#and i know there’s a sizable portion of this side of the fandom that will at least want to keep tabs on the show and i’ll have no choice+

[seddair]

.

[jjk-confessions]

Itafushi shippers absolutely shit on Yuuji all the time... it's just that most of them also happen to be Sukufushi and or Gofushi shippers and, typically, very very adamant that Megumi is the bottom of the ship. The same thing goes for Fushiita (Top Megumi x Bottom Yuuji) shippers and bottom Yuuji truthers hating on Megumi.

And that's the component a lot of people who aren't in the more proship side of the fandom don't see that drives a lot of the rivalry between Megumi and Yuuji fans. It all comes down to harem shipping at top/bottom discourse (which I find so dumb, everyone is entitled to their own preferences but arguing about who tops and who bottoms is ridiculous). Harem shipping is when fans ship one character, who they usually make the bottom and are very strict about it too, with a bazillion other characters but also typically hate other ships involving their favorite character's "tops". There's multiple harem ships in this fandom like allgo (all x Gojo) and allsuku (all x Sukuna), but there's two harem ships that are wayyyyy more popular than the others, and those are allyuu (all x Yuuji) and allgumi (all x Megumi).

Harem shippers also tend to want the character's tops to worship the ground they walk on and fight amongst each other to be the number one member of the harem. Allyuus and allgumis tend to ship their respective fave with the same characters and some of these shippers get insecure about the tops they ship with their preferred bottom to the point that some of them harass and pick fights with rival shippers. Most of the top ships in this fandom involve either bottom Megumi or bottom Yuuji and like I mentioned earlier they tend to get shipped with the same characters, so that's where a lot of the drama comes from.

The real root of most of this stan war is a bunch of people arguing over who gets to be the beautiful, sought after bottom who can do no wrong that all the hot dudes fight over and who is reduced to the fugly simp top whose whole life revolves around the other character, who is totally out of the top's league because they're just that perfect, and who must grovel and apologize profusely every time they even breathe wrong while in the bottom princess's presence. I wish I was joking this is barely an exaggeration.

TL;DR: Most of the fighting between Yuuji and Megumi stans is them arguing over who is the the hulking, grotesque top and who is the wide-eyed, delicate bottom in this image.

https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/hot-yaoi-base

Antishipper Itafushi fans, or Itafushi fans who don't engage much in other Yuuji and Megumi ships, don't tend to hate either Megumi or Yuuji because, while there is definitely some favoritism involved, it's nowhere near as bad as it is among a lot of harem shippers. I think a lot of it is also because most non-proship Itafushi shippers believe it's problematic to debate over who tops and who bottoms since they're both underage so the top/bottom discourse hasn't rotted that side of the Itafushi fanbase with the inevitable toxicity and stan wars that comes with it. And I think that's also why a lot of Itafushi shippers don't know about the sizable portion of shippers who hate on either Yuuji or Megumi since they tend to keep away from most of the ships involved in allyuu and allgumi since most of them are problematic in some way.

It's pretty wild to witness as someone who doesn't care about top/bottom stuff.

.

[kanonavi]

15, 12, and 22 for the ask game and specifically i am curious abt your thoughts on mistah diluc since 22 asks for hc or smth

Thanks for the ask!!

12 - I'm not really one for super crazy AU ideas (which I know you know, cuz it's why you're asking me this lol), I tend to have the most fun with ideas that could ostensibly happen in canon, since I like to find the little gaps that could be left open to interpretation and fill them in with my own ideas.

The closest answer that I can give to this (which you've already heard about in some detail) is that a few years ago I participated in a crossover rp with a group of friends which basically turned into an AU of my main blorbo at the time, Goro Akechi from Persona 5. He basically went through a (sadly unfinished) character arc of renouncing his former persona awakening before eventually reawakening as a better person, all of which took place in a magically shapeshifting city with all sorts of characters there, all the way from a sizable portion of the Mondstadt and Liyue casts of Genshin to like. actually just Kirby being there for a while if I remember right.

Maybe one day you'll influence me to get sillier with it but for now this is the best I have lol

15 - I don't go back and read my old work that often (out of fear lmao), so I'm not actually sure how much my style has changed. When it comes to my writing style itself, I don't really feel like it has? I know that when I look back at my older xiaoven writings, I can see that my opinions on little details I like with the ship have shifted with time, but my writing style seems pretty similar (aside from maybe lightening up on the italics a bit)

Some of my excesses with incorrect punctuation have begun to shift, mostly with your influence, and I've become aware of some of my more fanficcy habits on account of being in writing workshops for school, but those don't really affect my writer's voice a whole ton. When I work up the gall to read some of my older stuff, I'll tell you how I feel.

22 - A headcanon for Diluc! It's sadly been far too long since I thought about him in much depth (not since the aforementioned crossover rp in fact, since he was my other main muse by the end of it alongside Akechi) but I'll do my best.

Something that I remember thinking very strongly about Diluc is that he's much more proficient with his vision than the average person. This is on account of him having had his vision for over half of his life, considering that he got it when he was only 10 years old, but also on account of the fact that I like to think that he got very good at just, the absolute basest forms of combat when he was in his 4 year exile.

Maybe it's just the chiluc shipper in me who likes the eroticism of feral men, but Diluc to me is a person who is very well-trained in combat, but when the cards are down he'll bite and tear at someone like a wild animal if that's what it takes to survive. And where his vision proficiency ties into that (without going on an entire tangent of how I believe that elemental control works for Allogenes) is that he has such good elemental control that he can just straight up set himself on fire without burning himself.

To me, Diluc is at his most interesting when his Darknight Hero side is a greater contrast to his upstanding, uptight noble side. He's a righteous vigilante by technicality, yes, but also getting into a fight with him should be like getting into a fight with a pack of wild dogs... who also use a claymore? I lost track of the metaphor but you get the idea.

Fandom Ask Game

[the-witchhunter]

I see where you’re coming from, but you’re describing a different phenomenon

I came in through the DP side with some background in DC, and in my experience the reverse is true. A lot of DC fics are lighthearted slice of life, because we tend to get the dark stuff from canon

And a lot of DP content is incredibly dark. Vivisection/Dissection fics are an entire sub-genre in the DP fandom. We get plenty of lighthearted stuff from the canon so we make a lot of darker more serious fics

DC content actually did a lot to lighten the tone in this crossover

What people are really discussing with common OOC moments is that they really don’t make sense in context, or would have wild effects in context

And it would be interesting to actually discuss those effects but it’s hard to when actual discussions of what canon implications are hindered by them only knowing a specific fanfic version of certain characters

As in I can literally point to the fic they actually read

And so the “hey, maybe read some canon” is more of an attempt to be able to connect and be able to share something that DC people enjoy, and apparently falsely assumed people from the DP side would also enjoy on the basis that they keep using the characters

It’s wanting to discuss, and play around with these characters on a higher level, to help branch out and help creat more content, but are unable to because there’s about five plots a significant portion of the fandom know how to use these characters for

You shouldn’t have to do an extensive amount of research or anything to partake or create content for fandom. It’s meant to be fun and should be fun

But it’s weird to see a sizable portion of the fandom actively avoid half of the crossover

DPxDC and OOC

I've had a couple of posts cross my dash recently where people lament that a lot of the dpxdc fandom writes characters very OOC and how we're proliferating these characterizations among each other. I figured I'd add my own two cents.

I think the fundamental discrepancy comes from trying to reconcile two canons with vastly different tones.

