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bensonoliviasstuff · 2 days

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“Turning Page”

Chapter One! “ ‘I'll never leave’, never mind”

Bucky Barnes x fem! Reader

Summary: Once Bucky regained consciousness and was no longer the Winter Soldier, all he missed from the 40s was his wife. But maybe she's closer than he thought.

Warnings: English is NOT my first language, so I'm sorry if there are too many errors. Futhermore i don't think there are many warnings, a little bit of angst, memory loss, betrayal, trauma, Insecurities and other things that you will discover throughout the story. And the best part: Thanos doesn't exist here

The infirmary doors were opened in an angry shove, making a loud noise as the metal of the door met the wall. A nervous Bucky walked past with hurried steps.

“Bucky, Wait!” Steve shouted trying to keep up with his friend's steps. “No one can enter the room yet, they are carrying out tests”

“I need to see, Steve!” He shouted in a broken voice as he continued his way through the corridors of the compound's medical wing. “I need to see with my own eyes...”

The sentence died down when he stopped walking, facing the glass window of the hospital room.

It was you.

Bucky had the image of you memorized perfectly in his head, he could describe everything that had changed since 1940 with just one look, your hair was a few inches longer, there were a few small scars on your face. But it was still you.

He felt like his heart had stopped beating for a few moments.

He ran a metal hand over his face, holding back the sob that threatened to escape his throat. “It’s her Steve” Bucky placed a hand on the glass, almost as if he could feel it.

“It's her, Bucky” Steve said cautiously “But... We don't know what happened to her this whole time, we'll only know how she is when she wakes up.”

That's when realization hit Bucky, his fist closed against the glass, about to punch the wall.

“I’m going to kill those bastards” Bucky said, unable to calm the anger he felt towards those men, what if you went through everything he went through? All the torture he had to endure for years and years? The thought of you suffering like he did made Bucky's heart sink towards his stomach.

“Natasha is interrogating the man who told us she was there” Steve said “She’s waiting for us.”

“I was waiting for you” your voice echoed through the room before Bucky took you by the waist and gave you a kiss full of love. “Sergeant Barnes now then?”

You pulled away to take a good look at your husband, he was wearing the brown suit of a WWII soldier.

“For you it’s always ‘my love’, doll” Bucky said taking you in his arms, this was something you loved about your relationship, even after so long together you still acted like teenagers who had just started a fiery passion.

But Bucky didn’t fail to notice when you lowered your head to hide your teary eyes.

“Hey, doll, what’s wrong?” He already knew the answer, he knew it and it left him almost inconsolable before going to sleep.

“I’m afraid Bucky, what if you don’t come back?” Her voice became lower and lower as the doubt became more terrifying in her mind.

“I will come back doll, I promise you, not in a million years i'm leaving you alone” He placed a hand on your neck, forcing you to look at him.

“You can’t promise that” You said unsurely. “You don’t know if you’re really going to come back. ”

“Then you can marry Steve” He tried to joke to lighten up, and you couldn’t help but let out a tearful laugh, punching him in the shoulder.

“This isn't funny, you know?” You said wiping away your tears. “I know, I know” he apologized pulling you into a tight hug. “I will never leave you doll, that's the only thing I'll keep in mind while I fight: I can't leave my princess behind.”

“How did you know Y/N Barnes was alive?” Natasha asked the man chained in front of her, Bucky and Steve were on the other side of the mirrored glass.

“She was never dead, Hydra has been with her since Steve Rogers was presumed dead” Steve looked down, he still blamed himself for that, for leaving you alone even after you losing your husband.

“What did Hydra wanted with her?” Natasha asked coldly, leaning over the table. “Why did they taked her?”

“Even after we erased the Winter Soldier's memory, he always ended up remembering her at some point, we wanted to create an advantage in this regard, if he decided he was no longer on our side, we would threaten to kill her”

Bucky kicked the nearest chair, cowering in rage. He was ready to go into that room and kill that man in the most violent way ever recorded. “And why didn’t they do that when he disappeared?”

“He was already gone, we couldn't find him, but she didn't lose her usefulness, during the time she was at the base, she made a lot of noise after finding out that James Barnes was alive, sometimes she could spend an entire day screaming for her husband, it was irritating, so we decided to erase her memory, it became much easier to experiment on her after that.” The man was dismissive, he had nothing left to lose, he was already sentenced to prison, now he just wanted to see Sergeant Barnes suffer.

“Still, she always remembered him eventually, we also used it to test the soldier's memory, every time after we erased his memory, we took him to her, only to see he didn't recognize her, she would cry for days.”

At this point, Bucky was curled up in the corner of the wall, holding his head as the tears fell. You called out to him, you spent days screaming for him, you were in the same place as him all the time and he was never even able to recognize you.

It was tearing him apart, it was breaking everything inside him. He was about to leave, unable to listen any longer, when Natasha's question reached his ears.

“Experiments? So she has the super soldier serum?” Bucky turned around, waiting for the answer “No, but we trained her, she was very good at carrying out the missions she was sent, Y/N Barnes killed a lot of people”

That was the final straw for Bucky, they made his precious sweet girl spill blood.

He walked into the room, ignoring Steve's comments about calming down. He grabbed the man by the collar of his clothes and pushed him violently against the wall, starting to throw punches with his metal arm, he could spend hours beating and it still wouldn't be enough, but Steve ripped him off before the man's face was deformed.

“Never put her name in your mouth again! Your bastard! I'll kill you!" Bucky screamed trying to free himself from Steve, Natasha got in front of Bucky and ordered Steve to get him out of there.

Steve left dragging a nervous Bucky. “Look, I have the same desire as you, I wanted to go in there and finish him off, but that’s not how you solve things Bucky!”

Bucky sat on the chair he had kicked minutes ago, putting his head in his hands, everything in him was shaking, a mixture of hatred, anguish and guilt. “They put her through hell, Steve!” He stood up abruptly, putting his hand over his mouth. “All this because I left her alone, I forgot about her! I promised I would always be there for her and I just forgot about her!”

Steve looked at his friend with a very strong tightness in his chest, this whole situation hurt him in a way he couldn't even explain, imagine how much it was hurting Bucky? How much did it hurt you, going through all of this alone?

He still remembered when he had to break the news to you.

“Steve!” You said happily after opening the door to the apartment you and Bucky shared. “Oh, I'm so happy to see you! I still haven't gotten used to the fact that you're taller than me now” You walked forward giving Steve a hug, noticing that his face wasn't looking good but you wanted to ignore all the crazy theories in your head. “Where is my husband? Why didn't he come with you? I already said you can't steal it from me” You joked, despairing when Steve didn't laugh.

“I'm so sorry Y/n... Bucky...” Steve started to speak but you interrupted before he could finish his line of reasoning. "No! Don’t say that Steve, it’s not true, it can’t be true, don't you dare to lie to me!” You said taking steps back, with your hand on your stomach, feeling like you were going to throw up.

“He promised... He told me he would come back!” You started to cry as Steve walked over pulling you into a hug.

Your legs no longer had the strength to keep you standing when you started crying and sobbing in Steve's arms. “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry” Steve kept repeating, even though his heart was breaking more and more.

“He promised me Steve! He has to come back” You repeated between sobs, Steve didn’t know what to say when your pain seemed to be consuming you.

That day, he laid you in bed, made you some tea and sat next to you until you Say a sentence that ended that super soldier.

“The worst lie I’ve ever heard: ‘I’ll never leave.’” You sighed with heavy eyes “Never mind”

After saying that you fell asleep, Steve couldn't put into words how painful it was to see your red and swollen face sleeping.

“I promise to take care of you Y/n, I won’t leave you alone, for Bucky”

Even so many years later Steve's heart hurts knowing that if he hadn't left, maybe you wouldn't have been alone, and now he feels even more guilty knowing that if he had been around, Hydra wouldn't have taken you.

He felt like it was his fault, even if it wasn't.

Steve's thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

“Sergeant, Captain” Tony appeared in the room, a curious and relieved look on his face “She woke up”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #sebastian stan #marvel mcu #mcu #marvel #the avengers #iron man #tony stark #natasha romanoff #black widow #steve rogers #captain america #imagine #writing

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sagephilosophie · 2 days

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⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

┃ RINDOU H.

ᴄʀᴜꜱʜ! ʀɪɴᴅᴏᴜ ʜᴀɪᴛᴀɴɪ x ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛ ᴀᴅᴍɪʀᴇʀ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ

𖧧 Tags : SFW, high school theme.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

ϟ Crush!Rindou whom you took a liking on ever since he started going to your high school with his brother after their time in juvie, they earned immediate popularity then and gossips spread like wildfire how their rich father bribed the principal to enroll them.

ϟ Crush!Rindou that couldn't care less about the whispering in the classroom going over his gang life and recent fights, your friends were warning you not to go near him because of his sadistic nature, but observing him doodling something boredly in his copybook made you think,"He is pretty cute though..."

ϟ Crush!Rindou that joined the school's football team on the first try and kept skipping classes frequently, so you eventually began showing up at every practice and game to watch him play.

ϟ Crush!Rindou who was the indirect reason the entire football team teased you after every match for not missing a day, one of them being a classmate that started a rumour how you liked him instead, but you brushed all of them off saying you just like the sport.

ϟ Crush!Rindou who ignored you the whole time, all he did was take any water bottle or towel you handed to him, and didn't even answer your compliments or small talk about the game, unlike his brother who sits in the stands with you from time to time, and immediately catched on to the hearteyes you were giving his brother, although, with the no-change in Rindou's behaviour, the former likely didn't tell him.

ϟ Crush!Rindou that kept testing your patience with his indifference, after everyone you know has noticed you had a crush on him except Rindou himself, so you stopped showing up at the football pitch since it's useless at this point.

ϟ Crush!Rindou whom you managed to get your head off of for the rest of your highschool years, only until the final week before graduation, when it occurred to you that this is perfect time to visit the stands one more time.

ϟ Crush!Rindou that was the only one in the field by the time you got there, doing some tricks, and as expected didn't acknowledge your existence, until he heard clapping after his football juggling.

ϟ Crush!Rindou that spoke to you for the first time since his arrival and asked if you wanted to try, you said yes and joined him, but the ball couldn't balance and he was starting to mock you.

"One would think you learned something from the time you spent watching me."

"I wasn't watching you."

"Oh yeah ? Why do you only look for me when the whole team surrounds you then ?"

"...you noticed ?"

"It's hard not to, besides, Ran told me."

"Huh... Then you were giving me the cold-shoulder on purpose ?"

"Mhmm answer this, what are your plans after highschool ?"

"Go to college, pursue a career..."

"Well, i saved you time i could've wasted, all i plan to do is rule Roppongi streets with my brother, you could guess how i'll be a terrible partner."

"I didn't necessarily want you to be my partner... maybe you're taking this the wrong way, with your athletic skills and talent there's a better future than you think still hiding, i would know that, i've been observing you..."

"Yeah, stalker."

"I'm serious! There's at least one thing you want to do later on..."

"I think probably, own a night club."

"See ? You do have a goal, then what was that about distancing yourself again ?"

"You're still gonna regret getting close to me."

"We don't know that for sure."

"There's only one way to find out, what will you be doing after graduation day ?"

"Nothing, you ?"

"Also nothing, should we go do nothing together?"

"Good idea."

