#a very feelingsy chapter!

[jennycalendar]

Jenny crumpled up letter after letter after letter. Dialed his number right down to the last digit before putting the phone back on the hook. She didn’t know how to take that last step forward when she couldn’t see the ground. Wasn’t that something that Jennifer Calendar had known how to do? Or did she just not care whether or not she fell into the ether? Except Jennifer Calendar had always cared. She’d just pretended not to. Which was easier, sometimes, but also harder, because it was lonely.

not certain if the next mini-arc will be included within this OR a fic in its own right! my plan is for this to have more chapters, but we will see how it feels when i start writing it…

[skalidris]

updated my xiyao + jingyi post-canon resurrection fic ^^

[fandomfrolics]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @chainofclovers and @revolutionsoftheheart, thank you <3

Since I've only posted to AO3 for 2 fandoms and one is disproportionately larger than the other, gonna separate the two for my own curiosity.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

123 (77 Ted Lasso, 46 Marvel)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

567,878 (336,213 TL vs 231,665 Marvel over a...much shorter period of time😬)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently only Ted Lasso, previously Marvel (both MCU and comics)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Marvel

They Call Me Dad

In the Heat of the Night

Roll the Dice and Swear Your Love (for me)

what is (or what could be)

Situation Normal: All Fogged Up 

Ted Lasso

and in the morning we'll start all over again

Linger

lick me baby or leave me

my body fits just like a bruise

I don't wanna live like this (but I don't wanna die) 

Fun fact! My top Marvel fic has pretty much almost exactly 10x kudos as my top TL fic.

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

I do but very, very slowly. As for why, idk I think it's just a nice way to engage with people. I like seeing authors' responses to my comments on their fics too.

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

A <400 word established relationship Steve/Tony fic where one half of the pairing DROWNS and for what, who knows

Any angsty endings I had for TL were only chapter endings that were then undone by peer pressure (except, I guess, this one where Ted and Rebecca break up because his.....spoon.....is too big).

OH WAIT I forgot about this Rupodore one (but also the A/N does undo that angsty ending too sooooooo)

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

This is a hard one because I'm not sure how to differentiate degrees of happiness but sorta related to the last answer, I'm going to say this established relationship Steve/Tony fic, where it SEEMS like Steve dies but he doesn't, mostly because of this comment that makes me emotional every time I remember it

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Just once I think, on a kinky TL fic (thanks Kyle!)

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

Unfortunately (though that's pretty much a new thing for TL fic)

Idk what the kinds of smuts there are but: PWP, emotional/feelingsy, kink (for exploring dynamics/psychology of it re: certain characters), kink (horny)

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

Borderline? Idk if this fake dating fic featuring an unnamed-but-hinted-at actor counts as Ted Lasso/Actor RPF crossover.........

That's probably the craziest one but actually I guess this Marvel one where the video game versions of the characters visit the comics universe counts.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not wholesale but bits yeah

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, a bunch of Marvel fanfic got translated to Chinese and Russian but my top kudosed fic got translated into I think at least 4 languages (including off AO3), which is really cool!!

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

Yes with @thatsrightjohngoodman <33 and it was a blast, even though the number of words spent talking about the fic >>>> actual words in the fic. Also I only did like 15% of it, which is probably also why I had a good time.

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

I don't really get into fandoms through ships, usually more through specific characters so idk if I have a fave. I'm pretty loosey-goosey about ships.

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

OH BOY okay, well I'm still holding out hope for some of the TL ones even though I haven't touched them in ages but from the (almost definitely) abandoned ones, there's one about Ted dealing with executive dysfunction that gets in the way of like really mundane things like mail he needs to do something about (e.g. his TV licence) or using groceries before they go bad and how Beard and Rebecca and others help him help himself.

On Marvel, I have a CarolJess coffee shop AU that is like 90% done and contains some bits that are very personal and reflective of that period of my life and it'd be nice to put it out into world but. I probably won't.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been given the impression that it's.......sad shit lmao. But also like conversations between people that feel realistic. And at this point, I think unfortunately also smut.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Settings I think? I like actions and dialogue and I always have to go back and fill in like...where are they, what are they sitting on, that sorta thing.

Also endings, I never know how to end a fic, especially short feelingsy one-shots.

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

I have no real thoughts on this tbh

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter, but only one fic that I posted on LiveJournal I think as part of an event

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

The first one that popped into my head was All Our Days Ahead, a Beard and Ted friendship road trip fic. It was written with more care than a lot of my other fics and idk I like it's energy when I reread it. I can remember exactly where I was when I wrote it too (and that it was raining lmao).

Honorable mentions from when I actually went scrolling through my works:

I like all my humour fics purely for how unhinged I feel when writing them but the body shots fic was particularly wild because of the insane live writing experience and Cannibal!Rebecca offshoot

I also have a soft spot for my episode tags. I don't really write a lot of fics that are related to specific moments in canon but I really like this Colin one about the impact of Nate's words on him, featuring my beloved actual Coach!Ted. Also one of the few fics where the title feels right and isn't just sorta there to fill in the field.

