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betasquadx · 7 months

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- Niko Omilana nsfw alphabet -

nobody asked for this but I made it anyway💋

A/N : This is heavily inspired by @kennysboxergf ‘s one!! Go check them out<3!! Also I was inspired by a sub niko fic I saw a while ago, please tag them because I can’t find it now. It was, and is my roman empire.

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A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

He is showering you with kisses, whether it be on the neck, cheek, forehead, or somewhere else (🫢) he’s kissing you, everywhere.

Gives you a hot water bottle and cuddles you on the bed while telling you how much he loves you. When its time for a shower or bath he’s carrying you over and helping you clean up.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

He loves his hands, no questions asked. He loves the way they’re long and slender and can make you feel weak with just 1 or 2.. probably more. He probably also loves his height, the way he can stand over you and have that advantage that makes you feel intimated in a good way, turns him on yk.

For you, he’s a tit man 100%. Im not hearing ''he’s actually an ass ma-” no. He’s a tit man. He loves to touch them, suck them, bite them, kiss them, lick them, you get me, anything.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Loves seeing you covered in his or yours, he doesn’t care. Probably rushes to clean it up after as he doesn’t like it when it dries, trying to make you and him clean.

Would also probably cum on your tits so he can play with them as he cleans you up.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Please tell me i’m not the only one thinking he can be submissive? (Or its just cause I love submissive men but we’ll ignore that!!) Like I swear he’s 100% both.

Like when he’s dominant, he’s very dominant. Pounding into you, dirty talking, praising, choking even.. but when he’s submissive..he’s whining, whimpering your name, begging, feel like he’d be good for you tho, like he’d only be a brat sometimes. He loves when you praise him after he does what you say.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

He knows what he’s doing, probably had a good few relationships before so he’s definitely not inexperienced, he is open to trying new things out with you and exploring stuff if you want too and would never make you do something you feel uncomfortable with!!

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

1 word. Cowgirl. Im telling you he loves it. He loves the way even when your on top of him he can thrust his hips ups making you hold onto him as he plays with your breasts,

he loves to look up at your face contorted in pleasure as he goes faster making you weak.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Goofy oh my days💀, mans would be full on cracking jokes after he just made you unable to walk what? Even in the heap of the moment too he’d throw in a quick one.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

I’d say its well kept care off, there is hair down there but not a lot, he definitely looks after himself tho.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

He’s very intimate. Loves pleasuring you, like he’d be the type to eat you out for an hour maybe more, just to see your face. He loves whispering praises in your ear, telling you how good your doing and how your beautiful.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Icl he probably wanks all the time to you. Even if its only 1 night without you, he’d be in his room, imagining your head on his cock, teasing himself essentially,

going slower then faster and repeat as he lets out moans as loud as he wants too, you think he care’s if someone hears him? He’d get turned on of that too.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Like I said before he loves praise. Praising you, telling you about how gorgeous you are, assuring you that your doing good, but he also loves when you praise him, as I also said he’d be submissive.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

He’d do it anywhere. He definitely prefers your bedroom or his but I can see him getting turned on by doing it in a public bathroom, loves the idea of someone walking in on yous.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Everything. You bend over in the kitchen, your fucking in the kitchen. Start rubbing his thigh under a table while your out? Your fucking in the public bathroom. He’s sensitive and probably gets worked up easily.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He’s pretty much open to try anything, but he probably wouldn’t be into degrading you physically like causing physical pain, don’t get me wrong he loves slightly choking you but only to the point where you’re getting pleasured, he wouldn’t go beyond that.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Giving 100%. Now, he does love when your down there, your mouth on his cock, teasing him slowly as he starts to loose composure, he loves that.

But.. he prefers giving more. Loves when he’s in between your thighs, eating you out slowly as your legs start shaking so much you squeeze him softly.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Both, depends on his mood. Slow and sensual, where he goes slowly, kissing you, moving all the way down to your neck leaving soft kisses and hickeys, telling you that your beautiful as he looks up at you with fond eyes.

But he also likes fast and rough, the tension, pounding into you, hearing you beg, your moaning, the way you can barely speak as he speeds up, the dirty talking? Definitely both.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

They happen a lot with the fact yous fuck in public places, however, he doesn’t like them because he can’t properly take care off you after, so yes, they happen a lot but its not preferred.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He takes a lot of risks. Fucking in public places especially moaning loudly so people can hear, he loves risky situations. However he wouldn’t put you in danger.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

He can last a good few rounds but it depends on the night and how horny he is. He can last pretty long tho, even after your teasing.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He didn’t ever really own any or was interested in them, he’s confident in the fact he can pleasure you without them, but if you ever wanted too he would try them, especially on himself.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He’s a tease. Both of you are. You both try to tease each other to see who will break first and who will last the longest.

However once it gets too much he’ll definitely let you know, and probably start begging you too.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Same as in real life, he’s LOUD. Like he doesn’t care, he grunts and groans in your ears while also whimpering when you are teasing him,

letting out high pitched whines and gasping noises as he begs you, he doesn’t care. You’ve lost track on the amount of noise complaints you’ve gotten as you started going out with him.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

As well as your tits he loves your thighs. Slapping them, rubbing them, kissing them, sucking them? The lots. When he’s eating you out and you close them as he gazes up at you? He loves that.

But he probably goes feral when you tease him.. more specifically his thighs , rub them slowly while you praise him? He’d fold. Slap them and he’d let out the biggest whine. It makes him weak.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Mans is PACKIN. 9 inches at least bro I don’t even know if thats erect.. he’s not very thick but he’s long. Loves the way he hits all the spots in you, making you jump in pleasure or buck your hips upwards.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

His sex drive is fucking high. He wants you all the time its insane. If he knows your even the slightest bit horny he’ll go for it, anywhere and everywhere.

Especially if you tease him, most of the time it’ll catch him off guard and if you do it all day expect him to give you a taste of your own medicine when you get home.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Im not even joking when I say that even after a good few rounds he can stay awake for at least 2 hours. After taking care of you, cleaning you up, I’d say he’d talk to you for a while, maybe even watch a movie, and then go asleep.

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Hope yous enjoyed this as much as I did🤭.

#niko omilana #aj shabeel #beta squad #chunkz #king kenny #kingkennytv #sharky #ndlqz

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ghostoffuturespast · 5 months

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Works In Progress 2023: A Cyberpunk 2077 Year In Review

I thought for a hot minute about doing one of those snazzy templates that’s been going around, but editing photos just ain’t my MO and rather than going by month I picked 12 favs that I’ve posted in 2023. Some of them were popular, some of them weren't. Overall, I think I did pretty good for just doing vanilla photomode on console.

You might be wondering why there's a picture of a sticky note. I don't remember when I started doing this, and I'm horribly inconsistent as you can see by the dates, but I'll jot down my word count for my wip chapter and then jot it down again when I remember to later.

I write slow. A lot of times I sit down to write and it feels like the wheels are spinning in place. My minutes and hours don't stretch very far, typically don't add up to much. But days, weeks, months. That's when I can at least measure the progress.

Fic: So It Goes 40/44 - 438,946 words

My V x River Ward and tinfoil hat conspiracy theory long fic. I've spent way more hours on this then I have on any of my VP.

I got tagged by @just-a-cybercroissant @therealnightcity and @wanderingaldecaldo to do some WIP Whenevers. I post my VP pretty regularly, so it’s always seemed silly to do work in progress posts for them, and I don’t know when I’ll have any new writing to share since in between work and the holidays, I haven’t had much time to sit down with anything since my last chapter update. And I've been feeling very... stingy, lately. Especially when it comes to mine and other people's writing. So take this WIP/Year In Review as my offering. Both these series, as am I, are all very much still works in progress.

I confined my reflections for this year below the cut. If you don’t want to read my long-ass essays, you can admire the pictures, maybe check out my fic, or just move along and have yourself a lovely day.

We’ll start with the easy one.

After at least a year of multiple playthroughs (I’ve played all the lifepaths, done all the endings), it only occurred to me at the beginning of this year to start taking VP. Part of the reason I never did before was because I didn’t realize it was a thing and then by the time I did, I figured I didn’t have much to offer. I play on PS5 and only have access to vanilla photomode, so seeing everyone else’s high-fidelity, ultra ray-tracing, modded, posed, full on virtual photo shoot photos, I was like there’s no way. (Not that I’m hating on PC modders, it’s just not everyone has access to mods or a PC capable of running the game, and I’m all for making art and creative endeavors accessible.) On top of that, all I’d ever heard from most other folks was how much vanilla photomode sucked. In the glamorous world of VP, I didn’t think there was any room for me.

But I started snapping pics anyway. And sure, there are a lot of limitations with vanilla photomode. But what that really translates to is opportunities to get creative. I am also a hoe for subverting people’s expectations, and very much believe when there’s a will, there’s a way.

Environmental and landscape shots were my first subjects before I started branching out into portraits and then capturing story moments. Through VP I found an entirely new way to enjoy a game that I’d already played a ridiculous number of times along with also finally being brave enough to share my V with other people too. I’d always worried about that before, if people would like her. Granted, I know Grandpa’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but whether you like her or not, I certainly think she’s made a name for herself over the past few months. Even if most people haven’t really gotten to know her the way I’d hoped.

I’ve taken hundreds of photos this past year. Most of which I’ll never share. There’s a lot of flops, a lot of weird experiments, ones that didn’t quite turn out the way I’d hoped, but I’ve learned something from every single one of them. I know how to spot good lighting, frame shots to create optical illusions, get a very limited toolkit to work in my favor, parkoured on all of the things, and heck, I even figured out how to make Grandpa smooch other NPCs. I’ve done atmospheric, mundane, down right goofy, as well as things that most people probably thought weren’t fucking possible.

I can’t say how long I’ll keep doing this, I’m sure I’ll move on at some point, but for now I’m still enjoying myself. There's a lot to explore in this game and I just can’t stop digging Night City.

Now, for the more complicated thing.

Writing

So It Goes… My peace, my war, my greedy and most ravenous of ghosts.

I’m operating under the assumption that most people following me here probably haven't read my fic or aren’t all that interested in reading it to begin with. It’s fine. But you need to understand this fic, my writing, is the main thing that brought me here. This is also Grandpa V’s story. Most of you have met her, but unless you've been reading, most of you do not know her.

I wrote around 185,000 words and posted 10 chapters this year. 2022 was about 253,000 words and 30 chapters, along with several unrelated one shots. However, I don’t think I’ve done a single chapter this year that was less then 10k, and my longest managed to hit 27k. As of the last update I posted, the fic is currently sitting at around 439k words, 40 chapters, and still isn’t done.

I have four more chapters to write. I have written a metric shit ton of words. This is, by far, the longest and most intense creative project I’ve ever endeavored to complete.

When I started writing, I was expecting this fic to be around 100-150k. That seemed to be the average for most long fics. I did not plan on being an outlier. I'm not sure you can ever really plan for that, but I guess I enjoy subverting my own expectations too.

For those of you who are reading my fic, it is my sincerest hope that it shatters every expectation of where you think it’s going. It’s not a joke that I tagged my fic “#an ode to my tinfoil hat”. An ode it has turned out to be. I’ve been sitting on this theory for two years. I have told no one about it. I hope it sticks the landing and hits the way I want it to. I don't know if it will. But fuck, I just want to be done with it so I can move on with my life, take a break, and give myself the opportunity to make and focus on other things before I have to get back on the damn horse.

I wrote less this past year then I did in 2022. I had a lot of life changes, most of which were good, but with times of change come times of adjustment. Along with some realizations that maybe you don’t understand as much as you thought you did. Looking back, I’ve been in a state of unsettled, kuzushi, for a really long time. Which is not a good place to be. It’s how your ass ends up on the ground with a knee knocking out all your teeth. I thought I knew better. Thought I had enough practice to get away from it. But bad habits have good memories.

I think given the circumstances, I accomplished a lot with my writing this year. I don’t know if my writing is exactly where I want it to be. I doubt it every will be, but it’s evolved, grown, and I wrote a pretty hefty stack of words considering I started working full-time again, bought a house with my partner, moved, and have been dealing with the millions of other beans that life tends to throw one’s way. That being said, and for full disclosure, I’ve also been dealing with some of the worst cases of jealousy and envy I’ve had since I was a teenager.

Frankly, it sucks. They walk with me every fucking where I go, hold my hands to whisper back all my doubts. Try to persuade me to my baser instincts, to be cruel and lash out. But that's not aikido. Luckily, I’m not 16 anymore so it’s at least been easier for me to identify the problem. Though I’m still coming up short in terms of actually being able to do anything about it, and will be for at least a few months more.

Yeah, I keep talking about it because I don’t know how many people know that I've been feeling this way. And I’m tired of not talking about it in a room full of creatives, because yeah, I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. And not talking about it just makes all that pent up resentment worse for everyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I love writing. But with the way I work and think, it’s a slow, tedious, and incredibly time-consuming art. With how much my fic has snowballed over the course of writing, it’s left very little room for the other hobbies in my life. And as my fellow writers probably already know, writing is an incredibly insular craft. And unlike a picture or an image, which only requires a glance, reading a bunch of words requires time and commitment.

