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5uptic · 3 years

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crewfu: fanfic spotlight!

We work together by Anonymous (5up & DK, unrated, gen | 248 words)

Summary: One likes plants and baking, the other loves to create and design video games. They stay up and create monstrosities together, it's their fun, it's their favourite game. Aka a 5up and Dk roommate au!

No matter how life tangles, I’m still here with you. by hungryandsleepy (5up/Steve, general rating, m/m | 279 words)

Summary: 5up has been working so hard on his new map, and of course, he needs someone to give him a motivation to go to sleep.

objectively pretty by vesque (5up/Steve, general rating, m/m | 462 words)

Summary: steve is drunk. he's pretty sure 5up is too. that doesn't mean being called pretty is any less momentuous.

you plus me by mangoedges (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 489 words)

Summary: 5up and Steve meet.

he said to me by mangoedges (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 656 words)

Summary: 5up and Steve share a moment.

by the snowmen by mangoedges (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 670 words)

Summary: Steve has a moment when it's all over.

today you got to know me (a little bit too slowly) by runninohhoney (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 675 words)

Summary: Steve lights up a cigarette. 5up doesn't smoke.

what would it take by mangoedges (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 787 words)

Summary: It's Steve's first mission. He hecks up. Or does he?

sorta cute by floweruru (5up/Steve, unrated, m/m | 822 words)

Summary: ‘I wouldn’t do that,’ he said. ‘That’s just disrespectful,’ he said. Yet there was 5up, crushed like a can in Steve’s embrace, feebly kicking at nothing as his feet leave the pavement.

i was gonna kill u, but ur kinda cute?? by Cthulhuer (5up/Steve, general rating, m/m | 1k words)

Summary: Steve is a mess and 5up is worse.

I hear a Symphony by AwkwardAce (5up/Fundy, unrated, m/m | 1.1k words)

Summary: He exhaled until his lungs ached for air, fingers twitching as he opted to remove the sleek white gloves he wore in a feeble effort to soothe himself. It didn’t work. He wrung his trembling hands together as his eyes raked down the worn leather case taking in the doodles- some etched some drawn- across the faded surface. He snapped the buckles open and his breath hitched, catching in his already tight throat. For a moment the world span, his head throbbed and he wanted nothing more than to run and hide. 5up breathed out slowly, shakily.

staring by lytriis (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 1.1k words)

Summary: steve asks 5up out. 5up doesn’t know how to respond.

and it's four am, and yet, you're here by vesque (5up/Steve, general rating, m/m | 1.2k words)

Summary: in which steve shows up at 5up's house, in the middle of the night, completely spontaneously

more than this by mangoedges (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 1.2k words)

Summary: Steve catches 5up venting.

3:15 by vesque (5up/Steve, general rating, m/m | 1.2k words)

Summary: Steve tries to guess Five's name. It's much more difficult than he anticipated.

things were different by fourpebbles (Apollo/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 1.5k words)

Summary: His eyes circled around to his friends, Kimi and Janet engaging in pleasant comversation, sleepy and becoming increasingly more sober. He looked, finally, across him, and caught Dumbdog staring at him. What now bro, what did this guy want. small talk, turns into not small talk, then there's no talk

Once Upon A Dream by SmearedWords (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 1.5k words)

Summary: 5up looks ethereal, while Steve is struggling to breathe. "You're not real either." Or: Steve has a crush and a nightmare in three parts, 5up is tired, the crew life is hard and Polus sucks.

the ones you love will call you back by homeward_bound (Apollo/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 1.8k words)

Summary: stevesuptic: dude, is it weird that i miss vegas DumbDog: No? I do too. stevesuptic: okay [steve misses vegas and apollo. they talk about it]

cough it out by cj__writes (Apollo/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 2k words)

Summary: Apollo thinks that Steve must be well and truly gone, at this point, because he giggles, like Apollo’s just told a particularly funny joke. He looks Apollo right in the eye and asks, “Do you trust me?” “Absolutely not.”

ivy by Secular_Czar (5up/Steve, teen rating, gen | 2.1k words)

Summary: It might be a sad day, in general, but Steve isn't about to let it get to him. His friends won't ever let him wallow either.

The Colosseum by WhenTheFogClears (general rating, gen | 2.1k words)

Summary: Five squinted, looking at the colosseum intensely. He thinks Apollo was latched onto the sphinx’s shoulder, fur matted with blood. Janet was slumped against a column, probably out, with Kimi whose bow was snapped in two, her leg twisted at an odd angle. DK was in the corner trying to cast various supporting hexes and charms with a broken arm, whilst Hafu was dragging a heavily bandaged Steve away. or 5up slaughters a cat

Oneshots :) by woofles1990 (5up/Fundy, 5up/Steve, teen rating, multi | 2.5k words, oneshot collection)

Summary: Just a bunch of MCYT/Among Us oneshots, mainly featuring 5up's crew because yes :)

the adventures of 5up and steve staying up late because they're under 30 by 5280ft (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 2.5k words)

Summary: “The night is young!” Steve yells at the ceiling, throwing his hands up in the air. “Take advantage of it! Commit crimes! Fuck hoes!” Five catches his hands in the air and laughs. “You wish you had hoes.”

unreasonably in love by cj__writes (Apollo/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 2.6k words, chaptered WIP)

Summary: "It was like pieces of a puzzle, everything coming together. And now, here they are, standing in their apartment, which looks more like a hollow shell than a home, filled solely with scattered boxes and the minuscule amount of furniture that they brought with them to Vegas." Or: what happens after Apollo and Steve move in together.

cant be love by fourpebbles (Apollo/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 3.5 words, chaptered WIP)

Summary: He had chuckled to himself, he felt so stupid. Who in their fucking minds names a playlist 'sugr?', he thought, internally cringing. A story where a Steve meets an Apollo, and some things happen.

Somewhere in the darkness, us together for a while by tumtummeke (Apollo & Kimi & Steve, teen rating, gen | 3.6k words)

Summary: Apollo worries about Steve. Steve breaks his vape pen. Kimi plays power washer. Self-indulgent angst, with a generous helping of friendship and cuddles.

odyssey by 5280ft (5up/Steve, teen rating, m/m | 23k words, chaptered WIP)

Summary: "First you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens...they warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. Therefore pass these Sirens by and stop your men's ears with wax that none of them may hear." -Homer, The Odyssey

Also: SilverSprinklez10‘s yupwaves collection.

Summary: This is a Harry Potter AU based on the characters/personas of the youtubers/streamers.

FAQ:

Wait what is this: pretty straight to the point! i’ll regularly share crewfu-related fanfictions to this blog :)

How regularly is “regularly”?: great question! LOL. it depends on the flow of fanfics that get uploaded, which i do not have any control over, but i’m looking forward to do this twice a month. after all, it’s only me doing this and i often run on a tight schedule.

What’s the format like?:

[title of fic with link] by [author of the fic with link] ([main pairing(s), if there is one/multiple], [fic rating: eg, general rating], [relationship: eg, m/m] | [word count in k] ([added prompt to specify if it’s complete or not)])

Summary: [summary provided by the author. if it doesn’t have a summary, a “No summary” prompt will be put instead]

(What does WIP mean again?): Work In Progress :)

Why are you doing this?: from the beginning, my blog has hosted conversations about RPF (real people fiction) and crewfu pairings. this has evolved into people sending me updates about certain fics in the crewfu tags every now and then, but i wanna take the next step and just do these things myself. after all, i’m already lurking in the tags often to see the fics that get posted. as someone who is both a writer and a reader, i wanna appreciate fanfic writers and help out other people that want to read fanfic and consume more fandom content!

Will it be AO3 only?: well, ao3 has a very helpful tag system that makes finding fics incredibly easy, as well as allowing people with no accounts to like and comment on fics, so that’s the site i will personally look in for fanworks. but if there are any fics you’ve written or liked in any other platforms, such as wattpad, you can always contact me through my inbox (send an ask or a dm!), and i’ll make sure to include for the next fanfic spotlight :)

Does it mean you won’t reply to fic asks anymore?: yeah, i guess. since i’ll be doing the searching myself it seems counterproductive. but if i ever skip a fic or again, it’s in another platform, or you’ve posted/read the fic a while ago and you want to get more traction on it, hit me up and i’ll take it into consideration!

Will you read every single one of the fics on your list?: oh no. again, i run on a tight schedule, and also i have my own taste when it comes to fics. i won’t be reviewing fics or any of the sort, and my intention extends to simply sharing these fics to this page so people will have easier access to them :) that’s where ao3 tagging becomes SUPER useful!!!

So what’s the criteria for the way you’ll sort out the fics in your list?: word count, going from lowest to highest. in case of fics in other platforms, i guess i’ll put them at the top of the list. i’ll also be looking for fairly recent fics, so let me know if you want any old-ish fic to be included.

I see you talking mostly about 5up/Steve and Steve/Apollo. Can I still send/see other crewfu fics?: why yes absolutely! my goal is to push every fic which heavily features regular crewfu characters - 5uptic and supdog just happen to be very popular pairings. so, to give you a list: core 4 (5up, hafu, dk, steve), apollo, aipha, annie, janet, kimi, ellum, koji... you know the drill. it doesn’t have to be centered on a relationship, or about 5up in specific, etc. my only requirement is that any of the previously mentioned members are a central part of the fic or are HEAVILY featured in it (sorry, minecraft fics with 50+ tags who only mention 5up as an afterthought won’t make the cut :/).

Isn’t shipping Bad™?: well, it’s a little more nuanced than that. i will go out of my way to discourage and shame people who often violate CCs’ boundaries by acting like so and so has a crush on this person, or that this and that are Actually Into Each Other or secretly dating. any sort of tinhat bullshit is a big nono (think larries). but i run on the assumption that people who write rpf understand that what they’re doing is simply write a completely fictional story using real life personalities, and understand the boundaries necessary to do it - aka they’re not tinhats, they understand they can’t assume everything about CCs’ thoughts and personalities, they understand that what they’re writing is strictly fiction, they keep these works only in fandom circles, etc. (but again, it’s only one me doing this, so please be kind if i don’t happen to know that this person is Actually a tinhat or whatever).

show fic: NO. (seriously. i don’t feel comfortable putting my ao3 account out there. please respect my privacy on these trying times <3)

I REALLY don’t care about your rpf/fic talk: fair! i’ll be tagging every single one of these posts as “fanfic spotlight”, so just mute the tag using tumblr settings so you’ll never have to look at these! likewise, you can follow the tag if you want to keep up with it, or search it on my blog to look at the other entries you might have missed (but this is the first one! lol).

