#I've written about 3 chapters so far and am thinking about posting to Ao3

[whom-to-kill-whom-to-let-live]

Ah lads, I might have gone off the rails in my desperation for Legato fanfics and ended up writing my own.

[a-babe-without-a-name]

Sit Next To Me

Chapter 6: Only For You

You had created two rules for yourself.

Rule One: You could do whatever you wanted. Get the degree you want, party when you want, cancel plans when you want, love who you want. Whatever you really wanted to do, you were going to do, anxiety and guilt free.

Rule Two: You could do whatever you wanted, except for have relationships with classmates. No sex, no dating. If they were on the same course roster as you, they were off limits.

Easy enough, right?

…Right?

Viktor x Female!Reader - 18+

A.N. I saw 'sorry this took so long' for every chapter, but this is probably the one with the biggest gap. I'm semi-sorry , semi-not because this is the longest chapter I've written so far (14.3k words). It's also 3 am, but I am determined to post. So here it is. I hope everyone loves it. Very mild content warnings on AO3. Have fun, I love you all dearly <3 (more author notes may appear in the replies)

A link to the playlist for this chapter is in the replies!

EDIT: Shout out to @cicadastoner for letting me ramble some ideas to them and figure things out.

Read on AO3

October officially ushered out the last days of summer. Replacing the sunny days with falling leaves and the excitement of a fresh semester with mid-term blues. Unlike all the past semesters, you were fairly unbothered this term. Of your courses, only Hiemerdinger’s class had an official midterm exam. The rest didn’t bother and instead continued assignments as normal. It was clear you were one of the few to be spared the anxieties. 

Viktor had gotten to class before you. You found him glaring down at the textbook in front of him and tugging his normally neat hair into a mess of cowlicks, his leg jumping like it was trying to run away from his body. As you got closer to him, you could tell that he wasn’t exactly looking at anything in particular. Just staring at the table, the muscles around his eyes twitching almost imperceptibly and the soft skin darker than you had ever seen it.

“Morning,” You said, sliding into your seat next to him, waiting for a response that didn’t come. You tilted your head at him, lips pursed, “Viktor?”

Nothing. You felt bad thinking about how pretty he looked when he was upset. The already strong lines of his face were that much more prominent, his eyes were darker, his whole demeanor more intense. He let out a shaky breath through his nose, still seemingly unaware of your presence.

“Viktor?” You asked again, then reached out and placed a firm hand on his knee, stopping the motion, “Vik?”

He sucked in a harsh breath, turning to you with wide eyes. He blinked a few times, registering where he was.

“Sorry,” He shook his head lightly, heaving a sigh before saying your name, “Goodmorning.”

“Are you okay?” You squeezed his knee, still shaking slightly, “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Uh, yeah,” He straightened up, placing his palm over the back of your hand, “Yeah, no I didn’t, I guess, sorry.”

“You’re starting to sound like me,” You joked, laughing softly, “Sorry, sorry. What’s up? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this anxious?”

“Your American habits are rubbing off on me,” He pulled his hand away and ran it through his hair, he leaned into the back of his chair.

“Really, what’s got you all worked up?” You tried to think if he had mentioned anything coming up that would cause this reaction, “You only have the one midterm test, right? Please tell me you aren’t worried about Heimerdinger's test.”

He hesitated for a moment, picking at the edge of the table and not looking up at you, “And if I said I was?”

“Then I’d tell you that’s dumb and you are the last person that should be worried about this test,” You told him, leaning forward to try to catch his gaze. He met your eyes, seemingly unconvinced. You leaned farther into his space, hoping he believed you when you urged, “Seriously, I mean it.”

He rolled his eyes in response, but fought back a smile as he gently pushed you away, a laugh slipping past his lips, “Okay, whatever you say.”

“If you want help studying, I’m always around,” You teased, “Not like you need it, but still.”

“Well, if I need someone to tell me the wrong pages to study, I’ll keep you in mind,” He teased, smirking over at you.

“Hey, that was one time,” You pouted, face going red thinking about when you had given him the completely wrong chapter to complete homework on.

Before Viktor could reply, Jinx and Ekko arrived at the table holding two more coffees than usual.

“Good morning my lovely lab partners,” Jinx said, extra bubbly as she set the two extra cups down in front of you and Viktor, “My birthday gifts for you.”

“Happy birthday, Jinx,” You smiled up at her as you took the drink, “Thank you.”

“Happy birthday,” Viktor repeated, picking up the cup curiously, “Why do you bring us gifts?”

“Family tradition,” Jinx shrugged as she took her seat, “Spiced anise latte for you, and a cherry mocha for you.”

“Yeah, Vi will do it too, when it’s her birthday,” You told him

“Hm, that’s very sweet. Thank you, Jinx,” He lifted his own cup to his lips. 

“Of course, my gift to everyone else is going to be the best concert and after party this town has ever seen,” Dramatic as ever, “You’re coming to our show, right Vicky?”

“I’m only letting you call me that because it’s your birthday,” Viktor scolded, “Yes, I should be able to come.”

“Should?” You scoffed, hitting him lightly on the leg, “Don’t be lame, you have to come. What else would you be doing?”

He shrugged, “Studying? Working on research?”

“No way,” Ekko said, shaking his head seriously, “You have to come, you’d actually be the worst lab partner in the world if you didn’t show up.”

“Yeah, literally the worst,” Jinx nodded, equally as serious, “We might have to drop you from the group.”

“Yeah, sure.” He rolled his eyes, looking to you for backup.

“Hey, It’s my show, too,” You pointed out, poking him in the chest as you fought back a smile,  “I agree, you don’t come and you're out.”

“Fine, I’ll make sure to be there.” He laughed, waving you away from him.

“Early? And front and center?” You raised an eyebrow.

“Yes ma’am.” He nodded firmly, “It seems my grade depends on it.”

“Sure does,” You told him, glad he seemed to be relieved of his undue test worries. 

------

The rest of class was fairly calm. Jinx made sure to tell as many people as she could about the show, and the ones she liked about the party afterwards. Friday classes were lecture only and Heimerdinger reached the end of his presentation before even that allotted time was up. Everyone was grateful to be released early. As soon as he dismissed the class Jnx was up, practically dragging Ekko behind her on the way to whatever else she had going on today.

“You have plans before the show tonight?” You asked, bumping your shoulder into Viktor’s lightly as everyone filed out of the classroom.

“Other than reading the textbook front to back?” Viktor scoffed, “No.”

“Good, instead of stressing yourself out so much that you take years off your life,” You joked, “Come run some errands with me? I’m picking up a looper from someone on craigslist, and if you're with me the chances that I get human trafficked go down significantly.”

You followed him into the elevator, “Unfortunately, I do not believe I could actually protect you.”

You leaned against the wall as he hit the button for the first floor, you shrugged, “Eh, it’s more about having a witness than actually getting in a fight.” When the doors slid shut without anyone else inside, you moved closer to him. 

“Besides,” You hooked a finger into the belt loop on the back of his jeans, and pulled him flush against you. He gasped softly, looking over his shoulder as you pushed yourself into your toes and rested your chin against his shoulder. One hand was holding the back of his jeans, the other on his waist, “I’m strong enough to take care of myself.”

The curve of his throat jumped as he swallowed hard. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. You watched his face redden in real time, the tips of his ears the darkest. 

“Uh, s-so,” He tried, voice catching before he cleared his throat, “your car or mine?”

You laughed and gave him some space. By the time you reached the ground floor, you were acting innocent as ever and he looked like he had just strolled through the Red District. 

“I’ll drive,” You told him, “I’ve gotta pick up Ekko’s drums anyways, I’ll get you from your place in like thirty?”

“That is good,” He nodded, then he furrowed his eyebrows, glancing down at the ground and back at you, “Why…why did you do that?”

“Got you to stop thinking about the midterm, didn’t it?” You said innocently as you backed away from him towards the side door of the building, “Go home, I’ll see you in a minute.”

-----

You were the most grateful for Viktor coming along when you realized that your only way to reach the apartment building without having to walk a mile was to parallel park. You knew your truck front and back. You have driven practically every day since you earned your license, put thousands of miles on it. Despite this, parallel parking was not a skill in your repertoire. 

“I’m gonna be real honest with you,” You said, truck angled awkwardly half into the spot, “I don’t know how to parallel park.”

“Eh, yes, I have gathered that,” He looked nervously over his shoulder at the traffic slowing and pulling around the front of the truck.

“I’ll just, uh, yeah I’ll just find somewhere else to park,” You laughed nervously, avoiding eye contact with other drivers.

“Wait, here, just calm down,” Viktor undid his seat belt and slid across the bench seat to be next to you, “You can do this, It’s not that hard.”

“Easy for you to say,” You mutter, now overly aware how close he was.

“Hush,” He scolded, and then, “Pull out of the spot, line up with the car in front of us.”

“But I’m already half-way in?” You challenged, hands tight on the steering wheel.

“God above! Will you just do what I tell you for two seconds?” He dragged a hand down his face, voice low. Before you could answer, he grabbed the gearshift and put the car into drive, “Pull. Forward.”

You did as he asked, hoping he contributed the blush creeping up your neck to anxiety. Once you were lined up with the car in front, he let out a sigh, apparently relieved you decided to cooperate.

“Okay, good,” He reached up and put the truck into reverse, “Now back up and pull the wheel right.” You nodded, following his instructions.

“Slowly,” He told you, leaning over to look out the window, muttering half to you half to himself, “There you go, just like that.”

The tone of his voice made you bite down on your lip, grateful he wasn’t looking at you in this moment, “Is that good?”

“Almost,” He said, voice softer as he focused, “Almost there, just a little more right…good now straighten out and pull forward a little bit.”

You did and then hesitated, unsure if you were actually in the spot. He reached over and put the truck into park. 

“There, you did it,” He said leaning closer to the side of your face and huffing out a laugh, voice teasing “I thought you were an independent girl, huh?”

“Excuse you,” You scoffed at him, “I am! I just haven't gained the skill of parallel parking yet.”

  He laughed at the shrug you gave him, “Okay, well, I hope you were paying attention, because next time I’m making you do it on your own.”

You rolled your eyes at him, pulling the keys from the ignition, “Yeah, no I’ve definitely got it down now.”

That was a lie. 

You grabbed your bag and gestured for him to slide out of the truck, following him out the passenger side. The sidewalk was fairly busy, the mid-Friday crowd bustling from downtown shops to restaurants. You stuck close to Viktor, squinting around as you tried to find the right building.

“This guy was supposed to meet me down here,” You huffed, rolling your eyes, “But now apparently he’s too busy to walk down to meet us.”

“What’s the address?” He asked, looking over your shoulder as you pulled up the texts on your phone.

“890 Piltover Main, Unit Seven.” You read from the text, “We’re on the right road and I think it’s on this side.”

Viktor began walking looking at the building numbers, “890, right? This should be it.”

You followed him into an entry alcove, the address number almost completely hidden by ivy growing on the wall. You buzzed apartment seven on the intercom. It only took a moment before the door unlocked with a thunk. 

“Trusting guy,” Viktor mused, pushing open the door for you.

You shrugged, leading the way to the elevator. It was small and creaked when you both stepped inside. You exchanged a worried glance with Viktor. Any other time you would take the stairs, but you weren’t going to leave him to die in the scary elevator alone. You didn’t linger inside when the door squeaked open on the second floor. 

It wasn’t until you knocked on the door that you realized you had lost Viktor. You looked back down the hall to see him stopped in front of a frame on the wall, examining it closely. Before you could ask what he was doing the door swung open. A mid-thirties man stood in the doorway, unfortunately shirtless, an array of poorly done tattoos on display. He leaned on the doorway, cheap cologne making your eyes burn.

“Hey, uh, I’m here for the looper,” You told him, resisting the urge to scrunch your nose at the smell and ignoring the way his eyes scanned over you.

“Oh yeah, I’ve been expecting you,” He said, crossing his arms and adjusting the way he was leaning, an attempt to look more casual, “You’re late.”

“Yeah, sorry, parking was a bitch.” You said, pulling cash out of your pocket, “Twenty, right?”

“Yep,” He swiped his tongue over his bottom lip, his eyes decidedly not on your face, “You want to come in and test it?” 

“No, that’s okay.” You shook your head, glancing over to where Viktor was very unhelpfully down the hall, face close to the glass as he focused.

“Are you sure?” He asked, turning around and leaving the door open, an invitation you weren't taking.

“Vik,” You hissed when the guy was out of earshot. Viktor’s head snapped up, realizing you had gone ahead without him, you waved him over. Quickly he made his way down the hall toward you, his cane echoing each footstep on the warped wood flooring.

“Sorry,” He said, sheepishly ducking his head.

“It’s fine,” You whispered, slipping your hand into his, “but, I did bring you with me for a reason.”

You waited a moment for the man to return. He faltered when he found you still in the doorway with Viktor next to you, his eyes bouncing down to your hand in his. 

“Sorry, I thought you were behind me.” He said, eyeing Viktor like a threat. The looper in his hand.

“No worries,” You held the cash out to him casually, “Here ya go.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come in and test it?” He asked, staring at your face, “Make sure it works right?”

“You wouldn’t offer her to test it, ” Viktor interjected, voice low as he raised an eyebrow at the man, “if you knew it didn’t work.”

“Hm, well, I could teach her how to use it.” He said, pointedly.

“I know how to use it,” You assured him, holding your hand out for the equipment, “Thanks anyways.”

When he didn’t hand it over, Viktor took the twenty out of your hand, reaching over and placing the cash in the man's free hand and firmly taking the looper out of the other.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” He said tightly, eyes narrow.

Neither of you waited for a response before turning to leave. You took the looper from him, holding it in one hand and looping your arm through his. Letting him lead you down the hall.

“I agree with Jayce,” He leaned over and whispered, “Don’t ever do this alone, please.”

“Don’t let me do it alone, then,” You told him with a shrug, “Why’d you stop anyways?”

“Blue prints,” He nodded, slowing to a stop in front of the fame he had been looking at earlier, “Old, I’m surprised it’s not kept somewhere safer.”

The blueprints were of the building you were in and the two on either side. They were indeed very old, probably original ones from when the area was first built.

“Hm, cool,” You mused, then teased him, “I’m glad you stopped to look at these instead of keeping me from being murdered.”

“I’m sorry,” He whined, following you as you hit the elevator button, “I forgot that I was to be your guard dog today.”

“If you want to be my guard dog every day,” You teased, squeezing his bicep where your hand still rested, “You won’t forget next time.”

------

The next stop was a music store. Ekko generally managed to break at least one stick during rehearsals, you predicted he’d break a couple more in the heat of the show tonight, and you had been meaning to restring your guitar for a couple weeks now. Better late than never. The store was only a few blocks from where you picked up the looper. You had offered to drive, but Viktor insisted that walking was less painful than watching you attempt to parallel park for a second time that day. Despite the dig, the short walk with Viktor was pleasant. You had reluctantly dropped your hands from his arm, but stuck close to him while you walked. Comfortably talking about nothing important. 

Inside the music store you wandered through the aisles, Viktor trailing you as you searched for the few things you had come in for. Finding the drumsticks wasn’t hard, but you quickly realized you should have asked for more specifics from Ekko on which ones to pick up for him. He had mentioned the brand, but nothing about what size or wood type to get. Even within the brand he wanted, you were left with dozens of options. You sent him a text and began reading the packaging of the sticks, hoping that would give you some idea of what to look for. 

“They’re just sticks,” You exasperated, squinting at the packaging in your hand, “This should not be so complicated.”

You set them down, deciding that you’d find the strings you needed while waiting for Ekko to text you back. When you turned, you were surprised to find that Viktor had strayed away. He was standing in front of one of the test keyboards, cane tucked under his arm and head bent as he played. You hadn’t even registered the sound until you saw him. You watched him for a moment. His hands moved with a practiced skill. Tufts of chestnut hair fell over his forehead, almost covering his eyes as he played. Every couple of measures he would close his eyes, eyebrows furrowed for a moment as he tilted his head to the side and thought about the chords as he played them, lips parted gently. You took a photo before he could notice, making a mental note to save it into the folder overflowing with candids of your friends. 

He had pushed the sleeves of his sweater up to his elbows. You moved closer, watching the muscles of his forearms flex and move as his fingers pressed against the keys. 

“I didn’t know you played,” You said as his hands came to a slow stop.

“Eh, I used to,” His shoulder lifted in a small shrug, “I don’t really anymore.”

“You’re very good,” You took another step closer, looking up at his face that was still cast down at the keys. There was the faintest line between his eyebrows, a tightness behind his eyes, “Why don’t you play anymore?”

“Have I ever mentioned I grew up Catholic?” He asked, placing his cane back against the ground and straightening up. He adjusted his weight, nudging slightly closer to you. Close enough that you had to tip your head back slightly to keep eye contact. 

“No,” You shook your head, a little surprised at the sudden information, “I didn’t know that.”

“Yep, full-blooded Roman Catholic,” He clicked his tongue against his teeth and pulled in slow breath, “Are you religious? Do you know about Catholicism?”

“No,” You shook your head, you could count the times you remember going to church on one hand, “Not really. I mean, Joan of Arc was a saint, right? That’s probably all I know.”

