#but it has very good Harry Potter ffs

[goldenchunkycat]

Do you ever read a story and cringe so hard that you shut your laptop, and then kinda feel bad for it ? That’s what just happened…

I stumbled across a very bad story probably written by a 11 yo (I’m sorry TT), I’m shivering…

[saintsenara]

Another eager follower of your blog here - checking it is always a highlight of my day! I can't think of any ships atm, so instead, thoughts on a trope?? In my youth, I read a lot of FF net era fics where Hermione Isn't Really Muggleborn - usually her parents are Bellatrix and Voldemort (and she ends up becoming the next dark lady), although I've also seen various other purebloods, like Regulus, suggested (1/2)

thank you very much for the ask, anon - this is extremely kind! and i'm delighted to expand from unhinged ships to unhinged tropes!

although i'll be honest that this specific trope has never hit for me.

i understand the appeal - we all love a bit of the princess diaries-style "ordinary person doesn't realise they're actually important" glamour - but i just really don't enjoy anything which implies that the blood-supremacist viewpoint which voldemort espouses is the correct one.

it always seems to me that the main thesis underpinning the "hermione isn't really muggleborn" trope is that she couldn't be as good at magic as she canonically is without wizarding blood. obviously, this undermines the entire central point of the harry potter series, which i don't think is great even in fanfiction - but the more important point is that it's not even an interesting way of undermining the series' central premise.

there is a lot which can be done in a "voldemort wins" scenario with the fact that - right on the canon page - the order of the phoenix is a profoundly unradical group committed to defending a vision of wizarding society which is just the status quo with a couple of minor adjustments. it's incredibly striking in canon that the non-human communities of magical britain - goblins, werewolves etc. - overwhelmingly support voldemort, as do the sort of working-class wizards who sign up for the snatchers, and his coup in deathly hallows [and his politics during the first war] can be written surprisingly easily as populist ones. i think you could hook hermione into his messaging, for example, by making him someone who appears - when he's around her, at least - to care about house elves...

equally, voldemort's commitment to pragmatism - which many people might also describe as a commitment to hypocrisy - can be used to write him as willing to make an exception for a muggleborn hermione, who is by far the member of the trio who would make the best death eater. something very interesting can be done with the fact that she would, i think, be possible to corrupt into a "dark lady" - especially one who held the viewpoint, as dumbledore did, that muggles should be subjected to wizarding control for their own good...

and i also think - as someone regrettably invested in the concept of a bellamort baby - that the "this kid was born hermione riddle" [except they'd have chosen a worse name] concept could be interesting in the right hands. we know from voldemort's own experience - as well as harry's - that magical children who are orphaned and/or adopted into muggle homes and institutions have a pretty grim time of things, and the journey of figuring out their life-story which all adoptees go on has an extra tangle of threads caused by the division between the two worlds. that hermione's relationship with the drs granger is canonically quite distant is always worth thinking about - and examining that relationship through the lens of them being adoptive parents could be a fun way of doing it.

but i will never be convinced that the alternative - "hermione is a secret pureblood and that explains why she's so clever and hot" - is interesting in the slightest.

great crackfic potential though.

[l-in-the-light]

Hey 😊, i also have some romantic Law questions: ❤️💋

How would Law confess?

How would a date with him look like?

Would he initiate first time sex?

Oh, more romantic relationship questions, lets go!

How would he confess? Probably something along those lines:

"Don't make me worry that much ffs"

"I don't like bread"

"Moon is pretty tonight" (whoever gets the reference is a chad)

"D. will bring the storm"

"If he loses, I will die with him"

"Thanks, you showed me something interesting"

"Don't shout, you idiot!"

What, you don't think those are suitable lines for confessing his feelings? But each of them carried such emotional weight, it was definitely heavier than a love confession! Anyway, my point is, he probably wouldn't do it directly. It would depend on the context of the situation and be very vague, but his feelings would get across. He might finally do the "I love you" when he's literally seconds from dying just to spare himself having to live on with all the drama and cheesiness afterwards. I beg you not the "thanks for loving me" line, I had enough heartbreak the first time. Or not, who knows :D Considering the confession is indirect, he wouldn't wait for the "right moment" or make any preperations for romantic mood or place. He's a natural like that. I'm so funny, I know.

A date with Trafalgar Law. Well, it depends who you are in that scenario. But overall I think he wouldn't call it a date, only in a hindsight, and just to mess with you, like "what else it could have been", meanwhile denying it every second when the date is actually happening. What a troll. But he would definitely spoil his significant other to no end. And I mean it when I say to no end. Let's assume you like Harry Potter, he would take you to Universal Studios Harry Potter theme park just so you both can drink butterbeer while walking around Diagon Alley set, even if he had to travel half a globe for it. Yes, just for a freaking date. That's the level of dedication we're talking about. His pampering knows no limits, you might actually at some point try to run away screaming. He wouldn't mind doing stuff that do not interest him in the slightest, as long as you're having fun, and he would make sure not to complain because he knows it's important for you.

He would know exactly what type of places, movies, food, presents etc. would make you happy without needing to ask you about it, because he's a good listener and is very observant. He actually likes to spoil people this way, but he would prefer for them not to know it comes from him. He might go as far as to tell you a blatant lie "Oh you dreamed of coming here? What a coincidence" while in reality he planned every minute of it. Don't expect a smile or a laugh though, if you get one smirk you might consider yourself lucky. Whispering sweet-nothings and other lovey-dovey talk is definitely out of question and it would make him actually cringe. You might sometimes hear a casual compliment though.

Occassionaly his partner might want to do something on the date that Law enjoys the most. I guess that means they're signing up for a "wandering aimlessly for days in the wild" date at that moment, good luck! He might not make you suffer through the tour of antique stores just so he can find some rare coins to collect (I do believe him to be considerate after all), but he might consider taking you with him to a Sora convention. It would be the highest honour. He will not cosplay though, he would be too embarrassed for that.

Law believes in equality so you're splitting bills half-half, no matter if you're a boy, a girl, or identify as something else. But when you run out of money he will protest, complain, and pay for you anyway, because he wants his partner to be happy. If you would lie that you don't have money just to be spoiled, he would pretend he doesn't know and would still "fall for it". Unless you're Luffy who never has any money or spends it in 5 seconds, then I guess Law is doomed to be penniless as the result of the date. He actually wouldn't mind and would accept his fate, but watch him wearing a sour face all the time.

He's surprisingly a traditional guy (his parents brought him up to be very decent), so don't expect a kiss before a third date lol. And even then he might just not do it anyway. If he's aroace like I tend to believe he is, good luck ever getting that kiss :D The date itself probably won't be very romantic, more like a friends going out, but is that really a bad thing? After all isn't the fact you both enjoy each other's company and wouldn't want to spend that time with anyone else enough to be happy?

Holding hands might happen from time to time, but only if you're in secluded place when no people are watching you. Considering touch is a big deal to him, that's the biggest intimacy you can expect out of any date with him.

Sometimes his reckless side might show up (or all the time, if you're freaking Luffy), and he would do some crazy shanenigans he would instantly regret, but after a while think back on and smile to himself about. But he only does those when provoked or dragged into someone's pace!

Would he initiate first-time sex? Definitely not! Again, if we go with my headcanon, he wouldn't even be interested much in sex in the first place. But let's assume he would be, he still would wait for the other person to initiate it, because again, his problematic relation to closeness and touch would definitely prevent him from asking for it, even if he would yearn for it badly. Especially the first time would be a big deal, because in his head he constantly expects people to reject him, even people close to him. Maybe by the third time he would try to show more reciprocation. Any form of intimacy definitely would mean a world to him simply because his partner isn't repulsed or rejecting him. Sadly it would prevent him from cuddles and constant contact, he would claim it's because he's not into that, but he would be just hiding his fears behind that lie. It would definitely take a lot of time and effort to get him any closer to opening up about it.

This was a cute question, thanks, I had fun answering it :) I hope you enjoyed reading it too!

[tomionefinds]

could you please recommend me good tomione ffs where its not set in hogwarts? And I prefer if it has dark themes😚

Hey Anon:

There's alot that fit this description so I'm placing just a few here to get started (I say this so no one thinks I deliberately slighted a fic--we have a wealth of darker, non Hogwarts fics, thank you writers). Many of the authors below have extensive backlists as well on A03 to explore in this pairing.-Haus

**********

Dimmuborgir by NoFootprintsinSand

E | complete | 93k

He steps straight out of the shadows one late autumn evening, but she is not afraid. At least not at first.

