#Also probably gonna need to think of a title if I do actually finish it tomorrow

[jamtartandsunshine]

I really want to finish my untitled Jamie has a nightmare on the team bus fic tomorrow so I'm posting a snippet in hopes of summoning some good writing vibes / good brain thinky thinky vibes from the universe

🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

He figured he’d be sitting by himself. Surely nobody would want to sit next to the guy that lost them the game so he couldn’t help but glance up when he felt a warm body settle beside him, quickly looking down again when he saw Roy looking at him. All eyebrows and disappointment. Jamie swallowed heavily as a cry rose up in his throat. He hated disappointing any of them, but Roy had sacrificed so much of his own time to train Jamie, to make him better and this is how Jamie repaid him?

[jinx-xxed]

Broken Bones

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆ .。.:*

A/N; Just a quick thing because I couldn’t get this scene out of my head 🤕 also an important note; when it says the rifle can fold think Caitlyn Kiramman’s gun from Arcane S1 because I think it was so cool and I’m obsessed with that mechanic 🙏

Summary; Some new guys think it’s a good idea to try and threaten you.

Content; Harassment, vague threats of sexual assault, you’re an inventor/mechanic, your weapon is a rifle, blood and injury, (subtle) protective Wriothesley

Wc; 2k

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆ .。.:*

You blow out a breath, leaning back from your work. The metal on the pipe glows red hot before beginning to cool, securely welded in place. Another successful pipe swap finished, which means this sector of the Fortress is done and you can cross it off your long list.

You hang in the air, suspended high above the ground by harnesses and ropes. It’s a new thing you tested out in order to reach the higher piping and mechanics within the Fortress, and it’s been working beautifully. Wriothesley nearly had a heart attack when he first saw you suspended hundreds of feet in the air, but you assured him you were fine. It turned out to be fun once you got used to it, sitting above everything else in the Fortress and getting lost in your work. You secure your blow torch to your belt, lifting your goggles to properly inspect the welding. You run your gloves along the pipe, testing its stability and making sure everything will hold.

You tasked yourself with replacing a bunch of the major piping within the Fortress, finding it would provide better energy conservation and also faster energy transfers. Wriothesley was all for it, letting you take the lead on the project and trusting your judgement. You have two more areas left to complete, each one taking about a day to finish.

Once satisfied with your inspection, you begin to lower yourself to the floor by loosening the ropes and using your feet on the wall to control your speed. You hit the metal safely, a soft breath escaping you with relief. You’re always just a little paranoid that a rope will snap and leave you to splat on the floor like a bug.

You start detangling yourself from all your equipment, placing your tools carefully in your bag and undoing the harness. You finally wriggle out of it when you hear footsteps behind you. You turn, expecting to find Wriothesley coming to inspect your work but instead see three unfamiliar, male faces. You instantly straighten, brows furrowing slightly. This area of the Fortress is mostly empty and unused; they have no reason to be in these tunnels.

“Can I help you, sirs?” You ask, voice holding a cold bite to it. You don’t recognize any of them so you can only assume they’re fairly new inmates. Their eyes are unfriendly, their expressions unreadable. They’re all taller than you, with only one seeming to have decent muscle mass.

The one at the head of the pack shrugs, sniffing. “Dunno, maybe. Are you the one that’s real buddy-buddy with His Grace?” The way he says Wriothesley’s title is mocking and it instantly lets you know what their intentions are.

“I hear they’re more than just buddies.” The second one snickers.

The first nods, a slimy smirk on his face. “Right, right. She’s his plaything, huh? You’re too cute to be with a stupid bastard like him.”

You glower as they continue to get closer. “Do you actually need something or did you come here just to be fucking weird?”

“You could probably give us something, yeah. We want benefits, princess, and you’re gonna get ��em for us from your manwhore.” He continues. They’re fully in your space now with your back an inch from the wall and them pacing around you like sharks. “Better meals, days off from the factory, coupons. Maybe even some time with you, huh?” The other two chuckle along with him.

His eyes and uneven teeth glint in the dim lighting. “Life’s too hard down here for newbies like us. Surely you can find it in your heart to agree. All you gotta do is ask, princess. And if you don’t…” He shrugs again, considering the alternative. You catch the glint of a knife on the second one and you wonder where in the hell he got that. The guards should’ve frisked him, they should’ve caught it. Although, when you take another look, it seems to be a piece of rusty old metal sharpened into something deadly and stuck onto a piece of wood. Hell, it might even be a chunk from the pipes you’d been taking out.

“If you can’t handle simple prison life then you’re just massive wimps. Wriothesley is more than gracious in his rule down here and you should be grateful he gives scum like you anything at all.” You snap, glaring harshly. “Although don’t count on having anything left after this.”

The main guy scoffs in disbelief. “Oh, please. I can see His Grace hasn’t done anything about your mouth yet. Guess you need a real man to do that, right? Should we send you back with something to remember us by?”

He reaches towards you. He makes to grab your wrist, to pin you against the wall and do whatever he wants.

He never gets the chance. Not before there’s a resounding, sickening crack through the metal tunnel and he’s laid flat on the floor. You hold your rifle backwards in your hands, having just slammed the steel butt of it into the guy’s jaw hard enough to break bone. It had been folded and attached to the back of your belt, ready to come out at a moments notice. You press your lips together as you bring it down again directly on his nose, blood spurting from the pure, angry force behind it as he gives you a nice scream.

You flip your rifle in your hands and shoot it all in one smooth motion, the makeshift knife then flying out of the second man’s hand. You point the barrel at the other two, your eyes ablaze as they look at you with true fear, their hands going up. You motion from the one on the floor to the others. “Take your piece of shit friend and leave. Don’t let me ever catch you trying this again.”

They oblige, quickly forcing the one up while his shattered nose bleeds profusely down his front and he groans. Your gun follows them the entire time, your finger resting on the trigger. They leave in a panic, muttering something like “crazy bitch” as they do.

Once they’re out of sight and you can no longer hear their footsteps, you release a shuddering breath. You didn’t realize how bad your hands were shaking until now, and it makes you clutch your gun a little tighter. You’re surprised it’s taken this long for someone down here to try and use you to get at Wriothesley, honestly. You suppose the newbies haven’t been taught to fear you just as much as the Duke yet.

You swallow thickly, folding your rifle and putting it safely back on your belt. You quickly stuff the rest of your tools into your bag, slinging it over your shoulder and hurrying out of the tunnel. You do your best to ignore the blood spatter on the floor and on the toe of your boot.

» ☆ «

You flinch when there’s a knock on the door of your office. It startles you out of the trance you’d been in, engrossing yourself with the newest project on your work table. You don’t even need to get up to see who it is because the door opens anyway, revealing Wriothesley. He promptly shuts it again after stepping into your office. You pause your music and lift your goggles, looking at him expectantly.

He leans against the side of your table, arms crossed over his wide chest. “Heard you shattered someone’s nose today?” He asks lightheartedly, the corners of his lips upturned.

You sigh through your nose, shutting your eyes briefly. You knew he’d find out sooner rather than later, which is why you’d been hiding out in your work shop. “I know I shouldn’t have. I took it too far, I’m sorry-“

The amusement immediately drops from Wriothesley’s face, his brows furrowing. He laughs in disbelief. “What? No, no, that’s not what this is. I don’t give two shits about those guys. I think you should’ve shot them, honestly.” He spits. He takes a deep breath to calm himself, then looking at you earnestly. “I just want to know if you’re okay.”

You nod. “Yes, I’m fine. They didn’t touch me. They just threatened me.”

He hums in thought. “What happened down there? I want to hear it from you, not those idiot fuckers that cried wolf when I paid a visit to the infirmary.”

“Well, I was doing work on the pipes and I had just finished when I heard someone coming into the tunnel. I thought it was you at first, but I saw them instead. I didn’t recognize them so I figured they were new. They were aware of my relationship with you and decided to try to use me to get you to give them benefits, like better Welfare meals and coupons and stuff. They tried to put me against the wall and the one tried to grab me and that’s when I broke his nose.” You explain. “Oh, and the bigger one had some kind of makeshift knife. Don’t know where he got it or how he made it but I shot it out of his hand.”

Wriothesley stares at the wall, hand idly placed over his mouth, thinking things over in his mind. Theres a long pause before he finally shakes his head, a frustrated sigh leaving him. “I had a feeling those three would be trouble.” He mumbles before looking at you. “You did good, sweetheart. I’m glad you protected yourself. I’m sorry you had to deal with that bullshit.” One of his hands cups your cheek, the familiar cold of his rings soothing.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault.” You say, leaning into his touch as his thumb rubs back and forth across your skin.

“You say that, but it is, technically.” He responds, remorse glistening in his eyes. No matter what you tell him, you know he’ll blame himself for whatever trouble befalls you in the Fortress. He thinks that since it’s his domain, he should be able to control what happens entirely—but nobody’s that powerful, especially in a land of criminals. “From now on, I’m sending a guard with you when you work on the pipes.” You start to protest but he cuts you off. “It’ll make me feel better. I know you can handle yourself but I’d rather avoid it coming to that if we can.”

“Fine, I guess.” You mutter and he smirks, leaning down to kiss your pouty lips.

He pulls away but just barely, your faces inches apart as he studies you to the point it makes you squirm. “Why didn’t you come to me?” He asks at last.

You fidget with your hands, debating your answer. “I just… I don’t know.. I guess- I guess I just thought it wasn’t a big enough deal. I’d handled it… somewhat.”

He straightens with a huff, hands resting leisurely on his hips and looking down at you. It vaguely makes you feel like a child getting scolded. “Anything’s a big deal when it concerns you. Next time come to me, alright? I need to know about these things, and I’d rather hear it from you than from some lowlifes. Agreed?”

You nod in defeat. “Agreed.”

“Good. Now, it’s late and you’ve had a long day, so you should go back to our room and get some sleep, hm?” He says, tilting your head up with a gentle hold on your chin. “I have some business to take care of but I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

You narrow your eyes at him, having a feeling you know what “business” he means but he merely smiles at you, always refusing to show his hand, even when it’s you. He walks back to his office with you, stopping at the door to give you a kiss on your forehead before you go your separate ways.

Those three men are about to have a very, very bad night.

[starguardianniom]

Hugo and Vivian

So I finished the bangboo event yesterday for the main story and completed all the quests today, so now it's time to talk about what was the most interesting to me about it.

It was Hugo and Vivian.

They finally showed up!

Hugo's bangboo is named Robin, and he also speaks the human language instead of speaking bangboo as well!

That's nice to know. Makes me laugh that Hugo has a bangboo named Robin, since he's part of a band of thieves, reminds me of Robin Hood, pretty sure it's intentional.

Also why do I call Vivian, Vivian? Because it seems to be her name if said name is written all over her parasol. I'm not even kidding.

Welcome Vivian, that's the fanciest parasol I've seen in a while. Really pretty.

Hugo is apparently a collector. Though he seems to prefer objects of historical and sentimental value more than actual perceived value in money.

I wonder what's the reason behind it, but still, cool.

Also Vivian seems to be hoping for Phaethon to show up or something?

My poor girl is given the title "Strange Young Lady", she's not strange she's adorable, a real little gothic doll. <3 Well, she is slightly taller than Belle but that's probably her shoes giving her an extra inch more than anything else.

Still, she's so precious. I love her your honor. I also see she has some streaks of white/silver in her hair, nice.

I must wonder what she and Hugo have for relationship, are they just friends, business partners, teammates only, like brother and sister or father and daughter like, or boss and employee, master and servant??? I just cannot see them as being a romantic couple.

But also apparently Hugo is the first person in the story to actually pull one on Lycaon, being able to steal what he wanted before Lycaon could intervene, pretty cool. Sending a letter to tell them about the future thieft, only to steal it before the finale, that was awesome. We probably helped with that by accident but still I find it funny that Lycaon didn't think about it before that it could be stolen before the winner was even decided. But he doesn't seem to surprised by it but still. Good one from Hugo.

Hugo is a thief but he also still seems nice and not a bad person, according to Astra.

I guess we'll see in a future patch and hopefully after the Obol Squad and Pulchra's events.

I am skipping everyone else just to get Hugo and Vivian, so no Ellen, no Evelyn, no Qingyi, no Anby, no Trigger and no Pulchra, just Hugo and Vivian. I need those 2 badly. If Pulchra is A rank, I will probably be able to get her on the normal channel. But I need to stay strong for Hugo and Vivian, these 2 alone can keep me going for a while.

Also I'm gonna change my avatar for Vivian's picture in 2 minutes. ^^ I just really love her so very much. <3

Hugo can finally complete my holy trinity of himself, Harumasa and Billy, my 3 favorite characters in the game. Seth and Miyabi both tie for second place. Vivian might join my holy trinity to make it a quartet. XD

[supernovafics]

series masterlist | last part — next part

pairing: modern!college!steve harrington x fem!reader, bestfriend!eddie munson x fem!reader

word count: 3.1k words

warnings: explicit language, brief mention of alcohol/drinking, pining, a little angst

summary: steve meets you at eddie’s show and even though you’re feeling a little weird and nervous about what you two are doing, you ultimately decide that there’s a first time for everything

CHAPTER THREE | ❝𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅❞

Fall Semester 2015

Eddie was good. Like, really good.

