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"you should be at the club" I should be working on my fanfic

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talking to mutuals guide

dming a mutual tricks and cheat codes

basic techniques for reaching out to mutuals

recent advances in talking with mutuals

talking to mutuals okay?

will my mutuals think im weird for talking to them

messaging mutuals in a mutual-honoring way

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How do you keep to your schedule for writing? Just asking cuz we're all so tired at the end of the day and am sure you are too.

I don't really have a set schedule for writing. It basically happens whenever I have a spare second as long as I have access to either my computer or my phone. I tend to do more writing on my phone during the day and more on my computer at night, but in general, it's a rare day when I don't add at least a little bit to at least one of my fics.

As for my posting schedule (which is related to but not the same as my writing schedule), I usually try to build up a significant number of chapters before I start posting a fic. My preference is to have it finished before I start posting, but that's not always realistic. In general, though, wherever I'm posting in a fic is generally several chapters behind what I'm writing.

Thanks for the ask!

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savior fic? 👀

This refers to the monstrously long and uncomfortably dark fic that resulted from a prompt someone sent me in October (the most intense of apologies to the person who sent "you can't run from me forever"). In brief: Reader and Shigaraki date in high school, but after she breaks up with him, he spends the next seven years stalking her. When she marries someone else, he finally leaves her alone...which isn't a good thing, because the person she married is even worse.

@threadbearsweater has kindly been beta-reading it for me, and I go back and forth daily on whether or not I should ever post it. My ambivalence is probably best reflected in the fact that this is the first I've said about the fic on Tumblr.

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make me work on my fics!

Thanks for the tag, @quinnyundertow!

Rules: Make a 24hr poll listing the titles of every WIP you want to work on. (It’s fine if you only have one, still make a poll for the vote count). Whichever WIP title gets the most votes, write 1 sentence for every vote received.

Some of these I haven't mentioned before (send ask if more info needed) and tbh I'll probably end up writing for the number of votes on each of them.

tagging:

@nocompromise-noregrets @dogblessyoutascha @phantombstone @scarlettcryptid @mirkwood-hr-department @threadbearsweater @shigarakislaughter @vegascriesduringsex!

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“You’re going to say she could have chosen to stay with him,” Tomura says, and you nod. “Why would she do that? When he’s – like that –”

Tomura doesn’t get why he’s being squeamish about calling it like it is. The main character’s ugly. Scary. Nothing anybody wants to touch.

NOOOOO TOMURA!!!!! we don't think you're ugly!!! don't project onto Edward!! you're a joy to have around. you need and deserve love (and perhaps a good dermatologist) in your life.

BIGBRAINED WRITING MOMENT. PROJECTION ALWAYS HITSSSSS

The sad thing is, I don't think he even has a clue he's projecting (and would be defensive if somebody tried to point it out). I think if he knew how revealing some of the stuff he says is he would probably staple his mouth shut and never talk again.

As it is his limited self-awareness keeps him unintentionally honest and creates opportunities for connection. We persevere.

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they are Cancelling me for dealing with my grief as best i can . also for the vicious war Crimes

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(secret) santa, baby - part 8 of a shigaraki x f!reader fic

Shigaraki doesn't want to participate in the office's Secret Santa exchange, but when Toga promises to make it easy on him, he gives in. But making it easy for him makes it a lot harder for you -- you're the one who got his list. Office AU, no quirks. A fic in 12 parts. Divider by @ wcnderlnds

part i part ii part iii part iv part v part vi part vii

part viii (gift-wrapping)

You don’t know what the last-minute staff meeting is for, but the email looked important, so you show up outside the building’s biggest conference room on the hour, as ordered. As soon as you set foot inside, though, you know this was one you could have skipped. There are piles of gift bags and rolls of wrapping paper on every table, as well as packets of tissue paper and spools of ribbon and actual jars of confetti with scoops in them. On the whiteboard at the front of the room, someone’s written REMEDIAL GIFT-WRAPPING.

You didn’t think your gifts were wrapped that badly. Tomura hasn’t complained. Then again, Tomura doesn’t know you’re the one leaving his gifts, so he wouldn’t know who to complain to if he had a problem. In spite of showing up on time, everybody else somehow got here before you, so you hesitate just inside the doorway, looking for an empty seat. Before you can find one, something moves in your peripheral vision, and you glance over to find Twice beckoning to you. He’s sitting with Spinner, Dabi, and Tomura, and they’ve got an empty seat nearby.

