#also most of this is from the first series bc I have yet to finish call down the hawk loool

[xiaowhore]

genshin men as shoujo tropes.

characters. neuvillette, wriothesley, & alhaitham.

note. in celebration of the shoujo renaissance (and also bc im having a hard time finishing the drafts i left half a year ago) i present to you the ideas i had while half-asleep this morning. i dunno if this will ever be a consistent series but here are the first 3! (heads up: female pronouns will be used in this fic!)

neuvilette ; the duke

it has to be said. he's the duke of the north.

you belong to an aristocratic family, but you're basically neglected due to being your father's illegitimate child with a maid and your younger sister is much better than you at every way there is. appearance, etiquette, and intellect—she is far more superior than you at these aspects. countless men ask for her hand in marriage, while none asks for yours.

but honestly, you didn't want to be wed to a noble. you dream of being a commoner, free from the clutches of your family who looks down on you and solely dotes on your sister. you could be a baker perhaps, since you've always had a hobby of making sweets.

yet your parents suddenly announce you're now engaged. and to the duke of the north, of all people! he has made a great contribution for the war against the monsters within the continent, but he is more known for his ruthlessness and harsh temperament. if you were to be his wife, what would happen to you? the duke holds a lot of power, but no one wants to marry him because they're all afraid of him, you included.

as you're being sent to his castle by carriage, you're already trying to comfort yourself. at least you're away from your family now. he couldn't possibly be worse than them. and as ruthless the rumors all say he is, duke neuvillette is not the type of man to beat a woman who has done no wrong.

your first dinner with him is completely silent. the clacking of cutlery pierces through the air, the only sound you can hear other than your heart rapidly pounding in your chest. your head is bowed, too fearful to meet him in the eye, but you can't help sneaking glances at him.

the duke doesn't appear in most events hosted by nobles, too busy defending his territory from monstrous creatures to attend. but you see now that those rumors about him being unsightly could not be any more false. his long hair drapes over his shoulders, not a strand out of place. his gaze is calculating, a fascinating blue you can't look away from, and his nose cuts a high angle—he'd look fetching if he wore glasses as he does paperwork. really... how could this man be your husband-to-be?

as you're busy worrying over how you shouldn't offend him and appreciating his appearance, neuvillette is trying his best to appear calm. the woman of his dreams is right in front of him, whose hand was promised to him if he won against the dragon slumbering in the northern mountains. the woman he had yearned for years on end, the woman who gave him strength as he was on the verge of death during the war, the woman who doesn't remember him anymore—

but he promised you long ago he'll make you the happiest woman in the world, and he's intent on keeping his vows.

neuvilette may appear stoic, but he's nothing but sweet to you. he accompanies you at every opportunity he isn't busy with work, spoils you rotten, and makes you want for nothing. word spread throughout the land that duke neuvillette couldn't be any more smitten with his wife, erasing all rumors that claimed he was heartless. you were intimidated by him at the start, but as you spent more time with him, you learned that there was no reason to be.

...however, that only applies to you. although you never said it outright, neuvillette can tell your family didn't care for you properly. he already had reservations with them, and now he has other reasons to be angry.

when your sister comes to his residence and claims there was a “mix-up” in the marriage, that she should be the one wed to him and not you, he is furious.

but there's really only one ending for this story—after all, his heart only belongs to you.

wriothesley ; the bodyguard

you're the only granddaughter of a yakuza leader and wriothesley is your bodyguard who will protect you no matter what. (not claiming ‘a girl and her guard dog’ energy; there are plenty of other mangas who have this trope too.)

you're just an ordinary girl with a very extraordinary family but you want to live a normal life free of violence and keep your family background a secret. you beg your grandfather to let you attend classes at a normal school, and he allows you in one condition: wriothesley must be with you at all times.

so yeah. this tall and absolutely ripped guy is behind you every time you walk to school, in the corridors, on the way to the cafeteria, and the only time he isn't following you is when you go to the restroom.

very protective. never lets his guard down when you're talking to boys. doesn't understand what you see in the handsome guy that everyone likes when his looks aren't all that great (he's just jealous).

“let's go home. it's about time for the car to arrive... what do you mean you still have something to do? ...there's someone waiting for you at the rooftop? you found a love letter in your locker? ...i'll wait for you at the door.”

he does wait for you at the door, but he also tries to hear the conversation you're having. and maybe he scoffs a little when he sees the guy who's trying to vye for your attention, because clearly wriothesley worried for nothing.

there will be a lot of dangerous events involved (i.e. kidnapping for ransom, attempts to kill you as revenge, wriothesley's enemies trying to harm you because you're the person he loves etc.) but wriothesley will save you each time.

“i'm right here,” he says as he cradles you in his arms, hugging your trembling body. “you don't have to fear anything now.”

it's nothing serious. just a pathetic attempt at kidnapping by a bunch of idiots who want ransom money. you're safe and sound in the car, waiting for him to finish his business with the delinquents, but that fact doesn't make his anger fade at all. “if i see a single scratch on her, i'll kill you.”

his head is bleeding, dripping crimson over his right eye, but all he sees is your bound wrists, the bruise on your cheek, the blood on your lip. he's out of bullets. you're both surrounded by henchmen. he has a single blade in his pocket. still, he roars with uncontrollable rage, “no one touches her!”

(very important detail: he calls you “my lady.”)

alhaitham ; the nonchalant male lead

he's definitely the cold guy who's (at first) rude and blunt to the female lead.

you've liked him since you were kids. your moms are best friends and you live next door to each other. both of your parents seem convinced you're going to end up together, but he rejects every single one of your advances—not that it discourages you from trying again next time.

you try to walk to school with him even though he always goes to the library too early and you're the furthest thing from a morning person. you offer him the best parts of the lunchbox you cook for yourself. you give him a cold drink after gym class. you invite him out to the mall during the weekends to hang out. you doll yourself up everyday with cosmetics and accessories in hopes that he'll think you're pretty.

but alhaitham always just looks... disinterested. especially during dinners where both of your families are present and his mother teases him about dating you for what seems like the nth time that night.

and you know he's not obligated to like you back or anything. but you still want to get his attention. you want to improve yourself to get him to like you.

alhaitham may come across as cold-hearted, but he buys you bread from the convenience store on the way to school because he knows you missed breakfast just to go with him. he keeps an eye out for any stray balls hitting you during gym class because for some reason you attract them like a magnet. he often declines your offer to go outside during weekends, but he's willing to tutor you for the test scheduled next week.

so you like to think of yourself as someone special. because surely, he doesn't do these things for anyone else, right? you must be one of the closest people to his heart, right?

but then the pretty girl from the class next door confesses to him, and you think you've lost your chance. she's tall and gorgeous, her clothes are always the latest fashion, and you're pretty sure she's around the same student rankings as alhaitham. they're talking by the cherry blossom tree, and no one can hear what they're saying behind the wall you're hiding from in your quest to eavesdrop on them.

but then alhaitham leaves first, not giving her a single glance after what you assume to be a swift rejection. the girl isn't crying, but she looks a bit shocked as she returns to school, not expecting the turn of events.

your classmates don't even pretend to be decent; all of them are asking her what happened. “he says he's not interested in dating, that's all.”

and at that, you sigh in relief. even if you're not special to him now, no one else is either.

you don't notice her looking at you, envy burning in her gaze. she didn't say any lies—but she did omit something important.

“i think... i like someone now. the most important person to me.”

[kolbalissh]

what are ur top 5 carcar fics of all time?

hello anon! im very sorry for the late ass response but listing top 5 carcar fics of all time is a task i take very seriously and it is NOT so easy to rank them because i love pretty much every one i read

but there are a few that ive reread, cried over, obsessed over and pretty much think about every waking moment - i'll attach the links ofc, and i'll tag the authors to the best of my abilities because some are my mutuals and they write absolute GOLD and im literally honoured to even read their works

here goes 😁

sumi's top five carcar fics of all time as a full time carcar connoisseur ft rants about each and every one of them

this ain’t a scene, it’s a goddamn arms race by @beabnormal24

(ive read this fic probably 900 times it is the definition of PEAK comfort fic, it is written so well that not only have i cried reading this the first time i find myself coming back to it whenever i find myself down in the dumps, also one of the first fics i read during the beginning of my carcar obession)

catch me floating circles in my fishbowl by @beabnormal24

(lo and behold, the sequel of number one can you tell i love this series? or is it not obvious yet - i adore every single fic from my dear mutual and friend but man oh man, this series was the first of their writing i was introduced to and it just hit like crack)

quantum entanglement by @tiredwishes

(now this right here, altered my brain chemistry in ways i didnt even think was possible, one of the best reads that i wish i could leave a kudos to every time i reread it, the au is so perfect from start to finish one of the most enjoyable fics ive read in this fandom so far)

i made a fist and not a plan by @beabnormal24

(when i tell you this fic is the only thing that got me through that hungarian grand prix weekend trauma, i wholeheartedly mean it - its soft and the sweetest most healthiest dynamic between carcar with the right amount of 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴 in it, including one of my all time fav ao3 smut tags so definitely a must read if ur like me)

he just turned in like i didn't exist by @drivestraight

(absolutely love author's work so freaking much, this was maybe the third or fourth ever carcar fic i read and this was also one that i took my sweet time with because it was just so good i didn't want it to end, and have reread multiple times because of how well its written and how much i loved the soulmate au depicted in it)

bonus! (bc why not)

take it or leave it by venerat

(this is gonna get an honorary mention solely because i remember i wanted to read this so bad i read it at my work/internship, on company wifi, during every single one of my breaks on that day - such a creative fic with its layout and concept and definitely how on brand it was for the carcar dynamic absolutely amazing)

i could have simply just listed the fics and called it a day, but you cant contain a yapper like me - thank you so much for the ask!!! <3

[rodanseys]

ok i finished my yearly reread of trc and i must say something!!! it is likely someone already said on the internet far before me, but i must say it!!!!

and that thing is how trb and trk mirror one another because of the inversion of adam and gansey's function within the narrative.

obviously, in trb, we see adam sacrifice himself to cabeswater. it is a huge risk, yes, but it's true to adam's character because he's willing to do what gansey isn't because he thinks choosing anything other than listening to gansey is freedom. as a result, he's the leader of the group for most of the series. the first thing gansey does when interacting with adam is ask adam a qeustion. adam is consantly called on over the course of the series to find an alternative solution when gansey can't- he even mentions that in his own monologing (i think in bllb). the gray man refers to the gangsey, as we all know, as "adam parrish and his band of merry men." in other words, he is the king, driven by duty, both that he cannot choose bc of his upbringing and that he chooses bc he can't understand what true freedom yet.

meanwhile, we see development of gansey as the poet. he's the heart of the quest, the person who believes in it to make others believe. this is especially true in trk, where its repeatedly pointed out that gansey can say things in his Gansey voice and making them true. this not only reinforces his place as the poet, but his own (and other characters') awareness of it.

so there's been established and really, really hammered-over delegation of adam as the king and gansey as the poet. then, in trk, we have the scene where adam is being taken over by the demon that's also taking over cabeswater. at the end of that chapter, he is able to regain control over the demon and separate it from cabeswater simply by saying his eyes and hands belong to him again- like gansey would. liek a poet would! his necesity to do this within the plot, the obviousness of him doing this as a chracter (he never wanted to be controlled, just gansey's equal, but he couldn't realize the difference yet) also means that he has moved into the role of the poet (and what could be more of gansey's equal than him becoming who gansey was within the plot?). this leaves the king role, as a narrative function, finally open for gansey to fill.

and it works because we've already seen gansey becoming increasingly anxious throughout trk. he's feeling this sense of power start to shatter, the fear of a life after glendower. but he knows he must finish what he started. how is this shown in the text? when he leaves in the middle of the night to find glendower- a literal repetition of adam leaving alone to sacrifice himself on the line. but, this time, gansey is the one to initiate. he's finally on his way to becoming a king, figuratively and literally. but then, we realize geldower is dead. and this is where this mirroring becomes so rich and fascinating to me.

but why? because gansey, after discovering glendower is dead, also discovers something contradictory to the way this story must go: "glendower was dead. gansey kind of wanted to live." the moment after he realizes it, he becomes so afraid of receiving pity because of his selfishness to live outside the bounds of responsibility thrust upon him. he never had that before. no one stopped him from searching for glendower, from being obsessed. he had the time, money, resources, and charm (unlike adam) to pull off this really kind of ridiculous activity. but, now, he finally uderstands what it meant to sacrifice and it brings up a vulnerability he doesn't know what to do with.

and guess who else dealt with reponsibilites thrust upon them that they didn't know what to do with? who was afraid of being pitied instead of respected as a response? adam! gansey's becoming more like adam. like the king! and the narrative literally acknowledges this: "for the first time, gansey understood adam parrish perfectly."

so, of course, like adam, he must sacrifice something to achieve the actual power of the king in the narrative. so he does. he kisses blue and sacrifices his life. and how is it written? "he fell from her arms. he was a king." he was a king!!!! he was actually a king!!! because, like glendower, he was dead. he couldn't be glendower (which is all he wanted to be- brave, respected, loved, remembered) without dying. because glendower died! and gansey wanted to live! but he couldn't. because he couldn't be who he wanted to be without also taking on the responsibility of what it meant to be that person. he never reallt understood this; adam always did.

i really appreciate this inversion because it gives precedence to their friendship on the plot level: both of them had to meet, to get to know each other, to fight for the plot to start. but then, they had to understand each other, to work hard to love each other, and actually end up on the inverted of the narrative in order to become who they needed to be for the plot to conclude. and it also reinforces another large theme of the series: time as something cyclical. gansey living adam's younger years while adam lives gansey's. that this was required for them to know and love each other fully and for gansey to come back to life and not "throw it away."

[atopvisenyashill]

king bran

so i’ve lined up my theory on how bran will be king in harrenhal but i was a little lax on details about king bran foreshadowing. there’s the “bran in harrenhal” stuff i’ve outlined which includes-

bran’s connection to the weirwoods & the magical connection the isle of faces has

the whent connection

bran being a metaphorical heir to robb by ruling over the lands robb was born, fought, and died in

the importance of harrenhal as a symbol of both the wasteful excess and hope for the future

but why king bran specifically? well…

ATTEMPTED SLAYING BY THE KINGSLAYER

for one thing, bran is our introduction to the entire series (barring the prologue, rip to 3 icons). he introduces us to the brutality of this world, to the themes of justice, kingship, leadership, to the Others, and to magic. that very important lesson about how the person to pass judgement must swing the sword, and must be sure that the life they're taking is one that deserves to be taken? That comes to us not through Jon, or even Arya, but Bran:

Yet our way is the older way. The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

That last sentence in particular is a belief that really sticks in all the kids heads as they go about their journeys, and it is through Bran that we learn it.

