#anyway i think we have entered into a polycule for real

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sometimes. your first foray into polyamory is making out with your boyfriend's friend's partner at a party after multiple months of "jokes" about being in a polycule that nobody thinks are jokes in any capacity. and then your boyfriend's friend's partner asks if they can kiss you and make you feel small (?) and you. say yes. so they push you against the counter and [HORNY POSTING] and you had a dream the night before about needing to check with your partner about whether you could kiss this person. and they did, in fact, give permission earlier in the night. so you guys makeout in the kitchen while the other people at the party play a game of jackbox.

help.

[gascon-en-exil]

I had a friend over yesterday and 3H came up and I said the phrase "great Fargheus polycule" unironically. Which I think is pretty clear evidence of the measurable and positive impact you have on the world around you. On an unrelated note, how bad is the pollen in New Orleans this time of year? I live in DC and my sinuses are unionizing as we speak.

That's pretty funny. I can say that sort of thing has happened in fandom before, back when Echoes was current and I started referring to "Clive's gay entourage" which a mutual really picked up and ran with. With how much smaller and short-lived conversations surrounding FE15 were compared to Houses, it wouldn't surprise me if those headcanons from 2017 found their way into broader fandom consciousness. I mean, Fernand is explicitly gay in Sacred Echoes.... But anyway, it's just one of those things that works out well as a reflection of shipping culture, in how there's surprisingly little antagonism between the many gay Dimitri ships. Even if you're not multishipping him with half the continent, they all overlap so well that there's no real need for conflict.

The pollen in New Orleans is awful as it always is this time of year, as is the mounting heat. April is generally what I think of as the beginning of southern Louisiana's 7-8 month long summer, and the ending of that most wonderful time of year when walking outside doesn't feel like entering a dirty, overheated, insect-infested sauna. Pollen only adds to the "fun"...although it doesn't deter tourism much. We just had the annual gay Easter parade, and coming up is French Quarter Fest and later Jazz Fest. I really don't know how all those people can stand it.

[gemwolfz]

tonight i drew many of my friends old fantrolls as keronians. for funsies. i think theyre epic actually. more info under the cut because i always like reminiscing on these sillies

nadede - xandre lerant

nijuju - capris twenty

makuku - arhtus makuse

rezozo - xethyk silent

kigogo - runner akigei

viruru - glithe viruse

kiruru RSRM and ZKRM - their names were still corruptions of zekrom and reshiram like from pokemon but i totally forget what they were exactly

should i infodump with their normal names or keronian names. since im aiming at the frog followers i guess i might as well use the keronian names. however i am going to mention troll romance quadrants and not fucking elaborate iykyk.

also note that this all comes from when we were like 13

nijuju's bandaged arm is burned beyond repair due to makuku attacking him. why? because long before that nijuju had (accidentally? cant recall really.) gouged makuku's eye out, resulting in that gnarly scar on his face. in a more "hallmark movies but for trolls" world perhaps they would be kismeses. but no. they just hate eachother.

nijuju and nadede are moirails btw. they used to be a Moirallegiance-Or-Whatever-Its-Called Polycule but um. the other troll died. badly. don't remember what happened exactly but yeah they died badly

nadede and kigogo are boyfriends yayayaaay :3 the stories behind kigogo's scars are not nearly as dramatic. kigogo is simply a daredevil. he's also gay yippee

yea rezozo is floating! he can just do that he has weird powers just for fun. also his eyes are closed all the time and if they open he will enter a murderous rampage. the only known victim of this is his wife who he misses very much. Anyway he's really silly and moirails with makuku. also he was synthesized out of xellos and rezo from slayers (hence the keronian name i gave him) and my friend thinks thats kinda lame now but i respect him for it tbh

makuku also has magic powers they come from that amulet to the left of him. it has the blessing/curse of his ancestor (who killed people with a big sword for funsies)

viruru is very alphyscore. she created those two kiruru, who in the original lore are a blackblood and a whiteblood, which are not blood colors trolls are supposed to have so theyre Heavily Mutated. some real unethical stuff happening but it's ok its fine

uhh anything else? ...no i dont think so. its past midnight bye

[foxy--stoat]

welp i gotta ask for sone poly young ones with petyr! 😄 I kinda hc petyr as agender personally but of course you can write them however you please! Maybe the lads discovering petyr's existance and like inviting them into the polycule and petyr's all 'omg you noticed me? 😍' Cutesy fluff basically 😅

