#comment fic

[machtaholic]

Unplugged

written for the August @steddiemicrofic prompt 'plug' !

wc: 437 | rated: G | cw: none | tags: established relationship, famous!Eddie

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay! This is a little out of the norm, but it's kinda important."

Steve stood amidst the crowd of fans at the Corroded Coffin concert (he preferred to be in the fray, not backstage) and blinked at his boyfriend, front man Eddie Munson. Corroded Coffin's rise had been fast, meteoric and Steve had suddenly become as famous as the band.

"But, well, it's kinda mine and Steve's anniversary," Eddie said.

Steve blushed when the entire audience cooed - Eddie'd been adamant that he wasn't going to hide his and Steve's relationship - Steve had been a bit concerned, but the fans had embraced him and Eddie's relationship wholeheartedly.

"But, I'm gonna unplug for a second." Eddie crossed the stage, set his electric guitar down and took the acoustic guitar a roadie handed him.

"Oh Eddie," Steve whispered. "What are you doing?"

Eddie strummed the guitar for a moment and the whole crowd waited with bated breath. Then he started singing and Steve couldn't help but laugh … and cry. Bryan Adams' "Heaven" sounded through the venue and as Steve looked around, he saw the hardest of rockers tearing up and hugging their significant others.

" … Oh, once in your life you find someone Who will turn your world around Bring you up when you're feelin' down

Yeah, nothin' could change what you mean to me Oh, there's lots that I could say But just hold me now 'Cause our love will light the way …"

"You amazing, adorable, idiot," Steve said, blowing Eddie a kiss and wiping the tears from his face.

"… And, baby, you're all that I want When you're lyin' here in my arms I'm findin' it hard to believe We're in heaven

Yeah, love is all that I need And I found it there in your heart It isn't too hard to see We're in heaven …"

Steve pushed his way through the crowds over to security and was immediately let through. Steve ran up, and then on stage just as Eddie had finished the song and barely managed to wait for Eddie to pass the acoustic guitar before launching himself at his boyfriend.

"I fucking love you," Steve breathed, peppering Eddie's face with kisses.

"Happy anniversary, baby," Eddie murmured. "Had to go big."

"You did not," Steve replied. "But I love you for it. And signing Bryan Adams for me? That's real love coming from my favorite metalhead."

The entire crowd let out a collective 'awww' and Steve turned to look at the crowd.

"Oh hi." Steve waved at the audience.

"Happy Anniversary!" the crowd yelled.

"Love you, baby," Eddie whispered.

[originalposterpiastri]

“Oscar, this might be beneficial for you to see,” one of the many people milling around the garage say. Oscar, fresh from another interview he’s done feeling red raw inside, isn’t expecting to turn and see Lando already studying the screen. A wave of relief crashes over him, even though he knew hospital was just a precaution.

The first thing he spots as he slides into the cramped space next to Lando is the hospital bracelet. Oscar’s eyes lock onto it, the crude way it isn’t fluro yellow or papaya with beads that spell sassy.

Gauging his presence, Lando stops fiddling with his beard and slumps slightly against him.

Lando glances at Oscar, then back at the screen with the ghost of a smile on his face as Oscar’s thumb moves his hospital tag up his arm, and his fingers wrap around his wrist, solid against his pulse.

Oscar can feel his heart rate decelerating and matching the pulse thrumming under his fingertips as they both stare at the screen and take in the rest of the data.

When they’re done, Oscar hovers close, not wanting to leave Lando until he knows he’s really okay. He’s so close Lando, turns and accidentally treads on his toes and he lets out a very manly yelp.

“Sorry,” the Brit says automatically, amused until he must clock the stress on the rookie’s face. Lando’s eyes soften, “I’m all good, Osc.”

Oscar blinks, and bites his lip, “That’s what you said on the radio, and you weren’t.”

“C’mere,” Lando sighs, wrapping his arms around Oscar’s dainty waist. Oscar’s arms encircle Lando, slightly tighter than a winded hospital escapee should be held. “I’m better than that shitty grid drive car of yours,” Lando mumbles against his neck and feels more than hears Oscar chuckle lightly against his chest.

