#I need more girlies in the fandom like do you know how many fics this fandom has?? NOT ENOUGH

[amusl02]

Son of Ogre

[starcrossedslytherin]

Love Letters

Sebastian Sallow x Reader

WC: 1K

A/N: I don’t know how popular the Hogwarts legacy fandom is as of now because I’ve not been on tumblr, but I found this fic in my drafts(along with quite a few wips) and realized I never posted it so I thought I would feed the Sallow girlies a quick snack today.

Summary: Sebastian wants to write you a love letter to tell you about his feelings but it’s not going the way he hoped, even with Ominis’ help.

---

Ominis knows he shouldn’t be as amused as he is right now, but he can’t help it. It’s not often he gets to experience Sebastian embarrass himself so willingly.

Try as he does to suppress his chuckle, it slips out and Sebastian sighs, letting the several half written love notes spill onto the table in front of him.

“It’s not funny.” Sebastian practically pouts, glad his friend can’t see the expression on his face.

“I disagree.” Ominis taunts him with a grin, leaning back in his seat.

“I’ve been trying to write Y/N a note all afternoon! I just don’t understand why they sound so…”

“Awful?” Ominis jumps in. “Horrendous? Painfully cliche?”

“Oi, shut it.” Sebastian mutters, gently nudging Ominis’ foot under the table. He very much regrets asking his best friend for help now he knows how embarrassed he’d be.

He sighs before picking up all his papers, trying to find the best parts of them all. “Why don’t you read them again? Out loud, so I can hear.” Sebastian doesn’t see why Ominis asks him to do so, but he reads through the notes, pulling faces every time he gets to a rather cheesy part of the note.

When he finishes, he looks to Ominis, hoping he can give him any sort of feedback to fix this mess.

Ominis stays quiet for a moment, thinking Merlin only knows what until he says, “You make me wish I was deaf as well.”

Sebastian’s hands slap against the table as he gives up, annoyed with his inability to string together simple words to tell you how he feels and annoyed with Ominis’ lack of help. “Forget this.” Sebastian grumbles, crumpling up as many of the letters as he can.

Ominis sighs and puts his hand across the table, covering some of the papers and getting Sebastian to stop. “Just talk to her. Tell her how you feel.”

Sebastian pulls a face at the recommendation. “Tell her how I feel?” He repeats, starting to pace in his spot. “You mean, just walk up to her and tell her how beautiful I think she is? Or how any time she smiles at me, you, Anne or anything really, I can’t help but stare? How she is most likely the smartest and kindest person I have ever met? How anytime she’s in the room, I am most certain my heart will beat out of my chest with how fast she makes it? How each time I see her leave the castle on her little adventures, I fight myself on whether to go with because I need to know that she makes it back safe to me? To us? You think I should just walk right up to Y/N and tell I am absolutely in love with her?”

There was silence between the two boys after Sebastian’s speech and the brunette boy, exhausted mentally, falls in his seat in a slump. Ominis just sat there, gripping his wand tight in his hand as his lips gently pull up to the left. “Well,” he whispers, getting Sebastian’s attention, who frowns upon seeing his smirk, “I don’t think you have to worry about it anymore.”

Sebastian’s brows furrow and he was about to ask Ominis what he meant before the sound of a book clattering to the ground behind him has him whipping his hand around and he opens his eyes wide. There you were, frozen in your place as you struggle to keep more books from falling off the shelves.

“Sorry.” You mumble, trying to determine if you really were hearing what you think you were hearing. “And uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to- I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.

Sebastian nods at your reassurance. “How much did you hear?”

You wave your hand in the air. “Oh, well just, uh, just… everything.”

Well, that’s not what he wanted.

He turned to glare at Ominis, but the boy slipped out when you and Sebastian were focused on each other.

You glance down at the paper strewn across the table, ready to dismiss them before seeing your name on one of them. “What is that?”

Sebastian sighs, debating whether he could really show you his mess of notes. He nods, letting you fall into the seat next to him as you pick through the papers. You barely got through the first sentence of the very first letter before your eyes shoot to Sebastian’s.

“You.. you wrote me letters?” There was a deep blush on his face and he’d gone silent, but he nods. You stare at him, feeling your own cheeks heat up quite a bit before you turn back and read, picking a few sentences of each discarded letter. Your favorite ones were the ones Sebastian had scratched over with his quill, obviously being embarrassed of having written them, but you enjoyed them.

From the first moment we met, I knew there was something extraordinary about you.

I know what love is because I know you.

My darling, you are my rock, my confident, my ally, my friend, and so much more.

“Bash…” you mumble, blinking repeatedly to keep your tears from spilling out.

“I couldn’t find the right words.” He whispers, picking up a few of the letters and holding them. “I had Ominis try to help me, but I don’t think he was particularly helpful.” You chuckle, imagining Ominis trying to help Sebastian.

Your laugh fades out as you put your hands on top of Sebastian’s and your eyes meet. Your stomach flutters with nerves and adoration. “I think you know the right words.”

Sebastian smiles at you, the corners of his mouth tugging up just enough that his eyes crinkle and he nods. “Y/N,” he begins, looking to his letters for strength but he knows he doesn’t need it. “Y/N, I love you. I’m in love with you. I want to be with you and I want to go on adventures with you and I want to smile with you and I want, I just want you.” His hand cups your cheek, bringing you closer to him as your eyes flutter close and he whispers, one last time before your lips meet, “I love you.”

•

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  @stevestark ! With fourteen Stranger Things fics and twelve in the Steve/Eddie tag, their charming works make waves in the fandom!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @stevestark:

they told me all of my cages were mental (so I got wasted like all my potential)

i think your house is haunted (your dad is always mad)

i was hitting my marks ('cause i can do it with a broken heart)

Eddie and Robin's Very Real Heterosexual Adventure

it’s hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound (it’s hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you)

Whether their fics are under 5k or over 10k, their world-building is so good! they have a way of making our boys feel so natural and the progression of the relationship always feels realistic. they were one of my favorites back in 2022 when s4 dropped, and they've made a sudden return to the fandom this year with new stories that are just as good if not better than what they had written back then! I'm always so excited to see they've posted something new, no matter if it's a new chapter or a whole new story. -- anonymous

Below the cut,  @stevestark answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

After watching ST4 Vol. 1 I was obsessed. Steve Harrington was one of literally two characters I loved from the very first time I “met” them (the other being Jim Hopper, which is why he tends to feature heavily in my works as the resident Dad) but I had never really been into any ships for him up to that point. The immediate chemistry he had with Eddie Munson though? Woof. I knew I had to write them, and it honestly was like I blinked and had suddenly churned out multiple fics. I stopped writing in general around the end of 2022, but when I got fired from my job in April, I got bored and reread my own works, which drew me right back in, especially because I had already written about 10,000 words of they told me all of my cages were mental (so I got wasted like all my potential) but had yet to finish it. I wanted to read the ending so badly myself that I simply picked it back up, and then next thing I knew I was writing more and more.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

There’s so many. I’m always a sucker for some good old fashioned Hurt/Comfort or Angst With a Happy Ending, but I think my all time favorite has to be Enemies to Friends to Lovers.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Definitely Angst With a Happy Ending. I don’t think I really know how to write anything that’s just straight fluff or even straight smut. There has to be some angst in there, and I’m not really one for an unhappy ending. I’ll maybe do ambiguous, but I was raised on Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers ⸺ we’re happy ending girlies.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

The One In Which A Time Loop Is Fucking Exhasuting. by badpancake on AO3. I think about that shit daily. Every part of it is absolute perfection, and I'm in love with it.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Fittingly with the last question, time travel! I have a title for a time travel fix-it already, I just need to let it ferment a little in my mind so I can figure out how to do it in a way that feels at least somewhat unique.

What is your writing process like?

Step 1: Put Taylor Swift’s folklore on repeat. Step 2: Open GDoc. Step 3: Stare at GDoc. Step 4: Start writing the first thing that pops into my head and hope it comes out coherent in the end. Step 5: Publish and then immediately reread my work after it’s already live, and pray I only find minor mistakes that I can quickly fix before anyone else reads the fic and spots them.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I always have the title before I even know what the fic will be! 99% of my fic titles are Taylor Swift lyrics, and it’s usually a process of me hearing a specific phrase and thinking “This is so Steddie coded.” After that, I begin the above process, and hope I do the lyrics justice, because I tend to choose the ones that are the most poetic to me personally.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Definitely when I finish writing. I’ve tried holding myself to a schedule before with multichaptered fic in other fandoms, and it just never works out the way I want it to. I actually have an ongoing Steddie WIP that I haven’t touched since April, because I’m waiting for the next chapter to come to me fully before I start writing it, and I do kind of regret posting it as a WIP in the first place. I feel much more accomplished when I can just push the whole work out at once, i.e. my season 2 rewrite where Eleven is found and taken in by Eddie and Wayne, which I had debated posting as a multichaptered fic as I wrote chunks of it at a time. I talked myself out of it though, and despite the fact that it took me weeks to finish, once I got there it was so satisfying to hit that publish button.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Definitely i was hitting my marks ('cause i can do it with a broken heart). There’s a whole entire 58 track playlist to go along with it that I carefully researched and curated before writing even a single word of the story, broken down into specifically themed mixtapes in a GDoc; it's linked at the end of the fic, with a breakdown of which mixtape each set of songs belongs to, and it is my absolute pride and joy.

How did you get the idea for they told me all of my cages were mental (so I got wasted like all my potential)?

I had a passing thought one day about the fact that Steve seemed to just tangentially know who Eddie was by the time we met him in canon, and wondered what it would be like if he had actually sort of known him, and what that would look like. Then I thought about the legend of King Steve, and the fact that he probably did know Eddie, if only as a dealer, and the whole thing sort of wrote itself after that.

When writing they told me all of my cages were mental (so I got wasted like all my potential), what was something you didn’t expect?

Definitely how long it ended up being! The plot was truly just a passing thought, and I honestly believed I would write little vignettes of the two of them getting to know each other at parties over the years, but what actually transpired was some deep character work and a true slow-build to anything substantial between Steve and Eddie.

What inspired i think your house is haunted (your dad is always mad)?

Honestly the title itself! Sometimes, when I pick a Taylor Swift lyric and decide it would be a pretty fic title, that’s where the inspiration ends. With this one, I thought about the fanon (and somewhat canon) belief that Steve’s parents are assholes who don’t really love their son, and even though I’ve known the lyrics to folklore backwards and forwards since the album dropped in 2020, for some reason that line hit extra hard in April of this year, and all I could think about was how badly Steve Harrington wants to be loved and wanted, and I just started writing and didn’t stop until I was satisfied.

What was your favorite part to write from Eddie and Robin's Very Real Heterosexual Adventure?

The entire thing. I’m not just saying that, either. Sometimes, such a good idea falls into my lap that I actually do a proper outline, and with this one, I fully had little sketches going on and everything. I meticulously planned every date they would go on, and I knew exactly how it would end. Though, if I had to isolate any single part that was the most fun to write, it would be the last few lines. Just pure chaos. It makes me laugh every time.

How do/did you feel writing i was hitting my marks ('cause i can do it with a broken heart)?

That was one of my favorites to write, and it flowed out so easily; I had just finished rewatching all of ST, start to finish, for the first time since right before ST4 Vol. 1 dropped. And the only thing I could think about after finishing was that even though it made sense for Max to be cursed, it would have made infinitely more sense for it to be Steve. All we ever see in canon of Steve Harrington is his insecurity and feeling that he’s never enough for anyone; season 1, he thinks Nancy is cheating on him with Jonathan, and they try to keep him out of the Upside Down stuff. Season 2, Nancy actually leaves him for Jonathan, and tells him that he ⸺ and his love, and loving him ⸺ is bullshit. Season 3 is literally the story of how King Steve became a nobody who never wins a fight and falls in love with people who will never love him back. Even season 4 ⸺ when Dustin comes rushing into Family Video to try to track down Eddie somehow? Steve’s immediate reaction is “Oh, your new best friend Eddie who you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game.” He’s never not a mess of insecurity and self-loathing, and nobody around him ever really does anything to rectify that feeling for him, so he’d be perfect Vecna bait. And the whole thing started with the playlist, really, because I had this idea that Steve is a vibes guy for music, rather than a style or genre guy, and then it was just a matter of writing around the mixtapes I’d mapped out. Which, naturally, led to breaking my own goddamn heart writing what I think it feels like inside his head, because I was  ⸺ and still very much am ⸺ that person in the friend group. Never the first pick, always an afterthought, the one people always think is fine but never bother to actually check if they are. So, I guess, it felt cathartic to get it all out somehow, but it was also just so deeply sad, because that feeling never really goes away completely, and I hated doing that to Steve.