“Yes, Joan of Arc was indeed a saint,” He laughed softly, “The cut and dry of it is that humans are inherently sinful by nature. It’s the way we are created and we must spend every moment of our lives atoning for that.”

He scoffed, shaking his head at the ground, “We are told that we deserve the bad that happens to us. That it is our fault…and when you are nine and different, that concept is a particularly deep cut.”

His hand tightened around the handle of his cane, the smooth wood creaking slightly. You reached out without thinking, fingers circling around his wrist. You held him gently, thumb smoothing over the pulse on the inside of his wrist, urging him to relax. 

“So, instead of helplessly sitting through mass every week, I learned to play piano,” He shrugged like it was obvious, “My mother was thrilled that I was involving myself in the church, and by the time I was eleven I managed to sit at the piano every service and just…tune out. I pretended to listen, did what was asked, spent hours each week learning uninteresting melodies. All in an effort to escape the myriad of adults in my life telling me that if I served God, if I prayed hard enough, confessed my sins, I would be cured.”

He said the last word like a slur, corners of his mouth pulled down in a scowl, eyes distant. It made your heart sink. The image of him as a child, berated by religion. You resisted the urge to reach up and smooth the hurt on his face. You opted instead to move your hand up his arm, giving a gentle squeeze to the back of his forearm. The motion was enough to bring him back to the present. He sucked in a sharp breath, almost stepping back as he shook his head.

“I’m sorry,” A rueful laugh split past his lips, and he cleared his throat, “I’m sorry, you didn’t ask about that. Um, I learned to play when I was a kid for a purpose. I don’t need to play anymore, so I don’t. That’s it.”

“Hey, no, don’t apologize.” You held him where he was as he tried to move away, “Thank you for telling me that… I’m sure it’s not fun to talk about,” You scoffed lightly, knowing full well you avoided conversations about aspects of your childhood like the plague, “and I know it probably doesn’t help, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”

He cast a sad look down at you. Doubtful.

“Really, listen, I know you didn’t ask my opinion,” You laughed softly, squeezing his arm again, “But I think that is incredibly fucked up, and I’m sorry you had to go through that, and I’m glad that you found something to help you through it.”

He let out a huff through his nose and was chewing on the inside of his lip, clearly nervous. You could tell that he felt exposed, let himself be vulnerable without meaning to. You stepped closer and looped an arm around his waist, turning the both of you towards the piano.

“What were you playing?” You asked, hoping to set him at ease, “It was very pretty.”

“Oh, uh, it was Leoš Jan��ček,” He told you, tension releasing from his shoulders as you leaned into him, “He’s one of the more well known composers of Czechia.”

He played the first few notes again, slowly, “Naše večery, it’s the first piece in a piano cycle. Written around…1900 I believe.”

“Hm, it’s beautiful,” You greeted the way he relaxed into you as he played, your hand resting gently against his waist as you watched his hands move, “Naše večery…what does that mean?”

“Our Evenings,” He told you, “It would sound better on a true piano.”

“Oh, well, be careful what you wish for,” You joked, looking up at his face with a smirk on his lips, “If you find one to play at, I’ll make you play the whole cycle.”

“You have an hour to spare, just for me?” He joked, raising an eyebrow at you under his arm.

“Always,” You rolled your eyes, laughing like it was a joke. Laughing like you wouldn’t drop everything in a heartbeat for him if he asked.

A well-timed phone call prevented you from thinking too much about that fact. You didn’t move away from him when you picked it up.

“Hey, did you get them already?” Ekko’s voice asked on the other end.

“Oh, no I was waiting for you to text,” You pulled the phone away and realized he had replied, several times, “Sorry, I got distracted. Which ones do you want?”

You tried to hide your disappointment as you pulled away from Viktor. You could hear him trailing behind you as you moved back to where the sticks were. 

You grabbed the sticks he wanted (a pack of hickory, and a pair of oak to test), the strings you needed for your guitar, and a neon pink bass strap as a gift for Jinx. All the while Viktor hovered near your side, fingers brushing against your waist or the inside of your wrist. It wasn’t clear why until you reached the counter to pay. When the teenage cashier made eye contact with your chest first, you realized why Viktor hooked his arm strongly around your waist. You watched the kid take notice of Viktor’s presence, glancing away quickly as he met Viktor’s gaze. You pretend not to notice why his head stayed down for the rest of the interaction.

“Don’t tell her I said this,” You said lowly as you walked away from the counter, still firmly in Viktor’s grasp, “but you’re certainly a better guard dog than Lest.”

He made a triumphant little noise in the back of his throat and squeezed your waist as  you walked to the truck.

-----

The rest of the afternoon had been easy enough. Back at the house, Jayce helped you load Ekko’s drums and the rest of the equipment needed for tonight into the back of your truck. Viktor helped you double and triple check your list to guarantee nothing had been forgotten. At The Last Drop, Vander and Sevika had been kind enough to help you set up the stage, something you had allotted a couple hours to when you thought you’d be doing it yourself. You even had time to go all the way back to your dorm to shower and change properly. 

The stage was set. The party was ready for after. Jinx and Ekko were on time. Soundcheck went smoothly. The bar had filled up. The sky above the outdoor stage was clear. Everything was great. So great, in fact, that you hadn’t even the notion to be anxious. Not until right now.

You let out a nervous laugh, thrown off guard by the tears that pricked at your eyes and the ways your hands shook. You bent over, steading your hands against your thighs and trying to calm yourself down. You tried to focus on the lowkey sound of the opening duo. From the backside of the speakers, their acoustics were drowned out by the rumble of the large and still growing crowd in front of the stage. It filled your ears coupled with the rush of blood, making your head spin. You tried to think of the things your dad had taught you growing up. Grounding exercise to pull you out of a panic attack. It was too loud, though. You couldn't focus on the timing of each breath or your surroundings. Even in the open space behind the outdoor stage you felt caged in, like the sky was pressing into your back. 

You forced your eyes open. Focusing on what you could see in your direct vision. The hem of your skirt, first, the flowy fabric brushing against the bottom of your shins. Then your hightops, the black canvas well worn in and pen marks covering the dirty rubber. The laces were looped around your ankles, keeping them secured tighter than they needed to be. You shifted, feeling the gravel crunch beneath your soles. Dark rocks made to let water drain into the earth below instead of pooling. You reached down and picked a small one up just as a hand came to rest against the curve of your back.

“You doing okay?” It was Ekko, voice soft as he checked in.

“Huh? Oh, yeah I’m okay,” You straightened, hoping your voice was more convincing out loud than it was in your head. You realized there wasn’t a good reason to lie to Ekko of all people, “Sorry, just nerves, ya know.”

“Why?” He asked, hand falling to his side.

“Why what?” You tilted your head.

“Why are you nervous?” He prodded.

“I…I don’t know,” You shrugged, “Because I am.”

“That’s a horrible answer. Really, what do you have to be nervous about?” He scoffed before going into a laundry list, “You know the songs front to back, we’ve practiced everything a hundred times, sound check went fine, the crowd is full of our friends, and your hair looks great.”

He flipped a hand through your hair dramatically then placed both big hands on your shoulders.

“This is supposed to be fun.” He said seriously, then began shaking you around by the shoulders until you started laughing, he cracked a smile, “This. Will. Be. Fun.”

“Stop Ekko, stop!” You laughed, grabbing his wrists and trying to break free, “Fine, fine. I’m not nervous anymore, happy?”

“Good,” He slung an arm over your shoulder, weighing you down, “Because we’re on in like five minutes.”

“Fuck,” You gasped, looking towards the stage.

Before you could descend back into panic, Jinx was barreling towards you and Ekko. She threw her arms around both of you, shoving her head between yours and Ekko’s and hugging you tight enough to hurt. 

“I am so excited!” Jinx was practically vibrating as she pulled away, hands still on both of you, “This is going to be so fun!”

Jinx thrived on adrenaline. Her energy was overpowering. It was impossible to not let it infect you, something you were glad for. You felt the nervous energy leech from your bones. A shaky excitement taking its place. 

“You ready?” Ekko asked her, unwinding himself from your side and playing his hands on her shoulders, she nodded eagerly, “You have picks in your pocket?”

She reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out an absurd amount of picks. You honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she managed to go through most of them during the show. Ekko nodded affirmingly then pulled her into his chest, strong arms flexing as he held her tight, speaking just to her. 

You smiled fondly at the couple and moved away to get yourself ready. Your freshly restringed guitar was waiting on the stage. You had picks in your pocket. Your water was filled. You had eaten. Your shoes were tied. You were physically as ready as you could be.

‘This will be fun,’ you told yourself. You loved playing, especially with Jinx and Ekko. Performing wasn’t necessarily your favorite thing in the world, but you had a good time during your few shows over the  summer. Your friends were right in the front. Jayce and Mel and Lest and…and Viktor. You realized that the thought of him watching you made you nervous. What a stupid feeling to have. What a childish feeling to have. Nervous about doing something in front of a boy like you were 14 or something. He had already seen you play. Multiple times, even. Him and Jayce frequently set up in the garage while you and the others rehearsed. 

Even early today he had twirled calmly on a stool in the garage, watching you intently as you tested the second hand loop pedal. He had never given you a reason to be nervous under his eyes. Still, you wondered what he would think seeing you actually on stage. Would he think you looked awkward? Uncomfortable and out of place on stage. Maybe you’d be too stiff, or too loose even. You wanted to claw your hair out. Before you could dwell on the idea any longer, Jinx grabbed you by the hand, dragging you quickly to the stage stairs.

“Ready? She asked, eyes glowing.

You took a heavy breath, twisting your sneaker into the gravel to ground yourself. You gave a nod and a smile that you hoped didn’t look forced, “As we’ll ever be.”

The opener bounced off stage, wishing Jinx a happy birthday and the rest of you good luck. Jinx went first onto stage, you and Ekko only a few steps behind her. She was on the mic in an instant. You vaguely listened to her as you set up your guitar, grateful for the moments it took to plug into the amp and test the strings. You took a few deep breaths, checking that the setlist and equipment around your feet were still secured down before glancing up. The crowd was luckily obscured past the first ten feet, the lights on you not giving you much visibility. You did catch sight of your friends, right where they said they’d be in the front row. Viktor was between Lest and Jayce, watching you. You blinked at him, giving a weak smile. He gave a strong one in return, all pretty teeth and encouragement. You were surprised how much it put you at ease. You let out a heavy breath and felt yourself relax again, in a way that you were sure would last. 

You glanced over to Jinx, tuning in as you adjusted the height of your mic. 

“Just in case you don’t know,” Jinx said to the crowd, bass held around her neck by the new strap you had bought her,  “Today is my twenty-first fucking birthday!”

The crowd cheered for her. Shouts of ‘happy birthdays’ and dramatic ‘we love yous’ thrown her way. You laughed as she basked in the attention, falsely waving them away.

“And to celebrate that!” Jinx said into the mic, then paused to lean down to one of the amps, pulling out three sealed plastic cups. She went back to the mic, “With the company of my beautiful bandmates, I’m gonna do my first shot.” Then lower away from the mic, “legally.”

Ekko climbed down from his drum platform, letting Jinx hand him one of the premade shots before she bounded over to give you yours. It was one of those twisted shots, blue and pink liquor separated by a swirl of plastic. 

“A pornstar shot, really?” You laughed into the mic, looking over at Jinx.

“Hey! They’re pink and blue!” Jinx defended, also speaking into the mic, letting the conversation be part of the performance, “I’ve gotta stay on brand.”

You shrugged in agreement, peeling off the foil top and sniffing it experimentally. They brought back freshman year memories of dorm parties and running around campus in the dark. Jinx settled next to you, slightly in front to keep from hitting you with the neck of her bass. 

She lifted her shot, you and ekko mimicking the motion, “To a good show and an after party none of us remember,” The crowd in front of you lifted whatever drinks they had as the three of you downed the shots. The overly sweet alcohol made your nose burn. Jinx laughed, taking in the cheers as the three of you retake your proper spots on stage.

“Now let’s get this show fucking started,” Jinx plucked a few strings on her bass, testing the sound. She looked over to you and when you gave a confirming nod, she gave the same look to Ekko. He set the tempo on the drum for a few beats, counting down verbally before you and Jinx joined in. Together playing the opening to Darla by Vundabar.

Once your hands were on the strings and the chords poured from the speaker towards the crowd, any worry you had was gone. You felt light, high almost, as you played. Moving around to the beat of the song, mouthing half the lyrics to yourself as Jinx sang them.

After the first song, all three of you were in it. Any drop of uncertainty leaching out with the sweat on your skin as you played. It was easy, you floated through the setlist, hands knowing the chords and timing perfectly. You played and sang your back up vocals, taking control of a full verse here and there. It wasn’t until the middle of the set that the attention was fully on you. An almost original song. A derivative work technically, lyrics written by Ekko set to a slightly altered composition of a Dystopia song.

Jinx was in love with this one, she had coaxed her dad into letting her play with the lighting just a little bit. The light dimmed slowly as you set for the song, adjusting settings on amps and Ekko preparing extra sticks. You plucked a cigarette out of the pack in your pocket, placing it in your lips as you crouched down on the edge of the stage. Right in front of Viktor.

You didn’t say anything, just rested your guitar in your lap and let the bottom of your skirt pool against the ground around you. You didn’t need to search for eye contact, it was there in an instant. Only seconds later when he was stepping closer and holding a flame up to you. You didn’t look away from him when you took the drag and blew the smoke down to his face.

Without so much as a word you stood back to the audience as the lights reached their end, only blue spotlights on you, Jinx, and Ekko remaining. The chords rang out exactly as you had wanted them, low and haunting as Ekko shimmered the cymbals of his set. This was your favorite song to play. Your favorite to practice, to show off to people. 

It felt good to play it in front of everyone. Felt better knowing how you were playing in front of him.

------

That feeling carried you to the end of the show. Carried you even when Viktor politely moved to the bar at the back of the crowd to lean against a stool. He gave a reassuring wave from where he sat, knuckles pressing into his thigh. Carried you through breakdown, carried you to your truck packed with gear, carried you to the Rune Street house where the boys unloaded you truck while you changed in Cait’s room. 

Carried you until you finally stopped moving. You leaned against the kitchen sink, body heavy as you sipped at a solo cup of tap water. You took slow breaths, staring at a spot on the floor as you tried to bring yourself back up from the ground. The excited and already intoxicated people around you did nothing to help. You stayed in the twilight zone until a pale hand waved in front of your face. 

“Visiting another universe tonight?” Viktor asked as you snapped your head up to look at him.

“Sorry,” You shook your head, blinking like you had just woken from sleep, “Sorry, I just…zoned out.”

“Hm, well welcome back,” He laughed softly, moving closer to you as someone tried to squeeze around his back to get through the kitchen. He stayed close even when the person was gone, he even leaned in further. Shouting over the music,  “You did great tonight. You played incredibly.”

“Thank you, that’s very sweet,” You smiled up at him, still feeling weak.

He caught on quickly, steadying a hand on your shoulder, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” You tried to wave it off, he narrowed his eyes at you, “I’m just tired is all, kinda crashing.”

“That’s reasonable,” He frowned, then pulled away, just enough to fish a silver key from his pocket and hold it out to you, “My room is the only one that locks, you can crash in there for a bit if you’d like.”

It was a tempting offer, but you knew if you tried to sleep now you’d be out until morning, “I’m okay,” You told him, “I wanna hang, just gotta power through.”

“Well in that case,” 

He put the key back in his pocket and reached past you, grabbing a cup from the stack and setting it on the counter next to the fridge. He took your cup from your hands and dumped the water out, setting it next to his. You were finally taking him in now. Too spaced to notice his wardrobe change post-show. Jinx’s party was rave themed, the music and lights and outfits all reflecting this. 

Apparently, Viktor was not excluded. You remembered Ekko offering his close to Jayce and Viktor, his style being that of someone who actually went to raves. This was not what you had expected, though. Viktor, who only ever wore the most reserved of outfits, was in jeans that were purposefully too big, except for where they rested between his hips and waist. Cut outs in the side, just below the belt line, showed off completely the line and curve of his narrow hips. Pale skin practically glowing in the light of the fridge as Viktor opened it. It was cut in such a way that there was no chance he was wearing anything underneath the jeans. And almost more jarring was the fact that Viktor was wearing a crop top. The fairly normal t-shirt came to a harsh stop right at his navel, showing off the softest of happy trails and curve of muscle. You had seen him undressed before. You’ve seen him in less clothing than this even, at the coast. Nothing you were witnessing was new to you, but there was just something about it. About how intentional every bare inch was. 

You glanced away harshley, realizing you were very obviously staring at his body as he rummaged around in the fridge. He pulled out two narrow cans and set them on the counter. You picked one up, the cold condensation biting at your hand.

“Red Bull?” You asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Patience,” He scolded, grabbing the can and setting it back down on the counter. 

He slid open the freezer drawer and moved things around, pulling a glass bottle out from underneath an ancient bag of frozen vegetables. He set it to the side, the clear liquor inside reflecting the lights in the room. All the labeling was in Czech. He dumped the energy drinks into the cups and then twisted the cap of the liquor with a satisfying pop.