They'd all known about Petyr, obviously. He was hard not to notice, once you knew he was there. Vyv had been the first to see them, when looking in the supply closet for chemicals to make a bomb out of. 

"Hello!" He cried out. Petyr just looked at him. Probably. Their hair covered their whole face. "Who are you?" Petyr didn't move.

Vyv crashed back into the living room, where Rick was sat watching the news. 

"Vyv, take a look at this! Thatcher-" 

"Bloody Thatcher this, Thatcher that, shut up, pervy." Rick glared.

"For your information, I am-"

"There's something in the closet!" Vyv yelled. Neil brought his head out from the cabinet, where he was scrounging for lentils. So far he'd found six, almost a full meal.

"Why were you in there? I'm, like, the only one who even does any cleaning around here, and it's starting to get really heavy, you know."

"I was seeing if I could blow up Rick's room."

"Hey!" An indignant cry came from the couch.

"Piss off. Anyway, there's a person."

"That's probably just Neil." Neil was, of course, referring to his friend, who had come for that party a couple weeks ago, and never left.

"No, they had hair over their face. And they didn't talk."

"That sounds like one of Neil's spazmo friends."

"Hey, Rick, be cool, man."

Mike entered, with a large caption appearing at his midriff. It read 'Mike the Cool Person enters'.

"What's this I hear about someone in the cabinet? This sounds like a mystery, and I'm not talking about Nancy Drew." 

Neil leaned over to Vyvyan. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know, Neil." Vyvyan's approximation of a whisper hurt Neil's ear.

"I'm going to go see what all the fuss is about. Boys?" Mike looked expectantly at the other housemates, who quickly scrambled up to follow him.

Petyr didn't know why they chose this house. They didn't know much of anything, honestly. They didn't mind. It was peaceful, to roam around the house unnoticed. 

When Vyv crashed his head into a shelf and noticed the figure crouching in the corner, Petyr had seized up. They didn't want to have to find another place to stay. The last place had tried to have him exorcised, for god's sake.

They heard tentative footsteps approaching the door, and panicked. A voice boomed through the thin door.

"I bet it's a huge rat! Then we'll be fed for days!" 

"Shut up Vyv, rat's don't get that big."

"Well, you seem pretty big for a rat, and you're as ratty as ever."

"Hey!" Mike attempted to settle down the squabbling, and they went silent. Petyr held their breath, or at least they thought they did. They didn't think they had lungs, but they definitely needed to breathe sometimes. 

They'd considered the fact that they were a ghost, but ghosts should be able to remember their past life, right? And ghosts could fly. No, Petyr was just an unnoticed spector until they got a little bit too comfortable, and his hosts decided that they were no longer welcome. Not that they welcomed them in in the first place.

They'd followed the young ones from their old residence to the new one, seeing as they didn't seem to mind Petyr's presence. They were about to find them, though, and they prepared themself for another uprooting.

The door flew open. Mike stood tall (or as tall as he could be), brandishing a broom. It looked at Petyr forlornly, and they shrugged. There wasn't much they could do.

"It's a shame, when I went into the sweeping business I didn't think there'd be as much banging about." 

"Shut up, broom." Rick yelled. "Who are you?" He turned his gaze to Petyr.

"Rick, like, don't yell. We don't want to scare them. That would be, like, pretty uncool. Do you think they're a poltergoost?"

"Oh piss off, girly, poltergoosts aren't real. They're pilltergeists."

