#The WIP already has a title which is 'Loving You' but it is still subject to change

[blitzwhore]

Thanks for the tag, @sunsetofdoom!!! It's Thursday here already, but eh, still WIP Wednesday in spirit. Here's a snippet from one of my WIPs, which is a sequel to my fic Saving Us:

“I just thought I’d be better by now,” Blitzø says, his voice rumbling in his throat with the way he’s leaning his head back against tufts of cushy feathers. “I thought by now I’d be ready to, you know… do stuff. Take care of myself. Go back to work. Kill that fucking guy so you can have your palace back. Be… I don’t know.” He leans forward again, and Stolas follows his weight, his chest never dislodging from Blitzø’s back. “Useful, I guess.” 

He hates how tiny his voice sounds as those words tumble out of his lips. Hates how true they feel—how prickly and uncomfortable he feels inside at the thought that he can’t do anything of value—can’t be there for others—can only let others take care of him.

“Darling,” Stolas murmurs, and Blitzø braces himself for words of reassurance that he’s sure he won’t believe.

They don’t come, though. 

Instead, Stolas just holds him tighter, still putting all the care in the world in his every movement so he doesn't hurt Blitzø's healing body. Stolas rests his head on top of Blitzø’s, right between his horns. When Blitzø looks in the mirror, he sees Stolas’ eyes are closed, and Stolas is practically curled up around him—arms taut around his stomach, feathers puffing up around his frame. Almost like Stolas is trying to bury Blitzø under his very skin and keep him there. Like he can't bear to let go, or see Blitzø suffer. 

Tentatively, Blitzø brings his hands to Stolas’ and covers them with his own.

“I’m just sick of waiting,” Blitzø admits in a low voice. “Everyone’s ready to go through with the plan. Everyone except for me. I hate it.”

Tagging @stolitzsings @helluvagirlboss @bleucaesura @helluvahusker and anyone else who wants to do this!! Tag me on yours so I can see! 👀

[bottomhaztoplou]

Tabby's Writing Game: Day 31

WIP Title Exposure!!

Welcome to the final day of Tabby's Writing Game! Today I'm going to expose myself for having too many WIPs... and give you a little blurb or a couple of tropes/tags with each of them. Look forward to them!

A/B/O fics (all omega Harry, of course + alpha Louis unless otherwise specified):

Modern Cottagecore AU - Harry has a little cottage he inherits from a relative and spends his time looking after his gardens with his cat, Delphine, or blogging. Louis is a writer that Harry bumps into at the local grocery.

"scent fic" - It's common courtesy to wear scent neutralisers in public. Harry, however, doesn't like to. One day, he smells the most enticing alpha scent whilst on public transport and ends up making a tit of himself sniffing around to find out just who it is.

"breeding/pregnancy kink fic" - exactly what it says on the tin, plus a little surprise kink that I'm not listing. ;)

chastity's not the devil, but an angel in disguise - omegas are put in chastity as soon as their first heat ends, to protect them from bad alphas. Harry, the son of florists, meets Lord Louis Tomlinson, the Duke's son, when he stops by looking for flowers for his parents' springtime ball.

Duchessrry #5 - a 10+1 fic of little timestamps between when Louis met Harry and their marriage (which takes place in Duchessrry #6)

"ribbon fic sequel" - Harry is pregnant. Louis stays with him as he gives birth to their first litter of pups. More ribbons are involved. (Note: this is finished already, so technically not a WIP, but it's not posted yet and won't be for a while.)

petal - male omegas are very rare, with approximately one born out of every 100,000 pups. Louis is an alpha, but to his misfortune, he's gay, and male betas just don't do it for him. But then Harry falls right into his lap - quite literally.

you've stolen my heart (but you keep it safe) - ANR (adult nursing relationship) fic. O/O as well. Louis is mated to an alpha at first and has two sons, but their mating is crumbling. Harry is an anxious uni student and they meet at an omega centre for the Adult Nursing Program there.

Two Hearts In One Home - posting now! you can check it out HERE!

Put A Little Love On Me - Harry's father passes, but an omega can't legally run a pack without an alpha mate in this universe. He's forced to meet eligible suitors from all over England and ends up discovering that there's a lot more in store for him than he ever thought possible. (name subject to change)

BDSM/Kink fics:

"broken-armed daddy dom" - possibly-canon fic where Louis breaks his arm, but even though he's injured, he still doms his baby. (name subject to change but tbh I kinda like it as is lmao)

Disability/Injury/Sickfics:

Little Bird - autistic Harry and ADHDer Louis grow up together. (note for those concerned: I am autistic and have ADHD as well.)

Media-Inspired fics:

i think you and the moon and neptune got it right - Pokemon Sun and Moon fic, with a twist.

these points of data make a beautiful line (and we're out of beta, we're releasing on time!) - Portal AU, with Harry as Chell and Louis as an added non-canon character. Follows the canon storyline, for the most part. (Note: this is finished already, so technically not a WIP, but it's not posted yet and won't be for a while.)

Portal 2 AU - Harry and Louis go through the events of Portal 2 in a mostly-canon fashion, with a non-canon, completely original epilogue after their escape.

Tangled AU - Harry is Rapunzel. Louis is Flynn Rider. That's all you need to know :D

Strawberries & Cigarettes - inspired by the song. Bad Boy teen Louis, average teen Harry.

Mythical Creatures fics:

"dragon x prince(ss) fic" - this is very vaguely inspired by ads I've seen of that webcomic "No More Princes". Harry is a carrier prince who all of England wants to marry and Louis is a dragon prince who protects him under vow. Of course, the one person the two of them aren't allowed to fall in love with is each other.

"flower fairies fic" - inspired by @jaerie's flower fairies series. Flower fairy Hydrangea (better known as Harry) has always been a little too curious about humans. When Louis moves into a secluded cabin for a writing retreat nearby, Harry can't help but watch him - until he gets caught. (I realise that this sounds like a voyeurism fic from that description, I can promise you that it is not lmaoooo)(Also, thank you to Jaerie for letting me use your flower genitalia thing! And to @sadaveniren for asking Jaerie because I was too scared to >_<)

Strawbharry and Blouberry - Harry is a strawberry fairy. Louis is a blueberry fairy. They live across the meadow from each other, but that doesn't stop them from becoming friends. (Inspired by @larry-hiatus' edit!!)

Historical fics:

"scandinavian arranged marriage fic" - probably the dumbest temp title I've created but oh well. Louis is from a warm, southern country called Alastarza (think Italy). Harry is from Farfinie, a cold, northern country (think a cold northern European country like idk Finland? is Finland cold? Brain is not working). They're arranged to be married, and so Louis must travel north for the wedding.

Witches and Wizards fics:

"winter solstice fic" - Genderqueer Witch Harry and Cowan Louis dealing with the grief that comes in wintertime, which, several years prior to this fic, was when Harry's Familiar, their cat Shadow, passed away. However, a new kitty comes along, and she's just as special as her ancestor... (part one of Witchrry and Company)

"Other" fics:

tinyism - Harry wishes desperately that he was shorter than he was.

23 fics... not including all my planned sequels that I haven't started yet. Can you tell that I have ADHD? :'D

Thank you again for joining me for TWG! I may do it again in the future... maybe with different prompts, too, if I think of any.

Have a great rest of your dayyyyyy! <3

[duskforged]

State of the Author: January 2024

Normally, I wouldn't do a thing like this. However, because I have not actually updated y'all on my WIPs in a while, I thought I might as well!

We'll start with the thing most of you followed me for: long-form fiction. And I call it that since all of these will be over 15k words (hopefully). There are three novels I'm currently focusing on.

LONG-FORM FICTION

Lodestar is currently stuck in a worldbuilding spiral, since it's a near-future humanity in space. While I do love sci-fi, science and math are not especially my forte. I hope to start drafting by the end of the summer, around September.

Vespertine has started on the first draft, though I'm also outlining still - something of a combined process. I am excited to share more of it with you, though it may be tough since most of it still lives in my head. Such is the woe of the artist.

Unto Summer Kings is in the first draft and currently hovering around 15k words! So far it's the longest I've gotten on a novel, and if I stay on track I could start my second draft by May, and begin beta reading by August.

LONG-FORM FANFICTION

I hesitate a little to touch on this one, just because. However, for the pure self indulgence I will. I have three major fanfics currently posted on my AO3, all of them multichaptered.

The Hanged Man is a Naruto SI!OC as Hatake Sakumo, immediately before his death. I currently have 8 chapters out and the main beats of the fic are fully outlined as of this month, which marks a major turning point in the fic's planning.

The Ever-Growing Gloaming is another self insert, this time into the events of Baldur's Gate 3. Vespere, the main character, whose name is subject to change, has been plucked from August 2023 and has not played the game since early access March 2023. Therefore they know less than you might expect.

Finally I have my Supernatural series, For Want of a Broken Nail (Broken Nail Verse). And I know what you're going to say, it's super meta to have a self insert in that fandom, you're writing SPN fanfic in 2024 what is wrong with you, etc etc. But the concept seized me full on by the balls and I already have the first 5 seasons outlined. Sorry, not sorry? No one is obligated to read it anyhow.

I also have a billion ideas on the backburner, ranging from fandoms like Game of Thrones and the MCU (for some reason) to Avatar: the Last Airbender and Star Wars. I'll post 'em when I post 'em!

ART PROJECTS

Wolf in Shepherd's Clothing is a comic of humanity's first lycanthrope, taking place in ancient Mesopotamia, in what is modern day Iran. The main character, Lahar, is gender neutral/ambiguous. So far, I'm stuck in outlining and drafting but hopefully soonTM.

Witchboy (title wip) is a story I'm working on with my partner @fallenorpheus based on various YA novels we read growing up. So far we aren't super set on the story, but it's definitely about a boy who is (accidentally) a witch, his best friend, his adoring father, and his estranged mother.

Dame-Errant (title wip) is a story that, instead of in comic form, is a story that is illustration snapshots, accompanied by short story prose. It is about a butch knight, Dame Johana Talon, who is tasked by Queen Atossa to find her missing son, Prince Khosrow. Typical 'prince(ss) in the tower shenanigans' but then, politics. And boy does Jo hate politics.

I have other webcomic ideas (mtf vs bbeg accidentally breaking a prophecy, team of bipoc/minority characters getting thrown into a fantasy world for an adventure, etc) so feel free to ask.

PERSONAL

I hesitate to touch on this, really, since it's not something that just anyone needs to know, but I've been struggling to find a good name for myself. Hesperos is a good name, but doesn't necessarily feel like 'me' these days. I do enjoy the h/e sounds... I've considered Ezra, but that's just the name of an OC and I'd rather not get quite that meta.

Ah well, sure it'll sort itself out eventually.