ϟ Crush!Rindou whom you managed to talk him into finishing his education and has finally became your ever loving boyfriend throughout college.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

@sagephilosophie

#i write!#vee's #tokyo revengers #tokrev #rindou haitani x reader #rindou haitani fluff #rindou haitani sfw #rindou haitani headcanons #rindou haitani highschool #rindou haitani x you #rindou haitani #tokyo revengers headcanons #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers fluff

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fansids · 2 days

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Shadow of the King Au Art Dump

Since I very rarely get past the sketching phase any presentable art is rare, but I managed to find some for ya'll

Warning for some old ass art:

1. The Stalwart Generals

I spent an ungodly amount of time figuring out the designs, dynamics, and personalities of all of these monkies so I'll be damned if I don't show them first.

The Generals take care of anything SWK is unable to. They are in charge of FFM when he's not present.

Marshal Ma - While technically all the generals are the same rank, Marshal Ma is considered SWK's unofficial second in command. She's calm in every crisis with a very low bs tolerance and is 75% of the reason why the island doesn't fall to chaos every time SWK leaves. She's highly respected by all the inhabitants and can and will break your spine Bane style if the situation calls for it.

Marshal Liu - Mean bisexual. Marshal Ma's sister and the bane of her existence. On duty she takes her role very seriously. Off duty she likes to keep Ma on her toes with her dumbassery. She's easy going, hates clothes, and loves to fight. She has a slightly concerning amount of knives on her person at all times. She is big gay for General Beng.

General Beng - Meaner lesbian. A siamang and the largest and tallest of the generals. She enjoys dressing up, tea (both kinds), and a good party. She has a very short fuse. While her size and strength alone would generally deter anyone from testing her temper, there are always idiots. She can fight, but she knows her Liu would enjoy it more.

General Ba - The oldest of the generals. While she's not shy, she is very quiet. She does not waste her words. But, when she speaks, the others will stop whatever they're doing to listen. She likes to spend her free time in the libraries. Get her in the right mood and she'll argue with you for hours about the most random subjects.

2. Macaque face evolution

Was trying to get a feel for Macaque's face and how it changes throughout the au. Top right is the youngest, bottom right is the oldest. Bro gets all sorts of messed up from the whole died and resurrection thing and very much looks wrong afterwards.

3. New fit

Macaque and SWK have the whole cape thing going on, I figured SWK gave Mac one of his own when he was still training under him. I like to think it holds a lot of sentimental value to him since he still wears it in present day but he would rather get his head smashed in again than admit it.

4. I'm sure this won't come back to bite anyone later

Eeesh. Imagine spending your whole life training to receive and keep the Sun Wukong's attention only for him to casually give it to some random human boy thousands of years later. I mean, Macaque did betray him and everything, but it's the principle.

5. The Tongbi Gibbon Concepts

One of the four world-wrecking/celestial monkies. My brain was very focused on the whole pulling celestial bodies out of the sky part of her abilities that I made her based around that line.

Don't know if this fit is still canon as she and the Horse Monkey had a large role to play in Shadow of the King, and I'm considering if I should take them out

Bonus:

I consider the Tongbi gibbon and the Horse Monkey to be older than both Sun Wukong and Macaque in Shadow of the King. The Horse Monkey is the eldest, but the Tongbi's age is nothing to sniff at.

That being said, that does not mean she can't be bought.

Takes place after all the traumatizing shit in SotK

Panel 1

Tongbi: Child, I am an ancient being. I hold the power of gods within me. I was witness to the birth of the Great Sage himself. I have seen nations and empires rise and fall. I have gathered and spent innumerable wealth. Yet you think you can bribe me with 20 yuan?

Panel 2

The host: ...how 'bout 30?

Panel 3

Off-panel (Horse Monkey): TONGBI!!

MK: I thought the nimbus made you airsick

Red Son: Not helping, Noodle Boy

Tongbi: BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!

#edit: added dialogue cause my handwriting is shit #shadow of the king au #lego monkie kid #monkie kid #lmk #lmk stalwart generals #lmk marshal ma #lmk marshal liu #lmk general beng #lmk general ba #lmk macaque #six eared macaque #lmk tongbi gibbon #sun wukong #myart #lmk comic #doodle

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batsplat · 2 days

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hiiii <3 i just saw your casey race recs post and i was wondering if you had one with dovi or marc races too! i'm relative new to motogp and i don't know where to start watching!

thankk youuuu, i love your blog, i'm learning so much thanks to you 😭😭 also you're really funny 🫶

right, this one admittedly was trickier than the casey list. marc in particular has accumulated one hell of a body of work... not easy to do justice to. marc's won a lot, but his most enjoyable races aren't the ones where he gaps the field by about two minutes at cota. it's the ones where he's scrapping and brawling his way through and the whole thing is a bit of a mess. and there's a lot of races to choose from in that regard, against a whole host of different rivals

which is very nice for him, but that makes it impossible to do anything comparably comprehensive for marc without getting to a slightly ridiculous length. luckily, that's never stopped me before, and long is what you're getting. you asked about dovi so I'm gonna go with him first, because that's a somewhat easier to tackle body of work - and limit myself to a mere ten twenty five seven eight recs. then I'll get to marc, where I've limited myself to an extremely reasonable thirty three five races, not including any I already covered in the dovi section. if you're looking for something a little more specific, like idk wet weather or feuding or whatnot, lemme know

same warning as before: plenty of race results will be spoiled in the description. in honour of how worryingly long this list is, I've escalated to a three asterisk system: * means 'go check it out', ** means 'personal favourite', *** means 'classic race'

dovi

spoiler free top ten list: welkom 2004, turkey 2007, sepang 2008, silverstone 2010, mugello 2012, mugello 2017, austria 2017, sepang 2017, brno 2018, qatar 2019

*welkom 2004: dovi's first grand prix win. most of this race consists of a three-way battle between locatelli, dovi and casey (who eventually drops away a bit) at the circuit that kicks off dovi's 125cc title-winning season. the second half of this race is more exciting than the first, and you'll never guess how dovi wins a grand prix for the very first time. let's just say he wasn't leading going into the last corner and leave it at that

**turkey 2007: andrea dovizioso once again getting himself involved in a last lap battle? SURELY not. this race is so so much fun, though after the start it settles down for a bit - stick with it, because when it gets going, it really gets going. these kids are vicious with each other! half the joy of watching these old 250cc/125cc (or equivalent) races is hearing the stuff the commentators chat about, basically getting all the good gossip of the time... like say jorge telling the spanish press they shouldn't believe half the things he says about his rivals... or how he'd already been visibly pissed off after qualifying because he was starting from p2 rather than pole... also the kind of podium both me and the commies always massively enjoy, aka one where two people on it basically refuse to acknowledge each other. the vibes between jorge and dovi are NOT good here and it's a lot of fun to watch these children being so pissy with each other

^one of his favourite career victories against his main rival in 250cc, the defending champion jorge lorenzo, who was sporting the number one plate on a superior bike to dovi's honda machinery. more often than not over the course of their time in the sport, these two have not gotten on well at all. it remains one of the sport's defining tragedies that chupa chups did not sponsor jorge throughout his career

qatar 2008: his debut in motogp and a strong race. pleasingly he gets involved in a last lap fight, and does pick off one of the aliens

*sepang 2008: dovi's first premier class podium and an extremely deserving one that really showcased his abilities as a defensive rider, the latest of late brakers etc etc. fought with valentino, then led a train of four/five riders at one point, then was involved in a great late scuffle for third place that lasted until the very end

donington park 2009: first motogp win! has to be said the aliens... uh. none of them delivered their most dignified performances. but ignore those clowns - dovi's of course cemented his reputation as a highly skilled wet weather racer over the years, but this was his first time in the spotlight in the premier class. it would take him seven more years to acquire his next victory

*qatar 2010: a somewhat stronger season than his disappointing 2009 campaign, and the first race was certainly promising. dovi scraps with vale, scraps with nicky hayden, scraps with lorenzo... the racing is pretty decent too. includes the strange sight of seeing the ducati out-powered in a straight line down the lusail straight and I'm sorry but at that point ducati might as well have called it a season, like that was their ONE thing. anyway, dovi still rode well to take advantage of it

*silverstone 2010: once jorge hits the front following some initial resistance from dani, the fight for the win is basically over - but what's going on behind him is good enough to make up for it. bunch of different duels going on in the top seven, whether it's dovi and de puniet, hayden and pedrosa, spies and sic, and eventually casey shows up to join in on the fun too. another one where a bunch of riders are pleasingly close together and there's some real suspense about the final order late on (though the most dramatic action in the last lap is happening right behind dovi - not that you see most of it given the classic tv direction sin of instead giving us a nice prolonged shot of jorge doing a wheelie over the line and his crew celebrating. cheers guys). nice comeback ride for casey-enjoyers too (he wasn't enjoying it)

**sepang 2010: lot going on in this race. three-way fight for the win. valentino is eleventh after a few corners. he does not end the race in eleventh place. this is a good race both for dovi enjoyers and for enjoyers of the... uh. complicated vale/jorge dynamic (this race immediately followed motegi, a notable low point of their relationship). lovely little spite ride, for people who like that kind of thing. love the way it gradually builds up as valentino closes and closes and dovi is just sitting on jorge's rear wheel, and then it just nicely lights up around half distance. me and the commentators are once again having a great time. it is here that jorge seals the title, so it's all post-race smiles with just a hint of posturing

silverstone 2011: casey won this by several light years, but dovi demonstrated his pedigree as a wet racer once again. his race involved intense skirmishes first with jorge and then with sic, and it's fair to say he got the better of both of them

^two excellent wet weather racers and teammates for a single year in a three person repsol honda squad. when dovi was informed he would be let go by the factory team, he decided against accepting a demotion within honda and instead made the jump to yamaha's tech 3 satellite outfit for one year. this was the first time he raced outside of honda in his grand prix racing career. then, in 2013, valentino's return to yamaha made space within ducati. he was always going to have to be vale's replacement rather than his teammate - in 2011 while searching for a ride he said "I would never accept to be teamed up with valentino rossi. it would be pure masochism. there is no room for anybody at his side, he takes it from you and he takes it all. when rossi is ready to share the limelight it will be the end of his racing days". fittingly, dovi was valentino's last ever teammate in motogp

mugello 2011: this feels like one of those classic alien era races where the winner of the race is determined after about a lap. but... it's not! makes for an unexpectedly exciting race and also *ding* last lap overtake

*valencia 2011: this one should have gone on the casey list too, knew I'd missed some. anyhow, on dovi - a lot of dovi's best races during those years came in the wet. but this time he was already engaged in a nice little scrap with dani and ben spies before the rain came. the clash also had real stakes for dovi and dani's final championship positions, a point of personal pride given that dovi had been let go by honda and pedrosa had been retained. a race that accidentally gets exciting again at the end, quite the dramatic finish. this was an emotional podium at the first race after sic's death. dovi and sic had grown up racing each other - and while he stressed that they had never been friends, dovi went to sic's house two days after the crash to see his family and share his grief with them

assen 2012: another one that probably could have gone on my casey list too, actually, with the fight for the win between dani and casey lasting pretty far into the race. behind them, it's dovi putting pressure on spies, lying in wait to make the attack... and, thrilled to say, we do in fact have some last lap overtaking. we don't really get to see how this contest is resolved because the audience needs to see the race winner coast for half a lap, but nevertheless! this one also has extra significance because spies was a factory yamaha rider and dovi was with the satellite team. always a good idea to get your market value up during contract negotiation season

