#behold my fic

[wizardheart83]

[paper-lilypie]

ccrt babey

[fanofmischiefmakers]

I know we deserved at least one moment of Steve being vulnerable after CATWS, but the MCU is a coward so...

You know when something big happens which changes your life forever, but you're so overwhelmed by the change, you aren't able to process it until much, much later.

Now, I'm imagining Steve Rogers, who couldn't even properly process Bucky's death before crashing into the Arctic, being forced to live in a new century. Everyone expects him to be stoic and grateful because, well, he is Captain America (the propaganda), and his survival is nothing short of a miracle. And Steve is just existing.

And then, Bucky is back from the dead, and Steve, he is running on pure adrenaline. He knows if he stops to think about it for even a second, he will just stop. And he can't afford that. He needs to make sure Bucky is safe first.

Fast forward, Bucky is with Steve. He is recovering. They both are alive, safe, and with each other. And with no immediate danger, Steve's mind just comes to a halt, and he breaks down. He starts crying. The kind of crying where he is trying to control his sobs and keeps wiping away his tears in attempts to stop them.

And Bucky, who was in front of Steve, freezes for a second. Only for a second, because in the next, he pulls Steve close and tightly holds him in his arms. He knows how much Steve needs this, how much he needs to let it all out, and how much he needs to stop being brave for a second. He keeps whispering reassurances in Steve's ear and runs his hand through Steve's hair. So, who cares if there are tears on Bucky's face? He needs it, too.

And when they sleep at night, their hands are firmly holding the other. Steve's breath still comes up short. Maybe they will talk about it in the morning, maybe they won't. But they know they will have each other, and they can figure the rest of the stuff along the way.

[sixtysixproblems]

i want to see Fox have the most chaotic ass relationship with some feral investigative journalists. and it somehow turns into a fix it fic. like this somehow leads to Palpatine getting taken down. how funny would that be.

like. journalists are fucking insane man (i mean this as a compliment), and insane in a way I think fanon Fox would 100% get along with. Like, what Palpatine didn't realize when creating a clone army to kill the jedi, is those clones might be very enthusiastic whistleblowers.

Fox stresses out the journalists by how much he's willing to divulge despite the potential consequences (or, yk, actual consequences cause it's palps), and the journalists stress out Fox bc they're catching up to Padme in number of assassination attempts. meanwhile--

Thorn: how many hours of sleep did you get last night

Journalist: i got like 30 minutes at my desk

Fox: omg twinsies

Thorn: nO

thorn's just. stressed.

[setmeatopthepyre]

tease tidbit tuesday tagged by the marvelous @beanarie, @leashybebes and @rcmclachlan. thank you! I was hoping to have some more pothos to share but alas, everything I have written for that is spoilers. so here is some antarct-fic

-

"You have a chance to be a part of something and you just-- you just throw it away, like it’s not important, like people like me wouldn’t be grateful to feel welcome in a place like that!" Tommy spits.

"Wh-- What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t you be?"

"I’d only get in on the technicality of being gay, not for… for actually being a part of a community. That’s never been me, people don’t want that with me."

"Oh come on, of course they do!"

"No, you don’t get it, Evan. You--" he breathes. “Not everyone gets the family you have, alright? The-- the waiting in hospital rooms together, the leaning on each other when things get tough. That’s... you are so damn lucky, Evan, and you don’t even know. To-- to have friends like that--"

"You have plenty of friends!"

"Not like that. Not waiting-in-a-hospital-room level friends."

"Bullshit."

Tommy stares. "What?"

"Bullshit. Last time you were in the hospital, you didn’t even let me tell your friends about it."

"It wasn’t anything serious!"

"You were in the hospital, Tommy, that makes it serious! If you want people to be there during the important moments, you-- you have to actually tell them when the important moments are, you idiot!"

"Don’t call me an idiot--"

"Why not? You’re acting like one. You-- you act like you’re just-- so hard to love, but you’re not! Everyone thinks you’re cool, and-- and everyone likes being around you, and you know who you are and no one thinks you’re--" he swallows, "-- you’re too much, but you don’t let anyone in and then you complain that-- that no one knows you. How is anyone supposed to know you if you don’t let them? How was I supposed to?"