Hey, my fic is here and I don’t feel comfortable with it being shared over here: no problem! let me know as soon as you can and i’ll take it down <3

#crewfu #fanfic spotlight

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anaisfinallywrites · 3 years

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For the WIP Game:

You don't exist in my reality & Alpha!Stiles please ❤

Hello 😆 always knew you would be the first~

You don't exist in my reality

Ok, I don't want to be a downer but this story gets a little bit angsty. So, this is my reimagining how Alpha Derek phase/arc/whatever would have gone down a little bit different in some aspects. Maybe Stiles treated Derek a little better or maybe Derek trusts Stiles a little more, who knows?

Derek finds Isaac first, just like in canon [I have no idea what is canon, a word of warning] and Isaac looks injured and such and is trapped in the burial ground/pit. Derek saves him and obviously Isaac saw how strong Derek is but Derek didn't want to bite him yet. Derek asks whether Isaac wants to go back home, getting a violently negative response, he asks if Isaac knows Stiles Stilinski. To put it lightly, the Stilinski household temporarily turns into a house for orphans and strays... Isaac stays with the Stilinski's for a while, the abusive dad gets apprehended and then Isaac gets the bite and Stiles is in the pack even if Stiles thinks he's not an important part of Derek's pack.

Later into the story, Derek gets Erica and Boyd as betas and Scott is still his hostile sulky teenager self and during some MOTW, a witch was trying to aim for Derek but Stiles pushed him away and it got to Scott instead. Scott instantly falls into a magic coma of sorts.

Derek and Stiles drags Scott back to his house, Melissa was told what had happened. The Hale pack has rotations guarding Scott because they don't know what would happen. Derek lurks. Scott wakes up and he looks fine, he interacts with everybody just fine except Derek because he wasn't there.

Scott looks fine but he's still bedridden (this story heavily features Scott bed-bound even though I don't know what made him bed-bound when the magic spell only gives him delusions) and Derek thinks it's his fault and so he offers to stay around to look after Scott when Melissa is busy and the rest of the pack is at school.

One day, the moment of truth, Derek and Scott finally meet face-to-face after the spell. Scott looks pale and angry when faced with Derek. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Scott yelled at Derek. "YOU'RE DEAD!"

Derek was very confused, of course. You would think he would know if he was dead. Scott was screaming and yelling at Derek to leave him alone. Fucking Hales who can't leave people be when all they want is a normal life.

Derek left, found Melissa downstairs just back from work probably. He told Melissa he was leaving but the pack will still be around to see if Scott needs any help. Derek proceeds to ignore McCall house and only knows what's happening through his betas.

Stiles, of course, went to speak with Scott, talking about how Derek is quieter and looks kinda haunted lately. Scott was looking at his best friend oddly, "When did you even become friends with Derek? I thought he was dead."

Stiles side-eyes Scott for a long moment. "What the hell are you talking about? Derek is alive and well."

"No, he's not!" Cue loud argument and Stiles figuring out why Derek's been quiet and not engaging with their banter of late.

(I don't really know how this story ends because I don't see them having a cure for this delusion of Scott's. You see what I did there?)

Alpha Stiles AU

This is also another fic idea I adopted straight from AO3 and actually did get permission from the original writer to use it.

This is after the Nogitsune and Stiles came to Derek feeling insecure and tired and just wanting comfort from someone he trusts. Derek asks Stiles if he wanted to be a wolf so he could protect himself from demonic possession again, if he chooses to be a wolf he will instantly become an alpha werewolf because of his nature: caring for other people, loyal, making the hard decisions, protective, etc.

Stiles was all, "I need to think about it." Stiles discusses it with his dad and John/Noah is very supportive of the decision whatever Stiles chooses.

Stiles chooses to become a werewolf but he asks why Derek wants him as an alpha. Derek explains that he never saw Scott as alpha, not after the master plan. Derek believes in Stiles' capabilities and knows that he would not take advantage of anybody and will protect them with his life and Derek wants that kind of security and stability.

Derek bites Stiles and the change was pretty quick. Stiles awakens as an alpha but he is quickly very protective of Derek, his only beta at the moment because Scott just arrived to talk to Derek. Scott seeing Stiles an alpha was instantly angry about a rogue alpha being in his territory and not knowing about it.

Stiles is angry at Scott entering Derek's place without permission but also fearing Scott would take away his only beta: Derek. Derek calms Stiles down and Scott finds out that Derek was the one who turned Stiles despite not being alpha because he is evolved.

So, at this point, the original prompt ends there.

Scott storms away pissily because that's what he does best. Derek calms Stiles down and then tells him now that Scott knows, shits going to get problematic because they don't know who he's going to tell or what misinformation he's going to spread.

Other pack members probably comes to see for themselves that Stiles is now a werewolf and then MOTW happens or something and Stiles takes charge more effectively as a new werewolf and alpha than Scott who’s been a wolf and alpha for a while.

Okay, I don’t really know where to go with this since I haven’t actually fleshed anything out.

#fanfic ask game #ask game #wip game #wip ask game #fanfic ask #anti scott #anti scott mccall

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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Alright a noob's question to a veteran fan, when do you think the blatant hatred for Dick started? I've heard from old, 50+ years old fans that he was the best, he was badass, better than Batman A lister. What changed? I know DC can't stand their legacy characters and they've always put abuse in their books, but I want to know about the fandom. When I joined I fell for the Tim Drake Best but Underrated Robin thing until I realized that was polar opposite of the truth. When did That start?

Okay, well it took me forever to get back to this ask and finish like I promised, but I kept my promise, huzzah! Long as fuck theorizing on this topic below:

So here’s the thing. I’ve been fucking around fandoms since the 90s, and I can 100% confirm that Everyone Hates Dick Grayson absolutely was not always a thing. Its a large part of WHY I’m so convinced that modern fandom is just fucking WEIRD about him, because like....I actively have something else to compare it to. I can absolutely remember what Bat fandom was like in regards to him back in the days of the Bludhaven yahoo group and squidge.org and other random URLs that mean absolutely nothing to 99% of you, lolol.

Like, there is very much, distinctly, DEFINITIVELY, a difference in how the majority of fandom views him and interacts with his character now, as opposed to like.....the first decade or so I was in fandoms.

And if I had to trace it back to a specific time period where there was like...an actual, visible sea change....the only thing I can come up with is around the Battle for the Cowl era, the start of the Morrison/Dickbats run. Not so coincidentally, this was the precise time I moved away from Batfam fandom after having pretty consistently being in it for a good ten years by then, BECAUSE there very clearly IMO was this change in how people were writing about Dick all of a sudden.

Like, there had been tensions building towards Dick’s character for awhile, probably ever since Jason’s return because like....in a sense, Dick’s too far removed from say, Tim, to be directly in competition with his character. What I mean is, there’s too little overlap in what people like about Tim and what people like about Dick for them to ever be like...a threat to each other’s fanbases in that respect, and push people to make a choice there. But with Dick and Jason, there’s enough overlap in them and what draws people to them - even just purely in terms of positioning within the Bat franchise, as an older Bat-sibling and former Robin that nevertheless is no longer Robin himself - that like....ever since Jason came back, you could start to see ‘fractures’ in how people viewed Dick. Because now there was another alternative to his character who occupied a similar......not sphere, but perhaps ‘level’ of the Batfamily franchise, and so people kinda started....picking sides, even though no actual sides had to be picked in the first place because its not actually a fucking competition.

And this isn’t to say the view of Dick in fandom and how he’s interacted with is the ‘fault’ of Jason’s return, not at all, just.....this is just me talking analytically, in terms of patterns and causality. Not trying to assign blame here, more just kinda explain the way it appeared to me anyway.

But then things all came to a head in the Battle for the Cowl era, and ignited stuff that had been lurking under the surface in SEVERAL different areas of fandom, and brought into direct conflict long-held assumptions and views and biases that had only never been in conflict before because they didn’t NEED to be in conflict before.

Basically, my Big Thesis about why fandom is the way it is about Dick, is that I feel its not so much that fans of other characters hate him, its that I think many of them RESENT him for very specific things and how those things like....make him a narrative obstacle to the kinds of stories they want to read and write about the Batfam specifically.

With the biggest examples here being Bruce fans, Jason fans and Tim fans.

See, my take is this:

1) I think a lot of Bruce fans resent Dick on some level because he’s actually the biggest obstacle standing in the way of the Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent view of things. As much as people have always liked to claim and take for granted that Dick is Bruce’s favorite or whatever, the truth is there is a far longer and far more VARIED history of Bruce and Dick being at odds than there is between Bruce and any other of his kids.

Essentially, in order to really sell Bruce as CONSISTENTLY being a good parent, regardless of what canon says or does at times.....DICK is the character you MOST have to rewrite or write around, change or ignore his stories, reframe his past interactions with Bruce in order to make this stick.

I know people are probably going “Umm what about Bruce and Jason though?” But the difference is, Bruce and Dick’s conflicts cover a lot more ground than Bruce and Jason’s. Its not that Bruce and Jason’s clashes aren’t epic and that Bruce’s behavior with Jason in stories like UTRH hasn’t been massively shitty....its that in terms of Bruce and Jason, these things are a lot more....confined, than they are with Bruce and Dick.

Basically, most of the major conflict between Bruce and Jason CAN be rewritten or avoided by simply addressing three or four definitive things: the Garzonas case and aftermath, Bruce’s actions/response in regards to the Joker killing Jason, Jason’s return and his wants and needs in regard to Bruce in UTRH, and Bruce’s view of Jason’s actions and ideology post his return.