*mugello 2012: would put this on my casey list if I'd included some disaster rides, which this is for him. that bit of the season where he made some high profile errors and controversial passing attempts of his own (and there was an overtake he did apologise for post-race) (this is the last casey mention I promise). anyway, never mind him. this is another one of those alien era races where the winner pretty quickly checks out by a margin of around ninety nine years, and indeed is already waving to the crowd on the last lap. the racing behind him is not too bad though, dovi is involved in a long duel with bradl that hayden eventually joins, and casey isn't the only guy executing controversial passes

assen 2014: ducati was in a pretty sorry state in 2013 and it's still in a pretty sorry state in 2014. another wet race podium, very strong race from dovi where he does manage to stick with marc for a while there. lower down the order, valentino is executing a rather nifty comeback ride after making an erroneous tyre choice

**qatar 2015: a great race and one that nicely sets the tone for what some consider a fairly interesting season. marc goes wide in the first turn and jorge has some kind of visor issues, so we end up with the two ducatis and valentino having it out for the win

^valentino after qatar 2015 about the current era of racing. at the start of the season, it looked like the ducatis would be right in the mix - surely one of the two factory riders would be able to snag a victory sooner or later. it was not to be that year and the results for the rest of the season were largely disappointing, but ducati had clearly made a step forward

sepang 2016: dovi's 2015-16 must have been maddening. three consecutive p2's to start 2015 but drops off from there. rumours at the start of 2016 that jorge's sick of yamaha and speculation is ripe about who in ducati might be sent packing for him. it looks like dovi might well be headed for the door, except iannone did something extremely damaging to his case early that season - dovi was the safe pair of hands, not the guy ducati put their hopes in. they're handing out wins to anyone who rocks up that year and indeed dovi's soon-to-be-former teammate gets ducati's first victory in about a million miserable post-casey years. plenty of talk about who'll win next and marc and vale both point to dovi, but it's just not happening. sepang is the penultimate round of the season and by this point, at least a little order has been restored again - which is when dovi finally gets his win in the wet. still bonkers to think he had two premier class wins pre-2017 both in the wet and then he's runner-up three consecutive years, very gibernau of him. he earned it too, a long scrap in the race with valentino until vale's tyres went kaput

*mugello 2017: dovi begins his transformation into a genuine title threat here. it looked like lorenzo would lead the ducati charge as he had been hired to do at ducati's home circuit in mugello, a circuit he had always been strong at. in the early stages of the race, jorge fought valentino (fresh from his first motocross accident of the season and expected to struggle late in the race) for the lead. dovi had missed warm-up as he was suffering from food poisoning, but, as would happen repeatedly that season, jorge quickly slipped back down the order - and in the end it was dovi who took the fight to the yamahas. a home victory, his first dry win, and all while not at his best physically... no wonder it was one of dovi's favourite career wins

^the moment dovi replaced maverick vinales as marc's biggest threat that season

catalunya 2017: it took dovi seven years to win two races and a week to win his next two. this was the moment when yamaha really started falling apart and confirmed the looming realignment of the competitive landscape. it all came back to the tyres - as it often did in those years, but it was particularly extreme in the sweltering heat. winning a race with your tyre preservation skills on a bike that allows you to preserve those tyres doesn't make for the most thrilling of races, but hey, job well done. his teammate finished fourth, almost ten seconds back after leading on the first lap

***austria 2017: one of the classic marc/dovi duels. the best races between the two of them (unsurprisingly) tended to be at tracks that quite heavily favoured ducati - and austria was already establishing itself as a prime ducati hunting ground. which meant that marc was pretty happy to even find himself that high up in the order and doing damage limitation in terms of the points swing in the championship fight. does that mean he plays it safe while trying to snatch the win from dovi? not even going to bother to answer that question

*motegi 2017: another in the marc/dovi collection and one that reaffirmed dovi's status as a worthy challenger to marc. a dramatic last lap in treacherous conditions that goes down right to the very last corner

**sepang 2017: such an impressive win. the title was on the line... or rather, dovi knew that he basically had to win to even still give himself a chance. he was not helped out one bit by his teammate in this regard, but rode a fantastic race in the wet to eventually force the title decider (left field choice but this dovi win is the one that most impressed me, fully thought the title would be wrapped up here especially after a poor race in phillip island)

valencia 2017: has to go on here as it's the one title decider dovi has gotten himself involved in. marc had a comfortable 21 point margin, which meant that for dovi to win the title marc would've had to finish... uh p12 or lower I believe, and dovi would've had to win the race. straightforward for marc, right? well, title deciders have a tendency to get a bit weird and nervy, just because of the stakes involved... and you can tell from how marc's riding. this race is also really dull until about ten laps to go... thing about valencia is that even when it's looking like an overtake is coming it's basically guaranteed that it won't be. the funniest part of the race is jorge ignoring team orders to a ridiculously blatant extent and ducati attempting to psychically murder him

^dovi always knew the odds were against him going into valencia. this is the moment his title bid ends, ironically just after he'd finally been freed of lorenzo

*qatar 2018: dovi would never come as close to the title again as he did in 2017, but at the start of 2018 at least it looked like he could be a serious challenger once again. this is a great race, another last lap battle... trying not to get repetitive so here, have some of my race notes to change things up:

**brno 2018: for a while, this looks like we're building up for a nice little four-way fray between dovi, vale, marc and jorge (feat. crutchlow). dovi does what he always does when he's leading and goes at the slowest possible pace, and everybody else does what they always did in those years and lies in wait, while occasionally reshuffling the order at the front in the name of whimsy. and then the yamaha does what it always does and somehow burns out its tyres anyway even though they're crawling around the circuit. anyhow, once valentino has done his scheduled backwards slide and jorge has rejoined the fray, it shapes up as a nice little three-way fray between dovi, marc and jorge. appreciating dovi races is all about getting really into the idea of tyre preservation and knowing the last laps will probably be fun. extra little spice because by this point the jorge/dovi dynamic is... not great :)) and we get an appropriately feisty duel between those two in particular

^after his win at the season opener in qatar, dovi had struggled to continue the momentum from the previous season. he went into the race fourth in the standings behind marc, vale and maverick, already 77 points down on marc - and his teammate had recently won back-to-back races. an important win and the rest of his season was a lot stronger. and of course, he had the joy of beating jorge, a relationship that managed to deteriorate even further over the course of that year

*thailand 2018: minus the yamahas providing an early and a late cameo, this one's all about another marc and dovi duel. a lot of stalking and lurking and then marc makes his move with four laps to go. excellent last few laps with overtakes galore, including of course at the very last corner

**qatar 2019: perhaps the archetypal dovi race. runs a very slow pace at the front to just carefully manage the pace, which leads to a nicely bunched up field that keeps sniping at each other. the top three for much of the race of marc, dovi and rinsy switch around plenty of times. there's one moment where dovi just like. ups the pace simply to test if he can drop everyone and then fully drops it by a second the next lap when he can't. pretty funny in how blatant it was. also, don't want to shock you here but we do indeed have another last lap battle. top five at the end covered by .6 seconds

*austria 2019: the first lap is WILD and actually manages to delay the inevitable marc/dovi duel. fabio leads for a bit, and then you are reminded of exactly why he hasn't been able to shut up about top speed for the past few years, like man after a while I'd be traumatised too. another fun duel between marc and dovi, which ends with... that's right. a last lap battle. that was kind of what their rivalry was about by 2019, given there wasn't really a title fight any more (certainly not after jorge played bowling in catalunya) - but the races themselves were thrillers, a welcome remedy when marc's dominance was at its most stifling

austria 2020: just as a heads-up - this race includes a terrifying crash when the bikes of zarco and franky morbidelli almost fly straight into valentino and maverick. nobody was seriously injured but they were inches away from a life-threatening accident; it's by the grace of god stuff. the race was stopped and then restarted, which... bit tough to say whether that helped or hurt dovi. probably helped (though I reckon he was always winning this) - in part two mr tyre whisperer is chasing jack miller on soft tyres. what happens next will shock you. deeply odd race... a lot of 2020 races had a surreal vibe - you just have to kinda experience it for yourself. at one point there's a graphic on screen telling you dovi, zarco and stefan bradl are competing for the win. this is not the case

^once more with feeling: dovi's third win at the redbull ring and only win in 2020, just after he'd announced his decision to leave ducati. between injuries, being unable to make the new rear tyre work for him and the growing alienation from ducati, 2020 was not an easy season for dovi. in the end, he was not the one to take advantage of marc's absence, and his time as a top-level rider ended when him and ducati parted ways

marc

spoiler free top ten list: cota 2013, assen 2015, phillip island 2015, mugello 2016, misano 2017, phillip island 2017, argentina 2018, assen 2018, silverstone 2019, sachsenring 2021

mugello 2010: first grand prix win! once marc has worked his way through the field this develops into a tight four-way scuffle that continues until the very end, with marc winning by .039s

estoril 2010: absolute chaos race and also the penultimate race of the season with a tight and tense championship situation. marc does well to move up the order until the rain comes and the race is paused... and then my man bins it on the sighting lap. anyway who needs more than half a bike to win a race. one hell of a comeback ride with a nicely dramatic ending

phillip island 2011: marc had to start this race from the back of the grid as a result of a one minute time penalty. early in one of the practise sessions that weekend, he had crashed and had been forced to wait in the pits while the bike was repaired, but was then sent out with only a minute to go. he tried to get in a hot lap after the chequered flag was out, and barrelled into the back of another rider who was slowing down after a practise start. the other rider went to the hospital, though was not seriously injured, and marc ended up with only a cut - but both parties were very lucky to escape relatively unscathed and he was heavily criticised for it. he himself did not agree with the penalty, and his team lodged an unsuccessful appeal. this was also a big race in that year's championship fight (that marc eventually could not see out after his crash in sepang), presenting a huge opportunity for title rival bradl to gain a decisive points advantage. a very impressive comeback ride, as well as a good contest for the win

**qatar 2012: love a race that's a mess. the season opener, and also marc's first race back after the horror crash in sepang the previous year that had given him career-threatening diplopia. marc spends a fair portion of the race battling with iannone, one of his main rivals that year, and if I personally had to fight both baby marc and baby iannone I would simply leave. another bloke is so furious at marc he slaps his arm on the cooldown lap, which was in response to a very controversial pass down the straight where marc kinda ran him off track. both were reprimanded by race direction. the finish is ridiculously close. go watch it

^the cooldown lap slap - marc was involved in several controversies that year. at the end of the year, the fim updated its rulebook, widely seen as a response to marquez-related incidents and the controversial handling of them, and introduced the penalty point system. ironically, it was that system that resulted in valentino's back-of-the-grid penalty in valencia 2015. in early 2017, the penalty points were once again scrapped

motegi 2012: another comeback ride - this time, marc stalls at the start. does his thing and eventually has a late scrap with his main title rival pol espargaro for the win. good fun

valencia 2012: 'oh you can't overtake at valencia' 'oh all the races are boring' 'oh could they please kick it off the calendar come on we deserve a better race to end the season' is what only an idiot would say. marc's last moto2 race starts from p33 after being penalised for a practise collision. spectacular comeback rides are a funny calling card to have for the statistically strongest qualifier in motorcycling grand prix history, but reflects how much of a trouble magnet he was - especially in those days. he might not have a great reputation in the premier class, but he did calm down in 2013, relatively speaking. or, well, he certainly did things it was harder to penalise him for

*qatar 2013: marc's first premier class race. jorge basically fucks off at the front from the word go, but it's an exciting battle behind him - that of course eventually involves valentino, who as ever had worked his way through the pack from further down the grid. first race first podium simple as

