#<- i say that as if I didn't fully do a road trip fic one and just never acknowledged it again

[cataclysmictide]

I Love You, That's All

The Louvre - Lorde/Edgar Degas/The Creation of Adam - Michelangelo/Art Heist, Baby! - @otrtbs /The Gathering Storm - Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky/The Last Great American Dynasty - Taylor Swift/The Louvre - Lorde/Unknown/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/New Year's Day - Taylor Swift/Margaret - Lana Del Rey/Unknown/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/New Year's Day - Taylor Swift/Ships in a Storm - Ludolf Bakhuizen/Interior with the Artist's Wife Emilie Heise -  Carl Holsøe/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/Half Return - Adrianne Lenker/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/My Tears Ricochet - Taylor Swift/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs/Fourth of July - Sufjan Stevens/Unknown/Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss -  Antonio Canova/Bigger Than The Whole Sky - Taylor Swift/Love in the Heart of Everything; The Correspondence between Vladimir Mayakovsky & Lili Brik/Art Heist, Baby! - Otrtbs

[bronx-bomber87]

Hello my wonderful fandom family :) Thanks for being so patient with me. I know I have till January but I am moving/slash road tripping at the end of Sept to a new state. Which is a HUGE change. Going two time zones ahead and everything. So wanting to get it out there before I move and have even less time LOL Also thank you for wanting to take this journey with me. S6 was hard on all of us.

Haven't had a show rock me this hard in a very long time. So I'm forever grateful for the love and comments these in depth reviews get. Never want to take that for granted. This was a ROUGH season to say the least. But I’m excited to dissect it with decompressed eyes and somewhat healed shipper heart. Be lying if I was saying it was fully healed. But was a much needed break for me. Let us begin shall we?

6x01 Strike Back.

Premiere starts off with a literal bang. They’re all trying to figure what is actually happening. The mastermind clearly not the man they just took down in Luke Moran. Also loving how scruffy Tim is in this first shot of the premiere. The stubble all over that gorgeous jawline of his. Mmm. Delicious dusting. Love to break me off a piece. Wouldn't be a review if Feral Caitlin didn't make an appearance would it? ha God he's beautiful I can't help myself. This is his fault really.

Anyway back to matter at hand.... Lucy points out Luke may have been a patsy for the real crime. Diverting all their resources to this this one spot instead of their real target. Our girl always being the brains and Tim being impressed by it. They go hand in hand. You know that man loves her brain. Her intelligence is just one of many reason's he fell in love with her. Fun to watch her flex it I have to say.

There’s so much to love about these shots in the shop with them. The Metro call sign being one of them. It does things to me. It’s just sexy. Also the automatic way she’s paired with him in this moment. Like anyone else would be in that car with him but still. Ever the packaged deal. Just the little things I always love so very much. They don’t share shops anymore. So this is a treat. Riding together, brainstorming, and just being the bad ass team they always are in the field. Makes my shipper heart happy to see it.

After the Federal Reserve mayhem we skip 6 weeks into the future. I always wondered what happened in those six weeks with our ship. Probably nothing massive tbh. But be fun to know what shippy goodness could’ve occurred. I imagine they had some time off after that. Spent it together and decompressed from the madness. Just a nice thought to think about is all. *cough fic writers cough.*

We start off our cuteness with Lucy in Tim’s office studying. There’s so much to love about this scene it’s unreal. Let’s start with Lucy taking residency in his office like it’s hers. Knowing it’s a quiet place for her to retreat to. Also I’m sure Tim offered it up long ago for her. Which makes me giddy to no end. He’s not the least shocked that she’s using it. Only that she’s not out on patrol. Married status continues to level up in this moment.

Lucy explains she’s fallen way behind in her studies. OT is killing her atm. I can’t imagine how stressed she feels. Lucy is our resident academic. Not having the time to nerd out on her studies has to be killing her. It’s why she reaches out to her man for help. To pivot this in a different direction. Something that worked for Tim when he needed studying time. Asking if she could ride with him today? Could quiz her between calls.

Getting flashbacks to 2x02 when she helped him study between calls for his exam. I always love the callbacks they do for them. Continuity is ship crack for me. I eat it up. He accepts and Lucy is beaming. Their smiles in this scene are so adorable. Couldn’t be more in love if they tried tbh. I remember thinking how much I missed our idiots in love so much. I'll be this way for S7 too. I miss them.

Tim looks excited for this challenge. You can see it in his face above. But he is also letting her know how hard it’s going to be if she wants him to do this. That it’s probably not going to solve her problem. But he’s willing to expand her knowledge base on wildcards. This way she can take any curve balls Primm has to throw. Lucy’s smile is everything when she thanks him. Relieved her man is gonna help her her out. I mean of course he would. Nothing he wouldn't do for her and she knows it.

I remember seeing the funniest post for this moment before it aired. How it was her basically asking ‘Babe, please be mean to me.’ LOL Lord knows this woman is well aware he wasn’t gonna take it easy on her. Just like the old days. It's where she learned the most. So it makes sense she would wanna dip her toe back in that pool.

Tim is ready to roll. Starting his ‘boot’ engines back up. Don’t tell me it's not a little bit of a kink for Tim. That man is too damn excited to be able to boss her around again. That being said says she learns best when she’s pissed off. I mean he’s not wrong…No one knows how to teach her better than he does. Lucy counters by saying does she? Or is this is just giving him permission to be an ass?

Tim letting her know if that’s really how she feels she doesn’t actually want his help. Lucy backtracks and is desperate for him to guide her with this. Saying she needs it. Tim is lighting up like a Christmas tree. You know that man LOVES her needing him professionally. It’s been awhile since she has. He’s excited. Lucy has been a self sufficient cop for long time now. Hasn’t needed his guidance for quite some time. So for her to come to him with this he is a happy camper.

Tim is thrilled to put his T.O. hat back on for her. They have such married energy through out this scene. Lucy telling him she doesn’t like his excited smile. Tim deflecting saying it's just his smile haha The absolute wifey look she gives him is hilarious. They just be flirting freely in the hallways. Like they aren’t completely married at this point. Even though he’s driving her insane she follows him out with an 'in love' smile. She loves her ass of a boyfriend haha

They hit the road and Lucy is still questioning her decision. Oh my girl. Saying maybe should’ve chosen Harper or Lopez instead…Tim makes a joke how Angela just got back. Her cop brain is just booting up. Which earns a smile out of Lucy. She loves this man sitting next to her so very much. Written all over her face. Doesn’t take long before Tim triggers a Lucy rant though.

Poor man is just trying to help the woman he loves get through this. Wasn't expecting the time bomb he received. He sets her off by saying no matter who teaches her they all have the same database. That there’s only a 8 percent difference between ranks. This is what ignites the Lucy meltdown above. That Primm is going to use that eight percent to trip her up. His face above when she starts is priceless. Tim is just bracing for impact at this point LMAO Ain't no stopping what's coming his way.

The flood gates have opened and phew lord what a meltdown it is LOL Holy hell. She is the queen of them. I adore how Melissa can shoot off so much dialogue in one breath. It’s impressive af if you ask me. Also makes me cackle so much cause I’ve been her. So many times when I’m under immense stress I do the same. You prattle on until you run out of steam. I can’t believe there isn’t a gif set of this rant so I made one. It’s too good not to have in this review.

It’s the look on Tim’s face that has me ROLLING. It’s been awhile since he’s had an epic Lucy rant thrown at him and it shows. Eric the King of facial expressions is at it again. I’m laughing so damn hard. I remember having to pause cause I was laughing so much at his expression. He most definitely wasn't expecting the rant that he got. If you can look at him above and not laugh you're made of stone. Hang in there Tim lmao Your girl Is worth this intense stress/anxiety vomit she just spewed all over you. It's like he doesn't even know where to begin after she's done. So he just doesn't....

The married energy continues once Lucy has wrapped up her meltdown. Tim being the smart man he is doesn’t say a word. He’s learned a thing or two from this relationship. Lucy though takes his silence as saying everything for him. With her ‘Please don’t.’ Tim trying not to start anything telling her he’s said nothing. He truly wasn’t expecting the explosion he got. Was happy to be a passenger princess today, while he quizzed her through out the day. And instead got an epic freak out right out the gate.

Tim can’t win for losing in this scene. (or this episode really) Lucy telling him she hear him thinking it. I remember there being a Chenford Bingo of some sort before the premiere. And exasperated husband was on there. This delivered that in spades. His reaction after her saying this is gold. Haha This is the woman you’ve chosen to love Timothy. LMAO You know he loves her to death neuroses and all but good lord ha.

Their banter never fails to hit and the marriage vibes on top of this is top tier. I am here for it all damn day. One of those 'When did they get married again?' moments. His look at the end is like he’s chanting to himself . ‘You love this woman…you love this woman...’ Lucy tops it off saying she just won’t sleep till the exam. Leaving Tim to shake his head more and not say a word. Only look out the window as he rolls his eyes. Primo banter and chemistry here. *chef kiss*

They roll up to their first wildcard. I adore the Metro call sign as they do. Tim assigning the crime scene to Lucy as he does. *fans self* I can’t explain why the call sign so sexy. Just is. Also them sharing it on the scene also gets me all in my feels. Tim is telling her that he is there as a resource for her. But she is the one in charge. Asking her what’s her first move?

The Plain Clothes Day vibes are all over this scene and it's fantastic. Another callback I am so happy they touched on. Lucy confidently strides onto the scene and explains her move. Tim tells her to call it in. Love the way she looks at him the entire time she does. Tim asks her what else? This is where Lucy’s confidence starts to wain sadly.

Where that panicked rookie from all those years ago begins to resurface. The way she is talking at Tim trying to figure it out oh my lord. The PCD vibes are so strong. Only this time Tim is helping her out a lot more. Unlike back in S1 he was there to watch her flop around, second guess herself and drown. It’s much different this time around. He truly wants her to succeed and let's her know as much in his responses. Lucy doesn’t see that in this moment though unfortunately.

Tim telling her the obvious boxes are checked but what’s her wildcard? The spiraling is so real for her in this moment. It hurts to watch the anxiety build in Lucy. Tim testing her knowing she can do this but her confidence is eroding in this moment rapidly. He is trying to get her there faster by saying she doesn’t have a minute. Which she really doesn’t when we know how this scene ends…

One of my fav parts of this scene is the line above. The kindness and gentleness Tim has. Because he wasn’t in love with her during PCD like he is now. Here he is trying to be supportive and gently guide her to the answer. Even give her an out for it. S1 Tim never would’ve said there’s no shame in not knowing the answer. Not this directly anyways. Doing his damn best to support her through this. But also help her get to the answer so she learns. Lucy takes it the wrong way though.

Reason being it has nothing to do with the man next to her. That man would die first before not supporting her. Level headed Lucy would know that. Sadly she is not here with us at this crime scene. Who she really is mad at is herself at this point. Because she should know the answer and her brain is stalling out in this moment. Tim told her he wasn’t gonna take it easy on her. But breaks a little with his kind reply. Giving her an out if she wants it. Lucy can’t handle it though...Because she is being far harder on herself for this than Tim could ever be. I can relate so hard to this it's unreal.

I do love the way she says ‘Sergeant Bradford, please.’ Lucy feels like she’s suffocating in her own thoughts. The panicked rush to get this right and hitting a wall. The anger building towards Tim at the same time. The confidence she has built since S3 just melting away the more she stresses. All the while taking it out on Tim. Why you ask? Because in this moment she is projecting that anxiety and stress onto him with her reply. Defense mechanism thy name is Lucy Chen.

Doesn’t take long after that line for the sprinklers to come on….The wildcard revealing itself on its own. We watch as the evidence literally gets washed away and the bullet down the drain….Lucy rushes to chase it and watches as it goes down a storm drain. A reflection for how she feels about her hopes of passing this test…It’s a rough scene to watch unfold for her. The devastation on her face when she realizes that bullet is gone is very rough.

They return to the station and Lucy is as defeated as she can be. Hoping no one knows about it as as she rubs her tattoo. They start to play clown music as she enters. SMH. Tim trying not to laugh. Aaron doesn’t help when he also laughs at her misfortune. Not a good day for our girl….Lucy gets distracted by Wesley being there with the baby.