THE END

Anyway, thanks for reading! I know that's quite a lot for this one post to cover, but you stuck til the very end. Not sure when I'll start posting again in earnest but I hope sooner rather than later!

[cq-studios]

All of your WIP titles are very interesting, haha, but if I can only pick a few, what are Ghosts of the Past AU and Brain's Dead Daughter monologue about?

(You can choose however many you’d like. I love to ramble about my things, and sharing stuff actually motivates me to work on them. So if there’s others you’re interested in shoot me another ask ^^)

(For This)

I’ll start with Brain’s Dead Daughter Monologue ‘cause I think it’ll be shorter to explain.

So this one is a part of Nameless AU, which is an AU where Eraqus’ parents die and Brain has to take care of him (which is most definitely an oversimplification of it but that’s the gist). This was originally a part of The End of Normal but I decided to make that all from Eraqus’ perspective instead of having it switch between the two of them. I think this might end up as an interlude chapter, but I’m not sure.

Here’s what I have so far. I want to add more but I might just leave it as is. Who knows?

How could he be grieving for someone he barely knew? He had sent her away. They’d rarely spoken. And yet Brain felt that familiar emptiness of loss anyways. Maybe what he was feeling was failure? A failure to do his job as a parent. A failure to form a bond with his child even after promising he’d try. What had he really lost from this, other than a relationship he never had? Maybe that’s what he was truly grieving. Not his daughter but what he hadn’t been able to do with her.

This was the feeling he was trying to avoid. That pain. He never wanted to feel it again and yet there it was inside him, ringing like a bell. Once again someone he should’ve been responsible for was gone. It was an almost unbearable sting that reminded him vaguely of how he felt when he first realized the Dandelions had been lost.

Annoyance rose up inside him. That thought bothered him most of all. This was a completely different situation and yet his mind still found a way to connect the hurt he felt to the Dandelions. It was so long ago he should be over it. But still that failure haunted him. And even now, when he should be grieving something completely different, he found himself stuck on them instead. Why couldn’t he move past it?

His daughter just died and here he was sitting in a room alone thinking about people he knew even less from hundreds of years ago. How pathetic was that?

As for the Ghost’s of the Past AU

This is still in the planning phase, so things here might get completely changed in future, but it’s currently two Subject X is Skuld themed fics (and a Sea Salt Trio + Isa one later on) where she starts seeing Ephemer’s ghost (but is it really him or her subconscious???). He can’t tell her any information she doesn’t already know but he can guide her towards the answers she’s looking for.

The first fic follows her just before and then after she escapes. She ends up in Zootopia and has to try and learn how to navigate that environment while still trying to find leads on her past (with the help of her ghost companion). Which is certainly helped by the fact that, as soon as she shows up, so do the heartless. She is blamed for them originally but then they find out she can defeat them (she uses magic, not her keyblade as she doesn’t remember she has it) and they make it her job to get rid of them. And the plot of Zootopia happens but with darkness instead of nighthowlers, you know KH Disney world stuff, and she finds some memories along the way.

The second one is from the Sea Salt Gang’s perspective (Skuld's too sometimes but not often), where they go through worlds looking for X and find her in Zootopia (since she’s literally the only human there she’s not hard to find). It would focus more so around Xion and Roxas forgiving Isa and Isa reconciling for his past actions and abuse towards them. And have a reunion at the end.

Like I said earlier I don’t have much solid writing for these fics yet but I did write this one small scene that takes place between X disappearing and Lea and Isa becoming nobodies. It is technically canon complaint but I wrote it for this AU so I’ll put it here.

“Hey!” Lea called. The boy, Ienzo, stopped and turned his head to face him almost robotically. Yeesh, what do they do to the kids here? No, not important, stay on task. Lea shook his head to clear it, “Do you know where the notes, or files, or whatever, on…” Oh, what was it they were using his friend to research again? Damn. He really should’ve planned this better. He could practically hear Isa making fun of him in his head. Lea, only a moron like you could forget something like that. It’s ironic really. Ironic? Right! “on memories. Do you know where I can find the papers about that?”

Ienzo blinked at him twice, otherwise unmoving. Lea did the opposite, definitely moving as he shifted uncomfortably. Seriously, what is up with this kid? 

Without a word, the tiny scientist began walking away.

Should’ve known better than to ask the mute kid for directions. Lea realized, way too late.

“Is that a yes? ‘Cause even if it wasn’t I’m following you anyways”.

[void-and-virtue]

First off, thank you for tagging me @moondal514 . This looks fun! It’s insane to me that anyone would consider me a mutual but I’m happy about it sksksks

currently reading: Nothing in particular? There’s a bunch of books I want to read but my brain is SO not on board with me branching out in the book direction rn. I did finally cave and read Son Nefes in full yesterday, even if that is only book-adjacent (It’s really good. If you’re an AFTG fan and haven’t read it, you should. Even if you technically already know all it says from various posts floating around).

Fic wise, it’s whatever @jtl-fics has going on with Fluent Freshman. It’s just prime comedy complete with memes, 11/10.

favorite color: Midnight Blue. I will sing my love for it from the rooftops.

last song: Take Me Back To Eden by Sleep Token. I’m frothing at the mouth about the entire album, but the title song in particular is rotating in my mind like a rotisserie chicken.

last show: I haven’t watched anything in so long I literally can’t remember. @statistical-improbabilities my beloved is trying to bully me into Shadow and Bone and The Good Place and I’ve had my eye on The Legend Of Vox Machina since it came out so my next pick is most likely gonna be one of those.

currently watching: YouTube. If anything, it’s YouTube. I cycle through video essays, Hollow Knight content, Critical Role VODs and the YouTube channel of the animal guy from TikTok like nobody’s business

last movie: Probably my nth rewatch of Howl’s Moving Castle about a year ago (oh god, what is time?) I really wanna go see Across The Spiderverse—the first movie was SO GOOD. Also, Everything Everywhere All At Once when I get around to it (can you tell how I’m always late to trends?)

sweet/spicy/savory: People here expect me to CHOOSE??

currently working on: My beloved monster child of a WIP that is shaping up to be absolutely MASSIVE. It’s an Andreil soulmate AU with telepathy because I am forever true to my brand of ‘what does it do to a person if they have mental superpowers, would that be fucked up or what?’. I passed 110k on this yesterday. It’s still potentially less than half the story. Save me.

current obsession: Take Me Back To Eden by Sleep Token. Ooooh my god. I started listening into this album a couple days ago but sat down today to listen to the entire thing in its proper intended order and. I have ascended into a whole other plane of existence. I am experiencing emotions in colors previously only known to mantis shrimp. I can see my Spotify Wrapped of this year going completely down the drain as this album becomes the only thing I listen to for the entire rest of the year, on repeat. I wish this was an exaggeration. I am dead serious. Sorry to my friends on discord who will be subjected to my lethal case of Not Shutting The Fuck Up About It for the next while <3

6 mutuals: I have no idea at which point following a blog makes that person become a mutual. All I know is that @statistical-improbabilities @i-think-i-lost-my-phone and @swamp-world are legally obliged to put up with my bullshit. @dumbenby I’m roping you into this too <3

Anyone who sees this and feels like doing it (or sees it and wonders why the hell I didn’t tag them because we’re obviously mutuals (I’m sorry)), feel free to take this as your invitation to go ahead and/or yell at me <3

[linklethehistorian]

Talk about your current wips. Pls I'm curious

37: Talk about your current wips.

So, this means, like, the WIPs I’m currently working on/have started at some point but not yet finished and posted, right? Well, despite the fact that I have a ton of ideas floating around in my head already and that I’ve been holding in my mind, I don’t actually have all that many that I’ve started working on at any point (mostly because I am the type of person who prefers to work mostly on one or two things at a time, alternating between them only when I have writer’s block). 

Still, let’s see…over the years, I think I’ve accumulated at least nine WIPs total that I can bring to mind at the moment, but one of them is a new chapter for Cherish, and two are of the others are surprises, so I’ll just tell you about six of them for now. :)

I’m going to place them under the cut, both for length and to allow anyone who for some reason might want to avoid spoiling themselves on previews for upcoming works of mine.

Works will be separated by two categories — one-shots, and multi-chapter projects. Each work will be listed by title, along with a brief overview of anticipated series, major genre, ships (where applicable), and expected important tag warnings — though seeing as they are unfinished and not yet posted, all of these things are subject to change.

One-shot W.I.P.s:

1. Everything Has Changed 

Series: Bungou Stray Dogs

Primary Pairing: ChuuArt (Chuuya Nakahara/Arthur Rimbaud)

Other Pairings: TBD

Anticipated Rating: T

Canon-Compliant: No

Anticipated Genre: Fluff (with Light Angst)

Other Important Tags/Information: Gakuen (School) AU but Arthur and Paul are both students, Chuuya and Arthur are the same age (16 years old)

Placeholder Summary:

Ever since he was very young, Chuuya has had the same mysterious memory lingering on the edges of his mind: darkness everywhere, and then a mysterious figure cloaked in light reaching down to pull him out of the endless abyss… Though just a blurry, faint echo, that memory of that person — that light that briefly set the world aflame with warmth and a new hope — has been burned into his brain.

And yet, no matter how he tries to chase after that shadow of an unforgettable individual, he has yet to ever find them — the hat they left behind being his only proof of their existence.

Today, he rides the bus at the start of another school year, his heart empty and dull, as whispers fill his ears of new exchange students coming in from other countries. Surely, there may be new faces, but that face will never appear before him. Nothing will change this year, again…

…Or will it?

Excerpt Available: Read here.

2. Emerald Eyes

Series: Bungou Stray Dogs

Primary Pairing: ChuuArt (Chuuya Nakahara/Arthur Rimbaud)

Other Pairings: None, but at least implications of past VerRim/Rimlaine (Arthur Rimbaud/Paul Verlaine)

Anticipated Rating: M (only due to the controversial nature of the fic, but still TBD)

Canon-Compliant: Yes (but it can possibly be inferred that more days passed during the events of Fifteen than we were explicitly shown)

Anticipated Genre: Fluff (but the ending will be bittersweet for those who know what happens the next day)

Other Important Tags/Information: This fic takes place somewhere during the events of Fifteen, so it may be a bit controversial to some in the fact that it depicts a 15 y/o Chuuya who has fallen in love with the then 27 y/o Arthur. Whether or not it is at all mutual will be largely left up for interpretation by the reader, but there are at least some implications that it is (at least mostly) one-sided, as it is obviously hinted within that his heart is first and foremost elsewhere (with his partner, Paul Verlaine).

