#Christmas themed sickfic ideas | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

subzeroiceskater · 1 year ago

Text

Yuletide 2023

Hey, Subzero Ice Skater here, thanks for reading this and considering writing for me. It’s my second time doing Yuletide but first time doing a letter. I am still feeling my way back through fanfiction; right now I feel I could be up to just about anything, if written with love, confidence, and good will. However, it’s probably more difficult to write without some idea of who you’re writing for. It’s easier to edit down a mountain of words than coming in fresh at a white blank page.

I know Yuletide is the small fandom exchange but I’ve never really been part of an overly huge fandom, especially one that had me wanting to read its fic or having a huge amount of fic at all. I felt like I never got to experience through beginners’ fanfic tropes that I read other fans all the time. Mostly the fluffy stuff: the five things plus one, the fake dating, the coffee/bookshop/library AUs, sickfic, whatever a wingfic is–the tried, true and usually shippy–it’d be fun to finally get to read that. I think that’s what I’m mostly looking for–something really fun, probably fluffy. That kind of fic is probably more fitting if keeping to the lower, relaxing end of Yuletide.

But on the flipside, I love the more serious kind of fics: character studies, stories with a touch of wistfulness, maybe horror; where characters learn fundamental truths about life and are forever changed, or something is slowly revealed about the world around them. Atmospheric pieces. I’m a big fan of those English Western literary short stories–stories with a twist, either happy or not.

I think if unsure, it’s probably best to go with a happy or hopeful ending. Or if it’s that puts the character(s) through the wringer, something that ends with powerful catharsis. I think if you hit on a hit on an idea and you’re confident with your skill, I’d say go for it.

Stuff I like:

Women being cool

World History

��the Arctic

Acknowledgement/presence of Indigenous people/history/practices especially in spaces usually believed to be the province of Western/white people (eg in the history of the Arctic)

Astronomy

unusual formats (example: epistolary format)

unusual POVs (stories told from an outsider’s or an NPC’s experience)

connecting themes like flower or plant or animal symbolism, flower languages or objects that can reveal something their character

passages of time (a day-in-the-life, four seasons in a year, birth to death, first and last times)

literary AUs (one time I saw somebody request a Gawain and the Green Knight AU for Mega Man and I just fell so in love with doing something like that) (even cooler if it’s something that’s not from the familiar Western literary canons, say Latin American, South East Asian, Arctic literature, as long as you’re up for it.)

Bisexual characters

Gender non-conforming characters

Time travel/Time loops/Temporal Fish Out of Water/ Time Travel shenanigans in general.

If you’re really confident, playing with meta, like a self-aware narrator or the narrative coming alive.

Crossovers with stuff I like! I think I’m supposed to say I’m opting-in. If you’re familiar with more than one of my fandoms, especially the ones requested here, and somehow work out a way where my favorite characters meet/interact/even just help each other from the sidelines, I bet that could be very cool.

For the robot characters, going “let us contemplate our humanity”

Happy/ fun/ awkward sex with lots of laughter.

Parallel plots that combine at the end.

Vignettes.

Culture/personality crashes

Crack treated seriously

Puns

Holiday/Christmas fic (doesn’t have to be, obviously)

My tolerance for violence is fairly high, but I’m going to stick to Violence-For-Rule-Of-Cool-Sexy-or-Funny. If they get permanently injured or just for the duration of the story, I want stuff that makes them look hot or cool, like scars or eye patches or crutches. I’m also more than okay with topics like suicidal thoughts or ideation. I’d actually welcome it especially if it’s in service of catharsis. Whatever their bodies can stay broken but their spirit don’t, at least, not at the very end.

DO NOT WANTS: Scat Watersports Omegaverse Readerfic (First or second person POV is okay if playing around with unusual or unreliable narrators)

Art and treats are welcomed. If you give any art based on any characters requested here, I’m probably going to cry. ;___; If you’re a visual artist, I’d love to see you use new techniques or whatever you’ve always to do as practice. Use me as your guinea pig!

Rockman | Mega Man Classic

Tundra Man, Bounce Man, Block Man, Impact Man

Tundra Man as the fic focus–the story is about him, features him in a major way, or about somebody/something else but from his POV. Bounce Man, Block Man, Impact Man could appear as POV/major/supporting/background/mentioned characters.

I’m completely normal about Tundra Man. He’s my favorite Mega Man character and I fell in love with him at first sight and I’m absolutely pretty much always ravenous for anything more about him. I’m not weird. I think he’s gorgeous and his backstory is cool and moved me. Imagine being built for one thing, completely falling in love with another, and giving absolutely everything about yourself to your chosen art?

Tundra’s past– I’d love to see exploration of his past life: his daily and implied solitary life and work as an arctic robot, how or when exactly he was inspired by figure skating on television, or how he balanced his work and his newfound passion for skating before the events of the game. All the decisions he had to make when he was modifying himself. As a polar exploration robot, where did he go? As land development robot, what did he do? The fact that he could even decide to modify himself, when apparently, all the robots don’t have true free will, is so endlessly fascinating to me–what does that imply about Mega Man’s world and its robots? And it’s never revealed how he looked with tougher-exterior, so what did he look like? Does it matter to him? Does miss being stronger? Was the price worth it?

Tundra’s future– Or maybe skip a bit to his future–Tundra gets rebuilt after the events of Mega Man 11, and he decides to pursue a career in figure skating. What’s that like? I’ve seen a (way too) few interpretations of how Tundra would tackle that and I’d just love more. What is competitive figure skating like for robots? Would somebody like him be able to just do that? Does he face any obstacles or objections from his creators? Does he face any backlash from what he did to the city and city museum? Did you know in his original Japanese profile, it’s said he was inspired specifically by ice dancing? A sport that is a totally different beast than singles ice skating? What if he originally did want to do ice dancing? What other challenges or opportunities or culture clashes would a solitary ice robot who spent years in the Arctic encounter when thrusted into a highly competitive, highly publicized, seemingly glamorous world of competitive ice skating? How would someone like him, a robot who had to do self-modifications, actually compete against actual sports robots simply built for skating and nothing else? Is he unique or severely underqualified? Are there even such a thing as professional robot ice skaters or was he watching a human ice skating competition? Does he get support from Cossack Labs or Dr. Light or does he get punished for going against his original design. And another thing, what is up with him being built by Cossack Labs but him showing up with Dr. Light’s lab at the beginning of Mega Man 11–what is the story there, is he a reverse Beat–

Tundra and the Arctic – Sorry, I’m but I’m totally normal about Tundra. This one is about a tundra AU–despite being called Tundra Man, neither his stage (which mostly takes place in a museum), nor his current passions (figure skating) nor his original purpose (polar exploration or development) seem to reflect the tundra much. I think it’d be easy to write Tundra as completely abandoning his original purpose for skating but I’d like to headcanon where he still cares a lot for the tundra and the welfare of the Arctic as a whole. There are a lot of assumptions and misconceptions about the Arctic and I’d love to see that as a reflection of the man himself. It’s not always eternal ice–the tundra is a biome that supports life and people all year around, and have for thousands of years. There’s spring, summer, fall, and winter in the Arctic tundra. Maybe something like a fisher king situation where the landscape reflects his state of mind or where he is in life, maybe it’s just symbolic. Maybe it’s literal since he’s a powerful robot made for land development. Maybe it’s magic realism. His purpose being about land development in Arctic brings up interesting implications but it’s really addressed in canon. There was even a joke about how people never getting to see his performance as bad global warming. Climate change is still a thing in their world when Chill Man is described to be made to stop the glaciers from melting. How does Tundra himself deal with climate change in his world when land development in the Arctic usually mean using up its resources and hastening global warming. Does he feel guilty? Does he ignore it? Does he work with anti-global warming robots like Chill Man or does he clash against them? Is pursuing his passions selfish in light of this?

Tundra people & animals! –I understand if topics like global warming and climate change can get too depressing so if you can just focus on Tundra loving and caring about the tundra. I’d love to see Tundra being cute with tundra animals, whether robots like his stage’s Ice Swans or biological like the huskies, seals and bears mentioned in his profile. Maybe he got so good with modifying robots because he was in charge of repairs for the animal ones. Maybe the living animals ended up watching him because he was in charge of tracking them first. If there are any original human characters featured, I’d love there to be Indigenous Arctic people. I really dislike the story and perception of the Arctic being so overwhelmingly white and mostly about Western colonization, with little thought of the Indigenous people who lived there for thousands of years, seeing them as nothing more than ancient history. Again, I understand that topics could be depressing, and maybe rather be avoided, but there’s no need to get heavy on it, either. I'd just like to see Indigenous people being presented in Mega Man’s world just as much as any other nation. Like, if there’s scientist, citizens, travelers, entrepreneurs, or what have you, and it takes place in the Arctic (or even not), it’d be cool if background characters could be native or at the very least, not overwhelmingly white.

Bounce Man – Bouncy is adorable and cute; thinking about him makes me want to cry. He has my favorite stage music of the game! If I could request longfic of my faves I would. I’m mostly interested in a Tundra-focused fic so for any appearance by Bouncy, I’d like it to be on support for him. It’s easy to dismiss such a happy-go-lucky character described as having childlike innocence as having no depth or unable to feel any “real” emotions but I’d love a serious take on him, while still keeping his upbeat attitude. A sort of “crack taken seriously” but robot bouncing form. I wanna see him seriously played against Tundra, they’ve got some good parallels going on.

Bounce was also transformed from his original purpose, but unlike Tundra, it wasn’t his choice. Also unlike Tundra, who WANTS people to know who he is and what he does, Bounce is already established as a household name (with his own brand of exercise–Hopxercise) and beloved by people (well, kids). Bounce Man was transformed from something with underground utility (crash test dummies aren’t known for public appeal) to something that brings a lot of people joy (an adorable, probably profitable, athletic mascot). I’ve always felt there was some horror to make something self-aware crash test dummy that’s made just for the sole purpose of dying over and over again. And then he gets turned into a funny clown fitness instructor. There’s definitely a story there, feel–a horror, maybe the consequences of capitalism and fitness culture or something.

Is Tundra jealous of Bounce’s appeal? Does he try to leverage his relationship with Bounce Man somehow? How do they react to each other? Does Bounce not notice since he’s too happy-go-lucky? Or he does notice but he just does not care? Bounce is basically a fitness coach so does Bounce use his expertise to help out Tundra achieve his figure skating dreams? How would robot-to-robot exercise work anyway?

Ship/Sexfic: Sex with Mega Man robots! How does it go down?

I don’t have a favorite Tundra ship but I’d love to see a take on a Tundra x Bounce pairing. It doesn’t have to involve sex, since I’m more than happy with them as friends or lovers but non-humanoid robots don’t get as much play with the fandom, especially not with sex, and I’d love for someone else to try it with Bounce. Bounce is a big moving weight ball with long stretchy arms and more than thick enough fingers. Plus, Bounce is basically a clown robot in charge of a gym with lots of access to exercise equipment and utilities. Plenty of opportunity to stretch all kinds of things. Considering Bounce’s personality, I’m looking for something funny than straight up hot, but I’m sure there’s plenty of opportunities for funny and/or heartwarming sex.