None of these are small things by any means. But they are FINITE things. They’re concentrated into specific stories, specific areas of canon....and thus, more easily navigated around by anyone who wants to avoid engaging with these things in the form of Bruce being a shitty parent, and rewrite and reframe Bruce and Jason’s dynamic in the vein of Bruce is a Good Parent.

In contrast, with Dick and Bruce, to rewrite and reframe Bruce and Dick’s OVERALL dynamic in the vein of Bruce is a Good Parent......you’ve got a LOT more ground to cover.

There’s Bruce firing Dick as Robin, there’s Bruce not reaching out to Dick and being content to stay estranged from Dick for all the years they barely interacted, there’s the effect Bruce’s adopting Jason and making him Robin without a word to Dick in advance had on Dick, there’s Bruce still not using the conflict between them over that to make changes in how he interacted with Dick like say adopting him now, there’s Bruce’s actions and behavior towards Dick in the aftermath of Jason’s death, there’s Bruce’s inconsistent appearances in Dick’s stories in all the many times Dick very much needs help or comfort juxtaposed with Dick’s consistent appearances in Bruce’s stories any time he so much as calls him and asks him to show up due to the fact that canon writers can consistently be counted on to prioritize Bruce’s needs as more pressing than Dick’s needs, narratively speaking. There’s Bruce’s clear judgment of Dick in Last Laugh and failure to reach out and help Dick through its aftermath. There’s Bruce’s non-involvement in the extended greatest hits album that is one of the lowest periods of Dick’s life, encompassing Blockbuster, Tarantula and the destruction of Bludhaven, and Bruce’s non-helpful ‘fix’ in the wake of all that, which can be summed up as him yelling “suck it up, buddy.” And in the New 52 you’ve got Bruce’s shitty handling of the Court of Owls revelations and his treating the effect of these revelations on Dick as a total non-issue, there’s the aftermath of Forever Evil, there’s Bruce’s failure to say anything about why Dick went to Spyral even after seeing the effect it had on Dick’s relationships with the rest of his family, there’s the absolute disaster that was his handling of the Ric Grayson situation.....

See what I’m saying? Its not that Bruce doesn’t have plenty of fodder for being a shitty parent in stories with Jason, its just that the times and the ways he is are more isolated and contained, relatively speaking....thus more easily ‘treated’ by anyone who wants to FIX those parts of canon in order to realign it all in the framework of Bruce Wayne Is A Good Parent.

Its nowhere NEAR as easy to do that with Dick when you ACTUALLY engage with the full extent of how shittily Bruce has been written interacting with his eldest over the course of decades....

And so for fans of Bruce who very much WANT Bruce to be a good parent, that’s what they want to read, that’s what they want to write, that’s what they’re HERE for and stuff OUTSIDE that is stuff they (understandably) do not want to engage with....

This makes Dick actively an OBSTACLE to all of that. It makes him a Problem. Dick and his stories and his dynamics with Bruce, in order to truly align with Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, have to EXTENSIVELY be tackled and rewritten and reframed, and this is no easy feat or no small process.

And for fans of Bruce who are here for BRUCE first and foremost, not Dick, and who thus don’t want to and aren’t thrilled to be confronted with a need to PRIORITIZE him and his stories to such a large degree in order to ACTUALLY ‘fix’ canon - which for the record has nothing to do with Dick being more important of a character or anything to do with character preferences whatsoever, but rather is simply symptomatic of the ROLE Dick occupies in Bruce’s life, and is an extension of the fact that in any scenario in which Bruce Wayne Is A Good Parent, Dick, as his son, logically MUST be as much a priority at least some of the time as any other of his kids because THAT’S WHAT A GOOD PARENT DOES, HE MAKES HIS KIDS A PRIORITY.....

Like, its honestly understandable (even if thanks, I hate it) that people who really just WANT to focus on Bruce and his Good Parent-ness and don’t want to be forced into HAVING to make Dick and fixing or rewriting how Bruce has screwed up with him into a priority when writing fic that ultimately, for these fans, is still supposed to be ABOUT Bruce.....like, its not exactly rocket science, grasping how this could easily lead to people being even less keen on the guy, because he complicates so many stories they want to write without remotely being one of the characters they’re inspired to write in the first place.

So I mean, yeah. Dick very much became an object of resentment for a lot of Bruce fans, I think, for that reason specifically, and for the narrative obstacle he innately presents to anyone who just wants to write Good Parent Bruce and doesn’t want to have to write Bruce Actively Fixing His Mistakes With Dick in order to do so.

And again, this is pretty much JUST Dick in this particular role (especially as of the time I’m talking about) because much like how even though Bruce has his fuck-ups with Jason, they’re more finitely contained to specific narratives and TYPES of narratives....the same is true of Bruce’s interactions with his other kids. Yeah, he has his fuck-ups with them too, but again, they’re more isolated, more traceable back to singular sources and stories that are a lot more easily sidestepped and navigated around by anyone who just does not want to engage with Bruce Being a Bad Parent and the EFFECTS this has had on various of his kids throughout their stories as a result.

So you have this thing, about Dick, narratively speaking, not even a matter of character like or dislike. And its been there all along, slowly building story by story....

With it all coming to a head, I feel, in the Battle for the Cowl era, where Bruce is shuffled off-stage for a time, and REPLACED by Dick as Batman.....while at the same time Dick is cast in the same role of surrogate father figure to newcomer Damian, that Bruce was cast in with Dick when he and Dick were of similar ages to Dick and Damian now.

And Bruce was absolutely celebrated for how good he was with Dick back then - and with reason - BUT, I think this period with Dick and Damian, and the stories it told, brought front and center the fact and the awareness that it’d been a LONG TIME since Bruce was so uncritically celebrated for being a Good Parent, and with Dick specifically. And then additionally it made and kept front and center at this exact same time....people celebrating Dick for being a Good Parent (in essence) in much the way that they HADN’T celebrated Bruce for quite some time. And add to that the fact that Dick was doing this WHILE in the role of Batman himself, the same role Bruce had occupied in the parallel situation....so it made all this into a parallel that couldn’t easily be dismissed or discounted by saying things like “well Dick didn’t have the pressures of being Batman to deal with, being a good parent throughout all of this and STAYING that way would have been innately easier because of that.”

And thus....long-simmering resentment of the obstacle alleged favorite son Dick poses to actually writing Bruce Is A Good Parent content without significant revision or ommissions....ignited. With kinda the insult added to injury that now Dick was getting the same kind of praise and attention that these particular fans came to the franchise to see BRUCE be the focus and recipient of, not Dick.

2) At the same time, you have another large segment of fandom by this point, Jason’s fans. Or to be more accurate, you have a select but EXTREMELY vocal subset of Jason’s fans.....

Who come to Jason’s fandom with a very specific angle: they LIKE Jason as the misunderstood outcast of the Batfam, the black sheep alone and apart from the rest of the family who Just Don’t Get Him And Never Will, thus making him eternally sympathetic in this specific regard. But with that specific regard, in order to STAY eternal…..requiring that….nobody in the family gets him or cares or ever has really.

Thus once again, Dick just by the existence of him and his actual past dynamics with Jason, is a narrative obstacle to writing THIS specific narrative.

And so of course it had to be reframed and EMPHASIZED that Dick had always been a jerk to Jason, barely a brother, heck they barely even knew each other apparently - even when Jason came back and one of his first interactions with Dick post-Return was to clearly express that he’d always seen Dick as family, which very much does not mesh the idea that Jason and Dick barely knew each other or barely ever interacted before Jason died.

It also, of course, does not mesh with the idea that there’s nobody in the Batfamily who understands Jason, or is capable of seeing things his way instead of Bruce’s, or who cares enough to avenge him……because Last Laugh very much DOES exist, and puts the lie to all of that. Dick’s not only killed at least once (actually more than just once) and still remained fundamentally the same Dick Grayson he’s always been, but on top of that, it was the very person Jason desperately wanted to see dead as some kind of evidence, some sign that he had MATTERED to his family, that him being taken away from them hurt them enough that they felt driven to DO something about it, beyond the usual toss ‘em and lock ‘em.

Dick actually did that, ‘gave’ Jason what he wanted, and for the very same reasons Jason wanted it, to know that it was because of him, because of the loss of him, because he MATTERED and his absence HURT….and while of course, Dick was never the person Jason most wanted to see do that deed, want to see that evidence from….nonetheless, it very much does remain as significant evidence towards the fact that Jason mattered a great deal to Dick, enough even that having differing beliefs about killing would still be unlikely to ever stand between Dick having some kind of relationship with his returned-from-the-dead brother - because not only was it because of Jason (and Tim as well, admittedly, I’m not trying to gloss over the fact that he was part of the story and part of Dick’s motivation, this is just a matter of topical focus at the moment) not only was it actually BECAUSE of Jason that Dick crossed the line that so often he otherwise rigidly adheres to…it was never that realistic that Dick would judge and condemn Jason for killing, at least not by any narrative that took Last Laugh into consideration.

Because not only has Dick done the same thing himself, and MORE than wanted to do it on many other occasions as well thus he very clearly understands both the temptation and the arguments made for it…..BUT just as significantly IMO, is the AFTERMATH of Last Laugh. Where Dick very clearly was shown wrestling with and being affected by Bruce’s implicit judgment for what he’d done. Meaning not only was Dick never actually likely to condemn or judge Jason….he also is one of a handful of people most able to empathize with being judged or condemned by BRUCE for crossing that line. It never made sense or was realistic that there’d be this great divide between Dick and Jason after his return, that Dick was unable let alone unwilling to try and bridge, even for the sake of spending time with the brother he thought he’d never have a chance to spend time with again.

(And yeah yeah, its not like he was embracing Jason with open arms in Brothers in Blood, but I maintain that had more to do with Jason’s approach than Dick innately being predisposed to being stand-offish with Jason. Like, when you announce yourself by impersonating your brother and getting him a rep as a manic killer being hunted by the police, instead of just like…ringing the doorbell, its kinda like, well, you may have to shoulder some of the blame here. Not to mention there still was the specter of what Jason had done to Dick’s other little brother Tim, with this still unaddressed between the two as of that time).