We get a small sweet departure from her anxiety in this moment. While she has him she wants his legal opinion on her crime scene. He too laughs. These men in her life are the worst right now. Not helping her building anxiety and loss of confidence. Wes telling her she fatally ruined that scene. That she’s gonna need a straight up confession to convict someone. And that’s only if she finds the killer…oof.

We rejoin our beautiful duo staking out the crime scene. Lucy grasping at straws to fix what she so royally screwed up. Her heightened state of spiraling continues on in this scene. Lucy admits she wants to skip the exam. Her face breaks my damn heart. Killing me here Melissa. I do love the way he says her first name in response. Still gets me he can. After years of Officer Chen and ‘boot.’ Just hits differently and makes my shipper soul happy.

Tim tells her she is ready. That man would not tell her she was ready if she wasn’t. Relationship or not that man doesn’t hold back. Wouldn't send her head long into failure. If Lucy was in a better place emotionally she would’ve heard him. Heard the confidence in his tone. Seen the empathy he was exuding for her. This man has changed so much in his time with her.

It sky rocketed when they got together. Tim couldn’t have been more supportive if he tried in this scene. Hell this entire episode. But she is so very stuck in her head. A place Tim could normally shake her loose from. A specialty of his really. He can’t gain an inch of ground in this scenario. Lucy has dug her heels in so to speak that she’s gonna fail. Nothing he says is getting through.

Our girl is experiencing massive amounts of anxiety and self doubt. The panic attack is real. The fact that the one person she would’ve sold her soul for, in order to get his support back in the day, isn’t getting through is a problem. Lucy goes on to say she knows herself. That if she takes this test right now she will fail. Her confidence will die along with it. That it’s better to wait. Tim steps from one minefield to the next with this convo.

When he once again is just trying to be supportive and says ‘Then wait.’ Not only is he being in her corner he gives her something she can do in meantime. Something he hates the idea of. Her going UC while she waits this anxiety/doubt out. If that isn’t him supporting her idk what is. He is also still learning how to be there for her emotionally and she isn't giving him the grace for that. Sadly Lucy isn't in the right mind to see that though. She is just stuck in the mode she's been trapped in all ep.

I get it I really do and empathize with her. I’m the same way when my emotions are in a heightened state. Nothing gets through. I'm frozen in place emotionalIy. I get very doom and gloom as well. Lash out at anyone who isn’t going to be positive and reassuring. Which Tim is doing his best to be. But Lucy is in such a dark state of mind she doesn’t see it. All she sees right now is he doesn’t believe in her and is kicking her while she is down. She needs reassurances right now. To her he isn't delivering that the way she is wanting at this point. Him agreeing with her that she should wait is only making matters worse.

Anxiety is a cruel cruel master. It makes you believe things that aren’t true. Amplifies them to the point that you’re so wound up you’re lashing out at everyone. Even your person. Which is exactly what’s happening with Lucy in this moment. Her accusing him of making it worse with how bad she already feels. When Tim is professing words of encouragement all she hears is him saying she can’t do it.

Tim is desperate for her to know he’s in her corner after this display. Asking her if she heard him? Lucy is distracted by someone showing up to the crime scene. Tim asks her what? Lucy replying that woman was looking at the crime scene while crying. Tim is so sassy in his reply I’m proud of him. ‘Or maybe she just had a frustrating fight with her girlfriend’ heh love this. Calling her his GF always gives me the feels.

Lucy gets a last minute win with this case. Catching this lady trying to get her bracelet back after tossing the gun. Her cop gut serving her well. Sadly Lucy doesn’t see this win as such and it bleeds into this final scene unfortunately. Once again the music is absolute perfection. I’ll post some of my fav lyrics at the end of my analysis of this fight. But first let us witness the incredible chemistry that is Eric and Melissa in this final portion. You know your ship is amazing when even their angst is lightning in a bottle goodness.

This fight I will say when I watched it originally excited me. Because it just showed they’re human. Real. The both of them. They make mistakes and aren’t perfect. How healthy this was for them to get off their chest. Because honestly the UC/detective tension has been building for a long while. This was the boiling point for it IMO. This scene hurt so good to watch. I rewound it a few times before I could process it the first time.

Tim starts off with congratulating her on her 4th quarter win. He’s genuinely so proud of her for bouncing back. Felt like she NEEDED this win. So he makes sure she knows. But like I said earlier Lucy isn’t viewing it that way. Her perception is more than a little skewed atm. Her building anger at Tim has reached it's peak. She is cold to him and brisk as hell. Tim immediately picking up on her clipped ‘Thanks.’ Like she was going to be able to hide her anger and frustration from him. Girl no. Tim asks her what? Lucy shrugging him off once again.

Tim pulls on her arm gently and parrots her own damn words back at her from 5x21. That they’re not gonna work if she’s going to lie to him. Lucy conceding immediately to that. I mean they have a lot to work on communication wise, but they’ve also come really far in this aspect too. Don’t wanna disregard that. Look at Tim confronting this right away and communicating effectively. There are causes for excitement with that growth. That being said they have a ways to go. This fight is proof of that.

Lucy pulls zero punches when she asks if he undermined her today so she wouldn’t make detective? The absolute look of hurt painted across his beautiful face kills me. As you all know I relate with Tim so very much. He is so deeply loyal and loving. That any of his motives are to help those he loves around him. He truly thought he was helping her out today. Being supportive and helpful. So for her to come at him like this is leaving him stunned and extremely hurt.

His person the one person who knows him better than anyone, accusing him of something he would never even fathom doing. I was hurt for him watching this. Last thing he would ever do would be to hinder her intentionally. Loyalty to a fault is having someone else hurt you first before you’d ever do the same. That’s Tim. It’s why he is so defensive the rest of this scene. And rightfully so. I'm proud of him telling her it upset him she would even think that of him. Because IMO he did not undermine her. That man did what was asked of him.

All of Lucy’s pent up anxiety, anger, and frustration comes out full force at Tim in this scene. And my boy didn't deserve it. I was on his side the first time I watched it and I am now. I didn’t see that changing though lol. Do I understand what Lucy is going through? Yes. Good god yes. I've been her. I feel so much for what she's going though. I want to make that very clear. But Tim didn't deserve this barrage against him. Wanna also note i’m so proud of the writers for tackling mental health from the jump with this season. Both our babies got issues and this was the precursor to the season really. We just had no idea at the time....

Lucy assumed all day he was undermining her. Instead of just confronting that fact she sat in it. Stewed in it really. ALL. DAMN. DAY. Which isn’t like her. She is the type to face it right away and voice that to Tim. But didn’t this time. Giving us a little taste of their communication problems early on this season. There’s that saying. 'When you assume you make an ass out of you and me.’ And by the end of this convo Lucy is feeling like an ass. I guarantee you that .

Lucy continues to dig herself a hole when she bring up that maybe it was "unconscious". Not deliberate but also that he couldn’t help it. Which doesn’t make Tim feel any better. Nor would it make me feel any better either tbh….Basically saying he has no control over things he does. Which just insult to injury at this point for him. Then Lucy goes for her next punch below. One I still feel was unfairly delivered.

Does Tim still carry those issues? Of course he does. 100% that is still a weight on him. It’s reflected in the next ep when the subject of UC comes up. But does it belong in this fight with him? No. It has zero place in it. But like I said before she is feeling a loss of control and confidence in herself. So she is projecting her insecurities and feelings onto Tim. By bringing up his and using them to stabilize hers. It's a low blow she is dispatching to him.

She is running from her own feelings about this. She is also protecting herself by making it about Tim and his problems. (Which he has for sure) Because she isn’t ready to face the fact that she’s afraid of UC and all that will come with it. How being a detective on top of it is going to pull her from him even more.

She voiced these concerns in 5x19 when she was originally studying for her exam. It’s easier for her right now to hide in and blame Tim for his problems, than deal with her own right now. Tim’s reaction is so valid in this moment. Because to him all he did was have her back from the jump. He is feels sucker punched by this explosion and it's written all over his reaction.

Lucy asked him to help her. He did. Even told her it wouldn’t be easy and he wouldn’t be soft on her. She accepted the terms of this situation willingly. Tim supported her best he could through her meltdown. Did his damndest to not comment on it. He knows it’s her process to spiral a bit then right herself. Because he knows her so well. He had her back in trying to help figure out her wildcard. She rejected it and drowned.

Tim was calm and kind even if she didn’t recognize it about the exam. When she was doubting herself he built her up letting her know she can do it. Did his best to be in her corner if she truly felt she wasn’t ready. Then congratulated her when she got her case win. To Tim all that was him having her back.

It’s why he’s so blindsided and hurt by her words. Lucy is basically kicking him while he down in this moment and it hurt to watch. Because her anxiety and immense stress has blinded her. Making her act so very not like herself. She came at him with a one-two punch. First punch accusing him of undermining her and second being an unfair Isabel punch.

The K.O. punch really is him reading her face above. The way she looks at him when he says ‘But if you can’t see that then…’ Doesn’t even finish his sentence. He can read her just as well as she can read him. Lucy cannot see that right now. Too clouded by her extreme anxiety and stress to see him and his intentions clearly. So he ejects out of the convo. She has knocked him down for the count.

Tim can’t take the way she is looking at him right now. The way she is making him feel. Tim has always held how she viewed him in high regard. Nothing means more to him than what she thinks of him. So for her to level him with this is heartbreaking for him. So he reverts back to old Tim and clams up. Tells her he’s tired and for them to take the night off. Then walks away from her with no way for her to retort.

Lucy is a block of ice until this line of his. She was fully expecting him to apologize and go home with her. And he did not. He ejected out of the conversation to go lick his wounds. The look of shock on her face is everything. She wasn’t expecting that at all. You can see the panic on her face. That raw panic of her being left behind by him. Of Tim leaving her. The tears building in her eyes as he does this. Oh the painful foreshadowing that is this moment…..

The lyrics for this scene are so poignant and perfect. As is the entire musical lineup for this season. Perfectly encompasses Lucy in this episode and especially this scene. Here are some of my favs.

‘I think I’m losing my mind. I see you’re losing your light. Drowning out the decibels. Do you wanna find the antidote? Trying to watch my obstacles, see how fully I’ve been broke.’ Lucy is so broken in this episode and doesn’t reach out to the one person, her person to help fix her. She was drowning and went to him for the antidote and then refused it the entire time. Then gets consumed by it all.

Just a glaring look into how they both deal with being emotionally overwhelmed and vulnerable. And it’s not a good look for either of them this season tbh. But we start out with Lucy’s where I side with Tim before we go head long into Tim’s and I side with Lucy it's balanced at least lol. Damn good premiere though. I was buzzing with excitement after it.

