#also i think as a writer you have to pick and choose what continuities to honour or you'll drive yourself mad

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

i think when the doctor says stuff that contradicts their own life like "ive never been this far out" it's not lying or poor continuity, i think it's just memory

[hwasoup]

Tale As Old As Time

playlist

art credit: marbipa hey guyyyss im backkk!! I had a great break and I even had fun with it as well, the loooonngg awaited Chapter 6 has finally arrived. Now to continue I also have created a discord server for us Miguel lovers out there, the only requirements are to simply be 18+ and that's it !!also you may get to chat with your favorite ff writers on the server !!

click on this and you'll be redirected to the server !

enjoy reading guyss !!

and dont forget to ask me to add you to the taglist !!

Warnings: some angst and lots of rotting fluff Words: 1.9k

Chapter 6: La Belle et La Bete

Later that night as the beast takes a bath…

“YOU SAID WHAT ?!” “I KNOW I KNOW…I well… we were sitting outside out at the rose garden and well.. I said that she made the world look more beautiful and if I could have a dance with her.. I NEVER expected she would say YES ?!” Miguel said as another bucket of warm water got doused over his body. He sputtered some of the water away from his lips as he wiped his face from the water. “What was I thinking Peter…” Peter chuckles “No, Miguel… It's perfect, you know that the rose has a few petals left which means that by the time the dance shall be held, you can confess your feelings for her”. Miguel gets up from the tub and looks over the curtain “I feel like an idiot…she won't ever love me anyways” Miguel shakes his body from all the water, splashing Peter in the process.

“You know she is the one”  “Oh quit it Peter..” Miguel said discouraged…”i shall see you in the morning” he said as he put on some clothes and retired for the night. Peter on the other hand smiled and left his bedroom to meet with the rest of the staff.

As Peter arrived at the kitchen,Jess was in the kitchen as always directing the dishes, forks, and knives to their respective drawers. Miles was simply watching over little Mayday, Gwen was dusting the shelves with her plumes, and Lyla was simply just chatting away with Pavitir

“Everyone, we have work to do, Miguel has finally and formally asked Y/N to a dance…. it's finally time to make this castle shine!” 

Miles cheers “and we’ll be human again !!” Jess sighed as she envisioned herself as her ladylike self “human again indeed…” Peter smiled, “When I’m human again, I’ll be good looking again, and I’ll be able to hug my baby in my arms again!” Miles cheers “when I’m human again, I’m going to run out into the garden just to feel the blood rush to my feet!” Jess chirps in “we’ll all get our chance to do what we miss when we’re human again, but for now…we have a dance to prepare!”

The entirety of the staff who lived in the castle cheered in excitement as they could finally tend and maintain their home. Pavitir, who was in the ballroom, started playing music on his keys to compose enough songs for Miguel and Y/N to dance to. Hobie, in y/n’s room, started picking and choosing fabrics in his cabinets and deciding which color suited Y/N the most as well. The brooms started sweeping, the mops and buckets started to work together to start cleaning the floor as well, the coat hangers helped pulling down the dilapidated curtains throughout the castle and replacing them with new curtains, the candles started organizing themselves onto the chandelier, and the cook had started picking and choosing courses for the dinner that will be eaten. 

______________________________________________________________

A week later…The day of the dance has arrived, and here Miguel is taking a huge bath in the tub. Soap is constantly lathered onto his fur, and dirt is removed each time until the water turns clear.

“I-I I’m not so sure I can do this…” Miguel says hesitantly. Peter scoffs “Oh please, Tonight is the night you’ll be able to confess to her, It’s now or nothing!” Miguel looks down as he has a bucket of water thrown over his body “b-but…what can I do?” Peter rolls his eyes “oh please, you have to be bold, daring, and smooth” Miguel nodded as he took note of what Peter was telling him. 

After his bath he was taken to his vanity and sat there as Peter kept on babbling in excitement “There will be romantic music, candlelight provided by Lyla and Miles and when the moment is right, you profess your love to her” Miguel sighed “oh please… how would I even know when the time is right?” Jess, who was standing on the vanity with Miles, Gwen, and Lyla all looked at him as they saw his nervousness. “Just some tips from a woman, all you gotta do is woo her with the music” Gwen pitches in “I think you’ll get nauseous when telling the truth...” Miles tries to encourage him “I think you’ll do fine sir…”

Peter looks at him and sighs “stop being so nervous and just tell Y/N how you feel because I swear you will be drinking cold tea for the rest of your life!”  Miguel gulped a little and nodded. The hairdresser finally arrived and immediately started working on Miguel’s fur, Others who worked in beauty polished his claws, brushed his teeth, cleaned his horns, and added perfumes onto him. Gwen used her feathers to add foundation onto his face and add his makeup. By the time they were all finished, they turned him around to look at the mirror and everyone’s face dropped .... clearly…the poodle looking updo and white makeup did not look great on his fur. “Ok…I-I can fix this" Peter says.

On the other hand, at the east wing, Hobie was helping Y/N getting into her golden gown. The two of them worked together as Y/N picked the design and Hobie used his magic to make the gown come to life. After Y/N got into the dress, Hobie looked at her and hummed “There sum missin ‘ere” He then looked into his drawers one more time and pulled out some gold accents. The wardrobe smiled at Y/N as it decorated her gown and added sparkle and shine “now yer ready Dovie” he says softly. Jess arrived at her door and cleared her throat “it is time...”

Y/N stepped out of her room and stood by her side of the stairs, on the other side she spotted Miguel, his mane was tied with a ribbon in the back and wore an extravagant blue suit. Y/N blushed a little at his appearance, seeing how his arms bulged out a bit from his suit and how tall and gentlemanly he stood. Miguel on the other side saw her and his heart melted, she was truly gorgeous and seemed extremely precious in his eyes. The two slowly descended from each side of the staircase and met in the middle. “Join me for dinner?” Adenira smiled and nodded as she held onto his arm and walked alongside him for dinner. The two sat beside each other and enjoyed a nice 3 course meal, the two laughed and dined and enjoyed a pleasant meal together. Eventually Pavitir arrived with a small ensemble and started playing music. Y/N heard it and smiled and got up and grabbed both of his arms “come, dance with me “she said excitedly. Miguel was just too enamored by her and got up with her to the ballroom. “Pero…no sé cómo bailar…”  Y/N smiled and brought his arm around her waist and held his hand on the other side “then learn with me” She then started waltzing with him. Miguel was a little awkward but eventually figured out how to dance with her and confidently led her and twirled her around the ballroom. Y/N was just so happy to be dancing with him and laid her head against his warm furry chest. The two waltzed and waltzed until both of their feet hurt. Once the two danced their hearts out, Miguel led her out onto the balcony and looked at the stars with her. He sat down on a ledge and nervously rubbed the back of his neck as he built some courage to speak to her.

“Y/N?” Miguel says tenderly. Y/N looked up at him and smiled as he got closer and held her hands. “Estás feliz conmigo ?” Y/N smiled at him and nodded “claro que si” she said softly but then she suddenly looked down. Miguel noticed and frowned “what’s wrong?” Y/N sighed... “Well…it’s just that…I wish I could just see my papa…por solo un momento…I miss him dearly...”  Miguel looked disheartened for her and thought about how to make her wish come true. Then he remembered…the magic mirror, He smiled at her and held her hands tightly “there is a way, come follow me!” 

He excitedly took her all the way to his room in the west wing and took her to where the rose was on the table. On the side there was the mirror. He took the mirror into his hands and handed it to her “this mirror can show you anything you wish to see” Y/N took the mirror into her hands and whispered, “I’d like to see mi papa…please” The mirror glowed yellow and revealed to her the current state of her father. In the mirror it showed Mauricio lying in bed weakly with what seemed to show that he was ill and with a fever. “No…papa…” she said worriedly “Esta Enfermo, h-he may be dying and he’s all alone” she said looking up at Miguel. Miguel looked at her with worry as well, he didn’t want Y/N to feel so anguished over her father’s current state. He took a look at the rose and looked at it with all the pain in his eyes…. he knew what to do…he knew the consequences…and he knew…that this could be goodbye... “Then...you must go to him.”

“Que?” Y/N looked at him surprised and approached him. “I release you… you’re no longer my prisoner...” Y/N looked at him with relief and with much empathy towards him “I’m free?” “Yes…” 

Y/N approached him to return the mirror to him. “No…keep it.. So you could at least have something to remember me by” Miguel looked at her lovingly and also with much hurt in his eyes. He had to take in her appearance one more time before she left, caressing her hair and watching as the locks fell from his paws. “Thank you for understanding how much he needs me now.” she said softly. Y/N’s eyes were filled with gratitude and with so much tenderness…she was afraid of never seeing him again, but at least the magic mirror would give her peace of mind if she wished to see him again. Y/N caressed his face one last time and left the room. Miguel reached towards her but stopped himself. His ears drooped and he sighed.

Jess noticed Y/N walking away from the room and she peeked in to talk to Miguel “I hope I can assume that everything went perfectly” she said with a smirk. “I let her go.” “What? But why? how could you do that Migs ?!” Jess said in shock. Peter walked in and his heart dropped as well watching the scene before him. “I had to Jessica…I did it because…I Love Her...”

Jess sighed and walked out of the room to break the news to the rest of the staff. Little Mayday sniffled “so I won't bwe a whittle girl again?” Miles hugged her tightly as he comforted her. Lyla sighed ��but we were so close!” Peter chuckled to himself as he looked down dejected “After all of these years, He’s finally learned to love.”

Heartbroken, Miguel watches Y/N ride Felipe out the palace gardens and to the gates And he roared….

taglist:

@cupcakeinat0r , @miguelhugger2099, @mcmiracles,@xxsugarbonesxx,@codenameredkrystalmatrix,@deputy-videogamer,@lxverrings,@miguelzslvtz,@itsameclinicaldepression,,@ricekrisbris,@loser-alert , @thedevax, @uncle-eggy, @m4dyy, @freehentai, @synamonthy, @razertail18, @s0lm1n,

@badbishsblog, @faimmm, @texanadmirer, @stargirrls, @itzsab,@delectableworm,@jadeloverxd @pinkmistart, @kishimiest, @beabfleab

[bejewelledgirl]

Unexpected Gifts

Vernon x Reader

Note: It's been a really long time since I wrote something. I had a severe case of writer's block and I hope that my writing did not rust. Hope you guys have fun reading it.