I think by now most people have been tagged in TL so ignore me if you've already done this but tagging some folks from both fandoms @theodore-lasso @howiehamlin @thatsrightjohngoodman @ishipallthings @onemuseleft @snoozingcat @bardingbeedle if y'all wanna do it

[riftwalker-limbro]

god i think i'm gonna write (my version of) the new strange tonight after i finish my uni work - there are simply too many brainworms going on at once. this is untenable.

i'm gonna let them out a little here i think.

fair warning, after writing out what i wanted to, it includes spoilers for the whole outline i've got so far. and they're extensive. but if you, like me, believe in the enjoyment of the story regardless of if you know the outcome or not, feel free to go read

so imo ordis is a bit prone to hero-worship, right? he hears about simaris being this great, knowledge-driven guy, and he goes full heart eyes immediately.

in my opinion the same happens with the operator - ordis is obviously told "this is the operator. you love them" and he takes this assignment incredibly seriously. the operator is perfect, of course the operator would want a perfect cephalon as well (and the canon operator never does contradict him, do they?) to serve them, and the operator is so very powerful, so very strong.

i'm gonna show my cards here, so perhaps someone reading this might see what i'm trying to do and get as excited about it as i am (get inflicted with my brainworms *throws a handful at you*)

the "outline" i've been talking about is structured in five chapters, what you'll also see in my writing masterpost as i fill it out more - and the chapters are very deliberately/explicitly structured/paced to represent stages in the ordis&operator friendship

Awakening: will be finished up with the new strange - setting up the basic things, the scene, for the rest of the everything. things are as close to canon as they'll ever be, here.

Resurfacing: starts off with the second dream, which will fuck up (edit: tumblr ate everything after this point in this bulletpoint so i'm going to rewrite it) -which will fuck up the way that kelth has been existing so far by splitting up their consciousness from excalibur, to whom they've been melded so far, actually. i've been trying to write kelth/calibur in Awakening as kind of having two minds in one, except Kelth is the main one and excalibur provides some supporting characteristics - kelth is the main brain, the main initiative, behind everything, and excalibur brings the methodicality to get everything done, the calmness in the storm. he's the kid who grew up in a dojo stereotype

Disillusionment: the illusion of the friendship honeymoon period starts to shatter. ordis realizes that the operator is not infallible - far from, actually (i'm thinking kelth has the initiative to get things going, but excalibur previously contributed the focus to see them through. he's still there and helps however he can, obv, but kelth's not in active transference with him all the time) because they're not quite... as brave as they were before they remembered everything, and realized the scope of their sitaution in more detail. the other direction of the "honeymoon period" is also broken - kelth starts discovering ordis' fragments. basically, at the end of this chapter, everyone should be a fucking mess.

Mending: this is the chapter where the initial idea happened - ordis & kelth do the limbo theorem quest (see the name of this whole damn blog lmao.) and there are so many angsty feelingsy notes on this bulletpoint god i am looking forward to this. limbo's personality is already 70% ish worked out and i- god i can't fucking wait. what else what else - ah right, so yesterday i published the bit where operator-excalibur get a "strange pang" in their chest at ordis mentioning machine code? that's because kelth used to program little things on the zariman, mostly for entertainment! (i'm a software engineer and i love coding shit. i will inflict my hobby upon all of you) and so with this newly rediscovered knowledge kelth starts coding things to help them navigate the origin system etc (i have a stupidly elaborate warframe progress spread sheet. instead of writing a program to manage it like i've wanted to for months i'm writing about writing a program to manage it. help) and it speeds up collecting ordis' fragments a shit ton, and by the end of this chapter they should be all complete again - with, uh. consequences.

Bond: the final chapter lmao. and also pretty much the second seriously invasive brainworm i had about this whole universe. kelth asks about ordis' code, because See Glitches, and through some iteration (code versions, developing friendships, everything is getting iterated) they eventually discover some old code, that, when re-enabled, allow ordis to do transference with warframes as well. (i did post about this earlier!!!! ordis is at least as traumatized as everyone else on this fuckin ship!!!! he should get to join!!) (also it's old code that was hastily implemented at the start of the Old War by some orokin programmers, to figure out if they could use Cephalons to pilot the hella dangerous warframes, but it was all disabled and the project abandoned when they repurposed the zariman children for this purpose instead) (bonus info: my notes literally say "But then Excalibur emerges, with Ordis inside, who is barely QWOP’ing his way out of the fancy closet" and please just visualize that) and this is where so much fluff is gonna happen i've barely been able to think about it so far. they find rhino's blueprints in some corpus locked. they rebuild him. they put prime shit on most warframes. there's so many feelings.

god okay yeah i've tamed my brainworms. i'm gonna go back to work. i can't wait to get to the last one. it's gonna be so fucking juicy. haugh.