What was the most difficult part of writing it’s hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound (it’s hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you)?

Probably just the physical aspect of shotgunning, honestly, and also trying to accurately describe the high. Weed doesn’t do anything for me mentally, and I don’t like what it does for me physically ⸺ to the point that I actually wonder if I have a mild allergy to it ⸺ so it’s not really something I can pull from personal experience in regards to describing it, which made it more difficult than I was prepared for.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Definitely the opening bit of there’s something about you in the moonlight (but your eyes go so well with the day). Both the Eddie intro and the Steve intro. It was just so fun to tap into that feeling of being a kid and getting hit with the lightning bolt of why people have crushes, but I especially have a lot of love and fondness for the way I described Steve’s desire to find his perfect match, and how it’s not rooted in sex like people thought of King Steve, but in his desire to find someone he’d have fun with forever.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m currently working on a multichaptered fic where Eddie lives, but leaves Hawkins the very night he’s released from the hospital without telling anyone; he does stay in contact though, and he and Steve end up falling in love through letters and phone calls, until, eventually, Eddie realizes that he ran away from the one thing that made him feel the most alive. At last edit, which was yesterday, it’s at 15 chapters and 18,000 words, and I’ve only just gotten to the point where Eddie and Steve are playing phone-tag. Also, if anyone is interested in a non-Steddie but still relatively Eddie-centric fic, I rewrote the entire season 2 canon in are we out of the woods? (are we in the clear yet?) and I am currently working on a season 3 rewrite, which will be followed by a season 4 rewrite, wherein Steddie will become canon. It’s definitely for the long-haulers, but I think it’ll be worth it. Actually, despite being non-shippy so far, it’s probably my favorite thing I’ve ever written. There’s just something about Wayne Munson as the world’s best dad that does it for me, and, as we’ve seen in canon, Eddie is surprisingly really good with kids. I like to think that he’d have been an excellent brother, and I got to explore that with him and Wayne deciding Eleven was theirs.

Thank you to our author, @stevestark, and our nominator! See more of @stevestark works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[gemharvest]

Gf for the character thing ? :] or maybe Nene if you received her already

I HAVEN'T RECEIVED HER YET THANK YOU !!!!!!!!! I'll do Nene too, I'll just make it her own post after posting this. :J

favorite thing about them: I love her dumbgirl swag. There's something so special to me that both her and Boyfriend are fuckin'. Dumb As Rocks. ALSO I LOVE THAT SHE'S CANONICALLY AN ARTIST that's such a sweet thing to me. I would pay one morbillion dollars for a GF commission (because she has no idea how they work).

least favorite thing about them: I WANT HER TO DO MOREEEEHGNJFN.. Like she's probably done as much as BF has so that's not a critique of the game, I just wanna see her do more. Because I love women. Oh also I think they should remake every canon piece depicting her and make her canonically fat. I often forget she isn't fat in canon and then I feel sickly when I look at like, the volume 1 cover and she's thin. W-Whe';re h.er tumm-.my go..,m,l,l,...,, <- sorry for crytyping but it fits.

favorite line: That's how you do it! <- I was gonna jokingly just go up down left right but then I remembered she says that in the tutorial. And I quote it to myself all the time so.

brOTP: Y'know what, similar to BF, I think a GF & Darnell friendship would be fuckin' s-tier. I often think abt this post Keyy made tbh. I know that's specifically the Funkycule AU and pup has them in a QPR but I do think abt it often. Also, before I was a romantic PicoGF guy my interpretation of RGB had Pico & GF as just friends, probably closer friends the longer they're in their relationships with BF cuz like, bonding over a shared partner or smthn LMAO so I'll give an honorable mention to Pico & GF friendship.

OTP: WOag. RGB. Wow I've never heard of that before. How many times can I joke about RGB being my OT3 for this game before it gets annoying LMAO anyways. I ALSO REALLY LOVE GFNENE I wish they had more fics. So bad. I'm actually shocked by how bare their tag on AO3 is. They weren't lying, fandom does hate femslash. /hj

nOTP: Is there anyone out there who actually ships her with Senpai. I think that'd be my only answer ALSO YOU KNOW WHAT. I chickened out on saying it with BF but I also consider BF and Senpai a nOTP but like, I DON'T HATE ANYBODY WHO SHIPS IT. OF COURSE. I don't think it's "problematic" to ship Senpai with either of them it's just, like, the most thought I have on Senpai is that I want to kick sand into his eyes. So that feeling doesn't really translate into a desire to see him shipped with anyone. I'm sorry to anybody who ships Senpai with either of them, I respect your grind, it is just sooooo not for me.

random headcanon: This headcanon is like, so deep into my personal GF characterization/ fuckin'. AU. If you wanna call it that atp. BUT ANYWAYS. Fuck this is gonna need quick background hold on. The canon explanation for her looking human iirc is literally just "true love" or whatever tf. But that's not as fun to play with. So instead I like to write her as being ashamed of being a demon, especially because of her parents' actions, so she masks her demon traits. And she reaaaalllly does not like letting them slip through, especially around a specific person (this is foreshadowing for something idek if I'll get to any time soon Sorry). BUT! She is on a limit for how long she can hide her demon traits until doing so starts to hurt her, either through draining her energy or like, it causing physical damage to continue hiding parts of her. And while she trusts Pico & BF, she's still got shit that she's just. Not. Sorting out. So when she feels she's about to reach a limit with it she locks herself away to rest until she's well enough to continue like normal. Girlie No (guy who is writing her to do this) (don't worry I'm going to also write her getting better abt this) I'm gonna eventually have to make a "Karl's Personal FNF Demon World Building" master-post or whatever just cuz this shit is so fun for me to work with Idk.

unpopular opinion: GEH once again idrk if this is an unpopular opinion but I've been using this to just. Complain. About stuff I have seen and disagree with so whatever I'm continuing the trend. Like Pico, I feel like I see. So many. Interpretations of her that just feel Wrong. Like I see people make her The Smart One or like. Dominant Girlboss with little substance beyond that. And it's like. Cool, yay, I love fandom misogyny. FUCK it's probably still rotting in my drafts but forever and always my reaction to this phenomenon with her is "This girl gets her hand stuck in peanut butter jars trying to eat pb with her hands. This is your Smart One?" and I should get it out of my drafts bc I'm real for that. DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME WHEN I SAY THIS BTW. Interpretations that smarten up BF to the same degree do not flag this to me. When making more serious fanworks with these guys, you're gonna have to give them more smarts than canon will. My issue is specifically when I have seen people still write in a degree of stupidity with BF and then just. Don't? Do the same with GF?

song i associate with them: Very basic but I think the sound is cute with her. My secondary answer would be Nelward - "Werewolf" but that's more of a. Specific Instance. That I don't want to elaborate on. grins

favorite picture of them:

Like literally all of them The Fuck you're making me choose? /silly Here's the fruits of me looking through her wiki gallery:

^ If I had to pick a single favorite, it'd be those panels from the Nendoroid comic. She was real for that. Anyways FUCK I love her. Statements improved when you remember I'm Boyfkin LMAOOOOOO..

[sstan-hoe]

𝑽𝒆𝒆'𝒔 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑱𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆

This year to save me from tears, I will post a Christmas Challenge! I took this into a lot of consideration and went through some stuff to hopefully make it perfect! In the following you will find the needed information;

How can you participate?

— you fill out the form (you will find it at the end of this post) and then I will write you down as well as send you an email that you are now a part of the challenge!

When does it start and end?

— it starts at the 1st December 2023 and ends 31st December 2023

When can you start posting?

— all fics can be started posting at the 1st December and the last fic should be posted at the 31st December. In between this time frame you can post whenever you want!

— It's also completely okay if you post until the 14th January 2024 because you need more time, just send me a DM and I will note it down!

What can you write?

— in the email mentioned previously I'm going to give you a prompt, a AU and depending on how you fill out the form a smut/fluff/angst themed word, as well as a Christmas word.

-> important to know is that you do not have to write every or anything that is written in the email. The only thing I ask is that it's related to Christmas!

Who can you write?

— it can be anyone from this list; . However if you have another character you want to write that is not on the list, but in the fandom then just text me and I will add them! All I ask for you to write them into the form.

How many fics can you submit?

— honestly there is no limit! if you want a new email then fill out the form again or write for every prompt/ theme on the card a different fic, what ever you want!

Are there rules?

— yes. There is a difference between content and format however;

Format;

fics longer than 500 words need a "keep reading"

if you write a dark/ smut fanfiction then you have to put everything that may be triggering to people into warning so they can read it beforehand

Content;

I leave a lot up to you, but what is a no go is non-con and I think this is about the only thing

What can the prompts/ themes include?

— prompts can variet from smut to fluff to angst and more! Sometimes it could also be a song prompt from our favourite Christmas songs!

— themes can be a kink, a word associated with fluff/ angst and a word related to Christmas

-> for the prompt and theme it heavily depends if you want to write fluff/ smut/ angst – or all three. This is just to give an idea, you do not have to use any of them, you can use one or write more fics with them. Whatever you like!

What do you have to include in your post?

— you need to use the tag #vee's holly jolly challenge and mention me in your fic (@sstan-hoe) so I can see them.

What happens after you post?

— I will read the fic, reblog the fic and add you to a masterlist that will be published at the end of the challenge!

If you have more questions do not hesitate to ask me!! And I myself will post some fics too!

Needed links;

— application form

Useful links;

— character list

— slide in my inbox if you have questions

no pressure tags;

@georgiapeach30513 @bucky-barnes-diaries @yelenabemylova @multifandom-girlie @malfoys-demigod @noctumbra @navybrat817 @jobean12-blog @stargazingfangirl18 @neptuneiris @xcaptain-winterx @wintasssoldier @witchybabel @promiscuousbarnes

[foxwitchaine]

Which is your most loved character in Miraculous Ladybug?

Buckle up, buddy, it's gonna be a while. Or not, given how the showrunners treat the cast. Let's just say that before Season 3 aired (cough, Chameleon, cough) I was rather indifferent to most of the cast. But now that it's been about five seasons going on six, I've got a better understanding of who (read: what the writers want) the characters are. All the pomp and circumstance aside, let's get to it

1.) Marinette Dupain-Cheng

I'm cheating a little, I know. But girlie gets so much crap thrown at her in the show, I just had to give her a little love. Never mind the fact the writers seem to have it out for her just for existing (which is a whole other can of worms I won't touch). Matter of the fact is, I see myself a lot in Marinette. I too stress myself out by overthinking the simplest things and need my partner Rafe to help bring me down to earth. I think Marinette is an excellent protagonist who is treated unfairly by both the fandom at times and the writers. But mostly the writers.

At the same time, though, I won't sugarcoat her flaws. Flaws are what makes characters feel human. No, they don't need to do things that sink them to unlikable levels (the stalking allegations towards Marinette by the fandom). But little mistakes like talking before thinking, missing the mood of the room, not always checking the time, things like that we do every day. What I can't wrap my head around is why the writers have given her Qrow Branwen levels of bad luck in her everyday life. It's very Wattpad-levels of writing skill (I say this knowing full well I've published The Wolves in the Woods on Wattpad).

Marinette deserves better than what the writers have done to her.

2.) Luka Couffaine

I won't lie. I was rather lukewarm to Luka when he was first introduced. He didn't quite make an impression on me when he first debuted. However, in light of the recent red flags shown by the canon love interest Adrien, he's unironically proven himself to be a better match for Marinette. It might just be me personally, but I'm not fond of overly aggressive suitors. I like men (yes, men; age myself, why don't I) who treat their women with respect. Which includes taking "no" for an answer. Luka is a strange case where the secondary love interest fits the MC better than the canon love interest. And for that, I place the blame entirely on the writing team.

Because seriously. How do you make a secondary love interest match your heroine better than the official one? It's mind-boggling.

And again, thanks to the writing of the show, Luka's personality is pretty much a blank slate. What little there is, the fandom has pretty much turned into a better character than what we see on the show. I find it very telling overall that the fandom prefers Luka over Adrien when it comes to matching Marinette with someone.