As always thank you to anyone who read this. To all the likes, comments and or reblogs I may receive you are the best. I shall see you all in 6x02 :)

Side notes-Non Chenford

~~~~

Scruffy Tim in this ep has my ovaries in overdrive. Mmm just wanna nom on his jawline like corn on the cob.

Nyla Harper being a bad ass in a tense situation is primo. Can always count on her. The aftermath sucks for her though.

Angela being more excited to see a burrito than her husband is hilarious and so on brand haha

Main baddie gets eliminated at the end of the ep. Not sure I remember why tbh haha Things got hazy at the end of the season for me with the SL.

[jadeylovesmarvelxo]

The Trouble With Love

Part One 🌸❤️

Based on an idea I had a couple of days ago ❤️🌸

Steve Harrington x Reader fic where he's married to Nancy but the fantasy he had in his head many years ago doesn't transpire and he's deeply unhappy as is she.

Both are too stubborn to admit anything is wrong. He's fine Dustin stop being a butthead okay?

Jonathan is around all the time and so are you... His next-door neighbour and his goddaughter's (Robin and Vickie's kid) preschool teacher who he can't stop running into, arguing with or thinking about.

Steve is 33, reader is in her 20's

Warnings; Angst, trouble in paradise, a bucket load of sexual tension.

Part one, possible series ☺️💕

Lmk if you want to be tagged x

I don't give anyone permission to copy, repost my work.

If you enjoyed this pls consider liking or reblogging.

💕

It was quiet this morning, too quiet, Steve didn't like when it got too quiet because the thoughts he so easily pushed aside came rushing to the surface.

Thoughts about Nancy and their marriage and the hopeless sense of despair he had been feeling for months maybe even longer now.

After a few years away from Hawkins with Nancy becoming a well-known journalist and Steve staying in Hawkins with Robin to help rebuild the town after its destruction by Vecna and The Upside Down's defeat, he and Nancy met again and took a second chance at dating.

This time things worked out at least for the first few years. Nancy's ambition grew bigger and bigger while Steve did his best to support her even though his dreams of discussing starting a family were out on hold again.

He had that fantasy, the perfect fantasy of him and Nancy with six lil nuggets in the summertime, on a road trip in a Winnebago.

He told Nancy that years ago and he was still hopeful that could happen. He was thirty-three and they had time to do it.

Well, maybe not six lil nuggets but even a few would be nice because Steve had always envisioned a big family for himself.

It's just he wished Nancy took his dreams seriously such as he did for her.

He grew up as an only child with a mother and father who thought throwing money his way for several years constituted as them being attentive.

The truth was he spent more time with nanny's and his grandmother than his parents and he knew that when he had kids he wanted to make sure they knew how loved and treasured they were.

He never wanted them to feel lonely as he did, in truth the only decent thing his father did for him now was get him a great job in his company, flex hours, benefits, amazing pay.

When a child did finally come along then he would be able to stay at home as much as he possibly could.

The thoughts of how he was going to broach the subject again to Nancy was fully in his mind once more but the phone ringing caught his attention.

It was Robin "Hey dingus, can you pick up Anna for me? Have to take Vickie to an emergency dentist appointment and she's fteaking out incase we're late to pick Anna up"

This brightens his mood considerably, he adored his goddaughter.

"Yeah, sure Rob, I'll pick her up" Robin briefs a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Steve, I owe you one" With a click she's gone and he heads to Hawkins Preschool to pick up Anna.

His good mood lasts until he sees you, Anna's teacher and his next-door neighbour who drove him crazy.

Anna adored you and called you Miss Smiley because you were always happy, smiling and saccharine sweet to everyone in Steve's opinion.

It irritated Steve to no end because you weren't sweet as pie to him, you called him out on his bullshit all the time, and he had never known anyone to get under his skin quite like you did.

He reaches the preschool with time to spare and finds you and Anna waiting outside, she's holding your hand and babbling excitedly to you, there's a big grin on your face as you listen to Anna indulgently.

"Good afternoon, Mr Harrington," you say sweetly and he scowls because being called Mr Harrington makes him feel like his dad or some shit.

"It's Steve" he reminds you for the umpteenth time and you look all innocent and sweet but he's sure you're doing it to annoy him.

"Uncle Steve" Anna beams giving him a toothy smile and hugging his legs, his heart melts and the ache for a child of his own grows even more.

"Hi, Anna Banana, how's my best girl?" she shows him the drawing he did. A picture of him, Robin and Robin.

"See Mama, mama, and you" She beams and he picks her up and hugs her close, all his stress melting away for a second due to the picture.

It's all squiggles mostly but there are two figures holding hands, Robin and Vickie and then there's Steve, he identifies himself through the vast amount of hair that Anna has drawn.

"I love it, sweetheart" he assures her and he catches your eye surprised to see you smiling at him, genuinely.

"She got a gold star today for that drawing, well all the kids did but Anna's was a personal favourite" he cocks his eyebrow curious.

"Oh yeah?" you nod and gesture to the picture.

"Captured your hair and pose perfectly" pose?

"Mama!" Anna squeals and he sees Robin coming out of her car. She beams at him gratefully and takes Anna from him.

"Vickie said to catch up with you and invite you to dinner tomorrow. It's pizza night" That goes down well with Anna who claps excitedly.

"Yay! Pizza" He nods confirming this with Robin then turns back to you annoyed.

"What pose? I don't pose" you chuckle and Robin watches the both of you amused as Vickie comes to get Anna to take her to the car.

"Oh you know it's kinda like a scolding dad, hands-on-hips, I'm so over this shit look" His eyes widen and he hears Robin stifle her laughter.

"I do not... He realises he's doing the very same pose she was talking about and rolls his eyes. Great.

Robin realising that the two of them could argue for hours wisely decides to head to the car and go home.

She will hear all about it from Steve later, she always does.

Can you believe that yn said this? She's such a brat? Do you all believe this Miss Smiley shit? I can't stand her.

Lather rinse repeat. Blah blah blah. For someone he couldn't stand, he talked about you enough.

It did take his mind off him and Nancy though and while Nancy was her friend Steve was her platonic soulmate and she knew that his and Nancy's marriage wasn't as perfect as they tried to portray.

There were too stubborn to admit any problems and it didn't help that Jonathan was back in Hawkins again.

Dustin had tried to get through to Steve as well but Steve would insist nothing was wrong.

"I'm fine Dustin don't be a butthead" is all he would say, she wishes she could help but until Steve admitted there was a problem what could she do?

💕

"You need to relax a little you know Mr Harrington, stress isn't good for you, plus the kids pick up on it" you tell him.

He looks at you like you've grown two heads and counts to three to tame his irritation but it doesn't work.

"I am relaxed. It's you that drives me crazy, just cut the shithead antics yeah?" You're quiet and he turns away then you speak again.

"Yes, sir" It's a little taunt, teasing and he freezes at the sir. Freezes because the sir goes straight to his cock and he feels a wave of guilt wash over him.

What was this? You were irritating and nosey and he couldn't stand you and he had Nancy! He storms away from you and vows to stay far away from your annoying sweet smile.

💕💕

Nancy is back once he gets in from work, also Jonathan Byers's car is parked in their driveway and he puts a smile on his face not wanting to fight.

Jonathan is showing Nancy some of his photos of his various trips around America, and the two of them are laughing and drinking wine.

Jonathan gets up and picks up his jacket giving him a small smile.

"I better go, I'll see you later" Nancy nods and see him out, when she comes back inside she gives him a quick kiss.

"I've got some papers to write. Do you want takeout for dinner?" he nods and pulls off his jacket.

"Just spent some time with Anna, she drew the cutest picture, Nance" Nancy smiles at this and he feels his heart thump nervously as he broaches the subject of kids.

It's been a long time since they talked about it.

"Hey, Nance? It would be nice if we could think about having a little nugget huh?" she sighs and runs her hand through her hair.

"Not now Steve, I'm getting really far with this new story and I don't have any time to take off for maternity or even think about the amount of childcare we would need to think of" his heart sinks because it's the same thing she said almost a year ago.

"Right okay" He nods and she rolls her eyes.

"Don't do that okay, don't make me feel bad about it okay? I don't need you pressuring me" he gapes.

"Pressure you? We talked about it last year Nance! I barely bring it up because you get like this. You know having kids is a big dream of mine, you've always known that.

"I support every dream of yours 110% but mine? You just dismiss them." she shakes her head.

"You know what? This is bullshit. You're bullshit and I don't have time for this" she picks up her jacket and storms out.

"Nance wait!" she's gone before he can apologise or say anything to stop her.

💕

He heads into the garden just to take a minute, the argument with Nancy firmly in his mind.

The pain he's feeling is intense and he's so tired of the arguments, he massages his head feeling sick to his stomach.

"Are you okay?" he looks up and finds you standing near his fence. Your eyes are full of concern and he nods.

"I'm fine" He pinches the bridge of his nose to stop the tears from coming, a minute or so later he hears his gate open.

When he looks up you're beside him, and the alarm is written all over your face, you gently place an arm on his shoulder.

"Steve" your voice is kind and he's startled that you've called his name and not Mr Harrington.

"It's uh, just Nance and I have been arguing a lot, it's nothing" but that wasn't true when they were getting to the point that they argued frequently, that something was breaking between them.

"I'm sorry, really I am," you tell him sincerely and he is grateful. It's nice to have someone with him, it's nice not to feel this crushing heartache alone.

It feels like his whole life is falling apart and he doesn't know what to do. He would never ask Nancy to give up her dreams but would she want him to give up his?

Why couldn't they find some compromise?

"I want kids and Nancy is really focused on work which is amazing, I'm so proud of her it's just... She knows how I feel about having a family and yet when I bring it up she shuts down like there's no hope of a compromise or anything"

You don't say anything you just stay with him and after a minute or so passes you gently tug on his shirt.

"You look like you could use a hug and I've been known to give good ones" you suggest and Steve thinks that sounds pretty great, he could use a friend right now.

Your arms wrap around him and he finds comfort in your embrace for a moment, there's a weird tension in the air though and it makes him nervous and he pulls away giving you a soft smile.

"Thanks" He squeezes your shoulder and he heads back inside confusion racing through his mind.

💕💕

When you head inside your house your heartbeat is just returning to normal.

This couldn't happen you couldn't focus on these feelings for Steve. It was so stupid and reckless and for goodness sake, he was married!!

Nothing could happen between the two of you, you really needed to get over this stupid crush.

It wasn't like he liked you anyway. Even if he wasn't married he found you annoying, he said so himself.

Why did you have to be attracted to someone who was completely unavailable? It made you feel like an idiot and just very low.

It was imperative that you needed to get over this crush before you ended up very hurt.

💕💕

[warcorrespondence]

@ceeturnalia/traveller wrote this fic called aftermath, usa. I read it a little while back, and then I proceeded to think about it for a long time. It's about love, and about trauma, and the ways we love and the ways we trauma, and how maybe none of them look great from the outside, but we are on the outside, so maybe we should all shut up.

(Shocking no one, @ep6bastogne recommended it to me, but I'm stealing a march on writing the review)

fandom: generation kill

pairing: bradnate

explicit, 24616 words

I started this while sitting on a beach, a calm and idyllic setting if ever there was one, with my heart racing and my jaw clenched.

A month or two before, I said to @screwby, "I really just want an angsty road trip fic, is that so much to ask?"

And behold! The angsty road trip fic of my dreams! Only this particular road trip is precipitated by Nate getting shot.

He stops a couple of bullets intended for the President of the United States (no, he’s not Secret Service, just in the right place at the right time, standing there being Nate Fick). He recovers enough to call Brad to come pick him up from the hospital.

They drive across the country, from DC to San Diego, and it becomes clear that whatever their feelings for each other, they haven’t spoken in 10 years. And yet Brad dropped everything to come get him.

It’s a trip of recovery, of Nate’s health both emotional and physical, of their relationship, of what they meant and could mean, and what they decide they do and will mean to each other.

It's by turns rough and moving, gentle and brutal. It's sexy and sweet and funny all at once.

Is this a long quote? Yes. Yes it is. But it also, for me, fully encapsulates what this fic does, like a punch in the gut (or a weak, post-gunshot attempt at violence).