and, just as a note - i'm doing this for fun, i'm not looking for any kind of criticism, including constructive. my writing generally is super self-indulgent on the fluff and angst ends, and i'm very solidly & openly on the ace spectrum so do not expect romance. if reading this made you feel any feelings (that are not criticisms) i will love to hear about them in my ask box. come yell at me - about my shit, about your shit, anything. >:)

[ursafootprints]

2, 3, 4, 11 for ynyd :D

Thank you for playing!! 💖💖💖

2: What scene did you first put down? I write chronologically, so the first scene I wrote-wrote was, well, chapter one! BUT: before I ever committed to writing the fic, I got to the opening scene in chapter 9 in my outline, and I outlined... basically all of the dialogue and mood shifts in that scene in bulletpoint format (just the outline for that scene was 1.5k), so while it went through a LOT of changes once I actually got there in-story, I think it's fair to count that as the first scene I put down! The outlining up until that point was a much more bare-bones summary of the beats I wanted to hit, though I did have a fair bit of the dialogue for Peter and Tony's talk in the lab after Peter's birthday outlined as well.

3: What’s your favorite line of narration? This is likely the recency effect at play, but I was far too pleased with myself for the steel trap imagery that Tony kept using in ch8, so probably:

“He had to make it worth it. So that someday when Peter got sick of being glanced and grazed and gouged by those teeth that Tony had never quite managed to file down-- he could look back at the suits and the hours in the lab and the college fund, and at least think that it hadn't been a complete waste of time.”

Ch8 was where I really dug into Tony’s particular brand of self-loathing, so finding the right metaphor to get that across and then combining it with his sense of utter resignation and inevitably re: Peter leaving him behind someday was super satisfying!

4: What's your favorite line of dialogue? I got asked this multiple times so I'm gonna cheat and choose a different one for each time because it’s very hard to pick a favorite from 100k+ words, lmao. Feelingsy answer later, but comedically I really love this one from ch6:

Tony hummed an affirmative, and then hoped it was the right move as he said, dry, "If you wanted to redecorate you know you could have asked for help. I'm a pro at designing spaces for hitting rock bottom. Gimme an hour and I can fuck up your feng shui so royally Patty'll get an emergency alert on her phone."

I felt like I managed to hit Tony’s very particular blend of self-confidence and self-deprecation in how he presents himself, and it also just made me laugh.

11: What do you like best about this fic? Further thoughts later because I got this one twice, but: my favorite fics are always the ones that combine a romance A-plot with a like, genuinely plotty(/action-y/mystery/whatever) B-plot, and while the B-plot is in all honesty probably the weakest part of the fic (I’m gonna do my best by it though!), it’s been super exciting to me to make an attempt at it! I’ve only ever written straight-out romances before, so trying to blend the two plots together in a way that feels organic and where each genuinely supports/feeds the other, and attempting in general to write My Favorite Kind of Fic, has felt ambitious in a good way and I hope it all comes together in a way I can be satisfied with ///

[fromiftowhen]

fic: in my own simple way (an Upstead one-shot in the YHBOTHL universe)

Hi friends! There are approximately six other things I should have spent time writing today, but this little outtake/future scene from your heartbeat on the high line (once in twenty lifetimes) wouldn’t leave me alone. 

It’s set about a week after the story ends and might be more feelingsy if you’ve recently read chapter 18, but it’s not necessary. 

Rated T | 1590 words | Title from Last First Kiss by Ron Pope

When he wakes up, the room is dim, the first hints of sunrise just peeking in through the curtains. The other side of Hailey’s bed is empty and cool to the touch as he runs his arm over the sheets.

“Hailey?” His voice sounds rough, half-asleep to his own ears, and he clears his throat and leans upon his elbow as footsteps fall into the room, her eyes finding him immediately.

“Sorry,” she whispers, heading over to put a few things in her top dresser drawer. She leaves a bag on the dresser as she turns back to him. “Couldn’t sleep, figured I’d finish the mountain of laundry I brought back.”

He nods, watching her bare legs make their way over to the bed until he can just reach his fingers out to trail over the hem of his button-down brushing her thighs. “Y’know, really trying not to take it personally that you’re basically never here when I wake up.”

“I’ve been home like a week, Jay,” she grins, sliding a knee on the mattress next to him. “And if I remember correctly, I woke you up in this very bed yesterday morning.”

“And don’t think I’ll ever forget that,” he says, raising an eyebrow suggestively. “Just saying, pretty sure I saw you in bed more on FaceTime than I have in person.” He lets his fingers drag up her thigh slowly, watching her bite her lip as his nails trail across her skin.

“We spent all day yesterday in bed, and all last weekend, and every night in between… so I’m pretty sure your math is wrong,” she whispers, pressing her other knee onto the bed next to him.

“Maybe,” he whispers, grinning at her as her eyes trail down his bare chest. His palms slide up her thighs to pull her closer. “But just to be safe, you should come back over here.”