(Furthermore, it should also be noted that regardless of how it is interpreted, at least in my headcanons (which will be shown bit by bit through other fics in the ChuuArt series), both Chuuya and Arthur are actually reincarnations of ancient angelic beings whom had previously been in love, and it is also not until Chuuya is well past his current age in the main manga by several years that he finally manages to find a way to revive and actually fully develops a mutual romantic relationship with Arthur — at which point they are nearly the same physical age, so there really shouldn’t be that much cause for discomfort over the matter to the average person, but I will be tagging it carefully anyway to give ample warning just in case there is someone who would be uncomfy about it.)

Placeholder Summary:

A bored and lonesome Chuuya gets a text from Randou one important night, asking him if they might meet near a shrine at the top of a nearby hill overlooking the ocean.

It goes without saying that he accepts.

Excerpt Available: Read here.

3. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (Re-Write)

Series: Doctor Who

Primary Pairing: 10th Doctor Duplicate (Metacrisis Doctor)/Rose Tyler

Other Pairings: Past 10th Doctor/Rose Tyler, Past 9th Doctor/Rose Tyler

Anticipated Rating: T

Canon-Compliant: Yes

Anticipated Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance, Fluff and Angst

Other Important Tags/Information: TBD (tags did not exist at the time this was written and I will have to figure out most of them later when I post to AO3), but it is worth mentioning Jackie Tyler makes an appearance in flashbacks and is somewhat an antagonist in the story. Also this story takes the stance that because Metacrisis Doctor is a human-Time Lord hybrid, he is incapable of having children. It’s complicated.

Summary: 

The Metacrisis Doctor has been having the same nightmare for a week. Every night, he dreams of a small boy standing alone in a barren field, whose life is soon to threatened by an unlikely enemy…

(This one-shot was meant to be my own take on what happened to Metacrisis and Rose after "Journey's End", using information from the deleted scene, and meant to go alongside the episode "The Magician's Apprentice.")

Excerpt Available: None currently, but you can read the old version of the work here. 4. Untitled fic

Series: Bungou Stray Dogs

Primary Pairing: Past VerRim/Rimlaine (Arthur Rimbaud/Paul Verlaine), ChuuArt (Chuuya Nakahara/Arthur Rimbaud)

Other Pairings: None

Anticipated Rating: M

Canon-Compliant: Yes

Anticipated Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending

Other Important Tags/Information: TBD, but it will probably not be pretty (at least in the flashbacks)

Summary:

Also mostly TBD, the most I can say is that I started writing this fic while I was sitting by a real fireplace in a hotel about 2 or 3 years ago around Christmastime, and it was ultimately about Arthur reminiscing on (and thus took place mostly during) a bad fight he had with Paul in which he ended up out in the cold pouring rain sitting on the doorstep to the building where they were currently staying, thinking on how cold the world and life was then as opposed to now, with Chuuya. 

For the moment I just call it “The Fireplace Fic”. I can’t recall if I ever gave it a proper name beyond that, but if I did, it certainly isn’t coming to mind.

Excerpt Available: 

Total strangers going about their daily lives occasionally passed by even on a night like this, either casually strolling along carrying their trusted umbrellas and dressed in their warmest, weather-proof clothes, or dashing their way across the street or sidewalk while covering their heads as best they could with some article of clothing, heading for the nearest, safest shelter they knew.

Though Arthur had never been a prideful man by any means, he had to admit he preferred the latter.

It wasn’t that he cared if that happy couple who passed him, giggling and whispering to each other under their shared umbrella, were discussing him or what he was doing outside at such an hour; no, it was the way that they and some others who walked nearby were looking at him bothered him — often staring at him with sympathetic eyes, as if they had taken such pity on him and his condition that they might even offer for him to come in out of the rain with them.

He couldn’t do that; he couldn’t accept that kind of compassionate proposition — not under any circumstances, not even if part of him wanted to.

Of course, he couldn’t really blame them for it, though; it wasn’t as if he wouldn’t have done the same in their place, and besides, he had to admit, with the way he looked right then and there — a tired, disheveled, sickly excuse for a human being shivering out in the elements with a pathetic look in his eyes, not making any attempt to find a better location — to the nearest onlooker, he probably appeared as a desperate homeless man with nowhere else to turn but to foolishly settle himself outside of someone’s house, in hopes that they would come outside and take pity on him.

...At least, he hoped that was how he looked; it was certainly better than the alternative. Anything was better than the alternative.

Reaching a gloved hand up to his forehead, he ran his fingers through the hair that hung limply in front of one half of his face, shoulder-length strands of wavy black hair primitively combed and spread out to further cover a bruised cheek and eye.

Good… An audible sigh of relief escaped his lips this time, as he relaxed and let his hand drop back into his lap. Everything is still in place.

—

Multi-Chapter W.I.P.s:

1. Within Shadows (Re-Write)

Series: The Legend of Zelda

Primary Pairing: None

Other Pairings: One-sided GhiraLink (Ghirahim/Link) undertones (implied)

Anticipated Rating: M

Canon-Compliant: Yes

Anticipated Genre: Fantasy, Tragedy, Angst

Other Important Tags/Information: TBD (tags did not exist at the time this was written and I will have to figure out most of them later when I post to AO3), but Major Character Death is definitely one of them I will be using.

Summary:

In a time between the events of the Skyward Sword manga's war between Hylia and Demise and the events of Skyward Sword, a forgotten incarnation of the Hero, Link, finds himself in peril in a place of pure evil. 

(This is the origin story of the Shadow Temple and the present-day Sheikah eye symbol, the events of which are based on a theory I had written about it.)

Excerpt Available: None currently, but you can read the old version of the work here.

2. The Heroes of Hyrule (Working Title)

Series: Multi-fandom (All fandoms to be listed TBD at this point in time, but I’m sure you can infer The Legend of Zelda is one of them by the beta title)

Primary Pairing: None

Other Pairings: TBD

Anticipated Rating: M or E

Canon-Compliant: TBD

Anticipated Genre: TBD

Other Important Tags/Information: TBD

Placeholder Summary:

A strange, ragtag group of the ordinary and the extraordinary come together and eventually find themselves drawn into a world they would never have imagined was real. 

Together, they will discover the destiny laid out before each of them and become legends in their own right, shaping history and slowly unraveling, piece by piece, the great mystery of the force that brought to these lands…

A re-write of an old multi-chapter, multi-volume fic I have never posted online. May take quite some time to get around to and be extremely slow to update once posted, as it is more a personal project than anything and basically the lowest priority I have at the moment among the things I wish to write and share with the world. (Partly because I feel there is very little chance more than one other person is going to read it anyway, and partly because I already have a very longterm multi-chapter fic to work on and write currently, and it by far has the most priority.)

Title is far more than a decade old by now; might change by the time I actually someday get around to re-writing it properly.

Excerpt Available: N/A

—

Send me a number and I’ll answer the corresponding fic writer question.

[tuulikannel]

1, 2, and 3 for the ask game please!

Thanks for the ask, @solarsavoy!

1) Who is your favorite character to write for and is this the character you find easiest to write for?

Hmm… so I’ve written 16 fics for Assassination Classroom, and 13 of them are about Gakushuu. So, yeah, I think it’s safe to say he holds that position right now. ^^ And yeah, I think he’s pretty easy to write, too. The easiest? Maybe. Some other characters I struggle with much more (like Nagisa, for example) but Gakushuu’s voice just… comes to me without much thinking at all. I don’t know… maybe it’s just that I’ve always enjoyed his kind of characters. Reserved characters with misleading exterior (as solarsavoy put it ^^) who are not simply black or white.

2) What is your favorite fic of yours?

Oh boy. What a question. May I cheat and choose one for all of my main fandoms? ^^;

1) I’ll start with the oldest fandom, which is Yugioh (which, I bet, many didn’t even know. xD most of those fics are only on ff.net). I think the last one I wrote for that fandom is the one I liked best: the crossover with Solaris, which I’ve simply named Solaris, cause I suck with titles. ^^;; (Solaris the movie, as at the time I hadn’t read Stanislav Lem’s book, tho it doesn’t really make any big difference here.)

I don’t know, I just a) love weird crossovers, and b) remember I was very invested in this story when I was writing it. Which you might not believe, given that it took me over 4 years to finish a fic with 5 chapters. The thing is, when I started writing it I was already falling out of YGO fandom and fic writing in general. The fact that the fic wasn’t left unfinished is in fact the proof of how much I liked it. I ­had­ to finish it, no matter how long it took.

2) Then, my next big fandom was Hikaru no Go. I think my favorite of these fics (32 in total btw) must be the newest that’s still a WIP, Caught Between. It’s been such a huge project for me. Never before have I literally read entire books for fic research. It’s just that it deals with a delicate subject, intersex, and I (as a cis female) really wanted to do my absolute best not get things wrong. I’m so happy I finally started posting it after sitting on it nearly a decade, and I’m really relieved that the reception has been so positive. In a world of black and white, be 💜 ^^

3) And then it’s AssClass’s turn. Hmm. This is the hardest, by far. Maybe Blind Alley. That fic simply has a place in my heart, and I can’t even exactly explain why. Maybe because I’m a sucker for sad things? I don’t know. (All the Gifts might yet steal it’s place, depending on how well I manage to wrap it up, one of these days.)

3) What fic of yours do you think is underrated?

Looking at the ones I just named as my favorites, I got to say Solaris. It’s understandable, I guess, given how long I took to finish it. I’m afraid I lost a lot of readers then. On the other hand, it’s really not been popular at all on AO3 either (the only YGO fic I’ve posted there), tho maybe that is cause I just posted it all in one go there.

Also, of the AssClass fics, the prequel to All the Gifts, which goes by The Fall cause, like I said, I’m bad at naming stuff. I like that ficlet a lot, but it’s not got any big audience.

(And just so Hikago won't feel left out, cause I mentioned now something for the other two fandoms: The Sun Prince and the Frog. XD It's such a stupid story, but I like it. And even tho The Eve of the Battle is short and weird, I think it'd deserve more than 3 kudos.)

[howtotrainyournana]

Feral Bastards and Evil Gods both caught my attention (for the WIP ask meme)

of course they did XD

These both actually have things posted for them!

Feral Bastards is the working title of my fic series hold me softly (kill me softer) which is a Dream/Technoblade-centric DSMP AU. It's a hero/villain enemies-to-friends-to-lovers starcrossed-lovers fantasy AU thing. There's four works out currently and quite a bit written but not posted; I have the whole arc of the plot mapped out, there's just a lot of actual technical writing to do. If you like deeply explored fictional cosmology and religion, court politics, and idiots being in love without realizing it, then stay tuned! There's a lot more to come.

A snippet from a future Feral Bastards fic (apologies if I've already posted this):

"The temple of the Blood God is an ugly thing.

