#love me some putting two characters who never spend any time together even in fandom in a buddy roadtrip comedy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

astra-ella · 2 months

Text

𝐙𝐎𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

fandom: haikyuu ship: nishinoya yuu x oc/reader status: complete ao3 link

"I think you're really pretty. Will you go out with me?" That was the first thing he's ever said to her. And needless to say, Amari Chiyo was not impressed. So as promised, Nishinoya Yuu will get to know her better and confess again. And again. And again. And again. It'll take 6 years and 9 confessions, but he'll get there. Eventually.

⌦ content: fluff, light angst, love at first sight, friends to lover, slice of life

⌦ note: you are free to insert yourself into Chiyo, just keep in mind she has her own character/backstory. i know some people don't like that, so just a heads-up.

story masterlist | previous chapter | next chapter

The fifth time he confessed was a little less than a year later — a few months into their first year of high school.

After a few grueling months of study sessions and a little bit of luck, Nishinoya barely managed to scrape by on the entrance exams. They went to the results board together on that cold winter day, along with Hotaru and Kaito. Neither of the kids were surprised to see Chiyo’s number there, but when Kaito somehow caught Nishinoya’s exam number on the bottom right while perched on his shoulders, they celebrated with so much enthusiasm Kaito nearly lost his balance and fell off.

So when April rolled around, Nishinoya and Chiyo were once again attending the same school. Though with Chiyo’s better grades, she ended up in Class 1-4 – a college preparatory class – while Nishinoya was put in Class 1-2.

The day club applications began, Nishinoya immediately joined the volleyball club. He encouraged Chiyo to join a club of her own or even run to become a class rep again like she had in middle school, but she refused.

Instead, she put all her energy into applying for a part-time job. She was hired at a small media and repair store near school, run by a little old lady and her grumpy calico cat. They sold all kinds of electronics, from old VHS tapes to the newest gaming consoles. They also had a huge catalog of DVDs that the old lady often insisted Chiyo borrow for the week to watch on her own.

Despite the two of them being in different classes and volleyball practice running longer than they did in middle school, Nishinoya’s visits never stopped. He’d drop by after a quick text, eat dinner, do homework, play some volleyball with Kaito, watch a movie then head home for the night. He became such a regular presence that even Chiyo’s father, who was rarely home due to his busy schedule, knew his name and often included his portion whenever he brought back desserts for the kids.

Chiyo would scold him, telling Nishinoya to go home to rest and that his body must be tired after a long day of volleyball and school. To which Nishinoya would simply remind her that he had to return the lunch box she brought him. Something Chiyo started doing after she found out Nishinoya often only bought banana bread for lunch from the school store.

And that day, Chiyo was on her way to the gym as usual. She preferred to deliver his lunch in the mornings, right after she got to school. Like that, she wouldn’t have to spend her lunch time trying to track him down between the classroom, the gym, or the vending machine.

As she climbed the staircase, she could hear the sharp screeches of sneakers scraping against the gym floor. Despite not being a powerhouse school, Karasuno seemed to take volleyball pretty seriously.

“Nishi-”

“Kiyoko-san!” Before she could call out to him, the sound of two boys’ boisterous voices interrupted her. She instinctively hid around the corner so as not to bother them. It took a second before it registered in her head that one of the two voices belonged to Nishinoya.

“Kiyoko-san, do you need any help carrying anything?” Someone asked.

“Kiyoko-san, you look beautiful as always today!” Nishinoya shouted.

“No thanks.”

Chiyo felt her heart drop.

She snapped her head around in time to see Nishinoya and a boy with short, fuzzy blond hair run up to a girl just as she entered the gym from the back door. He wasn’t kidding. With shoulder-length black hair and large black eyes, the girl had an air of adult maturity to her, someone who was stoic and passionate yet aloof with their intentions.

Suddenly, the name Kiyoko jogged her memory. Nishinoya had mentioned her during dinner a few months back when he told her all about the club. Her name was Shimizu Kiyoko and she was their one and only manager.

He spoke highly about her, going on and on about how pretty and responsible she was. But Chiyo had always sort of disregarded his comments. After all, Nishinoya did the same thing with a character in their old literature textbook. But seeing him fawn over another girl, a real one at that, made Chiyo’s heart clench with an emotion she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“Guys, stop bothering- Oh!” An upperclassman with short brown hair approached the gym from behind her. “Hey, are you looking for someone?”

Chiyo blinked. “Um, I’m looking for Nishinoya. I have his lunch.”

“Nishinoya!”

“What is it, Daichi-san, ah!” Nishinoya’s eyes lit up upon seeing her. “Amari!”

As he began to make his way over, Chiyo suddenly felt the urge to run. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and in the moment, she wanted to be anywhere but there. But she still had his lunch in hand, and there was a part of her that stubbornly wanted to complete the delivery.

“Here,” she shoved the neatly-packed boxed lunch in his hands, not even bothering to make eye contact. “It’s leftovers from last night, so don’t expect too much.”

“I’m sure it’s delicious,” Nishinoya took the box and grinned. “Thanks as always!”

“Noya-san, this girl’s always bringing lunch for you. What’s up with that?” At this point, the boy with blond hair began to approach them. His eyes then widened as an idea dawned on him. “Wait, don’t tell me she’s your girlfriend or something?!”

“She’s-”

“No, I’m not!” Before Nishinoya could respond, Chiyo cut him off perhaps a bit too loudly. “I’m just his middle school classmate. I’m only making him lunch 'cause if I don’t he’s just gonna end up buying banana bread for lunch and be short forever.”

“Excuse me?!”

“You have your lunch now, right?” Meeting Nishinoya’s offended look with a sharp one of her own, Chiyo quickly turned on her heel. “I’m leaving. Bye!”

She walked briskly away, feeling more and more breathless the further away she got from the gym. She wanted to outrun it all, the sound of her beating heart, the emotions that bubbled in her chest and the hot tears that pricked at her eyes. When she saw Kiyoko, all she could think about was the day he first confessed to her under the cherry blossoms nearly three years ago. She had warned him that he would lose interest overtime. But when faced with reality, she felt like she was the one who lost something.

Her steps slowed as she reached her classroom. It then occurred to her that this wasn’t anything new. Nishinoya has been fawning over other girls for as long as she’s known him. And thinking back on it, the only reason he gave for confessing to her initially was because she was pretty, nothing more.

A classmate opened the door, cocking her head curiously at Chiyo who stared up at their classroom tag in a daze.

“Amari-san? What’s wrong?”

Chiyo looked at her.

“Boys are stupid.”

After her shift at the media store that evening, Chiyo was surprised to find Nishinoya waiting outside with two soda-flavored popsicles.

She initially thought that he wouldn’t want to speak to her for at least a good while, after how strangely she behaved in front of his teammates. But to her surprise, he simply gave her his usual greeting and smile before tossing the extra popsicle in her direction.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

“Oh, okay…”

As they set off, Nishinoya tore his popsicle packet open and began chomping down. Chiyo watched him, fidgeting at the sound of crinkling plastic.

“Hey, Nishinoya,” she swallowed hard. “I’m sorry about what I said today.”

He gave her a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, I… I called you short in front of the entire volleyball team,” she murmured, still refusing to make eye contact. “I didn’t mean it. I was just in a bad mood and I… I’m just really sorry.”

"Oh, what, that?" Nishinoya scoffed. "Don't sweat it, it's whatever. Kaito's been calling me that for like a year."

“Kaito’s still young,” Chiyo shook her head. “But I… should’ve known better than to make petty remarks like that.”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it,” he waved a hand before quickly finishing his popsicle in two bites and checking the stick. “Dang, another dud.”

Chiyo’s lips quirked up a little before falling. “So Shimizu-senpai, huh?” She opened her popsicle packet. “She’s really pretty.”

“Wait, you know Kiyoko-san?!”

Nishinoya sounded so excited and Chiyo felt a lump forming in her throat. “I saw her when I dropped off lunch for you today.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” he tossed the wooden stick into a public trash can. “Yeah, she’s super pretty, isn’t she? A literal goddess. I heard she’s been the club manager since last year.”

Chiyo nodded before averting her eyes, pretending to admire the street view she’s seen more than a hundred times already. “Well, I better not hear any more of your random confessions from now on,” she said half-jokingly.

“Huh, what are you talking about?” Nishinoya stopped walking. “I still like you, Amari.”

Chiyo nearly dropped her popsicle. She turned to look him in the eye.

He was dead serious.

“Why would you say something like that?” She snapped, immediately losing all composure.

Nishinoya cocked his head to the side. “Because it’s true.”

“What do you mean ‘because it’s true’?” Chiyo’s eyes widened with exasperation. “You were literally just gushing about how pretty Shimizu-senpai is. Don’t tell me you’re like one of those sleaze bags in shoujo manga that’ll flirt with anyone you find even mildly pretty.”

“What? No! I mean yeah, Kiyoko-san is pretty and all. But,” he then thumped his chest with a confident smile. “In the end, my heart will always belong to you.”

Her lips parted slightly.

“Don’t say stuff like that, you idiot!” Those were the first words she found herself able to say. “You idiot. You’re such an idiot! The biggest idiot that’s ever existed in the history of idiots!”

“I’m not an idiot!”

“Yes, you are! You’re a shallow, stupid idiot!” Chiyo shouted back, trying to ignore the sore feeling in her nose. “You can’t tell me you don’t have even a little bit of a crush on her. I saw you and that blond kid trying to get all cozy with her. You even call her by her first name even though you’ve only known her for like, what? Two months?”

“Amari, I-”

“I’m completely fine with being friends with you, Nishinoya,” she cut him off, trying her best to avoid his pointed gaze. “I just… I don’t want to date someone who only wants to get to know me half-heartedly.”

Nishinoya rubbed his forehead, eyes flickering up to glance at the setting sun. Taking a deep breath, he then gingerly took her hand and pried her fingers off the hem of her jacket sleeve.

“Look, Amari,” he spoke as softly as he could. “Kiyoko-san to me is more like… a goddess. Someone you put on a pedestal and admire, but still way outta your reach. But when I’m around you, I feel… way more comfortable. Like when I get to see you at home cooking dinner, not giving a damn about your hair, and getting mad at us, I get really happy. Cause it feels like a side to you that only I get to see.”

He looked up to see Chiyo’s dark blue eyes glassy with what seemed to be tears.

He mentally cursed himself.

“I get what you mean though,” he gave an awkward chuckle. “I mean I literally asked you out the day we met without knowing anything about you. But I promised to get to know you better, and you know…” there was a faint tug at his lips. “The more I get to know you, the more I like you. So trust me. I’d never ask you out with anything other than pure intentions, m’kay?”

Chiyo felt her heart stop as he smiled at her. Her breath was caught in her throat, and when she reminded herself to breathe again, her heartbeat became so erratic she was sure the entire prefecture could hear it.

“Y-You idiot!” Those were the only words that came out when she found her voice again.