"Oh, okay, thanks Vyv." 

"No problem." 

A moment of silence washed over them, and Petyr drew their knees closer to their chest.

"Who are you?" Mike reiterated Rick's question, in a kinder tone of voice. Petyr shrugged. They seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Good enough for me," Said Vyv. "Neil, where's breakfast? And don't forget to make some for this poof." He gestured toward Petyr, who was shocked that he was being included in breakfast.

"Why don't you make it, Vyv?"

"We've been over this! I do the goldfish and plants, you do the food."

"You made me cook the goldfish!"

"Oh, shut up, the both of you, and get in the kitchen. We don't have all day, you know!" Rick rolled his eyes.

Petyr smiled under their veil of hair. Maybe they'd be able to stay after all.

[pangolin-404]

*grabby hands* gives us the SCC headcanons, pls, i crave more content (i don't have anything specific to ask, though... maybe just in general/as a polycule? ough my brain isn't working-)

I have a big ol Sweet hc dump here so here are some romantic headcanons and how I think they’d end up together!

They were extremely close friends way before they got together. Because of this, they all caught the “I’m never saying anything about this in case it hurts our friendship” disease

Sweet is a ticking time bomb in terms of bottling his emotions because he’s TERRIBLE at it. Before he said anything, he’d crack unknowingly and just swoon openly and be extremely sappy for .5 seconds before catching himself

Cap’n thought he was straight. he really, truly did. and then he fell for not one but two people who Are Not Women and had a crisis. He was already casually affectionate with them, so he actually became more reserved out of worry for crossing boundaries.

K_K tried their hardest to be chill about it, which actually sort of worked; because neither Sweet nor Cap’n reacted negatively to open affection, they just kept doing what they always did, which in turn made the other two more comfortable expressing themselves. and so they entered a loop of “Affection --> Positive Reaction --> More Affection.” K_K is the reason 1) Sweet didn’t explode and 2) Cap’n started being more affectionate

This lead to them eventually doing very sappy romantic things together all while being like “yes :) best friends we are :) hanging out with the homies :))” They start holding hands, cuddling, sometimes falling asleep w/ another. all as friends. of course. friends who eventually start sharing a bed and sleep in hugging each other. friends kiss each other sometimes right. as long as it’s not on the mouth ahaha.

This Extremely Specific Scene has burned itself into my brain and it’s the only way I can visualize them bringing up their Feelings(tm): They’re all getting ready for bed, like any other night. K_K turns out the lamp. for a minute all’s peaceful as they start to fall asleep. Cap’n’s Wide Awake. “I think we’re dating,” he says. Suddenly the other two are wide awake as well.

Once they establish that yes, all of them have feelings for each other, they officially start dating. absolutely nothing changes about their routine for days afterwards because they’re all like “well?? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?”

Ok now onto more specific stuff post-romance-established (and this post would be Long otherwise)

Sweet may not have a mouth but that doesn’t stop them from giving them affectionate bonks on the forehead (bc he can’t usually reach K_K he tries to subtly get them to pick him up in a hug. he is not being subtle but K_K goes along with it anyways).

Sweet loves baking dessert stuff (sweets, if you will,) and sometimes he makes them little treats

Sweet will hug Cap’n out of the blue sometimes (usually in private, since Cap’n gets jumpy and isn’t a fan of pda) to just. hold him. Sometimes u just gotta hold ur warm soft partner and grip them by the jacket tight so they can’t wiggle away

Cap’n overheats if smothered. Sweet is the one who finds this out the hard way by trying to be suave and flirty and suddenly Cap’n starts smoking. it absolutely saps their energy so the other two try not to break them

Sometimes, Cap’n will idly hold their hands. doesn’t matter if they’re even doing the same thing or just walking somewhere. they just gotta hold hands sometimes

Cap’n’s love language is gift giving so sometimes when they’re out in the city they’ll see a thing that reminds them of them and get it. they got Sweet their headphones and K_K has a hundred little trinkets like bracelets, gloves, belts, etc. Neither Sweet nor K_K were used to getting gifts of the “I saw this and thought of you” variety so it gets em right in the soul every time

K_K will just. bend over and smooch em whenever they feel like it. annihilate your partners with this one easy trick!