Summary: After an exhausting day of work, all you expected from the rest of the day was cooking dinner, watching some show, talking on phone with your relatively new boyfriend, Vernon and then getting some sweet sleep. But an unexpected visit from the said boyfriend, who brings a thoughtful gift for you results in you opening up to him.

Word Count: 867 words

Tags: new relationship, cooking, shy reader who does not usually initiate physical contact, whipped Vernon, tons of fluff

It was an ordinary day that could easily blend in with the other days of the week, only if it weren’t for the roaring morning rain that provided much needed relief from the recent scorching weather and it was only April. Thinking about this, you let out a sigh and murmured under your breath, “we really need to do something about the global warming” and went back to chopping carrots to cook tonight’s dinner.

It had only been an hour since you returned home from work but you wanted to finish up dinner earlier so that you could relax later. You were just about to pick up some tomatoes, when you heard your doorbell ring. You hurried over to open the door . What greeted you was a pleasant surprise: Vernon standing there with a fond smile on his handsome face.

“Were you cooking dinner? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Vernon says with a slight regretful expression on his face.

“What? How did he know that I was cooking?“ You thought to yourself and when you looked down at your figure, you noticed you were still wearing your apron which had become completely messy with ingredients splattered all over it. 

Beyond embarrassed, you could not bring yourself to hold eye contact with your boyfriend. You usually wouldn’t be this embarrassed in such a situation, but Vernon had a way of making you flustered around him over anything.

Clearing his throat, he asked, “Can I come in?” Shaking off your embarrassment, you smiled and nodded at him, “of course,” and then gave him some space to get in.

While Vernon was closing the door behind himself, you took the opportunity to take off that darn apron and hastily threw it somewhere he couldn’t see.

You two seated yourselves at the couch and talked for some time. You were always surprised at how conversation with Vernon always flew so smoothly. The two of you switched from one topic to another for around an hour and when things finally quieted down, Vernon placed a bag on the table which you hadn’t even realised he had brought with him since you were so invested in the conversation.

”I have been wanting to give you a present for a while now and I finally got you something.”

You were a bit surprised at his confession since you were still learning things about him as it had only been a few months since you started dating. You also tried to hold back a smile at his nervous demeanour which you found to be so endearing.

He went on,” I remembered you saying you wanted to buy a house plant since they are pretty low maintenance, so…” He pulled the plant out of the bag and continued, 

“ This is English Ivy. There were tons of options to choose from and I wasn’t sure which one you’d like so I picked the prettiest one. It’s okay if you don’t like it though…” you threw your arms around him and wrapped him in a tight hug thus stopping his ramble.

Fondness, affection, love… you weren’t sure what emotion you felt for Vernon at that moment and you knew that no matter what, you could never express it in words. That’s why you showed no hesitation in hugging him.

Vernon was taken aback with your reaction at first. You were a shy person and Vernon knew that it was rare for you to initiate physical contact first beyond holding hands. But he came back to his senses and hugged you back with a hand slowly caressing your hair as if to silently tell you that he could do this as long as you wanted.

After a few minutes of you embracing him, you finally let go and gave him a short kiss. Vernon could see the sincerity in your gaze as you thanked him and felt himself get slightly emotional at how lucky he was to have you in his life.

The two of you talked for a while, knowing that your relationship had gone to the next level, with Vernon’s arm wrapped around your shoulder. 

Vernon suddenly got up and said, “Gosh, I didn’t realise it had gotten so late. I should leave to let you finish dinner. “ 

“I had a lovely time with you,” he said with a smile as he was about  to wear his shoes.

Feeling your hand around his arm, he quickly stopped what he was doing and looked at you.

“Why don’t you stay for dinner? You never got the chance to eat my food. We could also cook together which could save us a lot of time. I mean only if you have no plans, that is…” you finished with an uncertain tone in your voice.

Vernon was trying not to let it show that he could feel about a million butterflies in his stomach at how you were so upfront today.

He let out a chuckle and bent down to softly kiss your hair. With a blush looming on his cheeks, he said, “Of course, anything for my princess.”

You giggled at his cheesy nickname and said “Okay follow me to the kitchen, Mr Chwe.”

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I don't know if you had talk about this but-

Fun fact: despite Yana(if i remember correctly, it's Yana who confirm it) say that the event is like alternate universe of the main story, some of the event did follow through some canon settings for events(?) Only(i also still having doubt.

I know the tapis rouge event already done a few weeks ago if not months ago, but i just found it when i watch it again.

Azul and Grim is the only one surprised by the reveal of Eric and Vil being father and son because Ace and Jamil was there when Vil reveal it in Vil's Scary Dress Vignettes(i know it's vignettes, but it'stechnically in the universe if said event so i add it), and the one who appear in that Vig was Ace, Ruggie, Floyd, Jamil, him and Rook, Ortho and Lastly Silver. In that Vig, Vil did reveal his father kinda subtle but at the same time enough to make people theorizing, which shown by Ace and Ortho.

Twst usually make dialog box that shows that everyone is surprised together or atleast shown that they also surprised, but in tapis only Azul was shown openly surprised, while Grim and Yuu(since we didn't get any dialog box) only show surprised expression, and Jamil and Ace didn't show any surprised and only surprised when the person himself arrived in person.

I think it's funny that the events may or may not follow some canon settings or lore that we may need to think of, especially if they had subtle references of previous event. What do you think about this?

I went back to confirm, and your description is correct! In Vil's Scary Dress vignettes, Ace, Ruggie, Floyd, Jamil, Rook, Ortho, and Silver are in Pomefiore as Vil gives them lessons on how to do their makeup to match each of their dorms' Halloween costumes. (You'll notice that Ace and Jamil, two boys who would later visit Fairest City in Tapis Rouge, are present. Azul and Grim, meanwhile, are not present for Vil's makeup lessons.) It is in these vignettes (in the third one) that Vil reveals his father is Eric Venue:

In 3-7 of Tapis Rouge, we actually get to meet Eric Venue face-to-face. It is here that Grim and Azul (who were not previously privy to this information in Vil's Scary Dress vignettes) express shock that Vil and Eric are related.

There is no follow-up dialogue from either Ace or Jamil (who were already presented with this information in Vil's Scary Dress vignettes) expressing the same surprise. Their shock moreso comes from reacting to Eric's impressive accomplishments and/or the fact that they're able to meet such a famous person The characters then get into a conversation about why Vil and Eric don't disclose their relation publicly. Then they move into formal introductions before finally settling in for food.

While it’s true that most (if not all) vignettes and events are considered AUs, I think it’s more of a convenience so that the writers don’t need to worry about continuity or timeline issues when comparing vignettes/events to the main story or even to each other.

How I see it is that vignettes and events are a little more free to have continuity or to reference each other (ie other vignettes and events, especially within the same “set”/“series”) and the main story (lest we forget instances like Fairy Gala: If), than the main story can have continuity with or reference vignettes and events. This is likely because if all events and vignettes are AUs anyway, then the devs can casually pick and choose which details to acknowledge (like Ortho gaining free will post-book 6) and which to ignore. The few times when vignettes/events are mentioned in the main story, they are left vague enough so as to not allude to specific event stories such as the Culinary Crucible/Masterchef as a course or NRC’s charitable Halloween activities being mentioned briefly. There are no details which would imply certain ingredients/cooking partners (which would confirm Culinary Crucible/Masterchef events as “canon”) or Magicam Monsters, the Spectral Realm party, NBC, or Playful Land were experienced (which would confirm the Halloween events as “canon”).

I have to wonder if the shock/non-shock at the Eric Venue-Vil relation was intentional or just coincidence 🤔 cuz that’s one hell of a long callback to make when I thought the whole point of delineating events and vignettes as AUs was to relieve the writers of the stress of keeping up continuity. This just seems like more trouble than it’s worth… but I guess we’ll never really know for sure, but either way I still appreciate this subtle detail.

[therainnight]

Me blathering about Omgaverse JaviLloyd. 

Warning: I'm no writer. English is my second language AND this is me blathering about Omgaverse JaviLloyd. 

Of course, there is no beta reader. this is me blathering

---------------------------

hear me out- omega!Lloyd.

Yeah I know he must suit for being beta but I like the chaos of Suho and others that not is baron or baroness, don’t know if Lloyd is omega.

Originally, his death isn’t only because of drinking too much but also consumed heat suppressant pills for a long time and won’t let his body have heat after the first time it happened, and because of that most people think he is beta.

Unfortunately, Kim Suho aka our beloved young master takes his body without this knowing this. He did notice the pill bottle on the bedside table but don’t think too much about it. (In his defense, “it a pill bottle with no label. Who would dare to touch it?”)

The story continues like now it in the novel or webcomic. There was once or twice, Javier noticed a new scent coming from Lloyd. VERY SUS. At first, Javier thinks that Lloyd has a secret meeting with omega to steal the weird knowledge that recently Lloyd possessed but that theory has to drop out because Javier is with Lloyd 24/7 after he picks up Lloyd from passing out on the road on a faithful day.

Lloyd knows only a few things about this second-gender thing. “The knight of blood and iron” is focused on Javier’s knighthood journey more than the second gender. He knows what beta, omega, and alpha are but just that it.

After the mining & ant incident, it the moment that Lloyd learned about his real second gender. He learned from the mouth of his family doctor. At first, the doctor praised Lloyd for his choice of choosing to stop drinking after that he praised him for stopping taking heat suppressant pills and letting his body free for once, doing what it was designed for.

“Heat? What?” Lloyd asked but the doctor didn’t notice and keep talking.