“Don’t tell anyone I let you have this,” He told you, pouring a hearty shot into his cup, “They’ll make me share with them too.”

“Oh, so I’m special?” You joked, he gave you a look that very loudly screamed well, obviously. He paused to size you up for a moment, and came to the conclusion that half a shot would do. You scoffed, “Hey, I’m not a lightweight.”

“Eh, maybe not,” He said, “But this is not American liquor, and you are not a European woman.”

“Would you prefer I was?” You joked, rolling your eyes as he added another splash to his own drink before recorking it. 

“Of course not,” He held the cup out to you, “Na zdravi!”

You bit back a smile when you repeated the words and tapped the edge of your cup against his. He watched you hesitantly, cup hovering near his lips as he waited for you to take a sip. When you did, you were admittedly surprised at the strength of the small shot. You were even more surprised at the amount that he had poured into his own cup. 

“Christ, Vik,” You gasped, trying not to flinch at the burn, “You’re gonna go blind.”

“See, I told you” He laughed, taking a sip of his own drink with ease, “Only a small amount for the American. If it’s too much I can add more Red Bull.”

“No, it’s good,” You sipped again, taking the liquor better now that you were ready for it, “Thank you for being my bartender tonight,”

“What, no tip?” He teased, smirking down at you.

“Unfortunately, these shorts leave no space for my wallet,” You ran a hand over the side of the tight silvery shorts you had changed into. So tight you had even foregone underwear beneath them, “Next time.”

“I’m sure,” He leaned in to avoid shouting as the music and crowd became louder, he reached out and ran a finger over the waistband of the shorts, “I mean, I’m sure a few dollar bills could fit here, no?” His hand dropped lower down your side, fingertips brushing against the top of your thigh high socks, “Maybe here even?”

You slapped his hand away, “Not nice to imply I’m a stripper,” You pouted as he laughed and waved a hand in front of himself defensively.

“I kid, I swear,” He assured, “Where did you even get these clothes anyways?”

“It’s October in America, baby,” You laughed, “there's a halloween store taking up residence in every empty building in the country right now.”

“Yes, I forget about the holiday here,” He shrugged, “It’s not a large thing in Czechia.”

“Yeah, I know, Europe is lame like that,” You joked, turning your nose up.

“Is that so,” He questioned, then reached out to take your drink from you, “Then I guess you don’t like the European liquor if it’s so lame then…”

“Wait no,” You giggled, trying to reach for the cup as he held it away from you, “No I lied, I swear.”

He laughed and relinquished the cup back to you. You gratefully took another sip, holding eye contact with him to prove you liked it. 

“That’s what I thought.” He leaned back against the fridge, “Tell me if you want another,”

You nodded, then reached out and tugged the high hem of his shirt, “I like this, by the way, suits you.”

“Hm, that so?” You asked, dipping his chin to examine his own outfit, “I tried for something a little more low-key, but Jayce wasn’t having it.”

“Ah, I imagine he’s dressed even sluttier?” You barked a laugh.

“Oh of course,” Viktor nodded with wide eyes, “are you saying I’m a slut?”

“No, of course not,” You shrugged, “Just that you are dressed like a slut.”

“I don't think it’s that slutty,” He looked down at his outfit, again.

“What’s this then?” You slid a hand down his side, gripping his bare hip where t was exposed by the cutout, “This is pretty slutty, especially for a man.”

“And what’s your opinion of that?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Of what?”

“Of slutty men?” His eyes darkened, “Is that something you enjoy?”

“Who doesn’t,” You said innocently, taking another sip in hopes of hiding your blush.

“Hm, good to know,” He hummed, a smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. He leaned in just a touch more, mouth open to continue his sentence when Jayce was suddenly right next to you, a hand on Viktor’s shoulder.

The intrusion made you jump, nearly spilling your drink as you flinched away.

“Hey, oh sorry,” Jayce said, realizing he had barged in. He was wasted already, pretty cheeks already flushed red. He was indeed somehow dressed sluttier than Viktor. A mesh top and chaps of all things, underneath only a pair of shimmery shorts, almost as tight as yours. 

“What did I say?” Viktor laughed, looking down at you, you just widened your eyes in agreement.

“Huh?” Jayce tilted his head at the two of you.

“Nothing,” Viktor waved him off, “What’s up?”

“We need another person for beer pong,” Jayce told you both, “Are either of you down?”

You looked down at the still mostly full and very strong drink in your hand, “I’ll pass for now, maybe later if you guys play another round.”

“I’ll go,” Viktor told him with a shrug.

“Good,” Jayce clapped him on the shoulder, “You can be Sky’s partner.”

That twisted something in your chest, but you forced it away as you took another drink. Viktor just nodded and went to follow Jayce towards where the table was set up in the garage. He turned back to you when he realized you weren’t following.

“Are you not coming?” He tilted his head.

“No, it’s okay, I should probably go find Lest, actually,” You told him, trying to act casual, “You go, though, Defeat Jayce in my honor. I’ll find you later.”

“Okay,” He frowned slightly, hesitating before turning away to follow Jayce. 

You watched him walk away, doing your bets to look unbothered. Even with him out of your proximity, the heat still lingered. You shoved your hand under the ice dispenser of the fridge, catching a cube and popping it into your mouth before wandering to the living room. You wanted to dance with Lest, or grind up against a stranger, anything to get him off your mind.

----

Hours later, when you became bored of fending off freshman boys on the dance floor, you found yourself watching Viktor from across the room like a fucking creep. You knew you were and you couldn’t help it. He looked great. In that stupid fucking crop top and insufferable pair of borrowed jeans. He looked great and so did Sky. She looked great in the electric blue outfit you had helped her pick out. She looked great laughing and fanning her alcohol warmed cheeks. 

She looked great with her hands all over Viktor. Playing with his neat hair. Rubbing a hand over his shoulder. Leaning half way on top of him every time she laughed.

The spot on Viktor’s other side was empty. You could claim it easily. Insert yourself into their conversation or, most likely, pull his attention completely to you. You could sideline her in an instant. 

You had officially fucking lost it. You couldn’t believe you were pouting against the wall at a party. Face half hidden behind your cup, pretending to sip your sad mixture of three parts american vodka one part flat orange crush. Unrightfully angry at one of your closest friends. 

She’d be fine, though. There were plenty of men who’d jump at the chance to sweep her off her feet, take her virginity, and propose before graduation. Why did she need to be so focused on him? Was she blind? Viktor was obsessed with you and you knew it. You had tried to discourage him at first. Some point since then and now, you had succumbed to the idea that you were just waiting for eachother. Well, more of him, waiting for you, but still. You couldn't break your composure, not even for someone like him. 

Your ankles twitched, your angry body coaxing your drunk brain into a rash decision.

You couldn’t. It would be too obvious. Too fucking mean, like anything about this wasn’t already. You couldn't force it. He had to come to you. You could at least give him the option.

You brushed your fingertips against the side of your ear, ensuring that the cigarette you had tucked there earlier hadn't disappeared. You sent an innocent enough text - cig out back? - and walked out the back door before you could see him open the message. The ball was in his court now. You weren’t going to control him and he could make whatever decision he felt like. If he didn’t come, then you’d get a whole cigarette to yourself. A win-win situation, really. 

Outside the sky was still dripping. The storm that had started shortly after the party and hadn’t really let up until now. The backyard was completely barren, everyone still crowded into the house and garage to keep out of the rain. You rounded the side of the house, opting to let the cool wet air clear away the stickiness from inside. You had barely rested your back against the siding when your name was being hissed into the dark. 

“Over here,” You beckoned Viktor over to your corner of the yard.

You didn't need a whole cigarette anyways.

“Got a light?” You asked as he settled next to you, shoulder pressing to yours. 

Wordlessly he pulled one from his pocket, holding the flame out in front of you. You pressed the cigarette to your lips and lent towards him. Eyes fell shut as you pulled the flame in, smoke filling your lungs. 

“Where have you been?” You asked, smoke burning your nose as you exhaled and passed him the cigarette, “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Around,” He shrugged, taking the cigarette and bumping his shoulder against yours with a smirk,  “You have been looking for me?”

“Shut up,” You muttered, hitting the back of your hand against his bare stomach.

“Ah, milá ,” He sighed, cigarette hanging from his lip as he grabbed your arm and pulled you to stand in front of him, “Jsi legrační dívka,”

His hands came to rest on the small of your back. You leaned against him, stealing back the cigarette from his mouth and taking a drag. He tucked a piece of hair behind your ear, eyes on your lips.

“Are you drunk?” You asked him, taking a quick drag and holding the cigarette between you for him to take.

“Eh, a little,” He blew smoke out of his nose. Hot. “Me and Jayce smoked earlier, but the high is fading. You?”

“Also a little,” You told him, reaching up to touch his face. You ghosted a fingertip over the mark above his lip. So pretty. So inviting. 

You were drunk…enough. It didn’t count if you were drunk.

Your hand moved to his jaw and pulled him towards you, lips brushing against his softly. Tonight he chose you over Sky. Like you knew he would. The guilt was discarded as quickly as the half smoked cigarette when he pulled you closer. He wrapped his arms around your waist, holding your flush to him as his mouth crashed against yours harder. You looped your arms over his shoulders, hands fisting into the back of his shirt as your lips parted. He didn’t waste the invitation, tongue pushing into your mouth with a gasp. He tasted like caffeine and tobacco and himself. Your head spun as he kissed you. His teeth pulled at your lower lip, eliciting a whine you hadn’t expected.

“Ah, fuck,” He panted, breaking away to beath. His hands slid down to grab your ass, pressing you harder against him. You could feel how hard he was already, heavy cock pressing against your lower stomach, “You’ll kill me one of these days.”

“No,” You laughed softly, licking his lips playfully, “I’d like to keep you around for a while, Pretty Boy.”

He groaned at the pet name, hips rutting up again just slightly. You moved one hand down his chest, reaching the bottom of the cropped shirt he wore and slipping underneath. You raked your nails over his stomach, delighted at the shudder you could feel in his shoulders. You buried your other hand in the hair at the back of his neck, holding him still as you kissed him again. Part of you hated how perfectly you fit together. How the shape of his nose pressed into your cheek exactly as it should. How his lips slotted against yours like they were made for you. How he was the perfect height to kiss you. How his hands were the perfect size to hold you. It made everything difficult having him so easily. 

He wanted to be slow the first time, but he was clearly in a different mood tonight. You could barely breathe with how deep he kissed you. His tongue so wonderfully strong against yours, against your teeth and lips. The noises he made in the back of his throat went straight to the heat between your legs. You wanted to hear more. 

You tighten the hand in his hair, fisting the chestnut strands and yanking his head back, rough but not enough to hurt. He gasped, breathing heavy as he let you ruin his hair.

“So good for me,” You purred, clamping your teeth down on the spot below his jaw, tongue smoothing over it a moment after.

“Only for you,” He muttered, voice barely there, “God, only for fucking you.”

“Fuck,” You smiled, licking from the collar of his shirt up to his chin, “God you taste so fucking good. Wanna taste all of you,”

You resisted the urge to suck a love bite into his neck as you pressed yourself against him harder, canting your hips just enough to make him hiss, “Let me taste you, baby?”

“F-fuck,” He shuddered, flinching as your cold fingers brushed against the skin exposed by the cutouts in the side of the jeans. The skin you had been eyeing all night. The cutouts you had already expressed your admiration for. 

“Please Vik,” You practically begged as you mouthed at his neck, hands flatting against his hips, fingers under the edge of the denim, “Let me get on my knees for you.”

“God, fuck,” He whimpered, dropping his head to pull you into another kiss, “Are you sure? You don’t have to.”

“I don’t have to do anything,” You laughed against his lips, hands moving to the sides of his face. His heavy lidded eyes met yours, pupils blown wide, “I want to. I want you in my throat.”

He couldn’t help the sound that slipped past his lips, desperate and wanting as he dropped his head into your neck, muffling the sound against your hair. 

“Ano. Ano, kurvo ano,” He panted, you had been friends with him long enough to not need a translation.

“Good boy,” You said, mouth next to his ear, “Lean back for me.”

You left open mouthed kisses down his throat, palming him through his jeans. When you couldn’t reach any more of his skin from the position you were in, you slid to your knees. The wet grass soaked the knees of your socks. You looked up at him through your eyelashes, enjoying the fucked out look on his face. You hadn’t even touched him yet he was already flushed and trembling in front of you. You loved it.

You pressed a kiss to the skin exposed on his hips, your hand on the other side. You licked at his soft skin, thrilled to find the presence of slight moles hiding there. You bit down hard enough to leave a mark, Viktor’s hips canted forward, apologies spilling past his lips. You ignored him, your hands rubbing over his hips to grip his ass and then rub down his legs. Your palm caught on the ridge of his brace. Hidden completely under his jeans, you had all but forgotten it. 

You ran your hand up his leg gently, sitting back slightly to look at him softly, “Are you okay like this? Are you hurting?”

“I am alright, milá,” Voice gentle even as he panted heavily, hand reaching out to cup your face, “I’m perfectly good.”

You couldn’t help but to lean into his touch, humming against his palm, “You’ll tell me if this doesn’t work, yeah?”

“Promise?” You asked leaning past his hand and pressed your cheek to his front. You could feel him twitch against your face. You breathed him in, the heady scent making your thighs tense.

“I promise,” His voice came out strained and breathy.

It was enough to break you. You pulled back enough to unzip his jeans and shimmy them a couple inches down. You pulled him out, cock heavy and leaking in your hands. You hummed to yourself, admiring him. You had forgotten exactly what he looked like, but you were surprised how big and pretty he was. He was more worked up now than last time, entire cock a pretty shade of pink that darkened gradually up to his tip. You looked up, watching him as you dragged your thumb over his tip, spreading precum and getting more to drip as he twitched. He gasped, chin dropping to his chest as he tried to keep himself up right. You used the slick to coat your hand and slide your fist down his shaft, watching as his whole body flinched at the feeling. He was clay in your hands, trusting you to handle him.

You parted your lips, still watching intently as you gave an experimental lick to the tip of his cock. You couldn’t have dreamed of this noise he made, shocked and desperate and shaky as you dipped down and licked a broad strip along the veins on the underside. You used the point of your tongue to tease the base of his head, swirling over the crease there. His hands fisted at his sides, barely able to keep his eyes open as you tasted him. And he tasted heavenly. Sweet and bitter at the same time, and like his lips, very much like him. 

You were sure he could have come from just the sight of you holding his head against your flat tongue, catching pearls of cum from his weeping tip. When you closed your lips round him, he was loud. He sucked in a sharp breath, groaning heavy at the feeling of your warm mouth around just a small part of him. His hand flew to his mouth, trying to hold back the sounds.

You pulled off, making him whine as you pouted up at him, “I want to hear you. Please Vik, please let me hear you.”

“Fuck, we’re outside,” He panted, glancing towards the fence that faced the front of the house.

“It’s fine,” You urged, “Please, baby I promise. Everyone is inside, no one’s gonna hear you.”

Before he could respond, you wrapped your lips around him again, this time pushing on to him until he was almost to your back teeth. He cried out, stomach muscles tensing as you hollow your cheeks around him, releasing the tension with a gente pop.

“Oh fuck, milá,” His hands flexing at his sides.

You hummed around him, corners of your mouth turned up in as much of a smile as you could do. The vibration of your throat sent him shaking again. Fingers twitching just next to your head.

“Sensitive are we?” You pulled off and teased, one hand moving steadily up and down, the other cupping his balls, “You can grab my hair, just don’t push on me, okay?”

“Are you sure,” Hesitation hid behind the eagerness, all nerves about hurting you.

“Yes, Pretty Boy,” You breathed, lips ghosting over his cock again, “I trust you.”

Genty he gathered your hair into his fist, holding the strands back from your face. The tension on your scalp grew when you pulled him as far into your throat as you could. You took steady breaths through your nose, unable to help the moans that pushed out of your lungs at the feeling of him twitching just for you. You moved your tongue over him, eyelids fluttering shut at the feeling of his precum dripping down the back of your throat. You steadied yourself against his good leg, a hand wrapped around the back of his thigh as you began to move, your other hand gliding over what you couldn’t fit in your mouth. He did as you asked, hand tangled in your hair, but not controlling your movements. 

You studied him. Taking note of how he reacted to each movement, each slight gag around his cock, each flick of your tongue. The best noises came from when you took as much of him as you could and sucked around him, head moving only slightly. He gasped, uttering nonsense and curses and your name as he basked in the feeling. You wanted more and pulled him farther in in search of it, tears welling in your eyes as he reached the complete back of your throat. You steadied yourself, taking a moment to adjust before swallowing around him.

This made him cry out, knees almost buckling and hips rutting up involuntarily. He cursed, eyes wide as he apologized. You waved him off with a hum, swallowing again before you began to bob your head. You let your eyes fall shut, focusing on the weight of him in your throat and the sounds he was making above you. You could feel the tension in his muscles build under your hand on his leg. He was so close. Just a few motions away. You weren’t done, though.