But in his second chapter, Bran also introduces us to jaime, cersei, and the main plot twist of the first book which kick starts the war of five kings. before he's pushed from the tower, this is all we know about Jaime-

He’s blonde, he’s named Jaime, and he killed the king.

Then the first thing he does is attempt to slay Bran.

AEGON VI AND THE PISSWATER PRINCE

What’s most interesting to me regarding King Bran foreshadowing is that the story of how Bran survives the sack of Winterfell is very similar to Varys & Illyrio’s story of the pisswater prince. Here is Tyrion’s summary of it-

"And when the pisswater prince was safely dead, the eunuch smuggled you across the narrow sea to his fat friend the cheesemonger, who hid you on a poleboat and found an exile lord willing to call himself your father. It does make for a splendid story, and the singers will make much of your escape once you take the Iron Throne…

and some reminders about Bran, helpfully color coded-

It was not Bran we killed. It was not Rickon. They were only miller's sons, from the mill by the Acorn Water. "I had to have two heads, else they would have mocked me… laughed at me..."

Three times he had sworn to keep the secret; once to Bran himself, once to that strange boy Jojen Reed, and last of all to Coldhands. "The world believes the boy is dead," his rescuer had said as they parted. "Let his bones lie undisturbed. We want no seekers coming after us. Swear it, Samwell of the Night's Watch. Swear it for the life you owe me."

“Hodor must stay with Bran, to be his legs," the wildling woman said briskly. "I will take Rickon with me." “We'll go with Bran," said Jojen Reed. "Aye, I thought you might," said Osha.

Another interesting thing about Bran, the Reeds, and Aegon VI here-

“He has a song," the man replied. "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire."

I swear it by earth and water," said the boy in green. "I swear it by bronze and iron," his sister said. "We swear it by ice and fire," they finished together.

BRAN, THE REEDS, AND THE FISHER KING

Now first of all, quick rundown with more color coding. The Fisher King is a character in Arthurian legend, involved in a story with Perceval and the Holy Grail (so you know we’re already cooking here bc Holy Grail stories are baller). The Fisher King is the last in a long line of kings tasked with guarding the Holy Grail. He is injured at some point, usually in the groin, and is rendered barren by the wound, and his land is a barren wasteland where nothing will grow because he is connected to the land. Only when a prophesied hero comes seeking him will the Fisher King be healed. Perceval, of course, comes seeking him, heals him, and gets the Holy Grail.

Now some of the beats of that story should sound familiar-

Thousands and thousands of years ago, Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favorite. Maybe one of the other Brandons had liked that story. Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.

He was going to be a knight," Arya was saying now. "A knight of the Kingsguard. Can he still be a knight?" "No," Ned said. He saw no use in lying to her. "Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother's Faith and become the High Septon." But he will never run beside his wolf again, he thought with a sadness too deep for words, or lie with a woman, or hold his own son in his arms.

The stone is strong, Bran told himself, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought. I'm not dead either.

What was he now? Only Bran the broken boy, Brandon of House Stark, prince of a lost kingdom, lord of a burned castle, heir to ruins. He had thought the three-eyed crow would be a sorcerer, a wise old wizard who could fix his legs, but that was some stupid child's dream, he realized now. 

No," said the pale lord. "That is beyond my powers." Bran's eyes filled with tears. We came such a long way. The chamber echoed to the sound of the black river. "You will never walk again, Bran," the pale lips promised, "but you will fly."

Now what’s interesting is in twoiaf we learn about some ancient rulers called the Fisher Queens-

From such we know of the Fisher Queens, who ruled the lands adjoining the Silver Sea—the great inland sea at the heart of the grasslands—from a floating palace that made its way endlessly around its shores.

The Fisher Queens were wise and benevolent and favored of the gods, we are told, and kings and lords and wise men sought the floating palace for their counsel.

And what do you know look at who Bran is traveling with-

“My father taught me. We have no knights at Greywater. No master-at-arms, and no maester.” “Who keeps your ravens?” She smiled. “Ravens can’t find Greywater Watch, no more than our enemies can.” “Why not?” “Because it moves,” she told him.

Jojen Reed was thirteen, only four years older than Bran. Jojen wasn't much bigger either, no more than two inches or maybe three, but he had a solemn way of talking that made him seem older and wiser than he really was. At Winterfell, Old Nan had dubbed him "little grandfather."

When they died, they went into the wood, into leaf and limb and root, and the trees remembered. All their songs and spells, their histories and prayers, everything they knew about this world. Maesters will tell you that the weirwoods are sacred to the old gods. The singers believe they are the old gods. When singers die they become part of that godhood.

I like to say this about Theon, when he sees Bran's face in the weirwood and thinks, "The old gods, he thought. They know me. They know my name." that this is partially true - Theon is beloved by the gods but what he doesn't realize is that the old god he is beloved by is in fact Bran Stark. When the old gods weep for Theon and Jeyne, it is Bran weeping for them! So similarly, the way the Fisher Queens in their moving castle were thought to be beloved by the gods the Reeds in their floating castle are beloved by the gods because they are beloved by Bran. This reinforces Bran's connection to the Fisher King imo - just as the old greenseers and singers/cotf are quite literally connected to the land because they have become part of the the weirwood hivemind, Bran has this same connection to the land.

AND what’s more is that the Fisher King story is likely to trace itself back to a Welsh story, of a magical King who gives his sister's hand away, only to learn that she is being mistreated, and musters a host to go save her. During a battle, the King is mortally wounded by an injury in his foot, and as he dies he tells his men to cut off his head and take it to London so he can protect their people from invasion, and for several years after he "dies" his head continues speaking. If that also sounds familair, do you want to know what that man’s name was?

Bran the Blessed.

MELISANDRE'S VISION

Now staying in the realm of magic, we also have this very interesting passage from Melisandre, emphasis mine-

Show me Stannis, Lord, she prayed. Show me your king, your instrument. Visions danced before her, gold and scarlet, flickering, forming and melting and dissolving into one another, shapes strange and terrifying and seductive. She saw the eyeless faces again, staring out at her from sockets weeping blood. Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist, bodies locked together in lust, writhing and rolling and clawing. Through curtains of fire great winged shadows wheeled against a hard blue sky. A face took shape within the hearth. Stannis? she thought, for just a moment … but no, these were not his features. A wooden face, corpse white. Was this the enemy? A thousand red eyes floated in the rising flames. He sees me. Beside him, a boy with a wolf's face threw back his head and howled.

THE REGENCY OF AEGON III

So warning this is part parallelism and part prediction

The Dance of the Dragons was done, and the melancholy reign of King Aegon III Targaryen had begun.

As he was still but ten years of age, the new king’s first act was to name the men who would protect and defend him, and rule for him until he came of age.

This was a council of which Septon Eustace heartily approved, “six strong men and one wise woman, seven to rule us here on earth as the Seven Above rule all men from their heaven.” Mushroom was less impressed. “Seven regents were six too many,” he said. “Pity our poor king.” Despite the fool’s misgivings, most observers seemed to feel that the reign of King Aegon III had begun on a hopeful note.

So many lords, both great and small, had perished during the Dance of the Dragons that the Citadel rightly names this time the Winter of the Widows. Never before or since in the history of the Seven Kingdoms have so many women wielded so much power, ruling in the place of their slain husbands, brothers, and fathers, for sons in swaddling clothes or still on the teat.

The smallfolk of the Seven Kingdoms speak of King Aegon III Targaryen as Aegon the Unlucky, Aegon the Unhappy, and (most often) the Dragonbane, when they remember him at all. All these names are apt. Grand Maester Munkun, who served him for a good part of his reign, calls him the Broken King, which fits him even better. Of all the men ever to sit the Iron Throne, he remains perhaps the most enigmatic: a shadowy monarch who said little and did less, and lived a life steeped in grief and melancholy.

There is also a big focus on the “tax policies” aspect of the story through these two child rulers. Much of Aegon’s regency centers around him butting heads with his guardians while Bran’s ACOK arc sees him as the ruling Stark in Winterfell and learning how to lead with mentors in Maester Luwin & Ser Rodrik Cassell. EYE also think it’s interesting how both Aegon & Bran get some focus on having a lil gaggle of companions around. Aegon has Gaemon, Jaehaera, Viserys, Daenaera, and Larra Rogare, while Bran has the Big Walder, Little Walder, Rickon, Jojen, and Meera. They both feel like very similar groups of kids that are thrown together & running amok with adult supervision that is more lax/not coming from their parents.

There's also just like, a lot of parallels between Baela, Rhaena, Jacaerys, and Aegon with Arya, Sansa, Jon Snow, and Bran. There are several good breakdowns of the Sansa/Arya parallels as well as the Jace/Jon Snow ones, so I won't dig into that here, but I think when you put all this together what you have between Bran and Aegon III is-

Two boy kings who will have a long regency

Both orphaned due to a brutal succession war

Both referred to as "broken" - aegon by munkin, and bran referring to himself

Younger - but not the youngest - brother coming into his seat after his older brother is killed

Both have names that are important in their families & frequently re-used - and in fact both share a name with their uncle

A very rare "winter of widows" where most of the houses are ruled by women due to all the men being dead and their heirs being babies is coming up in the main series

This anti parallel of Aegon being a very melancholy person & Bran being known to be “quick to laugh and easy to love.”

As for his relationships, we have-

His bastard born brother With Some Secret Paternity Going On, who is likely not going to be in the running for King at the end of the war (hopefully um, Jon Snow actually lives unlike poor Jacaerys)

His oldest brother dying at 16 during the war

One sister who is more adventurous and "tomboy"ish, who is associated with ships and travel

Another sister who is more ladylike, who has a largely political arc in the Vale

Both sisters are likely to take leading roles as political players in the aftermath of the war - I do suspect we will get some sort of “Hour of the Wolf” parallels here, just before or after Bran is crowned

SOME CHOICE QUOTES TO LEAVE OFF ON

Bran could perch for hours among the shapeless, rain-worn gargoyles that brooded over the First Keep, watching it all: the men drilling with wood and steel in the yard, the cooks tending their vegetables in the glass garden, restless dogs running back and forth in the kennels, the silence of the godswood, the girls gossiping beside the washing well. It made him feel like he was lord of the castle, in a way even Robb would never know. - Bran II, AGOT

Ahead he glimpsed a pale white trunk that could only be a weirwood, crowned with a head of dark red leaves. - Jon VII, ADWD

[kitskiis]

I think the saddest part about secret life Joel is just how futile all of his actions are in that season. On a surface level i mean stuff like all of his more careful gameplay being cancelled out by a singular failed tnt trap but on a deeper level i specifically mean how that character contrasts with last life Joel. Joel is undoubtedly at his lowest point in the life series in Last Life. He goes down to red in session 2 and spends the majority of the rest of the season alone (and when he does have allies it’s only bc of a shared bloodlust). The red bloodlust completely takes over and this festers for nearly *8 sessions*. Not only that but the one time he is given a chance to restart and go back to yellow his old alliance member goes to red, leaving him alone again, and he is made boogeyman the next session. This, overall, has lasting consequences (he actually wanted to be fairly friendly at the beginning of LL, a stark contrast to how bloodthirsty he was at the beginning of DL or Lim L), and gained him a reputation that has never fully gone away. This is especially bad bc most people agree that LL was the most violent season (despite the lower kill counts in comparison to LimL) and was generally the worst and most traumatizing experience in the games for most people involved. Compare this to secret life, which everyone agrees was definitely the happiest season for Joel (or at least the most normal. His life is a tragedy no matter the season.) he has allies that (for the most part rip mumbo) stick with him until the end, he is friendlier with a larger group of people, and when he initially has to deal with the loss of some of them he has people who can ground him (bc as much as I adore the bad boys, grian was not qualified to do that). He was so hopeful that season, and was generally in a much healthier place mentally. And yet, despite how much he seemed to have grown, those 2 seasons ended so similarly for him it was almost comical. Joel engaged in a fight at the end, watched his ally get killed by scott, and is then forced into a 2v1 against Scott and another player that results in Scott taking his final life and him finishing 5th overall. I was describing both of those seasons here. After everything he did to grow, after all the improvements he had made, everything ended *exactly the same*

Making this about the bad boys for a second (because I’m me) they kinda suffer similar fates. Grian learned in the most tragic way possible that his allies were doomed to fail as long as he was with them no matter what, that this was not something that he could control by simply avoiding killing them himself. Even when he actively tries to save them (“let Tim do it he needs the time” “Joel you can kill me!”) he’ll still lose them in the end. I think this realization is also what made him stop trying to fight it, which resulted in him killing or almost killing his allies from previous seasons immediately afterwards (stabbing scar in the back and that one scene where grian kinda ominously jumps with a sword like he was about to crit and kill bigb after finding out he had 50 seconds left on his timer). It’s sorta like a way of telling the universe “fine. You win”

Similarly Jimmy. Well. I don’t think I need to explain that one. Even when he was given hope that things could be different, that he could break the curse, he died only a few minutes later. I still hold on to the narrative that the watchers only allowed that to happen to give Jimmy false hope that things can be different only to rip the rug out from under him and drive home the point that he is in a losing battle because by the time of secret life Jimmy was one of the only few people who genuinely still believed he had a chance. Obviously this is not something that can fully be a reality until he goes out first next season so if he doesn’t that’s a little awkward but just work with me here

TLDR; here is reason number 672 on why I believe the bad boys are the most doomed motherfuckers on this server and their alliance is a modern tragedy