3.) Juleka Couffaine

Yet another one who was done so dirty by the writers. Juleka, alongside Rose, is one of the few classmates who I don't like reading about in salt fics since, like most of Bustier's class, she's not inherently a bad kid. She, like so many of the other female teenagers in the show, get the short end of the stick in terms of writing (I can't be the only one seeing a pattern here). I find Juleka's aspiration to be a model despite her shyness to be a very compelling storyline... in the right hands, given what we saw in Reflektdoll. Again, had it not been for Alya wrecking things, we could have seen a plot where Juleka got to come out of her shell on her own. It's a pretty logical next step after overcoming her photo curse in Reflekta, but the writing team is allergic to writing compelling female characters.

I also really love her relationship with her brother Luka. But then again, I'm a sucker for well-written sibling love.

What many writers, not just in Miraculous Ladybug, miss is that male-female relationships don't always have to be romantic. More often than not, you can write a really compelling male-female relationship without going the romance route. Like best friends, siblings from another mother, heck even adult friendships.

There were so many ways they could've handled Juleka's character instead of what they did.

4.) Kagami Tsurugi

Speaking of patterns I've noticed...

Jokes aside, Kagami is another one done dirty by the writers. And it all boils down to the fact she was literally created to be Adrien's substitute girlfriend. I wish I was kidding. I can feel the bile in my throat as I write this out. Kagami ties with Marinette on "most screwed over by the writers" alongside Chloe, but I'd rather see them be friends and ditch Adrien altogether.

Why can't female love rivals be friends instead of bitter enemies. But then again, female rivalries tend to be rather nasty in real life, too. See how many women competed against each other for the position of queen in olden times. Or queen consort. Whatever position of power there was available to women at the time. Or whatever accomplishment there was to be had. Anyways, this isn't the first time girls have been pitted against each other for a guy in fiction, and it unfortunately may not be the last.

Just like Marinette, Kagami deserved better than what the writers did to her.

5.) Nathalie Sancoeur

She's an icon. What can I say? Nonsensical "romance" with Gabriel aside, Nathalie's one of the few female characters who stands out from the Miraculous Ladybug cast without the aid of a man. I know. Very telling, isn't it. Not just her design, but her personality, too. I find Nathalie to be more of a charismatic villain than Gabriel, tellingly enough. It's not just how she helps him commit acts of evil. But how she's very cool and level-headed in what she does. Even her kinder acts, such as convincing Gabriel to let Adrien attend school (wow, not doing yourself many favors, Gabe) are met with cool indifference.

If that's not a recipe for an iconic villainess, I don't know what is. But like everything else, she was butchered by the writing team.

Seriously. Do they have something against strong women or something? I've never seen a supposed girl power show treat their female characters with such contempt before. Even allegedly problematic shows like Puella Magi Madoka Magica didn't have this problem (I say allegedly because it's subject to opinions I might not share).

Honorable Mentions

None this time, because MLB has very few actually likable characters.

[msmargaretmurry]

i wanted to write some fandom-related new year's reflections down and this felt like the best place for it! i miss livejournal every day!

i don't generally do formal new years' resolutions, mostly because i am always too busy around the new year to really sit down and think and reflect about what they should be and how i would want to measure them, but i do think the new year is a good time for a little mental reset regardless and i have been Pondering over the past few weeks about what i would like that to mean for me...... i have always complained that tumblr as a platform is terrible for making friends and i stand by that (i have met good friends on tumblr but the friendships flourished when we took the conversation elsewhere) but i do think this past year i have been #blessed in obtaining some really lovely mutuals and acquaintances On Here in a way that has made me feel more connected to hrpf fandom at large, which has been really nice ❤ so that is something i would like to continue in 2024. i hesitate to be like "i want to spend more time on tumblr" because i probably do not need to do that lmao but i do maybe want to try to be a little more proactive about making/maintaining connections and loose ties. my dear pal kasper @moregraceful has talked about fandom as community and that always resonates with me, because it can be so easy to feel like you are feeding Content into the Content Machine for people to Consume and honestly that is so miserable! i don't want that! maybe 2024 will be the year i finally post my thoughts on the interminable "bookmarks comments are for readers, not writers" discourse.

anyway. i know a lot of the actual fandom ~conversation these days happens on discord, which is am afraid of, but idk maybe i'll try to have more of an open mind about it this year. but maybe i won't. making no promises to myself there 😂 i am trying to be realistic about how much free time i will have for fandom in the midst of work and grad school and real life social life so i think the upshot here is wanting to be thoughtful and deliberate about how i spend the free time i do have for this stuff.

on the fanfiction front...... i came into 2023 in a pretty shitty mental place about writing, mostly due to how lonely i felt about writing-as-community in 2022 — it's just not fun to feel like your friends are having fun without you about things you thought you'd be included in! — and spent most of the year trying to pull myself out of it, with middling success. like, i enjoyed the head above water ficlets i added to that universe but i do still feel a little crappy that those were the only things i was able to finish writing. i have so many stories i want to get out! so i am also trying to look at this new year as maybe a chance to give myself a clean slate and say that no matter what writing goals i set for myself i will also try to be gentler with myself and focus on enjoying the writing process regardless of the end product. but i would also like to actually finish some real fics this year, lol. i might set some measurable goals, but that will not be happening until i get home next week.

in conclusion, idk what i want this year to be yet! a friend of mine recently mentioned the joys of using the julian calendar for her winter celebrations means the new year isn't until january 14, so the first two weeks of the year get to be kind of a "soft launch" of the year to figure out what works best and i did immediately steal the concept even though i am a gregorian calendar girlie. so i am still pondering, still percolating. if for some reason any of you actually read all this and have your own fandom- or writing-related new year's goals/resolutions, i would love to hear them ❤

[gyllenhaalstories]

Hi Laurie! 💛

You know what's coming, hehe 👀

I saw this in another fandom and now I'm sending the same question to a bunch of Jake girlies (gn) because it’s so interesting seeing everybody’s answers!

Who are your Top 3 Jake boys and why? Is there a specific piece of art (fic, gif, fan art, etc.) for them that you like a lot?

hiiiiiiiiii!!! 💖 i do know what's coming teehee! i love his characters so much. even if the movie is not up my alley, his character always stands out. i'll watch everything he's in just because i'm obsessed (except spirit untamed, it is against my principle to support this horrible version of spirit the stallion of the cimarron) i just love them like they're just so neat i love them so much. OKAY TIME TO CHOOSE.

Elwood Dalton

i cannot believe that davis was dethroned as my forever ultimate favorite character but he was. dalton is so special to me. i've been obsessed with him since the very beginning when i was looping videos to get his full name and start writing for him immediately. so he's been living in my mind rent from for a LONG and i hope he never leaves. i lost count of how many times i've watched the movie (especially the scenes with laura!!!), it's so good. i'm already seated for the sequel idc what people say i want it and i will love it! also, i love how dalton ressembles billy and lou! the scene where he punches the guy to death and tell him how he will perish was so hot like like welcome back lou bloom you were missed <3 dalton is funny, and suicidal and caring and violent and what more could i ask? yeah okay i could ask to use his titties as pillows to fall asleep on.

my absolute favourite dalton creations are the wonderful gifs that @stephendorff made! i proclaim myself as their biggest fan when it comes to jake's gifs because oh my god the talent!!! i adore the parallel gifsets, so let me link you to a bunch! omg me when + nice hoodie + so bloody yum + i will cover these men with hello kitty bandaids + need both of them at the same time.

Detective Loki

he's an obvious one! jack twist, donnie darko and detective loki must be the most well loved characters in this fandom FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. i love loki. i'm convinced deep in my soul that he would absolutely despise me. i can't shut up, i'm clingy as fuck and we'd spend most of his rare free time watching barbie movies. but it could be nice! i'd pack him his lunch, i'd learn to iron his shirts, i'd follow him to his barber and beg the man to give me the same haircut... like, we'd have a good life! aside from getting eaten alive by the constant fear that loki is in danger but shh. i love loki so much, i love all of the mysterious details about him, i love that jake played such a big part into building this character.

there are SO many amazing fics for detective loki, and rightfully so! he deserves it! in my opinion, @det-loki is the best writer. star captures loki in such an unique way, her writing feels like deleted scenes & extra footage from the movie. i know i always recommend star when it comes to loki fics but if you've ever read what she's posted, you would do the same! @charliehoennam has also posted some amazing det loki fics recently that i cannot recommend enough!!! here are the links: cat n mouse, dinner date & the dinner party (my personal favourite!).

Tommy Cahill

when i watched brothers, i conveniently just... skipped the military scenes. so the movie was all about tommy and i loved it. wow what a sweet romcom. i just love him. he's fun and sweet and he has had it so rough with his family that treats him like a black sheep. his father is acting like tommy is the failure when the only failure i'm seeing is a parent who failed to love his child like he deserved. AND I WOULD GIVE HIM ALL THE LOVE HE NEEDS! endless unconditional love. all he wants is to have a family of his own and be happy and become a better person. i have no doubt that he has what it takes to achieve his goals. he's my beanie baby and i love him to the moon and back.

controversy alert! but... i'm not mad at tommy and grace for kissing (skipping most of sam scenes helps a lot) but like... he was nice to grace for the most part, he helped her with the kitchen, he was so fun with the kids... he can't do anything wrong you know? i have horrible morals, i'm aware. so i'll just link to the video of the kiss scene because i love it and i love watching it and i wish it was me.

my top 3 usually fluctuates, but i'd say that overall, it's the same five characters that are on rotation. dalton, loki, tommy, davis and right now the 5th position is switching between john kinley & jerry brinson. i do want to say that i was pleasantly surprised with how much i liked anthony swofford and brian taylor when i watched their respective movies, i didn't think i'd enjoy their characters much but it might be time to retire my #1 bald!jake hater title. it was so hard to choose though. i feel bad for the ones i left out. i love you danny! and billy! and donnie! and adam! and holden! and okay fine i'll shut up. i know i've told you already, but this was such a sweet initiative to go around and spread some joy!!! thank you for doing this, and for sending it to me as well! 🥰

[danceswithsporks]

Calm-Part 9 (Finale)

Wrecker x Seamstress!reader

Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Chapter Notes: many new adventures await our lovers.

Authors notes: Here we are! The final part to Calm. This won’t be the last time we see Wrecker, Tech, Chai and Stitches. There’s still so much we haven’t learned about our friends yet! Thank you all of you for being by my side as we tell these stories. I never expected to fall into the bad batch fandom but as a clone wars girly I had to give them a shot and now they’re my loves.

The next part of the Complete Series will be Awake A Crosshair X Innkeeper (Doll)!reader fic!

Crosshair has seen both sides of the board when it comes to finding his place in a changing galaxy. Now that he knows the truth and is a free man, will he be able to adjust? Or will he need the guiding light of an innkeeper?

If you don’t want to be in the Taglist for Crosshairs story please let me know so I can remove you! If not then I’ll see you all there when it premiers in roughly a month!

Chaos, your house was utter chaos right now. You’d somehow been talked into hosting the engagement party for Tech and Chai and thus your house, courtyard, and even your shop, were packed to the brim. The newly engaged couple was around here somewhere no doubt being harassed by countless well-wishers. You were happy for them, they were taking the next big step in their relationship. A really big step in all honesty. Tech had been home for six months now and had changed, they all had. No more were these rigid and fierce clones on the run. No, now they were just men trying to get by in the galaxy like everyone else. Well, kind of.

Hunter, Crosshair, and Echo still went out on missions but they were now infrequent and only if painfully necessary. Other than that they were slowly finding their place here in Pabu. Doll would never openly admit it, but she and Crosshair were in some kind of odd relationship where they were together but also not together. She’d confided in you about the situation one evening while you were dropping off their dinners. Mentioned how it had started as a stress relief for him but was slowly turning into something more. You had no advice to give her besides “follow your heart” it was the best you could do.

Echo had taken up a position at the school as the history of the galaxy professor. He was the least active of the three because of this. You’d asked him one night why he’d chosen that job out of all the jobs he could have taken on Pabu. He’d replied that he wanted to tell the tales of those now gone and make sure that people didn’t forget the past. Whatever the reason, he seemed happy. However, you could tell something weighed on his mind some nights when he’d come over for dinner or to tutor Omega. But he never seemed to share what it was.

Hunter seemed to be the most active of the three of them, struggling to settle while the others had found a new purpose. Almost monthly he was leaving for some kind of mission. Rex being the one to dole out the missions. Hunter would travel back to Ord Mantel and the tea shop there before leaving on whatever the mission was. From what he’d shared with the group, his main job was helping to locate higher-ranked clones who were still missing after the fall of the Jedi.