*cota 2013: this was always going to go on the list given that it's marc's first premier class win. the race itself is fine, not the most exciting entry on this list, but still! obviously worth a watch

**jerez 2013: icl I feel like this race really benefits from watching jerez 2005 first. not only because 2005 is the better race, but because I think you need to picture twelve year old marc marquez watching this race and thinking it was just like. the coolest shit ever. the patriotism left his body that day. I will not talk about the 2005 race here, but to be clear I am with twelve year old marc marquez on this one. anyway, back to 2013: the race is decent, the infamous copycat overtake is great but arguably the parc fermé and podium vibes are even better. not only was he shameless, but he was shameless in a way he knew echoed his hero beat for beat. baby's first premier class controversy

^the infamous finger wag. marc tries to approach him again during the podium celebrations, but seems unbothered when he is rebuffed. jorge made clear throughout that season he thought marc should be penalised, repeatedly bringing up when jorge himself was given a one race ban and how it had taught him a lesson about responsible riding (some of his rivals in 250cc and premier class rookie season might have some thoughts on that). his criticisms continued well into the season, with tensions rising again after marc's overtake on dani in aragon led to dani crashing

**laguna seca 2013: can't leave this out. important to stress moto2/125cc never went there, so it was his first time at just this notoriously tricky track that was known to be incredibly hard to conquer (here is a clip of vale and marc talking about this in the sachsenring presser). I wouldn't say the race itself is all that great once marc does his thing at the corkscrew, but laguna's quite high up there on tracks you can mostly just enjoy watching bikes go around. big moment in the championship fight because it's when marc is racking up the points at the expense of the injured lorenzo/pedrosa

^2008: valentino stops during his victory lap to kiss the corkscrew where he overtook casey // 2013: marc gets his photo taken at the corkscrew a few days before he will overtake valentino there

*silverstone 2013: a jorge/marc contest for the victory with a dramatic ending, one of the best races that year. marc had dislocated his left collarbone in that morning's warm up, so there was added tension in whether he could hold up physically across a race stint - at a time when jorge (and dani) desperately needed to make up points. interesting continuation of the lorenzo/marquez arc that season in that jorge was a little more willing to match marc's aggression, whatever the problems he had with it

valencia 2013: not bad as valencia races go, actually. which is literally only because it's a title decider and the points situation is exciting, but well credit where it's due. proper tussle between the top three - jorge was so aggressive as he attempted to back marc up into the pack that journalists in the presser afterwards were essentially inviting marc to call jorge a hypocrite. obviously has sentimental value as it's where marc's first premier class title was sealed (even if it should have been sealed earlier but hey ho)

*qatar 2014: I found it quite tricky to make a few picks for 2014, because I feel like a lot of the races this year are in the category of 'fun but not all time epics', and it's hard to really choose between a bunch of them in terms of either significance or entertainment value. the first race of a ten race win streak feels as good a place to start as any, and represents the moment when marc really began stamping his authority on the series. in many ways, this race echoed the race of the previous year: jorge leading from the start, valentino charging through the field, marc somewhere in between. except this time jorge crashes and the fight between marc and valentino is for the victory. it lasts until the penultimate lap, and this time it's marc who comes out on top

le mans 2014: marc did try occasionally to keep things interesting. yes he consistently qualified very well, but sometimes he threw in a bad start or an awful first lap for the vibes. in this one, he ran very wide during the first lap (partly helped along by jorge) and ended up back down in tenth. the pace differential is too extreme for good battles but still, some nice overtaking

**catalunya 2014: see above - there's not all that much to separate this from say mugello or silverstone, so the tiebreaker is personal preference. a good, fun scrap that involves all four of marc, vale, jorge and dani at different stages - even if the end result by this point feels almost inevitable. it is here that valentino rather understandably attempts to strangle marc in parc fermé

^still a close contest with seven laps to go. plenty of overtakes, plenty of confusion relating to a yellow flag, and last lap contact

indianapolis 2014: last of the win streak, at a track that was never particularly popular with riders and typically short on good racing. for a while there at the start it looks like this race would deserve to go on the dovi list until valentino just. um. bumps him aside. and lets marc and jorge past both of them. and then lorenzo also bumps dovi aside. sorry dovi, yamaha decided you were not to be involved in this. the next few laps are good fun too, like by this point you can TELL how much both yamaha riders want this. no manners in sight. icl it's mainly the fact that it's closing out the win streak that has made me include it and the first few laps, because once it settles down it... sure does settle down. ignore this list and just pick a win from the 2014 win streak at random - if you enjoy that one, you'd probably enjoy them all

***assen 2015: probably my favourite marquez/rossi battle. really all you can ask from with a race with two protagonists: lasts the whole race, tense, high stakes, two guys who are particularly motivated to beat each other, several overtakes plus a hell of a lot of stalking and studying each other, and last lap controversy. involves cunning, a little bit of ambiguity in the intentions of both parties, some unresolved questions. an appointment with race direction. an awfully tense post-race press conference that the relationship of the protagonists could never quite recover from. the ideal race

***phillip island 2015: one of the best races of all time etc etc, though it may make you feel like somebody is repeatedly stabbing you with the sword of damocles. still, that's entirely to do with what follows, and the race itself is a fantastic four-rider battle with a murdered seagull and a late twist

**sepang 2015: well, obviously! the actual confrontation between marc and valentino is deeply counterproductive in terms of 'guys you're letting lorenzo/pedrosa escape, stop divebombing each other' and well the whole thing is all kinds of tragic. but the racing itself nicely showcased the complete lack of respect between the pair of them and there is something kind of mesmerising about seeing two all time great wheel-to-wheel fighters go at it, no holds barred. plus it's a major part of marc's story. it is what it is

argentina 2016: this probably isn't making a lot of top thirty something lists, but hey, sometimes you just need to watch a kind of stupid race. this race was kind of stupid. it has the dubious honour of being the first in the marc/vale walk of shame 'hey remember when you guys fought here last year' tour, and they do actually get to scrap it out a bit on track again - though that confrontation is defanged from the moment they have to switch bikes. the last corner incident is dumb but also funny. the podium has truly rancid vibes. I had a good time

^nobody else on that podium as much as twitches when marc goes down. blank faces when he jokes about it in the presser. kind of impressive really. same weekend

***mugello 2016: there is a moment when you think this race will end up being an extremely tight contest until the end between the three protagonists of the 2015 fiasco. then something extremely infuriating happens, and it ends up not being that. on the one hand you leave that race feeling a little robbed, on the other hand it did still feature a veryyy dramatic finish between two of the protagonists. excellent race

**catalunya 2016: the first proper post-2015 marc/vale battle, and at valentino's favourite location for enjoyable race-long duels. it's not like... I don't think of that particular category, I'd call it my absolute favourite - but that's a very high bar. no surprise that they both really really wanted to beat each other, and hey interpersonal animosity always adds a fun nice note to the racing

sachsenring 2016: the problem with the sachsenring is that it used to produce banger after banger race until some diminutive bloke called 'marc marquez' fucking ruined it. 2003 2006 2009 2010 2011 are certified classics, as good as it gets really, tight dramatic fights for the victory and podium positions and integral to the narrative arc of their respective seasons. you used to be able to rely on this track to give you a SHOW. but then that twat showed up and... tbh I can't even remember many of his wins there having particularly memorable racing behind him (I did quite like 2018), so maybe it's not only his fault (to be clear it is in large part his fault). anyway the 2016 edition is in that stretch of 2016 where everything just kind of. goes to shit. like they start just letting anyone win. jack miller won in assen that year. anarchy in motogp. it's the michelin tyres, it's the rain, and it's this bit of the season where marc starts running away with the title. this is another very messy race, more rain, and it's one that has convinced me once and for all that marc has actual plot armour at this circuit. there is a moment where you will go 'how does he win this race' and it's the moment where he goes so far off the track he's halfway to austria. watch to find out how he somehow scams another win at the ring. damn him please do it again this year

^come on this is bullshit. if I'm the other guys I'm calling for a ban of the sachsenring until we figure out what the hell is going on. no wonder he was hopeful of winning on the murder honda

**assen 2017: brilliant race. initial four-way tussle between marquez, rossi, zarco and petrucci that includes some early aggression between the usual suspects and then some light rain to further spice things up. right on the very last lap, there are two great scraps going on - one for the win (with a controversial involvement of a backmarker), and the other for the last podium spot against cal crutchlow

**misano 2017: this is a race that very much had the shadow of valentino rossi looming over it, even though he was not in attendance. valentino had gotten himself involved in his second serious motocross crash of the season, both right before italian races, and had this time decided to take himself out of the title hunt rather definitively by breaking his leg. some time after this, marc posts a photo of himself doing motocross - which he has done a lot of over the years, but was interpreted as taunting valentino and got plenty of backlash online. whether this was a contributing factor or not, he received a frosty reception in misano. he crashed during the wet warm up session and was booed by fans as he rode past them on the scooter, prompting him to blow kisses at them. the race occurred at a tense moment during that title fight: marc had suffered a mechanical dnf in the previous race and in doing so had surrendered the championship lead to dovi. he could not afford another dnf at this late stage of the season. which perhaps made it a little surprising just how hard he fought for that win against petrucci in the treacherous wet conditions, the risk he took with his overtake on the very last lap. was it just to get an extra five points and the win, or was it (as the speculation went at the time) about getting revenge on the italian fans? who's to say - but in any case it was one of the defining performances of that year's championship and another example of marc's skill and confidence in the wet

***phillip island 2017: you know the drill - this circuit produces bangers, and this is another all-time great race. marc by this point had a weird and somewhat cursed record at phillip island in the premier class, where he'd a) been disqualified in 2013, b) crashed out of a comfortable lead in 2014, c) won in a dramatic last lap in 2015, and d) crashed out of a comfortable lead in 2016. so in his first four years, the only year he'd even finished the race, it set off a deeply unfortunate series of events involving marc and allegations of sabotage made by his childhood hero - which maybe goes to show the universe just wanted that particular relationship to be doomed. anyway, 2017!! apparently marc decided he could only finish at that circuit when it involved a dramatic battle between multiple riders. good on him! the racing is brutal, with plenty of contact between the riders, as perhaps you might expect looking at the list of protagonists: marquez, rossi, zarco, vinales, iannone, crutchlow. high stakes too - a decisive points swing in that year's title fight that could have easily gone disastrously wrong for marc. in 2018, marc once again did not finish the race

^a hard-fought race where all participants are more than happy to get physical. one of several races that season that prompts questions about aggressive riding, though this time all the riders are in agreement. after the handshake, marc gestures to the rubber that now stains valentino's leathers. in a year where team orders were a big topic of debate, valentino finished right in front of his teammate - who had still been in mathematical contention for the championship

**argentina 2018: for lovers of hubris and head loss. the full marc marquez experience. off his rocker the entire weekend. got whacked with a massive penalty at the end of the race that made the whole thing quite literally pointless and deserved every second of said penalty. jorge's long-standing mantra of 'just give him a race ban' became part of the discourse again. ended up p18 to valentino's p19, hand in unlovable hand. but apart from that, it was a really great performance!