“It’s good that now you consider your health, young master. But just completely stopping consuming heat suppressants immediately is kind of dangerous. I will write a new set of pills for u to stable your system, ok?”

“Oh and please don’t take it the wrong way but now you're out of pills, I think you should consider wearing a collar for your own protection.”

“I know. Sir Asrahan is trustworthy and noble alpha but as you always said to your soldier, safety first! Hahaha” the doctor laughed softly.

Before Lloyd could ask doctors more about this “heat” and pills. Baron and baroness break into the room and hug him while telling how they were glad that Lloyd is awake and safe. After a joyful family drop-down. Baron tells Lloyd that he knows about Lloyd's decision to stop taking heat suppressants. The baron presents Lloyd with a collar with the Frontera symbol on it. He said that ask for a mage to cast a spell cast on it to become invisible when the user wears it.

“I know how much you hate people knowing about it but please, think as to help ease your father and mother’s mind.”

Lloyd was confused but agreed to what the baron and baroness begged him for. Good for Lloyd, He wasn’t alone. Javier was also confused.

Nowadays, young master Lloyd has this- bewitching scent coming right off him. At first is very dilute, if it is not because of his sharp sense and of the time they spend together. He won’t notice it but now it becomes more clear and stronger. It smells like chocolate mostly but also another sweet scent that makes a sweet tooth like Javier crave for some.

On one relaxed night, The one that Lloyd can have a routine like normal people. He finished his bath, ready to put Javier into dreamland but Javier have some business before joining him in his bedroom. Lloyd rolls around on the queen-size bed. Lloyd can’t help but feel uneasy and annoyed with how his bed is.

Everyone would have some moments like this. When you feel like the bed is not right and they fix the bed until you feel comfortable again.

So Lloyd spend time waiting for Javier to fix his bed until he felt satisfied. He fluffs 4 pillows that he has. He keeps arranging it but is still unsatisfied.

‘Tomorrow was my day off!! I will have a good quality night's sleep today!!!’

Before he knows he collects the many pillows and blankets as much as he can. While Lloyd arranges his bed like a madman he notices Javier’s pink pillow on the chair near his bed. He picks the pink pillow up. Look around it. Before hugging it to test the quality of the pillow. Turn out it is perfect!

Lloyd replaced the pink pillow with his own pillow while thinking Javier won’t mind him borrowing this pillow just for one day.

-knock- -knock-

“Master Lloyd. It’s me”

“Ah! Come in.”

Javier didn’t prepare his heart for what he witnessed after he opened the door. The usually normal bed is now full of pillows and blankets. Anyone can see that each item has gone through a lot of calculations to determine where to put it.

‘I- it looks like a nes-‘ before Javier can end his thoughts suddenly Lloyd pops out.

“Ha ha! Lo and behold! This is my fortress!”

“....Young master, what are you doing?”

“...make my bed? ANYWAY! come join me! it's very comfy, you know~? Want to sleep with this big brother tonight~?”

“..with all the respect, sir. I have to refuse- wait. Is that my pillow?” 

"oh-AH. Yes. I will borrow it today! "

"You have a ton of pillow, Sir. Why you must borrow mine? please give it to me"

"What-? Did I just hear SIR KNIGHT ASRAHAN say he can't sleep without his pink pillow? don't worry. I won't tell a soul."

"--!"

Javier moves closer to the bed with a fortress(?) make of pillows. To be honest, the nest- no- the bed looks very comfy and neat but he can't let himself go along with what this trash human planned.

Thank you for reading! :3

[celaenaeiln]

Nothing in Batman comics is canon because it’s literally 90% fanfiction written after the actual creators stopped writing the characters.

anon it doesn't work that way.

By that logic, practically noone exists because the original writer of Batman, Bob Kane and Bill Finger, only created Bruce, Dick, Alfred, and the villains gallery. That's it.

No Barbara, no Jason, no Tim, no Damian, Steph, Cass, Duke, Lucius, Tim Fox, Kate, Talia - there's no one then.

But suppose we go back on that statement and say 'well actually, the creators of new characters', which still doesn't make sense but let's go with that. Then major plots wouldn't happen. Because Max Allan Collins and Chris Warner created Jason Todd but Judd Winick is the one who brought him back to life. Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick created Tim Drake but Alan Grant wrote a lot of the Robin comic and Batman comic characterization for him.

It's physically impossible to say that just because other people continued the series, the comics can't be taken seriously.

Comics are the source material. Of which fanfics are based on.

The Star Trek and Star Wars book series are written by multiple different authors but that doesn't mean that what's written doesn't happen or isn't true or is wrong. The 39 Clues and Doctor Who series are the same deal.

Batman comics are canon. Because if only the works of the original authors of Batman were to be considered canon, then practically everyone in the Batman universe doesn't exist/doesn't matter. Because they're just fanfic then.

But this idea doesn't just stop at the Batman fandom anymore because every comic was written this way. The people in Superfam? Gone. Flashfam? Gone. Arrowfam? Gone. Like this logic doesn't just apply to Batman, it applies to virutally every character in the existence of DC.

The beauty of comics is seeing how the next writer will continue the story. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they need tweaking, and sometimes they're wrong although that's usually very rare.

The problem with fandom's view on comic writing is the belief that whatever the authors create must match our perspective of the characters. That's wrong. Their characterization is what we should be adding on/building on to our perspective of the characters. Unless there is something so wrong, something so illogical, that it must be noted because that character has never acted that way before, then we must discard or critisize a comic.

Comics develop. Characters develop. Each writer brings something new and adds a layer of depth to each character they write about. That's how we get new interactions, new relationships, new sides that make each character interesting.

Take the original Dick Grayson comic and his intro to Robin

Detective Comics (1937) Issue #38

Dick originally wanted to go to the police. He had no intention of going after Tony Zucco but Bruce is the one who demands they go after him together by themselves!

I love this version created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, but I also love the version created by a completely different author where Dick decides to stake out Zucco on his own. Both versions show different sides of him and authors sometimes even choose which one they want to include. Some have gone with this version where Dick tries to go to the police before being interrupted by Bruce and others have gone with the second, more famous version. But neither of them are bad and you can't say that the one where Dick goes after Tony Zucco is fanfiction. It's canon. If it's written in comics, it happened unless there's some disastrous, glaring contradiction.

You have to understand, these comics - especially Dick and Bruce's - are nearly 100 years old. Dick, and it's wild to think about this, existed before even the Justice League did. Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman were all created after him. If the orginial writers stopped writing, and noone picked it up, there would be no Justice League and that's a problem because the Justice League is one of the foundations of the DC comics.

So much has changed in a century and new writers constantly come in to show that change. That's why comics after the original writers finish writing are still canon and important. The original characterizations of all these major players were all super peppy and cheerful before new writers added angst and drama to their backstories. Bruce and Dick used to laugh and grin when they went crime fighting with no sadness or anger or other emotions. It wasn't until a couple decades later where writers started writing that in which is how we get the grim avenger Batman today.

Here's the third point to why they're relevant even though they're written by new authors: the passage of time in real life, is included in canon comics characterizations.

One comic talks about Dick discussing the Joker and he says, "at the beginning, it was just all fun and games. He would cause problems but at the end of the day it was a game. But one day, things went too far. People got shot. That day, the Joker changed. He was darker and evil. It wasn't games anymore."

This comic panel talks about the Golden Age to now, the progression and development of characters.

The comics and reality are inseparable because reality is literally written in. The works of writers after the orignal ones aren't arbitrary or some whimsical thing.

It's very different from fanfiction because fanfiction has no need to stick to the truth or canon characterization but these comic writers do because they have an obligation to do so. The only problem they might have is accidentally focusing too much on one aspect of a character and neglecting the other parts but almost none of them are way off the mark.

So no, for the sake of characterization, personality development, plot events, and new interactions, all comics are extremely important and definitely canon. Us readers might have different opinions and thoughts on them but it's irrelevant in the face of the fact that the comics are the only truth to which we can base our interpretations on.

[asterias-record-shop]

For the BINGO, can I please request the Free use Space with Ethan Landry and prompt #12 ?

Please ignore this if I am wrong, but in case the free use space means we can pick an idea to go with the prompt: would it be alright if you made something of a continuation of your High School Sweethearts post with Ethan? It was so sweet and cute and really interesting! I always wondered how Ethan would turn out if he had someone who truly loved him from the beginning. Also the way you wrote Ethan in that as a soft dom was insanely hot! You really are a terrific writer.

But if the space and/or prompt is already taken, please ignore this. Thank you and have a great day!!!

—𓆩[surprise getaway]𓆪—

𓆩[main masterlist]𓆪 𓆩[request/ask me something!]𓆪 𓆩[updated bingo card!]𓆪 𓆩[bingo masterlist]𓆪 𓆩[join the bingo taglist!]𓆪

𓆩♡𓆪 CHARACTER - Ethan Landry x Fem! High School Sweetheart! Reader

𓆩♡𓆪 TYPE - fluff, smut, slight angst maybe?

𓆩♡𓆪 WORD COUNT - 3.7K

𓆩♡𓆪 SUMMARY - Ethan loved you more than you could ever know, but the problem was he was trying to get himself to understand he could choose you over his family - someone who could give him a life of happiness and not murder. So when you surprise him with a trip to your cabin normally used for trips in the winter before you both go off to college, he finds out he could live a life with you he initially didn’t think was possible. And maybe, just maybe, he can get away from his family once and for all, and stay with you.

𓆩♡𓆪 STORY WARNINGS - edited timeline ofc || kinda goes along with these two fics: one & two || cursing & foul language || your family has a house in the mountains now || surprise vacation to the mountains || aged up some more || live your rich dream here || fingering || unprotected sex || riding || creampie || slight marking kink? || just fluffy, mainly vanilla sex || mentions of plan b || slight degradation? ||

“You both ready?”

Ethan paused from packing your bags into the trunk of the truck your father was loaning him for the drive, a four hour road trip certainly an amazing test for your relationship. “Yes! I’m so ready!”