A Sin to Know by EchoPhoenix

M | WIP | 76k

Tom allowed a genuine smile past his bloody lips as he raised his slender fingers to his gaze. Miss Granger really ought to curb such a self destructive habit, digging her fingernails into her palm like a reprimanded child? How very unladylike. Tom pressed his fingers to his nose, smelling her sweet scent of copper and iron. He could hardly suppress a moan as he breathed her in deeply. He traced those two, bloody fingers across his lips, allowing his and hers to intermingle in an intimate act of which one party was not privy to. Tom couldn’t quite bring himself to care, his tongue darting out to taste her, despite himself overeager at the thought of her on his tongue. A groan escaped his throat, low and guttural as he dipped his fingers into his mouth, swirling her there like a fine wine. Hermione Granger tasted positively divine. (NOT abandoned- author just travelling :D)

Madam Umbridge Home for Wayward girls by LovelyVillain

E | complete | 753k

Hermione’s life takes a dark turn after the death of her parents, leaving her at the mercy of a tyrannical Matron. Her new home is more prison than sanctuary, haunted by ghosts bearing terrible, bloody secrets. And though she is surrounded by troubled young women, it is the men in her life who teach her that freedom comes at the greatest price of all. Victorian AU, Tomione, Dramione, no triad

The Itch by Seollem

E | Complete | 75k

Tom looked intrigued. “Soul Glass? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Oh, yes, it’s a very rare material, indeed! If you look carefully, you can see the other half of your soul on the other side. Perhaps that of a lucky lady?” Mr. Burke winked conspiratorially. “How fascinating.” A slow, predatory smile overtook the handsome features of Tom’s face, something flashing in his eyes as they locked on the shadow beside his reflection. “A piece of my soul, you say?”

The Prisoner by NerysDax

E | Complete | 180k

Imprisoned, Lord Voldemort is considered a threat of the past. His knowledge is desired by many. Yet, his offer is for one person only: Hermione Weasley-Granger.

Wolfer by peppershark

E | WIP | 38k

In the year 1889, Tom Riddle has travelled west to a little gold-rush town in the foothills of California’s High Sierras. What happens next shouldn’t have been so easy. He never meant to find a woman this early in his plan, but lucky for Tom this little fury is just a firecracker of accidental magic. It gives him a fine feeling seeing the preacher’s daughter going about the town, doing the Lord’s work, and not even knowing she belongs to him. Of course, Hermione Granger doesn’t even know she’s a witch. Old west AU with magic. Dark romance.

The Anti-Heroine by Chershire_Carroll

M | WIP possibly abandoned but worth it | 641k

Hermione Granger knows she's not a good person. Disillusioned with life at only twelve years old; she is cynical, manipulative, ruthless and, above all else, a survivor. For six years she has lived on the streets of London with only her sharp mind and her sharper knives to keep her alive, but a letter from an owl changes everything for Hermione, and the bond she forms on the Hogwarts Express with a timid boy with broken glasses, skinny wrists and a lightning-shaped scar will change the whole of Wizarding Britain.   Main Pairing: Harry Potter/Hermione Granger/Tom Riddle

[kotaka-kun]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

saw @middleearthpixie doing this and I wanted to do it too :)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

249 works

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

380,279 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Most recently I’ve been writing for Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies, but according to my AO3 dashboard, I’ve posted fics for just under 40 fandoms and naming them all seems excessive... That being said, my top five are Lord of the Rings, Phantom, MCU (mostly Captain America), Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Harry Potter. 

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. thank you for the food (ATLA, zukka, Fluff, Domestic Bliss, Modern AU) 2. Simple Happiness (ATLA, zukka, Fluff, Living Together, Modern AU) 3. Bucky has a belly kink, but Steve doesn’t mind in the least (MCU, stucky, ABO, Belly Kink, Pregnancy Kink) 4. Surprise (MCU, stucky, ABO, mpreg, Birth, Twins) 5. New Colors (One Piece, zosan, Fluff, Color Blindness, Gifts)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do try, though I know I’ve missed a few over the years... but I do love and treasure every single comment I get!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I’d have to say that it’s probably a tie between The Worst Thing (MCU, Steve/Bucky, omegaverse, infertility, miscarriage) and overboard (LOTR, Frodo/Sam, trauma, depression, suicide attempt)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? 

Hard to say, since aside from the two mentioned above, I write mostly fluffy happy endings... 

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

Thankfully, no. But maybe that just means I need to write more divisive fics? 

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do write smut, and it’s probably mostly -- if not all -- omegaverse tbh... 

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I love love love writing crossovers! I think they’re fun and silly and a good time all around. Don’t know if I have one that’s significantly crazier than the rest, but I think i read the hobbit (in 1937 when it first came out) is one of my favorites to think about. I’ve got a soft spot for ws!Bucky is all. Putting him in Middle Earth and adding him to the Fellowship was just for funsies :)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! A reader translated New Colors into Chinese, which was super neat!

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

Absolutely, 100% -- in the sense of collaboratively plotting out and writing a story, as well as taking turns in an improvised narrative style RP, and also something in between where the premise of a fic was agreed upon and each of us had characters to write, RP style. 

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t think I can pick a singular ship to label as my favorite... I’d call Zoro/Sanji my OTP, but only because they were the first ship I got involved in fandom for -- I haven’t read a fic of them in years. I’m reading almost exclusively Erik/Christine fics right now, but I’ve come across Erik/Raoul fics that have made me fall in love with them, as well as Erik/Raoul/Christine fics that are so so good... I guess in terms of longevity and my ability to always come back to them, Steve/Bucky has been a solid ship for me? 

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Gonna go with Zoro’s Promise, since it’s the only multichapter fic I never bothered to move from FF dot net to AO3. It’s literally been ten years since I updated it lmao

16. What are your writing strengths?

On one hand, I guess my ADHD-fueled hyperfixation that allows me to write fic after fic could be considered a strength...?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

On the other hand, as soon as my ADHD-fueled hyperfixation loses its vice grip on me, I lose all motivation to write. Especially if I’ve already written out the scenes that I had in my head, I become incapable of filling in the gaps and making it a cohesive fic... I honestly don’t think I have very good writing hygiene even after taking classes on being better about being a hobby writer oops 

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I personally tend to avoid writing in another language, because I think it’s hard to do well. Sometimes it takes you out of the fic because you have to copy-paste it into Google Translate to figure out what they’re saying, sometimes it takes you out of the fic because you speak the language and the author evidently doesn’t and they used Google Translate. 

19. First fandom you wrote for?

First fandom I wrote fic for and then posted would be One Piece... but in actuality, I’ve been writing fanfiction from long before I knew that’s what it was called. I was probably in second or third grade when I wrote self-insert Peter Pan fics. Also Shrek fics. I don’t have the notebooks I wrote them in anymore, but I have a very vivid memory of writing them.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

This is maybe the hardest question of all to answer, because while I like a lot of my fics, I don’t know that there’s one that I could call my favorite. My current WIP stranger than you dreamt it (PotO, Erik/Christine, ABO) is one I’m excited to keep working on because, well, omegaverse. But also time and time again (LOTR, Frodo/Sam, Time Travel, Fix-it) was one of the first multi chapter fics I’ve actually finished, so in that regard I’m rather proud of it. I liked the time-travel-y premise of it as well. And even though what comes after (HP, Snape/Harry, Time Travel, Fix-it) is still technically a WIP, I’m still pleased with how it’s coming along... though it’s been a hot minute since I’ve updated it oops

tagging... you! 🫵 if you're an author, i'm tagging u! i want to know about what you write!!!

[quillinhand]

Shipping ask game: Linny!

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

I SHIP IT!!!

What made me ship it?

Fanart. When I began reading Harry Potter ff and just interacting with the fandom in general- this is way back- I was very much canon obsessed. I drew shitty romione fanart, I read even shittier hinny smut- the very idea of slash ships never crossed my mind. Ofc, I was somewhat aware of the flaws in the writing and set up of these pairings, but you know, I was an edgy sheltered teenager who didn't read much romance and was very much Harry Potter obsessed. And then, I stumbled upon Linny fanart, and que my sexuality awakening and my discovery of all things slash Harry Potter. The ship sounded so exciting and new and cute after all that, and I couldn't help but ship it.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

It's just a brilliant ship; it's super cute(my first reasons for shipping it), it seems like it would be super low key and domestic, and like, the way Luna and Ginny work so well in the context of a relationship- it's all just soooo good. Another thing is the friends to lovers aspect of it; you have other friends to lovers ships(wolfstar, romione etc;) but they're all so dramatic and angsty and ugh. I love angst just as much as the next girl, but there are some tropes that are meant to be fluffy, heart-warming pieces of gold, and friends to lovers is one of them. Linny is wonderful with this trope, and even better with how I imagine them; I see the two of them as sort of friends before Hogwarts, mainly because there is no one else around and who else if not each other. Then, after the Diary, Luna's protective of this bright girl- her friend- who was hurt, and she does it in her own way; new jinxes and hexes that Ginny could learn, and in turn, Ginny is protective of her friend, and it's just- oh! so cute. It just works so well with canon, and it's just so wholesome and heartwarming.

You also don't see positively portrayed Ginny very often, which I think is such a shame, so Linny gains an almost automatic point for that. We need more Ginny, and not the fandom bitchy version. A huge part of my fondness for this ship is also the personal effects it has had on me; I don't think much about the ship these days, but truth is I will be a very different Harry Potter fan if Linny hadn't been there, so I guess that is also one of my favorite things about the ship.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Not necessarily about the ship, since I'm mostly unaware of the popular opinions about the ship, but I just really dislike the idea of seer! all knowing! powerful! kind! everybody's therapist! Luna with a burning passion. I don't know; a large part of her character appeal for me was the fact that she was a kind, quirky girl, sure, but she was also a conspiracy theorist off the rocker, and I love a wild, intelligent, day dreamer Luna than the near Mary Sue a lot more.