Block Man and Impact Man – I nominated them because I’d nominate all the MM11 robot masters if I could. I love them all but Block and Impact are slightly less popular since they’re more of the less humanoid of the robots and they’re my favorites after Tundra and Bounce. I adore that Block’s a huge history nerd with an ambitious heart to build like ancients and that Impact’s basically four people (he’s three robots who consider himself brothers and could change control or split depending on the situation, that’s so cool and how does that work? How does he feel?) I especially love that they’re canonically drinking buddies and I headcanon them as ride and die brothers-in-arms. You don’t have to include them fic but it’d be nice if they could be supporting characters, can make a background appearance, mentioned somewhere, or help influence the plot in some way. Some ideas: they have to help fix or build something for Tundra and/or Bounce. Maybe something goes wrong with Boing-Boing Park. Maybe there’s a secret plan to help build a training ice rink for Tundra. Maybe the two invite Bounce and Tundra on their drinking trips and they talk about love, life and ancient history (both personal and real world). Maybe it’s just as cute as the four robots just hanging out in the Arctic and building snowmen, snow pyramids and enjoying each other’s company.

Other Mega Man 11 Robot Masters are more than welcome to show up. As is pretty much any associated characters like Rock and Roll and Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. If you can throw in the Cossacks somewhere and explore their dynamics somewhere, I would immediately meet my expiration date out of happiness.

Fandom DNW:

Bounce having a childish and naive means he’s treated as a literal child. If Tundra, Impact and Block are considered adults in robot years then should Bounce. Please treat Bounce as an adult that happens to act childish and not a literal kid.

Tundra being dismissive or not caring about the Arctic.

Advance Wars

Jess, Jake, Colin, Worldbuilding

Jess x Jake as a ship, Colin as a major/supporting/background/mentioned character, Worldbuilding that features all three or any of Advance Wars characters.

There’s Advance Wars Re-Boot Camp out there but I’d like to stick with the canon of the original three games (Olaf’s defected from Orange Star, Eagle being surprised at being beaten by a girl, Cosmo/Macro/Omega Land existing as separate continents, their appearances (not a fan of Jess’s redesign specifically) etc). It might be a mess, canon-wise, but it was the mess I fell in love with.

I’m starving for Jess x Jake. Just give me something anything, I’ll be so grateful aaaah. From the fluffiest fluff to heaviest military fic! I’m also very normal about Jess x Jake. I love them both individually and together; Jess GreenEarth is my everything and I think Jake’s so fun, but for this, I’d like them to be treated as a set and shipped, shipped, shipped together like an overnight package. For something that has some canonical basis (they have a Tag Power in Advance Wars: Dual Strike), there’s absolutely nothing for them. I’m a multishipper and also like them with other people but, in my heart of hearts, they’re the OTP. I think for most people, they don’t ping off with shippy vibes, especially compared with their possible tags or interactions in the games – Javier is outwardly romantic towards Jess, it’s very hard to not see Sasha’s interactions as romance and Jake is clearly devoted to Rachel. I’ve heard that a relationship is more like mentorship than romantic and I agree–and that’s why I think they’re so good together. The relationship that’s sweet, solid, dependable, sweet, and maybe more than a little silliness.

Colin - Colin’s actually my favorite male character. He’s just this proper little gentleman who shows hints of inexperience. He’s very booksmart with military tactics but still so very impressionable, especially to those he admires, and I don’t think that would change when he grows up. He’s just so mature in some ways and totally inexperienced in others. I’d like him to make an appearance somehow and help the couple along–maybe he’d like some lessons from Jess, maybe he’s curious why his sister Sasha is so taken with Jake; maybe his Power of Money could help kickstart whatever scenarios happen with Jake and Jess.

Or you could flip my last request–Colin as the possible focus or POV of the story while JakexJess happens in the background. Maybe Colin doesn’t quite recognize what’s happening, or maybe he does and he somehow helps them get together in his own quiet Colin way. Jess mentoring Colin as well–they’re both from so different social backgrounds but they also both have this studious, honor student approach to the military. How much are they different, how much are they alike? A Jess and Colin friendship would be precious to me.

I’d love it if all three of them are featured equally somehow (anthology??? Baton pass story telling?) but I don’t mind if the focus is not equal, because I do love all of them so much.

I’ve been into flower languages lately and Jess’s favorite thing is apparently dandelions. What could Jake’s and Colin’s favorite flowers be? What does this say about their characters? Is it meaningful to their life or does it remind them of a certain period of time in their life? A person maybe. Maybe their home countries.

Jake and Jess geeking about tanks and machinery would be so good.

So in the game, they don’t really do well in snow. Maybe they get stuck in a blizzard and get snowed in some place and very sexy, sexy shenanigans happen. I’m all in for Jake x Jess smut. My only preference would be Jess femdom. Maybe Jess could be a mentor for Jake in more ways than one.

Jake and Jess are ride-and-die for each other. By this I mean, literally. Maybe not sexually, but that could be funny, too. In a similar idea, they use their Tag Power together but it somehow translates to them actually playing “heavy metal”. Full on ridiculous, unleashing their full potential means re-enacting the scenes from Mad Max Fury Road, Flame Guitar style.

They keep spending all their time working, fighting and unconsciously finding all the reasons to spend time with each other, completely unaware they’re already in love with each other.

For something a little more serious and realistic, they’re in an established relationship but having some trouble navigating a long distance relationship between Green Earth and Orange Star. They’re also from totally different countries and upbringing (roughly speaking Germany and the USA). They might get a little strained but they’re still determined to work it out and have their happy ending together.

Colin, for some reason, buys out an amusement park and for some reason, Jess and Jake decided they HAVE to test out all the rides–no one asked them to, but they just felt it was their duty, you know. What no, it wasn’t an excuse to act out a date. There’a war going on and they’re two very serious, very adult, military personnel; not two teenagers in love. Now watch them break the speed limit on these bumper cars.

Actually, Colin buys/does something and Jess/Jake deals with it in their own way.

They all end up in Blue Moon’s equivalent of the Arctic Russia somehow, say on a mission, and they experience what the Arctic have to offer (northern lights, harsh winters, polar bears???)

Jake is taken aback by Jess even bringing up hot springs. Maybe he was just way too distracted by the image of her + hot springs. How distracted could he get when those hot springs joke become real.

Missing scenes between or during one of the game's missions. A take on their final convo before the last battle.

I also adore the Allied Nations a lot and I’d really love it if they could show up. Not necessary but it’d be so good to have fic with screen time for Sasha, Grimm, Sensei, Javier and my beautiful sweet girl, Rachel, especially the old timers. They’re not very popular but I love them so much. I also love the Bolt Guard so if you need some villains for your story for any reason, I’d love to see them.

Advance Wars (Worldbuilding)

If you could feature female infantry soldiers or officers as being a normal part of the military that’d make me so happy. I don’t mind appropriate enough sexism since that was a part of the original games (or even some racism as a result of historical fighting between countries) but Wars World is mostly chill so I’d like to keep the representation positive and progressive level. This is a world where female COs are the norm so it’d be nice if the rest of its military mostly reflect this. If you want to tackle a more realistic then, especially in service of a more serious fic take, then okay, but it's more fluffy and lighthearted then let the world reflect this, too.

Maybe you want to take on a particular worldbuilding, well, fine, I wanna read your meta, but there seems to be this desire to make Advance Wars gritty and realistic and “make it make sense!” when I really do prefer the cartoon wars world. Yes, this is a world where children, teens and grandpas fight in the army with superpowers, but don’t try to justify with realism, just go with it! I don’t mind poking fun with the silliness of the world but at the end of the day, I just want any roasting and exploring to be done with genuine love, and not embarrassment.

Fandom DNW: I love memes and stupid jokes but please, no “What’s an airport again” gag or any references to it. Nothing else in Advance Wars fanfic will immediately and negatively take me out than that.

Please don’t overly feminize Jess especially in some attempt to correct her gender expression or shove into traditional strict gender roles. She’s fairly in butch and gender non-comforming in appearance and in character. But please don’t go the other way and make her into an unemotional, unsmiling, uncaring men or people hater. I’m really not fond of the Re-Boot Camp redesign. It’s implied she worked her way up against sexism, I’m okay with some of that being present or getting believably sick of it. She’s been described in her Japanese profile as an otokomasari, but while she doesn’t get along with Eagle and she says she doesn’t quite “get” people like with battles, she shown also very kind and friendly towards Jake, Javier and Drake, and she’s mentioned to be popular with her troops which definitely has men it, too. Please think of her with a strong, knowing, gentle smile.

Another Eden

Riica, Zilva, Toova, Another Eden Worldbuilding

Gen fic focusing Zilva and Riica, not necessarily together; optional Toova appearing as a major/supporting/background/mentioned character, Worldbuilding is optional

She’s a work android who’s a little WHACKy*, he’s a gentleman soldier who loves writing letters to his wife–together they fight crime! Well, not exactly. There are dozens of dozens of characters in Another Eden, and so many times, places, stories that I honestly don’t know where to begin. However, these two are my favorite characters and while they didn’t have direct interactions, I’d love fic or art about them. Maybe they go on a time travel adventure together, solving problems like delivering lost letters, or finding lost cats. Maybe one of them gets in trouble and the other helps them out like Riica breaks down and only Zilva is around to help or Zilva seems really sad one day and Riica misunderstands the situation but ends up cheering him out anyway. They don’t even have to be together or at all; I’d be happy with a split up story or scenes that may or may not be connected at the end.

*her weapon type is hammer

I really like them because they’re both odd ducks in their way even in their own team/game–even as a pretty adorable gothic lolita character, Riica’s the only visibly “robot” like playable character–almost all non-human like girls look more like conventional humans. Zilva is the only visibly old man playable in the game. They’re both cool but I like how they stand out from the other playable characters.

Zilva is one of the few characters with the art personality. Along with the letter writing, I think it'd be wonderful to see him make art and use that to help people in some way. Art probably meant visual art but what if he’s particularly well-versed in the art of writing? Calligraphy and the like. If you want to speculate what exactly happened to his wife and how this still exactly drives him, please do.

I just think Riica is adorable and very funny. Her off-kilter personality and robotic manner could make for some fun situations and interactions.

We’ve got a character from the present times, a character from the far future, and bringing up a character from antiquity, here's Toova.

By the time Aldo and the gang meet her, she’s already about three thousand years old; she’s implied she might be able to survive way into Riica’s time, over twenty thousand years, easy. Even though Zilva looks older and Riica’s a machine, she’s probably the most mature and “together” of the three. It might be hard to juggle between three viewpoints, I’m okay with her being a supporting character or even just a cameo. She could be one asking help or the one they turn for advice. She might never show up at all but her presence can be felt in the background or through letters. I want to imagine all of Aldo’s traveling companions end up as friends. Maybe Toova and Zilva could end up talking about Toova’s Orphia and Zilva’s wife.

Worldbuilding: Again, the settings of Another Eden encompassed so many eras, places and even timelines, it’d be hard to pick to focus on. If you’ve got any ideas for something to focus on, I’d love to read it. I’ll be honest, I’ve probably forgotten a huge chunk of background lore since there’s so much of it and I play every so often but if you want to write something particular, go for it.

