#episode ficlet project

[thoughtfulfangirling]

Always Surviving

Demona's POV just after the pilot episodes of Disney's Gargoyles. 1,275 words

Three times she died that night.

Three times she felt the bones of her body buckle and snap out of place.

And three times she felt her body shudder and assert itself to its proper order.

The magic of the Weird Sisters was fickle but never failed. Demona's soul never got to leave this mortal coil, but her body restored to varying levels of rightness once it reached the point of death.

The first death had been her head caving in as explosive force threw her and a tower of the castle over the side of the sky. Her last sight had been that of Goliath diving in after them.

Them. She didn't quite remember who fell with her. Not yet. Head damage did that to her sometimes. There were gaps in her memory stretching as long as that of a night sometimes. But she remembered most of what had happened, which meant she'd likely regain the full memory. A gift and a curse. She didn't quite remember the pain of dying or the moment that it had happened, but she couldn't quite remember if Goliath had dove for her or whoever else got caught in the landslide of brick and stone and mortar.

Given that her second death occurred as she hit the asphalt with concrete shards hailing down around her, she could make her guess. It would have been dangerous even for Goliath to come down after her among all that flying debris, but that also would not have stopped him. If he'd tried.

So when she woke up, her body broken only so much as she could live with, she was furious. Goliath couldn't kill an unconscious human who would be a threat at his back, but he could leave his lost lover falling to her death.

She thanked the fury that burned through her body and gave her the adrenaline to numb the many pains and to mask the exhaustion so she could begin to crawl her way out of this broken up detritus that would be her coffin.

Not today. Not ever.

But the death that followed was the worst that night. As she clawed and shoved her way in the direction she decided must be up, the slabs of stone and concrete shifted, an unbearable weight, a mass with protruding steel wire rods and bolts squeezing in on her. First the edges pressed into her, then split her skin. Something shifted. Weight pressed in on her chest. Her leg got caught. Unyielding pressure closed in around her shoulder until it shifted unnaturally. And then something cracked. Pain and fury made her cry out, but it came out a barely audible gargle as her lungs failed her.

The pain was everywhere when awareness returned, but the magic that wouldn't let her go gave her just enough strength that with a howl, she made enough space for her body to make itself whole. This time, she was mostly renewed completely and had the strength to burrow the rest of the way out of the mountain of debris. The struggle still resulted in scrapes and cuts and several shreds on her wings, but in time, everything healed. If not the sun, then another death. She wouldn't think of it now.

Disoriented, she collapsed on the top of the heap and looked up. It was dark. Was it the same night? How many hours did unconsciousness and death steal from her? Had a day passed, leaving her a strange stone companion to the brick and mortar that had abused her?

As she stumbled her way down and out of the rubble, she saw a figure waiting for her near the closest entrance to Xanatos's Tower, just beyond that stupid human yellow tape that tried to banish all but those with "authority" from any given place. She bared her teeth at the thought. The things humans believed gave them power were ludicrous.

As she stumbled toward the tower, the figure resolved itself out of the blur to be Xanatos's servant. He held a first aid kit at his side. "You smell like death." It was said in his usual stoic drone.

Demona hissed at him and snatched the first aid kit. She could maybe use some bandaging adhered to the tears in her wings to get herself home.

"Help yourself," Owen continued after she snatched the case from him. Nothing in his voice changed, but Demona knew sarcasm when she heard it. "Why don't you step inside off the street," he continued as Demona strode past him and slammed the nearest door open.

As they both stepped inside, Demona demanded, "How did you know know I would be there?"

"We have cameras all over this building." Owen replied. Again, his voice was the same as always, but Demona sensed a deflection. She ground her teeth. This first floor was brightly lit and surrounded by glass. She needed to get out of sight of the street. She continued to the elevators and the two stepped inside. As soon as the doors closed, she grabbed the man with her free hand and shoved him against the side of the elevator. "You were not waiting for me down here, human. You were already here. Tell me why."

Owen's hand had come up to grip her wrist but seemed more to steady himself than to pry himself loose. He looked annoyed but not alarmed.

"A lot has happened tonight. Xanatos has been arrested."

"What do I care of that?" She snarled.

"The detective made quite sure all this evidence would be meticulously accounted for and point towards Xanatos's guilt."

Demona let go of Owen's jacket as the flash of memory came back with more details. It hadn't been just her on that tower that collapsed. The human woman who had gotten in her way had also gotten caught in that blast. "She survived?" She demanded.

"Yes. Goliath made sure of that."

Goliath had saved the human. Once again he had chosen humans over his own kind. He would have believed Demona would be falling to her death and still he chose humanity over his own kind. She punched the wall, which of course was that of the moving elevator. She left a dent the size of her fist and the sound of metal screeching on metal filled the small space. It was the first time she saw blonde man flinch. He pressed a button to stop the elevator at the next floor and shortly the box shuddered to a stop and there was silence.

As he stepped out, he said, "It makes one wonder how you survived." There was a tone to his voice. If she hadn't lived as long as she had lived, it would be easy to miss the shift. The man rarely seemed to emote either in face or body. She bent down to put her face close to his. She noticed a bead of sweat on his temple. Something had unnerved the man, but Demona got the distinct feeling it wasn't her. At least not exactly. It made her truly look at him.

"What did you say your name was again?" She asked.

The man turned and headed instead toward the stairs. "I believe this should be high enough for you. With Xanatos gone, I think it would be best if you left as well. You have two hours until dawn."

Demona clenched her hands as he retreated, breaking the handle of the first aid kit as she did so. "What an enigmatic man." She commented. She didn't raise her voice despite the distance between them now, but she suspected he heard her.

[shhtickerbook]

Baby Feathers

Merry Christmas!

(Helluva Age regression ficlet that takes place post sinsmas)

I don’t see enough fics that have caregivers who want to try regressing!!! So I decided to fill that void and the soul destroying events of sinsmas gave me lots of agere fodder. have a lovely holiday everybody!!! Fic below!

Stolas had everything planned. It was new years Eve and both Stolas and Blitzø had the holiday just to themselves. Millie and Moxxie were spending the holiday with Millie’s family in Wrath, whilst Loona was going to another party at Beelzebub’s. Stolas had spent many a New Year’s Eve at insufferable galas, but there had always been one silver lining. Both himself and Via would slip away from the ball, where the two would sit on the roof of their mansion and watch the first new year’s moon come to rise. He still hadn’t realised that this would be the first year where they wouldn’t be able to share their tradition. He couldn’t stop thinking of Octavia, their last interaction cruelly playing on loop in his mind. His heart was breaking with every second, but at least he had Blitzø. If he hadn’t been grieving so painfully, maybe he’d be able to enjoy himself.