^complaints at the time obviously centred around how marc was a repeat offender in the recklessness of his riding, and lacking in respect (see too the ever-lurking parallels drawn with the jerez 2011 apology - which was, it has to be said, issued for a considerably less egregious offence). publicly marc was mostly remorseless, accepting more blame in the aleix incident than the valentino one, and saying in an interview a few days later that he wasn't going to change his approach. it's the worst and the best of him - he had no need to barge aside other riders with the sheer raw pace he was able to access. on the phillip island 2003 comparison, see valentino's words about riding angry here. in 2012, marc was asked about whether there were races where he was determined to win at all cost, and he mentioned some examples from that year before adding, "there have been many times when I had to channel my inner rage to win a race"

***assen 2018: excellent race, as memorable as phillip island 2015 or 2017 if your favourite type of race is multi-rider dogfights. involves seven or eight riders in the lead group for large chunks of the race, with the order of those riders chopping and changing with incredible regularity. some pretty ridiculous saves (at least three riders right at the sharp end of the action where you feel that they really should have hit the deck) and a lot of contact, putting on full display just how aggressive riding had gotten during that time. most riders enjoyed the contest, though this time it was dovi's turn to be a dissenting voice. in any case, there were reportedly 99 passes within the lead group and it is rightly remembered as one of that era's finest gems

*austria 2018: marc vs the ducatis, as was tradition at the red bull ring. marc wanted to get payback for the last time they had been in austria, and determinedly got a good start to try and avoid history repeating itself - but he never quite managed to escape his pursuers. this is one of those races where there's a long stretch of it just... building, where it feels like either marc will make the break for it or there'll be a dramatic finale. which can make it ever so slightly annoying when there isn't a dramatic finale, but I am happy to assure you that this race delivers on that count. gets very good with ten laps to go

^plenty of close battles, but in those years nobody could match marc for week-to-week consistency. the closest by that metric in 2018 was valentino - but typically a few positions further down the order, hindered both by competitive decline and an increasingly horrendous yamaha. as for jorge, he found his form on the desmodici just as the ducati higher-ups lost their patience and kicked him out. he reached some impressive peaks and at last adapted well to the demands of the bike, but his season was eventually marred by injury

***silverstone 2019: quick warning - quite a scary crash on the first lap even by motogp standards. anyway, dramatic last lap battle with alex rins, who I think it's fair to say marc hasn't always had the best of relationships with. while things haven't exactly gone to plan for either rider since then, excluding fabio that was probably the rivalry that I was most excited to see develop post-2019. ah well. the race itself is fantastic though, one of those that just gradually ramps up the tension before the finale. the last two laps are crazyyyyy. top five closest finish in premier class history

^marc and rinsy (not at silverstone but earlier in the season at jerez). some long-standing bad blood here and I'm sure rinsy really would have liked to strangle marc from time to time

**misano 2019: another visit to valentino's home turf in the year time finally caught up with vale. before this race, marc and valentino tussled in qualifying. an odd and deeply unserious incident that had zero actual impact on their already doomed laps, it's notable in part due to how much marc visibly lost his cool over the whole thing. from p5 on the grid he ended up in an enjoyable duel with fabio quartararo for the victory that went down to the very last lap. as the commentators noted, he celebrated more than he has after sealing some of his championships. coming out best in a last lap battle, making sure to keep the edge over fabio, as well as 'winning in enemy territory'? the perfect weekend. as he says in the immediate post-race interview, "honestly speaking, yesterday was the extra motivation, the extra push for the race" and "really nice to win here in italy". you could tell

**thailand 2019: marc attempting to burnish his last lap battle record by breaking children's hearts? sad stuff. cruel and unusual. a lot of fun to watch. it's an understatement to say that fabio's rookie campaign exceeded expectations, and marc quickly identified him as his biggest threat going forwards. this was a match point race for marc and he needed to outscore dovi by two points to seal the title, but he had such an overwhelming lead that he could afford to take more risks than he might have other years - even if the race did follow a massive crash in friday practise that required a hospital check-up. another race that involves a lot of stalking and shadowing and plotting before the action really kicks off (with four laps to go). this race was part of marc's considerable efforts that year to put fabio in his place while he still could. poor fabio

jerez 2020: hurts to include but this list wouldn't really be complete without it. another race that very much encapsulates the full marc marquez experience. truly bonkers pace until it all went horribly wrong

^funniest moment of the race is when valentino does what is surely the closest you can get to a double take on a motorcycle when he sees marc go past. like he sees marc, then clocks who he's seeing and then visibly looks again in a sort of 'HOW is he here'

*sachsenring 2021: thing about marc at the sachsenring is that it undoubtedly got boring in terms of the victory fight for a few years there, but it's also just a fun, tricky track and he's a joy to watch on it. obviously this win is anything but boring, and the margin he pulls on the field never feels as comfortable as it should be. I don't really think I have much to say about this race that hasn't already been said. I cried

^make that eleven in a row at the ring. honorary mentions go to cota and emilia romagna '21, at time of writing his most recent wins. neither are classic races exactly - and indeed, if you're looking for races relevant to the current climate then aragon '21 is a good shout. at emilia romagna (the second race held at the misano circuit that year), pecco crashes out while being pursued by marc, which clinches the title for fabio. it is also the last race on home soil for valentino

**phillip island 2022: one more for good measure. somehow this is his first premier class ride at the circuit where he finished the race but did not win. late on in that year's tense title battle and gives you exactly what you want from a race at phillip island. it's not even a multi-rider dogfight as it is an every-rider dogfight that eventually becomes a multi-rider dogfight at the front of the pack... but if you looked at the run order after about three laps you would NOT be able to guess who the riders involved are, never mind who wins it. absolute chaos. one hell of a contest right until the very end involving one of that year's two primary title contenders - and some other foes old and new. marc's sole podium that year, and his 100th in motogp. second closest top ten in premier class history, not too bad

#marc marquez #andrea dovizioso #motogp #//#mm93 #ad4 #this was very sweet thank u anon #but also took me longer to answer lol and it's an era people here are more familiar with... so lads feel free to add/dissent #this is a complete escalation in length + detail but well. hope this isn't overwhelming #also anon you asked about marc/dovi so that's what i provided but if you are getting into the sport and are looking to watch old races #then i cannot recommend highly enough to also dip your toes in the pre 2007 years. 2004 is where it's all at i'm telling you #you've got banger after banger race you've got momentum shifts you've got narrative tension you've got interpersonal intrigue...#anyways #oh btw right after that horror austria crash marc tweeted three praying hands emojis (is that what you call them) so there's that

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fiammee · 3 days

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Hello, how have ya been? How did your trip ended, did you have fun?

I guess reaching to you through asks is easier than DMs, so here I am, being generally curious about where we left off the last last time, but since I am here I'll also leave a big ask:

How did it happen that Jon Lord is so important to you? When did you hear him and saw him for the first time? What's the thing in his playing and in his character that makes him be that special guy to you?

Write the longest answer you want - or a short one if it's more in your style - I'm just a curious lil mutual <3

Heyaaaaa haiiiiiii dear!!!! Thank you for these questions *rubbing hands* Finally lets hope that I can respond this time XD

Times could get better, but summer is coming and Im pretty excited in beginning uni academy next year, lets hope🙏

About my trip end, it was a bit unexpected but funny: we leaved our rented house at 10 AM but we quickly found out that all highways were clogged up, and we managed to reach home a whole day after, at 1 AM, literally praying that my mom wouldnt fall asleep while driving 🤣

Abt Jon, lets begin *cracks knuckles*

I dont remember if I have ever said this to anyone, but usually my dad, when I was little, made me watch purple lives instead of cartoons;

So, throughout my childhood and my first teenage years I had this blurred memory about the members and how they looked like; (my thoughts were like: why the drums guy is so little? Why the guitarman is so scary? Why that mans moustache are so big and silly? Why the singer looks like Jesus and has my same hair? Just pure childlike wonder lol)

And finally, around 2020, I gave them a chance by listening my dads machine head vynil and OH BOY OH BOY I was quickly captivated by their roaring and powerful sound.

My first crush was big ian but I later revalued Jon when, out of pure curiousity, I went searching for pics on pinterest and I stumbled upon this:

My brain and hormones went apeshit🤭🤭 and this sort of awakened me, I was asking myself questions like "wtf is happening to me whattt?" in pure confusion.

The rest is now history, and here I am today :]]

Apart from the obvious phisical attraction (please mind that I was still new to this world at the time🤣) What I always found fascinating about him was the crazy talent and gentle personality among the "rock people" that Ive known previously.

I consider him to be a pretty unique rock soul: no extreme drama, nor arrogance, stupidity, rudeness or immesurable ego; he was just happy to be in the scene, and had the intelligence to make himself respected and valued... I think that he did that pretty well😌.

He used MUSIC in his everyday life as the main method of expressing himself rather than using words (as an introvert I consider him as a role model for what he gifted to others and himself) and lets be frank, isnt it cool that a BIG strong 185 cm man is easily brought to tears of emotion by listening to a classical piece or spectating a good sunset or landscape? He's an 800' romantic author trapped in a motocyclist body, an unusual combination🤣🤣

And what about his music? He combined classical, popular, blues, jazz and sick improvisation in a fresh versatile style that changed rock music and organ playing forever, and would inspire generations of musicians since this very day! And lets not forget his pure classical works, full of a wide range of emotions that have helped me in various rough times.

I hope to have answered your questions my dear :)) and it wouldnt be bad if I addressed the same questions to you about keith, with you making a post about it reblogging this one, obv if you feel like doing it 🫰🏻

#talking corner #this was long fr fr #2nd time writing it 😵‍💫😵‍💫

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lieslab · 1 day

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Tetris

꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎ ꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎ ꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

Pairing: Han X gn reader

Summary: A simple trip to the arcade leads to disaster after disaster and a brief doubt that your boyfriend truly loves you.

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 3K

Trigger warning: Anxiety (specifically social anxiety) and self-doubt.

A/N: Anonymous requester, I've done it. This was super fun to write (I mean up until the self-doubt and anxiety part where I proceeded to get a little sad) Never fear because I managed to make the end fluffy just like you requested!!

I'm sorry it's probably been posted way later than you expected. I have a job and I've been looking at college options and that's the reason why all my requests are a little slower. It's never too late to make your dreams come true. Anyway, I hope you enjoy <3

_ _ _

It was a blast from the past, walking into the arcade that your boyfriend found one day. It was like stepping back into the 80’s. Fun colorful and bright prints littered the black floor. Neon strands hung above your heads in waves. The lights had been dimmed to make everything pop.

“Do you like it?” Han turned to you and beamed.

“This place is amazing. How did you find it?” Your eyes were wide as you glanced around. The white t-shirt you were wearing seemed to glow beneath the neon funk. It was trippy and it was exhilarating. Excitement thrummed through your veins.

“I don’t know. I went on a walk one day and accidentally entered. I wanted to go to the coffee shop next door and got lost in my thoughts. I ended up here in the process.”

Off in the distance, you could hear the hums of bowling pins being set back up. Squeaky motors had been used year after year after year, gathering up rust and remaining ungreased. The old hinges seemed to be on their last limbs, but they still managed to hold up.

Cheers filled the air as a family, split in half for the bowling game, managed to gather a strike. Kids laughed and rushed in front of you. In another section, the greasy smell of fried food wafted over to you. You practically drooled at the sudden overpowering scent of pizza. The acidic tomatoes and the greasy cheese mingling with pepperoni.

Arcade game after arcade game sat along a side wall. Multiple people’s silhouettes were lit up from the static screens. You managed to catch a few glimpses of familiar games. Pac-man, Frogger, Donkey Kong, and Tron.

