#god. I'm really posting another chapter after giving up for months

[sasuhinamonth]

Beginnings and Ends - SasuHina Recs

It's the 21st! That means it's fic writer appreciation day!

In celebration, I'd like to share some SH recs, but in a fun way!!! I'll be posting the first and last line of the fic, along with name, author, and brief description as to why I'm rec-ing it!

Good work, writers!

p.s. - Most of the links will be to FFNet, but if you see purple text, that means it's posted on AO3 as well~ I'm just doing this to save a little time on my end, but I understand some prefer reading on AO3!

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A Miracle by Eleanor Rigby 000

"A field trip!?" The class repeated. After that, several voices chirped, each of them commenting on how psyched they are for the class field trip.

"Forever," she assured

This is a angsty, passionate story of hurt, comfort, love, and meeting an old love. The story is Modern AU where Sasuke's a model and comes back to visit his childhood town, where he meets Hinata. Honestly, this is the first and only fic that has made me actively cry, and I cannot praise it enough! Please check it out!!!

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Okaeri by The Penumbra

She felt his fist connect with her stomach and went crashing down to the ground, barely having time to register what was happening.

"Okaeri, Sasuke. Welcome home."

This is sort of a prequel to the author's other fic "Snapshots: Black and White", which is also a stellar fic. It's set in canonverse, where Sasuke and Hinata slowly develop a friendship/relationship. You'll get your fair amount of angst, but really, you can hardly avoid such things in SH fics xD.

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Ichinen by Cinderella Starsend

Hyuuga Hinata stifled a yawn as she stepped out of the door and shut it behind her.

"And I love you."

I LOVE this fic! It's split into 12 chapters, each corresponding with a month. Hinata works at Ichiraku's in an attempt to get closer to Naruto, but she bonds with Sasuke more. I really enjoy fics set in the narutoverse that change things like this, mixing around dynamics so it's not always ninja stuff and war and training. It's a cute story, and the author's prose is beautiful!

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Neji Hyuuga: Matchmaker by emilyjm

Hyuuga Neji prided himself on seeing things other people never noticed.

Mission: matchmaker must be completed within five years.. Good luck, Neji!

UGHHHHH! Where do I start????? It's set in narutoverse where Neji's not only alive, but in charge of matchmaking everyone in Konoha so that he can get Sasuke and Hinata together. It's incredible sweet and incredibly moving and incredibly moving, and I love SH fics with a heavy focus on Neji. Please read it, and please read Another Story (sequel) which is JUST as good!!!

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When Will I Lose You by @elreinodelpurgatorio

Hinata, Lady of the Underworld, stands in her peach orchard and watches the Doom God and the Messenger God speak to each other.

One of these days, Sasuke, seated on a throne next to Hinata, is the one to look at a wretched soul and say: "Request denied."

This is a really fun HadesxPersephone AU where Hinata is Hades and Sasuke is Persephone! It's a short, magical read that is always a breath of fresh air! The author is really good at coming up with pretty sentences. Highly rec!

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What's Mine To Give by WritingHyuHin

After the massacre of his clan, Sasuke had one goal in his life at that young age. Revenge.

The things I do for you... Only you.... Hinata.

This is a rewriting of The Last movie, but SasuHina style! I think it's very believable and a fun thing to read, since I've watched The Last quite a few times. Seeing things that should be Naruto but are instead replaced with Sasuke warm my little, shipper heart. Give this one a chance!

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Nyctophilia by Sommernacht

For as long as he could remember, the night had offered him comfort.

"Indeed," he whispered against her skin. His fingers found their way under her fishnet top, making her shiver under the touch. "The most beautiful night."

Sommer hits it out of the park once again! This was their 2022 SHMonth one-shot in which Sasuke and Hinata secretly meet each other when 'borrowing' meds at night. They grow close and confide in one another, and I think it's a loving, deep connection that is impressive to make in just one chapter!

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A Study of Mannerisms and Other Alterations by MissLe

Sasuke Uchiha, as it was well known, was in possession of some very, very gorgeous eyes.

She decided, however, that the regal Uchiha nose would always hold a special place in her heart.

Ahhhh, this is probably one of my all time favorite fics! It's fluffy, it's cute, it's funny! I absolutely adore it! This fic is set in a Modern AU, where Hinata is a waitress at a cafe and Sasuke, a member of the firefighter team that comes by almost daily, has a pretty obvious crush on her. These two dweebs are adorable, and I read this fic so much!!!

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Uprooted by @kiljoius

Today, Hinata is 20.

“Maybe I can live with that.” Maybe she can, too, she thinks.

Arranged Marriage? Check. Fluff and Humor in a SH FIC of all things???? Check. Witty dialogue and amazing chemistry? Check check check! Without giving too many spoilers, this Modern AU fic follows Hinata and Sasuke, who plan to act 'over the top' in their arranged relationship in order to get out of it. Lets just say it doesn't work as planned for them huhu. This is a really fun fic, so if you're in the mood, give it a read!

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This is what I've got for now, but please feel free to comment or reblog with your own favorite fics (either your own or others) with their first and last lines.

@kiljoius @elreinodelpurgatorio @daifukumochiin @catruru @fher43 @gardenatsuntime @lavendereyedassassin @cariata @naoko-ichigo @lavender-long-stories @p-crowds @queenfox352 - You guys, too! Show off fics you like (or your own)!

Good work to all authors/writers out there! We love you!!!

Mod: PC

#sasuhina #sasuhina recs #sasuhina fics #fic writer appreciation day

[gffa]

I never meant to fall into this fandom, but seeing these really stunning pieces of characters in trench coats and got supremely curious. It took approximately two days to fall ass over teakettle into OMNISCIENT READER'S VIEWPOINT hell, because it has absolutely fascinating characters, interesting worldbuilding, a beautifully drawn webtoon, thoughtful plot elements on the nature of stories and the relationship with the audience and--most importantly--it has the kind of character dynamics you immediately want fic. I'm barely past chapter 40 and I was already spoiling myself for the overarching plot because I desperately needed post-canon fic that offered resolution, because everything was already so deliciously intense that I couldn't stand it! So, here I am, having a bunch of knock-out fic to go with the absolute god-tier art that's in the fandom and desperately trying to drag more of you into this with me because it's so good and I think you'd like it and I don't want to be throwing up feelings everywhere and not have you all understand how much these characters mean to me (especially the main character, he is such a skrunkly little asshole whomst I would die for!!!!) even after just forty chapters! Joinnnnn meeeee!!! (p.s. This is primarily a Joongdok recs set, but give me time and I'll love all the characters!)

OMNISCIENT READER'S VIEWPOINT - POST-CANON IS WHAT I'M REALLY HERE FOR: ✦ [Message from the Universe: Kim Dokja Must Die] by jarofclay, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, NSFW, post-canon spoilers, 27.2k     Six months after returning to his original world-line, Kim Dokja almost dies (again). A tragicomedic Final Destination-esque story featuring one dreamer in distress, his personal hero and his rightfully anxious family. ✦ world's end rhapsody by wakerife, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & han sooyoung & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 11.6k     another post-epilogue fic, wherein kim dokja may or may not need a bigger hospital bed ✦ Unburying Kim Dokja by stingerra, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 21.3k     Kim Dokja is back and left to ponder such things like fitting in and making amends. None of this proves easy. He was dead for too long and it's common knowledge that resurrection is a lengthy process. Especially because Kim Dokja was someone who buried himself at the age of 15 and didn't hope for anyone to care. ✦ “You are loved,” said Yoo Jonghyuk. “This is a threat,” said Yoo Jonghyuk. by IceBreeze, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & han sooyoung & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 13.3k     Kim Dokja doesn't really know when he began collecting time travellers like stray cats but it's not so bad, he guesses. He just wishes there was less crying. ✦ show me proof you hear my sound by grdenofavalon, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 30k     Kim Dokja has two goals in his life: figure out why he can't recall anything from before that "apocalypse" everyone and their dog is traumatized from, and finally finish the renovations on his newly (if six years old could still be "new") purchased book-and-breakfast cafe. It's... a work in progress. But now he has a third goal — find out what Yoo "former-terrorist-turned-civil-worker" Joonghyuk wants from his life. Or maybe he just wants his life, to end it himself. Kim Dokja is starting to think that might be the case. ✦ The End Of A Story by mellllting, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj compnay, NSFW, post-canon spoilers, 22.8k     Kim Dokja wakes up, and the most shocking part of all that has happened was probably finding out that Yoo Joonghyuk loves him. ✦ white house, white rock by beforedaybreaks, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj compnay, post-canon spoilers, 12.1k     “Big family?” the grocery store clerk asks, as he makes his way to the front of the checkout line. The clerk motions toward Kim Dokja’s baskets. Kim Dokja laughs as he loads the ingredients onto the conveyer belt. “I guess you could say that.” After the Scenarios, Kim Dokja moves into a big house with everyone.

✦ unwind the world, is your nightmare gone? by Scribblurri, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj compnay, post-canon spoilers, 9.9k     He learns of lots of things that these people say his older self has experienced in the apocalypse: kindness, companionship, strength, family, love, sacrifice; all things they say the older him has provided to them. (He's not sure he believes it.) ✦ Revelation by 1864_9158, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj compnay, post-canon spoilers, 2.1k     Kim Dokja realizes he's in love with Yoo Jonghyuk a month after he wakes up. Post-Canon ✦ Will you share your soul with me? (Unzip your skin and let me have a see) by Maru_Chan, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj compnay, NSFW, post-canon spoilers, 19.9k     Noticing my gaze, Yoo Joonghyuk looked up from where he was polishing his sword. “Kim Dokja, what do you want?" My eyes shifted back to the System Notification I had been making a valiant effort to ignore ever since it had appeared a few minutes ago. [I w■■t to b■■■ him ■■ half a■d ■■■■ him wi■■■ an inch ■f h■s ■■fe] Uhh... (Or: KDJ might read both books and minds, but he can't read the room to save his life.) ✦ you used to be my satellite by Karelyon, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 3.4k     Yoo Joonghyuk in his first regression, with all his memories from the 0th round, meets one Kim Dokja. ✦ The Scars of Dreaming by Gotcocomilk, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 6.5k     Or: two dreamers speak. Neither are monsters. ✦ today's prophecy: you will receive love (this is inevitable) by kdj_225, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 2.6k     “Kim Dokja!” Han Sooyoung yells first. “What the hell is this, huh?!” “You’re asking me? I’m just as confused as you, Han Sooyoung.” “This is related to you, this—huh?” It seems she hadn’t fully read the status window before she barged into his room. Her eyes, initially squinted, turn wide when they read through the lit-up words on the floating window. With a growing smirk, she teases, “A kiss? You wanted a kiss?” ✦ the false last act by younglegends, kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 8.6k     Living in a big house with everyone was convenient, most of the time. But there were other things that couldn’t be avoided. Or: The end. ✦ Pretty Fool by jokebear, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja, post-canon spoilers, 1.4k     Kim Dokja is pretty. That was the undeniable, factual, and conclusive verdict Yoo Joonghyuk had reached after days of gazing at the other man. ✦ missing person report by lorilanda, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 9.7k     Kim Dokja opens his arms. "Okay, okay." He takes a deep breath. "Okay. C'mere. Give me a hug." To his absolute horror, Yoo Joonghyuk actually does. Kim Dokja returns. ✦ you made a deal, you traded daffodils for a kingdom of ash and bone by venividivici, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, post-canon spoilers, 21k     From infancy to adulthood, Kim Dokja has had a hard life. He copes.