Danny Phantom is a comedy superhero show operating on cartoon logic. Why do ghost experts Jack and Maddie never realize their own kid is a ghost? Why is the status quo restored at the end of every episode? Why does Danny shoot an ectoblast out of his butt that one time? Because it's funny. It's cartoony action fun where the plot is resolved in 22 minutes, there's never any lasting consequences and it's aimed at kids.

DC meanwhile wants to be taken Seriously. Heroes get beaten within an inch of their life, traumatized, killed and even the good guys do messed up things (often to each other). Yes there's action and puns, but also horrific violence, actions have consequences and it's (mostly) aimed at adults. When a main character dies the comics show their family and friends mourning and things are very dramatic. Even though at this point we, the audience can pretty much expect every death to be undone within 2-5 years of publishing, but I digress.

So how do we, the fanfic/fanart creators reconcile these differences when we make our crossovers? We either make DP more serious and somber, or we make DC more comedic.

Suddenly we have a DP verse where the Fentons' bumbling obliviousness is elevated to serious neglect or outright abuse. The GiW are no longer a minor annoyance, they are a serious threat with genocidal plans and a desire to vivisect the protagonist. When actions have consequences, we imagine Danny as dealing with serious PTSD from having to be a solo superhero and witnessing his family's death that one time (and maybe also getting vivisected). Danny is not just a teen superhero, he's now the Ghost King with serious responsibility on his shoulders.

On the flipside, if we make DC more comedic we tend to exaggerate character traits for comedic effect, focus more on the interpersonal dynamics (especially the Batfam) and have the characters act more casual and silly. Suddenly the Batfam goes from a group of seriously messed up individuals who have trouble communicating with each other and fight all the time to Batdad "Kids if you don't stop killing criminals you won't get dessert ffs" Bruce. Violence is played for laughs instead of taken seriously. Yeah they fight, but they still Love Each Other.

And THIS IS PERFECTLY FINE. It's transformative work! And trying to reconcile these disparate fandoms is hard! Fandom is a labor of love. We do it for free. We do it for our own entertainment. And no one is forcing you to read fics you don't like. DLDR and all that.

[mirroralchemist]

June 2021 Writing update

Nevermind this is like the last day of June this is coming out 

Word Count: 945 Fandom: FFXIV Notes: I had been working on my semi-sequel to Bound by Fate these past few weeks and I kinda reached an emotionalish part of it so I figured I give a snippet. It’s not the actual part but I figured I’d show a bit of domesticated UriWoL

I paused at hearing the faint sounds of movement echoing. Of course, it could only belong to the only other occupant.  I followed the sounds until I found myself in a kitchenette of sorts. The scent of foods being prepared wafted in the air. Amidst that and the sounds of cookware being used, I heard the faint hum of a melody. One of which I did not readily recognize. I focused on the source of the melody, Urianger. It seemed he hadn't realized my presence just yet. I stared quietly as he seemingly hummed to himself while dicing some meat.

Devoid of the jewelry that adorns his form, I took notice of the actual shapes of his body. It was a rare treat to see him in such a relaxed posture.

It brought a smile to me to see the Elezen in such a mood. I could say this for all of my friends to be honest. After everything dealing with the Primordial Light, especially my own trials with it, we all could be at peace. For the present at least. I gave a knock on the door frame to finally announce my presence. He shook in surprise before laying down the knife.

"I hadn't realized you awakened."

"I've only been for a short while. I needed to walk around a bit."

"I see…"

I made my way closer to the man. There I could see more of what he was doing. He was in the midst of chopping lean meat into a grounded consistency. The various vegetables were laying on the counter top, waiting to be cut. I could see a bowl of finely milled breadcrumbs off to the side.

"Meatballs," he said, "I surmised that you could be wanting for food after your ordeal. My culinary skills, as meager as they are, should be sufficient for such a task."

I didn't hide my surprise at the reasoning. The blush came back at the thought of someone cooking solely for me. I was instantly reminded of Thancred's words that day. There was no turning back from seeing this act in a completely different light.

"Thank you," I stammered out, "Let me at least assist in the preparations. I am well enough for at least that."

He had opened his mouth to try and speak. No doubt to try and deter me from offering my assistance. I knew him long enough to sense his intent. He paused as if deep in thought. Eventually a small breath of air left him instead.

"If you are so intent...I do require some assistance in preparing the vegetables."

With a small grateful smile, I went to prepare myself to help. After cleaning my hands and tying back my hair, I took a clean knife and set about chopping the vegetables. We worked in mutual silence as we prepared the meal. Despite my attention being focused on the task, it didn't escape my notice that I would catch Urianger glancing at me from my peripheral before he would settle back to his own task. It all felt very domesticated; it could make one forget our lifelong duties.

Despite that, there was this feeling of pleasant contentment swelling inside. It really had been so long I had been able to just relax and stow away at such idle activities.

Even before he became more active in the fields, Urianger and I always seemed to work well together on those rare moments we partnered up. This was no different. At the pace we worked, it took little time for us to complete all the food preparations and place the sizable portions in the oven.

"It may take some time before the meal is fully cooked," he said while cleaning, "If you'd prefer, you can help yourself to the multitude of tomes within while we wait."

I nodded. It did sound mighty tempting, not having the opportunity to read for leisure in quite some time. It gave me passing nostalgia of his offer of the same back home.

After all, it was how we became comfortable around one another when I first started within the Scions.

He must have remembered too, if that wry smile was anything to go by.

But alas, I had another idea on the agenda.

"May I touch your hair?"

"Pardon?"

There was no concealing the stunned confusion in his expression. I would have taken some mild pleasure in catching him so rarely off-guard. If not for the fact I was nervous about my request.

"Your hair," I clarified, "I would like to touch it. For a project I'm working on."

He fell silent the moment my request sank in. I looked away knowing how odd it was to request it so spontaneously.

"Oh. Alright."

I turned towards him. He met my gaze with his own. There was little hiding the faint blush that dusted his cheeks. I reached up to touch his hair only to find that my fingertips barely touched enough of his ends. He noticed the issue with our height difference soon enough. With a chuckle he bent down enough for me to get a fuller grasp of his hair.

It was so...soft.

I marveled at how his locks flowed through my fingers. It may even be softer than my own blue locks. I moved my fingers upward until the tips were touching his scalp. He emitted a groan at the contact. I began to pull away but his hand on my wrist stopped me. At that same time, he leaned more into my touch. My heart nearly skipped a beat at this affectionate side of him. Reluctantly I drew my hand back.

"T-thanks."

[psychicrhubarb]

10 Writer Questions

tagged by @momentofmemory, who is endlessly lovely and kind <3

1. What’s your favorite genre to write?

I don’t know if “character-driven canon-compliant oneshot” is a genre, but that’s what I like to write! Nothing makes me want to open a fresh document like a side character having an underexplored feeling, and then canon leaving a tempting gap for me to fill.

2. Do you pull inspiration from real life, or do you pull things from other books/fanfiction you’ve read?

Both, always both. I really think that all writing is basically a blend of everything the author has ever read, but I also like to tell stories about how weird people are when they’re just--being people, and that’s something I think you have to just observe in the wild.

3. Do you tend to write one-shots, short stories, or longer things?

I have a couple of longer fics and WIPs but my heart lies with oneshots. Short little vignettes. Like, what am I supposed to do, write more than two thousand words about ONE idea?! Come up with PLOT?!?! No thank you.