There was one aspect he found great comfort in though, and that was being able to take care of Blitzø. Over the past few months he’d been introduced to the Imp’s smaller side, which had taken a while for Blitzø to open up about it properly. He was a pretty headstrong character, and struggled s lot when it came to expressing any kind of vulnerability.

Stolas had actually found out by accident, with Blitzø regressing involuntarily after a bad night terror. Stolas’s heart had broke when he found his partner looking so afraid and vulnerable. Blitzø wasn’t able to really explain what was happening, but Stolas was already a parent, it was second nature to know how to comfort little ones after a bad dream. The next morning Blitzø had explained what happened, sometimes he found himself slipping younger in age, usually when he was stressed or was reminded of bad things. Especially since he lost his mother, she was the only person who treat him with gentle nurturing care. When he lost her, he never got to feel that again. So when he began to have these episodes, it became a part of himself he had to hide out of shame.

For a long time he continued to suppress this side of himself, pushing away all these childish longings. But he could only hold it back for so long until his body decided for him. When he did find out, Stolas was almost too supportive of it, finding this side of Blitzø absolutely darling. Lavishing him with toys, clothes and all kinds of things he never even considered trying. Stolas even found himself getting a lot out of caring for him too, it made him feel needed.

-

Blitzø had to admit that it felt great to not hide this side of him anymore. Stolas had officially seen every episode of that pony show, and helped Blitzø brush the manes of every single horse figurine he owned. But ever since the trial, neither Blitzø or Stolas had the time or the mental energy to take come time to relax.

Stolas had felt so guilty that in his current state he hadn’t been able to care for Blitzø, and had even collected a set of gifts for him to open from Sinsmas. On the day itself he’d set aside his little gifts so that he wouldn’t have to open them in front of the others. So he’d made the decision to surprise him with a “little sinsmas” on new years, when they knew they’d have the house all to themselves.

Stolas woke up early to get out the gifts he had stored away. Thankfully he had purchased these before he’d lost all of his money and possessions. But when he did get up, he felt awful. The former prince had slept terribly, tossing and turning as he once again replayed what had happened with Via. He was then cursed with unpleasant dreams that only tortured him further. All he wanted was his daughter, but she wanted nothing to do with him.

Regardless of how he felt, he pushed himself through it, today was for Blitzø. The imp had done so much for him recently, he had to pay it back somehow. He quietly looked through Blitzø’s wardrobe in search of some of his little clothes, choosing an oversized hoodie with some colourful horse motifs. It even had an adorable woollen mane that went down the hood. Last of all he collected a plastic box at the bottom of the wardrobe, stolas recognising it. Inside Blitzø kept all of his baby things, pacifiers, some teethers and other equally adorable equipment. It was adorned with multiple stickers, all in the horse variety.

As he entered back into the main room, stolas began to gather some ingredients for breakfast. The plan was to make Blitzø some oatmeal for breakfast, which was simple enough. Blitzø always liked it drizzled with cherry syrup, and if he was feeling little enough he’d even let Stolas feed him.

Stolas carefully arranged the gifts wrapped in coloured paper by the tree, flicking on the fairy lights for added effect. He loved the small touches of sinsmas, indulging in the little details that made it feel magic. Blitzø had mentioned how sinsmas wasn’t really a special thing when he was a kid, the circus would perform through the whole holiday. Which included an extra special sinsmas day show which was very popular, but it meant he never got to really enjoy the holiday.

He thought of a little blitz crouched by the tree, tearing open coloured parcels in glee. You couldn’t help but smile. As a final touch, he pulled the blinds open to let the light in. Such a simple action turned into a huge mistake. As Stolas glanced outside, his gaze was caught to the horizon. Peeking just through the clouds was the new moon, only barely visible. By tonight it would be hanging at the peak of the sky, even in daylight it was beautiful.

How could something so beautiful destroy him so painfully? Stolas remembered everything, his special tradition with his daughter. He thought of Octavia, sitting alone and watching the moon rise. The way she spat her words towards her father, looking like she genuinely despised him. Who was he kidding? It didn’t look like he hated him, she did hate him. Stolas just sank to the floor, his beak quivering as he felt tears building in his eyes. It was all too much. All he wanted was to hold his daughter in his arms again, but would that ever happen again?

she hated him.

she HATED him.

-

Blitzø turned over in bed, dozily reaching over into the empty space of his bed. He’d gotten so used to sleeping next to somebody again, so when he didn’t feel any feathers in his grasp, it pulled him out from his snoozing.

“Mmme- Stolas?”

He mumbled, eyes fluttering open. As suspected, Stolas wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Pushing himself up onto his elbow before rubbing his eyes, recently Stolas had been the one who stayed in bed. Blitzø would usually let him sleep in for as long as he needed, sometimes leaving a note if he had to leave for work.

With a yawn Blitzø pulled himself up, before hearing something from outside the room. It took him a second to realise in his sleep addled state, but he could clearly hear a sadly familiar sound of crying. Within a second he’d jumped from the bed and thrown open the door.

“Stolas? are you okay?”

In hindsight it was a pretty stupid question, especially when he found said bird on the floor of his sitting room. He was curled in on himself, sobbing bitterly. It was uncomfortably reminiscent of what he’d been like when Octavia had rejected him.

“Hey hey- what’s going on?”

Blitzø joined him on the floor, resting a hand over Stolas’s shaking back. Stolas flinched at the touch at first, but couldn’t help but fall into Blitzø’s hold. Blitzø could feel Stolas’s feathers quivering as he tried to control his sobbing. The Imp couldn’t help but notice that a lot of his little stuff was scattered across the room.

His box of pacifiers and that one hoodie he liked to wear, there were also some new gifts under the tree.

“I had planned to- I’m sorry, i just wanted to make today special for you.”

Stolas whimpered, feeling like he’d ruined everything. He thought he would feel better today, if he got to care for Blitzø. But right now owl felt as fragile as glass, but Blitzø held onto him tight and securely. It clicked as he realised what Stolas had been trying to do, his expression softening.

“Oh stolas, it’s okay.”