So, when you put yourself out there and share what you wrote, it’s a lonely feeling not knowing whether or not anyone connected with what you put on the page. Especially, when the people who do read aren’t compelled to voice anything and when the people you’d hope would read don’t. And then you're stuck in the dark, not knowing, because neither of us says a goddamn thing.

I started writing this fic prior to actually joining the CP2077 fandom. And I joined the fandom because I felt alone. I’ve been here a while now, albeit in a few different places, and that feeling still hasn’t gone away. I’m still trying to find camaraderie with my fellow writers and carve out something that kinda sort of resembles a home or a sense of community. I watch my peers around me as they seem to build that with each other, except me.

I’m envious of the things that people make and jealous of the relationships those have created and fostered between said people, because for the life of me, it’s been a struggle to cultivate that since I got here. I know it’s selfish, but I also don’t know what about me makes people so hesitant. There have been a handful of strangers that have shown up for me regularly, but as far as people I call friends in this fandom that have shown up and actually stuck around, I can only name one right now. (I know we're all busy. And I acknowledge my writing's not for everyone. I know maybe some of you are quiet, or shy, or probably a thousand other things. I get it. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt any less. People will never know unless you say. Never know unless you take the time to interact or engage. Be brave. And that's true for a lot of things.)

The propensity is for the negative to outweigh the positive. I've got a lot of numbers on my fic, so you would think things would be fine, but at this point they just feel empty. They don't bring me any comfort or real satisfaction. And I hate feeling like the people I know don’t care and that most of you are just talking around me. That I’m some kind of annoyance not fit to interact with. Which may or may not be the case. I don’t know. Again, most of you have never said anything. And maybe I need to accept the fact that most of you never will.

But this is me trying to start conversation.

It’s really shitty, knowing that the thing I want the most is also the thing holding me back. I know how to work on it too, not that it’s any guarantee. The problem is I’m still writing and in a needy state of greed. And because I’m slow, I don’t have the time or the energy to be generous. I can only take right now. I can’t give.

Relationships require both.

I can’t bring myself to read other people’s writing. I can’t comment, or like, or share if I haven’t read anything. I'm desperate for conversation, but I also don't have the time or assurance to facilitate it with other people right now. And for some reason people never seem to want to talk to me, especially when it comes to writing. I want to be part of conversations, talk deeply with other people. But I can’t speak right now, I'm not in a place to offer generosity without someone first giving it to me.

And generosity and grace is what we all need.

Four more chapters and I hope my ghosts will finally let me read in peace.

#cyberpunk 2077 #2023 year in review #year in review #virtual photography #writing #from the top #fic: so it goes #long post #i can't guarantee a safe space but i can guarantee a brave space #if anyone's been feeling similarly and wants to talk about it my dms are open #the door's always open

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zevraholics · 2 years

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ZevWarden Week 2022

What is it? A week (this year, September 4th - 10th) of creating new fan content, sharing it, and celebrating the wonderful relationships between your favourite Grey Warden(s) and Zevran Arainai. How to participate: Feel free to follow the daily prompts as inspiration for whatever ZevWarden-related content your heart desires. Fics, art, meta discussions - everything goes! Remember to tag your works appropriately (ie. #nsfw or #zevistair) and most of all, have fun!

Prompts:

Sunday, September 4: Culture

Monday, September 5: Gold

Tuesday, September 6: Fights and Reconciliation

Wednesday, September 7: Alternate Universes

Thursday, September 8: Promises

Friday, September 9: Death

Saturday, September 10: Seasons

Like previous years, we took each prompt and gave it two different spins. Choose whichever inspires you, or take the base prompts in your own direction!

Tag your content with #zevwarden week 2022 or tag us on your post and we’ll reblog it here. *Any art found to be whitewashing Zevran will not be shared.

Day 1 - Sunday, September 4 - Culture

Culture shock "Now, if it is all the same to you, I would prefer not to speak more of Antiva. It makes me wistful and hungry for a proper meal." What does Zevran think about life in Ferelden that we don't get to see in-game? If your Warden and Zevran ever travel anywhere else, what's familiar and what comes as a surprise?

Cultural exchange "Loving a place is not the same as never desiring to be elsewhere." Either at home or abroad, do the Warden and Zevran experience new foods, festivals, or traditions together? How do Zevran and the Warden deal with their cultural differences and similarities?

Day 2 - Monday, September 5 - Gold

Trinkets "You do seem to stumble onto treasure on a regular basis, somehow." Between the infamous earring and all the looting the Warden does over the course of the Blight, it’s easy for the pair of them to accumulate quite a few trinkets. Are there any things in particular they each collect? What kinds of things do they save for each other?

Money "Ah, the bustle of a market district! The pickpocket's home away from home!" We know a little bit about Zevran's relationship to money, but what about the Warden's? Do Zevran and the Warden have enough of it, post-Blight? Do they have more than they know what to do with? How do they make a living and how do they spend what they've got? Also fun for this prompt: stories about stealing or bartering.

Day 3 - Tuesday, September 6 - Fights and Reconciliation

Arguments "You are a very frustrating person to deal with, do you know that?" Do the Warden and Zevran ever fight, either verbally or with weapons? Perhaps your Warden or Zevran (or both) get into a disagreement with somebody else. How do they resolve it or fail to resolve it?

Kiss and make-up "Running a bit hot and cold, are we? Fair enough. Let's get back to business." What helps the Warden and Zevran deal with tension after a tough moment? Are they quick to forgive or does it take them a little longer to work things out? Do they prefer to work things out with conversation or more physically?

Day 4 - Wednesday, September 7 - Alternate Universes

Variations on DAO "Taliesen offered to come to the ambush with me and I said, 'Taliesen, I don't need any help. This Grey Warden is a new recruit. How hard could it be?' But then, if I had been more open-minded to his help, either you would be dead or I would be. So it was better I refused. Huh." What would happen if Zevran met your Warden before the contract? Does your Warden end the Blight in a way the game's endings don't allow? This version of the prompt is for reimagining the story of DAO in a new way.

Completely new setting "I feel like we've just entered a Grand Cleric's bedchambers, where no one has gone before." Got an idea for the characters as vampires, mermaids, or living in a painstakingly historically accurate Qing Dynasty, China? The crew playing D&D in a college AU? Go wild.

Day 5 - Thursday, September 8 - Promises

Promises kept "In truth, for the chance to be by your side, I would storm the Dark City itself." Which promises do Zevran and the Warden make to each other? How do they come to make those promises? Are there ever moments when there is a price to be paid for keeping a promise?

Promises broken "What are promises? There are many kinds, spoken and unspoken, and yet we break them all the same, yes? They do not matter." Do Zevran and the Warden ever break a promise made to each other? Why do they break it—is it for a good reason? How does the other party react?

Day 6 - Friday, September 9 - Death

Near-death experiences "I landed in the river and nearly drowned. I was fished out by some urchins who robbed me blind. Made off with my boots, too. At least they didn't cut my throat." Zevran and the Warden meet for the first time in a failed assassination attempt. Whether dramatic or humorous or some of both, Zevran and the Warden have had many brushes with death in their adventures. Share a moment from one of those times.

Laid to rest "It's unfortunate, but death comes to us all. If not me, then some wasting disease. Or a fall down the stairs.Or at the hands of a darkspawn. It's all relative, in the end." No one escapes death. This is the prompt to share a moment of triumph after a battle, complex feelings after a successful assassination, or offer a character a peaceful death at home.

Day 7 - Saturday, September 10 - Seaons

Seasons of the year "In Antiva it rains often, but the flowers are always in bloom... or so the saying goes." Do Zevran and the Warden celebrate holidays together? Which, and how? Does Zevran struggle with Fereldan winter, and the Warden with Antivan summer? What specific activities do they enjoy doing in each season?

Seasons of life "It's true. I live a charmed life. One of the prostitutes that raised me was a fortune teller. Said I wouldn't die young. She was rather startled by that." As characters hit new life milestones and grow older, what is a significant event that happens in their lives together? Did either of them expect or even wish for that milestone to happen in their life?

#zevwarden week 2022 #zevwarden week #zevwarden #zevran x warden #zevran arainai #zevran #dragon age #dragon age origins #dragon age fanfiction #dragon age fanart #zevraholics anonymous

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darlingvernon · 2 years

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you’ve got mail! | 02.

Author: darlingvernon (prev nonrevblr)

Pairing: Chwe Hansol x Fem Reader

Genre: strangers to lovers, college au, penpal au

Rating: 18+

Warnings: swearing

Word Count: 3,603

Description: The concept of Equivalent Exchange is not foreign to you, and since you need Jeonghan to participate in a Social Experiment for your Psych Thesis, you inevitably have to participate in his too. It isn’t the walk in the park you thought it would be, especially when your penpal Vernon keeps knocking down the walls that you’ve built; scratching an itch you couldn’t reach.

Author’s Note: I hope you guys enjoy! Please send me an ask if you'd like to be added to the tag list :)

“Goddamnit,” you curse, pacing the room with your phone glued to your ear while waiting on hold for the hostess to get back to you.

Grabbing the empty glass from the desk, you head over to the kitchen sink and refill it. The cool water coursing through your veins does very little to soothe you and as you resist the urge to find out how much time has passed, the pit in your stomach deepens. Frustrated, you rub your hand over your face and resume your pacing.

The invitation that your office chair offers is far too tempting, so you deposit yourself in it, drumming your fingers against the oak to the tune of the dreadful hold music playing through your phone. Almost all companies use the same standard tune and it boggles your mind, because the melody doesn’t convince you to want to stay on the line.

Rather, it has the opposite effect, making you want to bash your head against the wall before jumping out the window.

Okay, that’s a little dramatic, you think to yourself as you grab your pen and proceed to draw circles on the notepad that it was on. Even though you only feel this way because of the stress of current events, you promise your future self to choose a different type of tune to play as your on hold music, when you finally become the career woman you have been working hard to be.

But, you barely have time to think about that when you’re still trying to solve the issue at hand, one that may prove to derail your entire social experiment.

As you long to hear the voice of the hostess who hopefully has some good news to deliver, you sit back and wonder how this could have happened. A meticulous planner like yourself couldn’t have made such a simple error. You made sure to check the dates twice, thrice even, before making the bookings because Crema is on the fancier side, especially with their price point still on the affordable end. They were bound to be busy, so you made sure to plan every single detail to a tee.

“Y/N, are you still there?” Lisa, the hostess, breaks through your thoughts.

“How did you go?” you ask, making sure to cross your fingers in the process. “Is everything all good?”

“First, I’d like to apologise about what’s happened.” Lisa offers and the anxiety grows in your stomach. “The person you spoke with when you made the bookings was only a trainee, and that happened to be his first day on the job. He should never have confirmed those dates without checking with a more senior hostess or the manager.”

The grip you have on your phone tightens as you wait for her to drop the bomb that will blow up your entire project.

“Luckily, he at least entered them correctly on our Reservations system,” Lisa reveals and you almost want to reach through the phone and hug her. “So, the five dates you’ve booked for are secured and we’ll be seeing Jaebeom and Patricia tonight.”

Shooting up from your chair, you pull the phone away from your ear and dance in celebration. “Thank you so, so much,” you reply cheerily and the hostess giggles, clearly having heard your little jig but you can’t even find it in yourself to care at the moment. “I truly appreciate your hard work and I’m glad they’ll be in good hands.“

Goodbyes are exchanged and your eyes close in relief as soon as the line goes dead. Allowing your feet to carry you towards the bed, you unceremoniously dump your whole weight on it, bouncing twice on the mattress beneath you. The tension slowly releases from your body, the further your body sags into the bedding.

Before you can relax further, a familiar ring tone filters through the air, interrupting your peace. Not bothering to look at your phone, you swipe to answer.

“Hannie, if you’ve got a problem, I’m hanging up,” you desperately warn him.

“What the hell is up your butt?” Jeonghan asks incredulously.

You sigh, “I’ll tell you next time, let’s deal with this first. Do you bring good news or bad news?”

“It’s neither,” he answers and you’re thankful that he doesn’t prod further. “I’m just about to head out to meet Stephanie at Wonderland, but I’m no psychic. How am I supposed to know where to meet her and what she looks like?”

“Ah yes, I’m sorry, I was meant to send you a text but then my whole thesis was on the brink of collapsing.” You remember now. “Yes, please meet her at the ticket booth. She’ll be wearing a white shirt filled with sunflowers. What about you? Are you gonna be sticking out like a sore thumb or what?”

“God, you’re s—”

“Dramatic? Yes, I know.”

“Actually, I was going to say ‘a pain in my ass’,” he corrects and you roll your eyes, even though you know he can’t see you. “I’ve got a Spider Man shirt on, if that helps?”

“Nice! Yeah, I’ll let her know. Try to have fun out there and don’t forget to let me know all about it.”

“Yeah, we will.” He laughs. “Wait, before you go, you need to hold up your part of the deal too.”