The noise she makes as he drags her into his lap almost feels worth the weeks they were apart. And the quiet moan she lets out against his lips is still new, exciting, but feels familiar all at once.

Her lips meet his and he swallows the noise, kissing her slowly as their legs tangle and his hands slide up her body. In the time she’s been home, they’ve done very little but work and this, learning each other in a new way. And if he’d gotten to know her in a new way while she was in New York, if she’d felt like home to him even while she was 800 miles away, it’s nothing to how she feels now.

She’s home, and laughter, and early mornings in bed, silent words whispered against cool skin and the way his heart keeps pace with hers as their bodies find each other easily in the dim light.

“So, if your laundry’s done, your suitcase is totally empty now, right?” He asks, his lips barely leaving hers.

Her laughter is warm against his skin, eyes bright as she nods her head. “Yeah…”

“Okay,” he mumbles. “Don’t worry if you can’t find it in a few days. You won’t need it anytime soon.”

She laughs again and smiles against him as he runs a hand over her body to slip between the buttons of her shirt. He lets his fingers trail down her back, a tiny bite to his touch as she arches against him.

He’s felt her body heal a little more every night he’s spent in her bed. He’s run his fingers over every inch of her skin, learned her tells and the timbre of her voice in the dark. He’s pressed his lips to disappearing bruises, sucked tiny, hidden marks of his own into her skin in desperate, frenzied moments.

Every little way he learns her is their first, his last, and he tries to spell it out against her skin everytime -- the way he knows she’s his last first everything, the way he’s going to savor it all. The way she’s his girl, the way she’s home for him -- the way he wants to always be home for her.

The way he knows he’s loved her in different ways for so long; from inches away, across miles apart. Quietly, his fingers tapping out text messages for weeks, his hands against her skin now. Loudly, his voice rising in disagreements over their years as just partners, his lips against her ear now as they find an easy rhythm.

“Hey,” he whispers, drawing back slightly, shifting to brush her hair back behind her ear. He lets his thumb stroke her cheek as she opens her eyes slowly. “I’ve told you how I’m kinda happy you’re home, right?”

“Maybe a few times, a few different ways.”

“Mmm, good.” He nods, biting at her lower lip as she leans back in. “Just so we’re on the same page.”

And he knows they are.

That could be it, the end of their coherent words for long minutes as they greet the morning together. Her lips slide down his jaw, over stubble that leaves her pale skin red, and he could be good just like this. There are words he wants to say, but he knows they have time. There will be a million more mornings like this, mornings that were all he wanted over FaceTime calls for weeks on end.

But she pulls back and bites at her lip a little, and he knows this tell best of all. There’s something else.

She glances back to her dresser, and he sees the edge of the bag she’d left there before she’d climbed back in bed with him.

“There was one thing left in my suitcase. I brought you a souvenir.”

He could be cheesy. He could tell her he knows she did, that she’s here, with him. That she’s all he needs to remember the trip, their time apart.

But he just raises an eyebrow. “I like gifts.”

She rolls her eyes and shifts off his body. He draws a hand down her back as she grimaces ever so slightly, tiny remnants of pain showing themselves when she makes quick movements.

She’s at her dresser before he can make a move to go with her. She turns around as he sits up, her lower lip between her teeth still, and he just watches her. She’s nervous, and maybe that should be his first clue. “I was gonna wait, save this,” she says, slowly, and then shakes her head. “But I don’t want to anymore.”

He just nods, watching her turn back toward her dresser again, plastic rustling beneath her fingers for a moment as she pulls something out of the bag.

“This is for you,” she says, quietly. He watches her move, and it’s not until she’s slipping his button-down off her shoulders, her skin bare beneath, that he realizes the item she pulled out of the bag is fabric. He’s distracted, immediately, by the ever-rising sun throwing shadows across her skin. But something about the way her voice trips over her next words draws his attention immediately.

“This is for you,” she says again, just as quiet. “But it’s kinda for me, too.” He watches her pull the white t-shirt over her head, her hair falling down her back as she pulls it free again. He can see her fingers smooth over the fabric in the seconds before she turns around, and then she’s all he can see.

Someone I love went to NYC and all I got was this stupid t-shirt.

It comes back in a rush -- the tacky souvenir shop, her teasing, his easy, automatic words. Almost a confession, one he hadn’t known was coming. One they hadn’t talked about since.

The room is quiet, but he’s pretty sure he can hear his own heart racing. She’s still worrying her bottom lip, and he can tell just by looking that his heart is matching hers beat for beat.

“Hailey…” he starts, but she shakes her head.

“It’s cheesy, I know,” she says, stepping back toward the edge of the bed. “And you don’t have to say anything.”

It’s his turn to shake his head. He reaches out for her, his fingers tugging at the hem of the shirt, pulling her back into his orbit. “If the shirt is for me, why are you wearing it? Can’t even give me the shirt before stealing it?”