“It’s not! All I’ve done is mope around and you’ve had to do everything for me. Not to mention the money you’ve spent and the time I’ve taken up. I had it all planned, you deserved a break-“

It took him a little time to string together his response, tears continuing to dribble down his feathers. He felt pathetic, how was he going to care for a regressed Blitzø when he was this much of a mess? It furthered his suspicion that was just a complete failure when it came to any kind of caregiving.

“Stolas listen to me, it’s okay. It’s.. really sweet you thought of this.”

Blitzø gently tilted his beak to meet his face, the tearstained bird’s expression tugging something on his heartstrings. He looked around, spotting the half made breakfast and carefully arranged presents. All the effort he’d made, for him no less.

“I don’t deserve you.”

He chuckled, managing to pull the lanky heap of owl closer into his lap the best he could. His statement seemed to reactivate Stolas tears though, who cried intelligibly into his chest. It was the other way around, it was Stolas that didn’t deserve him.

Whilst Blitzø still wasn’t entirely sure on what had triggered this, it didn’t take an idiot to know it was related to Octavia. In the time Blitzø had known Stolas, he’d never seen him like this. The Goetian Prince was so broken, fragile. But thankfully Blitzø had some experience in that feeling already.

He let him cry it out for a few minutes, with the shoulder of his shirt becoming very wet. He ran his fingers up and down Stolas’s feathers, gently preening him as he murmured comfort. The sobs eventually died down into sad sniffling, but the grip around him still hadn’t broken. Although Stolas’s heart was breaking, Blitzø’s grip around him was at least keeping said shards in place.

As Blitzø rubbed his back, he was hit with a sudden idea. He felt a little guilty that Stolas had gone through all this trouble for him, especially as he wasn’t feeling anywhere near small. And as much as he cared for Stolas, he couldn’t fake his regression either. Anyways, he didn’t feel like he was the one need in comfort right now.

“Hey, here’s an idea. I know we’ve never talked about this before, but what if you let me take care of you today?”

Stolas stirred a little with a frown, peeling his crispy feathered face away from Blitzø’s chest.

“What do you mean?”

“You take care of me when I’m feeling low, why not let me baby you for once? You’re lookin’ like you need it.”

The more Blitzø thought about it, the more he wanted to give it a try. There was something about the forlorn bird in his arms that melted his heart a little. Was this how Stolas felt with him? Nah, he couldn’t he this cute.

“No, you’re my baby. I care for you, I care for people- it’s what I like to do.”

Stolas suddenly felt flustered, face lighting up bright red. He’d never even considered the idea of swapping roles before. Blitzø was his baby, never the other way around. He wasn’t sure if it felt right to him, he wanted to be the one caring for Blitzø.

“Yeah, and you do a great fuckin job at it. So why not let me return the favour, you might even like it?”

Blitzø teased as he gently pinched the owls red cheeks, already delighting in the idea. Stolas found himself wavering a little, especially with how shivery and weak he was. He looked over at the gifts guiltily, but Blitzø already had it covered.

“Look we could try it today, if you don’t like it, we’ll stop. We can save the gifts for tomorrow, and then you can have your turn babying me, sound okay?”

Blitzø sounded so sure that Stolas found it hard to disagree. Although it still felt very alien, he definitely appreciated this cuddling part right now. So in the end gave a defeated shrug, Blitzø’s face lighting up.

“You just relax and let me take care of everything, feathers.”

Stolas shook for a second, before burying his beak into Blitzø’s shoulder again. Fresh tears erupted seemingly for no specific reason. But this time there was a sense of catharsis that came with it, to be able to cry in safety. Was this how Blitzø felt when Stolas would comfort him whilst small? He hoped so, as it felt pretty damn good.

Blitzø began to rock him back and forth, kissing the crown of his feathers. He gave him a few more minutes to cry, Stolas had been forcing himself into long periods of numbness recently and clearly needed it. Eventually Blitzø shifted Stolas to the side a little, who whined at the movement.

“Lemme just move ya onto the couch, I can’t feel my fuckin’ legs anymore.”

With quite a bit of effort, Blitzø managed to lift the bird onto the couch. Unfolding the blanket over the armrest and tucking it around his skinny frame. Whilst no longer sobbing, Stolas had been reduced to the awkward hiccupy stage. Blitzø told ahold of his hand, squeezing softly to get his attention.

“Hey try and breathe a little, in and out.”

The imp demonstrated, and Stolas tried his hardest to follow. But he found himself falling back into the unhelpful gulping, even with Blitzø’s help.

“Here’s an idea.”

Blitzø turned and rifled through his little box, finding an unopened package. Blitzø himself still hadn’t used these ones as he didn’t like the colours. Stolas turned to see what Blitzø was doing, with his pupils pin-pricking when he spotted it. In his hands was a package of pacifiers, a pack of three different shades of lilac to dark blue.

“You’re doing a shitty job at breathing right now, try one of these. You’ll have no choice but to breathe a little slower.”

He spoke so casually, holding out a dark blue pacifier. Stolas had seen this kind of item many, many times now. But now when it was being presented to him, rather from him? It felt a little scary. Blitzø watched as stolas internally fought with himself, rolling his eyes.

“Cmon, open that beak for me, feathers.”

He used the pet name for the second time, which made Stolas melt a little. As if beyond his control he held his beak open, Blitzø placing the pacifier there before he could change his mind.

The sensation was certainly strange at first, the bird wasn’t really sure what to do with it. But his body was still hellbent on breathing hard, so he focused on trying to breathe nasally instead. Without realising he began to suck on the bulb, and breathed in and out. If it hadn’t been such sad circumstances, Blitzø would’ve definitely taken a photo. It was just too fucking cute. Instead he joined Stolas on the couch, still demonstrating his breathing in time to Stolas’s.

“Feels good doesn’t it?”

Stolas looked up at him lazily, his was face a little red self consciously. But he couldn’t lie, the rhythmic sensation of the pacifier was incredibly soothing. With each minute he understood just why Blitzø liked them so much. There was a cloudy fuzzy sensation in his head, one that forced him away from all the sad and scary feelings. It was a blissful escape, but it wasn’t numbing him the way his pills used to.

So he nodded at his partner, squeezing his hand back tight. They spent the next twenty minutes just cuddling, and Stolas honestly felt the calmest he had in months. Blitzø eventually had to pry the owl off of him to sort out breakfast, turned on the TV for Stolas. He considered what to put on, before setting on an incredibly corny fairytale movie about a princess. But it was worth it to see the way Stolas’s eyes lit up when it came on.