Sitting up at the mention of your pen pal, you’re apologetic to Jeonghan. “Shit, I can’t believe I forgot. I’ll get on to it tonight as well. I promise!”

“Sounds good. Good luck to both of us, I guess.”

“Yeah, we’ll need it. Bye!”

Once you hang up, you bury your face on your pillows and allow yourself a few minutes more to relax. Slowly sliding out of bed, you trudge over to your desk where your laptop is, stretching your neck along the way to release the last bits of stress from your last predicament.

With newfound determination, you turn on your laptop and log in to the dummy email that Jeonghan had given you, preparing yourself to get in contact with your pen pal.

As you wait for the page to load, grumbling about how your college should really have much better Wi-Fi, it dawns on you that Jeonghan hasn’t given you the topic you’re supposed to discuss, nor has he provided your pen pal’s details. Just as you’re about to reach for your phone to call and ask him about it, your laptop notification sounds off and grabs your attention.

‘You’ve Got Mail!’ it reads.

Suddenly, you remember the conversation that you had with Jeonghan back in the library all those weeks ago. He mentioned that your pen pal would be the one to reach out first and sure enough, the email is there as soon as you close off the dialogue box. Quickly skimming through, you realise that this was sent to you a few days ago and it’s probably why Jeonghan asked you to start tonight.

Sighing, you make a mental note to apologise to your pen pal about the tardiness of your reply.

[To: [email protected]] [From: [email protected]] [Subject: ice cream]

hi there,

uhh, this is bands boy (*cringe i’m so sorry, jeonghan made this username for me T-T) and i’m your new pen pal

i’m not really supposed to give out my real name or anything that may reveal who i really am, though jeonghan did say that you knew that i was one of his frat brothers?

i’m also a music major and i love anything to do with cats

how do you know him and how did you get roped into this?

jeonghan also mentioned that he’s already told you how this is all going to work with the topics, so let’s get down to business i guess. the question of the week (sorry for the spoiler in the title lol) is:

“what is your favourite ice cream?”

yeah, i know. random as fuck. i’m guessing he wants us to start off easy then he’s probably going to make us suffer later am i right? haha

anyway, i’m super boring and i generally like all flavours — i mean ice cream is ice cream, it’s always gonna be delicious — but if i had to choose, i’m going with chocolate. yeah… boring haha.

well, i guess it’s your turn now. i look forward to hearing from you.

bands boy, signing out

He’s funny, you think to yourself, cheeks hurting from all the smiling you’ve been doing as you read his email. All the thoughts you had about how boring this pen pal business was gonna be, can now be thrown out the window and set on fire, never to be seen again.

Preparing yourself to write back, you reach over for your pen and notepad, making sure you jot down the important things that you need to reply to as you read his email a second time. A third for good measure. The fourth read through almost makes you want to admit something else until you remember that he’s been waiting three whole days for you to reply.

Taking a deep breath, you stretch your limbs and touch your fingertips to the keyboard.

[To: [email protected]] [From: [email protected]] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 6:40PM]

well, hello there, bands boy.

i am so, so sorry that my reply has been delayed! i swear i didn’t mean to ghost you. it’s just that my psych thesis (spoiler alert: that’s how i know jeonghan) was kicking my ass this week so it completely slipped my mind to check my email. please forgive me T-T

also, if it’s any consolation, jeonghan also gave me a username that’s equally as cringe. you can call me girl magnetic *shudders* i’ll tell you all about it if you tell me what the go is with bands boy? no pressure though!

a music major, huh? that’s so neat! as i said before, i’m a psych major so jeonghan roped me into this because he’s helping me with my thesis too.

also, i don’t view cats the same i’m sorry T-T i sure love dogs though!

so, he wants to know about our fave ice cream flavour? that is random haha. you’re probably right though and we have to suffer later… but it’s okay. i’ll just kick his ass :)

hmm… i’d have to say that i am just as boring as you because ice cream is ice cream — you’re so right — but coffee flavour is the one that gets me going. actually, coffee in general gets me going dfsdkdsfjdkj

anyway, that’s it from me. for now i guess? lol? i look forward to hearing from you… too?

kind regards, girl magnetic

Whoosh! There goes your email.

Feeling accomplished, you give yourself a congratulatory pat on the back and relax in your seat. At least, until something in your email catches your eye. “Kind Regards?” you read the offending words out loud. “Kind Regards?! Did I really just say that? God, can I be any more embarrassing?”

Sighing, you reach for your phone and quickly browse through every social media platform you use, to distract yourself from your blunder.

Several miles away, Vernon is intently staring at his laptop screen, trying to think of a way to word a particular sentence for the essay he’s working on. He’s been stuck at this point much longer than he’d like and before he can think of having a break, a dialogue box pops up, informing him of his pen pal’s response.

A welcome distraction, he smiles as his eyes glide through the words from your email. As he reads on, thoughts about who you could be and what you could look like run rampant in his mind. He decides that a second read through is required so that he can analyse your message further.

From the teasing way you started the email, to the sweet apology of your tardiness and especially the way you talk about Jeonghan, makes him more interested in getting to know you than he initially planned. He laughs as soon as your username Girl Magnetic sinks in, not because he thinks it’s funny, but because you do seem to have that aura about you, based on these few paragraphs alone.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity he’s been given, he throws all caution to the wind, typing away his response and hitting send before he can regret it.

Ping! You’ve Got Mail!

Confused, you lean back to check the time on the microwave that’s tucked away in the corner of your kitchen, squinting as you do so. Six Forty-Five. It’s only been five minutes since you sent your reply and you can’t believe he’s already responded. His swiftness takes you by surprise considering you’re still reeling from the awkward ending of your previous email. With a sigh, you bite the bullet and open his message.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 6:45PM]

hey there, girl magnetic

don’t even sweat it. jeonghan warned me that you’d be too busy to reply straight away. but, he did ask me today if you’ve already sent a reply. so if he was on your ass, sorry about that.

he mentioned that you would be contacting me tonight so that’s why i saw your message and now i’ve replied really quickly but i hope that it doesn’t make me seem eager… i’m babbling aren’t i? haha

so you want to know about bands boy? ah, it’s very embarrassing but since you’ve sweetened the deal, i’ll tell you about it.

bands boy is the name of a song i wrote for a music project lol. if you’re keen, i’ll let you hear it once this penpal business is over and done with? over coffee? since you love it so much? haha

so, girl magnetic, what’s your story?

bands boy, signing out

ps. i’m gonna forgive you about the cats because i love dogs too!

You have to hand it to Jeonghan, he definitely chose the right person for you to exchange letters with. Not even the prospect of his smug smirk that will result from your admission, can wipe the smile off your face. Not wanting to leave him hanging, you quickly type out your reply.

[To: Bands Boy] [From: Girl Magnetic] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:00PM]

oh, i am most definitely keen to hear bands boy. especially over coffee. i’m gonna hold you to it after this experiment so you better not forget!

the story behind girl magnetic is really not as interesting as yours. it just happens to be a song that a guy wrote to confess to me that’s all. the embarrassment T-T especially because i wouldn’t return his feelings and he was just… *shudder* lol

anyway, it’s a story for another time. i hope you weren’t doing something important when i sent my email?

x girl magnetic

ps. your babbling is cute

Biting your lip, you wonder if he’ll reply straight away like he previously did. Not wanting to miss it if he does, you carry your laptop with you to the kitchen, placing it on the benchtop as you scour your fridge for last night’s leftovers.

When Vernon reads your next message, his knee almost slams itself into the top of the table from its incessant bouncing. Ever since he replied to you, he’s been worried about how his curiosity came across and he’s glad that you didn’t misunderstand him. The premise of meeting you after the experiment has him reeling, especially with your added postscript, but he puts this aside and focuses on the information that you’ve given him.

“What are you smiling about?” Soonyoung, who also happens to be studying across from him in their frat living room, asks curiously.

“Nothing, I’m just working on my essay,” Vernon replies, trying to act as cool as possible to avoid any further questions. The last thing he wants is to be the subject of the self-proclaimed fraternity gossip guru’s attention.

“Definitely not,” Mingyu counters with furrowed brows. “You were moaning and groaning about it just five minutes ago—”

“I was stuck,” Vernon attempts to shrug it off, especially when he notices Soonyoung’s eyes sparkle with keen interest.

“And now?” Soonyoung prods, leaning forward to try and peek at his laptop.

Shutting it before his friend gets too close, Vernon neatly stacks his books on top and shoves his things under one arm as he gets up. “Now, I’m not stuck,” he pokes his tongue in cheek. “So, if you both excuse me, I’ll go ahead and work on this in my room, away from distractions.”

Soonyoung laughs, “We weren’t even the ones who distracted you.”

Vernon answers with a wave before bounding up the stairs and locking himself in his room.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:15PM]

what do you mean ‘not interesting’? i’m plenty interested in that story so i’m definitely holding you to it. don’t make me ask jeonghan about it >:)

hm i was doing an essay for my music theory class but i was stuck so now i’m talking to you :)

x bands boy

His message arrives just as you’re about to shove a dumpling or two in your mouth. Your eyebrows shoot up as you read it and put down your chopsticks in favour of sending your reply.

[To: Bands Boy] [From: Girl Magnetic] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:18PM]

nooooooooo i didn’t mean to disturb my dear pen pal T-T

x girl magnetic

ps. if you ask jeonghan about it he’ll kill us both. unless you have a death wish? :)

Vernon doesn’t bother schooling the smile on his face as he reads, especially since he’s in the comfort of his own room now and behind closed doors.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:20PM]

no you’re good, i was gonna take a break anyway. so the distraction was welcome i promise :)

though it’s due tomorrow so i should probably get back to it…

but… i want to keep talking to you…

x bands boy

As tempting as it is to keep chatting with him, for a reason you can’t fathom at present, you refuse to be the reason why your pen pal fails a class.

[To: Bands Boy] [From: Girl Magnetic] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:25PM]

i honestly want to keep talking to you too but i don’t want you to fail.

so i’ll make you a deal: we finish off our chat now so you can get your essay sorted and once you let me know that you’re done… i tell you the whole story behind girl magnetic.

how does that sound?

x girl magnetic

ps. i’m not taking no for an answer. good luck with the essay!

Not that Vernon needs it, but he feels plenty motivated now by the prospect of knowing more about you and an unspoken round two, one that isn’t driven by Jeonghan’s experiment.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Re: Ice Cream 7:30PM]

well, that’s certainly an offer i can’t refuse. you’re on!

i’ll let you know when i’m done. don’t wait up though, i’ll be awhile (not that you would wait up lol)

x bands boy, signing out

Smiling, you close off his email and adjust your notification settings before shutting your laptop down, not wanting to miss his next message and keep him waiting again. At least that’s what you tell yourself because you’re unwilling to admit that you’re looking forward to hearing from him. It’s much too early for that.

The next few hours pass by uneventfully, with you watching a movie, cleaning up your dorm room and with you not waiting for a reply from your pen pal. Definitely not. Stifling a yawn, you grab your phone on your way to the bathroom and pull up your message thread with Jeonghan as you get ready for bed.

[10:00pm] thing 2: okay, i’ve responded to bands boy [10:01pm] thing 1: you’re welcome

This smug bastard. With eyes narrowed, you choose not to clue him in on any details about tonight’s endeavours.

[10:02pm] thing 2: i don’t know what you’re talking about :) [10:03pm] thing 1: yeah, sure jan [10:03pm] thing 2: hannie >:| [10:04pm] thing 2: anyway, are you back at the house yet? [10:04pm] thing 1: …i’m just dropping stephanie home now [10:05pm] thing 2: oh? [10:05pm] thing 1: don’t even say it

Smirking, you leave him hanging for a few minutes, fooling him into thinking he’s won.

[10:08pm] thing 2: you’re welcome :) [10:08pm] thing 1: god you’re such a pain in my ass [10:09pm] thing 2: sweet dreams hannieeee [10:09pm] thing 1: fuck off

Grinning in victory, you pat the rest of your moisturiser into your skin and tuck yourself into bed, glad to have the day end on a better note than when it started.

At exactly five minutes past midnight, Vernon submits his essay after proofreading it for the third and final time. He would’ve been done a whole lot earlier if Jeonghan didn’t come barging into his room, asking him question after question about you and he barely managed to appease him without divulging too much about his conversation with you.

Now, the only thing he needs to do before merging into one being with his bed, is to send you an email as promised.

[To: Girl Magnetic] [From: Bands Boy] [Subject: Your Turn 12:10AM]

i finished my essay woo!

your move, girl magnetic

x sweet dreams

[ Series Master List ] - link to be added later

TAGLIST: @teapartydreams @aperson394

pls do not copy/repost my work

#seventeen #vernon #chwe hansol #vernon scenarios #vernon fluff #vernon fanfic #vernon x reader #seventeen scenarios #seventeen fluff #seventeen fanfic #seventeen x reader #hansol scenarios #hansol fluff #hansol fanfic #hansol x reader #kpop fanfic #kat: writings

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starhaloeklypse · 2 months

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More Undertale characters as humans ! Yes , I *was* originally gonna do Sans next , because I had a certain order in mind, but sorry guys , MTT was just too powerful ( and pretty … 😊 ) I liked making this one a lot , glitter absolutely everywhere lmao.