K_K sometimes doesn’t communicate when they want some affection, but the others pick up on it because they’ve known each other for so long.  they love being hugged but is usually the one doing the hugging so they just melt whenever the turns table. can’t stop smiling real wide from the love!!

K_K plays music in their sleep sometimes. it’s just a quiet, basic melody a few seconds long, but the others like listening to it if they happen to be awake when it happens

Once K_K is asleep they are out and nothing’s waking them up. More than once they’ve trapped Sweet or Cap’n in their arms in the morning

Neither Cap’n nor K_K say “I love you” very often for different reasons: Cap’n’s shy and K_K doesn’t think it needs to be said sometimes, that actions speak louder than words. Sweet says it the most and it gets them both right in the feels every time

They pretty much never argue; after so long together, they’ve accepted their differences and learned to work through them. any bickering is minor and it’s only a matter of time before they shuffle back to each other to apologize

When they’re all sleeping together, their soul-beats sync up

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

Fic Writer Questions! (you can find me here on AO3 if you're interested!)

tagged by dear @theburialofstrawberries mwah!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

112 yowza!

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

750,421 kinda tempted to go delete one word so it can be 750420 which is a far more Pleasing number

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

12ish but some of them overlap: BBCS/Sherlock Holmes/ACD (these are all different bc my bbcs fics are not the same as my own modern fem Sherlock Holmes adaptation are not the same as my ACD Holmes fic; Good Omens; Harry Potter/The Werewolf Draco Malfoy Cinematic Universe; Captive Prince; The Hobbit; Fleabag (it was a crossover with BBCS but Fleabag is the perspective character so it still counts as a separate fandom imo); Doctor Who; The Office; Parks and Rec; Broad City (one a piece for those last 5 but I AM going to write a Parks and Rec polycule fic for @gaykagome)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

They're all Good Omens fics from the 2019 Summer of Good Omens! Susceptible to Summer, Fragments Shored Against My Ruin, Something So Magic, Enter Serpent, and Anything We Like

All of those have over 2k except the last one, but average engagement for me is like 400 kudos or so

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try! It depends on what's going on with me. Sometimes I just don't have the energy, and I figure people would rather I spend my brain power on writing new fics than on writing replies to comments. Wish I had a fave button tho so I could let people know I read and reread comments, because I do!

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

Oh I wrote this ficlet series called A Chemical Defect about John and Sherlock's relationship in s3 of BBCS, and it's WILDLY unpopular. People don't read my fic to cry sad tears I guess! John and Sherlock are having an affair in the story, and it ends with the implication that their relationship is unsustainable and that Mary knows about it anyway. I intended to come back to it after s4 and write a more optimistic ending but LOL! Didn't have the heart.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I know this answer is kinda up my own ass, but like. I think stories that feel true to life sort of feel like they end on a beginning if you know what I mean? You don't really consider a chapter of your life closed until you look back on it from the next? SO that said, I think I'd have to say that it's my big BBCS serial The Only One in the World. I spent 2 years writing it, and it ends with John retiring from medicine to solve crimes and write books full time.

Could also be my WDMCU (werewolf Draco Malfoy cinematic universe) series Moonrise, which starts with Draco isolated in his abusive mother's house, trying to cope with lycanthropy essentially alone and ends with him in love and surrounded by found family in a cozy cottage in Hogsmeade, having gotten some lycanthrope rights legislation passed after working at it for years and talking to Harry about whether they want to have kids. Oh man I feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have written one crossover. It's BBCS/Fleabag, because me and @loudest-subtext-in-tv were laughing about how John seems like one of the horrible guys Fleabag sleeps with basically out of self loathing, so I wrote this fic to make Nattie laugh, and you should read it bc it's so good and so underrated.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, but people don't seem to know that authors can read bookmark tags unless you private the bookmark, and someone once put in the bookmark tag on one of my fics 'writing was meh but it was okay.' Okay so why bookmark it then??