She grins slowly, settling back onto his lap easily. “I said the shirt was for me, too.” Her voice is quiet, but steady, warm against his skin and not tinny over a phone line. “Someone I love went to New York CIty. I know, because I invited him there.”

He nods quietly, running his fingers across the words on the shirt. She closes her eyes as his fingers trace the love printed right over her chest.

He’s smiling as she opens her eyes and continues. “The shirt is for you too, you know. You get to take it off.”

He nods again, dragging his fingers down the words to the hem, his fingers twisting in the fabric. He inches the shirt up her body, watching her face the entire time.

“Someone I love went to New York City too,” he whispers, pulling the shirt up and off her body slowly. “But I got way more than a stupid shirt.”

She smiles as the fabric falls to the bed beside them, and he guides her to him with a hand in her hair.

When their lips meet, it feels familiar, like coming home, for good, forever.

[loveburnsbrighter]

WIP Game

tagged by @flashbastard ,thank you! 💙���

Rules: Post the name of the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues/interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or I will tell you something about it!

just like you elie, i have less a folder and more just fics mixed with homework mixed with general life stuff in my main drive. so i'm just digging through and i think this is all my wips:

- dpexs 1-4: this is four different documents but they're each a first draft of a chapter of my david/patrick exes-to-lovers fic. i also have like four playlists with this title, oops

- silence for dessert: something i'm kinda playing with when i can't sleep about david and sebastien. may someday become an actual story

- cmbyn1: a VERY loose cmbyn au (mostly just without the gross age gap) that someone asked me about like months and months ago that may die in my drafts bc i haven't touched it in a long time

- alexis thinks about saying it: a probably abandoned beginning to a one-shot about how stevie and alexis hooked up after the wedding, but like the feelingsy part

and that's all of em! tagging @hullomoon @fairmanor @redwineandqueer if u wanna and anyone else who wants to xx

[djhedy]

10. What are some facts readers may not know about "likes: exy" @alex-glasses

yay question and answer time

well tbh I think everyone knows (because it's in the tags and the notes lol) that I wrote the first chapter at midnight, drunk, bemoaning how crap tinder was, found it a few days later like what is this?? posted it as a joke and then when people liked it wrote a second chapter, thoroughly intending it to be short dumb crack fic

then I had a few months where all I could write was two kinda similar long fics for raven cycle and aftg, very heart-pounding straight-from-my-soul anxiety fics, but once that was over I was like hey il take another crack at this crack fic, but woops I was already in heart-pounding straight-from-my-soul mood so I guess that's why likes: exy became so feelingsy!

I am hesitant to admit this, but I was never going to write the date chapter - it was planned to end on them asking each other out, that was gonna be enough. but everyone was so keen to see the date I was eventually like how would that even work oh wait this is how and had so much fun writing it :D.

BUT I MUST STRESS usually when people ask for stuff I do not give it to them because readers dont actually know what they want most of the time, TRUST ME. like "oh can they get together already" and then you make them kiss and then readers would be like "oh that is too soon" you know? like I would not have written the date if I wasnt, neil josten style, 1000% sure I could make it work and that it was actually the best ending for the story.

tl;dr neil josten said make my story longer bitch I need more time to get to know this andrew person and I said anything for you 💕

[spiders-hth-is-an-outlier]

13 Queliot recs 4/4

of places where you thought that love would be found by @margosfairyeye

I’m not much for soulmates, but that means that I’m often fond of stories that start off with soulmates and soulmate marks, then do something weird with it.  This is a great example of that subgenre; Quentin has a mark that’s unlike any other (a nice parallel to his canon problem of being a Nothingmancer for so much of his life); Eliot has Margo’s mark.  And yet, and yet, and yet.  Obviously this is one of those rewrite-the-stars stories; it’s not really full of surprises, but it’s lush and sensual and draws you in, laying out the longing and the edge of hopelessness and then the hope in a very visceral, intimate kind of way.  This one really could do almost anything and scrape by on sheer aesthetic quality, but I think what it does is exactly the right call.  It’s not terribly long, and I’d love to see sequels; I think it’s an interesting universe, and I’d like to see their in-universe nontraditional relationship unfold further.

* His name is Eliot, he says, and Quentin doesn’t think he knows a nicer name.  Quentin can’t stop looking at Eliot’s form, his long legs and the fabric wrapping closely against his chest; but more than that he can’t stop looking at his eyes.  Quentin remembers some cheesy quote about the eyes being the window to the soul. He thinks it might be less bullshit that he’d thought. 

Quentin watches Eliot’s eyes look him up and down, and he feels excited, and confused, and slightly nauseous.  He remembers something someone told him, recently, about how the first time they saw their soulmate, it was like being hit simultaneously with the flu and a contact high.  Quentin doesn’t feel dissimilar to that description. 