"I'm asking you for help," Nate says. "You fucking retard." Nate's weak left hand lands on Brad's arm, fist closed. "Was that… was that a punch?" Brad stares, swallowing the rest of the wash of emotion. "Because what I saw was the most limp-wristed pussy faggot attempt at violence since that time Person got in a catfight with a fucking Laker girl." "Fuck you," Nate says, hitting Brad again, a little harder this time, but the effort shows on his face. "Brad." Brad takes his hand, gives the fingers a squeeze. "You're serious." He looks back to the road, the white lines and the blue sky flying by. "Sooner or later, whether or not I want to go back will cease to be an issue." Nate's voice drops, shaking a little. "They'll fuck around for a while longer, probably months, maybe even years, but I'm going to have to. And I'm going to need. Help." Ten years where Nate didn't call, where the emails tapered off and finally stopped altogether. Nate graduated, Nate got married to some Back Bay princess, Nate wrote a book that barely mentioned Brad at all. Nate moved on. And Nate somehow knows, when Brad meets his eyes again, and he shakes his head. "I tried. But I missed you every fucking day," he husks. Brad bites down on the inside of his cheek. He's thirty-nine years old, he's a man, he's a Marine. He's not going to break down like some screaming teenage girl, pissing herself and crying at the latest Disney Channel dicksuck's concert. "You too," he says. Nate leans back in his seat, his whole body going slack. "Wake me when we hit Utah," he says, and closes his eyes.

[savebatsartedition]

Whumptober 2024 Day 11:

Summary:

America, Canada, and Ohio are at the Twins Days Festival but it’s too hot out. 😦 Prompt piece used: SEEING DOUBLE

Notes:

...Literally why do I keep forgetting to post every other day. If this sounds like a total crack fic y’all just don’t understand tbh. Twin whump is a crazy genre that I need to make big because dude this stuff hits so different you don’t understand if you aren’t a multiple. (I am a twin.) …though for the record this isn’t heavy at all. It’s just sort of testing the waters of it? Content Warnings: Heatstroke but not fully, mentioned past twin death, referenced climate change Words: 1,165

(Fic also under the cut)

You know. Canada wasn’t exactly the type of guy for warm weather, and, yeah, okay, he wasn't exactly the type for crowds or trips or family vacations either, but he was here anyway. Here, in the wonderful town of Twinsburg, Ohio, and on pretty much the hottest weekend of the year, entirely without access to an air conditioner. To be frank, he was feeling rather miserable.

When America had pleaded with him to join the festivities, reminding him that this festival couldn't possibly last forever, Canada had reluctantly agreed. After all, it might even be a little bit fun. It wasn't exactly often that an immortal like himself got to celebrate this part of himself, and even less often that he got to do it with the person which he was actually celebrating. (Because that's what twin and multiple celebrations were, celebrations of the other multiple(s).) On top of that, America's friend, Ohio himself had once had a twin himself, before he was immortal, and just the thought of a loss like that had made Canada feel bad enough to agree to the trip.

He was really regretting it now.

Of course, Canada was by no means the only one upset, as the record highs were bad enough with or without the knowledge of how it once was, but that didn't make things better. He couldn't even sink into the background as he usually did, as America had forced them all to dress up for the theme of the year (which Canada, dizzy from the heat of the sun and the inside of his costume, did not truly remember), and the costume made him stick out like a sore thumb.

Worse (it really only got worse and worse), the festival was only just beginning. Together the three of them, Canada, America, and Ohio (who was dressed up along with the other immortal twins so he didn't feel quite so bad), stood in the parade, marching painfully through the sun filled streets as they did their best to smile. The roads were lined with many people, both tourists and locals, multiples and not, and they made Canada's head spin even more than it would have been without them.

And, as already stated, there were plenty of reasons for his head to be spinning.

Honestly, he was kind of starting to see double, and he was almost sure it had nothing to do with the wide array of multiples (identical or at least dressed that way) which surrounded him, pushing the three forward but holding them back all the same.

Canada pushed his glasses a little higher on his nose, finding that they had slipped down slightly on a stream of sweat. He fought for breath, though he had not walked further than half a mile.

“Hey dude,” America was saying, though he also seemed to be panting slightly, “Are you okay?”

Canada looked at him, and though he tried to make his face into an expression of “what do you think, honestly,“ he was pretty sure it didn't make it past the “I am very dizzy and scared” stage. He tried to speak, but found he couldn't, not really. The world was too much.

“It's a little hot out, sorry,” Ohio mumbled from Canada's other side, his black hair probably as hot as the asphalt even as he did his best to shield it from the sun's rays with a raised arm. It was clear he was apologizing personally, but Canada (who had gotten quite familiar with the changing climate in the previous decades), couldn't find it in himself to blame the man.

”Of course it is!“ America joked, trying to keep the mood light despite the fact that he was sweating just as hard as the other two, ”I'm here right? A hero has to inspire something like that, right?“

Canada stared at him, but his vision was swirling too much to make a disappointed face. Instead, he found himself leaning limply on his much more muscular twin. (Yeah, they weren't exactly identical, but the double vision continued as Canada rested.)

”You can step out of the parade,“ Ohio was saying, only panting a little bit as the tiny amount of breeze that had existed a moment before was blocked by a tall trio of girls dressed as Red Wood Trees, ”Nobody would hold it against you, it's really hot,” he paused to take in a brief step in the shade of the sparse trees, “Most of them know me anyway, even if they did want to blame you, for some reason,”

He paused his attention to wave at someone calling his human name, and then again to nod at a much more official looking figure. Perhaps someone in the town's management that was not on the float of judges? Canada's mind was too blurry to focus on if that was true or not.

“Dude, you do want to step out of the parade?” America was saying, and it wasn't clear whether he was taunting Ohio, asking Canada a genuine question, or begging for his own sake.

(Though, knowing him, Canada knew it could easily be any of those options, all three at once, or some other strange combination.)

“Maybe,” he managed, trying to un-lean from his brother's shoulder, but quickly realizing that it was a bad idea as the world spun faster when he did, “Maybe we should,”

“The library’s open, but it's far away,” Ohio said, pointing, “Or we could just go sit under that tree, it looks free,”

“Are any air conditioned buildings near us?” America panted, finally giving into the stress of their situation as Canada leaned on him, “I think we need it, dude,”

“Uh, maybe if someone lets us into their house,” Ohio offered, visibility sweating despite how much Canada’s vision was swimming in the heat, “But everyone’s watching the parade or working it, so I don’t think they could even if they would,”

“I notice you don’t mention walking in it,” Canada managed between pants for breath.

“Too busy standing still in the burning sun,” America answered him, sarcastically.

And it was true. The parade had ground to a halt, again.

“America,” Canada grumbled, feeling slightly better when Ohio stood on his tiptoes to extend a thin arm over his head, if not for the pathetic attempt at shade for the gesture, “I am never listening to what you say will be fun, ever again,”

America made a shocked sort of gasp, but the joke was half hearted. Clearly, he too was somewhat regretting what he had done. At their side, Ohio hummed something that was only half agreeing.

This was awful. It was too hot out, people were staring at them (for once not because they were immortals, but still), and the music was too loud. He never, ever, wanted to do this again. 

…and you know the worst part? Canada was already certain that he was going to do it all over again next year.

[dnfao3tags]

Monthly Fic Roundup - April 2023

hello there again :] dont forget to give all these amazing people a kudos and heartwarming comment !

also !!!! very pleased by the slight increase in fem!dnf fics this month .... i know there was a fem!dnf week going on for artists but if anyone would like then i could hold one for writers too .... tell me your thoughts !!!!

— apricity by fifishy (teen | comp. | 3k)

5 times George loves his best friend, and 1 time it's reciprocated.

— midpoints by nervouswaltz (teen | comp. | 3k)

George didn't so much fall in love with Dream more than he tripped, stumbled, and landed on the ground after a long slide down a hill. Falling in love with George, Dream thinks, was like tripping over the edge of the Grand Canyon and hitting the ground with a splat.

— afterglow by twostorms (teen | comp. | 16k)

Dream, George, and the next chapter of their lives.

— crystal clear by womanhunt (mature | comp. | 3k)

Dream comes home from Los Angeles.

— need you closer by 21questions (mature | comp. | 15k)

Dream and George are famous, and with that, stuck keeping their relationship secret. Their big reveal doesn't quite go as planned.

— sweetness (heart's content) by heartinhands (expl. | comp. | 3k)

Dream is incredibly weak for her girlfriend in an oversized hoodie. And her girlfriend's tits. Her girlfriend's everything really. Georgie wants her just as much though.

— soft by alisonsomething (teen | comp. | 1k)

George finally edits a video. After working on it all day, he asks Dream for a hand massage as his reward.

— craving your soft touch by Anonymous (expl. | comp. | 2k)

"Take a picture," Georgie says dryly, "will last longer. Or better, do something."

— Separate Poles Of Gravity by ivegivenuponyou (expl. | comp. | 6k)

He wonders at one point, with his hand around his cock, when it starts to count as an addiction, if you can even get addicted to masturbating, and then he thinks of Dream bending him over the weight bench and cums across the shower floor.

— you are the future (and the future looks good) by deathlytireddan (gen | comp. | 2k)

Patches' pov of her life with Dream.

— love me fully by next spring by brokenlikeastitch (teen | wip | 50k+)

George has never been one for blind optimism. His world has always existed in shades of grey. Shit happens sometimes and you put your head down and fucking deal with it. This time, though, this time he’s hopeful.

— beamish by findingahome (teen | comp. | 3k)

stargazing in a McDonald's parking lot.

— bury ourselves (reach for the sun) by wooowriter (gen | comp. | 8k)

In London, in a boring bedroom with boring walls, George realizes he loves Dream for the first time. Three years later, in LA, he tells him.

— Vis-à-Vis by Scoops (teen | comp. | 21k)

While they’re staying in Los Angeles, Dream’s Uber gets into an accident. Secrets are revealed, a road trip gets underway, and George finds out that maybe he likes taking care of people sometimes. Well, if that person is Dream, at least.

— somethin' stupid (like i love you) by snakeinaboyband (teen | comp. | 19k)

spending Christmas with Dream's family forces them both to struggle with the dynamic they'd settled into when George arrived in Florida. Maybe it's time they stopped pretending their friendship is normal.

— hands, knees, please by demonstars (expl. | comp. | 2k)

“I haven’t even touched you,” George is delighted. “You say you’re not obsessed with me, but you literally are. Look at you.”

— There Might Be by BirbWatcher, jestbee (teen | comp. | 6k)

George implies there's some truth to DNF on a live broadcast, all hell breaks loose

— living our life thru the stars by charoo (teen | comp. | 12k)

prince george makes friends with two boys that teach him how to have fun and be himself– happiness, pain, apologizies, laughter, and love follow.

— Give and Take by copperfic (expl. | comp. | 4k)

George laughs, glancing down. “They were with my stuff and I didn’t feel like digging through the laundry for another pair. He’s so short. Like can you believe how short these are?” “Yeah,” he manages weakly. “Crazy.”

— your house looks like it's heaven by preytall (expl. | comp. | 2k)

"It's the truth, though. You're a slut, George."

— Fool Me Once by VicIsWriting (teen | comp. | 2k)

April Fools day is the perfect time to ask your best friend out, right?

— you open like a flower by tippysleeps (expl. | comp. | 5k)

Dream takes off her shirt and George feels her brain white out. To see Dream in this context, all coy and expectant, with freckles and acne scars on her shoulders, makes her feel like the first person to discover desire.

remember that you're always free to send in any fics you'd like to see on the next roundup and i'll make sure to include it :]

[exhuastedpigeon]

WAIT NO ONE ASKED YOU QUESTIONS!?

Okay. Every single odd number on that list.

I reblogged that post last night and fell asleep almost immediately after 😂😂! Thanks for asking Tanis!!

1. Share a song that makes you think of [fic title] Afraid of Heights by boygenius always makes me think about it hurts to hope for more. I listened to that song on repeat while writing it that no whenever I heart it I think about that fic.

3. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written? That's like asking me for my favourite child (not that I have kids). I'm sticking with buddie fics here since I have almost 150 fics on Ao3 and that's way too many to think about.

Honestly, there ain't no turning back might be my favourite even though it isn't fully published!

Or I really love gold when you see me too.

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write? Answered here :)

7. How many ideas for fics do you have right now? Uhhh too many?? I have 5 'active' wips (meaning I'm actually working on them a little bit) and like 20 other ideas. I tend to get an idea, work on it like my hair is on fire, and then when I lose the beans half the time the wip goes to collect dust.

9. Do you write every day? If you wrote today, share a sentence of what you’ve written! I try to write every day, even if it's just one sentence! Here's something I updated from the NHL AU today!

Buck’s much less self destructive now, thank you team mandated therapy and a bit of heartbreak, but he still has a big personality. He’s got the kind of personality that used to land him on Don Cherry’s shit list before he was finally kicked off Hockey Night in Canada for being a racist old fuck. But, that personality of his means he’s the kind of guy who the Kings marketing team loves because he’s down for basically anything they throw at him. 