-

no pressure tags for @sugarpenchant @geddyqueer @ambernotember @epiphainie @agentpeggycartering @emphasisonthehomo @trombonechurchill

[eddiesgmcsierra1500denali]

hang me up on your bedroom wall

buck/eddie • rated explicit • 6.0k • infidelity, pwp

“You’re going to be a great father someday,” Eddie says eventually, because he’s worse than he used to be and Buck’s reverent eyes make him feel—they just make him feel. “Eddie, I—” “You are,” he repeats, firm. “Don’t you think I’d know better than anyone?”

[measurelessdreamer]

One of these scogan Post-X-Men: Days of the Future Past fics where Logan changes things so everyone from the original timeline is alive and he’s back at the school and about to find out somehow that he and Scott are a thing in this new timeline, but first, after Logan is done explaining himself to Charles, Scott is charged with showing him the way to his room and they talk sort of but not really and all of a sudden they both hear a very happy “Dad!” screamed through the hallway and they both turn and there is a little girl of age four (or more), smiling and running towards them and Logan doesn’t get it because he hasn’t seen her before and he had no idea a child so young could even be at this school and someone here is her father but who? Cyke himself? And he’s about tu turn to see if someone else is standing behind them when all of a sudden the girl slams herself against his legs with such force that it wavers his stance for a moment and surely she hurt herself just now because there is adamantium on his skeleton and there isn’t any on hers and she is only a child after all but then he looks at her and not only is she completely okay, she is also staring at him and she is smiling and as much as it doesn’t make sense, it slowly dawns on him and just as he is about to accept it, the girl lets him go and then hugs Scott, more gently but with no less amount of affection and Scott is affectionate right back but he is also trying to send her away. Only for a moment, though, so he can talk with Logan, and the little girl frowns and doesn’t like it but caves in when he promises to get her some ice cream and Logan doesn’t get it yet again and as if it wasn’t already bad enough, the girl finally smiles again and nodds and then she says, “Thanks, papa!” and runs back where she came from, leaving Logan so awestruck it feels as if he’s a mere breeze away from losing his balance.

Part II | Part III

[zuppizup]

Rayllum, 10 babies and Xadian family planning

I’m trying to post the next chapter of Dark Alternative, but AO3 is very wonky, so you’re going to be subjected to my rambling thoughts on my new WIP for Work in Progress Wednesday.

So, over my vacation, I’ve been plagued by post-season 7 fanfic ideas. Short fics, obviously. No more than three chapters, as usual.

What’s got me intrigued right now, is how the continent of Xadia, or at least, a select group of people, will manage with living with the knowledge that Aaravos, in some form, is coming back in seven years. How would that affect politics and society, as well as the individual characters and the choices they make knowing that?

The regular folks would struggle to miss that whole eternal darkness and dead creatures thing that happened, but what do they know about exactly what went down?

And what do they know about what’s to come?

You know me, I’m a Rayllum person, so pretty much any fic of mine is a Rayllum fic, and this current idea is focused on how this particular threat affects the next stage of their lives.

Without a doubt, when we last saw Rayllum they were totally committed to each other and are fully ride or die… but how would that devotion relate to their future, in particular, the subject of children?

Now, I’m an angster in my deep dark heart, so while I’m sure many people could conceive of a fic where Rayllum are secure in their ability to defeat Aaravos come round two, that ain’t where my brain was ever going to go.

Rayllum are in love and clearly want a future together. Callum was openly planning a quaint little one in the Silvergrove before they were rudely interrupted by the whole end of the world dealio.

So, where does that leave them now (in my angsty reality anyway)?

In their youth, they both leaned into their more paranoid natures (Rayla leaving without Callum in TTM and Callum getting physical with Soren in season 4), and while they’ve both grown and matured since then, would such a threat as the world ending be enough to bring that paranoia right on back?

Which leaves me with my current fic planning conundrum.

Assuming Rayllum decided to forego the whole having kids thing until Aaravos is imprisoned again, how likely is it that they could plan when to have a family.

I’ve seen people say that the world of The Dragon Prince is in a medieval setting, and so people had children younger then, which, aside from not being the entire story, doesn’t feel like it really applies to a world with magic and dragons, a world that lacks the sexism and gender roles that are also associated with medieval times or other more grounded works set then.

Additionally, looking at canon, I think it could be reasonably argued that some form of birth control is readily available in the setting. In fact, I think it’s likely multiple forms of birth control exist in the world of The Dragon Prince.