[wrongcaitlyn]

okay fuck so i got an anon ask for solangelo fic recs and then i made a draft on my phone but then deleted it bc i wanted to type it out on my computer but then that deleted the ask too so!! hopefully this reaches the anon i apologize deeply for losing your ask😭

but anyway. SOLANGELO FIC RECS. ALWAYS. ANYTIME. I HAVE SO MANY

so first of all if you wanna check out my ao3 i have a bunch of recs in my bookmarks (57 solangelo ones im pretty sure)

but here are some of my favs

i'm put in awe (of something so flawed and free) by CordeliaRose (@cordelia---rose)

archaeologist!Nico & trauma surgeon!Will AU. this fic is. ohmgyod. nico's internal dialogue is just absolutely perfect in this fic and i laughed so hard and god it was just so beautifully written?? but also solangelo are literally so cute. like. ahglskdf. i gotta reread this actually but anyway (also anything by this author, absolutely hilarious, such good writing)

dumb, dumb love by thegoldenappleofdiscord

five times nico and will are dumb and in love, and the one time they are totally 100% dead serious. i love a good outsider's pov, and this fic is just gorgeous. it's a bunch of different perspectives into solangelo, and it's pure fluff, and it's got some of my favorite solangelo quotes (like, when i read fanfic i screenshot parts i rlly like and i practically screenshotted this entire fic), and their characterization is just so so accurate they're so so in love

paris by ethannku (@ethannku)

Nico has a travel YouTube channel. And a crush on one Will Solace. i'm such a sucker for socmed au's and this one is done SO so well. my all time favorite. and it's sequel too!! the formatting i am in awe of, but other than that, it's just a really good time and i just love all the little details. i've reread this too many times to count and was SO excited when a sequel was published, and i can only hope that there's more to the au in the future!! (also this author writes incredible solangelo fics and even more valgrace fics which i recently just bingeread and are soo good)

Perfect Places by buoyantsaturn (@buoyantsaturn)

“My name’s Will,” he started - so far so good - but then continued, “and I guess my favorite food to cook would be, um, frozen pizza.” Was Nico only attracted to idiots? this one's fucking hilarious. i can't even put it to words like their dynamic in this fic is so funny and yet so cute and nico is honestly just like. shocked that will is somehow still alive?? will's a safety hazard. but also piper and jason in this fic are so funny too, it's honestly just such a good, fun read (and, once again, this author's incredible. read everything by them)

I Can't Help It If You Look Like an Angel by the_oncoming_stormaggedon (@lordstormageddidnt)

Will Solace is a pre-med student whose friends run a true crime podcast called "Nothing to See Here". Nico di Angelo, despite not realizing he's a missing person, is the subject of one of the episodes. They meet by chance in a random bar, and shenanigans ensue. i mean, if it's got a taylor swift title, i'm already sold. and then it's part of a series called "Hey Stephen is a solangelo song and i will die on that hill" which is the realest thing ever?? but ASIDE from that, i could honestly rec this entire series (+ the other series it's a part of, "Nothing to See Here" which is all part of the same au) and also everything by this author - it's hilarious, i just love the premise, and the writing is so good!! and hey stephen is a solangelo song, thereby reinforcing my "fearless is will's favorite album ever of all time and i will die on this hill" argument

Even When the Music's Gone by the_oncoming_stormaggedon

It's the 74th Annual Hunger Games, and Nico and Will are the last two tributes alive. haha this is pure angst. just gutwrenching angst. love a good hunger games au and some MCD!

can i handle the seasons of my life? by buoyantsaturn

“I think that most people your age finished high school, and whether they knew what they wanted to do with the rest of their life or not, they went to college. That was their version of ditching everything they knew in order to find themselves. Maybe it’s time for you to stop taking advice from other kids who grew up the same way you did, and take it from someone who used to be normal.”  FAME AU FAME AU FAME AU FAME AU i mean, not REALLY about the fame aspect of it, but i still love it so so much. will's essentially a nepo baby turned not-nepo-baby turned college student and nico's naomi's driver, and there's even... there's EVEN A VERY BRIEFLY IMPLIED POLLEN. yeah they're relationship is just so cute in this and i love the au and i love how it's written and ugh i need more fame au's in my life

so it turns out teachers don't live at school by RegretfullyRegretful (@marbleheavy)

Nico's TA and students are determined to figure out something, anything about him. Of course, it would all just be a lot easier if they asked. Either way, Professor di Angelo is decidedly a lonely hermit. (Someone should really tell his husband and baby that) this was one of the first solangelo fics i ever read, and it's just. so. funny. another outsider's pov bc i love it, and just... the assumptions abt nico, the fluff of solangelo, and then their story of how they got together is so...ahhsdlkjs this author is just a master at tooth-rotting fluff go read everything they write

my lover's the sunlight by demigodbeautiies

Figure Skater Nico di Angelo has a run in with Ice Hockey Player Will Solace. It doesn't go too smoothly, but then again - when does it ever? OLYMPICS AU. FAME(ISH) AU. IM OBSESSED THIS IS WRITTEN SO WELL and like... the very brief part where it feels a lot like a fame au like i just i'm obsessed can you tell. the writing is just beautiful in this, i love nico's internal dialogue, and... i mean, it's an olympics au. ofc its perfect

The Stolen God by TsarinaTorment (@tsarinatorment)

Python is defeated. The prophecies are restored, and Nero has fallen. Apollo has not been seen since. His trials are over; why isn’t he back on Olympus? okay so. this is a bit of a longer fic. and it's a post-toa, pjoxmcga crossover, and it's not *entirely* focused on solangelo - but when i tell you that this fic, if i weren't reading it on ao3, i would truly and full-heartedly believe was a real life published novel - i am NOT LYING. i rec'd this to my friend right after i read it bc i was just like so so obsessed with it and it's literally just. the plot?? is insane. i'm in awe of the author, bc this isn't even the only novel-length fic that they've written with an insane plot too (their fic Eclipse is also phenomenal, but it's more focused on apollo and hades so i didn't rec it here) there's some fierrochase here, lester being lester, and some very very very cute solangelo! and meg! i think sometimes you read a fic and you're like "oh, shit, that could be a novel, and i would think it's better than some actual novels i've read" and this is one of them

(Please Don't Let Me) Fade Alone by TsarinaTorment

Please. Don't let me. the summary's really short here so it's basically that will gets very very very injured and then apollo saves him (rip, i'm sorry, i suck at summaries) once again this isn't necessarily nico focused... it's much more will & apollo. this author writes the absolute best stuff for the apollo cabin, genuinely, if you love will/cabin 7/apollo PLEASE read everything they've ever written but this is just so angsty and the hurt/comfort is so real and goddd it's so good

he was seen on occasion (pacing the rocks, staring out at the midnight sea) by stargirltv

Nico di Angelo is a completely normal eighteen year old. He attends high school, has a socially acceptable amount of friends for a social outcast and has been in a relationship for the past four years with the guy he’s pretty sure he’s going to marry. He also happens to be the world's biggest bedroom pop artist, ‘Hell’s Angel’, with a fan base that will stop at nothing to uncover his true identity and a Father that continually pushes him to be better. His boyfriend freaking out under every single one of his tweets is making it a bit easier for them to figure it out. so. fame au. y'all already know the premise of this is just absolutely hilarious and the interview?? the posts?? will just being will and i absolutely love his characterization?? and the friend group?? this is one of the funniest things ever but also just written so well anddddd yes yes yes it's a fame au POPSTAR NICO RIGHTS except he's not *really* a popstar in this one but like close enough oh AND it's a taylor swift title??? like this fic was made for me basically

okay that was MUCH longer than intended but i hope you enjoy some of the fics on here!! pls let me know if y'all ever want more recs i read literally so many fics - and if you guys ever want to give me any recs, feel free to do so! as of today, i have read *checks fic tracker bc i'm obsessive and need to keep track of everything* about 7.3 million words of fanfic this year. and that's actually less than normal (for me)

also if anyone reads patrochilles please read this fic it's literally been in my head nonstop for the past few weeks since i've read it and it's one of the best things i've ever read and like holyshit if you read patrochilles read it read it read it

[sorryimananti-romantic]

sorryimananti-romantic's tumblr wrapped, 2024

tagged by @makeitmingi and @sungbeam <3

2024 review

this year i explored a lot of the darker characters/dynamics which was an absolute pleasure, but i think such heavy plots also drained the energy out of me (or maybe it was the absolute monster of a wip i was writing consistently all year). while i did slip in some fluffy lighthearted fics here and there, i decided to take a break in november from writing in general. after an actual no-writing few weeks, i went back to my wip series and decided to just follow my heart (as if i hadn't already been doing that before) but more importantly, not force myself to write.

as of 2024, i have written more than a million words in a span of 3 years. i think i deserve to be slow with writing now! (plus, life, folks. real life.) thank you to all my lovely mutuals and readers for the incredible support you've shown me here!

total statistics of 2024

no. of fics: 8 total wc: 190,299 (+ a solid 113,000 if we count the leaders) no. of wips: 1 (+ a few ideas that have only been brainstormed but not written)

genres explored in 2024

fantasy, supernatural, historical, royal, thriller, action, crime, psychology-ish, futuristic, tragedy, adventure, romance, mafia (basically... everything?)

first fic of 2024: siren

- posted: jan 2nd - pairing: siren!yeosang x sirenhunter!reader - comments: this was my first time writing anything related to the sea (if memory serves me right) so while this was quite the challenge, it was fun bc i wanted to make sth unique out of the typical siren x siren hunter plot. i'm glad the response was good!

longest fic: light

- posted: sept 10th - pairing: mafia/angel!seonghwa x chemist!reader - comments: i think this is my second fav fic from this year. the idea of 'what happens when an angel becomes evil' plagued my mind so bad that i just had to get this out of my system. plus, i love writing fantasy in general so this was fun.

last fic: the leaders | chapter I

- posted: dec 31st - pairing: ot8!ateez x reader, mafia au - comments: just posted, pls check it out! it's going to be a long series since it's been in planning and a wip for over a year now. the leaders is going to be my whole personality for the foreseeable future (plus, according to my schedule, it's going to end in the 3rd quarter of 2025 so... buckle up!)

top 3 most popular fics of 2024

guerrilla

- posted: jan 31st - pairing: serialkiller/vigilante/doctor!yunho x writer!reader - comments: when i wrote this, i had no idea it would blow up. it's lighthearted but i think the response triggered me to explore more morally grey characters and darker dynamics.

ateez as villains

posted: nov 5th comments: this marked the last fic of this year, and also the villain/dark characters arc I've had going the whole year. i think it was a nice wrap because i'm taking a break from writing other stuff and just focusing on finishing my ongoing series.

new world

posted: june 5th pairing: prince!hongjoong x physician!reader comments: i think this was peak morally black characters and peak toxic manipulative dynamics between the characters, yet there was a sad beauty to it. i enjoyed writing this very much.

yumi's personal picks

star 1117

- posted: july 10th - pairing: wooyoung x alienoid!reader - comments: and this is my fav fic from 2024! it has everything i love: wooyoung, space, time travel, wholesome side characters jongho and yeosang, alienoid reader who learns to connect with the human in herself, and such delicious plot twists and foreshadowing. i'm ngl, i'm the biggest fan of this fic, and it's prob also one my fav oneshots I've written. while this didn't blow up (why do my fav fics never do), i had sooo much fun writing this.

cyberpunk

- posted: march 27th - pairing: droid!jongho x programmer!reader - comments: this was THE toughest fic to plan (not the time travel ones, not even mafia, but THIS). i haven't read many droid stories so lack of reader knowledge, and then wanting to still make a plot out of it other than 'omg my boyfriend turned into a droid' was hard. i rewrote this so many times but i'm very satisfied with how it turned out.

wave (sneaking this here bc it's the only unmentioned fic LOL)

- posted: april 25th - pairing: teacher!mingi x teacher!reader (headcanons) - comments: this one was a fun filler fic (bc i'm guilty that I've not written much mingi, and bc i literally could not write at that time). i love a fluffy mingi, i love fluffy fics in general so this was the product of my simpness, if you will.

2025 goals

finish the leaders and finish posting it, not force myself to write, write better, read more fics on here, and explore more genres (atp will have to invent some), finish the current ideas before planning and obsessing over new ones vs writing whatever i want (a constant struggle), and finally, just survive :')

np tags: @lorensonebraincell @kitten4sannie @sp4ceboo @sweetinsaniiity @bvidzsoo @pirateprincessblog + anyone who wants to (if yall write for different fandoms, you can add a 'top artists/muses' section too.)

[himbocoups]

˗ˋˏ Epistolary Yearning ˎˊ˗ | 18+ Only

synopsis: a series of letters, speckled with notes of budding romance and longing, exchanged between a newly married couple separated by seas and the ongoing war the emperor sent his commander to end.

pairing: duke!lsm x reader (gn afab)

genre: epistolary form, historical fantasy, romance | smut

tags: arranged marriage, mentions of a war, dk and yn accidentally invent the concept of planes, two people very much falling in love | degrading, fingering, guided play, honey play, marking, mirror play, pet names, praise, pussy slapping, riding, spitting, squirting…

wc: 5.13k

message from nu: fueled by my love for historical, fantasy, and isekai manhuas. big thank you to my beta readers (@heartkyeom, @aceofvernons, and @multi-kpop-fanfics) for reading when I was playing with the format of this fic + @junkissed with helping out with the syntax for this one very confusing line I wrote. also summoning @onlyseokmins bc I told her I'd tag her once duke!dk was finished <3

himbocoups's masterlist

Letter One - YN

My Lord, 

How are you? I hope your trip is going as smoothly as planned. 

It has been a while since I last heard from you. As Summer comes to a fading end, Autumn threatens to wash the foliage to hues of brown and auburn. And I sit at the library nook beside the window, taking quill to parchment against the cover of a heavily bound book and scratching against blank pages before I can muster the courage to write to you. I do sincerely apologize if this attempt seems strange. 

Though I pity our brief time together, the only things I familiarized myself with are your scintillant eyes. Maybe instead of feeling as dull as the color of nature, I’ll think about how the color is reminiscent of your eyes. Eyes, these beautiful jewels seem to reflect the light through your smile. I can’t help but imagine myself as the last person to see them every night as I lay beside you as we drift off into slumber. Would it be too forward of me to say that the thought of growing fond of you, not just your eyes, is slowly appealing more and more to me? 

However, I do have hesitations as I am left alone to roam these lonely halls in a place so unfamiliar to me. It would be a pity shall I reach familiarity with my surroundings before I become familiar with you. Or even worse, to have you forget your familiarity with me. 

Please be safe for me. Hurry home soon.