OMNISCIENT READER'S VIEWPOINT - BUT I WILL HAPPILY TAKE MID-SCENARIOS FIC BECAUSE IT'S SUCH GOOD TROPE FODDER: ✦ Fire on Fire by alodienr, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja, NSFW, 2.7k     "What are you doing?" He hissed in pain and shock and confusion. Their faces were dangerously close. He could see golden under the dark irises in front of him. The kind of golden that was warm, intimidating, and seemed to want to devour Kim Dokja at the same time. Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes glinted with longing, hunger and want. "Push me if you want me to stop." Yoo Joonghyuk stared right into Kim Dokja's eyes. There was a bit of gentleness in his tone. ✦ The Reader's Lost Hope by bobacrane, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja, read the tags, 5.2k     Yoo Jonghyuk is thrown into the past right when teenage Kim Dokja makes an attempt on his own life. He must learn about the past of his companion in order to return home. ✦ Taking Action to Contain a Hopeless Squid by gayboy_advance, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja, 1.2k     It started out innocent—just some minor actions to ensure the slippery man’s safety. Yoo Joonghyuk made sure to check on Kim Dokja every time before going to bed, specifically when the other was already sleeping soundly. He figured it would be less explaining if caught, as well as less likely that the man would up and leave once he had actually taken the time to fall asleep. Unfortunate or not, it was not enough to settle his worries as time progressed. ✦ proof of love by Maven_Fair, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja, NSFW, omegaverse, 3.6k     “Yoo Jonghyuk,” a low rumble, “bad touch,” a soft huff of breath, teeth scraping, “ooh - ah, bad touch,” a tongue, softly caressing that sensitive bundle so slowly that he just wanted him to bite already - “VERY BAD TOUCH, YOO JONGHYUK - ” An indignant bite is the only response he gets. ✦ i crave death by exocara, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja, NSFW, 2.2k     Kim Dokja would say that he had no idea how he got into this situation, but he would be lying. It wasn’t as if he wanted to be in this situation (except he did, it was his idea and he was the one who had to do the convincing) but Yoo Joonghyuk needed to be put in his place. Which was under him. Also with his dick up Kim Dokja’s ass, but that was neither here nor there. ✦ speak no evil by cvrely, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja, NSFW, 2.9k     The same hands that encircled his throat at their meeting, held the blade that pierced his body during the Demon King selection, now hold onto him as if afraid to let go—what defenses does he have against Yoo Joonghyuk when he’s like this? What defense does he have against Yoo Joonghyuk at all? ✦ My Star by TeaFlowers, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & secretive plotter/kim dokja, NSFW, 3.6k     ⸢K im Dok ja th in ks: I wa nt him to cr ush me⸥ Shut up, I didn’t want this to happen. He weakly refuted. ⸢K im Dok ja is a li ar⸥ One of the Plotter’s gloved fingers tapped Kim Dokja’s cheek, bringing his attention back to him and his smug smile. The hand tilted Kim Dokja’s chin toward him as he murmured, “Thinking of others while I’m here? That’s not very polite of you Kim Dokja.” ✦ you got me starstruck by virotutis, yoo joonghyuk/kim doka & kdj company, 3.6k     Kim Dokja is a man who has rather clear priorities after his favorite novel comes to life—unfortunately for his companions, informing them about his former idol career is not one of them.

OMNISCIENT READER'S VIEWPOINT - AND THEN MAYBE SOMETIMES THEY DESERVE A HAPPY ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: ✦ the tidal pain of wanting by aryelee, yoo joonghyuk/dim dokja, omegaverse, alternate universe, 14.7k     “Kim Dokja.” The sound of his name makes his breath hitch. His eyes burn with oncoming tears. He hasn’t cried in front of another person in years. It’s mortifying. He doesn’t understand why the sound of his name from Yoo Joonghyuk’s mouth hurts him, why it hollows out the inside of his chest, why it aches with a loneliness he thought he got used to living with. “Kim Dokja, allow me to know you.” ✦ How To Be A Husband by cymbelione, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja & kdj company, 9.3k     Being a good best friend involves comforting your friends when they're sad, eating their unwanted vegetables and remembering their birthdays. Last time Kim Dokja checked, the description didn't include "pretending to marry them". He'd think that he would recall that part. ✦ you can't skip the tutorial by cvrely, yoo joonghyuk/kim dokja, royalty dating sim au, 4.1k     (Yoo Joonghyuk wakes up in a dating sim. It goes as well as expected.)

#lumi.txt #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv #kim dokja #yoo joonghyuk #han sooyoung #joongdok #yoohankim #fic recs #orv fic recs #long post

[iamamythologicalcreature]

Six Sentence Sunday Climbs Out the Window

Hello all! Thank you for the tags today, @aroace-genderfluid-sheep and @youarenevertooold! And thank you to everyone who has tagged me in the past couple of weeks. I'm woefully behind on reading WIPs-Day posts, so I really appreciate the tagging. It's the only way I'll find them when I'm finally able to read. So please keep tagging me, even if I'm slow to respond. I may have taken on a bit much this month. >.> Anyhoo, on to some WIP sentences! This will be my last teaser before posting the actual Chapter 1 of the @carryon-reverse-bang fic at the end of the month (Oh God it still needs a title...). I've never tried to tease a single chapter for so long lol. Soooo I'm giving you a little slice of Chapter 2, today. Right at the beginning, though! So really no spoilers. Simon's POV continues:

After another quick inspection of the fire damage, I look back to the window. On impulse I check the latch on the window. At first it sticks, but I manage to persuade it open with my usual flare for diplomacy. I breathe in deeply as fresh, green-scented air wafts in, and push the window all the way open. I rest a hip against the sill and lean out a bit, looking around. There’s a wide overhang just under me, and above me… I can’t quite see. (Or maybe I just want the excuse.) I grin a little as I climb out the window onto the slate roof, being careful to test the shingles before each step. Everything’s solid, though. Whoever had this room before it was closed off was one lucky git. I can only imagine having something like this just outside my bedroom window. It nearly makes up for all the gargoyles. Nah, it completely makes up for them.

Simon knows how to make use of a good excuse. And how to sneak out of bedroom windows. (Did we really ever doubt that would be part of his skillset? Nah.) Tags and hello's under the cut!

No pressure and also HI! to @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @leithillustration, @prettygoododds, @rimeswithpurple, @artsyunderstudy, @ic3-que3n, @blackberrysummerblog, @shrekgogurt, @aristocratic-otter, @hushed-chorus, @nightimedreamersworld, @best--dress, @whatevertheweather, @ileadacharmedlife, @theearlgreymage, @thewholelemon, @alexalexinii, @scribble-tier, @imagineacoolusername, @cutestkilla, @brilla-brilla-estrellita, @alleycat0306, @angelsfalling16, @fatalfangirl, @erzbethluna, @tender-ministrations, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @katmiscellanious, @anxious-m3ss, @raenestee, @ebbpettier, @bubble-gumhead

#I know nothing about slate shingles #it's possible I've just written Simon into falling to his doom #the end! #no it's cool he has wings right? #if he does die it will be doing what he loves #impulsively charging into an unknown situation #snowbaz #six sentence sunday #simon snow #carry on #simon snow series #the simon snow trilogy #carry on fanfiction #yeah there's a haunted mansion involved #I'll give you that one for free #since it's not exactly subtly hidden #srsly tho I need a title #jodofic

[myloveforhergoeson]

Hiya! 😊 You're now a writer for the show. What three episode storylines are you gonna write? (In other words, what are you gonna make the boys do?)

ohm y god i literally have so many episode ideas but i'll try not to repeat any of the ones i've made posts about (except my first bullet bc im so passionate about it) so i'll give you my big list. most if not all will likely be something i DO end up writing about in my own story because ehehe i love making them do things

ones i think i've mentioned before:

a returning to minnesota chapter!! not for anything but nostalgia, getting to see the guy's favorite places, seeing their friends and families, bringing them back to realize how far they'd come. not so shy spon for my fic but i wrote a chapter like this last month and it's probably one of my favorite things i've written to date. it let me explore some of the boys' past, family dynamics, a little bit about Katie and agh i can't believe btr didn't capitalize on that at least once. ik its expensive to fund sets and hire new actors but idk i imagine it like an hour special where they could afford to shell out a bit more. idc when it happens, could be after they sign their record contract or the last episode or whatever :)

sketch comedy episode, something akin to saturday night live or so random

graduation! like you and i talked about lol i think it would be sweet

get me in the writers room stat:

originally i'd planned a "home alone lost in new york" like chapter for my story around thanksgiving where the boys are going to perform at the parade in town but they end up having their own adventure around the city beforehand. boyish antics, screaming gustavo, beautiful scenes, the works. i was just in too much of a slump to actually put it to paper :)

more tour-focused chapters (again, spon for my own fic lol) the episode in Canada was cute and the one on the bus was fun but idk there's just so many elements toward touring that i think they could've capitalized on; homesickness (for CA or MN), hardship of a go go go schedule, or fun things like being able to travel with your best friends and not ending up on the world's most wanted list lol. i know they tried really hard with this one so i don't blame them too much but my vision is just different and that's okay!