With gasp you pulled off, circling your fingers just under the head of his cock. Forcing him away from the edge. You panted, pulling in more oxygen than through your nose.

“Ah, fuck. Why?” He whimpered, sounding like he could cry.

“Trust me, Vik,” You assured, pressing your cheek to the top of his thigh and looking up through your lashes, “It’s gonna feel so good, just be patient for me, baby.”

“God, you’re so fucking beautful,” He reached down, brushing a thumb under your eye where yur mascara was blurring.

“You’re sweet,” You hummed, pressing your lips to the base of his cock, mouthing at him as your hand stroked over him again, “So good for me.”

You raised your hand, lifting him enough for you to have access to lick over his balls. He groaned at the feeling and you heard a soft thud as he dropped his head back against the wall. You replaced your mouth with your hand, gently squeezing him in time with the thrust of your hand. You licked up from the base to tip, not wasting time in bringing him back between your lips. 

Velvet, you realized. His skin felt like velvet under your tongue. You moaned around him, pressing your thighs together as you sank further unto him. You picked up your pace, making obscene sounds as you moved up and down his length. You had wanted to go slow at first, but this pace was for you, too. You couldn’t help it. You chased his release with an eager tongue, anticipating him.

“Ah, I’m close, Lasko,” He gasped, hips twitching in the tiniest of bucks, not letting himself get too carried away. His hand tightened in your hair, trying to pull you off before he came.

You made a noise of protest, pushing him to the back of your throat again and looking up at. Eyes narrowed as you made clear what you wanted.

“Oh fuck,” His voice was thick with a mix of his accent and lust. He let you grab his hand, braced against his stomach as you began to move again, “You are heaven sent.”

His jaw hung open as you continued the pace, slowing down every couple of thrusts to swallow around his tip. He took short strained breaths as you pulled him closer and closer. Pitch of his voice canting up as he moaned, the whimpers that slipped past his lips making your own wetness pool between your legs. 

He cried out as he finally came, whole body tense as you slowed your movements. You held him in the perfect place in your mouth, cum painting the back of your throat and mixing with spit on your tongue. You groaned, breathing heavy through your nose as you took everything he had to give. The taste was addictive, you could've stayed here forever on your knees, his slightly bitter cum filling your mouth. 

Eventually, Viktor hissed in near pain. The feeling of your warm mouth around his oversensitive cock too much to handle. Gently he tugged on your hair, coaxing you off him.

“Come here,” He held your arm steady as you stood on shaking legs, your knees aching from holding your weight for so long. 

“Was that good?” You asked like you didn’t already know the answer, pulling you swollen bottom lip between your teeth.

“There is a special place for you in heaven,” He told you, hands grasping the sides of your face and forehead dropping to yours. You could feel the cool sheen of sweat over his body, it made the short hair curl where you played with it at the base of his neck.

“Hm, so sweet to me,” You cooed, reaching down and tucking him away gently, deciding it probably wasn’t a great idea for him to just hang around with his dick out. 

He tilted his chin, catching your lips with his. His tongue pushed into your mouth where he surely tasted himself. He let out a shaky breath against your mouth, lips pulled back but tongue still pressed against yours. He kissed you deep, hands moving down to your waist pulling you flush against him as he practically ate out your mouth.

You let the sounds you were making go, letting him hear how he made you feel. Without warning, he gripped you tight and spun you around, pressing your back to the house. He braced his weight with one arm against the wall behind you. He was still licking into your mouth as the other hand dropped between your bodies. He pushed his hand past the waistband of your shorts, cold fingers making you gasp as they came in contact with your cunt. 

“Oh, fuck, Vik,” You keened, jaw dropping as he slid his hand further into your shorts, fingers teasing at your entance before retreating back to your clit. 

Careful he pulled his arm off the wall, gently smearing away the ruined makeup beneath your eyes. He dropped his forehead to yours, breathing in every pant you gave, watching you intently as you gasped and rutted your hips into his hand. He moved his arm back to the wall, steading himself for you as he pressed two long fingers in, curling them in a way that made you see white. 

“So fucking wet,” He breathed, eyes barley open, “soaked just from sucking my cock, God so fucking dirty.”

You whimpered, one hand holding onto his arm above your shoulders, fingers surely bruising his flesh where you pressed. The other hand fisted in the back of his hair, pulling him close enough to kiss. You tried to muffle yourself with his lips, moaning directly into his mouth, biting down on his lip when you felt yourself getting louder.

“Hm, not fair,” He scolded, realizing what you were doing, “Let me hear you. Only sound I ever need to hear again.”

Oh, how you loved incoherent orgasm induced poetry. 

He dragged his fingers in and out of you at a teasing pace, his thumb pressed to your clit. Each tiny motion of his hand brought you closer and closer. His name tumbled from your lips, everything about him clouding your cells. 

You almost didn’t hear the slide of the back door.

You gasped pulling away from him with wide eyes, head smacking against the siding as you did so. The hand on the wall cupped the back of your head, holding the sore spot you caused yourself. The other retreated swiftly, the heel of his hand resting against your waist, sure to keep his soaked fingers from ruining your clothes. You blinked at him, trying to calm your breathing enough to hear. Behind your pulse you heard footsteps on the wooden deck, they stopped right before the stairs. You hadn’t realized until now that the air was cold enough to see your breath. His and yours formed a cloud between you, white condensation huffed from your lungs as you waited.

Lest’s voice shouting your name into the dark made your heart sink. You loved her, but right now you could kill her.

Reluctantly, Viktor stepped away from you, dry hand steadying your waist. You grabbed the other, pulling his fingers up to your lips and hastily licking yourself off them. He swallowed hard, then surged forward, kissing you through his hand, tongue running between his fingers and against yours. 

He pulled away, wiping his spit covered hand against his jeans as you adjusted your clothes. Your name rang again from the porch, you could hear the creak of the top step. You glanced down at yourself and shrugged. Disheveled for sure, but it’d have to be good enough.

You grabbed Viktor by the chin, thumb brushing over his bottom lip, “Catch you later, Pretty Boy.”

You pressed a quick kiss to his open lips and darted away. Shaking out your hair and continuing to adjust your clothes as you went to Lest. She shouted your name a third time.

“Yeah, I’m coming!” You told her, picking up your pace.

‘If only’, you thought, frowning to yourself.

-----

At some point, you realized you were done. No amount of vodka redbulls or dancing or drinking games were gonna keep you on your feet. The party was still thriving well past the hours when it would normally end. You were coming down from everything and needed to be somewhere that wasn’t a hot sticky crowded house. 

You wandered to the front porch. The rain had stopped, but the air was just as cool as earlier. You sank down to sit on the edge of the stairs, the rough concrete catching on the fabric of your shorts. You pulled your knees up and leaned back on your palm, basking in the cool air and watching as the moon slowly came in and out of view behind the clouds. The muffled sound of music and people was relaxing. You liked the feeling of disconnecting, but still being nearby. 

You stayed like that for who knows how long, letting goosebumps crawl up your sore thighs and arms. Breathing slowly and occasionally moving out of the way for the few people that came in and out through the front door. You closed your eyes, leaning back and paying no mind when the door opened once again, music growing loud for a second before it was once again muffled.

“You’ll catch your death out here,” Viktor’s accent told you, you laughed softly at the phrasing, “Are you not freezing?”

“Hm, I’m cold, but not freezing,” You told him, not opening your eyes until you felt a jacket being placed over your shoulders, you snorted a laugh, “Thank you.”

“Hm, you should take better care of yourself,” He said, sitting down next to you, using his cane to lower himself slowly, “We have a big project next week, it’ll suck to be down a person,”

“How thoughtful,” You rolled your eyes and sat up next to him, knees closer to your chest.

“Any time, milá,” He muttered what you were beginning to recognize as a pet name in his native language, “Anytime.”

You leaned into him, resting your head on his shoulder. With his jacket over you and him this close, you were dizzy with the smell of him. Obsessed with it.

“Are you feeling alright?” He asked, taking your hand from where it rested in your lap. He pressed his thumb into your palm, long fingers moving against yours, brushing against the newly forming calluses on your fingertips, “Why are you out here all alone?”

“Just wanted to be alone,” You told him, closing your eyes and leaning into him further.

“Would you like me to leave?” He asked, sincere and unoffended.

You grabbed his hand, holding it tight as you shook your head against him, “No, please don’t.”

He didn’t need any more convincing than that. He slid slightly closer, the side of his body pressing to yours. He gently pulled his hand from yours, sliding his arm to your back, hand resting at the nape of your neck as he brushed his fingers through the fine hair there. You hummed, pressing closer to him, nearly overwhelmed with how nice it felt to be next to him like this.

“Can I tell you something?” He asked, voice slightly hesitant as he broke the comfortable silence.

“Of course,” You’d like him to tell you everything.

“Sky asked me out yesterday,” He said it quietly but quickly, you tried not to react but you knew he could feel the way you tensed.

“I’m not surprised,” You told him, forcing yourself to sit up and look at his face, “What did you tell her?”

You hoped your face didn’t give away too much. He could go out with Sky if he wanted. You and him were not technically together. Sharing liquor and drunk blowjobs didn’t count as a relationship.

“I…I told her I’d get back to her,” He flinched at his own words, guilt creasing his pretty face, “Which is an absolute dick move, but I panicked.”

“Well, if you like her,” You shrugged like it didn’t matter, “then you should go out with her. There’s no reason not to.” 

He frowned, chewing on the inside of his lip, “And if I don’t like her?”

“Then why would you go on a date with her?” If stung. Like it was an option. Of course it was an option, you knew that, you didn’t have any right to be upset with him.

He huffed, “You are making this difficult,”

“Viktor, I can not make decisions for you,” You told him sternly, not upset with him, just frustrated.

“I know, I’m sorry,” He shook his head, scoffing a laugh, “I shouldn’t have said that. Forget I said anything, I’ll handle it.”

You were pretty sure you knew what that meant. You did understand where he was coming from. Getting asked out by someone you weren't interested in was tough, even more so when that person was a friend. 

“Good,” You nodded, and leaned back into him, tone turned teasing, “now will you stop trying to ruin the moment, this feels good.”

‘Hm, such a brat,” He joked back, you could feel the tension leach out of him, “Always getting what she wants.”

You scoffed, hitting him lightly on the leg. 

“You deserve it, though, don’t you?” His voice dropped, so soft against your ear when he turned his head slightly, nose pressed to your temple, “You’ve done so much for everyone today.”

His hand moved from its place on your back, moving back in front of him to rest on your knee. You took a shaky breath as he pressed a kiss to your temple, the pressure against your pulse dizzying. 

“Vik,” You warned, voice barely there as his hand moved up your thigh, stopping at the edge of your socks.

He ran his thumb over the elastic pressing into your thigh, over the small dip it made in your flesh. Slowly he pushed his fingers under the fabric, making more contact with the soft skin of your leg and squeezing gently.

“Hm, you deserve to be taken care of,” He hummed, fingers kneading into your flesh, perfect against your arguable sore muscles, “You do so much for other people.”

You couldn’t help the shuddery breath that slipped past your lips. He pressed another kiss to the side of your face, dropping his head to press his nose against the spot under your ear. You felt his teeth graze across your skin, tongue there only a moment later. 

“Let me take care of you,” He practically begged, hand moving out from under your sock and up your thigh. His breath was hot against your skin, you could feel his eyelashes brush against you, “Stay with me tonight, oh god please stay with me tonight.”

The desperation in his voice went directly to your core, you resisted the urge to press your thighs together. You couldn’t believe he was making you feel like this a second time tonight.

“Viktor,” Your voice came out breathier than you had meant it to. 

He pulled his face away from your neck, meeting your eyes as his hand traveled even higher up, and dipped lower between your thighs. Only inches away from where he had been for only a few moments earlier tonight. His face was so close to yours, lips still slightly red from when you had kissed him hours ago. His pupils were blown wide, eyes hooded as he stared at you. Stars in his eyes.

“I could make you feel so good,” He purred, “I could make you feel so so good. I could take care of you so well, you deserve it. Let me show you how you made me feel earlier.”

His voice was straining as he spoke. Desperate and needy. You were sure if you reached over you’d find him to be half hard already.

You closed your thighs around his hand, keening for him as you pressed your forehead to his. You were forgetting all the stupid reasons you had been denying him. Any rule of thumb you had established went up in smoke. It didn’t matter. None of it fucking mattered.  A yes was right on the tip of your tongue. A plea for him to take you to his bed and never let you leave was a breath away from slipping out. 

Before you could let the words fall out of your mouth the font door slammed open. You practically choked as you sucked in a gasp. You and Viktor threw yourselves away from each other, out of the compromising position. You sat wide eyed and red faced with your thighs pressed together, practically a foot of space between you and Viktor.

“You two are un-fucking-believable,” Lest scoffed, take the few steps down the stairs to stand on the sidewalk in front of you. Her eyes were alight with anger, perfect face turned down in a look of disappointment that bordered on disgust.

“Wh-what?” You stuttered, trying to control your breath. 

“You heard me,” She snapped, arms crossing over her freckled chest, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Lest!” You scoffed, truly taken off guard by her anger, “What are you talking about.”

“You both are sharing the award for shittiest friends on the planet,” Lest told you, dramatic as always.

“Lest, what-” Viktor tried, shaking off his stunned expression, eyebrows furrowing.

“No,” She held up a finger to him, cutting him off, “You know what I’m talking about Seriously, how could you do this to Sky?”

Oh…that's what this was about.

Lest hissed your name, “You know how she feels, you fucking know. And you.” She turns to Viktor, “What is wrong with you? Dragging her around like this? If you don’t like Sky, fucking tell her. Don’t tell her that you’ll ‘get back to her’ and then go get head from a different girl.”

“Lest!” You snapped, not knowing what else to say, “We didn’t-“

“There are grass stains on your fucking knees,” She seethed your name at the end, then rubbed a crease out of her forehead.

“You,” She snapped, jabbing a finger in your direction, “You need to stop being a jealous, passive aggressive bitch,” And you, attention on Viktor, “need to learn how to be a fucking man.”

Your head was spinning. Lest had been mad at you before. It was in her nature to be protective and aggressive and say what she thought. Never had this level of rage actually been directed straight at you. It made your hands shake, every ounce of guilt and shame you’d ever carried floating to the surface of your skin. 

“I’m spending the night with Sky,” Lest told you, jaw set, “because she’s fucking torn up over this, even if she won’t admit it.”

And with that she was leaving. Stalking off and down the street to catch an uber somewhere where she didn’t have to look at you. You stared after her, frozen. Hands shaking as your head swam.

Viktor said your name gently, reaching out for your shoulder. You flinched involuntarily, standing up in one quick motion, his jacket falling from your shoulders. 

“I…” Your voice caught in your throat, “I’m gonna go home.”

“Hold on,” Viktor said, pushing himself up off the stairs, steadying himself on the cane and grabbing your wrist before you could get away, “Wait, please, just…let me get you a ride home at least.”

You could tell he wanted you to stay, and you could tell he knew you wouldn’t, “No, it’s fine. I just… I want to walk, it’s not far.”

You knew you were not sober enough to try to drive, you didn’t think your shaking hands would even let you. 

“Milá, it’s freezing,” He gaped at you, eyes full of fear and worry, “Please.”

You tried to pull your wrist from his grasp, “Viktor, I’m fine. Please, just let me go.” You could feel hot tears pricking at the corners of your eyes. Oh god, you didn’t want to cry in front of him. Not now, not like this.

“At least take my jacket?” He offered, grabbing it from the ground with his other hand and holding it out to you, “Please, you’re barely dressed. Please just put on a jacket.”

You hesitated, but slowly reached out and took it. Watching the ground as you slipped the heavy coat over your shoulders. 

“Please let me know when you get home safe,” He said, voice reluctant to let you go, “Please.”

You nodded, cursing the way your voice broke, “Goodnight Viktor.”

You turned and walked away, trying to hide the shaking of your shoulders in the borrowed jacket. You were barely down the street before the first sob finally broke out of your chest. You zipped up the coat, burning your face in the neckline of it and tried and failed to calm yourself down as you walked back to your dorm room. 

You were still crying when you finally collapsed into your bed, Viktor’s heavy coat still wrapped around you. You barely remembered to text Viktor. His face and name appear on your screen, reminding you of your promise. You declined the call, instead just texted him a brief ‘home.’ before shutting off your phone and letting yourself fall into a restless sleep. 

[brynthewriter]

Masterpost

Hi everyone! If you don't know me, my main blog is @op-sys-chaos and I write both original content and fanfiction. I wanted to have a blog specifically to talk about the things I'm writing, so that's this!

If you'd like to quickly recieve updates for any of my works, please subscribe to the individual post I'll be making for each of these that are incomplete! (I'll make a subscription post and a discussions post so people can have a place to follow for updates and a place to talk about it for each without spamming the subscribed people.) Updates will not be consistent for any of these.