I think since AE is so big on time travel, I’d like to see it treated as a theme in general. Like, a story that’s about the past, present and future. Maybe it’s literal as them hopping from era to era in an attempt to right something that was wrong. Maybe it’s as low stakes as finding a lost cat or delivering a forgotten letter. They must be aware of Aldo’s time traveling adventures so it’d be possible if the story could incorporate stuff like time loops or playing with time travel tropes in general. It could be present in the story itself like presenting a non-linear narrative or a story going backwards, or sidewards.

If possible I want the focus split between Riica and Zilva, and a huge side helping of Toova, but I don’t mind the rest of the cast or even original characters making an appearance and helping out with the story.

Fandom-specific DNW:

I know it’s something that happens in canon but please no jokes about how Toova is self-conscious about how old she is. The whole “haha obviously beautiful women are still so superficial about their ages and looks” joke is so tiresome to me. I don’t imagine Zilva could ever be that rude but I don’t like Riica or any other character commenting and Toova overreacting. Discussions or comments about aging, growing, or mortality are fine. Even other jokes or gags about it are fine, just no “it’s rude to ask a woman her real age” gags.

No smut or ship requests for this fandom. Background couples/shipping are okay if you wanna bring in other characters and their relationships. Non-canon ships are okay to appear if you have them.

Thanks for getting this far. I’m looking forward to reading the story that only you can tell.

“It's not the job of the artist to give the audience what the audience wants. If the audience knew what they needed, then they wouldn't be the audience. They would be the artists. It is the job of artists to give the audience what they need.”- Alan Moore

3 notes · View notes

wilgentak · 2 years ago

Text

you give me fever

this fic is my manifestation for the upcoming episode "sick day"! gregory better miss janine at school and act on with that feeling! it was originally only a sickfic, but i figured that janine's birthday is also soon since she's a sagittarius, soooo i combined the two.

fandom: abbott elementary (tv series) type: sickfic meets birthday fic with lots of fluff pairing: janine x gregory pov: janine’s word count: 4,556 on ao3 as well

summary: it’s janine’s birthday and... she’s at home with a cold.

you give me fever

Janine shivers under her ochre duvet cover, even though she’s put on clothes that should warm her up: her striped woollen socks and Christmas themed pyjamas. Sure, she loves Christmas and yes, she’s the person to secretly listen to Christmas songs during summer and okay, Christmas is right around the corner, but that’s not why she’s wearing them right now. They’re the warmest outfit she owns and bonus, they’re covered with deer whose noses are as red as hers right now. She could be wearing them because her heater is broken, but no. It’s Janine’s birthday and she’s got a cold.

Obviously, this was not how she planned this day to go. Her plans were to go to work and tonight, meet up with Erica. Yesterday, she daydreamed (during cooking, not a great time, she almost burnt herself) about walking through the doors of Abbott, stepping into to the staff room and seeing the incredible, thoughtful, creative surprise her (work) friends had orchestrated for her. Up next, her students, with their smiley little faces, would sing Happy Birthday to her. And after that, she would meet up with Erica and head into town for the most fun night ever. They would go to the street food festival downtown or a comedy show or a glow-in-the-dark mini golf course. Or all those places.

Alas. Even though Janine keeps her side of the street clean, apparently, today, karma and she don’t vibe like that. It’s fine. Technically, her birthday is a day like any other. She could celebrate her birthday next week. She could find out the surprise (which, at this point, only exists in her fantasy, its presence not yet confirmed) waiting for her at school later. She could be sung to by her talented students later. She could head into town and make a fool of herself together with Erica later.

That’s what she tells herself as she sneezes, stuffing a tissue to her nose. It’s fine. You’ll be fine.

She spends her morning sleeping, tucked in bed with a hot water bottle at her feet. During her lunch break, Erica video calls, congratulating her and wishing her well in the same sentence. She asks a million times if Janine needs anything and how she’s feeling. Promising Janine they’ll head into town the moment she’s her old self again. Janine’s glad she welcomed Erica back into her life after Halloween. The call wears her out a bit, though. So, after they hang up, she tries to get cosy on the couch with a fleece blanket and watch some TV. The rest of the afternoon passes by with sniffing, sneezing, and shivering.

It's around five when she realises she’s doing worse than earlier this day. After sleeping all morning, she perked up a bit, but as the afternoon dragged on, she’s feeling more and more uneasy. She’s not hungry, but her breakfast early this morning feels far away. Her blanket is not keeping her as warm as she would like it to. She debates whether she should take some painkillers, but her thoughts are interrupted when she’s hears the doorbell buzzing.

She’s trying to remember if she expects a package to arrive. Unfortunately, but expectedly, her brain is not cooperating. So she bundles up her burnt orange blanket across her shoulders and shuffles to her intercom. Getting up was a bad idea, because now she feels light in her head. She brings the phone to her ear.

“Hello?” Her voice weak.

“Hi. Janine? We, at Abbott, made you something. Can I bring it up?”

She’s not sure she’s hearing correctly. Is Gregory standing in front of her apartment building? If she did hear his voice, she’s having a hard time processing what that means.

“Janine? You there?”

“Yes! I am. Sorry, zoned out a bit. I’ll buzz you through.”

She does, and hangs up the phone. Then she stands there as it dawns to her. Gregory is here. He’s never been here. She’s wearing Christmas pyjamas. There’s at least a hundred tissues spread on the floor. Her hair is a mess. And she feels dizzy.

On a better, brighter day, this would be her cue for quickly trying to clean her living room, scanning the room for dirty dishes, clearing out her side table. But right now, even standing is too much, so she leans against the wall next to her intercom, until Gregory rings her doorbell.

She opens the door.

He’s standing in the hallway in all his glory. Holding a big bag in his right hand.

The strength is leaving her legs, but she’s happy to see him. She smiles, feeling self-conscious. And you know, not well.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” he smiles back.

“Come in.” She makes room for him and gestures at the coat rack next to the front door. “You can leave your coat and shoes here.”

“Thanks.” He puts down the bag and does so. “Is it okay I’m here?”

Janine nods. Then regrets it because her dizziness is now ringing in her ears. She’s sweating, but she’s cold. Gregory is looking at her, a frown forming between his brows. She’s not sure what kind of face she’s pulling, but she doesn’t want him to worry.

“Hey, are you alright?” He takes a step towards her.

“Yes, I’m fi–” she starts to say, but she cannot finish, because suddenly, her legs give out. And only distantly she feels the impact of the side of her body against his chest as his arms embrace her. The next moment she’s laying on the floor, still caught in her blanket. She looks up at Gregory, who’s on his knees, bent over her.

“Janine? How are you feeling?” His voice is soft. Not at all distressed, what she would be if someone next to her fainted. Her body is the heaviest it’s ever been.

“Tired.”

“You fainted.”

“I figured.”

Janine tries to sit up, leaning on her elbows.

“No rush, take it slow,” he urges.

She does. And slowly, she’s able to sit up, leaning back on her hands.

“I think I wanna rest for a bit.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“Thank you. And sorry.”

“It’s totally fine.”

Bit by bit, she makes her way up to standing, with Gregory watching her every move. She shuffles to her bedroom. Takes some painkillers on the way. In the back of her head there’s a voice trying to point her attention to the fact that Gregory is in her apartment, that he can see her messed up bed, the stuffed animal (Kurt the koala) she’s had since she was a little girl. She cannot seem to care though, because she’s distracted by how good it feels to slip under her duvet.

“Before you fall asleep, what is your favourite type of soup?”

She meets his gaze; he’s standing in the doorway of her bedroom. Despite feeling the heaviness of sleep pulling her down, she can’t help but let out a little laugh. Is he for real?

“It’s spicy tomato soup. What are you planning to do with that info?”

He grins. “You’ll see.”

She doesn’t imagine the possible scenarios for long. Because after pulling Kurt close to her, she cannot seem to keep her eyes open and she drifts into sleep.

It’s dark out when Janine wakes. Seems like Gregory closed the door and her curtains too. Sleeping during the day is the strangest thing, but she’s not sweating anymore and the extreme coldness in her bones is gone, so she did the right thing. She’s glad her nap and the painkillers worked.

She hears water running and clanging of what sounds like dishes. Then, miraculously, her stuffed nose is able to identify the smell coming from under her bedroom door. Food.

Janine’s belly rumbles loudly.

For a moment, she braces herself to leave the warmth of her bed. Then she flips her duvet and reaches her feet to the ground. Once again, she grabs her loyal plaid, wrapping it around her body. She makes her way to the door but stops in front of the mirror on top of her dresser. Good to know her nose is still red as Melissa’s cape on Halloween this year. She pulls her hair into a half bun, noticing she’s feeling a bit embarrassed. She shouldn’t expect to look like her usual self when she’s down with a cold. But Gregory is on the other side of the door. And somehow that makes her want to make an effort to look presentable.

She opens her bedroom door and steps into the aromatic kitchen. Standing by the sink is Gregory, doing the dishes. He looks up, midway scrubbing, a trace of worry on his face.

“Hey, how are you feeling?”

Janine is stunned. She looks at the pan on the stove. The collection of clean dishes behind Gregory. The floor, which is empty of tissues, but now covered with balloons in all colours imaginable. She feels a wave of gratefulness wash over her.

“Gregory, oh my god, I can’t believe this. This is crazy. You didn’t have to do all this.”

His smiles at her. “I wanted to. And you’re not feeling well, so it’s the least I could do.”

“Thank you. Really.”

She drops the blanket on her couch and walks over to stand next to him. “I’m feeling a lot better, sleeping helped.”

“I’m glad. Are you hungry?”

“Yes, actually. What did you make?” She walks over to the stove and peers into the pan. Steamy, red soup that smells wonderful. “You… made my favourite soup. You’re gonna make me cry.”

Her overly, but truly genuinely, touched expression makes Gregory let out a laugh.

She points Gregory to the high shelf that has her bowls on it (glad to not use her improvised stool for once) and pours both bowls full. They sit at her round table.

The soup tastes incredible. And not only because she’s hungry. Gregory is a good cook. It doesn’t surprise her.

“This is delicious,” she tells him. He answers with a smile. The steam of the soup opens her nose. It’s a welcome sensation.

“I like your outfit.”

“Thanks, where’s yours?”

“I left my Christmas sweater at home. Hope you can forgive me.”

“Oh? I didn’t peg you as a person who owns Christmas themed clothes.”

“It was a gift. But it’s very soft. It’s a green turtleneck, with a huge deer face on the front.”

Janine grins, imagining Gregory with the jumper on. A proud, stoic Mr. Darcy. She wonders whether he knows his sweater is a reference to Bridget Jones’s Diary. And she wonders who gave him the gift. His mom? Or maybe an ex-lover?

“Did your family give that to you?”

Gregory snorts, spoon full of soup mid-air. Janine is surprised by his reaction.

“No, my dad hates Christmas,” Gregory answers, his voice almost devoid of any emotion. Almost, because Janine’s sure she catches some bitterness in there. She waits for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t. Silently, he continues to eat his soup. She follows his movements with her eyes.

“When I was sick as a kid, my mom didn’t really care for me. I learned to take care of myself.”

She didn’t realise that was on the tip of her tongue, but it’s out before she knows it. He meets her gaze. She breaks eye contact immediately. Her turn to stare at her bowl and lift a spoon to her mouth.

“That must’ve been tough.” The softest voice.