So good that you had to keep reminding yourself to not ogle at his hands on the guitar, seamlessly moving from chord to chord, or focus too hard on the almost too pretty sound of his voice. 

You silently wondered— as he and his band finished out the last few moments of the song they were rehearsing— if you would be feeling this way as you watched him practice if you didn’t have the biggest crush on him. Or maybe this would’ve ended up being the moment you realized everything, instead of that moment happening in his dorm room just a few weeks ago.

You still hadn’t decided how to tell him, you also still weren’t sure if you even wanted to tell him at all. If you said something and he didn’t feel the same way, you had a feeling that it would mess everything up between you and him, and ultimately ruin this friendship that felt so important to you. 

Therefore, you were leaning more toward never telling him how you felt, or at least waiting for the perfect moment to do so. However, you didn’t know what would necessarily deem a moment as “perfect.” Maybe one day it would just feel right to finally utter the words to him? You weren’t entirely sure. 

For the time being, you pushed those confusing thoughts to the side, and in this moment you simply focused on the final notes of the song being played out, marking its end, and then Eddie placing his guitar down. 

“You guys are really good,” You said from where you sat barely five feet away because of how small the garage was; you couldn’t remember if this was Gareth’s place, Jeff’s, or Doug’s. “Like, really, really good. It’s actually kind of insane.” 

Eddie smiled at you. “I think you’re our number one fan now.”

“I feel honored to hold that title.”

He walked over to where you were sitting. “You wanna come with me to get the pizza?”

His question was one that you didn’t need to outwardly respond to because the answer was obvious. You simply nodded as you stood up from your chair and walked with him to his van. 

You’d go anywhere with Eddie— and that fact was the main reason why you were currently spending your Saturday in his hometown two hours away from your guys’ college, instead of holed up in the library studying for midterms. 

“I think I get it,” You said, gazing out the window as he drove and watching the small empty fields and random houses pass by in a blur. 

“Get what?”

“Why you wanted to leave here,” You answered, turning to look at him even though his eyes were focused on the road. “It’s so small and quiet. I honestly can’t even imagine you growing up here.”

“There was a record store across town that I really loved, and it was probably the only thing that kept me sane growing up,” He briefly explained and you nodded. “And my uncle. And the guys too. We’ve been doing the whole band thing since middle school.”

The thought of an eleven year old Eddie singing and playing guitar sounded quite adorable to you. 

“That’s so cute.”

Eddie laughed. “Cute was not what we were going for.”

“Sorry, what I meant to say was, that’s so cool and rock ‘n roll.” 

“Solid save.” 

“Thank you.” 

“You have to take me to your hometown next,” He said, taking a brief look over at you as he kept driving. 

You shook your head. “Definitely not gonna happen, and not just because we’d have to take a two hour plane ride to get there.”

“Come on, I brought you here.”

Just for a second, you let yourself think about the suburban town you grew up in states away; a town that you also couldn’t wait to get out of because, just like Eddie’s, it felt way too quiet and small. You tried to briefly imagine him walking down the streets you used to walk to get to school or the park that you had liked to spend most of your free time at reading, but you couldn’t see it. You could barely even see yourself doing any of that anymore. 

“This is different. You want to come here,” You told him. “Aside from my parents, and that’s only sometimes, there’s nothing that makes me wanna go back to my hometown.”

You tried your hardest not to think about how actually saying that out loud made you feel a little sad. 

“So, no band with old friends that makes you wanna go back most weekends?” Eddie asked, purposefully trying to lighten the mood, which you were grateful for. 

You gave him a small smile. “Nope, none of that.” 

That was why you liked him, he read you well and knew the right moments to shift any conversation. 

There was a part of you that wanted to just admit to him how you felt right there in his van. Let the words leave your lips and simply see what would happen. 

But then he was pulling into the parking lot of the pizza place and the moment felt effectively over. And a part of you was glad for that. 

It wasn’t that difficult to pretend that nothing had changed for you and that you still only saw him as your best friend. You honestly found pretending to be the easiest thing to do. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Spring Semester 2018

“Robin just texted me saying, “Tell Eds I’m there in spirit. When in actuality my spirit is dead because this essay is killing me.” So yeah, she’s not coming tonight.”

“Damn, so that means I won’t hear her overenthusiastic “woo’s” after we finish every song.” 

You playfully smiled at Eddie. “I can take over that job for the night if you want.”

“That would be great,” He responded, smiling back. “We need to prove that we have at least one excited fan.”

“Okay, then I’ll make sure to take my job as your number one fan very seriously tonight,” You told him before taking a sip from your drink and then placing it back atop the high wooden table you two were standing on opposite sides of that was a bit wobbly. “I swear we always somehow end up at this specific table.”

“Either that, or they’re all fucked up.” 

“True,” You said and nodded, but you had a feeling that it was probably the same one because you and everyone always ended up occupying the same cluster of tables that were to the right of the small stage— a stage that was currently set up because he was performing in less than twenty minutes. 

You had shown up with Eddie and the rest of the band an hour earlier; which was pretty much a routine when it came to the biweekly gig Corroded Coffin had here. Aces was one of the few bars in town that was actually not frequented by college kids because they were really strict about their carding policies and could spot a fake ID from a mile away. However, Rick, the owner, loved Eddie and the band, so exceptions were made for them; and by extension you and your other friends too.  

You texted Robin back “Your screaming will be missed<3,” and then got a notification for a text from Steve that said, “Just parked.”

“Um, Steve just got here, so I’m gonna go out and grab him.”

“Okay,” Eddie said and then shook his head in what seemed like both disbelief and surprise. “I still can’t believe how good Friday night went for you two.” 

“Yeah, I’m surprised too. I didn’t expect this to happen,” You told him, which technically wasn’t that much of a lie. You really hadn’t expected that night to lead to you fake dating Steve barely a day later. 

The cold night air immediately hit you when you walked outside, even the jacket you were wearing wasn’t enough to keep you warm, so you crossed your arms over your chest as you waited for Steve. You were suddenly glad that you opted against wearing a skirt tonight and decided to settle on a pair of jeans. 

It was a solid three minutes of you looking both ways down the street and waiting for Steve to eventually come into view. And when he finally did, you met him halfway. 

“Jesus, how far did you park?” 

“Way too far.”

Steve fell into step with you as you walked back to the front door. You noticed him look up at the faded sign that had the bar’s name on it and then it seemed as if he realized or remembered something. “Aren’t they really strict at this place?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine,” You answered with a quick shrug before grabbing his hand to keep him close to you as you walked past the small-ish line of people waiting to get their ID checked and get into the bar. You gave a quick smile to Jacob, the bouncer and also Rick’s brother, who was letting you through with no hesitation. “Thanks, Jacob.”

Steve let out a breath of a laugh once you two were fully inside the small and darkly lit bar. “Okay, that was actually pretty cool.” 

You were about to respond to him with some playful joke about how getting into this place both for free and without an ID was probably the coolest thing about you, but then your eyes were on Eddie. He was saying something to the guys as they headed over to the packed bar and then he was left alone at the haphazardly pushed-together tables. Suddenly, you felt nervous and also a bunch of other things that were entirely indecipherable at the moment. 

You turned to look at Steve. “Okay, so, um, how thick are we laying it on right now?”

Instead of answering your question, he seemed to sense your nervousness, so he gave your hand that was still holding his a quick squeeze. “Just chill. Don’t worry.” 

That honestly didn’t do anything to calm your nerves or make you not worried about what you two were about to do. But, it was also weird because even though you were nervous, you didn’t want to back out of doing it. 

“Where is he?” Steve asked.

You simply nodded in the direction of the table Eddie was standing at. 

“Okay, come on,” He said and as you two walked over to the table, he readjusted your hands so that they were intertwined, which made holding hands with him feel a thousand times more intimate. And that was probably exactly why he did it, you realized. 

“Hey,” He greeted Eddie with a smile. 

“Hey, man,” Eddie responded. “Cool seeing you here.”

“Yeah, glad I can finally catch a show.” 

You stopped paying attention to what they were saying, and it wasn’t really on purpose, it was just that all you could focus on right then was Steve’s subtle movements— his hand pulling away from yours and him shifting closer to you so that he could drape his arm around your shoulders instead. He was so smooth and easy with it, meanwhile you were contemplating if you seemed too tense or if your face looked uncomfortable. 

Maybe some practicing would’ve been good before jumping into the deep end of this whole thing. But, what would practicing have even entailed? Steve holding your hand or keeping his arm around you until you felt completely normal about it? That sounded almost too embarrassingly stupid. 

He had done pretty much the same things Friday night on your date— you remembered him holding your hand and wrapping an arm around you during the movie and feeling entirely okay about it; he had even kissed you that night and initially, you had been completely okay before you got too in your head about everything— but this, for obvious reasons, felt entirely different. The point now was to look super into it, and you felt yourself slowly folding under the pressure. 

“Did you tell him about game night?” 

It took you a second to realize Eddie was talking to you because your mind was in an entirely different place right then. You barely even heard the question he asked you. 

“Yeah, she did,” Steve said, saving you. “I’ll be there.” 

“Great, we’ll actually have even teams for once,” Eddie said to you.  

“Talia’s gonna hate that. She loves being referee,” You responded, finally finding your voice and actually managing to feel the tiniest bit normal for a moment. 

“No, she won’t because she’s gonna have the best Pictionary player on her team.” 

You rolled your eyes at that because you knew he was referring to himself. “Vickie is the best at Pictionary, actually.” 

“Okay. Second best.”

“I think Robin’s second, but you’re definitely third because me and Talia are equally bad at that game.”

“Fine, I’ll take third,” Eddie responded. “Unless Harrington here has a secret talent?” 

Steve shook his head. “No, I’m terrible at drawing.” 

Eddie smiled at that. “You two will make a great team then.” 

“I think our bad drawing skills will cancel each other out and we’ll actually end up being really good,” You said, mostly kidding with your words.  

“Or we’ll be worse,” Steve said. 

“It’s very sad to see that you have no faith in us,” You joked, looking up at him, and he only laughed in response.

He and Eddie went into talking about an assignment for the class they had together, and you attempted to pay attention to their conversation, but your mind went right back to overthinking everything. You wondered whether or not things looked real or if it all seemed entirely forced and out of place. 

Steve was doing pretty much all of the work right then at making this newfound relationship look believable, and your only job was to pretend that you were happy to lean into his touch and to make it seem like you were at least a little enamored by him, which was easier said than done. You were now discovering that acting wasn’t your strong suit. 

They continued talking for the next minute or two before Eddie was saying that he needed to head on stage. “I’ll see you guys after.”  

You nodded and said a simple “Good luck,” and then he walked away, joining Gareth, Jeff, and Doug on stage. You let out a breath that you didn’t even know you’d been holding. 

“You okay?” Steve asked once Eddie was out of earshot. His arm dropped from around you, but he still stayed close. “I know we shook hands on it and everything, but we really don’t have to do this. It’s fine if you wanna back out.”

“No, I’m okay. I just didn’t expect this to feel so weird? I don’t know if that’s the right word, but yeah… I swear I’m fine, though, I’ll get better at,” You briefly gestured between you and him. “This whole thing.”

The last time you were so outwardly physically affectionate with someone was years ago; a high school relationship that ended just as quickly as it had started. You weren’t used to this anymore, and maybe it was dumb to think that it would be easy to do it, especially with someone you didn’t really even know that well.

“We don’t have to do this,” Steve reminded you.  

“No, I want to. Honestly,” You assured him, and surprisingly that still felt mostly true.

“When’s game night?”

“Tomorrow,” You answered, forgetting that that had been brought up in the conversation with Eddie. “It’s a once-a-month thing we do at the apartment.”

“Got it,” He said with a nod.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t wanna. It’s mainly just three hours of all of us screaming at each other,” You briefly explained. “That’s the reason why we only do it once a month. Friendships would be ruined if we made it a weekly thing.”

“Sounds deadly.” 

“Very much so.” 

“Also, sounds fun.”

You let out a laugh. “Didn’t peg you for a masochist, Steven.” 

He ignored that. “Do you want me to come tomorrow?” 

You took a moment to actually consider his question. Everyone else was gonna have to meet him eventually, especially if you wanted to make it seem like you “really liked him,” so maybe it would be best to just rip off the band-aid and do the introductions sooner rather than later. 

“Yeah, I do,” You ultimately answered. “You should come. I think it’ll be good.” 

Before he could even say anything in response, the band started playing and every conversation happening in the small bar became drowned out by the music. You bopped your head and softly sang along to the songs you knew, which were pretty much all of them aside from a few new covers they decided to do. And you, of course, loudly applauded and excitedly shouted after every song, just like you told Eddie you would. 

“Wow,” Steve said at one point, mouth close to your ear so that you could hear him over the music. “It’s so obvious that you like him. I honestly didn’t think it was possible to witness heart eyes in real life.”  

You playfully nudged him. “Shut up.” 

You had a feeling that he was mostly joking with his words, but still, you couldn’t help but think, Did it really look that obvious? 

You turned to look at Steve and were about to ask him what exactly looked so obvious and how was he so easily able to notice something that Eddie somehow never had. 