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Fuck yes! I'm not sure what 'what kind?' means? People fucking? Sloppy, silly, and awkward, with lots of laughing. I also really like writing afterglow scenes which are even sillier and gigglier and often involve one character cooking for another. Food as love language is a very distinct pattern of mine tbh

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, but occasionally I'll write a post on here where I make some elaborate head canon, and I'll see people in the tags talking about how they want to write fic of it, and it makes me breathe fire out of my nose like a dragon like PLEASE DON'T. The WDMCU came out of a ficlet post I made on here like a year before I actually wrote the 60k series so like!!! Please don't do that!

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! To Russian and I believe Chinese. Not my entire oeuvre but a handful of BBCS and Good Omens fics

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

No, but I wrote a fic inspired by an RP I did with my gf right around when we met (actually now that I think about it, it's two fics), and I waaaaaaanna do a WDMCU collab with my beloved Sally @clytemenestras at some point if he has time bc he inspired me to even write werewolf draco with his original lesbian werewolf story

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

favorites are hard for me? I always think I'm currently doing my best writing lol so I'll say drarry

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

I don't post fics unless theyre finished, so I don't have any WIP up on AO3, but I did intend to continue with my fem Sherlock Holmes series, Your Many Tendencies. I just haven't been in a Holmes mood for a long time. Maybe I'll come back to it idk. This particular series is honestly very unpopular? People will just straight up say they don't read femslash, and it hurts a lot. This series feels really personal too, bc it's about a Black autistic nonbinary lesbian, so it does hurt my feelings that no one seems to care, yknow? I mean the people who read it are extremely kind and thoughtful in their engagement with it, but it has vastly less engagement than my m/m fic, and that's painful. It gets literally 1/10 the attention my fics usually get.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Almost all of my writing is romance, but I tend to write concurrently about recovery and found family, and I think I'm very good at doing that in a way that connects with my audience. I once had someone ask if they could use my words in their wedding vows, and I've had people tell me they started doing things with their spouse that my characters do with their partners in order to express love. I think about that all the time. My Impact. It makes me feel like I have a real duty to my audience yknow?

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

This question is hard for me like I've been writing so long and so much that I'm literally always happy with my final draft! It's always exactly to my taste, yknow? I suppose I could say that my fics tend not to be terribly plotty but so WHAT? That's beside the fuckn point for me. Plot who? I don't know Her. Also honestly like. Stories feel more True to me when they aren't ruthlessly devoted to plot bc like life isn't like that yknow?

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

If you're not fluent in that language, get a beta who is!!!!! That said, I have written scraps of very simple dialogue in French using mostly Google Translate (sometimes I check w Sally bc he speaks French but I am usually too impatient), and I am perfectly well aware that I take my life in my hands each time!!! Also don't do that bullshit thing where it's in italics? That shit is weird and exoticizing. Just write it in quotation marks like normal dialogue.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

BBCS babey back in 2012. Ended a 5 year dry spell for me after I got my writing degree.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Hmmmm I think it's probably gonna be the fic I'm working on now that I haven't posted yet, but I know it's called Names for a House, and here's a tiny bit of it

Thanks again Shreya for asking me to do this bc I really love talking about myself. I tag @the-moon-loves-the-sea, @clytemenestras, @tomiano, @gaykagome and @totallysilvergirl

No pressure <3

[raevenlywrites]

A young, shy woman enters the tent. She picks on her fingers as she sits down at the table. "Hi, I'm Ylva and I need your guidance? Help? I recently met these folks who are nice, gentle and fun. We have lots in common. But one of the men is my boss' older brother, and I don't know what to do. It feels like they like me, but I am not versed in flirting, and maybe I read too much into this. It's also a first time I see a polycule for real, and I am slightly intimidated by this but intrigued."