Without further ado, here's the masterlist of everything I've created or am working on, with links attached to the titles and lists for the associated posts below:

Fics:

The Pit Made Me Do It (And I'm So Sorry)

Would you sacrifice someone’s life for the sake of your own sanity? What if it wasn’t your choice? Recovering from the Madness induced by the Pit now giving way to the second stage of revival. Pit Rage. A primal state numb to the world and driven only by the desire of one goal. Said goal once complete, would give Jason his emotions, his sanity, his life back. It should be easy, at least it would be if his goal was anything else. But the Pits cost is steep, and so is the burden of a mind set on watching the light drain from the eyes of Timothy Drake.

Chapters: 9/12

Words: 24,409

Fandom: DC

Beta reader: @batfambrainrotbeloved (they also wrote the summary for the fic!)

An AU where the Lazarus Pit effects work differently and it affects Jason Todd's journey.

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When You Break The Universe, The Universe Breaks You

Tim fractured the universe with a magical spell to swap his place with the place of Jason Todd moments before his death. What will happen?

Works Total in Series: 3

The Fragmentation (completed, chapters: 2/2, words: 2,376, written together but mostly by @brucewaynehater101)

Fragmented Universe: the Hope of a Wraith (chapters: 3/?, words: 6,246, written by me)

Fragmented Universe: It Simply Ends (completed, chapters: 1/1, words: 5,032, written by @brucewaynehater101)

Words Total: 13,654

Fandom: DC

Beta reader: @brucewaynehater101 and I are beta reading each others' fics in this series! @batfambrainrotbeloved is also helping to beta for the Hope of a Wraith.

A massive series of many AUs based off of that description! I’m writing this in collaboration with @brucewaynehater101 so go check them out!

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A Message From the Dead

Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne are long-lost twins. Damian thinks Danny died at 6. Danny thinks Damian is still in the League of Assassins. When a video message informing him of Danny's existence arrives in Bruce Wayne's inbox, having been auto-sent after 3 days of Danny being away from his computer, can he find his son in time?

Works Total in Series: 4

A Message From the Dead (completed, chapters: 1/1, words: 459, written by me)

A Message From the Dead: Looking for a Ghost (chapters: 2/?, words: 1,759, written by me)

A Message From the Dead: Biggest Regret (chapters: 1/?, words: 1,877, written by @rin-may-1103)

A Message From the Dead: A Sister's Love (chapters: 1/?, words: 686, written by me)

Words Total: 4,781

Fandom: DC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

Based off a prompt I posted on my main blog, @op-sys-chaos, I decided to write this out as a full fic. Other people also wrote their own versions, so I offered for them to join me in posting them together on AO3! So far, @thevoidstaredback and @rin-may-1103 are the only two people involved in the series, but if anyone else wants to be involved, let me know!

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Not So Artificial Intelligence

Technus traps Danny in the Batcomputer. For his own safety, he pretends to be a new AI system on their computer. This has consequences.

Chapters: 3/?

Words: 3,077

Fandom: DPxDC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

DPxDC fic based on this prompt by @corkinavoid!!

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Weirdly Competent

Danny Fenton studied medicine under Frostbite. Because of this, he has a lot of medical expertise when it comes to working with a lot of different species, including Kryptonians and Martians. The doctors on the Watchtower who hired him did not know that he had experience and thought he was just talking back, so they fired him on day one. A few days later they tried one of his suggestions. To their surprise, it worked. The Justice League now has questions about Danny, starting with "Why the hell did you fire him??"

Chapters: 5/?

Words: 3,017

Fandom: DPxDC

Beta reader: @soupteeth

DPxDC Doctor!Danny fic based on this prompt by @bet-on-me-13!!

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A King, a Demon, and a Cult Walk Into a Summoning Circle

Danny is sacrificed by a cult to a demon as the batfamily rushes to save him. The terrifying demon demands that they put him back where they found him immediately.

Chapters: 2/?

Words: 2,030

Fandom: DPxDC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

Danny being a casual badass without lifting a finger, based on this prompt I wrote!

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Twins, or What It Takes to be Resurrected

Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne were twins, separated at 7 years old when Talia saw Danny's hesitation to kill and let him choose a normal life. Now, Damian Wayne has found his brother, and has come to him for help. Because Damian is dead, and his long lost twin is his only hope for resurrection. All Danny has to do to bring Damian back is to convincingly pretend to be his brother, who he hasn't seen for the better part of a decade, at a fancy gala. Can he do it, or will the twins be caught?

Chapters: 7/10

Words: 12,329

Fandom: DPxDC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

A demon twins au based on this prompt I wrote where Damian is dead and Danny has to pretend to be his long lost brother in order to bring him back.

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In Another Life

Danny Fenton died young. Wanting another chance at life, he reincarnated as Dick Grayson, not realizing that he would keep his powers when he did so. How does this affect the timeline? You'll see :)

Chapters: 13/22

Words: 25,919

Fandom: DPxDC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

Based on this prompt by by @indingojazz, @stealingyourbones, and me! Danny Fenton dies at 16 and, after dying so young, decides he wants another chance at life. So he reincarnates, becoming a young boy named Dick Grayson. Surely, his past won't ever become relevant. ...Right?

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Goodbye. Love, Tim

If you want pure angst, only read chapter one. The first line of this summary is for you. If you're like me and you want angst to have a happy ending, read the whole thing! The whole summary is for you. Tim's had enough. Enough of the murder attempts. Enough of his siblings doubting him. So he calls them to say he's leaving. Or, at least, that's what Dick hears Tim say over the phone. But is that really what he feels?

Chapters: 5/5

Words: 3,986

Fandom: DC

Beta reader: no beta reader, though I did give two people a sneak peek before posting it!

Obligatory "Tim's had enough and leaves the batfamily fic" but with a twist. If you just want the angst of him leaving, read chapter 1. But if you want the twist and the happy ending, read the whole thing! I promise it gets better. I also tried to use only canon content for this rather than making the batfamily treat Tim worse like most of these fics do.

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Watching Waynes

Dick Grayson has a great idea. Bruce has been acting like an idiot in public for a long time, and no one takes him seriously enough to think he's Batman. So what if the whole family did that? And what better way to do it than together? Taking inspiration from Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Dick convinces his family to create a reality TV show with him, centered around their lives. One which they would use to show the public that they're just too ridiculous to ever be superheroes. This story will follow a different format from the rest of my fics, since I'm actually describing the episodes. I'll mention things like camera angles and cuts between camera shots in the story. It may be a bit of a weird format to read it in, but I hope you enjoy it anyway! I'll also include people reflecting on the episodes at the end, whether it's the Waynes looking at what they've done or their superhero friends laughing at their nonsense. I hope you all enjoy!!

Chapters: 1/?

Words: 6,274

Fandom: DC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

Based on this prompt by @fckbatmanhiskidsareminenow, the Waynes create a reality show called Watching Waynes. It's based on the concept of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, where a film crew follows these celebrities around and films all of their nonsense.

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What Did He Do to Save Me?

Danny Fenton was reincarnated as Bruce Wayne's oldest biological child. This wouldn't be an issue for anyone, except Damian was born with a hole in his heart that could only be fixed by Danny splitting his core in half. Now, Danny is perpetually exhausted and barely able to move. But despite all of that, he still loves his siblings. And he's about to find out how much they love him back, when Damian finds out the lengths Danny went to to save him as a baby and decides to return the favor.

Chapters: 3/?

Words: 7,114

Fandom: DPxDC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

Based on this prompt by @hyperfixationherewecome and me! Danny Fenton as Danny Wayne sickfic, where the very person he became sick saving fights to save him in return!

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To Be a Parent

(title is a work in progress, I'd love suggestions!)

Jazz and Jason’s one night stand was just that, as far as Jason knew: a one night stand. They hadn’t exchanged numbers or last names, so he never expected to see her again. But to his surprise, he ran into her nearly six years later with a five year old girl named Ellie who, judging by the timing, is almost certainly his. Jason is a father. And he’s not sure he’s ready for it. Now, Jason is involved in Jazz’s life, trying to help raise his daughter and bonding with the woman he once fell for. But will it become something more? Or will Jason’s life as the Red Hood drag everything down? Jazz’s little sister Ellie, Danny’s clone, was dying. The only way to save her was to de-age her and put her core into the body of an unborn baby, allowing her to be born and live her life again. Jazz always wanted a kid anyway, so she volunteered to be the one to have the kid and raise Ellie. For the next five years, she raised her daughter as a single mother in college,. But now, the man she hooked up with is back in her life, and Jazz can’t say she’s upset about it. But can he handle her family’s weirdness? Or will he run before Jazz can get to know him better?

Chapters: 4/?

Words: 4,151 (910 written by @sistertotheknowitall)

Fandom: DPxDC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

Based on this prompt by @sistertotheknowitall, Jazz and Jason raise their daughter, a reborn Ellie. I'm also going to make this be an eventual Jazz/Jason/Roy fic because why not. I'm starting out with just Jazz/Jason though.

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Clones and Their Consequences

Danny Fenton is Bruce Wayne's clone, and the people who cloned him activated and then brainwashed Zur En Arrh to be a killer. Specifically, to kill Batman. Danny managed to regain control of his body and get away, being adopted by the Fentons. But while taking down a GIW base with Dani, he finds his creators, who activate Zur En Arrh once more. Will Danny ever be free of Zur En Arrh? Can Dani save her clone template's clone template from her clone template? ...And how on earth are they going to figure out that complicated dynamic? Will Batman learn about his clone? How will he react?

Chapters: 1/?

Words: 1,053

Fandom: DPxDC

Beta reader: n/a, message me if you want to!

Danny is a clone of Bruce Wayne, whose Zur En Arrh alternate personality was brainwashed to kill Bruce. He spent a lone time free. But when he gets rebrainwashed, Dani must free him before Danny can kill Bruce. And after that, they must find a way to get rid of Zur En Arrh.

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Original Works:

(I've posted all of these on StoryForge, so the links all redirect there. If you don't have an account, you should make one; it's free, and the platform is helping small writers get published!)

Aegis

When one of the leaders of the world's top hero team crashes back to the ground after a fight, everyone assumes he's dead. There was no way he survived at the speed he was falling. Except he did. And he woke up in a crater, no memory of his past and one of the leaders of the world's most infamous villain team standing over him, reaching out a hand. What happens when an amnesiac hero whose friends think he's dead is found by a group of supervillains? Especially when those supervillains have more to their story than meets the eye...

Chapters: Prologue only, on hiatus

Words: 657

Beta read by people in the discord server for it, message me if you want the link!

(I'm writing out character backstories in full before I write out any more of Aegis, so the novel itself is on hiatus. Please note, I will likely be making an audiobook version of it myself once it’s done and posting it on like YouTube or something. But you’re still welcome to do your own version of it if you want! Ik some people love making podfics and some people read exclusively audio content so I wanted to clarify.)

Feather: Hero of Old

Feather was a well-known hero 60 years ago. So how did they end up on a modern-day superhero team? This is Feather's journey that led up to them joining the Order of Aegis.

Chapters: 1/1

Words: 3,758

Beta read by people in the discord server for it, message me if you want the link!

Backstory for Aegis character Feather

Aberration and Maximum Security... House Arrest?

Before he joined the Order of Aegis, Aberration had a... complicated past. Although, after living for over 2000 years, who wouldn't? However, the most complicated part of his past was the part where he got stuck in jail for 400 years and how that sentence got downgraded to maximum security house arrest after some time. This is the story of how that happened. Trigger warnings: serial killer, jail, graphic descriptions of murder, miscellaneous violence. See story description for ways to avoid the triggering parts

Chapters: 8/8

Words: 20,056

Beta read by people in the discord server for it, message me if you want the link!

Backstory for Aegis character Aberration

The Queens of Saveria

So, I got inspired by @theactorbat on TikTok and wrote a short story. It's a story about two women who are pulled away from their girlfriends and into an arranged marriage with each other. They come up with a creative solution to make sure everyone's happy (and no, the solution is not them mutually running away with the one they love), and they get to have a happy ending. If you like fluffy romance stories, give it a read!

Chapters: 1/1

Words: 4,293

Not beta read, and finished already, but if you have edits let me know! It's basically a first draft since I barely edited it.

This is a short story I wrote in response to a writing prompt. It's very much a rough draft but if you want a short cute queer story, enjoy!

Gavin Song and The Hunted

Based on this writing prompt: "The leader of a group of vigilantes" [note: I completely ignored the "leader" part of this prompt] "has to reveal who they were before they put on the mask to save their crew. But they know their crew will never see them the same way once they know..." (Writing prompt by @your_local_writer_friend on TikTok/Instagram.) A team of vigilantes known as The Hunted lost a friend of theirs, Gavin Song, a long time ago. But when they get their first lead on him in a decade, their most mysterious team member starts freaking out. Why, and how is he connected to Gavin?

Chapters: 1/1

Words: 9,419

Not beta read, and finished already, but if you have edits let me know! It's basically a first draft since I barely edited it.

A short one-shot vigilante superhero story based on a writing prompt!

Works in Progress:

Level Clear

Doomed time loop, kind of. Not finished yet, but I’m in the editing stage now!

Narrators Inc.

Work in progress (by which I mean I have maybe half a chapter and a vague direction for the rest of the story). Basically, it's a story where the narrator showed up late and is desperately trying to figure out what's happening while attempting to narrate the story

Vegaciel Academy

Magic school murder mystery. Credit to my high school friend group for helping create this story; we were all going to write it together and outlined the characters and plot together. The project ended up being abandoned, but I got everyone else's permission to write it myself because I like the idea so much. It's been a while since I worked on it but I think I finished a chapter? I'm not sure if I'll post the chapters one at a time or wait until I finish the whole thing

The Helmund Labs Incident

A massive, interconnected 4-person backstory for Aegis! To be posted soon.

Other Notable Things:

I'm beta-reading @batfambrainrotbeloved's fic The Drake's Spoiled Brat and I highly recommend it!! It's really good :)

I hope y'all enjoy the stories I have created/am creating! If you want to see the writing prompts that interest me that I might work on in the future, I'll keep reblogging those on my main blog, but I'm mostly planning to keep this blog for stories I'm actually in the process of writing.

[messrsrarchives]

writer interview game

ty @shoopsthereitis and @brandileigh2003 for the tags !! me when i'm in my writing era <3 (under cut)

how many works do you have on a03?

4! two oneshots and two ongoing wips :)

what's your total ao3 word count?

i cannot check rn because ao3 is down x

your top 5 stories by kudos? -> only have four up thus far so ahem

one single thread of gold

All In On Black

maybe time running out is a gift

the death of my dog (the stretch of my skin)

do you respond to comments?

i am so bad at doing this but i try to reply whenever i upload the next chapter! (i am very behind but i read and love every single notification <3)

what's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

it's not posted yet but the ending for 'maybe time running out is a gift' is incredibly angsty and then there's a couple more MCD fics in the vault 🤭

what's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

next question.

no actually ostog will have a happy ending 🙂↕️ eventually

do you write crossovers?

nope

have you ever received hate on a fic?

not *on* the fic but i've had some anon asks :/

do you write smut?

with @shoopsthereitis holding my hand the entire time whilst i cry and ask "is this word okay?" every five minutes

have you ever had a fic stolen?

naur

have you ever had a fic translated?

naur

have you ever co-written a fic before?

unless we count the aforementioned smut hand-holding then nope, not any that are up ! but me and a friend have some ideas floating around (i love co-writing)

what's your all-time favorite ship?

wolfstar wolfstar wolfstar

what's a wip that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

i have a longgggg jegulus centric fic that i've been toying around with for MONTHS that feels a lot like sisyphus and his boulder. not much hope on that one but lots of thinking ! that counts !

what are your writing strengths?

i'm a big metaphor lad. big fan of poetic rambles. and then the recurring themes are probably what i'm best at because that's what i'll base a story around

what are your writing weaknesses?

smut absolutely but also just,,, physical intimacy at all. and dialogue is always a big struggle (me 🤝🏻 miscommunication tropes)

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

so much fun !! mostly welsh in the vault because i grew up with it, but there's some french and hindi scattered into drafts too

what's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

i would love to write some scorbus at some point! i love those lil guys and i'm super excited to start on my snily one

what's your favorite fic you've ever written?

ostog has a soft spot in my lil heart. it's clunky and i've been feeling very :((( about it recently but i still love it. it's been a big learning curve (and still is) but that remus is so special to me

np tags (sorry if you've already done it!): @calamitoustide @courfee @inevitablestars @houndsinhades @littleoldrachel

[raycatz]

Thank you for the tag, @mmelete!

1, How many works on ao3? 6 0v0 not many haha

2. Total ao3 wordcount? 19,419

3. Top 5 Fics by Kudos? I have 6 fics!!! The top 5 are:

Bombs, Beamos, and Bedtimes - The chain swap stories and compare monsters around the campfire. Wind has a giggle fit.

Letters for Hyrule - "The letters the mailman bring are a welcome comfort. It’s too bad Hyrule never gets any. Wind and Legend are going to fix that."

Nightmare Waking - Fics about the chain dealing with nightmares. So far, there are chapters for Four and Wind.

Chase Towards a Future - My Spirit Tracks x LU fic. It's unfinished and discontinued but I am fond of it.

Not Swell - Wind throws up at the ranch.

4. What fandoms do you write for? Linked Universe.

5. Do you respond to comments? not always. Again though, I only have 6 posted, and they're all kinda old. I'm not really getting fic comments atm lol. I want to be better at responding though, even if it's just with hearts!