“Fox” he’d told you one night while Wrecker, Hunter, and yourself were sitting in your courtyard. “He’s the Husband to the Senator who helped us find Omega. We owe it to her to find out what happened to him.”

It had warmed your heart to know that he was determined to thank this woman in whatever way possible. That her help would hopefully be repaid one day. Hunter had told you that it had been close to two years since Riyo had seen or heard from her husband and it had made your heart hurt for her. You could barely survive two days without seeing Wrecker. Going years without seeing him or knowing if he was ok would be torture.

“Credit for your thoughts?” A warm and loving voice pulled you from your thoughts and back to the party happening.

When had you walked out into the courtyard? When had you placed your wine down on the courtyard wall? “Just thinking about these last few months. How lucky Chai and Tech are. How lucky we all are.”

Wrecker smiled while placing his beer down next to your wine. “We are lucky, aren’t we? Got a safe place to call home. Omega is safe and happy. We’re all together and most importantly, we have people who love and care for us.” Reaching up, he ran his thumb across your bottom lip gently. You kissed the pad of the digit making him hum softly. “Come on, let’s make a break for it.”

“Break for what?” You laughed softly while watching the elderly ladies from your shop reprimand some of the kids who were running through the crowd of people. Shaking your head at them, you looked back to your beloved clone.

His thumb traveled from your lip to gliding across your cheekbone before he held your face gently in his large palm. “ Break for the Marauder. Tonight’s the night, Sarad.”

It took you a moment to understand what he was referencing. What was tonight? Then it hit you, the nebula. Tech had located one a few systems over from yours and Wrecker was instantly intrigued. “W-why tonight?” You weren’t ready, you were barely flying the Marauder here in the atmosphere. Now he wanted to take you fully off planet and through hyperspace?

“Tonight’s a night of celebrations. Why not have our own private celebration and finally get you off this rock?” A light sigh came from the large clone as he knelt in front of you. “I’ll never force you to go, but know that I wouldn’t ask this if I didn’t think you were ready.” He looked at your perfect eyes carefully. “I want to show you something wonderful. Will you let me?”

-*-

“W-Wrecker, I can’t do this.” You stared at the vast emptiness of space waiting for you just outside the atmosphere of the planet. The Marauder was currently idling as Wrecker passed the controls to you.

“Yes, you can. You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met. You’ve helped me conquer my fears. I know you can conquer yours.” He reached over and placed his hand on top of yours while it squeezed the yoke.

You looked at that brown-eyed clone with fear coursing through your veins faster than you thought possible. “What if something happens? What if …”

Wrecker released your hand and pulled your face into his hands. “What if the stars fall from the sky and your teeth fall out? Nothing is known for sure besides three things.”

“What’s that?” You watched as that adorable smirk of his made an appearance.

He pulled one of his hands away and held up a finger as he named off his list. “One, this is one of the fastest ships in the galaxy. Techs outfitted her with the best parts credits can buy. If anything happens we will escape. Two, if they somehow catch us then I will defend you and keep you safe until my dying breath.”

A shuddered breath left you as you listened to him. “Three?”

Wrecker leaned in and kissed you deeply and fiercely. “I’ll tell ya when we get to the nebula.”

“What?” He was going to keep that from you and use it as a bribe to get you there? Damn, he must have learned that from Tech. Swallowing the large lump in your throat, you looked back out of the window and towards the waiting darkness of space.

“Get us to the nebula and I’ll tell you the third thing, Sarad.” He stood from his chair and walked around behind yours.

Large hands reached down and found purchase on your shoulders giving you the courage you suddenly needed. You could do this, you were brave. How many times have you circled the planet within the atmosphere? How often had you dreamed about seeing the stars up close like this again? Going to different planets and seeing a nebula in person? You adjusted your grip on the yoke once more before taking a deep breath and pushing forward. The Marauder shot like blaster fire through the clouds and atmosphere before finally breaking through into the vastness of space.

A shaky breath left you as you stared at the endless star-filled void before you. You’d done it. You were in space for the first time in nearly a decade. Shaky hands released the yoke as you slowly stood and turned to face your lover. He was beaming with pride for you and before you could speak, he pulled you into his arms and kissed you. His kisses always made things so much better. Were you terrified? Stars, yes. But in his arms everything was ten times better. You were safe in space with the man you adored.

“I’m so proud of you, Sarad. So. Incredibly. Proud.” Each word was accompanied by a fierce kiss. He wasn’t sure of any other way to share how proud of you he was besides kissing you. You, his perfect wonderfully brave riduur. He savored the lingering taste of wine on your lips as he kissed you once more for far longer than he probably should have. The two of you released each other's lips and took in much-needed oxygen. “Come on, my beautiful girl. Let’s get you to that nebula.”

Oh, how your knees went weak whenever he called you his girl. He pulled away from you and with a smirk that you knew far too well, he started to undo his pants. “And what may I ask, are you doing?”

Wrecker winked at you and pulled down his pants revealing his rock-hard erection. He moved around you and took a seat in the pilot's chair before patting his bare thigh. “Come on, pretty girl. Let me take you to your nebula in style.”

Like you’d say no to an offer like that. Grinning, you reached beneath your skirt and pulled off your panties in one swift movement before passing them to Wrecker. The thick clone took the offered garment and placed it to his face where he inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering at the scent on them. You wondered why he liked the smell of your panties so much but what usually came next drew your attention away from the question every single time. “Mmm, my favorite seat.” Walking over to his lap, you straddled him and smirked. “Sure you can focus on flying while screwing my brains out?” You asked while raising one of your hands to your mouth.

Wrecker watched as you licked one of your hands in a way that had him groaning. You’d done this before and it had made his head swim. The saliva-covered appendage was lowered to his aching cock and wrapped around firmly. “That’s …kriff. That’s what the autopilot is for, riduur.” You’d be in hyperspace for approximately three hours. More than enough time for him to fuck you in here and on one of the bunks. Your hand moved up and down a few times, lathering his cock before you pulled it away and impaled yourself on him. “Kriff, there’s that right little cunt I love so much.”

“Mmmph, here I thought you loved me for me. Not just my cunt.” You sat comfortably with him inside of you for a few moments, taking in his size and wondering if you’d ever tire of this full feeling. Probably not and if you did well it would be clear something was wrong with you.

Wrecker buried his face into the nape of your neck and sucked the skin gently. “Don’t worry, I love you for both.” Turning the chair to face the yoke, Wrecker gripped your hips and lifted you up and nearly off of him. Then he released you letting your body slam down onto him while he released the most sinful deep groan possible. Damn, he needed to focus on flying but you just felt too damn good. “Do me a favor and entertain yourself while I get us to jump?”

You panted needily before nodding. “Ok.” You placed your hands on his shoulders and lifted yourself almost off of him before sliding slowly back down his impressively thick length. It burned and stretched you in all the right ways and you moaned loudly making him chuckle.

He kept one hand on the yoke and the other on your ass guiding your body up and down.“Good girl.”

-*-

Thick fingers stroked your bare back while you lay against Wrecker's bare chest. Your body was tired after the long hours of sex and thus you had no energy to even get up and get dressed. His soft being cock was still buried inside of you from where you’d ended back up again. In his lap and the pilot's seat. After you’d made the jump to hyperspace he’d proceeded to impale you repeatedly on him before lifting you and carrying you towards the bunks in the back. There he’d screwed you into his bunk so perfectly your head had been spinning. You’d cum a second time around him after he’d pressed you against the ladder leading up to Omega's old room and screwed you hard enough to leave some marks on your back. As you came down from your orgasm he’d whispered how thankful he was that Tech kept the medkit properly stocked before leaving you to grab some bacta spray for your back. The third round had you starting in his bunk and finally ending in the pilot's seat once more. Your body was tired and hunger was growing in your stomach, but stars were you satisfied.

“Sarad, we’re about to drop out. Wanna get dressed?” He looked down at you and stroked your cheek gently. Maker, you were beautiful in his lap. How he ever got lucky enough to have you in his life was beyond him. If he could go back in time and tell a young cadet that he would have a woman as magnificent as you in his life one day. Well…he probably would have called himself crazy.

Stars, he was so damn warm! You nuzzled against the warmth he offered and shook your head. “Too comfy.” You could easily fall asleep like this. These strong arms holding you close while a hand stroked your skin giving you goosebumps. This was bliss. Wrecker chuckled deeply, making that broad chest of his vibrate.

He wasn’t going to argue with you about this in the slightest. “Okay, Close your eyes?” He raised his hand to your eyes and gently swiped down, closing your eyelids for you. “I want ya to see it in its entirety for the first time. Not while we pull up to it.”

You smiled softly and nodded while feeling him adjust his arms to steer the ship toward the nebula. It didn’t take too long for you to feel the ship stop, excitement now building within you. Finally, after months of hearing about the beauty of a nebula you were about to see it. Wrecker stood with you securely in his arms before you felt him lift you slightly allowing his softened dick to fall out of you. You shivered at the odd sensation before you heard him tell you to place your feet down. Doing as you were told, you felt his arms leave your body.

The large clone took a few steps away from you to give you a moment and then took a deep breath. “Ok. Open your eyes.”

Opening your eyes to the sight of the nebula was like waking up in a new universe. It was beautiful, no, it was breathtaking. The nebula appeared like a delicate celestial painting, swirling clouds of gas and dust dancing gracefully against the backdrop of space. Its colors, ranging from vibrant hues of red and blue to subtle shades of pink and purple, mesmerized you. In that moment, you felt a connection to the universe, as if you were witnessing the birthplace of stars and planets firsthand. It was a breathtaking experience that left you humbled by the sheer beauty and magnitude of the universe.

“Oh, Wrecker. It’s amazi-“You’d turned to look at your lover and found him staring at you in a way you’d never seen before. “What?” You ran a hand through your messy hair. “Does my hair look weird?”

Wrecker closed the space between the two of you and wrapped his arms around you once more. Never had you looked so beautiful to him. Not in the first time you’d been naked in front of him, not in the afterglow of your orgasm, not even when you told him you loved him. Don’t get him wrong, you were beautiful in each of those moments. But right now with your nude body being bathed in the blue glow of the nebula, you looked beautifully ethereal and all he wanted to do was hold you. “You look perfect, riduur.” Leaning down, he kissed you deeply.

“Thank you, Riduur. This is … well it’s breathtaking. I can’t describe it with any other words.” You now understood why he always said nebulas were beautiful. Though, you still couldn’t see how you were more beautiful than the sight outside the ship. Now, that was the most beautiful sight in existence.

Riduur coming from your lips always sent a chill down his spine. You were calling him your partner, your spouse in the language of the clones, his language. A language that you were trying to learn for him. How amazing could you get? “Sarad, you should know something.”

“Is it point number three?” You smiled at the serious look on his face making him smile back. “You told me you’d tell me when we got here.”

You were right. He had told you that hadn’t he? Maybe he could kill two birds with one stone. “Point number three is that I am undeniably and insanely in love with you. I can’t see my life without you in it. You mean everything to me. You are brave and strong and more beautiful than that nebula outside. I adore you, Stitches and I need you by my side forever.”

Your bottom lip trembled as he confessed his undying love to you. Yes, he’d told you he loved you countless times before but this. Stars, this was so much more intense. “Oh, Wrecker. I love you so much too. I never want you to leave my side.”

Wrecker took a deep breath before speaking. “Mesh’la, I haven’t been honest with you about what Riduur stands for.”

“It means partner or spouse. I know already, my love.” You tapped your nails against his chest as he continued to hold you close. “Omega told me the same night we went to the waterfall the first time.”

But that was months ago, nearly a year now and you hadn’t said anything? “You’re not mad?”

Your head shook quickly “How could I be mad when I feel the same way?”

“You do?” Wrecker felt something inside of him well up. You were ok with being called his riduur. You saw yourself as his wife! He watched you bite your bottom swollen lip and nod quickly. “T-then … will you marry me?”

Tears burned your eyes as you nodded and cried in happiness. “ Of course! How could I say no?” He picked you up and spun the two of you in happy delight making you gasp and wrap your arms around his neck.

“I don’t have a ring. B-but I’ll get you one. Any style you want! We can head to Ord Mantel right now.” He wanted to jump into the pilot seat and fly straight to the planet right now. But he also didn’t want to let you go. No, he wanted to hold you forever and ever.

Your laugh filled the air as you wiped tears away from your eyes. “Wrecker, there’s no rush. We’ll get one when we get one.” Plus it would be less attention on you two right now when everyone was celebrating Chai and Tech.