“It was.” Her throat feels tighter than usual. She forces out her next words. “It’s alright, though. It could’ve been worse. It meant I had more cooking and cleaning experience than the other kids in my class. Which paid off when I finally moved out.”

She laughs a little. It feels fake, she knows it. But she doesn’t want him to pity her. She’s glad he’s silent.

“My dad is all about tradition and sobriety. Whenever I got too excited as a kid, he would put me on time-out. Everything that came with Christmas, like the presents, decorations and Santa Claus, which made me ecstatic of course, was a reason for him to discipline me.”

She looks up at him. He gives her a small smile, almost apologetic.

“But the one thing I love most about kids is their carefree enthusiasm.”

Gregory shrugs. “Guess my dad didn’t think that way.”

She’s silent for a bit.

“That explains why you’re so composed,” she says, before quickly adding: “Which is not a bad thing by the way, I think it’s a great personality trait.”

His smile is back, a bit bigger this time. “You taking care of yourself as a kid explains your resilience.”

She answers his smile. It’s true. Her memories of growing up aren’t always great, but her childhood did bring her to where she is right now. And it resulted in the traits she’s most proud of: her spirit and optimism. It’s reassuring Gregory can see that.

She remembers the conversation they had on the day Tariq performed for F.A.D.E. at Abbott. They were standing in front of the school, sharing an umbrella he held up, in the rain. It confused her that his dad didn’t want him to be a teacher. She agreed with what Gregory said that day: it shouldn’t matter what his dad thinks, it should be about what makes him, Gregory, happy. It doesn’t surprise her that Gregory’s dad dislikes Christmas. Janine’s mom couldn’t be the mom she wanted and often needed. Maybe Gregory’s dad was the same.

Despite that, he turned into this person who decided to take a chance and continue teaching, because he thought it could make him happy. And even more, he showed up on her birthday, even though she has a cold, making her favourite soup, cleaning up her apartment, decorating it. Her heart inflates like one of the balloons covering the floor. She’s glad he’s here. It makes her see him in a new light.

They finish their bowls. Together they clean up the rest of the dishes. Janine is storing away cutlery when she sees Gregory rummaging the bag he brought.

“I have something for you,” he says. “We all pitched in on this, so Barbara, Melissa, Jacob and me. Originally it was just for your birthday, but now it has a get-well-soon part as well.”

He takes out a big, wrapped present out of the bag and places it on her white dining table. Janine is overjoyed. A birthday gift! And everyone pitched in! She can’t stop grinning.

“Oh my god! Thank you!”

Carefully, she opens the present, unfolding the paper until she can see what’s inside. It seems to be a basket filled with different things. There’s a box of ripe, shiny plums. A shawl in lovely pastel green and pink colours. A small ficus plant. And some tea. She picks everything up to inspect it with the widest grin imaginable.

“This is so great, thank you so much!” she beams up at Gregory. “I really have to get better soon so I can thank the rest.”

“Happy birthday, Janine.”

Janine can’t stop smiling at him. She looks into his eyes, and the feeling of wanting more washes in, even though he’s right there, giving her his fullest attention, smiling at her.

“You know,” she starts, feeling brave, “whenever I’m sick there’s a movie I watch… Want to stay and watch WALL-E with me?”

“Yeah,” Gregory replies, almost without missing a beat, nodding, “sounds good.”

“Okay, great!” Janine plucks the tea from her gift basket. “Do you also want a cup?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

She makes tea for them both. A few minutes later, they’ve set up on her couch. Steaming cups in front of them on the side table. Movie paused right at the beginning on her TV. Janine’s more conscious than usual of his presence. Her couch is not that big. Three people on it would sit knee to knee. Earlier today she couldn’t get her body to warm up, but it now seems her skin is radiating heat and it’s not because she’s running a fever.

“You ready?” she asks.

“More than.”

Janine knows exactly why WALL-E is her comfort movie. It calms her down, watching a story of how meaningful connection is still possible long after the Earth is no longer inhabitable. A story of how robot WALL-E travels across the entire galaxy to follow this meaningful connection. It’s magical, touching and has so much heart. It makes her think about the consequences of her choices, but in the most soft and grateful way possible.

It’s exactly because it’s her comfort movie and Gregory sitting next to her makes her feel safe, that she starts feeling drowsy and drifts into sleep. She blames her after-dinner dip too. And her sleepless night. And her cold.

She dreams of them sitting on her couch. Or rather, she’s laying on her side, with her head in his lap, on one of her cushions, knees pulled up a bit. WALL-E is still chasing after EVE on the TV. Gregory runs his fingers through her curls. Each touch a lullaby. It soothes her.

“Don’t stop…” she mumbles.

Gregory hums gently in question.

“Your fingers in my hair… feels good…”

He continues. She nudges the side of her face into the cushion. She never wants this dream to end.

Inevitably, it does. She was only taking a small nap, apparently, because when she wakes the movie is still running. But something is not right. It’s not WALL-E’s adorkableness. It’s that she’s laying in Gregory’s lap, like in her dream, covered by her blanket. Immediately, her heart rate rises. Did she fall over while sleeping? Or did she decide to rest her head here while she was sleeping? Her cheeks glow from embarrassment. Did Gregory let her and cover her with the plaid?

Slowly, she turns her head for as much is possible with her laying on her side. Her eyes fall on Gregory’s sleeping face, resting his head on the backrest of her couch, slightly leaning to his right. His breathing is slow and steady. The skin on his face relaxed. It’s cute. Something flips in her stomach. It makes her skin burn even more.

Maybe she rested her head on his thighs while he was sleeping. There’s still a way to make sure he doesn’t know this ever happened.

With utmost care, as quietly and slowly as possible, she rises from her position. She holds her breath getting up, the only sound her heart beating and rustling of the blanket on top of her clothes. And, she notices the next moment, to her deepest regret, the rustling of his clothes too. He’s moving.

“Janine?” A croaky voice.

He’s awake.

She jerks herself up. The impact comes with a thud.

“Ow,” Gregory groans. “Shit.”

Oh god. She headbutted him. His chin, to be precise.

“Oh my god, Gregory, I’m so sorry,” Janine has never been this flustered. She sits up and shifts in her seat, so her body is facing him, sitting on her knees. “Are you alright?”

“I’m definitely awake now.” Gregory rubs his chin, folding one leg on the couch, the other one still over the edge. He’s laughing, to her relief. Which makes her laugh too. Laughing at the situation, her clumsiness.

“I come over to bring you a birthday and get-well gift, cook for you, and this is how you treat me,” he says, before pulling a serious face. “If you want me to leave, you can say so, Janine.”

She laughs some more. “Don’t leave. I still have to give you a black eye.” She holds up her fists to her cheeks, bouncing her arms, pretending to prepare herself for hitting him in the face.

As she does so, the blanket on top of her shoulders slips off. The next moment, Gregory reaches for it, his face close, stretching his arms on both her sides. In a swift motion, he pulls the blanket over her shoulders again, closing it in the middle, right before her chest, where she’s still holding up her hands, now in loosened fists. His hands brush over hers. His folded knee touches hers. He gently takes some of her hair to pull it out of her blanket cape, so it rests on top. The sound of the movie still running is miles away. She meets his gaze.

In that moment, she doubts her dream was a dream. It’s all there in the way he touched her hair just now and how he’s looking at her in this moment. And it’s locking her eyes with his that makes her realise this: she wants to kiss him.

He’s so close. His warm gaze not only soothing her but causing a tingling feeling across her forearms and the back of her neck. He’s everywhere around her, taking up all her senses.

His hands rests on his folded leg, his fingers touch her knee. Is he doing this on purpose? The sensation is enough to light her whole body on fire. She breaks eye contact, looking at the TV again.

“You know, it’s pretty fucked up we assume WALL-E is a boy. It’s a robot. You know? It makes no sense. It’s sexless.” She’s rambling, she knows it, but she cannot stop.

Gregory just hums, slowly nodding. She can feel his eyes on her face, but she’s looking everywhere but him. His finger traces a small circle on her knee. She feels the skin underneath burning up.

“And you know what! The movie’s message is really well handled. Under capitalism, the environment is doomed. We thrive when freed from the confines of oppression! After all these years, WALL-E is still relevant, maybe even more so today than when it got released.”

He hums again. It agitates her. How he’s simply sitting there, while she’s freaking out, trying to decide whether she should push her feelings away. Or give in to them. She clutches the fabric of her blanket in her hands, staring at her lap, at how his fingers trace the soft fabric of her deer-covered pyjama pants.

She can’t take it any longer; she’s almost bursting. So, she takes a shuddering breath. And looks up.

His face is there, filling up her whole vision. His fingers stop tracing her knee. He rang her doorbell, cooked for her, cleaned and decorated her apartment, wanted to watch her comfort movie with her, brushed his fingers on her knee. And now he’s here, on her sofa, sitting in front of her, close, so close. It’s only a split second, but meeting his gaze is all she needs.

She leans forward. And kisses him, quickly, before pulling back again.

Her heart is racing, unable to process what she did. She looks up to see his reaction, even though her nerves are killing her. She needs to know.

His surprise quickly makes way for a grin. Before Janine can feel even more nervous, he leans forward, cupping her face with his hand, the warmth of his touch and breath on her face, closing the distance between them.

It feels incredible.

It’s no use being careful when she already fainted in his arms and headbutted him in the face, when he’s seen Kurt the koala and her Christmas themed pyjamas, when she opened up about her mom, when she cuddled up in his lap. It’s no use being careful, so she leans into his hand, into his touch, taking in everything he’s giving her.

She’d expected kissing him would ease her longing to pull him close, but it only makes her want him more. It’s like something inside her set off. Or like she passed a stop without knowing. She doesn’t ever want to return, though.

She senses he wants to get closer too, but their legs are in the way. The heat rises to her head. At this point, she cannot say whether it’s her fever acting up or that she’s feeling hot. Hot for him.

Her hand is on his chest, gently pressing. He pulls back. The look in his eyes knocks the air right out of her and for a moment, she stops in her tracks. He’s completely open, meeting her gaze with all he has. She’s never seen him like this. Her heart swells. She can’t go back.

She clasps his shoulder for stability as she straddles him. His eyes never leave her face as she settles and cups his face in her hands. She leans forward, his hands travel up her thighs, resting on her hips. It feels amazing, her body pressed to his, kissing him, his warm hands pressing into her hips, her lower back.

It’s not until she’s out of breath because of her stuffed nose that they pull back. Which is sooner than she would’ve liked. Her whole body is tingling, her thighs still pressing into the sides of his body, his hands still roaming her back, waist and hips. Her blanket long gone, bundled up on the side of her couch.

He’s looking at her with so much fondness, a small smile lingering on his lips, she wants to kiss him all over again. She feels bare, naked, but it’s alright if he’s the one holding onto her.

“Do you think I passed on my cold to you?”

He chuckles softly. “Maybe. I’ll survive. It was a good trade.”

“Yeah,” Janine grins.

A moment of bliss passes. The next, she backs out of his lap and positions herself next to him again. She grabs one of the cups of tea they made. It’s cooled down entirely. Figures. She takes a sip anyway. Looks like WALL-E is almost over.

Gregory puts one of his arms on the backrest of the sofa, and she scooches closer to him, resting the back of her head in the crook of his armpit. And like that, they watch the remaining part of the movie.