Oh sure, it’s objectively beautiful. Gilded marble columns and thick crimson tapestries with detailed embroidery. Towering pale stone walls and looming stained glass windows and frightening multi-colored bonfires. Smooth obsidian floors polished to a mirror sheen, reflecting back the world in dark and twisted tones. The whole place reeks of riches and opulence and dominance.

It also reeks of death and war and torment.

Subjectively it is the worst place Dream has ever been to. There is not a shred of living things in the temple or the surrounding area; nothing vibrant and natural and growing. No trees or flowers or grass, just cold stone and hot metal and sleek fabric. The prizes of war are on full display here – gold and jewels, well-oiled weapons, taxidermied beasts and . . . people. Dream shivers under the watchful eyes of the dead."

Evil Gods is the working title for my now-dubbed Water AU, the main fic of which is secrets like seashells under your tongue, of which there is a chapter up and posted. Again, there is a lot of this AU that's already outlined / plotted out, but there is a bulk of writing that still needs to be done. When that happens will be . . . someday! Bit by bit! But slowly and surely we will get there. This one is a lot more beeduo and benchtrio-centric, with again, lots of fictional gods and goddesses and worldbuilding surrounding that. I also do some fun things with magic and Minecraft mechanics and spies / assassins / espionage in this one! And marine biology. Listen, I pretty much took all my niche interests and hyperfixations and squished them all into one story. It's fun.

A snippet from a future part of Water AU:

"Tubbo was going to get so much done today, it was going to blow people's minds. He was going to sit down, get shit done, and be productive. He was going to accomplish everything on his list, and then he was going to make a new list, and then he was going to get everything on that list done, too. He was going to-

"OW, FUCK, SHIT!" Tubbo yells.

He's gone sprawled across the floor, shin smarting from catching on whatever the hell he's tripped over. Seriously, who leaves stuff out in the lab? Tubbo is going to blame Jack. Tubbo rubs his chin where it's bruised from his date with the floor and glares back at the offending tripping hazard. Then he's scrambling back up to his feet.

"Holy shit, holy shit, why is there a body in my lab!?" Tubbo turns the body over, and it groans.

Tubbo reels back, but the guy doesn't move. Doesn't seem conscious, really - his eyes are closed and his face is pale and sweaty and his pale blonde hair is sticking to him like strings of taffy. There's also the strange embalming-fluid scent of magical decay hanging in the air, and something like ichor seeping through the guy's shirt. Tubbo glances down at his own hands and grimaces. The ichor is thick and stains like ink, but it's closer to oil or blood in texture. That's . . . absolutely not sanitary.

"Who the hell are you," Tubbo mutters.

The guy doesn't respond, so Tubbo starts rifling through his pockets. There's a concerning number of knives for a normal person (Tubbo appreciates the number of knives this guy has), a ledger full of code, a bag of diamonds and emeralds and lapis lazuli and redstone, and a bunch of potions. Other than the thick gold necklace around the guy's neck, there's nothing else of note. Oh, yeah, and the gaping hole through his chest leaking black ichor.

There's that."

Again, if anyone wants more snippets just hit me up!

Cheers,

Nana Graye

[technetiumai]

Thank you @bookish-bogwitch for the tag! 

I haven’t really been properly writing, but since the WIP folder game, I’ve been especially motivated to outline my current WIPs. I’ve had them all outlined to a certain extent in my head since I started them, but it has been extremely helpful to actually start writing everything down. (Who’da thunk it?) 

So I thought this week I’d do Six Chapter Sunday? And give a little something to do with the next six chapters of each of my currently-being-published WIPs?

So… spoilers? (But I guess that’s kinda the point of SSS, isn’t it?)

I’m putting everything under a cut because everything I do is so long.

For Atomic Son, I started with an extremely vague outline (which I then expanded on) that was just to remind me what I was supposed to write about, so I thought I’d show you that:

Chapter 9

Natasha Grimm-Pitch, August xx, 2008 

Is that nicotine gum?

Fiona Pitch, December xx, 2015

That sick bastard.

Simon Snow, September xx, 2015 

I’ll want to go to Hampshire… because that’s where we have Christmas

Chapter 10

Penelope Bunce, June xx, 2010 

What did you just do?

Penelope Bunce, July xx, 2010 

Not just protecting him.

Penelope Bunce, November xx, 2015

No better people to get lost with. You won’t stop me.

Chapter 11

Ebeneza Petty, September xx, 2008

Kindred spirit

Natasha Grimm-Pitch, xxxxxx xx, 20xx 

More than pain. More than magic.

Fiona Pitch, xxxxxx xx, 20xx

Losing him is losing everything.

Chapter 12

Basilton Grimm-Pitch, January xx, 2010 

I want you to meet my friend.

Mitali Bunce, xxxxxx xx, 20xx 

Nice enough boys.

Chapter 13

Penelope Bunce, December xx, 2015 

What do you mean you didn’t want to go to California? What do you mean you can’t fix it?

Fiona Pitch, December xx, 2015 

Meet the family. The reluctant family. So long as you don’t tell anyone you talked to them.

Simon Snow, December xx, 2015 

Only one bed.

Chapter 14

Natasha Grimm-Pitch, xxxxxx xx, 20xx 

Serial killer wall

Fiona Pitch, xxxxxx xx, 2002 

Now who loves me for me?

Nicodemus Petty, xxxxxx xx, 2002

There’s only one…

For Silence and Cries I’m sharing the chapter titles (It’s throwing me off that AO3 doesn’t let you have a prologue then chapter 1, so it starts with chapter 2): 

Chapter 2: Closed Enough Windows to Know You Can Never Look Back

Chapter 3: We Are Who We Are

Chapter 4: And I Found You With a Bottle of Wine

Chapter 5: Whoa, My Head Is On Fire

Chapter 6: So I Met Up With Some Friends at the Edge of the Night

Chapter 7: You Swore and Said We Are Not

For Night-Switch Paragons, I’m doing Rush quotes that will possibly be included:

Chapter 2:

Burning in the moment - trapped by the desperation between how it is and how it ought to be

Chapter 3: 

Yet my eyes are drawn toward the mountain in the east, fascinates and captivates, gives my heart no peace. The mountain holds the sunrise in the prison of the night, ‘till bursting forth from rocky chains the valley floods with light

Chapter 4:

Behind the beauty, cracks appear. Once with heads held high, they sang out to the sky. Why do their shadows bow in fear?

Chapter 5:

See how it sings like a sad heart and joyously screams out its pain? Sounds that build high like a mountain, or notes that fall gently, like rain.

Chapter 6:

To you -- is it movement or is it action? Is it contact or just reaction? And you -- revolution or just resistance? Is it living, or just existence?

Chapter 7:

In the city where nobody smiles and nobody dreams, in the city where desperation drives the bored to extremes, just one spark of decency against a starless night, one glow of hope and dignity, a child can follow the light. No matter what they say

Obviously all of this is completely subject to change, but I thought it was fun :)

Tagging...?... everyone? (If I missed you, you still count, I’m just a scatter brain! Also, I’m sorry if you’ve already posted...)

@artsyunderstudy, @aristocratic-otter, @bazzybelle, @captain-aralias, @cutestkilla, seriously, how do people tag so many people? Am I missing something? Do you just remember everyone!? @fatalfangirl, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @whatevertheweather, @confused-bi-queer, @gekkoinapeartree, @martsonmars, @takitalks, @basiltonbutliketheherb, @moodandmist, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe

(Yeah, I definitely missed people. And I don’t know if a lot of these people care... But I care about you! Ahhhhhhhh! I’m trying...)

[samanthahirr]

MI6 Cafe Creators Tag Game

(Thank you so much for tagging me, @silverbrume!)

We’d love for people to keep getting to know each other after this year’s 007 Fest, so we’re starting this tag game!

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 3 new people to complete this. Also, tag the person who tagged you and @mi6-cafe so we can reblog your response.

Note that when we say ‘fanwork’ in the questions below, that could mean a fanfic, gif, fanart, headcanon, cosplay, crocheted work—any kind of fancreation counts!

1. What work of yours challenged you when you were creating it?  

Can I count my ongoing 00Q WIP-epic Off the Books? Yeah, I’m gonna say this is my biggest challenge. I’ve never posted a WIP before, and it’s a much bigger challenge than I anticipated, controlling the pacing, the evolving relationship dynamics, and the gradual reveal of exposition. It doesn’t help that it’s already my longest work to date, and it’s only 1/3 done at 54k. I’ve got reams of notes for this fic and a heavily detailed outline to follow, but I still agonize over nailing all my set-ups and pay-offs. Very challenging project, but my most-rewarding by far.

2. What is a fanwork you’ve seen which gave you a new headcanon about a character?    

Queen of Spades by Astolat. One of the first 007 fics I ever read, it took the M & Craig butting-heads dynamic from Casino Royale and amplified their antagonism and manipulations and competition into the stratosphere. I fell in love with Astolat’s headcanons of a Bond who resents orders and leadership but craves M’s approval, and an M who effortlessly manipulates Bond into becoming the agent she wants him to be, and even as Bond sees those manipulations happening, he can only rise to her challenges instead of turning his back on them.

3. Is there a fanwork that you really want to make, but you haven’t started yet?

Yes! I’ve got a pre-slash 00Q fic all planned and researched, wherein Bond’s punishment for a botched mission is bodyguard-duty for Q at a conference in Salzburg. In this AU, Q & Bond don’t know each other well and have an adversarial relationship. En route, Bond mercilessly taunts Q about his blatant fear of flying…until Bond realizes just after takeoff that Q has dosed himself with an anxiolytic/hypnotic to get through the short flight. Now Bond has a heavily drugged quartermaster at his mercy, and he must choose whether to be cruel or kind for the next seven hours. (Spoiler: Bond chooses kindness, and they forge a mutual respect and tentative friendship by the story’s end.) Tentative title “Bases to Guard or Beleaguer.” Just gotta finish writing a couple other fics before I can start banging this one out.

4. What fanwork of yours surprised you, and how? 

I was surprised how effortlessly Touch It, Stroke It, and Undress It came together for 007 Fest 2022. In summer of 2021, I came up with a series of vignettes for aromantic!Q sleeping with all the agents, amusingly thwarting Bond’s seduction attempts. This year I decided to flesh the ideas out into a series of standalone smut scenes with an overarching “lovers to friends-with-benefits” arc for Fest, and I somehow cranked out 21k of smut in under a month! Biggest surprises of the resulting fic: A) I haven’t been that prolific in a decade; B) the multiple POVs were an engaging challenge to figure out; and C) once I stopped being self-conscious about sharing all my kinks, the smut became downright fun to write.

