#I finished a 40k word fic in a month!
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finally. i finally only have one job. hopefully time to catch up on longass fics i had to skip for later. time to sleep. time to dissolve into dust for a little snork mimi. time to read the last of my doujin
#hush catriona#glaring at the hollow moon tab thats been there for like. a month. i will read that 40k fic if it kills me#glares at the gen fic i rec’d a while ago. i WILL catch up on the 6 chapters i fell behind on. its only like…60k words#glares at the 3 dj i didnt finish. soon. get fuckign ready#not actively planning to draw yet bc i rly wanna take it easy for a min first#ive been nonstop working since i graduated high school and this is my first time working less than 20hr/week since. just finished my 65/week#grindset. i did 80 per like 6 months ago. im so fucking tired#honk shoooooooo ty tumblr for being the best of my socials i love u guys
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If my brain disrupts my plot with a new idea that changes the entire story ONE MORE TIME
#this is why i cannot finish my asoiaf fic#i had to change the plot like 10 times and I’m not even joking#first it started out with a Robb ship but I didn’t like the chemistry (or lack thereof) with my oc#then it became a Jon ship#ok fine they have a cute thing going#not a big deal#i can keep Jonny boy from joining the NW because all the adults failed him in canon#And he gets to marry into a relatively wealthy House that’s pretty much one person away from going extinct#okay cool#and here’s where it gets really interesting 🧍🏽♀️my brain wants me to obliterate 40k words and get rid of the arranged marriage arc#WHICH I SPENT MONTHS ON#and just make it a whole ass forbidden romance thing#where Jon ends up becoming my oc’s household guard since she did actually offer to talk to her dad about it in *checks notes* chapter 5#and now I feel obligated to do it because I’m a SAP for forbidden romances and jsjddhhfjdjffj#I WAS ALMOST DONE WITH THE FIRST INSTALMENT OF THIS LONGFIC 😭#not that I was gonna publish it or anything but still#MONTHS#I’m gonna throw a fucking chair#i’m losing my mind#writing commentary#dumb ramblings#so anyways how are y’all tonight? 😅
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i tried to do some work on my chlm longfic and i just kinda went... wow. i dgaf about this anymore. which. isnt a good sign. i really do wanna finish it but it's also just like. i think my interest in chlm is dying out? or maybe i just need to read some good fics to get myself back into it. idk
#.txt#i also feel like i wrote myself into a corner with all the contrived plot shit i made to bring them together#i even debated rewriting the entire thing... all 40k words of it. but in the end i just decided to live with what i already wrote#and just write better in future updates. so as not to waste more time#BUT i would like to finish some bg.3 fics ive been brewing for months now. and then go back to it when i can#i just feel like writing has gotten so much harder lately (standards have gone higher)
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you cut your hair, and take some space (2)
pairing. narcos!javier peña x fem!reader
synopsis. an anthology of events that precede and procede the termination of you and your father's best friend's sexual relationship. this is part 2 of 3! (part 1)
warnings. no use of y/n! all spanish text is followed by immediate translation ( please note that i am fluent in castilian spanish, therefore some words/phrases may differ from that of other hispanic countries ), age gap , student!reader, dbf!javi, post-s3!javi, policeofficer!javi bc i said so, break up au, mutual pining, forbidden lovers kind of vibes, reader has a healthy relationship with her parents, violence, nondescript depictions of sa ( not javi ), pedro-ception aka there's a small cameo of another pedro boy, vomiting, mentions of pregnancy, reader is described to have hair and celebrates christmas ( but no mention of the reader's religious beliefs )! smut ( creampie, breeding kink through the roof, domesticity kink?? javi just wants to love and be loved and start a family, dacryphilia, indecent use of a credit card, spanking, dirty talk, prostitution kink?? i feel like i'm making these up at this point, + a hell of a lot more ) this fic is based on bsc by maisie peters except this has a happy ending bc im a sucker for mr. peña :( not all warnings listed here appear in this part, these are warnings for the fic as a whole !
word count. 14.3k
hyde’s input. hey... hey... how y'all doin'?🧍remember when i said part 2 would be posted a few weeks after part 1? yeah, that was a fucking lie. and, remember when i said it would be 2 parts in total? that was also a lie! the universe is praying on my downfall ( i had a fun mental health episode and fell into a black hole for a few months <3 ) unfortunately, i am very much still alive and kicking, so this is me trying to get the ball rolling again when it comes to posting fics. as the fic has surpassed 40k words, meaning it would likely crash the tumblr site for anyone trying to read it + tumblr will not allow me to post it as a whole due to it's paragaph-count limit, i've decided to post it in three parts. the fic will be posted in full on ao3 once all three parts are available on tumblr!
if you see any typos, no you didn't 🫣
“...wouldn’t have to be serious,” he’s speaking, finishing off a sentence you don’t quite catch the start of. “huh?” “this. us. it could be casual, y’know?”
Golden boy, you dropped the ball I am Annie fucking Hall
The year moves too fast.
It’s like you blink, and suddenly it’s Thanksgiving.
Leaves turn brown. Pumpkins are carved only to rot upon front porches. A gathering of friends, young adults getting their first taste at hosting a thanksgiving meal.
You’re put on dessert duty, which culminates in stressful tears and your mother’s hand rubbing soothing circles into your back, reassuring you that it’s okay, everyone burns their first pie.
No one at the party needs to know the pumpkin pie you brought was a product of your mother’s gentle care.
Then there is actual Thanksgiving, which you celebrate, as always, at your aunt's.
The highlight is, and forever has been, the road-trip out of state, your father making it his mission to deafen you and your mother with his horrific singing.
As they drop you back at your apartment, your father has no qualms leaning out the car window and calling after you.
“I expect to see you cheering me on at the Thanksgiving Touchdown event!”
Which brings you here, to said event, sweater sleeves tugged over cold fingers and a wandering pair of eyes who refuse to comply with your wants.
You want to focus on the ongoing football match- Fire Department vs Police.
Your eyes prefer to follow him, striding up the field, his hair soaked in sweat and his t-shirt long removed.
You’ve no valid reason to roll your eyes at the other women who seem to prefer spectating the sport of Javier Peña. You’re no better than them.
Yet, as one of them let’s out a joyous shriek as he takes a pass at the ball, your eyes roll.
"He’s a show-off, that boy.”
At least you have company. An older gentleman, who you caught struggling to pick his wallet up from the floor. He’d smiled as you returned it, and conversation had flowed easily from there.
As the whistle blew, commencing the final match of the local community services’ football league- or, Thanksgiving Touchdown, as your father so aptly named it-, he’d patted the empty seat next to him.
“Hmm?”
He points, and you follow the direction, realising he’s speaking about Javi.
“Him,” he says it with a teasing tone to his voice. It’s like he’s mocking the agent. “Think’s he’s God’s gift, takin’ his top off like that.”
The more you sit with the older gentleman, the more you enjoy his company.
On the field, your dad bellows something at Javi. He replies with a curt salute, and shoots off down the length of it.
He’s fast, agile, stealthy.
A force to be reckoned with, keeping pace with rookies half his age.
The vision of him, gun strapped to his leg and a tact vest on his chest, speeding down streets in the columbian heat conjures in your mind.
You wonder how it felt to know him then, if worry kept his companions awake.
It had certainly kept you awake in recent months, and that was with him safe, in Laredo, cooped up in some bachelor pad.
“Surprised he’s not thrown his top to the crowd of screaming ladies!” The gentleman continues his mocking, and it rouses laughter out of both of you.
A whistle is blown, your eyes return to the field and, though he’s quick to look away, you catch the tail end of Javier’s eyes on you.
Fifteen minutes pass, in which you do your best to not stare at him.
You’ve made worse attempts in the past.
Eventually, the man next to you coaxes you into getting him a lemonade from the food truck.
You oblige, of course, and deny his attempts to hand you cash, insist it’s on you.
He’s kept you smiling on a rather gloomy day.
You tell him you’ll be right back, smile, and realise you don’t know his name.
“Chucho,” he tells you, and waves you off.
You join the queue, keep your head down, ignore the gossiping women three spots ahead of you, claiming to have each shared an encounter with Javi.
You don’t need to know what he’s been up to.
You don’t want to know who he’s been up to it with.
It happens when you’re finally being served.
There’s no longer a queue, just you, smiling as sweetly as possible. The service industry is rough enough, nevermind on holidays.
You order successfully, both Chucho’s lemonade and a hot chocolate for yourself.
The guy working the truck- young enough, a bit too traditionally good-looking, with coiffed hair and a shaven face- he’s talkative.
Friendly.
Too friendly.
Till it crosses the border into flirty.
You’re not interested.
At all.
But it’s flattering, to feel wanted.
Even more so after a something that means nothing yet everything ends out of the blue and you’re left reeling over whether or not some part of you is to blame.
So you let him shoot you his dashing smile, and throw in unnecessary pet-names that just feel forced into every sentence he speaks to you, and write his number on the paper cup of your hot chocolate.
“Here you go, pumpkin,” he winks. The pet-name feels a little too on the nose for the season. Couldn’t he have called you sweetheart instead? “A sweet treat for that sweet smile.”
You wonder if he’s allowed to gift the free donut he slides your way.
Your stomach growls and begs for sugary release before you can fully bring yourself to care.
An awkward thanks. Hands reach up to grab the to-go cups, three fingers curling up the bagged donut.
He helps you get a grip on the beverages, placing them in your hands.
His touch lingers, more than necessary, fingertips brushing over your knuckles as if trapped in slow-motion.
“So, a pretty girl like you got a boyfriend, or are you gonna let me take you out to-”
Gasps fill the air.
Half the crowd boos.
Your father screams one name, loud and clear, down the pitch.
“Peña, get your head out your fucking ass and pick up the ball!”
Turning on your heal, the scene unfolds.
The ball, abandoned on the ground.
The players, scrambling to grab it before one another.
Javier, frozen in place, face an unreadable maze of emotions, eyes staring right at you.
They follow you all the way back to your seat, even as the game picks up again.
Even as you congratulate your dad on another victory for the police department, now the four-time consecutive champions of the Thanksgiving Touchdown.
Even as you head off to your father’s car.
Even when you’re home, curled under a blanket and watching a televised copy of Annie Hall, you feel his eyes on you.
The look of betrayal on Javier Peña haunts you even once you fall asleep.
If you don’t love me, What was April?
You’ve always been organised.
Everything has it’s place, from the books that line your bedside table to the memories inside your mind.
You compartmentalise.
Tucked deep into the right side of your brain, there’s a box.
It’s contents, memories you’ve yet to process.
Moments you know that, if you wish to move on, you’ll have to relive.
Caution tape holds the lid shut.
Fragile stickers cover every corner.
And, scribbled in bold red marker, April ‘99.
A late night.
You, wide awake, laying on your back and mapping out stars in his ceiling.
Javier fell asleep hours ago and now snores softly against your neck, muscled arm curled around your waist as his legs entangle your own.
The agent is a fiend for cuddling, and so often wraps himself around you like a vine.
You find yourself nestling your hand in his hair, and take note of the sharp breath he intakes.
Go still.
Worry you’ve woken him.
Relax when you feel him snore and press himself even deeper against your naked skin.
He’s tired. Exhausted.
Work was getting to him as of late.
He hadn’t told you that, but he didn’t need to.
You know him. You can read him.
Can tell in the way he moved slower against you.
In the way he let you take the lead, resting back against the couch to watch how your hips wound down on him.
In the way he got even clingier than usual, dragging you into the shower with him just to have you near, holding you from behind as you washed up the plates he’d used to serve you dinner (a trade-off he’d reluctantly agreed to months ago: he cooks, you clean), laying his head on your lap as you curled up to watch some cheesy horror movie- one you’re bound to fall asleep during and he’s counting on it, glancing up till he spots you slumped over and eyes closed, granting him the perfect excuse to carry you to his bed and nestle himself in beside you.
Unlike other nights, you’re trapped awake.
Something feels off, makes you queasy.
There’s something nagging at your mind.
It’s like you’ve forgotten something, misplaced something, and can’t even figure out what it is.
You just know its absence is wrong.
Javi mumbles something, dreaming away, and you feel the subtle press of his lips against your skin.
Fingers curl tightly into the fabric of your (his) shirt.
He can’t get you close enough, it seems.
Playing against his wants, you pull back, slowly, trying to catch a glimpse of his face.
There’s a pinch between his brows, furrowed in worry.
It’s not fair, you think.
Sleep is usually where you see him at his calmest.
It’s a selfish act, born purely from your own desire, but you find yourself pressing a kiss against his forehead.
His grip loosens, though slightly.
It gives you enough time to feel a stir between your thighs, a calling coming from your bladder.
So you do your best to slip out his hold.
It’s a struggle that leaves you topless and feeling a pinch of cruelty, standing over the bed as you watch his hand grabbing at the vacant spot you once occupied, your scent and shirt the only traces you leave behind.
You don’t bother turning on a light, make your way to his bathroom with practiced ease.
Pad your way across the cold linoleum floor, sink down onto the porcelain seat- he’d stopped leaving it up when your overnight visits became more frequent. You hadn’t asked- didn’t need to ask-, he’d simply done it.
Closing the door over, yet not enough for the hinges to squeak and the handle to lock, you pray the wood muffles noise of the flushing toilet.
When it stops, you wait a few seconds, until you’re sure there’s no rustling coming from his bedroom.
Then, you open the tap.
The water is barely a trickle, yet you tell yourself its enough.
Lather your hands in soap, sit them under the constant drip of cold water till you feel the suds wash down the drain.
It’s hard to stop yourself from sneaking a glance at the mirror, just as it’s hard to recognise the version of yourself you see.
Your hair frames your face, though messy.