Experimenting with a new tag specifically for *my* art, we’ll see how it goes , I guess .

If you like this and want to support my endeavors in trying to create an Undertale fancomic, or would just like to support in general , I have a Kofi I’ll link below , and if you do donate ( please don’t feel pressured ) I’ll gladly draw something for you in return, whatever you request ! So long as it doesn’t make me horribly uncomfortable, in which case I’ll honestly just let you request something else instead . Don’t be afraid to ask though, I don’t bite !

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skyedancer-system · 3 months

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Some people on another post said they were interested in hearing our system experiences (with being a gateway system and other stuff), so here we go!

It got pretty long so we’ll use a cut ^^

We’re a gateway system, which means that our headspace is, in a way, a real place somewhere. For us, we see it as a kind of in-between space between worlds, and that we’re connected to it, an others are as well (more on that later). We call our headspace STAR SPACE bc of how it looks (a bunch of floating islands in outer space; the art in our pinned is mostly accurate to what it looks like) and it just sounds nice ^^

Since STAR SPACE is an in-between, we get new people showing up a lot, most commonly because 1.) Something happened to their world/happened to them in their world, or 2.) They already had an aptitude for world-hopping and ended up in STAR SPACE. The “something happened to them” explanation is the more common of the two in our experience.

We do have one person in particular who world-hops a lot: 🔮Sunny. Crow goes between here and crow’s home world (where he is also part of a system) a lot. He actually spends more time there than here, but comes over every so often to check in, sometimes bringing friends along (first time that happened is documented here (link)). 🐝Bee travels too, but she can’t go back to buzz’s home world for some reason; we aren’t completely sure why. She does tag along with 🔮Sunny sometimes though. Them traveling between STAR SPACE and crow’s system is how we fully realized that it’s an in-between space.

We have had a few people permanently leave, or at least it seems permanent considering how long they’ve been gone and the circumstances around it. It’s different than someone going dormant; when they’re dormant we can still mostly feel that they’re here in the system (down in the void beneath STAR SPACE we’re pretty sure). When someone leaves completely, their presence is 100% gone until they come back (if they come back).

Gateways between STAR SPACE and other worlds tend to form when we get latched onto a certain world that exists in fiction here; it’s why we have so many people in here that we call fictives (though they technically aren’t introjects), and a lot of people from one place or closely connected places tend to come through in a short time (for example, the most recent was Pokémon, and we had 11 people show up in around 2 months, mostly from the same version of the Pokémon world).

We’ve had a couple people end up in the system long before their home worlds were even conceptualized in this world. 🌑Mare and 🔪Omori have been around for well over a decade at this point (though none of us knew we were separate people back then), yet their sources have only existed here for around 7-8 and 3 years respectively. They did not realize who they were until we interacted with their sources, but they were always themselves.

There are only 2 people in here that don’t originate in an outside world; 🐉Night (who was the first to ever split we’re pretty sure), and 🌈Aster (an OCtive who formed as we were making a design). 🌈Aster stands out since he formed within the past year, while 🐉Night has been here since elementary school or earlier.

Like in other systems, STAR SPACE does tend to pull more people through when we’re stressed or going through a hard time. People can show up at any time though.

There’s a lot we still don’t understand, and that we never will, but that’s part of what we enjoy about this! We are always discovering more about ourself, and other worlds in the process! We just wish there were more gateway systems out there talking about their experiences; we want to see how they differ and how they’re similar!

If anyone has questions about anything we’d love to answer them! Talking about our system is something we really enjoy, and sometimes it helps us realize new things too!

#plurality #actually plural #multiplicity #plural system #endogenic #traumaendo #gateway system

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har-rison-s · 2 years

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i'd fight hell to hold you

eddie munson x reader with she/her pronouns

a/n: hi. another eddie piece. the obsession has begun. my god... idk if i’m ready for friday. it’s going to be absolutely insane. my irl st bestie will come over & we’ll watch together while eating pizza... i am so not ready. my head is empty rn because i’ve speculated on who’s gonna die and what’s gonna happen so much but i just can’t bring myself to do that anymore. i need to stop thinking about it, and i want to just watch what happens yk. idk... anyways. here we are. this one-shot is inspired by kiss’ song “i’d fight hell to hold you” which is 1) in my eddie playlist 2) a listening recommendation for reading this fic :) i think this one’s gonna be longer than my previous eddie one-shots, but ofc i shall see. i just have a premise that i need to write, something in the script i have to modify for this certain scenario and yeah. all in all, i hope you guys will like it :) oh also! i’m graduating my art high school on saturday :))))) i can’t believe i’ve come this far. insane. anyways. happy reading babies!

masterlist

stranger things masterlist

word count: 6.8k

song rec: i'd fight hell to hold you by kiss

tags: mentions of nausea, throwing up, the upside down

(a/n: my babies :( if anything happens to either or both of them in vol2, you will pay, duffers, and greatly ) gif credit goes to owner!

“nancy, no!” robin had managed to scream out a mere second before nancy, deemed the leader of the group, delved into the deep, dark water. clearly not following out on robin’s unspoken advice to not go where steve was just forcefully pulled into. eddie doesn’t know what to say, because his warning to nancy didn’t work, so why would words work? he looks to y/n slowly, wondering what’s on her mind as their next move. before he and robin can take the next shaky breath, though, y/n delves head-first into the dark water, right after nancy and steve. “y/n!”

“y/n! noo!” eddie can only muster in complete shock and hopelessness at what’s just happened. he can’t believe his eyes. he can’t believe his ears. he knows y/n well enough to know she would do anything for her friends, but this is putting her life in danger. and more than that, if there’s such a thing. eddie knows there’s only one thing he can do. to save her, to protect her, to guard her, to make sure she’ll be okay. his fighting abilities are pretty decent, but he doesn’t know what he’ll be facing. to hell with that. he’ll protect her no matter what they’re up against. so eddie looks at robin, gripping the boat’s side, takes a deep breath and jumps in after y/n, not caring what awaits him down in the depths of lover’s lake.

what awaits him is a glowing red portal that isn’t very inviting. but he sees just y/n’s converse-clad feet pulling through the portal to the other side, and he has no choice but to follow. it’s not like he would have sat in that boat with robin and waited until steve, nancy and y/n returned. it’s not like he wouldn’t go into another dimension, to the ends of the world, right into a monster’s arms, to save her. just to make sure she makes it out alive. screw everyone else, screw eddie himself, he won’t let anything happen to her.

the crawl through the gate isn’t pleasant—eddie could use many experiences of his own to describe how squeezing through that really felt—and what’s on the other side isn’t pleasant, either. a dark world. no sun, no moon, no wind. disgusting vines that resemble poisonous snakes crawling everywhere. and eddie’s best friend and new friends in peril. nancy and y/n taking on—flying bats?—together, with each their own skills and found weapons. it seems steve has a handful of them to fight himself, now that the girls have got a portion of the bats off him. he looks badly wounded.

and y/n looks as attractive as ever. yes, they’re in another dimension, yes, she’s wet and slimy and killing bats—but perhaps that’s the exact reason. she’s fighting for her friends, fighting for herself, fighting for who eddie is pretty sure is the unrequited love of her life. and she’s doing great. eddie even makes a mesmerized smile at the sight of her in his stupor, his eyes forming into hearts in the midst of this battle, suddenly amnesia-like to his own situation, his current reality. it’s a bat that swings onto his shoulders that breaks him out of that trance.

eddie’s quick and agile, and grabs one of the oars laying around, and begins attacking the bat. so it’s not only keen on steve, but on the girls and eddie himself, too. it might be stupid, but what really motivates him and gets him through this terribly gross fight with the bats is the thought that he might look at y/n maybe just one more time after it. he might talk to her, might embrace her, might have her at all after this. she’s the reason he keeps a clear head and has a clear target in this fight.

when no more bats seem to be coming, yet there’s still sounds of a struggle, the group turn to watch steve taking down a bat one on one without any sign of mercy. even though eddie’s fascinated himself, he can’t help but think that y/n might find this the hottest thing in the world. a guy taking some demon bat down with his bare hands? pulling its head off with nothing but his hands and feet? it’s the most metal thing eddie’s ever seen, and quite the epic ozzy move, as well. it’s what eddie wants to be.

yet he’s no hero. he’s not like steve, who isn’t afraid to check out danger, who isn’t afraid to jump into dangerous waters first, who doesn’t hesitate to take down demon bats in an alternate dimension. eddie got scared. he saw proper traumatizing shit and ran. he wishes he was different, and that he’d have more guts. he wishes he was more like steve, who y/n undeniably likes. eddie sometimes wishes he had everything that steve has. and that’s why, regrettably, his eyes turn sour towards steve.

but after the last bat has been taken down and everyone’s coming to it slowly, eddie doesn’t hesitate to run straight towards y/n. he’s pleasantly surprised to find her also moving towards him, and he practically cradles her like fragile china in his arms. though he already let his tantrums get the best of him beforehand, he keeps chanting jesus h christ(though his religion is, quite frankly, the opposite of that) as he embraces y/n, his best friend, with shaking hands. “jesus christ,” eddie mutters and then pulls away, his hands on y/n’s cheeks now. he knows they’re off limits to each other in this sense, but he can mask his loving ways to her with care, can’t he? eddie inspects her face, searching for bruises or cuts or whatever else that might need quick attending-to, “did they hurt you? have you been bitten?” he asks in a super quick voice.

y/n shakes her head firmly. “no, no, i’m not hurt,” she tells him surely and rests her hands on eddie’s wrists. he realizes that might be a sign to draw back, to pull his hands away, to get out of that zone, so he begins lowering them, “are youhurt?” she asks in return, her eyes looking over eddie’s form. he shakes his head, too. though he’s sure that out of the shock and fear he’s feeling, he could very well not have felt if a bat has bit him.

“no, no, i’m not hurt... terrified out of my mind, though? traumatized? oh yeah,” eddie says, and y/n weakly smiles at his attempts to address the situation with humor, “you scared me, y/n, you really did. back there...” eddie shakes his head, his hands now on his hips as he looks down, very obviously hiding tears that he’s always trying to hold in, “i thought you... i mean—i—you went so—"

y/n puts her hands on eddie’s chest, one of them sneaking up to his neck, knowing that it’s always the place she needs to touch to get eddie to listen to her. “i’m sorry,” she tells him, “wasn’t thinking it through. acted like a dumb horror movie character there,” she admits, and eddie can manage to make a smile at that half-joke, “couldn’t let them go down here alone, could i? we’ve gotta figure all of this out. can’t leave my friends to certain death.”

eddie’s quiet, but he nods. friends. she definitely looks at steve as more than a friend, he’s sure, but he’ll let her words stay that way. eddie nods again. “i know, i know,” he tells her, and then they both hear more bat screeching from the forest. if you can call that a forest... eddie’s head shoots straight up, fast, rabid-like. he reminds y/n of a bunny—they’re perpetually anxious animals and jump at every and any noise around them. eddie seems to have taken a role of one for now.

y/n moves her hand up to eddie’s cheek, trying to make him look at her. she knows she often has the power to ground him. not often, but always. and slowly, with his head going into this and that direction first, he does turn to her. complete submission, as well as fear and anxiety, in his eyes as they connect with hers. y/n can only imagine what it’s like to be eddie. what he’s seen in the last forty-eight hours alone... and now to be jumping into a completely alien, dangerous world to find the monster that’s responsible for deaths in his hometown... fighting demon bats along the way... it’s no surprise eddie’s eyes are filled with tears now, at the sound of those bats, at the thought of y/n in danger. he’s a step away from sobbing, and y/n can see he’s slowly taking that step. but they don’t have much time for crying or letting it all out right now. eddie’s a straight-forward person with his emotions and has to deal with them right away, you know that. but there’s no time.

“the woods.” nancy huffs as the group of five all see a cloud of bats approaching. “come on,” nancy leads the way into the woods, which is totally not where y/n or eddie would go if they could choose, but they can’t choose at the moment. they both trust the people who have dealt with these monsters, with this whole world under hawkins. from what nancy has said, she’s the one most familiar with this dark, scary world.

and when she tells the group she has guns in her house—yes, plural, as eddie so pointedly emphasized—y/n and eddie can’t help but trust her even more. sure, nancy’s image deceives her true nature, and y/n is even glad to learn that it does, but the girl knows what she’s doing, and she knows what she’s dealing. the earthquake that comes to shake this world while the group are making plans around skull rock surprises even nancy—what could be causing something like this?

y/n immediately clings to eddie, who can’t help but be clung to by two girls—y/n and robin—at once, as she loses her balance. they crash to the ground in a mess of limbs, yelping in surprise and then grunting in pain almost immediately after. eddie’s holding both girls to him, one to each side, one for each arm. a strong arm, y/n must admit, eddie’s always been seemingly harmless from afar, but his arms hold the most strength in his body.

the shaking of the ground beneath her and everything else around her makes her nauseous, so she just closes her eyes and prays that the earthquake ends as quickly as it started. she didn’t know an earthquake could make her nauseous—they happen close to never in the state of indiana—and she hopes she doesn’t throw up now from that nausea feeling. ugh, and her mints are in steve’s car, she forgot to take them with. they might have helped against this nausea, but she could never have predicted she’d need them. this really sucks.

eventually, the terror of this earthquake ends, and y/n can breathe a deep sigh of relief. she still clings to eddie’s forearm, even when it’s past a few seconds since the earthquake ended. “so guns seem like a really good idea right now,” eddie says, fully backing away from his disbelief of nancy having guns in her bedroom, sure that the girl is telling the truth, and it might be the only solution to this situation right now.

y/n snaps her eyes open, though stays where she is for the next couple of seconds. in some way, she waits for another earthquake to start. it can’t be over yet, can it? “yeah, me too,” robin agrees with eddie and is the first to rise from the ground. eddie absentmindedly wraps that free arm of his around y/n’s frame now, too, and bends his head down next to her, their faces side by side. she feels tense against him.