“Wha-?” Nishinoya looked genuinely confused. “Why am I still an idiot?”

“Because you just are!” Chiyo turned away, biting down on her popsicle in a feeble attempt to stop the rising heat in her cheeks. She couldn’t understand how he could say something so cringey with a straight face. She then peeked over her shoulder, watching as Nishinoya became lost in thought, wondering exactly what he said that made him an idiot.

“But… Do what you want, I guess,” she murmured just loud enough for him to hear.

Nishinoya’s eyes lit up.

“You got it!”

After that little kerfuffle, the two of them continued on their way home under the setting sun when Nishinoya spoke again.

“But you know, if you wanted me to call you by your first name, you could’ve just asked.”

Chiyo averted her gaze. “When did I ever say that?”

“You got all jealous over how I call Kiyoko-san by her name,” he reminded her with a mischievous grin. “Come on, I’ll start calling you by your first name too.”

“I wasn’t jealous,” she grumbled.

“Come on, Chiyo.” Ignoring her obviously false remark, Nishnoya poked her arm. “Say it. Yuu~”

Chiyo’s eyes wandered from their surroundings to Nishinoya to her feet. She pressed her lips together, struggling for a moment to find her voice.

“Y-Yuu…” Her voice was barely a whisper.

Satisfied, Nishinoya smiled. “I like you, Chiyo.”

story masterlist | previous chapter | next chapter

#haikyuu #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu imagine #haikyuu x oc #hq #nishinoya #nishinoya x oc #nishinoya yuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x y/n #nishinoya x reader #nishinoya x y/n #nishinoya x you #haikyuu x you #hq x reader

21 notes · View notes

thestrangestthing89 · 11 months

Text

It's really disturbing to me how many people are willing to force a romantic relationship on two people simply because they were kind to each other (occasionally). Mike being nice to El in S1 isn't enough of an indication of a crush. It's the bare minimum of human interaction. It's one of the many things that get overlooked when people are insisting Mike and El actually had romantic feelings for each other/a crush on each other. This is simply not enough of a reason to ship two people together. It's not enough to hold any kind of relationship together. Spending a couple days together in a high stress situation doesn't form a romantic relationship. And just because they are cute kids doesn't mean you are supposed to ship them. Of course they are cute. They are kids. All of the kids on this show are cute. Not only that, but I love how it just gets completely ignored that Mike and El have been referred to each other as family members since the beginning. There are repeated references to them being siblings and cousins along with multiple comparisons throughout the series to Mike with Hopper and Brenner.

The Duffers never wanted people to ship this. They have even said they were surprised people did. The most hilarious thing to me is when people ignore how they were compared to Eliot and ET. It's platonic. It was always platonic. Just because they put Mike and El next to each other on a couple of posters doesn't mean they were trying to emphasize a romantic relationship. They were trying to emphasize they are the main characters - or at least the main focus of the plot along with Will. Not to mention how they haven't done this in a while. They were worried that the show wouldn't be watched if Mike and El weren't together which I think is also why they sometimes put them on posters. But seriously there aren't a lot of these and Finn and Millie have barely done any promotional things just the two of them. This is different than Finn and Noah not doing promotional things together - that relationship is a secret. But Mike and El were out in the open and they still barely promoted it. They thought people would hate S2 because they weren't together. But that didn't happen. Instead when they are together in S3 most of the adult audience (their intended demographic) couldn't stand that relationship. They went out of their way to make sure people found it annoying.

The writers and the cast have admitted at various times that they felt pressured to promote that relationship. There wasn't supposed to be a kiss at the end of S2 but the Duffers said they felt pressure to add it. Millie has said the fans make her feel like she has to promote mileven. Finn is annoyed anytime the subject comes up. They hate this. They have never liked this relationship and they do everything they can to show people why they shouldn't be supporting it.

All this to say that so many people have convinced themselves that their head canons about Mike having a crush on her in the early days are true. And it's going to lead to a lot of pissed off people who won't admit that they just misunderstood the story when season 5 comes out. I think it really warps peoples perceptions of the show that fandom sites aren't very active right now. There are a lot of younger people on these sites posting regularly and it's creating this false sense of assurance when people agree with head canons. And I think a lot of people are projecting themselves onto the characters, which up to a point is fine. It's fine to find some aspects of characters relatable. But forcing these character to be like you and getting pissed when people point out something isn't accurate isn't you expressing your creativity. It's not being able to tell the difference between a fun, harmless head canon and the actual narrative. They are separate things.

Some of these head canons have gotten so out of control it doesn't seem like people even remember the actual story anymore, they just remember other theories and fan fiction. And honestly some of them range from completely random to flat out crazy (I'm mostly referring to relationship/character stuff here not theories about the supernatural plot. I feel like any random theory here is valid because the writers are making up this world).

But the intended demographic is adults and while a lot of them may not be posting on this site regularly, I guarantee you most of them don't think Mike ever had a crush on El. Most people are so annoyed with that relationship - because that is the way they wrote it. They want people to be done with it. And more of those people are going to come on this site when promotional stuff starts amping up only to get threatened out of it because people can't handle being corrected.

I say this as a millennial and someone who is a part of the target audience. The writers are not trying to promote that relationship. They never were. Because no emotionally mature adult actually likes it. It's been the younger fan base that always fixated on that relationship and the writers were surprised they even watched the show.

I'm starting to feel like by the time the final season comes out, I'm going to come on here ready to excitedly talk about the show only to find people upset because their theories weren't true. And it's mainly the people who are hurling around terms like misogyny, ableism, biphobia, etc anytime someone points out their theories don't add up with canon evidence. You can pretty much guarantee anyone immediately saying those terms (and usually using them incorrectly) in the face of mild criticism wasn't mature enough to be watching the show in the first place.

This isn't a teen show. It never was. It was never the Mike and El show and it wasn't ever about their relationship.

#no longer care who I'm pissing off #I will immediately block anyone who is rude #anti mileven #byler

95 notes · View notes

sometimes-love-is-enough · 1 year

Text

Let’s talk about 16th century Italian theatre.

No wait come back I promise this is actually related to Sanders Sides

So, last night I was talking with some friends about an AU I’m currently working on. I’ve been away from the Sanders Sides fandom for a good while now, but recently my hyperfixation reactivated and now my brain is so ready to write a ridiculously long longfic with a convoluted premise and horrifying implications. (I’m like 25k in. Having the time of my life. No doubt I’ll talk about it more later. This isn’t about that.)

Since I’m not the sort of person who usually writes AUs - I prefer to stick to canonverse, and canonverse-adjacent fics - I eventually brought up how worried I always am about characterization of the Sides in AUs. Because although I do adore an AU; I devour Love and Other Fairytales like candy and think about Lavender For Luck all the time and don’t even get me started on WIBAR, when it comes to my own writing, I secondguess myself a lot. I don’t like to stray too far from canon concepts and characterization. I get worried when I don’t draw enough connections to things that happen in the series, because it feels like a betrayal of the source material - if I change a character dynamic from how it’s usually portrayed, I spend entirely too long thinking about how to make it work.

And someone else said, well, I don’t usually worry about that sort of thing very much anymore.

And I said, why not?

And they said, well, I haven’t watched the actual show for ages. I mainly treat the Sides as stock characters for the stories I write, and my brain fucking exploded.

...Exploded in a good way. I have to stress this so, so hard. My personal opinions on writing characterization and AUs apply just to my writing. I judge my own work entirely too harshly and work too hard at Getting Characterization right, and that doesn’t apply to other people’s work or AUs at all, I enjoy them all without a problem. This meta isn’t about OOC being a bad thing, or AUs that are completely removed from their source material being a bad thing, because they aren’t, not at all, they’re a form of creative expression just like any fanwork. And if someone starts getting on your case about that sort of thing, just... just block them.

Anyway, where was I. Exploding brain? Ah yes.

So a few other people chimed into the conversation at this point, agreeing that in a lot of cases, the Sides for them were stock characters with fun names, established personalities and tropes to play around with, and part of the fun for them at this point came less from interaction with canon and more about interactions with friends and fellow writers. Which is very different to how I do things. I was fascinated, and my brain had one big delighted thought, oh shit! You’re treating the Sides like Commedia Dell’arte characters! I get it now!

(Disclaimer: I haven’t done drama or theatre for a good while now. If I make a factual mistake, either patiently bear with me or gently correct me.)

Commedia Dell’arte was a form of Italian improv theatre that was first popular in the 16-18th centuries through Europe, and didn’t have any proper established plots or scripts. The actors were almost never the same from performance to performacne, the comedy was over-the-top and often satirical and absurd in its physicality, it focused on plots about romance and jealousy and love. Emphasis on an ensemble cast. Very stylized, very distinctive. Here’s one beng performed in Venice, for the Vibes.

[image description: a photo shot of two masked people in period costume conversing on a small wooden stage, taken over the heads of a crowd in Venice.]

The key, the thing that ties all Commedia Dell’arte together? The stock characters. There’s a list of all of these character archetypes, all with specific names and associated masks assigned to them, and when you’re performing this sort of theatre, all the actors pick one of the archetypes and put on a mask and work out what the situation is, and bam, you’re on the stage and off to the races. You’ve got the servant of two masters, the stuttering statesmen, the Sad Clown (relatable), the utterly obsessed lovers who won’t stop making doe eyes at each other on stage from behind those masks of theirs.

Pretty freaky-looking masks, admittedly. Look at that nose on Naso Turco, the sly servant!

[image description: eight blue-and-black stylized Commedia Dell’arte masks, all labelled with their roles]

And the thing is, audiences would recognize these archetypes upon seeing them - it wasn’t so much about having characters that were perfectly ported from one story to another, like you might have in adaptations of fairy tales, it’s more about the archetypes. The personalities. Their status, and the way they interact with one another. Apparently all of the original cast of stock characters (you can find a list of them on Wikipedia, or maybe elsewhere) were "originally intended as a kind of characteristic representative of some particular Italian district or town." They’re representations of archetypes. You might even say that they’re conceptual representations.

Sound familiar? Yeah, it’s not hard to see where I’m going with this.

In Commedia, stock characters are almost never played by the same actors because the cast is always different, and might be an entirely different theatre troupe - so the way of recognizing certain archetypes is by their clothing style, or other symbolic context clues.

And that’s exactly how you recognize the Sides in fanworks when the AU is too far divorced from canon to understand them otherwise. If you’ve changed their ethnicity, or genderbent them, or given then a different species, you look for the context clues because at this point you’ve learned to read them like a language.

If it’s just fanart, or the names haven’t been brought up yet, how do you tell it’s Roman? Well, Roman’s costume is pretty distinctive, even when modified - and failing that, even if he’s just in jeans and a t-shirt, or even if he’s an indistinct jello-y blob floating in the distant reaches of space - he’s going to be the red blob. They’re color-coded for our convinience. Virgil’s stormclouds and spiders, Janus has his snakes and almost always has something going on with one side of his face.