[edgyandoverzealous]

Consider this, all of rottmnt brothers are the medic. @moltenatlas just in case you were still interested in that all the rottmnt boys are the medic post we talked about ages ago, this is it.

Mikey is starting as patient 0 because I am a firm believer of accident prone Mikey, it's primarily self-indulgence at this point but hush I have fragments of evidence. He's a skateboarder is the main point of said evidence bc he's going to be covered in injuries at some point. That's the way of skateboarders. Additionally that kid had his nose in some kind of fiction/comic book or Sketchbook too often to not have tripped or ran into a wall, and no you cannot tell me rottmnt Mikey didn't read anything he was definitely raised on one of the main four fantasy fiction pipelines, meaning harry potter, warrior cats, percy Jackson and the Olympians (me), or the hunger games pipelines. I am not accepting criticism. He's also way too good at cooking to not have been doing it for years and little hands make many mistakes. Also Raph being increasingly worried about Mikey the first time he goes out, ignoring the obvious mother hen instinct, indicates that Mikey is at the very least a little clumsy or accident prone I mean he even has knee and elbow pads he wears consistently ffs. Due to these many possibilities I believe each of the other brothers have a fair knowledge of first aid and medical aliments.

Raph's-

Raph learned first. Obviously. The oldest of four and babies are bound to get a few bonks as they try to learn how to do basic motor functions. Such as walking and talking, having those bonks himself he picked up what to do from Splinter and put them into practice when Splinter was going through one of his rougher more absent patches. (I am a depressed/body dysmorphia rottmnt splinter truther tm and as someone with active and diagnosed chronic depression and also suffers from body dysmorphia taking sometimes taking care of yourself feels impossible let alone four young kids so I'm a firm believer Raph had to take over some responsibilities sometimes. Not all the time, because I also believe splinter loves his sons to death tm and he tries his best, but sometimes.)

Donnie, upon seeing Mikey cheating the crawling system by popping in his shell and ping ponging around the house, tried to copy and ended up somersaulting into a chair leg leaving his entire being aching. Raph having crashed a few times himself mimicked what Splinter had done previously and whipped up a warm bath, children's bubblegum Tylenol, ice packs, and firm back scratches to help ease his brother's pain. Help which the tot insisted he didn't need though the last words, or chirps rather, as he fell asleep were a clear thanks.

Leo so badly wants to play sports-ball with his big brother, who was bouncing said ball on his knee, ran to tackle and got kneed in the gut followed directly by a ball to the face. He let out a loud "oomph" and the saddest and most distraught chirps and clicks Raph had ever heard. This insight made Leo's twin, who was peeking in front behind a nearby corner, to also start crying after he scooped Leo's face and tried to chirp a form of consolation before refusing to leave Leo's side. Feeling awful Raph brought him ice packs and snacks as well as asking simple questions and checking his eyes to make sure his brother didn't have a concussion as the twins sat, snacked, and watched movies to avoid scrambling more of their insides. Luckily he didn't, just a few bruises, a black eye, and a very worried twin.

Mikey, poor Mikey, got bumped and bruised far too often, his ping-ponging ended up with the tot popping out too early and getting a mild concussion, scrape, rug burn, or bruise from impact. It got to the point where Raph stopped knowing what to do and was running out of bandaids. Raph eventually duct taped pillows to his little brother who, like a dog, thrashed around until he was free. I'm also a firm believer that Mikey is accident prone as all hell and could bruise his knee getting a juice box, which he has.

The Disaster Twins-

I will not be swayed. I don't care who I have to fight they learned around the same time for exceedingly different reasons.

Donnie was already leaning into self-experimentation/running experiments solo. This means more unpleasantries could arise such as injury and seeing as Donnie likes having working motor functions and not being coddled by his other siblings. He cracked open all the books he could get his hands on and figured out how to cure anything from a paper cut to cardiac arrest. He learned how to do all as painlessly as possible as well, used simulated situations and robots, to ensure that he could. Once he could he immediately chipped his brothers as well as himself.

Donnie took a more anatomical and medicinal approach to learning. He learned how the body is built and designed to react to stimulus. For example he built an x-ray machine with adjustable levels to figure out the differences between his mutated muscle and skeletal form and the ones of humans in the books he found. He'll also learn why specific injuries or illnesses occur and focus more on prevention above solution for when it occurs but he's well versed in solutions should it come to be despite efforts.

Leo is a mischievous little thing. He does things he's not supposed to and more often than not ends up in wild situations. Such as chipping a tooth or losing a tooth. That hurts but he refuses to explain to his brother's and chooses to ignore the pain instead. He understands that this isn't practical so he also picks up every book he can get his hands on and learns how to handle anything from a paper cut to resuscitation. He really gets into it once Mikey and Donnie got involved in his shenanigans, Mikey in particular being accident prone meant he, as an older brother had to make sure he could take care of him.

Leo took a more situational and medicinal approach. Leo thinks that injury in his shenanigans is bound to happen eventually. He is correct because he's canonically self-destructive and self-sacrificial, that at very least, gets him hurt. So he is less interested in the why and more interested in how to negate the effects of specific accidents that may happen. IE: "I fall from a tree and land on my arm funny. It bends the wrong way what do I do?" Or "Mikey falls of the wagon as we take a sharp turn in the tunnels, he slid across concrete, and his leg is covered in blood" he thinks of specific scenarios and then learns as much as he can about the injury and how to make it better.

Mikey -

Mikey learned to repay his brothers for everything they've done for them.

He thrives to be someone his brothers can rely on as well so he started watching when he was little. He saw everytime someone else got hurt and often provided comfort cuddles. As he sat in their laps. Mostly Raph, would explain what he was doing, and how it would help as he helped with various ailments. So that's how he primarily learned.

Additionally Mikey is quite independent, don't get him wrong he loves his brothers to death, but he also doesn't like being coddled. He likes to do things his way and on his own. So he observed his brothers everytime they helped him with an injury or got injured themselves and acted as "nurse" for whoever was helping the others.

Eventually he started patching himself up when he got hurt. (Raph cried the first time he saw Mikey patch himself up because his littlest brother was all grown up tm)

Mikey is nowhere near Leo and Donnie's expertise but he can handle the basics plus having extended knowledge in burns and cuts which are commonplace accidents in the kitchen where Mikey spends a lot of time.

Mikey has fun/colorful bandages designated to each of his brothers for the rare occurrence of his brothers getting hurt around him/during family times. One time when they were little he got Jupiter Jim ones on a trip with Splinter to a local convenience store and his brothers almost seemed to get hurt on purpose to get them. Needless to say he got more but those are only for special occasions and his brothers don't know he has them.

Mikey also knows how to lower a fever better than the others because he and Raph got influenza when they were little, not tots but young kids, and both run h o t. The both of them had 104 (or equivalent for turtles idk) fevers and Splinter spent three sleepless nights monitoring them and trying whatever he could think of to lower it. So Mikey and Raph know how to lower fevers at a near expert level.

Mikey is also good with Migraines. Because the Hamatos all suffer from migraines for one reason or another I've decided actually.

[setokaibapetty]

5 + 1 Fic Friday Roundup: Ruthless

Fics featuring characters willing to do what needs doing (or just what they believe needs doing) even if its immoral/unconventional. Or just characters who are amoral.

Ruthless (FF / AO3) - "James Potter casts his own spell to protect his only son; but he was never as good with Charms as Lily was. (A more ruthless Harry Potter grows up to confront Voldemort)."

The First Flower of Spring (FF) - "Because every ninja comes from somewhere. Lacking a presence in any ninja village, the Haruno are a clan just the same. Beholden to the traditions of her family, Sakura is changed, as are Team Seven's dynamics."

Revelations (AO3) - "Magnus Bane has been taken. Alec Lightwood is not merciful in his quest to take him back."

A Darker Path (SB) - "When Abbadon passed by all those years before, he left behind a present. Instead of Queen Administrator, Taylor Hebert is now host to another shard altogether. And everyone who ever wronged her is in deep trouble."

Business (AO3) - "The Dursleys didn't raise Harry Potter to be a very good boy."

Bonus: Compulsion (SB) - "Dr. Alex Mercer wakes up having gained powers but lost his memory, and is thrust into a world where heroes and villains are a deadly reality. Aspiring superhero Taylor Hebert mistakes Alex for a Case 53 and tries to help, but hides the fact that she can control his hive-mind of wormlike tendrils, just as he hides that he has become a cannibal. Their game of secrets will change everything."

[gwenmyoty]

Kept you waiting huh?

My Tumblr manages to emerge from the dead, hooraaaaay. And no, not because Twitter is rapidly tearing at the seams more each day.

Recently, I've had a very deep desire to get back in touch with my creative writing and design side. I recently (i.e.; 6 months ago) reopened an old fantasy setting I initially designed for a indie Tactics RPG in 2018 only for Fire Emblem: Three Houses to end up being the exact same plot almost by sheer coincidence.