However, you immediately noticed that his attention was on a girl across the bar who was looking right back at him with a matching smile on her face. 

“Keep it in your pants tonight, Harrington,” You told him, elbow bumping his side again. “And until the end of February too.” 

“I know. Sorry,” Steve said, looking away from the girl and back at the stage.

“Y’know, I was mostly joking last night when I said that not dating anyone this month would probably be hard for you. But, now seeing that it actually is hard for you, I’m just concerned. There are tons of support groups that you can join to help with this problem,” You said, trying your hardest to keep a straight face as you said your words, but ending up smiling the entire time. 

“Ha ha,” He said sarcastically, which only made you smile more. 

You focused back on Eddie, listening as he said that he was about to perform what would be the last song of the night. You shouted happily in anticipation and smiled at him when his eyes met yours. 

Once again, you couldn’t help but wonder, Was it obvious?

At some point during that final song, Steve placed an arm around you again, and it surprisingly didn’t feel all too weird that time around. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

next part!

taglist (lmk if you want to be added or taken off<333); @eddiernunson , @loulouloueh , @the-aster , @blckburd , @totally-bogus-timelady , @yujyujj , @irhdifartzamfyaa , @mochminnie , @munsonssweets , @blckbrrybasket , @xprloki

[11queensupreme11]

Hello queen, sorry but I wanted to know how the yanderes would react to knowing that technically Percy is considered a bastard girl and not a princess since Poseidon was married to Amphitrite and she already had sons and daughters with her and she is not technically a princess, her sisters are and she is not very loved by her father's family (amphitrite, Triton and her daughters Rhodes and Cimponela) And that Percy Poseidon technically "abandoned" her even before she was born and that she has practically only seen him like 5 times and most of them were so that she either went on a mission or had just finished Upon returning from a mission and that Percy knows how to fight technically, Poseidon, Apollo and Hades do not believe her capable of even handling a knife well.😆

THEY WOULD BE SO PISSED LMAOOO like "wdym the princess isn't a princess, that's not funny, don't lie to me 😡"

and yes, they ALL would be pissed. ALL OF THEM.

it's not just a title to them, being part of the royal family means a life of privilege and safety, and if percy was never declared a princess in the pjo verse, than that means she has NO privilege of safety. they really just got this girl out in the wild (new york) fighting for her life 24/7 LMAO

poseidon would be the most pissed for obvious reasons. he does not care if she's a bastard child (and also dare you call my baby that 😡🔱), she should be a princess in his eyes!!! she's better than all the other dumb kids his stupid counterpart has! and he'd be so pissed that she's fighting too, like his baby is supposed to be a princess doing princessy things!!! not fighting! percy's the star of all of these quests and she quite literally has no choice BUT to go, but he doesn't care, he'd demand someone else go cuz he's not putting his baby in danger!!!

(don't even mention the fact that pjo!poseidon's other demigod kids were born into royalty from the mom's side so they were all princes too whereas percy's really just that one Commoner Kid poseidon has LMAOOOO 😭😭😭 she's the peasant of the family 😂)

if hades had a heart, he'd be clutching it and having a heart attack. okay, percy's not a princess? fine, okay, he's not happy but whatever. BUT IF YOU TELL HIM THAT SHE'S OUT THERE FIGHTING BECAUSE SHE'S A DEMIGOD, AND THAT'S JUST WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A DEMIGOD IN THAT WORLD???? lmao he is putting his foot DOWN 😤😤😤 girls should not be fighting! they should be locked away under the protection of their family because they need to be safe!!! and percy's just a baby 🥺 she shouldn't be exposed to violence 🥺🥺🥺 (he'll deadass say that while percy's drowning a horde of monsters behind him 😭)

apollo is screaming, crying, and throwing up like "the love of my life... is a PEASANT??? NOOOOO 😭😭😭😭" percy: it's really not that bad--"WHY MUST LIFE BE SO UNFAIR TO HER???? NOOO 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭" he'd be going on and on about how he would treat her SO well and give her the life she deserves, and she's just going all "please don't" but he wouldn't listen 💀

beelzebub already knows of this, she told him as much. she never outright told him that she has no royal title, but cmon he went to new york with her and she showed him the shitty apartment she used to live in 💀 it was very easy for him to figure out that she's a fucking peasant 😭. so yeah, the whole princess thing isn't a big deal to him, but he thinks it's unfair that most of poseidon's other demigod sons had higher status and percy's just That Broke Bitch 😭 percy also vaguely told him about the monsters too, but when he ACTUALLY sees how bad it is (+ quests + wars) he's gonna freak out and kidnap her away 💀

loki would laugh at her for being a peasant LMAOOOOO 💀 im sorry but he really would 😭😭😭😭 so yeah, he wouldn't care that she wasn't a princess, he'd probably make fun of her and get annoyed when it doesn't bug her. she genuinely does not care about royal titles so nice try loki 💀 he will, however, sing a different tune once the monster attacks and quests start rolling in. he'd be pissed and flabbergasted like "WHY do all these stupid prophecies keep involving you?! it's not like you're special or anything!!!" once it dawns on him that she truly is The Main Character, he's gonna freak out too because "holy shit hahaha this is kinda dangerous for you, maybe i should kidnap you away?? 🙃"

anubis would feel upset that she's not a princess (his nickname for her is "Tiny Princess" btw guys!!!! 🥺🥺🥺) but he'll just go "don't worry babe, you're still MY tiny princess no matter what they say!!! 🥰💖💖💖" and he actually wouldn't mind the quests, monster attacks, etc. he'd watch her fight and be like "woooooow she's so cool 😃" until she gets an owie 💀💀💀💀 then it finally clicks in his head that oh no she could die, and that's when he really becomes feral. he'd probably jump in and destroy whatever hurt her (let it be a monster, a random root she tripped on, or maybe some young camper accidentally misaims during archery class and grazes her). he's destroying it regardless and hauling her back to his palace like "*sniff sniff* Tiny Princess... 🥺🥺🥺🥺 are you okay???? 🥺🥺🥺" and she'd be like "anubis... i tripped on a rock" "I KNEW THAT WORLD WAS TOO DANGEROUS FOR YOU, I'M SUCH A BAD MATE IM SORRY 😭😭😭😭 💔"

(also, wait lmao, you know the whole lamia thing and how she set a curse so that all monsters would be able to sniff out demigods??? ANUBIS WOULD BE PERFECT FOR THIS CUZ HE COULD JUST SCENT HER LIKE IN THOSE OMEGAVERSE FICS LMAOOOOOO)

[harmoniouseclipse]

Woe fankids be upon ye

Doing a little series where I took some ship requests on my instagram to make them fankids, this one is for me tho (jeanlisa to kick it off whoo 🙌🏻) The lineup so far is Cytham, Kavetham, Lionfish (aka Freminet x Gaming aged up probably idk how old they are canonically), Cynonari, Jealuc, and Beiguang, and feel free to send me some other pairings you wanna see (as long as they are legal pls otherwise I will ignore it 👎)

I'm gonna ramble about some headcanons and lore for them under the cut, continue with caution bc I'm insane

These two are my brainrot rn, don't even joke lad. And I wanna tell yall their name meanings too bc I like them a lot 🥹 Zephra's means "west wind" derived from Greek, and it's the feminine version of Zephyr. Tyrian was a type of purple dye used by the Ancient Phoenicians, huge huge HUGE thanks to my pookie bear @miothefish for helping me out with his name!!! Also he has Lisa's butterfly earring and you can't see bc of the angle but Zephra has the rose that went in her hair holding her ponytail <3

I'm also making a massive family tree for the characters as a go along, and just the jeanlisa tree is taking up half of the canvas bc of the KoF and Sumeru characters since Cyno is their uncle and the rest of the gang are their honorary uncles 😭 I'll be posting that once the series is done/all the requests are finished/I run out of ships and otps I enjoy

Here's an alternative version with some more info on most of the characters I wanted to briefly mention in their relation to them; Tyrian likes calling Eula his aunt too even though she was never really considered one for them so it's kind of like her unofficial title she pretends to dislike but she loves it and dotes on Tyrian 🤭 She and Diluc also helped train Zephra with a claymore and Diluc kind of became a parental figure to her in her teen years after Lisa's passing 🥺 She also feels like she's outshined by Jean and that she's not smart or powerful enough to follow in Lisa's footsteps (something that Lisa wouldn't want anyways bc it led her to her death 😔) rip zephra she's just like me fr

And yeah some Kaeya angst bc he's still going thru it I fear, and Jean is single mombossing but she's worried for zephra which me too dawg, im afraid to say she might be cooked 😦 Zephra is also kind of like a weird mix of Lisa when she was her age and Jean, where overall she's well-mannered and kind but she can be competitive and feel the need to push herself too much and pull a few strings to get what she wants from time to time. Tyrian is a ray of sunshine tho, he has not yet witnessed the horrors 💔 I do think that Jean is also a lot easier on him than her mom was with her so that also helps. He's very shy tho and wants to stick with Zephra or Razor most of the time, and they both have some nasty tan lines from going out with Razor and Klee and Fischl a lot 😔 Cyno also freaking loves them and dotes on them and Tyrian is getting a TCG addiction because of it smh, Cyno is also one of Zephra's favorite people and when she's in Sumeru she stays with him and Alhaitham (bc in my universe they are married ough I love cytham)

And (I think?) Klee physically and mentally ages slower than humans so I think she'd be technically 9 or 10, and Zephra is left with babysitting duty most of the time if she's home on break or smth 😭 Klee really looks up to her tho

Also, I wrote Tyrian's last bullet point like he was super young when Lisa died, but I think he was around 7 so he actually remembers Lisa better than I intended it to sound, he was just younger than Zephra (who was 11 at the time) and just didn't have as much time with her as Zeph did, but his most fond memory of Lisa was reading with her and she probably taught them some potion-making skills too.

I think there will be some abyss angst in here too at some point, since I hc Lisa to be probably an Abyss Lector/Harold (I forget which is which) um so thinking that Zeph and Tyrian experiencing some not normal things happening and Jean doesn't know what to do since Lisa also didn't really know what that dog in her was until it was too late 😔 That's what Kaeya's for tho since he's like the heir of the abyss???? Go off king. Also some touchy ragbros angst bc Kaeya is scared for Zeph knowing how close she is with Luc and he doesn't want him to push her away because of her being from the abyss or smth (they mostly made up but it's still a fear in Kaeya's mind both for him and Jean's kids)

I think that's all I wanted to touch on for now?? Mainly just thinking about domestic fluff and angst all the time now 🥺 Zeph not being able to be open with Jean bc she feels like a disappointment but Jean would literally actually die for her and shes proud of her no matter what ough im going to lose my freak dawg guess who my favorite fankid is it's super hard ik

Send me asks or dms or whatever for more ship requests!!! I'm having so much fun with this dawg 🫶🏻

[aurantiumred]

saw @manygeese do this! does this count as a chain or something should i have reblogged them? anyway, i need to decide what to work on.

im so sleepy. heres estimated lengths in more detail:

SoN jercy re-write: same length as it's book! maybe a few more chapters, maybe a few chapters cut. one work.

valgrace strawberry picking oneshot: this is probably gonna be just a silly little thing. 5k words maybe?

dc crossover w/ jason grace, which i have dubbed "Saving Grace" (with an outrageous amount of double meaning in that title btw) for now: have been plotting with @moth-monarch (tagged the wrong person the first time lol, sorry!) and @whosthatredguy for a while (you guys are great). multiple works. long. probably wont finish, because im chasing dopamine and the only reason im doing it is because this dc hyperfixation has hit me harder than the brick that hit jason grace and the crowbar that hit jason todd combined. will require lots of research into comics n shit. i cannot think if im not thinking about my adventures with superman. someone help.

cryptid fic: dude i came up with this on the spot. i want to give the demigods noticably inhuman traits (gills for percy, wings for hermes kids, give jason grace the curly white cloud hair he deserves) i have no IDEA how long it could be. could be 10k, could be 45k, could be more, could be anywhere in-between. im a mess.

superbat wingfic: *slaps cardboard wings on batman* tada!!! anyway this has mostly come about because the way superman flies atm is BORING!!! give that man big bulletproof wings he can protect people with please!! that'd actually be so cool. uh... hmm... ??? no idea on length. look at my estimated length for the cryptid fic. also playing on the idea that belief makes gods and cryptids, not some sort of divine right. (thinking about this harder. so hard. autism husbands...)

and then it'll probably take me like a month to annotate the lost hero. depends. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ if this ties im gonna say fuck it and grab a wheel spinner app lmao. by the way, if you see one of these ideas and happen to want to write it, feel absolutely free. take it and run!!!

[d-lanx]

Ok now I’ve slept and the hype over last night is over I’ve had time to actually think about what could happen. So my theories are below the cut. I've almost definitely forgot something so might add to it or tweak it later.

Firstly, Drew possibly feuding with Damian? He was eliminated by him and seemed shocked. Then there’s the whole thing about drew apparently storming out after the show and complaining that someone messed up and eliminated him too soon and “had to get their moves in”. I'm assuming this is probably part of a storyline. So I guess damian? Reminds me of what they did when punk returned. Which also means drew on smackdown as they’ve previously been hinting at :( tbh I’m still surprised. The bloodline story he had was interesting, I was sure he was gonna have a match with Roman at mania. And I feel like it would be weird to briefly go after Damian for something seemingly unrelated to the bloodline, and then to go back to Roman. So I’m assuming this will be a feud till mania. But it does feel very random.