Do you find this delightful? I hope you do. Because I do. I find it really, really delightful, and I’d never put conscious thought into this before last night. The Sides aren’t quite as flat and archetypal as the colorful cast of Commedia Dell’arte - they’re more fleshed out, for one thing, and even if writers don’t always pull on it, there’s canon backstory and plotlines to draw from. But they’re still archetypes, deliberately so in the context of canon. Someone in the server I was discussing this in summed it up really nicely - [..] we have Roman the artist, we have Janus for all the drama and deception, we have clever Logan to represent the science spirit. We have Patton for the morale lessons. We have Virgil for the memento mori style, and we have Remus for all the gore and dark comedic relief.

Which is such a great updating of all of the classic theatrical archetypes. Because (although Italian improv theatre is still performed! People still use these old roles and costumes, but it’s definitely more historical than modern) the idea of servants and masters and cunning peasants and all the complicated dynamics between these roles, well... it isn’t super relevant to modern storytelling. When Commedia Dell’arte is performed nowadays, it’s almost never hashtag-relatable in the way it used to be. You know what’s more relatable? Archetypes of the nerd who doesn’t acknowledge his emotions, the grumpy loner with a heart of gold, the theatre kid who won’t stop singing. You can take those and all of the rest and shove them into all manner of situations, and you can make some really cool stories out of that.

(National Theatre has a really nice video breaking down this theatre form a lot better than I can, with details I didn’t include here. Check it out here if you’re interested. It also includes details about the various archetypes’ physicalities and movements, which I think is kind of interesting, because in canon Sanders Sides the character’s physicalities are terrifyingly recognizable. That’s not really relevant to the idea of AU Improv Theatre, though, so I won’t poke any further at that thought. ANYWAY.)

I’ll level with you: some of the things people write in this fandom, I just don’t vibe with and I don’t get, and I’m okay with that. It’s the maxim of Mind Your Own Business, I just don’t interact and I keep on moving in my own lane. But, like... maybe I don’t need to get it. I’m pretty sure there were people in 1600s Europe who showed up to a Commedia Dell’arte performance and went ‘no, this one isn’t for me, did you see how they absolutely butchered the characterization of the Innamorati? Disgraceful’. But for many other people, maybe that particular performance just hit the spot, because they’d always wanted to see an interpretation just like that, that diverged from the norm just a little bit. And even if nobody in the audience at all liked it, maybe the performers were having enough of a blast that it more than made up for it.

And if not any of that - well, there’s always the next show!

[image description: four masked Commedia Dell’arte performers crowded around a prop cafe table, exclaiming dramatically over a menu that they’re all bent over.]

I don’t know if my brain will ever be chill enough to let me write something completely separated from canon. (Although... now that I’m typing that, I recognize that the chessboxing AU is not so much separated from canon as a tragic widower of a dinosaur-related apocalyptic divorce. Okay. Nevermind. Still, you probably get where I’m coming from.) And I’m probably not going to stop treating characterization like I’m going to be sentenced by a vicious panel of judges to a cruel and untimely death if I get the slightest bit of it wrong, but... I don’t know. The realization that it’s all comes back to this makes me happy, somehow. Just generally joyful about the state of the fandom, and the things that people create, and the community that’s been built up around it.

Commedia is all about exploring stuff in improv like love and romance and dynamics, and isn't that exactly what we're doing as writers? Throwing character archetypes together and making them kiss and talk to see what will happen? It's not really improv, but it's not like we have any stage to act on except the AO3 posting page.

We didn't set out to make the characters from a web series into stock archetypes that so many people pick up and play with to Work Out Our Issues With. (Writing is free therapy. We all knew that already.) That was definitely not the original intention of Sanders Sides - or any similar fandom, actually. (I know TSS isn’t the only one this happens in, not even close.)

But, hey, we're humans, and it always comes back to us wanting to play. And there's nothing new under the sun, not really. Of course given an infinite internet sandbox and a goofy web series about some guy’s identity crisis, we would accidentally reinvent the original Italian comedy theatre. That’s kind of brilliant.

You know what, I think 16th century Italians would enjoy Sanders Sides AUs a lot. I bet they’d make some pretty banger masks for the boys to wear.

God, I wish I had a time machine.

#sanders sides #sanders sides meta #min goes off the rails #(a tag that has not seen use for a while! i don't write much meta these days)#this may be deeply pretentious but also it hit me like a ton of bricks. i get it now. i get it

186 notes · View notes

phoenixs-fandoms-and-writings · 9 months

Text

Let Me Help You

Fandom: Marvel/MCU

Character: Pietro Maximoff

Pairing: No pairing. The two of them are close best friends.

Summary: You get a message from your abusive ex’s friend and it triggers some bad emotions. Thankfully Pietro comes by and comforts you.

Reader is gender neutral. Pronouns are never used for reader.

Pronouns used for reader’s ex is they/them.

Note: I don’t own the MCU or Pietro.

This account is safe for all (except homophobes, transphobes, bigots, ableists).

I do not give permission to anyone to repost or translate any of my stories. I also do not give anyone permission to feed my stories through AI or to be posted to any third party website or app. If anyone sees any of my work posted anywhere but here or my AO3 (simplyreflected), then it has been posted without permission.

Read on AO3 here

You decided to spend the day cleaning and rearranging things in your house to make it feel fresher and more open. When you heard your phone go off, you smiled because you’d been having a great conversation with some of your friends.

However, when you looked at who sent the message; a friend of your abusive ex’s who chose them over you after the breakup, everything seemed to slow, but not in a good way. Your phone slipped from your hand and you tried to focus on anything but the message, but you couldn’t.

You managed to get to your bedroom and decided to hide in there. You didn’t close your curtains but you didn’t have the energy to anyway. You lie in your bed with the covers pulled over your head, crying.

You didn’t hear the door unlocking or closing, nor the rush of someone coming towards you; the rush that could only be Pietro Maximoff running into your shared bedroom.

However, you did feel someone peel back the covers and you opened your eyes to see your best friend; Pietro sitting in front of you.

“Hey,” he whispered. “What's going on?”

“Do you remember my ex?”

“The abusive one, no?”

“That's the one,” you whispered, voice cracking after crying for so long, hiccuping every now and again. “One of their friends messaged me earlier. I didn’t see the message, but I saw the name. It made me feel everything all over again.”

Pietro’s eyes softened, “Let me help you. I’ll delete it so you never have to see it again.”

“Please,” you told him and gave him your passcode to get into your phone.

He left and a moment later, he was back. “It’s done, love.”

“Thank you, Pietro.” You paused, before you whispered, “Will you stay with me? I don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Of course,” he whispered back. “Are you hungry? I can get us some food.” He smiled, “you won’t even have time to miss me.”

“I’d like that,” you answered.

The two of you talked about what food you wanted and he ordered it. You both also decided on watching a movie together, so as he went to pick up the food, you chose something lighthearted. By the time you put it on, he was back and that was how you spent the rest of the day; watching movies. You only managed to make it through the first one before you fell asleep.

True to his word, Pietro didn’t leave. He was still there when you woke up.

#marvel fanfiction #marvel #pietro fanfiction #pietro maximoff fanfiction #pietro maximoff x you #pietro marvel #pietro x reader #aaron taylor johnson x reader #fluff #hurt/comfort

47 notes · View notes

ciaossu-imagines · 5 months

Note

For the 6 characters and what you'd do with them. Can we add "sit down and have a serious talk with them" and do all 7 of Tsunas Guardians? (Mukuro AND chrome)

Oh, this one is so fun! I love the extra prompt you came up with as well though the choices for this were so hard to make!

The character I'd push off a cliff

Honestly, it would be Lambo. I mean, I love Lambo more than a considerable portion of the fandom does and he amuses me greatly, but he can still be an awfully annoying brat and I'd probably get fed up and punt him off a nearby cliff by accident. However, let's all admit that Lambo takes a lot of very physical damage in canon that's equivalent to being tossed off a cliff or worse and he still keeps ticking after all of it, so he'd probably be okay after being sent over a cliff.

The character I'd kiss

Well, to make a terrible joke, depression and a complete lack of regard for my physical and mental well-being at times (I'm honestly trying and improving guys, don't take this too too seriously) means that I do not fear death, I welcome it. So I'm kissing Hibari. Might as well go out doing something fun and leaving an impression on someone, haha!

The character I'd marry

Okay, but he's not even, nor has he ever truly been, my favourite or one of my fictional others, but even I have to admit you'd be crazy not to marry Yamamoto. The man will always make you smile and laugh, will be fiercely loyal to you, will have your back, can cook and clean, and my parents would both love and hate him. Perfect marriage material and I'd get the best father in law in the world.

The character I'd set on fire

Ryohei and I could totally get him to not only allow me to do it but have him beg me to do it, if I convinced him that it was some new training method or ritual that only the strongest of fighters can withstand. And I can be pretty damn convincing. Of course, I'd put him out pretty quick because I wouldn't want to cause any actually serious damage.

The character I'd wrap a blanket around

Surprising nobody, it's Chrome. That poor girl has been through so much and she still tries so damn hard to be good and strong and to do her best for those she cares about. And I so badly want her to rest under a pile of warm blankets, in a feather soft bed, in the softest of pyjamas and wake up to breakfast in bed and spend the day getting pampered and doing things that would truly make her happy. I mean, she would probably never let anyone do that for her, but I totally want to.

The character I'd be roommates with

Okay, but these last two are where I had the most fight to decide who to put but in the end, I just have to admit that living in the filth that Kokuyo Land is would legitimately probably kill my very clean, everything in its place, super organized, obsessive-compulsive ass so I will have to go with that I would room with Gokudera. Honestly, I think that as long as we weren't in a pandemic like situation again where we were stuck together every hour of every day, we could probably survive rooming together without too many major fights, especially since I'm an extremely tolerant person who hates conflict, so I would shoulder and grin and bear a lot of his more unpleasant traits and just continue to live in ways that worked for the both of us.

The character I'd sit down and have a serious talk with them

Okay, but who wouldn't look at Mukuro at some point and be like 'bitch, why are you like this? Like, seriously? And all these plans and plots of yours? To what end? And then, after you succeed, what then?' Because I love Mukuro and I love his characterization and his growth and development through the story but sometimes you really do have to wonder if he's even figured it all out, if he even knows what he truly wants and desires and why.

#replies #ask game #katekyo hitman reborn #khr

13 notes · View notes

naranjapetrificada · 11 months

Text

As the "dealing with grief and other big feelings dredged up by the 🌟Gay Pirate Show🌟" thing appears to be sticking around I thought it was time for a master post about my new favorite thing:

Healing thru fanfic!

I should say up top that a) I usually prefer fic that's canon-compliant or only slightly canon-divergent, especially for healing purposes because I think it helps with immersion and b) the list is short right now but it's definitely gonna grow as time moves on. Anyway, recs beyond the cut:

Fallow Land & Bigger Sky: I've already mentioned before how reading (and sitting with and processing) Fallow Land & Bigger Sky was so incredibly healing but here I am, doing it again! And even if the emotional appeal doesn't get you to read it, you should try it for the beautiful imagery, poetic writing, and carefully and lovingly crafted (and canon-compliant) character study of one Edward Teach.