4. Do you prefer to write description or dialogue?

I definitely default to description, but I’m growing to love dialogue. It turns out practicing is important?! I still probably prefer the power of imagery you get with description but it can be really fun trying to communicate (natural, funny, odd) character in dialogue.

5. Favorite fic/book of all time?

Book: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. My username is from that book!

“During 1941, in the wake of that outburst of gaudy hopefulness, the World's Fair, a sizable portion of the citizens of New York City had the odd experience of feeling for the time in which they were living, at the very moment they were living in it, that strange blend of optimism and nostalgia which is the usual hallmark of the aetataureate delusion.”

Fic: One fic? ONE?!

I have a lot of favorites, but in the interests of recommending one that I think everyone on the planet should read, but every on the planet has not already read: Triptych by @kaikamahine. Or, since I’m thinking about Star Wars already: to the sky without wings by @leupagus.

6. Favorite Trope?

[sigh] I have trouble with the question because I don’t... like tropes? What I mean is, there aren’t any tropes I specifically seek out. I enjoy many fics that use very common fic tropes, but I don’t like them because of the trope, I just think they’re awesome. Couple examples: @toli-a‘s Justified A/B/O fic and @helvetica-upstart‘s Schitt’s Creek amnesia fic.

7. Are you the kind of person to work on more than one WIP?

I wanted not to be. I told myself I wouldn’t be. I definitely am.

I have I think 4 WIPs with active drafts right now (in the Star Wars, Spiderverse Captain America, and The Office fandoms), plus a bunch of scraps in the Notes app that I’m fooling myself into thinking aren’t drafts because they don’t have their own google doc (The Witcher, CQL, Justified, Black Panther).

8. How long have you been writing?

Three years, maybe? I think a lot of people in fandom spaces have been doing so in one form or another most of their lives, but unless you count papers for school, I didn’t write a single thing between the ages of about 5 and 20. I was a math major. It wasn’t required of me, and doing things that aren’t required is a newfound activity of mine. It’s nice. I like it.

9. Do you tend to write more in the morning, afternoon, or evening?

I tend to write when I’m on a tight deadline for something else, and desperate to procrastinate, independent of time of day. I guess that’s mostly in the afternoons, now, given I hate mornings and try to spend time with the people around me in the evenings, but I used to write mainly LATE-late at night.

10. Do you prefer to post and update your WIP chapter by chapter or wait until it’s 100% complete before sharing it?

My current May Parker/Liv Octavius fic is an experiment in posting and updating chapter by chapter, and the results of the experiment are that I should not do that anymore. It makes it feel like more of a chore, for whatever reason: I now have a pact with myself that nothing unfinished goes up on AO3.

Tagging 10(ish) people: ten is a lot of people, uhhhh @gracelesso @girlbookwrm @layersofsilence @jinlinli @hansbekhart @ everyone who sees this and wants to play

[bumble-booty]

Commissions Are Open! (New and Updated Version!)

Commissions are currently Open!

My writing background and preferences!

My Nickname is Bumble Booty or Baby Blue, feel free to use either! My specialty is dark/gore, body horror, psychological horror, and NSFW! However, I will absolutely do non-dark as well, so if light and fluffy is more your preference- I’m still interested in writing it! 

I have a Bachelors Degree with a Double Major and a minor- Psychology (specialized in abnormal), Philosophy (integrative study with Psychology), and Criminology (minor and main focus being crime and homicide). As for other useful background, I actually work for a movie store (and one other place, but that one doesn’t give me plot bunnies)! 

What that means for you is- don’t be shy with any prompt. I’ve probably been in contact with it before through my studies, personal research, or work-related exposure!

My specialty is Transformers, but I have recently fallen for the Hazbin Hotel fandom. However, I have not written for the latter as of yet. I will most likely get into Hazbin Hotel very soon though! If you want something outside of these fandoms, please expect a slight delay as I research the fandom. Please ask though, as I may still take it on with sufficient info!

Disclaimer: On most occasions, I typically stick to more canon-style fics. It is simply easier for me to work with plausible situations that can expand out from there- however, I might still do more crack-style if I feel confident enough. I will also do original works if I have enough information!

What I will Likely/Certainly Reject: These are subtypes I do not feel confident in/have had bad experiences with/ will not touch with a 10 foot pole. 

Pedophilia. 

While age-differences are perfectly okay, molesting a child isn’t. All characters in my work WILL be 18+ for NSFW fics, or you can politely take your business elsewhere. 

Because sometimes this apparently needs to be said, Age Regression is not Pedophilia. If your preferred characters are of consensual age and this is a psychological fic where the boundaries are CLEARLY set, please feel free to message me. If your character is a child being abused as an adult, do not. I can tell the difference. 

Farting/ Flatulence fics. 

This is a strange one, but I have had strange experiences with this subtype and those that request it. I have no opinion on your kinks or likes, but I will no longer be accepting fics with this as a PRIMARY FOCUS. 

If it happens to be something that might come up- for instance, an IBS coping fic, a period fic, an autopsy/drowning fic, etc- I will happily discuss this being an option as far as accurately describing the symptoms/struggles of those that suffer with these conditions/fates. Do not hesitate to discuss it with me, the worst you will be told is no. 

Unusually Predatory/ Targeted Hate Fics.

I am well aware of the trend of shaming someone/ channeling a targeted threat through popular media, and I will not help damage someone’s psyche. If I have reason to believe you are using this fic to try to shame a previous significant other/ trying to use your fic and its exposure to target/mislead someone into what could be a psychologically damaging situation, I will not be working with you. Deciding this is my discretion, and if it is truly not your intent I apologize but stand by my decision. As mentioned prior, If it is not your intent go ahead and email me with your prompt anyway- the worst you will be told is no! 

 Any Other Fic for Personal Reasons. 

I am a person with my own history, and I reserve the right to deny a fic if it strikes too close to home. 

My Pricing, Payments, Refunds, and Alterations!

Pricing: I charge in USD on a rising scale for minimum word counts. 50 cents per 100 words, up to $4.50 for 999. After that, it's a flat $5 for 1,000-word increments. So: $5 for 1,000 words, $10 for 2,000 words, $15 for 3,000, etc. Final Pricing will be established before I start working, but I am very flexible! Should you want something changed/altered while I’m working on the draft, please contact me! 

Payments: Payments are accepted through Venmo upon completion AND APPROVAL of your work.

Refunds: Refunds will not be served, as I usually don’t accept payment until after the work is completed and approved. 

Alterations: If we decide on an alternative prompt after or during the first draft, I will consider this the new commission and write with a new/altered price agreed on by both of us through DM/Email. I will mostly stick with my standard pricing, but any oddities will be discussed privately should something happen on my end to cause a delay. 

Side note: I do not have a maximum word count, and if I go over it's ON ME. My Prices are for a minimum, not a maximum.

Request form!

When contacting me about a commission, please send me this general format for ease of keeping everything straight! If you do not, I will reply with this copied in so I know exactly what you want and can ask for more information wherever needed!

Characters: (This is who you want to see! If you want couples, please mark them in the x/x format, with non-couples listed singularly and separated by a comma.) 

EX: Prowl/Jazz, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Unnamed Mecha.

Basic Plot: (SFW/NSFW, what you want to happen. This is the main idea I’m working with!)

EX: NSFW, Jazz returns from a mission in a dangerous head space. He is fairly violent to everyone, and is searching for Prowl due to his ability to calm his coding. Optimus and Bumblebee are helping Prowl contain the rouge Ops mech before he offlines half the base. 