5. What themes/styles/subjects are common across many of your fanworks? 

I’m all about hurt/comfort (though if I injure a character too seriously, they can’t have the celebratory ‘we survived’ sex, so I tend to go minor-to-moderate on the physical trauma). And I’m currently fascinated with all the possible variations on a drugging storyline, so expect to see that crop up in my next few fics.

6. What other fandoms do you create for, if any?

None right now, but last year I did fics for The Mandalorian and The Man from UNCLE.

7. Is there an artist that you like to listen to while you create? Or one whose work always inspires you?

I can’t listen to English lyrics when I’m writing, so I listen to a lot of instrumental or foreign-language albums. I spent the month of July looping the Argentinian singer-songwriter Federico Aubele’s second album, Panamericana (produced by Eighteenth Street Lounge Music (shoutout Washington DC!!!) so it’s got sexy-chill electro-lounge vibes), featuring Fede’s genius guitar work and hauntingly gorgeous guest vocals over Latin dance rhythms. And now for August, I’m hooked on a YouTube playlist called Tropical Night Bossa Nova that’s all dreamy/beachy guitar instrumentals.

8. Share a fanwork that you’ve found yourself thinking about weeks after reading/seeing it.

In 2016, @beaubete wrote a 300-word piece for Last Drabble Writer Standing called “Property,” wherein Q poses as a buyer to rescue Bond from a slavery ring. I read that fic on June 1, 2021, and it completely rewired my brain. Within four days I’d planned out the entirety of Off the Books, a 150k sequel for a goddamn drabble I’m still writing a year later, and I joined a new fandom, and now I’m a part of the MI6-Cafe. If it hadn’t been for that genius, shocking cliffhanger of a drabble, I might not have started writing in this fandom and meeting everyone in the Cafe, so I’m still so, so grateful that Beaubete’s fanwork exists.

9. Finally, share where you post your works! 

My AO3 page

Tagging: @prismatic-bell & @kmk1701d & @a-forger-and-a-point-man

@mi6-cafe

[rideboldlyride]

Thanks for the tag @ifyouwereamelodymeg !!

The 20 most recent first lines…. Hmmm… I’m not sure how accurate this will be, but I’ll try my best.

1. deny thou bear’st love for any ( working title); dramione; one-shot:

You have to promise me, Hermione.

2. Sonnet 14; dramione; second vignette:

His feet crunch across the frigid fallen leaves, away— away from her— and she acts without thinking. A dart, and she grabs his fisted hand, stopping him in his tracks. Their extended arms are a single bridge across an expanse of wet, frosty peaks of orange, yellow and brown. He glares at the connection, but doesn’t send his steely gaze to meet her eyes.

3. Sonnet 102; dramione; first vignette:

It was a challenging subject masquerading as a simple question.

4. As the thread of my breath (working title); dramione; one shot:

Looking back on it, he shouldn’t have been surprised to see her at the Gala.

5. In the Offing; dramione; one shot:

The surprise of the snow storm is almost offset by the gentleness by which it falls. And falls.

And falls.

6. The Diary (working title); dramione; massive one shot:

It’s the first year that her mum doesn’t cry on her birthday, but the firmness of her hug is enough to tell Cassie that her mum is just barely holding it in. While the party is loud and raucous, overfilling their modest lot and garden, the distraction isn’t enough to keep the birthday girl from regularly checking in on her mum. A small crowd of their closest friends—people practically like family—hover near her, but her mum’s expression remains tight. But when Cassie frowns, lips tight and expression sharp, her mum smiles and makes a silly face.

7. Potentiality; dramione; one shot:

“Why, Draco?” She pulls her arms tighter around her waist, nails pressing into her own skin. “Why are you doing this?”

8. Chapter 2 of Come Away With Me; dramione; multi chapter WIP:

“He was right behind me!”

9. Chapter 1 of Come Away With Me; dramione; multi chapter WIP:

The loud crack of sudden Apparition was still ringing in her ears when she re-emerged on the other side. The Burrow steadily resolved itself into familiar shapes before her fatigued eyes.

10. DHr Coworkers (working title); dramione; one shot:

She doesn’t quite remember when it started, but Hermoine’s fairly certain it was when Pansy started complaining about her ravenous manner during after-work drinks. It isn’t her fault that her schedule is so busy with projects that lunch is often just tea and biscuits. Hermoine’s fairly certain that Padma has something to do with it, but can’t seem to find the proof, outside of her friend’s sly smiles and calculating glances.

11. Auror AU (working title); dramione; one shot:

“This is a bad idea.”

12. Chapter 2 of Fear and Love; Zutara; multi chapter WIP:

Tuesday nights begin to change.

13. Chapter 1 of Fear and Love; Zutara; multi chapter WIP:

When he gets the phone call from Jet, Zuko's hardly surprised. Jet had already mentioned the girl's tape, smirked over her expensive photoshoot the last time he had come into his club, and had been waiting for her arrival on the train. But even on the fastest train, it was several days from Cali to the Big Apple.

14. A Heart Twisted; Zutara; multi chapter WIP, unpublished:

They arrive in the city like a rising tide; quiet, steady and merciless. While their intent is not to draw blood, they do not pause when they strike down the Fire Lord’s personal guards. They do not hesitate to grab the nearest of the house staff and hold sharp short blades to their throats. And they do not stop until they stand before the Fire Lord and his council, eyes full of venom and teeth bared.

15. Original work, untitled:

It's a land of islands. Some are mere specks on the map, an accumulation of sand among a never-ending blanket of blue. Some are vast monoliths rising from the seafloor to herald civilization's dominance over the earth.

16. My Whole Life Alone. Loving You; Zutara; multi chapter WIP, unpublished:

The news hit the nations with uproar. Aang and Katara, despite their three children and multiple years together, were no longer married.

17. Edge of the Ice; Zutara; one shot:

Legend speaks of a man who lives at the edge of the ice. Every child of the south had heard the stories growing up, whispers of fires that burned without fuel and eyes that glowed like the sunset.

18. Forever Together, Eternally Apart; Zutara; multi chapter WIP:

There once was a story so rich and deep, of two loves, two halves becoming one whole. Their tale is rich and full, an epic love kept under the cover of dark to avoid the prying eyes of those who would tear them apart.

19. Me and You, We Got More Yesterday Than Anything; Zutara; one shot:

It was food poisoning, he was sure. Not something uncommon in some of the further reaches of his nation, where water was not as purified and food was stored for too long due to scarcity. With only a handful of staff at his side, the rest relief workers that he had been sprinkling behind him, he often fended for himself, the many years of banishment resurfacing in his memory. Though no longer banished, he was once again wandering down roads on a mount, moving from village to village, trying to help where he could. It was completely unheard of, this type of action by a Fire Lord, but Zuko had been everything but a typical one.

20. The Fire Festival; Zutara; one shot:

He should have known. After all, it wasn't like before, where he could just make a plan, and go. Now there was paperwork, appearances, schedules to work around. Four years away had comfortably pushed those expectations far away in his mind. So when his friends had mentioned the Fire Festival, Zuko had agreed. All he needed to do as Firelord was make an appearance at the beginning to bless the activities of the night, and then he would be free to escape and slip into the crowd and join his friends.

——

Hmmm… patterns: I’ve gotten more succinct over the years? As for my favorite, I’d say probably any of the Scorn to Change My State with Kings intros, just because they’re an immediate image or sensation. And the beginning of Come Away With Me throws you into action right away. So more of my recent writings, I guess. Lol.

I’m tagging…. @gemgirl28 (if you haven’t already done it), @bulletproofteacup, @cablesscutie, and @neincraff ❤️

[katytheinspiredworkaholic]

WIP Wednesday

Correspondence (Official Title)

Summary/Story So Far: HotchReid, slow burn, AU where Reid never joined the FBI, but got roped into consulting for the LA field office while working and teaching at CalTech. Hotch gets an email from a fellow agent, and they start to work on cases together - until they start talking on a regular basis. Regular becomes frequent, frequent becomes constant. 

Once they start dating, their relationship proceeds in waves of escalation and long stretches of amorous bliss. Where every major milestone (shifting from texting, to talking on the phone, to video chats that occur more and more often) has been taken right out of their hands, forced under dire, case-related circumstances. So they decide to make certain they can claim the final one for themselves, and -finally- begin to make plans on meeting... in person.

Official Posting Date: 04/03/2021

Masterpost

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (NSFW) (Part 5) (Part 6)

(Set in season 6-8, unbeta'd, still first draft)

((This is the chapter I'm currently writing, so it's half notes and half snippet, but it's one of my favorite scenes -- and the snippet is a tiny bit NSFW only in that its post-coital so they are sans clothes))

(So ironically my final 'snippet' still only happens at most 2/3 of the way through the fic. But Hotch and Spencer have been virtually dating for a long time by now. So long that they interchange phone calls and texts and video calls as if they've never known anything else. (I'm talking like going on a year by this point) But they can never seem to grasp that perfect moment where they get to meet. Always ships passing in the night.

One such instance, is when Hotch is on a case somewhere in Texas, and Spencer has been asked fill in last minute as a guest lecturer. In Georgetown. The first time ever that he will have been in D.C. since he’s met Hotch, and the man is on a case that has no end in sight. So they miss each other, again, ships in the fucking night.

But Spencer hadn’t been too excited about the trip anyway -- he hates hotels, complains that it's so overstimulating with the noise and the rough sheets and he really doesn’t want to go, and the department is twisting his arm on the subject. 

So as he relays all this in one of their nightly phone calls, Hotch interrupts him and tells him to just... stay at his place. While he's not there. There's food in the fridge, a much comfier bed, his neighbors aren't noisy and he's near Georgetown, and there's shelves of books in his office just collecting dust. There's no possible way he will get to finish the case before Spencer leaves, but he tells him to just... stay there. Sleep in his bed. Live in his space. And Spencer does. 

And he is so surrounded by Hotch without ever having met him and I realized I'm just... introducing them to each other sense by sense, and this one can be the sense of smell because Spencer will sleep in his bed and steal his sweaters and learn his way around Aaron's home and feel like he's there. Just out of reach.

It’s this same phone call that they finally make plans to have Spencer fly out when the BAU has a black week, because they are not letting another case take something as monumental as that away from them.)

((They will also totally have video call sex with Spencer spread out on Hotch’s bed.))

-

Aaron is obsessed with the way Spencer looks against the wrecked tangle of his bedsheets, loves the shape of him there as they look at each other through the video call after and keep it all going. Like pillow talk. 

“I wish I was there.”

“I wish you were, too,” Spencer will sigh, eyes slipped closed and breath heavy as he’s still spent from their activities. He will hum slightly, all flushed skin and the parts Aaron has never seen just out of view of the camera angle. His breath catching at just how… gorgeous Spencer is, and it steals his heart all over again. “Five weeks, two days, thirteen hours, five minutes, forty-eight seconds.”

