con-fection

[con-fection]

Hi this is the anon that followed and unfollowed your account really quickly. I'm sorry I took the joy outta writing for billy. I was on a lot of sleeping meds and they really messed with me, I ended up doing a lot of impulsive stupid stuff. I just wanted to say I'm sorry, I think about you often and wish you the best.

Hi! I’m really confused about this ask. No one person took the joy out of writing for Billy - I still love writing, I just really haven’t had the time to. Between uni, work, volunteering and an internship I’ve just been so busy that it’s has to fall to the side. I’ve also been putting off writing it because I have been struggling to plot out how I want things to end, especially because stranger things is an unfinished show. To be honest, this ask made me think about my fics again and get back into working out the plot and writing. I have stuff plotted out up until the start of season 4 - I’m hoping to write a couple chapters but am a bit unsure about writing much past the end of season 3 until season 5 is out and the show is finished. I’m not going to make any promises since I’m struggling to work out a writing schedule and I’m going back to uni in September for a master’s degree, but I hope to upload at least 2 chapters over this summer, which kind of cover the point right before the start of season 3. No need to apologise for anything anon - feel free to reach out if you’d like to have a chat x

[con-fection]

I don’t wanna be an ass, but how’s your writing going, and do you plan to add more chapters this summer?

Yes I do plan to add more chapters this summer!! I’m actually working on chapter 14 right now, it’s just taking me a very very long time unfortunately. Thank you for your support!!

[con-fection]

So how did the idea of the plot of manslaughter on cherry lane come to you? Also how is university going?

University is going pretty well so far!! The exams haven’t been super bad tbh which is good, and I have a few weeks until my next semester starts!

Honestly I’ve been reading Billy fics for a while, and as much as I love the trope of him changing after meeting someone, I started to think about what I think it would realistically take for him to change his behaviour.

Billy is very reactive and aggressive - this, in my opinion - is mostly learned from his father. He’s very defensive, given that he’s literally living with his abuser and he hasn’t seen his mother in years. He’s on edge all the time. In my interpretation of the situation, he’s living with a dangerous man who caused his mother to abandon him and who could potentially severely injure or even kill him at any moment. He’s in complete survival mode. I don’t think it’s likely for him to be emotionally able to engage in self reflection while under the same roof as Neil.

And then, I thought - what if somebody took Neil out of the picture?

I wasn’t super keen on the idea of somebody falling in love with Billy as he was and then killing his father for him, because I think that’s kind of implying that he needed somebody else to save him, and it just didn’t feel right for me to write about.

An accidental death, especially if the killer and Billy didn’t know each other well, would kind of solve that problem, and provide themes of guilt that I thought could drive conflict, drive the plot, and tie in well with the themes of season 4.

Thanks for the ask <3

[con-fection]

hi! how are you today! hope you've had a good day! <3

I’m very good thank you!! I’ve done 2/3 of my exams, and hopefully I’m going to be able to get back to writing in the next week or so x

[con-fection]

thank you for answering these questions by the way!!! <3<3<3

You’re welcome my love, I love answering them <3

[con-fection]

do you think billy would like if max started to get closer to the reader and see her as an older sister?

I think he’d like it in the sense that he can keep the people he cares about all together and they’ll get along, but he’d be worried about Max taking your time away from him.

Reader has a complicated relationship with her siblings given Sara’s death, and I think it would freak him out a little if she started worrying for Max - but maybe he’d be on board with it, depending on the situation. Susan’s a very busy woman and extremely stretched thin, and having you to discuss things about max with him would probably help him get over any anxiety he has about his relationship with her.

I also think he could be a little jealous or insecure about it - he and max still don’t always know what to do with each other and seeing you and her get along naturally could make him feel inadequate, but equally he could dislike it if she started cutting into his time with you.

I think it would be weird for him at the beginning, but with time as he realises that neither of you are trying to cut him out of your lives, he’d really like it.

[con-fection]

how would Billy comfort her if he caught then reader having an emotional breakdown? crying, hyperventilating, shaking

Maybe he isn’t the best at comforting you, but he’s always there. He doesn’t really know what to do, and you panicking is making him panic, he’s never been the best with words, but he’ll give you reassurance where he can. I think that comfort from Billy is largely physical - maybe pulling you to his chest or keeping an arm around you, making sure that you know he’s there no matter what. He may not know what to say, but he won’t leave you alone with your thoughts.

[con-fection]

Would Billy get jealous if he saw the reader flirting with someone else? (Do you mind if we ask questions like this? love your writing!)

Of course I don’t mind questions! Thanks for the ask anon <3

Yes, I think he would get jealous, but he probably wouldn’t admit to it.

He already has a hard time sharing your attention with Steve, and he doesn’t want anybody else to take away from his time with you. To him, you’re the only person he can rely on. He’s uncomfortable with the fact that it’s unequal and you have other people you’re close to. You flirting with someone would bother him more than you having a simple friendship with someone else.