So yeah, for the above reasons and many more, Dick once again presents a narrative obstacle to a specific KIND of narrative that happens to be the one a lot of Jason’s fans most want to tell. The one where Jason sticks it to all his uptight family and rides off into the sunset with his NEW family, one that appreciates him and holds him in proper respect and positioning, the one where Jason will always be at least a somewhat tragic figure, forever apart from the family he does still very much love, because THEY can’t reconcile who and what HE is and believes.

Cuz once you take Last Laugh into consideration, AND add in Jason’s own words at the end of Brothers in Blood and the fact that they DIDN’T hate each other back when Jason was Robin, nor was it just one-sided on Dick’s end of things…..well, with all that taken into account, it becomes a lot trickier pulling off the above narrative, doesn’t it? When the in-character behavior of Dick according to THAT characterization of him would never accept any version of events where Jason was cast out for good (and yes, yes, RHATO and Bruce exiling Jason from the city, I know that in the New 52 that’s pretty much exactly what happened and Dick didn’t do anything about it, but he was kinda busy getting shot in the head right around that same time, so, y’know. That cuts into the ability to intervene on Jason’s behalf).

But basically, this is IMO why Last Laugh barely gets acknowledged by a lot of Jason’s fans, even though on the surface, you’d THINK its exactly the kind of story that would appeal to anyone who wanted, well, a story where someone in Jason’s family showed that they actually gave a damn the damn dumb clown still wasn’t dead. Its an in canon story that showcases and even highlights very clearly Jason’s place in that person’s family and memories, and the importance and weight with which he was regarded by that family member. Isn’t that exactly what Jason - and thus by extension his fans - have always wanted?

Well….yes, except it was the wrong family member. To have the weight, the significance that a lot of fans TRULY wanted from that story, from that outcome, it needed to be BRUCE that did it, not Dick. There’s no real place in that particular narrative or dynamic for an older brother who does actually give a damn. Like yeah, its great that Dick cared and all, but when its viewed as being more of an all or nothing situation, like, it has to play out with Bruce in that role and no one else, or it doesn’t count, doesn’t mean ENOUGH…..once again, this positions Dick to be more of a narrative obstacle to a certain (popular) kind of story than a benefit.

And so Dick has to be repositioned, reframed, rewritten…..to be something and someone writers can actually work with when writing the kind of story where Bruce’s acknowledgment is the only one that ultimately matters. Him being likely to WANT to help and support Jason from an in-character standpoint, simply doesn’t help writers for whom this just becomes an unwanted plot complication that inherently bumps Dick a little higher up the Priority Ladder, because his status as a Rare Ally rather than Yet Another Antagonist pretty much inevitably paves the way for more screentime for his character, and again….he’s just not the character these writers want to write about (and yeah, again, this part is totally understandable), and they’re really just not interested in allotting him that much screentime, let alone a role that could feasibly steal focus at times from Jason, edge the narrative into being more of a co-lead than the single protagonist it was definitively intended to be.

So. Fandom subset number two is equally predisposed to resenting Dick simply for the narrative obstacle he presents to one of their preferred stories to tell - with again, this pretty much taking off right around the Dickbats era, fueled in no small part by Morrison’s shitty take on Jason, which, while I maintain it was Jason that was most out of character in all of that….DOES still very easily play into that take on him, where he’s misunderstood and eternally at odds with his family.

And which also, I suspect, is why Morrison’s run tends to be weirdly popular with a lot of Jason fans who in most other places are quick to point out earmarks of Jason’s usual characterization that are entirely at odds with Morrison’s take on him, like that he’s extremely against the idea of younger sidekicks in general at this point (especially pre-Reboot), which uh, makes him taking on a younger sidekick a very….Strange Choice.

3) And then lastly we come to Tim, and a lot of his fans’ issues with Dick Grayson - which I think are heightened by a kind of feeling of betrayal that ties in here, and emphasizes the fact that just a year or two prior to Battle for the Cowl, most of these same fans would have sworn they loved Dick’s character and he was a great big brother to Tim.

See, the problem here, I think, lies in the fact that Tim is THE definitive Robin for an entire generation of readers. He’s who they see in the role every time they close their eyes, because he’s who’s always been in the role as far as they’re concerned. Back issues are just that - back issues. They’re about the history of Robin. But in the present, the here and now, for the solid twenty years or so before Battle for the Cowl, for all intents and purposes there really was only one Robin and it was uncontested that it was Tim.

And again, on a lot of levels I totally get this. I’m somewhat similar when it comes to Kyle Rayner and Green Lantern. Kyle was ‘my’ Green Lantern, the one I grew up with, the one starring in the stories that were current and ongoing for me as I aged. I was pissed as hell when they brought Hal Jordan back and he resumed being front and center in the GL franchise…..not because before this I’d had any real strong feelings about Hal one way or the other, outside of how I felt about him in the individual stories he popped up in…..but simply because Hal front and center happens to coincide with the starring GL of the solo title I personally would consider the definitive GL run….like….pretty much getting shoved offstage entirely, most of the time. I get that. It sucks.

Except that’s not QUITE the situation here.

Like the thing is, I do believe that for a lot of fans, Tim IS Robin and Robin IS Tim. That’s how its always been for them, that’s the way they like it, that’s how it should remain until his character is ready to launch into a new persona and identity of his own character’s volition. And its not like it was ever a secret that other Robins came before Tim, and that Dick was actually the creator of the mantle, the guy that all the other later Robins, including Tim, were literally the legacy OF. And its not like Dick wasn’t around in Tim’s stories, and wasn’t a familiar presence to Tim’s fans….its just that for almost twenty years, the WAY Dick appeared in Tim’s stories only added to them. There was no angle from which he took away from Tim’s stories, or the fact that they were Tim’s.

Like yes, he was a reminder that Tim was not the only Robin and never had been, that there were others with just as much claim to the title, if not more……but in a very background way. Not in any way that presented any kind of ‘threat’ to Tim’s actual status as Robin. Dick Grayson’s days as Robin were way in the past, and there was no real likelihood that they were ever going to put him back in that role, so his ‘claim’ to the Robin mantle was never at any point one that potentially contested Tim’s own. It was simply a non-issue. Instead, Dick’s status as the original Robin juxtaposed with his current roles of doting big brother and secondary mentor figure….like, at the time, this actually ADDED to Tim’s own wearing of the mantle. Dick’s presence was less a reminder that he was the one without whom the mantle wouldn’t even exist, and more just a kinda embodiment of the Robin LORE, the fact that Tim’s superhero mantle came with history and the prestige of past accomplishments accomplished by the Robin name, and the gravitas of the dangers and downsides that potentially came with the cape as well. It gave Tim an additional angle that even most of his friends and teammates in various books didn’t have, made him stand out even more.

And it didn’t hurt that pretty much any time there was a guest appearance from Nightwing in Tim’s stories, he was firmly slotted in the supporting character role, there to help Tim but not overshadow Tim, to support him but not claim credit for Tim’s ultimate victory in any given story’s climax. And there weren’t many occasions when things went in reverse, where it was Tim guest-starring in Dick’s stories and thus him clearly slotted in the supporting character category, the B character role….simply because the older veteran hero needing to call upon his younger, comparatively inexperienced ally just was never as likely - and thus, occurring as often - a story as one where the younger, relatively new hero calls upon his more experienced predecessor for help or even just some advice or someone to listen to whatever was troubling the younger hero at the time.

Thus there’s the additional angle where for almost two decades, Dick Grayson’s presence in a Tim Drake narrative was for one reason and one reason only - to support Tim in whatever endeavor he was in the middle of, and to be what Tim needed, when Tim needed.

But then of course, once again we reach Battle for the Cowl….and all of that gets upended, not even because of Dick making Damian Robin per se, IMO…..to me, its always felt like the bigger issue has always been many of Tim’s fans resenting just….the reminder, the newly centered awareness that no matter how long Tim had been THEIR Robin, he wasn’t the only Robin and never had been….and that supportive, helpful older brother whose presence had previously only added to Tim’s stories and their weight, never threatened anything that was ‘his’ narratively speaking…..not only did he also have a claim to the Robin title, he has literally the biggest claim possible, the one none of the others can match due to the mere fact that they are quite literally HIS legacy characters.

Which, not at all incidentally, is IMO the reason a lot of Tim fans are so vocal about dismissing or minimizing the impression/association of Robin with Dick’s first family. Always quick to emphasize that it being his mother’s nickname for Dick was a later addition to the canon, because it ties Dick to the Robin mantle in a way none of the others ever will be. But of course, like I’ve always maintained…that’s besides the point. Whether or not Dick named himself Robin because it was a cherished nickname, because he was a fan of Robin Hood, or for any other reason, its still equally true that he’s the creator of the mantle, plain and simple. It doesn’t exist without him, it was his aims, his intentions, his DEEDS back when he wore the (clearly circus themed and inspired, no matter what else is said about the name’s origin BUT I DIGRESS) costume originally…..like, those are literally what Robin WAS because they were what Dick created Robin to be. It was only something for others to take up later, let alone to even WANT to take up, with it coming with a weight of history and past heroics that later Robins were proud to embrace….all of that’s only because of what Dick imbued the mantle with in the eyes of the world, not to mention his own successors….via what he DID in the costume, while wearing it, coupled with the fact that there’d never really been anything like him before, a kid kicking bad guy ass alongside the more intimidating specter of his mentor.

Dick being the first Robin isn’t just a matter of linear progression, like its not just a matter of him EXISTING ahead of the others ‘in line,’ so to speak. Rather, being the first Robin is a matter of…..its literally HIM and HIS actions that every later Robin is the LEGACY of. He’s the SOURCE of the legacy. And you can’t really go…’how dare the guy I’m literally part of the legacy of, like, think he has the right to decide what happens with the mantle he and he alone created, long before I ever came along’…I mean….y’know? Boiled down to that, that doesn’t really….work, like its pretty plainly evident why the originator of a legacy mantle would think its his place to be the definitive voice on what’s done with his own damned legacy. Regardless of why he named it what he did and what specific associations the name had for him originally.