“Are you sure? We can go right now and be there in less than six hours.” You had more than enough fuel to make it and you two could stay at the tea shop. You nodded to him, making him hum in thought. “Ok. But as soon as we get the chance. I’m getting you the most beautiful ring in existence.”

“You could get me a piece of twine and I’d wear it with pride.” He chuckled against your lips before he pressed his against yours in a passionate kiss. “I don’t need a ring for you to show how much you love me, Wrecker. I just need you by my side.”

“I can do that, riduur.” He whispered while lowering the two of you to the floor, his cock hard once more. “I can do that.”

-*-

“Look at that ring! It’s gorgeous!” Chai held your hand up for Doll to see.

The three of you were currently in your shop designing Chai’s wedding dress. They were planning the ceremony in such a short amount of time you worried slightly if it would be finished in time. Four months wasn’t long when it came to designing and sewing a dress. But with Magda and Sue by your side, you may just be able to finish it in time. You blushed as you held the ring up for both women to see. “It’s black opal. Wrecker had Tech help him pick it out because it reminded him of our nebula.”

“How romantic.” Doll sat with a bolt of silk fabric in her lap, her fingers gently stroking the cool material. “It looks like a little tiara on your finger.”

“You’d know all about tiaras wouldn’t you, Miss Pabu, three years running.” Doll was gorgeous and she knew it, as did everyone else. It wasn’t a surprise that she won the island pageant every year.

“Think I’ll be hanging my tiara up this year. Give some of the other girls a chance.” She sighed softly as she stared at your wring. The metal was black for your band and went into a diamond shape that made it look like the top of a tiara with the black opal in the center. Little stones cradled the metal drawing the eye towards the hypnotic trance of the stone. “I can’t believe he flew you to a nebula to ask you to marry him.” It was just all so romantic. You with your Prince Charming and Chai with her knight in shining armor. She wanted that to be her, but Crosshair was a stubborn ass who wouldn’t let her in.

“I can’t believe Tech hung from the side of the island with Chai to propose. Think that has mine and Wrecker beat by a long shot.” You watched the way Doll became lost in her thoughts. It seemed whatever situationship she and Crosshair were in was currently not doing great. She hadn’t told you much but from the way she was sighing and staring off into space, you could tell it wasn’t good. You’d ask her about it but she’d seemed adamant about Chai not knowing yet. The poor girl would be too excited for something that wasn’t even a full relationship yet. Shaking your head, you looked back to Chai who was standing in the mirror looking at herself. “With these gorgeous shoes from Ahsoka’s friend as a starting point to design the dress around, I don’t see us having any issues deciding on a style.” You motioned to the shoes sitting in their box still. “You’ll have to send her a thank you note. Couldn’t have been cheap to ship from Naboo.”

The tea shop owner nodded as she turned and eyed her body carefully. What style should she go for?“From what Ahsoka told me, her friend died a while ago but the person handling her assets was positive she’d want another bride to wear them for her wedding.” Chai stared at the gorgeous heels with flowers embossed on the gold material. “Apparently her wedding was at a lake. I asked if she wanted them returned but Ahsoka said to keep them.” It was far too kind for shoes that looked more expensive than she’d ever spend on shoes. But the lovely gift would be a treasured moment in their ceremony.

“Oh, how sad.” You made a mental note to make sure the expensive shoes were properly cared for. “Did the husband not want her things around?” The memory of when you’d tried to throw all your parent's stuff away after their death came back to you. The sight of your dad's jacket or your mom's scarf would hurt too much to see them around. You were glad that Phee had stopped you from discarding the items.

Chai turned and sat on the stool she’d been standing on. “Apparently he died around the same time. Super tragic. But from what Ahsoka told me, she’d never seen two people more in love.” That was all the mysterious Jedi would share about the owner of the shoes and her life. Chai hadn’t felt the need to push the topic.

“Oh, how heartbreakingly tragic!” Doll leaned back in the chair. “I hope they’re with one another now. Happy and still in love.”

You hoped that Doll wasn’t about to cry on that silk. It was from Naboo and worth a good chunk of credits. Your oldest friend was a hopeless romantic when it came down to it. With others, she acted as though she didn’t care but romance novels and movies were her guilty pleasure. “That’s all any of us really want. Isn't it?” You gave your friend a reassuring smile before tapping at your datapad. “What about something with puffed sleeves?”

Chai made a face at you making all of you laugh brightly. It had been a while since all three of you had been together like this. You’d missed it. “Ok, ok. How about…” you tapped at the screen a few times. “Something like this?”

“Oh, Stitches. It’s perfect.” Chai walked over and stared at the design on your screen. Yes, that was her dress.

-*-

You couldn’t believe what you were seeing. It seemed Doll and Crosshair had made up just in time for the wedding as he was currently leading her towards the side of the Archium. You nudged Wrecker and pointed towards the two. “Would you look at that? Looks like Crosshair is settling in.”

“That’s my brother! Always good with the ladies.” He placed a hand on your shoulder with a proud smirk. “She’s gonna be good for him, right?”

“Yeah. She’s sweet and has a wart of gold. Only thing I worry about is the romantic notions she has. She can fall kinda easily for someone.” The poor girl had just gotten over a crappy relationship right before Crosshair and the others had returned to the island.

“Cross is still recovering … but I think he’ll take care of her.” He stroked his chin in thought. “Don’t worry, if he hurts her, I’ll hurt him.” Though he doubted it would ever come to that.

“Sounds good.” A noise on the opposite side of you caught your attention making you look towards the source. You watched as Chai and Tech tried to make their secret exit from the party. Her dress had come out beautifully and was perfectly paired with the golden heels she’d been gifted. The pressed flowers between the layers of her dress had come out exactly as you’d hoped. It had been touch and go for a while but you’d somehow pulled it off. “I don’t think they’re being as secretive about leaving as they think they are. You chuckled softly to your fiancé next to you.

Wrecker watched as Chai made a gesture to her brother begging him for silence as they made their way out of the Archium courtyard. “Not even a little.” He looked down at you and smiled while brushing some of your hair over your shoulder. “So what’d ya think? Wanna have a big wedding like this?”

A laugh left you as you shook your head. “Not in the slightest. Far too many people and far too chaotic.” You placed a hand on his bicep and stroked it lovingly. “Just me, you, and Shep to officiate. Plus the rest of our little family. But that’s it. We don’t need the entire island there.”

“Sounds good to me. Means we don’t need a big party and I can have you all to myself.” He leaned down and kissed you gently. “We’ll still have cake, right?”

“Of course.” You winked at him before stepping over to Omega and shaking her awake gently. “Can’t deny this one her cake.” The child had eaten herself into a sugar coma and was currently nuzzled under the large tree in the courtyard. “Come on, ‘Mega. Time for bed.”

Omega yawned while stretching her arms over her head. “But I’m not tired.” The plate of half-eaten sweets and treats fell to the side as she adjusted. “What about the party?”

“You’ve been sleeping the last thirty minutes!” Wrecker joked while reaching down to pick up his sister. “Tech and Chai left already. Time for bed.”

“But I didn’t get to say goodbye,” Omega whined while climbing into Wrecker’s arms. Her body felt so tired and her head kind of hurt.

“We’ll see them in a few days.” Smiling, you picked up her plate and walked it over to a nearby trash while Wrecker followed you.

“Will they have babies next?” She kicked her feet lazily from Wrecker's shoulder.

You froze and looked at her. “Well … I don’t know. Maybe. That’s kind of a discussion for them to have.”

“Oh,” Omega thought silently to herself for a moment before speaking again. “Are you and Wrecker going to have babies?”

“I … we …” you stumbled over your words as you tried to find the right words. Quickly, you looked at your lover for help.

“That’s one of those adult conversations that Tech was telling ya about.” Wrecker adjusted the girl on his shoulder.

Omega chewed her lip in thought for a few minutes. From the way you were acting, it seemed like it had been an uncomfortable question. “Will you, please?” She was so tired that the question had just slipped from her lips.

The three of you had started walking towards the house when she made her request. “Omega?” You stopped and looked up at her. “Why do you want us to have babies so badly?"

Wrecker lowered the sleepy girl to the ground before taking his place next to you and kneeling. Omega shifted a few times before finally laying her heart out to you both. “When I found out that Emerie was a clone it was like something changed inside me. I had a sister. A blood sister. But then Hemlock killed her to punish me and it… hurt a lot.” She toed the cobblestone a few times. “I want family members my size, my age. I miss seeing the babies and kids around Kamino.”

“Having babies the natural way is … well it’s difficult, sweetie.” There was a lot to it and honestly, you weren’t sure the clones could even reproduce. Wrecker had told you that he’d been told that clones were unable to reproduce. But he’d also been told there were no female clones and right now you were both staring at the truth. “For now, let’s just enjoy being our own little family, like we have been, yeah?”

Omega nodded while wiping a few tears away. You reached over and took one of her hands while Wrecker took the other and continued your walk home. After a few minutes, she spoke once more. “What does fertile mean?”

Once again you froze midstep. What the hell was in that cake that she was asking these types of questions? You turned and looked at the blonde with a tinge of concern in your eyes. “W-why do you want to know that? Did someone say that to you?”

“Nala Se and one of the other Kaminoans were talking about the reproductive capabilities of the clones. Nala Se they were told something about being infertile but were actually very fertile. What does that mean?” Omega watched as some kind of look crossed your face. Shock? Confusion? Surprise? It was hard to tell.

Wrecker felt like his knees were going to give out. Fertile. If Tech said that infertile meant unable to reproduce then fertile was the opposite and she said that they were very fertile. Which meant that they could have kids. Kids, he could have kids. The two of you needed to talk ASAP. But what did he say? Was he supposed to tell her the truth? Raising kids was hard. “W-well you see. It means … “

“It means they’re great at farming. Why do you think Cut and his family are doing so great?” The ease at which that fell out of your mouth was slightly concerning. But you’d question that later. Right now, Wrecker was giving you a smirk that was making your heart skip. Kids, you two could have kids. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

-*-

“So … guess we should talk about tonight’s revelation. Huh?” You sat on the edge of your bed in your nightgown with your feet swaying.

Wrecker nodded as he pulled his shirt over his head. “Guess so.” All he’d been thinking about since that moment an hour ago was you carrying his child. The idea of your stomach swollen and full because of him had unlocked something within him. Wrecker stepped over to you with just his pants on. Kneeling in front of you, he took your hands in his. “I know what I’m thinking and how I feel. What about you?”

You blinked a few times trying to keep yourself calm. “I … like the idea of us having a child someday. I’ve always liked that idea. I just … didn’t think that was a possibility for us.” Your eyes stung as you began to fight back tears. “B-but now we can. Now we have that chance.” A few tears ran down your cheek. You sincerely hoped he felt the same way. “What do you think?”

“I think you’ll look amazing carrying our child.” He whispered before leaning into you and kissing you deeply. His hand wrapped around the back of your head and kept you close while he felt the wetness of your tears run against his lips. “You’ll be beautiful and I’ll care for you, Omega, and our baby in every way possible.”

“You sure I won’t disgust you with my swollen ankles and morning sickness?” Sweetly, you ran your nose against his while leaning back into the bed.

Wrecker laughed brightly while crawling over you and caging you beneath his body. “I’ll find you the sexiest woman in the universe.” He bent down and kissed above your breast. “I’ll get you whatever weird cravings you want. I’ll sleep with the house like a frozen tundra or like the sands of Tatooine.” He kissed above the other one while moving towards your shoulder where the thin black strap of silk material held the dress up. “If you want the house to smell like fish then so be it. If you want us to stop eating Mantel mix because the smell makes you sick then we will. Whatever you desire, I will do it.”

His lips pressed against the crook of your neck while his sweet words danced in your ears making you sigh in need. “All I’ll need is you by my side, riduur.”

“I’ll be there for you. Always. Either inside or beside you, my nebula.” Rough lips pressed to your jaw before finally finding your lips once more. He raised his calloused fingers to your thigh and slowly pushed the material up, pleased to find you’d forgone panties. “You’re missing something, Sarad.”

His thick fingers pressed into your thigh pulling a small moan from your lips. “I thought we could practice some more.”

A deep dark chuckle left the clone as he pulled away from your lips and leaned back to stare at your needy body. Your legs were spread open with the dress pushed up around your waist and your heat glistened in the light for him. “Kriff, I’ll never get over how delicious you look, Mesh’la.” He moved to the edge of the bed and pulled you with him, making you squeak. “We’ll practice as much as you want. Not in any rush to share ya just yet.”