It's the kind of writing that makes contemplative manual labor, stunning vistas, a mischievous nun, a cute little black lamb, and gallons of homebrewed wine all feel as essential to the fandom experience as any other way we spend time with our blorbos. I literally cannot believe how beautiful and well-executed this story is sometimes.

Brace Yourself and Nestle into Me: I literally just read this one this morning, and it's actually what inspired me to make this post. The premise is that Ed and Stede figure out that they're into each other around episode 7, and they're deliriously happy to know that they feel the same way about each other. But Stede has some (understandable) sexual dysfunction around being queer thanks to the horrible society that he grew up in. Ed is a darling trying to help him through it all, and along the way he realizes he also has some of his own hangups he needs to work through together.

I appreciate that this one doesn't treat healing like a straight line because it never is, and emphasizes that trust can't just be implicit, you really have to talk it through as a crew, even if it's just a crew of two broken middle-aged men who are desperately in love with each other. It also gets into some of the stuff I've been talking about on here about grieving your former selves and the selves you never got to be, which was validating as hell. That sounds heavy and there are concepts that are literally part of modern therapy modalities woven into the story, but there are also warm and loving and hilarious moments too, including this gem:

“Also can you just imagine how proud little horny baby gay Stede would be know you would be to know that whatever he went through, today you’ve got your own ship and are getting completely railed by Blackbeard? I mean, just absolutely dicked down by the most famous pirate in history? He would lose his mind.”

To paraphrase the author notes, the "Healing Power of Gay Sex" won't fix everything, but I put it to you as a reader that reading and thinking about it also helps. And sometimes it can shake something loose you didn't know you were holding onto! Which is great!

Adrift Between the Dreaming Seas: Based on my usual filtering on ao3 I probably never, ever would have come across this fic if it weren't for a recommendation someone posted on this hellsite. It's got fantasy elements, allegory, metaphors stacked on metaphors, talking animals, and so many other things that would have kept me from ever discovering it on my own. My life would be poorer for it.

Basically Stede is cursed to be a lighthouse keeper on an island that seems to move around the world. Animals show up and the ones who talk to him are members of the crew, and Ed is an actual kraken. It's all this symbolism about monstrosity and trauma and maladaptive coping and the messiness that is Stede's kindness scraping against his self loathing. I shed tears of many kinds along the way, and it made me think hard about community and recovery and the things we do to and for ourselves and others.

It's just a lovely little gem of a story that made me feel so much so deeply while also making me laugh much more than I was anticipating. I'm so glad I gave it a chance.

[that's it for now, more as I keep up my deep dive into the ao3 archives]

18 notes · View notes

superman--yoosung · 9 months

Note

hi there!! i was hoping i could ask for a mystic messenger matchup please OP :D

- i go by she/her and i’m bi - so i’m open to any of the (adult) characters from the game.

- in my spare time, i like playing my flute/piano. and reading - i really love a lot of classic lit (with fanfic being my guilty pleasure lol) . if i’m not doing either of those things, it’s games (i think i enjoy getting lost in worlds other than my own). i love coffee and would really love to go sightseeing/travelling once i’m out of uni!

- i want to like insects - but i don’t because a lot of them jumpscare me (lol). i also don’t like the taste of cooked mushrooms,, i don’t know why. and i can’t stand untidy or messy places - i’ll tidy for you lol.

- personality wise i’m a little reserved - but i’m cheerful and can be quite the goof when i feel comfortable. i’m always thinking of others and little things i can do for them, or help them in any way possible. i have a strong sense of morality and loyalty towards others. however, i’m stubborn, and honestly somewhat bossy. i don’t know when to give up, which i think is a bit of a double edged sword tbh ^^;;

- for extra info - i’m pretty tall (5’9”) so i feel like a little bit of a giant. my sleep schedule is in shambles, i have a pet cat and my favourite colour is pink 🌸

on a side note - i am so so happy to see the mystic messenger fandom alive and well. and i hope i haven’t written too much for you OP <3

It's funny you mentioned the fandom - I have mostly mysme requests this round! it's definitely still thriving :)

Your matchup is.....................................................

JUMIN HAN !!

"Did you see that new magazine cover? Oh, you know - the one with the C&R heir and his wife? Wasn't it stunning?! Oh, to have someone look at me the way he looks at her..."

When searching for information online about Jumin Han and his recent marriage, comments such as these are rampant. But for good reason - after all, a proposal as sensational as theirs was sure to drive up public interest on the two. Nonetheless, information about Jumin Han's wife, in particular, is rather scarce. But it's evident to anyone who looks that Jumin Han has everything he needs to know about her - and that whatever it is he knows, it's only made him love her more with each passing day.

Fun details:

Your pursuits of the classical arts are noble indeed, and Jumin values your efforts. You'll have access to the finest tutors and lessons the world can offer, should you desire them. If you are already loyal to certain teachers or methods, he will invest in them to ensure your continued learning and growth. He would be delighted if you chose to give a private recital just for the RFA, and very proud of the work you put in to your instruments.

Funny enough, your new beta reader is Jumin. He became curious about what you spent your evenings on in the comfort of the luxurious living room, and when you finally showed him some of your fanfiction, he was unsurprised that your love of reading transferred to writing, too. Still, he admires all of your interests and efforts, and will support you by beta reading your works, bringing his critical eye to your fics. (And if you spend a long time explaining the nuances of the characters and fandoms to him, well, that's just icing on the cake for him, because he gets to hear your beautiful voice and see the sparks of passion in your eyes.)

You get along with Yoosung pretty well. Jumin Han isn't much of a gamer, but at some point he will become intrigued by the two-person (or more) games you play with Yoosung online sometimes. He'll never be as good as either of you at games, but he's good enough to play the cute stereotypical couples games together with - and he'll be quite enthusiastic about doing so with you!

You want to travel the world? He's got the private jet ready to go when you are! During breaks in university, he'll show you around the world, to all the places he's been before, and then to exciting new locations for the two of you to make wonderful new memories together.

He will have the best of the best coffee beans imported for you. If you have a favorite brand or store, he'll get a whole franchise installed in the C&R building just for you. (And the employees, of course, but mostly for you.) If you prefer Jaehee's coffee brewing skills over his, expect him to be pestering her to teach him in exact details in the RFA groupchat (much to Jaehee's eternal annoyance).

No bugs allowed in the penthouse!! If you care about the bugs being kept alive, he will ensure that each bug that does wander inside the building is escorted safely outside the entire perimeter before being set free. Luckily for you, there are two cats on the hunt for any stray bugs, so you likely won't have any trouble with them either way! And speaking of the cats - Elizabeth the 3rd will have a matching collar with yours. Jumin makes sure they're introduced properly so they get along with one another! And they will both be spoiled rotten - don't be surprised if Jumin manages to charm your little baby quickly.

Jumin will be the voice of reason when you've looked out for others to your own detriment, or when you're being overly stubborn. This may lead to a few fights - but as logical as Jumin can be, he's most spineless when it comes to you, so you'll typically get your way, or at least a compromise that's to your liking.

You may worry about your height sometimes, but whenever you put those thoughts to voice, Jumin will remind you that you're the perfect height for him to rest his cheek against your head. (Because this man is taller than everyone.) If you enjoy wearing high heels or platforms, he will adore looking straight-on into your eyes.

Jumin Han was instantly smitten with you when you met in person - and with every day, he learns something new in your mannerisms. They're small things - how you bookmark your page in a story, the shape your hand makes when you reach for one of the cats, which new pink wardrobe item you're favoring. Each and every one of these new details, when he comes across them, never fails to take his breath away, because it is you silhouetted in the lamplight, holding the book he got for your birthday - your hands, which he knows the feel of so well by now - your form, standing in the doorway, face lit up with a smile to greet him. With every new detail, he falls deeper in love with you. And he will always find new details, because to him, you are fathomless, and so is his love for you.

~~I hope you enjoyed this! I did seriously consider Jaehee for you as well - you seem the type to be able to match with multiple members very easily, to be honest!!

PS AHHHHH I THOUGHT I QUEUED THIS UP IM SORRY!! Publishing it a bit late oops--

PPS IM A MESS I FORGOT THE DIVIDERS LOOOOL should be fixed now

#mystic messenger #mysme #mystic messenger matchups #mysme matchups #Jumin Han #jumin han x mc #jumin han x reader

10 notes · View notes

chicgeekgirl89 · 1 year

Text

Packing a Piece

Fandom: 911 Lone Star

Characters: Carlos Reyes, T.K. Strand

Rating: T

Summary:

“Yeah, I’m not really a talk-it-out kind of person,” T.K. mumbles around the lip of the glass as he takes a sip.

“So I’ve noticed,” Carlos tells him, a knowing smile on his face. “I believe your motto is ‘punch first, questions later?’”

“You’re never going to let that go, huh?” T.K. asks, wincing at the reminder of his recent bar brawl.

“The image of you in handcuffs, looking like a cranky, beat up alley cat? Probably not.”

A/N: I always love the early days of a ship. The will they/won't they. The longing looks. The miscommunications. Here for all of it. So when a happy little fic involving the darts scene came into my brain, I took it and ran. Also this fic has one of the dirtiest lines I've ever written, so if my mom ever finds this...I'm sorry.

Read on AO3

This was not how he’d planned to spend the evening. He glares across the room at Judd Ryder, chomping on the straw in his drink as the activity of the bar swirls around him. God, he’s literally never met someone more infuriating, someone more rude…who the hell does this guy think he is?

“Your turn.”

Carlos’ voice draws T.K. back to the game at hand and he looks up to see the other man smiling as he holds out a couple of darts. Right. He’s on a date. One he should definitely have said no to given his current fury at his teammate.

Two hours ago he’d stormed out of the firehouse and run smack dab into a firm torso.

Strong arms grabbed hold of him to keep him from toppling over. “Whoa,” Carlos said. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry,” T.K. said, distracted by his bad mood. He just wanted to get out of here and as far away from Judd as he possibly could.

“Trying to add assaulting an officer to your rap sheet?” Carlos asked.

That got his attention and the uncertainty must have shown on his face because Carlos smiled. “I’m kidding.”

“Right,” T.K. said. He frowned. “What are you doing here?”

Carlos actually blushed and it was so fucking cute it made T.K.’s heart skip a beat. “Oh, I, um, I…kind of came to see if you’d give me another shot.”

T.K. raised his eyebrows.

“Listen, I—I guess I wasn’t completely honest with you, or myself,” Carlos said. “The one night stand, fuck buddies kind of thing…it’s not me. And I don’t want to put any pressure on you or anything but…I like you. So I thought I would take my chances and see if you wanted to go on a date. With me. Tonight.”