11. Do you have specific playlists for writing fics? I tend to find a couple of songs that match the vibe I'm going for or that really inspire me and then listen to those on repeat.

13. How much planning do you do before writing? Answered here

15. How do you come up with titles for your fics/chapters? Usually song lyrics! Sometimes a title comes into my head out of nowhere, but usually I end up searching for a lyric that feels right.

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic? I learned all about the best sunrise views at the southern rim of the Grand Canyon for there ain't no turning back! It made me really want to go to see the sunrise there, even more than I already wanted to before!

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs. This is from my NHL AU! In the fic Buck is Canadian and when they go to Canada on a road trip Buck has to scope out a Tim Hortons immediately.

It would be a lie to say that as soon as they landed in Ottawa Buck went to Tim Hortons, because they landed at 11:45, only a couple of hours after a win in Buffalo. It’s been a long and cold east coast trip - they’re on the road for almost 10 days for this one and Ottawa is the third to last stop.  It wouldn’t be a lie to say that the first thing Buck did when he woke up in their hotel was to jump out of bed, wake Eddie up in the bed next to him, and drag him to the Tim Hortons next to the hotel.  And listen, Buck knows that objectively Timmies is just fine. It isn’t bad, it’s just not actually good either. But he’s a Canadian boy, he grew up on Timbits after practice with Maddie and hanging out in the Tim Hortons parking lots during high school, at least for the couple years he was around before moving to Kitchner to play juniors. Tim Hortons will always have a special place in his heart.

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why? Yeah, it was a scene that I wrote really early in the writing process and by the time I finished the fic the scene just didn't fit the vibe. I ended up using bits of it in another fic though, so it wasn't all a waste!

23. How do you choose where to end a chapter (if you have multi-chapter works)? I try to find a natural stopping point, but typically I don't write chaptered fics. I think of my 149 on Ao3 only like 15 of them are chaptered, maybe less.

25. Have you ever upset yourself with your own writing? I've made myself WEEP while writing and weep again while rereading later.

27. Is there a fic you were nervous to post/share? Why? I was a little nervous to share it hurts to hope for more because it was a really important fic to me (and really personal to me in some ways). I didn't want people to hate it because it felt so close to my heart.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.) I don't think I'll ever finish this fic so I'll share a bit here. When I saw on the fandom wiki that Eddie and Buck were actually probably the same age (1991/1992) I started a fic that's a snippet of each of their lives at the same time period. This is from the Eddie - 18 section.

There was a little plus sign on three separate pregnancy tests. Eddie rests his head on the bathroom counter, hunching over from where he’s sitting on the edge of the bathtub in Shannon’s bathroom. To her credit, Shannon looks like she’s holding it together more than he is. He was leaving for basic in a month and a half, she was supposed to be moving out of state for college in two.  Eddie took a deep breath, then another, before looking up at Shannon again. Her eyes were red rimmed, but otherwise she looked composed. He pushed down the fear that was threatening to crawl out of his chest, up his throat, and out of his mouth and instead said, “Whatever you want to do, I’ve got your back.” “I want to keep it,” Shannon said after a beat.  “Okay, then we keep it,” Eddie reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. “What do we do now?” “I have no fucking idea,” Shannon half laughed, half sobbed. Eddie stood up and wrapped her in a hug, holding her to his chest. 

Fan Fic Writer Asks

[boojangs]

Hi! I just want to say that I’ve legitimately read all of your works. I’ve commented on To Dance With Wolves and Home and Away. Just really do enjoy your writing. The newest hockey one, two for tripping is highly exciting, can’t wait to see where that takes us all! All the different versions of Wednesday and Enid yet somehow it’s always them.

On that note. I’m actually super inspired by you, I write myself, well im getting back into it more like after a few years of just not. I always found myself struggling with writing a whole chapter fic. I have the idea or the arcs. Outlining just makes me feel like I can’t be free with ideas when I write chapters.

I was wondering if your comfortable sharing, can you share any tips that you may have? Or anything that you do that may help process along? It just sucks have ideas and not being able to see them fully through.

Thank you!! I try to take a facet of their personalities to focus on when writing the new stories but still stick with what I know. Enid is a sweetheart with a temper, and Wednesday is the demon with a sweet heart. Total opposites.

So I'm fixating on the "outline" part, do you actually write a detailed description of every chapter, or do you have points?

What I do, is that I have my key scenes, key points, that I want to hit on, and then everything else in between is up in the air. Several times I've sat down and things have happened I didn't plan on, so then I just follow the road. (That's why my shit is so long). I find that it let's me have fun, while also keeping me on track.

You can always DM me and I can help you further, too. Sorry, this ask got fucking buried, I don't know if you'll even see this. 🩷🖤

[dweetwise]

[Ace X Jeff X Élodie X Felix X Zarina] Birthday blues

I may be writing for an audience of one (myself) but I just love all of these idiots and think they should kiss. Continuation of this fic set in the same AU, this time starring a very disgruntled Ace. Rated M | 3.8k words | ao3 link

"¡Che, boludo! Are you fucking stupid!?" Ace yelled. "It says forty kilometers, not 'slam the brakes and drive in first gear'! Christ, my abuela was a better driver than you and she was blind!"

Predictably, the Toyota in front just kept trucking along at a snail’s pace as the idiot behind its wheel remained oblivious to Ace’s tantrum.

Ace huffed and sagged back against the car seat, barely resisting the urge to blast the horn to make his displeasure known. Instead, he busied himself with adjusting the rear view mirror, because it was Jeff’s car and he and Ace were very much not the same size. Ace usually couldn't be assed since the only time he used the mirrors was to check himself out rather than look at traffic—probably one of the reasons people were reluctant to let him drive—but he felt a petty sense of glee when he noticed a line of cars forming because of the stupid Toyota.

Ace didn't normally get road rage; in fact, he was usually the one laughing at Felix’s German insults and Zarina’s swearing behind the wheel. But today was his birthday, and it was a special kind of torture to be stuck in rush hour behind some Sunday driver when he just wanted to get home.

Not that there was anything there waiting for him. Felix was at work and would run late because of some seminar, Élodie was sleeping off the jet lag after her trip to Indonesia, Zarina was nose-deep in editing her latest documentary and had barely left her room for days, and Jeff was finishing up his latest painting for some art collector.

All things which were evidently more important than Ace.

At least Jeff was going to cook for him—which wasn't really saying much, since it was his turn to make dinner regardless, but Ace felt better if he didn’t think about that. Of course, grocery shopping had also been on Jeff’s to-do list, but he'd emerged from his studio looking so frazzled and asked Ace with his puppy eyes if Ace could possibly make the trip for him.

And because Ace loved Jeff, and had pretty much been lounging on the couch in his PJs doing absolutely nothing anyway—definitely not moping after he'd gotten up early to see Felix off for work and Felix not only didn't bring up his birthday, but asked Ace to make him coffee and then fucked off without even a goodbye kiss—he'd agreed.

Part of Ace had still been hoping the grocery run would reveal some sneaky plans Jeff had for his birthday. He'd patiently waited for Jeff to write a shopping list and then immediately read it as soon as he got into the car. But there was nothing: no birthday candles, no ingredients for any of Ace's favorite foods, no wine, no flavored lube…

Clearly, nothing indicating Ace's birthday at all.

Ace might have conducted himself a little aggressively once he arrived at the supermarket, flinging things into his shopping cart and purposefully ramming it into the cart of a blond guy in a suit. He also decided to get a bunch of extra items outside of the list and use their joint account to pay for all of it, because it was his birthday, dammit, and seeing as none of his partners bothered getting him any gifts he'd get them himself.

Except a grocery store at rush hour wasn't exactly the best setting for meaningful birthday gifts. Still, Ace vindictively piled on a couple gift cards, the most expensive bottle of wine he could find, one single cupcake and birthday candles, and a can of condensed milk he fully planned to eat straight out of the tin because fucking stupid Germany didn't have dulce de leche.

Ace was already feeling a little better as he made his way to the checkout: nothing like some good ol' retail therapy to fill the void of being ignored by the people he loved.

And then, of course, the card of their joint account declined. Because Zarina was responsible for it, and she'd barely remembered what day it was when Ace last saw her in the middle of her editing frenzy.

So Ace had to pay for the groceries with his own card and leave out all the extras, because he absolutely refused to pay for his own gifts out of principle. And definitely not because he couldn't afford them.

That turned out to be a blessing in disguise because Ace was barely able to carry the bags to the car as it was. And leaving the nice wine bottle at the store was somewhat preferable to trying to juggle it with the bags and having it smash into pieces on the parking lot pavement.

After all of that, a little road rage felt pretty deserved.

Ace's hands were still shaking on the steering wheel. He couldn't remember when he'd last been this angry; it wasn't like he'd expected much for his birthday, because he knew how busy everyone would be. But just some acknowledgement—or maybe a guarantee that they'd celebrate together at a later date when everyone had more time—would have gone a long way.

Ace didn't need brunch and champagne in bed like they'd done for Felix's birthday, or the seven-course dinner at that fancy restaurant they went to for Élodie's. Sure, Ace had planned those months in advance, but he knew the others weren’t as sentimental—even if he already knew what he was getting Zarina and Jeff even though it was half a year until their birthdays. 

But that was what you did, wasn’t it? Admittedly Ace had always been a little materialistic, but if you liked someone, you gave them something nice, even if it was just a bouquet of wildflowers you'd picked off the side of the road or a half-burnt omelet that didn’t quite turn out like the recipe promised. Ace would have been happy with birthday kisses and a cheap gift and ordering takeout from the shitty kebab place with free delivery, and that really wasn't unreasonable to ask of his partners; no matter how busy they were.

Maybe they just didn't like him enough to bother.

Ace let out a half-hysteric, half-pathetic laugh. If he somehow ended up getting dumped by four people on his birthday, he really didn't know what he'd do.

…Except piss in Felix's koi pond in revenge, but after that.

So he just wouldn't think about it. And besides, everyone acted like this was just a normal day, and not a let's-finally-kick-Ace-to-the-curb day. Ace just had to act like it too, because it wasn't like he could bring up the birthday thing now. If they genuinely forgot, it would make them feel bad and nobody would have time to throw anything together on such short notice anyway, and then everyone would be miserable. And if they actually were ignoring it on purpose, well, then Ace would feel even more awful than he did now.

Ace would just go home and unload the groceries, and then call his sister, because she'd sent him a happy birthday text earlier, because someone actually cared. By that time, Jeff would probably have finished dinner but he'd eat in his studio like he always did when he was busy, so Ace would eat alone and likely end up doing the dishes like some pathetic Cinderella without a fairy godmother.

Then he'd steal a couple of Élodie's expensive French chocolates for dessert, go upstairs and have a sad wank alone, and come back down to get a drink—probably trying and failing to find anything but the gross boxed Merlot they kept under the sink and nobody wanted to drink. Nonetheless, he'd take the garbage wine to the living room and spite-watch the new episode of Zarina's favorite show without her, and if he was lucky it would be late enough that Élodie was up and maybe joined him for some cuddles. 

Or yelled at him for eating the chocolates. Whatever.

In any case, Ace had no illusions that he wasn't sleeping alone tonight. Jeff and Zarina would work to well after midnight, Élodie would only start eating breakfast once Ace went to bed, and Felix would be in his don't-touch-me-or-talk-to-me mood after his work event inevitably ran long.

Lost in his thoughts, Ace managed the rest of the drive home without further meltdowns, but he was still seething once he pulled up in the driveway to the Richter manor. He didn't even bother to park the car in the garage—Felix would probably have nagged at him for parking wrong anyway—and just pulled to a stop by the front door.

He hefted out the ridiculously heavy grocery bags, silently complained that he was getting way too old for this shit, and left Jeff's car right there in the middle of the driveway to annoy anyone who tried to leave or enter the property. Hopefully it would get shat on by some birds.

Ace walked up the steps to the house and prayed that the handles of the bags didn’t snap. He managed to maneuver the bags into one hand without catastrophe striking, and unlocked the door with the other…

And the door got jammed. Fantastic.

"Fucking…piece of shit!" Ace cursed, violently jiggling the key in the lock.