But there’s always been a determined focus on kinda…..shifting attention away from the question of who actually DOES have the right to say who wears the Robin mantle and when, because I think there is generally an awareness that like….Dick wasn’t out of line to think that his own damn creation was his to give in the name of adding to their circle of family, the same way as it did twice before. Its not that there’s NO angle from which even Tim’s fans might admit that who created a legacy matters in the question of who gets to decide who carries that legacy next. Its more that like….just the reminder, the newly centered awareness that yes, Tim is not the only claimant to the Robin title and never was, like…I think that grates a lot of people, tbh.

It may have been something that there was always SOME awareness of, the whole time, but previously it was in a way that was supposed to be ancient history, not something that could ever end up ‘taking away’ something they strongly identified with being Tim’s and Tim’s alone. Especially when the character suddenly exerting a prior or greater claim on that mantle just so happens to be one that a lot of Tim’s longtime fans had long-since internalized as being part of TIM’S supporting cast, not another protagonist in his own right, one whose decisions could have a shaping effect on Tim’s narrative rather than the other way around, the way it felt like ‘its supposed to go.’

And bringing it back to the overlap with the first two fandom impressions I talked about, I think again, yeah, this resulted in a kind of resentment of Dick’s character and the narrative obstacle he presents to…..well, keeping Robin associated with Tim and Tim alone, practically speaking. Its not so much giving Robin to Damian in the first place that’s the problem, its the fact that he COULD. That within the actual canon narrative, this was acknowledged and supported as something that ultimately, Dick did have the right to do whether individual characters liked it or not, and no, that didn’t make him the same as Bruce when he’d taken it from Dick originally (assuming they acknowledge that version of the story at all in the first place).

Because due to the fact that its not something NEW that was introduced to the story that led to Dick being ABLE to do this, but rather just him choosing to exert an option he’d had the entire time and just previously chosen not to use……inevitably, this creates a slight shift in the framing and context of even previously consumed stories. Suddenly Dick’s presence in many of those previous stories ISN’T incidental, because now they couldn’t help but be viewed through the lens of….remembering what had been kinda hand-waved away as inconsequential the entire time Tim was Robin. The fact that ultimately, Tim was only Robin because Dick endorsed him. That if Dick could give Robin to Damian later, then Dick COULD have, by the exact same token, the exact same claim and association with the mantle he’d been the one to create….he could have stuck by his initial stance, which was that Robin died with Jason.

In all fairness, as I’ve said many times before, this NEVER had anything to do with whether or not Tim became Bruce’s PARTNER, specifically. I’ve never been of the opinion that even Dick’s status as the originator of Robin had nothing to do with who ended up Bruce’s PARTNER after him - that was always going to be between Bruce and that person, and no one else. But whether, as that partner, Tim went by the name Robin….with everything it embodied and signified and carried with it already….that, yes, Dick had always had the option of saying no, I’m not okay with this, I do not give you permission to wear the SPECIFIC mantle I created, what my brother died wearing.

I mean, granted, Bruce and Tim could have done what they wanted anyway, but much like people try and dismiss or invalidate the version of events where Bruce fired Dick as Robin and stripped him of the mantle precisely BECAUSE there’s no real way to go with that version and NOT get that Bruce looks like a douche in it one way or another, simply because that was never his to take….like, same deal here. They could have powered on without Dick’s approval of someone else wearing the Robin costume, but ignoring the wishes of a mantle’s creator, to let it rest given that someone had literally died carrying that very same legacy, HIS legacy….like, that was never going to look good and would have stained pretty much Tim’s entire career as Robin.

So yeah, I think the third corner of this Isosceles of Suck is that I do believe on some level, a lot of Tim fans resent Dick’s character simply for where and in what ways it exists in any and all Robin narratives…..as the one who ultimately CAN NOT be overlooked as inconsequential, because its literally HIS legacy that Tim and all other Robins took PRIDE in embracing. And everything with Damian simply hammered that point home and made it front and center and impossible to avoid confronting, no matter how much a long time fan wanted Robin to belong to and be associated with Tim and Tim only…..with the ironic part being that I truly do GET why this would bug….because again, if you’re here for Tim, if its his stories you want to read and write, if HE’S the one you’re a fan of, and if for whatever reason you just don’t like Dick Grayson all that much even if you don’t actually hate him…..

Yeah, its likely going to lead to resentment if you yourself feel, purely from a narrative standpoint, like….’pressured’ to write Dick being afforded more respect or importance in the other characters’ eyes than you personally feel like writing. But that its hard to avoid or becomes something you actively have to write AROUND any time your own story backs you into a corner where the origins of Robin are directly relevant to the plot, and logistically, and given there’s really no plausible angle from which Tim would have embraced or taken up (let alone taken pride in) a legacy belonging to someone he DIDN’T look up to or view as worthy of respect….like…in this kind of specific plot tangle, it could very easily feel like if you want to keep things feeling in-character, you have no CHOICE but to have Tim talk up or speak positively of a character who, if it were up to you, would never command that kind of respect from Tim, a character you happen to think is just plain better than the one you feel like your story is MAKING you say is so great. Bam. Once again, you got yourself a recipe for Instant Resentment Ramen.

(Again, not at all incidentally, I think the above also has a lot to do with the pretty prevalent trend in Tim-centric stories of having him pretty much ONLY fixate or focus on Jason’s time as Robin, citing him as ‘Tim’s Robin,’ not just as like, a preference but almost to the exclusion of Tim having ever had any kind of interest in, let alone appreciation/respect for, Dick’s version of Robin before Jason stepped into the role. A lot of people would rather the respect/admiration that would normally be afforded by any legacy hero to the person whose legacy they’ve chosen to carry, like, go solely to Jason instead of Dick, just because they like him better and would rather Tim was just his successor, no one else’s.)

And with all three of these angles/elements coming to a head at the exact same place and time in the comic books and fandom……it IMO created kinda the perfect storm right around the Dickbats era, where suddenly all these totally disparate sections of fandom all felt weirdly in agreement on one thing and one thing only….Dick Grayson was really just kinda bugging them, and what’s so great about that dude anyway?

And from there I think they all kinda just fed into each other and grew exponentially, with the individual ‘workarounds’ used by each other characters’ fans to get around the narrative obstacle that Dick represented, like…..I think these all became so prevalent and widespread throughout fandom because even these totally separate corners of fandom that had very little else they agreed on, were more than happy to take each other’s ‘rewrite’ of Dick and his place/depiction in the overall narratives and canon and just run with it….because not at all coincidentally, each other ‘group’s’ revisionist take on Dick Grayson made their own even easier to sell within their own stories. And thus you also ended up with correlating trends like Jason and Tim being besties and bonding over their resentment of Dick, because why not, both their fanon narratives now predominantly shared the same deliberately unappealing depictions of their eldest brother.

With the New 52 and post-reboot storylines then doing absolutely NOTHING to negate or derail all of the above, but rather just reinforcing all of it. Because as Bruce kept being written behaving worse and worse with his children, including Dick, it only added to and expanded upon the problems Bruce’s fans already have with Dick’s character, even if just in terms of how big a plot/characterization obstacle he presents for the stories they want to write.

Just as the way Lobdell wrote Jason equally fed into and built upon the issues a lot of Jason’s fans have with Dick’s character and the tangle he creates for a number of stories. And then with the frequent conflicts over how two of the characters Dick’s historically been closest with had been practically cut and pasted from Dick’s stories and history into Jason’s stories and history instead, like, that just threw more fuel on the fire, particularly when it happened to ignite defensiveness among fans of the Roy/Jason/Kory trio who additionally resented having to defend their usage/embrace of a trio that canon threw together, not them, that they just happened to like. And that in turn hardly making them any less predisposed to resenting how complicated Dick’s character makes things for certain key narratives.

And then lastly, DC’s just complete and total fuckery with Tim’s character in the New 52 as a whole, but specifically in his issues with trying out various personas post-Robin but never finding/creating anything with a truly firm sense of its own identity, the way Dick has Nightwing and Jason has Red Hood, and thus give fans of both characters no REASON to mourn the loss of Robin or wish for them to go back to it….whereas without ever settling into something similar, that was both strongly and uniquely Tim Drake in premise and execution, there was no reason for his fans NOT to begrudge the loss of the Robin mantle and wish for him to go back to it/to have never left it, at least not until he’d found that other persona to actually ‘graduate’ into.

Phew. *wipes brow*

Anyway, that’s my big theory on why fandom as a whole is the way it is about Dick’s canon vs fanon. Am I right? Probably not completely, and even if I am its not like this is universal or that there aren’t other reasons for why fans engage with Dick’s character in the ways they do, including but not limited to “I just don’t like the guy, so what.” And its not like there’s any way to know for sure, or to get a sense of how much of fandom this theory IS on the right track with, at least in some ways. But overall, I do think there’s at least some of the above present in various ‘parts’ of fandom or with various specific fanon trends. *Shrugs* YMMV though.

#me @ me: wow shut up already #me @ @ me: Im not wrong tho #me @ @ @ me: yeah but still. jeez. take a breath much?`#okay Im gonna stop now

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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 3 years

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honestly you're one of the greatest writers that i've had the pleasure of knowing and reading their works here in tumblr. it hurts that an amazing, talented person such as yourself is going through such shitty treatment from people online who don't have the basic human decency to treat others with respect.

i've always lurked in your blog, and now i kinda regret not engaging with you more. still, i thank you so much for all the content that you've given us. thank you, thank you for sharing these pieces of yourself with us. thank you for being an amazing person, a talented writer, and for being such a great part of the fandom here with us.

i hope your hiatus brings you comfort and joy and gives you the break that you deserve. take this time to rest and just do things for yourself, your fans and supporters (me included ofc) will always be here patiently waiting for you. there's no pressure to come back, so take all the time you need for yourself.

take care of yourself. thank you for everything.

All these memes make my heart swell. Thank you so much for your lovely words and sentiments. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate each and every one of my readers. It was a hard thing to step back but I think it’s better for me and my readers so that we can come back and enjoy the stories together.