He’d interrupt in order to get your attention away from whoever you’re flirting with, and then subtly tell them to stay away from you as soon as you’re distracted.

I can see him pretending it’s out of concern for you - “He’s no good for you, sweetheart. Guys like him are assholes.” - and instigating a fight with you like that in order to keep your attention on him.

And, if you ever try to get some alone time with that person you’re flirting with - well, Billy’s just going to be there. He’ll appear, insert himself into the situation, and make it very clear to the other person that you and he have something special.

[con-fection]

would Billy ever kill someone for the reader to save them too? like the reader saved him? if a person was ruining their life like Neil was ruining his?

Yes.

Reader ‘saving’ Billy was an accidental byproduct of her running over Neil - she didn’t do it for him, but she’ll feel a whole lot less guilty about it when she finds out exactly why Billy was so accepting of her killing his father.

Billy would go pretty far to protect her. He’d already committed himself to helping her get away with manslaughter, and now that he’s become attached to her, I could see him killing someone for her. I think it would be a spur of the moment thing, probably using his bare hands or using something nearby as a weapon, rather than wholly premeditated. Given that he’s already essentially gotten away with hiding a body before, I could see him being less willing to listen to reason/be stopped from killing somebody because he’d be confident about his ability to hide evidence and lie to the police.

[con-fection]

is Susan's and Billy's relationship going to improve and become more familial? or will it stay distant?

Short answer: yes it will improve

I intend for them to eventually have a better relationship than they do now. I think that Susan just kind of doesn’t know what to do with Billy and how to relate to him, and Billy has only ever really considered her as his father’s wife (and therefore somebody that can cause him problems) rather than as her own person. At this point, he’s also kind of wary of her given that she essentially could make him homeless.

I want them to be familial and be able to rely on each other, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily going to become a mother-son bond in the end, that kind of depends where my writing takes me. I think that Billy is naturally suspicious of having a mother figure in his life given that he hasn’t heard from his biological mother in years, and he also yearns for that kind of bond but kind of resents himself for it. I also think Susan would be worried about seeming as if she’s trying to replace his mother, although I see her as the kind of person who would want to reach out and to Billy and be there for him when she can, especially because he now has no parental figures in his life.

Their relationship is further complicated by the fact that Susan, who was herself a victim of emotional and financial abuse from Neil, kind of stood by and tolerated the abuse that Billy suffered. It’s not her fault, of course, the blame for that lies with Neil. But I think that it would make Billy wary of being vulnerable with her, even if she is now trying to be there for him and provide for him.

Thank you for the ask anon <3

[con-fection]

i really enjoyed the latest chapter! I hope I'm not being an asshole but could we get an idea of when the next one will come out?

Hopefully late February/ early March. I’ve outlined what I’m going to write but I have exams throughout January so I won’t actually have much time do do anything lol <3

[con-fection]

this chapter is so good!!! and well worth the wait!!! I love the dual povs your writing style is so good <3<3<3

Thank you so much!! I’m sorry it took so long lol <3

[con-fection]

I plan to have it up tonight, I’ve finished writing and editing and just have a bit of formatting to do <3

since manslaughter on cherry lane is on hiatus, could we get an idea of when we'll get the next update? hope you had a good Christmas ❤️❤️

Hopefully January!! I’m about 12K words into it, and I have a few thousand more words to go (2-3K I think) and then some editing!! My Christmas was lovely, and I hope yours was good too!!

[con-fection]

since manslaughter on cherry lane is on hiatus, could we get an idea of when we'll get the next update? hope you had a good Christmas ❤️❤️

Hopefully January!! I’m about 12K words into it, and I have a few thousand more words to go (2-3K I think) and then some editing!! My Christmas was lovely, and I hope yours was good too!!

[con-fection]

hope you're doing well and university is going okay! are you going to update manslaughter on cherry lane or is it discontinued?

I’m going to update it! So sorry it’s been on hiatus for so long. I’m about 8K words into the next chapter and I promise I’ve been working on it, life is just so busy now!! I fully intend to finish it, but updates are going to be super slow until the summer, when I get more time to write :)

[con-fection]

Hi there! I found Ashes to Ashes on tumblr a while back, and then found it on ao3 where I finished it. Absolutely fantastic writing - easily the best Moriarty fic I've read. I was wondering if you ever plan on doing a sequel? Because I assure you I would read and love the HECK out of that. If not, I still applaud you for your amazing writing.

Thank you so much <3!! I’m not planning on a sequel, but I do have some other Moriarty ideas from ages ago that I may get around to finishing once I’ve wrapped up some of my WIPs!

[con-fection]

Hi. Will you be updating Ashes to Ashes? Easily one of the best Moriarty fics I've come across and I would love to see more 👀

Hi! I’ve already completed it and it’s available on Wattpad and AO3 (username and story title are the same) - I just got super lazy about uploading it to tumblr lol