It had actually began as an approach at making a take on the Harry Potter formula that severed the appealing parts of the series from it's troublesome author primarily, but also from it's rather lackluster protagonists. Hilariously, in trying to separate it from it's inspiration by placing in a medieval fantasy, I wound up going Fire Emblem by total mistake, a coincidence made all the more amusing by the shared game genre. (I had played half of Awakening and that's it at this point. I knew next to nothing about the series. I loved FF Tactics and that was my inspiration to make a Tactics game)

When Three Houses dropped, I played it and I loved it, but I couldn't deny the similarities in the plots were uncanny and I lost motivation to work on the setting anymore for fear of accusations of plagiarism or just copying at the very least.

So, as I said, I went back to it recently, brought on by wanting an established fantasy setting to roleplay with my girlfriend in. Revisiting it has given me a chance to flesh out a lot of the more world building ideas I'd started on in a way that move away from the coincidences with Three Houses and reflect my current standard of writing.

I don't know what I'll do with it as of yet, a tactics game at this point seems unlikely without access to a lot of the resources I had at the time, but maybe some stories in the setting or a tabletop campaign might happen.

What will definitely happen is I kind of want to just talk about the setting here. So I'll probably do a series of posts on the setting and stuff I've designed like creatures and the history of the world. It features a lot of unique takes on some fantasy tropes, so I think you guys would appreciate it.

Plus it gives me a reason to write blog posts and that's always good.

[arielgobuss]

Hello, we have aready translated and added 5 new chapters of our Snarry ff "Desiderium Intimum" in english. We've also added almost all of 75 illustrations that has been created to our story 🥰 We plan to post 3-4 chapters a week, so the translation should be finished soon.

We wanted to share with you one of over 5000 comments we received to our story over the years, which is one of our favourite comment and amazingly sum up the whole story and the most important characteristic of our fanfic 🥰 Maybe it can let you have a brief idea about what to expect.

Comment by Wilczyca:

"This story is... substantial. I have never read something so well written, with such a narrative that the readers feel like they are standing right next to the characters, and it's all really happening, right in front of our eyes. No, it's not addictive, it sucks you in and makes you feel a need to read, read, read, forget about God's world, about the fact that you had to study, eat something, go to the toilet, and sometimes you even forget about breathing!

All the other Snarry fics are so... girly. What I mean is that Severus and Harry may have a bit of a quarrel there, but it ends very quickly and, true to a girl's sense of romance, they very quickly come to an agreement and head towards eternal happiness. Because it's so... good. Because everyone likes good endings and stories about reciprocated love. Because we were brought up in such a culture that basically everyone dreams about it. However, this romance shouldn't be easy, because there are too many differences between the characters for them to just get together and be happy. The second problem I noticed in other texts is that Snape is completely flat and does not behave at all like a thirty-something man who has had a hard time serving a psychopathic murderer. And this does not surprise me, because it is difficult to realistically portray such a character, it is difficult to empathize with him. Your Snape... is Snape-like. There is no sense of absurdity in your text, it's not read with a pinch of salt, it's not bus-reading and I think it makes an impression on the reader regardless of age, as long as they like such atmosphere. The narrative is absolutely amazing, Harry's stream of thoughts and feelings are described so smoothly and naturally that you feel as if you are thinking all these thought yourself, feeling all these feelings yourself.

Snape is so… frightening! Haha, that's the first thing that comes to my mind! He is also incredibly intelligent, mysterious, and sexy. At the beginning he is so aloof and closed off, but later, thanks to Harry's efforts, he opens up more and more, allows him to do more and more, and I really like how it was presented. Nothing changes too suddenly, it's 'transformation' occurs subtly and logically, the reader does not feel like there is a sudden jump. Snape is a very complex character and it's not easy to portray him, and I think no one has ever managed to do it like you did (not even Rowling xD)

Harry is absolutely delightful and disarming. At first I thought to myself; why is he so blinded, so naive and devoted?! But then I remembered that damn, he's only 17! And Severus is his first love. And basically his behavior reflects the idea of first, crazy, uncompromising love. Every scene of his fighting for Severus and trying to get closer to him is read with such warmth in the heart 😊

I also really like how Ron and Hermione are portrayed, but I like Luna even more. She is an extremely colorful and interesting character whose strangeness adds to her charm. Despite the fact that she seems to be constantly in the clouds, in between these strange behaviors she sometimes makes extremely accurate, hardheaded comments, and that's great!

The story is phenomenal as a romance, comedy, erotic and psychological text. Erotic scenes, even though there are so many of them, are very varied and there is no feeling of monotony. They are described in an extremely graphic way, with an emotional background and interesting poetic metaphors, which makes them very hot. When it comes to comedy scenes - I love your slightly mischievous and playful sense of humor! I'm sitting in the office and reading this, smiling like an idiot at the monitor and I just have to hold back with all my strength from bursting out laughing so as not to attract curious glances from other employees!

Love… well, love is always beautiful. But in your fic it's described in a wonderful, realistic and such sensitive way and blooms slowly like the most beautiful flower. Ultimately it overcomes all obstacles and changes an extremely mocking, mean person into… a slightly less mocking, mean man! But that's good, because if Snape suddenly became a cuddly mascot, the charm of this text would disappear forever xD

You can simply feel this text, I think you have great empathy, sensitivity, sense of humor, emotional maturity, and the ability to express it all with words. Each scene evokes great emotions.

Now that I've gone through the whole thing so pompously, at the end I wish you a long, happy life, lots of inspiration to write a thousand more Snarry pics and I suggest you start writing a novel with a world presented by yourself, because it will definitely win the Nobel Prize! Whatever you write, it will be great and I will definitely read it, even if you decided to read a book about planting beans xD I live in hope that I will soon see some new Snarry on the website or a sequel to Desiderium or a small miniature of your own creation! Good luck, girls! You guys have talent, I'll be damned if you don't!"

We want to thank all readers that's been with us for those 4.5 years of writing and helped us to finish the story and we hope that those, who haven't read it yet will love it too 🥰

Ariel & Gobuss

[dehautdesert]

Re your last paragraph, that's exactly what it is, and it's very annoying, and I attribute it to a lack of balls.

Like, if you're clearly not interested in worldbuilding, then just make it a contemporary or set it in vague fairytale land rather than trying to include half-baked politics and cultures you clearly don't care about. The readers not into fantasy/scifi will be annoyed by this, and the readers into it will be annoyed by it too, because it's done poorly.

Same thing with genre - some people CLEARLY want to write romance but feel obliged to add a painfully generic fantasy plot which is just a slog to read through. And then that plot is used to "generate tension" or "build to a climax" but nobody really cares because everyone who likes it is reading it for the romance.

I feel like traditional romance writers have a leg up here because they know how to structure a romance-centered plot so that the source of both the tension and the denouement is the romance. NA feels like the kind of Harry Potter fic I read in the mid 2000s where they know they have to defeat Voldemort somehow so they deal with it in the most perfunctory of ways while 80% of the focus is on the ship, but defeating Voldemort is somehow still the climax because the only structure the fledgling author knows is "the villain gets defeated in a bit battle in the end". And it makes for both boring "main" plot and boring romance because if you're not putting in the work to create and develop narrative tension stemming from the romance and the plot is a paper-thin excuse for one to serve as your "beard", you get, as you said, not just a contemporary romance but a hideously boring one.

And I think it's really some kind of genre snobbery at the core of it - romance has girl cooties and/or is for those dumb unfeminist people but fantasy has STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS!!1! and is taken more seriously as a genre in the wake of worldwide phenomena like HP or GOT. Just learn to write good romance FFS!

Anon from 722398181104795649 again about YA as a G-D and it's failure(s). Your response is really interesting because it definitely aligns with the market research I've had to do over the last 3-ish months for work. Adult YA readers want YA to skew older superficially as escapism from the woes of adulthood (It's like someone who orders a pasta with broccoli in it because they appreciate the flavor it brings, but they have no interest in actually eating their vegetables). Teenagers feel alienated by the G-D that is meant for them no longer allows them to confront said woes with honesty or maturity for their age to prepare them for adulthood or discussing broader ideas. More teenagers skip over YA altogether or just reader adult genre fiction with some Middle Grade fiction mixed in because the teenagers feel in MG, there's still an honesty to the stories that they can understand, having once been young children. In short: teenagers think YA books are talking down to or patronizing them.

The result is YA authors pushing for NA, New Adult, as a G-D, which hasn't taken off within tradpub outside of romance circles. Mostly, because what they're pushing for is already an established genre for around a century: campus novels--books about characters 18+ who are entering college, establishing independence, beginning to explore sexuality and enter the workforce, etc. But, again, YA adult readers refuse to engage with adult genre fiction because there isn't the facade of protection from adult themes or topics, and there's an aggressive refusal among many agents in literary fiction (and some adult genre fiction) to encourage authors to sanitize their stories. YA authors began attempting to cross over into adult genre fiction with mixed, but overwhelmingly negative, results, as they cannot shake the stigma of writing YA. And the genre fiction crowds they want to appeal to have higher standards, typically, than the average YA writer is able to meet. YA authors then complain about the differences in publishing YA and genre adult fiction. It's like when MCU actors and directors get upset when prestige film directors don't consider MCU movies to be "cinema."

--

This is fascinating.

I pretty much missed the YA boom (slightly too old, not paying attention, etc.), so I've mostly encountered YA through its worst evangelists of the Hunger Games knockoff era, and often a good bit after their favorite books were at their height.