You prepared to comment back to him but instead found your words replaced by a long moan. Wrecker had flicked his tongue right over your sensitive bud and was quickly turning you into a puddle. “P-practice time?” He growled an ‘mhmm’ from between your legs sending a vibration through your body. Kriff, how were you supposed to be quiet when he moved his tongue like that?

“That’s right, be a good girl and be quiet. Don’t want ‘Mega hearing us.” He smirked up at you from his happy place between your legs, watching as you bit your lip in need. Sure, making you scream while forcing you to be quiet was mean but you were so damn pretty when you fought your voice. “Don’t want her to hear us farming in here.” Wrecker gave you a teasing smirk.

“Ugh, I panicked.” You laid your arm over your eyes and sighed as Wrecker's breath ghosted your core. “I will admit, you’re pretty kriffing amazing at f-farming.” His tongue swirled around your pearl and you were instantly a moaning mess.

The large clone chuckled before he gripped your thigh and squeezed it. “We’ve been farming a lot lately. Lots of practice.” He moved his free hand below his chin and ran a thick digit across your opening. Your cute whine beneath him made his hips roll against the edge of your bed. His cock was getting too hard in these pants, he needed to take them off. “Be a good girl and play with yourself while I get undressed.”

You watched him stand and slowly begin to unbutton his pants. Reaching between your legs, you slowly rubbed your clit. It wasn’t as good as his tongue, you’d found that nothing could be as good as his tongue. But it was doing enough to keep you stimulated and in need of him. “Wrecker” you gasped softly while rolling your hips against your hand, your speed picking up. “Need you. Now. Please.”

He growled while watching your fingers dance across your core. “Such a good girl.” Came as a whisper from him as he lowered his pants and stepped out of them. He watched as your fingers slid closer to your opening and quickly, his large hand reached out and grabbed yours while tutting at you. “That’s my job, sarad. Ya that needy that you forgot?”

A long whine left you as you took in the hard member between his legs. Screw his mouth and fingers! You wanted him . Sitting on the edge of the bed, you reached out and wrapped your hand around his cock while using your other hand to beckon him closer. Wrecker happily moved closer to you and let out a long sigh as your hand started to pump him slowly.

“Eager, ain’t ya?” He rocked his hips into your hand, helping you pump him.

“Need you filling me up.” Knowing that you could have kids with him was making you so unbelievably needy for him to screw you.

Wrecker let you work on his cock while bending down to kiss you. “My sweet nebula, are you asking me to breed you?” A sentence he never thought he’d say.

Was that what this was? A desire to be bred and swollen with his seed? Stars, you never thought your life would get to this point but you had to admit you loved the idea. “Yes! Please, breed me Wrecker.” His hips stopped moving and instead, you were pushed back onto the bed.

You were so damn hot when you begged for him like this. Like hell was he going to say no. “Get on all fours, sarad. Gonna screw ya good and hard.”

You moved so fast that you would have thought your life depended on it. His strong hands wrapped around your waist and held you firm. The strong demanding feeling of his hands on your body was so mind-numbingly amazing feeling you could easily get lost in it. The tip of him was rubbed against your folds gathering the wetness from his mouth and your need to help ease him entering you. You shuddered at the feeling as he lined up with your entrance before carefully and slowly pressing into you. A long hiss left you as you felt the telltale pressure of him inside of you. He filled you perfectly in all the right ways. Your lover shifted before pulling away and thrusting into you once, twice, and three times. You were a howling mess instantly. “Yes, Wrecker!”

Wrecker watched you fall onto your elbows and bury your face into one of the pillows, no doubt trying to muffle your cries of pleasure. He hummed at the delicious sight of you bent over in front of him, his dick buried in your core. “Look so good like this.” He thrusted languidly a few more times before he watched your arm move beneath you. Suddenly you were clenching him and keening even more into the pillow. You were playing with yourself while he fucked you, perfect. “That’s right. Work yourself while I fuck ya.” He groaned as you squeezed him. He’d fucked you the night before and yet your cunt was as amazing as ever. Lasting long wouldn’t be in the cards for him that night. Not when he knew you wanted him to breed you. That delicious idea of his seed filling you was single-handedly driving him to his climax.

“Wrecker, fill me with your cum. Please. Fuck me and fill me.” His hands tightened around your waist as his speed increased. “Oooohhhh.” Between him hitting that spot inside you and your fingers working between your legs, you were becoming a blubbering mess. Suddenly, his hand was on one of your ankles and pulling it up. You turned to the side slightly and found him placing your ankle near his ear. The position allowed him to sink deeper into you and after four hard deep thrusts that was it for you. You came in a stifled cry as he continued to fuck you through your orgasm.

Kriff, your cunt held him for dear life, practically begging for his seed. Who was he to hold back? He gripped your thigh tight and held you in place as he deepened his thrusts and his speed. The lewd sound of your sweaty bodies slapping filled the room as the bed began to squeak. He didn’t care, he was ready to fill you. “Say it again. Beg for it.”

“Please, Wrecker.” You sighed through your post-orgasm haze. “Fill me with your seed. Let me milk you.”

You said it in such a sensual and needy way it had him falling over his edge. Each thrust of his orgasm was deep and hard as he tried to plant himself as deep into your body as possible. The hot strings of his release coated your walls and filled you as much as possible, nearly overflowing from your body. “Fuck, so good at milking me.” He continued to thrust slowly to ensure all of him had been planted inside of you.

Once he came down from his high, he didn’t pull himself from you. Instead, he kept himself buried inside your warmth to ensure none leaked out of you just yet. Your ankle was lowered back to the bed and he fell behind you before placing kisses across your shoulder. “Think that’ll take?”

Reaching behind you, you stroked his cheek sweetly while humming. “That would be nice. But if it hasn’t taken thus far then we may need more practice.” You hadn’t lied to Omega when you’d stated it could take a couple years. Your parents had tried for three before you were born and were never able to conceive again.

“Hmmm, don’t mind the practice. Only practice I’ll look forward to.” He whispered into your ear, his fingers ghosting your arm. While he enjoyed screwing you, this post-sex cuddling was his favorite part. In this moment everything in life was perfect. You were perfect and glowed with a post-sex aura. All he wanted was to be near you when you were like this.

“Then we’ll keep practicing. You know what they say, practice makes perfect.”

-*-

“Sarad? What are you doing out here?” Wrecker was surprised to find you outside. Chai and Tech's new baby, Ashla, was inside your home and you’d done nothing but talk about how excited you were to hold her.

You turned from the courtyard wall and looked at your love. “Thinking.” You leaned back against the wall to the distaste of your fiancé. No matter how much had changed and how brave he’d become when it came to his fear of heights, he still hated that you liked to lean against this wall. Some things never changed.

Wrecker walked over and leaned against the wall next to you. His hand took yours and held it up so the sunlight could glean off your engagement ring. “About what?”

Well, maybe some things didn’t fully change. When you first met you couldn’t even get him to come over here and lean against the wall. Now he was willingly doing so. “Our wedding. How many people were inviting.”

“Having second thoughts about the size?” He tugged at your hand and pulled you into him. His arms wrapped around your waist as you pressed your back into his chest. “What a big wedding?”

“Nah, but I think we may have forgotten one or two people.” His arms squeezed slightly before he chuckled.

“Shouldn't be a problem then.” Wrecker leaned down and kissed your cheek sweetly. “That all that’s on your mind?”

You chewed your lip in thought before tilting to the side and looking up at him. “Why haven’t you held Ashla yet? She’s nearly five months old.”

Wrecker shifted awkwardly. “Afraid I’ll hurt her. She’s so tiny and my hands are so big.”

“You won’t hurt her. She’s delicate but not breakable. I know you’ll be careful with her.” You pulled one of his arms from your waist and held his big hand up for you both to look at. “You gotta get used to holding babies, my love.”

“Why’s that?” He placed his head against the top of yours and closed his eyes. To his surprise, you took his hand and placed it on your stomach. “Sarad?”

You bit your lip as his thumb stroked your stomach, how he hadn’t noticed the little bump growing there had amazed you. “Took almost a year. But … well … we’ll have two of our own soon.”

“What? Two? Babies?” Wrecker's mind was scrambling to put the pieces together and to fully understand what you’d said. ‘Two of our own’ your own … “we’re having twins?” You nodded in front of him and he let out a victorious yell. The sound shook the ground around you.

“When you farm, you do it perfectly.” Blushing at his excitement you stepped away and turned to face him. You pulled the bottom of your shirt up a little and turned to the side for him to see. “I’m three months along.”

It took him a moment to notice but sure enough, there was a little bump. Three months, that only gave him six to learn all he could about babies. What did they eat? He’d seen Chai feed Ashla earlier with a bottle. Was that all they ate? Bottle stuff? What about caring for them? How did he stop them from crying all the time? And their diapers! How did he change one of those? They smelled so bad too, would he just get used to them?

“Wrecker?” You could see him getting lost in his thoughts. “Are you okay?” Lowering your shirt, you moved back over to him. “Hey, my love?” You grabbed his hand and placed it back against your stomach. “Talk to us.”

Wrecker blinked a few times before feeling the warmth of your body. “Us …. Us” that’s right. It was no longer just you two. You’d be a family of four in a few months. “I have … a lot to learn.”

You chuckled brightly while nodding. “Yes, you do.” Taking a step towards the house, you pulled him with you. “Starting with holding a baby.”

-*-

Calm, that’s how you’d describe Pabu. The weather was always perfect, save for a rare storm every few months, and the waves always crashed against the rocks of the island in a calming rhythm. Standing in your living area, you watched your little family celebrate the news of your pregnancy. Your best friends Chai and Doll sat with their respective partners, Tech and Crosshair, while the love of your life nervously took Ashla from Omega. Echo spoke hastily with Dove about something closer to the kitchen and Hunter watched the entire group with a protective gaze.

Outside you could hear the foghorns of the fishing boats out at sea, working their lives away to provide for their families and those of the island. You were born here, raised on the sea life brought in daily by the fishermen. While others had escaped whatever horrors they experienced out there in the galaxy by coming here, you’d learned to walk on these cobblestones. Scraped your knees in the plaza at the top of the island and learned to swim in the bay on the back of the island. One day so would yours and Wrecker’s children.

This was your home, where your little family went through disasters with one another and came out stronger on the other end. Where laughter and tears were shed and new loves were formed.

This was Pabu.

This was home.

The End

Taglist:

@rndmpeep @sarahskywalker-amadala @queenariesofnarnia @idoubleswearimawriter @bambambunny @ravenclawbitch426 @jupitersaturnapollo @mzjakao @heylosers06 @dangraccoon @impala1967666 @andrakass2 @ducks118 @motte-the-goblin @rintheemolion @merkitty49 @jediknightjana @onyxtides @moon-wrecked @mssbridgerton @griffedeloup

[asteria7fics]

I’m feeling uncharacteristically sentimental right now, so I’m gonna capitalize on it and make my personal RANT girl appreciation post! (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)

As I’m sure many of you have seen, I’ve found myself with the incredible fortune of befriending three of the coolest girlies that allow me to be utterly INSANE in chat. They are THE hype masters, and honestly I don’t think I would have even considered posting RSB had they not all boosted my confidence with their encouragement.

If you’re somehow unaware of my wonderful RANT Park girlies, then let me introduce you while I muse about how talented and wonderful they all are!!!

@1moreoffkeyanthem

Riley, the first letter and for me, the person that started it all. I don’t think I would have ever met the other girls had she not been so lovely in the comments of TSOB in its earliest chapters. Just knowing that someone out there was finding something to enjoy in my silly, self-indulgent fic really kept me going, both with continuing to post TSOB and during the drafting process of EWILY.

There’s a reason I’m constantly screaming at you guys to read Riley’s work. Every fic hits. Every. Single. One, and the queen has MANY to choose from. I have yet to find a PCE fic that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. Between the beautiful prose, the perfect character dynamics and the level of creativity required to not only create deeply engrossing AUs, but to make so many of them bite-sized and easily digestible. I frequently marvel at her ability to pull me into her worlds in just a few sentences, every single time.

Don’t even get me started on the quality of whump. I’m not even a whump girl, or at least I never thought I was but man, I really am not joking when I say I think I’ve been converted. Riley helped me see the light you guys, and she can help you see it, too.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it a million times more. IF YOU AREN’T READING PCE WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING???

And you can read Riley’s work right here!

@alwaysinstyle

Ana, the sickfic queen herself. Walking hand in hand through the hurt/comfort tag with Riley and absolutely carrying the fandom on their backs while they do it. The day Ana joined Tumblr was the day everything truly came together, and we literally would not shut up about missing her for the week that she was away from us!!!