6. Fic with the Angstiest Ending: That would go to Sealed Away, part of my Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye AU. I definitely have angstier wips though.

7. Fic with the happiest ending: Bombs, Beamos, and Bedtimes! The lads finished up a good dinner filled with banter and the fic ends with Roolie, Twi, and Four galivanting into the woods to gather water for the dish tubs. They're going to sleep well with full stomachs and light hearts.

8. Do you get hate? No, I haven't.

9. Do you write smut? Nah but I have a couple ideas for gen loz that I think would be sweet. Maybe one day!

10. Do you write crossovers? Sure. I'm more likely to write aus that blend worlds than I am crossovers where characters meet. Though, LU is one big crossover itself, isn't it?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of. I've had art stolen but thankfully it's all been easily sorted.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I haven't but I'm open to it!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic? No, but I think it would be fun!

14. All-time favorite ship? This is such a difficult question! For loz/LU I adore Link/Marin because it's such a sweet tragedy. Ravio/Link and Vidow is wonderful to see as well.

15. WIPS you want to finish but doubt you ever will? So many! 'x) I would like to finish all of them, art, comics, fic, animatics, all of it. I think I have good ideas and I'd love to share them. ,,, When I'm able 'xD But there are also just too many. However, the only writing wips I want to finish atm are a couple more chapters for Nightmare Waking which I can see myself doing.

16. Writing strengths? I think I'm good at writing action! I think there's something to be said here in that I make comics, too. Something about knowing which beats need to be hit for a story or action to get across. I think I have a decent grasp of it. Action is easy for me to visualize and I have fun following it through. I enjoy the planning stages in making comics / animatics and parsing things down. Like, how much information can I effectively get across in one panel and how can I do it clearly? How does a panel flow into the next? Really make the images and words do a lot of work. And then how can I make it pretty? How can I do this with writing? It's like putting together a puzzle!

17. Writing weaknesses? introspective character moments, establishing setting, fleshing out actions and descriptions so that they're pretty and don't read like bullet points. ya know, the writing part o|< Like, I'm afraid that my writing can read like I'm planning storyboards instead of writing a story 'xD Filling space between plot points. There are a couple sentence structures I keep using and I want to work on varying those.

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue? I like it. I think it's cool. It's fun when it's worked into the story. Like, if there's a language barrier between characters and this is a focus, I enjoy when the characters put effort into working out the languages and understanding each other. Also if there's interwoven mixed language dialogue more casually it's neat. I'll pull open google translate or use context clues.

19. First Fandom you ever wrote for? +Anima. I ran an ask blog for Cooro way back when and would rp so I'm saying that counts.

20. Favorite Fic you've ever written? Writing the action scenes in the spirit tracks fic was fun. I had a good time plotting and choreographing that one (the train fight!!!). My favorite fic though is a toss up between Bombs, Beamos, and Bedtimes and Letters for Hyrule. I love Wind in Bombs, Beamos, and Bedtimes and Letters for Hyrule has better writing.

no pressure tagging: @zolanort @zartophski @sister-dear @jellydragons @sirenadeillustrationcomics

[missparker]

20 Questions for Fanfic Writers

I was tagged by @cassiopeiasara! Thanks for the tag.

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 134! Wild.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count? 2,488,273. What can I say, I like to write long fics.

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

scraped up off the pavement (4315)

searching for a trail to follow again (3157)

but i'd like to just pretend (2925)

it's just that i'll always choose you (2921)

blue dress on a boat (2274)

4. What fandoms do you write for?

omg too many, but i will say my top five are stargate sg1, star trek: voyager, the closer/major crimes, sanctuary and american idol (lol), and my most recent one is bridgerton.

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

i didn't always, but now I try to respond to at least the majority of them. sometimes if someone comments on every chapter, i might just reply to the last chapter's comment.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

maybe your heart like a damn when it breaks which became my novel Two is A Pattern. (sequel coming next year!)

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

Anything Bridgerton has a HEA built in because the source is straight romance, but for as ANGSTY as the scottish bookstore au was, I think searching for a trail to follow again has a pretty happy ending, considering where colin starts.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not to my face! thanks guys.

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

i do! gay, straight, bi. i'm an equal opportunity smut writer.

10. Do you write crossovers?

i have been known, from time to time. Just A Whisper in the Dark is my favorite.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

girl, meta stole both my books for their AI machine.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes. sometimes people ask, sometimes no. my first novel is available in german! cool!

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

i am doing it RIGHT NOW. it's the MOST fun.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

jesus, you can't ask me who my favorite child is. and anyway whatever ship i am currently hyperfixated on is my favorite, but also, some ships i come back around on over and over again.

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

i'm actually really intentional about finishing things that i've started to post. if there's an unfinished wip, i'm the only one who knows about it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

worldbuilding, character, detail.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i'm not like, an action scene writer.

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

thank god google translate has improved so much is all i'll say about that

19. First fandom you wrote for?

the xfiles

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

maybe the one i'm cowriting now? like? we'll see how it goes but so far it slaps.

I'll tag @sarking, @balfies, @nandamai, @annerbhp, and @geneeste

[allmightskitten]

WIP Tagging Game 🙏🌟💞🌟

Thank you for the tag @physics-of-one-piece !!!! Wah, this is going to be fun, although this is seriously encouraging me to start new WIPs when I have so many I should be working on currently XD

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have wips. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

I'll only include One Piece WIPs on this list because that's the only fandom I use tumblr for!!Some of these are...certainly choices, but you know, I write for myself and anyone that will read it so here goes, from most normal to freakiest /but I won't be explaining the Freak in much detail xx

☆☆☆

1. 'Franky Is An Educated Man Who Knows How to Read' - T, Franky/Robin

this is part of my Strawhat-centric series luffy's band of shared braincells! So far the series only includes two Zolu works, but I always intended to expand it to cover a lot of different Strawhat dynamics, some platonic and some shippy. In that vein, this one is set immediately post Enies Lobby in a filler-epiosde style, featuring a newly-ordained-Strawhat Franky sort of finding his place in the crew and getting along with everyone. The 'plot' involves Franky getting off at an island they stopped at with Robin and Chopper who want to check out the famous library there for books on their specific fields. He thinks maybe he could learn something too so he joins them only to find himself getting irrationally jealous of how nice and cosy Robin is with Chopper to the point where she notices he hasn't flipped a single damn page in a long time and asks him if he can't read XD it's pretty much silly fluff like the two Zolu fics in the series, a genre I don't write unless I'm in the very specific mood for it which is why this is still sitting in the WIPs folder....

2. 'the future king of the pirates rides a water cow and other toursit-y scams' - G, Luffy & Zoro & Nami

This one's also set in Water 7 and in the same series! Water 7 is such a fun location, this fic is pure shits and giggles comedy and it centers around the romance dawn trio, because I love them. Like everything in this series it's a filler-style fic where not a whole lot of plot happens because the vibe here is just spending time with the Straw Hats! (still debating if I should sneak in some subtle romance dawn trioshipping...the live action made me ship it even though I didn't before...😭🫣 would be extremely subtle blink and you miss it type stuff, though!)

Ok now let's get a little freakier don't say I didn't warn you

3. 'journalistic integrity' - E, Sabo/Koala

I think I'm a bit obvious in corazon's flower shop diary that I ship these two but they're extremely background (like, 2 short appearances in all of 14 chapters so far??) in that story, I wanted to give them their own little spinoff :3 this fic is totally independent of the main story and pretty much stands alone. It's cliche romance spy thriller trope hell, here's what the summary reads, straight from the ao3 drafts:

4. 'I am not calling you a good boy doflamingo that Warlord meeting was shit' - E, Doffy/Tsuru

will this actually be the title when I post it? most likely yes unless I come up with an even more absurd one uhhh

Nothing to see here, just a strict Marine Vice Admiral putting a misbehaving annoying Warlord in his place!!! WELL deserved, if you ask me. Doffy is extra pathetic in this one I can't wait to post it 💞💖

freakiness level significantly up in this one

5. Zombie Apocalypse AU - Strawhats, Doffy/Rosi & Law

I honestly don't know if I'll ever pick this WIP up again, but I love zombie apocalypse settings so much I've written one in pretty much every fandom I've been in XD there's already a snippet of one of the dofcora segments in this series on my tumblr if anyone would like to read it!

definitely classifies as freaky because doffy has some weird mental cannibalism ķink and is constantly thinking shit like man I'd let rosi eat me if he turned tho among other questionable ideas

6. 'darling, dearest, heart' - E, Doffy/Rosi

Not revealing much about this one except that it's a little treat for when the reincarnation AU ends ;)

☆☆☆

I have a bunch of other WIPs but they're nowhere near being actually written so I left them out of the list, I've got some snippets up under the tag Abandoned WIP Graveyard on my blog for a few, though!

Thank you again for tagging me! I'm gonna tag @sugarpsalms @saraptor-art @heliostears @addict-with-a-unicorn @tavsianus @kookoofufu if they'd like to do this!! (No pressure though, only if you want to – hope you don't mind the tag!)

[mythals-whore]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you for tagging me @basedonconjecture & @biowaredisasterbisexual one thing about me, if I’ve been tagged i will participate.

I am tagging @sugar-peanut-cat @flowersforthemachines & @thedissonantverses

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

I have three (:

2. What is your ao3 wordcount?

139,763 which um, feels like a lot maybe?

3. What are your top five fics by kudos?

For those who tagged me in this i will actually look at my Kudos count: Hunting Days 120 Check Mate 50 Fuzzy Pink Handcuffs 44

4. What fandoms do you write for?

Dragon Age(: but i do actually have a partially finished bg3 fic in my folder

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

At least 90% of the time yes. Sometimes i feel especially shy OR don’t know how to respond to a specific comment so i sit on it until i come up with something clever OR forget about it/: but most of the time i do. Every comment is special to me and I appreciate everyone who takes the time out to leave one(:

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

As none of my fics have endings yet this is difficult to answer AND in general I’m a happy ending gal. In my imaginary fic world where i get to make all the decisions, the endings are happy and everyone lives idk what to tell you.

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

Again, no endings BUT! I think happiest ending I’ve imagined is my probably for my Cullavellan fic because they're very domestic and have a child. But no one worry Davrook will be equally happy i’ve already written part of an epilogue for them already

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have only had positive experiences so far!

9. Do you write smut?

I certainly do (:

10. Do you write crossovers?

I think this means crossover between fandoms but I’m not sure. I mean the answer is no? but technically? Maybe? I am going to have Cullavellan appear in my current work but that probably does not count.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If i have then i don’t know it and honestly i don’t want to.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but if anyone wanted to you may?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

I have not and am honestly curious how this works because i hear people talk about it. Do you trade off chapters? do you just plan together and pick which parts you're going to write? I’m co-writer curious.

14. What is your all-time favorite ship?

Ummmm that’s difficult but I’ll out myself as a supporter of Merthur. They’ve been with me the longest.

15. What is the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I’d love to finish all of them but honestly the above mentioned bg3 fic will probably never get finished. I may break it up and post the best parts as one shots because i do like a lot of it. There’s just too much and i stopped because it was overwhelming.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Ummm I’ll say characterization? On my current fic I got that compliment a lot in the beginning that i wrote Davrin really true to character and I’ve also been told that my Rook’s backstory is cool which is a very sweet compliment(:

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing rule you hear a lot is “show don’t tell” and i have a tendency to do both. I do the long paragraph of the illustrating and then i go “this is what that means” so I’m working on that

18. Your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

Have never really tried? I've translated some elvhen using Project Elvhen (which I have since heard it not the best resource?) but that's the closest I've come. Actually! and this barely counts but I did write something for Antoine in French but I basically just stole some quotes from French poetry. So um I don't know? If it's necessary I'll do my best?

19. First fandom you ever wrote for?

Shadowhunters when i was like 13 but i wrote like maybe two chapters and never ever finished it. But the first fic I posted is Hunting Days and that's obviously Dragon Age (:

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Probably Hunting Days. Davrin and Cyri have just really grown on me i love them so dearly and writing their banter is really fun. Also am so close (still very far) to finishing and I’m just really proud of it!

[tennessoui]

kit's fics year in review (2023)

it turns out i wrote a LOT this year (last year now, i guess) according to my ao3 stats, and i saw one of those recap games for another fandom floating around my dash so im absolutely gonna pilfer some of those questions for my own little review + add a few!!

how many fics did you write in 2023? it was definitely the year of the silly short fic for me -- i published a total of 6 new oneshots on ao3 along with 5 fics only on my kofi! i also added at least one chapter to 9 other fics that were already posted. and i started and completed 1 long stand alone fic this year (if you love me let it remain unnamed, clocking in at 37k)

what are you most proud of fic-writing wise in 2023? i finished foolproof, foolhardy! it took more than a year to write, from first published to last updated, but i think the lion's share of the work happened during 2023; it's sort of rare for a fic of mine to get that long (72k), so it was fun to write through all the developments. truly a cracky premise that grew legs and ran away from me, but i'm really proud of how it turned out. the last 4 chapters contain some of my best writing in my opinion and the whole story is a love letter to padawan obi-wan, who will always be my beloved lol

what is the fic you had the most fun writing? this is a tough question because i'm torn between two fics; sun, sun, sun here it comes is probably my favorite oneshot that i've ever written. it sorta incorporates everything that makes a silly little au in my mind, from miscommunication to banter to bonus babies. but then there's i pray the same, but my gods have changed, aka the democratic fic- now that's such a fun fic to write, and i'm going to get more into it this year again. it's the one where tumblr votes on what should happen next, which i absolutely enjoy - especially when people send me propaganda about which option should win....thought the amount of ties that have happened is mind-boggling lol

what is a fic you didn't expect to write? hahaha well this is easily 'a more perfect union' which has been sooo fun to write so far but also definitely has had a very short gestation period from nascent tumblr au post to 25k on ao3 lol and still one more chapter to go!!!

what fic surprised you when you were writing it? oh hands down this is 'hand me down dreams got me high in the rafters', aka the pool boy au from tumblr. the adaptation of it from tumblr au to a fic on ao3 has a crazy tone shift where the obi-wan in that fic is much, much darker than the one in the tumblr au - i really ended up leaning into the unequal power dynamics of a boss/employee relationship and exploring how unhealthy it could be while keeping it consensual -- but only because anakin would allow obi-wan to do whatever he wanted to him

what's a fic you wanted to write but didn't? my poor neglected hunger games au!! i really want to get the first chapter of that posted because i am so excited about this fic and writing it as a new big, long project -- i'm excited about the dark anakin, the differently dark obi-wan, the hunger games set in the gffa, etc etc etc

what is something you learned this year that you'll take into 2024? set is the only acceptable name for anakin to use undercover <3 we will be taking the set cinematic universe into 2024 <3

what's a project you're excited to carry into the new year? um all of my wips lol but especially time & tide and the couples counseling au - i have about half of the next chapter of t&t written, and before i got sidetracked by a more perfect union, i was on track to get that posted by christmas....obviously that did not happen lol but i'm expecting to get back to working on a few more chapter updates at the beginning of this year!

[fangirl-erdariel]

How long after posting do people comment on fics?

No, really, I'm curious, what's everyone's experience on this?

I just started thinking because like, okay, I try not to get too caught up on how popular my fics become, and especially I try not to compare them a whole lot. If I worried about popularity I'd just never write anything, probably. But I do glance at the ao3 stats page every once in a while, out of curiosity

And like. I have one fic that's a massive outlier popularity-wise to literally anything else I have ever written. Not through any merit of mine, not really, I just kind of lucked out; i wouldn't say it's my best writing by really any metric, but it's not like, bad, and it is a formulaic hurt-comfort fic centered on a popular character, so that immediately gives it better chances to get popular anyway. But more than that, there's the fact that I wrote and posted it right at a time when the fandom was enjoying a massive resurgence overall, getting both an influx of new fans and a renewed interest from a number of old fans, so there were a lot more people reading fic, creating rec lists (this is the only fic of mine i know for a fact has ever been included on a rec list, though it is of course possible that other fics of mine have been on rec lists that i just never became aware of), all of that, and therefore more people that had the chance to find and read it before it became buried. And of course when something gets popular, it creates a certain momentum for it, it has an easier time finding more readers. So this fic, it's nearly three years old, and it still tends to get a kudos once or twice a week, just by a brief look through my kudos emails, so people are still finding it and reading it and liking it on a regular basis

It is by and far my most popular fic by almost any metric, whether that be hits (which, yes, i know, are not a very accurate metric for measuring how many people actually read the thing through, let alone liked it, but still, including it here for the sake of my point)

...or kudos

...or bookmarks

or technically even subscriptions, though the numbers are much much smaller here anyway, despite the fact that it's a one-shot while two of the others on the list are multi-chapter (admittedly just 3 and 2 chapters long, but still, more than one chapter)

but comments? well, it's still the most popular, but by a far slimmer margin, with a difference of only three comment threads more than the next most commented-on fic i've written

the four most commented-on fics after that first one were all published within the same year with the most popular one, btw. they're all i think a little newer, but only by a matter of months. I guess 2022 was a good year for me fic-writing-wise

and like. looking at the amount of comments on this most popular one - 20 comment threads, 40 comments total because i like talking with people so i try to reply to all comments i get - it's just... well, it feels so weird. when by all other metrics ao3 provides, it is so massively more popular than anything else i've written. and then the number of comments is not really in proportion with that popularity, is really not significantly higher than on the next most popular fics

and out of curiosity i looked through the comments. and of those 20 comments on the fic - 8 were written within about a week of its posting in february 2022. 5 were written throughout the entire rest of 2022 (most of them in the summer, one in the fall), 5 through all of 2023, and then 2 in 2024. The 2024 ones were both early in the year, one in January and one in March. since then, no new comments at all.

and like. it's not that i'm ungrateful for the comments i've gotten. it's not that i necessarily think i *deserve* more or whatever, deserving is fake and twenty is still way more than i ever get on most of my fics! No, like, I am incredibly grateful to everyone who did take the time to write a comment on it, and I genuinely treasure all of those comments

but it just is strange, how disproportionately more kudos and bookmarks than comments the fic has compared to any of my other fics. like obviously more people will always leave a kudos than will comment, but like. the difference is so visible here. I can see that clearly people are still regularly reading the fic and presumably enjoying it, since it keeps getting kudos. And I find it hard to believe that all of those hundreds of people who've left kudos but not commented, either are people who simply never comment, or felt that they had nothing at all to say about the fic. So really the only conclusion I can come is that at least some of those people haven't commented because the fic isn't brand new. Which is a shame, honestly, I just like getting to talk with people and i'd love to hear what people thought abt it

But. I don't know. I'm curious to hear other writers' experience. Do people comment on your older fics a lot, or a little, or not at all? If there is a cut-off point after which you feel that people don't comment, how long after posting is that for you? How do you feel about people commenting or not commenting on old fic?