Blitzø made himself a cup of coffee, and poured one of Stolas’s weird fancy teas into one of his own sippy cups. Choosing the moonlight unicorn design, after forcing stolas to watch every episode of his horse show, Stolas had eventually chosen his favourite character. When he returned to the couch, Stolas shuffled over to curl into his chest again. The pacifier still hasn’t left his beak since placing it there, he looked undeniably adorable. Blitzø was just so happy to see him looking content for the first time in days. The two could just spend their day with each-other’s company, enjoying every moment.

-

Neither demon even made it to the end of the movie, the two of them passed out in a tangle of limbs. The bird with his head curled underneath Blitzø’s chin, the imp’s hand subconsciously still stroking his feathers. Blitzø had gotten so used to himself being the baby in their relationship, that he’d never considered how much he’d enjoy swapping places. The remainder of their day continued in a similar fashion, Blitzø leading Stolas along in hand. And to his surprise Stolas was a very quiet little, who didn’t speak much for the rest of the day.

It was different than when he was quiet when he was sad though, Stolas would still giggle if Blitzø said something funny and was clearly enjoying himself. Stolas just felt happy that he didn’t have to try and think of words right now, he could just be. He allowed Blitzø to dress him in some loose cuddly clothes, and even hand feed him little squares of pancake when he felt up to eating.

Blitzø loved learning more about this little side of him. And Stolas found himself embracing a part of himself he’d never even uncovered. They spent the day indoors, playing games and watching movies. In the evening when Blitzø was busy running a bath for him, Stolas couldn’t help but glance outside. The moon was beginning to rise in the early evening, himself and Blitzø agreed to head to bed before midnight. The whole new year’s celebration never interested him too much, he really only ever used it as an excuse to get wasted.

Stolas pulled the pacifier from his beak and dropped it to the floor. Feeling the fog of his small space drift away, he took in a deep breath. Slipping outside onto the balcony, he dared himself to look up at the moon. Giving anything just for one more moment with Octavia, wondering what she was doing right now.

“I know you hate me, and that you can’t even hear me- But I love you so very much.”

He spoke to himself quietly, not breaking eye contact with the rising moon. Hoping that just maybe Octavia could somehow get the message. He stayed there for a little while, not even realising the slow tears dripping down his face until he felt a hand on his. Blitzø didn’t say anything, he stood aside the Owl for a while until he stirred from his trance.

“I got your bath ready, even added a bunch of those bath nukes you like.”

“Bath bombs- you mean.”

Stolas couldn’t help but correct, although he still sounded sad. Blitzø held onto his hand and lead him back inside, finding the pacifier abandoned on the floor.

“Hey you still want this buddy?”

He held it up, unsure if Stolas was feeling completely big again. The owl looked at the object, clearly considering it. He watched the Imp as he stared up at him with genuine adoration. Instead of a verbal response, he just took the pacifier back and allowed himself to sink back into that comforting headspace. The Goetian prince stood tall above Blitzø, and to any old person they must’ve looked ridiculous. But Blitzø looked up at the tall owl and only saw a little baby bird, one that was in desperate need of some love and care.

“Cmon then baby feathers, I have a whole collection of rubber duck horses just waiting to play with ya-“

Merry Christmas y’all ❤️❤️❤️

[ssr-archives]

We Know Her Value

Celebrating Ten Years of Agent Carter

In January 2015, Peggy Carter did something no other female Marvel characters have done at the time: headlining her own show. She strutted onto our screens, knocked out some bad guys with a stapler, and told us to call her “agent”.

In the years since, Peggy, her friends, and the fandom have gone through a lot. We’ve seen the show get cancelled, and Peggy returning, Jarvis returning, Daniel Sousa returning. We tried to #SaveAgentCarter, we held fic exchanges, we cosplayed and Disneybounded, and we created zines. Despite the show’s premature end, these characters stayed in our hearts, and we made sure no one could forget them.

Agent Carter will turn 10 in January 2025. To mark this milestone, I am super excited to collaborate with @peggynet to launch We Know Her Value: Celebrating Ten Years of Agent Carter. Starting from 6th January 2025, the anniversary of the show’s premiere, we will be hosting ten themed days to celebrate ten years of our favourite show. You can join by picking a theme, making a post on that theme, and post it on the theme day. Tag me (@ssrarchives) or @peggynet, and add the tag #AgentCarterTurns10. Your works can be as simple or as elaborate as you like!

I can’t wait to celebrate this momentous anniversary with all of you! Under ‘Read More’, you will find the themes for the ten different days. Hope to see you all then! And if you have any questions, just drop me a line in the ask box or the DMs. 

Day 1: Favourite Character

The show has presented us with a whole host of amazing characters, from Peggy to lab rats and background agents. So…who is your favourite?

Day 2: Favourite Episode

Agent Carter packed a lot into 18 episodes: fights, spy shenanigans, musical numbers, engagements, kisses. Which episode is your favourite? 

Day 3: Favourite Ship

We cannot talk about Agent Carter without talking about the ships, especially not when the cast happily fanned our fandom flames. Whether you are headcanoning any two or three to be passionately involved, or you have the one true friendship that does it for you, what is your favourite relationship on the show? 

Day 4: Favourite Scene/Arc

From Peggy threatening a fellow diner with a fork, to Daniel flopping his five-episode relationship, Agent Carter packed many interesting scenes and arcs into the overall spy shenanigans. Do any of these scenes or arcs stand out to you? 

Day 5: Favourite Cast/Crew Moment

Time to look behind the scenes! Once the episodes were over, the cast and crew kept the party going, from the Stark Jar to on-set pranks to the legendary Dubsmash War. Do you have a favourite cast/crew moment? 

Day 6: Into the Multiverse

Even though the show was cancelled in 2016, that was not the last we saw of Peggy and her team. Peggy herself returned over and over again, eventually becoming one of the few mortals privy to the knowledge of Loki and the Sacred Timeline tree. Jarvis returned in Avengers: Endgame, becoming the first Marvel character to debut on TV and move on to a movie appearance. Even Daniel made a return in Agents of SHIELD Season 7. Which of these cameos were your favourite? Who do you want to see in future MCU projects?