Again, thank you for taking the time to message and to read my work in the first place. You the best.

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frenchy-and-the-sea · 3 years

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7, 11, 15 💕

7. Which OC wasn’t supposed to exist but captured your heart immediately?

- IGGY! IGGY DID! Which I guess isn’t fair technically because she was made by @urdnotgrunt but like HNNG. I always kinda wanted to have OCs that my friends had made for filling out the crew/the world of Seven Cities, but it’s hard to sort of facilitate that. Then Gabby swept in here armed with nothing but my bad summary and some info about the main cast and delivered Iggy into my unworthy arms like the angel they are. For all that I was looking for world-filling characters, Iggy became a part of the main cast pretty much immediately, not only because she meshed so well with the rest of the characters, but also because she filled a niche role that ended up solving a problem that I....didn’t realize I really had? Basically, as a cartographer, she gave me an out for a LOT of little plotholes, and now she basically runs defense of the SC crew story-wise lmao. BUT MORE THAN WHAT SHE CAN CONTRIBUTE, I just. I love how earnest she is. I have a few characters with bouts of genuine interest and love for learning and things that are weird, but Iggy has that PLUS a solid moral compass, and it makes her one of the most endearing personalities around I love her. So much. Go give Gabby your props for their lovely, lovely lady-loving gal.

11. Which writeblrs inspire you?

- oh boy, I am. So New to the writeblr thing and So Bad at interaction besides like. Creepy lurking LMAO. But @ratracechronicler was the first writeblr I ever followed and their enthusiasm for engagement with other people AND the sheer DEPTH of all of the projects they’re working on blows my goddang socks off. Also @llesbianwrites because I read their saltskin intro post and about lost my damn mind with how BEAUTIFUL it was ugh. one day I hope to have ideas with such a stunning and cohesive tone. Also, not writeblrs in the traditional sense, but @focsle‘s work has always deeply inspired me - Lacrimore to me is a masterclass in an author who understands their character’s motivations and goals to the marrow - and @todisturbtheuniverse‘s writing is always, always what I return to when I really feel like I need to get my head around STORYTELLING again. They have this penchant for spinning stories that go straight to the heart in a way that I have always aspired to, and reading their work is literally my comfort space. (Special shoutout also to @thereluctantinquisitor whose original project literally owns my bones, y’all. The background lore? The sheer depth and BREADTH of characters? Ugh. UGH. Multi talented triple threat, there.)

15. What writing advice held you back as a writer?

- Every bit of writing advice that read like hard lines - “said is dead,” “adverbs are the enemy” etc. I don’t typically take any sort of advice like that to heart if I can help it, but the reminder of them always lingered around and made me afraid of letting words happen. The truth is that you’re always gonna make mistakes that lead to critiques about how often you use a dialogue tag, or a funky adverb, but making those mistakes is how you learn what works and what doesn’t in your writing. Like, as much as I am mistake-phobic, it really is just better to write something, feel uncertain about it, and then dig into WHY you feel uncertain about it to understand that kind of advice in a way that’s actually useful. At least, that’s how its been working for me lmao.

These are all SO LONG I’m sorry!! But thank you!!!

#frenchy replies #ask meme #god this is rambly af i'm so sorry for everyone I tagged who might stumble across this lmao

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lanshappycorner · 4 years

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This is kinda hilarious in its own right but I remember seeing a post once where someone made an analogy about seeing fandom drama they're not aware of and stuff is like them playing in a small sandbox with a couple of their friends and when they look up, students are throwing shit at each other and the building is on fire and ever since then I have not stopped thinking abt this analogy

It is such a Twst-esque experience for me, because every now and then, I'd go to someone's blog to check their tags on their reblog for my post or sumn, and I'd be a little bored and scroll thru their blog in a totally non creepy way and then occasionally I'd see posts like

Why Twst is the worst fandom:

We are all stepping on smaller creators:

Callout post for XXXX:

This anon hate and bullying in this fandom has gone on for too long:

And I'd just be like *pikachu meme face* idk where the fuck you guys have been but this fandom has genuinely been one of the most supportive fandoms I've been in, although I mainly lurk on twitter I still post daily here, and theres been a few bad apples but none that I have not immediately blocked so clearly there is sumn up with our experiences here

I think the key is to simply curate your own experience...like...idk abt you but the moment I find an environment toxic or tiring in any way I get the fuck out, I'm sorry to all my friends in that fandom or space or whatever but if you're my friend in name and yet I still feel uncomfortable when ur there ur probably part of the problem goodbye haha!!

You have to set limits for urself, like if someone has hurt me or made me uncomfortable once, I don't bother talking much to them again if I can help it. People on the internet are all doing their own thing, and sometimes them just being themselves is not something you will vibe with and that is ok. That is not their fault or your fault, but you can choose to not engage with them.

PSA you dont have to be mean for someone to block you or dislike you, half my block list are literally ppl who whose opinions or habits I dont agree with. Artist tags Riddle on an Azul post? Block. Writer puts too much text and doesnt use Read More? Block. Someone makes a slightly creepy comment and I know that we will never cross paths if I dont say anything to them first? Block anyways. Even after I've moved onto another fandom and forgotten why I've blocked them, I keep them blocked.

There's many things to be stressed abt and fandom drama is just not one of them. I feel like everyone has the need to reply to something that bothers them and its tempting to get your shit out there but also it's kinda ur fault when things go south tbh, because they never asked for ur opinion (even IF their post is something you consider morally wrong. If they're a disgusting person to you, all the more reason you should block. By engaging them and making callout posts for them to help others, what kinda savior complex do you even have...). Whenever I see posts I get angry about, I never respond to it. I seethe on my private accs or rant on it in a separate post, and I DON'T tag it so it never reaches the fandom. It is what it is, a passing moment of anger about a 2D character.

At first I started this as a tiny musing but then it got long...oops. Anyways my point isnt to attack any of you guys for doing any of the above, I'm just saying that you seem like you're going through a tough time, it's not mentally good for you, and you should curate your own experience instead of delve yourself deeper into the drama. You're never responsible for someone else's happiness (OR their "cancellation" lmao) so please do yourself a favor and just stay away from it. I promise the twst fandom can be a lovely experience if you just Did Not Bother

#i feel like a large part of why twst fandom here is so bad is bc you have a lot of ocs and you want content for them and sometimes u dont-#-want to make it so you go to ppl who are willing to and that just leads to a bigger problem bc the ppl who are willing to are involved w-#-drama shit #its not just the oc group but thats just my observation #idk man i dont get as much interaction with my ocs but thats a small price to pay when im not having to worry abt strangers on the internet #-cancelling me #if i wanted oc content id just make that shit myself or talk with my friends in our small circle abt ocs #some of u have never practiced curating ur own experience or minding ur own business and it shows #oh also idk why you guys stress follower count so much...i mean i get that you want to celebrate it and i can respect that but #labelling accs with big accs and small accs on TUMBLR is so stupid #mf i can make a raffle for 15k followers rn and youd never know if i was bullshitting u

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bardic-inspo · 4 years

Note

Hello, hello! Happy Fanfic Writer Friday. I wasn't around last week so, sorry if you answered this already: What is your favorite fandom to write for? How long have you been "in" that fandom? :)

Happy Fanfic Writer Friday!! :)

No worries - this is a new question for me!

I was a ghost in fandom (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls) for years. And by that, I mean I passively read fic, reblogged things others made, and just didn’t interact much. I’ve had a bajillion fic ideas I’ve let float by, and a half-dozen snippets of ~500 words or so that are lurking somewhere in my documents. I actually posted one to my AO3 once, but it’s nothing special and was never really meant to go anywhere. A while back, I ended up getting locked out of my old blog due to using my university email for the account, and I started over fresh with this one. Now, I primarily engage with the Fallout fandom, but I dabble in Dragon Age & Mass Effect as well. I’ve only played Fallout 4, and that was actually less than a year ago! I’m still a newbie here :) But I’ve been chipping away at a rough draft of an F! SoSu / MacCready fanfic since last November (it was just supposed to be my NaNoWriMo project, but it just kinda....kept going!). I’m hoping to start actually posting chapters in late summer/early fall.

I might be biased, but I think that Fallout fandom is just a giant pile of sweethearts. I have connected with so many kind, creative, and talented people since I started poking my head out of my shell. It sort of blows my mind sometimes. I have a lot of imposter syndrome to reckon with, but these lovely people have been so encouraging and supportive and fun to interact with. And I love sharing our creativity together! Thanks for the ask! If anyone’s interested, check out the Fanfiction Friday post here.

#fanfic writer friday #thanks for the ask!#fanfic #fanfiction #writer #megh speaks #fallout

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groundzerobakugo · 5 years

Text

not as it seems // k. bakugou

gender in this imagine will be female. if you wish for me to create this with male or genderneutral pronouns please feel free to send a message my way! i would be happy to help!

also, i’m kinda getting like, film noir detective kinda vibes??? so imma write half of this as like, journal entries and the other half as actual scenes. i changed a few things around to allow myself better wiggle room, i hope you don’t mind! you may have just broken my writers block w this prompt!

((words or phrases with an asterisk* will have their definitions written at the end))

...

23 february // tokyo

it’s late and the rain’s coming down hard, but i can’t sleep. i’ve been hired by local police because there’s been talk of a strange beast that lurks at night, leaving victims with little to no blood left. civilians are passing it off as animal attacks, but i have reason to suspect this is the work of a vampire. however, i haven’t seen a vampire move like this in a long time. not since nagoya five years ago, back when i was still an apprentice. this vampire doesn’t seem to hunt often, about once every other week, never the same day. they switch it up, too, there’s no link with any victims that i’ve uncovered yet. victim one; twenty-something male. brown eyes. blond hair. a college graduate about to take over for his father’s law firm. described as a likable and easy-going guy engaged to the daughter of another larger firm. no known motive. found in marunouchi. victim two; forty-two female. blue eyes. dark hair. single mother with three kids. worked at a menial convenience store as a clerk. kids have gone into government care and don’t want to talk to visitors. found in tsukiji. victim three; thirty-six year old male. green eyes. dark hair. ex-convict, charged with third-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter. no living relatives. found in shinjuku. victim four; a seventy-eight year old male. dark eyes. dark hair. grandfather with three grandchildren, one from each daughter. described as gentle and a humorous soul. found in roppongi. this case is already giving me a headache. no links aside from each body found in a separate district of tokyo, no pattern found between locations. this vampire may be the smartest i’ve encountered. my only wish is to have my predecessor to help me. i’ve sent word, but with him training another potential hunter, i’m left to solve this case on my own.