Aaron smiles slow and bemused, already doing the math in his own head. 

“Is that when you land?” 

“No,” Spencer smiles lazily, still on his side with his curls mussed against the sheets and Aaron’s pillows and it seizes his heart tight. “Calculating airtime, taxi on the runway, how fast I can walk and if I remember the layout of the airport correctly -- which I do --” Aaron laughs at his tone and Spencer grins back and it’s like the first rays of the sun. Warm and light and golden bright. “And if… you meet me at the baggage claim. Then, it’s the exact amount of time until I’m kissing you in the airport.” 

(tbc...)

[ladyvader23]

Why I Think FanFiction is Important and Should be Normalized

I like to listen to youtube or podcasts while I play video games, usually on informational subjects. The other day I thought, “Maybe there’s some interesting fanfic commentators out there like there are for fiction writers!” 

Oh boy. I was wrong. 

There were a few one off videos. There’s one wonderful channel that I already knew about that talks about it (ColeyDoesThings). But the majority of videos were so negative. They were usually making fun of fics they considered bad or creepy, as if that represents all fanfic.

On top of that, I’ve met a lot of people both online and in real life who are either afraid to admit that they write fanfic, or they think fanfic is weird because of these popular depictions of fanfic in media. 

Before I continue, I think it’s really important to say that it’s totally fine to not want to talk about your writing or reading habits. I had a friend who had to hide writing fanfic because her parents would ground her if she did. I’ve had other friends who just see it as a hobby and they don’t want to draw attention to it, and I’ve had some who hide it because they’re legitimately worried about how people will react. That’s completely valid and I totally support that 100%. Do what makes you happy and safe! 

For me, though, I make it a point to be open about the role fanfiction has in my life. Without fanfiction, I wouldn’t have the job I have, or the friends I’ve made. I wouldn’t feel like me without it. For a long time, fanfiction was the only support I had to pursue who I wanted to be. 

This is my story. 

I have a learning disability. That in itself is a really long story, so to make it short, it made writing really, really difficult. English was consistently my lowest grade throughout my entire childhood and teen years. My English teachers HATED me. I can count...maybe two or three teachers who treated me like my writing had any worth? 

And what was worse is that I didn’t even know what I had to explain it to anyone until halfway through high school. By then, any “help” the school system had ever offered me was tailored to issues I didn’t have, and my mother had to explain every single year to my IEP coordinators what help I actually needed. 

I started writing fanfic probably when I was in seventh grade? It was hand written and was for Final Fantasy 10. I never published it, but I still remember the plot. My first published fanfic was for InuYasha. It was collaborative with my cousin, and it was reaaaaally badly written. I don’t even remember the title, actually, but it was a wild fic. It was my first real opportunity to experience fandom, to hear anything back from readers about what they thought of my writing. And I learned from that experience. I learned even more as I branched out to other fandoms. And because I had readers, it encouraged me to actually practice by writing more. 

While fanfic comments can be negative and unproductive, I’ve had plenty of readers very nicely point out “hey, when someone else starts speaking, that’s a new paragraph.” Literally, I’d NEVER known that before someone said it in a review. I’ve also had people point out good grammar resources that I could use. I had people offer insight on how story structure works and doesn’t work. I learned about giving characters real flaws. I learned about creating conflicts that people actually care about and relate to. Most of these comments weren’t meant to educate, necessarily, but when people reacted a certain way, I wondered, “Why do they feel that way? What did I do right, what did I do wrong? How can I improve?” Then I tried out whatever I learned in a new story or chapter. 

And yeah. Sometimes people just don’t jive with a story, or they’re trolls. But you know what? I learned from that too! I learned how to respond or not respond when people just don’t like what you’ve written and there’s nothing you can really do about it. That’s a skill I’ve translated into other parts of my life outside of writing. 

Through all of this, from my first fanfic to the ones I write now, I’ve learned so much about my writing and about who I am as a person. I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many cool people from all over the world, which in itself has been a seriously positive, life-changing experience! 

But much of my life, I was constantly being told that I couldn’t do it, to not even bother trying. I’d go to school where I had teachers who took one look at my IEP and before they’d even given my writing a chance, treated me like a failure. I once tried to show one of my teachers one of my stories. It was a Twilight fanfic (I was sixteen and it was the height of the craze). I knew my teacher loved Twilight, and I’d seen her make connections with other students over their shared interest. I just wanted to connect with her, too, to show that even though my strength isn’t in what she wanted me to write, I still mattered. I still had a place in her classroom. But I didn’t even finish asking her to read a little before she told me she was “too busy” (and then proceeded to give me an F because I did the entire worksheet, not “just the even number questions.” Like seriously, what?). 

It was really conflicting. On one hand, fanfic was so much fun, I had positive and constructive feedback on my stories, and I felt like I’d improved enough to go toe-to-toe with anyone else naturally gifted in writing. On the other hand, I had every authority figure in my life telling me to not bother. When I went to college, I really wasn’t sure I knew what to do. I had dreams to be a writer, but maybe people online were just being nice and I was better off doing something else. 

But I signed up to major in English anyway, and to my surprise, my college professors were way more supportive. Feedback was actually constructive. I didn’t have any kind of IEP equivalent attached to my name or record, which...brings up a lot of other concerns I have about the American education system because seriously, why are we judging people’s abilities like that??? But for the first time, I felt like I had a real chance. I graduated in English education, and though I left education because I have a lot of issues with how America runs its education system, I still work in a job where I write their entire policy and procedures. I literally write all day, and when I’m done with work, I write either my fanfiction or my own personal WIP. 

If I hadn’t had any of that positive experience with fanfic and the community that surrounds it, I wouldn’t have made the decision to do English as my major in college. I wouldn’t have a job I love. I wouldn’t have the friends I have. I feel like as a whole, I wouldn’t have as much passion as I do for stories...which is a HUGE part of who I am! 

I talk openly and positively about fanfic because there are others out there who might be like me. If all they hear about is how dorky or weird or creepy fanfic is, then that might scare them off. And what if fanfic leads them to supportive, wonderful friends? What if it leads them to a career option that makes them really happy? Or, you know, what if they just want to have a lot of fun and fanfic can do that for them (because you can totally just have fun, you don’t HAVE to learn or get anything else from fanfic)? 

I think we need to normalize fanfiction. Yes, there are negatives, we shouldn’t not address those, but when it’s positive, let’s talk about that! I think this particular site is really good at that, but I mean in real life. Maybe on other platforms too, I don’t know. I just have a lot of feelings about why fanfic is so important, and I just wanted to share my story to at least explain some of that. 

Feel free to add your own experiences, I’d love to hear them from either writers of fanfic or readers! 

[rum-and-shattered-dreams]

20 First Lines

Tagged by @athgalla and @novantinuum​! Thanks! This should be interesting!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories.  See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 authors!

_

I don’t have 20 “published” fics so I might fill out the extras with some old or unfinished things.

Unless otherwise specified, these are Gravity Falls fics. I’ll just go in order from oldest to newest with the extras tacked on at the end:

1) Mending

A chilled evening breeze, laced in the scents of grass and evergreen, blew through the broken walls and collapsed beams of the Mystery Shack’s living room.

2) Behind the Facade (starts with a flashback to childhood)

Stan kicked his feet, sending his swing hurtling back and forth.

3) The Vandals

From the moment he returned to Dimension 46’/, Stanford wanted to know what had become of his old friend, Fiddleford.

4) Maybe It’s Not Too Late

The Stan O’ War II was a creaky vessel cobbled together by loving hands.

5) Artistic Differences

Crisp leaves rustled across the gravel path in a cascade of yellow and orange.

6) Letters to the Oracle

Early September brought a cool breeze to the forest making Stanford’s morning walks infinitely more pleasant.

7) The Gift of Sleep

Dipper yawned and turned another page, soaking in the story of a boy who could travel to other worlds in his dreams.

8) One Person’s Boredom Is Another Person’s Fun (One shot in the Maybe It’s Not Too Late series)

Stanford’s pen scribbled between the lines of a notebook, his curly cursive filling the backs and fronts of nearly every dogeared page with revised notes from a long day of lectures.

9) The Best Handyman This Place Has Ever Seen

Stan showed nearly every yellowed tooth of his dentures in a smile that strained his cheeks as much as his patience.

10) Maybe It's Not Too Late - deleted/unwritten scenes

Stan and Fiddleford dragged their feet across the terrazzo, slogging their way to the musty elevator through a maze of scuffed walls and hospital halls.

11) Heroism is Subjective (Starts with a flash forward to Dipper and Mabel as adults)

Dipper had barely climbed out of his slush-spattered SUV when a flash of pink and purple slammed into him and powerful arms wrapped around his neck.  Mabel's quilted coat sleeves squished against his cheeks as she squealed in delight, "Dipper!"

12) The Plaidypus

In a tangle of half-shadows cast in purple, red, green, and blue, stretching from the base of each object on his desk, cast from the glow of every lamp in his study turned to its brightest setting, Stanford's head spun.

13) The Man Downstairs

A quiet mind was a rare occurrence for Stanford Pines, even before he'd made the deal that plunged his life into lonely confinement.

14) He Thought He’d Be Relieved (One-shot in The Man Downstairs series)

It had already been three years - Three years since that demon discovered a way to possess Ford's body whenever he pleased and they still had no way of stopping him.

15) A Fresh Start

Ford awoke, curled up on his side, to the nose-tingling scent of fresh-cut wood and a sneeze that alerted him to a more pressing matter than his irritated sinuses.

16) Devour-Ed (The only Ed, Edd, and Eddy thing I’ve ever written - from 2004 >_< If anyone wants to look at this atrocity it actually still exists on Fanart Central along with some old art which is half embarrassingly horrible and half actually not bad)

“Run, Ed, run!” Edd screamed, to a scurrying Ed. “I’m running, I’m running!” Ed huffed as he carried Edd on his shoulders. “Hurry, hurry!” Edd panicked. “I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying!” “In, in!” The two Eds scrambled through the door to Ed’s house. “I’m inning, I’m inning!”

17) Ripples to Waves (Working title - original WIP)

“Hurry!  Uh… I mean…  please, can’t we go any faster?”  Thick navy cotton crinkled between Kai’s fidgeting hands leaving the hem of his military cadet coat pressed with wrinkles.

18) Untitled Prequel to Ripples to Waves (Is it? IDK. It might be part 1 of the series?)

Wilhelmina was, despite her habit of climbing dirt piles and rolling down the sides, a princess.