Day 7: Containment Breach

There is a life for everyone outside of murder gases and space goop. Since the end of Agent Carter, the cast and crew continue to entertain us with excellent projects. From Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning to Resident Alien to The Merry Gentlemen, we have definitely not seen the last of our favourite agents. Have you watched any of these? Do you have a favourite? Do they inspire any AUs? 

Day 8: Favourite Fanfic

What is Agent Carter without its fandom? From SSR Confidential to Agent Carter Zine, from fandom-defining multi-chapter behemoths to short and sweet ficlets, the fic writers have not been resting at all. This is your chance to shout out your favourite fics!

Day 9: Favourite Fanart

Artists we haven’t forgotten you! The Agent Carter fandom is home to many talented artists who have graced our dashboards with everything from sketches to whole comics. Let’s share our appreciation by naming our favourite fanart/artist! (Please do not repost artwork unless you have consent from the artists. Otherwise, please reblog or link to the original artwork. Let’s make sure that the artists get the notes and credits they deserve.)

Day 10: Free Day

There is way more going on in the Agent Carter show and fandom for us to cover in one week, so like the title says, take this day to highlight whatever you want! The show’s costume and makeup? Meta writers? Peggy cosplays and Disneybounds? As long as it is Agent Carter-related, you can post about it!

[actual-changeling]

Hi! I'm doing a rewatch of the x files and this is the first time I got so invested in MSR and I was wondering if you had some fic recs? there are so so many online I have no idea how to find the best ones lol I'm okay with explicit content btw thanks in advance!

Give me a few days and I'll make a more comprehensive masterpost but I can give you some good starting points!

Self-promo first, you can find me on ao3 and any tumblr-only ficlets under the tag #alex writes x files. My bookmarks are public and I save every single fic I read on there, so you can have a look through those if you want.

@today-in-fic this is the account to follow to get fresh fics on your dash. they simply reblog any TXF fanfics they get tagged in, so they're somewhat of an archive in by itself.

Writers plus general amazing TXF accounts

@msrafterdark if you don't mind smut then this one is a must!

@bakedbakermom // @sisterspooky1013 // @thursdayinspace

@randomfoggytiger (an absolute goldmine concerning everything MSR and TXF, especially when it comes to meta posts)

@television-overload // @baronessblixen // @thescullyphile

@deathsbestgirl // @scullysexual // @numinousmysteries

@fine-nephrit // @scullysflannel // @fossilizedhearts

@not-aliens // @julmunne

More Additions by @unremarkablehouse

@phillippadgettwrites (smut warning!)

@tatooedlaura-blog // @agent-troi // @katy-kt-katie

@thatfragilecapricorn30 // @slippinmickeys // @skelavender

@freckleslikestars // @gaycrouton // @cassiopeia462

@lotsoforangesoutside // @spookydarlablack

(Live) Episode Reaction & Rewatches

@enigmaticxbee @mulders-too-large-shirt

Other Specializations

Dana Scully Lookbook Project The X-Files Script Archive

AO3 author & fic recs

Sareki (author)

Thirty Five Hundred Miles And A Lifetime To Go

Long hours on the road and in the skies, how will Dana Scully and Fox Mulder fill the silence? What silence?  A collection of road trip oneshots through their years together and the games they play..

The Modern Gateway Motel

After a traumatic experience, Mulder fabricated an X-file as a way to help Scully escape reality. Over the years, they returned to “investigate” that special place and take advantage of all it had to offer, exploring aspects of their relationship that they attempted to ignore in the real world. As time passed, it grew harder to confine the relationship they shared to that specific time and place.

Gradients

He didn’t want Scully in his bed so much as he wanted that last barrier gone. Sex seemed to be the demarcation for her, as she’d apparently decided that once that hurdle had been cleared, it would signal her complete surrender to him. As if she hadn’t already done that. As if he hadn’t with her a long time ago.

PLEASE feel free to leave your own additions (self promo explicitly welcomed) and I'll add them.

[litniche]

Sweet Chaggie ficlet ^.^

SPOILERS to follow.

Fluff and a short love scene: this fills in some of the Charlie/Vaggie moments in the episode where Sir Pentious comes to stay at the hotel, both before and after the "It Starts with Sorry" song. Thank you to my real-life wife who wrote the smut for me XD (1Syphira).

[no-goodbyes-no-regrets]

2024 fic round up!

Thanks for the tags @carlos-in-glasses, @nisbanisba @nancys-braids

I wrote 20 fics this year, which (for me) isn't all that much - despite starting and partially writing at least twice that. I've had the year from hell in more ways than one (especially the last 6 months) but fandom has and always will be a nice escapism!

Thanks to everyone that's commented on my fics in some way, I promise I'm going to try be less awkward and actually reply to your comments instead of just keeping the notification emails in my inbox like a dragon hoarding gold.

I mostly wrote bucktommy/911 this year (what can I say, that fingers under the chin kiss really did it for me) and if TPTB @ abc have any sense they'll bring Lou/Tommy back in the second half of the season!

Though the tarlos secret santa did sort of reawaken my love for Tarlos, so let's see if I can actually finish some of the fics I started for them in the new year.

I'll put the actual fic links under the cut so it doesn't clog up everyone's dash

Bucktommy: (all rated G unless stated otherwise)

Date night Bathena spot Buck and Tommy out on a date together

Buck's Bisexual Speedrun Buck going from 0 to 1000 in 0.03 seconds with coming out, accepting his sexuality, and his relationship with Tommy. Taking it slow? We don't know her.

Cake Time Buck and Jee baking to cheer Tommy up after a rough shift. Written back when we thought Oliver talking about Buck and Jee baking together would be a good thing.

It's not over Break up? What break up? Episode 8x06 fix it

Uncle Buck Post break up Buck and Jee baking, with Tommy accidentally crashing their time together. Bucktommy getting back together.

118 group chat Evan♥ has added you to 118 Fam. Tommy gets added to the group chat.

Wake up Another break up? What break up?? 8x06 fix it.

Being a good friend is hard Eddie is going Through It, but unfortunately he's going through it on Buck and Tommy's sofa when they want some alone time.

Family dinner the first 118 family dinner at Bobby and Athena's new house - featuring a sleepy Tommy.

Nobody knows Nobody knows we're back together - But Chim is about to find out when he needs a babysitter.

Transfer a What if? for 8x04. What if everything hadn't been fixed in 42 minutes and the 118 had been closed and Buck ended up at the 217 with Tommy? (I promised to write a part two for this... and it's partially written in my drafts. I'll finish it eventually!)