As I've said before, this really strikes me as that pattern where something is big when you're at a formative age, and it becomes the Normal Default to you.

I'm sure some of it is refusal to engage with adult nuance, but I'll bet a lot of it is resistance to leaving the name of YA behind. People spent so much time defending this niche that they started believing their own rhetoric about it being the only place the good queer stuff was or the feminist stuff was or whatever. They identified really strongly as A YA Fan. It's hard to let that go.

And if you don't remember much about pre-YA boom publishing, the fact that all that YA-tastic Mercedes Lackey stuff was filed under fantasy, not YA is completely obscure. The places you find stuff you'd like that aren't called "YA" are not obvious. The fact that YA in its boom era form isn't universal and eternal is not obvious.

I think people are waiting for their Cool Era of their early 20s to return and for the things they think should always be in fashion to come back... Like everyone else aging ungracefully, they may be waiting a while.

Gotta say, every New Adult book I've been shown sounds like a hideously boring contemporary romance that would probably make a good coffee shop AU against a backdrop of a canon that's dark or magical but that isn't really pulling its weight even if you like contemporaries.

[daja-the-hypnokitten]

Jukebox reviews part 34! For context, see my post “A Project”      under this same tag. If you want to see a full list of his EMCSA    stories, they can be found here, sorted alphabetically.And if you want to see some of his drabbles, check out his blog at @jukeboxemcsa

 Sympathy

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

2/18/2017                                     mc ff

This is a clever scheme on Ebony's part, and I hope she does take good care of Wendy. And not just because I relate entirely too much to Wendy's desire to help everyone around her >.> It's a little heavy on the sex focus for me, but it's a really good look into Wendy's head as she Ebony makes herself at home there, even if it's maaaaybe a bit much more than hypnosis could do that quickly. 8/10 spirals 

 Freckles

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

2/25/2017                                     mc mf fd

Another really solid induction concept! The idea of getting lost in studying a partner's face so closely, of memorizing every detail... If I were more visual I'd be more into the idea than I am, but even still it's a lovely concept. And that's one version of a "study" session, I suppose. Though with as smoothly as Ryan falls into it, I do wonder if Siobhan's been hypnotizing him before, or if this was the first time. But hey, he's into her, so hopefully this is the start of a beautiful relationship. 9/10 spirals 

 Magic Works

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

3/4/2017                                       mc ff

... Well, *this* aged poorly. (No fault of JB's, just. well. Harry Potter.) It's hard to engage with this the way I did when the story came out, before JKR was quite so outspokenly horrible, before a game that's basically Blood LIbel: the Video Game. And in another world, one wehre those things didnt' happen, I'd likely love this story. The description of the Imperius Curse alone is amazing, but... well. It takes a major penalty for being a HP-based story. 3/10 spirals. 

 Under Control

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

3/11/2017                                     mc ff

This is solidly built. The concept, the focus, the use of fractionation as a convincer that builds the expectation that it will work ... just all of it. It's a lovely snare for Del, one that she likely couldn't have avoided even if she'd been less caught off guard by it. I do hope that Constance keeps to her promise of making sure that Martina focuses on her schoolwork, though. 7/10 spirals 

 I Dream of Wires

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

3/18/2017                                     mc ff rb

Robots don't do anything for me on their own - contrasts can, but robots? not my thing. Couple that with the evil therapist trope, and this is not a story for me. If you like either or both of those things, though, you'll likely get a lot out of this one. 4/10 spirals 

 Bobblehead

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

4/8/2017                                       mc mf md

oh my gosh, Tim, this is how STIs get spread all over campus, c'mon dude! Be more responsible with your brainwashing. Or at least get her to get tested for STIs on a regular schedule! C'mon, dude! Otherwise this is too much sex and not enough process for my personal tastes, though the central concept of being a bubbly bobblehead doll is a good one! 5/10 spirals 

 Complicated

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

4/8/2017                                       mc ff

This is not my favourite version of an overload induction, but it clearly works as one! I think it makes the story as a whole more of a challenge, though, as it can be overwhelming to try to read. But plowing through that gets to a solid induction and a lovely sort of sense inside Diana's head. I'm not sure if the payoff is worth the slog, though. 6/10 spirals 

 Not Listening

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

4/8/2017                                       mc mf md

Oh, how many times has he hypnotized her, trained her into believing that this is how resistance works? To convince her that the very things that let his words slip into her mind even deeper are the ways that she can resist them entirely? And how much has she bought into that because she wants to feel helpless to his control, to have surrender be inevitable? This is good, I just want more context for it all. 9/10 spirals 

 Temptation Dice

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

4/15/2017                                     mc ff

Oh hey, a TV reference I actually understand! That's a rare event! And a lovely bit of sneaky shenanigans between a cute couple. Marina surely knew just how unwilling to walk away Josie would be, and Josie clearly was ok with that result. It's a lovely bit of trigger play, leaning into the way that anchors stick and bring back mental states so very easily. 9/10 spirals. 

 Virus (Jukebox)

 date uploaded   date updated     Tags

4/22/2017                                     mc

This is a little too close to a spreading plague for me, somewhere between that and serial recruitment. Add in the case study nature of the thing, which makes it feel more academic than hot, and it just isn't to my taste. 2/10 spirals

[squirrelasinthewoodlandanimal]

.

[letterstotheflre]

that’s the thing about illicit affairs

summary: james was never hers to lose.

warnings: CHEATING, age gap (not specified but reader is in her 20s), tiiiny angst?? i don’t think it’s sad lmao, allusions to sex and one miniature sex scene, some food mentions, and a very badly written argument.

word count: 3k (why are they always so long ffs)

a/n: my first james potter fic <3 i love this man so much, sorry for making you the bad guy here. this one’s been sitting in my drafts for a few weeks, and since i’ve been feeling kinda sad i finally got around to edit it. also hedric rights!!

They always meet like this.

The room is dark except for a small sea salt lamp she bought on sale from Target. Her clothes are piling up on the floor, discarded carelessly by her lover, and his are not too far from meeting the same fate.

He is kissing her hungrily as he could never get enough of her. His hands travel all over her back while she unbuttons his shirt, their lips never parting. He moves her to her bed, the sheets a pale green that reminds him of—

No. He closes his eyes tightly, pretends the green is actually blue like the lacy bralette that covers her breasts and moves his lips down to her jaw. He sucks and nips and bites, letting her moans echo freely between the four walls that make their little sanctuary.

Her hands quickly undo his belt and stroke him lightly through the fabric of his boxers. He groans against the junction of her neck, the skin softer than anything he’s touched in years.

He pushes her down on the bed, cupping her face while he looks at her properly, noting the tangled hair caused by his fingers. Her lips are puffy and shiny, his kisses being the perpetrator of their current state. He waits for her to say something, to give him a sign that this is okay.

(It’s not okay, and they both know it. It’ll never be okay.)

She nods her head, and he kneels in front of her, pushing her legs wide open before he dives in.

—

She is laying on her bed, the sheets covering her body as she watches him try to fix up his hair in front of the mirror on her makeshift vanity.

“Make sure no one sees you leave,” she says, “and put—”

“Put my hood up, I know,” he finishes the sentence for her. It’s not the first time they do this dance.

“Sirius and Remus are with Harry at home. I told them I was going for a run, so they won’t say anything if I show up all sweaty,” he adds, trying to fill the awkward silence.

She just nods her head, fingers playing with a loose thread on the edge of the sheet, pulling it a bit more every time she twists her index finger. He steps forward, then sits on her bed and traces her cheekbone with his knuckles. “You know I care about you, right?” he asks.

Her heart clenches, a heavy weight pressing down on her chest that makes it hard to breathe for a second. She lowers her eyes, refusing to stare at those hazel irises that started everything. “I know, James,” she assures quietly, looking at a picture of her and Harry that’s stuck to the wall just behind him.

James brushes back some stray hairs that are still stuck to her forehead, then presses a small kiss on the slightly sweaty skin. He gives her a tentative smile before heading to the door, and she only looks in his direction when she hears the click of the door.

(He might care, but not enough.)

—

Sundays are always a slightly awkward affair at first.

Both of their families have been friends for years, getting together every Sunday for lunch at the Potter’s. James and Sirius always man the grill with her dad, all of them wearing those corny ‘kiss the chef!’ aprons. Her mother helps Lily make the salads in the kitchen while they gossip with Remus, who steals a few tomatoes when they aren’t looking. Now that it’s summer, she and Harry splash each other in the pool instead of catching up in his room.

It’s always strange seeing James in the light of day, pretending that this is the only version of him she knows: the version of him that is a friend, a father, a husband.

But she knows the other version of him: the one that has her on her knees begging for a taste of him, the one that grips her hair while he pounds into her from behind, the one that lets his tongue explore places of her no one else has. The version of him that kisses her forehead and plays with her fingers while their bodies are tangled together under the sheets. The version of him that kisses her as if she were the only one made for him.

(She isn’t.)

They are sitting around the table eating. Sirius is laughing about something with his arm around Remus’s shoulders, his bark of laughter echoing across the garden. Her mother’s shoulders shake as Lily rolls her eyes in amusement. James and her father have gone back to the grill to bring everyone their second round of burgers, and she can hear her father complaining about something from work.