Seth I think might be doing something with Roman reigns. There seemed to be a lot more focus on their dynamic in the match tonight. And now Roman has no title it would be even easier to have a blood feud. Also kinda tired of Seth v punk tbh cos it’s not really as fun when the two of them can’t even talk about half of the shit that actually happened when punk left. Tho a three way match between the lot of them to tide us over til mania would be pretty good. Tho I feel if that happened it would be a mania match, not something for elimination chamber so maybe not. Cos I have thoughts about punk rn.

With punk I’m wondering if the favour might be to garauntee him a place in the chamber match, or to otherwise get him a title match/chance to qaulify for one. I was so sure if he went for a title it would be with gunther cos they keep mentioning him and they had those house show matches. It seemed like only a matter of time before he was back in the title picture. But now I’m wondering if it might be Cody. I was surprised to see punk vow to go for Cody in that promo before the rumble after so much Gunther setup (again, he was constantly mentioning him thru the drew and Seth feuds and they had their house show match). And I’m wondering if this is why. Cos they wanted to pull the trigger on Jey and it only made sense for jey to go for Gunther so they shifted punk to Cody.

The punk/cody promo was interesting with punk being worried for him, and Cody seeming burnt out. Then they seemed to have Cody snap in the match last night. I’m wondering if we’re finally gonna get psychotic heel Cody now for punk to feud with. The thing with Cody is that after his storyline to get the title, his title loss will need to be something just as major.

Punks first wwe title since 2013 would be very major. And I can’t imagine them doing a story of his first title in so long and have him be a heel. Cos all the nostalgia fans r gonna be rooting for him no matter what. So it’s not really worth it to try make him a heel. Plus I think it’s an interesting idea that punk, the former burnt out champion fighting a heel Cody, the current burnt out champion, right after warning him about said burnout.

Yes punk was pissed about his loss last night, but if this is what they do then he won’t be going full heel, just typical angry punk with dirty tactics.

Of course this could all be wrong though. Punk might go after Seth again, or wind up in a three way feud with Roman too after the rumble drama. But the thing is, neither Seth or Roman caused him to lose so aside from Seth going mental afterwards, I can’t see why punk would want Seth when hes been so adament about a title ever since he finished his match with seth back on the first netflix raw. Still not sure how I feel about Seth v punk tho considering how mid the punk/seth feud has been. It’s dramatic, sure, but Seth’s arguments really fall apart when u think about them for more than 5 seconds and consider all the other stuff that happened that they’re not talking about, and punk looks weird not mentioning it.

Of course this all leaves out cena. If he wasn’t here I’d be certain of the Cody/punk feud. But with him I’m not so sure. It’s entirely possible that punks promo with Cody was just to provide a bit of foreshadowing before he actually snapped in the match. And that we’re gonna get heel Cody v cena. Cos I do find it hard to imagine that cena won’t be in a main event on his last mania in the wwe. But I also find it weird that they would have cena take the title from Cody if he’s not gonna be sticking around for long after mania. Also from the sounds of things, Cena won't be on TV till elimination chamber. And if they keep that up all year, with him not being on tv and only doing the PPVs its gonna be annoying if he's the champ and never around. It seems like a weird way to end Cody’s title.

And tbh both of these Cody feuds, I feel if they happen, would lead to the title change. But that means a year long reign for Cody. I was so sure he would keep the title longer. But then again, after the major drama to get it, it needs a major place to lose it, like at mania. And I suppose after Roman they don’t just wanna lock into another multi year title reign. They might want the belt to move around a bit more and give more people chances at a title match. So yeah.

It’s hard to say for sure cos it means we now have 3 world title feuds to consider. There’s not enough belts to go around. I saw some theories that punk would use his favour to get a title match before mania, get the belt and then take gunthers place to face jay. But that feels a bit too convoluted for a 2 month storyline. It would be hard to have punk as a face in even the early days of that kind of story if he's going after Jey, and I find it hard to believe they would try to make him heel for his first title back in the company. Cos they won’t be able to get anyone to boo him. Plus I’d be surprised to see him get a title at elimination chamber instead of mania, again cos it’s such a major thing in his career.

So I don’t really know. All I know is I don’t really wanna see Seth v punk anymore. And Seth v punk v Roman could be good, but I’m still not fully sold on that yet, I guess cos Roman and punk haven’t done a whole lot of talking. Also if they did this, it would have to be Roman v punk at mania cos what tf else could they do? The three of them all have very different relationships with each other and they would need to just focus on something. They’ve already done of lot of Seth with each of them, so maybe do Roman v punk and focus on that a bit more and build on survivor series. I just can't see them going for a 3 way feud instead of them trying to get the title. Presumbably all three will be in the chamber match, but then what? All three of them AGAIN at mania??

But the issue I’m still having with that, is that it leaves out the favour. And the favour has been hyped up so much it needs to be something significant. It doesn't have to be like "give me a title now", but rather "get me in the chamber match". Last night I legit thought when punk stepped up to Heyman, he was gonna cash it in, and have it be to get him back in the rumble somehow. Obviously they didn’t do that, and tbh it’d be a bit beyond Heyman's authority to just put him back in, but the point is it’s gonna have to be something important. And if it turns out to be a place in the chamber and he still loses, I feel like it would be a waste. So maybe the chamber and he wins? But then what about cena?

If jey v Gunther wasn’t happening, u could have cena and punk as faces going after Gunther and Cody and do whatever. There was so many storylines that needed finishing and they decided to revive jay v Gunther which we already saw last week at snme and the whole build to that was just incredibly fucking boring. I love them both, but their feud was just boring, and I thought they only did it to fill the card because they didn't want anything too major when they had the rumble literally the next week.

I still feel snme should be for tag titles and mid card titles to give some of those people more tv time, cos otherwise some of these mid carders only really do anything of note at rumbles (still annoyed tozawa lost his sport to ishowspeed for a meme, i liked otis and maxine, but what has tozawa done of any significance on tv??).

I like jay and Gunther individually but their feud has been dull. It’s just been your average “I’m gonna win because I believe in myself :D” and that’s it. Just like his snme Gunther feud. And just like his ic title feud. It’s a repeat of Sami v Gunther, which I also didn’t care for for the same reason. Also Sami didn’t really do much with his reign, and I feel like that’s gonna happen to jay, just like his IC title run.

I get they wanted to pull the trigger on jey, but there’s just so much other stuff going on that needed finishing. I feel like they should have waited till mitb, have jay win that, and get a title that way once all this other stuff is finished up. Cos there’s no need for him to go after Gunther specifically, as there’s not a lot there aside from gunther’s “I don’t think u can do it” lines. So just have him go after whoever is champ after mitb. But obviously it’s done now so they need to make the most of it. It would be a good opportunity to build jeys character some more beyond being the yeet man, cos otherwise this feud is gonna tank over the next 2 months.

Also, my theories all rely on Cody going heel. If it turns out that isn’t happening, then it’s so fucking over. Cody v cena or punk as a face v face would be so shit. And in either of those feuds, it just wouldn’t make sense for cena or punk to be the heel, and there’s not enough real bad blood between any of them to have a feud without heel/face dynamics and be basing it on fans personal opinions of them like with Seth and punk.

So yeah, Cody’s apparently gonna be gone for a little while. Fingers crossed he’s gonna be coming back as a heel.

Also if they even try to do Logan Paul v cm punk I’m gonna end it.

So yeah I’m feeling a lot about last night and I’m really confused what they’re gonna do. But I can’t see cena not being a main event in his final mania and also not getting a title. So I’m gonna guess it’s cena v Cody and jey v Gunther as main event title matches, then Roman v punk, Damien v drew, and then Seth v ???. But still confused why they keep hyping up future punk world title matches and not fucking doing them. It’s getting annoying. And still no idea where the favour comes in. They need to hurry up and use it tho before people get sick of the edging with that as well. And after all this build up, it needs to be something major.

I was so sure cena and punk would win the chamber and rumble matches, then we’d have Gunther v punk and heel Cody v cena, so I’m not sure what to think now. And I can’t really come up with a good theory without leaving some major plot point of person out completely. Maybe I’m not thinking enough. But I’m still mourning that Gunther v punk match we could have had. It would have been so good. They’d have sassed each other to no end, and I imagine their matches would be really good too, based on what I saw in their house match.

But then again, hhh did say in the post show that they dont want to always go for the obvious match, so maybe jay will go for cody after all? Also I really hope we dont get cena as champ if he's not even gonna be on tv aside from ppv matches. I get that he's ppv talent, but theres plenty of other people of tv who do promos and little scuffles but mostly/exclusively do only ppv matches: like seth, roman, punk. They've done the odd thing on tv, but most of the time, they save their matches for ppvs. If cena's not even showing up between ppvs, theres gonna be almsot no build for anything. I really hope that's not a pattern that's gonna happen all year. But he did say in the post show that he's going to Hungary to film something and won't be back until elimination chamber next month. So yeah, no build. Maybe that's why they didn't have cena win the rumble? cos he's not gonna be around for a title to be worth it?? but I still find it hard to believe he's not gonna get a world title at mania. But who knows. Maybe we will somehow magically get that Gunther v punk match after all.

Still not sure how I feel about everything after last night. There were so many storylines that could have been explored, and I feel like jey and Gunther could have waited. The way it's been so far, I just think it's going to be a boring feud and the match is just gonna feel like a waste of a main event spot. But I imagine my feelings on the rumble could change again after raw so who knows. Maybe hhh secretly has some sort of master plan that I’ve yet to realise and I need to just shut the fuck up and wait. But I enjoy theorising so leave me to make my silly theories, I swear I’m having fun.

But one final thing, there better actually be a cena v punk moment at the chamber or I'm gonna flip. Why the hell did they all stand in the ring together and just stare at each other?!! Pls I need to see Punk v cena one last time.

Anyway I probably forgot something here so might add to this theory or change something later if i remember something else or someone points something out to me.

[campbyler]

why choose to do two parts of a chapter instead of just two separate ones? like doing 10.1 and 10.2 instead of just having 10.2 be chapter 11 instead (sorry if that makes no sense)

i think what anon meant was why didnt you make 10.2 a separate chapter thematically or literature-ally (? lol) instead of just physically? so like... 9.1 could have been called 'are we going somewhere?' and finished with that gorge cliffhanger of mike saying he's gonna teach will to drive. and then chapter 9 part 2 could actually have been chapter 10 both physically and from a literary point of view - if this was a published book, it would have been the actual next chapter. so 9.2 would instead become Chapter 10: I've Got You Baby (or some other title based on lyrics etc)

basically, once you realised the word count was taking you too far, they're wondering why you didn't split the events of the fic into more chapters than you originally have planned. perhaps is there a reason you are attached to a certain amount of chapters? otherwise, i think it would have still made sense for the drive date chapter and the bonfire night chapter to be split into two chaps each - many pro writers split chapters this way even when scenes in a single event are occurring.

of course its the writers' discretion to split chapters where they feel it fits, but i agree with anon that the ending of each half chapter makes a lot of sense as the ending of an actual chapter thematically!

i hope this makes sense haha

hello!! yes what you’re saying makes sense, and we appreciate the perspective!!

i think we did it the way we did for two main reasons — one, this is not a published book, so i do feel like it’s a little bit different since we have the liberty of doing whatever we want rather than being bound to any traditional rules. the second is that the chapters alternate povs, and it was important for all of 9 to be in will’s pov and all of 10 to be in mike’s pov because they’re the realization chapters.

to that point, i don’t agree with the notion that the ending of each half chapter is what makes sense as the thematic ending of the chapter. the themes of chapters 9 and 10 are Realizations. the point of ch09 is literally to get will to his realization — are we going somewhere? is a double meaning because they’re physically going somewhere and emotionally going somewhere. so while the mustang was a big focus in ch09, it was used as a vehicle (teehee) to give will the last push he needed to admit to himself how he feels. mike’s vulnerability in part i resolved a lot of will’s longstanding issues with mike, and the driving lesson’s purpose was to show how much they trust each other: mike trusts will with his car, and will trusts mike to be there for him, and mike being there for him is Truly the One Thing that will wasn’t sure about until ch09. all of these things needed to happen in the same chapter to contextualize that realization!

for 10, the focus is still on realizations — it’s also mike actually admitting to himself that he likes will, yes, but it’s also very much about that realization at the end that will needs to be the one to vocalize his feelings! whereas 9 spends the whole chapter justifying actions to get to the feelings realization, 10 starts with it and then spends the entire chapter trying to justify feelings he is already aware of. it was still important for these to be in the same chapter because it’s all completely connected!!

that said, because word count was really the only obstacle we had, the split chapters are two halves of a whole rather than being two distinct chapters. as we’ve said, this decision was done to benefit all of us — me and suni for writing purposes and being able to get chapters out sooner/avoid as much burn out as possible, and readers for not reading 50-60k chapters in one sitting. we already have a lot of talk about how long the chapters are, and we are both aware that we could probably cut certain scenes or events out, but we also are very adamant about maintaining a pace that feels realistic and makes sense, which usually leads to those higher word counts 😙 if we were to ever convert this into a published book (which we have no plans to), there would be a loooot to cut and we recognize that!! so shout out to the local ao3 for enabling our specific breed of insanity 🤸

[thighzp]

2024 Year In Review

Thank you to @0npurpose and everyone else who has tagged me in many variations of the 2024 year in review! Here's a wrap up of all my writing this year!