Ethan smiled at your voice, nodding. “Yes sir, I’m ready.”

“Good,” your father gives him the keys, raising a brow. “Take care of my girl. Don’t bring her back pregnant.”

Ethan offered a sheepish smile, laughing slightly. Even though you were on birth control and he often wore condoms, there was always a chance. “I won’t.”

Your dad raises an eyebrow, tilting his head. “Why was that so hesitant?”

“I-I uhm-”

“Bye daddy,” you interject quickly, giggling as you kiss his cheek. “I already said bye to everyone, so I’m going to go before you change your mind! I love you!”

You dragged Ethan into the driver's seat, quickly going around and getting in the passengers. Ethan quickly starts the truck, sighing as he stares at the texts from his dad and Quinn. Richie was just… killed, and though he cared he wouldn’t let it ruin this vacation with you.

“E?” You whisper, softly patting his hand. “Are you sure you are okay with this?”

He squeezed your hand, shaking his head with a soft kiss to your temple. “I’m fine, precious, perfectly fine.”

You hummed as he quickly pulled out of your driveway, already putting on the playlist you made for the two of you. Keeping your hand in his, you leaned on his shoulder in the one cabin truck, an old 1989 Chevy that your family had kept running for two generations. You loved this truck almost as much as you loved Ethan, smiling as you leaned on his shoulder, thankful for the fact that you had persuaded your dad to install an up to date stereo that had Bluetooth.

“When we get there, we just have to unpack and we can have the rest of the day free. I was thinking later this week we can go hiking, what do you think?”

He looked over at you, smiling slightly. “Whatever you want to do.”

You pout, rolling your eyes. “If I wanted someone to just agree with everything I say, I would’ve brought someone else.”

He laughed slightly, shaking his head. “I’m sorry… I just,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I just want you to be happy. I’ll do whatever you want to make sure you stay happy.”

You paused, looking up at him, the way his eyes focused on the road and his brows were slightly furrowed made it obvious that he was thinking about something else. “No matter what happens, I’ll always be happy if I’m with you. No matter if we argue or fight, I’ll always be happy.”

He inhaled, eyes flickering from you to the road before he got to a light and leaned down to give you a firm kiss. “I like hiking, but as soon as we get there, I think I’d rather just… stay in with you.”

You laughed, shaking your head. “Yeah, because you want to bang.”

“I so want to bang.” Ethan was tired of renting hotel rooms because he didn’t want to disrespect your parents house, and this didn’t really count — or that’s what he kept telling himself.

His words make you laugh as you lean on his shoulder, humming softly as you start to close your eyes. “When we get there, we have to get ice cream first. They have the best ice cream ever.”

He laughs slightly, nodding as he pressed a soft kiss to your temple. “Go to sleep, precious. I’ll wake you up when we get there.”

You hummed, nodding. “You sure?”

“I’m sure, precious. Just… get some sleep.”

He smiled as you quickly took advantage of it, falling asleep on his shoulder as his phone started to ring. He quickly grabbed it before seeing Quinn’s name blare, sighing softly before declining it. He wasn’t going to risk you hearing anything, or her ruining your vacation.

It was this road trip that Ethan decided you needed to stay awake if you both ever drove anywhere else. He so took a wrong turn somewhere, but his phone didn’t have any service and he didn’t want to wake you up. So, pulling into a gas station, he tried to turn on and off his WiFi before someone knocked on his window.

It makes him jump, cursing as you slowly wake up and he starts to roll down the window by twisting the knob.

The man pauses, his slightly gray beard catching Ethan’s eyes before you gasp. “Ethan, you got us here! Hi Uncle Luke!”

“I knew I recognized you! Hey kid!” The man laughed. “This that boyfriend your dads been telling me about?”

“Yes! This is Ethan, Ethan, this is Uncle Luke, he’s my dads best friend. He builds custom homes for people who want properties in the mountains.” You say, smiling as Ethan cleared his throat and quickly got out to be respectful.

He offered his hand, smiling. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Oh, a handshake, I like him already.” Luke took his hand, shaking firmly with a laugh. “Got a nice handshake, too! If you’re ever interested, kid, you got a job with me, as long as you don’t hurt my niece.”

Ethan laughed, nodding. “I would never even think of hurting her.”

“Yeah, Uncle Luke, he couldn’t even if he tried to,” you giggled, nodding. “But I think it would be good if E worked with you. He’s got some good hands.”

Ethan blushed madly, quickly pulling his hand from Luke’s grasp with a sheepish laugh. “Y-Yeah, I-I’m pretty good at like uhm, building things and stuff.”

“Oh yeah? How long are you guys here?” Luke asked, tilting his head at Ethan.

“We’re going to be here for about a month. Ethan lost his brother but he got accepted into college, so it’s my little surprise getaway for him,” you say, getting out of the car and tucking yourself under his arm. “What’d you have in mind, Uncle Luke? Besides game nights and dinner.”

“Well, maybe Ethan can come to work with me one day. See how he likes it, and I’ll start him off at thirty dollars an hour if he stays.” You knew Uncle Luke didn’t think either of you would stay, but the option did appeal to Ethan.

You giggled, nodding. “You like that idea, E? Maybe later on after you graduate, we’ll come live here. I’ll work medical billing and coding from home and you’ll work with Uncle Luke.”

Oh, he liked that idea more than you knew.

“Well, I’ll be off, Y/N, you have Lori’s number to set everything up, I’ll see you both soon!” Luke walked off as you giggled, leaning up to press a soft kiss to his cheek.

“Let’s go into town, E. We’ll stop and get some ice cream, then we go home and unpack. Sounds good?” You suggested making Ethan nod, smiling.

“Yeah, for sure, precious.”

You both quickly got back into the truck, you gladly telling Ethan to keep going straight and that you both would get to town soon. Ethan loved it when you snuggled up right next to him, softly brushing your fingers up and down his inner thigh as you kissed his neck.

“And you said I wanted to bang.”

You laugh, shaking your head. “I always want to bang. It’s a consequence of having a boyfriend that looks like you. Oh, park there! In front of the shop.”

He laughs, shaking his head as he quickly parked and you tugged him off the truck. “Let’s get ice cream and sandwiches so I don’t have to make dinner. Sounds good?”

“Very good,” Ethan agreed, smiling. “So, what do I do?”

“Let’s go order the sandwiches first because it might take a minute, then we’ll get the ice cream and eat it while we wait. Sounds good?” You offer, Ethan nodding with his smile growing bigger as you dragged him to the back of the store.

A nice man greets the two of you, cracking jokes and laughing as he took your orders. “Alright! I’ll have these done in about fifteen minutes. How long are you guys staying in town for?”

You’re about to answer before Ethan quickly interjects. “About a month, but I’m liking it here so far, so we’re planning to talk about moving.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Oh yeah? If it’s just the two of you and no baby any time soon, there’s a nice house out on the edge of town. It’s a bit of a fixer upper, but nothing too major. Probably the cheapest thing you’ll find in town, though, because everything else is pretty big. Unless, of course, you’re like those people who want to stay outside of town in the mountains if you got the money.”

You laughed, nodding. “Yes sir, my family owns the cabin on King’s Peak. If uhm… if we move up here, we’ll probably live there,” you glance at Ethan, humming. “No baby anytime soon.”

“Oh, nice! Well, I’ll get started on these sandwiches, come back in about fifteen minutes.” He walked off as you slowly dragged Ethan down the aisles, tilting your head. 

“What was that?” You asked him, crossing your arms. “You’ve been here not even an hour, and you want to move here?”

Ethan sighed as he held your hips, shaking his head. “Come on, precious… you’re always talking about this place, always talking about how much you wished you lived here. It’s not like anything’s keeping me in Woodsboro, come on, what you said earlier sounded perfect.”

You swallowed, shaking your head. “What about Quinn and your dad? Th-They-”

Ethan sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t want anything to do with them,” he says, shaking his head. This new plan they were deriving had to do with you, killing you. He couldn’t let that happen, he had worked too hard to get you to notice him and fall in love with him, he couldn’t lose you. “Please… please, I don’t want to go back.”

You inhaled, slowly holding his face with a hum. “This isn’t like the movies, E. We’ve never lived together before, what if-”

“This is our trial period,” he whispers back, shaking his head. “I love you too much to fuck anything up. I won’t.”

“I know you won’t,” you smiled, nodding. “Okay. Let’s see how this month goes, then I’ll talk to daddy about buying the cabin.”

He looked at you confused, his head tilted. “What do you mean?”

“Trust fund baby,” you giggle, shaking your head. “You just worry about sitting back and looking pretty.”

He laughed, shaking his head before you dragged him to the cashier, paying for two double scooped cones, proceeding to drag him to the ice cream part of the shop. He smiled as you quickly ordered a double scoop in a cone, Ethan ordering the same as you quickly licked the side. You both moved toward the tables, your foot settled in his lap under the table as he held your ankle.

“Best ice cream ever, right?” You giggled, shaking your head. “I will never get tired of this ice cream. One time, we were here for a week, got it every day.”

He laughed, rubbing your calf. “I’m looking forward to eating ice cream every day this month.”

You giggle again, humming with a nod before the bell dings. “Oh! Sandwiches are ready.”

After grabbing and paying for your sandwiches and finishing your ice cream, quickly going back into the truck and driving to your cabin. It doesn’t take long, but you both do have to leave the main part of town to get there, easily going up the mountain until you lead him to a perfectly picturesque cabin.

“Here we are!” You giggle as you got off, dragging him in.

He didn’t even worry about the bags as you started putting the sandwiches in the fridge, kissing against the back of your neck before you bent down, laughing. “Ethan!”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to bang, precious?” He whispers as you stand back up, easily turning you around as you giggled. “Let’s bang.”