And for readers, does the age of the fic you read affect how likely you are to comment, and if it does, why? No judgement btw, i'm genuinely curious to hear!

[the-larry-way]

Writing Self-Evaluation 2024

thank you @red-pandaaa for tagging me! (I'm going to be including some personal evaluation as well since the actual template seems very published works focused)

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 30 (out of which 21 were posted in 2024 (all in December))

2. Word count posted for the year: 60,178 (plus 102,016 unpublished words)

3. Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction (Band)

4. Pairings: Louis Tomlinson/Harry Styles — I might branch out one day, but so far I'm happy writing about the two people who bring me so much joy.

5. Story with the most (2024): Kudos: we got all night (we're going nowhere) 64, Bookmarks: baby, it's cold (inside) and Knot Together 20, Comments (Threads): there's a devil in your smile, it's chasing me 11

Story with the most (all time): Kudos and Bookmarks: Whatever Floats Your Boat 650 and 365 respectively, (Fake/Pretend, Cruise Larry, one of my proudest works) Comment Threads: Little Heartbeat 42, (not my best. based on a teenager's understanding of love and life. I was 14 when I started writing it)

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): I'm probably most proud of my (Coming Soon) One Direction Big Bang fic. It's the longest thing I've ever written and the most fun I've had writing. As far as published works are concerned, I want to chicken and say I like my advent calendar but that's a cop out. So I probably will say the quinquagenarian. I think there aren't enough Older Larry fics in the fandom and I'm quite pleased with the banter in the fic. In general though, I'm really pleased with the Advent Calendar. It was a major challenge to come up with and write so many prompts (i'm still 5 short) but I think I rose well to the challenge!

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why): I always say that I try to be proud of all of my works because they all made me the writer that I am today (who I am very proud of) but in the spirit of answering the question I would say Green Apple Daiquiri. The plot isn't meaningful or compelling and I feel like I show a lack of understanding of interpersonal relationships that isn't justified at 14. It feels very fake deep but I still remember being thrilled with my brilliance when I initially wrote it. Such is young naivety. And although it shows up as my first work on ao3, it's actually my third, so I feel like I had enough writing experience that I should've been doing better.

8. Share or describe a favourite review you received: There is a few that come to mind and I'll share all of them because I can't appreciate my readers enough.

Someone said something about something reading like a movie. I know that's terribly vague but I've pored over my inbox and failed to find it.

@statementlou (apologies if this isn't your ao3 name and i've unnecessarily tagged you) with their encouragement when I was feeling bad for not being able to catch up with my advent calendar

@nyxdaughterofkhaos she is probably the big reason why I've written as much as I have this year but specifically this comment "Ahhhh!!! Loved this so freaking much!!! I think I'm gonna have to stop saying i have favorite! You keep surprising me with these little amazing and adorable fics!!!" I had been taking so much delight in all her lovely comments but something about this felt like her kissing my forehead and telling me they're all my favorite and it made me teary eyed

@signofcomfort my other wonderful beta. she described a scene in my big bang fic as something in a sitcom (intended as a compliment) and in general has been singing praises of the banter in the fic.

@parmahamlarrie in this specific rec she said about a naughty little christmas miracle 'Something about this one has stuck with me all month. I loved it!' and it just made my heart soar.

Thank you to all readers and especially to those who leave comments.

9. A time when writing was really, really hard: I didn't write much all year, but I've been on a roll since October. This last chapter of Knot Together was really hard. For the first time ever I rewrote the whole thing twice. I'm not a big rewriter so this was SO difficult. Especially doing the rewrites on that 24 hour timeline for 12 days of ficmas and all the while my beta was stuck without internet so I couldn't bounce ideas off anyone

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: I'm really bad at writing scenes with a lot of physicality. But I wrote a scene of Harry and Louis being goofy (the sitcom scene) that I was very pleased with.

11. A favourite excerpt of your writing: oh this is so hard. I never remember anything I write!! Full disclosure, this is basically the first thing I saw. But I am quite proud of it. It marks a massive turning point in the character's relationship with that kind of vulnerability (while still bantering). This is also the first publicly shared snippet of my @onedirectionbigbang fic. yay!!

Louis drifted in and out of sleep as he kept an eye on the bathroom door, eagerly awaiting his boy’s return. He grinned when the door opened. “Well hello, Little Harry,” Louis smirked, dragging his gaze slowly up Harry’s body till he met his eyes, a smug smirk on Harry’s lips as he stood in the doorway, towelling his hair, fully nude. “Little?” Harry looked down and scoffed. “Your scale is broken,” Harry hung up his towel on the towel rack before crawling into bed, getting under the covers. “Oooh bed’s all warm.” he murmured, smiling when Louis snuggled up to him immediately. ��You did miss me, huh?” Harry chuckled, playing with his hair. “I did. More than you know,” he confessed. “Yeah? What would you do if I had decided I wanted to sleep in the guest room?” Harry teased. “Cried,” Louis said bluntly. “Begged you to let me sleep in the guestroom with you.” Harry’s face openly reflected his surprise at the raw honesty. “I didn’t sleep for a second last night, Harry,” he finally confessed.

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: i wrote a LOT. a lot of tropes and a lot of POVs. Practice makes perfect right? I think I wrote a strict POV for the first time. and it's alright. But I do enjoy telling my stories through third person omniscient/limited a LOT more

13. How do you hope to grow next year: I was supposed to write 500 words a day for 2024. Given that I didn't write for nearly the first 11 months of the year (i wrote for a week in january and then really started writing the week before halloween) the fact that I still ended up averaging 444 words a day is a resounding success. And something about angel numbers and stuff.

For next year, I plan on maintaining that goal. I have a few fics in mind that should help me accomplish that goal but I imagine it won't be easy between graduating college and starting my (anticipated to be very demanding) job.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): @indiaalphawhiskey is always an inspiration. she is probably one of, if not the best writer I've ever read.

@nyxdaughterofkhaos has been a massive help in both encouragement and brainstorming

@chai-hat-tea has been another rock with brainstorming and cheerleading.

@justanothershadeofblue for helping me brainstorm and plan Knot Together even when my other friends were discouraging me. For creating a space where i can be pouty and uncharitable without hurting people. for everything

I think a lot of thanks goes to my sweet little cat Kimchi who has not only inspired fics directly, but also is the muse for a lot of cats that are showing up in my fics here and there. But more directly, my desire to stay in and cuddle with her often resulted in writing.

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: yes actually!!

there's a devil in your smile, it's chasing me was inspired by the first ice hockey match I ever attended just days before! (i did not get ditched by a date and kissed by the devil)

calm down, girl was inspired by my own anxieties of boarding my Kimchi. (i did not have a cute employee volunteer to send me daily pictures)

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: just write. stop waiting for the perfect time, the perfect prompt, the perfect mood. just write. The more you write the more easily it'll come to you. And don't be afraid to ask for help.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: so many!! I'm looking forward to getting back to writing (and finishing) my big bang fic, and I intend on making both my girl dad louis and shapeshifting fics into full length fics! I haven't given a lot of thought to the latter two just yet but I fully intend to.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

no pressure to do this but would love to hear from you all! @justanothershadeofblue, @chai-hat-tea, @larry-hiatus, @indiaalphawhiskey, @twopoppies, @allwaswell16

[blackjackkent]

2024 Writing Roundup!

Tagged by @queenaeducan-writes! Thank you!

Tagging:

@bardic-inspo  @astreamofstars @morganaseren @thedarkstrategist @istibaethoriel

@rhysintherain @0ccuria @gothyanki @dungeonsdragonsandlawyers

@babygurltash @eluvisen

(I tag folks who have liked this post over here! Following me and want to be tagged in other fic writer memes like this? Drop a like there! <3 And if you don’t want to be tagged anymore just unlike the post. c: )

words posted: For purposes of this meme I'm ignoring liveblog writing and ask meme prompt fills, and only focusing on stuff on AO3, which in 2024 totaled roughly 102,482. (This is including one chapter of Open Your Eyes that was posted in 2023.)

additional words written: An uncountable amount of liveblogging, ask meme fills, and WIPs that I'm not even gonna try to guess at tbh. XD

grand total of words: No idea. But in the multiple hundreds of thousands certainly. :O

fandoms: Baldur's Gate pretty much exclusively. (I did write one small Dark Souls flash fic.)

highest kudos: 70 kudos on Prayers and Hellfire

highest hit oneshot: 2358, also on Prayers and Hellfire

new things I tried:

Pretty much everything about this year was brand new, as I've never gotten into fanfiction on this scale and with this much enthusiasm before. But writing multiple-chapter fics and writing published E-rated fic were the two biggest things, I suppose.

fic I spent the most time on: I suppose Open Your Eyes wins this by default since it is a chap fic and has five chapters in it now. (Sixth in progress!) Of the one-shots, probably Sunset or Prayers and Hellfire, which were the two longest one-shots I wrote this year.

fic I spent the least time on: Besides the aforementioned Dark Souls flashfic, probably A Bond That Needs No Name or Owlbear Vignettes, both of which started as off-the-cuff liveblog posts and then got moved to AO3 after.

favorite thing I wrote: Sunset takes the cake here; it took me by the throat and demanded I write it. It's my longest one-shot ever and I'm extremely proud of the result. Unfortunately it's probably reached the full extent of its audience (Jaheira/Khalid is a pretty niche topic) but I am so glad to have given everyone a good show. :D

Runners up here include Prayers and Hellfire, my second-longest one-shot and first attempt at published smut; and The Two Sides of the Coin, my favorite take so far on Jaheira and Karlach's friendship.

favorite thing(s) I read:

Tbh I don't read nearly as much fic as I write, which is something I maybe want to work on in the coming year, but I will shout out everything I have read by @eluvisen (including and especially the epic that I don't think is published yet 👀) and the wonderful Pulled Into Orbit by @thedarkstrategist.

writing goals for 2025:

* Finish Open Your Eyes and Fault Lines

* Write The Grand Reunion once Fault Lines is done.

* Continue exploring Jaheira-related fic out of the enormous list of ideas in my backlog.

* Continue regular ask prompts and liveblogging.

* Don't burn out. XD

new works:

Gonna do like @queenaeducan-writes did and do a full summary even though evidently that wasn't the original intention of the question. XD

* The Blind and the Silent - Dark Souls flashfic set in the End of Fire ending of Dark Souls 3

* What Good, This Heart of Stone? - Hector and Lae'zel handle overwhelming emotions by beating the crap out of each other.

* A Bond That Needs No Name - Jaheira and Minsc reconnect after his rescue from the Absolutists.

* Owlbear Vignettes - Camp adventures with Buddy the Owlbear.

* Zariel's Crucible - Enver Gortash's final test for Karlach before selling her to the hells.

* Comrades and Lost Children - Karlach and Jaheira bond by the fire after Moonrise.

* The Two Sides of the Coin - Karlach and Jaheira discuss loss and being left behind.

* Prayers and Hellfire (NSFW) - Hector and Karlach's first time together (and Hector's first ever).

* Sky-High - Karlach, with Hector's help, wrangles the tiefling refugee children after the battle at Moonrise.

* Broken Little Puppets - Karlach supports Astarion after his stand against Cazador.

* The Hellraisers (hiatused chap fic) - Hector, Karlach, and Wyll's adventures in the hells, post-game.

* We Who Have Faced Gods - Hector, Karlach, and Jaheira talk on the road towards Baldur's Gate.

* Quiet Zone (NSFW) - Hector and Karlach, during their Avernus adventures, find a private moment together in the library of the House of Hope.

* Fresh Meat - Karlach remembers a dark moment early in her time in Zariel's army.

* Fault Lines (WIP chap fic) - how Jaheira and Nine-Fingers know each other, and how their friendship fell apart.

* Open Your Eyes and It Will Blind You (WIP chap fic) - origin story for Jaheira and Rasaad's relationship, and an adventure for the BG2 gang investigating a Sharran invasion in Rasaad's monastery in Calimport.

* A Harper's Bonds (ongoing anthology) - collection of short stories/prompt fills at different periods in Jaheira's life.

* Sunset - Khalid's death, and memories of Jaheira that gave him strength.

[annabthesolitarywriter]

IMPORTANT!

I've seen some of my moots post New Year Resolution lists/To-do lists so I thought I'd share mine. It contains important information my mutuals deserve to know.

I suppose you all don't remember my WIP The Lady of Ithilien.

Don't worry, it's a very small thing I've never really talked about. Enna? Eönwë? I don't know who these people are (just kidding, of course). Well, I have to announce that it will no longer be a WIP. It won't be a WIP for a long time, since I don't plan on posting new chapters until the latter part of this year and possibly even early 2026.

Much has changed since I posted chapter 3 back in April. I've created many, many, many OCs and some of them will appear in the story quite soon. As such, I need to have them completely (or semi-completely) figured out (full names, lineage, background, personality and role within the plot) BEFORE I start writing about them.

This is why answering character asks will be my main priority for early 2025 at the very least. I need to know who my characters are before I write them and make a mess. Please send as many asks as you can (even random questions), so that I can flesh them out as much as possible. Even stupid questions are okay. Seemingly stupid questions—I reckon questions are never stupid—are actually the best because they force me to think. Trust me, I do need to think 😂 it's the overthinking part that which I don't like.

I was re-reading the LOI prologue last night and I couldn't help but notice how different Ioreth's personality is if compared to how I wrote her character just two chapters later. She sort of has some of the same traits, but she's much more gentle and understanding in the prologue than she is later, and I don't think Enna "misbehaving" could trigger such a massive change in her personality if she hadn't shown signs of being a complete b*tch beforehand. Luckily for me, I haven't written much yet, so that issue could be easily solved by deleting the prologue and reposting it separately as a general introduction to Enna as a character. I have already copied the prologue in my AO3 drafts in case I decide go through with it, but I will wait a while longer before I make a decision since I'm notoriously volatile and change my mind every five seconds about everything. This example is just to show how writing instinctively and without thinking can impact things in the long run, so I definitely need to develop my characters. That's the first thing I intend to do this year.

Second, I need to finish the Tolkien OC Week one-shots that should've been done by the end of this past August. I am still working on the one-shot for Day 5 and I have changed my mind about the prompt for Day 6 at least a billion times. I have to expand the one for Day 7 and finish the one-shot for day 1 (Maiarin world-building is the stuff of nightmares).

Plus, I need to make sure that I don't further change my mind about things I've already written, which is something I unfortunately always end up doing. I change my mind all the time and it's honestly kind of debilitating at this point. I feel like I'll never finish anything and it's disheartening.

I legit can't stop coming up with newer ideas that I think are better than the old ones and replacing stuff I've already written with new scenarios. The thing is, my excitement wears off pretty quickly and I soon get even better ideas that quickly replace the new ones. It's a never-ending cycle which needs to stop ASAP.

I do plan to make some changes to the LOI chapters I've already posted. I'll edit the story before I resume posting later this year/next year. I've planned the following changes so far:

Possibly take out the prologue and reposting it separately [the reasons for this change are mentioned above]. Should that be the case, LOI will start with chapter 1. I haven't really made up my mind about this though. I kind of don't want to delete it because, in doing so, I would lose all my comments and comments are very important to me, but I suppose I could screenshot them, print them and frame them 😂

Change Eönwë's Quenya lines in what is now Chapter 2 to Valarin. I mean, the guy is basically in a coma and starts speaking in a second/third language? I know that Maiar and Valar are supposed to be more or less masters of all languages, but I think it would make much more sense if he muttered stuff in Valarin rather than Quenya. I did not think of this when I first wrote the chapter a year ago and I wasn't not yet obsessed with Turkish period dramas.