A few weeks ago, you’d have found somewhere else, but you’re much more comfortable with Tomura and his friends than you were before. Seeing them outside of work at Toga’s party probably helped. Seeing them the next morning, waking up with bedhead and low-grade hangovers that could only be cured with diner food, moved them firmly from the category of scary coworkers to people you could call friends. And waking up at one end of Toga’s couch to realize that you’d spent the entire night sharing it and a blanket with Tomura moved him from Secret Santa recipient to something else.

You’re not sure what else, exactly. You’ve been keeping a close eye on him since the Secret Santa thing started, just so you could figure out good times to sneak down to the basement and leave things on his desk, but for the past few days you’ve felt different about seeing him out and about. Instead of being relieved, and using your next free second to race downstairs and plant a gift, you’ve gone to talk to him. Or you’ve stayed put wherever you were and hoped he’d come talk to you. He’s different at work than he is out of it, but now that you’ve seen him the other way, you can’t fail to see that the person who slept on the couch with you is there when he’s here, too.

Work doesn’t bring out the best in him, and work-related holiday festivities are even worse. You can hear him complaining as you make your way over. “I don’t need to learn gift-wrapping. The stuff I leave is fine.”

“No. Spinner’s gifts are fine. Yours look like you’re dropping off a sperm sample,” Dabi says. He’s organizing the pile of gift-wrapping supplies and ignoring the way Tomura swears at him. “It’s not going to kill you.”

“With everybody else here, Toga’s probably not just picking on us,” Spinner says. He spots you coming over and waves. “Hey. You got an invite, too?”

“My gift-wrapping must be worse than I thought,” you say. You drop down into the chair between Twice and Tomura. “Hi.”

“Hey.” Tomura glances quickly at you, then goes back to screwing around with a mostly-empty roll of ribbon. “You have a gift in your mailbox. I saw it when I checked mine.”

You didn’t put a gift in his mailbox today – it’s on his desk again, waiting for him whenever he gets back. You dropped it off after you saw him walk back on the way to the conference room. “I’ll look after we’re done with this. Does this happen every year?”

“No. It’s new.” Tomura scowls. “It sucks.”

“Hi everybody!” Toga’s standing on a chair at the front of the room, waving to catch the room’s attention. “Thanks for stopping by. It’s come to my attention that some of you guys don’t know how to wrap a gift to save your lives, and even though it’s the gift that counts, the way it’s presented matters, too! So for the sake of your Secret Santa recipients, we’re going to go over the basics of gift-wrapping –”

“And we’re going to practice on these,” Midoriya announces, holding up a clear plastic bin that’s full to the brim. “The gifts from the toy drive. Which we need to wrap anyway.”

“I told you we weren’t in trouble,” Spinner says to the group at large.

“No, we’re just free labor.” Tomura’s scowling worse than before. “I can’t wait to count my papercuts afterwards.”

“To help with this,” Toga continues loudly, “every table has at least one person who knows what they’re doing. Compress and Yaoyorozu will go over the basics, and then your group’s expert will help you get going.”

Where’s your table’s expert? You glance around, only to find everyone else looking at you. “We need to work quickly,” Iida announces, even louder than Toga. “It’s imperative that we get these gifts mailed this afternoon. If they’re delayed by the storm, they won’t reach their recipients in time. Do you want to be the reason why needy children go without presents this year?”

“Hey! Iida! That’s kind of harsh,” Midoriya says hastily. Dabi is snickering. “Just do your best, everybody!”

There’s a bin of toys under the table. Compress and Yaoyorozu order everybody to start with something in a box, since they’re easier to work with, but you have a bad feeling you’re the expert, and the things that are weirdly shaped are going to take longer. You take out a plastic dinosaur toy and get to work, listening with half an ear to the instructions. You don’t want to contradict anything they’re saying. It’ll slow things down, and based on the size of the toy bin, you can’t afford that.

You overhear the other supposed experts at the other table, and they seem pretty comfortable giving instructions, but you decide to keep quiet unless somebody asks you something. And somebody does. “Are girls born knowing how to gift-wrap or something?” Spinner asks, staring at the dinosaur toy you’ve successfully mummified in candy-cane wrapping paper. “How did you do that?”

“Practice, I guess?” You don’t really remember somebody teaching you. “It was probably just watching my mom.”

“Maybe you should handle all the weird-shaped shit,” Dabi says. He abandons the box he’s wrapping and starts sorting the toys in the bin. “I want to get out of here sometime this year and that’s not going to happen if you put me in charge of that.”