He tries to look at Eliot’s hands, his arms as they walk, but Eliot doesn’t give him a lot of time for study.  It’s presumptuous to ask someone what their soulmate mark says, most people consider it slightly personal information (with the exception of people like Julia who just give no fucks). But Quentin thinks that if Eliot has a picture, like his, he’ll be able to tell from a quick glance, and he can’t figure out a way to phrase asking that, anyway. 

He can barely contain how excited he feels as they walk, and have snippets of conversation, and his wondering grows into full-on hope.  Eliot opens a door and Quentin finally catches enough of a glimpse. It’s on the wrong side of Eliot’s arm for him to see clearly, but Quentin can definitely see a distinct letter ‘M’.  So not him, then.  *

press your love into my palm by @propinquitous

There are a lot of Mosaic stories in the fandom, many of which share the basic plot of “they have sex in the Mosaic timeline.”  And a lot of them are really good!  I picked this one because it’s a stand-out example for me; it really just picks up from the moment of That Kiss and just keeps going, so what you’re going to get is what you expect.  But I just think it’s so beautifully done, the sweet edges of humor, Quentin’s shivery, hopeful boldness, Eliot being so blown away at how much he’s sold Quentin short in his mind.  I love a story that could seamlessly be canon, and this is exactly that story -- no one can tell me it didn’t happen just like this, because I read it, and I am a believer.  Just a blue-ribbon, five-star, standing-ovation They Have Feelingsy Sex story.

* Eliot pulled him in without hesitation. In some former life he'd been embarrassed of this kind of tenderness, save for maybe with Margo. It was always in him, though, and Quentin had been tugging at its thread for years. He'd almost completely unraveled in the time they'd spent working on the mosaic; every night that Quentin spent curled against him, desperate to quell his fear and frustration, frayed his edges. By the time Quentin kissed him, Eliot felt as threadbare as the clothes he'd arrived in.

Then, after. The second kiss was less chaste, more everything else. Eliot opened his mouth against Quentin's and ran his thumb over his cheek, felt him go slack under his touch. He tested, bit at Quentin's lower lip gently and tugged at the shorter hairs toward his nape. Eliot curled his fingers over Quentin's and he could feel the slight shudder as the arm supporting Quentin buckled and threatened to give out.

"Hey," Eliot said again when he finally pulled away. He didn't sit back and he didn't take his hand from Quentin's face. Instead he breathed in Quentin's heavy exhales and leaned his forehead against his, watching and waiting until Quentin opened his eyes.

"Hey," Quentin finally whispered.

"This conversation is riveting," Eliot said. Quentin smiled then and, Eliot thought, looked almost bashful.

"Well, I mean," he managed to say before he pushed forward again and didn't stop, his mouth firm against Eliot's until he had pushed him back and straddled his lap.

"Should I keep talking?" Quentin asked, running his hands up Eliot's chest. *

Shine Through My Memory by PanBoleyn, @eidetictelekinetic

This is kind of two separate stories in one, covering all of season 4, beginning with the alternate Brian and Nigel identities as they meet and fall in love, vaguely aware that there’s more to their connection than they can make sense of, and dropping into an alternate Monster plotline.  I don’t always like s4 stories, just because -- all the reasons and all -- but this is a really good Quentin, stubborn and fierce and heartbroken, juggling for all he’s worth to keep the layered memories of Brian/Nigel and the Mosaic timeline and the current clusterfuck separate and under control before he snaps under the weight of them.  It’s a little heavy, but there’s one chapter left to go, and I’m really looking forward to the release of the ending.  You really can’t get a more balanced and sturdy combination of dark canon!fic and romantic fix-it -- it’s truly the best of both worlds.

* “Colored chalk on my hands,” Brian murmurs, tasting the vanilla-caramel-white chocolate of his latte but remembering the taste of plums instead. He doesn’t even like plums, which makes the whole thing weirder, because in this not-memory he does. “I don’t understand any of this. Tell me it’s as weird for you, because I -”  A long-fingered hand closes over his own, and Brian looks up into gold-hazel eyes that he knows/doesn’t know and sees - all of it, reflected back. “I don’t get it either,” Nigel says, voice soft. “But I think maybe I’m better at just rolling with the punches than you are, hmm?” “I don’t. Roll with, with anything,” Brian says, and his voice isn’t steady anymore. “I don’t know how, my life is a predictable bore and I like the predictable part if not the bore part. But I think you have to tolerate being bored to keep things predictable so. So I tolerate it.” Tolerates a job he hates because teaching is better than a cubicle at a 9 to 5, and because the paintings and the newly-begun manuscripts that are Brian’s only love won’t pay the bills. “I’ve dated the same woman off and on six times because neither of us care enough to say no the next time one of us is lonely enough to offer, there’s been a man or two in the off points but no one. Nothing like -”

My dreams make no sense, and I feel more in them than I’ve felt in years. It’s not something he can say out loud, though. *