“Here y’go, kid,” says James as he places the plate in front of her before ruffling her hair. She tenses up for a second before relaxing, muttering a small “thank you” before reaching for the ketchup.

She hates that nickname. It’s so impersonal, keeps a distance between them that truly doesn’t exist. As if he isn’t the only person that can make her vision whiten and the colours of her room hazy while she clutches his shoulders. As if he isn’t the only person who can pull so many different sounds from her vocal cords, sounds he knows no one else has ever heard before because he is the only one who can create them.

She can feel Sirius’s eyes on her as she stretches one arm, so she hesitantly glances at him. He raises an eyebrow, eyes switching back and forth between James and her, and she can see the cogs turning in his mind.

She gulps anxiously, dismissing him with a wave of her hand and goes back to eating.

—

James’s moans are loud as he gathers her hair in a makeshift ponytail. His cock is buried in her throat, and he watches as she gags for a second before relaxing her throat.

She’s taking him so deep that her nose nuzzles his pubic hair, the musky scent of James filling her nose as she breathes deeply through it. She starts moving her head up and down, swirling her tongue around the tip every time she rises.

He is a mess above her, needy whines and wanton moans leaving his mouth. His hips thrust up softly, slowly fucking her mouth, and he relishes in the small choking sounds she makes. His head rolls back as he groans, “That’s it, baby, so good to me.”

She winces at the name and pulls away from him. “Don’t call me that,” she mutters, but her hands never stop stroking him. She takes him back into her mouth and starts sucking with a newfound fervour, his voice echoing inside her head as she tries to make him forget about her.

(She tries to forget too.)

—

Honey rays filter through her window.

They are both laying on her bed, James on his stomach while she refills the glasses with some cheap wine she got from the store. He looks at the tiny purple splotches on her neck and the red fingerprints on her hips, then smirks proudly. When she turns, she smiles at him softly.

There’s a summer breeze that ruffles her curtains, and he can hear some teenagers laughing as they walk down the street over the music that plays from her speaker.

She places her glass on her nightstand, her nipples brushing his naked back as she leans over him. She lays down on her side, her fingertips softly drawing shapes on his skin. It takes him a moment to realize they are not random shapes but letters.

Her name, written over his scattered freckles and connecting his moles with cursive loops.

He takes her hand and kisses it, slightly chapped lips pressing against her open palm. Then he kisses her lips, still bitterly sweet with grapes, as his tongue moves languidly against hers while he pulls her by the hand on top of him.

It feels like a distant memory. It feels like a dream.

—

The cacophony of different voices singing “Happy Birthday” rings in her ears.

Harry is at the front of the table, an adorable blush dusting his cheeks at the attention. On either side of him are James and Lily, smiles wide as they watch their son blow the candles. Cedric is behind him, hands on his shoulders, and he leans forward to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

She sings and claps, whooping with Sirius when Harry blows the last candle. She eats cake and drinks the pretty cocktails Lily ordered. She smiles and laughs, pretends she couldn’t see the way the candles made the golden band on James’s ring finger beam like the sun.

She pretends she doesn’t see the way James holds Lily’s waist before kissing her. She pretends she can’t see them dancing slowly to a song Remus put on the Spotify playlist as a joke.

She pretends she can’t hear his footsteps following her when she goes to the bathroom. She feigns disinterest when he grabs her wrist and pulls her towards a deserted corridor.

But she can’t ignore the butterflies in her stomach when he kisses her, the thrumming in her veins when he pushes one leg between her thighs, nor the pleasure-filled gasps and moans that leave her mouth when he helps her roll her hips along his covered thigh.

It’s thrilling; they’ve never done something like this in public, much less in such proximity to friends and family.

(In such proximity to her.)

Even though she knows it shouldn’t, it gives her a sense of victory. Because he is here with her now: he is kissing her, making her moan, and whispering dirty things in her ear.

A faraway call of his name breaks the spell they’re under. They pull away hastily; she fixes her dress while James makes sure there are no lipstick stains on his face. The footsteps are getting closer, heels hitting the floorboards at the same rhythm as their rapid beating hearts.

It’s Sirius.

James almost breathes a sigh of relief, but she remains tensed up. Sirius looks between them, the same look he had that Sunday all those weeks ago on his face, and she feels bile rising in her throat.

“Lily’s looking for you,” he says, his thumb pointing back over his shoulder towards the reception where everyone’s gathered.

“Right,” says James. “Better go see what she needs. You do not want to see an angry drunk Lily.” He laughs, almost oblivious to the awkward tension between his two friends. He goes back to Lily, leaving her leaning against the wall and Sirius standing in the middle of the hallway.

Sirius looks at her, and even though his mind already knows, he refuses to believe it. “I didn’t know where the bathroom was,” she offers as an explanation. It’s a flimsy excuse, she knows that, but it’s the best she can do under this kind of pressure.

“Right,” he whispers with a short nod, then follows James.

She stays rooted to her spot, lips tingling with the ghost of James touch and a guilty mind.

—

Hours later, she clings to a pillow as she lays on her bed alone. The same pillow James was resting on less than twelve hours ago.

She breathes in deeply, trying to catch any scent of him she can, but there’s only the scent of her fabric softener.

There’s no James. No citrus shampoo or woodsy cologne nor salty air from the beach near his house. Because he never wears any cologne when he comes to her, ensuring that there’s no trace of him once he leaves.

Like he doesn’t even exist.

—

It ends in a parking lot a month later.

She was waiting for Luna to arrive at the mall but ended up asking for a rain check when James texted her, saying they needed to talk.

‘Meet me behind the mall’, she texts him.

She walks to the back of the building and waits for his red car to show up. She already knows where this conversation is going to go, and her heart shatters at the thought of saying goodbye to him.

She raises her head when she hears a honk in front of her, and she gets in while whispering a small “hey”. He doesn’t start the car again, just settles for turning the ignition key off. She looks at the families leaving the mall through the tinted window, refusing to look at him, as her knee bounces up and down anxiously.

The silence is heavy, and she suddenly feels cold in the August heat.

James takes a deep breath, “We can’t keep doing this.”

She can’t help the snarky comment. “That’s not what you were saying yesterday while you had your fingers buried inside me.” He looks at her unimpressed, and she rolls her eyes.

“It’s wrong,” he says— as if she doesn’t already know that. “C’mon, baby, don’t make this harder than it has to—”

“I told you not to call me that!” she raises her voice, and the car gets silent again. She hates the tears that gather in her eyes, hates that she cares so much about him and their stupid game, but she couldn’t help it. Not when he whispered so many sweet nothings in her ears and caressed her skin so softly, almost afraid to break him if he was too rough.

(Not that he cared about that when he stretched her wide open and thrust so hard into her that the bed frame banged against the wall.)

“You can’t just show up here and tell me it’s over like you weren’t the one that came to me first,” she jeers, and she can see the tick of his jaw as he clenches it. Good, she thinks, make him angry.

“Don’t just blame me. You didn’t say ‘no’ once.” He grounds out, “In fact, I can recall you were begging me to fuck you against the wall.”

Her cheeks turn into a small fire, a slight feeling of shame overcoming her. “Oh, like you were any better!” she exclaims. “‘Been thinking about you for months.’ ‘You have no idea the things you do to me.’ ‘No one can suck my cock like you.’ ‘I care about you!’” She deepens her voice to mock him.

James opens his mouth to keep the ball rolling, and she wants him to do it because it meant that the fight was still on, that they wouldn’t have to end this. Instead, he takes a deep breath to calm himself. “I’m telling you now it’s over. Stop acting like a kid who didn’t get her Christmas present,” he says, knowing exactly what he is doing with those words.

“I’m not a kid,” she snaps, her eyes fighting back angry teats at his dismissal. “Then stop acting like one,” he shrugs.

Her hands turn into fists, nails digging themselves into her palms as she tries to keep her anger at bay. “Do you know how much of myself I gave to you? How many plans with my friends have I cancelled in case you called? How many guys I stopped seeing because they weren’t you?” she rants, her voice increasing in volume as she lets her frustration take over. Then, she pauses. “You’ve ruined me, James.”

Her voice is so pained that it makes his heart clench, and he lowers his head, refusing to look at her. He knows, God, he knows what he’s done, but he couldn’t help it. He had been so lonely with Lily spending so much time at the hospital, and then there she was with her caring and understanding nature. With her adorable laughs and those touches that were so addictive, a mercurial high that gave him the lowest lows whenever he tried to stop.

He keeps his mouth shut; there’s nothing left to say anyway, and it’s better for her to hate him rather than anything else. “You are not going to say anything?” It’s meek, vulnerable, and she wants to slap herself for acting this way. She knew it would never last, that he would always choose her.

He was never hers to lose, so why is she still fighting?

She nods her head in surrender, biting her lip to stop herself from sobbing. The anger now gave way to sadness, “I can’t believe I let you make a fool of me.” Her voice is hoarse, a result of the lump in her throat that prevents her from swallowing comfortably.

She gets out of the car and slams the door shut, then leaves the parking lot, leaving him behind. She keeps walking, fingers gripping the straps of her bag until she reaches an empty street.

