#I can’t figure out how to upload rec letters

[teddy06]

This college application season I’ve decided on giving up on any and all attempts to Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss my way through and have instead decided to implement a new strategy: Disappoint, Disassociate, Disdain

[ameslore]

director's cut: all of vouchsafe :D

Thanks! Vouchsafe is a deep source of shame for me. It might actually be the fic I hate the most. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to write about it.

Vouchsafe wasn’t actually supposed to be funny. Not for like, 90% of the time I spent writing it. I was genuinely trying to write a letter of recommendation as Tony Stark might do for Peter, his intern/superhero protege/quasi-son figure. I was all like, “I could have Tony be like, ‘This brilliant kid has changed my life in more ways than one’ and have it be super emotionally satisfying and poignant” etc etc etc but the harder I tried to write, the more cliches and platitudes came out. So I’ve got a notebook somewhere with pages and pages of unfinished rec letter drafts, most of them crossed out or scribbled over.

Then at some point I was talking to ciaconnaa about unrealized fic ideas and I was like, “I’ve been trying to write a fic that’s just Tony’s college letter of recommendation for Peter but I just can’t write it. Like I’ve got a ton of failed drafts and no idea how to fix this.” And she, being a comedic genius, was just like, “Why don’t you have a fic that’s just all the mess-up letters? Make it a fic about how Tony’s struggling to write this thing that for all intents and purposes should be pretty straightforward.” And so my struggles... became... fruit. It took me like two hours to cobble together all the failed drafts and add the conversations between Tony and Pepper and all the rest.

I have no clue where the “Iron Man Says Peter Iron-Can” thing came from. Maybe it was because ciaconnaa was like, “Tony writes a letter of rec, but make it a meme” and I thought, “I could do that... literally. Also it’d resolve the issue of having to write a satisfying ending where I include the actual finalized rec letter, which is really my biggest problem at this point.” Anything to avoid being responsible.

This is how that horrible, eye-searing image came into existence:

The scene where Tony testifies in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in IM2 was like, my favorite thing, embarrassingly. I used to watch it on a near daily basis.

Naturally when I was like “what is an image of Tony that looks encouraging, but in like, the meme-iest way possible?” I thought of that still.

Pulled up the clip on Youtube and took a screenshot. Who cares about image quality (for my purposes, I think the worse the image quality, the better?)

Found a website that lets you make WordArt a la Microsoft Word 2003, typed in “Iron Man says Peter Iron-Can” and screenshotted that too

Opened Photoshop, uploaded the screenshot of Tony, and went about fucking up the image as much as possible. Found the worst font on Photoshop and wrote “Dear Admissions Committee” in it. Pasted the screenshot of the WordArt onto the image of Tony and made sure it was slightly crooked.

This process took up a full ten minutes of my life.

That’s it! Writing this fic, if you can call it writing, was a horrible experience from beginning to end. I hate that it’s one of my most popular fics. What a cursed legacy. Again, thanks for playing!

[spoilsofthedead]

KLANCE FALL FANFIC REC

Some of my favorite fics I’ve read in the past two months!

Costumed Identities by Trashness

Summary: Lance and Keith are rival cosplayers, who only know each other by their online usernames. They are fiercely competitive, but are also desperately attracted to each other. You'd think they would just get together already, but there's a couple of problems:

1. Keith crossplays, so Lance has absolutely no idea that Keith is a boy.

2. Both of them are idiots, and can't seem to figure out that that hot cosplayer they like, is also that hot guy that they drool over every day at school.

~

SO CUTE. Fluffy pinning is just so cute ugh. Short and so sweet your teeth will rot. Be warned, you will be shouting “KISS!” For 90% of this fic.

Follow My Lead by Klancekorner

Summary: Becoming “hook-up buddies” with Lance Sanchez was just supposed to be a small, insignificant fraction of Keith’s life. But of course, things don’t work out that way at all.

aka a Friends w/ Benefits AU that nobody asked for where Lance wears sleeveless hoodies, plays basketball in abandoned parking lots, and follows his dreams, and Keith comes from a high class, reputable family who never let him have any dreams of his own. They go home with each other and don't expect it to matter until it totally does.

~

This took me SO LONG to read but sooo worth it. One of my all time overall favs. I love it so much!

Dirty Laundry by Gibslythe

When Lance says he needs to bring a boy home, all of his fellow collage friends, are busy and can't attend. All but 1, Keith. What just goes from a simple relationship, turns into a full on relationship. (Made with FULL permission!)

~

Now the one I read claims to have full permission, but though this fic has been taken off ao3 it’s be re-uploaded on thing such as fan fiction.net. I can definitely see why this is a classic and the way the sibling dynamic is portrayed is so beautiful. They don’t fall in love in a day. It takes time! There’s so many characters but you never feel overwhelmed, and their personalities too... just ugh. It’s so beautiful and should be a book. I could gush about this all day.

There, Nestled Against His Pulse by Hiuythn

"Found you!" Lance says, vaulting over the back of the couch. He lands with a soft thump that bounces Keith up in his seat. "Hey, I've got a question for you. You don't have to answer it, but, uh, have you met your soulmate?"

"No," says Keith, "I haven't."

I shouldn't.

~

This fic KILLED me. Actual tears were shed. It plays with your emotions so much, it’s so beautifully written. Why isn’t this more popular?

Love Letters by Chatlote

Every time Lance feels like confessing to Keith, he writes a letter with his feelings.

After four months of pent up feelings and a desk with over thirty letters scattered on it’s surface, he still hasn’t given any of them to Keith.

After being sent out on a mission on his own, he comes back to a significantly cleaner room.

“Welcome back Lance! ” Coran exclaims right next to his ear, making him jump. “Oh I saw all those letters you had addressed to Keith, saved you the trouble and gave them to him in your stead! You welcome!”

“Oh no.”

~

I’m saying this a lotttt, but so. Damn. CUTE. Coran Coran the ultimate wingman!!

Something Blue by Starlightment

When Lance gets dumped by his fiancée just days before his entire family is flying out to visit, he finds himself trapped in a monumental lie. Now, with no bride-to-be, and no guts to admit the truth, he’s in desperate need of a pseudo-sweetheart — and fast. And Keith just so happens to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. [AU. Klance.]

~

Keith slowly falling for Lance is the cutest thing EVER. Lance’s family is always so great. Can you tell I like super lovey fics?

 Cursed Blood by Taylortot

Lance has never been so happy to be immortal until a boy he's never met before shows up one day, determined to kill him.

Things are about to get really weird.

~

My favorite artist also writes?? And is amazing?? This is such a unique idea and it’s really well written. It’s only two chapters in, but it’s worth keeping up with!! (One of the only not sad ones on this list)

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here by Klancekorner

Lance and Keith have been best friends since first grade. Lance’s brain is always on overdrive and Keith’s blunt, realistic ass can never keep up. They both come to realize that sometimes you can learn a lot about loving yourself by loving someone else.

~

This fic. THIS FREAKN FIC. It always breaks me. I don’t cry to a ton of fics/books, but this one. THIS IS THE ONE. No matter how many times I reread it, it makes me cry. It’s so beautiful. Even the name is just PERFECT. If you need a rollercoaster of love and emotions, READ IT.

New ones coming soon!!!