#I want to write and publish another fic while it's still legal in the US to write queer fiction hahahahaha I'm doing fine thanks for asking

[irenespring]

Me this morning: I'll never be able to write a sufficient amount of words to justify adding this Wilson parentification fic to "Research."

Me now: Oh fuck this is going to another long one, isn't it?

(I am choosing to blame @deathbyamantadine for helping me come up with a lot of depressing Wilson lore that I now need to include /lh)

[andr0medafallen]

Cold, Dead Heart

A/N: Another repost! I was like super depressed and busy for a while, but I will be working on continuing to publish all of my old fics that I intend to publish now, before writing more. I plan on being more active in my writing in the spring when I will be taking less credits. xoxo

Pairing: Adrian Chase x Reader

Warnings: some angst, sexual harassment (someone unconsensually grabs readers ass), canon-typical violence (reader breaks said man's fingers), some hurt/comfort, girlboss reader lmao

Description: Adrian Chase convinces you to go to his high school reunion. You end up not regretting it, although you've got plenty of reasons to.

Word Count: 4.3k

“Adrian, no,” you rejected, mind reeling at the fact that Adrian Chase had thought you would be an acceptable date anywhere, let alone at his High School reunion, despite you having gone to high school thousands of miles away from this hick town. And despite what everyone on the team thought about you being a cold-hearted bitch who hated everything resembling laughter and fun, you did consider Adrian a friend, which is why you intended to spare him of embarrassing himself in front of all of the ex-jocks and backstabbing cheerleaders who he stupidly looked up to. Even if you wanted to be eye candy, which you didn’t, that definitely wasn’t something that you had been trained for in the field, and no amount of looks could make up for your apparent lack of skill and effort in the field of flattery. You’re an FBI agent, not Miss America.

“Whaaaat?” Adrian complained, as though he thought he might be able to change your mind by annoying you enough. “Come on, you only have to be there for like, an hour. Just long enough for people to think I’m cool and that you want to be there. And then I’ll buy you ice cream or clean your guns for a year or–”

“Beyond the fact that it would be severely unprofessional—” You started, before being cut off by his over-eager mouth.

“It wouldn’t be unprofessional! How would it be unprofessional?”

“We work together, Adrian. I outrank you.” You sat on your desk, cleaning your glock with a grey rag turned black by grime and oil. Your current state should have only proved your point further. Not even in the running for Miss Congeniality.

“Uh, no, you don’t, cause I don’t even technically work for the government.”

You scoffed. “Well, you sure work with the government a lot for someone who doesn’t work for the government.”

“I don’t think that you are legally allowed to use the unprofessional excuse unless I actually worked with you though, which I don’t.”

“Oh, I broke the law?” You chuckled. “What are you gonna do, kill me?” A part of you knew that Adrian might not understand that you were joking. But the cold-hearted bitch part figured that making him think that you assumed he would want to murder you for not going to his high school reunion made up for the fact that he was making you sit through this conversation. Maybe it would even get him to leave, although you doubted you had that much luck.

“What? No, I would never kill you. I mean, if you broke a really bad law, like loitering, then maybe. But I don’t think that not using unprofessionalism as an excuse when people don’t work together is actually a law, but maybe it should be.” 

You raised your eyebrows. “Right. Well, let me know when they do make it a law. Until then, I will be here. Happily doing things that do not take place in a high school.”

“Come on, pleeeeaaaase,” He begged. “I’ll do anything.”

God. What a stupid, stupid boy. The amount of trust he had in you was anything but inspiring. It was misplaced and idiotic, and he definitely shouldn’t be offering you ‘anything’. Still, his desperation, while misplaced, made butterflies spark up in your gut. “Anything?” You asked, arching a brow.

Adrian’s expression turned, eyes narrowing as he noted your mischievous tone. It was calculated, your manner of speaking, meant to prevent those butterflies from revealing anything, but he didn't know that. “You’re not gonna make me do anything illegal, are you? Cause last time I–”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Adrian. You aren’t fun enough to do anything illegal with.” You lowered your feet off of your shitty metal desk chair, where you’d propped them up while talking to Adrian, and loudly planting them on the floor as you stood up from your seat on your desk, leaning towards Adrian. “Since you are clearly desperate here, I’ll go. Just buy my coffee or something for the next month, I don’t fucking care.”

“Fuck yeah! Wait, is there a catch? Cause sometimes people ask me to things and then they’re like ‘well, actually’--”

“The catch is that you get out of my fucking office and let me finish this mission report.” You grabbed your stapler and threw it at him. Adrian caught it with a giddy smile and skipped out of the room. You hoped he would actually return that stapler at some point, since you had a few stacks of loose paperwork waiting on your desk and no replacement, but you suspected you’d never see it again.