My details

My AO3: fullerthanskippy My fandom: Red, White & Royal Blue Total number of completed works for 2024: 52 Total word count for 2024: 107,590 (holy shit) Total hits for 2024: 151,546 Total kudos for 2024: 9,942 (AGAIN I beg you all to leave kudos!)

Oneshots

most popular by kudos: working overtime | 624 kudos

most popular by comments: young & hung | 24 comment threads least popular by kudos: tender | 52 kudos (only 240 words so I get it lol) least popular by comments: shower drain | 0 comments (there really isn't much to say, again, I get it! lol)

longest oneshot: running from the daylight | 11,372 words oneshot I'm most proud of: Artie | for obvious reasons most fun oneshot to write: better bite the bullet (baby take one for the team) | I had sooooo much fun writing the gun kink and I still want to revisit it in the future hardest oneshot to write: broke down or stranger things have happened | these are two I specifically remember during kinktober having to force myself to get the words out (that happens sometimes!) favourite title used: tough choice but if I have to choose one I'll go with | the mess that is Alex

Bonus …

Most unserious title: i'm having his baby (no i'm not but you should see your faces) | also longest title ever lmao

Multi-Chapters

my first multichap will be coming to you live in 2025 ;)

Questions

Events or challenges | Kinktober & RWRB Festive Fan Fest

Did you write more or less fic than you expected this year? | way, WAY more!!!

Did you take any writing risks this year? | so many, let's see just for a few examples: wlw, fisting, puppy play, piss kink, somno, gun kink, omegaverse, I mean I could continue on and on

What was the most challenging fic to write this year? | hands down running from the daylight (vampire alex AU), I started teasing it before I even started writing it and then I felt pressured to hurry up and get it out. not by any of y'all, but by myself. it's 11k words and I'm proud of it, but it shaped me into a much better writer for the multichap I'm currently working on!

What was your favourite fic to write? | probably wearing nothing but glitter and lashes because it was inspired by a huuuuge irl crush of mine and a very loosely based real life experience lol

Biggest success | kinktober IN GENERAL

Most surprising success | young & hung!!! I mean I loved writing it but I couldn't believe people were eating it upppppp

Biggest disappointment | I mean... (the things i do) when i picture you but it's not a surprise at all lol it's junora and if it's not firstprince, it just doesn't hit the same. also not surprised that two things can be true (taynick rpf) didn't do crazy numbers, people are touchy about it

Most surprising disappointment | none are really that surprising cause I usually know when it's not gonna hit for everyone, but I guess I'll say I expected know your audience to do better! I think people didn't like the twist or didn't believe it from the start?

What's something you learned about yourself as a writer? | I learned that PWP IS NOT MY STRONGSUIT!!! I need the buildup and that's where my rambling tends to happen lmfao

What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing? | obviously vampire alex au I'm feeling like a broken record, and I'll also add finishing kinktober is like... still so insane to me!

Fic that gave you the most trouble? | two that I just needed external inspo for because the words weren't wording were riding practice and mile high (these ideas were greatly helped by @judasofsuburbia lol thank you love)

Easiest fic to write? | suburban legends, one of my earlies fics and the words came easily in that little universe

Go to writing songs | I love having inspo playlists but I can't actually listen to music with words while writing, I'm too adhd/dyslexic for that

Go to writing snacks | usually coffee or red wine hehe

Any writing goals for next year? | only goal really is to finish and post my first multichap which is definitely going to happen!!! and otherwise I think just focusing on writing what I want to read/what inspires me and worry less about what will do numbers

Any fics in the work for next year? | of course! perhaps I'll give some insight into my current WIPs (even some y'all don't know about yet?)

age gap AU (multichap) neighbors/laundry AU young & hung sequel trans alex PWP a fic involving alex/martha as propositioned by henry/pip.... kink related age regression henry wetfic (and I bet y'all fuckin wish you knew what this one was about mwuahahaha)

***

it's been a crazy year. I want to thank @redlipstickandglitter and @firstprincehornyramblings for being my fucking MUSES, my EVERYTHING both when it comes to help/ideas with writing, as well as just wonderful fucking friends.

y'all have provided me so many spoons this year, and believe me, lately they've been mighty hard to come by! here's to even more words written in 2025! (but probably not... I'll probably never do kinktober again lmfao)

open tag for any writer friends who haven't done this yet! I'm serious - don't wait to be tagged, just tag me!!

[mo-the-gremlin-dandelion]

Happy Coradrag AU Masterlist

One Piece Tags

This is all the Coradrag AU posts I made where they are happy together and raising Ace, Sabo, Luffy, Law, Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo. With a side of Grandpa Garp and Grandpa Sengoku. Posts are in chronological order (story wise).

Also, Garp raised Dragon, Dadan, and Kuzan. Dragon's other dad is Roger, but he doesn't know that (yet - I have plans 😈). The other two are adopted. Dadan was adopted after she tried to pickpocket Garp and Kuzan was found in a field as a baby.

Everybody is probably out of character, but:

It's fanfiction.

I'm trying my best.

It's my first time writing a story longer than a couple of paragraphs.

Also my first time posting something I've written.

Also kind of a crack fic so 🤷‍♀️.

Updates will happen sporadically as I have college and I don't really get in the mood to write fanfiction after I write a 10+ page essay for college.

This is also being slowly posted on AO3 as a backup.

It's called: A Tale of Two Dragons

Some chapter titles were changed.

Plot Points:

Coradrag Humor + Tragedy

Happy Coradrag AU

Actual Story:

Holding Ace

Summary: Garp gives Ace to Dragon because he wants grandkids and with the way Dragon is, Garp thinks he'll die before Dragon even gets a date.

Heartbeats

Summary: Dragon has been raising Ace for six months, these are his thoughts on raising Ace.

Ace's Milestones

Summary: Ace is growing up faster than Dragon expected.

Meeting Rosinante

Summary: Dragon has been doing well at parenting, but soon he has to go back to work. That means he needs to figure out child care for when he can’t take Ace with him. Enter Rosinante: a handsome, trustworthy marine that’s good with kids. Dragon might have more problems than he thought.

Doomed Love Anyone? (Part 1) - (Part 2) - (Part 3) - (Part 4)

Summary: Rosinante and Dragon falling in love.

This gonna be real happy and then real sad. Also very long, so it had to be split into three four parts. Each part is about ten pages, so I was a fool for thinking I could fit it all into two parts at first.

Happy Coradrag AU - The Insurgent Serpent Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 (Coming Eventually)

Summary: It seems that Dragon was not as careful as he thought he was. 

Dragon’s secrets are revealed and his plans foiled. He is forced to leave the marines early and Rosinante without an explanation.

Garp's Exploits / Poll / Chart

Summary: Garp and Dragon talk about Garp’s relationships and which ones might be Dragon’s other dad. (This takes place after Ace holds Luffy in: Happy Coradrag AU - Holding Luffy.)

Holding Luffy

Summary: Luffy’s closest family members holding him for the first time.

(First one I did so the format is kind of shitty. Might redo later, no promises though.)

Junkyard Boy (Coming Eventually)

Summary: Ace meets an interesting boy from Gray Terminal.

A Talk About Scars & Royalty (Coming Eventually)

Summary: Sabo is having some trouble adjusting to the Monkey D. house. He’s not used to this amount of love and care. Rosinante has some insight. AKA: I decided to move the Celestial Dragon incident up in the story.

Up a Fruit & Hat, Down an Arm (Coming Eventually)

Summary: Dragon and Rosinante both had to leave Dawn Island for a year, it will be the longest they’ll ever be away from their kids. During this time, a pirate crew comes to visit.

Amber Lead Boy (Coming Eventually)

Summary: Rosinante becomes Corazon and decides to finish his mission early in order to help a sick kid that reminds him of home.

Swallow Island (Coming Eventually)

Summary: Corazon and Law meet Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin.

Family Reunion (Coming Eventually)

Summary: Corazon and Dragon reunite with their kids.

North Meet East (Coming Eventually)

Summary: Law, Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo get used to their new home with the ever chaotic Monkey D. family.

Extra:

Sengoku's Reaction // DDK Childhood // Spoiler: Meeting Rosinante Donquixote Brothers Meet Again // The Wedding // DDK Childhood 2 I am a fool... // Goth Family // Akainu's Feelings //

[maislovebot]

I love everything you do

Bram Stoker x reader

Title is from training wheels by melanie martinez

Hello! I finally finished the Bram thing!! I actually finished it two days ago but I’ve been so busy with work and school I haven’t found time to proofread it till now:’)

Containing: S5 SPOILERS!!, afab reader, no pronouns, oral sex (afab receiving), riding, domestic fluff & smut, porn with plot, aftercare, premature ejaculation, bath sex, hand jobs, cum eating, clit stimulation, Bram wants to bite reader but can’t for obvious reasons, very brief groping, human/vamp relationship, post-vampirism arc

Bram officially had a body now. Everything with Dostoevsky and Ouchi had been solved, and there were many changes that Bram had to figure out how to deal with.

To start, Dostoevsky is now dead, and Gogol seems to be grieving with this fact. Ouchi is also dead, and now the nation is in a panic knowing that the war hero everyone looked up to was some sort of terrorist, even if all the people personally involved knew he meant well.

Including Bram Stoker.

Bram wasn’t entirely sure how to live now that Ouchi was dead, and he especially didn’t know how to live now that he had a full body again.

But this was certainly a good way to start.

“Alright, Bram. I know things are difficult, but do you really need me to explain this again? You don’t need that much shampoo.” You sighed, seeing Bram with at least seven pumps of shampoo in his hands.

“But if it keeps my hair clean, the more I use the longer it’ll be clean, no?” Bram deadpanned.

“That’s not how it works!” You ran your hands through Bram’s hair. You weren’t really annoyed with him, but you’d be lying if you said Bram’s lack of understanding wasn’t comedic.

“The one pump I told you to use works just fine.” You laughed at him lightheartedly.

Bram looked at your naked form up and down in confusion, your body slightly altered by the swishing of the water in the bath.

“But you used a different amount than I did.” Bram looked so genuinely confused, and it was honestly very cute.

“Yes, because our hair is different. Your hair is much more sensitive than mine because of how long it’s been without being washed properly. You need a different amount than I do.” You spoke to him gently, running your hands through his hair, much more successfully this time. When you met Bram for the first time, his hair was so matted it took hours to brush through. He was lucky he met you a few months ago. If he hadn’t, he’d probably still be living life without even washing his face.

“Once your hair is healthier I bet we can start using more shampoo, but for now this is all your hair can handle.” You smiled at him, wrapping your arms around him. Your naked form pressed up against his chest, and he let out a small whine, so you pulled away.

“Is everything alright?”

Bram nodded.

“Yes, it’s just..” Bram trailed off, and you soon realized what he meant once you looked down into the water at his crotch.

“Bram!” You jokingly flicked his arm. “You dog!”

Bram raised an eyebrow and looked away from you.

“It’s not like I can help it.. I haven’t had a body in so long it’s overly sensitive. My body isn’t used to it, I think.”

You smiled and looked at him right in the eyes.

“We’re gonna have to fix that soon. Not yet though. We still have to wash your hair.”

“Really? Why can’t you make an exception?”

You shook your head, and kissed Bram on the neck.

“You’re gonna love it once I clean you off. Trust me, it’ll make it more enjoyable.”

Bram sighed and nodded his head.

“Alright.”

You grabbed some of the shampoo left from his hands and let the rest trickle into the water, rubbing the shampoo into his hair, gently scratching his scalp. The shampoo that fell from his hands caused the bathwater to have small white bubbles scattered everywhere. Bram rested his head in the crook of your neck, getting your chin bubbly and wet. You slowly trailed it down to the tips of his hair that were recently trimmed, courtesy of you taking him to a hair stylist for the first time in who knows how long. His hair was still long, reaching far beyond his back, but the dead ends were gone. You took the shower head and turned the notch to make it spray a gentle stream of water and aimed it towards his head.

“Turn around and close your eyes,” you warned, “it stings your eyes.”

Bram nodded and turned, his back facing you. He tilted his head up to the ceiling and shut his eyes, the warm water running through his hair and down his back. His new skin was very soft, you couldn’t stop touching it. It felt brand new (although it technically was). The water ran down the front of his face, getting his eyelashes droopy with water droplets. He really looked ethereal. The shampoo was all washed out of his hair, so he turned around to face you and rested his face in the crook of your neck again.

“I’m gonna wash your body now. It’s unscented soap because I’m willing to bet your new skin is sensitive,” you kissed his shoulder, “ just letting you know.” You smiled into his newly washed hair.

“Are you going to use hair conditioner?” He asked.