But first, coffee A coffee shop AU that's technically a 911/lone star crossover that started in this little tarlos centric ficlet but you need to read that to understand the bucktommy centric one.

He's good for you Maddie and Tommy spend some time together while Buck is in surgery.

Moving in A little quiet moment before Buck and Tommy move in together.

The boy at the rock show A different first meeting AU where Buck meets a cute bass player in a bar - loosely based on Blink 182 - The Rock Show "Fell in love with the girl boy at the rock show"

Tarlos (rated G unless stated otherwise)

For Lire with love and lots of whump This was an epic collaboration project that was a lot of fun to work on! Lots of hurt/comfort goodness with Carlos being a Bad Patient - until he isn't. My part was chapter 6 but definitely give the whole thing a read!

Love online A different first meeting AU with a side of meddling sisters. Luisa gets her hands on Carlos' phone and decides to take matters into her own hands to fix her brother's love life.

View from the taco truck TK and Carlos' relationship through the eyes of their favourite food truck vendor.

Austin Pride Tarlos go to pride with their dads, Owen is ~completely normal~ about it obviously.

Strickland Holiday Special A different first meeting AU where TK is Paul's roommate - who just happens to be Carlos' best friend.

As usual I'm late to the party, and I think most of my Lone Star fam has done this by now... so I'm shifting it to my bucktommy fam.

@weewookinard @cjlouwho @loulou-land @jamieroyjamieroy @leashybebes

@mrhappyjavaman @blitzynatural @sad-girl-hours23 @mmso-notlikethat

+ open tag for anyone who wants to do it

[buthowboutno]

ONE YEAR OF "AND THEY WERE LAB PARTNERS" ✨✨✨

Thank you to everyone who participated in the one year anniversary poll!! I still maintain that it would be funny as /fuck/ to just delete “And They Were Lab Partners” in a memento mori fashion, but alas; Only one person voted for it.

Cowards /j

In any case, the majority voted for the behind the scenes stuff, so here we are! The tidbits of how ATWLP turned into the fucking beast it is.

I would like to personally blame @morning-sun-brah , @hitechlatte, and @ordin-arily for being such big inspirations in this corner of the fandom. You guys are amazing and I probably wouldn't be where I am today without your works.

Shout out to all my losers in the backrooms for keeping me going and being such terrible influences. You are all responsible for the horrors that have been unleashed. A solid third of my content exists because of your sins /aff. 

@beckerboopin is the best beta anyone could ask for and has only brought this story up to the next level. I would die for you becks <3

Also @betyoudidntcthatcoming-blog is the love of my life that I only met ‘cause of this fic or whatever. They’re pretty neat. I guess. :p

ANYWAYS, /CONTENT/

(Major Spoilers Ahead Pre-Chapter 23)

—

I would like to remind everyone that ATWLP was only supposed to be 50k words. You can still witness my naivety in the notes of “Pudge ‘Preciation.” 

How… simple those times were. 

How I so firmly believed the idiots would be kissing by chapter 16. How a projected word count of 150k words seemed unfathomable for a single work, much less a work with multiple published and planned companion pieces.

Crazy. (I was crazy once.)

There was a lot of ATWLP that ended up getting scrapped as I got further into the story. The idiots had a lot of opinions and tugged at me a few different ways as I got to know them better. (aka they wouldn’t listen to me when I told them to fucking kiss already.)

Anyways, some of the few major structural changes:

Casey was originally supposed to reveal that he knew Sweet’s in the bad timeline during the “Intro to Sparring” chapter. That chapter was also originally slotted to happen /before/ the kidnapping debacle, but it just so happened to fit in better later

The stage kiss from “Hit the Club” was going to be in the Nerd Prom chapter. It felt too corny at the time (and lowkey still feels corny) so I put that in my pocket for later. For as much as y’all yelled at me for it, it barely made the final cut lmao.

The way the idiots are going to confess to each other is a COMPLETE 180 from how I planned the story from the beginning, which was already entirely different from the first idea for this fic. I wrote a whole ass chapter about an accidental kiss being the tipping point of them positively macking on each other, which I did end up cutting into convenient pieces for other stuff. (I PUT A PART OF IT DOWN BELOW)

Sweets was going to be kidnapped twice and the whole Purple Dragons debacle was going to be drawn out more. There was a lot more action planned than slice of life content at ATWLP’s conception. For better or for worse, this is where the story led us.

Donnie’s mating season wasn’t going to be as involved in the story, if in it at all. I grew to be hornier and less ashamed. You’re welcome.

The first title for this fic was “Lab Rat: a Story of Nerds Falling in Love.” For the life of me I cannot remember what compelled me to change it, but holy shit am I glad I did.

I was going to use (y/n) in this fic. No hate to those who do, but stylistically I’m pretty happy with not doing that.

And because I have no control over the idiots, quick rundown of the chapters that weren’t supposed to happen.

Kart Conflict

The Christmas Issue

The Recovery: Day Two 

Valentine’s Day Episode

Hit the Club

Aquarium? Hardly Know ‘Em

****Pool Excursion

****Beach Episodes

****honestly just like the entire endgame of this fic

All the ficlets/ alternate POV’s

All the smut! I still have it written down in my original notes that ATWLP was gonna be completely PG lmao. Once again y’all have @morning-sun-brah and her fucking fabulous fics to blame for that

The Valentines’ and aquarium chapters are COMPLETELY different than how I had originally planned, even with being forced to include them in my chart. The Valentine’s day plans that the brothers had “ditched” with Sweets was the og plot for the chapter. The aquarium chapter was supposed to be a rooftop picnic with feels~~, no aquarium even fucking mentioned in my outline.

I don’t have much control over what happens tbh. I am praying that the 37 planned chapters will be the final chapters. 

We’ll…. we’ll just have to see how that turns out.

The scrapped plots as a little treat for y’all <3 ~~~

Cut Stage Kiss (after the lift in Nerd Prom)

You leaned closer to Donnie’s face, intent on screeching in his ear for pulling that stunt.

“Kiss them already!” May yelled from the inner edge of the crowd. You turned bright red, blinking at her. You shook your head at her, but the crowd started to catch onto the idea. 

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Donnie laughed, a little incredulous. He leaned in close to your ear, whispering, “Theatre kid protocol?”