With a sigh, you returned to your gun, working in the oil so ferociously that your hands started to ache. Fuck, you shouldn’t have said yes. A list of possibilities for what could happen on your–would it be considered a date?–were rattling through your mind like an old busted up film reel, and all you could do was hope that you wouldn’t fuck anything up.

~~~

You hadn’t talked to Adrian since you’d agreed to go with him. He’d texted you the details for your arrangement, but other than that, radio silence. On your end, at least. Adrian might not have been chattering your ear off as much as usual, but it was you who conveniently wrapped yourself in paperwork every time he entered your line of sight. A week of not talking, hardly communicating, and now… A night of hopefully not telling any secrets. A night where Adrian Chase will not learn how badly you don’t want to go on this date with him only because you had hoped that your first date with Adrian Chase, the known maniac who you had the biggest, stupidest crush on, would be because he actually liked you and not because he wanted to impress a handful of idiots with something that wasn’t real.

Still, that didn’t stop you from pestering your friend to borrow the perfect outfit because nothing in your closet was quite right, spending an additional hour to get ready after your outfit was chosen, and tolerating the most uncomfortable pair of shoes in your closet because maybe Adrian wanted to impress his all of his ex locker room neighbors and high school buddies, but you sort of wanted to impress Adrian; Even if a part of you was convinced that you were fighting an uphill battle.

Even with all the time you had spent on your appearance, you were ready with time to spare. All there was left to do was sit on the thrift store couch in your living room, trying to distract yourself with the books that were usually scattered on your coffee table; an eclectic arrangement of FBI protocol manuals and the various genres of fiction which you read for pleasure. You were about to give up on trying to make your mind process the information from a heavy sci-fi book that Economos had given you when a much-anticipated knock sounded at the door.

A mixture of relief and anxiety flooded through you as you set the book down (a resonant Whack! sounding from the sheer heft of it) and rushed to open your front door.

For a moment, the two of you just looked at each other. Adrian’s cheeks were rosy and he seemed out of breath, which was a bit non-intuitive, given that you could see his Sebring parked in the lot just a floor below your balcony entrance. Ignoring that though, you had to admit that he looked good. Well, you always thought he looked good, but he looked really, really good tonight. He was dressed to the semi-casual dress code in a black cable turtle-neck which he’d partially tucked into his brown corduroys. Even though it wasn’t very far off from what you’d seen of him in civilian clothes, a part of it surprised you. You’d never actually seen him in anything other than his Vigilante gear and the nerdy shit he wears on CVS runs.

After what felt like eons of simply looking at each other, it was you who broke the silence with a quiet, “Hey.”

It seemed to sufficiently snap him out of his thoughts. “Hi! Hey. You look really good. Like stupid fucking good.”

“Oh. Thanks. Gotta impress your buddies, right?” You chuckled nervously. Were you imagining the way Adrian’s face fell when you said that? Probably just projecting, right? “You look really good too. I’ve never seen you…”

“Oh, yeah. I figured I couldn’t wear the Vigilante uniform, so.” You giggled at this, and his smile did a much better job at lighting the entryway to your apartment than your porch light ever had.

“I like your Vigilante costume,” you chided, exiting your doorway and locking your door behind the two of you before hesitantly tucking your arm around Adrian’s.

When you approached his car, Adrian opened the passenger door for you before hurrying around the front of the car to sit behind the wheel on the driver's side. You were grateful when he started the car and the heater rumbled on, warm air blasting towards you; It was a cool autumn night and the dress which you had chosen for yourself wasn’t doing a lot as far as warmth was concerned.

The ride to the high school of Adrian’s teenage years was short, and filled with the heavy base of the 11th Street Kids, volume all the way up. As nervous as you were for the coming event, it didn’t take much for Adrian to get you laughing and singing along.

“There’s no wrong time to rock, baby!” Adrian yelled over the tinny speakers of the sebring, hitting the steering wheel with the palm of his hand along with the beat. You burst out into laughter, trying to ignore the way your stomach fluttered with butterflies at being called ‘baby’.

Either way, you still made him turn it down when you approached the school. It hardly seemed like a fancy reunion, terribly appropriate for a town like Evergreen, but if Adrian was intent on impressing people, you figured he might as well not ruin it before it began by blasting music at levels that would give premature hearing problems even to the people outside of the car.

Once he had parked, he jogged around the car to open your door for you, speed likely prompted by his suspicion that you wouldn't let him. It was something that Chris always used to  try during stakeouts. He happened to stop that a while ago, definitely not because you would always wait until his hand reached the handle to pop it open and slam it into his gut. The memory (or lack thereof, because it is definitely something you had never done) still made you smile. But you weren’t planning on doing that to Adrian. Not when you were on a date and –you had a massive crush on him– he promised to pay you in full with beautifully overpriced oat milk lattes.

So yes, you let him open your door, and take your hand, and do all of the things that you never let anyone else do. You were conscious of your reputation—you couldn’t help it, not with the type of people you worked with—but right now… Tonight, you know that everything is fake. Artificially constructed to present a picture that isn’t there, that isn’t true. But tonight, you are going to pretend that it is true, because you can, and because after everything that you’ve been through with Adrian–with the butterflies (the literal ones, not the metaphorical ones), the bullet wounds, waking up everyday afraid because you’re constantly putting your life on the line—you felt that you deserved this. Or at least, you deserved to be able to pretend.

The two of you were hand in hand entering the gymnasium. Palms connected, your free hand cradling his arm. The lights are dim, a cliche high school disco ball hanging in the middle of the room. It smelled the way every school gymnasium smells; That sort of waxy, wrestler sweat smell that can never be explained too well, but always seems to permeate the area. 

The woman at the booth checked you in, placing a stamp on the back of both of your hands. She gave you a toothy grin, full of kindness as she asked, “Different graduating year?”

You chuckled, returning her warmth. “Not a local.” You’re certain that she’ll be spreading that bit of small town gossip around, but you can’t seem to manage any hard feelings.

It wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be. The lights weren’t too bright, the music not too loud, and you’re holding Adrian Chase’s hand.

Adrian led you to what seemed like his group of high school friends. The sort of D&D type that you’d have expected him to hang out with. Maybe a little awkward, but not trying nearly as hard as the ‘popular kids’; a trait you can appreciate. God, are you reinforcing high school stereotypes in a building full of adults? Yet another reason that you didn’t go to your own high school reunion.

Adrian started to make his introductions, naming everyone one by one, because of course that is something he would remember. Adrian knew your middle name before you’d even been formally introduced.

“Sonia, Oliver, Jack, Gini, this is…”

Before anyone else could notice Adrian’s hesitation, you jumped in with a smile, “I’m Adrian’s girlfriend. It’s nice to meet you all.” Maybe you weren’t Miss Congeniality, but you were professionally trained in lying.

That elicited quite the reaction from the group. The excited giggles and ecstatic welcomes make you think this might not have been an awful idea after all. You don’t even really mind the whistles or congratulations toward a blushing Adrian. The group trailed back into their previous conversation after a bit, and you nudged Adrian with your elbow..

“I’m gonna go grab some punch, want some?” You whispered when he looked over at you with his smiling eyes.

His brows furrowed. “Are you sure? I can go with you—”

“I’ll be fine, Adrian,” you insisted. You needed a bit of a break from people, and fetching spiked punch seemed to be  the popular way to do that in all the movies, but you really did want Adrian to be able to catch up with his friends. They seemed kind, and genuine. “Have fun. I’ll be back in a minute, pinky promise.”

You reached your pinky out towards him and he wrapped his own around yours. Before he got the chance to separate, you pressed your thumb against his, making a little goofy kiss sound. Before you could see his responding blush, you turned away toward the punch table, making your exit.

When you arrived at the infamous high school punch bowl, you didn’t even have time to grab cups before you felt a hand touch your shoulder. Your heart rate sped up and you spun, slugging the perpetrator in the arm when you realized it was just Chris.

“Jesus, fucking sneaky, asshole, what are you doing here?” You asked, covering your momentary panic with irritation.

“You’re the one who went to High School in Gotham, what’re you doing here?” Chris responded, a juvenile mimic of your own question.

“If I wanted you to badger my own shit back at me I’d play uno.”

Chris split into a grin; a shit-eating, ear to ear grin. “You’re on a date!”

“Who cares? And why the hell do you find that so hard to believe?” You asked defensively

Chris snorted. “It’s not. Just funny that you ditched your date to hang out at the punch table.”

You scowled. “I didn’t ditch my date, I’m just getting punch. For me and my date. And I swear to God, Smith, if you spiked it, I will put that on your permanent record,” you warned, grabbing one of the plastic cups sitting at the table. The threat was an empty one. Honestly you kind of hoped he had spiked it.

“I didn’t spike it!” you still look thoroughly unamused in front of him, arms crossed. “Jesus, no room in your cold dead heart to believe me?” Chris kissed three fingers on his right hand and raised them up in front of himself. “Scouts honor.”

You rolled your eyes. “That’s the fucking Hunger Games thing, Chris.” You ladled some of the red liquid into your cup and took a sip, disappointedly disappointed when you didn’t taste the warmth of alcohol. Just your average watered down punch.

You were about to say something more, about how you wouldn’t be surprised if Chris really was in boy scouts and never learned that, or some dry humor about how you liked to think that Chris was intentionally obtuse but was more likely just stupid, when you felt a stranger's hand grabbing your ass, followed by a loud, obnoxious voice shouting “EY YO, NICE MEAT CHRIS!!!!”

To his credit, Chris squared up, ready to have your back against this asshole. You were quicker to the punch, though, grabbing the hand of your perpetrator and twisting so hard that he was nearly toppled by his own weight. You zeroed in on him. Tall, bulky, wearing a letterman's jacket. Some high school has-been who thought that the tacky Las Vegas flask he brought made him cool. Apparently he felt the same way about harassing women, like it was some way to level him up from basic boring misogynist to super misogynist.

“Wow, that was really funny, wasn’t it?” You ask him, saccharinely sarcastic while twisting his arm harder.

“No!” He yelped, trying to alleviate your grip on him. “No, it wasn’t,”  You wished you had it in you to feel sorry for what a fucked up loser this guy was, but you didn’t. Anyways, an apology given out of fear doesn’t mean anything, but that didn’t mean you didn’t want to fuck him up a little just to see how he felt about it.

“Oh…You’re probably right. It was in bad taste, wasn’t it?” You asked sweetly. “It would probably be best to leave after doing something like that, huh? After all, we wouldn’t want anyone prosecuted on the count of sexually assaulting a Federal Agent, that would be way too crazy for a town like Greendale!”

You dropped the sweet facade, whispering in his ear, “If you think about trying that shit with anyone ever again, please remember that I have a gun and access to most government databases,” before dropping him to the floor. 

It was then that the panic flooded through you. Everything you had just done had been done in reaction to what was happening, but you could see past the adrenaline now and all you could think about was the consequences, which you really didn’t want to face. You didn’t want to see Adrian’s expression as he realized that you’d done the exact opposite of what he wanted, and you didn’t want all of the missed opportunities to make Adrian get coffee with you. And you also didn’t want to always be the outsider, but you seemed to be consistently bad at fulfilling that goal. It was so stupid, but after spending most of your life constantly moving around due to reassignment after reassignment, you had hoped that you could find a home here. Instead you’d just made yourself the town gossip. You’d probably wind up in the morning paper tomorrow. “Crazy Jackass Assaults Local.”

You don’t know how long you stood there, glaring at the man you’d injured and forced to the floor, before you felt a hand on your elbow. Your head jerked towards it to find Adrian. He was absolutely fuming. He had this look in his eyes that always assured you he was about to do something stupid—what, you weren’t yet sure yet, but you didn’t particularly want to find out, so you grabbed him by the arm and hauled ass out of the gym. There was a crowd of concerned model citizens surrounding Mr. Hasbeen, but as you walked out the front doors, you noticed the check in lady give you a discreet thumbs up. You felt a sort of relief, knowing that at least somebody vindicated you.

You didn’t stop walking until you reached the school gardens—a sort of compilation of shrubbery with a creepy statue of some sort of town leader pushing it over the border of boring into just damn strange.

When you stopped, Adrian finally opened his mouth, starting with, “I’m gonna fucking kill him,” sliding right off the tip of his tongue as if he’d been waiting to say it.

You stepped in front of him, blocking the very real possibility of him ditching you to follow through with that claim. “No, you’re not. I–”

“He fucking–” He swallowed, like thinking of made him want to puke or punch something. Like it hurts him as much as it hurts you. “You said it yourself! He broke the law. No amount of–”

“Adrian, I dealt with it, just drop it!” You yelled. This did silence him, his face twisting into the hurt expression you sometimes see when he’s arguing with Chris. When he starts pretending that he doesn’t have any feelings, even though they are written all over his face. You sighed and sat on a faded wooden bench that was placed right in front of the statue, black heels skimming the ground. “I’m sorry. I know you were trying to impress your peers or whatever, and I ruined that.”

Adrian stopped in his tracks from where he was pacing a few yards in front of you. His hands were clenched into fists as his head snapped towards you. “You think I care about that?” His voice was just a little higher than normal, eyebrows a little too drawn.

“I…yes? That’s why I’m here, isn’t it?. That's why you asked me to come, to impress all of your–”

“That’s not why you’re here.” It was quiet. A loaded statement that you didn’t know how to respond to, and didn’t have the time or understanding to unpack. It was spoken so quietly that anyone else might have missed it, but not you.

Your eyes and nose stung, like you were about to get a bloody nose. Or, a drastically worse possibility, about to cry. “I don’t understand.”

“I—” Adrian resumed his pacing. “I just said that! Y’know, when you just say something cause it’s convenient, even if it isn’t really true? But that's–I wanted you to come cause I like you. A lot. Which—I’m sorry, because I know that you don’t really like it when people like you, but I do. And believe me, if I knew that Ricky Feld was gonna do that then I never would’ve–” He stopped in front of you, kneeling, with his gaze looking up and centered on your face. His eyes were so earnest, like they carried an ocean of pain—of anger—which understood your own. “I am never going to let anyone touch you like that ever again. Never.”

The two of you just stared at each other. You didn’t know if it was for moments or for a millennia, and the foggy night sky above you betrayed nothing. 

When Adrian finally opened his mouth to speak, to take everything back, you whispered, “You like me?”

Adrian gulped. “I…yeah. I know it’s unprofessional or whatever cause we kind of work together and I know that you don’t want that, but I can’t help it, and I really didn’t want to go to this thing alone so I convinced you to go with me, and you look so pretty, by the way. Did I mention you look pretty? You do. And I don’t fucking care that you twisted that guys arm off while everyone was watching. I mean it was kind of hot, but you don’t have to apologize. You didn’t ruin anything. I mean, I wish you would let me kill him, but… Yeah, I like you. So, I guess I should be the one who’s sorry cause–”

You cut him off, your lips attaching to his, your hands grabbing his face and pulling him close to you. your bodies were so fully entangled in that high school garden, your legs wrapped around his waist as he remained kneeling before you, on the bench in front of him. It was Adrian who finally pulled away, wiping your cheek with his thumb.

“You’re crying,” he told you, nervousness etched on his face.

You wiped at them with your sleeve, a technique you picked up at a young age to disguise tears from classmates. Didn’t seem to ever work that well, though. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. Well, it is you, kind of. It’s been…a lot, today. But I like you too, Adrian. A lot. And I’m willing to split the coffee bill two ways if you’ll still agree to go to that coffee place on Main with me.” You say it like it’s a joke, but you’re hardly joking. It’s all you could possibly want for him to say yes.

Adrian leaned in towards you. He smelled like almond and saffron, a departure from the usual sweat and gunsmoke smell that he had as Vigilante. He pulled you towards him by the waist, your breath mingling with his at the empty space between your lips.

“8 am, Monday, Edge Coffee. If you’re not there then I’ll show Adebayo the picture of you playing with her dog that you told me not to show anyone. And we’re not splitting the bill.” You could feel the heat from Adrian’s breath spread across your face as he said this, every part of you (cold dead heart included), warmed by his body, words, and actions. You closed what distance was left between the two of you (which wasn’t very much distance at all), lips pressing against his in what you hoped was reassurance, expressing the love you had for him that you couldn’t possibly begin to tell him about.

“I’ll be there.”

[writebackatya]

Indiquack??

Yeah I think got some left, how many ounces do y-

Oh, right. The fanfic bingo thing. Sure.

Ahhh, my first DuckTales fanfic! I can’t say “No one else was writing this” because I found out after I first published it that there is a weed-related DuckTales fic on fanfiction dot net and one on AO3 written by Kimberlyeab who I think has written some great DuckTales/The Venture Bros. crossover fanfics. I haven’t read either weed stories cause I don’t want to subconsciously copy what they both have done

And honestly, this whole story came from a high conversation between me and one of my sibs who watches DuckTales. It was about the boys discovering Della smoking weed; we agreed they would be chill about it because Dewey would think she’s cool, Louie also wants to smoke weed and wouldn’t mind, and Huey would be like “Oh you must have heard about the legalization of marijuana” and then Della would be like “Weed is legal now? Cool.”But then something in my brain wanted to take that situation seriously and really think how Della would handle that being a mother now with kids. And voila, Ground Control to Della Duck! was born! Pretty soon I had a bunch of other weed related stories forming in my brain

I put a LOT of research into all of these stories. For one, I want everything to be as accurate as possible, both the characters and the weed. I remember reading a weed related story in another fandom which was funny in its own right, but I disliked that when the characters smoked weed they just became a generic stoner rather than themselves but high. Which isn’t exclusive to that story, but it was something I wanted to avoid. To me Indi-Quack! wouldn’t be as funny or as entertaining if the characters weren’t in character