Letter Two - DK

My Jewel,

For someone who longs for familiarity, you need not create even more distance between us through formalities. And my love, you need not refer to me as your Lord. Love is all I ask for, as love is what you will always be to me. Albeit, I do find it disheartening to read that you think of me so lowly. I could never forget someone as precious as you, even if you do not believe in your preciousness. 

Nevertheless, I, too, pity the brevity of our time together. Marriage agreed upon through an exchanging of letters by our guardians, now our marriage follows suit in the epistolary form. Yet no descriptive access through penmanship could ever grant the feeling that blossomed inside me and continues to bloom since I first laid my eyes upon you. And on the eve of the third week of our matrimony, I was whisked away to end the war. I do sincerely apologize for my absence. 

On this rocking ship, all I can do is stare into the swirling sea in search of a passing merchant ship with letters to deliver. The birds that soar above me seem to provoke me with their independence, cawing in hearty guffaw at the fact that this poor man can never take flight at any moment back into his lover’s arms - where he feels most at home.

Maybe we should take giant birds instead of ships, soaring in the skies and reaching our destination in an instant. How wondrous that would be. 

But I am an equally lonesome Commander among his squadron, a man who keeps the first letter from his lover in the pocket against his breast and his wedding band around his neck. Just thinking about how you were thinking about me while writing that letter, still thinking about me, conciliates any disarray in my mind. And I promise you that I will make you feel loved for the rest of your life, even if our love is only budding. 

I will lead my men well. Then I will lead myself home. To you. 

Letter Three - YN

My Dokyeom (If it is fine to refer to you in this way),

I do have to admit to my shyness, how my face flushed with heat when you referred to me as your beloved. Your “love”…my goodness, our servants nearly called the doctor over when they saw my state of awe. Although, I do apologize if the language in my initial letter seemed blunt or made you feel even a hint of sadness that I accidentally made you for a man with a cold demeanor. 

You wrote: “Maybe we should take giant birds instead of ships, soaring in the skies and reaching our destination in an instant” in our last exchange. What a preposterous idea! But what a new discovery to find that you are as funny as you are charming. Shall we commission a local alchemist to create potions that magnify tiny sparrows to large ships? Or shall I ditch my archery lessons in exchange for nights in your magnificent library, scouring the archives with the hope to find a recipe to an enlarging potion hidden in a romance novel? 

Oh, how I wish everything could be as easy as depicted in romance novels or that one Opera we went to watch. Days consume me on end. Not in the way in which I consume much of my leisure time by staying in the places we frequented in our time together, but in the way in which time passes by so slowly it feels like the concept of time is consuming me instead. I wish it were you who were consuming me even though I do feel it through your love. Because I, too, keep your letter near me. And I trace over the areas your quill indented the parchment, so much that I sometimes end up smudging the dried ink with my hand. 

I do miss you...even more when everything around me reminds me of you. Because you, who makes silly promises about a budding romance, will also be the receiver of my elementary promise about my slowly collecting love for you. 

P.S. They are close to finishing our portraits. I have yet to decide where they are to be hung. 

Letter Four - DK

My Love,

My Seokmin. Seok. Min. Mine. Beloved. Love. Dearest. Husband. Equal. Anything but Duke, Lord, Commander, or Dokyeom is welcome. How I wish for the day I get to hear my name leave your lips through a soft murmur, laughter, greeting, whisper, and mayhaps even a whine. 

Honeymoon was cut short by my trip across the sea. We are finally on land. In front of me is a crackling campfire whose glow conceals the redness of my cheeks, dappled with jubilance from reading your last letter. 

My dearest shy and humble lover whose metaphoric propositions of love are anything but reticent, I have annotated my favorite portions and circled words that I replay in my mind as a source of comfort. However, like what you did with your quotation of my imaginary bird ship, I must reference a few nuances in your letter that I find interesting. Particularly, I find that you must be careful in formatting your syntax, my beloved — for your way of language is enough to drive a sane man mad. Just think of me: a sane man before I had you and now a man slowly falling madly in love with you. 

Referring back to how time achingly consumes you, your “I wish it were you who were consuming me. Although I do feel it through your love” causes me to quiver in a way that is only shared between two lovers. I am a man whose honeymoon was interrupted by the king’s call, a man who is weeks without his lover, a man who has needs - desires. And your need for me to consume you? I can only pluck it out of context. 

If everything around you reminds you of me, then I must tell you that I hope your reminder does not make you suffer as how I suffer. My love, do you know how painful it was to lay in my bed while the ship continually rocked back and forth? It was reminiscent of our second week together when you decided to mount me in bed, your beautiful opalescent undergarment covering an action so lewd that it could never be named in public. Yet I was a man on a ship with his aching cock in his hand, imagining his newly beloved on top of him who squeezes him tightly as they ride his lap. 

No hand could ever replace the fervor of having you rock me, leaning forward to kiss me down my naked chest while sucking and licking the thin area of skin right above my collarbone. How warmly your walls enveloped my own, squeezing and contrasting with every glide you make. I couldn’t help but twitch in you, trying to hold in my selfishness by grabbing onto your thighs - kneading and feeling the skin fill the areas between my fingers. But you bounced on my lap like a bunny in heat, causing my hands to trail further upwards until they lay on your ass…I wanted to worship you by turning myself into a throne, a marble stand so others could be in awe of you for centuries to come. 

Mouth unable to talk, your kitten drooled onto my lap and coated the surface with liquid lust while you whimpered as I praised you for treating me so well. I scooped the syrup from the maple tap and brought it to my mouth to suck; even now I can still feel your sweet syrup rest on my tongue and swirl in my mouth. Yet there I was on that boat, losing my mind with my hand on my tap. Bed sheets soaked with my sweat, I could only imagine that it was your sweat-glistened skin that stuck against mine. It was but a shame, and still is but a shame, that the image of you collapsed against my chest with exhaustion when your thighs trembled with such a quake only exists as a memory. How long would it take for me to turn the memory of me looping my arms around your back and pushing your upper body against mine, feeling you build and crash through a scream, into our reality? 

The land is no better than the sea. Truly, it must be treason to think such impure thoughts while riding on my finest stallion to head to our base. I am a Commander, a Duke for God’s sake. But the bouncing, the clopping - oh, beloved, my skin pricked with heat so much that I thought bandits were ambushing us. The pain I felt while I waited for my swelling to go down - I am utterly embarrassed to admit I almost released while riding in front of my men. 

How I wish I could come running back home to you. Shall I single-handedly overturn the monarchy so we can be equal partners to the throne? So that we can be rulers who need not leave our estate? Just give me the word, and the empire will be yours. Then I would never need to leave your side. That I guarantee. 

P.S. Hang the portrait wherever you please. Perhaps the ballroom so I would always be with you during the night of the balls. 

Letter Five - YN

My King,

How mad of you to write such vulgarities, to suggest usurping the throne only if it means being able to stay with me. You are a Commander. You are a Duke. You are one of the King’s men. Do you not fear the inevitable consequences that you would face should your letter be opened by anybody other than myself? Do you not fear what would happen to you if your lust-driven joke was wrongly taken for treason? I must say that despite everything, I found myself dipping a finger into your words and listening to my juices sing your letter like lyrics. 

Your words comforted my ache at my core, skillfully fighting fire with fire to extinguish my burning forest. However, if you were to turn into a mere object – a chair, a throne, a stand – I would never be satisfied in your worship. ‘Tis true that I would like to be worshiped by you like the first time your palm cupped my face in private confinement under the shade of the gazebo in the garden. With nobody around us, your face softened to reveal the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. Earnest eyes flittered to and fro as you studied me in awe and whispered words of praise. Up until then, I never even knew you could worship a person such as me. Yet, you, a mere stranger I met a few hours ago, placed a kiss upon my lips as soft as the petals on the flowers that surrounded us. 

If worshipping me means an inanimate you, I don’t think there would be anybody who could worship me with such sincerity and reason as you do…and I quite like the animate you even if the animate you screamed at the bug upon your sleeve. I couldn’t stop laughing then. And when you looked back at me with those bashful eyes, I knew this would be a marriage filled with laughter.  

Laughter, as I have recently learned, doesn’t only exist jovially. No. Reading your comment about my syntax, I almost erupted in a peal of sinister laughter. My poor lover with his cock in his hand and his quill in his other and his attempt to warn someone with such an extensive educational background about their syntax…you are too pure for this world. Should it make you feel better in any way, I have also thought about you in ways such a person in my stature should never. 

The other day when I was particularly distracted by the particular “unease” that had been building inside me, I accidentally launched a practice arrow into the wind. Chasing it, I happened upon our agriculture stables where the young workers sit and milk our cows. I swear, I must have been in such a delusional state to feel such a rush just from watching the motion of our cows getting milked that I ran off to the kitchens without picking up my stray arrow. 

Can you believe it, my dear? Have you been thinking of me differently since I admitted to almost leaking when I saw the cows getting milked? Would you think of me even differently if I told you I thought of you while talking to our ice sculptors? If you can quench my thirst on my loneliest days, I can only imagine what taking you in paired with ice would feel like for both you and me. 

Mayhaps, we should convene in the kitchen at night after the bell strikes twelve when all of our kitchen staff have retired. I want to kiss you with cherry-stained lips, watching tint transfer onto yours as I play with the seed of the fruit in my mouth while I wait for our cups of tea to steep. Kissing, I hope, would act as an analgesic for your painfully sleepless nights. Still, I find it abstruse that a kind, gentle, and good man like you would live such a cathartic life as a commander. Enerverated in every way as I am, I can only offer a somnolent kiss in hopes of luring you to sleep before your tea can fully steep. 

“What is a man without his honey,” you would say. Then I would ask you to specify what type of honey you are referring to. 

You would reply with this cheekiness in your voice while your lips pull into a wide smile, “the syrup.” If I’m not wrong, you would peck the top of my head while you reach over me to grab the jar that the cook keeps at the counter for you to easily access. Because the man with a honeyed siren voice that often procures lullabies for me to fall asleep also has a taste for the pollinators’ syrup. 

As you can tell…we are not simple people. We are not a regular couple. We have exchanged letters for longer than we have physically been together. So when I tell you to close your eyes to try to find your honey, would you? If I blindfolded you with a kitchen towel and told you to search for the dab of honey I swatched on my body, could you do it? Would you go to the lengths just to search for the honey to your tea?

Would you use your nose and sniff along my skin, searching for the floral and fruity aroma? Gently picking up my arm and bringing it to your nose, would you gently guide your nose along the surface of my skin in a position so intimate that you feel my arm hairs tickle the tip of your nose? Would you guide your nose upwards along my arm until you arrive at my collarbone, sniffing and docilely licking areas you think to be as sweet as honey? 

Imploring you in your reconnoiter, I must keep quiet as I watch you blindly explore every groove of the topography of my body. I imagine myself tilting my head towards the side to allow you access to the side of my neck, sharply breathing in as you nose the area in which I am the most sensitive. I see you hesitate for a second before planting your supple lips against the skin as if to sample before making a decision. To your surprise, what coats your lips in a sticky and sweet amber gloss is the honey I placed on my neck slowly trailing towards my collarbone. And I watch you intently as you lick it off your lips, leaving a translucent liquid sheen. 

Affected by a magnetic lure, you would somehow find yourself in front of me, your head positioned right above the slowly trailing bead of honey. It starts with a lick, hot tongue against cold skin. I can’t help but feel how the bumpy texture of your tongue cleans and pulls its way up my neck. After the hot saliva hits cold air, you take off the kitchen towel and look at me like a puppy waiting for its owner. 

“Such a good boy,” I murmur as I take the towel from your hand and wrap it around the nape of your neck to pull you in closer. “How does it taste?” 

What is more, is that I hope that in that moment my heart is not the only one that is beating as fast as how a hummingbird flaps its wings. My greedy husband, you back me against the kitchen island until you are pressed firmly against me as I watch and feel you bite and suck a garden of flowers across my neck and chest. Your large hands find themselves around my thighs, kneading and squeezing them so much that the fabric of my night clothes bunch in the palm of your hands. So I maneuver your hands around my waist, and you spin me around and bend me against that counter so I can feel you push yourself against me. 

“Be good for me,” you would command while undressing me. 

Then I would feel it, hands spreading my legs and fingers prying my ass apart, and then your warm and flat tongue against my kitten. One single lick would make my knees buckle. But you eating me out from behind, the way you knead my ass while you take your time swirling your tongue against my lips and lapping up my juices would make me come in an instant. Your tongue presses against my nub while your nose digs itself into my opening almost to the point where you’re fucking me with the tip of your nose, yet it is me who begs for air. And you keep my liquid on your tongue as you rise from your knees to pull my head back until I’m looking at you and your swollen and burgundy lips with my head tilted backward. 

And you pry my mouth open with your hand and watch me catch that sweet honey on the tip of my tongue. 

My dear, I am much too hot to even think about what comes after you let go of my jaw. My tenses in this letter are all mixed up because I’m so caught up in my delusions that I mistake dreams for reality. I feel ashamed to revert to such elementary composition when I am clouded by lust. But in this sensory game of wits, who do you think would win — the explorer or the explored? 

P.S. I’ve had our painting temporarily hung in our dining room as I cannot even bring myself to think about the possibility of hosting a ball without you. The great ballroom has been collecting dust since the first month you left for the war. Besides, invitations to the first ball of the season have long been sent out. I attended and made some acquaintances. Are you proud of me? Are you missing me as much as I am missing you?

Letter Six - DK

My Sweet,

Loneliness is when you are trapped by your stillness while everything around you splits into two and crumbles. And you are stuck in the open space of where everything once was, you in your bubble of muteness as the world crashes and breaks in a cacophonous roar. The feeling that engulfed me during these past few months was beyond my description of loneliness. So with a happy heart, I am telling you that the war is over. I’m coming home soon to hold you in my arms, to show you what this world that surrounds you is truly like — delicate and with the warmth of a glowing morning Sun that promises juvenescent Springs until the end of time. 

Regarding your question about the potential winner of the sensory game you described in your last letter, whether I am the person exploring or explored, I know I would always be the victor as only a true victor can call you “his.” My sweet love, I hope to stick by your side as long as I prefer honey in my tea and you by my side when I sleep. 