Your eyes are bloodshot, yet carry less bags.
Your cheeks are rounder, fuller.
You look different.
You feel it too.
Yhen come the thoughts of Javier, and how he sees you.
Has he noticed a change?
Is he the reason for it?
Does he feel different, too?
Your stomach flips.
He’s not said anything. Or done anything, to make you notice a change.
But, then, Maybe it’s been subtle, slow, dragged out long enough it’s not drastic enough for either of you to take note of.
You eye the spare toothbrush he keeps in his bathroom, and try to remember when it became yours.
You don’t remember.
One moment, his toothbrush sat alone. And, the next, you were standing side by side, laughing as you raced to see who could make a foamier mess of the toothpaste.
Corazón, you look like a rabid animal, he’d called you once, laughing through tears as he wiped away the white suds dripping off your chin. You’re lucky that you’re just so cute.
You can recall, even now, how quickly his mouth had found yours that night, with no ulterior motive other than to bask in the minty taste of one another.
The stir in your stomach becomes more intense.
Eyes refocusing, you find yourself in the mirror again.
Only, sweat lines your forehead and your face seems drained of colour.
You make it only two steps back before you’re hurtling across the bathroom floor.
Your knees crash down first, harsh and unforgiving against the tiles.
The first wretch burns, has you coughing over your own gag.
In the dark, it’s hard to see what exactly comes out of you, but you know where it came from.
Your stomach.
Another wave of nausea hits, this one harder, and you’re gripping at the sides of the bowl, spewing into the water below.
A splash meets your cheek, but you’re too out of it to care, wave after wave of nausea leaving you a coughing, gagging, crying mess.
You feel lightheaded, only managing a moment to catch your breath before another wave hits.
It feels like you’re suffocating.
It’s in your throat, in your mouth, in your nose, in your hair.
It feels like it’s never stopping and you’re doomed to spend the rest of your days submitting to the horrors of throwing-
“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” warmth, against your naked back.
It’s a nice warmth, not like the one that has you covered in a cold sweat.
There’s a soothing motion over your skin.
Up, down, up, down.
You try to follow it, match your breathing to the tactile comfort.
“That’s it, baby,” cool air meets your neck, the hairs that stuck to your skin now pulled up and pushed back. “I’m right here, I got you.”
Eventually, all that’s left is the burning of bile at the back of your throat and the dull ache of eyes gone raw with tears.
You’re pulled into a solid mass, naked chest pressed to naked chest as you go slack upon the bathroom floor.
You’re exhausted, and covered in your own sweat, tears and vomit.
Javier doesn’t care, pulling you tighter against him and whispering sweet words you don’t quite pay attention to.
“Woke up and you weren’t there, corazón. Don’t do that again,” even in his attempts to chastise, he’s gentle, brushing the remaining strands of sweat-slicked hair off your face. You must be an awful sight, yet his expressions don’t give way. “You wake up, you wake me up too. ‘Specially if you’re gonna hurl, okay?”
You glance at him, swallow back a lump and deal with the realisation that dawned upon you ten minutes earlier, as you sat hunched over the toilet’s bowl.
“Javi,” he smiles at the way you call his name.
You feel sick all over again at the thought of that changing, everything changing, as you build the courage to speak.
He calls your own name back to you.
“I’m late.”
You await the sharp inhale.
And the unwinding of arms.
You imagine he’ll stand up, pace the floor.
Run his hands through his hair, rant over every thought he has.
Ways to get rid of it, the dangers of your dad finding out.
Then he’ll turn the blame to you.
That’s what men do, right?
He’ll ask why you weren’t safer, why you forgot to take that morning-after pill, why you played so fast-and-loose with your body.
None of it arrives.
He stands, yes, but only to pull you up with him, tired limbs leaning into his strong build as he drags you both under the heat of a warm shower.
You watch the remnants of your own vomit wash down the drain, and question how he can stand there, not disgusted with you.
He dries you off, delicate drags over your skin.
He’s rougher with himself, scarcely drying properly before he’s carrying you back to his bed, a replay of hours earlier as he lays you down, crawls in behind you and tucks you both under the soft comfort of his worn-out sheets.
Only, this time you’re wide awake.
He so easily nestles himself behind you, dragging you back against him and committing himself to the role of big-spoon.
His hands have always felt large, their touch always electrifying, but nothing compares to the feeling of him splaying one across your lower stomach, a subtle press into where part of him could be growing within you.
“Javi,” you whine, fighting off the sleep your overwhelmed body so badly needs. “I’m sorry.”
You say it because you feel obligated, like it’s your place to be apologetic.
After all, the blame is yours, surely.
“No seas boba (Don’t be silly),” there’s a fresh set of tears already sliding down your cheeks by the time he replies. “Don’t need to be sorry, baby.”
“But I-”
“But, nothing,” his tone feels final, one that tells you you’ll get nowhere arguing against him. “You’ve done nothing wrong, corazón.”
You fall asleep, eventually, soothed by his gentle breathing and the repeated motion of his thumb stroking over your belly.
Yhe next time you awake, there’s a crack of sunlight creeping through his blinds.
Javi’s still in bed, only he’s propped up on his elbow and staring down at you.
His smile stretches a little wider when he spots your open eyes.
Lips press against your own, soft and subtle.
A quiet greeting, a wordless goodmorning.
“I gotta go, corazón,” is met with a protest from you, rolling over to curl into his solid chest.
Expecting it, he wraps you up tighter in his arms, presses an array of chaste kisses to your head.
You don’t want him to leave this bed.
Or this apartment.
You don’t want him out, in the real world, where the hours you’ve spent cooped up together become more scandalous than the peaceful nature of them.
“I know, I know. Don’t wanna go either, baby,” you wonder if you spoke your thoughts aloud, or if Javi simply knows you so well.
Eventually, he peels himself away from you.
You watch him dress.
Tell him which tie to wear.
Help him tie it, the comforter pooled around your naked waist as you sit criss-cross-apple-sauce and Javi’s at the side of the bed, legs bent at the knee.
He thanks you with a kiss, then asks you to pass him his cologne.
It’s on the other side of the bed- his side of the bed- and you lean over to grab it.
You don’t bother handing him it, spraying it directly onto your own wrist and dabbing it into the skin of his tanned neck.
He lets you, a gentle smile on his face and eyes that pull you in for a hug, burrowing himself between your naked breasts.
He presses a kiss between them, hums in enjoyment.
“You’re gonna smell like me all day, cariño (darling),” he tells you.
“Good,” you reply.
Another hum, this time of approval, and a squeeze to your hip.
When he pulls back, he looks even more reluctant to leave.
Reality rears it’s ugly head, but he pushes it out your mind with the pressing of his hand against your stomach, the same spot he’d held onto all night.
Leans down, brushes his lips against it.
Your hands instinctually curl in his hair, and you like to think you leave it a little messy, enough to ward off any of the women he works along side, hopeful eyes hoping to get a taste of the handsome, unmarried cop.
“Stay,” he mumbles against your skin, as if you’re the one who’s about to leave. “Don’t go, ok? I’ll call around lunch.”
He keeps his word.
Calls you, a few minutes past two, interrupting whatever daytime TV you were pretending to watch.
Answering leaves you feeling lightheaded, like you're trapped in a daydream.
Listening to him croon down the line while your finger anxiously tangles in the phone’s wire as you stand in his apartment, it feels domestic, like you’re waiting for him to come back home, a place you share together.
The thought has you pressing a hand against your womb.
“How bout you, corazón?” He knows how to make you melt, picturing him smiling at his desk. “Have you ate yet?”
With a grimace, you admit you haven’t.
“You need to eat, baby,” you don’t like the fact he uses that pet-name, not right now. “There’s plenty in the fridge. Could make yourself a sandwich, or some toast. Might even have some of that pasta left over. You know, that one you said you liked? Oh, wait, maybe don’t eat that, don’t think uncooked salmon is good for pregn-”
You don’t want him to say the P word, so you cut him off.
“I’ll probably just have toast.”
He says ok, then you hear him take a bite of whatever his lunch is.
The call goes on a little longer.
It’s mostly him talking.
He tells you a quick story, something about one of the younger guys accidentally stapling his tie to an arrest warrant.
That rouses a laugh out of you, makes you forget all about the massive P word he almost said.
“I’ll be home soon, okay?”
That sounds nice coming from Javi.
Home.
Not his home, just home.
A place he feels his soul at rest.
A place he’d begged you to stay this morning, safe and tucked away.
“Was thinking we could drive out to the clinic, find out for sure if we’re pr-” he cuts himself off this time, like he knows you’re not ready to hear that word. “Then we’ll take things from there, okay? Whatever you decide you wanna do, corazón, you call the shots.”
He keeps his word, again.
Comes home barely three hours later.
He walks through the door and welcomes the way you coil yourself around him, humming in delight as he peppers a few kisses over your face.
“Still smell like me,” he says it with approval, takes a purposeful whiff at you as he pulls you tighter against him.
You still smell his cologne on him too, buried beneath a few layers of sweat and cigarette smoke.
Near clinging to one another, it’s a miracle you two make it out his apartment and down the elevator.
An arm around your waist, he guides you over to his car.
Pulls the door open for you, stops you from bumping your head on the way in.
He practically runs round the car’s hood, jumping into the driver’s seat and thrumming the engine to life with the turn of a key.
“You remember to eat?” He asks as he pulls out onto the street.
You nod, then audibly reply.
Tell him you did in fact eat toast, leave out the part where you spewed your guts again twenty minutes later.
The drive is quiet.
Not uncomfortable, just relaxed, with the radio playing gently and his window rolled down enough to let in some air.
At some point, his hand slides over the console and rests against your thigh.
You welcome it, covering it with your own.
As you watch out the window how he drives past the turning for the local hospital, he must catch your questioning gaze.
“They, uh,” he clears his throat, rings his hand over the steering wheel. A small stain of sweat marks it. “Know your dad pretty well in there. And me. Figure you’d rather he not find out about us like that.”
He’s right.
So you relax back into your seat, accept the fact you’re both driving out of town together.
At some point, the beginning notes of your favourite song play through the stereo.
You instantly perk up, sitting up straighter in your seat and tap your foot a little to the beat.
Javi says nothing, simply peels his hand off you to turn the volume dial up.
Seconds later, he turns his head and throws you a look just asking if he’s done good.
You smile, and thread your fingers between his own.
A soft squeeze before he pulls them up to his lips, eyes back on the road.
The clinic is bright.
And squeaky, each step you take making you a little more nervous than the last.
Javier, by all accounts, is solid as a rock, signing you both in, picking up a few pamphlets, buying you a can of soda, all while you curl up in some plastic chair and just focus on not spewing your guts out.
You only relax once he’s sat beside you, helping you get a sip of the sugary drink and wrapping a protective arm around you.
You don’t mean to but you fall victim to sleep, the past 24 hours getting the best of you.
You come-to likely not much later, but to the sound of a childish giggle.
Cracking one eye open, just slightly, you notice you’re slumped into Javier, head on his shoulder.
There’s a giggling little girl in front of you both, in purple overalls and with two pigtails to hold her curly hair.
One of her hands is on Javi’s knees, using him to keep herself standing.
“First time?” You snap your eyes shut as a stranger’s voice fills the quiet bustle of the clinic.
A confused sound leaves Javier.
“Yeah, could tell from the look on your lady’s face,” the man continues. “Same one my own wife had during our first visit.”
You want to pay attention to Javi’s response, but you’re a bit busy dealing with the fact he’s not correcting the man, telling him you’re not his lady nor his wife.
His thumb soothes over your hip, and you wonder at what rate you’ll melt away into a pile of nothing thanks to his soft touches.
“You hoping for a boy or a girl?”
You tell yourself to try harder, to actually pay attention.
You succeed, catch as Javi replies, “a girl.”
“Yeah?” the stranger seems genuinely invested, it almost makes you want to open your eyes, see him for yourself.
But you don’t want to ruin the moment.
“Wanted a boy, myself,” that same little girl giggles again and you can’t fight the temptation to peek once more, catch as she crawls into her faceless-father’s lap. “Doc told us it was gonna be a boy, too. Then this one came along and, wouldn’t ya know, not a boy.”
“Surprise!” the little girl squeals, and you feel Javi’s shoulder shake under your head.
God, you want to look at him, see if he’s looking at her with the same adoration that’s festering in your heart.
“Yeah, baby, you’re my little Sarah-Surprise,” the man coos and, despite his rough accent, it suits him. Like he was only ever meant to speak with gentle words and a soft heart, all for his precious daughter. “It’ll get easier, on your lady, just so ya know. Less scary, more exciting. ‘Bout to welcome our second one, and I’ve never seen my wife so happy.”
Javi’s still not correcting him.
It makes you nauseous for a whole new reason.
“Mr. Miller?” A voice calls out.
A nurse, you imagine.
A chair squeaks as pressure is taken off it, the stranger standing.
You peak your eye open in time to see him picking his daughter up, her little legs dangling off his hip.
He takes a few steps, till Javi interrupts him.
“What,” he clears his throat, and you wonder if it’s of emotion. “What are you hoping for this time?”
“A girl.”
Eventually, it’s your turn.
You’d pretended to wake up to Javier’s coaxing.
Shuffled into some room, reluctantly separating from Javi.
A smiley nurse handed you a cup, talked you through what you needed to do for your tests.
Took your blood pressure, complimented your earrings, and stepped out the room to give you privacy.
A short while and a reunion with Javi later, you sat in a doctor’s office, both a nervous wreck as you clasped each other’s hand.
“Mrs. peña,” again, Javier does not correct the doctor. And you realise it’s because he filled out the forms, he signed you in. He wrote you down as Peña. “You and your husband are not pregnant.”