crossovers! while i'm so very happy dan schnider didn't have either of his disgusting hands in big time rush, i do remember watching the icarly/victorious crossover for the first time and wishing big time rush were there. it takes place in LA! the victorious kids are singers! carly, sam, and Freddie are pop culture experts! it would've worked really well :) so i'm writing that as a chapter for my fic LMAO

generally either an episode focusing in on or more scenes including james and lucy since the writers wanted them to be together so bad. inherently there's nothing wrong with them being together, but i do not think the relationship was given enough time to develop. give me lucy discovering her feelings for him, give me james not being creepy and obsessive about her; something more needed to be done on both of their parts to make me believe in it

additionally on that note more with jo/kendall and logan/camille; i love them both but they also had little development, just more than james/lucy. maybe they give carlos a gf (not alexa IMO, sorry. that got into weird territory for me idk why they made him be with a "real" person when he isn't other than they were already together irl) earlier and they can all have like conversations about their gfs and how much they love being together idk

and another generally, there were many songs btr put out that i love so much and feel like deserved their own episodes for hehe. i know not all of them have storylines easily transposed but i think they used confetti falling like four different times in the last season when any other love song from their third album could have been placed instead

and also another generally, and i know the early 2000s would've never allowed this for children's television but they should have and i'm the writer now!!!, but more representation all around. maybe some episodes about cultural heritage that didn't make stereotypes the main focus, canon LGBTQIA+ characters, holidays that aren't christmas, aspects like that where all kids can see themselves represented... LA is such a huge melting pot, it's not all white kids trying to make their dreams come true!

good god that was long SORRY AKJBSKJGBAB i have a lot to say and there's a lot im trying to incorporate into my story to add in what i think enhances the already present storyline. that's what's so beautiful about fandom, i love that we can have conversations like this :)

but what about you? anything you'd like to add in? i'd love to know <3 thank you for the question!

ask me a question! save my life!

#chats with ash #ash talks tasw #cant-get-enough-btr-forever

[etoilesbienne]

Nice to see that apparently we’ve all read it runs in the family. It was my guilty pleasure fic and i didn’t expect to see other people talking about it. I started reading it like a month after i got into bad and dsmp and i was /obsessed/. It’s one of those fics that changes your brain chemistry and makes you stare at a wall after reading it. To this day im still subbed to it on the off chance that it gets another chapter.

like genuinely its an enamoring fic it has an odd premise but like the author has so much potential in, like, being able to write genuinely engaging narratives. i'm shocked at how much setup is put into the work and you can tell where the narrative is going in a way that's like watching a trainwreck. You know exactly where it is going but the journey of getting there is so fascinating to watch.

anyway i want to ramble about what i liked and what i didn't like in the fic. so. huge reader discretion advised, go look at the other warnings i posted about this fic before reading this (also spoilers for the fic ahead)

like part of its most interesting facets is it is one of the few fics that tackles this sort of heavy subject matter of assault and kidnapping and doesn't really shy away from how genuinely negative it is and can be. like don't get me wrong ive enjoyed other psychological horror before, but it was, like, nice? to see the "pets" all be like genuinely upset and respond realistically to the situation they're in. no "they really like it secretly" undertone.

not a criticism but my favorite part of this story is the random ass normal human names they try to give everyone. they made skeppy have a white ass last name. bbh's name is Bad Halo. purpled doesn't even show up but his name is mentioned to be, like, "nolan purpled but he goes by purpled because his cheating whore of a mom named him nolan and he hates her" genuinely funniest line of the whole fic one of my favorites i can never ever forget it. i need to find all the human names in this theyre so fucking funny.

also badboyhalo? while he IS woobified and made much more demure and defanged, he's still like... that IS badboyhalo. his moments of complete suspicion at every encounter. his doubting. refusal to break the mould and rock the boat out if fear something bad would happen. VERY badboyhalo sentiments. also the fact the writer knew about skephalo divorce. going to be honest, looking at how their other work contains a6d, i think the writer was/is a bbh watcher. and then the schlatthalo. the fact they made schlatt ask to curse? and then bbh laughed when he did? this person understood both of these guys. they did their homework. schlatt isn't a megalomaniac evil villain one note. i don't know if i'd call both of them "in character" per say, but i can definitely say they had consistent characterization and i could understand how their characters got to these versions.

also the technohalo multifaceted concept? techno seeing bbh as too innocent? putting bbh on a pedestal and denying his humanity in that way? WILD. the setup and writing was all there for, like, bbh using his body and manipulating techno to turn against phil.

like the good parts of this fic are such crazy highs and peaks it makes the lows look so much worse.

speaking of which: wilbur soot.

by god is wilbur soot not a character, he is a force of nature and just continuous digging deeper on trying to fix a problem the writer accidentally started. none of sbi really are fleshed out or rounded characters, but wilbur soot is like by far getting the worst treatment. im not even a wilbur fan LOL.

he's supposed to be a schizophrenic serial killer which already isn't a great start, and then you watch the writer realize the issue and try to fix what they've started. this is when schizophrenic medicated slimecicle comes in. followed by badboyhalo looking at the camera and going Not All Mentally Ill People Are Bad. which was just really funny in such a morbid way. but then the writer DOES go in an interesting direction with phil denying his condition and refusing to help him get medicated. however with the slimecicle medicated moment it comes off as a medication = The Good Mentally Ill Person narrative. genuinely i dont know how id solve the wilbur issue without extensive rewriting. he's just a mess.

phil i think is one of the most interesting of sbi, being made into a central antagonist and a genuinely good villain. his scenes have well made tension and poses actual threat and stakes to the narrative. he's a good villain! techno has an interesting arc with bbh but just isn't given enough screentime and doesn't have much beyond "brute to be manipulated" which sucks a little. tommy is tommy. only one of sbi i could see not dying in a fire at the end. wilbur, despite his other issues is a narrative driver with his capriciousness, but the schizophrenia plotline is such a mess that he just is not a person here, he's a plot device more than anything.

more abstractly i do wish they committed and, like, had sex scenes or were blatant about sex happening. like they keep dancing around it but so much of the fic does not make sense if sex isn't what's occurring here. like i get subtlety if the avoidance of sex is what they're aiming for! but its okay to, like, maybe make it more clear whatever techno and bbh have going on is obviously sexual, because that can be used to advance the narrative and make it more clear bbh is using his body to manipulate here, because that'd be a good plot point to continue the themes and motifs of the story. i also just do not know how else to interpret the relationship lol.

my other biggest criticism is make it less misogynistic. the only three named women are the dead samsung smart fridge (who is now a dead mom named samantha), minx the alcoholic witness, and puffy, who is somehow ranboo's mom. like the ableism is horrific here but its so over the top stupid in the ableism, while the misogyny is subtle and just reeks. genuinely why is puffy ranboo's mom that sucks so fucking bad. make her be his aunt or guardian or something. but mom? c'mon.

i rambled way too long lol there's more i can say but this fic is my roman empire. the writer has so much potential but just needs more life experience to understand mental illness and misogyny. also a beta reader to fix their formatting. and maybe make their dialogue more human. shoutout to ranboo giving his name and phone number to tommy after tommy literally fucking tells him he'd "make a beautiful corpse" CRAZY exchange. no human would do that.

#asks

[trubbishrubbish]

Toko DR1 defense rant. (+ some UDG and Tokomaru hot takes)

I wrote a DR1 Toko defense rant and hot takes on twitter after seeing a DR1 Toko hate post on tumblr, funny that. Anyway, I'm copying pasting that rant onto here becuase it's really important. I will defend Toko with my life.

DR1 Toko haters are the weakest link.

Y’all can’t handle the fact that a woman with childhood trauma, trauma with relationships and has DiD with a serial killer alter is thrust into a stressful life or death killing game would not act very nice and normal 24/7.

If Toko in DR1 made you feel uncomfortable and you didn’t like her moments then that’s completely fine. That’s the point of her character.

It’s a pretty accurate portrayal of how someone with trauma who hasn’t been able to get the help they need would act this way. Her character was perfectly done to serve the story she has. Saying her character is bad just because it’s uncomfortable is dumb.

You can argue that her trauma being played for laughs and is bad taste but that’s more a story issue than a character issue.

Here’s another hot take: If you love UDG Toko but hate DR1 Toko then you don’t actually love Toko, you only love a fanon version of Toko.

A fanon Toko that is gay for Komaru and her obsession with Byakuya and trauma are just “magically gone”

All of Toko’s negative traits in DR1 are still present in UDG. Her sole motivation for coming to Towa city was to save Byakuya. Her reason for sticking with Komaru, encouraging her to not give up when she is at her lowest and helping and saving her, it was all done so Toko could trade Komaru with the enemy so she could save Byakuya. Her being rude and making incest jokes in front of Komaru are aspects of Toko’s character that shouldn’t be ignored. (Although, the incest part is more a product of UDG trying to squeeze as much grossness it can)

The reason why it shouldn’t be ignored is that it makes Toko’s growth in chapter 4 onwards all the more significant. Toko at the start of UDG was calling Komaru “Omaru” and fully wanted to betray her.

Toko in the end of UDG has learned that she likes having Komaru as a friend and wants to fight to save both her and Byakuya. That’s a character god tier arc.

But what about Toko’s obsession afterwards? It still exists because it’s linked to her trauma that she still has not been able to heal from. Komaru is a very important and wonderful person for Toko but she is not a therapist. She can’t diagnose all of Toko’s issues and create a way for Toko to fully heal. She can be the start and encourage Toko, but Toko needs professional therapy. Months of therapy most likely. This isn’t something that can be fixed in a week. DR3 shows that even when Toko has Komaru, she still has her obsession with Byakuya because she hasn’t been able to go to therapy.

I should probably clarify that I don’t dislike Tokomaru content that has Toko healing with Komaru’s help or Toko content that has her over Byakuya. Lord knows

I can’t throw stones in the department because of how I write Genocide Jack lol. But what I am saying is that DR1 Toko is important for UDG Toko to make sense. You can’t ignore DR1 Toko and only think about Toko as she is in UDG. Both Tokos are halves of one complete Toko.

That said, I do take slight issue with people who said that Toko NEEDED UDG to be good. Guys, Kodaka wasn’t thinking about UDG or any future DR game when writing DR1. DR1 was written as if it would be the only thing that could be made of the series. Toko’s arc in DR1 WAS supposed to end where it was. It wasn’t left incomplete so another game could fill in the rest. Toko in UDG is just an expansion of DR1 Toko. She’s already learned how to be braver and fight, UDG teaches her that she doesn’t have to pick and choose between two people. She can have both.