You nod and pick up the grotesque-looking nutcracker at the top of the pile. To your surprise, everybody else settles down to work quickly – even Tomura, who’s still scowling, and handling the wrapping paper like it might take a bite out of him. The other tables are chattering, but everybody at yours is quiet. Focused. When Midoriya swings by to pick up any wrapped gifts, he has to make two trips to collect all of them from you.

It’s not until you’re starting on the second round of presents that Tomura speaks up. “This isn’t so bad,” he says, and you almost amputate your finger in shock. “I thought it was going to be like that movie.”

“Which –” Dabi interrupts himself, then makes a weird noise. “The one where the guy’s cheating on his wife?”

“And he’s trying to get the clerk to gift-wrap that ugly necklace he bought for his mistress before his wife gets back?” That scene made you cringe. There are lots of scenes in Love Actually that make you cringe, but that one stands out. “Did he actually cheat on his wife or was he just trying to cheat?”

“He’s cheating.” Dabi measures out a huge scoop of glitter and drops it on top of the present he’s wrapping before he tapes the wrapping paper down. “My dad pulls shit exactly like that. Except he was fucking my boyfriend, not his secretary.”

You almost choke on thin air. “He – what?”

“That was ages ago,” Twice says. “They didn’t talk for like – five years. Then Dabi’s sister made them go to family therapy and now Enji makes up for it by giving Dabi money whenever he asks.”

“And when he doesn’t,” Spinner says. Dabi is making a face. “You’re better off, dude.”

“You know how Shigaraki hates Christmas? That’s how Dabi feels about Valentine’s Day,” Twice says. You probably would, too, if your dad had hooked up with your boyfriend. “If you’re still around by then, you can hang out with us. We always celebrate by maxing Enji’s credit card.”

If you’re still around by then. What does that mean? “Sounds fun,” you say, watching as Dabi adds two scoops of glitter to his next present. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“It’s there. We’re supposed to use it,” Dabi says. “The kids will get a kick out of this shit.”

“Yeah, but their parents will hate it.”

Tomura takes a scoop of glitter and pours it in the gift bag he’s been screwing around with. “It’s not about them.”

You remember who the gifts are for all at once. Kids in foster care, whose parents probably suck as a rule. They deserve to have some fun, and you’ve never met a kid who wouldn’t go crazy over a glitter bomb. When you start wrapping your next present, you add some glitter to it, too.

At some point the department heads come looking for all their employees, which is how you find out that Toga didn’t clear the meeting with anybody before she called it. Most of your table takes the opportunity to flee – Dabi first, then Twice, and Spinner after a second’s hesitation. Tomura stops halfway out of his chair when he realizes you’re not getting up. “Aren’t you leaving?”

“My supervisor hasn’t come looking for me yet,” you say. “And there’s still a lot to do.”

You know there’s work waiting for you back at your desk, but it shouldn’t take too long, and Iida’s guilt-trip about the presents definitely got to you. You empty the rest of the toy bin onto the table and grab a box with a model train printed on the front. A chair scrapes next to you as Tomura sits back down, and he lifts the train box out of your hands. “Give me that. I can’t wrap the weird ones.”

You stare at him. You can’t help it. “What are you doing?”

“My supervisor hasn’t come looking for me, either.” Tomura shrugs. “It’ll be faster if I help.”

“You hate this stuff,” you say.

“I’m not going to be the reason needy kids don’t get presents this year.” Tomura’s Iida impersonation is pretty on point, especially when he adds in Iida’s trademark hand gestures. You laugh. “And I haven’t gotten a paper cut yet. Nobody will put up with my bitching next year if I don’t get at least one.”

He says that, and it sounds like him – but somehow you don’t buy it. He’s not making eye contact, and his ears are turning sort of red, and your heart kicks up a weird, fluttery jolt. “If you want to hang out, you can just say that,” you say. “You don’t have to do – I know you hate doing this.”

“This is what you’re doing,” Tomura interrupts you. “That’s the important part.”

That one’s hard for you to parse, so hard that Tomura manages to wrap the train and start on the next gift before you can get even sort of a handle on it. And once you do, you’re not sure you want one. Tomura hates Christmas. Every Christmas thing you’ve seen him do has been done under pressure or threat, and he just got a golden opportunity to escape. Why would he give it up to hang out with you?

There’s one answer. An obvious answer. One you’d believe if it was coming from anybody but him. “I can use the help,” you admit. “Thanks for keeping me company.”