What should have followed was a sigh of relief, from both of you.
But all you felt was led drop in your stomach and Javier’s grip tighten on your hand.
“You are, however, displaying symptoms of acute food poisoning, likely salmonella.”
The doctor continues on, detailing a prescription you’re being given.
But it falls on deaf ears, the world around you gone blank as you wrestle with conflicting emotions.
You’re not pregnant.
You should be elated. Jumping, and cheering, and dancing all over the place. Instead, you’re silent, letting yourself be guided back into the car by Javi.
This time, the drive is silent.
Not quiet.
Silent.
You watch him drive past the turning into your street.
He doesn’t explain that he’s taking you back to his place.
Getting you back in his bed, switching off the lights, he curls himself in behind you and splays his hand over your stomach.
Over your empty womb.
For some reason, you find yourself sobbing into your pillow, unaware of the tears from him that stain your neck as he tries to hush you.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” the irony of him repeating those very same words last night is not lost on you.
It’s hard to move on, when every month there’s a stabbing pain in your abdomen and a trickle of blood staining your underwear to remind you of April.
And so you keep it locked in it’s box, slapping another caution tape over it’s lid as you groan and roll out your own bed, trudging your way into your bathroom to check if the wetness between your thighs is your monthly visitor.
You played a game But I run the table
You’re avoiding your dad’s calls.
It’s not because he’s done anything to warrant your rejection, but, rather, it’s the forthcoming actions he’ll be guilty of.
See, you know why he’s calling.
Your mom let it slip, over brunch and a few too many glasses of wine.
He’s hosting another poker night.
He wants you there, as always.
Some baseless theory of you being his good luck charm.
Or, at least, that’s what you were until the last poker night he’d hosted, way back in March.
He slips away, phoned by your tipsy mother and obligated to drive three towns over to go pick her up because she misses him.
“Fill in for me, will ya, kiddo?”
It was less a suggestion, more of a pleading, his hands already scraping the seat back and awaiting you to plop yourself down.
He leaves you with his hand, his winnings so-far, and a kiss to the top of your head.
“Watch out for Peña,” he whispered, as if you hadn’t been keeping an eye on the agent all evening, clouded by his own cigarette smoke and sitting looser each sip of his whiskey, no ice. “His poker face is dangerous.”
He turns out to be no threat.
None of the officer’s are, really.
Rounds end and rounds start, and you father’s pile of winnings grow more and more.
It’s an ego boost, taking money from these cocky men who look at you as though surely you have no clue what cards you’re holding.
But, taking from Javi?
That’s something else, entirely.
Each time you win, he gets more agitated.
Flinging down cards, muttering curses, shoving his cash across the table.
All whilst glaring, at you, eyes black with ire.
And intoxication.
And something else.
Something you know all too well on Javier.
Lust.
Nearly an hour’s past since your father left, someone else leaves the table.
Says he needs the toilet, you point him in the direction of it.
You all call for a break, and then you graciously offer a refill on drinks.
It’s what your dad would’ve done, kept them all drinking and lowering their inhibitions, their focus disappearing alongside it.
“I’ll help!” One of the officers exclaims.
He’s on the younger side.
Practically a rookie, it’s only the second poker night he’s attended.
He’s sweet, with his large-framed glasses and his nervous smile.
You both make your way out of the basement- refurbished to be your dad’s man-cave- and head towards the kitchen.
You open the fridge, grab however many bottles of beer you need.
He heads to the liquor cabinet, pulls out a bottle bourbon.
You beat him at grabbing the whiskey, an unvoiced need to be the one who refills Javi’s glass.
Maybe, he’ll offer you a sip.
Conversation flows naturally between you, in spite of him being a near stranger.
He asks about college.
You ask about working with your dad.
You both agree on the fact he’s a pain in the ass.
He tells you about a new bar, downtown.
You tell him where to go to get the best club sandwich.
It’s light, it’s easy, it’s friendly.
You’re enjoying his company.
nNeither of you can tell who causes it, but one of you mispronounces a word and you both wind up in a pile of giggles, falling over yourselves and banging into counters.
His hands grip his sides.
You’re clutching your chest.
Through wheezes, he repeats the phrase that left you both in this state.
You laugh harder, louder, warn him to stop before you lose control of your bladder.
Something thuds in the hallway, your eyes shoot up to the kitchen entry and you swear you see Javi’s retreating figure.
Blink a few times, realise there’s no one there.
You both gather some decorum.
He grabs as many of the beer bottles he can manage, and looks at your empty hands in question.
You tell him to head back without you, that you just need to go to the toilet.
Parting ways, you find the both the downstairs and upstairs bathrooms occupied.
Sigh in frustration, only to remember your parents en suite.
It’s empty, because of course it is. No one would feel comfortable enough invading the privacy of your parents' bedroom.
You do your business, wash your hands, fix yourself in the mirror.
Decide your lipstick needs a little touch-up, your clothes need straightening out.
And, when you’re done and ready to head back down to the poker table, you hear a thud.
Pull open the bathroom door, expect to find your father struggling to put a tipsy, giggly, clumsy version of your mother into bed.
Instead, there is only a brooding look and disapproving grunt.
A firm grip, on your arm, dragging you right back into the bathroom.
The door slams shut, a little harsher than you’d like, the sound of it surely reaching the ears of those regrouping for the next dealing of the cards.
He doesn’t pounce, like he so usually does when he’s wearing that look of frustration.
He’s simmering in it, teetering on the edge of boiling anger as he smooths a hand over his chin, visibly clenching his jaw, swallowing back whatever it is he wants to say to you.
He takes one step forward, and you go one back.
Then two steps, which you also match.
Your hip smacks into the sink’s counter on your fifth step backwards and it’s enough to finally put his hands on you.
He tugs you right into his chest, one hand soothing over where you’d banged your hip.
It’s alarmingly gentle for his stoic features.
When he speaks, you nearly melt into a puddle, the heat of him invading your space, face inching close to your own, enough to have you questioning the sanctity of your parents en suite.
“What’s going on with you, huh?”
“Could ask you the same thing, officer,” you make the fatal mistake of giggling, but you’ll blame it on the fruity cider you’d helped yourself to.
He clearly finds no humour, not even as you fiddle with the top button of his shirt and shoot him your best look of innocence.
“Think you’re real fucking funny, don’t you?” His hand, warm and imposing, grips a hold of your face.
It’s almost painful, but you like it, squirming a little at the blunt stab of his nails and the way he smooshes your cheeks, forcing a pout onto your lips.
You try shake your head, his grip won’t let you.
“Sitting in a room full of men, making yourself the centre of attention,” he huffs a breath out of his nose, and you can’t help but compare him to an angry dragon.
He’s worked up, frustrated, angry.
And it’s hot. A turn-on.
“What’s the matter, Javi? Jealous you’re not the centre of all those men’s attention?” You’re poking the dragon, teasing him, and it’s an act that may leave you burned and scarred.
Or, as you’re hoping, it’ll win you the ride of a lifetime.
He doesn’t even grace you with a verbal response.
No, he scoffs, as though he’s in physical disbelief at the words you’re saying.
Spins you around, pins you to the sink’s counter, tugs your hair till you’re forced to stare at your reflection.
He’s right behind you, seething in anger, fire in his eyes.
His head dips between you neck and shoulder, brushing his lips against your pulse point.
“Not all of us are attention whores like you,” it’s fleeting, and he’ll deny it if you dare mention it, but he smiles.
Just a second, but you feel it, see it even though he tries so hard to turn his face into your neck.
It’s what lets you know he’s playing, teasing, egging you on to push him over the edge.
“I’ve been with real whores, corazón,” he confesses a sin you already know, eaves-dropping one too many times on your dad fishing stories of Colombia out of him. “Fucked them so often they started doing their nails in colours they knew I wanted to see wrapped around my cock.”
Involuntarily, your back arches, brushing your ass against him and providing him the perfect access to wind his hand up between your heaving breasts, all the way up till his fingers curl round the base of your throat.
In the mirror, the image is one of ownership, of Javi seizing your bodily autonomy. A whore and her gentleman caller.
It’s arousing to think about, Javi and his whores.
You wonder what positions he put them in.
How many rounds he lasted with them.
How often he made them cum.
“And not one of them took half the money you’ve taken from me tonight.”
Oh.
So that’s what this is, his pretty ego, bruised at the hands of you?
Poor Mr. Javier Peña, humiliated in front of all his peers round after round, hundred bill after hundred bill.
You almost taunt him for giving into the temptations of the fragile male ego, but you’re stopped in your tracks.
By him, hands squeezing at you a little tighter as he grinds the unmistakable outline of his hardened cock against you.
That single action changes the game, entirely.
Because this isn’t about you stealing his money and his ego.
No, this is something far filthier, that has your panties growing wetter beneath the skirt of your dress.
“I’m worth every dime though, aren’t I, officer?.”
The grip tightens.
He shoves you harder into the counter, so hard a tub of your mother’s moisturiser topples off.
The hard outline of him is still there, ever-present.
“‘S that what you like, huh, taking my money? Wanna be Javi’s personal little whore?”
Every ounce of feminism evaporates within you.
Who could deny such a tentative offer?
Certainly not you, reflection mimicking the way you eagerly nod, teeth biting down on your bottom lip in a failed attempt to hold back a grin.
Javi notices- of course he notices- and takes his victory, hips rocking even deeper into you.
There’s too many layers between you, a feat on which you both agree, yet neither of you do anything about.
You just savour the friction, instead, pushing and pulling one another to the axis of pleasure.
Your panties, soaked.
His jeans, tight.
“What’s it gonna cost me to get you bent over and stuffed full of my cum, corazón?” One hand leaves your body. The mirror snitches on him, exposing how he’s reaching into his back pocket. “This?”
He smacks something down, into the bowl of the sink.
It’s his wallet, and you watch the worn leather of it shine with the residue of water on the linoleum.
The hand at your throat pulses a squeeze, his knee nudges you from behind.
“C’mon, don’t be shy.”
His mouth, right by your ear, lips tickling you with the subtlest of brushes against it.
His hand guides your own, down into the sink, flipping the wallet open and putting it’s belongings on display.
Bills, some placed neatly, others stuffed in forcefully, edges spilling out the pockets. There’s less in there than when he arrived, courtesy of you.
There’s a few miscellaneous cards. A library card, an ID slip you’re sure he uses for something in the sheriff's station, a loyalty card to some record store.
The picture of his mother sits centre stage, radiant smile and loving eyes grabbing the attention of any who dare open it.
He has his mother’s eyes, you notice.
And then you notice something else, peeking out from behind his mother’s picture.
You dive into temptation, dart your nosy fingers over to tug at the object, till you realise it’s another picture.
A picture of Javi, and you.
Taken on a polaroid you found under a box of his belongings, you remember the day clear as ever.
The two of you had messed around, captured your sins on film with the promise of destroying it after. It would be too risky a thing, to allow image evidence of the intimate ways in which you knew each other’s bodies.
Javi’s fingers on your skin, your nipple in his mouth, his cock’s outline bulging within your lower abdomen.
There was no point risking your father ever finding it.
But this picture, this one you do not remember.
Fully dressed, eyes fixed on his television, your head lays in his laps while his fingers card through your hair.
It’s captured from above, as if Javi’s own eyes had made a permanent record of his view.
The sweetness of this living on, of Javi taking something sacred for himself to keep hidden in his wallet distracts you for a moment.
He does good to bring you back into the room.
“Take how much you think you’re worth, corazón,” whispered into your ear, as he rips a few of the notes out his wallet.
They sit in the sink, growing wet.
And you are too, frozen on the spot.
You glance down, count over the different bills.
Five dollars.
Twenty dollars.
Hundred dollars.
With each bill you count, your internal price shooting up within your head, you try picture his reaction.
In the mirror, he’s watching.
Not the sink bowl, no.
You, your face, looking at your expressions in a way that reminds you it’s his job to read people.
You decide to be bold, dig into his wallet and, even though your insides twist in anxious turmoil, hold up your hand to present him with your answer.
Resting neatly, between your fore and middle finger, a shiny credit card.
The gleam in Javi’s eyes just about match it, blackened and blown out with lust.
The card is plucked out your hand.
The hand on your neck leaves, in search of your waist.
The fabric of your dress bunches, wrinkling and creasing as his fabric-straining grip inches it’s hem higher and higher.
You feel sexy like this, face heated and breathing heavy.
It’s an effect he has on you, has had on you, forcing you to look at yourself in new lights, in new angles, admiring every out-of-line trace of you for what you are.
Desirable.
And attractive.
And pretty.
And smart.
And every other word under the sun that Javi whispers into your skin with innocence as his body commits sins within you.
At the bottom of the mirror, you watch as the white cotton of your panties comes into view.
Wet, as you both expected, the thin fabric now turned almost sheer, exposing the delectable view of your cunt hugged cutely by the cotton’s tight seams.
Javi hisses, muttering something to himself.
There’s a strain to his voice, one that would have you worried he’s in pain if it weren’t for the way you’re watching as his face contorts with lust.
His eyes are dark and you study them like he studies his card, contemplating something.
A few seconds pass.
Tension is puffed out his chest with one exhale, through the nose.
You feel the air tickle your skin.
He nods curtly, to himself, and flickers his gaze back to meet your own in the mirror.
It’s unwavering, even as he brings the black plastic down and smacks it against your mound.
You squeal, he hushes, and you both know he doesn’t mean it at all.
He likes when you gift him noise, a private aria only he has tickets to.
Just as easily as the first time, he snaps the card against you again, a jolt of pleasure shooting straight through your clit.
Just as loudly as the first time, you squeal, a jolt back into his warm, steady, hard embrace.