It’s extremely rare that a Danganronpa character has second time in the spotlight to develop more beyond the game they star in. Toko is the sole exception to this.

Also worth mentioning, Toko wasn’t first considered to be the partner early in development. It was actually Haiji that would be the secondary protagonist in UDG. The only reason why they switched from him to Toko was for gameplay purposes. Kodaka wanted the player to have the ability to switch to a super powerful character that can’t die so the people used to visual novel aspect of DR can play UDG without worrying about having to be good at a third person shooter.

Haiji’s power form would have been him taking off his cast and killing Monokumas with a robot arm. But that didn’t go very far so it was decided that Genocide Jack would be that power form.

That means y’all have to thank Genocide Jack for giving you the UDG lesbians. (Btw, if I got this info wrong please let me know.)

Anyway I exhausted myself from talking about Toko. She is a perfect weird girl who is one of DR’s best written characters.

#Kirby's Novel Notes #Toko Fukawa #Komaru Naegi #danganronpa #danganronpa trigger happy havoc #ultra despair girls #Tokomaru #rant #long post

[modern-day-bard]

Worth The Feeling

Note: this is a completed project but I’ve had major problems posting on tumblr from my laptop! I’m not sure why. If anyone who sees this is interested, I also posted the fic on Archive Of Our Own 🫶🏻

Content Warning: 18+

This story includes explicit smut, intimidation, and an age gap relationship (MC is 26, Pedro is in his 40s). Minors, do not interact.

Chapter 2:

Now, I've made some blunders before. Mostly calling talent by the wrong name, which is a big mistake when dealing with big personalities. But I've tripped a few times, spilled a few things, and I even broke a glass in the middle of a take.

Yet somehow, none of those things compare to this.

Treating the lead as if he was a PA? Telling him he needs to get a walkie ?

The thought makes me sprint even harder toward the sound stage. Once inside, I scan the area as quickly as I can. There's at least a hundred people in here now and the more I push past, the more I realize they are turning to look at me disapprovingly. I really should find a new shirt first, but it can wait.

"Lana!" I shout when I catch a glimpse of one of her classic colorful scarves. I can see the bright fabric tied in a bow on top of her curly head of hair, but she doesn't turn around.

"LANA!" This time several people, Lana included, turn around.

"Hey!" She runs up to me and sweeps me in a hug, before pulling back with an uncharacteristically miserable expression. "Why are you all wet? Ava, I can see your bra." She pokes my visible white strap.

I swat her away. "Just wait. That is the least of my worries."

I explain the situation, visibly cringing as I await her reaction.

In typical Lana fashion, she bursts into musical hysterics. She covers her mouth when she notices how pained my expression is.

"Lana, I am this close to panicking. You don't think he'll complain, do you?"

"No, no he won't complain. You said he was relatively cool about it, right?"

"Yeah, I mean, he didn't even correct me."

"Exactly. You know if it was one of the Marvel guys from our last picture, you might be in trouble. But from the sounds of it, he probably won't even remember it by tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Why did that idea not make me feel any better?

Lana is snickering again. "You know I sent you the cast list like a month ago, right? How do you of all people not recognize Javi Gutierrez?"

I lower my voice. "You know I'm not an indie movie fanatic."

"I know. It's your fatal friendship flaw. But he was on a bunch of shows, too!"

"I haven't had time for TV with school! Movies are less commitment. Don't scold me in my time of need." I wack her arm.

"Fine, fine," She holds her hands up in defeat. "But seriously Ava, unless you want to continue to give us all a free show you should really get another shirt. I have to get these mics up and running, but go to wardrobe and find Barb."

She's right. The first scene is at 8:00am, and as a sound assistant, Lana has to be ready to mic up the actors as soon as they're out of hair and makeup. I still have to print out scripts for the first few scenes, and I'm really starting to hate the sticky feeling on my stomach.

"Okay, thank you!"

Lana winks at me as I turn and head for the wardrobe trailer on the far side of the lot. Barbra has been on Norwick Productions sets since movies were invented. That is actually the answer she will give a person if they ask how long she's been working. She's the grumpy, tough-love mom I never had. And since Lana is pretty much the only person I hung out with during hiatus, I missed Barb dearly.

Barb's expression pales as soon as she sees me.

"Ava, it's only day one for god's sake."

"Don't worry Barb, Lana already scolded me for you."

"I do like that girl. And I'm guessing you came by to catch up after break, and not simply because you need my help?" She raises a knowing brow.

"Obviously." I flash her a very over-dramatic smile.

"I should give you one of the ratty uniforms from the end of this film for that."

"But you won't, because you love me." I batted my lashes.

"Uh-huh." Barb sighs, disappearing into the depths of the trailer before coming back out with a clean white t-shirt. No fuss, no fake blood.

"You are my guardian angel." I say after swapping the shirts.

"Bring me real coffee tomorrow instead of this crafty crap and we can call it even." She says in a flat tone, and I know she's not kidding.

I give her a quick hug. "It's good to see you Barb."

That makes her chuckle slightly. "You too, kiddo."

I check my watch again. 7:30am. Barely enough time to print out the scripts. I bid Barb a quick goodbye and head to the closest copier.

After kicking it a few times, and uttering several curse words, I got the copier up and running and several copies of today's script printed. I try to skim today's scenes while walking back to the soundstage. I'm beginning to grow curious as to watch is actually happening in this movie. Since we usually shoot scenes out of order, these few pages aren't helping very much.

Back on the soundstage, I spot Lloyd, our director, and walk over to hand him today's pages.

"Ava, welcome back." Lloyd says in his usual artistic drawl. He takes one of the copies from me, flipping through as though looking for something specific, though I know he is barely even skimming the pages.

Part of me is holding my breath, wondering if Javi would have complained to Lloyd or a production manager at this point. I'm not sure when he would have time for that between hair and makeup, but in a world where my mishap today costs me my job, he would find the time.

But, Lloyd is deep in conversation with a cameraman and doesn't spare me another glance. I take that as a good sign, and slowly slink toward the far corner of the room. This way I can still have a good view of the stage without calling too much attention to myself. I can see Lana across the room micing up one of the actors in the scene. Some older gentleman who I heard was popular on a cowboy show that I've never seen. I recognize his face more than I did Javi's, which embarrasses me further, even though the fact is only known to me.

Then, as though the gods of shame were looking down and laughing at me, Javi walks into the large room. I quickly open the first scene's pages to see if I can figure out whom he is playing. That, and so I can take my mind off of how he looks even more attractive in costume. I steal a glance up from the pages and see Lana micing him up now. He's smiling warmly at her, and she chuckles at something he said. Lana tends to laugh at most things, but I can't help but wonder what words were being passed between them.

The two men step onto the CIA set together, both dressed in impeccably tailored suits, making light conversation. Now is my que to bring them their copy of the pages for a final once-over before we roll the cameras. I inhale deeply and set my shoulders back.

Don't be intimidated, Ava. You can't embarrass yourself any worse than you already have.

Well, I know that last part isn't true. But I repeat it to myself all the same.

I walk up to the men, handing them each a copy with a smile.

The older gentleman gives me a friendly nod as he takes the script. Javi gives me the same smile he gave Lana a few minutes prior. I'm turning to leave, and I'm surprised when he says, "Thank you, Ava."

I pause, half out of surprise that he remembered my name, and half over the hesitation of wondering if I should apologize for earlier. But his attention is already on the pages, and there are so many people around to hear me admit my mistakes. I decide against it.

- - -

After we shoot the first few takes, I think I'm starting to piece together what the film is about. In the way that it is not unlike most other spy films I've seen. Older Cowboy, whose real name is still evading me, has a small role as the experienced head of the CIA who brings on Javi's character, a real loose cannon, despite his reservations. There is something about a kidnapping of Javi's lover that makes him "too close to the case," but he lies about his involvement with the woman to make sure he can be the one to save her. I'm assuming that is when we will be in Italy. Spy movies love a good ol' car chase in Europe.

I'm not blown away by the originality of the script or anything, but I'm still engaged in the scene even on their tenth take. I realize that Javi is actually quite talented. I'm only ever engaged in a scene if the actors are talented. That, or if Lloyd is having a breakdown.

I spend the rest of the scene trying not to notice just how well tailored that suit is on Javi. I never leer at the talent, but I always appreciate a good-looking man in a suit. Plus, there is something different about him. He has a kindness to him that I haven't seen with other actors. We've been working with a lot of big names recently, so maybe I've just become disillusioned. Even still, I know some lesser actors who would've complained about my assumption early, even if they painted it as a joke. They would never want me to fully live it down. But not Javi. At least, not so far.

When they call for a break, I decided it would be best to fulfill some of my other duties on another part of the lot.

The rest of the day goes by in a blur. I try to stay away from the soundstage, knowing that they will be working with Javi for the next few hours. I check my watch for the umpteenth today, and I crack a smile when I realize we only have about an hour left. My last stop is Emma Madden's trailer, our leading lady. And then I finally get to drive home and sleep.

I hadn't met Emma before, but similar to Javi, she isn't in the same celebrity category as our last film, so she seems much friendlier. I got a call on my walkie letting me know there was an issue with her food, and with not much else to go off of, I figured I might be in for a celebrity meltdown. However, when I got here, she let me know that she is severely allergic to mustard, and was afraid to touch the sandwich that had been dropped off to her. Sure, maybe it was a little 'Hollywood' for her to have me come and throw it in the garbage for her, but she was pretty apologetic about it.

"Thank you so much, Anna." She says with her knees brought up to her chest, as if she was shielding her center from the turkey sandwich springing back up out of the trash. Her expression is worried and her tone is so sincere that I don't correct her. Not that I would have otherwise.

"Not a problem Ms. Madden." I dust off sesame seeds from my palms.

"Oh please, call me Emma." She smiled at me now, and I couldn't help but like her a little.

"I know a mustard allergy is like, totally random, but it's actually pretty bad. I have an epipen and everything." I know she must be at least thirty years old, but her inflection reminds me of a teenager.

"I'll let crafty know. They should have sent you a food preference and allergy sheet to fill out months ago, that's the studio's fault."

"Oh, they did! I completely forgot about that. I figured it was just if you were a picky eater."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Well, no worries. I'll let them know now." I reach for the doorknob of the trailer.

"Thank you again!" Emma called out as I closed the door behind me.