And yeah, I’m stoner. I occasionally smoke weed when I write these stories. But I still do research on weed (mainly use Leafly) to make sure I’m getting the effects and names right. I think Under the Influence of Gandra Dee! was the most I researched weed for

I try to write in a way for the people who don’t smoke weed can understand what the characters are feeling while the people who do smoke weed will be like “Yeah, that’s accurate”

Besides weed stuff, I did do a lot of research for other things for Indi-Quack!. Stuck in the Middle with DEW! made me do a lot of research on the Woodstock concert; which was honestly pretty fun! I looked up the event schedule, Jimi Hendrix’s set that he played, watched a few live recordings of his performance and listened to any audio I could find (VEVO and other record a-holes make finding Woodstock videos of Jimi hard to get), as well as an interview with Jimi Hendrix on his personal experience at Woodstock. I also looked up any crazy stories that might have happened there (Matilda mentions an incident with The Who in that story. Research paid off!)

Also, there are quite a bit of reference to the 87 show throughout it if you wanna count that as research

Speaking of Stuck in the Middle with DEW!, I remember back when I was writing that I was like so afraid of how people would react to Dewey eating not one, but two edibles and then tripping hard. But it turns out, people loved it!

As for the spite, well there might be a little bit of spite in it. The Dewey story was kinda inspired by the fact that the only Timephoon! stories are angsty stuff about Louie. And the final line of that story is, “That’s cool, I got grounded!”

But I do love Louie but the poor kid might have to wait awhile till he finally smokes weed

And don’t tell anyone but slowly but surely pretty soon EVERYONE in this fandom will embrace the Della and Gandra friendship that I totally know would happen if this show had at least three more seasons! Also some shipping stuff would be nice. It’s like Fenro but both are girls and tops

As for fan art, maybe? I don’t know. Shortly after I posted Do the Write Thing! I found fanart of the Three Caballeros smoking and getting caught in Uncle Scrooge’s garage while Donald is holding a notebook marked song ideas. But honestly, it’s probably just a coincidence. That scene didn’t happen in the story and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has thought of those one-hit wonders smoking in the old man’s garage

Anyway I still can’t believe how much love and attention this fic has gotten. Honestly. I never would have guessed it would have brought me where I am in the fandom to this day. Especially since I found out a good chunk of my readers don’t smoke weed!

[ruddcatha]

Fic Writer Ask!

🌻 What makes you want to give up on writing? What makes you keep going?

💝 What is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

💎 Why is writing important to you?

Hope you're having a wonderful day! 💖💖💖

Hello my dear @sereia1313!! What makes me want to give up on writing is life. I feel like its been a one two three punch, that has had me on the ropes for a good year and a half almost two years, and while the words are in my brain, its not coming out on paper. What makes me keep going is the feeling when i do get a story out, even a chapter out, and its almost a competition with myself. That and my friends, I think I would have bowed out if I didn't have friends to support me and be there for me to vent to, cry to, and joke around wtih.

A fic that got a different response than I was expecting. I answered this for @witchygirl99, but another fic that got a different response than I was expecting was honestly I think Duality of Man, the Sui/Kik and Inu/Kag I wrote with @fawn-eyed-girl. We loved adapting it, and think we did a great job with it, but wow there were some people who were straight up MAD at us while it was being published. It was a... trust us, trust the writers, we will NOT do you wrong, but still- there were opinions that made me giggle and groan.

Writing is important to me because there are stories in my head that I want to read, and its important to me to get them down, to get them out of my head and share them with others. Its an escape from the stress of my real life, even though I don't do it as often as I used to. Its a way of channeling emotions, crafting the message, and is so different from the legal writing I do that its almost a retreat in a way.

[theoldmixer]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks @scurator for the tag!!

How many works do you have on ao3?

21. I have been and always will be a slow writer. There are more on LJ and ff.net before ao3 days that don't need to be seen.

What's your total ao3 word count? 222,086

What fandoms do you write for?

Beatles now, but all my hyperfixations have produced fic of some kind. Hamilton was my other biggie of the ao3 years so there's a lot of fics for that as well.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Burr Worked Next Door (Hamilton/Burr)

Elementary, my dear Jim (Kirk/Bones)

In the Living Room Stressing (Hamilton/Burr)

well, how did I get here (John/Paul)

Is this a legal matter? (Hamilton/Washington

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes because I think it's common courtesy. I didn't always but I've changed my way of thinking lately! A simple thank you is all that is needed too!

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

As someone who loves angst I'm sad to say, they all have happy endings! Though I love those too. The only fic I can think of that's vaguely angsty is a Brokeback Mountain fic on ff.net.

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

Probably my modern JP fic nobody can deny that there's something there. That's the most fluffy happy ending I ever remember writing.

Do you get hate on fics?

The only thing I can think of is a comment someone put on a rec list that included my fic. I was happy to see my fic included but then they said the sex was a "clear no." It kept me from writing sex scenes for years.

Do you write smut?

See above. Occasionally but a lot of fade to black.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, but I did start a hamilton/star wars one that's somewhere in my google docs

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Don't think so.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! My friend and I wrote a few together. I liked that we both got to use our strengths to work together.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Ooooof hard. I have so many! I do feel like I always come back to Han/Leia (though I've never published a fic of it!) or Kirk/Bones. John/Paul will probably end up as an all time fav too.

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

A Hamilton fic that I never published or finished but I think about often. Maybe if I ever get back to a Hamilton phase again.

What are your writing strengths?

I'm not really sure but my friend has told me I do better writing funny fics or parts and writing kid speak (though I haven't done much of either of those lately 🤷🏻‍♀️)

What are your writing weaknesses?

A lot. But if I had to pick one, I'd say writing in clear detail and using creative word choice (I always use the same words for everything!)

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I don't think it's really necessary because most people reading it won't understand. I can think of a few fics where I could tell they just used google translate and while google translate it fine in some cases, you're better off just leaving it out because people are just going to gloss over it anyways. If the author speaks the other language that would be better.

First fandom you wrote for?

Ever? Harry Potter in high school. I wrote the fic on sheets of notebook paper and passed it to my friend. I'm pretty sure I still have it and I would be so mortified to read it again 😳

Favorite fic you've written?

I think my modern JP fic? It's one I can re-read with minimal embarrassment lol.

tagging: @notgrungybitchin @aquarianshift @backbenttulips @paisanas

[anonofseasons]

Since it's on my mind... I don't mention this on AO3, it's against TOS (besides, I like sharing some of my work "for free" and agree with AO3's stance for legal reasons), but I do have some writing published. Two erotica and the old version of a novel about an asexual incubus (I'm rewriting it) are still up for sale. I'm self-publishing a short story and another novel soon. Both are generally sfw but have dark content. But I'm also working on stories right now that I seem to divide up in my head as "can be published" and "probably just going to put this on AO3" - and I really love sharing stuff, even if I don't make money. Which is something, because my financial situation is bleak as fuck, so I sometimes toss my ko-fi around. I'm unemployed right now. I have been for a while. I'm moving states away from family and in with a friend once my friend sorts a housing situation for us, and I hope to get on my feet a bit better there... But I am disabled. I still want to share writing that's "free" basically. Even though it's original. But yeah, if anyone wants to support my other writings, I'd love that, and sometimes they'll be on AO3 and other times they'll be published. Sharing it is my main goal. I just want enough money to survive and be able to keep on writing! I've never gone to college or anything like that so I've learned writing purely by self-motivation. (I wasn't permitted to live with family and go to college at the same time unless I worked full time to "justify" going, and I just... can't do that. Never could.) I know AO3 is protecting its fic writers legally by banning mentions of patreon/kofi/commissions and I understand that! So I try to share plenty of my work across social media otherwise, and think of what I post on AO3 as separate from anything that might get me tips or w/e. (Also, I don't want to use patreon except in the event that I can support some other creators someday I HOPE, but I might use subscribestar adult?) And I appreciate that people read my stuff. It's actually really incredible. I am rather hard on myself and my abilities, but I know people see something good in what I write, even when I don't. Thank you for that. It means a lot!

[nikki-pondtheauthor]

9/2/2023 - I'm still alive

Just finished the oathtaking ceremony for all the passers of the license exam, and it's been a while since I gave an update on the writing. Mostly I have been distracted with RL with setting up legal documents and adulting life. Bought a house. Preparing for visa and making itinerary plans in my spare time.

I still write. I'm just not as hardcore as I used to be so I've been slowly writing a few paragraphs and moving onto the next WIPs. And yes, I have read all those comments asking me to update - I swear the next chapter DOES have drafts, it's just that I'm not satisfied with the chapters staring at my face so I let it rest for months some time until a burst of inspiration hit me.

What fics have I been working on? My priority at the moment are:

Blood doesn't always mean Family

A DPxDC family week one-shot that I've been meaning to publish way back in June 2023 but I keep getting hit with writer's block

A Prompt Fill (won't say)

DPxDC disney one-shot - Dick & Danny (Death Defying if you squint)

Of course, there are other plot bunnies that just demanding me to write and I have to hold back the urge to add another WIP 😂 I have 4 plot bunnies that I've been working on for the past month? whether I'll be able to get that out remains unclear, but if I do, I am planning to set up a "DPxDC plot bunnies/prompt fill" series - an idea that I could not resist writing, but will not be my top priority

Anyway, that's all. I just want to let u know that I'm not dead

[ai-archive-for-all]

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐈?

In the last 2 years or so AI generative platforms have become a hit. A huge boom that is used to create all sorts of knowledge, content, companionship etc. Some of it however has turned out bad, wrong or even downright evil, while other has actually brought comfort, and care to the users and overall generally good stuff.  Think ChatGTP, You.com, Gencraft, Lummini, Midjourney are just samples in the grand scheme of AI tools on the internet. And since their creation the AI art, writing, bots, deep fakes etc such have expanded tremendously. 

AI stuff is everywhere; whether you know and like it or not. 

But, like everything out there, especially a new piece of technology, it has raised mixed feelings. And justifiably so. A lot of the generative sites mentioned above use models such as DALL-E 2, Stable Diffusion and other models . Which exact data sources these models build on is however unclear (See Dennis, 2022). Which is the biggest ethical issue with AI art (and to a certain extent AI Writing). This data could come from open source data and data submitted and willingly for the AI to be trained on, but a lot of the time it is trained on art from real artists and authors who have not consented to it. This makes AI art and content problematic since it is used for commercial use.

However, if I may be the devil's advocate. I think this is a much bigger issue for original works and published creations and in commercial setting than Tumblr and fan creations at large. Why? Because legally speaking (although it depends where you are of course, I can only speak from European context at large) but fanfiction and fanart by itself can be seen as copyright infringement into the original works copyright. By legal definition, copyright infringement occurs when:

Too much of the original works elements are copied, uses the characters or distinct elemets from the original work or that the new works characters or distinct elements are too similar to the original work, alternatively that the new work competes on the same market as the original work (AI Archive translation & simplification)

So, in other words, basically the entire fanfiction and fanart community could be and would be shut down if the original works creators wanted it to. Still it is (mostly) allowed to exist because we don’t claim to own the works, we don’t compete with the original creations market (aka do it not for money) but rather try showing appreciation for the original works art. It’s a thin line to say the least and even with that thin line, only, maybe a handful of works would be considered individual enough not to be copyright infringement. 

Do you get where I’m going with this? If we cry too much, especially in the fandom community about AI infringement, what is to say that governing institutions will not make another serious purge attempt at us all, AI and non AI creators that breach the strict definition of copyright (I doubt it will happen). Rather on a deeper level, I don’t think the issue is so much about AI itself, but rather how it is used. 

More precisely, the problematic issue when a fanfiction/fanart creator uses AI content and do not declare their AI use (which is also something Dennis mentions). For example omitting the information all together anywhere on their blog, or, worse yet, denying that they used AI to create their content such as a fic or picture. I know I am guilty of including it on the blog but not under every post where AI had a small insignificant part of the total work (part in a banner for a fanfiction) and I’m definitely going to be even more transparent about it in the future. 

I encourage you to do the same, while also considering that, maybe, within the context of tumblr and fandom work we shouldn’t be talking about ‘good creator not using AI’ or ‘bad creator using AI’ but rather be open and honest about how and why AI was used in our works. And on a larger field advocate and motivate companies to create data sets that do not infringe into content creators rights, but instead create a possibility for writers, authors and artists to submit their pieces into the data set to create a more ethical use of it. 

Because only when we’re honest about how and why we use AI can we start tackling all of the underlying issues AI has.

See Sources & Additional info below:

Steve Dennis (2022) "The AI Art Debate: Excitement, Fear and Ethics"

Kavya Goyal (2024) "Exploring GenCraft.ai | An Overview"

𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 | 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 & 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 | 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 & 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬

[littlepadika]

Calling Home (5) | Frankie Morales x Reader

Summary: You are a receptionist at the VA. Frankie Morales keeps calling. Yearning ensues…

Rating: E (18+ only)

Warnings: age gap (legal), dilf!frankie, praise kink, voice kink, size kink, low self esteem, discussion of addiction/ptsd/trauma/triggers, divorce drama, no use of y/n, no beta reader, DDLG🎀, unprotected piv sex, oral m and oral f, hickies galore👅, mild BDSM (cuffs⛓, choking).

Masterlist here

AN: Whatta ride... but all things come to an end🥺. i'm blown away by the support for this fic. Thank you all 💕.

Chapter Five

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frankie had his own mental list of stuff he needed to do before you would arrive. He dunged out his closet to make room for your clothes. It was long overdue. He had a lot of things he didn’t wear anymore that needed to go. He went out and bought some more plates and silverware since his two plates and Rosie’s plastic plates would not do. He no longer looked around his home with a sense of loneliness, now he pictured all the places you could fit in. He could see you reading by the window in the living room so he bought a comfy new chair to put there. He noticed your small plant collection in your apartment and thought you’d maybe like a bigger one in the back yard so he bought a planter box.

He was reading your novel, titled Our Little Kingdom, while your candle burned. You didn't give it to him at first. While you were in the bathroom and Frankie washed your dishes, he noticed a stack of papers poking out in the trash. It was your manuscript. When you came back and saw him reading it you tried to take it back but Frankie insisted and you caved. It was good. Frankie wasn't just saying that because he loved you. He could see how great writers had influenced you and still it was uniquely your voice. The story, too, was compelling. He couldn't help but imagine you as the protagonist as she was just as sweet and clever.

You were making good progress on your list. You had put in your two weeks notice and started to applying to jobs in Miami. You enjoyed working with veterans so you hoped you could do something similar again. As two weeks went by you were disappointed you still hadn't heard back from job interviews. Packing was a little more difficult. You didn’t know what was worth taking and what was worth leaving. You knew Frankie had most everything already so it was a matter of picking your most special things. The rest you were slowing taking to Goodwill in batches.

You had completely forgotten you sent your book in to publishers until a flurry of emails came in on the same day.

Frankie woke up in the middle of the night to his phone ringing. He sat up pulling the phone towards him. It was you. Why would you be calling so late? Maybe something was wrong?

“Frankie?” You sounded congested. He heard a sniffle. Frankie furrowed his brow at that.

“Hey. Is everything all right?”

“ They-they-“ you could barely get it out “they rejected me.”

“Who?”

“All of them. All of the book agencies.” You threw yourself onto your bed, hot tears running down your face.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry, sweet pea.” Frankie didn’t know whether to be sad or angry. He thought your book was amazing. He sat up and flicked on the bedside lamp. “They’re idiots. Every one of them.”

“They’re experts, Frankie.” You felt more tears leak from your eyes. “Maybe I’m just not a good writer. Maybe-Maybe-" You hiccuped and low cry slipped from your mouth. You covered your mouth, taking in raking breaths. It was agony to admit this to him when he believed in you most. You felt like you had let him down. Frankie's heart literally ached in his chest as he listened to your quiet weeping over the phone. He waited for you to continue, feeling his own eyes grow misty.

“Don’t disappear on me, little pea. Let me hear that voice of yours.”

You were unable to speak. Scared of what may come out. You felt like your walls were closing in around you and mocking you. How did you ever think you could be a writer like all your favorite authors? You were so stupid, you thought.

“I let you down.” You said shakily.