However, with a slightly interruptive transition, I have a few requests regarding the contents of your postscript. That is:

One, I am wholly and with every fiber of my mind, soul, and body proud of you. You, my shyest lover who sought friendship in your moments of loneliness, I love you so. Yet I find myself utterly in distress that I cannot co-host our tea parties until later should you hold one in a few days. Our estate is boring, and it must be tiring seeing the same things and people every day for the past few months. I urge you to go out more and explore so I can come home to plentiful stories told in your voice. I want to fall asleep to your descriptions so I can dream of how you see the world around you. 

Two, of course, I am missing you. Even if I were a few yards away from you, I would still miss you. I am currently bothering our treasurer in regards to spending the rest of our budget on a winter wonderland in which we would freeze the entire world so I could easily and quickly sled back home like a seal off an iceberg. However, our treasurer is insistent on saving the budget for lodging, travel, and sustenance. I, for one, think I am right.

Three, I think this might be my last letter in a while as when this stack of parchments finally reaches you, I would almost be home. So I am struggling between keeping this short and straight to the point or long and thoroughly eloquent with everything that I want to write and say to you. Instead of coming to a conclusion by myself, I bid you farewell until we meet again with this set of instructions within my set of requests for you. I’m sorry if the format of my letter makes it very hard for you to read. Like how you described your delusions, I often find myself alone at night imagining you by my side so much that I feel your physical presence next to me. 

Four, as for our portrait in our dining room, I must ask you to perform a favor for me as I have not seen the finished painting myself. It is a test regarding the “likeness” of our portraits that can only be performed by yourself. When you wish to perform the test before I arrive, please excuse all our staff who stay by your side during dinner and ask to eat alone. Should they give you looks, please say that it was requested by me. 

When you are alone, I need you to get into a position in which you can look at yourself through the large mirror that is mounted above the low mantle towards the end of the dining room table. I assume our portrait is hung on the wall at the other side of the dining room table, am I right? If you move the plates and sit on the table, you should be able to look at both your entire body and our portrait through the mirror. Do not worry about making a mess my dear. 

Perhaps this test may be a little lewd for a dinner setting. But after your proposed rendezvous in the kitchen in your last letter, I suppose this test would be nothing to you. 

Look at yourself in the mirror. Can you imagine me behind you, slowly kissing down your neck as I undress you while the candlelights flicker beside us? Our shadows cast against the walls that surround us tell the story of two lovers slowly conjoining into one. And I sit you against the front of my naked body, bending your legs and positioning them so you can see all of you through the mirror.

My love, can you see your lips unfold into a beautiful bloom, leaking with its sweet nectar for your man to taste? The sweet nectar, the glistening substitute to the honey our staff brought alongside our dinner rolls, rolls off the flower and soaks the tablecloth beneath you. Tonight I am not doing anything except revel in your beauty like a man awestruck by something so exquisite that he cannot do anything but stare. 

I want you to imagine that the same me in the portrait is the me you imagine to be behind you, the very me who writes this letter and instructs you on how to pleasure yourself for the night. Suck on your own fingers, my darling. Bring your fingers to your lips, and let me see the way you ready yourself before the pleasure comes. Because what I want is for you to fuck yourself well for me so that after you’ve squirted all over the dining table your pussy continues to throb so much that you confuse it for your beating heart. 

Don’t be shy. Bring your soaked fingers to your folds, and trace along the lines of the petals. Look at how they seemingly open and close as your stomach jerks in reaction. Slowly rub yourself up and down, coaxing that beautiful sigh that I know too well out of your mouth. Feel the pads of your finger mix with your juices, slipping easily and making your hand glide smoother. 

Are you looking at me through the mirror? Are you begging me to instruct you in other ways to satisfy your lust? Do you want to rub your pearl and flick it with your finger in a way that makes you clench and collapse? 

What is it, honey? Are you whining for me to make you feel good? But this is your guided session. Don’t you see yourself through the mirror, so pathetic looking that you would do anything that I tell you to do? Then take that same hand you used to tease yourself and slap your pussy for me. Bring the hand back and bring it down on your pussy quickly and with so much might that the sound of palm against tender skin echoes throughout the empty dining room. 

Don’t you feel pathetic? Getting off from you slapping your own pussy? Doesn’t it please you and make feel so dirty at the same time? When you’re striking your palm against your pussy over and over as your other hand unconsciously reaches upwards to knead your sore nipple, are you looking at yourself through the mirror? Are you still imagining me sitting behind you on our dining table, whispering and taunting you as you attempt to come undone? If your head is not completely clouded with lust, when that pussy is throbbing with such pain and pleasure, you will take your finger to your entrance and insert it slowly so you feel your warm and wet insides slowly swallow your finger the further in it goes. 

Let your mouth hang open as you plug yourself with another finger. Fill the lonely dining room with your sweet moans for me. Listen to your kitten squelch and leak the more you pump yourself so that a warm and hot feeling grows in your stomach, making you clench your body tighter and tighter. Scissor your fingers, and fill up that empty space where my cock usually rests. When you release, pull out your fingers as you come on the tablecloth and look at the cream I miss the most. 

You’re so perfect, you know that? You’d look even more perfect when you’re on your knees with your fingers underneath you and inside of you. Bounce for me my sweet, ride your own fingers as if you’re riding me. Massage yourself with your other hand, grabbing and kneading your breasts and your nipples as I do for you. Can you see yourself through the mirror more clearly when you’re in this position? Do you see how messy and needy you look while you’re pathetically riding your own fingers? Do you wish they were mine? Do you wish they were my thighs? 

Open your eyes for me as you reach another wave of ecstasy. Look at me in the eyes, the man painted next to your glowing figure as you reach your last high. I know you can do it. Scream my name if you love me, and squirt as if your pussy was crying for the man you love. 

Turn your head around when you’ve caught your breath. Look at our portrait. Do you see how I’m smiling at you? 

I’m proud of you, my love. Thank you for holding on for so long. I’ll be home soon. 

P.S. I love you.

Copyright © 2023 Himbocoups. All rights reserved.

[t-lostinworlds]

Spider & The Slayer | Peter Parker

PAIRING: peter parker x vampire slayer!oc TROPE/GENRE: meet cute; coffee shop au; fluff SUMMARY: Where Peter meets a girl who isn't who she seemed to be. WARNINGS: cursing, nwh spoilers i guess, vampires, i think that's it? it's pretty tame. WORD COUNT: 5.2k+

A/N: hello! here's a fic commissioned by @theslayerofthevampires ! thank u so so much for trusting me with this. this was definitely something new for me bc i've never done oc's before. but anyways i hope you're satisfied with it! and i hope u guys enjoy it!

📍 BLOG NAVIGATION ✩ P. PARKER MASTERLIST ✩ MAIN MASTERLIST ✩

⊱ ─────.⋅♚ *｡･ﾟ.★. *｡･ﾟ✫*.

It was fascinating how changing one small thing of a routine could have a profound impact on a person's life. You could leave the house a minute early and the series of events that would happen henceforth would be different than if you had left the house a minute late. Whether that was for better or for worse remained unknown.

As for Peter, it was him coming into the café later than when he usually did.

Later in the afternoon once he was finished with his morning errands was when he typically showed up, that way he could go straight into patrolling for the night after finishing a warm coffee or two. But since the night before was much more taxing compared to the others, he found himself sleeping past his multiple alarms.

It only became a domino effect after that.

He showed up late at his morning job, which caused him to clock out later than usual to appease his manager. As a result of that, rush hour caught him so getting to the train station took far longer than usual.

Peter knew of MJ's schedule at the café, so he knew he could still catch her on time, even if it would only result in seeing her for only a few minutes. What he didn't take into account was her getting off early and missing her entirely.

He only found out the second he got inside the café. Because instead of the familiar girl with a certain head of curls standing behind the counter, it was a big, bald, burly man who he knew was the owner of the place. Peter was so used to MJ taking his order that he ended up just staring at the man for a few seconds or more.

"Are you going to order or what?" the man gruffly said.

Just as Peter was about to speak, he was interrupted by the chime of the front door's bell followed by heavy and rushed footsteps.

During the months he'd been keeping tabs on MJ and Ned under the guise of being a regular customer, he had never seen her before.

Beautiful brown eyes with dark brown hair framing her pretty face even though her features sported an annoyed look more than anything else. The red dress she wore complemented her skin tone prettily. She also wore some black tights, knee-high boots and a long black coat—to keep her warm, most likely. Apart from finding her cute, her silver necklace with a cross also had him intrigued.

At first, Peter thought she was just a customer rushing in to seek warmth and to hide away from the coldness of the outside. Yet aside from the sharp glare the man was sending her way, she walked directly past Peter and straight into the back room.

The man turned to Peter and said, "We will be with you in a moment."

The moment the man disappeared into the back, an argument ensued. 

It wasn't a screaming match per se—the voices were muffled more than anything else—but it was loud enough for some words to echo into the front counter. Either way, Peter was only able to discern their exact conversation due to his enhanced hearing.

"You're supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago!"

"The traffic was shit, Larry, what'd you want me to do? Fly?"

"This isn't the first time you've been late, young lady!'

"I'm earlier than my usual shift!"

"If this happens, again—"

"What? You're firing me?"

Peter heard a beat of silence followed by some grumbling.

"That's what I thought. You're already short-staffed as is," the girl scoffed. "Now can I go and do my job?"

There was a few more grumbling before she finally came back out to the front.

Peter caught her heavy eye roll before she locked gazes with him.

As if knowing that he overheard everything, her whole demeanor suddenly turned shy. Or perhaps Peter simply didn't master his poker face yet. He probably looked too concerned for someone who wasn't supposed to hear anything.

"Sorry about that," she said with a timid smile.

"You don't need to apologize," Peter responded, trying to reassure her as much as he could.

She nodded, her smile turning a little more relaxed. "Same as usual?"

Peter looked at her confused.

Sure, he frequented here often but he didn't think anyone else would be aware of his order considering it was always MJ who took it.

Noticing his confusion, the girl in front of him let out a soft yet awkward laugh.

"I usually work at the back but I do notice how you come here often," she explained, looking away immediately after as she waved her hand. "Not in a weird way or anything! I-I mean like, I'm not a stalker or uh, a creep or something—"

"Don't worry," Peter reassured her, chuckling. "I mean, I come here often and I barely know who else works here? It's kinda my fault for noticing you."

The girl became even more flustered than before, so Peter decided to divert the subject and asked for her name.

"Isabella," she said, smiling with her hand out. "But you can call me Elle."

"Parker. Peter," he fumbled, cheeks turning hot as he shook her hand with a chuckle. "Peter Parker."

"Nice to meet you, Peter," she giggled in return. "Now, what can I get for you?"

•••

It was only a week later that Peter found out that MJ had already resigned from the café. He shouldn't have been surprised considering school was starting back up again. Sure, August was still a few weeks out but he figured she decided to go there early to be able to familiarize with the city. He assumed Ned did the same thing too, since he also hadn't seen him around the café since then.

A part of him wished he could've seen them one last time before they got to Boston. But the other part of him was saying this was for the best. Besides, what was he even going to say? It would've made things weird if he said goodbye because at the end of the day, to them, he was just a random customer that frequented the café.

Yet despite the fact that the two main people he always checked up on—the main reason he visited the café in the first place—were no longer in New York, he couldn't stop going.

He told himself it was simply out of habit. After all, he had been going to the café every single day for the past couple of months. It had been ingrained in his routine that not stopping by at least once simply felt wrong in some way.

Yet deep down he knew it was probably something else or rather, someone.

In only a short amount of time, Elle had intrigued him more than he'd like to admit.

Peter wasn't sure yet as to what exactly it was.

He'd like to think that he was simply making a new friend. But would a simple and innocent friendship—if the mentioned friendship didn't have any underlying feelings—make you feel conflicted? 

Even though he was very well aware he was doing absolutely nothing wrong, Peter somewhat felt a sense of guilt hanging out with Elle.

He kept going back to the promise he made to MJ, about finding her and making her remember. But then again, he'd been visiting the café for months yet there was never any progress. And every time Peter thought they were getting somewhere, that hope would immediately be snuffed out once he realized that she only recognized him as a regular customer and nothing more.

Now, she was hundreds of miles away and chasing after her to Boston wouldn't be a good idea. Apart from coming off as a stalker by appearing at every place she was at—New York needed Spider-Man.

Maybe he should've tried harder when she was still here. Maybe he should've just told her the truth right off the bat.

Or maybe it was time to move on.

Not that he would ever acknowledge all of these feelings any time soon, obviously.

For the past few weeks, he'd been justifying his urge to spend time with Elle as a mere curiosity. Because there was just something about her that he couldn't quite put a finger on. And the only way to find out was to be in her company.

Peter only wanted answers to the questions floating in his head.

That was what he kept telling himself, at least.

•••

It sort of worked.

And by that, Peter meant he learned much more about Elle the more they spent time together.

She was the same age as him and an only child of divorced parents. She was originally from a town just outside of Los Angeles and had only recently moved to New York once she was legal to do so. Now, she found herself working full-time at the café to make ends meet.

They weren't at a stage of knowing each other's numbers yet and they mostly hung around the café—as if it was their own little bubble, almost. But the hours Peter spent in his usual nook in the corner had definitely increased.

If she noticed, she never said a word about it.

Better yet, whenever he would study there for an upcoming GED test, she would sometimes sit with him and help him out whenever her boss wasn't looking. She also was generous enough to give him free refills during moments he would stay later in the night.

Peter would be lying if he said it didn't make him feel some type of way.

His cheeks would heat up whenever their gazes would meet from across the room. A certain warmth would settle in his heart whenever he'd hear her laugh, its pace beating that little bit faster whenever it was him who'd made her laugh. He would find himself grinning unconsciously whenever he would catch a glimpse of her smile, the corner of his lips lifting higher whenever that very smile was directed at him—that type of way.

Something that only seemed to grow on the one-month mark they'd known each other—and hadn't stopped growing since then.

It was easy to say that he was starting to really, really,likeher.

He had also learned to simply let things play out—to go with the flow, if you will. So, he tried not to be too hard on himself and just let himself feel what he feels and see where it goes.

After saving the world countless times and this city even much more, he could at least indulge himself in talking to a pretty girl, right?

Still, there was something else that also piqued his interest. Because the more he got to know her, the more questions seemed to keep popping up.

It made him even more curious.

Other than the fact that she seemed like such a nice sweet and funny girl, quite upbeat when you catch her in a good mood, was able to match his sarcasm very well, funny as well as pretty, he could feel that there was more to her than meets the eye.

Peter was noticing things that simply seemed off.