Sub-Plot: (Kinks/Small Details/ Triggers you want to see. If going into more detail on a particular thing, put a hyphen after the general descriptor and continue. End this with another hyphen, then continue listing if you have more!)

EX: Pinning, Biting, Clawing, Mild Body Horror- Maybe Optimus gets some tubing cut loose? Or a random, unnamed Mech meeting a foul end after startling Jazz?  I just want it to be obvious how dangerous Jazz is in this state!- Feral Behavior, Aftercare, and Post-Recovery Apology.

Other: Things you DO NOT WANT TO SEE AT ALL. Please clarify in the same way you clarified in Sub-plot. This is especially important if you are requesting Gore/Trauma fics.  

******Please be clear on this!!!! This can be as broad as "no gore" to as specific as the word "moist". Please understand that it is not necessary for you to explain why, nor do you have to give me any reasoning should I ask for you to expand/elaborate. I do, however, reserve the right to ask if similar words/situations would also be off-limits. As mentioned in the personal background, I have studied Psychology and I do not want to be the reason you expand a phobia or traumatic event.  PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A SERVICE YOU ARE PAYING FOR, AND IT IS MY DUTY TO FILL THIS SERVICE IN A WAY THAT YOU ENJOY! Not put you in a bad head space or trigger you!******

EX: Gutting, Descriptive Bone/strut snapping, Overly Possessive Language- especially the word ‘pet’ or other dehumanizing possessive language along those lines- Unsanitary, and the word “Moist”- similar words such as ‘damp’ or ‘sweltering’ are acceptable (I just don’t like that word). 

How To Reach Me!

Email: My work email is “bootybumble@yahoo.com”- please put ‘commission’ somewhere in the subject line so I know to look ASAP. I usually respond pretty quick, but I do hold two jobs. Expect an answer within 24 hours. I will reply to the email you contact me with if I have further questions and clarification, or if I’m accepting/rejecting the commission right away!

If you do not receive an answer in 24 hours, feel free to email me again and explain you did not get an answer- it might be a filtering problem that I need to fix! 

DM: Direct Messages are also acceptable here, but I will warn that I often forget to check! Email is more reliable for a faster reply, but I will do my best do accommodate those that don’t want to/ can’t email! 

Please keep to the same format as you would for an email, but feel free to break it up into sizable portions since messages read a bit weird. I don’t mind the spam messages, I'm that kind of texter myself!

Priority/Timeframe, Rejecting, and Posting/Delivery! 

Priority/Timeframe: Commissions will take top priority over other writing work, and if I happen to get two at once it will be by order of receiving. I strive to have 2,000 words and below done per a one week period, anything more than that I will discuss with you over email/pms due to job balancing.

Rejecting: I would like to mention that I still reserve my rights to reject commissions if I feel I am unable to complete them in a manner worthy of accepting payment, or if I feel I cannot give enough personal effort due to work/personal qualms.

Posting/Delivery: Upon completion of the first draft, I will send you the draft script in a downloaded document (usually .docx format) if you like the draft/bones, please respond with any alterations you would like to see! This is additions, subtractions, substitutes, or changes! You can do anything as small as a word, to as large as the entire fic as long as it is agreed upon. 

After this is cleared, I will go back through the fic and add flourish and final details. After that is the proofreading phase, then I will send you the completed fic. If you are not happy with the final fic, please respond with what you would like changed and I will GLADLY fix the issues!

DISCLAIMER: I will not post your finished product without your permission if it is a payment-finalized product! This means that if you have paid for it, it is yours to keep. If I really liked the fic, I might ask your permission to post it to my AO3 Account with it either listed as a gift fic to your AO3 account, or with a notice placed in the notes at the top of the page that this was a commissioned piece, followed by your username/"anonymous" if you would not like it known that it was yours. 

HOWEVER: I ask that you do not post these works as if they were your own! I work very hard on my commissions and put substantial research into each piece, and I am more than willing to signal boost you on the work as well for sponsoring it! If you have a private archive or something similar that you intend on posting it to, please mention it to me during the initial emails/dms and we can discuss it. (I highly doubt I will mind though, I can understand some organization quirks!)

Samples!

If you would like to read some samples of my works, Check me out on AO3!

http://archiveofourown.org/users/BumbleBooty 

Here are some samples of my personal favorite works within my most popular word count brackets!

Less than 1K- http://archiveofourown.org/works/13413417

Thuck! E's Thuck! - Bumblebee/Grimlock, NSFW, Vore 

1K- http://archiveofourown.org/works/13445199

Those Who Need Us The Most- Bumblebee/Grimlock, SFW, Comfort 

2K- http://archiveofourown.org/works/13356138

The Sweetest Melody- Tarn/Pharma, NSFW, Body Horror

3K- http://archiveofourown.org/works/12662973

Detecting the Undetectable- Jazz/Prowl, NSFW, Heat Cycles

4K- http://archiveofourown.org/works/12275850

SCP 3262- Bumblebee, Original work, SCP Crossover

Just under 5K- http://archiveofourown.org/works/12199893

All For You- Jazz/Prowl, NSF, Candy Armour Vore Style

6K+- http://archiveofourown.org/works/13407669 

Pretty Kitty-Prowl/Jazz/Smokescreen, NSFW, Neko/Werewolf Heatfic

[atricksterproblem]

What are some things you like to gush about your terzo?

Remember that time I said I was saving this so I could use it next time I wanted a free pass to make a gush post? I’m calling that in now. :)

Here’s the thing about Terzo: He’s absolutely stunning. We all know this. A sizable portion of the fandom thirsts after him on the regular. I’m by no means immune. I think he’s the most beautiful person ever and I never get tired of looking at him. 

But his physical beauty isn’t really all there is to it for me. If that was all he was, if he didn’t have the mind he does, he’d be just another pretty face. This blog might still exist, but it’d still be just fan thirsting. It wouldn’t be a self-ship, not like this.

I love the way he thinks. He’s clever, and funny, and well-spoken. His interests are wide-ranging, and when he finds something that really grabs him, his enthusiasm is catching. I love his sense of humor, high and low. I love his creativity and admire his talent. I love his changeable personality. Some call him moody, and maybe he is. He’s intense and expressive and has a beautiful soul.

He’s very well-defended, because he’s had to be to survive. He doesn’t let that many people know too much about him, so a lot of people never see beyond the surface: the pretty boy, the goofball, the party animal. But if you pay attention, you can see there’s more going on than that, and if he does let you into his heart, his love is deep and lasting.

I think a lot of people don’t realize he has this kind of depth to him, both intellectual and emotional. Even so, it is unquestionably there, and it’s why I fell in love with him. 

He’s very silly, but silly isn’t the same thing as stupid. A lot of the silliest people I know are also the brightest. They also often have a lot of dark places inside them, and the silliness is a kind of coping mechanism or cover. 

He’s very flashy on stage. He has to be. He’s a performer and a very skilled one, and his charisma is obvious. Offstage, it’s obvious too. He draws people into his orbit.

But when he’s alone, he has a quieter side too. I can talk to him about anything, and we can give each other peace just holding each other without speaking as well. He needs private time where he doesn’t have to be “on” to recharge. He needs to be loved by someone who doesn’t expect him to always be like that. He needs to be loved for all of the very different sides of who he is.