As I'm finally able to drop off my walkie for the day, I run through all the ways that Emma's Mustard Mayhem could have cost the studio hundreds of thousands of dollars. How did they start production without having her sign a waiver? Why did no one double check that all the talent had sent in their allergy lists? If she were a higher profile celebrity, this could have been a huge issue. But as usual, these are the scenarios I keep to myself. And as I drive home, I try to run through only mustard scenarios, and ignore any that pop up with another actor in mind.

Series Masterlist

#pedro pascal x original characters #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal x you #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal x reader #pedro #pedro pascal fandom #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #tlou #narcos #the mandalorian #javi gutierrez fanfiction #javi gutierrez x reader #javi gutierrez smut #javi gutierrez

[keeshya6]

Last Chance

Chapter 1 - The Last Thing You Expected

Joel Miller x f!Reader

Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Rating: M (Eventually will be E. 18+ only, minors dni!)

Word Count: 1.6k

Summary: You had been happy once. That was a long time ago. Then life had just gotten in the way.

And after that? The world ended.

Since then, you've just been trying to survive. You definitely didn't think you'd ever run into your past, much less have a chance to try again.

Content Warnings and general info: This will be both post- and pre- outbreak. There WILL be spoilers from the show. Slow burn, kinda. You'll see what I mean.

I do avoid most specific descriptors for Reader characters, but she does have long-ish hair, though texture and color are not specified. She also blushes, though I don't specify just how noticeable it is. Character will have a background/history. I tend to treat a Reader character like a role that people can step into, rather than her literally being the person reading it. The Reader character also has a nickname.

First chapter doesn't really have much to warn about other than minor flirtation. That's about it. I will include more warnings in future chapters.

Lastly, this is a pretty short chapter, just to get us started. Future chapters will be longer, I'm sure. Possibly, significantly longer.

Also available on Ao3

I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 1 - The Last Thing You Expected

----------

This can't be real. 

There's no way that's him. No way. 

You haven't seen him in two decades. Since the day you broke your own heart and boarded a plane out of Texas. That was over a thousand miles away.

And about four months before the world ended.

You swallow thickly, your brows pinching together into a scowl as you look at his back for another moment, trying to quiet the rapid beating of your heart.

"Tommy?" His name comes out of you with a bit of a squeak and you have to clear your throat. 

He stops, mid-sentence in ordering a drink at the bar of The Tipsy Bison, and turns to look at you. 

You hadn't meant to be rude and interrupt. You're just so surprised.

You're not the only one. 

Tommy's eyes narrow a bit as he looks at you, faint recognition showing in his expression, like he's trying to place your face. 

He hasn't changed. The same dark hair, worn long. Same small mustache. Same dark eyes. Handsome features worn a little bit with age, but not much. He still looks just like you remember Tommy Miller looking. 

Those dark eyes finally light up with realization and his brows shoot up towards his hairline. He gasps out your name before giving a laugh of disbelief and coming off of his barstool in a rush to scoop you up in a hug.

You squeak again in surprise and then you're laughing, too. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you return the hug as he lifts you off the floor for a moment. 

When he sets you back down on your own feet, he's beaming at you. "What are you doing here, Eeps?"

You give an exaggerated sigh and roll your eyes. "Oh God, I forgot about that nickname."

Tommy grins down at you. "I did, too, until you made that noise."

You scrunch up your nose at him before you're both laughing again.

Giving a firm squeeze to your shoulders, he guides you over to the bar. "When did you get into Jackson?"

It takes you a moment to maneuver yourself onto one of the tall barstools and then he sits on the one next to you. "About a week ago. Just…been getting settled," you answer with a shrug. "How about you?"

"Almost two years ago now," he says with a slight shrug. 

You give a little nod in acknowledgement, and then a quiet moment passes before you smile at him again. "You look good, Tommy."

He smirks, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. There might even be a bit of a red tinge in his cheeks at the compliment. "Thanks, Eeps. Things have been…pretty good lately." His smirk becomes a grin and he seems to get lost in thought for a moment. "Yeah…Jackson's been good to me," he says with a firm nod, focusing on you again. He reaches over, lightly bumping your knee with a fist. "You're looking good too!"

You snort softly and laugh. "Should've seen me a week ago. You wouldn't have recognized me at all. Amazing what a week's worth of decent sleep and some good food will do."

His face splits into another brief grin. "Yeah, it is." Then, Tommy hesitates for a moment, growing serious before asking, "Where were you before?"

You fidget with the bottom hem of your shirt, absentmindedly, giving a small shrug as your expression turns sad. A little haunted. "The Portland QZ. It… it got overrun a few months ago."

A noticeable cringe crosses his features. "Damn. Sorry."

Another shrug lifts up your shoulders. "Fact of life now," you murmur.  Then you give him another strained smile. "But thanks." You pause for a moment, before your curiosity starts to poke at you. "What about you…before here?" 

Tommy turns on his stool to face the bar, waving to catch the bartender's attention before looking over at you again. "Umm… a few different places. Boston, for a while. Then, worked my way across the country."

"Oh, wow," you gasp out, your eyebrows arching sharply. And you thought it would have been a long trip from Austin. "Um… were you-"

You cut your question short when the bartender steps over. Tommy requests a whiskey for himself and gives you a questioning look. 

"Oh… just a beer, please?"

The bartender nods and turns to grab your drinks as Tommy focuses back on you. 

You're fidgeting again, this time tapping your fingertips one at a time against the pad of your thumb. It's an old, nervous habit.

"All the way across the country, huh?" you ask, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably. "On-on your own?"

A soft, knowing smile crosses Tommy's lips. "No. Most of the time I was with friends."

Friends. 

Not family. 

You nod, grateful for the beer that's placed in front of you. Grabbing it up, you take a long swig of it as he takes a swallow of his whiskey.

When you look back at Tommy again, you sigh shakily. That knowing look hasn't left his face. You both know the questions you are avoiding asking.

You're scared that you already know the answers. 

You thought you had moved on a long time ago, never having expected to see anyone from your past again. 

Just seeing Tommy alive, so far from the life you knew him in before, is a miracle. This world has so few of those to offer anymore.

It's too much to ask for another. 

Tommy is the one to break the growing silence between you though, taking pity on you so you don't have to voice your question. 

His words steal the air from your lungs. 

"Joel's alive, Eeps."

—

"Um, hey there…"

You had nearly choked on a gulp of red wine, surprised by that voice. Thankfully, it had come from behind you, and you were able to cover up your mishap by gently clearing your throat before turning. 

Swallowing hard, you had turned on your toes to find the source of the voice as it spoke again.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced yet, Miss."

Oh, Good Lord. If that luscious baritone -with just a hint of a fry to it- wasn't as sweet as a good, Georgia-peach iced tea, then you didn't know what was. 

And the face that came with it?

Well, if they made men like this in Texas, then you thought you just might be able to learn to like it here after all. 

His words had finally clicked in your mind and you gave a little smile, shaking your head. "No. I don't think so."

Eyes of the warmest and richest russet brown you'd ever seen watched you closely, seeming to study the details of your own eyes as you took in the details of his. Tiny lines at their corners deepened as he gave you an almost bashful smile.

"Hope you don't mind, but I wanted to fix that," he said, a bit of a drawl coming through.  His broad shoulders moved in a shrug before he offered a hand. "M' name's Joel Miller."

Your tongue darted across your lips as unexpected nervousness pricked at your mind, your stomach a bit of a flutter.  Reaching out, you couldn't help noticing how his hand dwarfed your own, yet his grip was gentle as he shook it. 

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Miller," you said, after giving him your name and a soft smile.

His rumbling chuckle made a warmth dance across your skin, and you prayed to whoever might listen that you weren't actually blushing like a silly school girl. 

"Please, just Joel is fine. If my brother heard me called 'Mr. Miller'... well, I'd never hear the end of it."

You laughed a little at that and nodded, nervously tucking a rebellious lock of hair behind your ear. Lifting your glass of wine, you took a sip of it to give yourself a moment, to gather up your nerves and tuck them back away where they belonged. 

After that sip, and a clarifying deep breath, you felt a little more composed and gave him a warm smile. 

"Okay, Joel it is." 

Oh well, jeez, why did he have to smile like that? You had just gotten that threat of a blush under control!

Then you blinked in realization. 

"Oh! 'Miller'. You're with the new contracting company that saved our bacon on the top floors," you said. 

Now he almost seemed to blush with a single-shouldered shrug. "I don't know about 'saved your bacon', but yeah. That's my company."

You definitely knew that Miller Construction had saved your bosses some hassle. You were part of the architectural design team for a new high-rise hotel in Austin. The build was nearly done except for the top two floors, which included what would be the highest costing suites, when the previous contractors had started pulling some tricks in an attempt to renegotiate their contract. The firm you worked for had nearly been forced to agree to the new terms just to meet the deadline,  when Miller Construction came around with a bid that saved them time and money. 

In fact, it was such a good deal that you had wondered how the new contractor could possibly be making any money off of it. It turned out that it was a fairly new company. The owners, a pair of brothers that your boss knew from when they worked for a different company, were just getting started on their own and trying to build up their customer base. 

Your smile had brightened a bit. "Oh, I know you saved us a bunch of hassle," you said. "And we appreciate it."

His smile widened, enough for a single dimple to cease one cheek. "Well… I won't argue it. I'll happily accept your appreciation," he had drawled. 

Oh boy. You were in trouble.

And this time you knew you were blushing.

#fanfic #reader insert #joel miller fanfiction #the last of us fanfiction #joel miller fic #joel miller x you #joel miller x reader #joel tlou #ao3 fanfic #ao3

[nocompromise-noregrets]

20 questions for fic writers

The impossibly lovely @mihrsuri tagged me in this a couple of weeks ago, and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get round to it - but I find myself in need of distraction, just a little bit, as Last Cat Standing is in the veterinary hospital getting his radioactive iodine treatment for his thyroid, and we can't have him back for maybe ten days as he's going to be somewhat radioactive for a little while; I'm sure he's going to be fine (this is the treatment described to me by the treating vet as both 'the gold standard' and 'magical', in that it's effective in 99.5% of cases, and in the 0.5% it isn't, they just give it another go and then it's effective), but we haven't had an entirely cat-free house for this long in 20 years, and I'm feeling a bit weird about it. Also I'm procrastinating finishing off an essay plan (I'd rather just write the damn essay but no, we have to submit a plan for tutor feedback to make sure we're on the right lines, and as you all know by now, that's really not how I work XD )

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 362 (plus another 76 on the other account for the fandom that does not speak its name...)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 1,491,388 (good grief; nearly 1.5 million?! and if you add in the 270,606 on the other account, that's 1,761,994 O.O )

3. What fandoms do you write for? Tolkien (chiefly the Hobbit movies, and LotR, a mix of movie and book-'verse); King Arthur (2004); Fisherman's Friends (fandom of one); The Alienist (TV; occasionally); Marvel (occasionally, chiefly bits of the MCU and X-Men comics/Evolution); Top Gun (here and there) - and a bewildering number of others...