Aforementioned things weren't necessarily odd in a bad way. They could pass as benign at best. Peter would be able to leave it alone, if she didn't react the way that she did.

But that was the thing, her reaction to being questioned was odd.

Like that one time Peter asked her about a cut on her eyebrow. It wasn't too deep, and he could see that it was on the path of feeling. Still, when he'd seen her the day before and the cut didn't exist then, it was normal for him to ask about how she got it.

Peter expected her to shrug and say something simple like bumping her head against the door or some mishap that was caused by clumsiness more than anything else. But then she started to get nervous. She was stammering an explanation he didn't get to catch because she was already rushing away, throwing in an excuse about some delivery she needed to prepare before disappearing into the back room.

He tried to ignore it but then things just kept getting weirder.

•••

"As if New York hadn't been through enough," said an older, scruffy man as he took a sip of his black coffee.

"Yeah, I don't get why we're always the center of shit," a lanky guy with glasses responded. "Why can't it be Indiana's turn or something?"

"Well, heard there's some shit going on in that town, too."

"Huh, you're right."

The two men chatted as they sat at a booth just beside Peter's. They were two construction workers from across the street, taking a break from their night shift.

It wasn't that Peter was nosey—okay, fine maybe he was, I mean, who isn't'?—but he was unable to tune them out as he waited for Elle to come back with a refill of his coffee.

Besides, their conversation was starting to get interesting.

"You'd think the Avengers would've handled it by now," lanky-boy added. "The number of victims is coming up to double digits."

"Do you really think the Avengers would waste their time on animal attacks?" the old man scoffed. "That's way below their pay grade."

Peter found himself agreeing.

Besides, Spider-Man was there. It's not like he couldn't handle whatever these mysterious attacks were—definitely not tooting his own horn.

Either way, Peter was already aware of the situation. He had been keeping up with the reports on the radio and each one has left him confused more than ever.

He'd tried to catch whatever it was that was behind these attacks but he never seemed to get to the scene of the crime on time. It was always already taken care of. The police would already be swarming the place, so it was safe to assume that they'd been called. Journalists would then follow suit, trying to cover the story as best they could.

Peter would watch from the rooftops as they interviewed the very few witnesses. But what truly raised some questions was that they always describe a woman that stopped these creatures, there for one second and then gone the next.

Was there another new vigilante in New York?

"Sorry that took so long, the machine was acting up again."

Peter turned to Elle with a bright smile, "Why are you apologizing? Are you trying to get me to leave quicker or something?"

"Yes, your ass is about to burn an imprint on that seat," she retorted sarcastically.

Raising a brow, Peter leaned closer to her, smirking. "Why are you thinking about my ass?"

Her eyes widened in shock, pretty lips opening and closing with no words escaping them.

Peter couldn't stop his laugh from bursting out.

"Shut up, Parker," she scoffed, kicking his foot under the table. Though she couldn't stop her giggles as she poured him more coffee.

"There's not even an explanation as to where these animals are coming from," old man grumbled, continuing their conversation.

"But what if there is?" glasses said. Lowering his voice, added, "What if they're not exactly…animals."

"Not that rumor again, Bob—"

"Come on, Luke, it makes sense!"

Peter's heard about that rumor, too.

The people who were attacked by these 'animals' were found to have two punctures on the neck. There was also the case of severe blood loss which didn't make sense from a scientific standpoint because it's impossible for such tiny holes to cause that amount of bleeding in little time. So, theories started going around as people drew their own conclusions. It was probably a way for them to soothe their own fears because knowing what it was would enable them to prepare. That was much easier than trying to fight the unknown.

"Really?" Luke scoffed. "Vampires?"

"I mean, what else could it be?" Bob pushed. "Do you really think a wild animal will survive New York city? It would've been hit by a car by now!"

"Vampires are just a fairytale," Luke brushed off, tone turning teasing as he said, "Or that one shitty movie you love."

"Twilight is not shitty," Bob grumbled before sighing, "Look, Thor was a fairytale once! The Hulk is real but you draw the line on vampires?"

"Whatever floats your boat, Bob."

"Okay, then what about the woman?" lanky Bob continued. "Why would people on the street call her The Vampire Slayer if there aren't any vampires?"

Peter was snapped out of his eavesdropping when Ella let out a panicked yelp. It was only then he realized that coffee had spilled over his mug and splattered all over the table. His concern only grew when he saw the way she was clutching her hand.

"Shit, shit, shit," she hissed.

Peter immediately got out of his seat to stand in front of her. He took her hand in his as he grabbed some tissue from his table. He gently wiped her hand clean and started checking how badly she burned herself. A sigh of relief escaped him once he saw it wasn't severe. Peter didn't know that it was but he couldn't help but pull her hand up to his lip and started blowing cool air on it.

The second he looked up, their gazes met.

Peter didn't know how long they were staring at each other, but he found himself not minding it. But the emotions that flickered in her eyes, from shock to embarrassment had her looking away.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a tad bit disappointed. He would've stayed looking into her eyes for much longer if he could.

"You okay?" he asked, softly caressing her tender skin with his thumb.

"I—" She blinked. "Y-Yeah! Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"I mean your hand—"

"Is completely fine!" she squeaked, pulling her hand away and hiding it behind her. "Don't worry about it."

"Everything okay?" Peter frowned, confused. "You seem spooked."

"Why would I be spooked?" she let out an awkward laugh. 

She never had a mishap before. If there was one thing about her, she was quick on her feet. Peter has seen it countless times from catching a plate before it hits the floor without even looking, or dodging a cupcake with her back turned when a baby had decided to toss it across the room. So, her spilling coffee, on her hand at that, seemed uncharacteristic.

Maybe she was distracted?

Judging from the proximity of those men, she probably heard about what they were talking about or, more or less, was reminded of it since it was the only thing the news had been covering lately. 

"Are you scared about those animal attacks?" he asked in genuine concern. "I could always walk you—"

"Me? Pfft, no. I'm not scared," she quickly brushed it off, waving her hand around. "It's all rumors anyway."

"What, you don't believe in vampires? I mean, punctures in the neck, the evidence is already there," Peter attempted to joke to alleviate the tension but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

The way her eyes widened before rushing to the back and stammering about cleaning up told him as much.

Again.

Weird.

•••

Peter wished he could say it stopped there but what he found tonight brought him some sort of an epiphany almost, a thing that made him slowly connect the dots.

It was the same as any other night of closing the shop, yet as they started to bid their goodbyes, her phone started to beep, loud and fast.

She hurriedly pulled it out of her jacket, took one look at it, and started sputtering her a reason he didn't catch and rushed off, gone before he could even do as much as a wave goodbye.

It was then that he realized that she had dropped something.

At first, he thought it was one of those defense weapons women usually bring with them when they walk at night—a long cylinder-shaped stick with a sharp end. But the more he examined it, the more questions he seemed to gather.

Why is it made of wood?

Is this a wooden stake?

Now, Peter had his moments but he wasn't completely clueless. The animal attacks, the rumors, her sudden nervousness about it, the silver cross necklace, the wooden stake, some woman saving people in the night—could it be?

Surely not…

Right?

•••

It's not creepy if I'm only making sure she's safe.

That was what Peter kept telling himself as he once again followed Elle as she made her way home. He'd been doing it for a couple of nights now, especially since the attacks had only increased. Right after helping her in closing the cafe, they would go their separate ways. Peter would bid his goodbyes as he returned her sentiment about getting home safe.

Yet he was not on his way home.

It might have been wrong to lie, but it was to keep her safe.

But more often than not, Peter somehow would always lose sight of her. Whenever he would look away for a split second, she would be gone. It was either she was quite fast on her feet or she knew how to vanish from thin air.

It only added to the list of odd things he had discovered about her.

Fine, he was making sure that she got home safe, and maybe he was trying to get answers, too.

Both things can be true at the same time, right?

There were simply too many coincidences for him to ignore.

Even more so when he caught her suddenly turning towards an empty alley.

But not for long.

Peter felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat when he saw four men follow in right behind her.

He swung as quickly as he could, heart beating faster and louder at the thought of her being hurt…or worse.

But whatever scenario he was conjuring in his head, from good to bad to worse outcomes—he never expected this.

To say he was shocked would be an understatement.

It's not every day you see the girl you'd been crushing on take down one guy at a time, flawlessly and effortlessly, as if she could do this in her sleep.

She was mesmerizing.

Her strength was unmistakable as Peter watched her send a guy flying across the alley with a simple kick, swiftly swerving the other perpetrator behind her in one move before hitting them square on the nose and knocking them out.

Peter was awestruck.

Does she have powers?

The fight was already over when he got to her, landing just beside the building that covered any source of light.

Yet Peter's questions only seemed to grow as he watched her pull out a wooden stake from her coat—similar to the one she dropped—and started stabbing each unconscious man. He would've been shocked and scared by the brutality of her actions, that until these…men started turning into dust.

So the rumors were true, then?

"Who's there!"

Peter slowly came out of the shadows with his hands up in surrender, showing her that he wasn't a threat. Yet the second she saw him under the light she lowered her weapon.

"Spider-Man."

Peter tilted his head. "You know who I am?"

"Well, duh? New York's greatest defender? You've made quite a name for yourself," Ella said, crossing her arms over her chest as she raised a brow. "Should've just introduced yourself, you know, instead of following me every night."

"I—uh," he chuckled shyly, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that—"

"What? You think I wouldn't notice?" she snorted, amusement painting her features. "I'd like to believe I'm not that oblivious, given my line of work."

"Of course not I—" Peter didn't know what it was, but he decided right then and there that he might as well just go for it. "Elle, right?"

He expected her to be surprised. But instead, she merely narrowed her eyes at him as if to examine him.

"How'd you know?"

"Well…" he trailed off, grabbing the top of his mask and then pulling it off.

He flashed her a shy smile. "Hey.'

"Peter…" she breathed out, blinking for a few times before her grin widened. "I fucking knew it!"

Peter blinked.

"What?"

"That makes so much sense!" she added gleefully.

"Okay, wait no," Peter shook his head, glaring at her playfully as he crossed his arms. "Don't you dare say you had your suspicions."

"Oh I absolutely had my suspicions," she giggled, all adorable and proud. "Besides, Spider-Man following me home immediately after I say goodbye to you after closing the café?"

Peter let out a defeated sigh.

"Yeah, you aren't as slick as you think you are, Parker."

"You're not as careful as you think you are either," he retorted, tossing her the wooden stake she dropped a couple nights ago.

She caught it effortlessly.

"Huh, so that's where it went," she mused, laughing shyly. "I guess we both have our moments."

"So you're the slayer person?" Peter asked, walking closer to her.

"Vampire Slayer," she corrected.

Once he was close enough, he swiftly yet discreetly scanned her form to check if she was hurt, grateful that he didn't seem to see any visible injuries.

Still, ever the observant person—or maybe it was one of her powers, who knows—she still caught him. "Are you checking me out, Parker?"

"I'm making sure you're not hurt."

She blinked at him, surprised. She probably didn't expect him to be so blatantly honest.

"I'm not hurt," she reassured with a soft smile.

Peter mirrored her grin with a nod before narrowing his eyes. "What does 'Vampire Slayer' mean, exactly?"

She raised her brow at him. "It's literally on the name."

Peter deadpanned.

"What?" she giggled, reaching a hand up to settle his hair, made unruly by his mask.

He couldn't stop his heart from doing a silly little dance inside his chest, its warmth slowly seeping onto his cheeks.

"You know," he hummed, daring to place a hand on her waist. He couldn't stop his smile when she leaned a little closer. "You had me worried there for a second, thought you were in danger when I saw those men follow you in. Turns out, you didn't really need any help."

"Well, I'll have you know I'm not some damsel in distress," she scoffed, playfully rolling her eyes.

"Never thought you were," he chuckled. 

"Besides, you're not the only one who has powers in this neighborhood," she said, grinning.

Peter didn't exactly know where the sudden burst of confidence was coming from. Maybe it was from the fact that his feelings for her were definitely confirmed by the fear he felt at the thought of her being in danger or hurt. Maybe he was just feeding off of her high energy and adrenaline. Either way, he didn't hesitate to shoot his shot.

"How about you tell me all about it over dinner? My treat."

"Is this your way of bribing me to spill my secrets?" she said with narrowed eyes. "Or are you so enthralled by my skills that you're asking me out on a date?"

"Why not both?"

"Shut up," she giggled. "About time you asked though. You can be kinda slow with hints sometimes."

Peter looked at her genuinely confused, "What hints?"

"Seriously?" she snorted. "I don't just give free coffee refills to anyone, mind you. It's technically not even allowed."

He grinned, placing his other hand on her waist and giving it a gentle squeeze. "What are you trying to say here exactly?"

"Uh…" She turned shy, then, eyes casted down. Peter could see she was trying to gain the courage to just say it out loud.

"That you like me, too?" he supplied instead, her eyes snapping back up to meet his.

"Too?"

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's slow when it comes to hints."

Peter felt his heart stutter at the way her smile brightened.

"So, pizza at my place?" she hummed, giggling. But then realization dawned on her face. "Oh wait. I still need to patrol."

"Same here. How about I come with," Peter offered. "Then we get pizza after."

"The Spider-Man needing my help?" she teased. "I thought I'd never see the day."

"Shut up" Peter rolled his eyes. "Now, hold tight."

"Why?" she asked confused, yet did so, anyway, wrapping her arms around his neck.

It made Peter feel warm, simply from the fact that she trusted him and his word enough.

Once he put on his mask and made sure she was secured, Peter didn't say another word as he hoisted them up and started swinging, her shrieks and expletives marrying with his boisterous laugh.

After roaming the city of New York and stopping any petty crime they came across—and killing two more vampires, a sight Peter still needed to get used to—they stopped at his apartment to get some stuff before crashing at her place for the night solely because it was bigger than his.

They might have skipped a few steps compared to any normal relationships—they were barely even there, frankly—but then again, nothing about them was normal to begin with, anyway.

For the rest of the evening, as they sat on her living room floor with two boxes of warm pizza sitting on the coffee table, Elle told Peter her story, and in return, he also shared pieces of his.

She got chosen—ironic since there wasn't even much of a choice—as a slayer when she was fifteen, and Peter shared that he got bitten by a radioactive spider at that age, too. She shared how she was given these powers that basically made her an enhanced individual which led to a playful arm wrestling match to see who was stronger. Peter ended up losing solely because he was too scared to hurt her, especially when he himself wasn't fully aware at what level his strength truly was.