You nodded in agreement, allowing him to put a hand to your face. He leans into your mouth, making the crowd go wild. You giggle against the thumb separating your lips, smiling against it. Donnie pulled away from you with a dramatic ‘mwah’. You threw your head back, fully laughing as Donnie lifted you up from the dip. 

First Valentine’s Day Outline

The final four move to the living room

Sweets: “We’re making friendship bracelets while we watch the most romantic movie of all time.”

Raph: “Shrek 2!”

Donnie: “This is ridiculous”

Sweets: “This holiday is ridiculous, now pick out your five favourite colors of embroidery floss”

Donnie: “....Fine."

Donnie is actually terrible at making bracelets lmao while mikey has wristfuls of them

Donnie: “I don’t understand! I’m following the blueprints exactly!”

Mikey: “The... instructions?”

Donnie: “Whatever! How are you making those so fast? You don’t even have that many friends!”

Mikey: “Physical therapy is a hell of a time, my brother.”

Sweets: “Is Donnie being ableist again?”

Mikey: “I do believe he is.”

Donnie: “I am autistic!”

Sweets: “Bless you.”

ORIGINAL CONFESSION

And it all starts like most things in your life do: a silly mistake.

“Donnie,” you whined. You were working on your physics homework at his desk while he was soldering a new motherboard for the Turtle Tank’s controls.

“Little pest,” he mimicked your tone without looking up. He kept on soldering as you stared at him, not a care in the world. 

“Would you be so kind as to look over my work for this problem? I’m following the steps but I’m not getting the right answer.”

“Mmm,” Donnie said. At that moment, a spark flew from his project and caught his exposed cheek. He flinched back, dropping his wire and soldering rod on the table and rubbing his face. You batted your eyes at him while he scowled. 

“I don’t know how, but I blame you for that.”

“I would *never*,” you teased. You pushed your chair to the side a bit so Donnie could stand next to you. 

He moved his goggles to his head and put his left arm over the back of your chair, leaning over you. He parsed through your work for a minute and tilted his head down to tell you what you needed to fix.

It just so happened that you tilted your head up to ask him a question at the same time, the two of you meeting in the middle with a kiss. 

Well, it wasn’t so much of a kiss as it was the two of you accidentally brushing your lips together for a moment. Seconds, almost nothing at all. 

But the way that Donnie looked at you when the two of you jumped apart…

That…that wasn’t nothing. 

You could almost laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation. You could’ve cracked a joke, played up your ridiculous game of pet names and intellectual bravado. 

(To be honest, you almost did.)

But then you thought about the way Donnie’s lips felt against yours. You thought about the way you’d dream of that moment and then proceed to do everything in your power to banish those thoughts away. Your mouth hung open slightly as you looked up at him, trying to will yourself to do anything, anything at all.

Donnie ended up making that decision for you. That oh, so familiar churring started emanating from his chest. He took your face in his hands, looking into your eyes for just a hint of confirmation before leaning in for a real kiss.

Oh.

*Oh*.

(Yeah, you could get used to this.)

There was nothing more you could do than press yourself against him, against his touch. You felt him smiling into the kiss, pressing you down into the chair. 

Donnie was *everywhere*, like he was trying to encompass you. His hand moved to your hair, the other to your hip. You smiled when you remembered his adoration for your love-handles all that time ago. You traced along his plastron, making nonsense shapes and mapping out every scar.

He was so responsive. The chirring increased tenfold for every touch to his chest, every soft bite you gave his lips. You recalled all the times he would make noises from you touching along his shell. You pressed your hands fully against him, doing your best to draw out more and more of those sounds.

What Donnie lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm. He followed your lead, matching your pace every step of the way. You licked along the seam of his lips, gasping as his mouth opened for you. Donnie’s tongue against yours was tentative, shy even. You did everything in your power to ease Donnie into deepening the kiss. 

When he moved from your lips and started kissing down your throat, your soul could have left your body right there. He was so…*gentle*. 

Donnie always has been. From when he was slinging his arms around you to kicking your ass in sparring, Donnie has never failed to treat you with care and reverence. 

You feel it now, with every soft bite he gives you, every gentle peck behind your ear.

Donnie pulled away from you after what felt like decades. (Never enough, it would never be enough.) You leaned forward after him, trying to close the space he was creating. He looked bashful.

“This might be the proper time to tell you that I have a massive crush on you,” Donnie said. His face was fraught with nervous determination. 

“Yeah, no fucking shit,” you said. You stood up from the chair and used your body to push Donnie against the desk. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling him down to your height.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for forever, can we get on with it?” you said, looking into his eyes. Donnie turned bright red.

“But– you? Do you?” Donnie stammered a bit.

“Donnie,” you deadpanned, crowding into his space, “I’ve had a crush on you for a year, thanks for noticing. Will you *please* lean your face down a bit so I can reach it?” 

Donnie looked at you a bit incredulously, like you were a problem he didn’t know how to solve yet. He made quite a picture, all red faced and calculating with a dumb half-smile while he looked at you. But, giving in, he put his arms around you and leaned in to kiss you again.

“Aye, aye, captain.”

You smiled into the kiss, humming with contentment.

He likes you.

He likes you.

—

Aaaaand some random headcanons because I love you guys and I am truly so thankful to this kickass community <3 I truly do not know where I would be without the support y’all have given me.

Donnie has a hella oral fixation

NOT IN A KINKY WAY (most of the time) But as an autist, Donnie do be biting

One of his biggest shows of trust if he bites you while just chilling

Like if donnie is big spoon, he just nom on a shoulder and stay there chillin

Or if reader is body pillow, he’ll lean around and bite their bicep

Good sensations

Donnie draws on eyebrows every day, he for sure would be very good at doing intricate makeup on reader

Gently holds their chin up, concentrated as hell while reader blushes like mad

Donnie keeps getting banned off of roblox

Didn’t matter tbh, he knew how to hack into it to get his account reinstated

Also makes money off of roblox??

never explains to Sweets, very suspicious

Sweets likes to kiss along donnie’s neck/where his battle shell usually sits

The word here is reverence

Donnie is egotistical, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have insecurities about being a mutant turtle and you being a human

Lots of tracing along his arms, his face, his shell

Donnie likes his coffee to be half coffee, half milk to cut down on bitterness. Sweets is a tea drinker normally, but opts for coffee when they can’t focus (which ends up being most of the semester).