From humans to elves, we don’t see large families normally associated with the inability to plan a family via the use of effective birth control. The “largest” family we see are the Sunfire monarchs, with three children. Viren and Lissa had two children only. Sarai may well have had more children had she lived, but Rayla’s parents spent multiple years at the Storm Spire and she remained an only child.

I can’t imagine there’s much in the way of entertainment at the Storm Spire either. Sure, they could abstain or get creative, but oof, hasn’t enough been asked of them?

Even looking at prior generations, we do not see large families. Given the closeness in ages of the siblings we know of, it also seems unlikely to me that children were lost in childbirth or to childhood illnesses.

To me, it seems far more likely that family planning is active in Xadia and would be a tool Callum and Rayla could exercise.

Clearly, no birth control is infallible (or I guess it can be, magic and all) and I assume Miyana’s twins were unplanned.

Personally, I head canon Rayla herself was an oopsie baby in order to further explain the complications of her parents being called away to join the Dragon Guard.

Where am I going with this? I don’t even know anymore.

I suppose, to me, it’s not a foregone conclusion that in seven years Rayllum would have a kid (or indeed multiple). The setting of the world doesn’t imply that it’s particularly difficult to prevent pregnancy. In fact, the small families imply to me that family planning is a cultural norm among elves and humans.

Faced with the imminent threat of Aaravos’ return, would Rayllum plan to start a family? Certainly, people put off having children for far lesser reasons.

We also don’t know how using dark magic, even in that limited capacity, has affected Callum and the potential for him to get possessed again. It was clearly enough to physically mark him, but does that go deeper?

Would imprisoning Aaravos once again result in an inevitable possession?

Not great when Dad gets taken over and abandons the family.

Or worse, Mum has to take him out.

Angsty though!

As usual, I’ll be doing my own thing in my fics, but I’m interested to see where Arc 3 goes with this (optimistically assuming we get it). There are a lot of factors at play to explain why we might see a lot of the characters in a state of stasis. Seven years isn’t that long when you’re facing the world ending, after all. Particularly when you’re likely to play a very active part in trying to stop that returning apocalypse.

So, which way to go? I see the angst potential in both.

On one hand, you’ve got the pain and desperation of protecting your kid from a returned Aaravos, or perhaps worse, a possessed Dad.

But on the other, you’ve got two people who likely want to take the next steps in their lives, but feel the pressure of a ticking bomb haunting them and potentially preventing them from moving forward.

Either way, bring on the pain.

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

—Nature and Nurture

[wizardheart83]

[gottagetshiver]

To Earn A Heart And Be Worth The While

7.3k, rated E, mind the tags

George has a lot of trouble getting enough motivation to edit. The only logical way forward is to try and get Dream to edit for him. However, he’s going to have to do something for Dream in return.

[someone-very-shy12]

My brother just gave me a meme idea:

Unwanted insight is:

Jon:i refuse to record statements because there's much more to do

*makes Martin record statements*

Elias:dammit, jon, you were supposed to do that job, who I am supposed to throw into danger now?

The eye:*noticing this and becoming more interested in martin*

Ms.spider: what a good week to stalk the person that kept my book

More to come in future chapters~

[thegatorsgoose]

I just read the new dp x tf fic by @playedcrowd5610 and instantly my artblock was shattered, I drew this in one sitting just in case the motivation went away😭 anyway this is my first time EVER drawing a transformer so if it looks wonky, no it doesn’t

The author has a few fics for this crossover and they are all peak, I would definitely recommend checking them out if that interest you! https://archiveofourown.org/works/60521740/chapters/154507732

[driedlillies]

Tma AU where Jonah fucked up his ritual when transferring to Elias’ body and still exists but is like. On the backburner unable to control the body. Because he’s a loser. So OG Elias is able to hear everything he thinks but Jonah can’t do anything. And so he learns the evil plan to end the world and immediately decides nope that’s NOT happening.

And since James Wright appointed him as the next Head of the Institute he has full control over everything he destroys every single bit of Jonah’s carefully laid masterplan. And Jonah suffers seeing everything he’s build fall like a house of cards. At the end Elias just goes and kills Jonah — there were concerns that it may also kill him, but he was ready to sacrifice himself — and comes out alive and free from voyeristic georgian men.