“Not yet. I don’t think your hair can handle it yet.” You chuckled, grabbing a pastel loofah. You put the unscented soap on it, and ran it under water for a short amount of time, getting it all sudsy.

“Lift your arms!” You said, and he complied. He brought his arms up and washed along the undersides of them, trailing the loofah up and down, until both of his arms were covered with the soap. You slowly moved over to his chest and you began to rub it into his chest, covering his nipples and lower stomach, at least what wasn’t covered in bathwater. He whined a little at your touch and you chuckled.

“You’re awfully sensitive.”

“I haven’t been touched at all in hundreds of years,” Bram deadpanned, “I physically couldn’t have been touched.”

You gripped his chin with your sudsy hand and brought it to level with yourself.

“I love you, Bram.”

Bram let a small smile escape his lips, and he leaned down to kiss you. The kiss was gentle, pleading, and generous. He closed his eyes once his lips made contact with yours, as did you. You two stayed like that for a while until Bram moved his hand to rest on your hip, and you began to gently play with his hair. You pulled away to breathe, and Bram gripped your shoulders and pulled you back into the kiss.

You could hear Bram mumble a “no..” under his breath, seemingly saying no to you pulling away from him. You stuck it out for as long as you could before you laid your hands on his chest and pushed him away gently, the soap covering it now running down and collecting at the rim of the water.

“Sorry, Bram. I don’t have the literally inhuman stamina you do.”

“Ah,” Bram responded, recognizing your reasoning. “I forget that I can hold my breath longer than the average human.”

You caught your breath, and Bram grabbed the loofah that was floating in the water to bring it to your naked body, rubbing it along your shoulders, collarbones and your chest. You appreciated the intimacy. He cupped water in his hands and dropped it along your shoulders, watching the soap drip down your body and land in the water, almost sizzling away once it made contact. You began to reciprocate, washing off what hadn’t fallen down his body already.

Eventually, you had both washed each other's hair and bodies completely, although it took longer than normal as you both took breaks in between many of your actions to kiss and caress each other. There was only one thing left, and Bram knew exactly what it was.

“Ah— dear, it’s sensitive..”

Bram whined, your movements causing a pleasurable buzz to be sent to his brain. You were currently jerking Bram off, bringing water up every now and then to wash it off.

“Now, you see, Bram, you aren’t supposed to use soap down there. It could irritate it.

“Alright, understood.” Bram barely got out. You liked this side of him. He was strangely submissive. Obedient, if you will.

Bram was so sensitive, it didn’t take very long for him to come all over your hand with a loud moan and shaking thighs.

“Now, look at the mess you made..” you trailed off, bringing your hand to Bram’s lips.

“Clean it up, Bram.” You demanded.

His movements stuttered, but he reluctantly opened his mouth and grabbed your wrist. He licked your hands clean, tasting himself on his tongue, and you kissed him to taste him too.

“You taste sweet.”

Bram looked away from you, so you grabbed his wrist, and he turned to see what you were doing. You brought his hand down into the water.

“Why don’t you help me out, too?” You questioned.

Bram smirked, then moved his hand away.

“I think I have a better way of going about that.” Bram said as he dove his head down, his head now underwater. You knew he had more stamina than you, but you were still worrisome, so you lifted his head up by his chin.

“I love the idea of that, but shouldn’t we do that outside of the bath? You might drown.”

“I can hold my breath for up to eleven minutes. I learned when some village folk attempted to drown me in 1897.”

You bursted out laughing.

“What’s funny?” Bram questioned, looking up at you from his position of resting on his elbows below you.

“Nothing, it’s just—you went from being a menacing vampire who overruled society to..this.”

Bram smiled up at you, then moved his hand to play with your clit, and you whined, gripping the railing of the tub.

“Are you convinced?”

“Well..” You trailed off.

Bram looked at you, awaiting an answer. Not moving an inch lower.

“Fine, but you better do a good job if you wanna be done before you run out of air.”

Bram nodded, and dove his head back down, his hair floating to the top of the bath. If there was one thing Bram was good with, it’s his tongue. After all, it was about all he could use for a very, very long time. He knew just how to touch you, and you tried to ignore how much practice he must’ve had to have gotten this good.

Your sounds were muffled from his point of view, but he could faintly see your mouth open from where he was, the glare of the bathroom lights reflecting against the water making it difficult to see. He moved his tongue to lap up the precum gripping onto your heat despite the water washing most of it off. It appears your slick is more dense than water, as small amounts of it was staying in place. He teased along your outer lips, then your inner lips, before finally moving along your hole, feeling it clench around nothing. He moved his tongue up to give small kitten licks to your clit, relishing in the way your thighs tensed around his head. The touch he was giving you was gentle, but Bram was going feral from the way your thighs quickly clenched around his head, making him move his mouth around your clit to vigorously suck on it, and you bucked your hips into his mouth, gripping him to pull him closer to your heat, and he could faintly hear you moaning from above the water. He moved his hands up to circle your inner thighs, and moved his tongue down to your hole, tongue fucking you. The movements of his tongue were slow and calculated, as they always were. He gradually switched between sucking your clit and fucking you on his tongue, and whenever he switched he would move his hands to either finger you or rub circles on your thighs, depending on what he was doing.

The way you clenched your thighs around his head and pulled his hair made him bring a hand down to jerk himself off, desperate from the way your body language spoke to him. You finally came, and it only took him about four minutes.

He could faintly see your cum taint the water, so he moved his head up, breathing heavily as he rested his head on your shoulder.

“Hey, I thought you said you could hold your breath long enough..”

“I said I can, not that I should.” Bram kept breathing heavily.

“Bram..” you gently scratched his scalp to calm him down, and once he caught his breath again, he took the opportunity to kiss your collarbones and shoulders, refraining from biting you.

Oh, the things he would do if he was able to bite you without turning you into some mindless, bloodthirsty animal. He instead settled for grazing his teeth over your shoulders, but light enough for it to tickle more than anything, and definitely not drawing any blood. You whined at his movements, wrapping your legs around his hips, and he sat up, grabbing your hips so you’d go up with him, making you hover over him. He laid his back against the side of the tub, and you got the signal, so you jerked him off a few times before dipping yourself down slowly. This is the first time you two were doing anything past him giving you head, as at the time, that’s all he really could do.. and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t nervous. He’d had hundreds of years of experience, and you wondered how you could compare. But if anything, Bram was twice as nervous. He hadn’t had sex in so long he could guarantee he was extremely rusty, and sensitive. He knew he wouldn’t last long.

Regardless, you continued lowering yourself down until you were linked by the hilt, and you felt full. But you also felt so happy to be linked with him. You let out small whines, his size getting to you. Once you two get more practice with one another, you could figure out how much foreplay you’d need to not be in pain, but for now, the sting is tolerable.

“It’s shockingly clean.” you remarked, laughing.

“Well, it is brand new..” he replied, and you bursted out laughing, and Bram looked at you funny before chuckling along with you.

“I swear, you say the funniest things sometimes. But I am curious,” you looked down at where you two were linked, “does it look the same as it did before? Or is it like a new and improved situation?”

“I believe it looks the same, but I don’t remember exactly what it looked like.”

“Damn, I guess you were just born lucky.”

Bram lifted an eyebrow,

“What do you mean?”

You leaned down to kiss him, before lifting your hips up slowly.

“It’s very pretty. Just like you.”

Bram always melted at your praise, and you knew this. His grip on you tightened, before he pushed you down onto his length all the way again, and you let out a loud moan.

“O-oh, God, Bram—”

He kept his grip on your hips, pulling you up and down, before thrusting his hips to meet you halfway.

You slowly gained more control over your actions again, he was still pulling you up and down, but you wrapped your thighs around him tighter, going along with the actions, moving yourself up and down with him. He moved his face forward to kiss and lick your nipples, and you cried out. He used his dominant hand to help you keep your balance, and used his other hand to toy with your clit, and the overstimulation really got to you, making you almost cry a few times. Bram on the other hand, was actually crying. He was so overwhelmed, in the best way possible. He hadn’t felt this sort of touch in so long, and here you are, being his saving grace. It also simply felt very, very good. He could feel that he was close, and he sped up his actions inside of you, before cumming inside of you. His hips slowed, and he felt overstimulated, but he simply couldn’t leave you unsatisfied, so he took a deep breath and kept going at it. The overstimulating feeling made him cry out, his mouth no longer connected to your chest.

In total, he had managed to come two more times before you finally did. As he predicted, he wouldn’t last long. His cock had turned an angry shade of red of the overstimulation, but he didn’t care. He simply needed you to come. And once he finally did, he moved his hands away to grip the sides of the tub, breathing heavily. You two sat there for a short amount of time, before you lifted yourself off, mostly his, and a little of your cum dripped out of you and into the water and onto his stomach.

Your thighs gently shook, and before you could move any further, he gripped your shoulders and pulled you down to kiss him, and he moved his hand down to toy with your clit.

“I need.. I need you to come at least one more time.”

You wordlessly connected your lips to his, diving your tongue inside of his mouth, licking along his bottom lip every now and then. You gripped his arm tightly whenever he rubbed your clit in a particular way that made you go crazy, before he moved his fingers to tease your entrance, kissing you desperately. He placed two fingers inside of you, curling them and dragging along your walls, still playing with your clit with his thumb. You had come twice only a few minutes earlier, so it didn’t take you long to come with a silent scream. You grabbed his wrist, pulling it up so he couldn’t touch you anymore, the overstimulation getting to you. You wordlessly licked his fingers clean, and he watched you, the sight making him hard yet again. Once his fingers were clean, you intertwined your fingers with his, licking along his neck desperately, then kissing him again.

Needless to say, you two went at it even longer, and once you two were done you were both shaking and trembling in each other's hold, your breathing heavy.

“I love you, B-Bram—” you slurred your words, but Bram got the idea. You loved the way he tightly gripped your arms. By this point, his cock was a bright shade of red, desperate for him to give it a break, his body relieved to get what it needed. Your bodies were sweaty, in need of being washed all over again, so you simply turned around and dove under the water, letting the soapy water coat your entire body, washing off your sweat. You turned back around to kiss Bram, but he held you in place with your back facing him, and he kissed your shoulders, resisting the urge to nibble on your skin. You leaned back, allowing yourself to rest on Bram’s chest. His heart wasn’t beating. As it never was, but yours was, and rapidly at that.

Bram always found comfort in your heartbeat. Something about feeling or hearing it calmed him down, it’s similar to the way that ever since he’s gotten his body, he’s been resting his finger under your nose so he could see if you were still breathing. He did this any time you slept. His hands often gently touched your upper lips, waking you up, but you didn’t mind. In fact, you found it cute.

Bram rested his hand on your chest, partially just to grope you but also so he could feel your heartbeat against his hand.

You two simply sat there like that for some time, relishing in each other's presence. You had washed Bram off again, and he was petting your washed hair. Over time, you two began to talk to each other again, and the conversation managed to get to Bram talking about his past stories from his prime when he was a vampire who overpowered everyone, even royalty.

“I’ve met many people in the history books, and in my personal opinion, not many of them have as remarkable of a personality as the books make them out to be.” Bram commented, and you smirked, turning towards him.

“Do you know how long you’ll be alive for?”

Bram went silent. He tried to forget it, but he was commonly reminded of how in a short amount of time, he’d be gone again. You’d be long gone by the time Bram finally met his end.

“Bram?” You waved in front of his face.

“Apologies. Because my ability is genetic, I noticed that most of my family lives for about 300 years. I’ve been alive for 190 of it.”

“Really?” You looked bittersweet, but you quickly pushed the sad feelings back.

“Our relationship is anything but conventional, but I think we can make it work.”

Bram raised an eyebrow at you, tightening his grip around your waist.

“Well, we won’t have much time together, but we can enjoy what we will have.”

Bram sat silently, taking in your words.

“That’s a nice sentiment, but I doubt I could bring myself to live without you for that long. I’d go mental.”

You began to toy with Bram’s hair, before you turned around and kissed him deeply, the kiss was meaningful and loving, and Bram shamelessly gripped the back of your hair to keep you in place, before you pulled away.

You two were silent for some time again, but then Bram had an idea.

“Wait..wasn’t that Dostoevsky man after the page of that book?”

You nodded.

“Now the Armed Detective Agency has it. If they have any space left on that page, perhaps we could negotiate for them to write down that I’ll become human.”

You jolted up, and looked at Bram.

“Would that really work?”

“Most likely.”

You hugged Bram tightly, resting your face on his chest.

“If we did that..” Bram trailed off. He was embarrassed to say it, but he simply had to tell you his plans for if this worked out.

“If we did that, me, you, and Aya could all be like a family. A normal family.”

Your heart melted at his words. Despite everything, all he really wants is to be like a father to Aya, and a husband to you. You kissed his chest, before pulling away and wordlessly draining the bath, Bram looking at you confused.

“We might as well try to convince them now! No point in waiting.”

You stepped out of the bath and wrapped a towel around your body, Bram soon following and doing the same.

“You’re rather motivated.” Bram remarked.

You smiled and looked at Bram, his new body completely devoid of the many scars you were sure he had before his body was detached, because he had completely regenerated.