[trivalentlinks]

thinking again about this one bbc sherlock comment-fic i read once from the comments section of a livejournal post that i can't find anymore, but i think about basically all the time

so in the first episode of bbc sherlock, when these two cops sally donovan and philip anderson are introduced, sherlock has an exchange to this effect with anderson:

sherlock: I see your wife's out of town anderson: how'd you know? sherlock: your deodorant told me. it's for men. anderson: of course it's for men--I'm wearing it sherlock: so is sergeant donovan. and i'm guessing she scrubbed your floors going by the state of her knees.

anyway the fic was set the previous night, and the premise was that anderson had severe ocd that only the presence of his wife could really soothe for him, so since his wife was out of town, it was flaring up really bad.

thus donovan had come over to help him settle his ocd, but she couldn't, because she's not the kind of person who knows what to say in that situation, so instead she just helped him scrub his already clean floors, and hoped that it really helped and he wasn't just saying it helped to make her feel better

and i don't know, i think about this fic all the time. donovan on her knees next to anderson, not knowing the right words to say, just being there and scrubbing those already pristine floors, and hoping that it helps at least a little,

gosh, i'm tearing up again thinking about it

my own bbc sherlock fic has more than 10,000 kudos, but it's empty candy, and honestly kind of silly if you think about it, not to mention way ooc (it's crack fic, so this is mostly intentional)

but this little comment-fic someone probably wrote in a few minutes that i read on an LJ comment section once has stuck with me for more than a decade

[mayberrycryptid]

First comment fic challenge has been posted in H50 community!!!!! Let's gooooooooooo!!!!!!💃🕺💃🕺💃🕺

[cinematicnomad]

#Eddie: Hopper did this to you?! #Steve who definitely gave Wayne that impression: No?? He’s going to be mad at me cause he told me to go home #Eddie: Why didn’t you? #Steve: couldn’t find it #Eddie: He didn’t take you home? you look like you got hit by a car #Steve: He was busy! #Hopper’s gonna show up later and Wayne is not going to let him take this boy (via @morganbritton132)

Wayne gets off work and finds some kid wandering around a parking lot covered in bruises and nearly in tears because he can’t get the lid off a bottle of ibuprofen, and just takes the kid home.

He never really gets a clear answer out of the kid about where he lives or anything other than being worried about pissing off Hopper and his head hurting, so he stops trying.

He puts the kid to bed on the couch, leaves Hopper a nasty voicemail, and then stays up as long as he can manage to make sure the kid doesn’t die in his sleep.

This is how Eddie wakes up a couple hours later to find his uncle slumped over in a chair and Steve “The Hair” Harrington asleep on the couch.

[buddiecanon8x12]

people telling you they reread your fic is the biggest compliment you could ever receive. there are thousands of stories out there begging to be found, to be explored, but your story meant so much to someone that they came back to it eagerly, they went over every word again. to love is to return and loving a fic is rereading it. thank you to all readers and rereaders <3333

[majoringinsarcasm]

DONT BE AFRAID TO COMMENT ON OLD FICS DONT BE AFRAID TO COMMENT ON FICS IN A FANDOM THE AUTHOR MAY NO LONGER BE ACTIVE IN. IF THE STORY IS STILL UP LET THEM KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IT MIGHT JUST BE THE REMINDER THAT MAKES THEIR DAY.

SINCERELY SOMEONE WHO JUST GOT A REPLY THAT MADE ME WANNA MAKE THIS POST

[akelafang]

Golden Age King Arthur accidentally gets sent back in time to the beginning of his reign. While making his way to Camelot hoping to find Merlin and figure out how to get back to his own time he runs into Agravaine making his own way to Camelot for the first time. Knowing he was a traitor working for Morgana in his own timeline, Arthur kills him and decides to take his place. No one had seen Agravaine since Ygraine's death, there were no portraits of him in the castle, and Arthur's premature greying hair has to be good for something other than Merlin calling him a silver fox. He can pass as his own uncle and be the caring advisor that young him deserved damn it!

[pixiemage]

Please, for the love of god, please don’t be this person. No matter how long it’s been since an update, no matter how many unfinished stories are sitting on their account, no matter what - do not be this person.

Not only is it insanely rude, but you also do more damage than you think be being such a self-entitled ass about something someone created for free and for fun. “This author” can see what you say.

RIP decency indeed.

[jamiemoonymarks]

Normalize leaving unhinged comments on ao3 fics you like. I'm tired of being the only one brave enough to write "I am chewing on this fic" in the comment section. Be weird. Authors will love you for it

[kcrabb88]

I feel like we really lost something when we started looking at writing as a reader-centric product meant to appeal to the desires of a specific audience rather than a writer-centric approach of someone writes whatever particular thing particular compels them/whatever weird thing the demons in their head want to talk about, and people out there who are also compelled, and/or relate, find that writing. A lot of discussions of writing really center around what readers want rather than a writer's exploration. Sometimes as a reader I don't know what I want. I click on a fic or pick up a book I'm not sure about but that looks interesting, and I love it. Reading what I expect to get is it's own joy, but we always need to expand our horizons and not get mad at creators for not always writing what we want/expect.

[machtaholic]

written for @steddiemicrofic, challenge: "hole", Rating: G, 404 words (which was a CHALLENGE, also @stevesjockstrap is an enabler *wink*)

"Steve!"

"Dustin, what're you doing here?" Steve leaned over the accounting ledger as he sat at the counter in the general store.