Though I’ve only been able to scratch the surface of Ana’s writing, I am already consistently blown away by her works. She may very well be the smartest person I have ever met, and my god does she bring that incredible intelligence to everything she writes. Always the perfect word, always the most beautiful flow and poignant moments that have made me frequently and audibly gasp. I mean it when I say my greatest shame is that I hadn’t started reading her work sooner.

When I tell you guys that you need to bring tissues to the function when Ana is there, I MEAN IT!! Do not take this warning lightly!!! You WILL cry, and you’ll be better for it. The catharsis I feel after every chapter of Hourglass is simply unmatched.

Which you can read here, along with Ana’s other works, of which there are also a great many!

@boxwinebaddie

Nina, the baddest bitch on the block who has undoubtedly been subjected to the most insanity from me. I still laugh when I think about how wild it is that our first conversation was us bonding over fucking Saltburn, but I also fear it says a whole lot about why we get along so well. NASTY! GIRLS!!!

One does not simply read Nina’s work. Her works are an experience, the likes of which I don’t think this fandom has ever seen before, or may ever see again. I don’t believe anyone will ever be able to replicate the biting wit and emotionally devastating prose that she has given us, nor has any other fic made me cackle the way hers do. I’m serious you guys, she is HILARIOUS when she isn’t literally ripping my heart out with her dangerously powerful angst.

Despite being someone who loves the challenge of sticking as close to canon as possible, I am an absolute sucker for the ways that Nina pushes every single character in new and fascinating directions. Non-canon compliant done SO right, and I think that anyone that’s feeling worn down by derivative angst in the fandom needs to give her fics a shot.

I will die on Ravesey hill, and if you’d like to join me you can read Nina’s works here!

It sounds silly to say as someone who writes as a hobby, but I really don’t think I have the words to express my gratitude for these women. Their creativity, humor and unending resilience inspires me every fucking day, and I really don’t know how I managed to get THIS lucky.

Ladies, I love you endlessly. Thank you for accepting me as your Cartman-coded friend, for being my biggest cheerleaders, and for creating such incredible works for everyone to enjoy. This fandom, and my time within it, has been greatly improved by every single one of you ♡

[etherealforever234]

I am doing this again because there is nOT ENOUGH APPRECIATION FOR TGESE AMAZING WRITERS IN OUR FANDOM.

So I did a part 1 but I didn’t include all the ones I wanted since it got too long jsskkskskskdksnxk sooooooo here’s a part 2 of all the fics which absolutely PLAGUE my mind and you NEED to check these out and show them your love!! I have said this before I’ll say it again telling writers you like their writing with just a simple reblog or a good comment MATTERS so much more than you know. So I better see you guys showering writers with love on their fics! While I did make this for myself because I’m building a little ✨collection✨ I hope this helps anyone who’s looking for more fics to read!!!

(Minors this is your cue to not be anywhere around here if I see you interacting I’ll tell yo mama!)

Recs under the cut <3

Her body is Bible by @superblysubpar - DEAD. ASCENDED TO ANOTHER PLANE. MET GOD. DIED. BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE JESUS STYLE. LOST ALL COHERENCE FOR A GOOD FEW DAYS. (18+)

Amuse and romance me like you do by @heartthrobinsfics - I have re-read this whole fic from start to finish so many times dkksckkxmfkdkckdkf the slow burn was really slow burning and ACCURACY in characterisation Family Video Steve has alllllll my heart

Single thread part 1 part 2 part 3 by @headkiss - Spiderman AU Steve I love you so much it hurts! The slow burn is so fkskfkskfkskdkskxkdkdkkdkckfkfskdkxkfk! And he’s just so 🥺 ahhhhh OBSESSED with this whole Universe! (18+)

Rules are meant to be broken by @funnylittlelad - I read this whole series on AO3 and my GOD this deserves so much more love!!!! The complicated relationships with parents the angst is so delicious I am in LOVE with this.

This blurb by @stevebabey - The way I have NEVER felt more represented as I was here. Being a #losergf is a tough job but someone’s gotta do it

If you loved me, why’d you leave me part 1 part 2 by @1986harrington - I have to say reading the first part actually made me wanna lie down in the rain for like a couple of hours because the ANGST🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 and the SMUT in the second part lordtttt (18+)

how could i say goodbye? by @hawkinsquarry - The way this fic made me WEEP. I love it when people make Steve actually process any of his trauma but him being needy after the events of S4 was so ON POINT. Fuck this hurt. So good!

Beyond part 1 by @abibliophobiaa - The way I start SHAKINH AND SCREAMING AND CRUONH AND YHEOWINH UP when I start thinking about this series sjkdxkdkxkfk fake marriage AU will always have a place near and dear in my heart and with Steve??? DEAD.

Chateau, Careless whispers part 1 part 2 by @kurtie4life96 - Sugar Daddy Steve can be something so incredibly personal to #girlies (me) OBSESSED with thiskdkskfmdkdkdk the smut made the wires in my brain unwire (18+)

Burning by @lis-likes-fics - ABSOLUTELY INSANE actually. CRAZY. MIND DESTROYING. NERVES IMPLODING. KILLED ME. The plot with porn can be so personal to me FUCKING GOD. (18+)

Pray for the night by @upsidedownwithsteve - Call me a whore but I LOOOOOOVE me some “we almost died so let’s fuck each other’s brains out because we’re alive and we want to feel something” 😌😇 (18+)

Pride and Prejudice and Peanut Butter Sundaes by @starryeyedstories - The enemies to lovers of it all kskskskskskdks THE TWIST OF P&P WITH STEVE HARRINGTON REST ASSURE THIS IS CLOSE TO MY HEARTTTTT! This is so freaking goodkskskskskskskx

Meet me at the chateau by @theemporium - I think about this fic so much and it's been MONTHS but I will make it a pOINT to re-read it because this is just absolute perfection ugh sjkskdkskdkksdkjsdjkddk! (18+)

Puppy by @lovebugism - Sub!Steve you’ll always be famous! This made me so dizzy gAWD. Can't believe this isn't my life. So unfair. Looooooooooooove this! (18+)

[spicysix]

20 Questions for Writers

I was tagged by @missberrycake thank you lovely ♡

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

38!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

115,027!!! that's so many words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

currently, only Stranger Things. before, i've written for a bunch of RPF - McFly, The Maine, One Direction. don't think i had ever written for a show/movie before

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

crush crush crush - steddie X reader

fuck-marry-kill - steve X reader

it feels like i'm going home - eddie X reader

now i'm ready to start - eddie X reader

love sneaked in with the smell of you - eddie X reader

i find it very funny that my top 5 (actually, my top 9!!!) it's all reader inserts. didn't think they'd be popular at Ao3 hah

5. Do you respond to comments?

i do!!! currently i have a lot of comments to answer to, because i've been a little away from fandom and specifically from writing since last year, and haven't found it in myself to answer them. but i will!!!!! someday

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

me and you (we can't lose) [eddie X reader] definetely. canon compliant. that's all needed to understand lmao but some of the drabbles for my Forever Halloween Challenge are also very angsty and gory

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

basically all my other fics have happy endings, so that's a hard thing to answer lol i think it's relative

8. Do you get hate on fics?

never did, thankfully!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i've only ever wrote one smut scene for going home and nothing else in english. in portuguese, i've had a series of three short smut fics that i never finished lol. it's not my thing and it's hard for me to do it because of the language barrier in english, i feel insecure about it. i just prefer writing pure fluff in general

10. Do you write crossovers?

never did, no, cause it's usually not something i like to read as well

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

also not that i know of but that would be so nice if done with permission!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

also no. i think i'd have a bit of a hard time, but wouldn't be opposed to it

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

i'll say that nothing has ever got me as much as Steddie before. i've always been a reader insert girlie, besides the first fics that i've ever read (Jemi - joe jonas X demi lovato) fics, i'm pretty sure Steddie was the only characters ship that i've read and got completely obsessed over

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

your sweater (up over your head) [stonathan]. this fic is very special to me and a personal challenge in many ways, and i'd love to finish it someday but i'm not sure i'll get back to writing ST, so it's a hard chance

16. What are your writing strengths?

i'd say dialogue! it flows very naturally to me

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

description. haaaate describing things, scenarios, clothes, faces, animals, whatever. i think i'm really mediocre if not entirely bad at it

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

if it's through someone's specific POV, i'm in favor of writing as the character understands it - so if they understand the language, keep it translated and just describe that it was in another language; but if they don't understand, then don't translate either. then you can either put it on a note or make the character who said it translate it. but also, if it's too big of a text, i think it can be annoying. so, mostly short phrases it's good

19. First fandom you wrote for?

McFly rpf reader insert

20. Favourite fic you've written?

ahhh that is such a hard question, i love all my fics so dearly. but i'm gonna go with going home because it's my first and only finished long chaptered fic, and all the research i did for it and everything else involved in writing it that made it a bit more special

Tagging (no pressure): @marvel-ous-m @hbyrde36 @stellarspecter @starryeyedjanai and anyone else who sees it and wants to join in!

[toriwritesstories]

No one tagged me in one of these but I saw the questions and wanted to participate hehe

20 Questions for Fic Writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

53 total, technically 1 of those is under a different pseud because it's the only fic I ported from FF.net onto Ao3 and I used my FF username as the pseud for that reason.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

Just checked and apparently it is 2,416,967 .... sooo that's totally normal right?!?!!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I struggle to write for more than 1 fandom at a time so right now I'm pretty much only writing Shadowzel from BG3.

BUT the others I've written for are, in order of recency:

Hosie from Legacies

Deanoru from The Runaways

Choni from Riverdale

Clexa from The 100

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

Pretty sure that they're all going to be Clexa but lemme go pull the list...

1) Pristine (Clexa)

2) Come With Me (Clexa)

3) Lift Me, Catch Me (Clexa)

4) Still Made of Gold (Clexa)

5) Online Lifeline (Clexa)

Yep, no surprises there. But actually my 6th is Choni: She Didn't Know It Then but seems like my older fics from the fandom that was probably the biggest I've been in have the most kudos, makes sense to me hehe!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to as many comments as I can while I'm posting. Unless I feel the urgent need to respond to a comment, I only respond when I'm at my desk about to update. So I don't usually respond once a fic is finished unless the comment really compels me to. This is simply a time and effort kinda situation, I read them in my email and they always make my day, and I'm always happy to respond on social media if anyone ever wants to chat about any of my fics!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

The angstiest ending?! Uhhh I'm a happy ending girlie. I guess technically it's probably one of my Hosie oneshots in my A World Where I Was Yours series, just because it's my version of post canon of Legacies!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

There are too many happy endings in my fics for me to decide aaahhhh. Ummmm. Maybe it's hard to breathe (when you're in the air) which is one of my favorite Hosie fics that I wrote?? but idk seriously they're all happy endings in terms of the pairing so it comes down to which characters in which fics had the happiest overall life situation and there are too many to think about it lol!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten negative comments for sure but I dunno if I'd call it hate exactly. The negative comment that I remember the most was on a Choni fic and they complained that the characters were too OOC, and it was nooooot done constructively at all and someone else (possibly same person different guest user) piled on even more rudely... so that wasn't fun (and also yeah all my characters are kinda OOC because that's what happens when you write AU?)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, yes I do. I feel like it's fairly vanilla. I used to mark everything rated M before I was informed that perhaps I've been writing E smut without realizing it lmao. So now I rate new fics with smut as E.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't ever posted any crossovers, but I did start one that was a Legacies/The Runaways crossover because of an idea that seriously amused me, but once I wrote the premise I got bored and stopped lol.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not a whole fic but back in my FF days someone took a Halloween Party chapter (wow I write those a lot actually, I'm not even a Halloween party girlie) and used it as a flashback on their Wattpad fic and someone kindly let me know and I had to message them to take it down.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Yes! I had a few fics back on FF.net that were translated into French :) but the deal was that I wanted to post them because I wasn't comfy with someone else doing the posting of my ideas. And now I typically turn down offers of translation just because I'm less comfy with it now then I was when I was younger.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

I haven't, but I'd be open to doing so if it was for an idea I felt like me and the other author(s) were really vibing with!

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? 