You sat down in your kitchen and wrote down your plans on how to convince the Armed Detective Agency, and Bram nodded and made remarks or criticisms every now and then, brainstorming your plan to perfection. Bram was so in love with you, even the way your hand drifted across the paper with the pencil so effortlessly. Even your handwriting was captivating.

He wasn’t sure if these plans were going to work out, but he was determined to figure something out.

He would figure something out.

He simply had to.

Wc - 3.9k

Hope you enjoyed:)

[aluria-sevhex]

so now i'm in Act 3 i guess

notes:

-methinks Siffrin is panicking

-plot twist: you can't escape the time loop until you deal with your... ???

-no you little bitch don't pretend everything's fine that's not good for your mental health

-YOU *KNEW* THIS WOULD HAPPEN??? FUCK YOU LOOP

-i'm not giving up you little shit

-ok Loop what IS your deal. you *asked* to be here???

-ok i need to help Mira with her mysterious papers

-:O A HINT AT ODILE'S FIELD OF STUDY

-the music is more unnerving than it was in Act 2. also it sounds glitchy now

-oh it's normal now. was i just suffering from an actual audio glitch and just. didn't question it? like "oh yeah ofc it's glitching things are fucked now"

-...that enemy didn't spawn down here in Act 2.

-eh ima get off for the night

-late in the evening on July 4th and i am back yippee this is probably a bad idea considering how long my play sessions get

-YEAH THE TITLE MUSIC MY BELOVED

-ok i can't help Bonnie on this loop- HOLD UP. DID SIF'S ART CHANGE IN THE MENUS? YEAH HE'S NOT SMUG ANYMORE ToT also i think their profile used to say "It's you!" with an exclamation point but now it says "It's you." with a period :(

-rip my darling blorbo Paper α V

-side note: idk if i've mentionwd this before but i like how the levels, stats, and skills all show the fact that you're near the end of the journey (ex. Odile having Rock, Paper, and Scissors III at the start)

-I FOUND THE BOOK BONNIE WAS LOOKING AT.

hmmm... death rituals...

-hehe i found the stostorage roomoom

-NONE OF THESE BARRELS WILL LEMME TAKE THE NUTS >:(

-another book in the headache-inducing language i can't read.

-weird shit going on: Siffrin, Loop, the King, the disappearing island, the headache-inducing shit

-hehehe yeah Isa i'm sure you'd *love* to pet your taciturn hopeful-future-partner

-it's not just the menu art i think Siffrin's battle art is also less happy. :(

-HOLD UP. also! Siffrin's profile used to call them the Traveler but now he's called the Wanderer. :(

-hehe. Sif hit the counter and said nya again. cat Sif

-this enemy ALSO did not spawn on this floor before. fucking giant hand thing

-ok thinking: can't help Isa until i've helped everybody else in one loop, can't help Bonnie on this loop and i need to prove i know them via their favorite foods, need to help Mira and Odile...

-thank you Loop for being available- OH I CAN BRING UP THE SADNESSES BEING DIFFERENT :O

-ok need to help Mira with the papers. some are in her dorm. Odile wants to read a familytale. i'll have to find one in the library or secret library. need to find out Bonnie's favorite foods by trying different ones. maybe i should loop forward a bunch to different areas, find out their favorite foods, and THEN do the big loop where i help everybody!

-i need to talk to the King eventually

-looping forward to Floor 1's end

-fun fact i'm keeping track of all my causes of death in another note. i'll share it when i finish the game

-man i also need to figure out how to help Mira's fan and remember where the last book issue is...

-the looping screen art is nice :]

-yeah yeah i need to beat this asshole to get to the snacks

-hold up. the coin fell on heads this time. strange...

-last time i picked plantain chips. this time i'm picking cookies. would probably be good to check what Bonnie eats each time

-ok they like rice. time to loop forward!

-while i'm on Floor 2 i might as well find a familytale for Odile...

-LOOP 24? THE MATH DOES NOT CHECK OUT.

-WAIT THE GAME ACKNOWLEDGES IT. HUH. YEAH I SHOULD BE ON 23. SIFFRIN IS SUS 𐐘

-fuck. i accidentally moved forwards when i meant to go to the library. it's fine i'l help her when i help everybody

-oh great i have to fight these assholes again.

-fuck. i think i fucked up and didn't make sure Mira had Pretty Moving Cure. i might get a game over.

-this is by far my dumbest death

-LOOP 27??? I WENT FROM 24-27

-gonna try to be less liberal with loop usage because the skipping is kinda scaring me

-aw... Siffrin's friends try not to touch him as they squeeze through that's nice... wait. he seems to not be remembering why. did he forget that they don't like being touched... maybe. maybe i should call Loop.

-well that was unhelpful

-time to adjust the memories i have equipped. welcome back my lovely scrimbly blorbos Lovely Moving Cure and Paper α V

-hm. ok so the boulanger in Dormont has a familytale...

-oh my god we're discussing colors. what happened to them.

-THEY STILL EXIST. BUT WE FORGOT HOW TO SEE THEM. ???

-*SIFFRIN*. HOW IS THIS FAMILIAR. JFC YOU ARE SUS

-plot twist! Siffrin is from our world and forgor that he got isekai'd! :P (i love making random bullshit predictions it's very entertaining)

-oh yeah so RE: Siffrin's altered art: Sif's time-frozen portrait used to look panicked but now it looks calm

-hehe openphrase123 worked

-love Sif's habit of picking up random shiny shit. magpie or crow behavior.

-oh? Siffrin didn't always hate croissants?

...bruh.

-also damn shout-out to Mira's crisis over not knowing some of the people

-the combination of Siffrin's silly attack names and serious battle portraits feels so *wrong*

-:o Sif learned a new skill

-ok i'm gonna log off for the night

hey if you wanna read all of my posts as i play through ISAT, they are all tagged as #Aluria plays ISAT for the first time (please don't spoil)

bruh when i was making this post i accidentslly pasted the notes again there instead of pasting the tag name. that truly was. delightful. to go through and delete it all

also shout-out to those of you who i keep seeing popping up in my notifs liking these posts ;) and also anybody who takes the time to read all this stuff :D i know that *i* like seeing other people's reactions when they experience stuff i like for the first time so i'm very happy to provide that for others! also it's nice to see some of the responses ^-^ :D

[supernovafics]

𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

"i'll be there for you" universe masterlist

pairing: bestfriend!roommate!steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 1.2k words

warnings: explicit language

summary: in which you join steve during his family video shift and help him study for a test

author's note: nothing much to say about this one. short and sweet<33

general note: everything in this universe/series can be read as standalone oneshots but to understand the full “lore” it would prob be best to read the other stuff too<333

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Winter 1986

“Can I have some help?”

You looked up from your notebook to see a guy standing a few feet in front of you with a small frown on his face. Your head shake in response to his question was immediate. “Oh, no, I don’t work here.”

His frown seemed to only deepen. “But, you’re sitting behind the counter.”

“Yeah, that probably makes things confusing, but I don’t work here,” You responded with a small laugh. You took a brief look at Steve, who was stocking tapes in one of the aisles. “I’m just here to help a friend and make sure he doesn’t fail out of his first ever college classes. Big English test tomorrow. The first one of the semester, actually.”

The guy rolled his eyes at your unnecessarily long explanation and then walked off, and your attention turned back to your notebook and you continued writing notes, or more so rewriting notes, for Steve. 

When he finished stocking shelves, he walked over to you, leaning on the counter and looking down at what you were doing. You ripped out the pages you had been working on for the past hour and slid them over to him. “Okay, I have compiled all of the shit that you’ll need to know for the test tomorrow on these two pages, front and back. Enjoy.” 

Steve gave you a small smile. “You didn’t have to do that.” 

“I know, but it was actually pretty easy since you’re taking the class with the same Professor I had last semester; I mainly just redid the notes that I had for that first test. And it only took me like an hour.”

“Thanks, but shouldn’t you be worrying more about your test tomorrow?”

You shrugged. “I just have to give a presentation on the rise of radio for my communications class, and I’ve been preparing for the last couple days. I’ll be fine.”

Steve nodded at that and started looking at the notes you gave to him. You moved from behind the counter and went over to the comedy section and started to look through the shelves.

“Oh, also, can I get a vest and a nametag? Everyone already thinks I work here, anyway.” 

“No,” Steve responded almost immediately, which made you laugh. After a second, he walked over to you, papers still in hand. “Surprisingly, I actually remember most of this stuff.” 

You smiled at that. “Glad to know you’ve been paying attention in class.” You then showed him the movie you had just pulled off of the shelf. “Thoughts on this for tonight?”

Steve looked at the title for a second before answering. “The person that returned it yesterday said it was shit.”

“Okay, so that’s a no,” You said as you put the tape back in its spot. “Anyway, though, it's good that you remember a lot of stuff already, so when I quiz you on everything later, it’ll be fast.”

He shook his head. “You’re being way too nice to me right now.” 

“You told me that you actually wanted to care about your classes and do well in them, so of course I’m gonna help you do that.” 

You could’ve gone further into that conversation that you two had a few days before the beginning of the semester, but you didn’t feel the need to fully repeat it aloud right then. Steve had talked to you about wanting to figure out his life, finding what he wanted to do long-term that wasn’t Family Video related, and maybe going to school part-time and taking a few classes would help with that. It wasn’t about his parents, it wasn’t really even about you. It was about him and you admired that, and you also wanted to help him figure everything out. Maybe it could help you figure out all of your shit too. 

“Also, if you dropped out after this semester it would actually be devastating to know that our first time ever going to the same school only lasted four and a half months.”

Steve laughed a bit. “I’m not gonna drop out.”

“And I’m completely holding you to that.” 

You went back to searching for a movie for later, and after what felt like forever you settled on something that sounded good enough. 

Things became pretty quiet for the rest of the night, so you were able to quiz Steve on the notes a couple times, and then you focused on the reading you had to do for the Film and TV history class that he suggested you two take together. Your collective eleven o’clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays mainly consisted of you two playing tic-tac-toe with one another in the margins of Steve’s notebook or writing stupid notes back and forth, and still paying some attention to the lectures that were actually pretty interesting. Aside from Steve being in the class, you really enjoyed it for the most part. 

“This article was actually pretty good,” You said. The clock finally hit eleven and Steve went over to the front door to turn the Open sign to Closed. “I think you’ll like it.” 

“What’s it about again?”

“Silent films,” You answered as you started putting all of your stuff in your bag. You then picked up the movie you grabbed earlier and went over to one of the computers, looking up the name of it and changing it from in stock to checked out. “Since I know how to do this, I think I definitely deserve a vest and nametag.” 

“I would say that’s true, but you only do that for yourself, not for any customers,” He responded with a laugh.

“In a way, I am a customer.”

“Paying customers.” 

“I use the “best friend of an employee” discount, which is a hundred percent off,” You said, smiling at him, and then smiling even more when he rolled his eyes at you. 

“What movie did you end up choosing, anyway?”

You held up the tape in your hand, Weird Science. “Now I’m thinking that I should’ve chosen a silent film to honor our history class.” 

“I’m really glad you didn’t,” Steve responded before stepping out from behind the counter. You slung your bag over your shoulder and followed him to the front. 

“Once you read the article, you’ll wish that I picked one of Buster Keaton’s greatest hits,” You said as you flicked off the lights before you two walked out the door. 

Steve locked it and then looked at you. “I truly doubt that.” 

You only overdramatically sighed and shook your head at him in response as you got in his car, tossing your bag into the backseat. You fiddled with the radio for pretty much the entirety of the fifteen minute drive to the apartment, and you held back your laughter at Steve’s playful groans in frustration at your antics. 

When you two stepped into the small space that was your shared home, you changed into your pajamas for the night before settling on the couch, and you quizzed Steve one more time for his test. And then he made you run through your presentation for your class tomorrow because he felt bad about you only helping him study. 

The time was nearing midnight when Steve warmed up some of the leftover pizza from the night before as you started the movie. You two fell asleep barely thirty minutes in, your head on his shoulder and a blanket draped over both of your legs that were stretched out on the coffee table.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

let me know ur thoughts<333

(requests are open for stuff you wanna see in the universe/series!🫶🏾)

[lauronk]

Since everyone is sending their idea, I'm gonna send mine lol a fic where ellie is actually sarah's daughter (but sarah died giving birth some years ago and ellie's father is deadbeat) so basically is grandpa joel joel raising ellie with some help of her great-uncle ("gruncle!!!") tommy.

hey hi hello, thank you for your patience! here is peepaw & gruncle, as requested!

(also wow i'm now so glad i have a bunch of ficlets queued up for this week i think we're gonna need it)

nothing heals the past like time

length: ~2k

tags: alternate universe - modern & canon divergent; mentions of death in childbirth; sarah mentioned; joel is ellie's grandfather; grief; pancakes

title from 'be alright' by dean lewis

April nineteenth is simultaneously the best and worst day of Joel’s life. At about five in the morning that day, his granddaughter had entered the world. A small, squalling little thing that looked more like her deadbeat dad than the mother that had wanted her more than anything, and the second the doctors had let him hold her, little Ellie had become the second girl to have him completely and utterly wrapped around her finger.