"Mom sent me to get a couple of - Steve! Don't move!"

"What? What's wrong?" Steve looked up and started lookng around, worried there was something on him.

"There's an alien coming out of your nose!" Dustin screeched.

"Alien … no Dustin, there's not an alien coming out of my nose," Steve replied. "It's called a piercing."

"Ouch, why would you do that?" Dustin asked.

Steve just shrugged as he went back to looking at the books. He'd undergone a bit of a transformation since the closing of the Upside Down and being reunited with Eddie - some of it more visible than others. He'd already gotten plenty of stares from the town and teasing from his friends when he'd shown up with the bright purple streak in his hair, but they'd all eventually gotten used to it. Next had come slight adjustments to his wardrobe - a little tighter than normal, because a certain someone wanted Steve to show off.

"Did it hurt?"

"Yeah, shithead, of course it hurt," Steve replied. "But it doesn't anymore. I tuck it up when I'm at work, not that Joyce cares."

"How long have you had it?"

"Dustin of the never ending questions!"

Steve glanced up at the sound of Eddie's voice to see his boyfriend enter the store and move behind the counter, tucking himself against Steve's side. Eddie'd gone through a bit of a change too, mostly because Steve had taken over Eddie's hair care.

"He finally saw my nose ring," Steve explained.

"Last one to notice," Eddie teased.

"Last one?!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Gotta be more observant," Steve replied. "Watch instead of shouting questions at people."

"But I always know things!" Dustin said.

"When it comes to the supernatural," Eddie added. "Not when it comes to the interpersonal."

"But, maybe we can throw you a bone," Eddie offered. "Give you first news."

"But only if you don't use it for personal gain," Steve said.

"Killjoy, but sure," Dustin replied.

"You forgot your cream," Eddie told Steve quietly. "Gotta make sure they don't become infected."

"My hero," Steve chuckled and turned, leaning in for a kiss before turning to Dustin. "I got my nipples pierced."

"Two days ago, in fact," Eddie said. "No one's noticed."

Steve watched Dustin's face for a few minutes.

"EW!"

[aethersea]

the question of fic comments is very straightforward actually. readers do not owe writers comments. writers do not owe readers fic. there is no bargain, no transaction, no debt.

fic is a gift. comments are a gift. gifts are exchanged between friends, out of love, not out of obligation.

I write for myself. I post it for others, as a gift, because their joy brings me joy. I read for myself. I comment for the author, as a gift, because their joy brings me joy. perhaps we were not friends before, but we are now, however fleetingly, because we have given each other gifts out of love.

[frownyalfred]

hey just for the record, if you’re on r/ao3 and keep running into these kinds of comments on bookmark related posts — it’s not a good take. calling someone’s writing “slop” and saying it deserves criticism for being bad BECAUSE it’s posted publicly might seem like a nuanced take, but I promise it isn’t.

yes, sometimes us writers get a little too obsessed over a cryptic comment or bookmark; no, that doesn’t actually mean the solution is to say whatever you want in them because authors “deserve” your honesty. 

I know we’re in a touchy time for readers and writers, but comments like these are NOT kind, refreshing, or nuanced. they’re just kind of mean and discouraging.

[machtaholic]

It's the first summer where everything felt normal - they spent the summer in Steve's backyard, getting tan and taking advantage of Steve's pool.

But the further into summer they got, the more Eddie noticed it - the way the sun had bleached Steve's hair to a bright, brassy auburn. Glossy and shaggy, Eddie was entranced by the way the color seemed to morph and change with how the sun hit it.

And he knew that Steve noticed - because everytime Steve caught Eddie staring, Steve would throw him a playful wink. But Eddie coun't help it - he'd already been entranced by Steve just generally but with the brassy, auburn locks Eddie was positively obsessed.

"I'm gonna go grab a beer from inside," Steve called. "Anyone want anything?"

There was a chorus of 'no' and so Steve went inside.

"I gotta piss," Eddie said suddenly, standing and following Steve inside.

Eddie found Steve down the hallway just off the kitchen, leaning against the wall and watching Eddie.

"Get your beer?" Eddie asked.

"Nah, decided I wanted something else," Steve said.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"You."

Before Eddie could respond, he found himself tugged forward by Steve's hand on the front of his swim trunks and Steve's lips pressed to his. Eddie groaned and returned the kiss, tugging at Steve's bottom lip with his teeth before breaking the kiss, forehead against Steve's.

"Have a thing for redheads?" Steve asked breathily.

"Have a thing for you," Eddie replied. "The redhead thing is new - might be Steve specific."

"Could keep it when the summer's over, if you want," Steve murmured.

"As long as I can keep you."

yeah

[mandos-mind-trick]

This also very much applies to fanfics. Some people need to take a step back and think before they make straight fools out of themselves.