“you alright, sweetheart?” he gently whispers into her ear. she gives him a shaky nod.

“for the most part,” she squeezes out, “i just feel very nauseous.” y/n informs him and takes deep breaths in and out again, hoping it will help that horrible feeling. eddie nods.

“sorry, i think i lost my gum somewhere in this... hellhole.” he tells her, checking all the pockets he can with one of his hands. y/n’s lips curl into a small smile at that response. eddie, ever so kind and considerate.

“it’s fine,” she says in a huffed breath and gets ready to stand up on her two feet, “as long as i don’t throw up, or another earthquake doesn’t happen, i’ll be fine.”

eddie nods again. “you just let me know, okay? i’ll do whatever i can.” he offers and is the first to stand up, pulling his legs away from under y/n. he offers her both of his hands, out-stretched and firm, before he thinks to do anything else, “come on,” eddie quietly urges her on before y/n takes his hands and is being pulled up by eddie. she feels faint, and ends up standing closer to him than she anticipated.

eddie notices right away how her eyes travel to steve—he doesn’t notice that they stick onto robin and nancy, as well, he’s blind as a bat to that—and how before they did that, as well. when nancy was tying that piece of fabric around his stomach. when they were all crouching around skull rock. eddie notices all of that, but he doesn’t see, now that y/n’s turned her back to him, that she’s not looking at steve at all anymore, but instead at this world they’re in behind him, around him, surrounding them all.

eddie shrugs off his denim vest and throws it at steve without a warning or word uttered. everyone looks at him, y/n included, and she sees a weird expression on eddie’s face, a strange look in his eyes she can’t quite recognize. “for your modesty, dude,” eddie explains to steve in a voice of mock-disgust. steve nods thankfully, but is too out of breath to say anything more. firstly, eddie wants steve to cover up a bit so y/n would stop literally gawking at him. secondly, steve’s much more vulnerable in this unpredictable place with a bare torso than with a covered one.

“come on,” nancy urges the group, breaking out to be the leader among them again as she heads deeper into the woods, “no time to waste. let’s go!” she commands her group of friends, and they follow her without another thought or protest.

y/n feels just nauseous enough to not be able to talk without feeling like she’ll barf, so she doesn’t walk side by side with anyone. she’d love to be walking with eddie, but the tension between him and steve, for some reason, could be cut through with a knife, and she doesn’t want to be in the middle of that.

she couldn’t handle it on a regular day, much less on a day she feels like vomiting any next second. she doesn’t wanna give the boys the delight of having vomit on their shoes, so she simply walks after nancy and robin, and in front of steve and eddie. she tries not to think of what the vines could be, tries not to think of where or what they could lead to, she simply keeps her head up and hopes this nausea will fade away soon. preferably, sooner than she has calculated.

eddie doesn’t protest, doesn’t request her beside him. nausea can be a tough time, and he understands if she doesn’t wanna talk to him at the moment. he walks solemnly with steve, some good few feet behind y/n. he tries not to look at her as much as he usually does, since he’s in front of steve now, but his eyes do wander to her, he can’t help it.

“eddie,” steve addresses his walking partner. he’s glad for it to be someone closer to his own age, a change of pace from his usual buddy, dustin. he does miss the kid, though, even if he’s been away from him only some fifteen to twenty minutes now. the long-haired brunette turns his head to steve with curious, oblivious eyes, “hey, uh... i just wanted to say thanks for, uh, saving my ass back there.” steve tells eddie, and gives him a respectful nod, lips pursed and eyes looking into eddie’s. much similar to his own—big, doe and brown.

eddie nearly snorts. “shit, you saved your own ass, man,” he tells steve, shaking his head slightly. steve’s lips make into a subtle grin, “i mean... that was a real ozzy move you pulled back there.” it’s everything i’ve wanted to be. especially for her. steve quirks an eyebrow.

“ozzy?” he echoes. like the wizard of oz?

“when you took a bite out of that bat,” eddie elaborates, but steve still gives him a clueless look, “ozzy osbourne? black sabbath?” he offers to steve, but he’s already shaking his head and turning away. awh, y/n would have gotten the reference. “he bit a bat’s head off, on stage, once.”

steve shakes his head again. “i don’t... i don’t know,” he tells eddie.

he shrugs. “doesn’t matter,” he dismisses, and guesses that the right person gets this reference, “it’s very metal, what you did. that’s all i’m saying.”

steve chuckles dryly. eddie doesn’t blame him. here he is, steve harrington, nearly bitten to death by bats he took apart with his bare hands mere moments later, and the weirdo of the school is trying to feed him a metaphor for it. plus, he’s bleeding while walking around some big monster’s lair. “thanks.” steve tells him.

eddie nods along. the man seems pretty unsure of himself as of now. “henderson told me you were a badass.” he continues. “insisted on the matter, in fact. y/l/n over there told me that, too.”

“they said that?” steve asks in disbelief, and eddie gives another nod in response. both guys now look after y/n, climbing over suspicious vines ahead of them, clearly oblivious to their conversation.

“oh, yeah, shit, henderson... worships you, dude,” eddie elaborates. he knows someone else who worships steve besides dustin, “like, you have no idea.” steve chuckles, a bit more lively this time. “it’s kinda annoying, to be honest. i.... don’t even know why i care what that little shrimp thinks, but, uh... i guess...” it gets difficult for eddie to say what he wants to say next, “i guess i got a little jealous, steve.” he doesn’t guess that, actually, he knows it. eddie just doesn’t want to fully admit it, but he is jealous of steve. for many reasons. y/n. dustin. “guess i couldn’t accept the fact that... steve harrington,” he makes a little dramatic pause, “was actually... a good dude.”

eddie sees steve’s head hanging lower. out of embarrassment? out of the good words? but there’s a smile on steve’s lips, as well. eddie can’t help his jealousy, his envy. of steve’s looks, of his character, his personality, his reputation, his brotherhood with dustin, with lucas and max, his close relationships with three (and maybe even more) smoking hot ladies. steve’s hero character and mind-set, on which he acts. he protects the kids and his friends any way he can, always being the first to test out dangerous waters—quite literally in the most recent situation. he’s not turning his back to a dangerous situation, he’s standing up and doing something about it.

“rich parents, popular, chicks love him,” eddie lists off, a certain chick he knows well popping up in his mind as he says the quality, “not a douche? no way, man, nooo way.” steve’s smile grows wider. “that, like, flies in the face of all the laws in the universe, and... my own personal munson doctrine.” steve chuckles now. eddie leans closer to him. “still super jealous as hell, by the way.” of everything you are, everything and everyone you attract, everything that you can so easily have. unlike me.

steve pulls back a little, laughing now, “okay.” he tells eddie, and the boy grins.

“it’s actually why i, uh... would never have jumped in that lake to save your ass,” eddie admits, “sorry to say. no offense, of course, dude, but uh... not under any normal circumstances.”

steve shakes his head. “i get it, man, i get it,” he tells eddie, “nothing about this is normal in any way. it's insane how we can even think what to do next, after everything...”

eddie feels that shame he’s bound to talk about creep up his spine like a spider with sharp claws, “yeah, well... outside of d&d, i am nooo... hero.” his eyes fall onto y/n again. “well, okay, there is one exception.” eddie says, and a short sigh full of longing escapes his lips as he looks on the girl. steve follows his eyes, and makes a smile at the connection. something that is so clear to see. “one person i’d follow anywhere. other than that,” eddie shrugs, “i see danger and i just turn heel and run.”

steve pats him on the back, still that knowing smile playing on his lips as he does so, “give yourself a break, man,” he tells eddie, “witnessing and being a part of anything like this is very, uh... it’s not anything normal. and you’ve seen enough. cut yourself some slack.”

eddie shakes his head as a nervous chuckle passes through his lips, “yeah, well, see,” he starts to say, slowing him and steve both down in their path, “the only reason i came in here was ‘cause that little strong lady jumped in straight after you.” eddie gestures in y/n’s direction with his hand. “well, okay, not after you, but after nancy—they practically jumped in at the same time.” eddie explains. “now, i would have been too ashamed to be the one who stayed behind. but as soon as she disappeared underwater, that all changed. i couldn’t stay behind.” he starts his and steve’s walk forwards up again. “surprised myself, even, doing that, but...” eddie shakes his head and inwardly punches himself at what he’s about to say, “i would literally pass through the gates of hell for her.” steve smiles again. “not sure she’d do the same for me, cause... she literally just proved that she’d do that for someone else. but i don’t know... maybe if i wasn’t such a chicken, things would have been different.”

“why do you think she wouldn’t do the same for you?” steve asks. clearly, he doesn’t know eddie as well as he knows y/n, and not nearly as long, either. but he knows they’ve been best friends forever, probably since they wore diapers, and he knows y/n’s dedication to her friends. to eddie.

eddie glances at steve momentarily, slight fear in his eyes. “well, ‘cause it’s clear there’s someone else she would dive after—literally,” eddie says, “this popular dude who babysits random kids when he’s not working shifts at family video.” eddie finally says—it took a lot in him to say that out loud, much less without getting all emotional about it—and huffs quietly, turning his gaze away from steve. he doesn’t wanna see his boasty, self-centered reaction to the clear fact eddie’s just stated.

but steve shakes his head with a scoff that he only wants to sound like complete disagreement to what eddie’s just said. “you think she’s after me?” steve asks eddie in a quieter voice, since there’s a possibility y/n could hear them both. as steve looks at eddie, the metalhead nods.

“it’s clear as day!” eddie argues. “you’re all she talks about, who her eyes are glued on all the time, and no doubt who she thinks about all the time, too.” he crosses his arms over his chest like a little kid. steve chuckles again.

“your radar is way off, dude,” steve says, but receives no reply from eddie, meaning he’s not convinced, but he’s on the way there, “it’s not me she thinks and talks about all the time, i guarantee you that. a hundred percent,” he assures.

“who is it, then?” eddie inquires, clueless as any next person. steve shakes his head.

“it’s you, dumbass,” steve breaks him the news and looks at eddie while he does so to make his point more sure, more firm. at first eddie just stares off in the distance, his arms still crossed over his chest as he ponders on this, “trust me, i know when a girl is, as they say, smitten. and she’s not smitten with me.” steve gulps. “you are all she talks about, she gushes about you, dude. rambles, if i may say that. you are her every waking thought, no doubt, everything that we do, everything we see reminds her in the weirdest of ways of you.”

now eddie just thinks steve’s playing a prank. making all that he said up, pulling it out of thin air. “how can you be so sure? how can you know that?” eddie inquires further. now steve laughs and shakes his head at how clueless eddie really is with girls. sure, he can treat a girl right, and he can love her to the ends of this earth, but he can’t catch her drift for the life of him. he can’t read women at all.

steve gives eddie one last shake of his head and leans in closer to the boy. “just... tell her how you feel, prove your feelings to her in some way, any way, or at least try to,” he advises eddie, “and you’ll see. i guarantee you, there will be promising results.” steve says, and his last words make both boys giggle.

“thanks, harrington, really,” eddie tells him genuinely, and steve nods. eddie thinks on this advice steve has given him. if what he’s said is true about y/n, and if his advice will prove that, why should eddie waste any time? no time like the present, right? who the fuck knows what’s next in this dark dimension. vecna might come after any one of them any second. so why not tell y/n how he feels right now, while he’s still here, alive and breathing, while they both are? “i’ll see about those promising results and get back to ya.” eddie says to steve as he begins to skip ahead, so he’d be in one step with y/n. steve gives eddie an encouraging nod, and even a true smile. he hopes it works out for those two. and he hopes eddie won’t chicken out.

y/n notices him next to her with the corner of her eye as she still tries to stifle her nausea, her nose as high in the air as it can be. “hi, eddie,” she says quietly in an exhale. eddie gives her a kind smile, his hands fidgeting with his jacket in his crossed-arms position.

“hi, sweetheart,” he tells her, “how you feeling?” he genuinely inquires. y/n sighs.