The word “date” immediately made T.K. balk. That wasn’t a lifestyle he wanted anymore. Love ‘em and leave ‘em seemed like a much better, less heartbreaking option. Plus he’d already bared far more of his soul to Carlos than he was comfortable with during his brief incarceration. Better to walk away while he still had at least a little dignity left.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” he said slowly.

“Just one drink,” Carlos urged. “Well, I mean, not a DRINK drink, obviously because…” His hands fluttered around aimlessly as he tried to recover from his verbal fumble and he let out a nervous half chuckle. “Okay I told myself I wouldn’t screw this up, but I guess I did. So, never mind. It’s fine.”

The sight of strong, brawny, hot-as-hell Officer Reyes looking for all the world timid and shy made him weak. “Okay,” he’d said before he could stop himself.

Carlos had frozen. “Really?”

How could he say no to those beautiful, soft, guileless brown eyes? And he really did kind of owe the guy after being such a dick the last couple times they’d been together.“Yeah. Sure. Let’s grab a drink or whatever.”

And now here he is, in a bar, pissed as hell, and the subject of his ire is across the room, further souring his mood. He can’t even have a date in peace. Judd “Stop Acting Like the Coach’s Son” Ryder has to ruin that too.

He needs to relax, to blow off some steam, and forget that the people working alongside him at the firehouse are the most judgmental, ass-backward, hillbillies he’s ever met. And hopefully, if he plays his cards right, there will be some blowing of other things later. Judging by the way Carlos keeps checking out his ass when he thinks T.K.’s not looking, his chances seem pretty good.

Although T.K. might ruin everything if he keeps complaining. Nobody wants a cranky lay.

“You know, if I was a less secure man, I might be bothered by the fact that I worked up the nerve to ask you out, and you’ve spent the entire night talking about another guy,” Carlos finally says after T.K. mouths off yet again.

He should apologize. But he doesn’t. Instead he presses on, practically goading Carlos into calling time of death on this miserable date over his assholery. He doesn’t deserve to be with someone as good as Carlos anyway. This is the third time in a row that he’s been a jerk to the man, and he really doesn’t understand why the guy keeps coming back for more.

A tiny voice in the back of T.K.’s mind whispers that he’s self-sabotaging yet again, but he tells it to shut up and reminds it that at least he’s not shooting up or getting the crap beat out of him to deal with it this time.

“You think he’s right?” he asks. It’s a challenge, a test, one designed to make Carlos fail so T.K. can prove to the world that he’s still a screw-up that no one could possibly ever want.

Carlos doesn’t say anything, just tosses another couple darts at the board, then waits for T.K. to go collect them.

“Do you?” he finally asks.

It makes T.K.’s blood boil. Because yeah, that is one of his greatest fears. That he’s only here because of his dad. That he’ll never be good enough on his own. And he doesn’t like anyone to push on that particularly tender part of his ego. “You know I’m holding a dart?” he says, sending Carlos a pointed look.

Carlos’ answer is immediate. “And I’m packing a piece.”

T.K. freezes in surprise at the snappy response. It’s just enough to break through his inner monologue and get him to fully pay attention to the gorgeous, completely ripped, incredibly good at sex stuff, man in front of him. “That’s hot,” he says, thoughts of Judd Ryder and his terrible day slowly melting away.

Carlos gives him a charming little smile. “Do I finally have your attention now?”

T.K. leans closer, amusement and desire swirling in his gut. “Yes.”

“Good.” Carlos cocks his head to the side and then swipes the dart from T.K.’s hand. “Because I want you fully present when I kick your ass.”

Carlos does kick his ass, not a surprise considering the man wears a gun as part of his uniform. But T.K. doesn’t do too badly either. And despite the fact that he came into this with a chip on his shoulder…it’s fun. Carlos is sweet and snarky and unbelievably good. He’s kind to T.K., the bar staff, the people who walk by. And god help him, T.K. feels something stirring inside himself that he’d thought had died on the floor of his New York apartment five months ago.

“Okay, how are you doing that?” T.K. asks when Carlos hits his sixth or seventh bullseye of the night.

“Practice,” Carlos says with a shrug. “I can show you if you want.”

He steps up behind T.K., his lips right by T.K.’s ear as he speaks. “Relax your body,” he says, his hands skimming gently over T.K.’s frame, positioning him just so. “I like to line my shoulder up with the bull’s eye.”

The warmth of his breath on T.K.’s neck causes goosebumps to rise along his skin. Carlos’ hips bump up against him and he sucks in a sharp breath. This is…beyond a turn-on.

“Then you just draw back and let it go,” he says, giving T.K. a quick pat on the ass before he steps back. “Go get ‘em champ.”

The heat T.K. was feeling seconds ago immediately turns into annoyance at the obvious reference to Judd’s words. He sends Carlos a scowl. “I’m glad my workplace harassment is funny to you.”

“Are you going to take the shot? Or should I have your dad come over here and coach you from the sidelines?” Carlos asks, a sassy grin on his face as he needles T.K.

T.K. rolls his eyes, but he draws his arm back and gives the dart a toss. It hits only millimeters off of center.

“Nice,” Carlos says. “Keep practicing and maybe next time you’ll beat me.”

Next time. Like this isn’t a one time thing. Like Carlos wants to see him again even though T.K. has tried his damndest to fuck this evening up. Who the hell is this guy?

“So I was thinking—“

“You want to get out of here?” T.K. asks, cutting him off.

“Yes,” Carlos says immediately. “Let me close our tab.”

He’s back in less than two minutes and then it’s a short drive to his place where they immediately lose themselves in an already familiar rhythm of lips and hands and teeth and skin.

“Well that was fun,” Carlos says when they’re both laid flat out on his bed, a satisfied smile on his face as he pulls his briefs back into place.

“You deserved some fun after I was such a crappy date,” T.K. tells him as he reaches for his own briefs, which have gotten hung up on a lamp.

Carlos’ face immediately drops. “Wait, you didn’t—T.K. you didn’t come over here because you felt obligated to, right?”

God this man is so damn good, it almost physically pains him. “No,” T.K. says quickly. “No, I—that’s not what I meant I was just…”

“Because if you felt like I pressured you into any of what just happened or thought I had some kind of expectation—“

“No, Carlos, it’s okay,” T.K. says, reaching out and putting a hand on his thigh for reassurance. “I was being self deprecating. I promise, I wanted everything we just did as much as you.”

Carlos relaxes. “Okay good.” He looks down at T.K.’s hand. “You’re really hard on yourself, you know that?”

“Not hard enough according to Judd,” T.K. says with a roll of his eyes, then inwardly cringes for bringing that up again. He truly is a terrible date. No wonder Alex left him for someone else.

“Have you ever thought that maybe whatever Judd is saying, it’s not about you?”

The question catches him by surprise and so does the earnestness in Carlos’ eyes. “What else could it be about?” T.K. asks.

Carlos shrugs. “His marriage. Money. His truck.”

T.K. snorts a laugh. “You think he bit my head off because he’s upset about his truck?”

“You’re in Texas now. Men love their trucks. Sometimes more than their wives,” Carlos tells him as he gets up and heads into the bathroom. “What I’m saying is, usually when people are mad, it’s about more than what they say it is.” He returns with two glasses of water, one of which he hands to T.K. “I’ve known Judd a long time. He’s a good guy. And he’s been through a lot lately. Might be worth it to try and talk it out.”

“Yeah, I’m not really a talk-it-out kind of person,” T.K. mumbles around the lip of the glass as he takes a sip.

“So I’ve noticed,” Carlos tells him, a knowing smile on his face. “I believe your motto is ‘punch first, questions later?’”

“You’re never going to let that go, huh?” T.K. asks, wincing at the reminder of his recent bar brawl.

“The image of you in handcuffs, looking like a cranky, beat up alley cat? Probably not,” Carlos says, leaning back and giving T.K. a spectacular view of all the muscles in his abdomen. The man is built like a freaking god.

“An alley cat? Seriously?” he asks.

Carlos shrugs. “I saw what I saw.”

“You’re very lucky that you’re hot,” T.K. tells him with a roll of his eyes. He takes a peek as his phone. “I should probably get going.”

“Or…”

“Or…what?”

Carlos leans forward and presses a searing kiss to his lips. “Or you could stay a little longer. And give me a new memory of you in handcuffs,” he says, soft eyes going dark and stormy.

T.K. stays.

“I had a good time tonight,” Carlos says a couple hours later as he walks T.K. to the door. He had made it very clear that T.K. could stay over but…he’s not there yet.

“Good,” T.K. says, throwing on a cocky smile. “I’d hate to think all my hard work upstairs was for nothing.”

Carlos gives him an exasperated look. “I mean the whole thing T.K. The date, the sex, all of it.”

“You are not going to tell me you think tonight falls into the category of a ‘good date,’” T.K. says incredulously. “I was being a dick the entire time.”

Carlos shrugs. “You had a rough day. It happens. I still had fun.” He steps forward and runs a finger flirtatiously down T.K.’s chest, toying with the top button of his shirt. “Besides, I like being someone who can put a smile back on your face.”

Stunned is an understatement. This is…he’s really not used to being treated like this. Like he’s allowed to have bad moments. Like maybe Carlos isn’t going to just use him and then walk away. Like maybe Carlos actually…likes him. Not just tolerates him or wants him for sex.

“Can I see you again? Maybe this weekend?” Carlos asks, that sweet, innocent look in his eyes. The one that turns the “no” in T.K.’s throat into a “yes” by the time it reaches his tongue.

T.K. nods, uncertainty shifting around inside him like the open seas in a storm. “Yeah.”

“Great.” Carlos smiles and then leans in, capturing T.K.’s lips in a soft kiss. “It’s a date.”

T.K.’s mind whirls as he slips into his cab. What the hell is happening to him?

#Tarlos #1x03 #Texas Proud #Tarlos Fic #911lsfic #Carlos Reyes #T.K. Strand #TK Strand

31 notes · View notes

lake-archive · 19 days

Text

Chapter 8 - The Two Of You (I)

AO3 Link

Fandom: Ensemble Stars

Series: Ein schlafender Ritter und die Liebe

Characters: Ritsu Sakuma (mentioned), Anja-Sophia 'Ann' Wolff (OC), Eli (OC by @watersofcamelot)

Summary: Eli has caught Ann staring like a dumbfounded fool for some time. He wants to know why and asks her directly. Her response is direct yet also somewhat jumbled. And... Maybe she’s got something in her eyes on top of that.

Previous Chapter - Masterlist - Next Chapter

Recently things have become a little… Nah, not really weird. Sis was always someone who was on the weird side of the spectrum. So when Eli claimed for Ann to act 'weird', it was just her being super out of character. Like fairly recently when it felt as if she had been observing Eli closer whenever they were spending time together. The way he stood, the way he walked and even the way he talked. At first he just shrugged it off but the more it happened the more it put him off. Something was amiss.