“No no no, little pea.” Frankie said quickly. “You could never let me down. I don’t need to a book agent to tell me you’re a good writer. I know you’re writing is beautiful and perfect. Just like you.”

His praise caused another wave of tears from you.

“Daddy…” You bawled.

“I hear you, baby.” Frankie heard his own voice shake with emotion. He never hated the distance more than he did in this moment. He needed to wrap you up in his arms. “Close your eyes, sweet pea. Use that big imagination of yours. Pretend I’m there with you.”

“Imagination isn’t good enough, daddy.” You blubbered, fat tears slipping from your eyes.

“I know, baby.” Frankie’s heart was breaking. “But try for me okay?”

You clamped your eyes shut and tried to focus in on his breathing on the other end of the phone. Frankie did the same, closing his eyes.

“Good, sweet pea. Focus on daddy.” He wished he was there to comfort you, wrap you up in his arms and shield you from the cruel cruel world. “I’m next to you. I’m holding you so tight.”

“Hold me tighter!” You begged holding your pillow pet to your chest.

“Okay. I just did.” Frankie whispered closing his eyes as if it would be more real. “Feel that?”

“Yeah…” A moment went by as you steadied your breathing. Tears eventually stopped falling, drying against your cheeks. Frankie’s steady breathing anchored you.

“I loved your book. It was really really good. And fuck it, I’ll publish it myself.” Frankie couldn't help but raise his voice.

“Silly.” You sniffled.

“I’m serious, sweet pea. Who needs those stuck up assholes.”

“Hmm yeah, you’re right.” You agreed, voice softening with sleepiness. You pushed your face into your pillow. You could still smell Frankie if you really focused. "I miss you, Frankie."

"I miss you, too."

"I still haven't heard from any jobs. And- maybe I'm just not good enough and-" You felt more tears fill your eyes.

"Shhh shhh" Frankie interrupted "Listen to me. You are the best. The right thing will turn up i'm sure of it."

"But it's the only thing left on the list!"

"I know..." Frankie pulled over your copy of the list that you wrote for him. He had crossed things off as you reported to him. "Let's see if they get back to you tomorrow." Maybe he was being too hard on you, making you get a job first. He only wanted to put it on there to give you some independence over the move. He didn't want you to feel like you had nothing to do once you got here.

Frankie waited until your breathing evened out. He called your name quietly. When he got no response he assumed you fell asleep. He didn’t want to hang up. He missed you so fucking much and he felt helpless.

When he woke up the next morning, he said goodbye to Rosalia as usual, called in sick, and started driving north. Fuck the list. You were coming home with him now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of course Frankie called you telling you he was on his way. You felt bad for making him miss work but your excitement overpowered any guilt. You set a timer for 14 hours and started packing with new energy. Your eyes were still puffy from your tears last night. But you repeated what Frankie said like a mantra. Who needs those stuck up assholes. There were tons of ways to self publish nowadays. It didn’t have to be through a publishing house.

When you ran out of things to clean up and pack, you watched out the window waiting to see Frankie’s blue pick up. You had changed into sleep shorts and a t shirt. While you had a plan to dress more sexy you ended up accidentally packing that surprise in one of the boxes earlier today. It was getting dark when Frankie finally pulled up. He looked exhausted but still… Frankie. He was wearing his favorite hat and grey t shirt. You ran down to the street to meet him. He’s pulling empty boxes from the bed of the truck when he sees you sprinting towards him.

“Sweet pea!” He smiled as you launched yourself into his arms. “Oof.” You buried you face in his shirt inhaling his scent. He rubbed your back affectionately enjoying having you back in his arms. “Aw… it’s okay. It’s okay now.” He murmured when he heard you sniffle. He oddly felt his chest swell with pride at how much you missed him. He never had to worry about how you felt about him. He peeled your head off him by stroking your head. You looked up at him with a watery smile. “You ready to blow this popsicle stand?”

You snickered at his dad phases. “I’m ready. Well… I still have some stuff I need to pack up. Too heavy.”

“That’s what I’m here for.” Frankie kissed you chastely. You pulled him in for more though, fisting his shirt in your hands. “Mmm no no. Work first. Play later.” Frankie pulled back. You pouted but have to agree with his logic. The faster you packed the faster you could leave.

Back in your apartment Frankie got to work taking apart your bed and dresser. You finished packing your clothes and dusting.

“Hey what’s this? It was under the bed.” Frankie walked over holding a gift bag with pink tissue paper sticking up.

“Oh…” You quickly grabbed it away. “That’s supposed to be a surprise. For Rosie.”

“You got her a present?” Frankie was touched by your thoughtfulness.

“Yeah I mean… I figured it might make her like me more.”

“She already likes you, but she can never have too many toys.” Frankie stepped further into your space. You realize at that moment how sweaty he was from moving all the furniture. It was so late at night and you were both exhausted but the sudden rush of his thicker smell made you feel wide awake. “Can I see what you got her?”

You handed the package back over, watching him gingerly move the tissue paper to the side. His eyes softened when he saw the pink unicorn pillow pet sitting in the bag. A mini version of yours.

“Am I too presumptuous making us matching? I don’t know if she likes unicorns and-" Frankie cut you off, dropping the bag and kissing you up against the wall. He wasn't even sure what part of that turned him on, just your sweetness and wanting to be a part of his family. He held your face in his hands, his grip forcing your mouth open. You felt yourself start to grow wet. You loved when he just went caveman on you. Sometimes he didn’t have the words to express how much he loved you so he reverted to touch; to deep kisses and deep thrusts. His hands trailed down your exposed legs so he could lift you up on his hips. You held onto his shoulders as he swung you around. The bed was gone, the couch was gone.

"Fuck. Hang on."

You laughed as he ran you out to the kitchen to set you down on the counter. You pawed at his pants trying to undo his belt, but Frankie was faster, unhooking your bra from under your shirt and then pulling your shirt over your head. He took your hand and placed it over his large bulge between his legs.

“Feel what you do to me…” He gritted through his teeth his chest rising and falling sharply.


“Frankie- oh my god-please let me” You pulled he belt loose. At first he stops you. “I didn’t get to last time. Please?” He bit his lip considering your plea. He really just wanted to give and give and give to you. But he had been mean last time, not letting you touch his cock. So this time he doesn’t stop you as you unbutton his pants and pull him out of his boxers. You licked your lips as his cock fell into your hand, curving up towards you.

You hopped off the counter, getting onto your knees before him. “Take off your shirt… please?” He obliged. You kissed down his belly feeling it tighten against your lips. He watched you with fire in his eyes, his mouth slightly parted. You pushed the rest of his pants and boxers down. You stroked him slowly with both hands.

“You have to tell me what you like…” You held his cock and licked a long stripe from the base to the head making him moan weakly. You repeat the motion adding a few kitten licks at the end, lapping up the stray drops of salty precum. Frankie was struggling to think let alone speak. He gripped the countertop above you, his other hand going to the back of your head.

“Just- go slow.” You followed his instructions, slowly taking his length in your mouth. “Good-good girl.” He clenched his jaw staring down at the sight. Your hot mouth felt like heaven and your innocent eyes staring up at him was just the cherry on top. You took his dick as far as you could before you choked lightly. You were by no means an expert at giving blowjobs but you were frustrated you couldn't go further. Your jaw was already aching from his girth.

“Mm don’t hurt yourself, baby.” He hissed unable to hold his hips still, he jerked a little against you making you whine. “Come back up, remember to breathe.”

You slowly pulled off his cock before going down again. Frankie’s hand on your head gently guided you so you didn’t hurt your throat. You added suction, applying pressure on the underside of his cock. You started to find what he liked based on his sounds. You still couldn’t take him all the way in your mouth, tears gathered in corner of your eyes from the effort. Your hand pumped the rest that wouldn’t fit.

“Oh fuck.” Frankie gasped his hips jerking again making his cock slide back into your mouth. You moved one of your hands to his hips looking up at him to say it was okay. “Are you-you want me to fuck your mouth, sweet pea?” You nodded eagerly. You put one of you hands on his length where he wouldn’t fit. He gathered up some of your hair in a makeshift ponytail and slowly thrust into your mouth. Like he always did, he waited for you to nod and give him the okay. When you did, he couldn’t help the growl that left his throat. Drool leaked from your mouth onto your chest as he sped up using your head more forcefully. You were sure you had soaked through your panties. It turned you on so much to see him take control, use you for his pleasure, but still his grip on you was firm and gentle. Every grunt went straight to your pussy. “Such a good girl letting me use this hole, too.” He rasped. “You’re crying around my cock.”

“Mmhm” You hummed around his dick making him groan. He was close. He was battering the back of your throat. You could recognize the furrowed brow and the tightening of his balls. You intensified your ministrations.

“Good girl, good-I’m gonna cum in your little mouth.” He pulled out of your mouth with a wet pop. “Stick out your tongue, sweet pea.” He ordered. You obeyed, watching greedily as he fisted himself harshly the tip of his cock hitting your tongue. You placed your hands on either side of his tummy, anticipating his load. His chest was flush and his eyes were fluttering shut. When he came he yanked your head up harshly as cum splashed onto your tongue. You loved this perspective, watching his face contort with pleasure. You tried to take every drop but some dripped down your chin. “Swallow.” Frankie ordered roughly still maintaining his grip on your head. You swallowed, his warm cum sliding down your throat.

“Thank you, daddy.” You smiled up at him, wiping some of the stray cum off your chin. He let go of your hair, now stroking your head then your jaw. “Did I do well?”

“So good.” He chuckled and helped you stand, his breath still ragged. You squirmed pressing your thighs together. The move not missed by Frankie. “Did sucking my cock make you wet, sweet pea?”

You nodded shyly before saying “It’s okay though. You don’t have to-it’s late and we have a long drive tomorrow.”

“You’re always looking out for me but what kind of man would I be if I left you all needy. But you have to ask for it, sweet pea.”

“I kinda just want your mouth if that’s okay?” You asked feeling too tired for a full round of sex.

“Of course.” Frankie smiled. “Your mattress is still in the bedroom.” He led you in and helped settle you on the center of the mattress. He pulled your shorts and underwear off, staring at your slick reddened pussy. "You soaked your little panties, sweet pea. Did you touch your little flower while I was gone?" Frankie asked, pulling apart your legs.

"I-I tried to. But it wasn't the same."

"How come, little pea?" His patronizing tone had your cunt clenching. He was teasing you.

"It wasn't your fingers. I needed you." You huffed, trying to push his head down onto you.

"Mmm poor thing." Frankie chuckled, the rich sound giving you goosebumps. He felt his cock start to harden again despite you just sucked the soul out of him moments ago. He slowly licked up your slit moaning at the taste of you. Your head tipped back as he he slowly inserted a finger into you. "Eyes on me." He instructed. You forced your head back down so you could make eye contact. "Play with your tits for me." You obeyed, squeezing the flesh in your hand. He returned to his task, taking your clit in between his lips, quickly escalating your climax. Your hands never stood a chance. He inserted a second finger, curling it against you. They were so thick and long it hit that spot deep inside you it made you gush.

"Oh my god. Daddy-I'm-" You teetered on the precipice your breath caught in your throat. Your entire body erupted in flames as your mouth open in a silent scream. Frankie's eyes widened as your pussy strangled his fingers before fluttering uncontrollably. Your cum dripped onto his hand, he quickly replaced his fingers with his tongue trying to catch it all.

"That's it." He felt you finally take a shaking inhale. "Breathe, sweet pea. Breathe." Exhaustion hit you hard as every muscle relaxed.

"I'm sleepy..." You slurred.

"It's okay. You can go to sleep." Frankie leaned up kissing you, smearing your slick all over your mouth. He returned to licking your pussy less aggressively though. "I got you."

You nodded before drifting off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning you dump the last of your stuff at goodwill, packed the truck, turned in your key, and hit the road. You were bouncing in your seat with excitement. You hadn’t ever traveled south of DC. The landscape was beautiful. You and Frankie took turns driving, belting Fleetwood Mac on repeat. You forced Frankie to take obligatory selfies to remember the journey at rest stops or whenever the view was worthy. Over halfway to Miami you paused at a rest stop for a quick nap. Frankie was anxious to get you home and he didn’t want to stay put for too long. He was used to long drives and quick naps, but you weren’t. He didn’t want to exhaust you because there was so much he wanted to show you when you arrived. You laid across the backseat of the truck with your head in Frankie’s lap as the sun was going down.

In the early morning Frankie finished the drive. His own excitement increased when he was back in the city. You had your head nearly sticking out of the window looking at everything. You couldn’t believe how sunny and warm it was here. Frankie turned down a residential street. “Almost there.” He said. You buzzed in your seat.

Frankie made one last turn into a driveway. You instantly got warm feelings looking at the house. It was painted seagull grey with white trim. It was wonderfully symmetrical with two windows on the first and second floor with window boxes outside the first floor window. The front yard was nicely mowed.

“Your house is so cute!” You hopped out of the car, your legs enjoying the chance to stretch. The air smelled slightly salty being so close to the beach. The sun felt wonderful on your skin. You could have laid down in the grass and just fallen asleep.

Frankie showed you around his house with your hand in his, pointing out random things of importance in his giddy state. You followed him around with bright adoring eyes. Despite looking forward to this moment for a while, you barely looked at anything except for him. You could care less about where the tile for the fireplace came from. You didn’t remember Frankie’s story about how Will messed up his back moving in Frankie’s couch in because it was hitting you over and over again that you were home with Frankie. You didn’t pay attention to the story behind Rosie’s crib because Frankie was here with you. His warm hand holding you close like you may disappear. He was here with that damn cute excited voice as he showed you around his home, soon to be your home.

“Sweet pea? Earth to sweet pea?”

“Hmmm?” You smiled apologetically. Standing in the kitchen, the sun pouring in from the window above the sink bathed Frankie in golden light making him look ethereal.

“I said- we should start moving boxes in before it gets dark.”

“You haven’t shown me everything yet.” You realized.

“What did I miss?”

“Your room…” You swung your entwined hands back and forth.

“Our room, sweet pea.”

“So I won’t be sleeping on the floor?” You laughed.

“Never.” He kissed you briefly. “I just haven’t cleaned up in there and I need to make some space for your stuff and-“

“Frankie.” You quiet his rambling with another kiss. You couldn’t stop kissing him. “Your house is immaculate. That’s the room I want to see.”

He swallowed harshly before he led you up the stairs and down the narrow hallway to his room. While showing you the garden and the other rooms he was giddy but now he seemed more flustered. When you opened the door you could see why. Your candle was sitting on his bedside table. It was the first thing you saw when you walked in.

You immediately break away from him, going to inspect his bedside table. Glimpses of Frankie that made you love him all the more. Your candle, your books, your list, his sergeant pin, and an old alarm clock.

“Was this what you’re so embarrassed about?” You asked picking up the candle. It was almost used up. He averted his gaze. The back of his neck bright red which you recognized as a sign of his nervousness. “Frankie…” You set it down and took both his hands in yours. You couldn’t even convey what it meant to you. He had missed you that much that he burned your candle.

“I have the real thing now.” He said pulling you against his chest, dragging his nose over your cheek in reverence. You hummed in contentment. “This is our room, sweet pea. Our home.” He whispered.

“Our bed.” You added moving his hands to rest on your ass, wrapping your own around his neck.


“Eager girl.” He tutted, kissing just below your ear, squeezing your ass lightly.

“I can’t help it. I’ve waited so long, Frankie.” You tilt your head up resting your forehead against his.

“You’ll never have to wait again, princesa pea. I’m here.”

“Then I want you now.” You tugged him towards the bed. Falling down onto his comforter you were hit by a puff of his scent. Laundry detergent, old spice, and that indescribable musk that was Frankie. You barely got a chance to enjoy it before Frankie is falling on top of you. You laughed as he pulled you up the bed until you’re against the pillows. He's about to rip your clothes from you but-

“Wait wait- I have a gift for you.” His eyes lit up.

“Frankie…” You smiled “You didn’t have to get me anything.” He pushed away from you, walking over to his dresser. He pulled out a small package.


“Here.” He handed it to you.

You sat up. You felt guilty you didn’t get him a gift. You slowly peeled back the tape trying to save the paper. It was wrapped so nicely.

“Come on, rip it up. It’s just paper.”

“No… I wanna save it.” You argued, pulling it open finally. You stared down at the contents in your lap. It was a book with a pink cover and loopy writing. Our Little Kingdom. “Frankie… this is- this is my book.” You felt your eyes swim with tears.

“I know.” Frankie knelt in front of you. “I read it and it was so good. I wanted to get it bound. I was serious when I said want to publish it. I want to make it happen. But if you don’t want to at least we can enjoy it how it’s meant to be enjoyed.”

You flipped through the pages smelling the fresh paper. You reached the end and noticed Frankie had slipped in something as a book mark. It was a torn half of a check. “This is…”

“The check I tore up. I use it as a bookmark so I thought you would-“

You launched yourself at Frankie, a habit you learned from him when words were just simply not enough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you woke up, you were surrounded by Frankie’s scent, warm sun hitting your face. Frankie wasn't there. You heard movement downstairs. You threw on the first shirt of Frankie's you could find. You practically skipped down the stairs, heart leaping when you saw Frankie in his PJ pants and nothing else sitting at the kitchen table. His body was lit up in the morning sun, he looked like a goddamn dream. He was shoveling some cereal into his mouth but he stopped when he noticed you. He still looked so sexy to you in this moment, his strong arms and big hand gripping the small spoon. His chest littered with small hickies you made. You blinked a couple of times wanting to imprint this image into your brain forever.

“What are you doing up so early?”

“The sun woke me up!”

“Shit. I would have made you some breakfast or something.”

“That’s okay.” You smiled going to stand in front of him. You kissed him, licking some of the milk from his lips. Your hands rested on his bare golden shoulders. You loved how wide they were and how solid and warm they felt.

“Mmm is this mine, sweet pea?” He tugged at the Fleetwood Mac shirt hanging down to your thighs.

“No, it’s another boys.” You teased.

“Don’t joke about that, little pea.” Frankie warned with a small swipe to your ass.