“What’re you running from, hmm?” His face turns, burrowing itself in the tresses of your hair.
A shallow sniff, and you wonder if he notices the smell of his shampoo on you.
There’s a pressing of lips, against your scalp, and it’s far too gentle of a juxtapose to the imagery of his fingers pulling your panties to the side, exposing your pussy to the bathroom’s cold air and the two pairs of hungry eyes in the mirror.
“You say that this is what you’re worth, and then you don’t want to take it?”
The third spank of the card against your bundle of nerves is harder, louder, echos in the confined space. A moan, minuscule and muffled, slips past tightly shut lips, a look of fear flashing through wide eyes.
Javi’s quick with his reassurance, gentle with his comfort, a hand stroking over your collarbone.
“Don’t worry, no one’s gonna hear you. You just be as loud as you need, hermosa, they’re too busy encouraging that boy-cop to ask you to dinner.”
There’s a tint of jealousy to the way he says boy, and you’re reminded of the image of him in the kitchen doorway.
Smack!
The card strikes down, once more, this time eliciting an open-mouthed gasp.
He doesn’t let up, repeating the action twice more.
It hurts, in a way that makes your core throb and your toes curl, squirming aimlessly in a grasp he knows you don’t truly want to escape.
But he mocks you, with a hushing noise in your ear and gentle it’s okay, corazón, Javi’s got yous against your neck. His thumb swipes through your folds, coating it in your wetness and dragging itself up to your clit, soaking it in soothing rubs.
His gentle nature lasts mere seconds, his wrist flicking back only to smack the credit card down again. This time, it’s a pattern of three, repeatedly crashing down on your sensitive nerves one after the other.
In the mirror, you watch him observe as he twiddles the card between deft fingers, contemplation on his mind.
The room’s quiet, apart from your shortened breaths and his deep inhales.
You hear a cheer.
From the basement.
It must have been a loud cheer, for you to hear them all the way up here.
And, suddenly, the stakes feel higher than when you were sat at the poker table, counting Javi’s coins with every passing round.
If you can hear them, they could hear you.
This doesn’t seem to cross Javier’s mind, who merely twists your head away from the bathroom door and back to the mirror, to where his hungry eyes await.
All contemplation is gone, he’s decided in what he’s going to do, and so you watch as he takes the card and swipes it through your cunt.
It’s not a pleasurable act, in itself.
In fact, it’s rather uncomfortable, the solid plastic hard on your delicate skin.
It’s the arousal of him doing it that gets you weak in the knees, to have him perform such a mundane act- the swiping of his credit card- in such a crass, dirty, wrong way.
Like he’s paying for you, committing a physical transaction in exchange for your body.
It doesn’t matter that he could have you for free, has had you for free.
He wants to pay, wants to reward you in a way that aligns with the capitalistic world.
“Javi…” You whimper, softly, head lulling back against his shoulder as he swipes the card again.
Your eyes, slowly slipping shut, shoot right back open as you feel the rounded corner of the card prod at your opening, as if trying to notch itself within you.
“Think she could take it, corazón?” Javi bites at your ear, teeth clamping down and pulling at it’s lobe. The card sinks in, not even an inch. You nudge back into, your cry circling the room around you both. “I know, baby, I know. It’d be a wide stretch, but ain’t that all pretty whores like you are good for, hmm?”
It’s automatic, the way you bend to his every whim, head nodding without direct orders from your brain, every part of you, conscious or not, ready and willing to prove you could fit his card inside of you.
For him, you can do it.
“Fitting big things in your little pussies?”
Surprisingly, the hand between your thighs retracts and you watch as he brings the card up to your mouth, glistening with your arousal.
“Open,” the directions are unnecessary, your mouth already dropping open for him in an act of muscle memory.
He hums approvingly, yet his eyes are still fury filled as he slots the card between your lips, lathering your tongue in your own taste.
“You’ll take anything I give you, won’t you, corazón?”
The statement rings true, both ways: as much as you’ll take anything, he’ll give anything.
You don’t tell him that, though, finding it much easier to rest your palms on the countertop, backing your sopping core into him, enticing him with the wiggle of your hips and whines from your lips to take you already.
“Shh, shh, don’t you worry that pretty head. Javi’s gonna feed this greedy little cunt, ok?”
The unbuckling of a belt.
The unzipping of teeth.
The shucking down of-
Something smashes, in the basement, and it’s enough to have you flinching.
Javi’s touch soothes you, a hand running over the curve of your shoulder as he presses yet another kiss into your neck.
“S’okay, probably just a beer bottle.”
He doesn’t move another inch, not till he sees you nod, melting back into him.
You hear, more than you see, the way he tugs his trousers down, just enough to free his hardened cock from its jean-clad confine. The risky business of a quickie in your parents’ en suite calls for clothing moved aside, and not removed.
Much to your annoyance, his all-encompassing warmth drifts away as he moves back, hands clamping down on your hips.
He tilts them to the angle he wants, the angle he knows gets him brushing all your sweet-spots.
He tugs the skirt of your dress up, and then readjusts your soiled underwear.
You hear him draw a deep breath and watch his eyes in the mirror, glued to that spot between your legs, entranced.
The drag of his cock over your folds is familiar, the way he smacks the head of it against your clit is welcomed.
He spears you no gentle coaxing, no stretching around his fingers first, coming undone just for him to fill you right back up, this time with his cock.
No, this is a vengeful touch, the kind that’s meant to display his irritation, his fury, for reasons you’ve yet to confirm yet you’re more than willing to accept.
A man like him, so unfairly selfless, taking something in this world for himself, how he wants to and how he likes to.
You’ll be his vice, so long as he grants you his virtues.
Javi fills you with a single thrust, grunting low into your ear as you feel the way the air is physically knocked out both for your lungs.
He’s still, head buried in the crook of your neck as he works on steadying his breathing, giving you time to adjust to the delicious stretch.
You whine out some version of his name, feel yourself pulse around him.
A hand, reaching up to cup your cheek.
A kiss, gentle and longing against your mouth.
He’s making you wait for it, you think, torturing you with an impending paradise.
He’s savouring the feel of you, he thinks, taking advantage of the few moments alone he wins with you.
"Javi,” he barely lets you part from him to speak, chasing a trail of kisses down your jaw. “This isn’t the time to develop patience.”
The snide remark earns you a bite, his teeth nibbling on the sensitive skin of your earlobe. You squeal, try remind yourself to be quiet, only to squeal louder when his hands tickle at your waist.
“I’m a very patient man, corazón.”
You scoff.
“Just not when it comes to you.”
His hips roll back, slowly, but it’s better than nothing, better than when he wasn’t moving at all.
Still, he makes you squirm a little longer, moan his name a little louder.
Only then does his fake resolve snap and he’s fucking into you at a brain melting pace in the blink of an eye.
Javier does his best to keep quiet, at first, biting down on his lip and your neck just to contain all those melodies he usually makes.
You can’t say the same for yourself as, despite your efforts, broken moan after broken moan tumbles out your mouth and into the sink, filling and filling and filling it in sync with how Javi your cunt.
You wonder how long till it all spills over the edge.
“Joder (Fuck),” he groans as you unconsciously squeeze him tighter, pulling him deeper into your walls. serves him right, for the teasing and the torturing. “Tienes el coño más lindo en todo el mundo. (You have the prettiest cunt in the whole world.)”
You feel lightheaded.
Warm, sweaty, covered in the fingerprints of a lover you shouldn’t be with.
The bathroom fills with an array of sounds. The slapping of skin against skin, the broken cries of an agent’s name, the mindless rambling of a man drunk on pleasure.
“So good to me, baby. Always so fucking good to me.”
“Gonna stay here forever, fuck. That sound good to you, corazón, hmm? Full of my cock always?”
“Look at yourself… Pura belleza (Pure beauty).”
He consumes you, mind, body and soul.
There’s no worrying about the happenings around the poker table, no listening out for your father’s car pulling in the driveway, no worrying about your tousled hair or sweating skin.
There’s just Javi.
Beautiful, gorgeous, deserving Javi.
“Please, please, Javi-“ The words all melt together, pleads becoming his name, his name becoming pleads.
You’re not sure what you’re begging for.
It’s okay though, Javi always knows what you need.
“I know, amor (love), I know,” he murmurs into your skin, butterfly kisses so gentle you wonder how they come from the same man that’s pistoning his hips into you like it’s the last chance he’ll ever get. “Let go, c’mon. Show me how much you love this cock, how much you love-”
He’s cut off by his own groan, you cunt fluttering around him as you inch closer and closer to the edge of euphoria.
Hands hurry off your waist, slipping between your thighs.
It brings a welcomed cushioning, shielding you from repeatedly bumping against the marble of the countertop.
Your legs part further, eagerly, an easy pathway for his yearning fingers to seek out the wonders of the female body as they brush over your clit.
The gentle tactile that he strokes over your bundle of nerves, partnered with the repeated brushing of his cock against that spot that makes you weak in the knees, drool out your mouth, it’s becoming too much.
Eyes glancing in the mirror, you wonder if yours is the same image of the whores who’d warmed his Colombian nights: sweat soaked skin, hooded eyes, messed up hair, wrinkled clothing.
He tilts your hips, a deeper angle to fuck into you that has you perching up onto the tips of your toes, fighting with the chance of losing balance.
He’d catch you, if you fell.
Wrap you up in an embrace that’s more familiar than your own.
“I’m gonna- Fuck! Corazón, need you to cum. Now, please. Please. Need to feel you-”
He’s babbling, losing composure and revealing the side of him you pray he never showed those other women: the side that needs, the side that longs, the side that begs to see you cum before he allows himself to, before he’s able to.
“Javi,” it’s a struggle to speak, but you endure, fighting off your orgasm and holding back tears. There’s something you need from him too. “Cum with me. Wanna be full of you, all of you-”
“¿Sí? (Yeah?)” He pleads back, thrusts already getting a little sloppier, hands a little shakier in the way they touch you. Much like his poker face, you know how to read the face he wears moments before he falls apart. “¿Eso es lo que quiere mi corazón? (Is that what my sweetheart wants?) Want me to cum in you, hm?”
“Yes, oh god yes! So bad, Javi, I want it so bad!”
“Ay, bebesita, no llores. (Aw, baby girl, don't cry.)” He coos, a condescending lilt to his words that has you falling into a bigger mess. “Shh, don’t worry, baby. Gonna fill you right up, so my cum’s dripping down your thighs when that poor kid asks you for your number. Thinks he’s got a shot with you cause he made you laugh, poor boy wouldn’t know how to deal with all the noises I get out of you.”
Javi divulges into a spine-tingling rant of burning hot jealousy, the kind that leaves your cheeks burning and your heart scorching, lit under a flame of your desire for more of him. To have him, equal parts physical and emotional.
You try warn him of the bubble that’s about to burst, the feeling in your loins building and building till it’s seconds way from toppling over.
“That’s it, baby, squeeze my cock. Lemme feel it,” He urges, heart pounding out his chest against your back, hands tightening their grip on your hips. “Need to feel you cum, ‘s all I want.”
You both crash and burn, together.
You fall first, a chaos of unfinished words, crying out for Javi.
He follows close behind, body pressed against your own like he’s willing you to fuse together, to become to entangled in one another that all possibilities of separation become void.
“Take it, cora-” He’s in your ears, in your head, in your heart. Inside of you, consuming you, as eagerly as he’s willing to be consumed by you, fingerprints on hips and teeth-marks in necks. “Take it, take it, take it.”
Arms envelop you from behind, crossing over your chest to pin you back against him.
He’s nearly stagnant, nothing but the twitch of his cock and the shallow thrusts he fucks you deeper with, filling you with another, another, another pump of his cum.
“So good,” Javi’s voice persists, teeth gritting as he bites back the need to be loud, to be heard, to lay a claim on you so blatant no one could deny hearing it. Your relationship with your father is the only thing that holds him back. “Good to me, baby. Always… Good… Díos. (God.)”
Craning your neck to the side, you manage to pull him in for a kiss.
It’s something he accepts easily, lips parting and melting into a dance against your own.
One of his hands falls over your jaw, twisting your face even closer to him.
The kiss dies slowly, with each of you refusing to truly part, pecks being splattered messily against the other’s mouth.
“Was I,” Javi interrupts you with another kiss, his free hand smoothing up and down your side, his hips still slowly rocking into yours, a delicious sting of overstimulation biting at your core. “Am I worth it?”
He pulls back, tired gaze warm as it takes in your messed features.
With the smile that stretches over his lips, however, one would think you were the prettiest creature in all the world.
He calls your name, calmly, slowly, like he’s trying to memorise the shape of it on his tongue. “You’re worth everything I could give, and more.”
There’s something behind the ways he says it that makes you believe him.
With little will to do so, you peel apart from each other, his hands moving quick to adjust your underwear as his cum starts to leak out onto your folds.
He exits the bathroom first, a final kiss placed on your cheek before your left alone, forced to confront the wrecked version of you that will never see your parent’s en suite in the same light.
Your dad arrives back just in time to see you slipping back down to sit at the poker table, no seat left for him to take but the one between his sweet daughter and his loyal best friend.
If only he knew he was placing you both where you most wanted to be when he suggested Javi give you a ride home, waving you both off through the car window with no idea Javi's cum sat dripping out your cunt, staining the car seat.
Your phone buzzes to life in your hand, slipping you out of your memories.
Your father’s contact name reads clearly on the screen.
Hitting decline one more time, you roll over and try ignore the gathering slick between your thighs.
Damn Javi and all the memories he haunts you with.
Mr, I don’t want a label You made me a little miss unstable (And it)
Days grow colder.
Nights grow longer.
You change your bedsheets, stuff a comforter back inside.