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? My Heart Is An Empty Vessel (621); Shape Up (422); Safe (414); Not Alone (413); The Unworn Jumpers of Molly Weasley (343)

This is bewildering but also a fine illustration of the vagaries of AO3 and the absolute folly of measuring anything by the amount of kudos a fic has: Empty Vessel is three and a half years old, took two years to post and has 115 chapters, so was at the top of the tag many many times over those two years. Shape Up and Safe were written and posted not long after Top Gun: Maverick came out (I don't know how busy the tag still is, but it was very busy when the film came out so the fics in that fandom got a lot of interaction because a lot of people were there looking for fics) and are both one-shots. Not Alone is also a one-shot (for X-Men: Evolution) and has been up on AO3 for nearly twelve years (and has had a bit of a boost with the release of X-Men '97). And Unworn Jumpers (on which I really ought to put some sort of disclaimer, along with the small handful of other ancient HP fics I've got up there) is a seasonal one-shot that's been up for over ten years and tends to get a bit of a boost every December. So *shrugs* go figure. And if anyone wants to help the only HP fic in the top five not be in the top five any more, Come Home is only 36 behind it, and it is fluffy and cute and has Elrohir persuading Maglor to come to Imladris for Midwinter somewhat in the guise of the Elfling he hasn't been for a very long time... :D

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes. Sometimes it takes me a while (oh god six months, but I got up to speed with them all and now I'm trying to make sure I do it within a week) as I am a champion procrastinator but I feel it's important for me to say thank you. And sometimes squee a bit. :D And sometimes it makes me a new friend, which is extra-awesome.

I have a few very very old comments on the stuff I posted before 2020 which I never did get round to answering, which I feel bad about, but I also feel like it would be weird to go back and answer them now...I dunno, what do you guys think?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't do angsty endings very often, but The Last Watch (in which Bard dies) is really sad, and Never Forgotten and See This Storm Through (in which Sigrid and Thranduil comfort each other after the funeral, and Legolas comes home to Dale to look after his father and his family and grieve with them, respectively) are almost as sad although they both end with a small amount of hope.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Ah, most of my fics end happily :D I'm far too tired for anything but, most of the time, these days. But let's face it, My Heart Is An Empty Vessel ends with a coronation and a wedding (spoiler alert! XD ) so let's go for that one.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I am lucky; the closest I've had was some anon complaining about Empty-Handed being a spoiler for the then-unposted Empty Vessel although the events it 'spoiled' were inevitable in the context of a mortal-immortal relationship, and someone whingeing in a bookmark comment that Thorin and Bilbo don't even talk until the end of Mr Underhill's Finest Seafood Specialities, thus completely missing the point of the fic (and the 'past' after the pairing tag) - it wasn't about them - which made me chuckle as much as the rudeness annoyed me.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Sometimes. I have phases when I feel like it, and (much longer) phases when I don't. It's generally only fairly tame and euphemistic (with the single and solitary exception of that one hanahaki fic about the twins the premise for which, although not the smut, came to me in a dream) and probably not all that imaginative since, as the acest of aces, the whole idea completely bewilders me XD

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Not unless you count various different parts of the Tolkien legendarium. My brain just doesn't work that way.

11. (there doesn't seem to be a question 11; I feel like this might be one of those Tumblr traditions, as I've definitely done question memes on here before that have been lacking in a question 11...)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have! I am deeply honoured that my KA fic Anniversaries was translated into Russian by Elenabu some years ago, and It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like... appears on Lofter in Mandarin, translated by AntheaXi. There were a couple of other Russian translations of some of my very old stories, but that was 15 or 20 years ago and I can't actually remember which or where.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I have! A long long time ago, the fic that eventually became the original novel that is Two of a Kind, the tale of Hal and Jack, was a co-production, and I really enjoy bouncing ideas back and forth - and of course, there is the Tudors OT3-'verse fandom stuff that @mihrsuri and I have been pinging to and fro just recently, which is also hugely enjoyable. :D :D :D

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Oh, too many to name! Gawain/Galahad from KA2004, the bi widower dads, Legolas/Imrahil, Elladan/Elrohir, Erestor/Glorfindel, Sigrid/Tauriel, to name but a few.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I am determined to finish All I Want Is You. I am also determined to finish part whatever it is now of It's Always Been You, although that's been on the back burner for a long long time. There's one WIP on the other account which I'm also determined to finish although who knows if I'll ever get there. I'm not one for saying never, though. I was out of Tolkien fandom for 16 years, and after the fandom that does not speak its name fizzled out, I genuinely thought I'd never write again. And yet...here I am.

16. What are your writing strengths? Ooooh, I dunno. Spelling, punctuation and grammar, dialogue, leavening the serious romantic stuff with a bit of humour, kindness and love for the characters and settings, happy endings and quite a lot of fluff. :D

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plot. XD Can't plot to save my life.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Only when necessary for character reasons, and always provide a translation. Otherwise you're shutting out readers who don't understand (unless it's not important that they actually understand precisely what's being said as long as they get the gist).

19. First fandom you wrote for? Knowingly? X-Men (comics), and that fic is here, although I posted it ten-odd years after first posting it to ff.net.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? All of them. I cannot possibly choose.

Thank you so much for the tag, lovely! Entirely no-obligation tags go to @lemurious, @verecunda, @writerman, @scary-grace, @seagull-energy, @herawell, @thenookienostradamus, @sallysavestheday, @myeaglesong, @palavapeite, @bigneonglitter, @bishkebab, @peonybroadbeltofbuckland, @redeemer46, @spiced-wine-fic and anyone else who wants to do this - if you see this and fancy it, please consider yourself well and truly tagged!

#tag game #my writing #wheeeee thank you! <333333

[onwriting-hrarby]

the thing about not getting comments

i have 9 public works in my ao3 account, spanning two fandoms and multiple pairings, and i receive more than 40 weekly kudos in my works, long fics and short fics.

but i never receive a single comment. maybe someone does: they go on a "hera" spree, which i really appreciate, and they comment on most chapters in the long fics and sometimes i will receive a comment of another person in my short fics, and i'm incredibly grateful for every single comment i receive.

but the amount of comments vs kudos is disheartening. this is not a "wake-up call" or "attention seeking" or "blaming" to get more comments, because at this point i'm not really updating a lot, so i get that as much as i complain about not getting comments, others can sense that i'm not a "present" writer. but they keep reading my stories, and they keep giving kudos, and god, i don't write for kudos or numbers, i write for the people.

and the thing about kudos or hits is that they are not people, they are just statistics, they are not, for me, real people at all. they don't tell me if you've enjoyed my work: they tell me you've read it, you've seen it, the same way we've been taught to interact with instagram and twitter posts. kudos are the new "fav", which is to say that they serve more as a "hey, i recognize you" than "hey, what you've said, i agree". and in this era of algorithmic hatred, most of the comments that instagram and twitter content receive are discourses, or hate comments. and in fanfiction it begins to be the same:

how do i justify not getting encouraging comments for MONTHS, but getting 40 kudos a week, and then getting 2 or 3 hateful anons every few weeks? how do i encourage myself after that? is my work only serving to anons? do people not like it enough to leave a mere "i enjoyed this!"? is this the kind of writer that i am?

so no: comments are not the same as kudos. no: we writers wouldn't need to ask for comments, because we don't require "attention" and we write for "ourselves", but: we are sharing this with you. internet is about sharing and talking and exchange. if we were just writing for ourselves, we would not be uploading that. you are reading thousands of stories for free, something that people has crafted. it is not a 240-word tweet. a story is not content (although some might be). literature is a form of art.

i don't write for statistics, but it would be nice to really know what people are thinking about my writing.

pd: to the people who ask why i have taken some of my works down - when i put them up again, i'm plagued with hateful anons (here too). i put them down because i want to work on them as an original fiction, but also because i hold those stories dear, and i know that having them up on ao3 will mean hateful anons, lots of kudos, and few, very few, comments.

#writing #ao3 #fics #kudos #comments #problem #i'm sad i'm sorry

[steddieas-shegoes]

wip wednesday (actually thursday oops)

I got tagged by @nburkhardt (thank youuuu sorry I am late and not following directions but what else is new) and didn't even get a chance to actually post it yesterday. I also only do one WIP at a time because my brain cannot do more than that so the fun game you guys are doing just cannot happen in this household and I am so sorry 🥺 but here is a preview of some of chapter 4 of it led me to you, which should be out tonight sometime if I can manage to get this last bit figured out!

-------------------

He cornered Eddie after school, usually in a rush to get to practice, but the season ended last week and he didn’t have any more responsibilities until tonight.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you aren’t graduating!”

Eddie flinched at Steve’s volume, his sudden anger making him wish he reacted more like Wayne did.

“It wasn’t important.”

“What do you mean it wasn’t important? Eds, we’ve worked so hard for this all year.”

“Yeah until you got busy. I tried to fend for myself and I failed. So. I’ll be there to cheer for you, but I won’t be walking across the stage.”

God, he hoped Steve would just drop it.

“What do you mean? I’m never too busy for you.”

It was a nice sentiment, if completely untrue. Maybe Steve believed he was never too busy for him, but the facts were that his schedule was filled and hardly ever with Eddie for the last few months.

“Steve, it’s fine. Just drop it.”

“Steve? Since when am I Steve to you?”

“Since I’ve barely spent any time with you! You were too busy for the last two Hellfire campaigns, and you didn’t ask me to go to any of your games, and you barely come to the trailer anymore for dinner. Wayne thought I did something to piss you off because you never showed up anymore. The guys started asking me if you found a girlfriend since you stopped coming to band practice. And I had to tell them that I didn’t know, because I don’t! I have no idea what’s going on in your life other than that you’re graduating. I know you’re busy and I’m not expecting to be a priority, but I figured you could at least find some time during the week to check in. I knew I wasn’t graduating since spring break and you just now realized it. That should tell you everything.”

Eddie felt like he was going to puke.

He never thought he’d be saying this kind of stuff to Steve, never thought their friendship would be anything less than perfect.