It’s when Gregory’s putting on his coat to head home that she realises there’s no way she could’ve guessed how his day would go. Before going to bed yesterday, her plans were to go to Abbott and meet up with Erica afterwards. After waking up, she decided to stay in and recover from her cold, taking it easy even though it was her birthday. Not for a moment did she expect Gregory would show up at her door. That he would make her favourite soup. That he would kiss her. He has no idea how happy he makes her.

“Did you run your fingers through my hair while I was sleeping in your lap?” It’s not really a question.

Gregory meets her gaze, smiles softly, and nods.

“And then I told you to keep going.”

“Yeah, you did.” His smile deepens. “Want to do that again sometime soon?”

She beams up at him. “Yes. I would love that.”

He’s packed in to face the cold evening outside. She doesn’t want him to leave just yet. There’s a beat when they’re looking at each other. The next she takes a step forward. He folds his arms over her shoulders, her head, resting his chin on top of her hair. She places her hands on the broad of his back. Breathes in. And breathes out.

She could live here. In his arms.

#abbott elementary #janine x gregory #gregory x janine #janine teagues #gregory eddie #fanfiction #this is the longest fic i ever wrote i put lots of my fav trops in it hope you ENJOY

36 notes · View notes

queenangst · 4 years ago

Note

Hey there! This is your BNHA secret Santa and I have a few questions for you :) I saw you want strictly gen/platonic fics which is totally awesome. I was wondering if you had any specific type of angst you were looking for or any general guidelines of what you want. (I see you have a bunch of fics with angst, so I’m wondering if you want me to base it off of one of your previous ones or if you have something else in mind. Also, did you want it to be Christmas themed or nah?

Oh, man, hi!

I’m going to be completely honest with you, I don’t really remember what I put on my Secret Santa form... so feel free to ask away if you have questions!

I absolutely love genfic (can you tell?) and angst (can... can you tell...?). You can’t go wrong with that. I promise as long as you hit those two boxes, I will love you forever and ever.

I know my way around this rodeo, so don’t worry, here’s an (incomplete) list of dynamics, tropes, and other things I like and would be overjoyed with if this helps gets the gears turning:

My “holy trinity” is Dadmight, Dadzawa, and platonic Bakudeku

1-A girls are good too!

Found family and friendship

OFA business/shenanigans (up to you what this means; strange OFA happenings, OFA reveals, secret keeping, Quirk developments, whatever!)

Any kind of “reveal” - canon or AU, identity, OFA, late bloomer, Izuku as All Might’s successor (though I have been reading/writing quite a bit recently, so I’d lean away from this one, but I’d still be stoked if you wrote this!)

Future fic (characters as pro heroes, but again, platonic)

Social media fic/epistolary fic

Time travel (all kinds!)

Soulmate AUs, especially platonic soulmates

Hisashi-related angst (bad dad, villain Hisashi, DFO, take your pick)

Rooftop trio (Aizawa, Hizashi, Oboro), bonus for Nemuri

Whump/angst/hurt/comfort

If you don’t feel like doing the angst route and you want to go for something lighter/more fun: shenanigans, like Class 1-A being idiot teenagers

Other helpful things:

my tropes tag (tropes that I like)

my prompts tag (prompts I’ve made, though this is not always updated)

bnha fic rec tag (other people’s fics that i like!)

I do read the manga, so if you do also, spoilers are fine!

And... some things I don’t really like, because I know that can be helpful, too:

Not the biggest sickfic whump fan :(

Anything with a strong focus on bullying, abuse, suicide

Darkfic, major character death, angst with an unhappy ending—you’re free to write those and I enjoy them sometimes, but I don’t prefer them

Like.... any ships. I know you know this, but just to be upfront. Even background ships. I don’t like Eraserm1c, it’s a personal thing, but since it’s extremely popular in fanon I thought I would mention it.

I’m wondering if you want me to base it off of one of your previous ones or if you have something else in mind. Also, did you want it to be Christmas themed or nah?

To answer this question: if you like one of my fics/AUs and you feel so inspired, I’d be happy for you to write something based off of it. I actually have blanket permissions on (most of) my fics, so really anything goes. Spin-offs, sequels, remixes, secondary fanworks, loose inspiration... if you decide that’s what you want to do, go for it.

Christmas themed is fine, again, if you want to write it. I don’t have a particular preference if it is holiday related or not.

As you can see.... there are a lot of options. I hope this isn’t too overwhelming, but I’m trying to give you as much info as possible!! Please feel free to take any of the ideas on these lists, combine them, use my fics as inspo, ask me 1000 questions, do whatever WHATEVER YOUR LITTLE ANGST HEART DESIRES.

TL; DR:

(P.S. Besides Secret Santa, feel free to stop by and just say hello/chat. And tell me about yourself, of course without giving anything away. I’d love to make a new friend!)

I’m going to be keeping you tagged under “bnha secret santa” and “ss anon.” Check those tags if you’re looking for my response(s)!

#asks #bnha secret santa #ss anon #long post #SO LONG IM SORRY HAAHAH #anonymous

13 notes · View notes

haich-slash-cee · 4 years ago

Text

I luv emotional comfort in books

and IDK if y’all are aware but romance books are prime for this. So, my prose reading includes: Speculative fiction, #ownvoices type books that are middle grade YA ish, and also random romance novels that are inclusive. I’m going to go over why these books are great.

Speculative fiction (ie scifi, fantasy, horror): I just like these. These are my jam. I have a whole tag of mild horror for this blog, and most of the books I talk about on this blog are spec fiction.

Middle grade books: they have happy endings, they are short, they are easy to read, they are often diverse. V good.

YA books, New Adult books: also written in an easy-to-read style. Also, MG and YA books and I think New Adult tend to be more on top of inclusive representation. Or maybe that’s what I hear about and read more of.

FYI, things get potentially more angsty in these older reader books. Sometimes I’m up for that drama-filled YA book about a trans demi-boy artschool teenager in NYC, or I want to read about the teen mom who wants to be come a chef and she gets everything she wants and it’s great and I cried. Or, sometimes I just wanna curl up with a warm and lowkey MG book about a young Syrian refugee who wants to audition for a school play. (All these books have happy endings fyi)

(Also, I know I’m about to extoll the virtues of romance books.... but if, in fact, you prefer your books to be low/null on romance and stuff: first, there is a growing # of aro ace protagonist or oriented books, whooo! Also, often MG and some YA New Adult books fall into that category of “Characters are concerned about things besides a crush or love interest”.)

Romance books: I don’t actively go looking for them, but occasionally an #ownvoices type romance book will show up in my radar and I’ll read it.

Having just actively pointed out that I appreciate ace aro ish books.... why romance books?

First, Romance book are legally required to have a happy and optimistic ending. That might not be the exact phrasing, but basically: you can’t call it a romance book if it’s not “happy ever after” or “happy for now”. So if you pickup a book with minority characters and it’s labeled “romance”? The minority characters are guaranteed to be cherished and loved and have a happy ending. Minority characters will be told “you’re amazing, you are loved, I am so happy when I am with you”. Which is revolutionary in its own way.

Also, when there’s so many books with themes of “Bury Your Gays”, “The PoC will Die for the White People”, “This Author Wants to you Connect With this Minority By Making Them Die Because That’s The only Way to Make a Minority Character Relatable?”, “Women Being Happy Is Too Weird Apparently?”, “This Gender Minority Needs to Suffer For Reasons and this Book is Written By an Outsider FYI and the Representation is Suspicious”, “While racism and pain is a part of PoC and minority day to day life that is not realized by majority groups, and minorities should speak up when they want to because they are often discouraged from speaking due to white fragility and systemic stuff -- I have questions when I see writers from a majority group writing about Minority Suffering, especially when imposed as Minorities Suffer And This Can’t Be Changed Narrative, because that is a very convenient narrative for an oppressive system, as it enforces that Things are Unchangeable and Oppressors don’t have to do the work to change a system that benefits them, and this narrative needs to be challenged", “Minority Characters Suffers, Suffers, Suffers.... Look, I need a break from reality, I just can’t read this right now”, and finally, “Did you know that ‘diverse’ books are popular, but it’s still white people making money from writing issues of PoC, while BIPOC authors are still only like 7% of the market and BIPOC writers are very aware of this gatekeeping happening in publishing?”.... Happy minority characters and also actively reading and supporting minority-author’d books is a thing to be discussed. (Link, link, link and link to publishing industry reports on the 2nd point.)

Also, romance books are generally character driven, and character driven stuff is my jam.

H/C: There’s like, sooo much emotional comfort in romance books, y’all. People are showered with love. People are vulnerable and comforted and happy. Listen, I just read “Wrapped Up in You” by Talia Hibbert and it was basically was two solid hours of this. Literally. And a few cats show up. Also, the writer put a note in the front of the book about some possible triggers in the story, assured that she handled these as lovingly as she could, and that this books was meant to be a Christmas comfort read. (It was.) I really like when published books put info like this in the front.

...Occasionally there is straight up physical h/c or whump or at least sick fic scenarios in romance? Like, I expect piles of fluff and emotional comfort from romance. It’s almost a legal requirement. I’m here for these saccharine piles for fluff. Anyway, there’s more physical h/c than I expected.

So I was reading “Let’s Talk About Love” by Claire Kann (which has a young Black woman who is Ace and falling in love in the most adorable way, fyi... so we have ace rep in romance books too!) Anyway, y’all, there was a whole section which was basically a sickfic for one character with cooing and nursing and worrying by another character. It went on for a while. Personally, I thought the illness sounded pretty dang serious here and I think these people should have just gone to the doctor or a hospital, maybe, instead of days and days of home nursing and convenient character backstory exploration through looking at photo albums. But this is fiction. (Also they are young adults and are struggling for money and maybe they’re afraid of healthcare costs, idk. It takes place in the US.)

Actually, while I have admittedly not read too many romances, I feel like half of the books I have read include a “uh oh the protagonist/love interest just got the flu, the other character has to take care of them” scene.

Also, once I was reading a romance story and someone just... fell off a cliff? And cue subsequent expressions of feelings from other character and spending time together etc. IDK why I’m laughing, it was just funny that I had a vague idea of what romance books were, then I read this book and thought, “People are just straight-up falling off cliffs and limping around and later they can’t move from a bed and someone fusses over them, wow, there is just straight up h/c in these published romance books for ladies and no one talks about it, huh”

#comfort #books #book #hurt comfort #whump #fluff #ownvoices #romance books #hea #hfn

7 notes · View notes

mirach · 5 years ago

Text

five fav fics

Thank you for tagging me, @lady-divine-writes !

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world. tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

(All fanfics are for Good Omens)

1. Back to the Roots

This is the longest fanfiction I ever wrote (90k) that I finished just a month ago and that I feel really proud of. It is dark (very dark...), but I used that darkness to let the love beween Aziraphale and Crowley shine through it. There’s a lot of hurt followed by a slow healing and a happy ending,

Summary: "We always knew it would end. Like mortals know that they'll die." Crowley closes his eyes, finding the stare of his own reflection unbearable. "When you're immortal, you can afford to pretend and hide and go slow. And then, when you finally figure it all out, it turns out that what you have can end anytime. It's unfair..." ---------- The morale in Heaven and Hell is low after the failed Apocalypse. Punishing the traitors (effectively this time) seems like a good idea to raise it for both sides - the angels would see what awaits them if they dare to disobey and the demons could just use some fun. And then there is someone else as well - someone whose grudge is even more personal.