Doing something wrong? Eh, not really. Not that he thought so at least. She would have told him already and scolded him. When it came down to Ann, he knew her better than anyone could ever. And he wasn't saying that lightly. She wasn't easy to understand, let alone get behind. So him being one of the select few who even got the chance gave him the right to such a bold claim. The two were like siblings after all, sometimes secretly wondering if they were not related in truth. A lot lined up: Their attitudes, opinions, tastes:

Literally, a lot. Even when their conversations had been held via text, he could tell that she was different to him, which was odd. And once they saw another in person, things clicked. They just clicked. At first he just assumed that this was because she was in a foreign country and could barely communicate with anyone, Eli being her next best stop while also being a fluent English speaker thanks to his foreign roots. Both were able to communicate flawlessly after all. Even if Ann had intended and first asked to keep it in Japanese, Eli just couldn’t. It was too confusing for him, hard to figure out what she was trying to tell him. So the two stuck with English whenever alone or it just involves the two of them. It made conversations easier to handle.

Regardless, the idea of communication being the problem was dismissed just as quickly once she kept sticking around. Both were just inseparable at this point. May as well enjoy the year with her while it lasts.

Even with all of that in mind, there was one question he had to ask her…

"What's with the observations recently?" He threw in, not sugarcoating it. After all, she was keeping close watch ever since spotting Eli and that third year student. What did she call him? 'Ritsu–San'. So Ritsu is his name. And sis knew him… And 'Nyeli' dropped too… So both are his caretakers, probably. But she's been a little weird ever since. It was as if she had an even closer eye at Eli, closer than ever since. And it’s not the ‘I will keep watch until you behave’ type of deal either. No, this was some other type of look he had never seen before. It was as if she was researching the ‘natural behavior of an Eli in his natural habitat’ or something. She was observing him like some type of animal! What was he, an endangered species or something!? Actually, given what he loved to get himself into… Neh, that might not be too far off. But that didn’t really excuse her keeping such a close eye on him, did it? It was still somewhat of a weird experience.

Ann turned to Eli when he had spoken up. One of the few times he had some time to spare and decided to use this time to visit his sister in that office she was occupying. Finally he had gotten all of her attention and her face asked it all. Yet she felt the need to put it into words regardless: “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, something’s up.” He protested, not buying her confusion at any moment. She knew that he knew that she knew what she was doing. And there was a reason for it. And he would stop at nothing to figure out what it is, even if it took ages. He will figure it out. She was just lucky that he would not raise his fist at something like this towards her, she would have to do way worse than that. Now, if she was a random person, then he would consider it but… She wasn’t some rando. He was getting impatient either way. “What is it?”

“Playing dumb? I am… Just confused honestly.” She responded, either not catching on at all or she wanted him to be more specific and spill the beans. She can be difficult to deal with sometimes, he shouldn’t have to explain this after all.

“You watching me.” He responded, somewhat annoyed that he had to say it. The thought even made him shudder, because if there was no reason behind it… That would be just creepy. But there was a reason, from what he knew Ann was not acting without some thought process behind it. “What did I do? Spit it out.”

“Huh? You did so— Oh!” Sis sounded as if she had a sudden revelation, as if she had just noticed. Seriously? She was pulling Eli’s leg here, wasn’t she!? Or so he liked to believe. She quickly laughed it off however, continuing by saying: “Haha, nothing like that. You did nothing wrong outside of the usual.”

“Outside of the usual? Oh geez…” He rolled his eyes and added it with a certain snarky tone. But she meant nothing by it and besides, she wasn’t too far off.

Doesn’t mean that he was sorry, that was certain. Not these days at least. “Then what is it? Something funny on my face?”

“Ah, nothing like that either. Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, because you telling me to not worry always worked.”

“Hey, you can quit the sarcasm. I mean it, nothing is wrong. It’s just… I started to notice some… Similarities.”

That made him tilt his own head. Similarities? To what? What’s the meaning of that now? Has she lost her mind or something!? “Sis, the last thing we need are two of me existing.”

“Oh come on, it wouldn’t be too bad.” She joked though he was only left deadpan at this comment.

“No, I’m being serious. Unless you want to see the world burn… Actually, that would give me an excuse to get that flamethrower I saw the other day. I could blame it on my twin if I had one.”

“Eli, what did we say about those jokes?”

“Who said I was joking?”

Ann sighed, only sitting back in her chair with crossed arms. “Of course you’d say that…”

“See what I mean by having a second me would be the last thing we need now?”

“Guess it’s too late for that then.” She mumbled, though still loud enough for his ears to catch the sound of her voice as well as the exact words she had spoken. “Because the two of you… I can’t help it.”

“The two of me and who?” He said, growing more confused before being left to think for a moment. She had never acted like this, only until the day where she found Eli under the tree, when he was talking to that other kid. Or should he rather say guy? He was shorter than Eli but that guy was an upperclassman so that guy might fit better… Ah, what did it matter honestly? It meant crap! Just that dude… Wait… Hold on, did she mean—

“You talking about this Ritsu guy?”

“Yes, you and Ritsu!” She responded, nodding with a surprisingly wide smile. Ok, now she’s lost her mind. They weren’t that similar. “At first I thought it was just your looks! But the more I think about it, the more I can see it!”

Yeah, she’s completely lost it now…

“And that matters because?” Eli asked, not amused by this. He couldn’t stand it, being compared to some guy… It made him somewhat frustrated but he tried to hold it back. He didn’t want to snap at his sis for seemingly no reason. But it wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to hear. Unless she is driving insane, that would explain a lot in this situation.

“W... Well, i guess… Not much.” She admitted at the very least, smiling a little nervously. “Except to me maybe.”

“How come?”

“Well… He’s pretty much the only other person I talk to these days.”

This made Eli raise an eyebrow though answered one of his suspicions. The two knew one another and were somewhat close. So that was correct. Still, being similar to some guy… He was not sure what to think about this actually. “That’s why you go on an analysis spree?”

“Haha, maybe a little.” She admitted sheepishly. “It just started to make sense. Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable without realizing. I’ll try to keep myself under control.”

“You better…” He muttered, though the thought stuck in his own head. He and the Ritsu guy, similar to one another… Actually, he didn’t see it, not really at least. Sounds kinda far fetched. There was no way her words held any truth in that regard, right? No way. This was not just a claim in denial to keep himself in check. There was just no way in his mind. No one would even want to be similar to him. This was just a bunch of nonsense, wasn’t it?

‘ I have to see it to believe it. ’

Previous Chapter - Masterlist - Next Chapter

2 notes · View notes

idontwanttospoiltheparty · 2 years

Note

Maybe you feel like you've said all you want to on the subject. But if you have more to say, I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on Cynthia, Cynthia and John's relationship, and/or how Cynthia is treated by fans/fandom?

First, I want to point everyone to @damapajaro's wonderful post giving a good overview of their relationship.

On Cyn herself: she to me appears to have been a genuinely good person who, despite all the shit John put her through, still went out of her way to be sympathetic towards him, even if she couldn't fully understand him. This fact seems to piss people in this fandom off and it's legit funny to me. (As I said, borders on parody)

On John and Cyn: essentially, I think their relationship started out passionate but unstable (largely due to John reeling from Julia's death at the time), found its way to being Kind Of Pretty Good in the early 60s (not like the Couple Of The Year but no worse than say Paul and Jane and potentially better) and then as John's entire life became unmanageable, due to drugs and a growing sense of deep insecurity, paranoia, and depression, it went downhill.

I think Cyn genuinely loved John and was simply in over her head dealing with him. Conversely, John's feelings are, as I mentioned in an ask a few days ago, more difficult to parse. At a first glance, I can see why one might look at their relationship and compare it to JohnandPaul and/or JohnandYoko and conclude Cyn wasn't someone who particularly mattered to him.

But, for one, I think this dismisses the fact that he does seem to have been a tinge obsessed with her at the onset of their relationship.

E.g.

Personally, I think John became cold towards Cyn once they broke up out of a mix of resentment over her not having been able to help him through his problems and a deep regret over how he treated her during the divorce, which he was far too ashamed to face head-on.

I also think, in the same way he seems to have had strong feelings for Yoko and Paul simultaneously, the same could potentially apply to Cyn and Paul and/or Stu.

In fandom, Cyn is generally seen as a background character it seems – or even a punchline, the McLennon Story's Emotional Cuckold, or what have you. But here's the thing: even if John never genuinely loved her (which.... source?) she would still be pertinent to the Beatles story by virtue of simply living with John for almost six years. For better or for worse in sickness and in health they spent a lot of time together and thus unequivocally impacted each other's lives. John certainly seems to have enjoyed her simple company, being someone who seemed to full-on dread having to spend any time truly alone.

It also seems like the fact that Paul was not jealous of Cyn in the way he was of Yoko is taken as some kind of proof that she didn't matter, despite the fact that Yoko fulfilled a very different role – one which infringed upon Paul's "turf", ie a creative partnership, as @royaltyisshe64 once nicely put it – in John's life than Cyn had.

I also think, when for example the Paris trip is discussed and the fact that John Took Paul And NOT His Girlfriend – while there is something to that argument, it seems to kind of be forgotten that an unmarried couple vacationing was kind of Very frowned upon at the time and if you consider the fact that Mimi literally kicked John out for some time when he got Cyn pregnant well… Basically, while John definitely loved Paul a lot (and perhaps even in that way) and very much wanted to go on a vacation with him, heteronormativity also paradoxically makes it easier for two guys to go on holidays together and for this to be socially acceptable.

Anyways, my take is that the fact that they were married is kind of reason enough to warrant a critical examination of their relationship to each other.

EDIT: And while I do think ultimately Paul was a larger influence on John there's a lot of "But How Can We Make This About How John Actually Doesn't Love Cyn But Loves Paul" happening when talking about them.

#ask #anon #fiona.docx #my analysis #john #cynthia #jc

32 notes · View notes

insomniactalks · 2 years

Note

Many ppl in this fandom care the most about their ship and they will go to the end of the world to support that ship. Right now I am a Portwell, but my priority is always a good storyline that doesn't do a disservice to the characters. If they do any of these characters dirty this season, especially EJ and Gina, who are my favorites, I personally won't watch this show anymore. To quote Ben from The Umbrella Academy: "I'm out, b*ches" (that scene really cracked me up and I also saw the actor's reaction to that scene and it was hilarious). Coming back to hsmtmts, one thing that will definitely stop me from watching the show would be making EJ or Gina cheat. Like if they do that, I'm out... The EJ and Gina I know would never do that... I saw the leaks and I personally don't have a pb with Rina if it's written well and they don't do EJ dirty (or Gina and Ricky with a cheating plot). But I can't see a scenario in which these leaks don't make any of these characters dirty, since the timeline is so short (two weeks... like Gina gets over EJ in two weeks (less than two weeks, bc in the first eps we know they're still together) and falls back in love with Ricky (even worse if it turns out she never got over him and EJ will seem to be a rebound AGAIN, bc of the SAME guy (IDK HOW SOME PPL ACTUALLY LIKE THIS IDEA. The twitter fandom is the worst.))). Also, the idea of making Ricky a rebound is horrible. Can they just not do that?