I don’t think there could ever be anyone else for me but him. He’s the one I was waiting for without even knowing I’d been waiting, and now that I’ve found him, he’s the only one I want. I don’t think most people in the real world get to have soulmates. I think humans might be too messy for that in most cases. But I do believe that in a case like ours where you love someone who isn’t real, it can and does happen, and he’s mine.

[littlestarprincess]

I really love Bam? I always want to talk about him but I never know where to start, but he’s just so amazing and I want him to be happy, no matter what that looks like

(In other words, rambling under the cut about Bam)

Like, he’s not perfect, obviously -- though I feel like people expect him to be, in canon and out of canon. I don’t think SIU is going for that route though. I don’t think Bam is meant to be perfect. He has a hard time letting go of things, and he dwells on the bad stuff and doesn’t notice the friends who are by his side often enough. If I were to pick a minor arcana card to suit him, it would probably be the five of cups because of this -- he spends so much time wallowing over the spilled cups that he doesn’t tend to the ones that are still standing. And people -- Hwa Ryun and Endorssi specifically -- have acknowledged this, so I don’t think SIU means for Bam to seem completely perfect and infallible to the audience. Bam’s struggles are never a matter of “will I be strong enough to physically punch this bad person in the face?” even if from Bam’s perspective that is what they are. Bam worries about if he’ll be strong enough to physically fight, to physically protect his friends -- but the real conflicts of the story aren’t the big battles.

In the Name Hunt Station, for example, it seemed like it was about whether Bam was going to defeat Kaiser, even though we all knew he was going to win without any difficulty. People were complaining constantly about Bam being overpowered (they still are, but you get that in every shounen series. Overpowered heros are great until they’re making the choices you don’t agree with, I guess) because there wasn’t any sense that Bam was legitimately being threatened, especially after what happened with Hoaqin, with Bam having just gotten another power up . . .

But it was really about whether or not Bam was allowed to save everyone. Endorssi didn’t want him to save her (unless he was willing to sacrifice everything for her), and Bam didn’t know if it was okay to save Endorssi when she was his friend, if he was overlooking people who weren’t his friends that also needed saving. Rather than just being a test he had to pass for Yuri’s sake, I think he also felt that he had to defeat Kaiser in order to save the No-Names and that doing what Endorssi wanted would be letting down all those people that he didn’t know. I think that’s why his conversation with Kun was placed after his encounter with Endorssi. Bam was more open about needing to go to the Floor of Death, but he was also troubled by what the Blue Demon had said about all those people being sacrificed for Bam’s sake, and the situation with the No Names and Endorssi reflected this.

Following that, Bam also had to leave behind Wangnan during this time, and trust in Wangnan’s strength rather than allowing Wangnan to follow behind him (as has been the case for their entire relationship, honestly) -- something that was necessary for both of them, and which Bam was finally able to realize at that point -- but then, Wangnan isn’t able to succeed, and we’re still waiting for the fallout of that -- when Bam realizes that he wasn’t able to save his teammates because he wasn’t there for them. Because the NHS arc was about letting people down and disappointing them. Bam let Endorssi down by not doing what she wanted, and by virtue of that he let down Team Leesoo because he wasn’t willing to sacrifice everything to save Endorssi. He “let down” Wangnan and the others by not being there to save them, and he “let down” Rak and Ehwa and the swordsman by not being able to protect them from Karaka. NHS was basically a total loss, even if you can’t tell that from looking at which battles were won (and a sizable portion of the fanbase measures success by which battles are won, even though success is measured by how much of your goals you accomplish. Bam had two goals and he managed to accomplish one, but failed in the other, arguably more important one).

And with the Floor of Death -- obviously they were going to defeat Hell Joe and get the thorn. If they hadn’t defeated Hell Joe it wouldn’t be interesting; if they hadn’t gotten the thorn it wouldn’t have been interesting (though Rachel getting the thorn would have been, and that’s perhaps why, on a meta level, Bam is giving Rachel the opportunity to win the Thorn now). The stakes on the Floor of Death weren’t about Bam & Co defeating Hell Joe -- they were about finding out what it means for Bam to be an Irregular -- and in that sense, FoD was a resounding success, because we have answers now, and Bam has a goal that he can finally start pursuing. . .  .

I honestly don’t know where I’m headed with any of this now, just. I really like Bam and I wish people would stop giving him crap for being “too perfect” or “overpowered” and then turning around to complain whenever he makes mistakes. I know this happens with every fandom but TT-TT

Bam isn’t perfect -- he has a lot of flaws, and probably the biggest one is his “greed” / “gluttony” -- he wants all his friends, but he only notices the ones who aren’t there. But also, he can be incredibly stubborn, and doesn’t really compromise. He’s slow to anger but also slow to forgive, and he doesn’t like letting go of people, even when they’re well in their rights to leave. . . but he’s also trying to improve and like. He does things slowly and deliberately rather than rushing willy nilly so it’s not always obvious, but he’s working so hard to improve himself and think about things in ways that are more fair and to find a way to exist that doesn’t depend on someone else’s presence. Finding the reason he’s and Irregular, and his destiny and what he’s meant to do isn’t just a meta way to free Rachel to be a protagonist or anything -- it’s also in character Bam trying to find a way to exist that doesn’t rely on him chasing after Rachel. He’s trying to be more aware of the friends who are still by his side, and to be more proactive about protecting people who need to be protected, and he’s grown so much and aaaaaah. . . 

/)///w////(\ I love him <3 <3 <3

[rex101111]

I don't know man, I was just curious of the odds in what would happen had deku and ochako are somehow ended up roommates at the dorm., but I have zero imagination, so uh, what do you think would happen???

this got away from me and turned into a huge fanfic oh god why

Oh man! Talk about a call back, I just remembered the time back when the dorms were first announced and just about everyone in the fandom talked about who would be who’s roommate and what nonsense they would get into, before it was reveled that every kid would have their own room instead of rooming together, thus shattering all our hopes, dreams, and most importantly, our fanfics. Ahhh, good times.

As for those two being roommates, I kinda doubt the school would allow two, possibly hormonal, teenagers to live in the same room for a significant amount of time, for obvious reasons, and since there are an even number of both girls (6) and boys (14) in the class, they wouldn’t need too…

But if they DID:

IZUOCHA ROOMMATE AU GO!

Their reactions to hearing they are to share a room are about what youwould expect of them.

Izuku has a bit of an emotional roller coaster at first, on one handhe’s going to be sharing a dorm room with a girl for a considerablelength of time, and his head just floods with how quickly that could becomeawkward and all the ways he could embarrass himself. The more he thinks aboutit the more panicked he grows. The fact that he’s never shared a room with anybodybefore this only compounds the matter.

Onthe other hand, it wasn’t going to be any girl, but Uraraka, one of hisbest friends, someone who knows him and how…weird he could be, and someone hecan actually talk to with some degree of ease, so he figures whateverawkwardness might arise could be smoothed out and laughed off rather easily,heck, it just might be fun! Though…he figures it would still be a littleawkward, since while Uraraka is Uraraka, Uraraka is still a girl…a verypretty girl…with a radiant smile…who probably wears cute pajamas to bed…

All his thoughts of his potentially cuteroommate screech to a grinding halt and whatever relief he might have startedto feel quickly drains out of him when he remembers the sheer volume of AllMight merchandise he brought with him, and he starts to panic all overagain when he imagines what kind of reaction Uraraka would have to all of that.