Impossible question. Whichever ship I'm currently obsessing over is my all-time favorite. Which would be Shadowzel rn. But probably in a few years I'll feel differently lol. I strongly feel that all the ships I've ever shipped are the best ever and I cannot choose a favorite.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Sooo many. I have a ton of Choni WIPs that I never finished, including one that got to like 20-30k words but just sits all dusty in its word folder. I once started a Part 3 to my Clexa travel fic (Come With Me linked earlier) that I couldn't get into but the vision was soooo cute. I also started a Part 3 to my Choni travel fic which also had a great vision but I'm just not as into Choni anymore so it feels hard to go back to now.

16. What are your writing strengths? 

I think I'm good at dialogue and characterization, those are my favorite parts of my own writing at least!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? 

Dude. I apparently cannot get enough of adverbs. I have to prune so many when I'm editing fics. Ugh. And I have some repetitive phrases that I also end up having to prune out.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? 

I've done it before with google translate and made modifications when people who spoke those languages corrected me haha. But it's not something I do often just because it hasn't really been super relevant to most of what I write.

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

Glee. It was Glee. I was 13. We don't need to talk about it.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? 

My favorite?!!? It's always my latest fic, I pretty much always feel like the latest thing I'm working on is the best and so it's my favorite right now for sure. And that would be Reignited (Shadowzel).

Anyone who sees this and wants to participate, feel free to copy the questions, I know this is a tagging game but I don't do that kind of thing, I just saw these questions in another post and felt like talking about my fanfic lmfao.

[biscuitbakerbecca]

Jared Kleinman for the character asks :)

Favorite Thing About Them

Jared is so bad at communicating he reminds me a lot of myself. I have ODD so it’s a little different, but the man is an asshole in the best way possible. He is petty and gives off angry cat energy in both fandom aspects and canon. Also I appreciate that he never acted against Evan even when he had the opportunity and reason to do so, he threatened it but he kept his mouth shut. Real friend right there <3 (I could tell everyone everything! Okay great! You go ahead! Do that! Tell everyone how you helped write emails pretending to be a kid who killed himself! Fuck you Evan!)

Least Favorite Thing About Them

He doesn’t have enough screen time/show time. People mischaracterize him because his entire character is shoved into as little time as possible. I know I just said that I love how he’s an asshole but he’s more than an asshole. He’s so clearly lonely and more than just an angry kid. At least in the book they made him “hot” in the end but the show and movie pretty much get rid of him come act two

Favorite Line

Kinky!

Just kidding

Asshole!

Okay okay for real this time

Yeah I hate to tell you this Evan, but you may have already perjured yourself.

Isn’t that only when you’re under oath? Like in a courtroom?

Well weren’t you under oath? In a way?

No.

Or from the movie (since I view them as different canons)

Connor took a letter from me. It was an assignment for my therapist.

Ew.

(I’d offer a different line but Jared doesn’t have that many)

BROTP

Jared and Zoe friendship!!! They hate each other they’re best friends they get drunk and cry together!!

Another excerpt of my own writing that explains this. Again my writing quality has gone up since this but oh well:

Connor rolled his eyes, "I'm saying that Evan will always be there, okay? You are so fucking stubborn, and I'm trying to be nice and make you feel better, just say thank you like a decent human being."

"You just made me feel shitty."

Connor threw his hands up, "Fuck! You're impossible!"

Zoe's voice screeched from below, "FUCK OFF! HE IS MY BEST FRIEND!"

— I don’t know what I want, but I need you. Chapter 12

OTP

Either kleinsen or kleinphy. They both have potential. All my kleinsen fics are really fluffy (soulmates, hurt/comfort, etc) and my kleinphy fics are like…rough and angsty (teen parenthood, child abuse, etc) I like both equally, but what I want to read depends on the content I’m looking for as shown by my own writing style

NOTP

Nothing icky like the parents being involved obviously, otherwise Jared/Zoe fics just don’t feel right. Jared is gay. Like he has to be. The book tried telling me he liked boobs and I know Val Emmich lied. Evan was simping at the end for a reason. Jared doesn’t even have to like Evan the man is still gay. Best part of the movie but dear god at what cost? (I did like the movie I swear)

Random Headcannon

Jared has two moms, or his mother is bisexual. I tried writing him with straight parents and every single time it feels kind of wrong

Also he has a cat. Her name is Mayonnaise. Mayo for short.

Unpopular Opinion

Idk if this is unpopular or not but I’m glad they cut Goin’ Viral. It only pushes the he’s an asshole idea and even though I love the song it wouldn’t have helped his characterization. I would have liked for them to properly record the song when they released the deluxe album but apparently Disappear Pt. 2: the duet version was more important.

Also Jared Goldsmith was my favorite Jared actor other than Will Roland. Nothing can beat the Will Roland vibes

Book Jared shouldn’t have ditched his glasses and got buff, they made him too powerful. Evan couldn’t help but fall for him. Let him stay as he is don’t make him conventionally attractive!

Song I Associate With Them

Jared is such a complicated guy. His feelings are deep. He’s cringy but free. I haven’t thought about this in a while hang on…

I imagine that Jared is a pop girlie and this gives the desperate for attention vibes that I usually associate with him

And as for his inherently cringey vibes that I usually give him…

I’m not sorry

Favorite Picture Of Them

Again, we have options…

[oreo-creampie]

Heeey, I'm sorry you're becoming disenfranchised with fandom at the moment, it happens to the best of us. Just know what ever you choose to do, stay or go, we love and support you 😙😙😙

Hi sweetness and thank you! I really don't want to loose my love for the show simple because of the fandom. But everytime I go through the tags or my feed I come across something so incredible toxic and it makes me wanna log off n do something else

I enjoy the characters of the show so much. So maybe I just need to stay within my own little bubble, enjoy the show for what it is, talk to a few people about the show and stay out of major part of the fandom (aka ignore the fuck outta my dash and any tags)

Part of me has been thinking about writing for other fandoms and leaving jjk behind for a while. At the same time I still have several ideas for the characters. But I enjoy other fandoms way way more

It could be cause jjk is the biggest fandom there is which comes with it’s natural set if discourse. And so I'm not used to so much fandom discourse going on 24/7

Plus the whole can black writers not write because xyz and then seeing people agree makes me feel very very unwelcomed. And Im not the type of person to stay where I'm not wanted

im a black person who is hypersexual. I don't spit on those or look down at people are aren't hypersexual. Why should I? Different walks of life fit different type of people. It doesn't make anyone any better simply because they don't like smut fics as much as the rest

I don't understand the reason of complaining about other people not creating what they want to see. And expecting other people to feel shame over being overly sexual with their fics simple because you want hand holding and kissing

I do agree that smut fics get a lot more attention than fluff. But if they want fluff please create it. It seems there is a growing amount of people very upset cause they want to see more fluff fics but most of them don't want to create it themselves

I do some writers on a high horse looking down at smut writers. Which I don't understand at all? No genre of fanfiction is superior to the other, we can all have our preferences to what we prefer but that doesn't make them the best option.

There is also the whole big issue of black women have been fighting stereotypes for so long. So many people of color have as well. We can all understand how they are harmful to type a whole group as something.

Not all black woman are hyper sexual clearly by the amount of non hyper sexual black women who want fluff. And so what if a black woman is hyper sexual? Would they have less of a problem with it if it was a women of a different ethnicity being hyper sexual?

Or is it the hyper sexual that they look down on as a whole? Simply because they aren’t that sexual they get to look down on those who are?

I guess their problem with hypersexually could steam from the fear of the stereotype. Since hypersexuality is apart of that and they don't want hyper sexual black woman to represent them and it to go around still that all black woman are hypersexual.

To this to I say that a group of hyper sexual black woman should not be viewed as the representation of the whole. By this year of 2024 we should be coming to the point of realizing that there are gonna be various types of people with various interest, morals, sex drive and sexuality are all the same skin tone. And they do not speak for each other

Also what does someone skin tone have to do with someone sex drive? Can a girly pop be horny in peace without seeing it’s wrong cause I'm black and upholding a dangerous stereotype?

Anyway after this long rant cause it looks like I've had a lot building up. Thank you sweetness

[typewriter83]

https://www.tumblr.com/typewriter83/765179812572758016/girl-i-was-rewatxhing-a-gameplay-tonight-and-i-had?source=share

(this is so big I won't mind if you take too damn long to respond❤️ I understand you)

KDJDKSKKD WHAT? THAT'S SUCH A GOOD FUCKING PLOT OMG. I WOULD READ THAT EVEN WITH ORIGINAL CHARACTERS.

(but fuck yeah I agree, ellie would be such a good punk singer. Kind of emo girlie even. Have you checked maggie linderman? Her song"different" would kind of be something ellie would totally sing if she was a singer).

and omg I can see the vibes of the concept you're cooking in here. I can totally see both of them as "singers that got bad reputation for something" (🗣️I don't know what ellie did but I'm on her side🗣️), specially joel. On this, I can totally imagine that things to joel could have started to get bad in his life after he lost sarah in this universe too. And honestly sometimes paparazzi and interviewers can be so insensitive that it would be so joel to get his bad reputation also after fighting with so many of these people in the past if they asked about his past. Also, I would die to find what would their dynamic would be as singers if that story happened. Maybe when they start working together, their personalities can crush a bit because joel he was always used to being the lead singer in his band, giving orders and deciding things, but when he tries that with ellie thinking she would just listen, he soon finds out she has strong personality, doesn't really like to obbey and has a sense of criticism and leadership as much as him. Or maybe Joel has this boomer thought where he thinks this new generation of musicians are all amateurs and not good enough, and ellie is determined to make him realize he's wrong. But I can also see their personalities bonding so much when they really start to work on their album.

Omg have you listened to "exile" by taylor swift and Bon Iver? That would be so them coded wtf, I could totally picture them singing it wtfffffff (and bon iver's voice is so sexy and deep it reminds me of joel's👹)

So many things is reminding me of this concept you came up with actually. On the slutty side for example, there's this the weeknd song where he sings "we had sex on the studio" and well..👹that would be a scene worth reading sjjsjsj. On the soft side, there was this video on ig where a girl from a band was playing guitar and singing but her guitar's strap fell and she had to hold it, but her drummer came to rescue, fixed for her and he stroked her hair before going back and everyone in the audience was like "awww" and I WISH I COULD FIND THIS VIDEO AGAIN because that would be so them. Imagine if joel did this on a tour, but instead of stroking her hair he kisses her forehead😭 imagine if they also sing some songs looking at eachother like they're talking in form of music, like it's just them on the stage, OR OR if ellie convinces joel to be more in touch with being online, and his first few posts on social media is hanging out with her or posting a picture of her being distracted, and ellie gets all soft because how can she explain to this old man he's basically being her fan account😭? And oh my god Joel is a guardog in every fic, imagine if a paparazzi crosses some boundery with ellie and joel does something about it, but she contains him from doing more because he could get in trouble with media for it. Urgh I can totally see the controversy they would be, though. A lot of people would ship them but it could also get a bad reputation for joel for other reasons.

Hello nonnie cub - is this Miss Undercover or do we have another cub in our den who loves analyzing our fandom. Either way, I’m here for it!

First of all, thank you. I’m rather fond of that story - it’s about 35-40k in length right now. I have lots of ideas for it, but pulling it together has proven difficult when there are two stubborn fictional characters constantly screaming for attention - they know who they are and they need to sit down. 😏

If I were to write this in the TLOU universe, Joel would be on the far side of middle age, approaching or over 50, with a drinking problem, but trying to get sober. He’s been known to get aggressive with paparazzi. Ellie would be a punk rock princess with a serious attitude problem - the label won’t drop her because she’s so fucking talented, writes her own music, has been plucking guitars since she was a child - but she goes through producers like tissues and she’s had more lawsuits filed against her for assaulting paparazzi than the studio cares to acknowledge.

Their dynamic would be volatile at first - he can’t stand her music, thinks she’s too loud and chaotic. He’s more laidback, classic rock style, and Ellie calls him an old man - while she follows him around like a lost puppy. He’s gruff and mean, but he gives it to her straight, he doesn’t push her away like everyone else does - she sticks like glue.

I think Ellie would torment him with social media - especially old school instagram, trying to make photos artistic and flattering. She takes lots of photos of him hidden in shadows, dramatic and striking and he grumbles a lot but doesn’t ask for her to take them down. She starts taking selfies of them together - which of course ignites all sorts of speculation and paparazzi problems. Imagine Joel pushing them aside while they get in Ellie’s face. Ellie’s got fists swinging and eventually Joel grabs her and pops her feisty ass over his shoulder - lots of photos of her screaming as he carries her off.

Haha, stop. I have 3 stories going at once. I don’t know if or when I’ll ever sit down and revisit this original story. But this was fun

🫶🏻