He never thought he would be watching Steve graduate while he had to return to another senior year.

Steve looked like he was going to cry, but Eddie felt like he was going to cry.

“I didn’t know it was hurting you so much.”

For some reason, that pissed Eddie off even more.

“You didn’t know it hurt me to know that my best friend had more important things to do than hang out with me?”

“No! I just-“

“Forget it. Wayne has a celebration dinner planned for you for the day after graduation, so I guess I’ll see you then.”

“No, Eddie, wait!”

Eddie ignored him, walking as quickly as he could towards his van.

Steve could easily catch up, he was much more in shape than Eddie was, but he didn’t.

And that spoke volumes to Eddie.

--------------

sorry for the angst (but not really because the amount of fluff that is coming is sickening and almost more than this needs)

I'm not gonna tag anyone since I'm late to the party, but anyone can feel free to give an update on something they're working on if they want to!

#wip wednesday #but actually thursday #sorry #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #it led me to you

[wrecklessimagine]

Hello, everyone. Life has been challenging, and the post-pandemic existence is rough. My therapist encouraged me to find the last time I remembered being truly content, and I couldn't tear myself away from this blog. So, maybe writing will help give me some hope again. And, maybe, for you guys, too.

This story takes place after the last season of Criminal Minds. Things fall through with the girl we see him with because of the pandemic. In this multi-chapter fic, we will see a fully adult, grown Spencer, with his traumas, memories, and his addiction. He will still be running his one-month-on-one-month-teaching schedule as well.

For what it's worth, I hope you guys enjoy it.

Take Two

Staring at the blank walls of your new apartment, darkness overcame you. The sun finally set behind the tall concrete buildings that surrounded your new apartment, shrouding your uncurtained windows in the twinkling lights from the street. Cars raced past. People talked and laughed as they rushed by. The built-in bookshelves loomed over you with their empty caverns, seemingly laughing at the pathetic expanse of what you brought with you.

Six suitcases and two cardboard boxes.

That was all you had after six years of marriage. Six years of laughter. Six years of tears. Six years, two apartments, one rented home, and a broken heart.

Broken mind.

Broken soul...

The divorce had been hard.

The cold, harsh metal of the apartment keys in your hand contrasted the warmth cascading down your cheeks. Your entire foundation had crumbled beneath you. The man you thought you'd spend forever with left you for another woman.

Another couple, actually.

The divorce had been really hard.

It took you two and a half years to get back on your feet. To find some semblance of normalcy. To wrap your head around the fact that the divorce had, in fact, happened. That your ex-spouse wasn't, in fact, coming back. That it wasn't, in fact, a nightmare. That you really, honestly, were alone again. After baring your soul. Baring your past. Baring your body...

...to someone who threw you away like trash.

"Guess it could be worse," you muttered to yourself as you shoved the keys into the back pocket of your jeans.

That was the motto of the last two and a half years.

Guess it could be worse.

Looking around at the dark green walls trimmed with black accents, you heaved a heavy sigh. You had no furniture. No decorations. No pictures. Nothing but your clothes, toiletries, and the few books you owned.

The mere idea of rebuilding exhausted your dwindling energy stores.

Knock, knock, knock. "Hello?"

You whipped around at the sound of the lilting voice behind you. "Huh?"

The door to your apartment creaked open, revealing a tall, slender man with curious hazel eyes and brown hair that could only be described as dramatic.

He waved his slender fingers in the air softly. "Hello, new neighbor."

You blinked. "Across the hall?"

He thumbed over his shoulder. "Yep, that's me."

"Do you always go around opening random people's doors?"

He didn't skip a beat. "The door was cracked already."

"Oh."

His soft smile grew cockeyed. "Hi."

You nodded slowly. "Hello."

You watched as he peeked around the edge of the door at your empty new apartment. God, you could only imagine what he thought.

"I'm Spencer, by the way," the man said as he held out his hand when the door has finally swung all the way open.

You looked at it before walking toward him, shaking his hand softly. "Y/N."

His cockeyed smile grew, lighting up his eyes. "Well, it's nice to finally have a neighbor."

You still hadn't dropped his hand. "Finally?"

He snickered, not dropping your hand either. "Yeah. It's been vacant for a little while."

"Why? This place haunted or something?"

His smile grew so big that it closed his eyes. "You'd think so, with how hard my landlord's been trying to fill the place."

"I'll let you know if the ghosts come with any juicy gossip."

He chuckled. "Perfect. I love a good bit of gossip."

Was it weird to still be holding the man's hand? Yes, you determined, it's still very weird. So, you quickly dropped it and cleared your throat.

"Sorry about that," you mumbled beneath your breath.

The man named Spencer cleared his throat. "Well, I don't wanna hold you up. I just wanted to introduce myself. You know, neighbor to neighbor."

You turned back to your empty apartment. "I appreciate that."

"And if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to knock on my door. This month, I'll be home a great deal more than usual."

Your brow ticked in curiosity and you peered over your shoulder. "This month?"

He nodded as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "It's my work schedule. I travel heavily for a month, then I stay put and teach for a month."

That turned your body back toward him. Like a gravitational pull you couldn't escape. "What do you teach?"

He snickered as he tilted his head. "Sure you wanna know? It's kind of... dark."

You felt your curiosity piquing for the first time since your divorce. In fact, the conversation with your newfound neighbor was the longest one you'd had with anyone since your divorce.

And you didn't hate it.

"You'd be surprised what I can tolerate," you said.

The man's eyes grew focused as he stared you down. Almost as if he were studying you.

"I work for the FBI," he said after clearing his throat. "When I'm not out on cases, I'm teaching classes on profiling serial killers."

You felt your eyebrows hike up onto your forehead. "Wow."

"What do you do?"

"Nothing as impressive as you."

A grin ticked his cheek. "You do me, huh?"

You sucked in a short breath of air. "No, no. Not like that. I just meant--."

He chuckled again. "I know what you meant. Just trying to break the tension."

The sound wafted over you like red wine over a King's tongue. Velveteen and soft, it was as innocent as they came. You felt it disarming your senses. Your nostrils flared. Your shoulders relaxed. Your breathing leveled out. And as the ending sound trickled from his lips, you found yourself wanting to illicit the sound again.

It was the first time something had been pleasant since your divorce.

The first time you felt anything since your divorce.

"So," your new neighbor said as he took the smallest of steps through the door's threshold, "do you have any furniture that needs to come up?"

Reality came slamming into you and you quickly turned away from him. "No."

"Well, if it's coming later, I could-."

You sighed heavily. "I don't have furniture coming because I don't have furniture."

"Oh."

Your shoulders tightened again as you steeled yourself against the world. You'd wasted enough of your neighbor's precious time. After all, he had more important things to do. Lives to save.

Lives that were more important than yours.

"It was lovely meeting you, new neighbor Spencer."

His voice came soft, as if he were trying not to spook a fawn. "The pleasure is mine."

"If you don't mind, could you close the door in your way out?

"Of course. It was nice to meet you, new neighbor Y/N."

You shook your head softly as tears arrested your voice. "Your attempt at a compliment is kind, but not necessary. Have a good evening."

He paused for a long time. "You, too."

And the second you heard your door click closed, you let the tears fall. Tears you allowed to flood your neck as you waited for his door across the hall to open... and close.

Before your trembling hands snatched your car keys off the kitchen countertop.

I need an air mattress.

#criminal minds #spencer reid #fanfiction #matthew gray gubler #imagine

[ciaossu-imagines]

Ask Box closure for new writing requests

Hello, hello, my lovelies! You know I don't do this easily or without reason, but I'm going to be closing the ask box to new actual requests. It's still always open for you guys to pop in and talk to me or send me in your ideas and such, because my god do I love talking to you all, but just not for any new writing requests, please and thank you. Even attempting to get out one singular request post a day (and hoping to get out two on days where I have more than one day off in a row), I won't finish the prior requests until February 1st. I have a commission to work on after that and given how detailed it is and how long I figure it will take me to write, proof, edit, and then proof again, I figure it will take me about a week to get to the person who commissioned it. After that, I'll be taking an additional week to work on The Ever Young, then a couple days to a week to work on some fics I've been wanting to sit down and properly write and post to AO3, even just beginning chapters for them. That puts me up to about February 20th, when I'll be working on the four new requests that have come in since I made my writing plan, two match-ups and two headcanon requests. Headcanon requests, when I have that much time to think about them, take me anywhere from an hour to three hours to write, while match-ups can take from two to nine hours, depending on how many details I'm given, to write, so I'll probably take at least a week to work on those. So, honestly, I know it sounds like a really lengthy closure, but I likely won't be taking on new requests until late February, early March, when I'll be working on them in probably a slightly slower pace, since I'm going to be giving myself a well-deserved rest by that point and working on some rereads and rewatches, taking time for other hobbies, and reading and writing fic in between answering requests. By late March though, I'm hoping to hold another big event on the blog, and will need those three months to really think of a really fun one to do. So please be patient and understanding with me until then, my lovely, constant readers :)

#admin chatter #ask box closed for new requests only #please keep talking to me though my loves #it makes me so happy

[thetragicallynerdy]

So many of your WIPs sound really intriguing but I'm gonna go with "and we will build a home from the wreckage - jim olu cowboys" (for now 😉)

Hahaha aww thanks friend!!

So this one is actually partially posted already!! It's still in my WIP folder because all of the chapters are in one big document because I'm terrible like that.

The premise is: Jim, an outlaw in ~1770s old West, is on the run from Spanish Jackie's gang after being shot. They try and break into Oluwande's barn to get shelter, and he catches them, and gives them a place to stay and heal. The town Oluwande lives near is run by notorious US Marshall Stede Bonnet and his partner, a retired Blackbeard.

If you feel like reading the two chapters that are up, it's posted here! It updates SLOWLY. Like, it's been 9 months since the last chapter.

Here's a long snippet from probably the next chapter!

And if anyone feels like dropping me an ask for the WIP folder game, my long list of WIP titles is here!

--

“Oh – Oluwande –" Stede gives Oluwande a smile. "Fang wants something from you. He’s in the kitchen! Go on, go on back –“

Oluwande gives them a sympathetic look, then disappears. If the suspicious timing hadn’t already set them on edge, that would have done it. They watch him head back towards the kitchen with growing apprehension. And then he’s gone, and they are alone, but for Stede and Ed.

Ducking under their hat and hunching their shoulders, Jim knocks back the rest of their whiskey and reaches for their coin purse. But Stede is already sliding into view, that too bright smile on his face.

