throne of glass twitter/instagram/influencers fic? love your work!!💞
🥰🥰🥰 awwwww thank you!! i LOVE this concept omg let's see what the brain decides to crank out...
word count: ~1k
warnings: none?
enjoy!!
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Aelin threw her hands into the air in exasperation. "What do you mean, my numbers are dropping? I've been watching the charts myself, I'm not an idiot." She quieted for a moment, listening to the person on the other end of the call. "Yes, Lys, I know my content hasn't changed in a while. The hell do you want me to do about that?"
"Shake shit up, Ae," Lysandra returned. The sharp-tongued woman had been Aelin's manager for almost four years now, and while Aelin was indebted to Lys's expertise, she wasn't afraid to call her out on what she gracefully called her "buzzword bullshit."
"And just what brilliant thing are you going to suggest that I do to 'shake shit up,' my dear and very wise manager?" Aelin drawled.
Lys snorted a laugh. "I think it's time for a boyfriend reveal."
"Absolutely not. You know how Rowan feels about being on my social media. I'm not going to violate his trust like that."
"I'm not saying it has to be a full reveal," Lys clarified. "I just think you should consider posting some kind of reveal that you, the famously single power woman who only loves her book boyfriends, has a special someone in her life."
Aelin considered her manager's idea. "That's....well, that's not as terrible as some of your ideas have been." She chuckled at Lys's playful scoff. "I'll talk to Rowan, see what he thinks. Bye!" She waited for Lys to say goodbye and then ended the call and flung her phone across the room, landing it on her plush, pale grey sofa.
Rowan strolled out from the office, where he'd probably been watching her animated phone call through the glass doors. "What's wrong, love?"
"Fuckin' everything," she grumbled.
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest in comfort. "What specifically has you all frustrated, Ae?"
"You're too perceptive," she huffed, but a half smile curled her lips. "I... Lys told me my engagement numbers are flattening, and I love my audience and don't want them to be bored with me." She blew out a sigh. "Lys thinks I should do some kind of relationship reveal, because that shit spikes numbers like crazy."
"Do you think it's a good idea?" Rowan sat down on the couch, tugging Aelin with him.
"As an idea? Yeah, it's a great idea, and it's worked for literally every other influencer who's every posted about their relationships." She twisted the ring around her left middle finger. "As an idea for me? I'm not so sure. I won't make you do anything you're not interested in doing, and I know how you feel about being on my pages."
"What if I agreed?"
Aelin's jaw dropped. She pulled away from Rowan's side and faced him, her stunned gaze scanning his face for any sign that this was some kind of prank. "What?!"
He chuckled. "Let me explain. Yes, I heard you and Lys on the phone, but you knew that." She laughed softly and nodded. "Here's the thing. I don't want my image to be splashed all over the internet. However, if you're willing to agree, I'm okay with little pieces of us being out there."
She raised a brow. "Can you explain what you mean by 'little pieces of us?'"
"Like this." He grabbed her phone, swiped to the camera, and took a photo of their shoes lined up by the front door. "Little things--bits of our home but definitely not all of it, things like a close-up of our hands or matching outfits or something. Basically, I don't want my whole self in photos that you post, but I'm okay with the world knowing that you're mine."
"So possessive," she teased. She settled back down onto the couch, took her phone from his hand, opened to her notes app, and started typing ideas. "I'm honestly a little uncertain that I'm not dreaming, but yes, I agree to your terms."
"So formal," he teased, poking her in the side.
She yelped and scooted away from his wicked fingers. "Ro!" He grinned and held up his hands in surrender, and she relaxed. "You're absolutely sure about this?"
"I am." He laced his tattooed fingers with her ringed ones, stroking his callused thumb over her knuckles. "Call me a caveman all you want, but I'm ready to tell the world you're mine."
"Caveman," she snickered. Swiftly, almost without thinking, she picked up her phone, swiped to the camera, and captured a few different photos of her and Rowan's intertwined fingers, the aesthetically pleasing contrast of his tan, tattooed skin against her pale, silver-ringed fingers and manicured nails. Humming with satisfaction, she showed him her favorite photo. "What do you think?"
He swept a brief, appraising glance over the picture on her phone. "I think it's perfect." Smoothly, he rolled them over so she was half-sprawled on the couch and his arms were caging her in in the best possible way. "Why don't you go ahead and post it, and then we'll see how long I can keep you from checking your notifications?"
"Are you calling me addicted?" Aelin faked a dramatic gasp. "Why, how could you?"