“Goodness, when we say bang, it makes me feel like eighty. Come on,” you whisper between kisses, Ethan’s hands holding your hips as you start to walk backwards. Ethan’s heart was beating out of his chest as you started to walk backwards up the stairs, everytime you missed a step, you giggled as he stabilized you and helped you find the next step. “I don’t think living here with you would be that bad.”

“That bad?” Ethan laughed as he tucked his head under your jaw when you both get to the second floor, kissing against your neck as he moved your hair to the side. “If we move here, I’ll make you breakfast in bed daily and then fuck you every night until we pass out.”

You laugh as his teeth graze your skin, your hand quickly searching for the doorknob of your room. “That’s the best idea you’ve had since you said we should move here.”

You gasp as he easily picks you up, opening the door and tossing you onto the bed before taking off his shirt. It was truly amazing how much urgency he had, and where it came from you had no clue, but you weren’t opposed to it as he threw his phone onto the bed. It makes you giggle when he almost tripped onto the bed, slipping off your shirt and sweatpants after kicking off your shoes and socks.

He smiled as he quickly crawled over your body, leaning down to steal soft kisses from you. “You didn’t see that, right?”

You giggled, shaking your head as you pulled him lower, gasping as his fingers trailed over your stomach. “No, I’m blind.”

He laughed against your lips as his hands trailed over your thighs, one of them already sliding up and down your slit as you inhaled sharply. “Yeah, sure you are,” he laughed, shaking his head. “Goodness, precious, want you to ride me. Want to see my precious girl bouncing on my cock.”

You groaned as he ducked his head once again, his fingers spreading your wetness up and down your slit. “E-Ethan, condom?”

“Fuck,” he cursed, pulling back to lick his fingers making you blush madly. “They’re in my bag. I’ll go get ‘em-”

“No!” You say, quickly sitting up. “No, don’t worry about it. We’ll just… go raw. Not the first time, besides, you can drive an hour to get me plan b tomorrow morning before breakfast in bed.”

He laughed, nodding as he leaned forward to kiss you, a hum falling from your lips as you ran your fingers through his hair and pulled him closer. He doesn’t break the kiss as you situate yourself in his lap, lifting your hips just a bit as his fingers easily slide into you, how wet you were working in his favor. You groaned out against his lips, holding his head as his cock rubbed against your clit, your hips rolling to feel his head rub perfectly against your sensitive bud.

Ethan pulled away and kissed your neck as you tilted your head to the side, looking down at his cock rubbing against your clit. You pushed your hand in between you both, grasping his pretty cock and watching precum dribble out of his tip, a perfect picturesque view before your thumb swiped it away onto your clit.

He groaned at your touch, pumping him all while you grinded against his tip and his fingers thrust into your cunt easily. Your cunt fluttered around his fingers, each nimble digit perfect and rubbing against every sensitive spot you had before you groaned against his neck. His teeth grazed your shoulder, tongue trailing your skin before he started sucking another hickey against your skin.

“F-Fuck, Ethan,” you gasped, groaning as you rode his nimble digits, the pads of his fingers brushing against your g-spot before he starts to flex them inside of you, grazing that perfect spot all over again. “Th-There!”

He laughed as your hips stuttered, your grip on his cock finally letting go as your hands moved to his shoulders to stabilize yourself. Your hips continue to rut into his fingers, groaning as your hips stutter before his fingers pull out of you. You stared at the shining essence on his fingers, your essence that he gladly pushed into his mouth and sucked off.

“There you go precious, now you’re all stretched out… and now you can ride me until you can’t feel your legs.”

Oh, it must’ve been a promise, the way Ethan helped you stay sitting up by holding your hips. Your thighs were already covered in mixed cum as you tried to balance yourself on top of him, lifting your hips slightly to continue bouncing on his cock. “E-Ethan, I don’t know if I can keep going-”

“Oh, precious, come on,” he urges you on, shaking his head, laughing as he rolls his hips into you. Your nails dig into his chest, a whimper falling from your mouth as he holds your hips. “You can keep going. I know you’re strong enough, precious, I love you bouncing on my cock, don’t you?”

You whimpered as he helped you lift yourself fup, stabilizing yourself again before continuing to bounce on his cock, letting your head fall back. Your inner thighs were read and sore from when he helped you earlier on, thrusting up into you and digging his nails into your plush love handles and helping you move up and down his cock.

This time was no different, besides his hands being more gentle as you continued bouncing on his cock, switching between the hopping movements and rolling your hips. You groaned loudly as you settled on his hips, rolling your own desperately into his, the angle unable to get his cock fully inside of you. “E-Ethan, it’s not enough, it’s not enough!”

He smiled up at you, laughing slightly as your eyes started to water. “Ethan, don’t be mean! Y-You’re not fully inside of me, need you to be all the way inside of me t-to get that part-”

“You want my help, precious?” He tilted his head, teasing you. “My precious girl needs my help to get off, doesn’t she? Because if my cock isn’t all the way inside of her she can’t cum.”

You whined loudly as you nodded your head, sobbing. You were so desperate for his cock, desperately nodding as he lifted his hips slightly and finally hit that spot inside of you. “F-Fuck, yes! Yes, right there! Oh, fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck…”

You babbled mindlessly, eyes rolling back as you flew forward, finally letting Ethan use his entire strength to thrust up into you. He grunted into your neck as you moaned loudly, your vision blurring as your nails dig into his skin, hips desperately trying to match his pace, not trusting your voice to say anything else but words filled with lust.

“Am I making you feel good, my precious girl? Yeah? C’mon, tell me, need to hear your voice,” he said, and you could practically hear his smirk. “You’ll get there baby, take your time.”

You felt so fucked out, groaning as you nodded into his neck. “Y-You make me feel so good, Ethan, don’t stop!”

He laughs, shaking his head. “You think I could stop? When your pretty cunt is barely letting me pull out, clamping down on my shaft like a desperate little whore?”

You whined as he continued to thrust into you, using your body like a fleshlight as you shake your head into his neck. “N-No, no! I don’t think you can stop, I don’t want you to stop, I never want you to stop! Love feeling your cock inside of me, I love it so much, need it every day for the rest of my life!”

Your words make his hips stutter, eyes rolling back as you moaned into his ear like you knew he loved. His hips stutter as he groaned out, finally cumming inside of you as he panted underneath you. He doesn’t pull out as you hummed, pulling your face out of his neck as you pulled him in for a firm kiss.

“Sex here everyday sounds nice.”

“So nice,” he said, laughing as he shook his head. “I’m going to help you buy this house, I swear it. Then I’m going to give you the best life ever.”

“You already have,” you whisper back, nodding as you slowly laid on his chest and he reached down to grab his phone. He waits until you fall asleep before unlocking it, hesitantly letting his finger hover over the block button on Quinn’s phone number.Looking down at you though, there was nothing to be hesitant about. He blocked his sister, then his father, tossing his phone to the side and softly kissing your head. You don’t wake up as he whispers soft praises of ‘I love you’s and other words, but he doesn’t need you to wake up for you to know.

Thank all of you so much for supporting me!! Even though Bingo requests and Bingo itself is done, I have my next event already planned - please stay tuned!! Requests are closed but they will be open when I clear my inbox, and again, thank all of you so much!!

also, thank you hunny!! i hope you have a great day/night as well! i hope you enjoyed this fic!

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© asterias-record-shop

[chimaerakitten]

I’ve been thinking today about off ramps in long running stories, especially book series.

By that I mean like, places where a person could stop reading and have a satisfying ending even if they’re not yet at the actual ending. (Someone tell me if there’s an established Tvtropes name for this I’m missing.)

Now, a lot of book series will have an off ramp at the end of book 1, because many first books are written without promise of a sequel. Like sure, there might be a sequel hook, but the actual second book is still up to publisher whims in most cases. So you can read All Systems Red or The Thief or A Madness of Angels and have a perfectly satisfying ambiguous-end sci-fi story or middle grade fantasy romp or inverted murder mystery revenge quest without ever picking up book 2. This is definitely an off ramp but it’s not necessarily the interesting or revealing kind because again. Whims of the publisher.

There’s also stories that have an off ramp after every installment. Leverage is famous for this—they had a philosophy of having every season be a satisfying ending, which says a lot both about the writers and about the story they were trying to tell.

But I think the most interesting ramps are the ones where by design or by circumstance, there’s a single off-ramp somewhere in the middle. One spot where unless someone tells you there’s more, you’d never be unsatisfied with leaving halfway through.

Sometimes these will be signaled in some way, where there’s a big timeskip after the off-ramp, or the series changes names or has a spin-off, or the POV changes, or after book 3 the author publishes a short story collection before hopping back in to novels, or the series suddenly jumps from being only novellas to a chunky 120k novel. (The Raksura books, Percy Jackson/HoE, Matthew Swift/Magicals Anonymous, and Murderbot all do one or more of these)

But sometimes off ramps aren’t visible in series order or marketing. Sometimes they’re organic to where a story happens to leave off at the end of an installment.

The queen’s thief has one of these after King Of Attolia. I know this was a satisfying ending because for seven years I thought it was the end. My local library didn’t have A Conspiracy of Kings, so I thought it was a trilogy. And you really can leave it there! KoA ends with Gen back in his element and recognized as king, the main internal threat to Irene neutralized, and peace on the peninsula. The Mede aren’t yet the immediate threat they are in the back half of the series, since up through KoA they’re mainly represented by the magus’s vague warnings and Nahuseresh, whom Irene thinks circles around. There’s no real reason to assume the Mede are a threat within the scope of the series. Now I absolutely prefer getting the whole story, but KoA is a damn solid off-ramp for anyone who feels like exiting there.

And that’s one kind of off ramp where the end you get is pretty similar in tone (mostly happy) to the one you get if you go on to the rest of the series. I’ve also read books where you can off ramp successfully right at the lowest point in the series and get a tragedy out of a series that ultimately ends happy, or leave at a high point and get a happier end than the main one, or exit at an ambiguous point and continue on with ambiguity. The Giver sequels make it pretty clear what happened to Jonas and Gabe at the end of the book. but you don’t have to read them or have that question answered if you want to.