19) Maybe Part 2 or 3 of Ripples to Waves? This one might need some explanation since it would have been set up in a previous part that Alstr is blind, Kai has actually silver hair and uses tarnish remover to clean it sometimes, and they train together daily. (And they might be destined to be NB ace partners but don’t know it yet ;))

Alstr’s staff sailed through the air toward Kai’s head.  He barely somersaulted out of the way, his braid flipping behind him and leaving a pungent trail of tarnish remover for Alstr to follow.

20) There is no 20 :P

Technically there are... other things I’ve written but I’m not going to be horny on main I mean there are a bunch of things that will never be finished and a bunch that are too nebulous to pick out an opening line so I’ll just leave it at that.

Welp, guess I go for a lot of description or setting the scene right away. Some are awfully wordy in looking back on them. The shorter, snappier ones feel better to me now. 

As for a favorite, I kind of like # 18. It’s short but still sets up the premise of the character. And I’m pretty fond of #13 and #9 for setting up the mood/tone.

And now for the tagging! It looks like a bunch of people I know have already been tagged but if you haven’t been and you see this, consider yourself tagged!

[kiarcheo]

     One for the Books    1 / 2

The first time Cathy talks to the girl is...quite clichéd – Jane would perhaps compare it to a scene in one of the rom-coms she loves – as they are both reaching for the same book. The girl quickly retracts her hand, mumbling that she doesn’t particularly need it, before scurrying away.

Okay. The first time the girl talks...at her. Mumbles at her, if she has to be precise.

I was in the mood for some Parrward so I decided to finally finish this that had been in my head for a year or so and in my WIP folder since summer.

Can read on Ao3 too

                                 ——————————————–

At first Cathy noticed her in a sort of unintentional, subconscious way. Like when you see the same person on the bus every day on your commute and even if you never talk to them and don't know anything about them, they are familiar. You expect them to get on at that specific stop. To get off at another specific one. Always the same, day in and day out. And then you notice when they are not there.

So Cathy is aware of the girl at the university library she frequents. Always in the sitting area next to her favourite desk, always curled up in an armchair, reading, sometimes sleeping.

Then she takes notice of the books she reads. The varied topics. How quickly she seems to go through them. How she never has a laptop with her or even a notebook, never taking any note.

She notices the long hours, even longer than the ones Cathy herself pulls, which is saying something. Her friends are always teasing her that she would live at the library if it was allowed. Even more this year, since all four of her closest friends are spread around Europe on year-long exchanges and masters, leaving her all alone in the UK...and free to spend all the time she wants at the library without them dragging her out.

The first time Cathy talks to the girl is...quite clichéd – Jane would perhaps compare it to a scene in one of the rom-coms she loves – as they are both reaching for the same book. The girl quickly retracts her hand, mumbling that she doesn’t particularly need it, before scurrying away.

Okay. The first time the girl talks...at her. Mumbles at her, if she has to be precise.

The next time doesn’t go much further...or better. Once Cathy is done with the book, she brings it to her. She hovers by the armchair awkwardly, hands clutching the book.

‘Yes?’ The girl asks, a wary undertone in her voice.

‘If you still want it.’ Cathy thrusts it toward her.

She blinks up at her. ‘Thanks?’

She hesitantly reaches out to take the book. She puts it in her lap. They stare at each other in silence for a beat before Cathy turns on her heels and goes back to her desk.

But third time is the charm. Seeing the girl disappearing among the shelves with the book in her hand and coming back with another one, Cathy assumes that she has finished reading it. She hopes she is right as she approaches her and tries to strike up a conversation about it.

The girl looks baffled at being addressed, but she slowly seems to get more comfortable and soon they are involved in a lively chat about it, Cathy leaning against the arm of the armchair next to the girl’s one. Luckily, it is quite late and there is nobody else in the area so they can talk, albeit in low voices, without disturbing anyone – Cathy had waited until everyone had left so that there would be no witnesses to her awkward, and likely to fail, attempt at being a normal-functioning human being.

‘I’m Cathy, by the way. Well, Catherine but nobody calls me that.’ Cathy had been in the middle of a rant about the latest topic she has been looking into for her assignment when realisation had hit her that they had never exchanged names. Like she said, a disaster, she never claimed otherwise.

‘I get it. Nobody really calls me Katherine anymore.’

‘So what should I call you?’ Cathy just learned her name, but she already knows she doesn’t like to see that sorrowful expression on her face. ‘I’ve been calling you library girl in my mind, but it’s a bit of a mouthful.’

Being funny is not one of Cathy's strong suits, she is aware, so she is half-surprised and half-elated when a small smile appears on Katherine’s face. ‘Kat. With a K.’

Few days later it’s Kat who approaches her desk, a few books in her hands. ‘Have you read these?’

Cathy looks at the titles. ‘I’m quite sure I haven’t.’ She is also quite sure they are not even on the never-ending list of books to read she has, the titles not ringing a bell at all.

‘I had a hunch.’ Kat looks quite pleased with herself. ‘They are in another section because, well, different subjects.’ Yes. Cathy had not wanted to point that out, that the titles didn’t seem related to her topic at all. ‘But there are some interesting bits. This has a whole chapter,’ Kat points to an edited volume, ‘the others just paragraphs, but...you know. Different perspectives and approaches...maybe they can help?’ She seems to lose steam by the end, confidence draining away.

And help they do. Her lecturer is actually impressed by her citing one of those books. After wracking her brain trying to find a way to thank Kat, Cathy decides to go for something that she is pretty sure no student would ever say no to: coffee.

Kat accepts the paper cup, albeit a bit wary. Cathy tries not to take it personally. She had noticed that the girl is perennially on guard. She is comforted when she sneaks a glance towards her later on and sees her sipping from the cup, both hands wrapped around it, eyes closed, content expression on her face. Laying on the small table in front of her armchair are empty sugar wrappers and pots of cream and milk portions...not a single one had remained untouched. Cathy makes a mental annotation to bring Kat a cappuccino next time. Maybe she would prefer that to an Americano (maybe she could ask Kat herself, but that’s another matter).

.

‘I thought you weren’t coming at all today.’ Cathy is on her way back to her desk with a pile of books in her arms when she notices that what is in Cathy’s mind ‘Kat’s spot’ is now occupied while it was not when she passed by earlier.

Cathy cringes, realising she sounded a bit stalkerish, and indeed Kat shifts in her seat looking slightly uncomfortable. Nonetheless, she replies. ‘Double shift at the restaurant.’

Right on cue, Cathy’s stomach loudly growls. ‘Sorry.’ She mumbles sheepishly.

‘Have you had dinner?’ Kat looks like she has something on her mind.

Cathy shakes her head. ‘Just some snacks. I really need to finish this,’ she shifts the pile of books in her arms, ‘by the time I realised how late it was getting, everything on campus was closed already...so I raided the vending machine.’

‘Want to share some cold leftovers?’ Kat asks after a moment of hesitation. ‘They let me take them...’

Cathy’s stomach answers for her, letting out another rumble.

She repays the favour by bringing Kat a cappuccino at the earliest opportunity. And yes, Kat seems to enjoy that more than black coffee, she thinks giving herself a mental high-five. She stills pours all the sugar in it though.

They develop a sort of routine, or perhaps kind of a standing appointment. Cathy pretty much knows when Kat has her shifts at the restaurant, and if she times her study breaks for when Kat is around...well, sue her for wanting some company. And she does it for Kat too. She swears that the girl never leaves the library when it’s open 24/7, which is quite often. Cathy had tried to wait for her but gave up every time, always falling asleep on her desk more than once before relenting and dragging herself home, grateful to live quite close to the campus.

When it’s not raining, they often go for a walk around the campus, Kat always bringing her backpack with her. Cathy had wanted to question it, even if jokingly, once or twice, but Kat seemed to tense every time she noticed her glancing at it, so she never did. And after the first couple of times the small, folding, umbrella in it got them back at the library more or less dry when they got caught out in the rain...never going to question it ever again, not even in her mind.

They talk a lot. Kat never talks about her family or her course, Cathy had noticed, but she will happily chat about whatever book she is reading at the moment (or any of the many she has read), the customers at the restaurant or what weird thing she had seen on campus or around the city that day. Cathy is curious, of course, but she is not going to push. It’s not her business and she is sure Kat has her reasons for not wanting to touch certain subjects. Maybe she is still trying to figure out her academic journey and talking about it just stresses her out. She would certainly not be the first fresher to be confused and agonizing over courses choices, career direction and more in general what to do with their life. And there is probably not enough time in the world to list all the possible ways family can be crappy and a topic that people prefer to avoid.

Cathy keeps bringing Kat drinks every now and then, varying from cappuccino to mocha to hot chocolate...the sweeter the better, she learned. Kat keeps accepting them with hesitation and a touch of discomfort.

One day she decides to ask. She knows Kat likes them, but she also always looks uncomfortable receiving them, so if that trumps the enjoyment...she will stop.

‘I just don’t want you to spend money on me.’

‘You know how I work at that coffee shop?’ Cathy waits for Kat’s nod. ‘Well, the pay is crap, but we get drinks for free.’

She is a bit ashamed to admit it. Yes, everyone always says it’s the thought that counts, but nobody likes a cheapskate. Kat, however, looks relieved to hear that. It is weird that she seems happier now that she knows that Cathy is not paying for the drinks, which confuses Cathy...so she asks.

‘I just don’t feel comfortable with you buying me stuff,’ Kat explains, ‘especially since I can’t reciprocate.’

Check your privilege, Cathy! Now she feels even worse. She knows she is lucky. She wouldn’t say rich, but she is certainly economically comfortable. She is working at the coffee shop because she doesn’t want to rely completely on family money, but that’s how she can afford to rent her flat without having to share with anyone else. And her closest friends are from the same standing, let’s say, so while she knows that not everyone is in her situation...economic difficulties are not at the forefront of her mind.

‘Wait, what about when we went out for dinner? For my birthday?’ Cathy blurts out, before cringing slightly. Just because she could do it once, it doesn’t mean she always has money to spare. Or even worse, what if she didn’t have money to spare but she still did it? Did she feel like she had to, when Cathy had offhandedly mentioned it was her birthday while apologising for their chat being interrupted by her friends abroad calling her to wish her a happy birthday?

‘The restaurant belongs to the husband of my boss. Yes, they are both chefs, but they have different styles and,’ she shrugs. She had been surprised when she learned it, thought it strange that they would not work together at the same restaurant, but...if it works for them... ‘anyway, got the employee discount and took the rest off from my pay. Besides, it was a special occasion.’

‘Does it mean that I can take you out for your birthday?’

‘We’ll see,’ Kat looks disillusioned, ‘if you are still around.’

Cathy frowns. Why shouldn’t she still be around? But anyway. Kat’s birthday is in summer. That’s a long time to go. She wracks her brain. ‘What about a picnic? I could cook or just make sandwiches and we could-’

‘It’s November.’ Kat interrupts her, drily.