(last name, first name).

07 march // tokyo

the vampire has claimed yet another victim. a twenty-two year old female; dark eyes. blond hair. a wannabe fashion blogger in harajuku. her friends said she was finishing up some side work at her job and they called authorities after victim hadn’t posted to social media in two days. i thought i could solve this case without the help of intense magic, but with the way things are progressing, i have to use all necessary skills to save the innocent lives being slaughtered. i hate cases with so much blood, it makes me uneasy. may the gods help me solve this quickly so my eyes don’t have to see another gruesome crime scene photo for another few months. to think something that used to be human could do such actions against something they’d once been. does vampirism isolate the mind so far that you’re okay with cutting up and draining innocent souls? it’s revolting to think about. i will be visiting the past scenes tomorrow, do some magic canvassing, see if i can get a picture of this vampire to track him down. looks like more sleepless nights ahead.

(last name, first name).

you moved quietly down the alley, fingertips brushing against the brick walls as a low blue glow followed your touch. the glow spread throughout the alley, and you stopped just before where the body had been found. you gagged at the dried blood that caked the pavement, but you swallowed and took a deep breath.

“in oculis de mortuus.”*

the scene before you changed as you made contact with the dried substance, a blue glow swirling and changing the scene into a dark alley, lit faintly only by street lights and the waning moon. your stomach flipped as you felt yourself fly through the air. the first victim was thrown down the alley from the sidewalk. you cried out, the world around you turning black. though, he wasn’t dead yet, he still had a faint pulse. you were still in his last moments.

“please, please, it wasn’t what it looked like!” you heard his voice echo, your mouth moving in time.

“that’s what they all say,” a gravelly voice replied. you turned, vision hazy as you saw the tall silhouette of your killer.

“no! i promise i won’t do it again, please, don’t kill me!”

“promises, promises. you humans love to fucking lie through your teeth, calling it promises. tried that shit once, asshole didn’t last a week. now, quit fucking begging, it won’t help.”

you screamed, feeling as through your body had been lit aflame as the vampire’s teeth entered your neck, claws digging deep into your skin.

your legs jellied underneath you, and you collapsed onto the floor, breathing hard as the scenery returned to normal. every inch of your body ached, screamed at you, with every movement. you could feel the slight trickle of blood slip down your lip, and you wiped it away.

as much as you wanted to go home, you couldn’t. there were four other scenes to see, four other victims’ last moments to search through.

you limped your way down the street, body aching and bruises; you were covered in fresh scars, and the bloody nose had yet to stop since the third victim. the sun had long since dipped behind the horizon, the full moon illuminating your path along with the street lights. people no longer ignored you, as the blood soaking your shirt and jeans caused many to stare in horror.

every gentle breeze felt like ice-hot fire burning your skin, and you could feel the few burns on your arms and chest ache under your shirt. you’d never encountered such horrid and painful last moments before you began your hunt for the vampire. most were emotionally calm, having been elders who made their peace, but the few painful ones were small children victims of hit-and-runs or freak accidents.

your neighbor shot you a worried glance, eyes widening at the sight of you.

“(last name), are you alright?” kirishima eijirou asked.

but upon seeing the ruby red eyes, your breath hitched in your throat, and you flinched away from his touch. “sorry, kiri-kun, just... rough day at work.”

his face showed no hurt, and instead he gave you a soft smile. “i know how that is. rest easy, if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.”

“thank you,” you mumbled, returning the smile, though only partially.

he stayed in the hall just long enough to make sure you could get into your apartment, and then he gave you a wave before heading back into his own place. you two shared an odd neighborly relationship, often times only seeing one another in passing. he was some sort of detective for another district’s force, you knew that much, but as you wouldn’t want him knowing your line of work, you never asked specifics of his.

as much as your tired limbs had wanted to just clamber into bed, you pulled up a chair at your desk and flipped open your notebook.

08 march // tokyo

i have never experienced so much pain and regret reliving a victim’s last moments as i have today. i may have overdone it; there are so many physical wounds it feels as though i lived through each one personally. being thrown into an alley, shoved through glass, dropped from a twenty story building, slammed against a wall, twice might i add, and sliced open what feels like a million and one times. i’ll need to recover for a few days before continuing to collect evidence and tracking down the killer. however, the pain wasn’t for nothing. i finally found a recurring pattern. it’s not much to go off of, but every victim was begging for their life and saying they’ll never do it again. what ‘it’ is, i still don’t know. perhaps this is a beast come to take revenge on a group of people who did something. though, two young adults, two middle-aged people, and an elderly person? something doesn’t add up. what would such a strange group beg for their lives for? what did they promise to never do again? in a few days, i’ll interview the ones who had family members, see if they had any contact with any other of the victims. my predecessor has finally replied. he didn’t say much, but he said this case was chosen specifically for me; maybe there’s something in this case i’m missing, but so far it seems unsolvable. i’m missing something, and while i need another, i don’t wish for another victim to give me that needed piece to my puzzle. he sent his regards, as well as the newbie. he seems sweet, but maybe too sweet to get into this line of work. now to make a special brew of restituo and hope i can be up and about before this vampire claims a sixth victim.

(last name, first name).

you closed your journal and looked out the window, into the night. you had about eight days until you calculated your vampire striking once again. eight days to solve this puzzle and save a life.

you walked with a slight limp, a crutch under one arm. five days later, not even your restituo serum could heal all the wounds inflicted. there was always a price with magic; and it looked as though the fates were having you ride out your twisted ankle like a mortal to punish you for peering into so many painful last moments. it was to be expected, but you hated the limited mobility.

it was the thirteenth of march, only a few days left until you suspected the vampire would hunt down another innocent. they knew of one thing in their miserable immortal lives: to hunt down humans and drain them of blood.

at least, that was what your predecessor had told you. that was the first line in the vampirism textbook you read back in middle school, when he’d first taken you under his wing. that was what you remembered when a vampire had claimed your parents’ lives.

you huffed to yourself and leaned up against a brick wall, elevating your foot slightly off the ground.

maybe that was why your predecessor had given you every vampire case that had filtered into the agency. you’d been hunting them since before you graduated high school; taking revenge on the single vampire that had murdered your kindhearted parents for no reason, by killing everyone you came across.

an itch crawled across your skin, and you looked up, making eye contact with hard, crimson eyes. they stared at you from across the street, cars passing in between the collision of crimson and (eye color). you stood straight and adjusted your crutch back under your arm. he stared you up and down, only the faintest of smirks stretching across his face.

a large bus flew down the street, and when it had passed, the man was gone.

your brow furrowed, and you blinked. there was something familiar about that smirk, those crimson eyes. you pulled out your small notebook and jotted down the description of the man.

tall. medium build. red eyes. light hair. wearing a black hoodie, black jeans, and black boots. handsome.

you looked back across the street, the itch still there and the healed burns aflame once more. a haunting through crossed your mind, and you thought back to the vampire you’d seen in each final moment.

that man had to be your vampire.

16 march // tokyo

if all of my calculations are correct, that bloodsucker's on the hunt once more. there are several districts i've yet to comb through, but i believe i've tracked its next spot in kanda. i've placed several charms throughout the district to alert me when its on the prowl, but i've got a bad feeling about tonight. i'm going to head down to the station, see if there's been any sightings of the vampire recently, see if i can narrow his location down in the district. if not, i may have to use more magic to track down the son of a bitch, however it may prove daunting. since using the spell to see the final moments of the vampire's victims, i've yet to be able to reach my full capability again. after this is all over, i'll have to recharge myself, take a vacation some place. it's almost dark and i have to get ready. may the fates help me tonight.

(last name, first name).

you strolled around the bustling city streets with your hands in your pockets. there was still a slight limp, but you no longer needed the help of crutches to get around. even without magical help, you still healed faster than the average human mortal--perks of being a witch. though, it still hurt to walk on.

the temperature had dropped considerably since the sun had hidden itself away until the next day; the city lights turning on and illuminating the streets and neon signs coloring the buildings you passed with reds and blues and greens.

if this had been a different night, one where you weren't hunting down a murderous vampire, you might have found yourself enjoying the quiet walk. you'd have brought the small camera gifted to you and taken a few scenery shots. perhaps you'd find a small ramen shop and people-watched from the window, striking up conversation with the owners. but it wasn't that kind of night. you'd have to return another day to do that.

an itch you felt a few days before crawled across your skin once more, and you looked up. it was hard to tell in the dark, but you scanned the crowd for any sign of your suspect; tall, blond, most likely in a hoodie and jeans. but you kept walking, the itch never leaving you as you continued in the same direction.

you moved passed business men and the odd twenty-something year old couples, none shifting their gaze your way, and to those who did, you offered a small smile and continued on with your hunt. you walked by a small ramen shop, one that smelled of fresh pork broth and sizzling chashu. nothing special about it, but there was an itch; one that made your skin feel as though you'd lit yourself aflame.

you stopped and peered into the shop. nothing out of the ordinary stood out to you, you couldn't even see anyone who somewhat resembled your vampire. you stepped into the shop, maybe there was someone you missed.

"irasshaimase!" someone called from the kitchen.

you flashed them a polite smile and scanned the restaurant once again. however, while you hadn't seen the blond you were tracking, you recognized a familiar redhead sat at the bar.

"kiri-kun?" you called out.

the redhead looked up and looked at you. "(name)? i didn't know you came here."

"uh, first time," you said, taking another look around. "actually kind of, well, working right now."

"oh, nice! you on break?" he asked.