The golden sun is ready to dip on the horizon, and she can hear James’s car speeding behind her.

—

She doesn’t let the tears fall until she’s inside her apartment.

The moment she closed the door, she crumbled to her knees, loud sobs falling from her mouth and fat tears rolling down her cheeks. It takes her a moment to gather enough strength to walk to her room.

She cries and cries, buries her face in her pillows and starts sobbing even harder because she can smell him. The salty scent and citrus shampoo finally embedded themselves in the fabric, and she can’t believe that after all those days she craved to feel him close to her, he chooses now to leave a trace behind.

She cries for hours until her eyes are puffy and red, and snot comes out of her nose. Her chest heaves with short breaths that don’t really fill her lungs as she clings to that damn pillow before throwing it across the room. She can’t believe it ended like this: with her completely broken for anyone else while James gets to go back to his life and act like nothing ever happened.

Yet she knows that if she had to choose, she would do it all over again because if she had to choose someone to be her ruination, she would choose James Potter a million times.

TAGLIST: @emmaev @gxtitobxby @ildm4ev @capsmischief @arisblackhole @dracosafety @dracoxgeorge @tonystarksmutgarden @blowing-mikey @roonilwazlibswhore @lovelylupinx @sarcasmismyon1ydefence @marxy-06 @glossiable @remusjlupinisdead @amixedwitch @mattefic @artisancowbells @zzzfour — if you want to be added tap here

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What are your thoughts on major Naruto characters? (Well you have said earlier that you haven't read the manga, but pls do tell about impressions you have garnered while writing ffs and through fandom in general)

Ooof, I mean, I suppose I watched enough episodes and have seen enough of fandom to have an idea of who the main characters are but I'm fully willing to admit that the Naruto that exists in my headspace is one I've made up.

But alright, I'll give it a whirl.

Naruto Uzumaki

Previous thoughts on Naruto.

Naruto is a very common archetype in shonnen anime as well as YA in general (Harry Potter is a very similar character). He's your every man good person who is not necessarily smart or particularly talented (though Naruto does in fact have extra abilities that put him beyond others but let's ignore that). He's an underdog, gets where he is through hard work and determination, is hated through circumstances not his fault that force him to disprove all preconceptions of him, and he's the guy you want to root for.

He's never been particularly interesting to me but I suppose if you made me work with him, I'd say his draw is just how far he goes to confront the world's hatred of him. He chooses to become a clown so that the people laugh with him rather than at him, he's very forcefully positive and clinging of those even remotely considered friends (looking at Naruto's obsession with bringing Sasuke home), and his desperate dream to become hokage isn't so much to become hokage but to earn the respect and love of his village. Which, ultimately, might very well make him a shitty hokage as an adult.

He goes through a lot of character development, but Naruto at twelve has very little understanding of what it means to be hokage and to run a village.

Like everybody else, given his actions throughout canon, I think he's gay for Sasuke.

However, I'm not surprised it didn't work out in that I strongly suspect hidden villages are discouraging of open homosexual relationships in that the priority will always be developing the next generation of shinobi. This means having kids and as we see no signs of surrogates, artificial insemination, and certain genetic lines are key to the village's survival then this means that arranged marriages are going to be a very large thing and it's to be expected that you marry someone of the opposite biological gender even if you have sex on the sly with someone else.

Naruto, being an isolated orphan who is historically socially clueless, I think wouldn't even have it occur to him what his feelings for Sasuke mean or that he could enter a relationship that's not friendship with the man. Sasuke, having a conflicted relationship with the idea of family, legacy, and what not would go towards marrying and having children to rebuild his family/turn over a new leaf for the clan (and as Sakura's the closest female friend he has remaining and someone who has always had an interest in him, she wins the marriage lottery).

But those are thoughts for another post.

Basically, Naruto's a nice guy, not a bad character, but never particularly compelling to me.

Sasuke Uchiha

Oh Sasuke, you delightful bastard.

Now, if Naruto were faster paced and more focused on the tragedy of Sasuke Uchiha, I'd be all in. Sasuke is your classic tragic character. He starts out rather noble, has his entire world destroyed at a very young age, and becomes mired in hatred and the need for revenge.

This, alongside the convenient manipulation of characters such as Orochimaru, propels him down the path of remarkable self-destruction where he destroys his body, his grasp of sanity, and perhaps even his very soul in pursuit of the power he needs to destroy the shifting goal posts of his enemy (first Itachi, then Konoha itself, then the world at large).

All the while you have characters such as Kakashi, Itachi, or later Naruto desperately trying to get Sasuke to come back and save him and it never works. Sasuke always, always, makes the wrong choice.

And when he's freed from one great evil (Orochimaru) he climbs right into the hands of another (Obito). Never realizing how stupid and vulnerable his vengeance makes him. Sasuke is a tool to be wielded by others until finally, finally, Naruto manages to get through to him.

Then we get a Sasuke who's accepted back into the village and has to fumble about for his place in the world. Konoha's not what he thought it was (both in the beginning and after he left it), his place in it has changed (the clan is gone, he abandoned the village, then he became an active traitor and enemy who is miraculously pardoned), he essentially skipped the formative years of his career and his childhood entirely.

And of course, you have his rivalry with Naruto, where Sasuke is goaded further as someone he considers to be a fool and a dumbass iS AlWayS BeSTing HiM. Naruto, however unintentionally, keeps driving Sasuke towards greater and greater power to be definitively the best.

Basically, unlike most people who are writing fix its left and right where Sasuke's making reasonable decisions, I think Sasuke is great. He's an imploding piece of trash who set himself on a course for ruined and was miraculously redeemed through the power of friendship and Naruto's bullheadedness.

And as above, I do think Sasuke has a thing for Naruto, but I'm not surprised it didn't happen in the world of canon. Sasuke's... complicated.

Sakura Haruno

Sakura's the third wheel of team seven and not entirely sure she's in the right movie. She starts out your normal-ish girl, she's very intelligent and hardworking, head over heels for Sasuke and thinks Naruto is a dumb boy, but not particularly invested/understanding of what it means to be a shinobi.

She learns, of course, as she faces trials and dangers quickly on and faces the loss of Sasuke as he abandons the village. She's forced to readjust her views on both Naruto as well as Sasuke and has to decide if the man he is is someone she can still love or not. Her feelings for him shift though ultimately remain fond and she's a strong friend to Naruto especially in light of Sasuke's absence from both of their lives.

The general complaint I see a lot of people make is that the author didn't really do much with Sakura. I can't say one way or another, not getting that far in, but it does seem to me that she's a secondary character despite being in the main three.

That's part of her struggle though. Naruto and Sasuke have their huge bullshit power rivalry thing going on and she has to find her own way and manage to keep up. She does so by becoming apprentice to Tsunade and ultimately keeping Team Seven alive (by remaining friends and teammates with Naruto) but she's never the one to... well... get her arm blown off by Sasuke.

As noted above, she's the obvious choice for Sasuke to end up marrying though.

Kakashi Hatake

He's a hot mess of depression and despair as everyone important in his life dies in horrible ways that are indirectly his fault. By the time he's an adult he's barely coping and he is not in any position to offer children guidance beyond "please try to stay alive until I'm not responsible for you anymore".

Delightfully, he gets stuck with the kids forever because of this. And Sasuke runs away in spite of his best efforts, which only adds to his ever mounting despair and frustration who eventually has to come to terms with his father's suicide and legacy of dishonor.

Kakashi's an excellent character is what I'm saying, like a lot of the secondary and tertiary Naruto characters.

[tinyhistory]

Hey! Love your stories so much I just had to ask! Do you have any favorite drarry authors/stories? I sometimes compare the quality of other stories to ROA (oops!) because ROA is just that good. My personal favorites are ROA (of course!), the Foundations Series (saras_girl), the ordeal of being known (louisfake), denouement (the_never_was), Good to Me (And I'd Be So Good to You) (AWickedMemory), and To Hurt and Heal (cassisluna). Have you read these? Have a wonderful day! :)

Thank you, so glad you’ve enjoyed my stories! And thank you for so patiently waiting for a reply. I haven’t been online much in the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately I haven’t read any of your recs, but I’m always happy to add another fic to my to-read list.

I did a rec post a few months ago, but I’ll post an updated version now. The Skyhawke Archives appear to be down, which is crushing news. I’ve had to update a lot of the links.

So here are my favourite Drarry fanfics:

And We Are At Our Apogee (PG-13) by angelgazing

Summary: Draco wanted revenge, but it didn't work out that way.

My notes: Californian beaches, supermarkets, road trips, and a bittersweet ending.

-

A Reckless State of Mind (T) by Lomonaaeren

Summary: Draco is a Psyche-Diver, and his newest patient is Auror Potter, who’s been a pathological liar for over a year—and has just tried to violently end his own life.

Notes: The plot alone guarantees inclusion on this list. Probably the most creative fic I’ve ever read, and the twists and turns will keep you guessing.

-

Berlin, In the Year of Our Lord (PG) by Are

Summary: Harry is a green-tea addict. Draco stalks him.

Notes: Probably my all-time favourite fic, along with Blue Vase. It’s sparse and minimal and I love that writing style.

-

Blue Vase (M) by ivyblossom

Summary: Let’s pretend.