Veins Fit to Bursting by @amagpie

It’s a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fusion!  It’s a REALLY GOOD SMART WONDERFUL Buffy fusion!  Everyone kind of maps onto BtVS characters in a clever way, but it’s by no means a remake -- they remain very much themselves.  BtVS is obviously deep in the DNA of The Magicians, in terms of layering worldbuilding on top of an essential bone structure of coming-of-age, and this story is just an absolute bullseye in terms of understanding that.  Quentin’s general depression encompasses but isn’t limited to his feelings of being the useless sidekick, and Eliot’s transformation from mousy nerd to the undead version of the Champagne King is not only very William/Spike, but it builds this lovely foundation of connection between him and Quentin, neither of whom are living quite the life they once imagined they would.  There’s a very quarterlife-crisis vibe to the whole thing, which is perfectly in harmony with both shows, and a light touch to the voice that suits this slightly lost Quentin perfectly -- honestly, it may be my very favorite version of Quentin’s inner voice.  It’s early days yet in this WIP, but it’s fully earned my confidence in the first few chapters, and I am 100% down for the ride.

* “Okay, so I guess you could maybe say I’m a vampire hunter. But it’s not like it’s my job or anything,” Quentin pushes out in a rush.

A slow smile spreads across Eliot’s face: scary and genuine. There seems to be real interest in his eyes. Eliot settles himself onto a bench, patting the seat next to him. Quentin settles himself on the very far end of the bench to put at least a few feet between them. He’s down for a chat, not to get murdered.

“So it’s an extracurricular?” Eliot prompts. Quentin chuckles with how close to the truth it actually is, looking away. They do have an official college club to make research sessions easier -  the Ancient Sumerian Culture Club . They have a budget and everything - which Quentin submits as treasurer - although it more often gets used for pizza and wooden pegs than flyers. 

“More like a duty. Or well, not exactly my duty.” Quentin furrows his brows. “Do you remember Julia?”

“I think so? Your friend, really tiny…?”

“Yeah, so, um, Julia is the slayer.”

Quentin looks back at Eliot to take in his reaction to the news. Eliot’s eyes widen, his hands tightening for a second on the bench beneath him. Something like pride coils up in Quentin. 

“Huh,” Eliot finally says. *

[purplesunrisefanfic]

Happy WIP Wednesday! I had some really helpful and insightful comments on yesterday’s new chapter of Dear that have got me already started on the next one today. That’s my main WIP that gets the priority treatment atm.

I have 2 other WIPs and I’ve ended up on a deep-dive into ideas and feelings around those below.

Meanwhile, I’m getting messier and drabblier with Cali Soul (Abby/Ellie). I’ve got various odds and ends, some non-smut: looking at how they might work together as adoptive co-parents for Lev, how they might support him in trying to scrounge up some post-apocalyptic transistion options, where they might settle or move to. Couple dynamics wise: There’s also some WIP around “are you my girlfriend?” And I have a goal to include some more Ellie angst as it’s been Abby who has had most of the self-hate feats and these two are clearly both on that same page. Smut wise, I’m trying to dream up a new scenario for them, chuck in any requests and I may well use them!

My longer term WIP is Part 2 of Strength. I am really precious about this fic, tbh, because the canon has given us such a strong sense of Dina and Ellie as both individuals and a couple and I really want to create something that is in character for them. It’s also a very feelingsy lemon and I want the balance of Ellie’s powerful emotions landing without it being as less fun to read one-handed. So that WIP kinda gets additions of dialogue and scenario possibilities added to it as and when.

Playing Part 2 and working on Dear have both added a bit of additional challenges for Strength, too, because that type of scene — and with Ellie’s prior trauma and how she has reacted so far, you could consider it emotional edgeplay even if things BDSM-wise are pretty tame — really requires this solid foundation of trust, communication and stability: all things which I’m wrestling with them not having on a daily basis rn with working on Dear. I only occasionally have days where I can plug into that mindset of a scenario they have that when I’m so focused on how they navigate not having and regaining that. I like to think that part of the reason Strength had such positive feedback is because I really tapped into my own instincts as a dom (/occasional switch) and again, that makes me very precious about the work and precious about being able to picture the healthy scenario and healthy BDSM. So that’s a long-haul WIP, which I feel kinda iffy about because when I look at the fandom on AO3 I see it as a place that is in desperate need of smut and I wanna provide it! And I feel a bit guilty for my Dina/Ellie readers that they aren’t getting any smut from me atm, (but I know they are kinder to me than that, I had a lovely comment to that effect a few weeks back <3)

Work in Progress Wednesday

Creators: work on or post something from your WIP. This is your weekly reminder to get something down on paper (real or virtual). It’s also a chance to share your progress with your followers and give them a sneak peek of what’s to come!

Fans: leave a comment on an unfinished fic and let the writer know how much you love it. Reblog an artist’s sketch and let them know you can’t wait to see the final product. Send someone an ask cheering them on!