Tybee beams broadly and gestures to the array of decks on the table. To Gil's surprise, he says nothing untoward or suggestive, though his smile is a touch more flirtatious than usual.

"Welcome, welcome, my lovely. You've come to exactly the right place for advice on tangled threads of the heart. We've got quite the intricate little tapestry ourselves, dont we dearheart?"

He takes Gil's hand in his own and gives it a little squeeze. Gil feels his ears burn scarlet, but nods and swallows hard.

"Wh-whichever deck draws your eye, madam."

She selects the purple cards on the yellow cloth, which Tybee spreads with deft fingers as Gil shuffles.

"Hunt the Seven of Cups, I think," he suggests to Gil. "I think a card of that suit is most fitting."

"And it deals in choices and fantasies," Gil agrees. As he turns the cards, three seem to come as one. Gil startles with a little "oh" of surprise, and Tybee grins like a perviable cat.

"Just so. This indicates your past."

He taps the card on the left, the Two of Wands.

"She mirrors the Strength card of the Major Arcana, a deep well of personal power. Often, they have only themselves to rely on, or a very closed close group for support. On the right..."

"These all came at once," Gil says, almost apologetically. "I think because you're dealing with multiple people, so multiple future cards wanted to come."

"My thoughts exactly," Tybee agrees with a nod. "They're all very strong figures, with high levels of personal mastery. The Queen of Swords might come off as a bit harsh, but she knows her heart, and is willing to use it. The Sun is in an excellent position-probably that older brother if I had to guess, though perhaps that might be the King of Pents..."

"Anyways," Gil picks up, as Tybee seems to get lost in his own musings. "The Fool definitely encourages you to go for it. The three we pulled all seem like mature, well adjusted figures, so if anyone is in a good place to help you dive into the world of polyamory, it would be them."

"He'd make an excellent sugar daddy," Tybee muses, mostly to himself. Gil sighs and shakes his head, shuffling the cards back into the deck.

Come have your fortune told!

[the-lincyclopedia]

* adapted from @librajiminn on twitter

A fun game to celebrate 2020 ending! The rules are simple: recommend your favorite OMGCP fics so everyone can enjoy them, while trying to fill in enough slots to get a bingo!

This is going to get long, so I’ll put it under a cut. Also, I’m too orderly to try to shoehorn my favorite fics into these particular prompts, so I’m just going to go right to left, top to bottom, taking the prompts literally, until it’s bedtime. 

1. first fic you bookmarked: “Here Comes the Sun” by @doggernaut, 19k, G, no warnings, Zimbits

For the past month, the man with the baby and the sad blue eyes has been stopping in for a cup of coffee an hour before closing. He always sits in an overstuffed chair in the corner and drinks his coffee while his baby sleeps next to him in the stroller. Sometimes he pulls a book out from the diaper bag he carries with him; other times he just stares straight ahead as if in a daze. He never asks for a refill, always respectfully gathers his things and leaves ten minutes before the shop officially closes. Eric desperately wants to ask him what his story is. 

My notes: I read Check Please over the course of two days in June of 2019. On the second day, right after catching up, I looked at @peppermintfeminist‘s AO3 bookmarks and found a fic by @doggernaut. Then I read just about everything @doggernaut had ever posted. It was glorious. This fic in particular is so cute. 

2. most recent fic you bookmarked: “Flight Check” by @edgarallanrose, 15k, E, no warnings (though there is a creepy/handsy guy at a club to watch out for), primarily Zimbits with most of the other popular pairings in the background

Flight attendant Eric “Bitty” Bittle has been working his way up at Samwell Airlines for the past four years, and his new promotion has provided him the opportunity to work with a brand-new crew. Unfortunately for Bitty, that crew includes an incredibly handsome but equally grumpy pilot, Captain Jack Zimmermann, who seems to want nothing to do with Bitty. Even worse, Jack refuses to eat any of Bitty's baked goods. Will Bitty be able to win the captain over? Or is there another reason Jack has been avoiding Bitty?