She got all pouty about it but it was immediately pushed aside when Peter said she looked so cute when she was pouting.

He got a pepperoni in the face when he wouldn't stop teasing her about it.

But aside from the witches, vampires and demons alike—which was how Peter learned Wanda was actually a witch instead of a mutant—the two of them are surprisingly so similar in some ways. They already clicked before, and now, they seemed to have a lot in common when it came to their second life as well.

They also shared sentiments as to how lonely this life could be sometimes and it was like a breath of fresh air for Peter to have someone understand him. Maybe not to the fullest of extents since whatever this was between them was new, but understand him, nonetheless.

It was safe to say Peter was glad he came into the café later than when he usually did that day.

Fascinating how changing one small thing in a routine could have a profound impact on a person's life, huh?

✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ♛ *.

↬ thank you for reading hun! reblog & leave a comment if you enjoyed, feedback is always appreciated <3

✉ NO TAGLIST: go follow @t-lostinlibrary​​​​​​​ and turn on notifications to get updated on my work!

© t-lostinworlds, 2025 ✘ I do NOT give any permission to copy & repost, translate, & use any of my works (writings, gifs, dividers, etc.) on any platform, with credit or otherwise. Please respect that. Thank you.

[sungbeam]

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: thank you to @petrichor-han for tagging me in her lovely wrapped post!! i had so much fun putting this together, and my spreadsheet tracker can finally be used for something bahaha 💀 i'll be talking more about my experiences this year later in the post!

some no pressure tags: @gluion @winterchimez @winwintea @polarisjisung @thepixelelf @sorryimananti-romantic @diamonddaze01 @jinkoh @blizzardfluffykpop @sohnric @from-izzy

first fic of 2024: daybreak ☆ ju haknyeon

posted january 5th

i remember writing this in bed while being in an awful spot, mentally. in an effort to save myself from disaster, i wrote this very short fic to focus on describing something comforting.

last fic of 2024: what we make of it ☆ wen junhui

posted december 1st

i also wrote this one in bed (i've written a lot of these in bed...)!! and it was after much mental simpery over wen junhui and the pics from his new drama that i gave into the idea of general!jun (i've also been dying to write something historically adjacent).

longest fic: incantations ☆ ji changmin

i remember conjuring about four ideas for the dbn halloween event before ultimately settling on yet another demon au TT like there was a cultish monster hunter au, a fallen angel reincarnation au, and a zombie apocalypse au... i honestly didn't know if i would make it or not lol and i had @justalildumpling proofing while i wrote the ending haha i can't say if i'm completely satisfied with it, but i can say that i think my world building and plot building skills have def improved, and you can see it in that fic

most popular fic: leave the window open ☆ choi san

tbh i thought this fic was gonna be a flop at first bc it wasn't until maybe a day after i posted it that it started to get traction? i also had the idea for it haunting my brain for MONTHS and i was so glad to finally get it out into words haha suffice to say, i am still so surprised by how well it did, but pleasantly so!

personal pick: creature ☆ ji changmin

i could talk about this fic, this series, this CHARACTER for DAYS. at this point, nt!changmin is a completely different entity to the changmin you think you know LOL creature is my self-indulgent character study of a demonic being who loves a person so much that he doesn't know what to do with himself

pretty self-explanatory — i honestly have no idea how i wrote over 300k last year, but i'm still pretty happy with how much i was able to write this year! i took a lot more breaks, and more time to write, and this def doesn't encompass just how many words i've written that are still in drafting stages and not published :')

i bet at least one of these surprises you >< (it's changmin right? jkjk)

ji changmin: ~51,900

— find him in: casino royale, subtle poetry, creature, and incantations

txt choi line: ~21,600

— find them in: bird hunt

jeong yunho: ~12,600

— find him in: bedfellows and something to give each other

to my friends, mutuals, and readers, thank you so much for being by my side this year! it's been brutal out here, not gonna lie, and i wish i had been able to post and write more this year. alas, life happens. i also find that writing longer fics that are more fleshed out just satisfy my creative needs a lot better—meaning that i will likely not produce as many fics, quantity-wise, as i used to.

on that note, i hope to at least give you some idea of what you can look forward to in the new year! i have several ideas for my superhero collab, including (but not limited to): mutant angel!jeonghan, scarlet witch!minghao, and venom!changmin. i'm also actively plotting out ventures with our sebongs, particularly a dokyeom knight fic and a fake dating dino fic! as for my current ongoing wips, i am hoping to get more finished for terra nova (high sci-fi/fantasy ateez fic), birds of prey (mafia hongjoong), and other secret projects 😌

that's all from me, friends. happy holidays and see you in the new year 💖🥂✨

[diamonddaze01]

⋆｡°✩ n o t e : thank you to everyone who tagged me in this ( @sungbeam , @petrichor-han , @haologram)! took me forever to finally get around to it, but excited to share my wrapped for this year!

⋆｡°✩ on poetry and homecomings - yoon jeonghan

⋆｡°✩ n o t e s : my first ever fic! based on a quote by the fantastic palestinian poet mahmoud darwish. something about the words, "If I ever see a flaw of yours, I'd say my eyes are the flawed ones" made something in my heart twinge in the most beautiful way. a purely self indulgent fic i wrote after an exhausting work week, and suddenly, here we are, 3 months later.

⋆｡°✩ plan b-day - hong jisoo

⋆｡°✩ n o t e s : my last fic of 2024! a lil drabble for the loveliest boy. no real notes on this, other than i am sure that murphy's law somehow targets me 50000x more than the average human being. again, purely self-indulgent, but also a wonderful way to close out the year.

⋆｡°✩ baby, darling, light of my entire life - choi seungcheol

⋆｡°✩ n o t e s : the idea for this came to me after a crazy night out. though i myself have not gotten to this level of drunk yet, i definitely would scream about how pretty choi seungcheol is any day, any time. i was actually shocked when this blew up - it wasn't my favorite piece i'd written at the time, and i woke up one morning and it had skyrocketed from maybe 100 notes to upwards of 600 in one night. weirdly, i think this was maybe the third thing i had ever posted to this blog and it made me so happy that people actually enjoyed my writing. bdlomel, ily <3

⋆｡°✩ full throttle part i | full throttle part ii - yoon jeonghan

⋆｡°✩ n o t e s : oh, full throttle, what to say about you (i am combining both parts into one fic - the only reason there are two parts is bc tumblr is a bitch about formatting). there are few things that exhausted me, exhilerated me, enraged me, and made me feel as proud as i do looking at this finished fic. three weeks of non-stop writing every day after work, jotting down notes in the cleanroom and during lunch breaks, and storyboarding when i should have been sleeping culminated in most possibly the pièce de résistance of my year. i had so many people who cheered me on as i wrote this fic, battled through witty banter (that i myself could never say irl) and fiery headlines, but none cheered as loudly as @haologram and @ylangelegy. alta and kae were genuinely the wind beneath my wings as i wrote this, and reading their comments in the doc was what kept me going. in the end, i'm genuinely so happy with how full throttle turned out, and seeing the reactions i'm getting from it make me feel so fulfilled.

⋆｡°✩ the somerset affair - lee seokmin

⋆｡°✩ n o t e s : my first forray into longer fic writing (and i'm still battling my way through it, but we don't talk about that). if anyone knows me, they know how much of a Bridgerton fan i am - i quote anthony's speech on the daily, and penelope/eloise are some of my fav romcom heroines ever written (until they both get married, but again, we don't talk about that). i felt like writing this fic was my way to pay homage to this fictional world i adore so much. i have a love/hate relationship with the actual tone of the series - its so hard to maintain the regency tone and also write in a way that's true to my own voice, but at the end of the day it's a challenge i relish. i'm so excited to finish this series this coming year!

⋆｡°✩ 40 fics posted - check them all out in my masterlist!

⋆｡°✩ n o t e s : to be fair, a lot of these are drabbles i did for my 101 drabble prompt game, but fuck it we ball. maybe i'm just insane.

⋆｡°✩ ~133,470 words written

⋆｡°✩ n o t e s : again, i think i might be a bit insane. did a sacrifice sleep to write? yes. did i storyboard at work? also yes. but then again, it's been an interesting year to say the least, and writing was a really good way to blow off steam after a stressful day at work.

⋆｡°✩ some of my fav fics i read this year - please read the warnings on each fic and do not interact with smut if you're a minor! this is in no particular order:

⋆｡°✩ unforgiven [boo seungkwan] - @haologram ⋆｡°✩ catch you when i can [smau] [chwe hansol] - @xinganhao ⋆｡°✩ the first snow [hong jisoo] - @junkissed ⋆｡°✩ what are the vibes? [choi seungcheol] - @daechwitatamic ⋆｡°✩ red card [kim mingyu] - @highvern ⋆｡°✩ an ode to hands and voice [boo seungkwan] - @ddeonghwa-s ⋆｡°✩ take my word for it [yoon jeonghan] - @ylangelegy ⋆｡°✩ prey [choi seungcheol] - @pochaccoups ⋆｡°✩ sit down [kim mingyu] - @gyuswhore ⋆｡°✩ ave, general [lee jihoon] - @amourcheol

these are just a few of my fav fics i've read, but if you want to see all my recommendations - i suggest checking out @diamond-reads !

⋆｡°✩ goals for 2025

⋆｡°✩ on diamonddaze01: i have a lot of collabs coming up in 2025! i hope that i can meet all those deadlines and write things i'm proud of. i've also learned that writing longer fics like full throttle or somerset affair make me feel more fulfilled as a writer, so expect a lot more of them as i further explore my writing style and characterization. i also want to go back to some of my older wips that i abandoned and reopen them, see where i can go with a fresh mindset. ⋆｡°✩ personal goals: i have a lot, but to name a few: read more, laugh more, love more. i also want to focus on establishing a better work/life balance - i know already that the coming months are going to suck at work, but i no longer want to drag the weight of corporate life home with me. work is work, and that's where it will stay. i want to prioritize my mental and physical well-being over all else, and that starts with reprioritizing things like work, my social life, and writing.

⋆｡°✩ final thoughts

⋆｡°✩ i started writing on tumblr because i was stressed from work and felt like i didn't have a community, especially at a new job and a new city. what started as some stress relief turned into a community of its own. i'm eternally grateful that i was able to meet some wonderful people this year that i truly feel a sense of belonging with. to everyone in the networks i'm in, to anyone that reads my work, to all the lovely people i've met: thank you, and i love you.

⋆｡°✩ if you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and thank you for all your support. i love you all endlessly. it's time to sign off for 2024.

with love as vast as the stars themselves, tara <3

⋆｡°✩ tagging (but no pressure): @tusswrites, @chanranghaeys, @bitchlessdino, @ddeonghwa-s , @c-oupsie, @lovetaroandtaemin, and anyone else who would like to do this!

[smoreboi]

Well, I'm a little late to the post (randomly popped up on my fyp) How would you rank your enjoyment of the different life series and why? Also are smores your favourite food or not, if not, I will be mad (jk jk)

hard question, I love them all, but here’s my attempt at an answer. also, I am in the group of folks who tries to keep up with multiple pov’s, but im also very busy, so mostly I just end up watching grian’s, so that will effect my answers

third life - the og, if i hear any hate for third life, i will rip and tear and bite, twas the beginning of something so fantastic. There’s a reason Desert Duo and Flower Husbands and RenWood and such are still terms that get thrown around in fan discussions today, an icon of a season. 10/10

last life - if I’m ever to forget the major occurrences of any of the life series’, it would be last life, it’s probably the lowest on my list because of that, there are tons of great moments, and the introduction of the boogeyman was great, it just stuck with me less than the others 7/10

double life - YES YES 1000X YES. I’m not brave enough to say it’s my favorite, but just. Watch the Everen animatic for double life on repeat for 13 hours and try to come back to me telling me you’re normal about double life. You can’t. If you can, you’re lying. The angst factor was up to 100 when they decided to make double life. And every pairing in there was iconic. 100/10

limited life - I feel like when I finally get around to watching martyns pov for limited life, I’ll be able to enjoy it more, for now, it’s still highly ranked, it’s just not as highly ranked bc the gimmick wasn’t as gripping from a them actually playing stance. Loved all the timepieces and symbolism in the artwork, and I mean, bad boys, ties, nosey neighbors, the family, the mean gills, all icons in their own right, just. There wasn’t much change to the gameplay imo. 8/10

secret life - so I have been able to watch scars pov for this one and just. 😭😭😭😭the ending, with the “she’s dead, scar. you won” and the “how did the guy with no friends win” and just. AAAAAHHHHH I wanted to eat my own teeth it would’ve been less painful than that. You’ll note that the ones with more angst factor are higher rated in this list, it just gets all the creative folks going feral and I love seeing it and occasionally trying to be a part of it, anyways, yea, we’ll say 50/10

wild life - not a fully formed opinion yet because the series isn’t finished, but this is the most gimmick we’ve ever gotten and I am soo here for it! Put these creatures into situations!! I have been consistently watch both grian and rens POVs for this one since grian uploads a lot later than most of the others (+ I keep up w sarez and jimmy’s reactions to sarez (keep the nickels coming, reddit folks, I ain’t there, but I support you)) and really just. I need to watch more of ren is what I’ve learned from this, he makes everything fun. We’ll say 9/10, subject to change as the series progresses

bonus: real life - such a good April fools episode, 10/10 for being hilarious and putting them folks in funny little situations (this is separate from my other ratings, I still like actual canon seasons more than real life)

and for the second question, s’mores are fantastic, definitely in the top, but I don’t think I can say they’re my number one favorite food, just because there’s so many foods out there. the blog name came from the first friend I ever came out to saying that my chosen name reminded them of a smore and then proceeding to call me smore friend around folks I wasn’t comfortable being out to as a way to not deadname while still keeping stuff under wraps.

[cuips-not-cute]

Hi! Absolutely no worries if you don’t want to answer this but I read Idle Hands bc of your rec and I ADORED IT like so good and now I think I’d trust you to recommend literally anything so I was wondering if there were other steddie, or stranger things in general, fics you regard as must reads??