Pick out a tree, synthetic, and lump the box up the countless stairs to your apartment.
Try not to think of how he would’ve insisted on helping, refused to let you carry it.
Even if it culminated in him doubled over in pain, clutching his lower back.
Lights, baubles, action.
The tree’s smaller than you expect, barely reaching your hip, but it’s green, tree-shaped and festive. It’s enough.
Your decorations are minimal, a few inconsequential things you picked out your parents’ stash. There’s a Santa hat, frayed with time. A few cracked baubles, with string so thin you suspect they’ll snap off. A gingerbread man ornament, a glass snow-flake. A crooked star, missing one of its points, tops the tree.
A homemade snowman, one you’d gifted your parents after a busy day in nursery. Neither of them had the heart to tell you you’d made its nose a rather phallic shape.
And then there's the red phone-box, nestled somewhere in the middle, an etching of LONDON brandishing it as a reminder of your trip.
You’d picked it up in a tiny bookstore, right next door to The Distillery Club.
The winter season has never felt so lonesome, tucked away in your grown-up apartment.
There’s no fireplace to warm your hands, no hot cocoa boiling on the stove. No cheesy hallmark movies to laugh at with your mother, no racing past your father to grab the last slice of dessert.
It’s just you, alone, with only your wandering mind as company.
Sometimes, more often than not, it wanders to him. To if he’s alone.
To if he’s filling his heart as easily as he fills his bed.
To if he’s finally bought a second seat for his dingy balcony.
“Is this some tactic of yours?”
He hums, brows furrowing, lips pouting, smoke dragging into his lungs.
The cigarette sits perched between two fingers of the hand resting on your knee, his other curled around your waist.
“Some what?”
“Tactic,” you repeat. Watch him blow a puff a smoke, taste his ash at the back of your throat. “Only having one chair, so pretty girls have no choice but to sit in your lap.”
He lets his gaze wander away from the streets below and up to you, sitting pretty in his lap. Like a cat, draped over his thighs.
Nothing but his own rumpled, inside-out shirt to cover your skin.
Bare legs, messed hair, smudged lipstick.
Fingerprint bruises littering your hips, bitemarks etched into your collarbone.
“I gave you a choice,” he speaks with a reservation he didn’t have before, when he’d offered you a ride home from the bar. There’s an etching of something that’s diluting his expressions, sinking him deeper and deeper into his own pensive mind. “You were the one who insisted on sitting on me.”
“You weren’t complaining earlier.”
Nails pinch at your thigh, causing a squeal out of you.
A few birds fly off a nearby wire, a head or two turn in the street below.
They don’t see you, or Javi, or the lack of clothing that sits between you.
“Neither were you. In fact, you were a little busy fucking my fac-”
“Stop!” Your sudden modesty feels unearned, yet that does nothing to stop you from placing your hand over his mouth.
He licks at it, you grimace, he licks again.
Then takes another breath of nicotine, as you wipe the remnants of his spit onto his naked thigh.
When he offers the cigarette your way, you hesitate.
Picture your father, disappointed to see you smoke.
The whiff of Javi’s post-sex smell- muted cologne, matted sweat, burnt ash- steals your senses, reminds you you’ve already done enough to disappoint your father, a cigarette can’t do much damage.
So you let him hold it up to your mouth and inhale it’s poison.
You and Javi were never meant to happen.
Sure, the line had already been crossed weeks ago.
But that was supposed to stay in Vermont, tucked between snowy slopes and wooden cabins. Existing in a timeline separate from your reality, where you are your father’s precious daughter and Javi is his trustworthy colleague and friend, that is where it should have stayed.
And it had, for two weeks. Sixteen days, specifically.
You’d returned to classes, to sharing lunch breaks with your father in his office, to slowly moving more of your things out the family home and into your new apartment.
And Javi, from what you heard, had returned to keeping civilians safe, to sharing a drink or two with your father at the end of the work week, to flirting with every secretary within a mile radius.
Neither of your crossed paths and, when you nearly did, the other made the effort to turn a corner, shut a door, hide behind a wall.
Until tonight.
Until you ditched your mediocre date, some lame excuse of having a last-minute paper due.
Until you’d gone to console yourself over your failing love life, unknowingly sliding into a bar stool right next to the most desired cop in town.
Until he’d turned to you, tilted his head, and asked “d’you wanna get out of here?”
He’d offered to take you home.
The drive was quiet, tense, until his hand drifted over the gearstick and you dragged it down onto your thigh.
He squeezed.
You inched it further up, till the tips of his fingers brushed at the edge of your dress.
He took the invitation, took a turning towards his own place.
Brought you into his apartment, drowned you in his fountain of kisses, begged you to sit upon his face. He’d made you see stars beneath a roofed sky, eyes rolling so far back they threatened to get stuck there.
With barely a moments recovery from a third blinding orgasm, he dragged you down the expanse of his body, sat you down on his cock and refused to help your overstimulated, puddle-brained self ride him, grinning cunningly with his back pressed against the mattress as you struggled through shaky legs.
Eventually, he tired and launched himself, arms tangling behind your back, feet planted flat behind you, hips fucking up into your battered cunt until you both came to a haltering crescendo.
He’d layed you down to rest, cleaned you of any mess, and then wandered out to his balcony, inviting you to join him when the feeling returned to your legs.
Which brings you here, fifteen minutes later.
“...wouldn’t have to be serious,” he’s speaking, finishing off a sentence you don’t quite catch the start of.
“Huh?”
“This. Us. It could be casual, y’know?” Another puff of smoke slips right through his lips. “If that’s what you’re worrying about… your dad, and all that other stuff. I don’t need a label, not if it means I get to have… We could keep it casual, if that’s what you want.”
It takes a few moments for you to fully register his words, and then a few more to formulate a response.
“Is that what you want?”
He shrugs.
Pulls in another breath of his cigarette.
Stubs it out on the arm of the chair.
And says nothing.
You assume it’s a yes.
Because what else could Javier Peña, notorious womaniser, want with you if not a casual, no-strings-attached permit to sleep with you, as many times as he sees fit, without the risk of losing his job or, worse, his best friend?
Silence falls upon you both.
You twist in his lap.
He tightens his hold.
Within a half’s hour, he’s got your hands white knuckling as they grip the metal bannister of his balcony, his own hands busy pulling your hips back to meet each of his desperate thrusts, not even the cool air of the night enough to soothe the flaming desire that burns between you.
Your stomach twists, your mouth dries, your eyes water at the thought of him out on that balcony now.
Somebody else, some new body sat in your spot, upon his lap as they exchange smoke rings and warm mouths.
Broke me big time It’s funny and I’m laughing baby You think i’m alright
The Laredo sheriff’s department is known best for three things: its lack of parking, its swoon-worthy ex-DEA agent, and its office holiday parties.
Each year, it’s the same.
The station, decked out in decorations.
A Christmas wreath, mistletoe hanging from every doorway, egg-nog and mulled wine.
It’s not just Christmas.
It’s menorahs, and ficus trees, and a statues of different gods.
Each piece of culture, tradition, holiday that makes up the people that inhabit the station, day in and day out, behind desks and in cop cars, filing paperwork and fetching coffees, represented in some way, celebrated.
Each member of staff is encouraged to bring their friends, their family.
Their spouse, their mothers.
Anyone, and everyone, is welcome.
Then there’s the gift exchange, a Secret Santa system, optional for each member of staff.
It’s the part you look forward to most.
Crowding your dad the minute he gets home on the first of December, poking and prodding till he lets it spill who he’s got.
Fishing out a pen, some paper.
Drawing up a list, made of details and anecdotes your father remembers of his target.
Dragging your shop-avoidant father down to the mall, for a day of gift hunting and sweet-tooth indulging.
Getting to watch your father’s coworker open their gift, eyes lighting up as you once again knock the ball out the park and gift them something perfectly tailored to them, winning your dad the spot of top gift-giver year after year.
This year, there was none of that.
No list of pros and cons for each gift option.
No trying to crack just what exactly your dad should gift his person.
No waiting with baited breath to watch them open it, heart racing with that little fear of them not liking it, of you failing.
No, the moment that name fell from your father’s mouth, you knew what he needed to get.
Hinted at it, slightly.
Claimed you’d smelt it on a friend, thought it would be a good idea.
Sipping on some wine and picking at the buffet, you watch him pick up his gift.
Hold it up to his ear, shake it.
Look down at the box, confused, then tear into the wrapping paper.
The whole room stops.
Not really, but it feels like it does, as somewhere across the room Javier Peña holds up a bottle of that damn cologne.
And, when his eyes instinctively find yours, it feels like everything else fades away.
Fades to grey.
It’s just him, and you. The only two within the room, holding a secret too heavy on the tongue to ever speak it aloud.
He knows.
Of course he knows.
Knows you’d watched him spray it on his skin, day in, and day out.
Knows you’d worn it on your own, sunk it deep into your pores after intertwining your souls upon wrinkled sheets.
Knows you’d watch its contents decrease over time, time you’d spent with him.
That bottle of cologne reminiscent of a timer on you both, that morning before the hospital trip becoming the last few sprays he got out of it.
Colour returns to the world that surrounds you as your dad steps into view.
He’s hugging Javi, pathetically tipsy and ignorant to the lipstick stain on his cheek, no doubt ingrained to his skin with how hell-bent he is on having your mother kiss him beneath each mistletoe.
They’re exchanging words you don’t hear, slapping one another on the back.
You turn on your heel, insides twisting as nausea overcomes you at the scene.
The next time you see Javi is hours later.
You’re trying to leave, tempted to take the good old Irish exit and just slip out a back door.
But your parents- ne, your father- are so busy show-ponying you around the room, that you fail to take a single step that goes unnoticed.
“There she is!” Your father calls out, somewhere behind you, as you slip your hand into the arm of your coat. This act sparks outrage, a frown birthing onto his face. “Don’t tell me you’re leaving too.”
You say you’re tired.
He boos, loudly, like he’s not the chief of police and a whole grown adult.
Grabs at you, lovingly, trying to pry the coat out of your hands.
The effort is minimum, and you know he’s only messing around.
You can leave, if you want to, even if he’d rather you stay.
“It’s not even midnight and you two buzzkills are leaving!” He wails, all the while he’s reaching around and helping you slip your other arm into the coat.
That’s when Javi’s face comes into view, over the arch of your dad’s shoulder, sporting a smile and a pair of keys dangling off one finger.
You try your best to counter his smile with your own, though your throat feels dry and your cheeks feel tight.
“I can’t believe I’m being betrayed like this by two of my favourite people!” The smile slips before you can catch it, eyes widening at your father’s words.
Words you’d spent months agonising over the thought of hearing. Picturing the circumstances in which he’d find out. Imagining the horrendous fallout, a red slash over Javier’s reputation. Swearing you’d quit it, quit him, and then winding up tangled in his sheets again, head pressed to his chest, eyes closed in the soundest of sleeps.
Javi plays it cool.
Nudges your dad’s shoulder, shakes his head and tells him to “quit the dramatics, viejo (old man).”
“I gotta head out to my pop’s first thing in the morning, he’s wanting me to help him rewire some of the fences.” Comes out as his excuse, one your dad can’t really argue against.
He knows better than anyone that Javi drops everything for his dad.
Well, better than anyone but you.
Your excuse, however, falls a little short, a consequence of the last minute conjuring of the lie.
“I’ve, uh, got an early class. Don’t wanna flunk out in my last year, right?”
Your dad stares at you.
Your mum stares at you.
Javi stares at you.
And that’s how you know you’re screwed.
“Class? I thought you were on winter break.”
Javi takes the momentary distraction to shrug his coat on, over those broad shoulders.
Shoulders that twist with the rest of him, as he makes space for you in the doorway, nodding you over. Here, he’s saying without really speaking, escape with me.
So you do, tiptoeing past your parents as though, the slower and quieter you move, the less they’ll notice your approach to the exit.
“Oh! Yeah, I- Sorry, I meant that I-”
“The library, it’s still open for the graduate students,” Javi swoops in effortlessly, dragging the spotlight off you.
He takes hold of your jacket, too, slipping the zip into place and dragging it up the length of your torso, over your chest, till it rests snuggly at your sternum.
A little too snug, making each new inhale deeper, harder, practically heaving the air into your lungs.
At least that’s the reason you give yourself.
You don’t get to dwell on it too long, fortunately, for your mother lets out a gasp.
She points, eyes a little widened by excitement, at the both of you and nudges at your father.
“Look!” She tells him, and you watch in confusion as he displays her same reaction, eyes wide and mouth agape.
Then comes the laughter, straight out the depths of your dad’s belly and right to your weak heart, a melody that reminds you so much of easy Sundays and curling up next to him on the sofa, watching kids’ shows that seemed to entertain him more than you.
“Oh that’s just,” he takes a laugh break, doubling over slightly, his own finger joined in pointing at you two, beneath the doorway. “Too perfect!”
Before you can inquire on either of your parents bizarre reactions, Javi’s eyes are staring into your own and pointing upwards.
Wrapped with a red bow and barely hanging onto the door frame with a single strip of tape, a mistletoe stares down at you, two white berries like mini eyes.
When you glance at the agent once more, it’s hard to read what he’s thinking.
His shoulders are tense, his lips are pursed, his brows are furrowed. But, his eyes.
His eyes burn you with an unspoken intensity, a look he should never possess in front of your parents.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” You mom, camera in hand, urges you both, a wide grin cast upon her face.
You dad is in no better state, rushing forward to squeeze you both closer, one hand clasped over the back of Javi’s head.
When the once-agent exhales a nerve-striken breath, the warmth of it, of him, hits your neck.