Feel free to repost this image!

[ao3feed-iasip]

It's not as bad as they say - if this is such a mistake, why does it seem to make you so damn happy?

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2SsZWMC

by adarkercolour

A.K.A. "The Only All-Male Threeway I Care For Is The Father, Son and Holy Spirit".

In "The Gang Goes to Hell: Part One", Mac ends up realising he's gay after an encounter with David and Scott, a married couple from the new church he's joined. According to the captioning in the show, this encounter lasts less than five minutes, however I think this was an error, and should have said like.. two hours and five minutes. Anyway, you know the story.

This is my first ever fic and it's really long. I've added more notes at the end coz apparently I just can't shut up.

Words: 10118, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Mac McDonald, David (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Goes to Hell), Scott (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Goes to Hell), Dennis Reynolds (mentioned), Luther McDonald (mentioned), Trevor Taft (mentioned)

Relationships: David/David's Husband/Mac (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Goes to Hell)

Additional Tags: Internalized Homophobia, Canon Gay Character, Recreational Drug Use, Drinking to Cope, Canon-Typical Terribleness, Discussion of conversion therapy, Religion, Denial, Threesome - M/M/M, Spitroasting, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Bottom Mac McDonald, Mac is a bottom fight me, Possible dubcon but it's all consensual I promise, Oral Fixation, Oral Sex, Boat Sex, Terrible Innuendo, Porn with Feelings, Mac is a moron, Very brief mention of parental abuse due to suspected homosexuality, I want this to be funny but it got all feelingsy, I have feelings, Big feelings

read it on the AO3 at http://bit.ly/2SsZWMC

[fromiftowhen]

Tagged by @poppypickle! Not tagging anyone, but this was super fun.

How many works do you have on AO3?

35. It would be more if I moved fic over from ff.net from prior fandoms.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

299679 - it makes me anxious that this is so close to 300K. And all but 31K of that is from 2020 on, even though I've been posting fic on ao3 since 2016.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

your heartbeat on the high line (once in twenty lifetimes)

in a straight line down

a great honor to hold you up

something new to fall into

i’ll find it at my own pace

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Sometimes, but not always. And I do feel guilty about that. I get easily overwhelmed and then feel bad if I miss one and don't want to just repeat the same “thanks!” for every comment.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I’m not one for angsty endings in my own fic, honestly. I don't think any of them would be called angsty, unless you mean one of the WIPs I haven't yet finished 😂

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the strangest one you’ve written?

I never have, but I absolutely would write a Chicago PD/The Rookie crossover, because I need Tim and Jay to meet and to get to imagine Tim and Hailey smiling at each other.

It occurs to me now that YHBOTHL had characters from two different shows and I did cross-post for FBI, but I don't know that it really counts.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really. Someone commented on an Upstead fic saying I “over describe” everything and make it hard to follow. 🤷‍♀️ Definitely don't think I'm the writer for them, then.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I absolutely write smut. I like fun, feelingsy smut, I typically have a “two for her, one for him” rule, and there will absolutely be smirking and eye rolling and hands in hair.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, but I hope someone would reach out if they ever came across this!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! It’s fun when you're good friends with the person and love their writing style and have similar character headcanons etc.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

All-time is tough. Maybe Pacey/Joey? They just had it ALL. ALL the tropes - enemies to friends to lovers, sharing a bed, trapped together, secret dating, spontaneous argument kiss, second chance romance, pining, forced to be dance partners, fake dating (kind of) - and there was angst and genuine romance and flirting.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I sadly have too many WIPs currently. I'm pretty sure I’ll eventually finish them all, but honestly, the guilt is eating me alive 😂 There is a Chenford WIP post-2x12 that'll probably never be finished and shouldn't have been posted as a multi-chapter (I am not talking about the coffeeshop AU, don't come at me.)

What are your writing strengths?

Hmm. I think I write dialogue well, so that it's in character and believable (in that way that fictional men in fic can be even more open and adoring than they appear onscreen) and I hope the flirting and the smut reads as fun and sexy and believable.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I am a slow writer and I’m not very well disciplined. I don't stick to schedules and I know that probably annoys people to no end. I admire those who can. When writer's block gets me, it really gets me. And I don't think I describe locations all that well.

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

I think it needs to be believable for the character? If it's not happened on screen, I don't really need it to be a thing in fic. And I personally wouldn't do it, just because I only speak English (and Latin - to the extent anyone “speaks” it) and wouldn't trust a translation to be accurate in most cases.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Honestly, I don’t remember? It was either ER (Carby) or Gilmore Girls (Literati). Those two and CSI were my earliest fandoms (not ships - I shipped Pacey/Joey and a million others before I really knew fandom) and their timing really overlaps.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m really not sure. Different ones for different reasons -- a great honor to hold you up because it made me get back into writing after many years. Maybe your heartbeat on the high line because it showed me I could devote time and energy to something long-term and be proud of the outcome.