"not really," you replied, still checking out the patrons of the shop. "uh, have you by chance seen a blond guy, decently tall, red eyes?"

kirishima hesitated. "uh, n-no? why?"

you turned to him. "veritatum dicere," your hand made contact with his shoulder, and you watched the blue glow travel across his skin. "i'll ask again, have you seen him?"

"bakugou, he-he's grabbing his meal, just out back." you let go of his shoulder and watched as kirishima's face fell. "(n-name), it's not what you think."

you gave him a sympathetic smile. "sorry, kiri-kun, but it's my job. subsisto." and with that, you hurried out the front door and slipped into the alleyway that led to the back of the ramen shop. but just as you hit the back alley, a body crashed into yours.

a girl, no older than fifteen, stared up at you with frightened eyes. there were fresh bruises lining her uncovered shoulders, shirt torn to smithereens and one shoe missing from her feet. your blood ran cold.

"are you alright?" you asked, gripping her by the shoulders to steady her. "who did this to you?"

tears formed at her waterline, and she looked over her shoulder. you followed her gaze into the darkness and nodded.

"go home, get some rest, file a police report in the morning," you said, looking into her eyes. "you'll be okay."

she didn't reply; she only nodded and then left the alleyway, stumbling over her feet as she rushed away from the scene. that vampire would pay for his crimes.

you looked back to the darkness, your jaw set. "fata protegas me." the glow encompassed your body and you stepped further into the alley.

"let go of me!" a man shouted. "it wasn't what it looked like!"

you stopped. that... that didn't sound like your vampire.

"right," a familiar voice scoffed. "i just so fucking happened to come across what looked like a fifty year old pervert fucking raping a fifteen year old girl. now, you can either beg for your life and prolong this shit, or you can keep your shit quiet and die quickly."

what?

"wa-wait! don't kill me! i'll do anything!"

you crept alongside the wall, peaking from the cover of a dumpster.

there he was; your blond vampire in his hooded jacket. he was holding a rather large man against the wall, while said man struggled against his hold. your eyes widened. wait, what...? did... did the vampire save the human girl?

the blond sneered at the man. "it's your kind of people that makes me glad i'm no longer fucking human. you're the scum of this shitty earth."

no, vampires had no humanity. the moment a human's mind changed from mortal to immortal, they lost their moral compass to the fever. it was impossible for a bloodsucker to think like a human. your teachings, your experiences, your cases; you'd never encountered a killer who was able to decipher who was good and who was bad. it was all a gray area, a free for all.

"no! no, please!" the man pleaded. "i-i'll change!"

the blond tsked. "no. you won't. maybe you'll be better in another damn life, but this one's over."

you cringed upon hearing the man's cries and the sound of teeth shredding skin, a faint metallic scent permeating the air. he... that vampire... saved that girl? it couldn't be.

you stood shakily from behind the dumpster, eyes hesitantly turning to face the vampire. his teeth were embedded into the man's neck, claws deep into his chest as he drank greedily. you stepped out of the shadows, head feeling foggy as you saw the blood.

the blond noticed you from the corner of his vision and momentarily stopped.

“i don’t understand,” you muttered. “you had an easy target, hell, two easy targets. and you went for this one?”

he rolled his eyes. “i don’t kill innocents.”

“you don’t... what? but-but you’re a bloodsucker,” you argued. “vampires... vampires don’t have the rationality for that.”

he stepped away from his victim, using the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe off some of the blood from his chin. “would you rather me a fucking mindless killer? would that make this shit better or something?”

your eyes widened. “no! no, i... i’m just so confused. you-you’re supposed to be the monster, vampires are always the monsters.”

his boots echoed as he walked up to you, the crimson seeming even more vibrant than you remembered. “not this time, dumbass. like i said, i don’t kill innocents.”

you took a step back, nose wrinkling at the stench of human blood coming from his mouth. “but the others? what did they do?”

“they were damn criminals. extortion, robbery, homicide,” the blond said. “now, if you don’t fucking mind, i was kind of in the middle of something.”

you looked at his victim, mind spinning slightly as you remembered the final moments you witnessed, the pain you felt time and time again as you suffered firsthand at the hands of the vampire. every bone in your body felt as though it was breaking once more.

(eye color) met with crimson, glassed over with pain. “i thought you were the worst kind of monster. how you could just end an innocent human life with so much suffering on their part. i was ready to obliterate you the moment i saw you. i thought you were a villain.”

he scoffed. “well, i fucking ain’t. sorry to burst your damn bubble.”

“i--”

“bakugou!” someone shouted. “bakugou! dude, are you okay?!”

you turned on your heel, surprised to see kirishima running up to you two.

“i’m fine, shitty hair,” the blond, bakugou, grumbled.

the redhead slowed in his step as he neared. “i... i thought she was going to kill you, bro.”

you nodded. “i was, but then i realized he wasn’t who i thought.”

bakugou scoffed. “you couldn’t kill me even if you tried. you’re a mortal.”

“i’m a witch, actually,” you replied. “near mortal, but still strong enough to kill you and others like you.”

kirishima’s eyes widened. “that’s why i told you where he was? why i couldn’t move after you left?”

“you fucking what?!” bakugou growled at the redhead.

you placed a hand on bakugou’s shoulder. “caput frigus.” the muscles under your hand relaxed into the blue glow, and bakugou’s glare lessened some. “it wasn’t his fault.”

the blond grumbled a bit. “fine, whatever. now, if you’ll fucking excuse me, i’ve got something to finish up.” he cast another red-eyed glare your way before stomping to the bloody victim.

“he’s not as rough if you get to know him,” kirishima said. “he can be kinda nice, when he wants to be.”

you spared a glance at the vampire, sucking out the last few drops of blood from the victim. “i’m sure. i, uh, i should actually get going. i need to wrap up my case.”

“are you sure? we could give you a ride?”

“that won’t be necessary,” you replied. “but thank you.”

17 march // tokyo

it turns out nothing was as it seemed. the vampire, who i thought was the villain the whole time, the monster, he was actually the savior. all those people he killed were actually criminals. still not too sure what the did, but for some reason i believed him, like i had no reason to distrust his judgement. after all, i saw him save a fifteen year old girl today from being raped. i don’t have much time left in tokyo. all might wants me back home in a few days, which hardly leaves me anytime to explore the city as i wish. but at least i was able to wrap up the case without any innocent lives lost. i’m just thankful i was wrong for once, that a vampire had some decency left in him to target a certain group of people. though, it doesn’t excuse he was still killing human beings, i feel there should be some exception to my code. that being said, i still need to stay sharp out there. knowing so many human beings could be so monstrous to their own kind, it makes me want to change my profession from supernatural work to entering the human justice system. perhaps be like the vampire anti-hero. bakugou. i wonder if i’ll ever see him again while i’m out hunting. maybe someday. after all, he was kinda cute, if i do say so myself. however, until then, i still have a job to do.

(last name, first name).

you looked out the window, the sun just beginning to set once again. after hunting vampires for so many years, your sleeping habits adjusted to their own nightlife hours. you hadn’t seen a rising sun in quite some time.

you stood from your desk and stretched for a moment, hearing your bones crack and pop from the movement. you padded your way into the kitchen and pulled out a noodle cup from the cupboard. it wasn’t much, but you very seldom had the time to create an actual dish.

with the kettle on, you turned towards the living room, oblivious to the crimson eyes watching you from your patio.

bakugou watched as you moved about your tiny apartment; his eyes were calculating, trained on every little movement you made within the space. it wasn’t long until he noticed the small limp to your left leg, or how if you stretched your arm too far your face scrunched up ever so slightly. and he didn’t miss the faint marks on your neck--the same spot he bit into with every victim, the right side, just below the jawline where it gave him perfect access to the jugular vein.

he’d heard of witches and wizards with powerful magic, ones who took on the jobs as supernatural hunters in the modern age; hearts set on keeping humanity safe within its modern times. witches were the clean up crew of the supernatural realm. set to keep humanity blind to all they could never understand.

he’d heard of such powerful magic that witches and wizards could relive the past moments of the dead, though not without sacrifice. he’d witnessed them give their lives just to see the past, unable to come back to their physical selves if the situation was too agonizing. and upon seeing your wounds, bakugou realized you were one of those witches.

hesitant, but only for just a moment, he knocked on the glass door, hiding in the shadows.

your brow furrowed upon hearing the knock. was there someone on your patio? had all might sent for someone to grab you already? was deku there to take you back home?

you peeled back the curtain, jumping when you noticed crimson eyes staring back at you, and you slid open the door.

“what the hell are you doing on my patio, bloodsucker?!” you hissed, mostly from the fear of finding the blond rather than someone from your home.

his eyes narrowed. “oi, i’m the only one giving out fucking nicknames, shitty witch.”

you glared. “i’ll ask again, what are you even doing here?”

“that’s none of your damn business,” he replied.

“so you just thought it would be fun to scare the shit out of me?” you asked. “how kind of you, bakugou.”

he scoffed but was interrupted by the screaming kettle before he could reply.

you hurried back inside and poured the boiling water into the cup, carefully setting the hot kettle back onto the stove. when you turned around, bakugou was glaring at the noodles from the entryway of your patio.

“what? did you want one or something?” you asked, eyeing him eyeing your cup.

he glared. “as fucking if. that shit’s disgusting.”

“it’s all i’ve got,” you shrugged. “i can’t cook, and i don’t have money to go out and buy dinner every night.”

“you can track down shitty vampires day in and day out and learn and memorize advanced spells and shit, but you can’t fucking cook?” the blond asked, skeptical. “fuck it. i’m gonna have to teach you then.”

you laughed. “not too sure how you’re gonna do that in two days.”

he looked at you. “you’re leaving tokyo?”

“well yeah, case solved. i get to go home and begin another one,” you replied. “i travel all over japan to solve supernatural crimes, it’s my job, and while tokyo has some pretty bad ones, my predecessor is who choses them for us.”

“oh.”

you looked over at the blond. “i’ll probably be back someday though, maybe even this year. you could teach me then?”

“as long as you don’t come back to kill me.”

you laughed aloud. “then it’s official then. i come back, you teach me how to cook. deal?”

“fucking deal,” the vampire replied.

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