals straight up telling bolshoycorvid that they’ve never read their GTMS fics despite them being a fair chunk of the overarching universe, simply because they were hardly acknowledged in Cham’s art and frequent posting. The influx of underaged users coming in to join the fun and the Discord servers, which unicornofgt had already said they were uncomfortable with and had wanted the main server to at least be 18+ (a request that was, once again, ignored by Cham, who irresposibily never checked the ages of new users to the point any and all of her mod privileges were revoked and all invites were turned off). So many problems came from having those kids in an 18+ space, essentially taken over by Cham, that unicornofgt decided to pull the plug on the entire server and cut finally Cham off a week later.

From my understanding, this fandom behavior was even worse on Twitter to the point the GTMS characters were selected to be used in a roleplay tournament. The host reached out to Cham for her opinion of character authenticity during the rounds, while others were asking if they could use her art/comics for voice acting. Meanwhile Cham sent all of these to unicornogft because she thought it was funny, but didn’t reiterate to any of these people that these were NOT her characters and if they wanted permission from the creator, they needed to reach out to unicornofgt. Even when unicornofgt tried to pass on this message, it was ignored by Cham’s little fandom, who continued to view her as the creative authority.

But even worse than Twitter was the Tiktok, where many of Cham’s GTMS videos went semi-viral, still leaving her sitting pretty at 18k followers while neither unicornofgt or bolshoycorvid saw any of it. Hundreds of comments gushed about the art, meanwhile both the true creators were lost in it. Eventually Cham didn’t even ask permission before posting, not bothering to check if it was true to the characters, but why stop to think when those videos are getting views up to 250k, with all the comments telling you they adore you and your work? It is your work, right?

What’s so insane to me is that you would think for such a talented artist, she would know the value of being properly credited for your work, especially fanwork across multiple platforms. But no, it had to be explained to her the importance of crediting the real creators of these characters in her posts, and the highly contrasting way people consume art, quick and easy to appreciate, vs writing, which takes more time to consume and appreciate. This isn’t some multi-billion dollar international franchise that’s universally recognized at a glance like DC/Marvel. This was a fun little series created between friends and shared with a small community as something new to enjoy for a little while. It’s not a licensed IP, it’s someone’s personal pet project that they enjoy. It’s completely unreasonable to assume a rando on Twitter is going to look at a badass pose of a giant woman and know that it at least came from an obscure series from an obscure fandom by a single person who was just trying to have fun on the internet. Hell, even 4chan users on the hentai board ask for sources all the time, to know who created these characters they’re jacking off to so that they can go check out their other work!!

Instead, you try to get the source for a GTMS fanart, you likely get Cham, and from Cham you get…no one. Because she failed over and over to make reference that it belonged to anyone else, via tags or in the text body, until long after it was too late with an edit. And there’s no sense in trying to beat around the bush, that’s borderline art theft. You took a character word for word, design for design, setting for setting, and sold it off as your own. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t your intention, that you were ignorant of the consequences – it’s what happened and it needs to be owned up to. This isn’t a petty squabble between two teens on fanfic.net about a demonsona OC for Sonic Underground, this is an adult making a conscious decision to post content of something that doesn’t belong to her and not give an ounce of credit. Not only that, it just furthers the divide between artists and writers in a creative space, with the latter hardly ever getting their dues for putting in their effort for a written piece that an artist can doodle in 15 min.

It was like creating a spectacle out of smoke, a flimsy foundation that was bearing its full weight down on the mental and emotional health of the person who actually created it. In a matter of months unicornofgt had gone from a simple writer of funny size difference things to being forced to watch their vision be watered down for the sake of uwu soft giantess wholesomeness, none of it being done by their hand.

And I think the worst part about all of this, after this whole mess finally came to light thanks to unicornofgt finally finding the courage to put their foot down and cut Cham off completely (both as a friend and for having permission to make anything GTMS related in the future), is that it was unicornofgt who had to leave this platform. It was bolshoycorvid who had to leave, in part for other reasons, but because they were also snuffed during this fiasco as well as both a co-creator and someone who had their own canon OCs/fics in the GTMS world. It was other friends and mutuals who left because they couldn’t stand the toxicity of this fandom anymore, the hypocrisy, the sheer lack of critical thinking and the inability to hold people accountable for their actions. GTMS was essentially abandoned after the dumpster fire was put out and that was it. The series that everyone seemed to fawn over and adore was forgotten at the drop of a hat.

Why? Because it wasn’t the written fics or unicornofgt that everyone was attached to; it was Cham’s art and her version of an OOC story she was pushing they loved. And once she stopped posting it, that was it. Dead in the water. Absolutely tainted. Can you blame unicornofgt for not wanting to touch their own creation that they had made from the ground up and put so much thought and energy into, all because it had been essentially stolen and ruined by someone with a much larger following? A following that hit over 20K during Cham’s GTMS reign across multiple platforms , might I add, while unicornofgt was lucky to see a fraction of that for the same concept.