2. On a Wing and a Prayer

It is 1941, just a few weeks after a church (but no book) has been destroyed by a bomb and a demonic intervention. Aziraphale prays. He prays for strength as he is holding a building from collapsing and taking innocent lives. Crowley prays that he arrives in time. And someone listens to those prayers.

3. Between Heaven and Hell

My first GO fanfic, written with a fresh impression from the show

Summary: An angel and a demon took each other's place at a trial meant to obliterate their very existence. They emerged from it victorious, but not unchanged. Together, they are trying to deal with their experiences in Heaven and Hell and find a place in the world where they don't belong to any side but their own.

4. In Sickness and in Health

A Christmas-themed sickfic written for the Good Omens Holiday Swap for @aknightofthe7kingdoms

Summary: Aziraphale is now free from Heaven's restrictions and has no limit on the miracles he can do other than his own power. With Christmas approaching, he gets a bit carried away with those and has to bear the consequences. Luckily Crowley is there to share the load.

In this story: - Aziraphale wears a Father Christmas costume (and a Star Wars t-shirt) - Aziraphale gets sick - Crowley gets sick - Aziraphale uses a smartphone for the first time - there are some unusual Christmas decorations and random mistletoe

5. Paperwork

Here I found out that the tag “ineffable bureaucracy” means something else than I thought it did (I used it in the literal meaning here)

Summary: Aziraphale is filling the paperwork required to get a new body. In the report about his discorporation (involving Arthur, Mordred and a knight in black armour), he has to bend the truth a little. One can't admit fraternising with the enemy in an official document, after all...

Tagging @teslatherat @aziraiphale @aziraphalelookedwretched @braver-stronger-smarter if you feel like doing it, or anyone else who does

#good omens fanfiction

25 notes · View notes

xxx-cat-xxx · 5 years ago

Note

absolute top favourite tony h/c fic recs?

Thank you for the ask and sorry for taking so long to answer! I have a recommendation section here on my blog, but I extended it a bit and posted it below:

Cat’s Tony hurt/comfort fic recs

Long works

If you’re up for a dark, violent, and incredibly touching and well written novel in which Tony and Peter are broken and put back together countless times, go for How to repair a broken heart by InfluentialPineapple. In my opinion, it’s one of the best pieces of literature ever written anywhere, even outside of the fanfic-realm. It describes a journey on which Tony and Peter slowly grow together, and although it´s terribly sad and extremely whumpy, you can see the love the author has for their characters in every single line. Injury, illness, violence, torture, anxiety, PTSD, this one´s got everything, so please heed the TWs.

Dark Memories by @trammelsb: This story is centered around child (sexual) abuse. But it is so much more than Tony suffering through flashbacks and panic attacks (although there is a great deal of that) and being comforted by his team members, especially Bruce, his partner. It is about Tony going through a great deal of character development, learning that he is not to blame for what has happened. The author doesn´t shy away from all the heavy topics, but she also never ceases to treat the characters with respect, In the end, it seems to be a story about not giving up, and despite all the pain it causes when you read it, the feeling that stays is that it´s worth to keep fighting.

Arc Tremors by @rose-on-the-mountain: 44 epic chapters of Whump and the kind of fluff that is not fluffy at all, rather makes your heart overflow with emotions. It´s Avenger-family centric, including Pepper and Rhodey and wonderful robot characters, themed around an illness that forces Tony to go through a difficult heart procedure. Everyone’s shadows and traumas get their due, and it balances darkness and light admirably well.

One Hell of a Show by MillyVeil: Clint and Tony get kidnapped and tortured. Heavily. This is one of the physically most brutal whump-fics I know - Milly is like the Tarantino of fan-fiction - but god, it´s well done. TWs for detailed descriptions of rape and violence.

Resistance by thegraytigress: Tony and Steve are captured by the Kree and held in a concentration camp-like environment for months. This is a slow-built, well thought-through love story with a lot of pain and a deep exploration of Tony´s and Steve´s characters as well as their emerging relationship. It has one of the best and most realistic aftermaths to traumatic experiences that I´ve ever read. It’s basically a book worth of heavy, heavy, heavy physical and emotional whump. Please mind the TWs.

She’s my Ride Home by OfMonstersAndMe: The most beautiful recount of how Nebula’s and Tony’s friendship develops in the 23 days they spent in space. Lots of great hurt/comfort scenes and spot-on characterisation.

450 Feet Under by Veldeia: Tony is trapped in a cave with no way out. The Avengers are on the way to get him, but when he gets seriously injured, the rescue mission becomes a race against time. 15 chapters of absolutely satisfying whump, snark, and feels. Background Stony. Simply brilliant!

Short(er) Works

Basically all Tony fics by @builder051. I especially like this Pepperony Christmas fic and this Nat & Tony cave anxiety fic.

Strong Enough by Ranni: Steve, Tony, and Clint are held prisoner, but the real danger begins when their captors abandon the prison to let them die in their cells. Injuries, torture, pneunomia, great dialogues. Platonic relationships between the three men, really touching, but not cheesy. Ranni is one of my favourite writers, and all her other stories are equally intruiging. Monsters and Beloved Companion also have a lot of Tony Whump.

Five Times Bruce is Not That Kind of Doctor™ + One Time He’s Perfect For the Job by @whumphoarder and @awesomesockes. The most amazing mix of humour and whump you’ll ever find. I love all their fics, so some more of my Tony Whump faves are The After Party and Desperate Times.

@taylortut writes beautiful and touching fics in which Tony gets whumped around other Avengers. Mostly h/c with illness or injury (and some adorable daily-life drabbles).The stories are generally light-hearted, but not at all superficial. I still can´t decide which one is my favorite because I love all of them, so I´m putting up the general link to Taylor´s Blog. Find her here on A03.

The Minor Fall, the Major Lift by sahiya: This one is about Bruce coming back to the compound after Civil War, trying to pick up Tony´s broken pieces. It has the best characterization of Tony, Bruce and Rhodes I´ve seen in a while now. Everything about this fic seems fragile, the characters, the conversations, the shaky comfort they manage to build. It´s slow-paced, and it´s not a fix-it-all, and this is what makes it so good. Sahiya is one of the best writers out there and her series “Me through Him to You” is printworthy.

Bruce and Goose´s Truce by @twentyghosts: After Infinity War, Tony is saved from space. Bruce medically examines him while being heavily flirted at, then they bathe together, and Tony cries, and Bruce holds him tight. Everyone is more than a little broken, but it´s okay, because they have each other back. More Tony Whump in Cold, Comfort and Unmasked.

nimentia by TinyFuryCloud: Tony and Steve have been married for more than 20 years when Tony is diagnosed with Alzheimer´s disease. This story is so terribly well done. The whole process of Tony slowly disintegrating, slowly getting lost, but somehow, somewhere, still being Tony, is recounted in precise detail with just the right mixture of matter-of-fact descriptions and emotions. Also, A+ characterisation of everyone who is and was part of Tony´s life, including Peter and Jarvis.

Hubris by @writingromanoff: Tony gets kidnapped and tortured by Justin Hammer. Tortured, as in forced to walk for days and days in the desert without a drop of water, and that´s just the beginning. When Steve finally shows up, Tony doesn´t even know whether he´s real anymore. I still can´t decide whether the whump or the whump´s aftermath is better in this one, both are very well described. Heed the TWs (torture and humiliation, obviously, as well as ED behaviour and others). By the same author: somno, the best concussion fic in the universe, and Blue Lips, Blue Veins, which is on some other level of genius alltogether.

Just a rather very intelligent system by @darkestsight: Seven instances of Jarvis taking control over the suit and saving Tony´s ass without anyone noticing. Not all of them are sickfics. Chapter 3 is my personal favorite and contains a physically and emotionally beaten-down and extremely tired Tony; chapter 5 has him dealing with PTSD and chapters 6 and 7 involve him getting injured. I liked the idea of it and enjoyed the interactions between Tony and Jarvis.

Pressure Point by ratherastory: Another migraine fic, with a very precise description of the pain Tony´s in and a nice amount of Starkasm. Steve as caretaker. Can be read as Stony, but doesn’ t have to. Pain and vomiting.

Home by @saber-wing: All Tony wanted was a cup of coffee. But then Thor’s Asgardian monster pet decides to try and eat Tony’s leg for breakfast. Excellent whump, Avengers family feels and a lot of humour. The author has many more amazing whump fics!

I Can´t Exactly Hold Your Hair Back by SirSapling: This is based on the comics and not the movies. It features Tony with cancer and Steve taking care of him on one of his bad days. I like this one for its slow whump build-up. Stony. Tags for migraine, vomiting, mentions of cancer.

Bust a gut, Tones by @whimsicalethnographies: Tony has appendicitis and Peter is the only one who realises it. Perfectly balances between humour and seriousness.

Fool’s Luck by @msermesth: Steve arrives on his doorstep exactly three hours and twenty-seven minutes after Tony finishes the last word of his eulogy. LOTS of pain. TW alcohol abuse, angst and suicidal thoughts. This is short, but extremely well done.

don’t let the blue skies fade by @blancheludis: This starts as a mission-gone-wrong fic with a perfect whump setting (of course Tony has to hide his injuries from everyone) and character depth that focuses on team dynamics and the evolving relationship between Tony and Steve.

Side Effects by discipulapauper: Steve and Tony are stuck in the desert, and Tony discovers that the serum causes unexpected complications when Steve doesn´t get food and water for a long time…Nice whump scenes, good characterization and mostly non-cheesy, non-stony dialogue. Featuring heat stroke symptoms and hallucinations.

Presenteeism by Veldeia: Tony thinks it is a good idea to send an empty suit along with the team on a mission while riding out his hangover alone somewhere in the middle of Russian nowhere. Too bad his hangover turns out to be something worse…

Mohini´s prompt fill for Nov(emeto)ber 5 by @mohini-musing: Tony is sick and Bucky doesn´t really know how to handle it. A short but greatly written fic with emeto and fever, no WinterIron.

My own fics : 40+ stories of physically and/or emotionally hurt or sick Tony

#fic rec #fic recs #hurt tony stark #sick tony stark #tony whump #tony stark whump

102 notes · View notes

therebelcaptainnetwork · 5 years ago

Photo

December Fic Recs: Holidays!

Happy holidays! Whatever you celebrate, it's a good time of year for fluffy, cuddly romances. We have a particular wealth of holiday fanfic in the rebelcap fandom due to our Rebelcaptain Secret Santa gift exchange (now in its third year, oh my!) Have a look at some of my faves, listed below.

All I Want for Christmas is . . . Not You by @thestarbirdfromtheashes

6 chapters, 12k, Modern AU, rated E for some sexytimes in later chapters

Jyn and Cassian's families have known each other forever, but individually, they've never gotten along. Then an elderly relative gets the wrong idea about their relationship. Cassian adores his abuelita and doesn't want to disappoint her, so they agree to fake-date during the family festivities, scheduling their "breakup" for after the holidays. That is certainly the way this will all work out . . . isn't it?