“still nauseous,” she responds, “though it’s going away slowly. the stink of this place doesn’t help at all.”

eddie chuckles at that revelation. “i bet it doesn’t, yeah,” he agrees, “listen, uh... wanted to, uh, tell you something. just hear me out, nothing else, no obligation to answer or... anything.”

y/n furrows her eyebrows, but then realizes what this could be about. eddie’s great at argumentative monologues, you know that. he always has backing reasons for whatever he wants or needs. “you can use my garage for band practice, eddie, i don’t mind,” she tells him in a slightly annoyed voice, “dad’s at work on saturdays, anyway.” she makes a hard sniff with her nose. though it’s probably not the best idea right now, since there’s... particles flying around in the air. who knows what they contain?

“it’s... not about that, actually, but... i’ll definitely keep it in mind,” eddie says and makes a nervous chuckle. y/n furrows her eyebrows even more. what else could this be about? “listen, uh... i’ll try my best to say this straight-forward. god! i’m so nervous,” eddie shakes his head. y/n finally drops her head to a normal level and turns it to look at eddie properly. what on earth could he be nervous about? he keeps his eyes ahead of him, “i’m gonna sound like a pussy saying this, but there was really no other reason that made me jump in that damn lover’s lake, except you.” eddie finally begins, and y/n is in a slight state of shock, so much so that she listens without any interjection. if it had been any other setting, any other situation, she would be arguing already, or asking a million questions. “you, who i’ve known since we were building sand castles in the playing ground’s sandbox. you’ve, uh, been my best friend ever since you threw that box of acorns down on my head.” they both chuckle at that memory. y/n can tell this is something serious, something really important to eddie that he’s talking about. “you’re the most amazing, badass girl i know. my mother would have loved to see you grow up.” eddie shakes his head softly. “and, fuck, i feel so... not me with this, but i also feel like the best version of myself ever since i...” y/n furrows her eyebrows again. “i’m not makin’ any sense... it’s just, you know i hate clichés, right?” eddie leans closer to y/n, looking into her eyes. she, as clueless as a by-passer about everything that he’s saying and the point he’s trying to make, nods at eddie. “yeah.” he nods. “i never expected my cliché of choice to be falling for my best friend, so... that’s two surprises in one. well, it’s not like i chose to—which i would have done, anyway, but...”

y/n is in utter shock. she just looks at eddie with wide eyes, watching his lips twist and turn as he tries to say something. something more, something different—whatever. it’s all out of stress, he can’t stand her not answering or responding in any way, so he immediately feels like he has to make up the silence with something, anything. but what can y/n say? she has been bamboozled totally and utterly.

neither of them can get a word in to save their lives, because the ground starts shaking again, starting up another earthquake. y/n falls to the ground helplessly, and eddie falls right after her, reaching for her hand. he might have dropped a complete bombshell on her just, and is still waiting for a response, and she might not want him near her now or later or ever, but he has to make sure she’s at least on a support system throughout this earthquake. “here we go again!” eddie whines as he pulls y/n into his arms, her back against his chest. she holds onto his hands, but faintly. then she nearly pulls away completely.

“i’m gonna be sick,” she exclaims awkwardly, holding her stomach, as she gets up on her shaking legs, on the shaky ground, and makes away from eddie, heading towards a near-by tree. eddie worries, shoots an anxious look towards steve, who’s a few feet behind them, also on the vine-covered ground, holding onto his flashlight for dear life, clear signs of struggle on his face. he nods at eddie, as he knows what he’s thinking. eddie just shakes his head, closing his eyes.

he tries his best to get up while he still wobbles and everything around him is rattling and shaking, and he follows y/n. after he takes a few steps, the earth settles and the earthquake slowly ends, and he makes an exhale of relief. his ears aren’t filled with the horridly loud noise of the earthquake anymore, but he does hear the sound of retching. that must be poor y/n, puking out her insides and whatever it was she ate last. eddie frowns, waits for it to end, and approaches her around the vine-wrapped tree.

he hears her spitting, and then she’s steadying herself against the tree, her back somewhat straight. she notices eddie two feet away from her, and he sees her face is exhausted, pale, nearly green. poor thing. “well,” she starts to say in a breathy voice, “i guess my nausea got worse.” y/n admits, and tries to make a smile. it barely works, and it makes eddie laugh. full-on laugh, with his hand on his stomach. y/n wipes the corner of her mouth and her chin with the sleeve of her jacket, wrapped and tied around her waist. ugh, the thought of there being sick on her skin, on her clothes—which there definitely is—nearly makes her sick to her stomach again.

“you alright to walk?” he asks and glances around at their team-mates. they’re just getting ready to get up themselves now. eddie looks back at y/n.

“i’m good,” she answers with a nod of her head, “looks like i really needed to empty my stomach to function normally, but uh... can we stay here? for just a moment longer?” y/n requests. eddie raises his eyebrows and gives her a nod.

“sure,” he says, and now that the conversation of her nausea and the earthquake has dissipated, he feels the awkward silence of their conversation before enter the atmosphere again. he awkwardly looks around as y/n still heaves with heavy breaths.

“that’s quite a bombshell to drop in another dimension, in the midst of the world ending,” y/n tells him, referencing his previous confession, “i, uh, actually thought you liked someone else all this time. didn’t know who, but... i had a feeling.” she breathes out deeply. “how long have you known?” y/n asks him, their eyes finally connecting again.

eddie purses his lips and then huffs. “well, since, uh... sophomore year, i guess?”

“so since we both hit puberty,” y/n clarifies, and eddie nods, though he is slightly ashamed to, “me first, though.”

he scoffs. “obviously,” he says, “i was seventeen, and you were, well... you were just a dream. i told you that every chance i got, thinking it’s gonna go somewhere, but clearly, it never did.” eddie admits.

now y/n makes an amused scoff. “i wanted it to go somewhere, too, but,” she shrugs, “i always thought it was just you, you know, complimenting me because you’d done that countless times before. you did all the time, actually,” she tells him, “never thought there was something more behind it. i never would have thought you, eddie munson, my drop-dead-gorgeous metal-head, nerd best friend would have the same feelings i had—have for you.” she admits and shakes her head subtly. that catches eddie off-guard completely. scratch the fact that he just admitted him being in love with her, this... this is something else.

promising results.

“didn’t wanna appear as delusional or, uh—or greedy for something i clearly couldn’t get,” y/n continues, “i mean, you’re just way out of my league. always have been.”

eddie steps closer to her, his breath stuck in his throat—he’s not sure he’s breathing right now, but it’s not exactly what he’s focusing on right now, either—and he looks dead into her eyes. “no, you’re out of my league.” he argues to her, and now y/n straightens her back and stretches her muscles with an easy laugh.

“no, you are,” she argues back, “two can play at this game, munson, and we both know i’ll—”

“can i kiss you right now?” eddie interrupts her characteristic snap-back at him, catching her off-guard now. he’s sure she’s never been more beautiful, more herself to him than she is now. she’s the hottest girl in school, has the best personality—also deemed one of a pirate—, is eddie’s best friend in the entire world, challenges him on the daily and has the same feelings for him as he does for her? out of this world (that’s where they are right now, though). unbelievable. unreal.

he’s been waiting for the chance to ask her that, he’s been waiting to kiss her since forever, and there isn’t a more perfect moment than now. y/n has wanted the same thing for years, as well—they’re both in quite the same boat—she’s wanted eddie to just take her face in his hands and kiss her until they both suffocate since she can remember. but she’ll disagree with him about that best moment aspect of this whole thing. “eddie, i literally just threw up,” she says in a coarse voice, “my breath stinks and i’m covered in sick.” y/n tells him, looking him back dead in the eyes. “i don’t think you’re gonna want to kiss me right now.” she says with a shake of her head, and a gentle smirk playing at her lips. eddie narrows his eyes at her.

“you don’t know what i think,” he says with a slight shake of his head, keeping his eyes narrowed at her, “can i level with you?” he asks her, and y/n gives him a nod. their faces are close as ever, sure, they’ve been that close before, but never in this context, “we’re in an alternate dimension, where monsters powerful enough to break into people’s psyche rule with their miles-long vines crawling all around. we’re about to go to nancy wheeler’s house to get guns she’s hiding in her bedroom,” eddie says, getting ever so closer to y/n with nearly each word he speaks, “to kill that very monster. there’s earthquakes left and right, and probably monsters, too—who knows? we might get attacked any next second,” eddie’s voice gets lower and huskier as he talks, and y/n can’t help but admit that it’s making her lower belly tickle. not with nausea this time, though, thankfully. with something much more pleasant, “now i’ve just told you i’ve been in love with you since i was seventeen, and you’ve told me you have those exact same feelings. but now you’re telling me i won’t want to kiss you? just because you’ve thrown up?” y/n has to admit he’s made a point. “come on, sweetheart. not the worst thing i’ve seen you do in all our years of friendship.”

y/n can name a few memories he’s referencing with that already, and she blushes while a giggle escapes her lips. “stop,” she simply says, looking away from his strong, captivating eyes.

“point is, don’t tell me what i want or don’t want to do,” eddie continues and moves even closer to her, “another point is, this might be our last conversation ever,” he says and looks down at her as he stretches his back again, y/n looking up at him with a grin slowly stretching her lips, “so just stand on those tippy-toes of yours and let me kiss you, ‘kay?” eddie’s already moving a hand into her hair, about to cradle the back of her head as he requests this one sacred thing from her. he might die, she might die—they both might die any next moment. and he doesn’t want to go without having kissed her, ever. his whole life would be wasted then. “please,” eddie breathes a whisper. his big, doe eyes hold that plea in them, as well. she’s never been able to resist them. well, with great discipline, but only sometimes.

and to his much pleasant surprise, y/n nods without a word uttered, and does as he’s so sweetly requested of her. she stands on her tippy-toes, grips eddie’s shoulder for support and stability—both of them uttering breathy giggles at that little intermission—and leans her face even higher up, closer to his, their lips now just an inch apart—

“hey, lovebirds! we got a monster to kill, wrap it up!” a very annoying call from the hair king himself disrupts y/n and eddie’s enviable moment of intimacy. they both shut their eyes and huff out deeply. then they laugh, because they did both of those things in complete unison, and it just shows how close they are. y/n’s head rests momentarily on eddie’s chest, and she still holds onto his shoulders as the both of them look at steve past their closest tree. he’s gesturing for them to come quick, and the pair shake their heads.

“always with the great fucking timing,” eddie mumbles under his breath, and rolls his eyes at steve. and though they might not have yet had their first kiss, eddie makes sure to hold y/n’s hand in his, or to have an arm around her shoulders as some level of visual affection between them. if there’s really no time, then there really is no time. nevertheless, even if the both of them are in hell, eddie will fight every monster it takes to hold y/n to him again and forever. he’ll always fight hell to get to kiss her. he’ll fight hell to hold her.

permanent tag-list: @gabiatthedisco @v0idbella @works-of-fanfiction @ur-gunna-h8-ths @betweenloveandfire @but-legendsneverdie @deardeacy @thewinchesterchronicles @mavieesttriste16 @intrrverted @the-freak-cassie-131 @gasbomb69 @xoxobabydolls @corallyink @rottenstyx @d4td7ewmachine (if anyone wants to be added, let me know! i'm also thinking of making an eddie taglist, so :) hmu)

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson one shot #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson angst #eddie munson fic #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfic #stranger things 4 #stranger things one-shot #har-rison-s writes

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lavendelhummel · 6 months

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20 Questions about writing - another tag-game!

Now that I spend my Sunday doing the music game, why not do it again? Because as I said before but want to say again: thank you for *all* the tags @lilolilyr ! I appreciate all of them a whole lot! But especially the ones about writing!! Because I love writing and talking about it and because I still struggle a bit to call myself writer with my cute little 125k words on ao3 and especially with so rarely finding the time to write recently :( Aaand looks like I just answered one of the questions:

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

It’s 125418 at the moment (hoping that I’ll finally come around editing the 10k chapter next weekend, that sits on my computer for months now, that would change it quite drastically but we’ll see).

But back to the beginning:

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

Not that many, 7. Most of my ideas still live in my head, mostly out of lack of time to write. It's a very varied mix of length though, my first work are 15 chapters of single one shots, that I posted as one story because I didn't want to take up to much space. Then I have the WiP, that is almost 80k now and not at all finished, I have most of the next chapter finished and it's again quite long. But in between being able to finish that I suddenly started posting shorter works too, one two-shot and one one-shot. And now there is also two new one shots that are a different fandom and the first thing I was able to write since I had to stop for real life stress reasons for a few months, one of them was written together with @lilolilyr, another first experience, writing together, such fun! And then there is also another oneshot collection about pregnancy, that I almost forgot, that I have plans for but tbh they are not very high on the priority list.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly The Wheel of Time (well, Siuaraine aka the fishwives) so far, but those two newer ones are Warehouse 13 (Bering&Wells) and so are many of my unwritten ideas. And I wrote about Marla and Fran from I care a lot.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Well, since there aren't that many, it's all of them expect for those two Warehouse ones.