“Dad, c’mon, stop-” you’ve never imagined yourself stuck like this, your mother and father both urging you to kiss a man you spent months tossing and turning in bedsheets with behind their back.
The creatively deviant part of your brain tells you this is how it could be, maybe, in some other life.
Some other life, where Javi’s not a cop, you’re new in town, and you both bump into each other at the grocery store.
Both of you reaching out for the same apple, or box of cereal, or bottle of milk.
Your hands, brushing.
Your eyes, meeting.
He’d charm you, easily as he always has.
Get your number and then, the next day, a date.
One date leading to two, three, four, more dates.
Till you bring him home to meet your parents at last, squeezing his hand tighter when he tries to pry it away as the door opens to your father’s stern face.
It would take a while, you reckon, for your dad to see past the difference in years.
Your mother wouldn’t care, wouldn’t spare a second thought to it, not when she notices how much he makes you laugh and how he can’t keep his eyes off of you in any room you occupy.
This could be your first Christmas together, your parents begging for one sweet photo of you under the mistletoe, before you both head off to spend the rest of the holiday season with Javi’s father.
But it isn’t, and you’re not.
“C’mon, it’s bad luck not to!” Back in the present, in reality, your dad’s found his way over to your mother’s side. “Peña, just kiss the girl on the cheek for Christ sake, I ain’t gonna bite your head off for it this one time!”
His lips brush your cheek like an autumn breeze.
Gentle, a hint of warmth, a tickle from the wisps of his well-groomed moustache.
“Get a bit closer, you’re not fully in frame!”
The flash goes off on your mother’s camera, and the two give a little cheer, and Javi wraps an arm around your back, squeezing you a little closer.
When all is said and done, your mother’s forcing you both to stare at the camera screen, a perfect picture of the most doomed couple to ever grace this Earth.
Such dramatics in your thoughts reminds you of the copious glasses of prosecco you’d downed throughout the night, and of your intentions to get yourself home before you done something stupid.
Like stand under the mistletoe with your former casual lover, the very same man your father calls for golf matches and March Madness debriefs.
Javi offers you a ride home, an idea your father approves of.
“I’m heading that way anyway, gotta pick up a few things before I drive out to the ranch.”
A part of you thinks he’s lying, wanting any excuse for a moment alone with you, but then that’s the kind of delusions you shouldn’t be feeding into.
You and Javi don’t spend time alone anymore.
You and Javi do not exist together anymore.
Maybe you never did.
“It’s okay, I already called a cab.”
You part ways at the door, your father watching you from inside.
Javi calls your name, before you can take more than a few steps.
For a second, he just looks at you.
Then his arms are pulling you in, and he’s got you right against his steady chest, and he’s resting his head atop your own, arms squeezing tightly at your sides.
“Get home safe.”
He walks away before you can tell him to do the same, the door slamming to his car the last thing you hear as you pull out your phone and call a cab.
It takes twenty minutes for it to appear, in which the rain starts and your clothes get soaked, but all that and the fifteen dollar fare are a cheaper price to pay than the torture of letting Javier Peña drive you home.
Crawl up the stairs, unlock the apartment door, drop your clothes onto the floor.
You find sanctuary under the shower, soap suds and boiling water, a dynamic duo that scrub off any remnants of his skin against yours.
Even as you step out, fully cleaned and towel wrapped around yourself, you catch a hint of his cologne, the very same one you’d made sure your dad picked out for him.
And as you pick your coat off the ground, a distant voice that sounds much like your mother scolding you for leaving such a mess, you notice it.
First, just a little extra weight.
Then, scratchy paper as your hand dives into the left pocket.
The wrapping is haphazard, with an uneven bow tied atop it, but that’s not what matters.
You tear away at it, let the paper fall to the floor at your feet.
Then you’re met with a small box, which you tear open too.
And find it sitting neatly among balls of yarn, the prettiest, most delicate looking glass bauble.
It’s ribbon a deep green, and it’s centre an image of mountain slopes, backed by a green forest and a valley full of wooden lodges.
It shakes in your grasp, and you spy the snowglobe-esque white foam that dances around within it.
In it’s centre, in bold, italic and green, Vermont.
One more glance in the box.
There’s a note, tucked at the bottom.
You fish it out in one breath, hold it up to read what it says.
Corazón, For your tree. I hope there’s still space.
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Writing Interview
Thanks so much for the tag @starquestingfordrarry! <333
how many works do you have on ao3? 337
what's your total ao3 word count? 1,454,047
your top 5 stories by kudos
Right Hand Red (with freakin’ 40,662; sorry, I just noticed that it had ticked over the 40k mark and I’m flabbergasted and so grateful as well <3 )
Hung Like a Horntail
Slip Into My Lover’s Hands
Weeds or Wildflowers written with sdk / @unmistakablyoatmeal
check this hand ‘cause I’m marvelous
do you respond to comments? Er… yes?? Like, very. verrrrry. slowly. But I’ll admit that some will never get answered because I lose steam and then when I start trying again, I start with the newest ones. This might sound horn-tooty, which is not how I intend it, but with the number of stories I’ve written, I get a lot of comments. I’ve found it impossible to keep up, but I do my best, even if my best is sometimes a bit crappy. I do read and appreciate every comment I get though!
what's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? I don’t really do angsty endings often. When I do, it’s usually a Prongsfoot or something. Of the Drarry fics I’ve written, I have one open ending but it’s still pretty hopeful, and that’s Burning the Ground.
what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending? All of them. :D My goal in life is to get readers (and myself) to cry with joy at the end of my stories. Some standouts just from memory are Heart Like Neon, Bolts, Take You Home, Jasmine in Bloom, Right Hand Red, Blood and Fire, and The Most Splendid Thing.
do you write crossovers? Maybe one or two over the last 25 years. So, statistically, not so much.
have you ever received hate on a fic? LOL of course. :D But I don’t linger on those comments. They’re quite few honestly.
do you write smut? No, never.
have you ever had a fic stolen? Yes.
have you ever had a fic translated? Yes. Quite a few have been. Not even sure how many languages, but I know there are several in Russian, Chinese, and I think both Spanish and Portuguese.
have you ever co-written a fic? Yes! With the incredibly talented sdk, @the-starryknight, and @nv-md! (And one round robin with like 552 people lol.)
what's your all-time favorite ship? Drarry, my beloved. <3
what's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? I don’t really have wips. I’m a chronic finisher. I did start something last year for a friend’s birthday and then pooped out. I ended up writing her a completely different pairing months later. And then I took some of the vibes and ideas from that unfinished fic and wrote them into other fics that I *did* finish, so… Cannibalism. Yeah.
what are your writing strengths? LOL finishing things! :D Also: smut, for sure. Humor. Sort of achy, hot romances? My trademark is writing tenderness and filth simultaneously. I’ve gotten good at pacing things well, so that beats and arcs feel well-rounded and satisfying, I think.
what are your writing weaknesses? Ugh, plot!!! Specifically non-romance-or-pairing-based plotlines are difficult for me. Heavy angst. Also stakes. I struggle to up the stakes for my characters enough to give a big payoff. I struggle to make my characters change enough or to effectively write that change in a satisfying way. (This applies more to my original writing than to fic, I think.)
what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’m not sure what the hot take here is and if there is one I’m missing it. My original novel has a Spanish speaker and he will sometimes slip into Spanish during conversation. I wanted to get that right, so I had a native Spanish speaker (hi @capipuff!) read it to correct my bad Google-translated Spanish. So I guess my thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic is, do your best to get it right?
what's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to? If I want to write something, I write it. :D
what's your favorite thing you've ever written? Oof. Wow. I want to say my original novel, even though it’s also more flawed than my fic tends to be. It’s certainly one of the things I’m most proud to have written. <3 Usually my favorite fic is the last thing I’ve written and that’s true right now as well. I love The Most Splendid Thing. But before that, my favorite was probably Jasmine in Bloom, and before that it was Take You Home. Bolts is for sure in the running. Heart Like Neon is way up there as well. As is My Name in Your Mouth, because I love that Teddy Lupin with all my horny heart.
Okay I'm going to tag some of you fine folks now: Ali, you're it! Also, @writcraft @shiftylinguini @phoebe-delia @wholahoop @saintgarbanzo @academicdisasterfic @citrusses @corvuscrowned @lettersbyelise and @magpiefngrl
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15 months, 80k words, and entirely too much commitment to the bit later, have finally finished the absurd thought exercise that was: what if Bix and Melshi meet independently of Cassian and then Cassian comes rolling into the Dantooine door one day?
Wild ride, feat: two 6-week periods of writing ~40k words, with a ten month gap in the middle where I disappeared for the span of 29 fics into a different corner of Star Wars entirely, chuckles.
The first 15 chapters can be read as a fun (relatively "fun" anyway) slow-burn on both the Bix/Melshi of it and the Cassian/Keef reveal.
The full 31 chapters run just past Rogue One so. Fair warning.
#and it's still the only Bix/Melshi tag on ao3 XD#Andor#Bix/Melshi#crackfic notion that committed to the bit and went way too hard in the end#no regrets#all of this to say if they so much as exchange a 'hi' in season 2 I will be laughing in delight#poe is being left unattended with Andor again
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✨ 15 gentlebeard fic recs ✨
i have spent the last month trawling the pages of ao3 for you, dear reader, to find the best ofmd fics. all the works on this list:
are longer-form (generally 40k+)
have no steddyhands (simply not my thing)
are generally, all around brilliant (well-written, had me kicking my feet and giggling, laughing, or crying)
are complete!
part 2 and part 3
A Heart Unsated by roughwinds
48k, explicit
"Stede Bonnet has just moved into Orange Crescent. There’s a house on the corner, opposite Stede’s own, with a garden full of flowers and a gleaming motorbike on the driveway. He’s forgotten to buy sugar.
Edward Teach has his morning disturbed by his new neighbour. Enamoured at first sight, he invites Stede round for a chat, and then another, and then another.
This is the story of them."
man i normally avoid fics with lots of alma and louis in them because its just not for me, but literally every second of the family bonding in this was so wholesome i was forced to change my entire mind.
all you left me was a pearl by @sightofsea
88k, mature
"1717. The Golden Age of Piracy. Stede Bonnet sets about wooing the love of his life through any means necessary.
Things do not go as planned."
every day i wish for a precise memory erasing potion to be invented so i can read this again for the first time. i would devour like 2000k more words of this if it was offered to me. brilliant.
forgive & forget by @fool-for-luv
44k, mature
"It hits him then, like a wave breaking on sand, loud as thunder when it crashes, then trickling away into little rivulets flowing back home, murmuring one word over and over and over. Ed.
The problem is, Stede doesn’t recall ever having met anyone named Ed."
so sweet and wonderful, and i wish there was more.
#gentlebeard is trending! by regional_catastrophe
41k, teen
"In which Stede accidentally convinces the pirating world that Gentlebeard (or Blackbonnet or Stedward; there's a poll) is canon, reunites his crew, and gets his boyfriend back."
hilarious & silly & great, but also the most compelling notes of any fic i've ever read. a proper learning experience.
if music be the food of love (then darling, you're a feast) by @fool-for-luv
107k, unrated
"“Hey, so, those two, right, they get together in the end?” Ed asks.
“I would protest spoiling it, but I think it's rather obvious, isn't it?” Stede says. His nose wrinkles as he smiles. “The tension is certainly there from the beginning. It just takes them a while to get there.”
“Good. Would have been a shit story otherwise.""
i love sassy stede and i love ed who is a grump and i love that they share one single braincell at any given time.
If You Were Mine to Keep by @mysterybees
162k, explicit
"Caught between the gallows and the end of an English sword, Ed accepts the Act of Grace: marry into the aristocracy, leave the English ships alone, and live to sail another day. But who in their right mind would ever agree to marry the mad devil pirate Blackbeard?"
Worth every second of tiredness I felt after pulling an all nighter to finish reading.
It's Only Right by hexuponye
53k, explicit
"A modern AU based on Imagine Me & You, in which Edward is a florist who does the flowers for Stede's wedding."
mary gets to be a little silly sometimes too as a treat.
pliocene by unfortunatelyobsessed
75k, mature
""man, it's just ocean for miles.” Ed motions out to the waves, where there is no sign of any sort of ship, their small dinghy pulled far up on the sand. “I told you when the clouds look like seagulls you take fuckin' cover. Goddamn ocean mutinied me.”"
william golding wishes he did something this brilliant and significant when he wrote Lord of the Flies. the best deserted island story.
quite a career shift by @stedesparasol
157k, explicit
"Stede's been posting book reviews on Youtube for two months now. It's taken him that long to finally get a comment, and the person it comes from is rather unexpected."
rip stede you would've LOVED booktube. furious i can never really watch his content.
Semaphore by komodobits
124k, explicit
"Talking things through as a crew is easier said than done, and honest communication has never really been Stede’s strong suit. When it comes to Ed, he is willing to try."
so good that i was properly and truly laughing and gasping and 'oh no-ing' out loud while i read it.
Such Joie de Vivre by @louciferish
94k, explicit
"Professional thief Edward Teach is tired of hole in the wall apartments, shitty pub food, and skipping town every few months to keep the cops off their tail. He’s well past the age he meant to flee the country and retire, and all he needs is One Last Job to set him up for life. When he hears that some rich bastard outside of town has just the sort of treasure he’d trade his good knee for, Ed sets out in disguise to get the lay of the land."
i (so so foolishly) avoided reading this for a while because i simply didn't think i was one for nanny aus. i was so, terribly wrong. don't make the same mistakes i did. showstopping. incredible stuff.