I also want to note again that these are retellings told directly to me from the persons involved, including unicornofgt prior to their leaving, former fans, and Discord members, that I am airing with their permission. I’m also not someone who has a lot of social media or who followed GTMS at all, this is almost entirely coming from the creator (the REAL creator) in the time before they left, their experience dealing with the fallout, and the sentiment that even still they don’t hate Cham, but just wish there was even a single legitimate consequence on Cham’s part (and that non stop self bashing at the rescue of yes-men does not count). And it hurts to see a fellow g/t content creator be so scarred from this, to lose all interest in the things they cared about most and only wanted to share with their friends, due to one person’s inability to stop and think about their actions. And sure, maybe this is old drama, maybe it’s small and petty to still bring up, but it doesn’t seem like anyone else is going to pull back the rug that this was swept under, so it might as well be the local menace to the community to make a long ass post about it. Chamomile-g-tea killed an entire series and drove the creator, the co-creator, several fans and several more friends who also made g/t content off of an entire website because she couldn’t be bothered to not feel entitled to other people’s toys.

I lost a lot of good friends as a result of this, and the g/t community lost a lot of good content creators as well, to the point this really was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me to say fuck it. To sit here and watch my mutuals abandon their Tumblr’s and all their works in favor of avoiding Cham and her followers who keep pretending she did nothing wrong, acting like her excitement justified her “promotion” of the story, never holding her accountable and accepting at face value her claims that she had no idea the distress she was creating, letting her act as if she’s the victim of this whole ordeal – nah, chief. It didn’t matter if it was on purpose or not, it still happened, and she was allowed to get away with it scot-free, so I will continually throw this in everyone’s face so that the g/t community never forgets its track record .

Because I really don’t understand how this entire community can go through the same run around of “is fearplay/petplay morally wrong to create in a place full of minors” (which is another debate I am NOT getting into right now) and cause several blogs to abandon ship over the backlash they received…but a well known artist forces a popular series to be discontinued and runs off the original creator and their friends after she stole their concept, and everyone is just like “damn, that sucks, she just got too excited /:” and pretends it’s nothing? There have been plenty of former blogs that were called out for less and were forced to be accountable for whatever fuckery they were doing. Besides, I thought we were supposed to be thinking about the poor children here, the sweet minors, which was what her wholesome SFW blog catered to. Last I heard from one of her followers she started posting softcore GTS (I wouldn’t know, I have literally 0 desire to scout her blog), which sure, go ham bestie with your titties and light crushing, we all know I’m an 18+ blog.

But then she continues to interact and mass reblog from minors and bring them into her inner circle, sooo…which is it? Are we worried about corrupting the kids or not? Do minors have the ability to use critical thinking about what concepts are right or wrong, or not? Are people accountable for what they post or is it the responsibility of the viewers who need to heed the tags? Y’all don’t get to have it both ways. Not to mention, I will reiterate again, she never verified anyone’s ages and let them in freely to what was intended to be an 18+ space on the GTMS servers, which created PROBLEMS to the point the servers had to be shut down.

Everyone else can sit around thinking she got off scot-free and never needing to address the fact she destroyed an entire series beyond a meaningless sorry, but I’m not going to forget, even if I’m still the only one left from that era and friend group to be able to tell this side of the story. That hurt my friends just as much as it hurt the community to lose such incredible writers and their beloved content, and that’s inexcusable to me. Writers in general are already treated awful, especially in the g/t community, to the point people have the audacity to complain there’s no new content to enjoy after all the good writers got fed up with the lack of recognition. Art and writing are two different mediums and they both require an insane amount of talent to pull off beautifully – just because you can enjoy a pretty picture in 15 seconds versus a plot-rich fic in twenty-five minutes does not make one superior to the other. But if those fics are continually pushed aside, then why would any creator waste their hours and days and weeks and months making a story for no one to see?

Writing out concepts and ideas are a labor of love that are graciously shared to YOU to also enjoy. Trust me, I have no problem keeping an idea to myself or to be tossed back and forth to my friends for fun, it’s far less effort to still ‘see’ whatever story I would have jotted down for 20K words. If the community is going to continue treating writers like shit, as demonstrated through this hot mess, then of course no one is going to stick around to deal with it. A talented writer lost the world they built, the characters they developed, the story they were trying to tell, to one single artist, yet they were the one who had to pack it up and call it quits after getting hit with hate, while the other gets to roll in the second hand clout from un-credited posts across various platforms to further their own artistic career.

And frankly, I don’t really care about what kind of reception this post has; if it’s only seen by 5 people or if it’s seen by Cham herself, if people agree or disagree vehemently with it. This blog is also more or less dead aside from the few times a year I drop a new fic or art, so feel free to scream into its void as much as you want lmao

#g/t #g/t community #gtms #so anyways yeah fuck the g/t community all my homies hate the g/t community #and there's soooooo so so so much more drama that i didn't even touch here #because my main thing was about cham and i started getting more and more heated as i wrote this lmao #but i also prob won't be talking about those other dramas either because i just cannot bring myself to care anymore #if the last thing i do here is to bring light to this situation than so be it #idk i dont rly have much to say besides that i miss my friends and i miss the good times of 2019/20 and i miss the vibes

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