But to be more precise: for some reason, by far, very far that one-shot collection for I care a lot with 176 kudos. I don't understand this at all, because I wouldn't rec them nor do them this way again, they are quite weird and my first fanfic steps. I definitely see that I have gotten better since then, even though it hasn't been terribly long! Still, I am very happy if people had fun reading this!! Second is the long fic with so far 7 chapters and I think, this can be explained by it having more chapters than the others but also I put a lot of work in it, so it's nice. And then the 4 chapter one shot collection with 48 kudos, then the one shot I wrote as a birthday present for @ginnyjyng and fifth the short mermaid two shot - still planning on writing a longer Mermaid AU! - with 18 kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, every single one, always so far. Even this one, though it confused me a lot:

And why? Because if someone says something to me, I answer, I react? Because comments make me over the moon happy and I want to show it? Because I love to talk to people and when someone comes to me to talk, yes I will talk! And I think I would feel impolite not to as well, if someone goes out of their way to tell me something about my writing, then I can answer that. And also! I am unfortunately still working on overcoming my shyness in commenting other peoples fics and if I do that and get a reply it makes me a) happy and b) makes it so much easier to comment again because it means I hopefully didn't annoy the person (rationally I know that other people are as happy about comments as I am but... it's not fully rational).

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't think I have any fic with an angsty ending! Life is hard enough, I want happy endings and also happy beginnings and middle parts! So no angsty endings at all, but you could call the fix-it chapter/one shot of the I care a lot- collection angsty because it deals with the not-so-happy ending of the otherwise great movie (I don't like it anymore, if anyone wants to read about it, better try the follow up chapter, that one is better). And maybe also my new warehouse13 fic, because it deals with Helenas grief and pain, but it's about healing through poetry and both have happy endings!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Well, all of them then? Happ-iest though... I mean both of the above mentioned because they have a happy resolve? Or rather the ones that are pure fluff, like the birthday one? Or the mermaid one, because sapphic mermaids are the happy ending I am still waiting for for my own life? Btw., even every chapter of the long WiP has its own happy ending. Oh, and I guess chapter7 was a bit angstier too and has a very happy ending! And so chapter8 starts very happy, but unfortunately still unedited in a word document...

8. Do you get hate on fic?

I wouldn't say "hate". But the very first comment I ever got wasn't very positive and I have to admit, it stung for a good while. I am mostly over it now. Well, and the one from above from "weird ass" (why?) calling me "tea snob" (weird ass is right on this one, so I guess its just truth and no hate).

9. Do you write smut?

No, but not because I don't want to or think it's bad. I enjoy reading it from other writers! But I can't do it (yet). I will allude to it though and feel more confident in that the longer I write fic in general, so maybe one day, I will. Right now, I can't.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No, it's not something that interests me. Not even in the little head-scenarios, it just doesn't happen.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so. But again, my fics aren't very plentiful or popular and most very specific, so I don't think they'd be first choice to steal.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, and I can repeat it here again, my fics aren't very plentiful or popular and most very specific, so I don't think they'd be first choice to x (steal, translate, anything).

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Woooohpppp, yes, as I mentioned already, now I have! @lilolilyr and I had fun mentally teasing poor Helena here! It was definitely very different from writing alone, different mindset, atmosphere and feeling afterwards but fun! Different kind of fun than sitting alone at my desk ;) (which is also fun if it's for fanfic). And it was quite spontaneous, we were both actually working on other fics and then interrupted those to do this. Aaand now maybe this new thing that we just thought of? What is going on?

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I have to say Moiraine and Siuan here! I can't say yet Bering&Wells because I have only been obsessed with them for months, but it feels like an obsession that is going to stick.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

I only have one WIP that is more than an outline and a few sentences but actual posted chapters, it's Yellow. I do still plan on finishing that, the reason it hasn't been updated is that I couldn't write anything at all for a few months and am easing back into writing slowly (still dont have huge amounts of time). But I am thinking about cutting it a bit shorter than originally planned. It would still fully work in the plot and as I said each chapter has a happy end, so it would just not follow their lives as long but have a finished ending. I have 85% of the new chapter written but haven't touched it since mid-july. It is coming!

In my head I have so many and the thought of giving some of them up hurts but realistically I won't write them all. I'll have to see which ones I'll be able to pursue.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I can bring a flow into the emotions I try to describe, that they feel kind of natural? And I can't be too trope-y or fake, same as I can't lie in real life, so I'd think my writing should be rather authentic? This is a difficult question, but what I can definitely say is that writing makes me feel very good. It's a very special mindset and calmness that it brings, like a little candle that gets lit inside of me.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Dialogue, I'd say. Not that my dialogue is particularly bad, but initiating it instead of describing the protagonists inner world is sometimes a problem. But I am working on it and I feel like my writing is only getting better. I mean after the involuntary break I am a bit rigid and have to get back into practice but in general there is progress.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

The thing is that there are some things I am used to saying in one language and others in another. Before I committed to fanfic I mostly wrote melodramatic poems in Frallemand (because let’s be honest, Freutsch klingt scheiße), maybe 80% French (because that’s what I mostly use in my head for some reason) and 20% German (because that is after all what I grew up with and spent the bigger part of my life with). So, yes, I love using that! But it had to fit the character and the story, have a reason. And I often find it doesn‘t go very naturally in some fics. In my head it makes sense to use multiple languages but in my head lots of things make sense that could be hard to follow on page. The question is what is the character‘s relationship with this language and words in general? Who are they talking to, do they understand? What about the POV is it in the mixed languages too?

Are it words or whole sections? I don’t like just using cliché words in that language and the whole rest in English, no one (me?) talks like that.

So far when I have used another language than English, it was in a way that it got explained during the next few sentences by the characters anyway, so it felt like a flow and not interrupted by translation.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

It was I care a lot. I had been trough a bad few months mentally and was starting to do better, and when I watched that film (and loved it) suddendly I started having ideas and it felt like a fog had finally be lifted. I hadn’t been able to access my creative side for a few years at that point because of stress, and it felt so good. So I tried to never give it up again (obviously I had to take breaks again but I didn’t forget about it like before).

And when I read more interviews with Rosamund Pike because of I care a lot I found out about The Wheel of Time and read the books and got into that.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

My favorite is the least popular. It is a bit of nonsense but so fun and I like the ambiance. Dreaming of waves. The first chapter is serious and actually canon compliant and the second a bit cracky. A bit of siuaraine mermaid fic when I couldn’t write a whole long AU (which I still want to do but we will see when). And now I also like the most recent one I posted, it’s about Helena discovering my favorite poet and so probably as self indulgent as the mermaid one. I got very little feedback on both, especially the last one, so if someone has thoughts, I’d love to discuss them!

Thank you again, so much for tagging me @lilolilyr! I am tagging @lakeofsilverpike and @trollocks-in-my-bollocks. Sorry to both of you, if this feels spammy, I think it is kind of fun and you said you didn't mind spamming. I am curious to know about your feelings on writing, but only do it if you want to! I will stop doing these again now, this took me three days and will spent my time rather on actual fic writing and not writing about writing ;)

#tag game #fanfic #writing #still feel like an imposter in the fanfic world but doing this helped #writing is fun #ao3 #moiraine damodred #siuan sanche #wheel of time #myka bering #warehouse13 #helena g wells

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enmi-land · 2 months

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HELLO DILAAA aaaa just found your new acc, so sorry that happened to you it must have been an awful experience i would def cry 😭 i went through your asks briefly to fully understand what happened and i have NEVER met an author who is as considerate of their readers and patient as you. its some of the reasons i love you and your blog so much ahh 💖💖

but please please take some time off to cool down so you can come back with a clearer mind! dont feel the need to rush into anything with all the requests and drafts that you had, especially with your plan for mila’s birthday special 🥲 we’ll wait for you, take as long as you need !! i hope you feel better soon dila 🥹

HELLAUR ANONNIE!! 🤩 i’m glad you were able to find it okay!’ I was worried since this is a new account i was on shadowban for a day or 2 so my announcement post about what happened to my account wasn’t showing up in the tags, and i was just hoping my readers would still find it somehow so they didn’t panic ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 but that’s so sweet thank you so much it makes me happy to have such understanding, kind and patient readers like you 💖💖 like blr can be a bother, but ppl like you always make it better 🩷🩷🩷🩷

i’m currently in the process of making a decision for the future of my works ☹️☹️ after the blog deleting incident i just don’t rlly know where else to go with my blog here on blr anymore, i just feel a little demotivated and lost with my direction, so the current works may or may not be put on the back burner as a second priority to other works which i’ll talk about in a sec 🫶

if you guys didn’t know, one of my favourite authors on wattpad was the user baesuzi before she deactivated — i’m not sure if you guys know of her, but she was a poly writer who had so many good works before she disappeared from wattpad, and seeing how much i miss her works inspired me to consider focusing on finishing a poly fic with an actual plot line 👀👀

i already plotted out fate, vampire/rejected soulmate au as well as the rewrite for criminal love (the mafia au) and i think you guys would rlly like those ones bc of the elements included in them (and mila happens to somehow be in them) 🫶🫶🫶

it would be easier as well to write smth with an end in mind, compared to this 8th member au which is just continuous, and i would like o feel the satisfaction of completing smth you know?? so we’ll see how it goes but lmk if you guys have any opinions, bc i’m open to ideas - but just so you know, i don’t think i could ever fully drop this fic. it’s too close to my heart to let go of 🩷🩷

#⠀⠀ 𓈒ㅤ ૮ ֗ ⠀⠀ you got mail ⠀⠀⠀ ꯭✉️⟡

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sitp-recs · 2 years

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Hidden Gems by @vukovich

I was rereading holemate the other day and it occurred to me that one could consider Vuk’s works an “acquired taste” - in the literal sense of an “appreciation for something unlikely to be enjoyed by a person who’s not had substantial exposure to it”, in other words the more we get, the more we’ll want 😔🙌 Vuk’s works are bold and fresh, engaging, intriguing and with such a distinct feel - it lures me enough to go check anything they decide to write, and I love the thrill of never knowing what to expect when I’m starting a new fic.

It’s not every day you find an author in whom you’re willing to trust to take you out of your comfort zone, and I do it consciously, knowing I’m gonna thank them for the experience no matter how the journey goes. Vuk’s writing is sexy, confident, unapologetic. I love the grasp they have of the characters, and that precise understanding of where they want to go with a story. Their Draco and Harry are deeply flawed, complex and adventurous - what’s not to love? They feel very human and I love that for them and for us! Whenever I’m looking for something outside the box, clever and full of personality but also edgy, hilarious, fucked up, devastating or haunting, I know where to go. I listed below my faves that I revisit often and I think they’re a great showcase of Vuk’s genius and range. Vuk also has a fabulous collection of short stories for peculiar prompts that you can find here. Go ahead and feast!

Manna (2021, E, 814 words) - brilliant sexy short feat. public sex, this got me at the edge of my seat!

Harry developed a taste for hiding in the Slytherin train car. And maybe for getting caught.

"I'll Figure It Out." (2021, E, 2.6k) - brilliant idea perfectly executed with hot af & hung lawyer!Draco putting Harry’s mouth to good use. One of my favorite PWPs 🔥

For the prompt: "Don't let your mouth get you into something that your ass can't handle." Harry's mouth repeatedly gets him into situations his arse can't handle. Then, he finds himself in a situation his arse can handle better than his mouth.

Epitaphs in Autographs (2021, E, 7k) - deliciously angsty and devastating, only Vuk would lure me with tags I usually make sure to avoid. Prepare the tissues. Cw: MCD, infidelity, implied domestic violence, sad ending

A series of works surrounding death, imperfect relationships, flawed coping, and humanity. Also a firing range of writing style.

Harry Potter: DILF Hunter (2021, E, 11k) - hilarious Himbo Harry shenanigans, this will make you laugh non-stop, major kudos to Luna & Neville (they’re both so great!) and that hot hot ending with dilf Draco and dad Harry finally doing the dirty together 😌

Auror Potter doesn't know what a DILF is, but if Malfoy's one, then Harry's gonna be the Ministry's best DILF Hunter ever! Or, five times Harry heard Draco was a DILF, and one time he found it to be pleasantly true.

holemate (2021, E, 19k) - it’s about the yearning!!!! Devastating soulmate AU with Draco whump and oblivious Harry, we love to see it! Smut & angst as per, but don’t worry it’s a happy ending :) Cw for recreational drug use, wasting condition and some police brutality

Most people never get a soulmate. Harry has buried three. When the mark appears again, this time alongside an American Auror, perhaps a diversion can keep everyone alive. A diversion that looks a whole lot like a chaotic, fuckable Malfoy.

The Foxing Ring (2021, E, 24k) - my first Vuk fic is probably the fluffiest story she’s ever written and one of my all-time faves. Playful and clever, with an unusual plot, witty humor, and unexpected fur kink! Love the squib Harry + powerful Draco combo, they’re a perfect match and white fox Draco is everything we need in life 🙌

What. The. Fluff.* Harry's got no magic, one good ear, no great dating prospects, and a nice little wand workshop. Draco's got too much magic, a history of biting off ears, no great dating prospects, and a growing fondness for wandmakers. And a very fetching tail. Read my rec here and check perfect fox Draco art by @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm here.