The Chains of Flowers are Fragile Things by @grandmastattoo
62k, explicit
"Stede can't see the shop he's inherited from his late father as anything other than a burden, another insult added to a life that's going nowhere fast. Then he meets the charismatic man who owns the tattoo studio next door, and Stede finds himself forced to consider the idea of home."
maybe i love tattoo shop owner ed fics, sue me. i love this stede and i love his embarrassing mistake tattoo.
The Love Experiment by karawrites
65k, mature
a married at first sight (aus) au. i didn't know i needed it until i read it.
Water/line by @the-gentleman-mermaid
60k, teen
"During a raid on a smuggler ship, Ed finds a merman named Stede locked in the hold."
So good that I would actually pay the author real person money to do a similar story but where Ed is the mermaid.
Where the Daylight Begins by @xoxoemynn
116k words, explicit
"Modern day AU slow burn featuring a pining Ed, a clueless Stede, found family, roughly a million animals, and a very magical house."
This one sort of gave me House on the Cerulean Sea vibes; it was so much fun and genuinely necessitates a proper use of the word whimsical.
#i will add more as i keep reading!!#pls send me recs too i have brainrot so all the media i consume has to be about pirates rn#hopefully there is at least one thing in here you haven't read before!#thanks for listening#if your fic is on this list know that i love you#our flag means death#ofmd#gentlebeard#gentlebeard fic recs#gentlebeard fanfic#blackbonnet#blackbonnet fic recs#blackbonnet fanfic
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hey violet! what's been floating your way lately, creatively speaking? i've been leaning towards sci-fi :)
hey anon!
heck yeah, sci fic =D my favorite!
cut for a long reply with a little TEG at the end :)
creative expression wise, not too much. I wrote about 2600 words of a Day in the Life of TEG Nautica short story, but I didn't finish it in time for the anniversary, so I guess I'll set it aside for now. I'm really hoping to think of something for this year's Big Bang project. the last sign up day for writers is March 2. if I think of something before then I'll be signing up :)
creative well-filling wise (aka when you feel really stuck sometimes you have to absorb media - watch movies, read books, etc), I made my goal of reading 1 book/month last month! I read two books:
Genefather by Guy Haley
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Genefather is a Warhammer 40k book. I know absolutely nothing about warhammer, but I have a friend/coworker who loves it. I asked him what the novels are like as I was curious what the quality was for that IP (the TF novels being pretty bad as far as I've ever heard). He loaned me Genefather to check it out. The writing quality is surprisingly good! I was impressed. I was also ABSOLUTELY LOST for most of the book, until my friend finally wrote me a little guide (dammit, I had asked for it months ago lol). Then my understanding went a bit better. It was funny and had some very good descriptions. I did notice a strange drop in quality at the end of the book: I am guessing the author ran out of time before a deadline. If you like warhammer (or don't mind being TOTALLY lost and reading something meant to appeal to Men Who Like to Paint Figures (I specify Men because the emphasis is on male characters in the way that "this book was written by a man" happens)), I would recommend it.
A Memory Called Empire is a book that's often on "if you like The Locked Tomb series, read this" lists. I freaking love TLT series so I was happy to finally get to read it. It's very well constructed and interesting. I wrote a post about it a bit ago if you'd like to hear more about it. I do recommend this to fans of sci fi.
My friend has loaned me another warhammer book and I've started it. It's not as funny as the first one and work has left me so tired, I've been falling asleep reading it at night, lol. But I will get through it. And next week Emily Wilde 3 comes out!! I pre-ordered it so the hardcover will be mailed to me. Can't wait! (I also highly recommend the Emily Wilde series for a fantasy with some romance on the side)
Aaaaaaannnnnnnd I think it would be fun to share a little bit of the Nautica fic. This is a rough draft, so please read with gentleness, haha.
---
Wake up, beloved Like a jewel in the sky Wake up, beloved The sparklight of my life
Nautica stirred. Blaster's dulcet recording – her morning alarm – swept gently through her processor. Wake up protocols commenced. Her frame's proprioception feedback came in little waves: root mode, lying down; Blaster's warmth; their mingling, low power fields. Nautica onlined and gently wiggled out of Blaster's arms.
“Good morrrrrnnninggggggg,” whispered Nautica.
Blaster made some sleepy noises but didn't wake. She kissed the top of his audial, where the lightning shaped finial connected. He smiled in his sleep.
Nautica quietly grabbed her wrench and headed to the cafeteria. Their chore cycles were currently on opposite ends- she had first shift, Blaster had third. She was looking forward to the cycle swap. Only 22 more days. She missed spending more waking time with him.
On the way to the cafeteria, she hopped onto the ship's net and flipped through her messages.
There was the usual daily bulletin, stating the date (the current dimension they were in plus the number of days and hours they'd been in it) and a copy of the day's chore cycle schedule. Nautica's chores appeared to her in solid black glyphs: the rest of the crew's schedule appeared faint gray. Nautica focused on Blaster's name. Her chore glyphs faded as his came in sharp. This was a programming trick Minimus was quite proud of. It combined “sensory information from the internal viewer” (semi-legal software from Brainstorm (who told Minimus it was entirely legal)) and the eye-tracking software of a medical evaluation mod. Ship/club activities were scattered throughout the schedule in green.
Blaster's chore cycle glyphs swirled and changed.
“Huh?”
Half his chore cycle had been delegated to Siren. An alert popped up at the same time a “Special Meeting” was inserted into both her and Blaster's schedules:
Double Date Swerve's, 33:00 Captain's table (that's any table I sit down at) Signed, Your favorite co-captain
As Nautica puzzled over this, an edit alert went through and the invitation was amended:
Double Date Swerve's tonight, 33:00 Captain's table (that's any table I sit down at) Starring Rodimus and Soundwave. And you two. Signed, Your favorite co-captain and Soundwave no of course I didn't forget you hey stop checking the schedule that's hacking you can't hack a captain hhhhhhhhehhhhhhhh oh look what you did to the invi
Nautica stifled her laugh. I wish I could see the look on Blaster's face when he wakes up! I wonder if this has something to do with Project Mindspread? No, Blaster's not on the team. Rodimus is just... being social. She accepted the invitation.
Moving on, there were three messages in her inbox. The first wasn't signed, but by the total lack of punctuation and signifiers, she deduced it was from Skywarp: “maintenance vines moved harp survived,” which was slightly worrying. She would definitely be asking him about that during their morning shift.
The second message was a long paragraph from Ambulon. She skimmed it and caught, various integration techniques, quantum mechanics, unfamiliar, ??? the nerve of this guy and set it aside. She'd read it after she'd eaten.
The last message was the most intriguing:
We request to see you today, at your earliest convenience, between 11:00 and 15:00. Your expertise is needed for an urgent matter. Bring your wrench.
The signatures, Megatron and Ultra Magnus, were complete with status signifiers and a read confirmation signal.
“My expertise, huh?” said Nautica. This was a puzzle. As far as she knew, neither mech required quantum mechanics for their daily workloads. “A new mystery for a new day!”
Nautica replied with a cheerful greeting and confirmed a 13:45 time slot in Megatron's office.
---
there we are =)
thanks for the message, anon! have a good one =)
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I finished the fic I’ve been writing for 7 months.
It’s 10k words longer than I expected it to be.
And 40k words longer than I wanted it to be.
I feel bereft.
But also now I have to edit it.
T-T
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HL Fic Library 💕 Established Relationship
Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.
💕 We Are Only Just Beginning by @afirethatcannotdie {E, 129k}
In the dim light of a dorm kitchen, Harry Styles meets a boy who flips his life upside down. Three years later, he's a senior in college, ready to take on the world with the love of his life by his side. And then Louis Tomlinson admits he doesn't know what he wants to do after college after all, and Harry's world flips again, this time not so pleasantly. He can't imagine his life without Louis, but he's starting to worry he might have to.
A college AU featuring lots of domestic sappiness, waffles, tattoos, late nights and early mornings, and above all, Louis and Harry against the world.
💕 Been Together Since Way Back When by @alivingfire {E, 95k}
Louis Tomlinson is a law student with a simple but effective four step plan: 1. Finish law school. 2. Get hired somewhere awesome. 3. Marry his best friend and boyfriend of two years, Harry. 4. Live happily ever after.
Harry Styles doesn't know what he wants to do with his life, where he wants to go, who he wants to be, or if he even wants the college degree he's almost completed. All he does know is who he’ll be with forever, as long as Louis wants to keep him around.
Or: the painfully realistic college au where everyone's poor, lovesick, tired of school, terrified of the future, and still having the greatest times of their lives.
💕 Such Good Luck by @casuallyhl {E, 66k}
Louis smiles at Harry’s words, leaning into his touch. “Tell me again.”
Smiling, Harry takes Louis into his arms. Pressing gentle kisses to his face, Harry murmurs, “In six months’ time, I will have my twenty-fifth birthday. On that day, my portion of the inheritance will become legally mine. And I plan that very day to announce to my family that I have found love.” Harry chuckles as he runs his lips lightly along Louis’ cheekbone. “That, in fact, I found love when I was twenty-one years old, and that I have loved and been loved every day since.”
Or, an Edwardian AU where Harry is a young aristocratic lord and Louis is a working class dairy farmer. Secrets are a necessary part of their relationship, but Louis has one that could topple their whole world.
💕 Swallow My Words (series) by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf {T, 41k}
Senior year is stressful. On top of balancing school work, family, and friends, Harry's lacrosse team is vying to win the state championship, he's not sure where he's going to college yet, and he has a secret boyfriend that no one can know about.
💕 yeah, he's a looker (but i really think it's guts that matter most) by devilinmybrain / @thedevilinmybrain {E, 40k}
Five times Oli was asked to do something that was outside of his job description, and the one time he didn't have to be asked.
💕 Lover Boy by @brightgolden {E, 27k}
“I’d love to meet your lover boy one day,” Lottie says suddenly as she pours Louis a whiskey on the rocks after their dinner.
OR Where Louis wants to tell everyone about his relationship with Harry, but his boyfriend clearly thinks otherwise.
💕 Spellbound by lovelarry10 / @chloehl10 {T, 22k}
Louis’ a shifter. Harry’s a witch. The only problem is, they’re hiding those things from each other.
Will they be able to keep their secrets hidden at the most spooky time of year?
💕 You Were Mine by @brightlyharry {E, 20k}
Harry and Louis hardly speak to each other unless they're fighting. Harry has ran out of ways to try to repair their broken marriage and Louis can't be bothered to even try. When the loneliness becomes too much, he joins a new social media app. It doesn't take him long to make a new friend on there that helps pull him out of his solitary hell. The more they talk, the more Harry finds comfort in his anonymous friend. He is smiling and laughing again for the first time in months.
He soon discovers that Louis is smiling again too, and it's not because of him.
💕 Dance Me (to the End of Love) by @phdmama {E, 19k}
You would think that it's a simple process - you meet, you fall in love, you get married. But when you add one lawyer and one overly-competitive high school teacher to that equation, it's no longer a straight line from beginning to end. Or the story of how a simple proposal becomes a competition where no one loses in the end.
💕 On Thin Ice by @neondiamond {E, 16k}
As the goaltender for one of the best hockey teams in the world, Harry never expected participating in his second winter Olympics would be so eventful. His hidden long-term relationship with the captain of their biggest rival team may have something to do with it.
💕 Another One For The Road by @reminiscingintherain {T, 15k,}
She looked up at Louis with a smile. "Congratulations Louis. You're pregnant." "Oh fuck," he said softly, before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he promptly passed out.
Or the one where Louis' on tour when he finds out the hard way that men can get pregnant too....
💕 Wild As You by bluegreenish / @greenblueish {M, 9k}
As much as Harry had not been overjoyed at the prospect of leaving Minnesota behind and starting high school in rural central Nebraska, it had definitely changed his life in ways staying at his childhood home never would have. Within days he had found fellow students to sit with at lunch, within weeks he had considered them friends, within months he had learned to love Nebraska, and within four years, he had wildly fallen in love with Louis Tomlinson.
or, a story about how Harry figures out whether the ideal of a house with a white picket fence in the suburbs of a medium-sized city is what he wants, or whether Louis' sheep ranch is the home his heart really desires.
💕 caught up in your love affair by @disgruntledkittenface {NR, 8k}
“And the corgis took to you straightaway,” Harry remarks.
“That’s true,” Louis chuckles.
“I’ve spent the last 29 years being barked at,” Harry deadpans, jerking his hand toward Louis, “this one walks in, absolutely nothing.”
Louis outright giggles at that, saying, “They were just lying on my feet during tea.”
“Wagging tails,” Harry says, shaking his head.
“It’s because they don’t understand flirting,” Louis tells him, “you can’t charm them the way you do everyone else.”
Royal AU. Prince Harry announces his engagement to Louis Tomlinson in an interview with longtime friend and BBC host Nick Grimshaw. Inspired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
💕 So Much Left to Say by myownspark / @myownsparknow {M, 7k}
Harry remembers Louis stalking along the Cougar’s sideline as the final seconds of the game ticked away. He was apart from everyone, with his arms crossed and his head down, sort of fragile looking even in his pads and helmet. Harry’s fingers actually itched to hold his hand, just as they do now. He holds the phone up to take a selfie and smiles into the camera, trying to ask Louis a question with his eyes. (Are you really okay? Tell me the truth. I bet you’re sitting on your bed, playing Madden, sulking. If you want to see me, I’ll come. I know you better than anyone. You’re sad. I’d like to come.) He pushes send.
(Harry and Louis play for rival high school football teams, and when they play against each other in the Homecoming game, someone has to lose.)
💕 As one we are everything/We are everything we need by louloubaby92 / @louloubabys1992 {M, 5k}
Harry finally marries the love of his life. He's got the mating mark, he's got Louis' ring on his finger.
And now, he's on his honeymoon. Louis is but a door away, waiting for him.
Honestly, he doesn't understand why he's nervous.