My notes: There are a lot of great things about this fic--Jack’s character arc, Lardo’s dialogue, that scene in Seattle--but the reason I bookmarked it is the scene where Bitty’s basically slut-shaming himself and Jack gently but firmly tells Bitty not to do that and that it was the creep’s fault. 

3. a fic that made you cry actual tears: “a little bit more” by @ivecarvedawoodenheart, 14k, T, no warnings, Holsom

“I just wanted,” he says, “a perfect day. With you. Because it’s our last day together and our last day being here as undergrads and we’re kissing the ice tonight, and the weather’s supposed to be beautiful, and you’re moving tomorrow and Holtzy I just — I don’t want to be missing you already.” Holster wipes his eyes before he even realizes he’s crying. Behind him, Ransom sighs. “One more day where everything’s the same,” he says, feeling around blindly for Rans’ fingers. He feels Rans nod as he laces their fingers together. “Yeah. Yeah, Rans. I’d like that a lot.” __________________________

Holsom after graduation and throughout the subsequent six months after Holster signs to an expansion team in Oregon, and realizes his feelings for Ransom too late. Holster's POV :) kinda angsty, but there's a happy ending :)

Inspired by shitty-check-please-aus: "Holster moves to Oregon while Ransom stays on the east coast. The time difference makes it difficult to talk and one day they wake up and realize they aren’t best bros anymore."

My notes: I almost never cry at fics. I searched “tears” in my fandom email account and only a handful of my fic comments came up, but Syd is a literal master of Holsom angst, always. 

4. longest fic you’ve read: “Like Real People Do” by @xiaq, 153k, M, No Warnings, Kent Parson x OC

Parson gestures with his spoon toward Hawke. “So am I allowed to ask about the service dog or is that not PC?”

“My medical history is more of a 3rd date conversation," Eli says.

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because. No one sticks around afterward and I like to live in glorious denial for a short period beforehand.”

It comes out more self-deprecating than he intended.

Parson looks…thoughtful. “Well, does this count as one or two?

“Pardon?”

“This. Ice cream. I mean, technically it’s a second location, but still the same night. So is this one date or two?”

“One,” Eli says firmly. “If it’s happening within the same three-hour period.”

“You’re the expert,” Parson says, which, he’s really, really, not, but ok.

“So still two dates to go then?” Parson continues.

“I—what?”

“We’ve got a roadie coming up but then we’re home for almost two weeks. When does your semester start?”

“You want to do this again?” Eli asks.

Parson stops idly twirling his spoon.

“You don’t?”

He does, Eli realizes. He really does. Because apparently he actually likes Kent fucking Parson.

My notes: Okay, this fic has my whole entire heart. I’ve read it multiple times in its entirety, and it’s almost twice as long as the full-length novel I’m querying. Eli is one of my favorite OCs I’ve ever seen in a fic (probably tied with Damian Navarro and Ari Paxton, both brainchildren of @fozmeadows). Anyway, this is probably going to be the next thing @themeaningoflifeischeese and I read out loud to each other. 

5. a fic you almost didn’t read: “when all else fails (i’ll still be right here)” by @whoacanada, 6k, T, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings (and I don’t remember if I think there’s stuff to warn for, sorry), Zimbits

The National Hockey League is resurrecting the Quebec City Nordiques, and the expansion draft hits the Falconers much harder than expected.

My notes: Given that this was for @omgcpheartbreakfest, I was worried this would be all angst--all hurt and no comfort. Which made me sad, because I love @whoacanada‘s writing but I wasn’t up for reading unresolved angst. But @doggernaut reblogged the fic, so I asked if the ending was sad, and it’s NOT! There is quite a bit of angst but the ending isn’t sad. 