Finally, the door unlocked and Ace shouldered it open. Once inside, he turned to face it and, hands still occupied, kicked it shut with as much force as he could.

The whole wall shook and rattled from the impact and Ace glared at the door some more.

“That’ll teach you,” he said smugly.

“Mon Dieu, what did the poor door do to you?”

“Very funny,” Ace said, still annoyed. He turned around to face Élodie, already complaining, “You gonna give me a hand or—”

And that was when he very nearly dropped the bags he’d worked so hard to get home in one piece.

Élodie was not wearing the comfy reindeer one-piece she usually lived in after a long business trip. Neither was she wearing her regular silk pajamas or one of Jeff’s oversized band shirts she was prone to stealing.

No, Élodie stood there in the Richter manor’s foyer on an unassuming Tuesday afternoon, dressed in nothing but a sinfully flattering bustier and lacy stockings.

“Welcome home, m'amour.” She strutted up to Ace and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which was probably good considering Ace’s mouth was occupied with gaping like a fish. “Do you like my new outfit?” she asked, stepping back and doing a little twirl.

"I, uh…" Ace floundered as he greedily drank in the sight of her, his previous anger all but forgotten.

The mint color of the lingerie contrasted Élodie’s skin tone beautifully. White lace framed the swell of her breasts and the tiny hem of a skirt was barely enough to cover her panties. Ace’s eyes followed the garter straps down her thick thighs and he had to swallow a groan once they reached the lace edge of the stockings.

Élodie really wasn’t playing fair; she knew how weak Ace was for the thigh-highs.

"You’re stunning,” Ace said, a little breathlessly. His fingers itched to touch and he realized he was still holding the stupid bags.

Not one to be deterred, he eagerly continued, “That bustier is gorgeous. Did you buy it on your trip? You look even more beautiful than usual, if that’s possible.”

Élodie smiled, clearly pleased. "Flatterer."

"Wait, how are you up already?" Ace remembered, reluctantly tearing his gaze away from her figure. “Were you waiting for me?"

"Of course I was,” Élodie said. “We had to send you away for some errands to not ruin the surprise.”

"What surprise?"

A low chuckle sounded to his left. "Don’t tell me you forgot your own birthday,” Jeff said, stepping out of the kitchen. “Oh, let me get those for you.”

Jeff grabbed the shopping bags from Ace, but he barely registered the action—a small part of his brain was celebrating that somebody had remembered his birthday, another was relieved to finally be rid of the heavy bags, but the rest chose to focus on…

"Are you wearing flannel?" Ace exclaimed. It couldn’t be: Jeff hated flannel. Jeff didn’t even own flannel, and Felix sure as hell didn’t either, so—

Jeff shrugged, his cheeks pinking. "You keep calling me a lumberjack, so…"

"A sexy lumberjack," Ace corrected. Then, his expression softened as he realized, "You dressed up as a sexy lumberjack for my birthday."

Jeff gave him a tentative smile. "Do you like it?"

Like it? Jeff looked like something straight out of a gay porno, with his luscious beard and messy man bun and red and black checkered shirt that hugged his massive shoulders and soft belly.

"I'm gonna climb you like a tree," Ace concluded.

Jeff laughed, then stepped back into the kitchen with an, “I’ll go put these away.”

"What’s with the dress-up party?" Ace asked, turning back to Élodie. "Did you two conspire some birthday shenanigans while I was gone?"

"Two?" Élodie quirked an eyebrow. "Your turn, mon coeur."

And that was when Felix stepped out from around a corner where he'd apparently been eavesdropping.

"You got me a Felix?" Ace joked. "I love it."

Élodie chuckled. "Your actual gifts are in the kitchen. I just thought this was more urgent."

"And that's why you're the brains of this household," Ace’s mouth ran on autopilot while he ogled Felix.

Felix fidgeted under his gaze, crossing and uncrossing his arms over his chest where he was wearing a gold-trimmed white vest over a black dress shirt. He looked unfairly good—he always did, but these clothes somehow only highlighted it.

Ace cocked his head. "Is the vest new?"

"No, but it's the first time I've convinced him to wear it." Élodie pushed at Felix's shoulder. "Turn around, mon chéri."

"I feel like a Barbie doll," Felix muttered but still did as he was told.

"You look like one too," Élodie shot back.

Ace was about to add his own witty comment but proceeded to choke on his own spit instead as soon as Felix turned around.

Felix's vest had criss-crossed lace down the entirety of the back, and suddenly it became clear why he looked even better than usual today. He wasn’t wearing just any old vest Élodie had dug out from his overflowing closet of designer suits: he was wearing a corset vest. 

Ace stepped closer like hypnotized, running his fingers over the X-pattern of the lace. The vest made Felix’s already drool-worthy shoulder to waist ratio even more pronounced, cinching his middle and highlighting both his broad shoulders and the curve of his ass. 

Ace had never seen a man in a corset before and his brain was more than a little scrambled. He simultaneously wanted to grab Felix's tiny waist and cling to his defined shoulders and pull on the lace while Felix laid on his front and squirmed and—

"Doesn't he look adorable?" Élodie asked once Felix turned back to face them.

Adorable definitely wasn’t the word Ace would use. "Uh…" he looked stupidly up at Felix, silently wondering how much he’d have to beg to get him to wear only the vest in bed.

Felix winced. "I told you this was a stupid idea. He doesn’t even like it—"

"I want to eat you," was what finally came out of Ace’s mouth.

Élodie laughed and Felix sputtered, his face flushing with pink blotches.

"But, wait.” Ace shook his head, trying to refocus. “I thought you had that seminar today? I wasn’t expecting you home before…"

"I took the afternoon off." Felix looked at him with a small smile. "I didn’t want to miss your birthday."

Élodie cleared her throat and Felix grimaced.

"...Which I only remember once Élodie called me," Felix said. “I forgot, I'm sorry. I must have seemed like an ass this morning."

"I'm suddenly having a lot of trouble even remembering this morning," Ace said, then smirked when an idea formed in his head. "But I do remember you still owe me a kiss."

Felix chuckled and leaned down to kiss him, wrapping an arm around Ace's waist and pulling him close the way that always made Ace weak in the knees. His mouth was hot and insistent and Ace did his best to kiss back while eagerly pawing at Felix’s muscular chest over the vest.

“I got you flowers,” Felix said when pulling away, much sooner than Ace would have liked. “They’re in the kitchen. Did you want to…?”

“Mm, no, that’s okay.” Ace stepped back and looked at both Élodie and Felix in turn; they really made quite a picture. “I bet they’re beautiful, but I’m enjoying the view right here. Though I feel very underdressed,” he added with a grin and self-conscious shrug.

Élodie smiled knowingly. "Do you need some help getting out of your clothes?"

Ace perked up and certain other parts of him did too. "Yes, absolutely. I am completely helpless and exhausted from carrying groceries and require at least four extra—" He saw Jeff exit the kitchen. "—six extra hands to take off my pants."

Jeff chuckled and leaned in for a quick kiss, his lips warm and a little chapped against Ace’s.

“Here,” Jeff said, handing him a drink.

The cocktail was bright red and had a small orange slice on top. When Ace sipped it, the strong tastes of Campari and vermouth mingled on his tongue—ah, an Americano.

Ace sighed indulgently and leaned into Jeff. “Oh, this is so much better than that under the sink wine.”

“Ugh, I keep forgetting to throw that away,” Felix muttered to himself.

“Why don’t we head upstairs?” Jeff asked, his voice a deep rumble in Ace’s ear.

Ace shivered from the pleasant scratch of Jeff’s beard against his hair and the warmth of his big hand splaying over Ace’s lower back. It was a small miracle he managed to resist throwing himself at Jeff and ask him to carry him to bed.

“Are you sure? What about dinner?” Ace asked instead, managing to summon the last of his brain cells. “And shouldn’t we wait for Zarina?”

Yes, he might have been getting a little greedy, as he already had three of his partners right here who seemed very eager to celebrate his birthday. But it wouldn’t be the same without Zarina, because Ace loved them all very much and was sentimental like that.

He also really, really wanted a fivesome if he could get it.

Fortunately, Élodie informed him, “Zarina finished her editing earlier. Who do you think laced Felix up?”

Élodie laughed and Ace did too, because Zarina was freakishly strong for her size. He could vividly picture her aggressively pulling on Felix's corset with one foot braced on his ass.

"I'm actually sad I missed that," Ace said.

"The screaming was a little funny," Jeff admitted.

Felix’s face reddened even more. "It wasn't supposed to be that tight, and I was staying still even if she claims otherwise!"

Ace barked out another laugh, then suddenly felt silly, standing there laughing with the people he’d been so annoyed with earlier.

"I can’t believe I thought you guys actually forgot.” Ace said. He took a sip of liquid courage and sheepishly admitted, “I, well… I kind of had a tantrum at the supermarket. And on the drive home."

Jeff rubbed soothingly up and down Ace’s back and Felix just nodded, like road rage was perfectly acceptable. Élodie however pouted and stepped closer, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry we made you think we didn't care," Élodie said, then kissed his jaw sweetly. "We love you, mon chéri. You are so precious to us."

Ace’s face heated and even Jeff and Felix shuffled their feet awkwardly. Talking about feelings wasn't really something any of them were particularly good at—Zarina included—but for Élodie, it always seemed to come easy. They'd somewhat accepted that sometimes, she had to speak for all of them.

"Thank you, mi corazon." Ace clasped Élodie's hand with his spare one and kissed her knuckles, before looking up with a smirk. "I feel a little bad about planning to eat all your fancy chocolates now."

Élodie patted his cheek. "Trust me, I would have done much worse if you forgot my birthday.”

Ace laughed. "Noted." There was a muted crash from upstairs. "Um…is Zarina okay?"

Élodie cocked her hip and smiled suggestively. "Yes, she's just making the master bedroom a little…cozier."

“I’ve never seen that many candles in my life,” Jeff huffed.

Felix's brows pinched together. “If she starts a fire…”

"Oh, relax, m'amour," Élodie said. "This evening is all about romance—"

"Has anyone seen my strap-on!?" Zarina’s voice echoed from upstairs.

"It’s still in Felix’s room from last time!" Élodie yelled back, not missing a beat. 

Ace nearly choked on his drink and Felix gave Élodie a look of absolute betrayal.

“Thank you!” Zarina shouted before a door slammed shut upstairs.

Élodie sighed. "Ah, and there goes that surprise."

Ace’s stomach did an excited little flip-flop. With the way things were looking, he probably wouldn’t be able to walk properly tomorrow.

But man, would it be worth it.

"We should check on Zarina," Felix said, when Ace knew what he really meant was, “I need to make sure Zarina doesn’t burn my house down or reveal any more embarrassing aspects of my sex life.”

Maybe Ace could convince him to demonstrate his previous encounter with Zarina and her strap.

“We should check on her,” Élodie agreed, then looked at Jeff and asked, "If everything with the order went okay?”

Ace craned his neck to peer up at Jeff over his shoulder. "Order?"

“I took the liberty of ordering in from that Ethiopian place you like,” Jeff said, still petting Ace’s back and making warmth spread though his whole body. “They're gonna deliver it in a few hours, since I figured we might be busy for a while.”

Ace frowned. “But they don't deliver this far out.”

"They do if you tip them well enough," Felix said in his I-threw-money-at-the-problem-until-it-went-away voice.

"More time for us to spend with the birthday boy," Élodie crooned, stroking Ace's beard. "Ready to celebrate, mon amour?"

Ace looked at his partners and felt unbelievably fond. To think that he was so sure they'd forgotten, when all this time they had all gone through so much trouble for him—Élodie masterminding the whole thing and even getting Jeff and Felix to play dress-up, Felix canceling his important work event, Jeff ordering his favorite food, and Zarina risking Felix's ire with the fire hazard…

Ace downed the rest of his cocktail in one go and grinned. "Lead the way!"

Élodie grabbed Ace’s hand and he locked elbows with Felix as she tugged him along. Jeff followed a step after them, his hand snaking around Ace’s hips and already undoing his belt buckle before they’d even reached the top of the stairs.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

[thelordofgifs]

absolutely loved the new part of tfs!! sorry for not sending the ask earlier <3

maedhros!! beloved!! am i imagining the paralles with one of earlier installments? where thingol had him chained?? with maglor wounded?? but now there's no maglor because maedhros IS what wounded him and aaaahhhhhh WHY are you doing this to me

fingon actively avoiding executing curufin is hilarious. the house of feanor will go lenghts to fulfill their oath and meanwhile fingon is like "if i ignore it it didn't happen"

also love the potential for further fingon and maedhros development - will maedhros be angry with fingon not telling him? will there be "what other secrets are you keeping from me" scene? because wouldn't that be the perfect opportunity to say "i promised thingol to execute your other brother"

curufin... baby... he changed so much over the course of the fic. i hate him a lot but someone please give it a hug. also love how he and maglor are now on a roadtrip. roadtrips are a thing in this fic i see

and also. do it. kill maglor. i'll watch. you've been dragging him half alive for like 10 chapters of the fic. do you really think it would be satisfying to let him die?

and love mandos in this one. he's just. regretting the revival for elves isn't mandatory. regretting all of his life choices actually.

anyways i love this fic a lot, and your writing is amazing as always <3

Ahhh you are the sweetest and I love you to pieces!! You don’t need to apologise for not sending the ask earlier don’t be silly – this is such a lovely ask to see ❤️❤️