“I’m sorry, daddy.” You giggled. “I was only joking. No one else has cool shirts like you.”

“You want some cereal? I can also make eggs or pancakes or-“

“I want-” You slipped your hand over his pants. You could feel his slightly hard cock sitting below. “This.”

“You already had some last night and you still want more?” Frankie groaned his thighs spreading further around you. “I thought you’d be sore, sweet pea.”

“I am.” You admitted kissing him quickly. “but I still want you.”

“Mmm…” Frankie pulled your hand away watching you pout. “I think you need to eat something first.”

“No I don’t!”

“Come on, I’ll let you sit on your special seat.” He tapped his thigh. You debated this. You decided to do what he asked, not wanting to test your luck so early in the day. You hopped up on his lap wiggling back until his semi hard cock was pressed against your back. Your thighs sitting over his legs, your pussy peaking out from his shirt. Frankie rested his big hands on your bare thighs rubbing the skin back and forth. You closed your eyes enjoying his touch. You could feel his breath against your neck as he looked down at the sight.

“Do I look good on my special seat, daddy?” You asked looking up at him.

“Perfect, my little pea.” Frankie smiled. He pulled the cereal over and you popped a bite in your mouth. You didn’t normally like cereal but since Frankie asked…

“Okay, done. I’ve eaten.”

“Woah I hardly call that eating.” Frankie shook his head. He placed a hand on your stomach, fingers splayed out over the entire width almost. He applied a little pressure which had you squirming again. God his hands were so big and warm just above where you needed him. “I can feel little rumblings telling me you’re hungry, sweet pea.” You rock against him more intentionally making him catch his breath.

“Not for cereal.” You bit your lip.

“One more bite, sweet pea. For daddy?” He rubbed his beard into your neck which never failed to make you to laugh.


You took another spoonful of the soggy cereal before looking up at him for approval. He chuckled as you chewed quickly. You looked so cute with your cheeks full. It made cock ache.

“Good job, sweet pea.” He smirked when you swallowed it all. He lowered his hand down to cup your pussy which was already dripping. You hand flew to his thick forearm.

You melted against him as he rubs your clit slowly. Last night was hurried and desperate but now it was like he had all the time in the world. You listened to him take large inhale against your neck, smelling you.

“You look so beautiful, sweet pea. In my shirt. In our kitchen.”

“Fuck…” You moaned. His fingers felt so wonderful and thick against you. You fucking loved the sound of that. Ours.

“I’m gonna fuck you on our table.”

He lifted you up with ease, pushing your back down on the table. The sun coming through the window bathed your body in soft light. You looked divine. Frankie had your legs spread wide, tongue on that pussy before you could even blink. “Holy shit. Daddy!” Your hands clenched into fists at your side.

“Sweet pea.” Frankie pulled off, lips wetted by your slick. You blushed under his hot gaze. “Why don’t you pull my hair?”

You whimpered as he took your little fist and put it in his beautiful locks. “I want to but… the last person I was with didn’t like it.” You turned your head to the side trying to hide your embarrassment. His hair felt like silk in your hands.

“Hey-“ Frankie gently grabbed your chin and turned you to look at him. “You don’t have to hide anything from me.” He was leaning over you, invading all your senses, but of course the aspect that hit you hardest was his voice. Soft and reassuring. That rich baritone that made you fall in love in the first place. “Pull my hair, baby, I wanna know how well I treat this pussy. You won’t hurt me.”

You nodded feeling your eyes wet with tears. His affection never ceased to shock you. He kissed you, softening your worried look with each stroke of his tongue. When you were relaxed, he returned to your pussy. He was a fast learner for the times, applying the pressure you needed with his tongue while hitting that spot inside your walls with his fingers. Your hands were laced in his soft hair tugging almost unconsciously.

“Fuck-Daddy" You gasped feeling your breath. Your stomach tightened but you still felt like you weren't quite to your breaking point. "I can't- I need- I need-"

"What, sweet pea, what do you need?" Frankie paused, looking at you struggle above him. You grabbed his hand which was holding your hip and moved it to your throat. "Holy shit." Frankie's eyes widened.

"I need you to push me over-" you struggled to think of how to explain it but Frankie started applying light pressure over your throat making your cunt tighten around his fingers. The strain on your airway finally brought you to the edge. He returned to your clit and didn’t let up even as your walls clamped and gushed around his fingers. Didn’t stop as your back arched off the table, your toes curled, and your hands pulled his hair almost painfully. He let go of your throat when you tapped his wrist and your breath returned ragged and sharp, extending your orgasm. You brushed some of Frankie’s hair from his forehead and he looked up, making eye contact, as his lips suckled on your clit lightly. You didn’t say anything for a moment, feeling your body come down from that peak, basking in Frankie’s loving gaze between your legs. You felt boneless.

“I love you.” You murmured. Frankie surged up, capturing your lips in a wet kiss. He pulled back and kissed the happy tears falling from your eyes that you didn’t realize had fallen.

“I love you, too. I’m never letting you go.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m home.” You wrapped your legs around his waist, needing to feel that promise inside you. Needing his promise filling you up.

“Are you sure you’re not too sore?”

“I’m sure.” You ran your hand through his hair, now addicted to the feeling of it.

Frankie slowly eased himself into your pussy. It was harder without lube. You winced a little once he was fully inside. Fuck he was so big.

"Am I hurting you?" Frankie felt bad and started to pull out.

"No please." You arched your back trying to hold him inside. "I'm okay. I want- I want-."

"Sweet pea..." He bit his lip as he struggled to resist thrusting into you.

"And if I can't walk- then you can carry me." You wiggled your hips. Frankie couldn't help but laugh at that not that he minded carrying you around. "Please, daddy." You asked one last time as you dug your heels into his lower back. Frankie placed his hands on your waist and started fucking into you slowly, withdrawing almost all the way out before thrusting back in again.

“I’m so proud of you… taking my cock like a good girl.” He kissed you softly, moving to kiss a train down your neck to your nipples and back up. "You're home now." You nodded in agreement. "This is our little kingdom, sweet pea.” Your shallow breaths slowly transformed into moans. You felt your muscles relax a little and signaled he could start moving faster.

Needless to say the cereal on the table shook and spilled as he fucked you. Spilled milk on your table. His cum spilled inside you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frankie enjoyed hosting so much since Rosie’s birthday he wanted to have a Fourth of July barbecue. With your help he took the decorations to the next level. Hanging fairy lights over the patio, and renting a bouncy castle for the kids. In an act of irrational niceness, you had said it was okay if Laura came by, that way Rosalia would be there too.

Frankie was clear he had no desire to hide you. He wanted to show you off. Still, you dreaded meeting Frankie's ex. Rosalia had warmed to you quickly even preferring you to hold her. You already loved her so much. Today she wanted you to follow her everywhere and watch her play. Frankie was stuck behind the grill but he still could watch his girls playing. You were wearing a lovely red sundress which Frankie was looking forward to stripping off. It brushed your thighs in the breeze and it was perfect height for Rosalia to tug on when she wanted to be picked up.

“You’ve done a great job with the decor.” Laura appeared at Frankie’s side.

“Thanks.” Frankie smiled tightly. Her surprised tone confirmed that she always underestimated him.

“You’ve been happier lately.” Laura studied Frankie.

“I guess.” Frankie shrugged turning one of the hot dogs for something to do.

“It just has me remembering the old days. Before everything with you happened.” Frankie prickled at that last statement. Everything with you. She always put it on him totally forgetting how she also made things worse.

“Frankie?” You appeared at his other side, eyeing Laura warily and doing little to hide your dislike. You had seen from yards away how Frankie tensed up, looking down. You wouldn’t let that slide so you went over. Finally removing your glare from his ex wife you look up at him, laying a reassuring hand over his forearm. “Uh- people are getting hungry. How soon until it’s done?”

“It’s ready now.” Frankie smiled down at you, instantly feeling more at ease. His answer let you know he was okay.

“Great I’ll wrangle everyone.” You smiled before darting back to the crowd.

“Who is that?” Laura frowned. “Someone's babysitter?”

“No.” Frankie shut off the grill facing his ex wife face to face. “She’s my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Laura sounded skeptical. “She’s 12.”

“She’s a woman.” Frankie corrected her. “A woman I love very much.” He wasn’t going to listen to anyone look down on you.

“You should have talked to me before you brought her around Rosie.” Laura huffed, putting a hand on her hip.

“You had no problem parading your boyfriends around during our divorce.” Frankie shot back quickly looking to make sure they couldn’t be heard. “It’s in the court records so I doubt you want to bring it up.”

“Frankie…” Laura seemed to regret what she said.

“Let’s just… move on.” Frankie said as people started to draw near.

“Papa!” He heard Rosie squeal, toddling towards him.

“Rosie!” He picked her up, his anger instantly melting away. “Ready for your hot dog?”

As Frankie and the others started filling up their plates Laura crept closer to you as you were cleaning up some of the kid’s mess by the pool.

“Excuse me. I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Laura.” She extended her hand. She was taller than you. Her face was tight as if she was holding in her sneer.

“Hi.” You decided to be nice, shaking the woman’s hand. You introduced yourself.

“So… you and Frankie. “

“Yes.”

“How long has that been going on?”

“A few months.” You said keeping it vague.

“And it’s going well?”

“Yes.” You grew annoyed by her vague questioning. Obviously it was going well since you were here. Her eyes were the total opposite of Frankie's. Hard and cold and icy blue. You quietly thanked god that Rosalia had inherited Frankie's eyes.

“Hmm he’s not doing that crazy thing anymore?”

“What thing?” You frowned.

“Well one time while we were together he stayed up the whole night because he thought some criminal or something was after us.” Laura laughed cruelly. You wanted to slap her for her lack of sympathy. What was funny about Frankie’s fear? “The psychiatrist said there would be delusions but that was just too much.”

“I think I’ve heard enough.” You snipped, trying to keep at least a polite facade. There were people just a few feet away. You prayed the couldn’t hear.

“Hey I’m sorry.” She schooled her features. “Don’t think I’m cruel. It wasn’t easy being with someone like that. I’m trying to look out for you.”

“Thanks for that. I think I'm good though.” You finished picking up the last pool toy and walked away before Laura could say more. You wanted to turn back and say something mean but you were determined to be the bigger person. You didn’t want to start drama that would hurt Frankie and Rosalia. You spent a good minute in the garage after putting the toys back, positively fuming.

“Sweet pea?” Frankie interrupted your thoughts, joining you in the garage. “Aren’t you hungry?”

"I was just cleaning up.” You said though your hands were empty.

“I saw Laura talking to you.” He watched you warily. Fear lapped at him. What did Laura tell you...“Everything okay?”

“She just… a bitch.” You huffed. Your word choice made Frankie burst out laughing. “I’m sorry I know you married her but how? She’s awful and rude and judgmental.”

“I know.” Frankie quieted his laughter, pulling you into his chest. “It wasn’t meant to last.”

“Because she’s a bitch.” You grumbled into his chest making Frankie laugh again. His tummy bounced against yours with his laughter. You loved it. You thought again about what Laura said. How cruel she had been in the face of Frankie’s PTSD. “If she says one more rude thing I may have to smack her.”

“You’re hot when you’re possessive, you know that?” Frankie smiled tickling your sides. “Come on, we should get back before our guests start to notice.”

“Alright.” You agreed, taking his hand and following him out of the garage. You felt Laura’s eyes on you two when you came back to the yard. Frankie got your burger set up for you before doing his. It’s the simple things that got you going; how giving he is. You tried to hide your blush from the onlookers as Frankie asked you ketchup or mustard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once everyone went home you and Frankie laid out a blanket in the back so you could watch the fireworks happening on the beach a mile away. He was quiet, at least more than he usually is. You didn’t know what to say to reassure him so again you reverted to touch. You placed your hand on his thigh reassuringly.

“Frankie?” You turned to him. “Do you want to talk about anything?”

“No.” He seemed taken aback by your question.

“Okay.” You moved closer to him until you were tucked into his side.

“You mean about Laura.” Frankie said after a moment. “Just- she didn’t say anything to you to make you upset right? She doesn’t get under my skin anymore. I don’t want her to get under yours.”

“She didn’t get under my skin.” You replied. She said nothing to make you insecure, just make you angry at her is all. “I’m just protective of you, you know. It seems like she was awful to you.”

“It’s fine.” Frankie shrugged.

“No.” You moved to sit on his lap, straddling him. “It’s not. You came back from your deployment probably in need of some comfort and all she gave you was judgment."

“She told you about that night.” Frankie hung his head in humiliation. You didn’t deny it. You didn’t want to upset him but part of you knew he should talk about this. Laura shouldn’t be the only one who holds this memory over his head. “It was my first night back. I just- I swore I heard gunfire. I was freaking out. I was probably acting really scary. I thought they came for me and she-Laura called the cops on me.”

“How could she…” You teared up on behalf of Frankie.

“I ran.” He continued, his voice thick. “I stayed a Will’s and calmed down. That was the end of the marriage.” He rubbed up and down your thighs under your dress. It always comforted him. You tried to think of what to say. His wife, the person who was supposed to love him the most, ostracized him and criminalized him.

Frankie was anticipating you to be afraid of him or push him away, but to his surprised you pulled him into a hug, holding his head against your neck like he was a child. He felt a sob rise in his throat and tears wet his eyes. You were so... kind. It was something he was still learning to accept and realize he deserved .

“You’re right.” You took a breath to relax yourself. “It doesn’t matter what she says. You’re mine now. Not hers.” You kissed Frankie on his nose then kissed his mouth.

“Always, sweet pea.” He rubbed his thumb over the area of your brow that furrowed in residual anger.

“I just wish there were some way…” you chewed your lip. “I have these-“ you pulled his dog tags out from where they hung between your breasts. “Reminds me I’m yours.”

“Maybe I need a necklace too.” Frankie smiled squeezing your thighs. That got you thinking…

“Can I try something?” You asked. Frankie nodded looking amused. You tugged at his shirt pulling it over his head. You never got over how broad he was. His toned arms were flexed holding himself up. You leaned forward planting a wet kiss on Frankie’s neck where it met his shoulder.

“Mmm gonna mark me up?”

You nodded and sucked harder till you were satisfied it would leave a mark. Pulling back you admired the red blooming where your mouth had been. It shouldn’t affect you as much as it did but you loved that he had a physical mark from you. He had scars here and there from cross fire and stab wounds. Some he wouldn’t go into detail. You loved them all but for once you wanted him to have a mark born out of love.

“I’m gonna give you a necklace, daddy.” You murmured tracing the path you would forge, down and around to the other side of his neck. You were gonna make hicks all around his neck like a chain. You leaned back down and planted another mark below and slightly to the right.

“Holy shit.” Frankie groaned, tilting his head back. He felt his cock start to harden under your attention. You slowly made your way across his hot skin until you had seven little wet hickies starting to show through the skin. You traced them with your finger, connecting the dots.

Frankie looked down, watching in fascination. His dog tags were a bittersweet thing, symbolizing his commitment to the military, but you wanted them. You wore them proudly, giving him more closure than 100 hours of therapy. But this... this new chain on his skin represented his belonging to you. “Beautiful, baby girl. Thank you.” He kissed you sucking your bottom lip into his mouth. You pulled away before he could deepen it. You start to lean down again like you were going to plant another hickie on him. He pushed you back and rolled the both of you over.

“Daddy! I wasn’t done yet.” You wiggled against the soft blanket.

“No it’s daddy’s turn now.” He pushed the straps of your dress down your arms, tugging your neckline down.

“But I already have a necklace.” You felt Frankie’s dog tags lying in your cleavage.

“Now you’ll have two. I spoil my girl like that.” Frankie teased. He kissed up and down your neck before settling on his starting place. When he started sucking it sent a lightning bolt straight to your clit. You gasped. You could feel him hard against your thigh, not fully yet. You rocked your hips impatiently, clutching his head against you.

“Be patient, baby.” He warned, pausing his work. You stilled your hips with a pout. “Good girl.” He resumed. You wanted to be naughty but you knew you’d never win that fight. Problem was you were loving his attention on your neck so much you couldn’t help but start grinding against his leg again. Your hand reached down and tried to stroke his hardening cock. Frankie pulled back, his lips swollen from giving you hickies. He was only halfway around your chest now.

“You’re being naughty…” Frankie chided, lightly slapping your hand away from him. You continued squirming under his gaze though you at least look apologetic. Frankie pulled away. “You don’t want your necklace?” Frankie pretended to be hurt.

“I’m sorry, Daddy.” You turned on the puppy dog eyes. “Just- your mouth feels so good.”

“If you’re not gonna behave I’m gonna have to make you behave.” Frankie’s mouth curled into a smirk. Your stomach flipped around in excitement. “Sit back up on your knees.” He ordered. You eagerly sat up on your knees, placing your hands on your thighs. Your dress hung around your waist. Frankie stood up and started undoing his belt. You got excited thinking he was going to let you suck his cock but instead he just pulled his belt from his pants and knelt down again. “Remember just say stop if you want to stop.” Frankie reminds you.

You nodded your eyes dilating, staring at the leather in his hands.

“Hands behind your back, baby.” He instructed. You obeyed your knees widening subconsciously. He tied his belt around your wrists. It’s not tight enough to hurt but you certainly could not move your hands without really trying. Frankie licked his lips, staring down at your vulnerable position. “Good little sweet pea.” He cooed. “Now you won’t be able to be naughty. What do you say?”

“Thank you, daddy.” You whispered feeling your cheeks burn at the depravity of your position. The smooth leather of his belt rubbed against your pulse point and Frankie’s smell filled your nose. You’re out in the open. Sure there was a fence but it still heightened your arousal. You were dripping you were sure of it. He knelt before you again to finish his hickies. He held your hair pulling it back to give himself more room.

You tried to lift up your arms multiple times but got stopped by the belt. You whined as he sucked another mark into you and you couldn’t get any stimulation in this position. Frankie let you moan and whine for him but he didn’t stop his mission. He finally pulled back, his hooded eyes evaluated at his work.

“Look at it, baby.”