When I decided to do some holiday stories this month, I knew I had to feature this one, which is one of my favorite modern holiday AUs ever. Jyn is entertainingly Grinchy (cut her a break, she's got two retail-related part-time gigs and a recent breakup under her belt). But right from the beginning, you realize she's not nearly as opposed to Cassian's entire existence as she says she is. There's faking it for an audience and Christmassy snark and denial and the aforementioned sexytimes and just good stuff all around. Read it!

Something Better Than Socks (or a blaster) by TheCrowMaiden

One-shot, 2k words, canon-verse

Struggling to find the perfect gift for Cassian, Jyn checks in with all the members of Rogue One, who all have their own ideas about what he would like. But of course, it's K-2 who leads her to a gift that's just right.

It's hard to find an in-universe holiday fic, mostly because all we have in the way of holidays in Star Wars is Life Day. This one gets extra points with me for its thoughtful inclusion of the whole gang, and the way it shows Jyn's individual relationships with them as well as with Cassian. Also with a touch of ace!Cassian.

Here With Me by guineapiggie/@ruby-red-inky-blue

One-shot, 3k, modern AU

Jyn is flying to visit her father for Christmas. But her heart yearns for Cassian, whom she hasn't seen in far too long, and who is going to have a miserable, solitary Christmas in Mexico City. There are all sorts of reasons not to change her plans. She always spends Christmas at home, it would be so expensive, she's literally already at the airport waiting to board her plane. But there's one giant reason to get on a plane to Mexico instead, and that's Cassian.

For a fic with such a simple and apparently low-stakes premise like a long-distance relationship, Guineapiggie packs in the angst and makes us feel Jyn's heart tearing with how much she misses Cassian. Later on, from Cassian's POV, we also see how much the separation is wearing on him too. Of course, we all know how this story ends, because it can't end any other way - with Jyn coming home for Christmas.

As always, if you’re one of the authors featured and would like me to change anything about the way I’ve listed your story, please drop me a line via PM or ask and I would be pleased to edit.

Next month’s theme is Sickfic! If you have a perfect story to rec, drop me a line via PM or ask with the title, a link to the story, and maybe a few words about why you liked it, and I’ll include it with your handle.

Happy Hanukkah to everyone lighting the candles tonight, Merry Christmas to anyone looking forward to this week, and enjoy all the Rebelcaptain Secret Santa fics to come!

Happy reading! Love, @mosylufanfic

#rebelcaptain #mod: mosylufanfic #event: fic recs #thestarbirdfromtheashes #TheCrowMaiden #guineapiggie #ruby-red-inky-blue

46 notes · View notes

maychorian · 7 years ago

Text

Weekly Voltron Fic Recs #56

We’re hitting the busy season at my job tomorrow, so I’m not sure when the next list will be. Happy New Year, anyway!

Rules: You can find past weekly rec lists here, and non-list recs in my general fic rec tag. Also follow @maychorianrecs for individually tagged posts, the easier to search and reblog. This is stuff I like, and I have a huge bias toward Lance, hurt/comfort, and general fluff, in that order. Gen unless otherwise noted. Please comment on the fics if you read and enjoy them!

Disaster Hearts by lieutenantshirogane Words: 719 Author’s Summary: After a mission goes wrong, Coran struggles to let go. Luckily, Kolivan is there to help. My Comments: Not a combo I had considered before, but it’s so good that I just had to read and rec this one. So good.

Bushel and a Peck by isabeau25 Words: 5,158 Author’s Summary: It’s not Hunk’s first job interview, but it might just be his favorite. Series Part 3 of The Five Lions Cafe My Comments: We’re coming up on the busy season at my job, and I was grateful for this spot of pre-emptive stress relief. It’s so lovely and relaxing. Read the whole series.

Cream Waterfalls and Violet Stars and All The Broken ThingsbyMashpotatoeQueen5 Words: 3,185 Author’s Summary: Coran had children once. (A fic about before and after, and the family that our favorite Space Uncle might have lost in his ten thousand years of slumber. Sad… but hopeful ending?) My Comments: Beautiful and haunting vision of Coran’s lost family and how he sees them in the new children he deals with every day. I love the idea of Coran as a family man, and this is a great exploration of that concept.

Shopping for Disaster by Engineer104 Words: 6,108 Author’s Summary: Allura just wanted something sparkly, and Pidge just wanted to get her ears pierced. And they will, after a mishap involving a kid, a Druid, and a Galra ship. My Comments: Bonding time with Pidge and Allura turns into an action/adventure with plenty of badassery from both. Very fun read.

Children of the Empire by foxysquid for Meteorysh Words: 10,147 Author’s Summary: Those who find themselves without parents can turn to Emperor Zarkon for parental guidance instead—but Thace would rather not. Shuttled off to a school for orphaned children, he has to adapt to a strange place, with no one to rely on. Fortunately, he may not be as alone as he thinks he is. Written for Galra Secret Santa, as a gift for meterorysh! There are also some accompanying illustrations, which you can find here. My Comments: Absolutely stunning. Achy and touching, fantastic worldbuilding and characterization. I felt so bad for tiny Thace, losing his parents and shipped off to a school where he had to guard himself every second of every day for fear of being outed as a traitor. The friendship with Ulaz and eventual conclusion were extremely satisfying. This read like the beginning of an original novel, one that I would gladly devour in like a day at a most.

Words of Good Cheer by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions) Words: 31,364 Author’s Summary: 12 days of Advent fics for the winter season 1) The gang gets stuck in their cabin on vacation (Modern AU) 2) The lights and noise of the holiday party prove to be overwhelming for Shiro 3) Ryou and Lance attempt to make Hunk a treat. 4) Shatt - Shiro and Matt get their Christmas snuggle on 5) Shallura - Shiro shows Allura how to make snow angels 6) Sheith - Shiro falls through the ice on a snowy planet and needs to be warmed up 7) Alone at the Garrison over break, Keith and Shiro work together to ignore the holiday 8) Shunkeith - Sweet Tooth AU, Hunk has to stay over when they’re snowed in 9) Baby’s Ryou’s first Christmas 10) Old Friend’s Senior Sanctuary AU - Lance convinced Shiro to help make a 2018 calendar for charity 11) Ryou disappears on an ice planet and Shiro fears the worst 12) Smol!Shiro worries how Santa will find the castle My Comments: Each of these little fics is absolutely adorable and worth reading on their own, and we get twelve for the price of one! Four are shipfics, Shatt, Shallura, and Sheith, plus Shunkeith, but the chapters are labeled so you can easily skip them and stick to the gen if you want.

Vasish by ElementKitsune for AstroPhantom Words: 2,255 Author’s Summary: Sometimes, you just wake up and go see a storm with your favourite princess. (Coran and Allura go stormwatching) My Comments: Sweet Allura and Coran interaction before the fall of Altea. It’s cute, and a little sad, but mostly heartwarming.

Stranger Danger (2) by YukiSetsu Words: 2,076 Author’s Summary: Sequel to Stranger Danger (part 5 of Whumpmas series). After the last incident, Lance didn’t think he’d run into David again anytime soon. He was wrong. My Comments: Sequel to a previously recced fic, and just as good as that one. The realism of this is what hikes up to true levels of disturbing. Great protectiveness from the others.

Epoxy to the World by buckysbears (DrZebra) Words: 2,245 Author’s Summary: Shiro, Pidge, and Keith are forced into a Galra gladiator arena. The two younger paladins see a side of Shiro that he desperately wishes they hadn’t. My Comments: Very intense and emotional. This is pretty much Shiro’s worst nightmare. I don’t blame him for losing himself a little bit along the way.

What’s In A Name? by bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies Words: 1,532 Author’s Summary: “What is ‘Keith’?” Kolivan asked one evening. Keith looked up, blinking in confusion. “I’m Keith.” “Yes, but what is ‘Keith’?” Kolivan pressed.“Well, as far as I know, mostly human, and some Galra.” He really thought Kolivan already knew this. He had been there when Keith’s knife changed form, indicating that he had Galra blood. How much, none of them knew. Kolivan huffed, looking impatient. “The word. ‘Keith’. What does it mean, in your language?” (The Blades get curious about the name of their smallest member. Pidge does some hacking to find out the surprising answer) My Comments: Cute, fluffy, and funny. I like the little bit of Galra culture, too, and Blades being protective and teasing of Keith is always a plus.

Castle Glitch by YukiSetsu Words: 2,394 Author’s Summary: When a bug from Pidge’s laptop accidentally infects the Castle, Lance ends up having to face an extreme gladiator bot without a weapon and armor. As expected, things get dangerous really quick. My Comments: Excellent whump, excellent protective team. I don’t know how many ways to say that I’m enjoying everything this author is doing, but here it is again.

Sick Day by FanaticFangirl2602 for RandomDragonDoodles Words: 2,727 Author’s Summary: Keith should have seen it coming. Actually, he did see it coming. The little voice in the back of his mind had been scolding him for going so hard for the past month, but all he’d done was push it aside and ignore it. A dumb decision. My Comments: Nice little Keith-centric sickfic in a college AU. Hits the spot.

All Swallowed in their Coats by yet_intrepid for stover Words: 2,317 Author’s Summary: Shiro and his new roommate, Matt, would tell you that they are nothing alike: Shiro is an overwhelmed grad student, while Matt is a dropout and avid science youtuber. But then there’s a blizzard, and maybe things change. My Comments: Great modern AU with Shiro and Matt realizing that they have much more in common than they think. Past abuse.

Fruit Loops by SerenePhenix Words: 3,571 Author’s Summary: Shiro never stood a chance. My Comments: Wonderful team-as-family feels in a modern roommate AU. So cute and fluffy and sweet.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas by WinterSky101 Words: 2,510 Author’s Summary: In which Pidge is a Christmas elf. ‘Tis the season, after all. My Comments: Cute and sweet and fluffy, with just a touch of angst at the end. 'Tis the season!

If Only In My Dreams by yet_intrepid Words: 5,918 Author’s Summary: The team agrees that Space Christmas isn’t that great with Keith off on missions with the Blade of Marmora. But it’s a lot, lot worse with Keith held hostage by the Galra. My Comments: Awesome whump fic, very snappy pace and intense emotions, and the Christmas theme just heightened the whole thing to the rafters.

In Stitches by A_Zap Words: 6,118 Author’s Summary: With every stitch, a bigger picture can be seen. And each one is made with love.In which everyone on Team Voltron learns more about Lance as he knits the day away. And maybe he learns something too. My Comments: It’s been a while since I’ve read a fic with Lance as a knitter. This was very warm and soft and fluffy, lots of great bonding and sweetness. Very satisfying.

Tradition… Tradition by imperiality Words: 6,802 Author’s Summary: It’s bright! It’s loud! It’s festive! It’s everything Shiro hasn’t really had for Christmas, and it’s wonderful. Then the night winds down. And it’s down to 3. They talk about traditions. Some are lonelier than others. My Comments: The entire team has a lovely Christmas, but the ending conversation between Shiro, Matt, and Keith was the most emotional and heartwarming thing in the fic. Little bit of angst and emotional hurt comfort for lonely boys who miss their homes, but mostly they’re just happy to count their blessings where they are.