And at about three that afternoon, his daughter had left this world. Gone from sitting upright with one hand on Ellie’s bassinet, laughing and talking about the last touches she still needed to put on the nursery, to slumped over in bed, every alarm in the room blaring. A nurse had ushered Joel out, wheeled a crying Ellie out after him, and there’d been nothing for him to do but do his best to soothe the little girl as the doctors tried - failed - to save their anchor.

Even now, fourteen years on, Joel still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. Sarah had been so young, so healthy, the pregnancy completely normal, and yet –

Ellie didn’t particularly enjoy celebrating her birthday despite all of Joel and Tommy’s efforts to make the day special for her. As soon as she’d been old enough to learn what it meant that Mommy went to heaven the same day that she was born, she’d pretty much refused to acknowledge the day at all.

Joel stares at the carved giraffe in front of him, turning it this way and that, wondering if he can convince Ellie it’s not a birthday gift. He just happened to finish it right around this time and wanted her to have it. Coincidence, that’s all.

He sighs, brushing his hands over his thighs and standing up. Ellie won’t buy it, and there’s no use trying. Might as well wait till the end of the month, when he can try to pass it off as an end-of-school gift instead. She always looks at him suspiciously when he gives her one of those, but she has yet to refuse one.

Joel shuts the door to his workshop behind him, crossing the backyard and letting himself into the kitchen. Ellie’s still asleep - of course she is - and Joel pulls down their largest mixing bowl and pancake mix. He makes it often enough for her that she probably won’t get all snappy and weird about them, but then again…there’s no telling with Ellie on this day.

The first stack is done by the time she clomps downstairs, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Pancakes?” Ellie asks around a yawn.

“Pancakes,” Joel confirms. “Grab the butter and syrup for me, will ya?”

Ellie complies, shuffling around in her overlarge pajamas and setting the table with four places. Joel hasn’t heard from Tommy yet today, but he’ll be by without fail. A rare Saturday they both have off, Maria’s between cases, and it’s Ellie’s birthday even if she refuses to acknowledge it?

Of course the whole family will be under one roof.

“How’d your test go?”

Ellie grunts in response, and Joel bites back a smile. That’s one of her it was fine grunts - he’s had to learn the difference over the years. It’s fine or leave me alone or thank you or I don’t wanna talk about it. Joel was a master at them all.

The front door lock turns, the hinges squeaking as it swings inward, and finally Ellie perks up. Small feet patter their way - Ellie uncurls from her seat and stands - and a small whirlwind tears towards them, bowling into her knees.

Ellie lifts her cousin and squeezes till he yelps, face buried in his neck as she makes chomping noises. Tommy and Maria follow their son in at a more sedate pace, grins already on their faces.

“Gettin’ him all riled up right away, I see,” Tommy says to Ellie, leaning over to clap on the shoulder.

“Of course,” Ellie replies tartly, now swinging TJ side to side as he squeals happily. “Gruncle.”

“Griece,” Tommy replies, pronouncing it like grease, and Joel rolls his eyes. Ever since Ellie was old enough to understand what a great-uncle was, she’d called Tommy gruncle; naturally, being the mature man he was, his brother began to reply in kind. “Peepaw,” he aims at Joel for good measure, a shit-eating grin on his lips.

“Cut it out or I’ll let the gremlins eat all your pancakes.” Joel waves his spatula in the kids’ general direction, and Tommy raises his hands in a gesture of peace.

The rest of them fall to conversation that becomes a pleasant white noise in the background as Joel focuses on making the last of the pancakes, stacking them one by one on the plates warming in the oven. He tries not to think about another fourteen-year-old wanting pancakes, another teenage girl laughing over breakfast with her uncle Tommy. The permanent ache in his chest throbs, intensifies and presses until there’s a sharp well of tears in his eyes that Joel hurries to blink away before anyone notices.

Ellie laughs at something behind him, that free and unfettered sound he loves so much, and it cuts through the maudlin feelings draping over him. She’d never much looked like Sarah - or him, for that matter - but her laugh was damn near identical, and it warms Joel inside and out. He lost his little girl, but he has hers, and that is the only thing that keeps him going most days.

“Alright, make some space,” Joel calls over his shoulder, flicking the stove burner off and opening the oven door. “Pancakes incomin’.”

“Bout time,” Tommy teases, scooping his son up from Ellie and situating him on his lap. “Gettin’ slow, Peepaw.”

Just for that, Joel serves his brother last.

It ain’t that the nickname bothers him - hell, Ellie’s called him that before. Peepaw, grandpa, Joel. Once she’d slipped and called him Dad, and his heart had somehow stopped and beat a thousand times in the span of a second. Never mattered to him what she said, long as it wasn’t hey asshole, but Tommy liked to say it just to imply Joel was old.

They dig in, Tommy alternating between eating his own and cutting up small pieces for TJ. Joel, for his part, keeps a watch on Ellie. She’s eating, at least, so that’s something, but more than once he catches her pushing a piece around in her syrup, gaze unfocused on the plate in front of her. And he knows what she’s thinking about, or what she’s trying to keep from thinking about, because it’s the same thing he’s fighting against too, same thing they do every year.

His gaze drifts almost automatically to the set of photos that hang on the wall between the living room and kitchen. Five of them, all taken the day Ellie was born. Sarah holding her; Joel holding her while Sarah smiles; the three of them and Tommy; Ellie’s feet in Sarah’s hands; Joel bending to kiss his daughter’s head as Ellie lays on her chest.

The few brief hours that everything in his world had been utterly, brightly perfect.

Joel looks over to find Ellie staring at him, her eyes flicking uncertainly between his face and the pictures, and reaches over to grab her hand and squeeze. Love you, he mouths; the set of her jaw doesn’t ease, and she slips her hand out from under his, chin ducking to her chest.

TJ chooses that moment to scamper down from Tommy’s lap, making a beeline to where he knows the toys are kept in the living room. His parents share a fondly exasperated look before pushing up from their seats to follow him; Joel catches the sad smile Tommy sends his way as he stands, and knows that it’s not just TJ’s well timed exit that has them stepping away from the table.

Ellie still doesn’t look at him, and Joel doesn’t say anything. He knows this girl, knows she ain’t gonna say anything until she’s good and ready. So he sits next to her, pancakes going cold in congealed syrup on his plate, and he waits.

“Sorry about Tommy calling you Peepaw,” she finally offers, fingers toying with her fork, and Joel gives her a half-hearted smile.

“Don’t matter,” he reassures her. “I learned a long time ago to not pay attention to anythin’ he says.”

That, at least, gets a twitch at the corners of her lips, her eyes lifting momentarily to his. “Probably the smart thing to do.”

They lapse into silence once more, the only audible noise that of TJ vroom-ing a truck around the living room floor. Joel sits, waits, tries not to think about how different this day would be if Sarah were here: the excited way Ellie would have bounded downstairs, the demand for presents, his daughter staying up late into the night to put the finishing touches on balloons and streamers, Ellie blowing out candles.

It hurts fiercely, all of it, the absence of his little girl and the way that, in turn, has siphoned off the joy from her own little girl.

“You’re sad,” Ellie says quietly. Her hands are in her lap now, arms twitching, and Joel just knows she’s wrecking her damn cuticles again.

“I am,” he says; he’s never believed in cushioning things for her or lying about his own feelings. “But I’m also happy. You can –”

“Be both at the same time,” Ellie finishes. “Yeah, I know.” Her lower lip catches between her teeth. “I am too, I guess. Just –” she exhales, her gaze lifting to the pictures. “Y’know.”

Joel does know, entirely too well. Knows how the two of them have struggled the last fourteen years, especially every April. How Ellie learned entirely too young how to read his moods and track his feelings, how she’s buried her own entirely too frequently, how she got it in her head when she was twelve that Joel actually hated her because of Sarah’s death and tried to run away. He didn’t know where in the hell she’d gotten the idea - a lot of days he still worried that he hadn’t been able to fully convince her it wasn’t true.

“An hour at a time?” Her therapist had suggested that for the days that were the worst, when both of them were suffocating in grief and just putting one put in front of the other felt impossible.

Ellie swallows, nods. “An hour at a time,” she repeats. She pushes her plate away and stands, eyes roving over to the rest of their family, now ensconced in A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, one of TJ’s favorite picture books. “I’ll help you clean up.”

They work in quiet tandem, clearing the plates and loading the dishwasher. Ellie packs the leftover pancakes into a Ziploc bag and scribbles the date on it, staring down at the numbers for a long moment before putting them in the fridge.

Joel moves to join the others in the living room; Ellie’s voice behind him draws him to a halt. “Joel?”

“Hmm?”

Ellie shifts her weight from one foot to the other, hands fidgeting in front of her. “No…no cake or presents, right?”

Joel’s breath catches in his chest at the reminder of the promise he’d made her when she was seven and wanted to quit celebrating her birthday. No cake or presents or parties or anything, she’d demanded angrily, tears streaking down her cheeks. He’d hated it - this girl deserved to be celebrated every year in the same way she insisted on doing for him - but she had been adamant, and he’d acquiesced.

Now, he thinks about the carved giraffe sitting in his workshop, the slice of red velvet cake in the back of the fridge that he’ll eat when she’s gone to sleep - and he nods. “No cake or presents,” he promises her.

One day, maybe, he’ll change her mind.

deep apologies for the delay anon, hope you enjoyed!

full ficlet collection available on tumblr and on ao3

[wehangout]

So, the amazing Calli @callivich came up with this beautiful idea for DVD commentary, fic style, and the amazing questions that go with it. As suggested, I'll be indulging myself while talking about:

Thicker Than Forget. Summary: He blinks at you. “What was your first name?” “Erato.” “Erato,” he repeats. “No need to roll the r.” “Like the muse?” You grin. “Poet, meet muse."

AU. Ian is a poet. Mickey is his recently-corporal muse. They eat an absurd amount of stupidly named ice cream, try to find beauty in things, and fall hopelessly in love.

This was fun! Let me know if you want commentary on any other fics!

Give us some stats - (when you wrote it, word count, how long it took to finish, is it a one-shot/multi-chapter, etc)

So, I wrote this for the Shameless Big Bang in 2021. I couldn’t tell you how long it took me to write (Word is giving me conflicting info), but it was probably my easiest write to date. Word count sits at 30-ish thousand words.

What was the initial inspiration for your story?

It was initially inspired by a novel. I don’t remember which one, but it was either Lament or Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater. The only similarity between that one and mine is that a character falls in love with their muse. The plot itself is very different.

If the story is written from a character’s POV, why did you choose this character?

Mickey. Because it’s almost always Mickey lmao. I did try from Ian’s, but this had to be from the muse’s POV and Mickey had to be the muse.

What was your favourite scene to write?

The smut 👀 if you’ve read it, I hope you understand why lmao

How did you come up with the title?

From the poem, Love is Thicker Than Forget! It fits so well with Ian being a poet and the overall theme of the story.

Are there any little moments or references you hope readers will notice?

I went a little meta on fanfic, fandom, and shipping in this, which was so fun. I think only one person seemed to really notice and mention it, though, haha.

Was there anything you struggled to write? If so, how did you overcome this?

I didn’t struggle to write it, but figuring out how to end it was tough. It took a long time for me to figure that out. When I originally came up with the idea it was for an original story, and did not have a happy ending.

Favourite line in the story?

I’m gonna go with lines, plural, because I have a couple

He kisses you and he kisses you and oh. Oh. This is what they were writing about. All the poets, every word of creativity they took from you … it’s this.

He closes his eyes and continues to sigh sonnets into your skin

Also, the last two lines of dialogue, and, I mean, “Fuck the connection” has to be right up there.

What are you most proud about in the story? (plot, characterisation, dialogue, twist/cliffhanger, etc)

The writing, actually. I’m not a poetic person, none of the poems in the fic are mine, but I’m pretty proud of the poetic nature of the writing.

Are there any ‘behind the scenes’ info you’d like to share - e.g. what’s going on in a characters head in a certain scene or how you came to write a certain line?

So, this is the fic that made me realise I needed to stop taking things so seriously lmao. @captainjowl can attest to the research I tend to do. In this case, every ice cream name was a legit flavour at the time, taken from a Baskin-Robbins website. The mural exists. The flowers and trees in the botanic gardens are flowers and trees found in that exact botanic garden. The hoodie! Taken straight from the Brooklyn Zoo website. The pasta they eat at the North Pond – I used Google Maps to make sure there was an Italian restaurant nearby and looked up ponds in Lincoln Park.

I've since tried to be more chill. Sometimes I fail.

Reading back the story now, is there anything you’d change or add?

I’d make it longer, if possible.

Would you ever write a sequel to this story?

It’s a nice idea, because I’d love to write something pretty again, but I have zero inspiration for it.

Are there any ‘easter eggs’ in your story - e.g. references to other stories you’ve written, a trope you often use etc?

Uh, if you’ve read this and Suncatcher you might notice that I, like Ian and Sandy, have a thing for The Doors.

If you’ve chosen your most popular story, are you surprised by the popularity?

I don’t know if this is my most popular story, but I was definitely surprised by the intensity of the comments I received. It was one time when I knew I’d written something good, but the way it made other people feel definitely took me by surprise.

Anything else you’d like the readers to know about the story?

I love that this was loved. I still go back and read it every now and then and just sigh.