Elias establishes something of a truce with Gertrude after explaining the situation and also perhaps maybe telling her that Jonah mentioned one of her assistants is of the Web and what does that mean? Also what are the rituals and why does Jonah keep saying they don’t work unless you— (Gertrude cuts him off before he says it out loud. Walls have ears. You never know who might be listening).

Michael doesn’t die. Neither does Gerry, because after he faints for the third time at the Institute — Elias doesn’t have spooky eldritch eye powers, but he has office gossip, and that’s basically the same thing — Elias personally goes down to the Archives and tells him to go to the fucking doctor dude. Gerry smokes weed with him after a few months and thanks him for potentially saving his life

By the time Gertrude dies, which is post Stranger ritual (not shot by him, but still probably not peacefully, knowing her) Sasha becomes the next Archivist, and her role in the overall world of the Fears — Elias is not an avatar, doesn’t want to be, but has some leftover traits from Jonah’s inhabitance in his body, and knows a lot — is explained before she signs any contract. Also you’re not tied for life, fuck that. There’s a mandatory Entities 101 for every employee, no matter what department they work in; the vast majority of them come here seeking answers for what really ruined their lives, none of them deserve to die because nobody tells them what they’re actually fighting against. Tim — very much alive — goes to the Archives with Sasha, Jon stays in reaserch and eventually becomes Head Researcher. Martin goes to college part time at some point. Life is good

[boltlightning]

so hunts the shrike

Ten years later, James Norrington returns to the Caribbean to find it completely changed. Tortuga flourishes under the shadow governorship of the exiled Elizabeth Swann. Reunited, the old friends set out to stop the raiders battering at her harbor and unpack the years that have made them strangers. ✦ norribeth au, post-series. complete, 32k words

Painfully, Norrington flops onto his side. A woman stands over him, placing a dry wool blanket upon him as he coughs violently. He turns halfway on his back to glimpse her, to thank her, to ask where they are.

Those thoughts leave his mind the instant he looks up. The afternoon sun halos the woman’s brown-gold hair, plaited and wrapped serviceably down her back. Her face is cast in shadow at this angle, but Norrington does not need to see her fully to recognize her.

“Elizabeth?” he manages to say past his salted tongue.

“James Norrington.” Elizabeth Swann crouches before him. She smiles and chases his lingering cold away. “Why is it that I always find you in the worst places?”

“Bad luck,” he rasps. “God knows I bear misfortune like a curse.”

He coughs again, and she pats him firmly on the back between his shoulders.

“Come; I’ve brandy in the back.”

(read here on ao3!)

[ambeauty]

Chapters: 1/2 Fandom: The Bear (TV 2022) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sydney Adamu/Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto Characters: Sydney Adamu, Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Sydney is a very thirsty vampire, Carmy is a very willing participant, this gets really nasty really fast, but also a bit of a slow burn, Bodily Fluids, Hand Jobs, Blood Drinking Summary:

“I’ll explain everything. Most of it when I feed. I won’t hurt you.”

“I know.” His voice was low and he lifted his arm to start to roll up his sleeve.

“I’m sorry Carm, but this shit isn’t like it is in the movies. I need the carotid artery on your throat.” She jumps on him, pressing her lithe and strong body against his. This was fucked up. Was she lying when she couldn’t reach the veal fat? Was she hiding how quickly her hand healed when she cut it in the sink? When she fell through the wall, Marcus said she was strong, but Carmy assumed it was because their walls were held together with paper mache and Elmer’s glue.

“Does Marcus know?”

“Shh ok. Just focus on me. Now move your head a little to the right.” She brushes his curls back and unbuttons the top half of his whites with practiced speed. She cradles his head in one hand, scratches the nape of his scalp with her stiletto pointed talons that had grown out of her normally neatly cropped fingernails.

He groans, but not out of agony. Out of desire, because he realizes, slower than the rest of his body, that he wanted this. He wanted her to drink from him. What the fuck was this Twilight?

This work is completely inspired by @katiethelmie​ artwork and outline! Please go check out her post for more details.

cousin tag: @sydneys-adamu​ @falllpoutboy​ @escapism-through-imagination​ @turbulenthandholding​ @anxietycroissant​ @thehouseofevangelista​ @afrofairysblog​ @lyanaalvarado​