One by One by LitDragonWagon Words: 8,512 Author’s Summary: Shiro remains in a state of Not Surprised about all the people who join him in his bed. (Just a cute fic about the paladins platonically sleeping together due to nightmares, and healing.) My Comments: Paladin cuddle puddle to the max. This was very relaxing to read. Brief mention of Klance.

Previously Recced Fics That Updated:

Little Crystals (19627 words) As Color Fades Away (243019 words) This May Sting (6856 words) Gate Keeper (122883 words) Young Blood (9761 words) The Purity of Sin (47036 words) The Sea In Between (81074 words) Beacon (25201 words) Shadows of Stars (95789 words)

#voltron legendary defender #fic rec #weekly voltron fic recs #vldgen

54 notes · View notes

reconditarmonia · 7 years ago

Text

Dear Yuletide Writer

Hello, lovely writer!

I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things).

General likes:

-- Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

-- Loyalty kink, whether commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms, and the trust associated with it. Sometimes-but-not-always relatedly, idealism. I guess the two combined might be, in general, the idea of nobility of character and what that means.

-- Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

-- Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff.

-- Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

-- Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

-- Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

-- Eucatastrophe.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; Christmas/Christian themes; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex.

Fandom: Dòu Máah Dáan | Peking Opera Blues (1986)

Characters: Tsao Wan

This film is so much MORE than I ever dreamed. More hilarious, more shippy, more dramatic. I think what I want most from this fandom is something on a similar emotional scale - not necessarily something where the plot itself has a national or international scope, but something that has room for opera slapstick, corpse puppetry, and torture; material concerns, and high aspirations; saving each other’s lives, and having sleepovers. Thematically, I’m really interested in the way the film shows friendship and familial love sometimes dovetailing with ethics and ideological goals and sometimes conflicting with them, and in the various ways women can find, or seek, their own independence.

Tsao Wan is the only character I’ve put in my request. I was fully expecting to come out of the film with femslash ships, and instead I have a big OT5 and a huge crush on Brigitte Lin (okay, that part I could see coming), so I’d be happy with any combination of the main five, including the two men, who were not nominated, as long as Tsao Wan is there. Some combination possibilities: how do any of them meet up again after the events of the film, whether by chance - do Bai Niu and/or Sheung Hung happen to be making a tour stop somewhere Tsao Wan has a mission? does Tsao Wan and Ling’s work take them near Tung’s village farm? - or intentionally - how would a new opera about Tsao Wan and Ling’s exciting adventures be created by Bai Niu and/or Sheung Hung, in terms of research and role creation? Or maybe Tsao Wan needs Bai Niu’s skills for a mission. In fact, maybe she needs everyone’s skills for a mission. Recruitment road trip! Some solo possibilities: what was Tsao Wan’s time in Europe like? Was she involved in any political activity there? What does she do post-film as History continues? In anything set post-film, I’d like to know that all five characters are important to each other, even if they’re not actually in the fic and/or sexually involved.

If you want to get really plotty, I love heist and con stuff like Leverage, Ocean’s Eleven (remake), and The Italian Job (original), where there’s a Plan with steps and roles, and then it plays out. If straight-up casefic isn’t your style, it could be fun to throw some shippy tropes at this canon (fake marriage where Tsao Wan is pretending to be the husband? hurt/comfort or sickfic? hell, I’d read accidental baby acquisition), but tropey stuff is not necessary - I’m just trying to throw out some ideas to get things moving. Ideally there’d be at least a figleaf of plot in the background, even if it’s not casefic.

Fandom-specific DNW: Explicit references to torture are still a hard DNW (I covered my eyes during the scene in question when watching the film), but I recognize it’s part of canon and consequently might be part of the world of the fic. If someone is tortured or creatively executed in your story, it’s fine to mention it but I do not want to know how.

---

Fandom: Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Characters: Bathsheba Everdene

I didn’t nominate this and it didn’t occur to me that it would be in the tagset, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it! One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in the other nominated characters or other major characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. I’d also love to read something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual were more overtly magical.

---

Fandom: 月刊少女野崎くん | Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Characters: Kashima Yuu, Nozaki Umetarou

Pick a trope. Have them fuck it up.

That’s one of the things that makes me love this canon - the simultaneous send-up of and indulgence in tropes, in a very good-natured way. (Another way I’ve described its genre: “nothing happens, but very dramatically.” Everything is shocking or devastating or the pinnacle of bliss.) Kashima and Nozaki are two of the characters whose propensity to do this is most likely to set a story in motion, due to Nozaki’s experimentation/observation for his manga and Kashima’s princely self-fashioning and going 120% on everything; I also love Kashima’s bifauxnen-ness, acting talent, and earnest failboating, and the way that Nozaki could have been written as a tall-dark-handsome-stoic cipher guy and instead is just as quirky as anyone else. That said, this is an OR request, not an AND, and I’d also be happy to read stories about pretty much anyone from the nominated tagset (except Mikoshiba or Mayu; I don’t know Mayu very well because I originally got into this through the anime, and Mikoshiba just isn’t my fave, although I have no objection to his appearing in the story).

There are all sorts of lists out there of common shoujo(/romcom/fanfic) tropes if you’re not sure where to start. And, because Nozaki is all about subverting gendered characterization and role-boxing, and also about people trying to make their lives conform to narrative, go ahead and apply those tropes to whichever characters you feel would be the most interesting or fun. Feel free to pick non-high-school-setting ones, too, if there's magical/historical/high-society shoujo you want to see them tackle, or to take a play that Kashima (and whoever else) is involved in as a jumping-off point.

As you may have gathered, I love the way the canon plays with romance tropes, but I would prefer no overt Shipfic. If you’d like to include a ship, whether slash/femslash or het, I’d like for it to be handled without much seriousness, and for friendship with characters who aren’t part of the ship to be a significant part of the fic, as per canon. I do really like the show’s variety of friendships between characters of different temperaments, interests, and sexes.

If you’re really getting a “why don’t you just rewatch/reread the canon, reconditarmonia” vibe off this, which I’m kind of giving myself, you could try sex comedy future fic? Give them magical powers? What I’m most interested in, wherever you go with this, is the playing-with-tropes thing.

Fandom-specific DNW: I love Hori and Kashima’s relationship, but I’d strongly prefer that her feelings for him not be written as overtly romantic. High levels of ambiguity/intensity/tropey-ness are fine and great.

---

Fandom: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

Characters: Any (Alice “Wazzer” Goom, Jack Jackrum, Magda “Tonker” Halter, Maladict, Polly “Ozzer” Perks, Tilda “Lofty” Tewt)

Give me all the loyalty kink for this fandom. Characters rescuing each other from peril, risking their reputation or position or ethics to defend each other, accomplishing the impossible or sacrificing things without even thinking twice because one trusts the other’s orders or judgment. Or A not going off the leash or into danger to defend B because B said not to, to protect A’s conscience or life or reputation. Can be romantic or platonic - I ship Polly/Mal and Tonker/Lofty, but I would also be delighted with Polly&Jackrum, Wazzer&Polly, or other non-romantic twosomes or moresomes in situations of loyalty and trust. Maybe Polly sends Mal on a dangerous mission, or Tonker is captured after she and Lofty burn down another place where women and girls are being abused, or Polly protects Jackrum’s secret/s from someone who could reveal them, or Wazzer ends up in the field again with the general’s retinue and Polly and Mal rescue her from danger (or vice versa!!). What strengths or sacrifices do they have at their disposal for each other?

Pratchett-esque voices would be great. He’s really, really good at sucker-punching the reader with sincerity in an overall satiric mode, and I think that style lends itself well to this sort of thing.

I’m not going to lie, Polly is my fave. I like that this could have been a generic coming-of-age or women-in-war story, where the protagonist learns that she’s brave or worthwhile and then the crisis is past, but instead Polly learns that she’s a cunning bastard and a hell of a sergeant, and being a one-off hero in a country that’s at peace and making slow social progress isn’t good enough for her. That said, just because I’m better able to articulate what I like about Polly doesn’t mean I’d be less excited for fic about anyone else! I think that’s something I’d want to explore for any of the characters who enlist in the course of the story - what are these women good at? What lets them fulfill their potential? What do they want when their hand isn’t being forced? Or for Jackrum, who’s already gone through that whole process by the time the story begins, any more backstory would be fabulous.

If you’re going the Polly/Mal route, I also love ludicrous levels of sexual tension in a military context (I think it’s the unavoidable proximity + the presence of others making it hard to act on it).

Fandom-specific DNW: vampire romance tropes (such as turning and/or immortality) as focus; non-female pronouns/headcanons.

Fandom: Simoun (Anime)

Characters: Any (Aaeru, Dominuura, Halconf, Mamiina, Neviril, Paraietta, Plumbish Priestesses, Rodoreamon)

Simoun somehow ended up being a really weirdly meaningful show to me. I loved how all these women got to be flawed and fucked-up, noble and loyal. How, in the mold of all my favorite epic shoujo anime, it starts off beautiful and fine and then Shit Gets Very Real and that’s actually one of the themes of the show - we had a little debate a few weeks ago on FFA as to whether or not Simoun was a military canon, and the fact that circumstances have remade a team of priestesses in fancy quarters and magic flying machines who are there to pray to God, put off their choice of sex, use their talents, maintain or claw their way into a social position, into a military force involved in a war - that’s an idea that the characters themselves struggle with in the show. (Neviril’s scene in the hearing is one of my favorites.) How everyone gets character development, in the sense of learning and changing, and even what seem like annoying mandatory straight subplots actually end up serving that thematic or character development, to say nothing of the more focal relationships between the leads (not just Neviril and Aeru, but also Mamiina and Rodoreamon, Neviril and Paraietta...)

I’d really like to read a fic where an individual character’s development or two characters’ relationship is similarly tied in to plot developments; it doesn’t have to be a plotty fic as such, but I was very interested in the way the developments of the war and the pilots/priestesses’ actions in it precipitated changes in their relationships. So how might Neviril and Aeru’s relationship develop in the other world (what are they doing?), or Mamiina and Rodoreamon’s on the Messis when they’re not the narrative focus before Mamiina’s last mission and the braid thing? (Or if this is more your speed, dig into that and see how a character grows or the relationship between characters develops when that’s not being moved along by outside events in the same way, especially if they’re aware of that being an issue. When Neviril and Aeru are outside the normal flow of time, or Paraietta and Rodoreamon are civilians, for example.) I’m also interested in all the permutations of loyalty we see in the show - like loyalty to a position over loyalty to a side (as with the Plumbish priestesses’ siding with our Sibyllae), loyalty that develops before liking or friendship, the devoted loyalty to Neviril. I like the show’s military themes despite its magical-girl visuals. I think this is also a canon where it would make sense for sexual first times to be part of a fic - what does that mean for the characters you choose?

I should also say that due to all the magic and timespace warping in the show, I am more than okay with post-canon fic that gets characters back together who were separated by canon, if that’s what you want. You can resurrect Mamiina, or have Neviril and Aeru visit the main reality/timeline again. Or play with timespace even more - time loop fic? (Edit: This didn’t even occur to me until I found out about the IF post, but this fandom might lend itself to interactive fiction, too.)

#yuletide #peking opera blues #far from the madding crowd #gsnk #monstrous regiment #simoun #dear author letters

1 note · View note