You looked down at the curved line of hickies running from collarbone to collarbone. “Thank you, daddy, for my necklace. I love it so much.” You looked at his chest. You were matching now. Your lust was momentarily paused as a fresh wave of adoration washed over you. It was so much deeper than sex. Frankie noticed your change in expression and kissed you softly, bringing you back to the moment.

“You sat still for me so good. Now you can ask for what you want.” He strokes your hair softly.

“I wanna-I wanna suck you cock please?”

“Are you sure?” Frankie smiled. “You don’t want my mouth on you or-"

“No.” You shook your head. The emotions swirling in you from lust to love made you hungry for one thing. “I wanna make you cum in my mouth.”

“Fuck.” He groaned before kissing you hard, licking into your mouth. He never had someone as giving and kind and protective of him as you. He could have cried but there was no need because you were his forever. No yearning just living. He reached around to pull off the belt but you stopped him with a small voice.

“Leave it on.”

“Jesus fucking christ.” Frankie stood quickly. You sat up further, your hands still restrained behind your back. Your head was tilted up at him, your dress bunched around your waist, it was the most beautiful fucking sight.

Red blue and white fireworks dazzled the sky above. He picked you up bridal style and carried you inside as quickly as he could while you giggled in delight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things started clicking into place like you were growing along some metaphorical ladder. You were finally where you needed to be. You got a job working at the VA in Miami, running their re-entry program. A small publishing house in Miami loved your book and agreed to publish it for a short run. Frankie took some money out of the Colombia account to cover the rest of the contract. Frankie had the book for sale at the shop pushing it on anyone who would enter. He was so proud of you. And that was all that mattered to you.

Frankie unironically planted sweet pea in the garden, telling you how they are slow to grow, but their delicate flower and sweet smell is worth the wait; just like you. Sweet peas were climbers, with the right support, they would bend to any shape. You knew you could go as high as the sky with Frankie by your side.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taglist: @floraandfrost @agingerindenial, @heythere-mel, @icanbeyourjedi, @linnie0119, @pedrosmustache, @thisshipwillsail316, @peterhollandkait, @leias-rebelion, @phoenix-of-loki, @prettypedros, @kennedywxlsh, @punkerthanpascal, @the-witty-pen-name, @twentyfirstcenturyfox, @madslorian, @sarahjkl82-blog, @bison-writes, @lightning-fast54, @maievdenoir, @nicolethered, @kenoobiwan, @danniburgh, @janebby, @dihra-vesa, @yespolkadotkitty, @ilikechocolatemilkh, @headinthestarz, @tanyaherondale, @christina-loves, @dobbyjen, @fangirl-316

[zmediaoutlet]

writing asks: 10, 11, 19 and 30, please and thank you :)

yayyy thanks bud

10. Top three favourite fic tropes & 11. Three tropes that are fine but overrated.

Combining this answer into one with the help of handy-dandy meme:

Top three remains true; overrated would probably be the... B tier? I definitely think sharing a bed is wildly overrated. But, of course, all of this depends on execution. I won't click on anything just because of a 'mutual pining' tag -- tropes are helpful tools but you have to be a decent builder to use them properly.

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

Something about the flick of the woman's long fingers, the reference. Sam's face heats and Dean sees, of course, and gives him a narrow-eyed look, but apparently he's reading it as embarrassment because he breaks out in a grin. New expression on this new face: this woman's got a slightly crooked canine and a smile that gives her slanting fox-eyes, charming and wicked. "Sammy," Dean says, sing-song and high, and Sam drags a hand over his face. "Shouldn't do it if you can't talk about it."

"Any-way," Sam says, while Dean sniggers. Figures, Dean chills out while Sam gets more flustered. Jerk. "We've got approximately squat to go on. We've got random details but we have no idea why, for any of it. We've got to figure out why it happened if we're gonna have any chance of fixing it."

The smile dims, although there's still a sorta-twinkle in Dean's borrowed eye. "We know how to fix it," he says, oddly neutral.

Sam stands up, flipping his legal pad into his bag and packing up, though with no clear idea of where they'll go. "Let's aim for a fix that's more long-term."

30. Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn’t.

Oh, tough one. I have a bunch of fics that are still allegedly waiting to be written, on the long long long to-do list. A slightly different answer, a fic that was intended to go one way and went entirely another? I wrote a s2 fic a while back called in tenebris veritas (stupid title, but oh well), and the actual first idea for the fic was pretty different. What I ended up writing was a Dean POV fic where he and Sam had had blackout, unexpectedly violent sex, and Sam was deeply embarrassed and ashamed, and Dean ended up making Sam feel better because it turns out he’ll take whatever Sam will dish out. Which, okay. Fine.

What I wanted to write was a Sam POV story with the same inciting premise, but one in which he woke up and went, wow, we were pretty crazy last night, and it’s a slow dawning horror that he (it turns out) was fairly rough and violent and Dean’s actually quite hurt, this morning. He was going to be ashamed and, particularly, ashamedly turned on, because we know that Sammy is an animal in the sack and I think it’s very interesting to peek into the ways he wants to want things, in particular the ways he wants not to want things. We got a bit of that in the fic that was published. But what I really wanted to do was have Dean be a mystery -- that Sam would look into his face and not know, not for sure, whether Dean liked it or not -- whether Dean was lying about being fine or whether he was actually fine -- whether Dean were just trying to make Sam feel better -- whether he was, and this is key, afraid of what Sam might be or do. All of that tied into the larger s2 story of Dean keeping secrets + “is something wrong with Sam?”  Somehow, though, when I went to write it, I just... couldn’t. (And it was a bad depression day and my brain was lying to me about how I was a terrible writer, because it’s a dick.) So I flipped it, and went for the more boring but easier version.

I sometimes think about doing the exercise of rewriting it. A diptych, or something. But there’s always the next story, so -- it may just be lost to the ether.

[astoriacolumnstaircase]

If you're still doing the fic writing asks, 50 x 4! (caus I'd like to hear you talk about what you want and I also can't keep track of the og post and what you've answered)

You can multiply questions?! (you can, brows. Thank you.)

question #2 got me looking at my works page, and wow I do not reuse tags! So my top three came in at three uses each: Angst, Fluff, Body Horror. And yes, that is a very accurate representation of my writing habits. It's very difficult to send original works to magazines because I feel like my particular brand of cozy horror is not one trad publishing really calls for, but I write it because it's what I want to read. I love horror that just lives here. The human ability to adapt to anything can be so funny at a certain point. And really heartening! There's some anguish over how we're all dying, but hey we're all in this together, can I get you a cup of coffee while we talk about teeth?

question #21; a story with no dialogue or only dialogue is an interesting one because I'd go no dialogue in a heartbeat. Even though I love writing dialogue, and most of my notes are just dialogue beats for stories, it's a lot easier to cheat dialogue than it is to cheat everything else. You can't really give setting through dialogue alone without getting into cheesy exposition, but the way a person interacts with their place, their clothes, all that can give a much broader story than dialogue on its own. That's not to say it's an easy challenge. I'd have to really work at a story to keep it interesting if nobody's talking to each other. But it'd be slightly less work than a story with no place.

Question 39: my writing process is inspired by so many people at this point that I think it's safely my own, but there are some things that still stick out as distinctly taken from others. One of my favorite craft books is What It Is by Lynda Barry, which is both a book on writing exercises and an intense collage of comics and cut out images pasted onto a legal pad. The first half is a lot of her history with writing, and the second is all lesson plans that she does with her students. One that really stuck with me is a lesson to describe a dress, and sometimes if I feel like I can't write anything I'll fall back on "describe an object. It doesn't have to do anything, and in fact it probably shouldn't. Just let it be." I can't reccomend this book highly enough (though it might be difficult to get into with how chaotic the pages are.) Another person I think of often when I'm considering structure is Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel, where he talks about the act structure as being somewhat meaningless to his work, and its easier to think of things in orchestral movements. It's not usually relevant when I'm writing shorter things, but sometimes knowing what type of movement I'm trying to write will make things easier.

And Question 49: I'm still working on the last chapter of Flowers! Relevant to feeling stuck and describing a dress, here's a passage from the beginning

Imogen smooths her dress in the mirror and frowns at her exposed shoulders. While it’s warm inside the skyship, the party’s supposed to be on deck, out in the cool night air high above the jungle. The dress seemed so perfect when she bought it last week. All cream and lace and layers that twirl around her ankles when she spins. Fearne and Laudna were insistent she buy it. Said it was made for her. But the scars have climbed all the way to her neck, and they’re always faintly glowing. She didn’t want to be a spectacle, all glittering against the night sky in the middle of Laudna’s party.

Not that anyone would call her a spectacle. Laudna says they’re pretty. Hell, even Chetney won’t give her shit about them, knowing she’s a little sensitive there. But they've invited just about everyone they know, and it’s hard to kick the habits that helped her survive Gelvaan.

[autumnslance]

About Plagiarism

I left a long, planned essay on Twitter tonight. I will copy the meat of it here for y’all, as recently a friend was copied (a rarer ship in the fandom, so very noticeable by the writer and their regular beta reader) and it seems we need a Talk, kids. Links and screenshots and my rambling underway.

------

Apparently we need to discuss what is and isn’t plagiarism. Especially in FanFic where we're interacting with the same characters, settings, ideas. Let’s start with the dictionary and continue the thread from there (I like the word origin/history personally):

Definition of plagiarize

transitive verb  : to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source

intransitive verb : to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

The Kidnapping Roots of Plagiarize

If schools wish to impress upon their students how serious an offense plagiarism is, they might start with an explanation of the word’s history. Plagiarize (and plagiarism) comes from the Latin plagiarius “kidnapper.” This word, derived from the Latin plaga (“a net used by hunters to catch game”), extended its meaning in Latin to include a person who stole the words, rather than the children, of another. When plagiarius first entered English in the form plagiary, it kept its original reference to kidnapping, a sense that is now quite obsolete.

“Ideas” is fuzzy in the Merriam-Webster definition. There are story archetypes that exist in many forms. Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth/Hero's Journey outlines many famous stories. And it's popular to say that “Avatar” is “Dances with Wolves” is “Pocahontas” is “The Last Samurai” etc.

But note how while those films have similar plotlines--”Military Guy falls for Native woman, learns to appreciate her Culture, stands up to Evil Bosses”--none of them execute those ideas in the same way. Sully’s story is different from Dunbar’s not just cuz one’s a Science Fiction epic and the other a Western. Disney's “Pocahontas” Very Loosely takes history and uses the same story beats. The Last Samurai uses the Meiji era Westernization. Same ideas, different executions, even beyond settings.

None of these are plagiarizing each other though the ideas are similar. They’re told in their own ways, own language; both in the genres they belong to (Western, Pseudo-History, SciFi, Animated) and how characters interact with each other and settings. Original dialogues (variable quality).

We also see this in books as similar novel plots get published in waves so we end up with bunches of post-apocalypse teen revolutionaries or various vampires or lots of young wizard stories all at once. Sometimes ideas just happen like this; multiple discovery, simultaneous invention, concurrent inspiration, cognitive emergence are all phrases I’ve seen for it. So it happens in original content as well, and legality gets fuzzy (Also why you don't send authors your fanfic ideas).

In existing properties, this gets trickier but even “Elementary”’s Holmes and Watson are nothing like the BBC’s “Sherlock” characters. Who are nothing like other versions of the Detective and his Doctor pal over the decades in various media properties.

FanFic's in a similar position where like Sherlock Holmes we play with the same characters, setting, and storyarcs but give our own spin to them. People can and will have similar ideas about plots. Trick is to use your own words. Take the characters and make the story your own.

I have a good example courtesy of @raelly-writing​. We both ship Wolcred. We both wrote soft post-Paglth’an scenes with Thancred and our WoLs. Both features the couples helping each other undress, examining injuries, bathing, bantering. My fic was written soon after 5.5 part 1 came out. Dara’s is much more recent. Yet at no point reading hers did I feel she was copying my words. The PoVs differ. Our characters focus on different things. Mine has a mini-arc concerning the Nutkin.

The links for comparison’s sake (and maybe leave kudos/comments if so inclined please and thanks). Note while the scenes are very similar no phrases are written in the same way. Mine: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25417882/chapters/76059467 Dara’s: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26067565/chapters/81832915

Dara and I both hang out in certain Discords and I know conversations about Thancred and WoL caring for each other post-battle has come up in those channels and we've both participated. It’s a stock FanFic scene to boot. Cuz it's soft and feels warm and snuggly.

I HAVE been copied before, back in WoW. My case is pretty clear cut so here are the images of my old RP Haven profile (1st, old RP website) and the plagiarist’s RSP (2nd, an in game mod to share descriptions and basic info). 

This was a decade ago on Shadow Council and I think the character deleted so any Availa’s in WoW now aren’t the same person. I left the names to point out what changed. Just the names and a word or 2 to make sense for the class changes as well. Otherwise lifted directly from my RP profile.

The funny part is how the person got caught. Literally walked into our weekly RP Guild meeting that I was running and asked to join. Folks noticed right away the similar backstory; after all there may have been more Outland-born Azerothians. My initial excitement at a character I could weave into our story turned to gut-twisting rage and grief as I recognized my own exact words though. Words I’d carefully crafted and constantly iterated on to improve over time (before and after this incident, until the site died).

When caught they tried to claim their significant other had leveled the character for them and made up the backstory based on Skyrim. If you know WoW’s Outland story and Skyrim’s plot you know how ridiculous that is. Also tried to lie about other drama I knew about thanks to roommate's characters but hey. I had to be blunt that I’d shared the info with Haven mods and other guild officers Alliance and Horde. That we would not “laugh about this” one day though lucky this was “just” RP not original or academic work. Cuz if it'd been monetized or academic I would've raked them through the coals.

I felt violated. Hurt. Had anxiety attacks. They took MY WORDS and tried to claim them as theirs. Have another character born in Outland trained by Draenei; Awesome! Our characters have an instant connect in similarities and differences of that experience. Don’t steal my characters wholesale!

Then the audacity of trying to come into my guild as if no one would notice. ShC wasn’t a large server by then, still active but not nearly Wyrmrest Accord or Moon Guard big. My character was well known due to my writing and RP. Speaking of how easy it is to get caught in specific spaces...A case of a self-published novelist getting noticed for plagiarizing fanfic was discovered recently (explicit erotica examples through the thread).

One way they got noticed was how much content they put out in only a year, lifted from fandom. The examples in Kokom’s threads show how the material was altered but still recognizable. In some cases, just the names are changed as in my experience. In other passages more has changed but you can still see the bones of the original fic poking through in the descriptions and character interactions, even with adjustments made.

Similar ideas happen. Similar plots exist. Same 'ships with friends are fun! In FanFic we’re working with the same material. It’s possible to write a similar scene differently. To make that scene and characters your own. All we’re asking is not to copy others' words. Others' characters. Others' specific phrases and descriptions used to bring those words, those characters, to life. Use your own. In the end you’ll be happier.

I get wanting to have what the perceived “popular people” have. I get seeing concepts others succeed with and wanting some of that too. We all get a bit jealous now and then for various reasons. Sometimes we don't even realize it, consciously. But do it in your own way. Maybe check to see if you’re getting a bit too close to the “inspiration” you admired, maybe reread often. Don’t hurt your fellow creatives. If you do and get caught don’t try to double down. Have the grace to be abashed at least and work to do better. Eventually you WILL get caught. All it takes is once to throw all else you've done into question. Ao3 doesn’t take kindly to plagiarists. Nor do a lot of fan communities focused on writing and RP. Getting back that trust is hard. The internet doesn’t forget easily, for good or ill.

[bluebellhairpin]

( Notice: OKAY - The pic there says ‘The Hobbit/LOTR’ but for times sake, and my own sanity, there is none listed thus-far (same goes for the ‘other’ category’). Merci for understanding! )

So I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, and I already have a blog for it ( @nemosrepost ) but that doesn’t get too much attention. Thus, here we are! 

(This was a nightmare to get done - it took weeks to get all the links and pics done up in my spare time - I hope you appreciate that.) 

They’re all sorts here, from Medieval Marvel AU’S, to Modern Attack on Titan one shots. They’re all organised via fandom, and I’ve tried my best to link and tag everything properly, but that is a difficult feat, so beware - for some it may not have worked too well.

Like my *actual* masterlist, this will be updated regularly with new fic recs, and even new characters and fandoms as I read them. All fic’s currently listed (as of November 26, 2020) are found on my reblog account. 

I’ve also tried to add in a ‘recommendation summary’ thing of each - so basically just my thoughts on the fic(s). But anyway, have fun browsing, and overall - enjoy! 

(AND also - LMAOOOO - Have fun scrolling lololololol!) - Nemo

( Pre - Warning: I am not tagging anything as NSWF, 18+, or triggering content. However some fics listed do contain such material. Please refer to the warnings or Authors Notes on each Fic before reading. Stay safe guys! I love you! ) 

Bluebellhairpin’s Masterlist 

Bucky Barnes

Knight in Rusty Armour - Medieval / A/B/O AU! Series - by @revengingbarnes Honestly I binged the first eight chapters (+ prologue) in close to one sitting. That was mostly because that was all that was published at the time. It is completed now. I love both these AU’s, and I love Bucky - win, win! 

Flowers Bloom - Soulmate AU! Series - by revengingbarnes  Another great series, and honestly I’m a slut for soulmate au’s, so this author might be coming after my heart - keep up that good work, if you know what I mean. 