Asfor Ochako her reaction is rather more…simple. She looks at Izuku from a slightdistance, mulling over the fact that she’s going to share a room with him forthe foreseeable future, her face slowly growing red and her heart thumpingloudly in her ears for a reason she’s only just started to piece together, andthen slowly placing her face in her hands and mutter, very quietly to herself, “Oh…oh no.”

They reach their dorm room, hardly exchanginga word on the way, the both of them nervous for their own reasons; they openthe door, look at each other…and laugh. Seeing that they were both equallyuneasy about this broke some of the tension, and they set off to begin the longand arduous work that is unpacking.

Near the end of the process, Izuku turns to look at Ochako,“Uraraka-san,” He says, his back to his last piece of unopened, andrather bulky, luggage, “We’re friends right?”

Ochakoturns to him, smiling brightly, “Of course we are Deku.” She noticeshow stiffly he’s standing, his back straight and his fists clenched at hissides, and she looks at him a bit questioningly, though still smiling “…Whydo you ask?”

He looks to the floor, worrying his hands, “Well…I just wanted toask that…um…well…” He goes on like that for a moment before sighing andturning to face his last bag, “Please don’t judge me too harshlyUraraka-san.” Finally he unzipped his bag, and slowly reached a handinside.

Ochako is honestly mostly just confused at this; nothing she knows ofIzuku gives her any sort of idea as to what he’s expecting to be judged by herfor, his use of the word harshly hardly helped her at all either, whatwas he going to show her that he’d need to visibly gather courage for?

As Izuku continues to gather up the aforementioned courage, Ochakoremembers a slightly embarrassing episode that she had earlier in the year. Shewas walking around the school during lunch break when she heard snickeringcoming from further down the hallway she was walking in; as she got closer shesaw Kaminari and Mineta chatting quietly amongst themselves, bragging about thesize of their “stash” back home and how well they’ve hidden it, only to stopdead in their conversation when they noticed her not three feet away.

When she asked them what they were talking about, they grabbed her bythe shoulders, dragged her to the dark corner of the school where theywhispering, and got on their knees and begged her not to say a word toany of the teachers and to pretend she heard nothing. She promised, mostly toget them to stop crying as pathetically as they were, but when she asked themagain about what they meant by “stash” they only avoided her gaze and mutteredin unison, “It’s…its private guy stuff y’know?”

That response answered absolutely nothing, of course, but she sawthat she wouldn’t get anything out of them anyway so she dropped it…deciding toask the girls in class instead, knowing the guys in the class would eitheravoid her in much the same way, have no clue, or, in Bakugou’s case, not give aenough of a damn to give her a serious answer.

Momo was just as clueless as she was, and her only contribution to theinvestigation was a guess that was a bit…naïve, “Maybe they were talking abouttheir stash of…study equipment?”

Tooru wasn’t much better, though this time because apparently she knew exactlywhat Ochako was talking about, but the only help she got was a giggle and arather coy, “Why don’t you try asking a few other people? ~”

She caught Tsuyu and Kyouka together, and their responses were the firstreal clue to the answer she was looking for. Kyouka looked rather unsettled, ablush staining her face before she muttered, “Kaminari”, darkly underher breath and turning to stomp away while continuing to mutter, presumably tofind the very same electricity user. Ochako doesn’t want to remember what shedid to him later that same week.

Tsuyu, on the other hand, while looking just as unsettled, simplycleared her throat and, with a much more subdued blush, croaked, “You probablydon’t want to know Ochako-chan.”

Her last option was Mina, who finally put an end to her quandary with acheeky grin, and blunt answer that proved Tsuyu’s guess all too true, “Their‘stash’? Oh yeah! They were probably talking about porn.”

Remembering that answer snapped Ochako straight back to realityjust in time to see Izuku finally begin to take his hand out of the bag. A needto yell at him to keep whatever it is he wants to show her inside the bag and amorbid curiosity to see it (she could practically hear Mina giggle in her ear: whatdo you think his taste are like?) fill up her gut and redden her face asshe watches, her conflicting emotions transfixing her gaze, as Izuku slowlyreveals…

…An All Might action figure, dressed in his famous silver age custom andplaced in his signature pose with its chest puffed out and its fists on itships, and placed it on a table in front of him. Ochako instantly relaxes,letting out a shaky and breath laugh as her full face blush fades to a slightpink tinge on her cheeks, mostly out of a little bit of shame due to thinkingIzuku would be the kind of guy to bring out something like that to adorm, she should have guessed it would be something like this that he wasscared to show her.

She still wasn’t completely sure why he was this scared ofshowing her though; having something like that is nothing to be ashamedof…honestly she was starting to find this whole situation a bit cute…

She opens her mouth to say that Izuku shouldn’t worry about it, butshe’s interrupted when Izuku pulls out another All Might figure, this onedressed in the yellow suit she saw the man wear a few times around school (shedidn’t know people made ones like that), and then another, and another, andanother.

And soon the whole table and a sizable portion of the wall is covered inevery kind of All Might merchandise she can imagine, from All Might figures toAll Might posters to an All Might lamp, it appears that if there existeda kind of All Might memorabilia, then Izuku made it his mission to own it.

Looking at the frankly staggering amount of stuff that Izukusomehow managed to stuff into that bag and place in his half of the room,Ochako finally understood exactly why Izuku was so skittish about showing herall this.

Speaking of Izuku, he finally turned back to look at her, his face redwith nervousness and worrying his hands again, “So…” He choked out at last,“…what do you think?”

She continues to observe his collection, letting herself soak in everydetail and the sheer volume of admiration one person can have for another allat once amazes and doesn’t surprise her in the least, considering who’s standingbefore her, and a smile grows on her face with every object she sees, untilfinally she looks at Izuku with a smile stretched from ear to ear and cheekstinged pink, and exclaims with every bit of affection she can muster, “Justwhat I expected out a geek’s room!”

Izuku’s face fills with embarrassment, falling to his hands and knees,surprising Ochako and breaking her out of her reverie as Izuku pitifullymutters in almost comical despair, “Right, of course, just as expected from ageek…”

“Wait nonono!” Ochako flails a bit, falling to her knees in front ofDeku, worry etched on every inch of her face, “I meant that as a good thing! Agood thing!”

Izuku lifts his face, a bit of the despair leaving his face, “…really?”

“Yeah really!” She springs herself up right, grabbing his hand to bringhim along with her, and gestured to the collection, “I mean, look at all this!”She laughs and picks up the first figure and holds it up to him, “You have alot of admiration for All Might! And you got all this stuff because of that!”She turns the figure in her hands for a moment, before gently setting back down where Izuku put it, “You look up tosomeone and what they represent, you want to be like them, and you want peopleto know it…”

Izuku looks at her, his heart swelling with something he can’t quite puthis finger on, a blush staining his face, “Uraraka-san…”

She looks up so their eyes meet, a soft smile on her face, “Being soproud of your admiration of someone…of what they stand for…putting all of it ondisplay and trusting someone else with it…” She fidgets with the tips of herfingers, her nervousness rising and her face heating up for a reason shedoesn’t want to think about, instead she just smiles wider at him, “I thinkit’s really cool, Deku.”

The only thing Izuku can think to do is stare at her wide-eyed, openingand closing his mouth wordlessly, trying to convey something before he chuckleslightly and matches her smile with one of this own, “Thank you Uraraka-san.”

They stand like that for a while, smiling brightly at each other, theworld a hundred miles away…at least until they notice how close they arefor the first time and taking a step back from each other, each of them lettingout a nervous laugh and looking away, both of their faces glowing bright red.