You are very much Not imagining the parallels with the chaining! Also of course he was rather famously shackled on Thangorodrim and Fingon is very unhappy about having to chain him up now :(

ok so the thing with Fingon is. he is Fully Convinced that he is the only sensible guy in Himring atm and he’s… he’s so wrong about this?? And he doesn’t even realise?? Now that we’re coming to the end of arc 2 (one more part!!) it’s easier to look back over it and say that the main focus of the last nine parts has been Fëanorian Melodrama, but that doesn’t mean Fingon doesn’t have plenty of character stuff he will need to work out.

and yes Plans coming up for Curufin and Maglor hehe!! Poor Curufin keeps having to go on road trips. He is so sick of road trips.

bestie wdym “ten chapters” Maglor has been badly injured in some way or another since part ONE. I might kill him. I might not. It depends. (It doesn’t actually I already know what I’m going to do.) he’s such a pincushion!! Why does he keep doing that!!

hehe am very glad you liked Mandos here! Between Lúthien and Finrod he’s just kind of like “you can’t… you can’t DO that…” The whole “Finrod refuses to leave Mandos” was something I pondered for a while before I actually decided to go down that route. Firstly I am always very scared of writing Finrod: he’s such a complicated and intimidating character!! And secondly I didn’t want to give him an edgy anti-Valar arc because that’s not what he’s doing exactly. He is (kind of) grateful for the chance to be re-embodied. But I need Celegorm’s death to have continuing ripple effects and once Finrod jumped into the story I realised this might be a good and thematically relevant way of doing it. And at some point I want to start digging into politics in Aman too, which makes the canon divergence important! (Hint hint who do you think might be showing up eventually 👀)

[cheerscoops]

Do you headcanon Chrissy and Steve as family friends from childhood or more meeting for the first time in hs from their basketball/cheer circles?

It fully depends on the story I'm writing if I'm being honest.

Specifically in the wyptif universe, Chrissy and Steve knew of each other in high school, and their paths crossed on occasion, but they didn't really interact with each other until the road trip.

On the flip side, I have a different story planned where their families had been close since before either of them were born, and they were childhood best friends leading up to them staying close in high school when they ended up in the same social circles.

And then there's another little fic I eventually want to write where they meet for the first time at a high school party.

For me, there's no one correct way to headcanon how long they've known each other or when they first met. Every single option has so much potential and would be so cool to explore.

However, if we're going strictly with the canon universe and everything else I headcanon about them and their families, I would say that they probably met for the first time in high school via the basketball team and cheer squad overlap.

[tortoisesshells]

Behind the scenes lore for "a little more comprehension than a machine, and still feeling like a lost soul" and vintage gold "there is no unreturn'd love", please!

"a little more comprehension than a machine, and still feeling like a lost soul" - first and foremost, there was an alternate ending, where it did not, you know, close with Maura and Eyk realizing that there's something wrong that they don't fully comprehend yet, and implying that they would see each other again, somehow. Ultimately, it didn't fit with the rest of the fic, but I was fond of it, so here it is, in its incomplete and uninspiring glory:

“I think it unlikely I will see you again, Captain Larsen. But until I do – I hope you find what you are looking for.”

She offers him her hand to shake; he does, but does not let go, immediately. Maura does not blame him for it. There has not been much comfort on this voyage, but what little she’s found has mostly been on his account.

“I will hope so, Miss Franklin.”

They're so cute when they think they're going to see New York City alive. But like I said, thematically inconsistent with The Horrors. Season one spoilers and speculations under the cut.

I had the vague idea to start that I wanted to write a pre-history of what we saw in season one, and had read a few theories about whether or not things had or had not been getting worse over the course of multiple time loops - and whether or not characters who instaconnect in season one do so because they're together in some way outside of the loop/simulation, or because they've been together across multiple loops and that's become it's own kind of muscle memory. I'm not sold on one idea or the other, but I'm leaning towards Maura and Eyk not being an item out of 1899/ in 2099 - that they very gradually learned to like and trust each other over dozens of successive loops, and now they're just. Like That.

(that, and I'm deeply entertained by the idea that when Maura wakes up in 2099 and sees Eyk, that it's no so much a reaction of "oh shit you were dead last time I saw you!" so much as "holy fuck I wanted to climb that fucking guy like a tree?".)

There's eight sections for the eight days that Daniel Solace says each run of the simulation is supposed to take up; one for each day, but I don't have any ideas about how many loops are between one section and the next. Choose your own adventure there, I'm afraid!

Lastly, for a fic title, I think it's one of my better ones - and I was pleased (and a little surprised) to find such a perfect title in The Awakening - in a section where Edna Pontillier and another woman are talking about working/sewing with a machine - pedal-powered, of course, and the other woman is not even driving it herself put having a servant power it for her. The narration is aware of the irony, even if the other woman isn't aware that her words are a little hypocritical. This is getting away from me. *

Full disclosure: I had not reread "there is no unreturn'd love" in years, which is sad but predictable, and the scrap file for that fic didn't get salvaged from my old laptop, so this is partly from memory.

I'm deeply entertained by my note (his is Extremely Dodgy in terms of historical accuracy - Emma in the field, again - and it pains me to say it, but look! A story without tiresome context and footnotes! What year is it? Where are we? Who knows! mirabile visu.) which then ... segued into me talking about looking through antiquarian genealogies of the IRL Hopkins family to figure out how many siblings Fictional Henry Hopkins might have. god I'm a loser. In my defense, I have no idea WHAT the context for this is and I didn't then. is it 1863? 1864? 1865? I guess maybe this is the Overland Campaign of '64. If Emma and Henry are on the outskirts of The Wilderness, I'm not surprised Emma's traumatized for life. When I wrote this - I'd been planning to take a road trip to see FredSpot (Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park) and I still haven't ever seen it, but I know I had the maps out in front of me when I was writing it.

I never finished reading The Minister's Wooing, but I picked it up again recently - regrettably, I know more now about Hopkinsianism and Puritan theology than I did then, so perhaps some of the theology that's so amusing to Henry (evidently) will make sense to me now - but it DOES make me think a lot about changes in American Protestantism, and the Second Great Awakening, and how that all might affect Our Chaplain, Patron Saint of Rolled Sleeves and Rage Issues. Maybe, after I finish reading The Minister's Wooing (for realsies this time) I'll revisit my thoughts on Henry and Emma and the book?

[seyaryminamoto]

1. Oh, I also think it was a great idea to make Sokka and Azula agents of white lotus. I think my favorite trope for sokfics is Zuko sending Azula on a mission so she can do something helpful to protect the world and atone for her evil actions. And she accepts it, because anything is better than being locked up in the asylum. And Sokka begrudgingly agrees to go with her, because they’re still distrustful of her and someone has to make sure she won’t cause more problems.

Yeah, I've seen this trope many times, though while I started several fics that versed around Zuko doing that, I can't say I remember seeing a fully finished one x'D Maybe they do exist these days, I don't know, maybe they did get finished and I just haven't checked, I dunno.

But yeah, I do think Azula's redemption can take many shapes. Missions to fix the world subtly, direct hard work of the sort, is a good way of going about it. I definitely went with a darker take for it in my last story in Leap of Faith, because they're basically assassins, the ones who have to clean up the world from the very worst of the worst, the people who will absolutely jeopardize the tenuous balance the world is striving for right now. Obviously, Zuko didn't send them this time (not intentionally anyway :'D), but in principle it's largely the same thing.

Azula's redemption would be strongly benefited from letting her see more of the world. She saw some of it, yes, in Book 2... but she didn't seriously see it, I'd say. Traveling in a train-tank doesn't really feel like she would get to see lifestyles and ways of existence that are completely different from everything she knows. I just feel like Azula is such a fundamentally intellectual person and that means she'd be intrigued by experiencing life in different ways once she grows out of the misery of losing the lifestyle she clung to before. Learning that there's more to life than Ozai-sanctioned success would be such a good thing for her, and I feel like that's something she'd be better off experiencing away from the Fire Nation. The fact that this girl isn't shown or treated by the show as a firebending supremacist, that she will genuinely value the combat potential of two non-benders and an earthbending army, tells you that the firebending supremacy doesn't run as deeply with her as it does in many other Fire Nation characters. Starting from that point and expanding it in a positive direction could really yield results, with Azula learning to appreciate things that aren't what her father wanted her to appreciate.

Which, of course, is one of the fun things about Sokka being her love interest. The Water Tribe non-bender who, even while being a chief's son, was raised as a commoner and not as royalty...? He's everything Ozai would deem unworthy of his daughter. Ozai would absolutely underestimate him, treat him with disgust and disdain... and that's exactly why I find it so beautiful if Azula grows to love someone who's everything her father taught her to destroy. Nothing says more clearly that she has grown out of his toxic teachings than her willingness to spend her life with someone Ozai would never want to approve of :'D

Anyway. I digressed xD point in case being, yes, Azula and Sokka being on a long road trip together is a loooot of fun. There's a lot of room to work with, so much development possible for them... their potential as traveling buddies/partners in the White Lotus is just incredible. Even if someone didn't want to ship them romantically, their potential as allies and as teammates would be amazing to witness.

[mrs-theirin]

6 15 26 for the road, the hidden truth, and you!! <3

6 (what do you need to write? is there anything special you need to do/have to help your creative flow?) - first off hiiii alex i love you second off i usually don't need anything super specific, but if i'm having trouble focusing i will put on instrumental music to fill the silence, because usually, lyrical music will distract me lmfao although i have been known to also put on eden's playlist when writing about her, those songs i can blur the lyrics out because i've listened to them a lot

15 (was there anything you had to research for this fic? do you usually do a lot of research?) - lmfao YES i had to look up how long it would take to drive from las cruces, new mexico (now actual kirkwall in the rewrite, but it's still where las cruces is) to new york city and then i had to split that up evenly during the road trip, and i had to make sure the time zones were right (i did not have to do that. to be clear. but i did).

live 2020 reaction when i realized i was not thinking about the time zones

then (if you count this as research) i had to find songs that correlated to the state that they were in to put lyrics at the beginning of each chapter. other than that, no. everything else was pretty simple i think. i DID do some research on how to hijack a car without pulling out the wires but my research led me to "you can't" so i just pretended like i didn't see that and went with the good ol "omg wow eden doesn't know how these kids did it and also it is never ever explained" akdhsskhdn

26 (wild card! i'll tell you a fun fact about this fic) - ummmm lemme think. my first thought always goes to the screenrant article that shit is so so cool but that's a tired fun fact lmao i say as much in the beginning of both fics, but the idea was given to me by @merrybandofmurderers and i just ran with it, so really, if you like it, you should all be thanking scottie. OOH a good one is um.

found out most hotel beds are pretty far apart. but we're ignoring it again <3 yayyyyy for ignoring things. anyway that's it i think. wait also fun fact this fic inspired the idea of modern au + band au eden/anders but i never fully fledged that out. maybe someday

[i-spaced-sorry]

18 and 29 for the fanfic asks 😊

Thank you for sending some in! I'm going to put it below the cut cause my answers got long...sorry

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

I have a couple from a couple different fics, so bear with me

first one comes from Chicago.... We have a Problem ---

“My CI, Lenny, says that there is no chatter on the streets regarding infections. He says and these are his words not mine, ‘everyone on the streets is just as careful if not more careful about the fucking virus. Barely anyone has health insurance, so why would they create or invest in something that is going to spread and need some shot that you can only get with health insurance’ “ read off Jay from his notepad. Looking up, he scratched his chest and coughed before concluding with stating, “So whoever is doing this is not out on the streets or at least where my CI is working anyway”

---

second one comes from I don't Think We Are In Chicago Anymore ---

“Whoa babe, maybe you should let Jay rest for now,” calmly stated Connor, while resting his hands on his boyfriend’s shoulders. Connor began leading Will out of Post Op, while Will continued to spew words. 