The Great Build Up - Modern / Firefighter Au! One Shot - by @thottybarnes  This ones goes from cute, to hot and steamy, to angsty, and back to cute again. A one shot rollercoaster, and I thoroughly enjoyed every word of it. 

Maybe This Time - Mob Au! One Shot - by @propertyofpoeandbucky Okay, so if there’s one thing I like more than an mobster au, it’s adding children into the mix. Something about big bad guys going all soft for this tiny human - and then making them - and that’s called perfection. 

Whatever It Takes - Biker AU! One Shot - by @sgtjbuccky He like’s to be loud, so what. He rides a bike, so what. I what to ride him and his bike, so what. 

(Un-Named) - One Shot - by @softlybarnes  I’ve never liked Bucky’s metal arm more in my entire life. Using it for a baby going through teething? A+ idea. 

Hero, Waiting - Medieval AU! One Shot -  by captain-ariel-barnes Sadly, this fic is unavailable now, and that - obviously - makes me sad. But I’m adding it her anyway because of how much I adored it. The love triangle between Bucky, Reader, and Steve was amazing, and the feelings? Phenomenal. 

Steve Rogers

If Walls Could Talk - One Shot - by propertyofpoeandbucky  I’ll recreate my original comment on this fic - ‘Ouch’. And that’s all I have to say about that. 

The End of the War - College AU! One Shot - by @redgillan There’s nothing quite like a enemies to lovers trope that’s well-written. But then throw in fight club, a jerk date, ice-cream and pizza - just read it. You’ll understand then. 

The Edge of the Water - Mermaid AU! Series - @floatingpetals I have to admit now, I haven’t read all of this yet. But I also have to say, what I have read was fantastic. Mermaids - and Mermen - they just hit different, you know? 

Pseudo Princess - Medieval AU! Series - by @shreddedparchment​ To date, it’s one of the best fics - nay - stories I’ve ever read. I’d dare to say it’s easily the length of a novel, so if you’re up for the long haul, I’d definitely recommend it. It’s worth the wait - trust me. Op obviously put a hella lot of work into it, and it shows. 

Loki Laufeyson

Loki’s Happy Ending - Series (?) - by @gingerwritess  Listen, I have been and forever will be a Loki girl. Nothing will change that. And every scrap of content Theo produces for Loki I will cradle in my palms and keep warm until they’re ready to go out into the world or whatever - point is, read this. 

Just One Quick Glance - One Shot - by @imagines-trashcan  After watching ‘Endgame’, and squealing at every moment Loki appeared on screen, only to not have him show up in the final battle - this was one of my comfort fics. 

thunderstorms. - One Shot - by @tarynkauai Naturally, Loki’s child would inherit his unease of thunderstorms. And naturally, seeing Loki as a dad makes me happy. 

Stitches - One Shot - by @lokibug​  Loki being nice. I like that. We stan. 

Quentin Beck 

The Curveball - One Shot - by @healingchurch​  Listen, this is on here for a reason. I didn’t really like Mysterio ‘cause of what he did to Peter, but hey, some people are good actors, and some write characters acting very well. 

Stephen Strange 

(Un-Named) - Imagine / One Shot - by @archieimagines​ A cocky bastard and a shy Reader, as far as I’m concerned that a one-way ticket straight to my heart. *wink wonk*.

(Un-Named) - One Shot - by @whirlybirbs​  Honestly, there are multiple fics of hers on this list, and that’s because she’s a damn fine writer, and her stories are just that addictive. This one is no different. I was preparing to read more and then it ended. But all good things, right?

Crash and Burn - One Shot - by @lilyswritings​  The angst, and the angst. I cry, you cry, everyone cries. Unfortunately there is only the one part, but much to my personal joy that means I can interpret the after-ending however I want! 

Frank Castle

(Un-Named) - One Shot - by @alexsunmners​ This is just cute okay? I have no other words except this was plain and simply very, very, very nice to read, and that it makes me feel very soft right here on the inside. 

Peter Parker

Super Smooth Genius - One Shot (?) - by whirlybirbs  Back at it again with the cute, awkward, friendly, neighbourhood, Peter Parker. 

Just Don’t - Soulmate AU! One Shot - by @papel-creativo​ What’d I tell you about soulmate au’s? I can’t resist them. And of course Pete being a caring bf with his hero s/o. So nice. 

Ronan the Accuser 

Make You Proud - One Shot - by @kayleighhalliday2203​ This is justifiable because I was going through a Lee Pace faze and I found it and loved it immediately. 

Ultron

(Un-Named) - One Shot / Series - by @snarky-badger​ This I can also justify having read, because (and if you know me then you know) the robot thing ... Doesn’t bother me as much as it should. And I binged all of it on ao3, so. 

Poe Dameron

(Un-Named) - Masterlist - by propertyofpoeandbucky Okay, I know there’s a lot on this list, and it could take you a while to get through it all, but trust me - it’s worth it. Lani likes Poe, and it shows. He’s written so well. 

Dashing - One Shot / Series ? - by whirlybirbs Birbs does it again. She’s got Punchy!Reader, and if there were a legal way to get all of this Poe thing down into a written book, I’d do it. 

You Can See Me? - Modern / Ghost AU! One Shot - by @tintinwrites​ I just this this one’s really cool. And what Poe does for the reader at the end? So sweet! He would totally do that! 

Across the Hall - Modern / Nurse AU! Series - by @starryeyedstories​  It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s got tension, and a little drama - plus a smidge of angst and Corgi!BB-8. If perfection were ever made into a Modern/Nurse au Poe fic - this would be it. 

Deepest, Lightest Secrets - One Shot - by @writefightandflightclub​  It’s got the humour and overall feel  you’d expect to come from something Star Wars related - honestly I had so much fun reading it, and I’ll happily do it again. 

Levi Ackerman

Names for Him & You - One Shot - by @commanderserwin​ Again, op is one of my main sources for fic’s in this area - so there could be quite a few of them listed here. But this one? Cute as heck. 

Levi’s Secret - Modern AU! One Shot - by @theamberwriter​ This one was damn funny in my opinion. Nothing can ever be hidden from Hange for long. 

You Look So Beautiful In White - Modern AU! One Shot - by @alrightberries​ This fic, it carved out my heart, diced it, shoved it in a blender, then made it into an atomic bomb. I - I was not okay. That amount of angst shouldn’t be allowed. Read it. 

Abeille - Modern / Mafia AU! Series - by @ackermans-freedom-inc​ Honestly, this isn’t finished yet but, honestly, I’m not ready for it to finish. The heartache. The betrayal. The child. I can’t even. 

Lights - Modern AU! One Shot - by commanderserwin This was the first fic I ever read of op’s, and I couldn’t believe what I read so I went back and read it again. I can’t tell you how much I love it, or how I feel about it, so just go read for yourself and you’ll know. 

To Build a Home - Modern AU! Series - by @vennilavee​ If you’re a fan of Levi, you must go read this. It’s so detailed, and just so perfect - whenever a new part comes out I have a quick reboot before going to read it. 

Erwin Smith

One of Us - Modern AU! Miniseries - by commanderserwin I’m not going to lie, this one is here because I requested it, but also because I really liked it, and cried while reading it. So there. 

Reiner Braun

Service to the Crown - Medieval AU! Miniseries - by @present-mel​ It should probably be illegal to write Reiner or Medieval au’s this well, and yet here op is writing both. Like, McScuse me, where do you acquire such talent and can I have some? 

Toshinori Yagi

Flirting with All Might - One Shot - by @lemonlordleah-shinzawa-kitten​ Toshi. The great. The hero. The awkward. He’s a blond boy doing what blond boys do even if he’s a little older he’s still part of the crew.

Stitches - Villain AU / Mini Series - by @itsallmightbitch​  Okay, so I said above that I wouldn’t put warnings on these - but this time I have to. Nothing I’ve read in my whole life emmits such an amount of pure horniness - and I love it. 

Godless - Fantasy AU / One Shot - by @pleasantanathema​  Another ‘All Smite’ fic, yes, I know. But god. They’re so good. This one is another real horny one, so if you can’t tell there is a slight theme running here. And - sksksksks - this is actually from the same ‘general area’ as the Reiner fic listed above (Service to the Crown). There was a event. I read everything. 

Keigo Takami

Preening - One Shot - by @shoutaaizawas​ Literally the softest and cutest damned thing I’ve read for Keigo. No, I’m not just ‘saying’ that, it’s genuine. The feelings I get - or lack thereof due to them turning to mush - it too much for words. Honest. 

Seasonal Special - One Shot - by @keiqos​ I’ll say this now and I’ll say it first - any Hawks fics written by op are *chefs kiss*. They’re amazing. Secondly, rut!Hawks is my weakness - this fic is one of such weaknesses. 

Shouto Aizawa

(Un-Named) - Series - by @theamberwriter​ This is *technically* the second part in the series, but it’s the only part I’ve read and goddamnit, I’m in love. Hubby Aizawa. The disappearing Baby-Zawa. 

I Miss You Texts - SMAU - Kuroo Tetsurou, Bokuto Koutarou, Nishinoya Yuu - by @briswriting​ I miss them too. They ain’t dead. I just feel like I haven’t seen them in so long.  

Little Things - Headcanons - Karasuno - by @haikyuudreaming​ Every single one makes me feel so nostalgic, and I feel so much longing. I love. I loose. I pine. I want. And yet I cannot have. I only dream.  

Cheerleader - Headcanons - Karasuno - by @imagine-101​  I want to be their cheerleader. Now I am able to be. Op, many thanks for the feeding. 

Tsukishima Kei

Cherry Wine - Single Parent AU! Series - by @bakugou-jpg​  I’m gonna head out and say that Tsukki was my first favourite Haikyuu character - then I ‘character developed’ but that only went so far as to give me more favorites. But deadass - read this and you won't regret it. 

Ukai Keishin

(Un-Named) - Ballroom/Latin Dancer AU! Headcanons - by @imagine-that-haikyuu​  I know nothing about dancing. Or ballroom dancing. But I do know I’d love to dance with Ukai. So how’s that for ‘middle ground’? 

[ziamhaze]

My Future in Fic

Yeah, so, the 100k fic that I’ve been working on for the past six months?  The one that was going to be uploaded to AO3 last week?  Yeah, it’s accidentally getting published...

Where do I start?

I suppose with a massive thank you to anyone who’s clicked on any of my fics over these past two years.  I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again.  I never ever thought about writing as a career.  I’ve never written anything prior to my Harry Potter AU Compartment 451.  I didn’t even take an English class in undergrad or grad school.  I genuinely just had an idea for a fic I wanted to read and since no one had written it, I had to do so myself.  Since then, I’ve written every single day for 2 years.  I left my job in the entertainment industry, got accepted to one of the best creative writing programs in the world on a scholarship, and now one of my stories is being considered at Harper Collins.  Yes, the Harper Collins.  It’s the longest shot in the world, but for legal reasons I was not allowed to upload the fic version on any website prior to submission.  Even if they don’t pick it up, I’ve been advised to continue to shop it around to agents.

What I can do, however, is share the premise.

If you’ve been following my tumblr and watching my tags - I SEE YOU ALL OUT THERE - then you’ll know that this fic was meant to have Zayn with his signature undercut hairstyle and one more little thing...

Someone sent me an ask a while back about what this fic was supposed to be about.  I believe I said something about it being an adaptation fic, but not from a film/tv show/other piece of literature, from a song.  This next fic was meant to be an adaptation of the song Younger by Ruel.  Later on, it also took shape with the help of Remember by Liam and a few others that you can find here.

The miniature summary is as follows:

When his father suddenly passes, twenty-nine-year-old Liam Payne is brought back to the Sydney suburbs where he grew up.  He doesn’t plan on seeing his childhood best friend, Zayn Malik, at the burial service.  They haven’t spoken since going from brothers to strangers one fateful day fifteen years prior.  But Zayn puts an end to this when he approaches Liam after the burial, offering his condolences and asking if Liam can help his archaeological research team with photographing their newest project.  The unexpected closeness forces each man to wade through uneasy emotions.  For Liam, a mixture of grief, lost identity, and confusion over why he’s willing to interact with the one person he swore he’d never forgive.  And for Zayn, a tidal wave of anxiety that comes from finally facing a part of himself he’s always chosen to deny.  When We Were Younger is a story heavily rooted in blurred identities and exploring what loss can look like in two different scenarios: death and friendship.

For obvious reasons, their names will be changed.  Liam, to Hutton.  Zayn, to Cairo (his ethnicity will also be changed to Egyptian).  As you can see, it was meant to be my big ‘enemies to lovers’ fic.  Technically, it’s ‘best friends to enemies to lovers’, but you know.

Right, so what does this mean for me going forward?

I still have so much inspiration when it comes to writing Zayn and Liam as characters.  I don’t plan on putting a complete stop to writing them, but with my career taking this large of a turn, I do have to prioritise my time.  That said, as of now, I can’t afford to write long-form fic any longer.

Soon, I’ll be starting a PhD program where I’ll be writing another full-length novel for mass publication.  For fun, here’s a little insight on the two ideas that I’ll be pitching:

1.  Underground boxer (loosely based off Liam) falls in love with arms gang leader (loosely based off Zayn).  Throughout their love story, the latter has to outrun the psychological trauma his father (the leader of Zayn’s rival gang) still throws his way. 

2.  Cold War AU.  Paris, circa 1950/51.  Ambassador’s son (loosely based off Liam) befriends new student (loosely based off Zayn) at the international school.  Paris is a ticking time bomb; war is about to break out at literally any second.  The two clearly have feelings for each other, but can’t act on them because homosexuality in the 1950s...yikes.  When war does break out, the two are separated, and as Liam’s character goes out to find Zayn’s, he learns a secret of his that changes everything.

Whichever I don’t write for the PhD will be the novel I write following it.

In the meantime, I’m going to continue to write (and edit) like crazy.  Ever since I randomly wrote C451, there hasn't been a day that’s gone by where I haven't written something.  It may have only been a paragraph or two, but never zero.  This is how you get better.  This is the equivalent of going out and shooting free throws for 30 minutes a day.  You have to put in the work in order to get better.  I'm very lucky that I'm incredibly self-disciplined and I've been able to crank out as many stories as I have over the past 2 years.

That said, I’ll be writing shorter little oneshots.  I have several ideas that I’ve been sitting on, but haven’t ever thought to write because I HATE writing short stories.  Little ideas that don't have huge plotline/climax potential, but that I want to just see on paper, I'll probably end up writing.  If I had to guess, I'd say they'll come out to around 10-15k.  Also, sequels?  Prequels?  Haha, you never know...

I’ve also got a series called “Sleep Drabbles” that are, yes, you guessed it, a series of drabbles based around one theme: sleep.  I also have a few scenes that I want to write which are based on ziam’s kids, not actually ziam themselves.  If there’s enough demand for that, I can upload those too, but they’re quite niche, so I don’t think the general fandom would be very interested.

As far as frequency for all of this, I have no idea.  I’ve always done things at my own pace and written stories that I want to write, for myself.  That won’t ever change, so I don’t want to commit to one drabble a week or one short-length fic per month.  It takes me weeks (months for this last fic) to research and interview the necessary people to get character arcs correct/believable.  I love that part of writing, and so if I have a little story that I want to write that may only be 10k but takes me ages to put together how I want, then so be it.  I will always be around to answer asks/messages and please, continue to tag me in your writing tag posts!  But please, no prompts.

So, that’s my future with fic.

Again, I cannot say thank you enough to every single one of you.  Every single thing that people tag me in (@malik-payne , @zqua1d , @zentiment , @liamisthesun , @redyellowberry I’m looking at you), I appreciate and love!  The recommendation lists that people have put me on, THANK YOU!  It’s wild to think that I used to look to rec lists for years and now I’m on them.  @ziamfanfiction THANK YOU for always having my back with exposure!  @paynefulperiods , my beloved beta reader, THANK YOU for always encouraging me and putting up with shit first drafts.  @march-z5 , THANK YOU for always being on call for ideas and listening to me bang my head against the wall at 4 am.

Now, might fuck around and make a fake picspam for the fic that never was...

Also, all of the behind scenes pages for each of my fics are now public, so feel free to check those out here.

I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making this journey possible. I know people say that a lot when they gain a following of any sort, but I truly truly mean it.  You have to have talent in order to be an author, but you also have to have people who want to read your stuff.  Proof of concept is a real thing.

So thank you a million times over.

Speak soon my friends.

[the-hate-keeps-me-warm]

weed garden

now I know this joke is dead but I ended up over writing this so some of it got cut this is my first real fic vie published i hope you like it if not feel free to make fun of me  It was ruby's idea she was stressed about well everything and she knew yang and Blake had a lot of it, it was legal in atlas after all she only took a little they probably wouldn't even notice she had it for a week just to make sure they didn't

They were sitting alone after training oscar was sweaty and looked tired she leaned over "So Oscar uh what do you think of smoking"  He raised an eyebrow "well my aunt smoked cigarettes  and a bit of weed during the winter" he said putting long memory on his hip "Uh why the winter," she asked meeting his raised brow "Well there's not as much work to do in the winter so you can slack off a lot more" he responded "Well uh what about you have you ever smoked" she tried not to seem too obvious but she started to nervously fidget with her hands “Uh well my aunt let me smoke a cigarette once when I was 12, but I think that was to make me hate them she bought the most bitter horrible tasting ones she could," he said a faint look of annoyance at his aunt going across his face She giggled and said "from what you tell me that sounds very like her but like uh would you smoke weed like now I mean" He rubbed the back of his neck his eyes darted to her "well uh maybe with someone I trust" She bit her lip and said "well do you trust me" His ears got a little red "well of course I trust you, id smoke with you if you asked" 

"Well I'm asking Weiss is going to one of those art show thingies blake and yang are going to uh do whatever it is they do so I'll have the  room all to myself so I  thought that maybe we could do it together smoking I mean" her cheeks grew red to match his ears He nodded his head just slightly "I uh sure do you want me to bring cookies my aunt would always ask me to bake for her after she smoked" She smiles wide "yeees please the Peanut butter chocolate chip ones or the strawberry ones there the best" His face started to get flushed too "I uh I can make you both I’m assuming you're supplying the, uh you know weed" "Well yeah but that's gonna take a while won’t it, you don't have to make both," she said trying to hide the fact that she wanted both of them "No no I'll make them ironwood gave me access to the cafeteria kitchen so it won't take very long at all" he fiddled with his hands "and besides I know you like my baking and I like doing it for you" She smiled "he likes baking for me," she thought while trying not to giggle "well then I won't stop you I'll bring those pretzels you like" He smiled a little "I won't tell anyone were doing this" he stood up and said "I’ll see you tomorrow I got to get baking I might make some other things" 