Ochako looks at the collection again, and laughs again, trying to easethe tension, “You know…to be honest I’m actually kinda jealous.”

Izuku looks up in surprise, “Really?” He follows her gaze to hiscollection and laughs a little despite himself, “Jealous? Of all this stuff?”

She laughs right back at him, giving his forearm a light punch, “Yeah!Of course I am!” She gestures at the merchandise, “I mean look at all ofit! Having so much of this stuff is really cool!” She places a hand onone of the figures, her voice taking on a more wistful tone and the edges ofher mouth tilting up, “I could never have this much stuff or even a little ofit…” Her hand falls from the figure to hang at her side, her smile not quitereaching her eyes, “…It would have been too expensive.”

Izuku’s expression falls, remembering her parent’s situation,“Uraraka-san…”

Ochako whirls to face him, her smile stretching further than it did amoment before, almost as if in response to his tone, “But hey! It wasn’t allbad!” She clasps her fingers behind her back and looks at the celling, “Lots ofkids in my elementary and middle schools brought some of their cooler stuff toshare, so it’s not like I never got the chance to at least play with that stufffor a while,” She sweeps a hand in the direction of the collection that startedthis whole mess, “And now, I have a roomie with the best All Mightcollection ever!” She flashes the brightest smile he’s seen her wear for awhile, but it still doesn’t quite reach her eyes, “So it’s fine! Really! It’s awesome!”

Izuku had a nagging feeling, but decided not to prod, so he just smiled,“Right.” He looked at Ochako again, something still feeling off, “Uraraka-san,”He started, Ochako looking at him oddly, “You sure you never had any hero stuffas a kid? Even something small?”

Ochako kept staring at him for a moment before averting her eyes to thefloor and rubbing the back of her head, “…well, there was that one time…” Shelooked at him with a quiet little smile, “I was about…six I think? My folks andI went to a 100 yen store to do some last minute weekend shopping, when I sawthis really cute All Might keychain…” She let out a sad chuckle, “It was justhis face dangling from a little silver ring, ya know, cheap, but it looked cuteto me so…I kinda begged my dad to buy it.”

She looked down again, fidgeting with her fingers again, ”And he did…onour way back home a thunderstorm started up, a bad one, pouring rainn’everything…” She sighed wistfully, “I was holding the keychain in my hand‘cause I was so excited to have it, but a thunder clap spooked me and I droppedit…rain carried it to a sewer drain and…” She shrugged her shoulders, “That wasthat.” She let out a laugh that was just on the edge of bitter, “Really bummedme out, let me tell ya…”

Izuku had a feeling that ‘bummed out’ was a bit of an understatement.

“I didn’t ask my folks for anything like that afterwards…” The smilecompletely slipped off her face, “Didn’t want them to waste money on somethingwe didn’t need, y’know?”

Izuku felt a bit helpless, his friend slipped more and more into asomber tone as she told that story, until she finally just stared at the floor,her face sullen looking as if she’s holding back tears. He was kicking himselffor getting her to tell a story that obviously still hurt a bit to remember,and seeing her like that made him mentally scramble for a way to cheer her up,but try as he might he came up blank.

“Oh geez…” Ochako started laughing mirthlessly out of nowhere,kicking Izuku out of his mental ditch, “I just noticed my accent slippedout again, I hate it when that happens,” She rubbed the back of her head,still not meeting Izuku’s eyes, “Makes me sound stupid…”

“No it doesn’t!”

Ochako looked up at the sudden exclamation, finally meeting Izuku’seyes, and saw something she hadn’t seen before; he was angry, truly andhonestly mad that she would think that way about herself, fists clenched andleaning over in her direction, the sheer shock knocked some life into hercheeks as she stares at him, “Huh?”

A second passed and Izuku’s mind caught up with his words, causing himto blush and straighten his back, looking away with a sputter, “I mean…um…Idon’t think Uraraka-san’s accent sounds stupid…” He found the mostinteresting spot on the wall to his right and kept his eyes there, blushing upto his ears, “I actually think it sounds kind of…” His voice loweredand lowered with every word until it was almost level with the floor, butsomehow she still heard him say the last one, “…cute.”

A thousand things popped and rattled around Ochako’s chest, knockingagainst each other and causing an unearthly racket, they were causing so muchnoise in her chest that some of the blood that ought to be there fled up to herface to escape it. And now Ochako had a feeling that if she didn’t end thisconversation right now she would do something she would (probably)regret.

“Oh hey!” She exclaimed out of nowhere, startling Izuku out ofhis intense wall staring, “I still have stuff to unpack!” She pointedat the two puny pieces of luggage that were still unopened, “I better takecare of that quick!” With that she hurried over to her side of the room,making a point of not looking at her friend for fear that he’d see how brightlyred her face was glowing at this point.

Izuku watches as she rushes offto her bags with a blush of his own, rubbing his head in embarrassment,honestly, of all the ways he thought he could make living with a girl awkward,he didn’t think calling the girl cute would be one of them.

Seeing her frantically fumble around with the zippers of her last twobags only made him feel worse, he pulled at his lower lip as he thought of someway to lessen the sudden tension in the air. He thought and thought until hishead started to hurt, when suddenly something occurred to him, with a rush hewent back to some of his luggage, looking for something.

Just as Uraraka was beginning to tire of fighting the bags, and rightbefore she started to consider just getting Mina to melt the zippers off, sheheard Deku calling her, “Uraraka-san!”

“Huh?”

“Catch!”

She turned around just in time to see him toss something her way, hereyes widened in surprise as she managed to just barely catch it with a yelp;she gave Izuku a reprimanding look, “Deku! A warning would be nice!” Deku inresponse only grinned at her, “What did you even give…me…” She opened her handand saw a keychain, All Might’s grinning face hanging off a simple silver ring,it looked a bit old, the ring had a few stains of rust on it, but looking at itconjured memories of a long gone rainy day with her parents.

“It’s the one from your story right?”

She looked up at him, eyes astonished and mouth hanging open, “W-why…”Her eyes sank back down to stare at the keychain, her cheeks warm and tearspricking her eyes, “Why would you…”

Izuku’s expression fell a little, “I’ve had that keychain for a longtime, and since you’ve lost yours a long time ago, and I’ve got like…three moreof those back home…” He worries his hands nervously, “I thought you should haveit.”

“D-Deku…you really don’t have to-”

“I want to,” He said with conviction, his eyes apologetic, “I made yousad by asking that question, so I wanted to make it up to you.” He gave her ablindingly bright smile, “Consider it an apology gift.”

Ochako looks at him, at his bright smile and lets the kindness of hiswords wash over her, looks down at her hand and the small, simple, cheapkeychain laying in her palm, she holds it close to her heart as she takes a fewsmall strides to stand in front of him, her eyes meeting his, “Thank you Deku.”

Izuku laughs a little, his cheeks a little red, “It’s no problem Ura-“

Before he could finish, and before she can stop herself, Ochako gets onher tiptoes and plants a short, soft kiss on his right cheek, her warm breathelightly caressing his face, before she’s back on the ground with a facesplitting smile, “No, really, thank you so much Deku.”

A beat of silence fills the room as what Ochako just did sinks inproperly for both of them, their faces running the gamut of shock, disbelief,confusion, before finally settling on a shade of red that is probably more thana little impossible achieve.

The both of them stand there with their mouths hanging open beforeOchako snaps her jaw closed, shacking Izuku awake.