More modern games had been speckled throughout the large area. Skeeball had been placed across from the bowling lanes. Four basketball hoop games and a few football throwing games sat beside it. Larger machines that held more unfamiliar games were speckled throughout.

Han laced his fingers through yours and led you towards the counter to get coins to play. It was one of his favorite parts of the place. All the games took old golden coins instead of electronic swipeable play passes.

When he handed you a cup full of coins, he smiled. “So where should we start first?”

You shrugged, still looking around with wide eyes. “There’s so much to do. We could do anything and-”

“Then it’s a good thing that we have the whole afternoon to play, isn’t it?”

His uptick in energy made you smile. The two of you slipped into the full arcade and began to play. You managed to last for nearly two hours before exhaustion set in. Han still seemed to have so much energy, but you felt drained.

More people were flooding into the building. Han was distracting himself from this by focusing on the games, but you couldn’t. You were becoming more and more aware of how much harder it was to move through the area.

Most people were polite, but some were not. A few glares were sent your way by a group of teenagers at one point. Your stomach churned with anxiety as you mumbled a quiet apology for stepping in front of them and scurried away.

Han hadn’t realized it because he was too busy gushing about Pac-Man and how he wanted to get on the leaderboard. You were happy that he was happy, but you were starting to feel constricted. The crowd seemed to push against your lungs and make it harder to breathe.

You made your way over to the game and Han began to play. After about four rounds, you announced that you were going to get a drink. Too involved in the game, he mumbled a weak response and you disappeared.

In the cafe area, you felt a lot better. After ordering your drink, you sat down at a small table and sucked in a deep breath. During some days, your social anxiety was worse than other days. Just in general, you could have bad anxiety days.

It ruled your life, no matter how much you tried to work on it. You tried to journal and you had tried therapy, but nothing seemed to stamp out that fluttery and panicky what-if feeling. It was some piece of your brain that you didn’t quite know how to get rid of.

For a while, you were content with leisurely sipping your drink and observing the people in the bowling lanes. Parents in one lane were with their two kids. The kids couldn’t have been much older than ten. The mother and daughter had teamed up against the father and son.

“Mommy and I are going to beat you!” The little girl smirked. Two black pigtails had been tied at the sides of her neck. She was dressed in a lavender dress that seemed to radiate beneath the white lights above her.

“Nuh-uh! Nuh-uh!” The boy stuck out his tongue. His hair was the same deep shade of onyx. Both of their facial features were a perfect blend of their parents.

“This isn’t fair!” Another voice cried off in the distance. Your eyes adjusted to find two younger girls. One stood with her hand on her hips and the other stomped her foot. “It’s rigged!”

“It’s not rigged, it’s your fault that you don’t know how to bowl. I tried to tell you, but you’ve refused to listen to me. This is your own fault!”

You smiled at the sight. Everything seemed to be against you when you were a kid. It was so easy to get frustrated and upset at the age when you didn’t understand how the world quite worked.

“Feel it? The weight of the ball in your hand? Just get used to it and hold on tight. Don’t want to drop the ball on my foot, do we?”

Your head snapped to the opposite side when you heard a man’s voice. A guy was standing behind a girl. Adorned in a gray hoodie, he had an arm looped around her waist. She laughed with his right hand tucked over hers.

“I’m being serious, get used to this and this motion.” He slowly began to rock her arm back and forth. It was the same motion that you used to bowl and release the ball. “Once you get used to this, you focus on aiming.”

“And how do I do that?” The girl asked.

“Keep your eyes on the prize, sweetheart. Keep your gaze locked and loaded in the middle of the pins. Focus on that middle point. Breathe in and breathe out and then release the ball, got it?”

You watched the girl do what he said and she released the ball. He kept his chin over her shoulder while the two watched the ball slip down the lane. Over and over the bright orange ball rolled head over heels until-

Crash!

The girl beamed as all the pins fell over. “I did it! I did it! I did it! I got my first strike!”

“Congratulations, baby.”

You looked away as the girl spun around and kissed the guy. It felt like such an intimate moment and you didn’t want to intrude. Your mind began to drift back to Han. You shifted in your chair to find him still hooked up in front of the Pac-Man game.

A sigh slipped out through your nose. You didn’t mean for your thoughts to start wondering, but they began to creep in. Did he love you as much as you loved him? When was the last time the two of you had such an intimate moment outside of the house? Was he embarrassed of you?

He rarely held your hand and never even attempted to kiss your cheek in public. Sure, you both walked side-by-side, but that wasn’t the same thing. The more you thought about it, the more hurt you felt. You were squeezing the juice out of your own heart.

The lump began to form in your throat and you quickly stood up. In the process of attempting to grab your drink, you knocked over the cup. It hit the ground and spilt all over the floor. Your tears blurred your eyes and you cursed beneath your breath.

Why were you like this? Why were you such a klutz? You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to gather the courage to go ask for napkins. Before you could stop them, someone headed towards you.

The kid was too distracted by the handfuls of tickets in his arms. Quite literally, he was skipping off to the front to gather prizes when the disaster worsened. A loud gasp left his mouth as he slipped in the sugary soda. The back of his shirt seeped it up as he fell.

The moment you heard the ruckus, your eyes opened in shock. A loud wail came from his mouth and alerted everyone near your area. All eyes were on the two of you and your heart quickened.

You dropped to your knees instantly to try to console the poor boy. You reached out a hand and gently pulled him up. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” A woman’s shrill voice filled your ears. You glanced over to find a woman standing with her fists on her hips. “Get your hands off my son!”

“I-I’m sorry, it wasn’t like that, he fell and I-”

“That doesn’t give you the right to touch him!” She snapped as she rushed towards him. “Come here, come on, let’s get you to the bathroom to try and clean you up.” She shot you a final glare before you were left alone. Eyes from earlier still lingered.

You suddenly thought you might burst into your own set of tears. Before you could approach the counter to ask for napkins, a worker appeared with a mop. He huffed as he dunked the murky tendrils in a bucket of sud filled water.

“I’m really sorry,” you apologized.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Not like you’re the first one to make a mess, butterfingers. You certainly won’t be the last one either. Just get out of here and try not to make another mess, will you?”

You mumbled another apology and rushed away from the mess with your empty cup. You tossed the remainders of the sticky mess into a trash can and disappeared back into the crowd. You were about ready to sob and to make matters worse, you left your coins somewhere and you didn’t know where.

You couldn’t play anything and Han still had your wallet. You had given it to him earlier because your pockets were small in the pants you chose to wear. If you bothered him, you’d ruin his Pac-Man game and you didn’t want to worry him.

More than anything, you just wanted to go home. You wanted to change and go back into comfy clothes and relax. You had reached your limit minutes ago and things were only getting worse.

So you circled the arcade again and then again and again. You didn’t linger in one spot for too long. You kept your arms wrapped around yourself and you kept your body tucked into itself. The last thing you wanted to do was cause another issue.

You circled over and over until you caught a glimpse of Tetris. The game was on and ready to start, but nobody was around it. It seemed like someone decided to play it and then decided to abandon the game before it could begin.

You couldn’t help it, after nobody appeared for nearly a minute, you slowly walked over. Your gaze casted around, but everyone was still in their own little worlds. After pressing start, you began to play the game.

In the beginning, you were good at it. Pressing the controls and adjusting the multi-colored awkward shapes to fit together. You were making good progress until you messed up on a T-shaped block. The moment that happened, your anxiety began to brew. You began to worry about other blocks before they were down.

Tetris was a lot like anxiety. Everything seemed to do well until something slipped up. One small slip-up was enough to make you panic about the future. Instead of attempting to focus on what was in front of you, your brain was multiple steps ahead of itself.

When you realized this, you couldn’t stop. You tried to focus on the block in front of your eyes, but you were constantly thinking about the block that would come next. Where would you place it? Would it fit between those two shapes? What if it was too big and caused the blocks to stack higher? You weren’t supposed to let them stack too high.

You didn’t realize you were crying. The screen illuminated the glossy tears silently trickling down your cheeks. You didn’t notice until warmth slipped onto your hand. It was then that you realized you were crying and it made you stress out more.

Before you could try to fix it, the game ended and a huge game over screen sat in front of your eyes. There was an option to play again, but you didn’t have more coins. You sniffled and sucked in a deep breath.

“Baby, are you okay?” Han’s voice hit your ears.

You spun around to come face-to-face with him frowning. You quickly used the back of your hands to wipe away the tears. You sniffled again and nodded.

“What happened?”

“Just some anxiety and stuff.”

“What kind of anxiety?”

You didn’t mean to blurt it out, but it came out anyway. “Do you love me like I love you?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, y-you don’t really interact with me when we’re in public. You don’t hold my hand or kiss me. I mean, you did earlier, but that was only once and I just…” You trailed off. “Am I not good enough for you?”

He gently reached out and took your hand again. You let him lead you through the crowded maze of people and pull you alongside a further away wall. “What’s got you so worked up? You know I love you a lot. I don’t touch you a lot in public because I don’t want to make you nervous.”

“Oh.”

“Do I not show you enough?” He frowned.

You shook your head, “I-I just…I don’t know.”

“You’re ready to go home, aren’t you?”

You meekly nodded and pawed at your eyes again. Your social battery was blaring with an alarm. You needed to go home and recharge before you went out again. You needed personal space to feel like you could breathe again.

“I have one more coin and then we can go home, okay? I was actually saving it for you. I don’t think you’ve gone to the claw machine yet, have you?” You shook your head. He grinned, “let's go!”

You let him lead you over to the claw machine. He handed you the coin with a smile. “I’ll let you do the honors because you’re good at these.”

“I only have one try.”

“Yeah, but I believe in you. Even if you don’t get anything, I still have all of our tickets. We have to go redeem our prizes.”

You slowly slipped the golden coin in the slot. There was a whole section of the games, but Han had pulled you to one lit up neon pink. Inside, a wide selection of plushies sat staring at you. As the game started up, you debated on what to try and aim for.

After a brief consideration, you finally grabbed a hold of the black controller and began to shift the claw. You put all your focus into the game and tried to block out the surrounding noise and Han. You needed perfect attention while doing this.

The crane swung for a bit and then it stopped. Just for a brief second, you tilted the control to the left. Holding your breath, you pushed the red button. A soft whirl filled the air and you and Han watched the crane begin to outstretch and fall down.

The tiny arms opened as it sank further and further into the pit of plushies. Silently, you begged it to grab the one you were aiming for. You waited and waited and waited until-

“Holy shit,” Han whispered.

The claw had grabbed onto the plush. You kept holding your breath because you had seen this multiple times. It was only when it dropped into the prize shute that you let your breath out.

“You did it!” Han cheered.

You smiled, ducked down, and retrieved the prize. When you held it up in the light, Han’s face lit up. “Oh, it’s beautiful. What are you going to name them?”

“I’m not.”

His eyebrows furrowed together, “you’re not?”

“It’s up to you.” You reached out and held the boba tea plushie out towards Han. A small brown straw poked out the top of it. Plush velvet black spheres created the illusion of boba balls. A faint blush sat on its cheeks and there were sparkles in his eyes.

“You’re giving him to me?”

“He kinda looks like you. Plus, he’s very cute. I know you’ll treat him kindly and take good care of him.”

Han’s eyes softened as he took the plushie from you. There was blush powdered across his own cheeks. “Thank you. You already know that I’ll cherish him forever. I’ll take him home and place him next to Han Quokka.”