Rowan chuckled. "Hardly, love. I'm just remarking that you're always glued to your phone right after you post, and I can think of a few ways to keep you...relaxed."
She smirked in that slow way that always set his blood afire. "What if I don't want to relax?"
"Then I'll wear you out."
Heat raced between her legs. "Rowan?"
"Hmm?" His hand--which had been inching steadily up her thigh--stilled. "Talk to me, love."
She exhaled deeply. "I...I need you to tell me yes one more time before I post this."
Quietly, firmly, Rowan reached over, locked his steady emerald eyes on her, and tapped the post button with his own finger.
Swiftly, Aelin put her phone on "do not disturb," turned off the screen, and tossed it onto the side table. "Ro?"
"Yes?"
Taking his hand, she settled it squarely between her legs. "I'm stressed about that post, love. I want to relax."
"That's my good girl," he murmured into her neck.
Then he stood, lifted her effortlessly into his arms, strode down the hallway to their bedroom, and kicked the door shut with a resounding slam.
~~~
TAGS:
@live-the-fangirl-life
@superspiritfestival
@thegreyj
@wordsafterhours
@elentiyawhitethorn
@morganofthewildfire
@backtobl4ck
@rowanaelinn
@house-of-galathynius
@tomtenadia
@julemmaes
@swankii-art-teacher
@charlizeed
@booknerdproblems
@chronicchthonic14
@earthtolinds
@goddess-aelin
@sweet-but-stormy
@clea-nightingale
@autumnbabylon
@darling-im-the-queen-of-hell
@llyncooljones
@silentquartz
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really love how throughout a lot of smith and jones martha is really skeptical and apprehensive towards ten (+ one of my favorite exchanges between them - "what, people call you 'the doctor'?" "yeah?" "well, i'm not. far as i'm concerned, you've got to earn that title."), not taking everything he says at face value, even doubting the fact he's an alien until over halfway through the episode.. And like. i really truly think the thing that wins her over isn't him kissing her or any of the other insane mixed messages he manages to send, it's this scene here, where he /earns that title/ in her eyes:
(+ david's bit in the commentary, where he says: "[the doctor] has actually sacrificed himself, and - i would say, that that final act of selflessness is what finally, eventually, welds martha to him. [...] and she now returns it. she returns that act of selflessness.")
this is what their relationship is built on. it isn't about martha being the second-best replacement to rose or a rebound or whatever. bc it isn't really about rose. it's about doctor-in-training martha meeting someone (quite literally, "the doctor") whose ideals she aspires to, and doing her best to be the same person to him as he is to everyone else. it's about ten in return admiring her intelligence and inquisitiveness and how she cares for human life, recovering his compassion, letting himself lean on her for support - and then remembering at the most inopportune moments that he's supposed to not need anyone and be on his own forever. And around in their little nightmare loop they go where they save each other over and over until one of them breaks
i've seen ppl look at martha and go "why she does she admire/why is she so in love with ten if he acts like that to her?" or something along those lines and like. it's not just the fact she's in love with him (in fact i'd argue she actively tries to push it aside post-gridlock). it's the fact that she knows he's the kind of person to put everyone else's lives/well-being over his own. she trusts him to save her when she's in trouble even though it's been like two days at most that they've known one another bc she recognizes that same "deep all-encompassing drive to help others" in him. and she also recognizes, much much earlier than him, that he needs someone to save him, especially when he's unwilling to save himself. and yeah for a bit she thinks he returns her feelings and is just playing hard-to-get, but she realizes pretty early on that this probably isn't the case, and i think that realization fully solidifies here:
(this is when she's listening to ten talk abt gallifrey). And idk it might just be me but i think this expression isn't just her empathizing with his loss. it's also guilt, for wanting something from him that he's clearly unable to give when he's wracked with so much grief. (and you see it in the next episode, where tallulah asks if they're together and martha says for certain that they're not, and that he doesn't know about her feelings for him. she keeps everything to herself bc she now knows that when he shut her flirting down at the end of 3x01 it was the genuine reaction of someone who a) isn't interested and b) is scared of getting close with someone else again)
freema described their dynamic as "she's keener than him" and i think about this all the time. martha doesn't really take what ten throws at her. what she does instead is constantly poke holes in his already-failing front of "i will show someone the wonders of the universe so i can ignore what is wrong with me". what she does is stand up and fight him when he tries to go off on his own. what she does is put aside her well-being in favor of helping someone - just like what she saw him do for the people in the hospital when they first met. tldr, that's the doctor and his doctor and rip martha you would've loved who's gonna save u now by rina sawayama
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