Fearful Trill (2021, E, 29k) - the most romantic dark fic you’ll find! An intriguing and brilliant angst with a happy ending with unredeemed prisoner Draco, inexperienced Head Auror Harry, BAMF Hermione public sex, lots of angst and smut. Cw: terminal illness (cancer)

Harry should have come out and met someone when he was younger. He should have seen a doctor about the pain in his hip while youth was still on his side. Now, he's made his peace with dying young, but maybe not with dying alone. Draco should have got the Kiss. He should have died in Azkaban decades ago. Instead, guards throw him in a Ministry lift with a dying man who could stand to live a little.

#hidden gems #day 38

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lonestardaily · 2 years

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Each week Lone Star Daily looks to provide you with a decent (not comprehensive) list of the fanfics that have been posted for the week. The week runs from Friday - Thursday, as that way it does give us an opportunity to put the list together. There’s no requirement to tag us as we will check the tags #911 lone star fic and #911lsfic while also combing through ao3. We currently are only going to post new fics, not updates. You can check out this week’s fics below the cut.

All our past recs can be found on this page.

Please feel free to give this post a boost to give our writers a chance to receive some love for the work they do for the fandom.

(if your fic is not tagged with a tumblr, it’s because we couldn’t find one - feel free to send us a message and we’ll be happy to add one)

TARLOS FICS

Hold Onto Me by @mtnofgrace

↳ (TK x Carlos | AU | T | 20.3K)

Carlos joins the Army instead of the Police Academy. TK becomes a baker instead of a firefighter. They happen to meet at a bakery in Austin; TK is a baker there, only been there a few months, when he meets Carlos who is home on a short leave. That chance meeting leads to a friendship that develops over texts and emails until Carlos is medically discharged from the Army.

what you need (i just need you) by @rmd-writes

↳ (TK x Carlos | Future Fic | E | 2.9K)

Sometimes a man just needs his husband’s help to get out of his own head.

when push comes to shove by @strandnreyes

↳ (TK x Carlos | AU | E | 5.8K)

“Carlos,” TK sighs.

“C’mon. How do you destress?”

“I stress cook. Or clean.”

TK laughs with a shake of his head. “I think you’re a little too wound up for that.” It’s not a question but Carlos nods, so TK keeps pushing. “What else?”

He shrugs, glancing briefly at TK who’s got his hands shoved in his pockets as he leans against the side of Carlos’ car like he belongs there. “I work out…” he says simply, pausing as he locks eyes with TK. What he finds there has him slowly adding, “Or I…”

TK steps closer. “Or you what?”

“Find someone to take my mind off of it.”

When Tyler Met Carlos by @bubblesandroses8

↳ (TK x Carlos | AU | M | 12K)

When Carlos Reyes agrees to drive TK Strand from Manhattan to Austin, the two don't exactly see eye to eye. Their views on everything from their taste in movies to the way that they approach finding love, but there is one thing on which they can agree: they are never going to be friends. But, through a series of encounters over the next 9 years and a whole lot of life experience, everything that Carlos and TK know about each other will be challenged; can they truly be friends after all?

A Firefighter, a Cop, and a Construction Worker Walk into a Bachelor Party by @chicgeekgirl89

↳ (TK x Carlos | Fluff/Humor | T | 2.3K)

A combined bachelor party with all their friends promises a night of fun and celebration. But when some unexpected guests show up, the party goes from Rated G to XXX.

break down my walls stone by stone by @lilythesilly

↳ (TK x Carlos | AU | G | 2.4K)

Tarlos but they're in Roswell, New Mexico.

Rosa Mundi by @tkactually

↳ (TK x Carlos | Hurt/Comfort | T | 22.8K)

“Let’s go say goodbye.”

They look at each other, and TK perceives some inner part of him tilt a bit to one side, like a rebalancing of the stakes. Perhaps this felt insurmountable because it is; a kind of pain that doesn't start nor end with him. Others feel this too. They feel it too, and he's not alone. And if he's able to realize that, at last, then maybe sorrow is not the only thing left standing.

#911 lone star #911 lone star fic #ls daily ff

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ghostoffuturespast · 4 months

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hey ghostie i was gna get specific for the ask game but I wanna know *all* of it now, the acronyms, the full names, all of em! are they for cyberpunk or other fandoms? no matter how much there is to know, i wanna know! talking about an idea helps a lot, i speak from experience! thanks for the mention, ill get on the wip game soon, too! ❤️

WIP Game Here

Thank you for the ask! I appreciate it :) They are all Cyberpunk 2077 things lol. I’ve largely been a lurker in other fandoms until this one, and this is the first one that finally compelled me to make stuff and that I’ve had the bravery to share. Don’t have many snippets at the moment, all of what I have so far is already out there. Since you asked for all of them though, I shall dish and give you a bit of a peak behind the curtain on how all this got started…

(I’m sorry, this got very rambly.)

And def tag me when you do yours! I will come find you and your wips! 🧡

SIG - So It Goes

(The title is based off the radio song from the game that you can listen to on Morro Rock. Never officially released and credited to the fictional band Fingers and the Outlaws in the game. Officially sung by Ryan Kattner, the front singer of the band Man Man.)

SIG is my current V/River conspiracy theory long fic that I’m working on, and the project is coming up on its two year anniversary. It’s also my first fic. I’m hoping to wrap it up this spring so I can move on to other creative endeavors. There are a lot of art projects, fandom and non-fandom related, that I’ve held off on because of this and I miss those hobbies. I also feel like I’ve been missing out a lot in the writing corner of the fandom too because a lot of new writers have popped up on the scene since I started (back when there was still a monopoly on the tag, but that’s a different story) and everyone else seems to be having fun reading everyone else’s fics, except me… Reading’s complicated for me right now. Writing this had a lot of ups and downs, but overall I’ve loved telling this story, learned a lot, and I’m really proud of it!

I think most people get into fic writing for the ships, the romance, the smut, the processing of internalized trauma, a more satisfactory ending, weird niche interests… And don’t get me wrong there’s a lot of appeal with all that, and definitely those aspects in my own work. But this whole thing got started because of conspiracy theories. I fucking love mysteries and puzzles, so after playing the sun ending and then I spotting Mr. Blue Eyes on the balcony during the conclusion of Dream On, I just about lost my damn mind. I went down the rabbit hole, spent hours reading shards and messages in the game, combed reddit theory posts, and started picking up on all the hints and foreshadowing of something larger looming throughout the game.

I initially didn’t have any answers when I made the decision to start this fic (fuck, high probability I still don’t), it was largely me brainstorming and trying to figure out what kind of story I wanted to write. Seeing if I could even piece things together. But in the process of thinking all that through, I came up with this little theory. I thought it was pretty mind blowing at the time (still think it is) but it’s been my little secret since I got here and I’m very anxious to finally share it.

Most people probably would have just written a theory post and been done with it, but I decided to turn mine into a fan fic lol. Which may or not have been a mistake, we’ll see. This is either gonna be game changing or everyone is going to think it’s dumb and I’m gonna be wearing a dunce cap for the next fifty years.

River Ward. The other half of my reason for writing this fic. I actually wasn’t sure if I liked him at first, it took me a while to warm up to him. But the more I got to know him, the more I started to like him. The more he grew on me. He got hotter over time. Plus, I’ve got a fondness for detective characters and unusual coats, so I should’ve seen it coming.

River’s gotten a lot of flak from this fandom. People claim he’s boring. He’s a cop, so acab. Being unemployed and living in a trailer park with your sister, niece, and nephews isn’t a particularly redeeming quality. I don’t agree with most of those statements, but I do agree with the folks who do appreciate his character, that in terms of development, he absolutely got shafted in the game. This fic is also an attempt to rectify that.

For as underdeveloped as his story arc was, there’s a lot of nuance to his character that I think gets glossed over by the game and most people. We didn’t get much, but out of what we did get, it’s been interesting trying to piece a story together that’s in line with what we got. And I did mention earlier that I like puzzles.

I’ve noticed that a lot of folks tend to lean very hard into the cop aspect of his character, but as far as I’m concerned, River Ward doesn’t give a shit about the law. Conducting an off the record investigation, intimidating a confidential informant, illegally obtaining evidence, breaking into a restricted lab, committing arson for your ex so she can pass a medical exam, conducting another investigation after being suspended; those are not the actions of a man who holds the letter of the law above all else. Those are the actions of man who is determined to get to the bottom of things, and protect people, all while navigating a system that is anything but equitable or fair. They are the actions of a man who is willing to go above and beyond for the people he cares about, even to his own detriment. His own safety. For River Ward, it was never about the law, it’s about justice. And pursuing that sometimes involves breaking the rules.

River is also Pomo. Which is something that was only added in subsequent patches, heavily glossed over in the game, and is only disclosed if you choose to actually romance him. But he’s Indigenous. Native American. And yet he still made a conscious decision to join the NCPD. Given the historical participation by law enforcement and government institutions in North America, and around the world, in the cultural erasure and mass genocide of entire nations, tribes, and communities of people. And given the current state of issues regarding law and judicial enforcement on tribal lands, I think River's character is a rather poignant reflection. Of wanting to good, of wanting the world to be better, but being confined in systems that simply won't allow that. There's a billion other little details I could ramble on about, but his character had the capacity to walk a very fine line of complexities which the game never really did justice to.

Diversity and representation in media are important to me, and I want this fic to reflect that. Being bi-racial, I didn’t get very much of it growing up, so if I can provide representation, even in some small capacity, I think it’s better than nothing. And while I don’t know if I’m achieving that, well, shit if I’m not trying.

I wouldn’t say this story was really meant to be original, but rather to fill in the gaps on the story we got and for me to practice writing. Practice telling a story. CP2077 is a violent game set in a violent world. And I somehow managed to start writing a story that accidentally ended up being a love letter to aikido. (Much to my chagrin. It’s everywhere. In everything. I cannot escape it.) Aikido is a martial art that translates “to the way of peace” or “the path of harmony.” Yet again, another study in dichotomies. How can a martial art, an art form designed to inflict violence, be peaceful? Aikido is as much of a martial art as it is a philosophy. We train to practice and learn that philosophy.

One of the major themes I’m exploring in this fic series is the nature of violence. What it is, the forms it takes, how cyclical it is, that it is a relationship - violence requires your participation. So the question ends up being: how do you break cycles of violence when you live in a world where you are beholden to it? V and River are very much two characters that are caught up in cycles of violence. Will they find peace? I don’t know, but maybe they can find out together.

From The Top

(This one isn’t named after a song. I just decided to start from the beginning.)

From The Top is the VP project I started up last spring where I’ve been taking storyboard style photos of all the main missions. Plus whatever else I feel like. I take all of my photos on PS5 in vanilla photomode and randomly started snapping pictures just because. I did landscape photos, shared a few. Got a bit of nice feedback from people who cared to look and then started branching out. I eventually got to the point where I started a new playthrough for the sole purpose of snapping photos.

Taking VP is very different from writing for me. I don’t have to think about. I don’t agonize about making sure every tiny detail is just right, because for the most part I don’t have very much control It’s candid, intuitive, experimental, it’s straight up play. I simply wait for opportunities to present themselves and capture whatever I think looks or feels interesting to me. It’s easy for me to walk away from it if it doesn’t do well when I post. Unlike my writing, there’s no ego attached to it.

I’m getting to the tail end of this project, I still have a couple of the base game missions to get through, but I’d also like to do Phantom Liberty as well. Not sure what my VP career is going to look like after this, might go into soft retirement. But that’s okay.

NR - Night Running

(Named after Night Running by Cage the Elephant)

Is a sleeper wip that’s currently in the notes, brainstorming, and kitchen drawer phase. It’s part 2 of my Nothing Comes Before Night City series. So It Goes is part 1.

It takes a long time for me to mull over and ruminate on ideas, so this document is largely just a repository for notes and thoughts. Jamming the utensils in the drawer until I’m ready to organize them. I have a very broad idea of what I’d like to happen in this fic, key moments I’d like to hit, but there’s still a lot of refinement that needs to happen, and stories this involved require me outlining. I do already have a running set list of songs to draw from though.

Les Preludes

(Named after Les Preludes by Franz Liszt)

Another sleeper wip, also in the brainstorming phase. These are meant to be one-shots or short stories from the Nothing Comes Before Night City series. Moments I mentioned in the series, but can’t fit into the larger story. Character studies and background lore from V, River, Johnny, Jackie, a couple of OCs and whatever else I can think of.

I will probably start casually working on these after I finish SIG and while I’m outlining NR. I’d like the series to go in chronological order. Should be fun. And I think it’ll be good practice for being more concise. Unlike, this response...

If you stuck around for this TedTalk and made it all the way to the end, thank you! 👻

#wip game #ask away!#tag you're it #cyberpunk 2077 #from the top #fic: so it goes #works in progress #long post #river ward #nothing comes before night city

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