‘Right.’ Cathy deflates. How could she have forgotten about English weather?

‘Why are you trying so hard?’

Cathy is taken aback by the question. ‘I like you. As a friend. Obviously.’ She takes a fortifying breath. ‘But I’d like to be more-’

‘Like what?’ Kat’s voice is unusually sharp.

Cathy swallows, a prickle in her mind pointing out that Kat doesn’t look disgusted. Or angry. Her face is quite inexpressive, to be honest, but she can see the distress in her eyes. And it doesn’t look like nerves like her own. Well. In for a penny, in for a pound. ‘Holding your hand? Cuddling? Dating? Calling you my girlfriend?’

Kat doesn’t seem reassured by her answer. Cathy has a fleeting thought that maybe she is worried and unsure about relationships in general. She is younger than herself and perhaps she never dated before (she is a beautiful girl, but that doesn’t mean anything, does it? She learned her lesson about assuming everyone date as teenagers with Jane). She is suddenly happy that she didn’t include kissing, even if she does want to kiss Kat. She remembers that with her first, and only, boyfriend, what she had wanted was...what Thomas later on branded as ‘lame’ affection while all he seemed to want was to stick his tongue down her throat...and more.

‘That’s it?’ Kat scoffs. ‘Nothing more?’

‘Not if you don’t want to.’

Kat looks like she doesn’t believe her. Cathy feels slightly hurt at that, before another thought occurs to her. What happened to Kat for her to be so distrustful? The more her brain comes up with possibilities, the angrier she gets, so she tries to stop it before it gets out of hand and she assumes things that might not be true.

‘If you want to just stay friends, that’s fine.’

‘But?’ Kat is tense, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

‘But if you would like to give it a try,’ Cathy can’t help thinking that Kat never said she is not interested. That’s like the first thing people do, right? Turning the other part down by telling them they only see them as friends or stuff like that. ‘We don’t have to…label it. We can just…spend time together. See how it goes?’

And that’s what they do.

                                 ——————————————–

If everything goes according to plan, the second chapter should be out next weekend.

[elliewan]

Boom Boom - Behind the Scenes

Hi everyone! As hinted in Chapter 14th notes, here is a (long?) tumblr post for some behind-the-scenes trivia about Boom Boom! I’m sorry it took me some time, but I’ll probably develop my HC for Thermite and Ace in another post :]

So. Here’s a small table of contents for this post. And of course, massive spoilers incoming! haha

Origin of the Title

Chapter and Rhythm building

Thermite’s friendships

Interviews with Harry

IQ/Kali’s background relationship

HC Timeline

In a nutshell

1. Origin of the title

The initial placeholder title was “Norwegian Dynamite”, then “From Texas with Norway”, then… “Boom Boom”. I’m still not happy with the title, but I think it’s good enough. And funfact, it’s kind of a mistake, but not so much. In French, my native language, heartbeat’s onomatopoeia is “Boum Boum”, while I read that in American English (the English I tended to use for my fanfic), it’s supposed to be “Thump Thump” or something like that. But I also read than in most of Norwegian dialects, “Boom Boom” could be understood as a heartbeat too. So anyway, Boom Boom refers both to the beating of their heart and to the explosions of their hard-breaching gadgets. It’s also dual, meaning that each of them is a “Boom” haha And it’s also a cute Mika song about two people being totally in love despite what their families think, and making love everywhere haha (cause in French “Faire crac crac boum boum” [“doing crac crac boom boom”] means “having sex” haha)

2. Chapter and Rhythm building

Unlike most of my fanfics, Boom Boom wasn’t written “as it goes”, I didn’t “discover” the fic while writing it. In fact, I hadn’t contemplated writing a multi-chapter for them until some comments on my Siegetober Ace/Thermite one-shots where people showed interest in the ship and a potential multi-chapter or longer story for them. 

So after the Siegetober rush, while I had several wips ongoing, I started working on it. The first blank page was basically: Ace/Thermite – how do they get together for real and a series of bullet points for potential scenes. Then, I opened a PowerPoint file and started filling the following diagram:     

Though this is now a bit obsolete, this was the first foundation. Thanks to this diagram, and the several bullet points for potential scenes I had brainstormed, I started building the story in a (ugly) board. Once again, several things are obsolete and I never really updated it – it was more of a working document for the “pre-writing” of the fic, to see if the story really made sense:

And one thing that really didn’t help was Ubisoft releasing the cutscene about Aruni out of nowhere haha. At the beginning, I panicked a bit because I thought it changed several things in my Thermite HC, but it happened to eventually fit quite well and even help adding more drama haha

And once I was ok enough with the board, despite it having several plot holes, I tried to measure the intensity of “love” and “dramatics” to see what kind of rhythm the fic was going to follow and check if I found it entertaining enough:

3. Thermite’s friendships

In the initial draft, Castle had a MAJOR part as Thermite’s best friend. He would help him sort his feelings, see the evolution of his relationship with Ace, and even go to Texas with him to help him face his family. But when re-reading for the umpteenth time Thermite’s file, I realized there was not a single mention of Castle, contrary to Hibana, Twitch and Thatcher. Not to mention Harry’s board where it’s written Thermite has a “sibling” relationship with Ash.

And that’s when everything ticked: Thermite is surrounded by great women. Sisterhood is part of who he is, how he was raised, how he lives. And this is why those women should have a stronger place in the story. So Hibana, Twitch, Aruni and Ash became real sisters to him. Hibana and Aruni being more like the big sisters – they’re reliable, sturdy and coolheaded, they provide him with advice and comfort; Aruni especially is quite similar in temper to his biological sister in my HC. Twitch is more like his same-age sister (though she’s younger), they see eye-to-eye but there’s no authority nor “big sister” feels between them; she’s the confident. As for Ash, she’s more like that distant sibling that has evolved a lot in life to the point where they don’t talk as mush as they used to… but who could move mountains just to get to him if she hears he’s in trouble. This is what I tried to convey :’)

4. Interviews with Harry

Honestly, interviews with Harry were my ultimate cheat code to give more information regarding Ace and Thermite’s psychological statuses, and various hints regarding their mental health. Though I sometimes prefer to bring this sort of nakedness and vulnerability throughout conversations with close friends, it wasn’t very possible here because: 1. Ace had no close friends with whom he could be this vulnerable, and he’s still new at Rainbow. (and he’s not even aware of his coping mechanisms and insecurities) 2. I kind of wanted Thermite to be incredibly good at clouding his issues, changing subjects and rejecting any kind of help, meaning that only Harry could get him to openly talk (or so he thought haha) about his mental health.

As for Harry’s behavior, I tried to render him as this kind of smooth, yet not evasive, therapist. One that wouldn’t be in the judgement, and who could wait whole minutes for the person to take their time to open up, and slowly but gently poking at the aching spots, and providing various resources to help them :)

Also, since in most of his psychological reports he seems to be very aware of friendships at the base, and to push some operators to meet some others, I tried to convey this vibe too. Just like when he says that he finds similarities with Ace, Dokkaebi and Sledge. Or when he offers Thermite to ask Lion and Meghan about their tattoos etc.

Also, here’s a bit of HC on how each of them deals with Harry haha

5. IQ/Kali’s background relationship

I have to admit I may have accidentally mirrored a lot Ace/Thermite’s relationship with IQ/Kali’s. Thing is that I wanted Kali to change too! I wanted her to be this impartial and authoritative bossy businesswoman that would slowly change into someone, though still sharp and arrogant, more human. I wanted Jaimini to show up a bit more. I have given veeery small hints to offer some glimpses at her true self, at what’s behind that mask. For instance, there is that moment in the fic where Ace and Kali argue, and he tells her:

“Jai, you and I both know very well that you didn't take this contract just for the money.”

Which makes Kali pale a lot, because he’s hitting a good nerve. In fact, I kind of headcanon Kali having softened enough around him, throughout their collaboration, to have confided a tiny bit about why she created Nighthaven, and all the frustrations she had grown up with. And thing is, Kali created Nighthaven because she wanted to be a hero too, just like him. She wanted to be at the heart of the battle, to protect people, to save lives, and she dreamed of a soldier life, of self-sacrifice and heroism. She just slid the wrong way, and her childhood dream turned into a private corporation of which she became a ruthless tycoon. Just like Ace, I think things went out of control at some point for her, and she just lose connection to reality and morals.

And the thing with IQ happened quite naturally. At the beginning, once I was okay with the three main squads (especially Alpha and Bravo), the relationship just happened on itself. While Montagne and Twitch were just those lovely and patient sweethearts, IQ was the one that had the hardest time with the Nighthaven folks, whether it were Ace or Kali. Both because she didn’t trust them and their secrecy, and because she has very little patience for people with difficult tempers in general haha

So, Kali being that bossy and defiant puzzle, refusing to let her see Nighthaven’s gadgets’ blueprints, things were just meant to sparkle between them. And Kali just couldn’t resist teasing IQ and reminding her she was untouchable. And through the teasing, the premises of a relationship were born. But unlike Ace/Thermite, I don’t think it followed a Colleagues to Friends to Lovers progression, but more an Enemies straight to Lovers progression haha

So anyway. I wanted to give a little boost to Kali, so that she opens up a bit more with Rainbow, and to bring a truce between Rainbow and Nighthaven’s disputes. And love just happened, once again, to be the perfect last push <3 

Another thing that could have helped her would perhaps have been some true challenging from an authority she does respect, but I found it difficult to stage and Kali wasn’t the focus of the fic anyway – perhaps another time ;)

6. HC Timeline

And here is the ugly timeline I worked with haha It’s still probable that there are some inconsistencies, but I tried to avoid them as much as possible and I’m sorry if you find some! I’m horribly bad with figures, years and stuff haha

I used most of the canonical dates, except for Jordan’s mother and sister deceases, which weren’t accurately dated in his biography and which I reinterpreted a bit to fit my story.

Also, isn’t it absolutely lovely that their birthday is only 1 day apart? u_u #ProudPisces!

7. In a nutshell

So, those were my major documents that helped me build the foundations of the fic. What happened next was some drafting and pure writing, following the publishing tempo. I think the gist of what I wanted to convey through the story is still there, even if I reworked some chapters entirely. The journey (and the destination <3) is still the same.

+ I want to once again give a proper shout out to all the wonderful readers of the fanfic, whether they’re anonymous or not! I had never received so much feedback, and so many sweet words on any work before, even back in my time on fanfic.net. I feel so grateful for that, and though I already answered to everyone who commented, and wrote many notes, I still can’t find the way to properly translate just how much it means to me. So once again THANK YOU :’D

And thank you for reading this post too, if you did haha <3