6. a fic that convinced you on a ship you didn’t ship before: “it drops with the gravity of rain” by @geniusorinsanity, 16k, T, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings (attempted sexual assault by an OC), Nurseydex

It happens like this:

“I don’t--this is a bad idea,” Dex says, his lips still tingling, his hands shaking on Nursey’s hips where he’s shoved him away. “This is a really bad idea, Nurse. I can’t--We can’t do this.”

And there’s hurt in Nursey’s eyes and his bottom lip is swollen from Dex’s teeth, but he says, “Okay.” And then, “It’s chill, Dex. Just friends, then.”

It happens like this:

“Actually,” Nursey says, talking more to his granola than to them, “I kind of have a date.”

It happens like this:

When Nursey calls, Dex almost doesn’t pick up the phone.

My notes: So I was really confused and a little disturbed when I first found out people shipped Nursey and Dex. Like, Dex just wasn’t someone I trusted. But then I was moving out of the house I’d been living in, and I needed stuff to listen to as I packed and cleaned, and @khashanakalashtar‘s podfics came in clutch. I gave this one a try even though I didn’t like Dex, and @geniusorinsanity blew. My. Mind.

7. a fic from an unusual POV: “Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy” by @porcupine-girl, 8k, G, no warnings, Zimbits

Jesse Snowden knows all the best restaurants and gourmet food shops in Providence, so when Jack Zimmermann starts bringing in incredible baked goods, he's eager to find out where the new bakery is. When he meets the man behind the pies, he decides that there's no way Jack could really appreciate this guy's talent the way he does, even if they are friends. He starts hiring Jack's chef on the side, in the hopes that maybe once Bitty's done with college he'll come work for Jesse.

Good thing there is absolutely no way whatsoever that Jesse could possibly be misinterpreting this situation.

My notes: Oh my gosh this is so funny. The secondhand embarrassment factor is huge, but like, the hilarity. 

8. a comfort fic: “Don’t Need to Compromise” by @khashanakalashtar, 11k, E, no warnings, PB&J

“Hey,” said Kent, unknowingly setting off a chain of events that would change his entire life, “you said that like you know from experience. Have you done this before?”

Jack and Bitty have not done polyamory before, but they do know Ransom and Holster’s polycule, which contains March.

And March?

March is trans.

My notes: I’m in love with @khashanakalashtar‘s entire Directionverse series (and honestly a lot of their other writing), but “Don’t Need to Compromise,” which is the second fic in the series, just makes my heart swell especially much. The gender feels are so good, and all the characters are so good to each other, and when I listen to this on walks I have to actively try not to arm-flap. 

9. a fic you wish could be a movie: “Ice Crew Please!” by @petals42, 61k, T, no warnings, Zimbits

Jack Zimmermann was drafted first by the Providence Falconers when he was eighteen years old. He is good at hockey. Very good. His team won the Cup his second year and now, in his third year, they are looking good. Jack should be on top of the world. And some days, he manages to convince himself he is.

He’s not, of course.

Enter the Ice Crew.

AKA: The Ice Crew AU

My notes: This fic has its tender moments, but what I love most about it is the sheer goofiness. Ransom and Holster and Shitty are HILARIOUS in this one. I’d love to see their shenanigans in movie form. 

10. a WIP you read as it was updated: “Something Borrowed” by @fozmeadows, 48k, M, no warnings, Kent x OC

All things considered, Ari did his best to prepare himself for the advent of Kent Parson, Potentially Difficult Housemate and New Star Liney. The problem was that his best was an idiot.

My notes: So technically I didn’t start reading this until the first 19 chapters were posted. But there was still plenty of anticipation for the final few chapters. And like, @fozmeadows (as mentioned above) makes EXCELLENT OCs. And I love how their fics consistently convey that having bad things happen to you does not mark the end of your story. 

Okay, it’s bedtime, so have 10 excellent fics. I got bingo twice, because I went straight across on the top two rows.