She nodded her head and they split up when she got back to her room she was practically bouncing with excitement yang was sitting on her bed "why aren't you tired you and Oscar were training all day" her face flushed a little "Well I’m just kinda excited  I’m gonna have the room all to myself" she says trying not to be super obvious "I saw you and oscar talking after you trained did you invite him over," blake says hidden in her bunk “damn you blake” she thought  Yang beams excitedly "is it a date!" "What no I just invited him over to eat junk food and play video games" she waved her hands around frantically not helping her case 

 Yang deadpans "you asked him to come to your dorm room alone he might be oscar but he's still a teenage boy ruby he’s gonna think it’s a date" Ruby crossed her arms and grumbled "Look if you don't like him that's ok but it's obvious to everyone how much he likes you so if you don’t like him don't lead him on make sure he understands how you feel" Blake chimed in peeking out from her bunk 

"I uh I think I like him but I don't know if I want things to change yet and I'm not even sure if he likes  me " she sits down on her bed 

Yang hops down from her bed and sits next to ruby throwing an arm around her shoulder "that's perfectly ok if you feel that way but oscar likes you the way he stares at you the way he talks about you it's obvious" she smiles at ruby's red cheeks and tries to finish  her speech with "but if you do decide you like him to make sure to practice safe-uhg" ruby ends it with a punch to the gut "Yaaang shut up even if i do like him I'm not talking about that" she squeaks and reals back for another punch yang puts her hands up in surrender "Alright Oscar would probably have a heart attack anyway I’m just saying" yang kisses ruby on the forehead like she always did "you should try to talk to him about it ok" Ruby grumbles a simple "I’ll try" 

Oscar is having a similar time 

Nora hugs him tightly "ooo my baby's going on a date" oscar blushes as ren pulls Nora off of him "It’s not a date she just invited me over to play video games and stuff" he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly Jaune sitting at the small table "Oscar you know she's into you and isn't it weird that she waited till everyone would be gone to invite you over" Oscars face flushed an even deeper red than it had been before and he frowns  "well I don't think she is I’m sure she has lots of better  people to choose from" Ren put his hand on Oscar’s shoulder "Oscar please do not doubt yourself you’re great" 

"Yeah you’re a total catch Oscar your smart cute strong brave you have freckles and your cool with the headmaster of atlas" Nora chimed in counting his positive traits on her fingers "Thanks" is the only response Oscar can think of his embarrassment only growing "Now you need to pick out what your gonna wear and what your gonna say," Nora says standing quickly "Nora he doesn't need us to meddle with it if you need to advise Oscar you just have to ask I would recommend wearing something casual," ren said "Alright I will" 

They both went to bed thinking about their little 'date' in the morning oscar started baking and when he has a lot on his mind he tends to overdo it so he ended up making both batches of cookies a mini strawberry cake a dish of brownies and french toast casserole for breakfast 

After wby left ruby spent the morning gathering snacks and making the room as comfy as possible as well as gathering Oscars and her favorite games she remembered yang saying that her first time smoking sucked so she wanted to make sure she and Oscars  first time was fun 

Oscar had gone back to the dorm with all the food packed carefully to get ready Ren was the only one in the room he was sitting on Nora’s bed reading “oscar before you go I need to talk to you please sit” ren sounded serious and not in his normal way so he sat across from him “now Jaune and I didn’t bring this up earlier but we decided it was important to talk to you about because your 15 and we both know what it was like being that age and we know you like ruby a lot” he talked like how oscar imagined his father would “Uh yeah so what is this about” oscar had a vague idea in his head of what it was “I’m going to give you the talk I know your aunt gave you one but I think it’s a good idea for another man to talk to you as well,” ren said closing his book and leaning forward So then began  5 minutes of surprisingly not awkward conversation ren was very easy to talk to ren finished the conversation with handing oscar a condom “now I know you probably won’t use this but I want you to be safe ok and please don’t do anything you don’t think you’re ready for” Oscars’ face was pretty red after that but he put the condom in his back  pocket and thanked ren before taking everything he needed to Ruby's room She opened the door right as he was about to knock “oscar I was just about to come to get you” She said trying to act casual “Oh uh am I late,” he asked he would look at his watch but his hands were very full she takes the containers from his arms and sets them with ease on the little table next to the window

“Nope I was just getting impatient,” she says spinning back around to face him she was in her pajamas he thought she looked really cute he was just wearing his old pants and a comfy sweater he had bought in argus “Well do you want to uh you know smoke” he tried to not sound awkward but the boy can only do so much “Yeah sure let me get it” she was excited to finally be able to relax with him she lifted her mattress and pulled out the joint it was in a plastic bag with the lighter she had picked up in atlas she sits down on her bed which she had piled blankets and pillows on she beckons him to sit with her and he does leave space between them 

“Alright so I guess I’ll go first,” she says lighting the joint then inhaling and immediately coughing 

Oscar leans closer “are you ok” the actual worry in his voice makes rubies heart squeeze a little but she tries to play it cool “yeah yeah it’s just rough do you want to try,” she says holding it out to him he gently takes is and holds it up to his lips slowly inhaling then coughing himself covering his mouth and holding it back out to her “your right that’s rough” 

Ruby laughs “I told you” they pass it back and forth for a little bit they had both begun to feel it then oscar giggles 

“What’s so funny,” she says nudging him with her shoulders he giggles again and says “your name is ruby carmine  rose all your names are words for red” ruby laughs “ha your right wait what’s your middle name is it funny” oscar leans back onto a pillow “no its magus it means uh sorcerer oh I don’t like that I just put that together” oscar starts to laugh and in between laughs says  “ha that makes way too much sense man maybe destiny exist it was my great grandfather’s name, oh god” Oscars laugh becomes Weezy and ruby leans on him “well I think its a cool name” oscar stops laughing and says “well I guess it is its fitting at least right” he inhales again and passes it back to ruby it’s over halfway burned out she's been asking it in an old red solo cup “you know what about we bust out those snacks I don’t know about you but I’m really hungry” she sits up oscar does right after he stands and gets the cookies before she does he hands her the tupperware box of the strawberry chocolate chip she smiles and giggles “thanks cookie” she says bursting into laughter after 

Oscar cocks his head to the side “cookie?” rubies laughter grows more intense “it’s my nickname for you in my head it’s so dumb it’s because your sweet and your freckles look like chocolate chips” oscar started to laugh as well “that’s adorable ruby” he says as her face gets red they both sit back down this time oscar leaning on ruby and then their silent ruby thought maybe oscar had fallen asleep “You know ruby you are like the coolest person I’ve ever met like your the youngest person to get to beacon a silver-eyed warrior and your the leader of your team that’s  all amazing,” he said still leaned against her she smiled and her face got hot 

“Well I think you’re cool to oscar,” she said munching on a strawberry chocolate chip cookie 

 He looks up with the biggest smile she’s ever seen him wear “thanks that means a lot” he bites his lip “do you wanna play some video games” he said with a mischievous grin 

“Yes I was looking forward to kicking your ass,” she said as they pull their scrolls out and start playing Grimm beat down Vl a game ruby rocked at and oscar had never managed to beat her at when they started to play and oscar was doing way too well he was doing combos and not just button mashing he was blocking and dodging ruby was getting frustrated she leaned forward preparing to up her game and up her game she did but it wasn’t enough oscar took the first round than the second even ending it with a fatality 

Ruby groaned in frustration taking another drag of the joint then passing it to oscar “how did you get so good is it the weed do you have weed powers”

Oscar laughed and said “I don’t know I just feel super relaxed and your moving slower” She crosses her arms with a fake pout “were gonna say weed powers hm what do you wanna do now I am tired but a nap seems like a waste" There's a sparkle in Oscars eye "a nap sounds awesome" Well uh wanna take a nap I thought you were  asleep earlier" he lays his head back down on her shoulder "You know usually id be nervous about being so close to you but this is nice you smell like metal" "Hm really? I thought I’d smell like weed or I don't know rose petals," she says "Well you do smell like weed but mostly metal When you use your semblance you do smell like roses but when you work with crescent rose a bunch you smell like metal oh wow that probably sounded creepy" She shakes her head "no its kinda sweet you smell like weed and cookies my favorite smell" 

"Thanks, I guess," oscar says then goes silent his breathing slows down after a while she looks at him and he looks like he’s asleep she needs to grab another cookie so she carefully lays him down and grabs another cookie trying to quietly eat it revealing in its deliciousness after finishing it she lays down beside him resting her head on his chest "he's really warm," she thinks and then drifts off to the most peaceful sleep she's had in a long time

___________________________________

sorry if this was formatted badly or its just bad i liked making it tho 

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with tatooedlaura (Laura Sprys)

Laura has 28 fics at Gossamer, but the big treasure trove of her stories is at AO3, where she has 193 fics. Thank goodness for the richness of the X-Files and for talented, creative people like Laura who can find so many interesting ways to tell tales in the show’s universe. Big thanks to Laura for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Maybe reading mine but reading older fic in general is something I still do and something I still find entertaining. I do wish i could get into my old fics and post a warning that some of those were written before the author: ever had a drink, ever had sex, ever had a boyfriend, ever lived on her own, ever had a real job, or ever experienced much of anything in the real world.

Then again, fanfic is a perfect time capsule for the age and it’s always fun to see where the originals started and how they’ve grown.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

Back in the day and up and through today, it has always been a fun experience. From it, I’ve learned to love writing. I’ve learned that fans are crazy, weird, wonderful, generous, talented, committed, passionate, and imaginative. In a fandom, you can think whatever you wish and write about anything you like and because I’ve been around so long, I’ve gotten to watch the storylines shift and the relationships change ...

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Originally, I never had much interaction with people other than ones who sent emails commenting on my fanfic … the internet at my parents house was dial-up and I had to access through the AOL free disks that arrived in the mail so, for the most part, I didn’t have the bandwidth or the connection speed to do more than upload stories and download episode guides.

Good lord, I remember submitting a story and having to wait upwards of two days to two weeks before the new batch of stories was posted ... then ephemeral came around and you could actually have your story up in under a day ... all ya'll who started on tumblr and ao3, you have it great, let me tell you :)

One thing that stands out in my mind still (and I’m still friends with her on Facebook) was a woman from western Canada who I stumbled across somewhere while looking for the blooper reels. She offered to send me her copies on VHS for my collection. I don’t think she asked for payment and one day, a package arrived from a lovely woman near Lethbridge, bloopers playable, tapes labeled in clear printing. I still appreciate that 20 some odd years later :)

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Fandoms are crazy places. Tread lightly at first but enjoy what you want, ignore what you don’t, rewrite what you hate, and write what you love. Don’t be an asshole when you don’t agree with someone … when you do, tell them …

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I was on board from the first episode. It was a show about two people who you felt were destined to be together but weren’t, and wouldn’t be for years. It was a cop show about aliens and a monster show with cops. I was in the right place at the right time in the right frame of mind and there was just something that clicked and I never looked back. Friends were not allowed to call me on Friday night and once it switched to Sunday, I made sure that my parents got us on early evening bowling league so we’d be home in time to watch. Even my boyfriend (eventual husband) knew to shut the hell up from 9-10pm, even if he was sitting next to me on the couch (with my parents in their chairs watching as well)

Also, my 56-year-old dad had a crush on Scully from the start so that was entertaining as hell as well

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I have been writing stories in my head for literally as long as I can remember. Watching some episode, I honestly don’t remember which one, I suddenly had an idea for a story about Mulder and Scully. I had never written a story with pre-existing characters before and it was totally foreign to me. How do you write a character with a current storyline. It was weird, it was difficult, it was some of the most fun I’d had writing up to that point.

Suddenly, I didn’t have to explain or describe the characters, think of jobs and mundane things … they already had those … and it was great.

Honest-to-God, my first fic was written, in pencil, on a yellow legal pad by flashlight while lying with my head at the foot of my bed so I could see my parents coming down the hall if they happened to wake up at midnight to go to the bathroom. Later fics were written by the light of an 10” TV/VCR combo with me still lying with my head at the foot of the bed. I still have those old legal pads somewhere and I remember having to type them in secret, having to wait until the house was empty for 20 minutes to an hour at a time. Uploading them was always unnerving because of the slow dial-up and the fact that I didn’t have my own email address, but had to use my dad’s. I’d have to make sure to check it whenever I could, intercept the feedback I’d get off gossamer.

I was such a damn rebel.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Well, I now know how to interact with people given tumblr and AO3 but it hasn’t changed much. I contribute a little more now that I understand posting on social media but mostly, I still just write like a fiend and post, read voraciously and give kudos and likes often, comment some and reblog.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I dabbled and have a favorite ‘Fringe’ fic … I tried to read a Harry Potter fic once … I type ‘West Wing’ occasionally in ao3 and tumblr ...

And nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever caught me like the X-Files did in regards to the fandom experience.

I have shows I watch and re-watch and re-watch but no two characters have ever had me writing and thinking and planning like Mulder and Scully. No other combo has ever made me write upwards of 300,000 or more total and still have plenty of stories to tell.

I’m okay with this.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Aside from Mulder and Scully and the gentlemen three of Frohike, Langley, and Byers … I love all Scully’s nieces and nephews in my ‘Life’ series … I also love Corduroy (picture books), Harold (purple crayon fame), Neville Longbottom, the characters from my own novels, Katniss (book not movie), Anne Shirley, Elnora (from the Limberlost), Will Stanton/Merriman/Barney/Jane from ‘Dark is Rising’ and 10,459 others …

I’m a children’s librarian so most of my favorite books are those written for the younger and YA crowd. I like my job :)

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

I watch this show all the damn time. I will think about Mulder and Scully when I have nothing else to think about, normally writing and editing whatever story I may have in the hopper at the time about them.

My husband laughs when I have the show on. He knows all the episodes with me and it’s one of my comfort shows that I don’t have to pay attention to when it’s on. During it, I have edited books, decorated cookies, been sick, been recovering, simply wasted a perfectly good day because I could.

My 17-year-old daughter keeps it on while she does homework and works out.

It’s a staple at our house and no one is allowed to make fun of it, even though we all know that parts are completely ‘make fun-able’

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I read fic all the time … I have worked my way through AO3 starting from the beginning and if it was more easily readable on a phone, I’d work my way, once again, through gossamer.

Restated from above: I dabbled and have a favorite ‘Fringe’ fic … I tried to read a Harry Potter fic once … I type ‘West Wing’ occasionally in ao3 and tumblr ...

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

I have all kinds of favorites on tumblr but right now, I honestly don’t remember most of the names … I pretty much read everything that comes through my dashboard and every few days, i read through the newest posts on AO3 … I love you all!!

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Of X-Files fics, I love my newer stuff … I read “Life” and its sequels every few months … ‘Your Place or Mine’ is another one I will read … actually, I’ll just say it .... I read all my own fic over and over again …

With fic, you get to write the characters as you want to see them and write situations that you want to see … I write for myself most of all and I love to read what I wrote :)

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I write them all the damn time. I have tons of snippets and half-finished that I occasionally glean things from but while sometimes, old stuff morphs into new, sometimes, it just needs to gather that dust and live a quiet little forgotten life in some backhand folder on my dropbox account ...

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

First question is answered above.

As for other creative work, I have published two YA novels, have the third in that series in editing … I have five other novels in the hopper in various stages of ‘good lord this needs an edit or twelve’ …

I am writing things constantly in my head or on my laptop … most is crap … stome sticks … some turns into fic and some turns into books …

But the point is, I am writing, in some form, at all time :)

Where do you get ideas for stories?

Some two sentence conversation will spark an idea … the line of a song will inspire an idea … a word will start a sentence which will turn into a paragraph which will tumble straight into a story … and sometimes, stuff just pops in my head for no damn reason at all ...

What's the story behind your pen name?

On gossamer, I am L. Sprys because that was my name at the time :)

On tumblr and AO3, I’m tatooedlaura because my name is Laura and I have, now, six tattoos (yes, I spelled it wrong in my handle but that’s life) … when I decided on the name, I think I only had two

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

They do now … it took me years to crack and tell them … my husband has never read them, nor have any of the people I have told (as far as I know)

Now, I don’t really care who knows … I’ll tell them I write smutty X-Files fanfiction and family-friendly X-Files fanfiction …

I am too old at this point to be embarrassed by what I like to do. If they laugh at me, I tell them they only get to laugh when they’ve published a book and I pull up my books on Amazon … I’ve only had to do that once and it shut them right the hell up …

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

Gossamer: L. Sprys

Tumblr and AO3: tatooedlaura

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

I love you! I see you! I appreciate you! I hope you enjoy! Don’t judge me for my grammar issues! I will never be able to spell the word ‘excersize’!

(Posted by Lilydale on April 27, 2021)