Carefully review the parts of Chapter 4 that I have already written and make major adjustments. Write new parts that make more sense considering the events that have just occurred story-wise (don't worry, I won't discard anything. The "current" chapter 4 will be pushed back in the timeline and possibly become Chapter 7 or 8.

Pay a lot more attention to grammar and spelling. I usually don't mind it when other writers make spelling mistakes, but when it happens to me...it's a whole other matter entirely. I've been learning English for a long time and the fact that I still make that kind of mistakes—mostly due to distraction—really irks me. I'm talking capitalization issues, wrong vowels and such. I know how to write correctly and I cannot stress how I roll my eyes whenever I spot misspelled words I perfectly know how to write. And it usually happens after re-reading the same paragraph four or five times.

Stop adding lore to asks I've already posted. How are people going to keep up if I keep adding more and more things? I literally posted the Eleniel/Celebrían ask on New Year's Day and I've edited the post twice already because I obviously came up with slightly different concepts and ideas. It's been two days and I have no doubt I'll come up with slightly different variations of things anytime I re-read the post. I don't think it's fair to the person who sent the ask (@lucifers-legions in this case, but it could be anyone) to keep changing things. I never do it on purpose (it's more of an impulse things), but I need to make decisions and stick to them. People should be able to read the answers to my asks without stressing over what I'm going to change. This applies to everyone sending asks (anons and mutuals alike), but it's even more important when someone is borrowing your characters for their story. So, I plan to be better and I really hope I will succeed. Also, constantly updating things is not good for me either (I forget half of the stuff and get confused, which is...not ideal)

Try and work on all the other asks I have queued. They include a second unusual OC/creator questions ask from @fishing4stars, four more from @lucifers-legions (three character asks and one fic-request), one from @dilettantefeminist, one from @jhelenivarsimae, one from @quillofspirit and two from @saurongorthaur9 (one character ask and one fic-request). I have started some of these and for others I had ideas which I momentarily abandoned/discarded. What I am trying to say is that I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN about these and that I'm working on them. I wish I could put things out more quickly, but...you know me by now. I'm slow. And I wish I wasn't.

Try and be more organized. I have a bunch of random files and notes that need to be neatly stored somewhere. My brain is a mess as it is and it doesn't need any more distractions.

Speaking of distractions...Tumblr (and social media in general) happens to be one. While I love scrolling through my feed here...it prevents me from actually writing and planning. Which is why I think it won't be surprising if I take even longer breaks from it. Despite this, I would like to keep in contact with all the awesome people I've met on here so. You can text me on Insta (I can give it to you via text on here) or you can email me if you like. Just text me and we'll talk about it. I'll still come back to Tumblr every once in a while (I'll never deactivate my account or things like that), but...I think I need to take drastic measures to stay focused and actually update my fics. I'll come back here to reply to the asks I get and to comments and texts I might get, but I don't think I'll ever be as active as I once was. Maybe I will be again one day, but I need to work on my concentration skills first (I honestly think I might have ADHD and I kind of would like to get it checked out. I've been doing some reading about it and most of the symptoms I have are a match for ADHD. It might also not be the case, but...I don't know.)

Update (sometime down the line) my masterlist, make it more pretty to look at and make a headcanon list to be kept in my files and also to be posted here. Most of my asks are buried somewhere and I need to keep them all in the same place so that I can easily find them. Not urgent, but also...quite urgent.

All in all, I would like to thank all of you for your continued support and thank you for putting up with me. 💕

I understand I can be a pain and I'm sorry (I'm honestly starting to think Enna and I are the same person. She's just way more unlucky)

PS: *As a testament to my overthinking, it seems I cannot stop thinking about that darn prologue (it's been LITERAL HOURS since I first queued this post and it's been haunting me ever since). Ioreth's characterization is my main issue with it at the moment, but, on second thoughts, I suppose that the whole "personality change" issue could be attributed to her acting nice while Enna was a young child in an attempt to gain her trust and manipulate her into thinking that she was way better than her mother. That's kind of plausible. She basically gaslighted her throughout her childhood and started showing her true colors when Enna grew up and started to "rebel". Okay, that's more or less fine, I suppose.

It's just that the prologue is set in Ithilien and the first chapter is literally a year later in Minas Tirith and she's already met Mairon. Mmm...🤔

Should I add a few chapters in between showing Enna's pre-drama daily life, her lessons with the most sensible tutor in Middle-earth aka Finnas, her moving to Minas Tirith with Faramir and Elboron, introduce her two main attendants and address the differences between her life in Ithilien and in Minas Tirith? Should I also include a chapter where she meets Mairon and he starts manipulating right off the bat?

I'm literally debating whether I should rewrite the story from the start [the most complicated option what will probably cause me to abandon the fic altogether], add the extra chapters between the prologue and Chapter 1 [if that ends up happening, the prologue will go back to being Chapter 1 and the other chapters will follow accordingly], or just delete the prologue and leave everything else as it is now [the easiest option]

In any case, I doubt I'll be able to post anything before next October/November, my ultimate deadline being early to mid 2026.

IF I DON'T UPDATE BY THEN...then you're allowed to consider the story officially discontinued/abandoned.

Writing LOI requires a lot of work and hopefully finishing off the one-shots first will give me inspo and motivation to work on the story. If not, Elenwë and all my OCs will only live in my mind and in the one-shots that are already posted.

Also, all the planned fics I listed on my masterlist... probably won't happen either. Let's be realistic, I'll never ever get to them in this lifetime. I get distracted too often, I can't meet deadlines and I'm never satisfied with my own work. I am never happy about it. Perhaps I'm just not cut out for writing. Maybe I should stop writing right this instant.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of my moots for their unwavering support. I have met so many wonderful people here and, even if I stop writing, I'll always keep reading and commenting!

[uchidachi]

2024 Writing Round-Up

I was tagged by @librivore42! tyyyy!!!

words posted: 33,543 💚 (although about 2k of those were previously posted on tumblr, I'm still counting them!)

additional words written: A LOT, but they're broken up over so many documents I couldn't count them. there's 5,146 in the Veilguard fics I currently have open and writing in... I have a WIP problem.

fandoms: All Dragon Age all the time. (3 Origins/Awakening, 1 for DAII, 8 for Inquisition, and 2 for TN/Veilguard)

highest kudos: A Voice on the Line, with 59. the people crave Dorian/Fenris

highest hit one-shot: Ser Possessed-a-lot's Big Day, with 294. I don't blame them I'd want to see what I was on when I wrote that, too 😅

new things I tried: I wrote Awakening fic, finally! and writing from a first-person-plural POV as possessed!Ser Pounce. But the big new thing was writing all those recipe fics! I have a whole series now!!

fic I spent the most time on: The Poirier Family Cookbook, most assuredly! not only is it the longest thing I wrote, but I had all the time developing and testing (and photographing!) the recipes!!

fic I spent the least time on: This year I think it was the Ser Possessed-a-lot fic! I wrote and posted that in a haze in like half a day... But overall it was A (Literally) Hot Kiss, which was Alistair/Amell flash fiction that I posted this year, but wrote ages ago.

favourite thing I wrote: You're really going to make me choose between my children??? I had the most fun writing The Alamarri Falcon, and just diving headfirst into writing film noir banter. I also created the Lucanis/Neve tag with that fic, which I'm very proud of 😊

favourite thing(s) I read: OMG do I need to choose? I've read soooo much good fic this year!! FIC REC ROUNDUP TIME

I'd be remiss if I didn't first shoutout the slowburn Cassarric epic A Marriage of Inconvenience. Ao3 claims that I have visited it 195 times

More Cassarric with Nobody's Business!!

Speaking of fics I visit constantly, @klickitats updated Love Song for the Admiral!!!! I am still processing the final chapter please go read this it's my favorite fic

Did You Hide the Moon Again? is Audacity/Merrill/Solas and was written for me for the Black Emporium exchange also please go read that

Rooks!!!!!!!! @swordbisexual has Vissenta Hawke-as-Rook here, @rowanisawriter has an amazing grey warden Fahad here, @shouldaspunastory has Tobias Mercar, @fanfoolishness' Liesl Ingellvar here, I'm obsessed with @hyperions-light's Lethanavir de Riva already, and they're obsessed with Viago... there's this insanely hot Lucanis/Neve/Rook series (idk if the author is on tumblr)

Oh hey making this list has reminded me that I really need to read @amarmeme's Illario/Rook fic, so that's what I'm doing today...

Also shoutout to literally every Emmrich/Bellara fic I've read so far, I'm obsessed actuallly

Also the entire collections for the 2024 DA Create-A-Thon and Black Emporium Exchange

writing goals for 2025: Finish those two dozen Veilguard WIPs, I guess... Maybe just one of them to start???

new works: I swear I'm gonna post a Rook/Taash fic before the end of the year I SWEAR it... I just need to buckle down and write...

tagging: everyone I already tagged? idk, I got really into going through my Ao3 history to answer that favorite reads, so I'm probably gonna re-read my gift fics from this year, good times...

[mochiwrites]

It's 3 am and I have a sudden urge to yap about how much I love songbird's blood so that's exactly what I am going to do ‼️‼️

I love Songbird Blood so much that it lives rent free in my head all day every day. When I'm going to sleep 6/7 days I think about it while I'm about to go to sleep. I love to think about silly little things that could happen (I'm like 99% wrong most of the time) but still I adore daydreaming about songbird blood so much.

The addiction to your writing had me yapping to a friend and now we both are addicted to your writing a conversation goes like this

"Omg did you see Mochiwrites posted a new work?"

"YESSSS I LOVED ITTT"

"yap yap yap"

"more yap yap yap"

I think I'm that far into a rabbit hole of your works :,) but that's okay because who wouldn't want to be!! You are the reason I installed Tumblr by the way (and like 1/2 people I have my notifications turned on for)(I don't know if you remember getting an ask about something called traveling thieves and you were like "Sorry I think you got the wrong fanfic author" (don't ask how I remember I don't know myself) but that's the other person I have my notifications turned on for (I don't know why this has become a mini ramble about another fanfic writer but back to topic)

I would like to say that your 1 am ramble about you might be quitting Songbird Blood a little while back made me cry slightly (I don't know if it's okay to add this or not :,) ) but I hold Songbirds Blood very dearly to my poor little heart and the idea of it being left on a cliffhanger forever made me feel sad things

Songbird Blood is one of my top 3 best fanfics I've ever read (my top 3 don't have an order sadly I could not choose) it is one of my comfort fanfics (crazy because there is very little comfort in it) I love to hear songs and go oh woah that song fits SB Scar or little poems. Even sad things like Grian not being able to live as long as Scar and Mumbo.

I've even gone on my rants about the totem of undying in SB, there are so many possibilities that you have made and it's so cool to think about all the magical and cool items you have inserted into the world

I love to go back and reread old asks about songbird's blood or relook at fanart because they are stunning ‼️ I love how much thought you have put into an idea it's amazing to see how much songbird blood has grown in its 2 years of being around

Oh wow, it's actually been two years since Songbird's Blood was first turned into a series on ao3 that makes me feel slightly old that means I found Songbird's Blood when I was like 13... I'm 15 now 😭🙏

Mochi I'm so addicted to your writing your user pops up after just typing "moch" that's not even the finished word of Mochi

Your writing has me walking around the room mid chapter every update because that's how good they are, I have to stop and process how beautiful your writing is! Your writing is better than real books I've read you are so descriptive and the words you use have such an impact that the readers reading them are just so MAWH 🙏🙏

I would love to add more but I've been typing this for an hour (it is now 4 am) and I'm getting sleepy but in conclusion, you have such a special and beautiful way of writing, it leaves me shocked and always coming back for more (I stalk your account multiple times a day) I adore songbirds blood and every other thing you have written it makes me so happy whenever you post! You deserve all the cats in the world and I hope you enjoy this ramble and it makes sense because I'm too tired to proofread it ‼️)

I'M SO SORRY I'VE LEFT THIS UNANSWERED FOR SO LONG WAHHHHHHHHHHH

I don't have the words to Properly answer everything in this but djghfjghfjg uwawawawa thank you <3333

[yasperapologist]

Get to know your author

I was tagged by @deaddeerdonoteat

1. How many works on Ao3?

Three! We've got Turn Back Time, my time loop longfic, Where it Starts, a prequel set in high school, and Best-Case Scenarios which is basically just random fluffy drabbles.

Frankly, that's 3 more fics than I though I would ever post. It's been about a year since I discovered The Afterparty and promptly became obsessed with the show. I got the idea for an Afterparty time loop fic and started scribbling down random thoughts on my phone's Notes app—mostly because it felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t get the words out of my head. I thought it'd be cool if I ended up writing something I could actually post, but I didn't actually expect to follow through. The only other fics I’d written were a few little one-shots/drabbles for a different fandom close to a decade ago. I had read a lot of fanfic but never attempted a project of this scale. Now I have 35k words published, close to 100k more in my draft, and 20+ chapters planned out?? It blows my mind. And honestly I don't think I would have gotten to the point of hitting ‘publish’ without all the encouragement from the Ben Schwartz Cinematic Universe discord folks ( @benschwartzcinematicuniverse, @deaddeerdonoteat, @slimeybee, @flingmetothemoon, and some others who I don't think are on tumblr??? I am so bad at matching tumblr URLs to discord handles).

2. Total Ao3 word count?

About 40k.

3. Top 5 five by kudos?

Just the three, lol.

4. What fandoms do you write for?

So far just the Afterparty. (If I ever run out of Afterparty ideas, I might dip my toe into Space Force.)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, comments make my day and I respond to all of them!!! Possibly with lengthier responses than anyone wanted, lol.

6. Fic with the angstiest ending?

I've never written anything with an angsty ending, and I personally don't plan to. My approach is basically: I'm not into writing angst for its own sake, although there are some stories that are impossible to tell without it. Turn Back Time is one example. There's a lot of angst in there, not because I like making the character suffer, but because the entire premise is about engaging with the real emotional aftermath of the events of Season 1. But when all's said and done, I like happy endings. I joke about being a Weenie Hut Jr. writer in that respect.

7. Fic with the happiest ending?

Hard to say. They all kinda take place in the same universe. And Turn Back Time is the only one with like, a real over-arching plot. All pretty happy endings, I promise.

8. Do you get hate?

No, everyone has been very kind. (I think it helps that the fandom is so tiny. You want Afterparty fic? There are max like 3 people who write it, so you're stuck with our limited seasonal menu. 😂)

9. Do you write smut?

Nothing I've published, but I started writing a Brett/Xavier enemies with benefits fic as a joke and it somehow turned into something serious and now I have a 30k word draft??

10. Have you ever co-written a fic?

No, though @deaddeerdonoteat and I sometimes come up with silly Brett/Xavier dialogue that I think deserves to see the light of day.

11. All time favorite ship?

If we're only looking at The Afterparty, it's gotta be yasniq. I am a sucker for a best friends to lovers story. All time, any fandom? That's a really hard question to answer. (I'm thinking about like, a graph where the X-axis is "how much I believe in the ship" and the Y-axis is "how much I enjoy the ship" and then there's a third dimension/Z-axis of "how much content exists for the ship" and it's very hard to find something that checks all 3 boxes. But 1 or 2 out of 3 can still be fun.)

12. WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't have that many WIPs and the ones I do have are fairly likely to get finished. It's basically just Turn Back Time (which is most of the way done and I have extremely concrete plans to finish), my dumb Brett/Xavier story, and maybe a couple random sequels or oneshots that can exist in the same universe but don't have an over-arching plot (e.g. Chelsea Starts a GSA). OH, and there’s ia Yasniq covid quarantine fic. Decent odds I'll finish that one, though it might take a while.

13. Writing strengths?

Research/dedication to canon (to a degree that I can admit is obsessive). You would not believe the stupid shit I've looked up because I didn't want to get a peripheral detail wrong. I have a folder on my computer with dozens of reference photos from the show that I look at when I want to confirm details about the set. I tried to map out the layout of Xavier's mansion in MS paint (a task which I think is actually impossible). I researched the history of Hungarian-Jewish immigration when deciding on a backstory for Yasper's parents because he made an offhand comment in S1E1 about having visited Hungary many times. “What would Yasper/Aniq have been doing in the early days of the pandemic?" somehow turned into me researching PPP loan eligibility criteria.

Also I think my writing is pretty funny?

14. Writing weaknesses?

Indecisiveness. MAJOR indecisiveness. (See the fact that I’d been working on Turn Back Time for over six months before I started publishing it.) Also maybe over-use of em-dashes and semi-colons.

15. What are you working on that you haven’t posted any of?

I think it's all stuff I mentioned earlier in the post. (Mainly the Brett/Xavier enemies with benefits fic and the Yasniq lockdown fic)

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In terms of tagging people... I am also bad at matching ao3 usernames to tumblr URLs so I can't remember who writes fic, but anyone is welcome to do this and say that I tagged you 😂