Notes: Draco finds an amnesiac Harry and befriends him, pretending they were once lovers. It’s pensive, short, and bittersweet.

-

The Boy Who Only Lived Twice (E) by lettered

Summary: Harry Potter is an Unspeakable. Draco Malfoy is the wizard who shagged him. Adventure! Intrigue! Secret identities, celebrities, spies! It's all right here, folks.

Notes: Action-heavy fics are damn hard to write, but lettered nails it. The action scenes are breakneck speed, the conversations are threaded with double meaning, and even the silences are tense.

-

Draco in Darkness (T) by Plumeria47.

Summary: Following an accident in his seventh year, Draco loses his eyesight.

Notes: This is one of the first fics I ever read (when it was over on FF in 2003) so it’s probably here just for nostalgia points alone. I read it when I was a kid and just thought it was a lovely golden fairytale, the best romance I’d ever read in my (very short, thus far) life. I love reading it again, even years later as an adult when I can see the tarnish on it; the things my childhood eyes didn’t notice. I don’t care. It’s my soft and fuzzy comfort fic.

-

The Flesh is Frail (NC-17) by wildestranger

Summary: None

Notes: Draco has injuries from curses and spells, and Harry keeps him company. Draco is angry; Harry is stubborn. They argue their way into a grudging relationship. It’s a short read and well worth your ten minutes.

-

Good-bye to Yesterday (NC-17) by furiosity

Summary: Draco felt ready to face even a million years in Azkaban as long as it meant that at the end of it all, he would make Potter pay.

Notes: It’s not a dark fic, but it certainly dips in and out of the shadows. If you like your romance to be sharp as a razor and bitter as black coffee, give it a read.

-

Hymn to Color (PG) by Lomonaaeren

Summary: Months after Draco cast a curse that took Harry’s eyesight, Harry is still trying to come to terms with it. Draco still wanted forgiveness, which was probably the problem.

Notes: Probably my very inadequate idea of “fluff”. It’s a quiet, introspective fic. Draco and Harry are well-written.

-

Kings among runaways (PG) by enderxenocide.

Summary: Later, the toast will be slightly overcooked, Draco will burn the eggs, and there will be another fist fight in-between the living room and the front door, but they’ll eat breakfast with second-hand plates and Draco’s great-grandmother’s silverware.

Notes: Dreamy descriptions, abstract scenes, and the characters are lovingly delineated. Beautiful writing.

-

On Broken Glass (PG-13) by coffeejunkii

Summary: After the final battle, Draco is holding the shards that are left of his and Harry’s life.

Notes: Established relationship. Harry’s forgetful and seems to suffer both short-term and long-term memory loss; Draco stays by his side through six years of post-war amnesia. Very short, just a tiny ficlet. There’s sequels (in bite-size pieces) but I prefer to read the first ficlet and leave it there.

-

Paper Dolls (M) by cupiscent

Summary: In the final year of the War, Draco gets a letter, makes a choice and pays the price.

Notes: Short, succinct, and packs a punch. No character deaths, in case the summary has you feeling nervous.

-

Portrait (PG-13) by Silent Blast

Summary: None.

Notes: Dorian Grey, but Drarry. Of course it’s going to be good.

-

Shattered (NC-17) by femmequixotic

Summary: One damned accident involving one too-lucky curse, and suddenly you'd think he was five again, with their Harry, be carefuls and their quick Levitating charms ready the instant the potion gives way and his rebelling hands lose hold of whatever's in their grasp.

Notes: Draco’s an artist. Harry’s intrigued by his sculptures and paintings.

-

Snatch (PG-13) by didntyoupotter

Summary: Harry is comatose, Hermione and Ron aren’t much help, and Draco isn’t sure about anything anymore.

Notes: The opening scene fools you into thinking this will be a light read with a streak of good humour. Don’t fall for it. By the third act, you’ll be hanging onto every word and feeling a lot of emotions. Also, back in the day, this was one of the Draco/Harry fics. Everyone knew of it. Pay your respects to your fandom history and read this beloved classic.

-

The Stages of Acceptance (T) by Lomonaaeren.

Summary: Harry, already happily married to Ginny, receives the news that he's Draco's mate. Law and custom don't give him the option of ignoring the news. The stages of his reaction, one by one.

Notes: This is not a romance, and I love that the author just casually chucks all the Veela tropes in the bin and says “nope”. In Lomonaaeren’s own words, this fic is more practical than romantic. Harry is unfamiliar with the Veela concepts and hates the very idea of being “shackled” to someone; he rejects Draco at once. Draco is miserable and lonely. They do eventually come to understand each other better, but it’s a huge struggle with lots of setbacks. The general air of pessimism and misery does make the small glimpses of compassion and empathy feel so well-earned. I love a fic that rations out its happiness.

-

The Stately Homes of Wiltshire (E) by waspabi

Summary: Malfoy Manor has mould, dry rot and an infestation of unusually historical poltergeists. Harry Potter is on the case.

Notes: This one needs no introduction. The writing is polished, the characterisation perfect, and the dialogue is fun. I love the humour woven throughout it.

-

Then Comes a Mist and a Weeping Rain (E) by faithwood.

Summary: It always rains for Draco Malfoy. Metaphorically. And literally. Ever since he had accidentally Conjured a cloud. A cloud that's ever so cross.

Notes: Another one that most of us know. It’s a lighthearted and fun read.

-

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (M) by novembersnow

Summary: In the war-torn years after Hogwarts, one man has no knowledge of his yesterdays.

Notes: Another classic back in the feverish heyday of the Harry Potter fandom, when books were still being released and everyone had worked themselves up into a shipping frenzy. And no wonder this fic was an instant hit. Draco has lost all his memories and Harry’s investigating as an Auror, but the longer you read, the more you start questioning everything. Good twists and turns that lead to a tender ending.

-

Turn by Saras_Girl

Summary: One good turn always deserves another. Apparently.

Notes: An inevitable inclusion on any favourites list. I think my favourite thing about it is the characterisation. Everyone is so well-rounded; the characters are brought to life and feel like old friends. All their habits, styles, mannerisms, even the way they walk or talk. While I love everyone in this fic, I have to admit that Blaise is just amazing. Of all the thousands of Blaises imagined by fanfic writers, I love this one the best. “Old bean” indeed.

-

Under the Ivy (PG-13) by coffeejunkii

Summary: It is impressive how much you can learn about someone by simply sharing a few rooms. They don’t spend time together, not really, but Harry still knows that Malfoy prefers raspberry jam over strawberry, that he hums along to the Wireless when he thinks no one is around, and that his leg is bothering him more than usual when the temperatures drop below freezing.

Notes: Another old, old favourite of mine. It’s like snuggling into a soft blanket. Remus owns a cottage and Harry moves in after the war. Later, Remus lets a room to Draco, who is an outcast after the war and has limited housing options. Harry isn’t happy at first with the new lodger, but he eventually warms up to Draco. A slow and gentle romance.

-

Vale Sanare (M) by rurounihime

Summary: Draco’s world gains a new component, just when he thought he’d sorted everything out.

Notes: London nightclubs, one-night-stands, loud music and lonely nights. Draco has seizures due to a curse from the war, and the seizures have led to a fear of intimacy. Short and sweet.

-

The Way Down (T) by lettered

Summary: Malfoy’s all, “Come out of there,” the way you say to a cat who is badly behaved. And Harry’s all like, “No, what, I’m a hermit! And I have a chest-monster! And I am crazy magically powerful!” and Malfoy’s all, “We all have problems, bub.” (thoughtfully) “You are crazy though. I’ll give you that.”

Notes: I just adore this fic. The fic starts well-grounded, giving you a solid backstory and matter-of-fact context, but as it goes on, it slowly unravels into dreamy scenes, lush settings, and repeated motifs. It’s just such a beautiful story.

-

When Love beckons to you, follow him (PG-13) by megyal

Summary: Draco wakes up, lost, somewhere in a forest. He has no idea where he is or how he got there. As he is blundering around trying to find his way home, he hears Harry's voice in his head, telling him what to do.

Notes: I generally like my fics to be bittersweet or with a bit of heartache — but this fic is just a little cloud of softness. If you need something light and lovely without being syrupy-sweet, this is a good choice!

-

The World of the Living (M) by fourth_rose

Summary: A traumatised war hero and a convicted criminal under the roof of an eccentric journalist make for a rather odd ensemble, but Luna has never had a problem with oddities as long as they make sense.

Notes: The story is told from Luna’s perspective, which gives everything a lovely dreamy quality. She takes in a couple of strays after the war — first Harry, who is avoiding his other friends and has quit his Auror job — and then she offers a room to Draco right after his trial. Draco is rude, angry, and ungrateful; Harry is churlish, withdrawn, and moody. Luna doesn’t seem to mind in the slightest, and over the course of the next few months, her house guests slowly warm up to each other.

-

Voices From the Fog (E) by noeon

Summary: After years of running away, Harry crosses paths with an all-too familiar face and follows him to Amsterdam.

Notes: Harry drifts across Europe, trying to forget the war. He ends up in a woodworking shop in Amsterdam, alongside a moody Draco. Atmospheric settings and solid characterisation.