At that moment, he simply didn’t care that the two of you were in public. He placed the plush beneath his arm, gently cupped your face, and pressed his soft lips to yours. When he pulled away, you were left dizzy and breathless. He laughed at the gobsmacked look on your face. You were left floating on cloud nine with your anxiety far away from your immediate thoughts.

He slipped your hand into yours. It was getting late and the arcade had emptied out a little. It was starting to feel like you could breathe again.

“Come on!” You grinned, “let’s go get the rest of our prizes!”

When you began to run through the crowd, he followed right behind you.

| ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ | ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ | ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ |

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Requests, taglist, and inbox rules

#stray kids #stray kids fanfic #stray kids drabbles #kpop fanfic #han jisung #han jisung fic #han jisung fanfic #han jisung stray kids #han jisung fluff #han jisung x reader #han jisung x you #han jisung x y/n

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oldhalloweentape · 14 hours

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🪨Venture (OW II) x (gn) reader ⛏️

(ALT/Goth, mostly Goth leaning Edition!)

(Picture’s not mine!)

(Another request by @goohts , such a great supporter throughout all of this! On top of that, I have something to announce at the end of this post!)

- Right off the bat, such a great dynamic, when they first saw you they immediately went to introduce themselves— Compliment after compliment spilling from their lips.

- Asks you sooo many questions on how you decided on going for that style, means well of course, just wants to know the importance of it you as a person.

- If you’re a goth in particular? They definitely refers a whole lot to the extinct culture of the Goths, you know— The Germanic ones that wrecked the Western Roman Empire with extreme brutality and were the cause of medieval Europe emerging.

- Starts learning about the culture and history of your group so they can talk about something you like and is a part of your life.

- Dance moves? Learnt some of them so they can look “cool” at the Goth club with you, like that one video of that nerdy guy with the quarter that moves up and down like he’s on one of those kiddy revolving horses, (here) it’s a bit silly but it’s heartwarming nonetheless.

- Anyways, if you’re taller, shorter, or the same height, they can and will borrow some of your accessories/clothing. Cheeky about it too, as they show off what they borrowed as proof of them dating you, especially to Mauga.

- Can and will buy you things as a thank you for letting them borrow your stuff, likes buying stuff like that at a thrift store— That kind of stuff has personality to them.

- Piercings? They have one as well so I think they’d be giddy to show off the various extra piercings they have in this ornate jewelry box their Abuela gave Sloane specifically for them.

- Tattoos? I think we already know the answer to this one, so proud of their own and will admire yours, asking more questions as they ask whether or not yours has meaning behind them as they touch the inked skin.

- If you ask, they’d be up for getting some more alongside you, maybe even buy some extra piercings for you, goes in tandem with their love language of quality time and gift giving.

- All the while chattering about the history about both, they’re just so giddy and supportive.

- Will help and encourage you to indulge in dark facts about history if you’re into that, feed into it as they take you to a morbid museum of some sort as a date, only if you let them go to a dinosaur one afterwards.

- If you do makeup, they will be astonished by it and practically beg for you to do theirs.

- Can’t handle standing still for too long (firm ADHD Venture believer) but will accept kisses in between as a consolation prize for doing so. On top of watching an analysis video on rock formations, if it’s good they’ll be almost as transfixed as they are when they look at you.

- Once it’s done, there is a high chance of them coming back, makeup smeared or dirty and begging for you to do it again, will use the puppy eyes and the pouting lip tactic.

- Loves when you have your makeup on, thinks so cool and interesting on you, but they also love messing it up, if you catch my drift.

- I can just imagine after a particularly long time of Venture being away cause of their job, with a mix of smeared makeup on your faces after a making out, a smug grin on their face as they say something like, “Aw did you really miss me that much?”

- Boastful as all hell when it comes to the fact that, them a goofy ass archeologist was able to bag someone like you.

- Brags about you a lot whenever you come up in conversation and jumps at the chance of taking you to their job so they show you off.

- Introducing you to other people usually goes like this, “Yeah this is Reader, my partner— Looks absolutely amazing don’t they?” All the while holding the side of your waist with one arm with a self satisfied look on their face.

(Alright!!! So, after a bit of consideration I’m going to start writing for a character from Overwatch that I’ve really liked for years now, Junkrat! I like them dirty Ig lol.)

#Spotify #overwatch x reader #venture overwatch #venture x reader #overwatch 2 #venture ow2

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climbthemountain2020 · 2 days

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Flame of Autumn - Chapter 20

Part 21/26 | Ao3

Eris

The time since the battle of Spring had flown by–it seemed the to-do lists were endless and the days were short. But things were finally starting to even out a bit, and now, on the day of their trip to Dawn for the High Lord’s summit, Eris felt a peace throughout the Forest House that was so wholly good and so entirely unfamiliar. He stood in the opened center foyer, eyes up at the blue sky through the weather-enchanted ceiling. He’d had this feeling over and over the past week–like he couldn’t believe that Beron was truly dead, that this was his life now, not living in the shadows of a monster.

There was so much work to be done, and it would be years of undoing the centuries of damage that Beron had wrought upon the court, but it would be worth it. He was a good and fair fae, and his intentions were to drag Autumn out of the dark and make it a place where fae of all stations would be proud to call home. As Tilly’s hand slipped warmly into his, he knew he’d accomplish it all with her by his side.

“Are you ready to go, love? Your brothers are waiting downstairs.” She laid her head against his shoulder, and her scent filled his nose, suddenly overpowering all other senses.

“Actually, dear, stay right here. There’s something we need to do first; I’ll be right back.” Eris shot down to his brothers, let them know to go ahead with their bags to Dawn, and that they’d be there shortly in time for the meeting. They nodded and winnowed off, Eris racing back up the stairs to Tilly. Her eyes shot to him as he crested the top of the stairs again. He took her hand and began walking, all the while Tilly giggled and followed along.

“Eris, where are we going?” He just smiled.

“I have something to show you.” He led her through familiar but changing halls, his hand never leaving hers. Her bright hair stood out like the shine of a late-fall sunset in a low, braided style, tendrils escaping around her face. He thought she was the most beautiful female he’d ever seen, especially in the low-cut, deep violet dress she had on. He was going to enjoy taking it off of her.

He turned sharply, opening the heavy wooden doors to the throne room and tugged her through, pulling the doors shut behind him as they walked forward in the dark. He pulled her gently in front of him, clasping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her back to his chest as she yelped halfheartedly in the dim light.

She whispered, “What are we doing in here, love?” He pressed his lips to her ear, and he whispered just as low.

“I wanted to tell you I am having a new throne made. I hate this one, and I hate even more the memories that go with it. I’m actually having two made, one for you and one for me” He nodded to the large monstrosity on the dais. “This throne was Beron’s, and he used it for nothing but evil.” It was huge and made of heavy iron, twisted to mimic dancing flames, but looking more menacing than regal in its nature. “This throne will be hauled off before we get back from Dawn, and I’ve requested it be tossed into the sea.”

“That far, hmm? So why are we here to look at Beron’s horrid heirloom one last time?” She said quietly, the words whooshing from her with her breath.

“We aren’t here to look at it, darling.” He practically heard the smile across her face as she understood the implication.

“Well, then. You’d better go sit up there one more time, High Lord.” Her voice was low, nearly a growl in the dim light as Eris released her from his arms and climbed the dais, turning to sit on the throne he’d watched his father destroy things for centuries. Tilly’s eyes were filled with fire, her lips twisted into a smirk as she coquettishly lowered herself into a curtsy, her eyes remaining on his the whole time. Eris leaned back into the throne, spreading his legs out and propping his fist beneath his chin, his elbow resting on the arm of the chair. Curtseying deeply, Tilly’s smirk became a feral grin.

“How may I be of service, High Lord?” Her words were like honey, dripping over her tongue and floating sweetly to his ears. He barely held back the groan that threatened to leave his throat as he beckoned her closer. She approached the throne, her hips swaying with each step, her eyes alight with mischief. She stopped in front of him at the top of the dais, stood between his thighs, her fingers twitching as though she was using everything at her disposal to hold herself back from touching him. He looked into her eyes, and they were devouring him from head to toe. He could smell the shift in her scent, and it cracked the last tether holding him back from her.

He lunged forward, grabbing her plush thighs in his hands and yanking her forward. He’d expected her to yelp with surprise, but instead her mouth was already on his, her tongue dipping into his mouth to taste every bit of him–to claim him for her own. He sat back, pulling her with him until she settled, knees on each side of his thighs tucked neatly into the throne. She ground down on him, and the strangled sounds left both of their throats, echoing into their mouths.

Her hands went into his hair and his grabbed roughly along her hips and ass, pressing her further down onto him as they kissed feverishly, the last coil having sprung free and unleashing them on each other. He tore his mouth from hers to press hot, desperate kisses to her chest as she tipped her head back and moaned. He moved his hands back to her thighs, pressing his fingers into her skin as he pushed her dresses up to her waist, reaching into her underwear.

“Cauldron, Tilly. You’re soaked. All that for me?” He murmured into her ear as she whined low, nodding. “Words, sweetheart.”

“Yes, High Lord.” The plan backfired as the words shot straight to his cock, now straining painfully with the need for release as she ground back down on him against his fingers. He rewarded her by dipping them back into her, closing his eyes and relishing the sound of her keening. There was no preamble as he pushed a finger inside her, thrusting twice and adding another.

“Take what you need, Tilly.” And she did. She rode his hand with abandon, crying out as he lifted a thumb to her clit, rubbing tight circles against her as she writhed. He knew she was close, and gods, he might follow right behind her like a youngling. She was a sight to behold, sitting like a true queen on the throne, and he’d gladly fall at her feet any day. He kissed her throat as he felt her pulse around his fingers, and grazed his teeth over her pulse while she screamed out. “Come for me, High Lady.” And with a scream, she did.

He tried to slow his motions to let her ride out the orgasm, but Tilly wasn’t done with him. Before he could even register the shift, she had her hands on his laces, pulling his cock free and lining herself up against him.

“Tilly, we don’t have to–” But he lost his ability to form a coherent thought as she slid down on him, the still-pulsing flutters within her dragging Eris to within an inch of his life. She’d wrapped her arms around his neck, and now she leaned in to tug his earlobe between her teeth. Eris was a goner. His hands gripped her hips hard enough to leave bruises, the bucking of his hips up into her frantic and erratic with need.

“Take what you need, Eris,” she parrotted back at him, and he could hear the smile on her lips as she said it, rolling her hips to meet his every thrust. He was rapidly losing control of the situation, as he often did with his mate, but he couldn’t find it in himself for even a moment to care. “Mark me as yours, High Lord.” And the thought of it undid him entirely.

He gripped her tightly to him as he went over the edge, her resounding cry echoing through the hall and letting him know she’d joined him. As they came down, held tightly in each other’s arms on the throne that had symbolized so much hate and pain, they let themselves start anew. Their breaths mingled and their hearts slowed to beat as one while they envisioned the new future that was open wide to them.

Tilly

They were late getting to Dawn, rushing through the halls, but they couldn’t stop giggling like children. Tilly wondered if she’d ever in her life been this truly happy. The laughter seemed to bubble up within her, breaking free from her throat unabashed and unrepentant, as if to live on just to spite Beron’s memory, despite the horror he’d wrought upon them. She knew it would take time to recover, but choosing to live and press on and experience every second of joy with the son he’d robbed of the life he deserved seemed a pretty good place to start.