“Jim,” he stage whispers, loud and too cheery in the quiet of the near empty saloon. “I’ve got something for you.” He sets a yellowed piece of paper on the bar in front of them, sliding it over.

They don’t need to pick it up. They already know what it is, as soon as he fucking sets it down. But they pick it up anyway, everything in them going cold, numb. They’d hoped – they’d hoped.

Jim stares down at their face, their name, the $1000 bounty. This isn’t the one from Jackie, the insultingly low one. No, this one comes from [COUNTY NAME], government certified. This one – this one they can’t run away from.

They look at Stede, then at their bounty poster. Side eye Ed, wondering how quick they can reach for their knife. If they can strike first, maybe they can be non-lethal –

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you, mate,” Ed says, voice coiled like a snake as he wipes another glass clean. “Not a good idea.”

Their hand does not shake. They nod, stare down at the poster again. “Outside, then?”

“What? No, no one’s going outside –“ Stedes smile drops. Jim can’t make sense of the upset on his face, the guilt. “This isn’t – I’m not challenging you to a dual.” He makes a weird sort of grimace at Ed. “I should’ve burned it, shouldn’t I? Oh, I thought maybe I should –“

They don’t understand. They don’t want a duel – don’t want to have to leave, don’t want to have to kill this bright and odd man, don’t want to have to ruin Oluwande’s home – but they will. They will, if they have to, so why is Stede saying no –

Oh. Oh, that’s – that’s worse.

God, they need to leave. They won’t let Stede throw them in prison, won’t let him make them rot behind bars until they finally hang –

They glance at Ed. Stede, they know they can take, with a knife or a gun or even just their bare hands. But Ed – Ed is fucking Blackbeard. And they’re good, they’re very good – but they don’t know if they can beat him. Not with a still healing wound, and not without having seen him fight. And the way he watches them now, nearly lazily, tells them it would be a terrible idea.

“Don’t think so,” Ed says, still cleaning and cleaning his glass. “Think Jim here’s the sort that needs to see it burned themselves.”

Jim grits their teeth. They’re scared, and they don’t understand, and that always makes them angry. “What the fuck are you talking about, burning it?”

“Oh – oh dear.” Stede looks dismayed. “You thought I was bringing you in, didn’t you?”

“Aren’t you?” They spit out, and they barely manage to keep the torrent of curses in.

“No,” Stede says, voice going gentle. “No, I’m not. I’m giving you your bounty poster, so you can destroy it. If new ones come in, and you’re still here – well, we can destroy those ones, too.”

#ofmd fanfic #jim jimenez #tealoranges #cowboy au #tragicallynerdy writes

[ereardon]

oh my god oh my god oh my god!! i didn't see your post about anniversary requests until now and i'm literally begging, pleading with a cherry on top -

will you please write anything about my absolute loves maggie and bradley? i miss them so much!! how are they doing? please tell me they spent some time after everything just holding each other ugh

(can you tell it's one of my comfort fics that i go back to read when i want just the right amount of heart wrenching angst mixed in with fluff? i've re-read it so many times i've lost count!)

Alex!!! I love that you love Maggie and Bradley so much and omg that they are one of your comfort couples has me giggling! This is a self plug but I only have one other full-length Bradley series that's Bradley x Reader that you may like if you haven't read it! Lots of angst as well.

Not sure if this is exactly what you were looking for, but I went back and was re-reading and thought this would be a good place to add in the narrative of what we saw with Bradley and Maggie! In terms of how they're doing now – they are great!! They get married in a very small ceremony and have their son pretty quickly after. Bradley insists that after long nursing shifts, Maggie comes home and he gives her a foot rub, even if he's worked a 12-hour day, too. She loves that he smells like jet fuel and she gets really into sourdough bread and he adores how she always tries to make little treats out of the discard that never turn out well but she never stops making them. They only have one son, Nick. They use the rest of Maggie's trust to buy a small house in Colorado where they go skiing in the winter and drink hot chocolate by the fire and when Nick goes away to UVA Bradley has to convince Maggie not to call him three times a day and to only send one care package a month instead of five. To me, these two are perfect and I miss them so much!

This takes place around chapter 3 after Maggie gets wasted at the Hard Deck and Bradley brings her home, sleeps on the couch and makes sure she's OK in the morning.

“What?” you asked him. 

He shook his head, looking you up and down. Your hair was starting to dry. You had no makeup on, a ratty old blue robe and a pair of slippers. But the way he was looking at you felt like you were wearing an evening gown and full glam. It sent a shiver down your spine. 

“Seriously, Bradley, what is it?” you asked, self conscious under his gaze. 

Bradley gave you a small, sad smile. “Just realizing everything I lost, back then.” He paused. “Everything I could have had for the last eight years.” 

You turned back to the coffee pot, hiding your face. His words made tears prick at the back of your eyes. You wanted the ground to open into a massive sinkhole and swallow you whole so you never had to face the devastating truth that maybe, just maybe, Bradley Bradshaw had been the one all along. And the two of you had just ruined it the way only two kids who are in love can.

"Mags, I–"

"Phoenix is pretty," you interrupted, reaching for the mugs on the second row of shelves. You stood on your tiptoes the best you could in your slippers but it's not enough. Damn shelves.

A shadow appeared behind you and you felt the heat of Bradley's body as he crept up, one long, muscular arm reaching for the mugs, gripping them easily. He set one, then another, down on the counter space in front of you, but he didn't retreat. You had both hands on the counter, grounding yourself, as Bradley hovered behind you.

So close it felt like he was pressed against you, but it was the air tightening in every direction.

You closed your eyes. And for a moment you were twenty-one again. And he was just a boy you loved more than anything. And he was falling through your fingers, ready to flee at any moment.

You opened your eyes. "She's pretty," you repeated.

"She's not you."

The words clung in the air. You swiveled around, Bradley hovering only inches from you, his head tilted down so his chocolate eyes could peer into your depths. "Bradley," you murmured.

"Nobody has ever come close, Mags," he whispered. "Not a single girl in the last decade has ever challenged me or cared for me the way you did. And I fucked it all up."

"Yeah, you did." Pain flashed across his face. To your disbelief and Bradley's, you reached out a hand, running your fingers down his cheek. He felt so different and yet when he looked at you, it felt the same as it had ten years before. He had a way of looking at you like you were the only person left on Earth. Like the walls simply melted away and it was just you and him and the slow rise of your chests and the air swirling around your bodies and everything else was almost a distant memory.

"Have I said I'm sorry?"

"It's not enough," you replied. His face went pale. "Besides, we're just friends, Bradley. Sometimes your friend makes you upset. But you get over it. Time heals and all that shit, right?"

"Right," he said solemnly, backing away as the coffee pot hissed. You lifted it, pouring into the two mugs and holding one out to him.

"Cream?" you asked.

He tipped his head to the side. "Don't you remember, baby? We always took our coffee the same way."

You added a splash into his mug and then one into your own before opening the fridge and depositing the carton back inside. "I know. I hate that I know you like the back of my hand. I tried to forget you, Bradley. But forgetting is like trying to remember something you never knew. Next to impossible."

"I never wanted to forget you, Mags," he said, blowing on his cup of coffee. "Somehow I always knew we'd find our way back to each other."

#bradley bradshaw #rooster bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw #anniversary celebration

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

For the end of year asks I have. So many:

2, 3, 10, 25, and 30!!! 💛💛💛💛💛

Hiya friend! Hell yeah, gimme all the q's! Here's what I've got after putting some thought into it for 2023:

2. How many fics did you work on this year? (They don’t have to be finished or published!) Oh my God. I don't even know?!! I'm an artist at heart, but 2023 became a BIG writing year for me vs. art or craft making. Not by choice, since Adulting was really hard and everything was basically on fire, so I think I took up writing as a way to journal and cope tbh. My guesstimate between finished works AND WIPs together: I must have been working on at least 20 writing works. Which is kinda crazy...especially trying to do that for 2 fandoms. 😁

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer? I'm actually good at writing and extract Feelings when I'm given a limited word count. Like, I can somehow make the story work if I carefully choose my words and/or sentences since that word count makes sure I get to the point and I don't ramble on for too long. I've definitely been more aware of how I write depending on what it's for. Also, those short word counts have taught me to be cleaner or punchier. Which is always a good thing! I started writing microfics in 2022, and in 2023, I started writing more drabbles. When I signed up for a couple of fic exchanges, I graduated to writing short fics that were 2k or less. So, I think if I generally set some kind of word count for myself, that gives me a framework to determine how big the thing will end up being.

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on? OOO, that is a tough one! Okay, I honestly love Pink Lemonade (Sterek, T, 600 words with art) because it's a ficlet with art, and the whole creative process just flowed when I made this whole thing! I wanted to play more with silhouettes for art (which I think we'll see more of for 2024). And then I already had this little story planned out in my head, so I threw those words down. I think this was probably one of the easier works I've put together because everything cooperated. Also, soft boys! ♥️

25. What did you use to write? (e.g. writing programs, paper & pen, etc.) Scrivener! That program has changed the way I write, and I swear by it every day! The features are awesome (hello to color coding and snapshots), but I absolutely love that I have the ability to link to internal and external links. Lifesaver for a geeky researcher. I feel like I can actually organize my drafts AND my notes without being a trash goblin, so I've definitely been willing to write more because of that. When I had a recent power outage though, I did actually do some paper and pen writing, which was pretty neat. It makes the idea more concrete, and you bet that's going to become a fic soon. It's about...well, being stuck in a power outage...surprise! 😂

30. What’s something that you want to write in 2024? I technically want to write sooo many things but I will narrow it down to a couple. The first one would be another installment out for Where do we go from here? I miss making things for Perciver, but 2023 really didn't let me give them the TLC they deserve. I looked back at my fic doc the other day, and I'm glad past!Krissy wrote drafts for 2 possible installments. They've got legs, so it would be amazing to get both of them out! I also want to see if I can get at least one of my longer Sterek fics posted up as well. Maybe it comes down to taking the baby steps to see which one I can finish first...the 50k 10-11 chaptered Beast that I started a year ago, or the 10-15k 5 + 1 Things fic that I started a month ago. We'll find out, I'm sure!

Thanks so much for the asks!

__ Previously asked: 15 and 17 Want to ask me more writer q's? Let me know via the 2023 in review fic writer asks!

#asked and answered #ask meme #2023 in review #fic writer asks #ask game #about me #writing