I don’t have a really solid conclusion to draw here except that I think the positioning of off ramps says a lot about authors and stories, and choosing whether or not to take an off ramp says a lot about readers.

[cbrownjc]

Hello :) I was wondering if we ever got confirmation about which books Rolin is interested in focusing this adaptation on? I know that they'll probably take elements from most (if not all) VC books, but if they're aiming at 7-8 seasons with some books taking multiple seasons to adapt, they're going to have to pick and choose which books to really dig into.

I was also thinking about production. I've seen people talk about how we'll need to wait another 1.5-2 years between seasons and I kinda doubt that? I feel like we'll start speeding things up and getting a new season every year, mostly because I just can't see them go for 12+ years of production on this show. Very few shows nowadays go more than 10 years, and if they really want to do 7-8 seasons I can't see how they'll manage that with 1.5 to 2 years in between each season. I understand they're in for the long haul with the Immortal Universe but...that's very long in the modern drama landscape.

Honestly I am mostly just hoping to get new seasons more frequently and also be able to see their full vision realized because the longer it goes on the higher the chance they'll run into issues like actor availability, leadership changes that could impact renewals, budget restrictions, etc. What do you think?

Hello!

Okay, first to answer the production question. Now, while many shows rarely go past 10 years wrt production of them, that is really dependent on their Season count. Game of Thrones, for example, only ran for 8 Seasons, and production only lasted 8 years as well.

The Walking Dead ran for 11 Seasons and was produced over 12 years.

AMC has said in the past (or, at least, Rolin Jones has said that AMC has said) that they wanted 10 Seasons for IWTV. RJ, however, has been consistent in saying he has an 8 Season plan.

So whether the show continues on for at least 2 more years after Rolin's 8 Season plan is up in the air right now and we should just focus on, at most, getting 8 Seasons, Which yes, I think will take over the course of 8-9 years to film.

Because I think starting with Season 3, the wait and production times will decrease over time. Remember, the strikes threw a bit of a wrench into things. But what also did regarding Season 2 was that it's clear that Rolin and the writing staff didn't start actually writing Season 2 until AMC had officially greenlit Season 2 back in September of 2022. That is why shooting for Season 2 couldn't start in the fall of 2022, there were no scripts broken, let alone written yet!

And then, once the scripts were done, they still had to start pre-production stuff, such as location scouting, figuring out which sets needed to be built, etc.

So shooting for Season 2 could only start shooting when it did because it was the earliest they could get all that done once they were given a renewal notice.

I think things are very different when it comes to Season 3 because I think, even if the show hadn't already been quietly renewed for Season 3 before it was officially announced, RJ and the other writers were already breaking and writing the scripts for Season 3 starting either just before or while Season 2 was airing. And so given that writing time, plus the fact that they probably don't have to do as much location scouting (since many of those locations were already found in Season 2) pre-production will likely take less time.

I think filming will begin in late October, meaning we'd get an October 2025 release date. Which I think will be the standard release window going forward with each new season and why the wait will be another long one again, but that will also give the production staff and actors breathing room after they are done filming a season before going into the next one.

So for that reason, I can see production of the show lasting 9-10 years, but that is because of the extra 1/2 year gaps between the filming and airing of Season 2 and the one I feel we are going to get for Season 3.

As well as the fact that I think when they get to Queen of the Damned, that will be a true split-season like the one Breaking Bad got for its final season. That show had Season 5, Part 1, and Season 5, Part 2. Because even though this past season was called "Season 2" externally, you can see by the episode numbers that internally, what this really was was "Season 1, Part 2."

Anyway, as to the books being adapted -- and not just having elements taken from them -- Rolin has said for sure we are getting IWTV (which we just finished), The Vampire Lestat (Season 3), Queen of the Damned (which is where he spoke about it being so epic and grand a story that they will probably have to split the season in order to tell it all) and Tale of the Body Theif (which he confirmed after Season 2 was finished that they were beginning to already set up for). He also mentioned at Comic-Con in 2022 that Prince Lestat would be adapted.

Also, while RJ talked about the book The Vampire Armand being important, he's never said it would get its own separate adaptation, which honestly makes sense. Because of the way that book is told, you can just interweave elements of it when you want to focus on Armand's backstory, or even just do a stand-alone episode here and there dedicated to parts of it. It really isn't the kind of book you do a full season on IMO.

So yeah. The books that we know for sure are getting their own, full adaptations per RJ so far are IWTV, TVL, QotD, TotBT, and PL.

I can see them throwing elements of books like Memnoch, TVA, and Blood and Gold into it all, but I don't know if they'll get their own full-season adaptations. As I said, I don't think TVA will. And I don't think B&G will either, as I see it just like TVA -- you adapt elements of it during a season, maybe even full sections of it for a flashback episode or so during a season, but it doesn't get its own full stand-alone season.

The same goes for Merrick, since they already did Louis' suicide attempt and Louis seems to be moving forward from his despair and grief regarding Claudia -- so that even if Lestat did fall into his post-Memnoch coma in the show, I'm not sure this Louis would attempt to end his life again over that loss. (Even more so after this Louis also got that letter from Lestat in the past, telling Louis to please live on in the event of his death.)

I have no idea if they are seriously going to ever do Blackwood Farm or Blood Canticle. Neither book has ever been mentioned, even in passing. Plus, they kind of depend on what and where Mayfair Witches is at or has going on at the time and well, that show . . . 😅

Oh! And they might be looking to adapt the whole Prince Lestat trilogy, but I don't remember if RJ has talked about adapting the whole trilogy -- meaning the entirety of each book -- or just the full first book and then elements from the other two. (Because I do think it's clear that, if anything, we'll get the Loustat ballroom dance from Blood Communion in the final season of the show).

So yeah, I think that this is what we're looking at for the next few years, book adaptation-wise.

[pathologicalreid]

hi margot, i really love your work! i just have something to ask because of your recent "with your hands tied": why are so many writers into kink culture? why is there such a lack of normal sex in fics? it's so ooc for Spencer and i just wanna know why so many writers interpret the character this way. i don't mean any offense btw, it's a genuine question.

hey! nsfw under the cut!

i have some previous anons where i address similar things so i'm going to link them for your perusal.

my views on spencer as a softdom leaning switch

more specifically, why i don't write spencer as a sub

so really, i disagree with you. i don't think it's ooc of spencer to dabble in kink. in fact, when people are in long term relationships, sexual exploration is completely normal. that's the beauty of fanfiction though, everyone has a different interpretation of characters.

there is "normal" sex in fics, you just have to look for it. in general, kinky stuff tends to get pushed to the top of tags since that gets a lot more interaction, so you just have dig a little deeper. i promise you it's there. i've written vanilla sex in fics (for reference) and i will continue to write vanilla sex in fics. in the future, i would recommend not using "normal" and "vanilla" interchangeably. when you refer to anything involving kink as abnormal, you risk offending people. even if you say "i don't mean any offense". your question can be as genuine as you want it to be, but a genuine question can still be perceived as rude. please be careful.

additionally, i don't think it matters why so many writers are into kink culture. people can write whatever they want and you're not required to read it. there's also a chance you've picked the wrong month to be looking at smut fics, it's literally kinktober, which is why i wrote something kinky.

if you see kinky smut, you might just want to scroll away. this isn't necessarily directed at you, because you've been mostly polite in your question, but it's been a problem so far for kinktober where people are attacking other writers for what they choose to write.

[ladyluscinia]

I think they were so worried about not getting a season 3 they ruined both the viewers expecting one and the viewers who would've liked it to end there. they've created an easily destroyable status quo because of course something needs to happen to get everyone back together for season 3. so it's not even a happy ending; it's so fragile, it's designed to fall apart the second that anyone learns that the show is back on. i get not wanting to bank on having a third season and wrapping it up but like. Galavant did that and did it better. WITH THE HEROES RETIRING AND THE TWO MINUTE MARRIAGE CEREMONY TO BOOT. But it gave an outline of where the plot might go from there and how the adventure will continue if it gets to. And it never got to, and season 2's ending is good because it's not /fragile/--it's not a cliffhanger, but you get the idea that they could keep going from there still. whereas this one didn't want to be a cliffhanger so much that they created the most breakable new status quo in history and if there is a season 3 it'll immediately be undone and I'll probably still watch it but like I'll /know/, y'know? They could fix everything in the first episode of season 3 and I'd still have to know that at one point, this was considered an acceptable outcome.

The thing that is driving me absolutely insane is they DID NOT HAVE TO DO THIS!

There's so many people looking at it like "well it's a shame that 2x08 clearly had to cram several episodes into one for budget reasons and it made the development weaker but that's the situation MAX put them in" and I cannot emphasize enough how much that is not true.

MAX did not break it to them after episodes 2x01 - 2x07 were written and half filmed that they would have to wrap up the whole plot in 30 minutes. Like absolute worst case scenario they had 10 eps mostly written and budget came back 20% over and they had to reduce to 8 total. More likely they knew they were getting 8 from the start.

It is absolutely nobody's fuck up except David Jenkins and his writers' room if they were unrealistic about what character beats were needed and would fit in the timeframe to reach a satisfying wrap up.

Worries about no S3 were on the table the moment it took until JUNE to get confirmation of S2. This wasn't sprung on them. If they wanted their story to have a "just in case" happy ending and then a "fully realized arc" happy ending, they should have fucking acted like it???

I was shocked when the first three episodes that dropped were so hardcore on destroying Edward's relationships and laying bare exactly how deep his issues went. It only made sense to me if they were going all in on getting a S3 and prepared to spend all of S2 focused on the implications of all that, and then the not-even two week in-universe timeline of the season reinforced my understanding that was happening.

"Shame we don't have time for our main couple to even start addressing their relationship or having moments of self-realization and sharing their issues," says guy who decided to make the first half of S2 about adding more problems on top of well established ones from S1 and the second half of S2 about throwing in a second breakup cycle instead of dealing with the fallout from the first.