They’d stumbled through the doors of the atrium late, the last ones to arrive, and paused their laughter long enough to have the decency to look somewhat embarrassed. She had to stifle another giggle as she noticed the high bloom of color on Eris’ cheeks, the tousled curls that spilled over his forehead, as he straightened his coat and walked her over to the chairs for Autumn and the amusement of his siblings. Tilly snuck a look to Alanna, the new High Lady of Day, who also appeared to be wrangling a genuine smile. The light in her eyes was almost enough to make Tilly stumble–she’d never seen Alanna so alive, and it immediately brought tears to her eyes. Alanna caught her stare and nodded to her, a somber yet grateful look passing between them. She hadn’t seen Alanna since everything had happened; they had much to catch up on, but Tilly was only happy she’d gotten out safely. So many times in that dungeon she’d worried about Alanna’s safety and hoped she wasn’t suffering, too.

Eris, as always, pointed out the people to her in a low voice as they watched. Thesan and his partner gave a brief introduction for the meeting, followed by Rhysand discussing the recent battle in Spring and the resulting meeting being called. He discussed the transfer of power in Autumn with another look to Tilly and Eris, who nodded back at him in acknowledgment. It felt good to know that, perhaps for the first time, there was real potential for all the courts to be aligned as one truly allied force.

Helion, next to Alanna and gripping her hand with the emotion that only a mating bond could provide, spoke to Tamlin’s partner, Penny. “How did you kill him?” Frankly, Tilly could hear these details millions of times and never tire of them. When she woke from nightmares, she liked to soothe herself back to sleep with the mental imagery of him burning from the inside out, eyes melting, organs popping like sausages over an open flame.

“I burned him with his own fire. From the inside out.”

Absolutely glorious, and exactly what he deserved.

She remembered his hideous, cruel face above her as she woke up strapped to that table. She remembered the way he caged her in the hall. She remembered the scars on Eris. A violent shudder went through her, and Eris’ hand was immediately on hers.

“You okay?” He whispered, low so only she could hear. She gave the briefest of nods.

“I wish I’d seen it.” She whispered back, and he laughed under his breath, giving her hand a squeeze in his but not dropping it.

“Me too.” He continued to hold her hand while the other courts asked Penny questions about her mirroring. She seemed eager and enthusiastic about answering, likely knowing it meant drawing more people to their cause. Tilly had never heard of the ability to mirror like Penny could–she was fascinated, and it seemed everyone else felt similarly. The demonstration of powers with the inventions from Dawn nearly blew her away. She couldn’t imagine how advantageous it would be to have that sort of power in a battle.

When it was all over, Tilly was already aching to go. While her body had physically healed, the exhaustion of the pregnancy had hit her just in time to not give her a single moment of a break. Before they could call the meeting to a close, however, Thesan spoke again.

“Thank you for the demonstration and your willingness to answer questions, Penny. Unfortunately, I think we must all address the pressing issue in the room. I’m sure I am not the only one with reservations about Spring after the last war.”

Tilly knew well of the background with Spring and the last war. Everyone did. But it had also seemed fairly clear to her how Tamlin had atoned for his part in everything. If Feyre and Rhysand of all people could forgive him the way they’d seemed to when she was in Spring, then surely everyone else could too.

“That is hardly fair, Thesan, and you well know it.” Feyre had spoken up, and though Tilly wasn’t very familiar with many of these fae, she saw the relief in Tamlin and Penny across the room, as well as the shock from some of the other courts. “Tamlin not only allowed us to rescue my sister from a Hybern camp, saving all our lives, but he came and fought for us in the final battle. He gave his power without question so that Rhys could live. Or have you forgotten?”

Tilly decided she liked Feyre at that moment–her reputation on the battlefield obviously preceded her, but Tilly felt like, even as a person, she was thoroughly good. They’d gotten off on a rough start–hopefully that could be remedied, especially if she were to become High Lady.

“Everyone in this room has done things they aren’t proud of, but this is about more than that. So my court will be putting petty squabbles and old grudges aside in favor of winning the upcoming war. I hope yours will, too.” Feyre’s words seemed to wave through the room and have the desired impact. She sat back down, and Helion moved to speak.

“I’m with the Night Court on this. Tamlin has shown he is a good male who made mistakes. There is no reason to continue holding what happened with Hybern over his head. Especially if Feyre has moved on.” Tilly wondered how Eris felt about Helion now, moreso now that Alanna was living with Helion, and it had turned out he was her mate. She made a note to discuss it further when they returned home. She felt Eris startle a bit next to her as his mother spoke, too.

“With the death of Beron, we have a chance to truly rule in peace with each other–one force to unite all of Prythian with peace and understanding. Let’s not let anything get in the way of that.” Tilly’s eyes burned violently with unshed tears as the pride she felt for her mother-in-law and friend swam in her chest. She could feel Eris’ emotions, too, ratcheting hers up even higher. Pregnancy was making her emotional about everything.

She focused on calming herself and her tears down as Tamlin addressed the room, giving a sincere apology that seemed to finally reach the ears of all in attendance. Rhysand took the opportunity to implore all the courts to stand together once more to fight for peace in Prythian.

Agreement scattered through the room, and it was decided. They’d meet again in the morning to formulate a plan, but for the night, they could retire. Tilly and Eris and the court had already decided to stay and talk to Helion and Alanna, but she was so looking forward to laying down in a soft bed and lifting her legs up on a pillow. As soon as she saw Alanna coming close, something broke inside of her and she took off, all but throwing herself into her arms and embracing her tightly.

“I am so, so sorry, Tilly. I would take it all from you if I could. No one deserves this, least of all you–are you…Are you–” Her eyes widened and shot to Eris, then back to Tilly, then down to her stomach. “Are you pregnant?” she whispered forcefully. Tilly took Alanna’s hands in her own, smiling and nodding through the tears as Alanna tossed her arms around her again, holding her other arm out blindly for Eris to join, which he did immediately. “My lovely, lovely children. I am so proud of you. So immensely, incredibly happy for you both.”

The Night Court and Spring Court began to walk over, so Eris pulled back and Tilly straightened up, taking a moment to clear the tears that seemed ever-present in her eyes for one reason or another now as Alanna and Helion talked with them. Lucien had come over with Night, and she could tell Eris had his eyes on him. She knew he’d want to talk to him alone at some point–he’d been planning what to say with Tilly all week.

Alanna spoke with Penny, holding her hands and pulling her close, too. Alanna deserved all the happiness in the world, and it thawed something in Tilly to see her so at ease. Penny deserved a veritable treasure trove for giving all of them this precious gift of freedom.

“Alanna and I cannot tell you how much it means to us,” Helion was saying to Penny. “You will always have an open invitation to Day to visit me and the High Lady.” He beamed at Alanna. He then shot a look to Lucien. “Perhaps you can also convince our son to come visit sometimes, bring my grandchild with him, even.” Alanna’s eyes shot to Tilly and Eris with a secretive smile on her lips, a grandmother twice over, now.

“I already told you we will visit.” Lucien said in exasperation. “As soon as the accepted mating bond calms down.” Eris made a face, and Tilly couldn’t help but let another laugh bubble up as she made her way over to Penny. She owed her more gratitude than words could measure, but she hadn’t been up to talking much the previous week. She owed her a proper introduction and thank you now that she felt able.

“While everyone is thanking you for killing the worst male to walk the continent, I must as well. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself the other day. My name is Matilda–Tilly. I’m Eris’ mate and wife. We could not be at the battle because I was trapped in Beron’s dungeons. We are eternally in your debt for what you’ve done for us.”

Penny wasn’t quick enough to disguise the horror on her face as she registered that Tilly had been in the dungeons, and Tilly fought the urge to flinch. Maybe she shouldn’t have opened with that. But Penny’s face transformed into one of compassion immediately.

“I hope that we will be good friends and neighbors, Tilly. As I said, killing him was my absolute pleasure.” Tilly felt joy rush through her at Penny’s words.

“We were working on it–apparently not as subtly as we’d thought.” Eris planted a kiss on her cheek, pulling her close and letting his hands slide over her hip to her stomach, his new favorite place to be.

The courts mingled a bit longer, moving across the hall to dinner after a while. They said goodbye to Penny and Tamlin, who were going back to their rooms for the night, and Tilly looked for a place where she could sit. Her exhaustion was all-encompassing, and her leg was beginning to ache again. She found a nice looking couch in the hall where they were all informally eating dinner and mingling, and Eris went to grab her a drink and a plate of food before he had to make his rounds, as well.

That’s where she was still nestled when Gwyn, Emerie, and Nesta found her, shoving an absurd amount of little sausages stuffed into croissants into her mouth. She’d made Eris get her a second plate of them, much to her own embarrassment and his endless amusement.

“Tilly! It’s so good to see you again. How are you healing?” Gwyn plopped down onto the couch beside her, pulling her in for a hug, which momentarily shocked Tilly.

“Good to see you, too, Gwyn. I’m pretty much healed, just dealing with some aches in my leg. Turns out a shattered femur doesn’t exactly heal perfectly, even for us.” Emerie and Nesta grimaced, taking seats on the other side of the couch and the adjoining chair.

“I’m not sure you’ve had a chance to formally meet yet, but this is Nesta and that’s Emerie. They’re Valkyries like me. Tilly is Eris’ wife, as I’m sure you both know.” Gwyn seemed like a talker, which would normally not be the sort of person Tilly was drawn to, but you couldn’t help but enjoy Gwyn.

“It’s good to meet you, Tilly. Anyone patient enough to tolerate Eris is good in my book.” Tilly fought the intrinsic urge to snarl, and instead chose to laugh and plant a smile on her face.

“I could say the same of the Inner Court of Night,” she shot back with a smirk, and Nesta guffawed openly.

“Yes, they’re awful,” she retorted playfully. Tilly decided she liked her.

“So, Gwyn, are you going to be making a visit to Autumn any time soon?” Gwyn blushed a bit.

“I actually did decide I would like to, if the offer still stands. It would be nice to look into my lineage. Azriel wants to come, too, but I know his history with Eris is…less than spectacular.” Tilly couldn’t hold back her smile, though Gwyn grimaced.

“You let me handle it. Azriel will be welcome to come, too. On my honor.” Gwyn’s face lit up, and something compassionate and gracious passed over Nesta and Emerie’s faces, too. “You’re both welcome anytime, as well. We’d really like to make good on the effort to be a more hospitable court now that the pall of Beron is gone.” The females all nodded, and then excused themselves to go get more food, Tilly aiming to fill another plate with those delectable little sausage treats.

She caught Eris’ eyes across the room as he spoke with Rhysand, Feyre, and Kallias. They sparked a bit as she smiled at him, that newly brightened flame flaring out a bit as he made his apologies to them, raising an inviting brow at her then exiting the room.

Was she ever going to tire of this back and forth?

The pull between them was relentless, but Tilly wondered if the mating bond and the hormones weren’t making it more intense for both of them. Tilly quickly said her goodbyes to Gwyn, Emerie, and Nesta, grabbing the plate of sausage rolls, and hauled her skirts in her hand to hustle out of the room behind him, listening to Rhysand’s retreating laugh fade behind her.

Taglist (lomls): @cauldronblssd @queercontrarian @byyalady @thelovelymadone @clockwork-ashes @lovingkelj @lilah-asteria

#acotar #a court of thorns and roses #eris x oc #eris vanserra #eris acotar #vanserra brothers #flame of autumn #arranged marriage #allies to lovers #eris vanserra x oc #acotar smut #Eris smut

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