“U-Uraraka-san-“

“OH!”

“Wh-“

“I JUST REMEMBERED!”

“What did you-“

“TSUYU ASKED ME TO HELP WITH SOMETHING!”

“Huh?-“

“I BETTER GET GOING.”

“Hold on a-“

“SEE YOU LATER DEKU!”

“Uraraka-san wait-“ Before he could fully get his bearings and finishhis sentence, Ochako flees the room in record speed, holding her face in herhands and leaving him alone in the room.

As the sounds of her footsteps peter out, Izuku puts a hand to hischeek, the feeling of Ochako’s small, soft lips forever imprinted in his mind;he mindlessly walks over to his bed and falls backwards onto it, his hand stillon his cheek.

As he numbly looks up at the ceiling, a grin spreads across his cheeksunbidden, “Okay…” He mutters to himself, “Maybe sharing a room with a girl won’tbe so bad…” A moment later his mind catches up with his mouth again, and hisface burns anew, and he covers it with a pillow hoping against hope the ground swallowshim whole before his big mouth inevitably says something like that in front ofsomeone else, especially Uraraka.

Downstairs in the common room, Ochako does much the same on a couch, wallowingin despair over her lack of self-control and wondering when her life became ateenage romantic comedy…all the while still holding on to that cheap All Mightkeychain…  

[fansplaining]

A reader letter from grace_adieu!

In Episode 42, we read a portion of this letter, sent to us by email from @grace-adieu. We wanted to publish the full letter as well, since we didn’t have time to read the whole thing, and she makes many great points that we didn’t cover in the episode!

Hi Flourish and Elizabeth!  

I was recently recommended your podcast by some friends from a community established during the wake of the dearly departed Toast and have basically spent the past week listening to the full back catalogue.  This has had the side effect of making me have all the feelings on fandom, so I apologize in advance for how long winded this is about to be.

For some context, I was first introduced to fandom at about 12 in the early 2000s via Harry Potter fic on ff.net.  Somewhat bizarrely, I was introduced to it by my dad, who had seen an article about fanfiction in our local paper and wanted to be supportive of his daughter’s nerdery.  The article was very positive and focused on how cool it was that teenage girls were writing stories for fun, so it is less weird than the current mainstream idea that all fic=porn would make it seem, even though I did end up spending an embarrassingly large portion of my adolescence reading angsty Snape/Hermione fic (I take solace in the fact that that even at my angstiest, I was at least never a fan of Pawn to Queen).

As an adult, however, my primary fandoms tend to be video game fandoms (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout, Life is Strange, Dishonored) and my engagement with them has been overall quite similar to my engagement with my non-video game fandoms (Harry Potter, MCU, Hannibal).  As a result, I was puzzled by the “Games and Fandom” episode’s framing of video game fandom as being separate from transformational fandom.  While the stereotypical video game fan is certainly thought of as male and involved in affirmational fandom (if they are involved with the work beyond the level of consumption/enjoyment at all), there is a sizable portion of video game fandom that does not align with either of those stereotypes.  Additionally, there is a significant amount of fanfic written for video game fandoms (AO3 has ~41k Dragon Age fics, which is several thousand more than the number of Doctor Who fics on that site). As a result, rather than comparing female/transformational fandom as a whole to male/affirmational video game fandom, I would say there there is a pretty distinctive split within the video game fandom between female/transformational and male/affirmational modes of engagement.

The two most obvious differences I see between transformative video game fandom and other transformative fandoms are the decreased focus on rooting for ships to become canon and the increased focus on OCs, both of which seem to stem from the fact that the most popular video game fandoms tend to be for games with branching narratives and customizable protagonists.  Being able to make your own player character and control their choices throughout the game (or at the very least, control who they romance) means that, unlike movies/tv/books etc., there is no one true canon, but a wide range of possible canons.  Thus, while people have plenty of opinions about which romances are the best written or the most emotionally satisfying, there is no motivation to push one ship as being “ the canon ship” since, in general, the existence of other canonical ships poses no threat to the status of an individual’s OTP.  I can’t imagine there ever being a Harry/Hermione vs Ron/Hermione style ship war in the Dragon Age fandom for example.

In a similar vein, I think that the structure of RPGs has led to the video game fandom being more interested in the creation of OCs.  While some people choose to essentially replicate themselves in the world of the game, it is common for people to take it as an opportunity to create entirely new characters.  As a result you don’t see the same kind of stigma around OCs that you do in other fandoms (no one assumes that fic featuring an OC is going to be an awkward author self insert because almost all of the fic for the fandom features an OC) and you frequently encounter people who intensely develop their OCs lives/backstories via fic/fanart/short headcanons etc.  You also see fans interacting with other fan’s OCs by submitting tumblr asks, creating fanart, and sometimes including them as side characters in their own fics.    

This next paragraph is a bit of an aside, but basically to see if I was talking out of my ass about the idea of there being a gender based split within the fandom in terms of modes of engagement, I looked at the video game franchises with the highest number of fics on AO3 and found that of the top 5 franchises (Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, Mass Effect, Fallout and Overwatch) only Final Fantasy featured primarily male protagonists/player characters.  The rest either had customizable protagonists (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fallout) or had roughly similar numbers of male and female playable characters (Overwatch currently has 9 women and 10 men, not counting genderless robot characters or the male gorilla).  Furthermore, when you compare games that are similar in many aspects, but differ in terms of whether or not you can play as a woman, the difference in the level of transformative fandom engagement can be quite stark.  For example, Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt are both incredibly popular, critically acclaimed games that came out in the past couple years.  Both are action RPGs set in a version of fantasy medieval Europe with a heavy focus on magic, romance subplots and player choice.  However, while DAI has a customizable protagonist, thus allowing you to play as a woman, TW3 has a set, male protagonist.  Correspondingly, DAI has ~21k fics while TW3 has only 273 (and while I don’t have sales numbers, there is absolutely no way that DAI is 100 times more popular than TW3.  If anything, TW3 is more popular).  Working off of the assumption that women are more likely to play games when they can play as a woman, it seems that the idea of a split based on gender has some basis?

I also was really interested in your discussions about the definition of fandom, especially the idea that a lot of people view “being a fan” and “being in fandom” as more or less the same thing.  To me, being a fan just means that you enjoy the original work, while being in fandom requires a level of further engagement.  I also don’t think that being in a fandom necessarily means that you are a fan of the original work.  While I have trouble seeing someone engaging in affirmational fandom without being a fan, I definitely enjoy transformative works for fandoms where I do not like the source material.  For example, I can’t stand the Star Wars movies, but love jedistormpilot fics.  Additionally, I entered the Harry Potter fandom as a fan of the original work, but as time went on, grew to dislike the books/movies while still loving the fandom.  I know you talked about this a little when you mentioned having read Teen Wolf fic without having ever watched the show, but I think transformative fandom’s ability to take aspects of a work I dislike and build it into something I love is really special.  

Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, I just really wanted to get my thoughts out.  I love the podcast, and while I don’t always agree with what is said, the discussion never fails to be engaging and informative.  I also wanted to thank you for doing such a great job on the Race and Fandom episodes.  I was initially a bit apprehensive about listening to them because I’m used to otherwise intelligent and sensitive white people having a big ol’ blind spot when it comes to race, so the fact that they featured so many really wonderful guests of color (seriously, I just want to listen to Rukmini Pande talk about fandom forever) meant a lot to me as a fan of color.

Looking forward to future episodes!