💕 Tuca Tuca (ILikeYouILikeYouILikeYou) by @persephoneflouwers {E, 4k}
The San Francisco getaway AU, where Harry is needy and Louis has a flight to LA in a few hours.
💕 sensitive to pressure by momentofclarity / @gaycousinlarry {E, 4k}
Harry’s breath stutters on its way up his throat, his cheeks heating more with each step as Louis gets closer and Harry can’t move. Feet stuck to the carpet, heavy and unwilling, unable to shuffle away or take control, stuck in place and waiting.
💕 Gonna Dress You Up In My Love by @fallinglikethis {T, 3k}
Harry decides to take up knitting. He's horrible at it. Louis wears everything anyway.
💕 lying close to you by @nouies {NR, 2k}
Harry’s been living for twenty-five years but he’s only felt alive for the past two.
#ficrec#establishedrelationship#hlcreators#hljournal#1dficvillage#nouies#fallinglikethis#momentofclarity#persephoneflouwers#louloubaby92#myownspark#disgruntledkittenface#bluegreenish#reminiscingintherain#neondiamond#phdmama#brightlyharry#lovelarry10#brightgolden#devilinmybrain#afirethatcannotdie#alivingfire#casuallyhl#yesisaworld
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from my November readings, I’ve collected a few more merlin fic recs for the people…
For favorite long (80k+) fic, I would have to choose Gladiator by Clea2011. It’s 115k and has some really intense moments followed with a wonderful growing love story woven in to it. arthur as a gladiator goes kind of hard even if he’s fighting for his life. also the dragons are very present in this and I do love my dragon content!
For favorite mid length (…40k-80k) fic, id have to choose Public Image by an orphaned account. As someone who has had a Great Deal of text/online friendships and relationships, I absolutely adored the type of text based development these two had. they’re just both obsessed with each other but trying and failing to hide it, LOVE that shit
For favorite short fic (<40k), you may have noticed that for this month I have changed the bar of short fic to less than 40k instead of 30k and it’s because I REALLY enjoyed this 39k apocalypse fic and wanted to put it here :’D Land of Ghouls by rotrude was so intense and had me clutching my chest but was exactly what I was looking for with zombie apocalypse merthur; not something I’ll fully sob about, but keeps me on my toes.
Here’s a few more rapid fire fics from this month! I read more long ones than usual tehe
Sunny in Camelot by foxy_mulder is a really silly quick read, just ridiculous and plays heavy on the “what the hell does Merlin do” gag! I don’t typically read super short fics but I love these type
Somewhere between the Sand and the Stardust by Cithara was a great canon era long read; merthur PARENTS 💞
I FINISHED LOADED MARCH! Do or Die and At the End We Begin Again by Footloose had me absolutely floored. I apologize because you can’t read these as standalone fics and yes there’s a million words that come before them, but if you like wartime modern magic merthur where Arthur’s a military mastermind and Merlin is a tech genius (and yes I mean those 100% seriously they are so badass), read loaded march. It’s got the most scream worthy merthur devotion I’ve ever read and that’s saying something. Do or Die was masterful and so action packed. We begin again was a perfect and beautiful ending that made me tear up. you won’t regret getting into this series!! and I may make a full post about my thoughts on each installation at a later date, it’s really that good.
With my loaded march plug out of the way, my favorite reread this month… would have to be ever popular The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat! It’s not long and such a fun read, I love imagining Merlin getting Arthur all ready for another kingdom to come only for them to be solely invested in Merlin, like what an excellent concept. lighthearted and so fun, if you haven’t checked it out I definitely recommend it!
It’s December… end of the year… and while everyone’s getting into their Spotify wrapped, I’m gonna be doing my 💫 2024 Merlin fic reading wrapped 💫 which is exactly as unhinged as it sounds. If you’ve ever wondered what my gay donut profile photo is here, stay tuned for it cause yes it is Merlin related in a very diabolical way. I’m excited to get into this insanity and I hope it’ll be as silly for you as it is for me.
I’ll be back in 2025 for my December recs and you can find my 2024 fic stats here 🫡
and if you’re still looking for more recs then check out my other posts ~
<< last month next month >>
#mythmerth monthly merlin#mythmerth fic recs#I’m still on the same bullshit#and if anyone has recs for ME#I would LOVE to see them!#fic recs#bbc merlin#merlin#merthur#arthur pendragon#merlin x arthur#bbc merthur#merlin emrys#bbc merlin fan fic#arthur#bbc merlin fanfiction#merlin fic recs
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20 Questions for Fic Writers
I was tagged by @yersina ! Warning that most of my fic links are Ao3 account locked!
1. How many works do you have on ao3?
13! They're all different lengths and about half of them are complete? And only more to come because I joined another big bang...
2. What's your total ao3 word count?
It's crazy because I only started really getting into writing in the past 3 years and I hit 151,653 words! I'm very proud to be here! I remember when writing 40k in a year seemed impossible for me.
3) What are your top five fics by kudos?
Haha this is more of me having one very popular fic and the rest are neck and neck, but here is the order! "Hello, Time Goes Quickly", "Fate Led Us to You (It Was Worth the Wait)", "I'll Take Care of Your Roots So Grow Tall, My Love", "Time to be Human", and "The Trials of Loving"!
4) What fandoms do you write for?
I've written all over the place, and some I won't come back to writing for even if I still read! I've written for D. Grayman, Marvel, Mob Psycho 100, Genshin, My Hero Academia, Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, and The S Classes that I Raised! I mostly write for the last two!
5) Do you respond to comments? why or why not?
I actually always respond to comments! Every time. I make it a point to respond to every comment I get on my fics. I just get so excited knowing someone cared enough to comment, and want the reader to know I see them!
6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I don't really write angsty endings so I'll just go with angstiest in general! I'd say my S Class Percy Jackson au, "The Trials of Loving" is the one!
7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Ooooo I have a lot of happy endings! And they're pretty happy if I do say so myself. Maybe my Percy Jackson au for Sctir "The Trials of Loving" again lol. It ends on their wedding day!
8) Do you get hate on fics?
Nope! I have gotten spam though rip. At most it's commenters who are confused so I explain, but my commenters are lovely people!
9) Do you write smut?
... I have one smut fic and it's my most popular one. It's 30k and only like 5k is smut, and all of it was hard to write lol. But it must be done! For anyone curious it is in fact "Hello, Time Goes Quickly" lol.
10) Do you write crossovers?
My first fic was actually a crossover fic! It's inspired by liketolaugh 's crossover fic "Cosmic Composite" which is an Avenger's and D. Grayman crossover. Everyone should check out their fics! One of my favorites is.... so many actually so here's a link to their PJO and Avenger's crossover: The Blue Food Project
11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?
I don't think so, but I don't really check for that, so it's possible!
12) Have you ever had a fic translated?
No, but it would be great if that happened!
13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?
..I have tried and failed because I don't have a consistent writing schedule. I write 10k in 2 months and then go off the grid for 6 lol.
14) What's your all time favorite ship?
Oooo this is tricky!!! Maybe Sung Hyunjae x Han Yoojin from the S Classes that I Raised! I love them a lot. NEVERMIND MAIRUMA LATEST CHAPTER CHANGED ME LOVE TRIO FOREVER!!!!! (Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun ship with Iruma Suzuki, Clara Valac, and Asmodeus Alice)
15) What's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
My Welcome to Demon School fic "I'll Take Care of Your Roots So Grow tall, My Love," I had so much fun with brainstorming ideas there is no set ending... I'll update it eventually though!
16) What are your writing strengths?
I'm confident of my characterization of characters! It's why I usually can't do other POVs for other characters. I need to feel confident in how I understand them to write for them.
17) What are your writing weaknesses?
Writing in detail. I like getting to the point, because too long sentences in my writing aren't interesting lol. So sometimes there are images in my head I don't describe enough for readers to picture what I'm imagining.
18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
Fun! I just want to make sure I use it right.
19) First fandom you wrote for?
Whoops I already answered this but D. Grayman and Avengers! For personal writing it's My Hero Academia.
20) Favourite fic you've ever written?
Oooo this is also a hard question because I don't read my fics lol. Probably "The Schoolmaster Must Die"! It's a School for Good and Evil au with the characters of "The S Classes that I Raised" and I had a lot of fun with it even if it's not close to done.
This was so much fun to answer! Tagging @frill-s , @enmu-redacted, and @meow-meow-magical!
#my writing#sctir#mairimashita! iruma kun#I hadn't even realized I passed 150k on ao3 until now!#well 3k is cheating because a friend guest wrote a chapter for me but still!
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kinda announcing (not officially) my cumplane fic guys with revealing part of commission art that I ordered.
If you are curious you can read this one perfect fic by @willowwispflame , bc I'm writing continue for it
It's going to have 20-40k words and I'll probably finish it in one or two months. Funny tags for y'all:
• Out of character + bc sqh isn't a mess + and I like to make characters more traumatized and mature
• BAMF Shen Yuan + but after he's getting better + not at being BAMF
• Not Shen Yuan's Mental Gymnastics, but maybe kinda, bc his brain is working and if you ask me really good
(and I'll probably have problems with English so if someone know good beta reader — let me know)
update (23.01): a lot of things changed (IT'S 100K+ GUYS), but main ones stayed.
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please will you ever finish grace of gods? i am begging you it’s so good😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏
Working on the last few chapters as a writing challenge for November as we speak! Should have 40k new words for the fic by the time the month is over. And if that's not enough to finish it out, my goal is to be done before we hit 2025... wish me luck !!
(For anyone who wants to catch up before the next chapter comes out: Grace of Gods)
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Sorry if you were asked this before, but I was curious so figured I'd go ahead and give it a shot xD
What was the most challenging fic you've ever written? Be it in research needed, doubts you had to battle or straight up time and energy cost; what was the fic that made you most go like "I fucking did it!!" once you finished it? :D
I have not been asked this before and I'm thrilled to try to answer. 🤣
My knee-jerk response was: Oh that's easy! My first big (160k)fic Just An Old Fashioned Love Song.
I get a little wordy after this @loni4ever so it's all below the cut.
I wrote JaOFLS so quickly, in just a few months. I barely slept. Every spare second I was hunched over my laptop or my phone, typing or researching something. And I had no idea what story I wanted to tell at the start or how to do it. Except for the scene that became the 1st chapter. Originally it was to be the next to last chapter of a planned eight chapters. That scene was going to be the payoff. Hahahahaha. I like that I decided to lead with it and make it a glimpse of the future.
I ended up scrapping around 20-40k words (in a few big frustration deletion incidents) and restructured, reoriented, stopped worrying about brevity, or how badly I was doing it, and built what has been posted to the archive.
My chapters are too long. The POV shifts wildly between all characters because I couldn't restrain myself to just one side of any conversation. So readers get to see inside everyone's head. A lot. Had to make sure the core characters' motivations were upfront(almost painfully not holding back anything). There's a fucking wall of tags on it 😓.
But I'm so proud that I not only tried but that I actually did it. No matter how unskilled the result or how absolutely terrified I was about sharing it, I did it. I wrote it. I created a fic all by myself based on experiences and dreams and wishes using every storytelling concept and trope that seemed useful.
So, my knee jerk response was my first big, not terribly well written, fic.
But I thought again.
I wrote a ghost story. Never dreamed I'd be capable of that.
I put together a flashfic PWP writing challenge prompt list for myself to dismantle my own writing inhibitions. Just dipping my toes into smutty concepts, 500 words in one sitting a day. About half of those 45 fics aren't even E rated 😞. None are, I'd say, as properly titillating as I'd wish. (Though others have said parts are in fact steamy). But it was excellent practice.
I finally wrote an actual sex pollen PWP fic (without 20k of backstory to get to the action).
I wrote a three fandoms of Holmes/Watson crossover fic (via a bit of blatant literary device magic) that pleases me greatly for having wished to do so for around ten years but waiting until I'd acquired enough skill to satisfy myself with the result. It was quite difficult to gut the canons as I did and research to worldbuild to make it come together. Extremely satisfying though.
Honestly? I get that "Holy mother of god, I fucking did it!" euphoria from every single fic or ficlet I've written and shared.
Er, well, once I actually write the endings down for the first drafts.
I get another little taste again once I've properly edited and start posting, and see someone else enjoys it. Still gobsmacked that fics I created to make myself happy give others a little happiness too.
I think I may be getting a little better at writing with every effort. I'm definitely learning something each time. And that's thrilling.
I don't know if this answers your question properly but thank you so much for asking. And feel free to ask about anything anytime.
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40k in 42 days, day 29
Hello writerly friends!
It's September! We're getting close to the end, only 13 more days for this project. How are we doing?
I had a bit of an emotional week and didn't write, but I finished August with 23k, which is more than I have ever written in a month since 2020. (2020 I participated in the writing exchange Fic-in-a-box, and oh boy, does having to write a 10k fic in a month boost productivity. What are we learning from that month and this last month? Pressure works on me, I guess.)
At this point in the WIP-project, it might be a good idea to look back on what we did so far, what worked and what didn't work. Maybe we should have taken notes for our writing sessions, things like when did we start, how consistent did we work, and for how long. For myself, I can confidently say that I'm not a morning writer. I'm a later afternoon and night writer, which is conflicting with "spending time with other people time". An ongoing problem, I'm afraid.
I think that's what I'm giving you as homework: reflect on the last weeks and see what worked and what didn't. At what time did you write? What was your best time? I don't mean just in wordcount because we're not just counting words. When did your writing feel the best? When did you feel like everything was flowing, or at least trickling? If you can't remember, maybe try tracking those things in these last two weeks.
So, onwards we go, brainstorming, swearing, and writing.
Let's hear how you're doing, my friends.
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