“Yeah.” Tomura reaches for the wrapping paper at the same time as you do, and your hands collide. You thought he’d flinch. You thought you’d flinch. But your hands stay still, poised against one another, for a long moment before Tomura draws away, his fingertips skimming the back of your hand as he goes. “Any time.”

<- part vii

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how does gentle feel about aiba getting all those expensive gifts from spinner? o.o

Gentle's in the Secret Santa mix, too. And he's been putting a lot of thought and attention into gifts for the person whose list he got...so he hasn't noticed what's going on with his girlfriend just yet.

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lowkey i’ve never thought about spinner and la brava before but it makes sense the more i think about it

One of these days I'm going to unleash a barely-coherent meta post about why Spinner/La Brava is an underrated ship that everybody who ships either of them with being healthy and happy should get on board with. Based on the fact that the only fic in the Ao3 tag is one of mine, I have a long way to go with convincing everybody else.

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"Somehow he always stumbles into the bad ending, and knowing that there’s a good ending out there that he was too stupid to get makes it even worse"

I am enchanted by his lack of social skills. ALSO THIS LINE ^^^ GIVIing big Off-Script vibes when he reflects on the dating sim experience. when you have only consistently fucked up and you can't imagine a happy ending>>>> mfw there is consistent and touching characterization at the function.

Part of what's fun about no-quirks/everybody lives AUs is that they give a chance to explore what the psychological effects of a Kotaro/AFO-influenced childhood would be on an adult. (He checks basically every symptom under Criterion D of the PTSD diagnosis and persistent negative evaluation of oneself/others/the world is one of them.) This AU's version of Tomura and Off-Script's Tomura have a lot in common, I think!

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You’re doing that noticing thing again. Tomura keeps looking at you, trying to notice you back, but the longer the two of you look at each other, the weirder it starts to feel between you. Like there’s something more that needs to happen. Tomura steels himself, braced for whatever you do or to act as soon as he has an idea of what to do.

hes sooooo confused its amazing. consistently disoriented. needs guidebook for a social interaction. don’t worry gummy bear we love your constant state of befuddlement. Love the way he mentally prepares like a soldier on the eve of battle to talk to a girl he likes. NOT THE WAY HE TRIES TO NOTICE HER BACK!!!!!

Since he doesn't know what to expect, he's trying to be prepared for anything. At this point he's learning by copying what he sees other people do, and the reader is one of those people. Hence noticing her back. And tbh even within the fic, there are worse people he could be copying.

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“I have to pay attention. Aiba likes this guy’s movies."

SPINNEEERRRRRR SHE HAS A BOYFRIENDDDDDDD....... YOUR PRINCESS IS NOT IN THIS CASTLE!!!! I have faith in your abilities to provide him with a good romantic prospect by the end of this pic though......

He's just looking for more Secret Santa gift ideas! (He has spent way over the limit. He has put more thought into these gifts than most people put into their proposals. He's simping so hard that even Toga's embarrassed for him.)

Don't worry, he's going to be fine.

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"If there was some kind of life skills class where everybody learned it, he probably missed it while he was being homeschooled or in juvie. By the time he got out, halfway through high school, everybody already knew what they were doing."

this is so so deeply canon I literally cannot imagine a tomura who has never been to a juvenile detention facility. That's where he spawned in. I bet he met Dabi there and Toga. Spinner he met in court ordered therapy. wait watch me write a fic about a juvie/youth group therapy romance. I bet they don't have coed juvie centres tho.

also homeschool shigaraki is sooooo funny. I know you probably meant his brith parents but I have this image of AFO trying to teach him long division.

I definitely think no-quirks AU!Tomura has had some brushes with the law, even if he's left that behind in adulthood. His experiences in early life have given him a unique perspective (the neutral to positive reframe) or something wrong with him forever (the cognitive distortion that should be unpacked in therapy). I imagine that what draws him together with the League in a no-quirks AU are their shared experiences. I really like writing them all together!

(At least in the U.S. they don't have coed juvenile detention (at least to my experience) but I know that kids' outpatient treatment has coed treatment groups! If you write that fic I would read the hell out of it.)

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Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

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"match my freak!" match my sweetness. match my benevolence. match my empathy. match my ability to feel emotions so deeply it tears me apart from the inside out

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I hope every writer who sees this writes LOADS the next few months. Like freetime opens up, no writers block, the ability to focus, etc etc you're able to write loads & make lots of progress <3