Now, how I see the all EJ-Val and Gina-Ricky situation (ignoring the "leaks"), to me it gives Troy-Sharpay and Gabriella-Ryan vibes. In the second movie, Sharpay and Troy had many scenes together (like EJ and Val seem to have). I don't think Val will be like Sharpay at all, but she will cause drama. Also, I think that Portwell will parallel Troyella in hsm2 and Mitchie and Shane in the second movie (Troy being focused on his future/Mitchie with saving the camp/EJ spending a lot of time with directing the play considering the "high stakes" vs Gabriella/Shane/Gina wanting a happy summer where they spend more time with their love interest and getting to know them better). Like, the parallels are there, Portwell parallels all the main couples in ALL the movies (I won't talk about Anna and Kristoff since this topic was talked about a lot around here). If the writers really screwed this up and the leaks are true... oh well... I will be mad disappointed.

Note 1: About the "high stakes" part, I have a theory that I don't think will turn out to be true, but what if they go with the camp rock 2 plot with the camp being closed (but it is kept a secret to not put that much pressure on the campers). Just a thought. Anyway, the "high stakes" part will definitely put a lot of pressure on EJ since he is the director and I think this will cause some drama between him and the wildcats (esp with Ricky who, from the trailer, doesn't seem to take the play seriously. Watch this being their actual conflict this season and not the love triangle part :))), that only being a misleading).

Note 2: I love that EJ and Gina got so much focus in the trailer!!!! Also, EJ plays the guitar!!! They finally let him play it (an eternity later)!

^THISSSSSSS! (I was laughing at that Ben scene LOL😂). You captured my thoughts perfectly, anon. ❤ Only thing I'll add is that there's no narrative point in repeating S1's storyline with the love triangle unless there's different results this time (as in EJ being the priority for someone for once. Nini couldn't give him that and that's okay. I have faith Gina will. 🤷🏽‍♀️) PW will continue to just talk about their problems and be honest, I reckon. That's really important. Totally agree about the "high stakes" putting a huge amount of pressure on EJ (like Troy and Mitchie 🤔). But it seems he will talk to Gina about it (thankfully!)🥰

Sidenote: I've gotten a lot of asks about the "leaks," which I plan to address at some point this month but July is really busy for me so it'll be a long long wait, probably. 😅

11 notes · View notes

goddess47 · 1 year

Text

I posted 412 times in 2022

That's 76 more posts than 2021!

126 posts created (31%)

286 posts reblogged (69%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@fullmoonficlet

@ao3feed-mcshep

@cassiope25

@thekristen999

I tagged 262 of my posts in 2022

Only 36% of my posts had no tags

#teen wolf - 79 posts

#sga - 60 posts

#sterekdrabbles - 53 posts

#sterek - 43 posts

#mcshep - 39 posts

#pimping - 28 posts

#stargate - 20 posts

#full moon ficlet - 19 posts

#romancing mcshep 2022 - 17 posts

#stargate atlantis - 16 posts

Longest Tag: 41 characters

#challenge: zipper spectacular responsible

My Top Posts in 2022:

Stargate Fests

The Stargate fandom has grown very much smaller from its heyday when any of the series were still being created. But there still are pockets of active Stargate folk who are hanging out, creating works and being merry.

The thing is that we're now also spread across different platforms and don't always get to visit together. The Live Journal and Dreamwidth folk don't always spend time on Tumblr and Discord, and vice versa. And the SGA folk don't always know about SG1 things happening. And I know there are SGU folk out there. Somewhere.

And it turns out that there were two separate "SGA Santa" fests going on at the same time in the Fall. There were a couple of folk who did both, but some of us didn't even know the other existed until it posted. That's okay, but either fest may have had a couple more participants if more folk knew they existed.

So I'm putting together a Stargate Fests list. All fests, of all types, of all durations, of all types of work, of all franchises. If it's related to Stargate, I'll include it on the list.

As an example, "Romancing McShep" is almost over for 2022, but I just ran across "McShep Month" on Tumblr. If I wasn't a Tumblr user, I would never have seen it.

I'm looking for your Stargate 'fest' - where fest is used in the broadest form of the word. If you'd like to see your fest added to the list, fill out the form: Fest Submission Form

There isn't a lot there right now, but I'd love to see a longer list... and if there's something critical that needs to be added in terms of fest details, I'd love to know what it is. I'm relying on the fest for details. I'm just looking for enough information to lure folk into looking...

The list I have so far is here: Stargate Fests List. I'm hoping it becomes a lot longer soon!

Tell me what you think!

90 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

Room For Rent

For @sterekdrabbles (6/17/2022) prompts: room, cheap, brother

----

"Come in," Stiles invited.

Derek stepped into the small room and shook his head. "Nope. You're not staying here another minute."

"Derek! It's cheap and all I can afford!" Stiles protested.

"Anyone and their brother could break into this place," Derek replied, picking up a packing box. "It's not safe."

"I have no place else! And classes start Monday."

Derek took a breath. "The apartment Laura and I rented is still available... I never stopped paying rent..."

Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek. "There are too many memories."

Derek hugged Stiles back. "Maybe we can make some new ones? Together."

114 notes - Posted June 18, 2022

Constellations

For @sterekdrabbles 6/3/2022 prompts: expensive, bathe, curtain

-----

"I don't know, Derek," Stiles murmured. "It's pretty expensive for a shower curtain." Although Stiles had to admit to himself it was gorgeous.

Derek blushed. "I know, but, well, it makes me think of you."

"Really, big guy?" Stiles smiled as he turned to his husband.

Derek touched the material. "The pattern of stars looks like the scattering of moles on your back. Like you'll never be far away from me." A deeper flush. "Even if I'm only bathing."

"Aww..." Stiles leaned in for a kiss. "For that alone, I'd take a dozen."

Derek smiled as he returned the kiss.

120 notes - Posted June 5, 2022

Way To A Man's Heart

For @sterekdrabbles (6/13/2022) prompts: harass, admit, trouble

----

The siren whooped once, pulling behind Derek.

Derek sighed. Harassment by the Deputies was part of dating the Sheriff's son.

"Am I in trouble..." Derek looked up from grabbing his license. "Oh. Hey, Jordan."

"Nah," Jordan said. "Saw you alone and thought I'd pass on some advice."

"Anything!" Derek begged.

"Pie. Sheriff loves pie and Stiles never lets him have any," Jordan grinned. "But if you bring it over..."

"Ah! Stiles can't complain... as much," Derek replied.

"Yup!"

"Thanks! That will be helpful," Derek admitted.

As he drove off, Derek wondered if any of Nana's recipes were in the vault.

142 notes - Posted June 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

As Advertised

For @sterekdrabbles (6/8/2022) prompt: year, sign, super

-----

"Rwarrr!" Eli extended his fingers like claws and swiped at the teddy bear.

"Umm... what?" Derek was confused.

Stiles shrugged. "We saw a sign in the Asian food section of the supermarket that said this is the year of the Tiger. So. Now we're a tiger."

"Oh!" Derek watched as his son pretended to pounce on the defenseless teddy bear.

"It's kinda cute," Stiles said as he leaned against Derek.

Derek wrapped his arm around Stiles and dropped a soft kiss on the side of his head.

"Just like his dad," Derek replied with a smile.

Stiles kissed him back.

146 notes - Posted June 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

4 notes · View notes

ezrisdax-archive · 2 years

Note

Starstruck Odyssey, Korrasami, and you DO get Wedge lmao

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: oh this is tricky... probably Skip, Zac just played him so well

Least Favorite character: uhhhh, Edwina, she's the one who was mean to Sidney when they met :(

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): this wasn't really a ship season? despite being on a ship (badum-tsh) so I've really got nothing here

Character I find most attractive: Riva, I love their design so much

Character I would marry: uh, well Margaret, she'd keep the finances running

Character I would be best friends with: Gunnie!

a random thought: I hope we come back to these characters but I'm not sure we'd see Riva return? which would be too bad but I'm sure Siobhan would play someone new I'd love

An unpopular opinion: as much as I enjoyed it there were times I think handy andi was a little op for the play

My Canon OTP: ????

My Non-canon OTP: we just don't know

Most Badass Character: Barry Syx, what can I say I'm a sucker for the old 80s archetypes like that

Most Epic Villain: the rolls vs checking for loose duke lmao

Pairing I am not a fan of: idk

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): none, d20 is perfect

Favourite Friendship: Sidney and Barry, those two were so much fun to play off each other.

Character I most identify with: hmmm, probably Riva

Character I wish I could be: Margaret, please teach me to get money...

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: way way back in season one, they had so little interactions but were pretty much the only pair I was interested in lol, back when they were a rarepair...

My thoughts: I'm so glad the writers got to make them canon, I still remember that I was working that day and saw some of it on tumblr and honestly wasn't sure if it was real or not until I saw it

What makes me happy about them: they're canon!!!! and that the two of them came to understand and rely on each other, I think season three really built a lot of groundwork for them coming together and I'm grateful for that

What makes me sad about them: we never got to see them kiss on tv, like I do absolutely understand that, hell it's even a struggle now for it but I wish we could have gotten it still

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: any time I see a fic where Korra is portrayed as an idiot or primitive I cringe. I once saw one where Asami was exploring the land and kidnapped and immediately knew that's where that was going and noped out

Things I look for in fanfic: hm, I haven't searched for korrasami fanfic in a while but I'm a huge sucker for aus where Korra was the one to run into her in season one or aus where they don't actually meet till later, completely different I know

My wishlist: I don't have much of one, I'd just like to see more of them in the comics which I think I will

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: nope, that's it for me for them

My happily ever after for them: I just want them to have more spirit world trips together and spend some time together, like let them have a happy ending where they're not always forced to save everything all the time and can relax

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:

How I feel about this character: look. look. you know. and several other mutuals on this website who have to put up with me know even if they aren't in star wars fandom that Wedge is my boy. that's my star wars guy. I can't help it if three year old me picked him as a fave and has not let go okay. I had a fucking notebook lexi!!! that was just filled with pictures me and my sibs drew of him!!! every time we watched! moral is I love him.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: I don't mind Luke/Wedge, because I'm the first person to have written it on ao3 apparently I also like Lando/Wedge (hey I'm a sucker for rare pairs), and of course Wedge/Iella

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Wedge and Tycho

My unpopular opinion about this character: look, I hate what Disney did with character, I can't stand Rebels version of him at all tbh, I can't stand they made him Imperial at first

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: disney leave him along but also put me in charge of the rogue squadron anything, please god

Favorite friendship for this character: Wedge and pretty much the whole rogue squadron, I miss them lexi....