Want Edward to end on a beat of feeling part of the found family? Well maybe adding a timeskip after 2x05 and then a crew chat in 2x06 where you make it clear he did an apology tour offscreen could help, but you also could have just not focused hard on him poisoning his relationship with every single one of them in the first place???

There's multiple different ways you can do Act 2 of a three act structure, and they did not have to choose one that ends on another dark cliffhanger beat or right at the open ended turning point toward growth? Like they didn't even do the one they picked in a way they could fit in their season. I feel like by the end of a struggles Act 2 both your protagonists need to have self-realized their issues and maybe had one conversation about it? Edward still wasn't talking about his guilt, and Stede wasn't talking about anything.

They aren't even at the turning point of growth and out of the backsliding / lessons learned era yet, that's why potential S3 will start on another backslide when status quo breaks and Stede starts "that's nice, dear"-ing Edward during the day and slipping out at night to vicariously listen to pirate stories or whatever (and they frame it like he's cheating).

We have two out of three seasons in a show that might only get two, and I feel like the characters have barely moved from their starting position.

Like idk maybe they are really good at coming up with character flaws - ex: Stede is repressed and bottles up his traumas until he mentally checks out / runs away - and just drawing blanks on how to believably "fix" them, but just going "well what if we just used this flaw to throw another miscommunication roadblock in their relationship?" is not getting them where they want to be.

The season was fundamentally designed against their stated goal and did not make what seem to be necessary writing concessions to the reduced screentime if they wanted their finale to land as an even plausibly happy ending. It's hollow.

And possibly not even salvageable in S3 since they aren't demonstrating the skills to salvage it.

[bobbimorses]

Real reasson about Clint and Bobbi's divorce? I tough because Bobbi cheated on him, but not sure

absolutely not! i think that misunderstanding is likely from the end of the mockingbird solo in 2016, which decided to go ahead and try to retcon a very key event. let's get into it...

in west coast avengers, the whole team time travels to the old west. their time machine is broken and can only travel backwards. while trying to time travel back further, the phantom rider punches bobbi and takes her off the machine, separating her from the team (in space and time)

phantom rider takes bobbi to his cave and concocts a drug to convince her she's his wife

eventually, the two-gun kid (cowboy friend of hawkeye) tracks them down and is able to snap bobbi out of her drugged stupor. she realizes the extent of coercion that's occurred. clint is trapped in ancient egypt (and also dying), so he's not around for what comes next; during a showdown with bobbi, phantom rider falls off a ledge.

because fuck this guy, bobbi makes her choice: that is, choose to do nothing.

phantom rider's spirit actually just gets reincarnated when he dies, which bobbi admittedly didn't know about at the time, but fuck that guy.

when clint and bobbi are finally reunited, she doesn't divulge the sexual assault that occurred. several issues later, phantom rider's spirit in the present tells clint bobbi killed him and doesn't say why (bc fuck that guy). in what is notoriously the most dickish response (and writing) possible, clint goes "that's not what he said!!!!!!!" when bobbi tries to tell clint why she let phantom rider drop (bc, again, fuck that guy). and so, a rift is born.

clint's whole motto is "avengers don't kill," so his contentions are: you killed someone, you lied by omission, you betrayed my trust by not telling me. bobbi's are: that doesn't count as killing, that guy was a rapist, you are being a shitty husband. also fuck that guy.

the ensuing issues are a bunch of "pick a side" bullshit with the team and squabbling. which was ridiculous. clint's stance was so ridiculous that while all their acid and strife in west coast avengers continued, clint and bobbi would constantly be trying to reconcile and acting tenderly toward each other in concurrent issues of solo avengers. bc other writers thought "yeah fuck that guy."

so that's why they broke up. but also they didn't bc they got back together? but also they didn't get back together bc that was a skrull. but that wasn't supposed to be a skrull at the time and was only one retroactively. but then they got back together anyway. i digress.

ANYWAYS this brings us to mockingbird #8 (2016), which attempts to retcon all that in a way i can only describe as insulting. first of all, phantom rider's described as an ex of bobbi's, which is a terrible start.

then this happens:

yeah. whether the writer was trying to retcon the reasoning behind the divorce, bobbi having been sexually assaulted, or whatever aspect of the entire storyline, what instead comes across is that the writer decided "woman who survived sexual assault and asserted her agency in letting perpetrator die" should be "so like, bobbi cheated on clint, bc she makes her own decisions!" while we have panels of a man drugging her. ???? the only way you could potentially reconcile this is bobbi is lying to phantom rider to get him to fuck off (bc fuck that guy), but as i mentioned, she also calls him her "ex" in her internal monologue earlier in this very same issue, so that definitely didn't seem to be the writer's intention. sooo. we should all collectively ignore this retcon attempt.

there's also the added complication of whether their divorce was finalized during west coast avengers what with bobbi being presumed dead but then not dead, and then clint actually dying and then undying and then dying and then undying again, bobbi confirming they were divorced in new avengers reunion, but then hawkeye v4 later having clint sign divorce papers...but that's not the crux of the issue at hand. leave that for a wills and trusts probate hypo.

SO in summary: not really. if you found this obnoxiously long, enjoy this even longer text post i once made summarizing their relationship, kind of!

[wingsdippedingold]

I couldn’t reblog this normally since I have the og poster blocked, but this is a pretty common sentiment in the community that I want to put my comment on:

Now I’m not gonna sit here and argue that there aren’t people who like Feyre more in the first book and consider her to be “better”, because people do, and I think it’s valid to think that as well as valid to not think that. To clarify I think neither, but more on that later. This is also a decently long post, I tried to make it concise but it’s anything but that 💀

I think comparing her character in the first book to her sisters (this post is specifically Nesta, but I’ve seen it done with Elain) is purely made in bad faith. Equating them in this manner blatantly ignores the obvious differences in characterization and nuance in their writing.

It is widely known that SJM has said that Elain and Nesta were just made to be caricatures and cartoon evil sisters and that she didn't initially plan for them to become anything more than background characters. They were meant to be flat and evil, because that’s all the purpose they had at the time. They were there to give Feyre a hard time and make us sympathize with her, and they did that.

No one is saying that that it’s silly to get hung up on Nesta’s actions because they “happened a long time ago and she had development”, they’re saying that because her actions were literally meant to be cartoonishly evil and not to have any actual depth or reasoning to them.

However, Feyre at the time was still a fleshed character that was supposed to be in the spotlight. Her character traits and depth were continuously shown off, whereas her sisters only existed to give her a backstory and struggle. Her character in the first book cannot be written off to the same degree as her sisters, and it’s false equivalency to think that it can be.

At the time the way Nesta and Elain was written was fine, but in deciding to change them to be actual characters with thoughts, feelings, and backstory, Sarah majorly fucked herself over. This is why she had to retcon things and add their own struggles later on and why you’ll see a lot of people defending them for their cabin actions; and as a side of the fandom who take her retcons as canon, you can’t pick and choose which ones you don’t want to take as canon solely because they change the your notion of the character. It’s a packaged deal, either you’re down with SJM’s narrative and story, or you’re not (I’m not), because guess what? The other characters around said character will also comply by these retcons.

But when you hammer it down so hard that these girls are horrible people in the first book because you couldn’t give the time of day to make sure you’re actually creating a cohesive storyline, rather than just trying to push out a character for people to immediately sympathize with, it’s hard to rectify that, and I often find it the mark of a bad writer (and poor planner) regardless if you weren’t planning on ACOTAR being a series.

I 100% understand Nesta hate, it’s hard to change your idea of a character when you’ve already been made to dislike them and like the character they initially antagonized. If she, or any other character, is not your cup of tea, that’s fine. Like what you like. Hate what you hate (assuming you stay in your lanes and tag correctly, which many of you do not do, and instead tag specifically to push your anti content into pro spaces and make people mad, but that’s a different topic) u, this circles back to my original point that you cannot equate the validity of the characters and writing of Nesta and Elain to Feyre in the first book.

Now do I agree that Feyre was her '"true self" in book 1 vs the others? No.

I think a lot of people, and a lot of antis, earlier Feyre lovers, and probably some of my mutuals, will disagree with me on this, but Feyre's character progression has always made sense to me. That's not necessarily to say that I like it, but considering her circumstances, the people around her, the environment, and her own personality and beliefs, her change and progression from ACOTAR to ACOSF makes total sense to me. I do think there's some inconsistencies, and I definitely think there’s a lot of situations where ACOTAR Feyre would react differently than later Feyre, but that’s just a product of her being a character with an arc and overall I can understand how she got from point A to point B.

I won't get into the details here, but if anyone's curious on why I think so, Imk, l'd love to talk about it

There’s also a good chance that the original poster of this will try to argue my way directly from my account, which is weird because I have you blocked, so I won’t see it, nor do I care to… so don’t? Idk man, save your energy, the stalking is crazy

[lover-of-mine]

OK I will Lady Whistledown you. Somehow, I ended up in a private BT space. Probably because it was earl, and I looked at somethin, and I have no presence so they probably don't even know I am there.

Basically, on main, you have the general realization of Oliver's expressions in regards to asking about BT vs. Buddie. I watched, and I will be honest, I don't think he was trying to be mean, but I do think it was a genuine reaction for him. But then you mix it with the fact the old interview from Lou came up again, and a lot of people are starting to worry.

But behind closed doors, it's definitely that Oliver didn't champion Tommy at all. Mixed with weeks of wondering why he won't follow him or the fact Oliver posted the basketball picture for 4 and not Tommy.

So as dramatic as I am making it sound. It really is simple you know how a fandom works with the "popular" posters and the general audience. But yes as we watch Oliver and if he continues to ignore it, they are blaming him basically.

And I think in their overzealousness to make Fetch a thing. They completely did forget how close Ryan and Oliver are. How much Oliver probably hates how they are treating his story but also Ryan. As if he would choose Lou over Ryan as childish as that sounds.