Once outside, Connor could tell the tirade his boyfriend was having wasn’t going to stop on its own, so he looked both ways and dragged his boyfriend behind the Post Op tent and locked lips with him.

When he pulled away, Will, with wide eyes, shook his head and stated, “Connor? When did you get here? Where’s Jay?” 

---

And the last one is from Optimal Road Trip ---

Smiling, Hailey spoke, “I think those are some very nice cities and very feasible places we can visit. Jay and I will request PTO on Monday when we go in.”

Stretching his back and yawning, Jay adds, “Agreed, now if you don’t need us anymore. I think Hailey and I have a date with our pillows. Please don’t need us until at least 11 am tomorrow” and with that Hailey and Jay hugged Y/N and headed for their bedroom.

---

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

So this was something I wrote when my brain kept me up until 1am when I had to open that same day! I don't think I'll ever fully post this cause it was more of a vent piece than anything, but this flashback could potentially be a plot point in a future fic if I wanted to make something around it.

----

But you remember last December don't you? You know the week of my birthday"

 "I remember" was all Jay replied. He remembered that week vividly. The way you were essentially doing doubles, what with a full day of  background acting on what was supposed to be a day off to then the next day doing an open shift at the coffee shop, to then hanging with people for her birthday week, to getting sick but pushing it off cause you were supposed to be attending so many things. And for you calling Jay panicking on the train platform because you thought you got pick pocketed and you worked yourself into a panic attack and the only thing you thought about when thinking about how you thought you lost all your cards was that you had things to do with people that required money and you had a big birthday celebration planned with friend at Molly's. But then you called your former roommate and asked if she could look in your backpack and she said you had left your wallet at home. And you didn't even realize what you grabbed instead of your wallet until 3 weeks later.... It was a pad. So yes. Jay remembered the week of your birthday vividly. He remembered how you told him and coworkers that if you pulled a no call no show that they shouldn't be surprised if you ended up getting a psych eval. Thankfully it never got to that point but the train platform panic attack really zapped you into realizing you were needing a break.

[enchantedflameandflower]

Glimmer 16/? Billy Butcher fic!

NOTES! - This chapter was written before Season 3. Please reblog or comment if you like ♥

Tag List: @2dead2function

Billy Butcher Master list

*

As soon as they were on the road, Addison saw MM look over at her out of the corner of her eye. It was the look he had when he was checking to see if you could handle what he was about to say.

Before he said anything, though, he turned again to focus on the road stretching out in front of them, but she knew she had passed his test when he spoke in the next moment. "You know why we're on this little trip, don't you?"

Addison pursed her lips. "Yep."

"Just makin' sure," MM said, glancing at her again.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day and Addison was grateful for her big dark sunglasses. Of course she knew, but she wasn't going to worry about it right now. She was safe, especially with MM, and she always appreciated getting out of the city. Beyond that...she decided she'd talk to Mallory when they got back. No point in fretting right now.

Halfway to Rochester they stopped at a diner for a quick bite to eat and a big cup of coffee. They sat at the booth across from each other and Addison watched affectionately amused as MM carefully mixed in one packet of sugar, stirring three times, then set the stir stick aside on a napkin. She added cream to hers and made a tremendous effort not to splash any as she did.

MM spoke up unexpectedly as soon as they both had their first sip. "We need to talk about your abilities."

With her sunglasses pushed up on top of her head there was nowhere left to hide. "My abilities?" Addison paused, searching his face. This wasn't the conversation she was anticipating and curiosity swelled inside. He'd never given her the impression he was unilaterally against supes like Butcher, but... "What about them? I barely have any," she joked.

"That's what," he gave her his signature pointed look. "You don't even fully know what they are."

Addison shrugged, then looked down into her coffee. "It's not my favorite subject, I guess. Besides I'm fine how I am."

"But think of what you could do at your full potential, if you worked toward it? You're already fantastic in the field but we need to know everything you're going in with. I've been doing this a long time Addison. I think you're capable of a lot more than you give yourself credit for."

Addison stared out the window of the little diner for a moment, sifting through all the thoughts and emotions that this conversation caused to swirl in her head. Maybe he had a point but she honestly didn't know what to say. Being a supe had never come without a lot of baggage for her.

MM waited for a minute before he spoke again. "Have you ever known any other supes? Worked with any, had friends, anything?"

Addison shook her head. "No. No one. For the most part I ignored it. Until I needed money. Then I just did what I had to. I don't know, MM."

He sighed softly. "It's okay. You can say it."

"Say what," she murmured, but he just gave her another look.

Addison turned to face out the window again before she could meet his eyes. "I only just found this thing with Billy." She shook her head, having to summon some major force of strength to find the words to admit this. "I've never had anyone. Do you know what that's like to be so utterly alone for so long? It's too important to me. If I started parading my powers around now, it would just be absolutely obnoxious to him, and I wouldn't blame him."

But then maybe she was already making more of this thing with Billy than it was. Maybe he just wanted a friends with benefits thing. She caught her lower lip between her teeth then let go quickly before MM noticed.

"Don't you accept him exactly how he is?" MM answered. "The heartless bastard he is with all the rough edges and the bad attitude to boot?"

"Well I don't think he's completely heartless," Addison laughed softly, "but yeah. Of course I do."

"Then he should do the same for you. And if he doesn't want you to be the best you can be he's a fucking idiot and he doesn't deserve you."

Addison smiled. "Thank you. I worry it's just more complicated than that, though."

"Promise me you'll think about it. Even if your healing abilities alone improved, think of what that could mean for you?"

Addison took a long sip of coffee and they were quiet for a minute. "So what do you think about this mess I'm in now? Believe I'm the fink?"

MM snorted at her deft change of topic but he went with it anyway.

"Nope. You're straight as an arrow, Addison. I think someone wants to get to you but I can't figure why."

"Makes you wonder how long they've known there's a leak and haven't said anything..."

MM nodded his head. "It's always been that way. But I can't give it up. Mallory told me to once, you know. But I couldn't do it."

Addison smiled softly. "Your wife is a lovely, amazing woman."

"I'm lucky she still puts up with my ass."

"She's lucky too, in some ways. I can't imagine how hard it must be for her. But you're a good man. And not bad to look at either," she teased. "And you're a wonderful father."

"Do you ever think about having kids?"

Addison nearly groaned but looked away instead, her eyes losing focus before she brought herself back. She met his gaze, sighing. He seemed to always be determined to see how much he could get her to open up. "I used to." She shrugged. "When I was very, very young. My parents were so horribly awful though I definitely shouldn't continue that cycle. And I'm too old now anyway," she smiled as if she were joking but knew it probably came off wrong. MM didn't say anything else and she was grateful when he left it at that. It had seemed quite clear to her a long time again that it was a ridiculous thing to want.

This time MM magnanimously changed the subject himself after he finished his coffee and they headed back out to the car. As soon as they were both sitting he turned to her with a smirk and a wet wipe. "Wanna go through all the dirt we can remember on every possible agent we can think of?"

Addison grinned back. "Oh yes."

After they arrived at the location, Addison and MM did surveillance for hours without much to report. They didn't give up until around 2am and went to their separate rooms agreeing to meet early the next morning.

When she crawled into bed she couldn't help wishing that Billy were there, warm and strong and naked and... She sighed softly to herself. Had it really only been 24 hours ago that she had been in his arms?

She scrolled the news on her phone until it got too depressing and was just about to set her phone aside when the notification popped up.

Night, sunshine.

She couldn't help it. Her heart soared.

Goodnight, Billy. Wish you were beer, she replied with a heart emoji.

The thought of his warm, seldom shown, smile helped her fall into a peaceful sleep.

Their mission was predictably uneventful and went by quickly, though Addison thought of Billy often. They texted a few more times, and he asked if he should meet her when she was done with the job.

When she and MM got back to the city, MM dropped her off at the apartment in Brooklyn before he went home to his family. The place was empty, so Addison searched the fridge for something to eat after the long drive they'd made, both just wanting to get home as soon as possible.

Billy came into the basement apartment a few minutes later as Addison was standing at the counter making a turkey sandwich. The sight of him made her heart flip, and for a second, all she could think was that the entire thing must've been in her head, because here he was, looking as fierce and as Billy Butcher as he always did, and there was no way he cared a lick that she was here or about what she was doing. But then he met her eyes and spoke.

"How'd it go, sunshine?"

Addison smiled;  when he focused on her she could feel the warmth emanating from him from across the room. Whatever it was between them, it was real. "Perfectly fine. No bullets. No knives. No new holes in me."

"Well that's a fuckin' weird thing to say, but all right,' he teased, his dimple showing.

Addison shrugged, grinning back. "Maybe you're rubbing off on me."

"Now, that sounds more like it..." He came around the counter and took the final steps between them. Billy slid his hands around her waist and moved forward until she was pressed between him and the counter, his eyes blazing. "I hate to admit it, but that was a long fuckin' two days, sweetheart."

Addison slid her hands over his chest, fiddling with the collar of his colorful shirt, her smile growing wider. "I missed you too," she teased him. Maybe he wasn't saying it explicitly but she could see it in his eyes.

"You did? What'd ya think about?"

"You." She pressed closer. "Naked. A lot."

By the time she spoke the last word, his mouth was touching hers and when she finished he captured hers completely. The heady kiss was instant fire. Addison whimpered as he took control. His hands slipped down to her hips, pulling her against his body as he swept his tongue over hers.

She slid one hand into the lush, dark hair at the nape of his neck, holding him close, and ran her other hand over his chest, her fingertips dipping into the v of his open shirt to touch bare skin. She moaned at the feeling but it wasn't enough, so she undid the next button and the next, smoothing her palm over the tickle of hair and his heated skin.

"Mon chèrie!" Frenchie's voice suddenly came out of nowhere as he came in with Hughie and slammed the door behind him. It startled Addison, making her jump apart from Billy and break the kiss.

"You 'ave something on your face, chèrie..." Frenchie grinned, pointing at them.

Butcher groaned, moving his hands from her to lean on the counter behind her. "Fuck me," he grumbled.

Hughie, on the other hand, beamed like it was Christmas. "Wow. This is a full thing now?" he gestured between the two of them. "When did that happen?"

"I guess it's been in the works," Addison answered playfully, smiling at Billy. "But he was especially moved after the last attempt on my life. Butcher doesn't like it when someone tries to take his toys away."

Butcher put his hand over his heart, giving her an accusatory look. "I would never..."

Addison lifted her brow.

"...never," he continued, "call you my toy in front of other people."

Addison laughed and slipped out of his way to finish making her sandwich on the counter.

"Oi," he protested, "we were in the middle of somethin', love."

"I'm hungry," she picked up the plate with her sandwich and went over to sit at the table.

"So am I," he argued.

Addison laughed, and smiled, taking a bite. "Five minutes," she held up her hand, her eyes sparkling.

"What happens in 5 minutes?" Hughie asked, coming around to stand next to the table. "The two of you are just going to go at it right here on the counter?"

"Wouldn't you just love that," Butcher smirked at him.

"No actually not at all," Hughie held his hand up. "Is there a - do we need to have a rule? Wait, you haven't actually done it on the counter have you..." Hughie looked over at the counter as if expecting to suddenly see any number of germs crawling over the surface.

"That would be a whole lot of none of your fuckin' business," Butcher said pointedly and Hughie made a face.

"No, we have not," Addison rolled her eyes from the table in between bites.

"Okay, well I think that's a rule now," Hughie crossed his arms.

"Can't make any promises, son."

"I agree with Monsieur Charcutier. No rules," Frenchie interjected.

Addison rolled her eyes again but she was smiling. "Let's go." She stuffed the last bite of sandwich in her mouth and stood from the table, taking her plate into the kitchen and putting it in the dishwasher.

"You always know just what gets me engine running, sunshine," he teased her as she finished chewing the enormous bite and swallowed, but she ignored him, and took his hand, pulling him toward the door.

"I promise Hughie," she called out over her shoulder as she opened the door. "We will not have sex on the counter. On this counter, I mean," she corrected.

"Now that sounds like a challenge..." Billy grinned wickedly and they disappeared out the door.

Chapter 17