My crossover ship: Wedge/B'Elanna from Star Trek: Voy, no I will not explain

4 notes · View notes

the-narwhals-awaken · 2 years

Text

fanfic writer emoji ask game answered

😅 What’s a story or scene you’ve created that you’re a smidge embarrassed exists?: Honestly, Through Smoke And Bone feels a bit embarrasing, partly because it's the least lilke my typical fare and partly because it's niche even in such a large fandom.

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?: The gut punches. I get a bit of everything, that's why I like to gloss over the bad stuff cause it makes me feel worse, but the gut punches usually hit me too and that's usually when I have to take a break.

🤡 What’s a line, scene, or exchange you’ve written that made you laugh?: Puns. Bad puns, silly jokes, references to things that I saw somewhere and stuck in specifically to make me laugh.

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?: I mean, not just, but in one of my WIPs I go through a perfectly normal day, continue my dramatic setup for the whole nonhuman characters and potentially corrupt place, then hit them with a horrifyingly traumatic event.

✍ Do you have a beta reader?: No.

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.: I like looking at weird things. Characters who aren't human or who are different than most people, and how they interact with their community and the world at large. What do they need to change, and how do people need to adapt to them?

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?: Feathered Scales. It's over 300 pages, and it's got everything from family drama to war crimes.

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉: My writing makes me happy and other people happy. People enjoy my worldbuilding because of its complexity and weirdness, not despite it.

💋 First kiss fics. Love em or hate em?: Eh, they feel like they go too fast but they're fun.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately? Yes. I don't loop songs, but recently (and this varies a lot, my music tastes fluctuate) it's been Jump In The Line/Dead Mom (Reprise) from the Beetlejuice soundtrack.

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write? Google Docs.

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped? Several. I don't delete anything, just leave it. I can come back to things later- recently, I started work on a fic from a two-year-old outline and now it's going great!

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic?: My family is aware, but none of them read it.

🍦 What’s the sweetest fic you’ve created so far?: Despite the gut punches, probably the yokai AU WIP. There's just so much of it that's sweet family moments.

🍷 Do you drink and write?: No. I might snack a little, and I try to hydrate, but I need to be focused to write and anything that distracts from that is a big no.

🍆 Do you write the spicy stuffs? If so, what’s your most popular nsfw fic?: No. I'm not comfortable with writing that.

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?: Afternoon or evening. Mornings feel like either lay in bed or be productive. Afternoon or evening I'm more awake and settled and able to write.

💖 What made you start writing?: I wanted to tell stories. Fourth and fifth grade essay assignments got me started, and I didn't stop. I wrote fic after a year or so of reading it and haven't stopped either.

💌 How do you feel about comments and feedback?: Love it. Not too fond of criticism or negative feedback, but the comment emails always bring a smile to my face.

❌ What’s a trope you will never write?: The meet-fall in love- kiss-have sex- move in together chain. It always feels way too fast. Let them be friends first!

💲 Would you ever open commissions?: No. I don't do art, and I write on A03- as long as money stays out of the picture, I'm legally protected.

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?: Not beforehand. If a question comes up, I'll try to answer it, but that's about it.

🏆 What’s your most popular fic?: Through Smoke and Bone

🎃 Do you write fics for certain holidays? Which is your favorite holiday inspired fic?: If I'm prompted. I like Halloween cause I can go full spooky without worrying.

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?: Nope! Partly that's limited comment interactions, but also because I don't write too much plotty stuff.

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?: Love it, love it, love it! Send me a link! It'll make my day!

📈 How many fics do you have?: 37 at last count.

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?: Outline. I line up my timeline and the plot points I want to hit, then set the characters loose to get everything done.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!: Fem!Newt, Newt/Graves, they meet and get married before the movie and what happens when a skilled magizoologist comes looking for her husband.

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?: Write, no matter what you feel like. Get the words out. Write and play a game, but keep writing.

💞 Who’s your comfort character?: I like the smart ones, the ones that build families and are happy where they are without necessarily wanting the big drama.

🧠 Pick a character, and I’ll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?: The ones who know what they want and how to get it or deal with it. They flow so much better.

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip? Ask me later and sure!

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?: Probably the ones where I'm poking at my sexuality by proxy, just cause it feels weird.

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?: People like it and I can tell.

✅ What’s something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don’t mean to?: The nonhuman and the human having the same problems. Also, food as comfort.

📚 Would you ever want to turn writing into a career?: No. My motivation's too whack for that.

⌛ How long does it take you to write a fic, or a chapter?: I generally write in big long chunks or do a chunk a day. It depends- it can be less than an hour or three months- or in one case, half a year.

🤯 What’s a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?: Action. I feel like I can't get the pacing right, that even with strategy-focused characters I get too introspective.

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?: Fortunately not, and I hope not to break a heart on writing fic.

💥 How do you feel about criticism?: If it's something I didn't notice, it's fine, but if it's like 'they wouldn't act like that' or 'that's unrealistic' then it just makes me feel horrible. Let me have my sandbox where I can be a gremlin. Let the world not suck.

🤭 Do you have a favorite tag to use when posting your works? Probably Outsider POV. I'm bad at tagging.

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?: Please. I love getting questions and little noticed things and having people spot my easter eggs. I love making references to other fandoms and leaving puzzles hidden and it makes me feel great when other people see them too.

#ask game #emoji ask game #asked and answered

0 notes

letters-into-the-endless-void · 2 years

Text

(!!) Letters to Fabi Alonso #8

July 14, 2022

You know, for a while there, I was thinking that I was doing better. Not having forgotten you, persay, but not spending my entire day moping and feeling utterly miserable. That lasted for like, two days. It started again yesterday and has been going very strong.

You told me to keep being passionate about what I love. See, I really don’t know how to do that. There was a time when I was motivated, I had to memorize all the names of places of different eras, all the different government position names. I should read zuozhuan, I should read zgc, I should find out about more people, etc. Now, I didn’t actually do any of that, because I was lazy, but the thought was there. Me indulging myself and being happy was me reading about new guys, so that I could talk about them with you, or that when you brought them up I could be ready to return conversation.

Right now, my indulging in fandom is frantically stuffing my brain with any sort of stimulation to prevent a thought from occurring. I definitely do not want to look at anything history related. It’s a state I’ve been in before, where fandom was pure escapism. Now I’m simply back in it.

I’d like you to understand that me constantly going off about how miserable I am is in no attempt to make you feel guilty. I mean, maybe subconsciously I’m doing that, who knows, but even if I wanted to guilt you I doubt that it would work. You’re pretty stern when it comes to setting boundaries, I’ve realized. Which is why you must’ve gotten so upset when I crossed yours.

You know, I never really considered that you could get so mad before. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get mad. Everyone’s gotten somewhat mad, or annoyed, at me before. On one hand I tried really hard to not annoy you, but I’m such a massive overthinker and I don’t recall you ever showing signs of annoyance. To me, or to anyone, really. Or maybe you just hid it really well.

I did figure something was wrong. You spent a lot of June leaving me on read. And like I’ve said, I can’t complain, because I’ve also done that, but it was pretty out of character for you. I pretty much figured either I annoyed you, or you had something going on. Especially when, from June 27 to early July 3, that was 6 days. That was too long. I guess what happened was that you really did have life issues. And now it’s both.

See, I did lose contact with some of my closer twitter mutuals. And as sad as I am over that, it kind of just feels like “It is what it is”. Because we were twitter mutuals, that’s what we were, a few of them I cared about on a deeper level, but we were twitter mutuals. We really didn’t have any sort of relationship.

But the thing is, Fabi, we were friends, right?

And I thought, as friends, well I don’t know what I thought. I considered that you might get mad, although up until then I never really put the idea of you and being mad together. Mostly I thought you’d ask me a few questions, maybe things would get a bit weird, but we could stay somewhat friends, or maybe just become more distant, at the worst. Like we’d talk once a week, kind of distant. I thought what you’d feel was maybe a bit disappointed, and awkward. That’s mostly how I imagined this turning out.

Of course, overthinker that I am, it’s not like I didn’t imagine you just dipping away forever.

But that definitely did not involve you shutting down all of your twitter accounts. Like I said back in my first letter, that really shocked me.

But really, what shocked me most when reading your goodbye wasn’t that you were upset, that much I figured, but how mad you were. How stern, in putting down a clear line saying you never wanted to see me again. Maybe as you’re reading this, you’re getting mad again. How dare I assume you wouldn’t be mad, when etc etc, right? Maybe I was just delusional in my hope that I could get away with 2.5 years of lying easily.

But, well, the thing is, I’ve gotten mad with my own friends before. They’ve done some pretty shitty things. I’ve done some pretty shitty things. But nothing is really shitty enough worth breaking that friendship over. The only shitty thing that reached that max shitiness level was that one friend, I told you about, the very homophobic white guy.

So that makes me wonder. Is it our friendship that actually didn’t mean so much to you, or was me lying about my age just as hurtful as being an actual asshole of a human being?

Or, it’s also possible I’m thinking way too much. You have a lot of friends on twitter that you are much, much closer to. I haven’t even known you for an year. It’s likely that I’m the only one so hung up.

...I do hope you’re in contact with them. They must miss you. Although, I guess you would’ve left contact ways to all your friends, right? Aha.

I’m not trying to invalidate your feelings. I’m really not. I just wish you told me more about how you felt, because I simply don’t understand, and am quite lost. I’m sorry I hurt you, I’d give anything to not have hurt you. But I’ve hurt you in a way that leaves me reeling and confused.

Or maybe it’s simpler than that. Maybe I was just the final straw along with all your life problems that made you say “Fuck it. No more of this.”

I know you don’t want to talk to me anymore. I know that. And I broke your boundaries once, and I’m trying to not break it again this time. But I also really, really want to show you these letters.

But at the same time, I also don’t.

Whether or not I can even contact you aside, because as long as I don’t, I can continue to have little fantasies in where you read these letters, we talk it out, and maybe we can’t go back to what we used to, but maybe you’ll be less mad and I’ll be less miserable.

But if I do show it to you, I think the reality is that you’d get mad, even more. It’s weird how now that I know you can get very angry, at me especially, that I think everything I do will piss you off. And maybe I’m right. To see 8 entire long ass letters of me creepily talking about myself when you’re the one who was lied to? Anger inducing, definitely.

I really don’t want you to get mad again.

But at the same time, jesus fucking christ, what do I have to lose, right? Worst case scenario, you get mad. You’re already mad, for fucks sake.

I think I’ll try. I don’t even know if I can reach you yet. You said you didn’t want to talk to me ever again, and well, you don’t have to. You probably won’t. I mean, you’re already going through life problems. I know that.

I just want to tell you how I feel, is that too much to ask?

...Well, maybe.

Sorry for being selfish again.

If I’m right, and we really weren’t as good friends as I thought we were, maybe rather than disgusted or mad, you’d just be annoyed. “What is this person doing and why can’t they leave me alone,” kind of annoyed.

...At least that’s better than being mad?

- Your Ex-Zhiji, Avro Lanca

#fabi alonso #letters to fabi alonso 8 #letters to fabi alonso

0 notes