Obsessed with this format, it made me giggle, thank you soskpakspskslaks

But basically, Oliver did what he has been doing since the beginning? And they are freaking out because they finally realized Mr plot device doesn't have the support of the people that maybe could've make him stay longer? Fascinating. It's not like we've been hearing that in everything that's not a cameo. Imagine being forced to turn of the selective hearing because since the cameos were shut down, there's no one on their side.

That mentality is one I never understood tbh, why do they think attacking Ryan and Oliver is gonna accomplish anything other than pissing the people involved with show off? Like, Oliver clearly cares about Ryan, why would he just accept the situation and decide to become a bt defender when he's clearly annoyed that Buck being bi became a ship war. As if Oliver is gonna pick Lou. And like, Oliver has some power in the situation, because while he's not a writer, Buck is a fandom favorite, keeping Oliver happy while playing Buck is very important for their numbers. But again, I am asking for logical thinking from people who clearly have no idea what logic is.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

If you had to pinpoint the main issue of MLB, the root of all evil if you may (aside from Astruc), what would it be?

If we're going super high level, it would be narrative consistency (I believe this is a synonym for "narrative coherence" or, at least, I've always used them pretty interchangeably and googling one finds you stuff on the other). I wanted to get an official definition of this term and wikipedia gave me this from a larger article on the theory of narrative paradigm:

Narrative coherence is the degree to which a story makes sense. Coherent stories are internally consistent, with sufficient detail, strong characters, and free of significant surprises. The ability to assess coherence is learned and improves with experience. Individuals assess a story's adherence by comparing it with similar stories. The ultimate test of narrative sense is whether the characters act reliably. If figures show continuity throughout their thoughts, motives, and actions, acceptance increases. However, characters behaving uncharacteristically destroy acceptance.

I also found a pretty good overview of the topic on the blog of a random editor. You can follow that link to read the whole thing, but I wanted to highlight this section on characters as I thought it was particularly relevant to the stuff I talk about on this blog:

Your characters will have their own personalities and behaviours that the reader will become familiar with as the story develops, so if you deviate from these patterns, the reader will notice. That’s why it’s important to maintain character consistency – that they would act in a way that is right and in keeping with their personality, rather than making them act out of character to make elements of the story fit.

As you can hopefully see from the above sources, the stuff I've talk about on here, and just generally thinking about the show, most of the issues with Miraculous have to do with the show being narratively incoherent. Characters do whatever the writers want them to do. Plot lines get dropped and picked back up then dropped (Lila) with no rhyme or reason. Big, meaningful setups lead to nothing (Gabriel learning all the temp heroes identities). Twists come out of nowhere (Kagami being a senti). They all indicate that something is majorly wrong here.

I am not involved in the production of this show, so I cannot tell you where all of these issues come from. It may be that the writing staff doesn't know what they're doing or it could be that unknown forces like marketing are driving the writers to do things that they'd rather not or it could be a mix of the two. For example, I'm pretty sure the magical charms we get in season four were only added to sell stuff like this and this, which is why I try to approach this show without pointing fingers at anyone too specific unless there's some hard evidence to back up what I'm saying. All I know is that this show has a massive writing problem and I'll end with a little advice on how I avoid this issue. It may or may not work for you. It all depends on your writing style.

When you sit down to write a story, it's very normal to not have a clear path for how to get from story point A to story point B. You don't need to find that path before you start writing. You just need to keep in mind that B is your goal and start figuring out how to logically get there.

I often describe this process as taking a journey with a known destination, but no planned route. However, just like with a road trip, the further you go, the more limited your options become because of the choices you made. If you skipped stopping at an interesting city or landmark, you can't change that fact and we're not turning the car around just so you can get a picture next to the big ball of string. You had your chance and you missed it. Accept that and move on.

Similarly, as you write your story, you have to own the choices you've already made on your journey. If you choose to let a character in on a massive secret (Alya learning Ladybug's identity), then you have to fully own how that choice would impact all elements of the story (Alya's opinion of Lila) not just the short sighted elements you wanted it to impact (note how Lila's not a thing in season four? Almost like they didn't plan out how to handle her and Alya at the same time?) Own the route you committed to and find a way to tell the next part of the story in a way that feels like it's on the same route and you'll be fine.

Does that mean occasionally having to give up on cool ideas that you really liked? Yep, but that's the nature of story telling. It's part of the reason why people are told to "kill their darlings." That's just a thing you have to learn to do if you want to be a good writer.

[cricketnationrise]

Ficlet prompt

Fandom: RWRB

Time: 10:53 pm

Location: Karaoke Bar (did it have a name in the movie? I’ll have to search in the book)

Song: Josh Turner’s “I Want to be Your Man (have you seen the Taylor/Nick duet?? 🔥)

Rating: Author’s discussion

AO3 UserID: Penandra (reader not a writer on AO3 — some (old) stories on FFN

Thank you for what you’ve written so far. Excellent!

was i searching the wrong song title at first? yes. did i eventually realize and find the tiktok of them singing a verse of this almost immediately? also yes. thanks for the prompt, hope you enjoy the ficlet!

read the rest of the ficlets here

❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

10:53pm, karaoke bar

Henry’s already pleasantly tipsy before they even get to Alex’s mystery destination. The car stops and Nora and Pez tumble out, pulling June and Bea after them. Henry waits, sprawled across Alex’s chest.

“Let’s go, baby, we’re here.”

“Comfy, though.”

“You’ll like it, I promise. And it’s an anniversary of sorts for us.”

Intrigued despite himself, Henry straightens up, a bolt of heat going down his spine when he spies the neon Karaoke Queen sign out the tinted window. A veritable storm of hazy memories flick through his brain: luridly bright kimonos, an inadvisable amount of vodka shots, an even more inadvisable moment in a bathroom.

“You want to celebrate this anniversary?” Henry asks, incredulous. “Is there a traditional gift for the first anniversary of bathroom sex? A new loo roll holder, perhaps?”

“I was more thinking about what happened later that night,” Alex says softly, a hint of embarrassment playing around the corner of his mouth. “It was the first time I—that we…”

“Oh.” 

The reminder that following his rendition of Don’t Stop Me Now—Henry is sure it had Freddie himself spinning in his grave—the two of them had stumbled into a hotel room and been as close as two people possible could, is a humbling one. Alex had been nervous, but determined to make things as pleasurable as possible for him. Determined to meet Henry’s suggestion head-on, despite his lack of experience with men. 

It had been a tipping point for Henry—what he supposed was the beginning of the end for the two of them. They’d shared a bed before, but it was that morning in LA, Alex watching Henry get ready for the day despite his own exhaustion and hangover, that a pang of sharp longing hit him. He wanted Alex in his space, always; wanted him at every event, in every room, at every hour of the day.

And he and Alex were still “casual.”

“I just—that night was special. So I made sure with Bea and Pez that you were free this weekend so we could come back here, now that we’re out, and not have to hide any ounce of love this time.”

“Alex…”

“Forget it, it’s stu—”

“It is not stupid. Let’s go.”

Henry’s the one to lead Alex inside, fingers laced together. The rest of their group cheers when they make it to the table. Henry busies himself downing the first two shots Pez ordered to avoid hearing the specifics of the teasing aimed at their later arrival. Honestly, Nora should know that two-thirds of her bawdy suggestions aren’t even physically possible.

“As punishment for your tardiness—”

“It wasn’t even five minutes,” Alex protests.

Pez continues as though uninterrupted. “You two lovebirds are up first. And if you don’t suitably impress us, you’ll be forced to do solos until the staff begs for mercy.”

“That seems more like a punishment for us,” June whines, but Henry recognizes the teasing glint in her eyes.

Alex shoves at her. “Fuck you, I’m great at karaoke.”

“Then it should be easy to get us on our feet,” Bea says. “Choose wisely.”

“Y’all are the worst,” Alex says. He downs two shots in quick succession then stands and gallantly holds out a hand for Henry. “Shall we?”

The next few minutes pass by at lightning speed. One moment Alex is cackling over song options and the next he’s towing Henry up onto the stage while the twangy guitar intro plays. At least Alex picked a song Henry’s heard of, even if he’s never tried to sing along before. When the lyrics pop up on screen, Alex starts, lowering his voice in a futile attempt to match Josh Turner’s. It’s all Henry can do not to laugh, but he knows his grin is visible from space.

Baby, lock the door and turn the lights down low

The delighted screaming starts almost immediately, drowning out Alex’s voice as the crowd joins in. Your Man isn’t really an up-and-at-’em kind of song, but the whole bar is singing along with his boyfriend and Henry can’t look away. Alex meets his eyes with more than a little heat as he sings: 

I’ve been thinking ‘bout this all day long 

Never felt a feeling that was quite this strong

And Henry snaps out of his trance for the opportunity to utterly wreck Alex’s concentration. He deepens his own voice and half-speaks, half-sings: 

I can’t believe how much it turns me on

Alex’s face is a picture of shock; the juxtaposition of Henry, Prince of England and usually buttoned-up, singing about being turned on, is apparently enough to make Alex gape. Henry continues, more sincerely for the next line.

Just to be your man

Alex blows him a kiss and then tugs him in closer with an arm around his waist so that they’re sharing the same mic. Henry would protest, but the shots and Alex’s proximity have him relaxed enough to throw himself into the rest of the performance. He looks out and sees Pez serenading both June and Nora, sees Bea tapping her foot and holding up the lighter app on her phone. A group of bar patrons over on the dance floor are doing some sort of line dance, what Henry thinks might be a slow Cotton Eye Joe. Even the bartenders are singing along. 

The words spill out of Henry like campfire sparks shooting into the sky. He feels welcome here, in Alex’s arms, surrounded by family and friends and strangers all united by this one song. Such is the magic of Alex—he lights up any room he’s in and then uses that light to illuminate the corners, to include as many people as possible. But—

Alex sings the next lines directly to Henry:

Ain’t nobody ever love nobody

The way that I love you

Henry can’t help but pull him in for a sloppy kiss right there on stage. Just because he can. Because he loves Alex.

Because he loves.