OH BOY DO I HAVE RECS FOR YOU!!!

first off, since this is about idle hands, let me also just recommend you everything else @teddywesworl has written. jas is a brilliant author with a blessed total of SEVENTEEN fics on ao3, you'll be eating well for ages. my favorites that i've read of hers are ofc idle hands but also the sihaw series, the vino series , anemone, he knows only two stories, 🪑, and dissonance theory. and a special shout out to deathsleep, which i have not read yet (crime) but only because i know it will totally break my brain when i do so i am waiting until i have a nice block of time with which to read, scream, cry, and eventually recover.

also, if you enjoyed all the wonderful weird formatting and all the bizarre things jas did with text in idle hands, which ofc you did, let me direct you to through each and every nerve and fiber, written by my very dear friend @laingley who is a master at wonderful weird formatting and generally very clever and entertaining prose and writes THE MOST adhd eddie i have ever read in my life. it's great.

i cannot make a rec list without rec'ing my beloved friend @lollaika's fic, the agony of a loving gaze, which will break your heart into a thousand billion pieces and then slowly, carefully stitch it back together. mind the tags, heed the warnings, but her prose is gorgeous and complex and wonderfully funny, and the whole fic really digs its claws into all of eddie's funky little mannerisms and makes them shine.

other fics i really liked/that helped shape my taste in steddie fics:

-the affliction of the feeling, an all time favorite.

-trouble looks good on you by the incredibly talented @steddielations

-took you for a working boy. it's so good.

-the steve harrington's unwilling time loop saga series

-the lathe

-and many more but i fear i could write this list all day and never finish, so i'll stop here. i keep my ao3 bookmarks public though, and pulled a bunch of these from there so there is more where this came from!! and my steddie fic rec tag on here is FULL of good stuff. if you like these recs and want more, please don't hesitate to send another ask. this was fun<3

[kiwinatorwaffles]

I found This is About a Stuffed Bird bc of you and its one of my favorite fics ever. Do you by chance have more suggestions?

hermitcraft/mcyt fic recs? :0 let's go!!

i get a lot of my fic recs from other friends since i don't really go out and search on my own all too much for this fandom. but there are lots of great works out here! i will be listing out some of my favorites :3 mostly hc but a couple general mcyt ones that i think are an excellent read no matter what. all of the fics i'm listing will be genfic without ships!

also i just realized a lot of my bookmarks are grian-centric which is funny i guess because i am admittedly quite picky about content of my other favorites and grian just tends to have the most content in the fanbase. hope that'll be alright

(i hope some of my friends and mutuals don't mind me tagging them for their works)

hermitcraft longfics:

the last days of the free angel of carrows by @theminecraftbee - loved stuffed bird? here's another great longfic by second! this one is about joe and cleo in an urban fantasy mystery setting. again, second writes our beloved hermits into an captivating au!

leaping and hopping on a moonshadow by @lunarblazes - a fantasy au by luna my beloved! pearl suddenly gains magical powers and goes on a quest to find her long-lost friend grian who might know what's happening to her. she meets a lot of familiar faces along the way!

Recall by @redwinterroses - hey, i was the artist for this one! :D mumbo goes missing, so grian and scar search for him. they find that grumbot has been up to some... things along the way. the fic isn't finished but i think the chapters red put out is worth a read if you don't mind leaving off on a cliffhanger because it really is super interesting

dramaturgy by wormcity - a universe where gem and pearl join in a season 7 that was never finished. mumbo became the mayor, but the turf war went so very wrong afterwards. admittedly i have not finished reading this yet because ummm short on time xD but it's super interesting with a lot of layers of drama(turgy hahaha)!

hermitcraft short fics/oneshots:

for trying. by @autistic-evil-xisuma - a stuffed bird universe oneshot of x and xisuma during their lab days. great if you want to be sad over the doomed brothers again :D

the wheels on the bus by sparxwrites - a hilarious post-s8 oneshot about grian being a little shit towards the watchers. one of the first fics i've read from this fandom and i still love it

a body is an object by ruffboi - grian is a mimic, and pearl's arrival in s8 shakes him up. she hasn't seen him in a while and is quite upset to learn that the grian she knew died a long time ago. a great read for familial connections and conflict of friendships!

Goatman and the Rift by TheDepressedCanary - doc's eldritch powers start acting up when the rift appears. what shenanigans will ensue?

other mcyt fics/crossovers:

late at night, when the stars don't look quite right by @lunarblazes - an excellent empires s1 and hermitcraft crossover longfic, where grian lands into the server and is discovered by pearl! very great worldbuilding and relationships, i especially love the dynamic between gri and pearl and pearl and gem :D

every new discovery is just a reminder by amaranthinecanicular - grian begins pulling alternate versions of the hermits from the life series into the server. he does save a lot of them, but at what cost? it does end on a cliffhanger but this is genuinely one of the most captivating oneshots i've ever read... argghhh

The Fair and the Brave and the Good by @slashmagpie - an afterlife smp longfic centered around the shelby, scott, and sausage. i have never watched afterlife smp before in my LIFE and this is still one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. the characters and worldbuilding is impeccable and perfect if you like something dark with themes of hope and renewal.

Two Can Keep a Secret (If One of Them is Red) by anonymous secretmcblog - a 3L oneshot! ren suspects grian has stockholm syndrome with his pact to stay with scar, but his expectations are wrong. a truly excellent read and one of them first fics i've read! i still go back to reread it from time to time

dog at the door by fluffy_papaya & iamsolarflare - a longfic where doc and ren take a trip on a van on their way to s8. ren, however, is not quite himself, and doc has to learn to befriend the red king.

devil town is colder in the summertime by @bananasofthorns - a oneshot from a 100hsmp/life series d&d au! team BEST ventures into a cursed evil fucked up forest. uh oh.

Interview with the Aftermath by @ranchersrevenge (wanderlasts) - the last life contestants are invited for an interview. the responses vary greatly.

stars, smoke, and stolen car keys by wormcity - a 100hsmp modern au oneshot where grian, scar, and joel go on a hike. it doesn't go quite as they expected.

the beehive state by amaranthinecanicular - a dsmp oneshot after wilbur moves to utah. tommy visits him, and the two reconnect. i have to say i stopped following dsmp a long time ago but this fic made me BAWL. i don't even think you need to know any of the characters that well to really enjoy just how amazing the writing itself is

Can't Go Back (This Time) by @duckmumbo (musicaltvbooks) - soup group goes end raiding and accientally finds themselves in afterlife smp. nothing goes wrong, surely! also admittedly i havent finished reading this either but roy i swear i will. this is a great read nevertheless and the soup group dynamic is impeccable!

TommyInnit's unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death by eneliii - on the train of dsmp fics, this is the superhero au longfic that inspired my own hc superhero au, vdhau. it's a lot of funny shenanigans with tommy and his friends. the fic does take a dark turn at the end, but that can be skipped entirely (as said by eneli herself) if you just want the wholesome aspects.

if you don't mind a little self promo, here are some of my fics!

it takes two to play (the game of mutual secrecy) - the aforementioned hermitcraft hero au. this installment is centered around xisuma and evil x as brothers resolving their issues through hero work and solving the mystery of welsknight's disappearance :D there are other works that are set in the same universe if you're interested for more!

how to form the ultimate besties dynamic: an unreliable tutorial by hypnotizd - a oneshot! hypno is a warlock who goes treasure hunting under the sea. he meets a guardian who later becomes his unlikely friend.

smoke and mirrors, the hunt perseveres - grian's arrival in empires s2 unwittingly brings the watchers' suspicions with him. cue jimmy freaking out and a lot of shenanigans.

ballad of etho’s lab - my newest installment! a oneshot about etho's storied life as the redstone god.

i'm also currently working on the sequel to the game of mutual secrecy and a new (well not exactly new since i made concept art for it) au called private detective gem tasey! these will likely be released sometime late january or february. have fun with these fic recs! i haven't been reading as much lately but i hope ill be able to find more if anyone else asks in the future. cheers!

edit: the fics are out! here they are!

hiding in plain sight (the meaning of trust) - sequel to the hermitcraft hero au! it follows an escaped lab rat trying to acquaint themselves with human society while avoiding suspicion and making friends with familiar faces from tgms ;D

private detective gem tasey: a rotten mystery in london - a hermitcraft detective au where gem gets hired for a case that spirals completely into drama and politics!

[thcscus]

fic author q&a <3

tagged (kinda but i wanted to join bc it looked fun lol) by @zannolin the beloved

why do you write fanfic?

because it's so so so much fun. because i think about the characters too much to just not Do anything with them, you know?

but mostly, it's a case of, "I'm writing this because I want to read this."

which of your posted stories do you think of the most even though the story is "finished"?

i mean, technically, passerine because I have a copy of it sitting above my study desk so every time I look up I think "oh damn yeah i wrote that. insane"

but, creatively, i think about the challengers series a lot because i feel like i have one more story out of me for it but i just don't know What yet

if you could give yourself fic advice from when you first started writing fic, what would that advice be?

hmmmm i don't think i have any because my relationship with fic writing now is the same as my relationship to fic writing then. it's all just fun :)

what's your relationship to fic stats?

eh i don't really care about them. i generally don't look at kudos and hits. but comments and the little notes people put on bookmarks? now Those i will refresh for every time

is there a pairing or scenario or friendship that you miss writing? if so, why? if not, why not?

how do i answer this without kicking at a hornet's nest. i guess if you know, you know. That Era really was a great time to be alive as a genfic writer. unfortunately, *waves vaguely*

what motivates you to write?

the fact that when you finish writing, you get to read it. and it's tailor-made for you, with everything you want from a fic, because YOU put it all there!! it's like serving yourself a plate of eggs done just how you like them

also, i look forward to comments every time just to know i'm not the only one going insane over it lol

why do you write for the fandom(s) you write for?

no other reason than i want to, i guess. i love the story. i want to expand on it. and that's how the insanity starts, baby

if you're stuck writing a WIP, what do you do?

just put it down. inspiration will find me eventually. i'm not in any rush :)

what do you wish people knew about comments?

when you quote the exact lines that made you feel something. THAT. that could be your entire comment and i'd still be twirling my feet kicking my hair. genuinely when people quote my lines in their comments AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA <- me going crazy

maybe there's a question you wish had been on here. what's that question (and answer)?

The line you're most proud of.

"... to be able to love something enough to also love what grew from its ruins," is still so beloved by me because it was genuinely something i'd felt in my personal life for so long but could only put into words when i was writing it for the fic. it was a lightning bolt of an epiphany that wouldn't have been possible if i hadn't been writing. writing fic saves lives, folks!

tagging literally anyone who sees this because i want to pick at everyone's brain

[zmediaoutlet]

happy wincest wednesday z! it's very probable you've been asked this already, but, on a chance you haven't: between when you first got into wincest and now, what were the main shifts in your perception of the ship, in things you focus on, in things that give you the most heart palpitations? especially considering that you came in when the show was still about halfway in, iirc! would really love to hear about this <3

aw, bud! gumdrop! ty for thinking of me on the happy holy day <3

and you know, I don't think I have been asked this! It's a really good thing to ponder. My memory is Bad but let me try to cast my mind back to those early days in a sort of compare/contrast exercise and we'll see what shakes out. As you know I started watching spn in ~2011/12ish, and was fully caught up and watching ep by ep as of late s7/beginning of s8, so it is a little different that I binged the first half of the show and took the slow path for the second half. So what did I think initially...

I remember having an out-loud conversation with the bestie once I'd essentially finished s1 that I was surprised I wasn't shipping the brothers. A lot of those early s1 moments didn't get me at all, and I still wouldn't put s1 in my top five seasons. Like -- no chance. It was important getting-to-know-them time and of course there are great individual bits, but I didn't wincest about it at all. I think that took until... s2, maybe even s3. (It was a fast binge at first, admittedly. I think you also know that I watched almost all of s1 in the grips of a literal delirium fever, so I wasn't really grokking it until later.)

I think I really started to like Get Into the wincest once it was getting apocalyptic -- s3/4/5. I mean how could you not. The stakes are never higher than they were then, really. That was the deepest danger and it was such a five-alarm fire of -- oh, this is IT. This is what it means that they're brothers. Back then I liked more of the 'family horror' element, although obv I never went quite as melodrama hbo-spn as the current fashion is, bc I left that behind with like HP fandom in the 2000s, haha -- but still! I read my fair share of "Sam pines and this is why he leaves," my fair share of "Dean's torn up about how his little brother's hot and that's why he basically feel like he deserves to go to hell," you know. etc etc. They still hit in their way but I don't -- like that much anymore, because.......

so I was REALLY into the s6-7 arc, loved it to PIECES. I loved saint!Sam getting his martyr on, the insanity, etc. The first fic series I wrote for this fandom was Physical Graffiti and it was all about that. And I still love it! Still wonderful! Buuuuut I didn't realize, I guess, what delights there were in store for the Carver era, and I didn't realize either that Sera was still working firmly inside the Apocalyptic Model -- obv appropriate for the show, but even if it was all about consequence and messy "what if there's not destiny anymore", it was still very much about the destiny and how firmly tied they were to each other. But then there was --

Carver era! Which was a bumpy ride, haha. But even the first half of s8 was ROUGH to get through (god, those horrible amelia flashbacks, godddd) what became clear was that this was now the Choosing Era, and there's nothing that hornts me up more than Choosing. I love the apocalypse, I love the destiny shit, but it turns out that I love SO MUCH MORE the sense that there are ten thousand thousand other options that characters could be making and yet they nevertheless turn ever inward, because this is what they want after all, and not just what they are forced to have. Dude, that FUCKS. It's so good.

therefore, like, I get palpitations obviously still from things like s1, Sam saying "it's never gonna be like it was" and Dean pathetically going "could be?" Like that's good. Of course. But my established-relationship, adult complication, soulmates-are-made-not-by-fate-but-by-choice heart thrills more (and more every day!) to little things like... in the French Mistake, when Dean half-cautiously says to Sam that his life here isn't so bad, and maybe they could stay, and Sam just shrugs and says "we're not brothers here, man." Or when Sam could absolutely have stayed in Kermit at that shitty motel where Amelia would've waited, but instead he shows up at a cabin and eats bad chili with Dean, even if he's still mad. Or when Dean was a demon, and then had a mark, and Sam at any point could've said -- you know what, we could make a sacrifice play here and save several days, but I wanted you back, and Dean looks at him and then away because -- that's just true. That's a choice, made. Every day.

that's the shit, man. That's all I need.