Sweets drinks black coffee when they’re on the struggle bus

To quote them, “Black coffee can’t hurt me more than Calc II already has”

But they prefer two creamers and two sugars when they have it in their dorm.

That’s all, congrats on making it to the bottom of this long ass post lmao <3

[danpuff-ao3]

2024 in review - recs & fics & more

Thanks for the tag @sitp-recs!

I started the year strong with a few rec lists, though I didn't do nearly as many as I have in years past. Still, I made 2 Snarry rec lists (Jealous Snape & Bottom Snape) and one non-snarry list (Valentine's themed).

Okay maybe I lied in that last one because I did have 2 big rec projects for this year: fest themed rec lists. I made a Top 5 list for every year of Snarry-a-Thon and Snarry AUctober Fest. I plan to add to them each year, and I'd also like to make similar lists for other fests, but we shall see!

I finally finished and posted Good Daddy, an addition to the Yes, Daddy series I've been talking about for years. (In fact my first podcast interview was with Snape Chat back in July 2021 and I'm pretty sure I mentioned it at the end of that episode...yikes!)

I continued my tradition of once a year posting on smile with sweet surprise, and one of the chapters I've been most excited for. Which means I get to wrap up the fic for good in 2025!

I ran HP Chan Fest again this year, and even participated with a fic called The Forbidden Fruit (part of the same 'verse as the prior year's The Virgin Bride).

Continued posting on 2 WIPs: Wasted for Love and Sugar, Honey.

I took a fandom break over summer which was helpful, and probably something I'll need to do in the future, as well. I hid all of my works and stepped away from socials. I get so in my head sometimes, and question my place in fandom, so it helps to take a breather and give myself some grace.

I ventured into the world of Snarriet, with help from my dear friend @loneamaryllis and her rec lists. I've inhaled a ton of @spicedlantern's fics because of it. This new step has given me a greater appreciation for my OTP in ways I didn't think possible, and now I have so many extra feelings about Snarry as a whole.

Because of my new love of Snarriet, I played around more with genderbending in my own writing. I wrote my own Snarriet fic called The Whispers in Your Eyes (which I love and am super proud of), a current Snarriet WIP called Hopes of the Heart (which I'm excited to continue next year), a fem!Snape fic called The First Date (which was a lot of fun and I really need to find more fem!Snape fics out there...)

PLUS a femslash Snarry fic (which I first did years ago with Take Heed, Dear Heart) called She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not for Snarry AUctober Fest. I've so wanted to participate in AUctober Fest for a while, so it's funny that when I finally did it was pretty much on a whim last minute.

(Funny story, the fic was inspired by an episode of Worst Roommate Ever and my muse took OVER) (In the episode, this lady was slowly poisoned and made sick by her so-called BFF, which inspired the "what if people were made sick by Hanahaki?)

(Oh also I edited Take Heed, Dear Heart to change Harry's name from Holly to Harriet, to fit my current preferences). (I think I also changed Hermione's name from Hercule to Herman?) (Not that anyone cares but still.)

I finished another fic that's been knocking around in my head for years: The Enemy's Bed. I've had the opening few paragraphs done for a while, but I was only able to finally make headway this year for Kinktober.

Speaking of, I also finished 2 other fics that I've had in mind for a while, these 2 part of the Love, Your Enemy series (also affectionately known as Contempt-verse). The first was Spellbound, which takes place in the immediate aftermath of Contempt. The other is Snowfall, a Christmas ficlet (first envisioned last year when I wrote the Valentine's Day ficlet, Lovestruck).

I've also been running @hprecfest with dear @coconutice22 and even participating in it myself here.

Fandom aside, I've also made strides in my personal life, between getting my home in order and also taking care of my health. I took a 2 week break from work, which was much needed. And I'll continue to prioritize myself and my wellbeing into the new year. With luck, that will benefit my fandom life, but if not...at least I'll be focused on what matters most.

Oh also I've been reading actual books for the first time in a while this year. I started off with some trashy romantacy books (which I love and are great), and now am in the middle of the Super Powereds books (for anyone interested).

Tagging whoever wants to play!

[lurking-latinist]

Good weird The Prisoner fic is always a special delight to me and I just read two ficlets by ao3 user porridgebird:

513 words, gen; the episode order question -> in-universe temporal weirdness. Perfect Aurelia-bait, yes, and I loved it.

508 words, gen; delightful James Bond crossover playing on differing genre conventions.

Give ‘em a read and maybe a comment, The Prisoner watchers!

[tigerlyla-of-metinna]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Hi Val!

Thanks for sending this to my inbox. Sorry for the late reply. Been busy these past weeks.

Anyways I dont have that many fics on A03. Two at present and ficlets on tumblr. So if anyone is interested, these are it!

My main fic (Emhyr x Sarah) (A Painting of You) This is the moodboard and fic link. It's a vanilla pairing and wholesome, with hardly any smut (Im not that good at creating tasteful smut yet but I'm working on it)

2. The sequel to A Painting of You: The Roles We Play. It is still ongoing. I do recommend reading the first fic because it will mention a lot of the previous events.

3. The ficlet posted in episode format. It's Empress Ciri and Emperor consort Morvran and its a hilarious series of unfortunate events. Lots of naked guest appearances parading around, thanks to a stipulation of the constant GWENT winner. Guess who these guys lost their clothes to:

The other two I'll probably reblog on Sunday. So if you've not seen these, please check them out. have a chuckle on the short story :)))

[thoughtfulfangirling]

A Night Alone

Premise: Lexington got the vote for a POV fic following The Thrill of the Hunt. This starts the dusk after the events of the episode. The Pack's betrayal is still feeling pretty fresh. Word Count: 2,406

"Are we working on the bike tonight?" Broadway asked him after he'd jumped down from his sleep ledge. Usually the day healed all. Sure it did that better on the body than the brain, but it's not like it doesn't help the mind. But Lexington still felt rotten. Betrayed. Like a dunce. He shook his head 'no.'

"You wanna watch a movie?" Broadway offered instead. Lexington shook his head again.

"Well I was checking out a new strategy game last night," Brooklyn cut in. "and I thought you might be interested in that."

"I think I want some time to myself guys." Lexington responded, rubbing the back of his head and looking out on the horizon and the last touches of color against the clouds.

Broadway shrugged and walked off, but Brooklyn watched him a moment. He looked like he was fighting for something to say, but luckily, he ended up turning away and following after Broadway.

Lexington hoped Broadway was on the way to the kitchens and that Brooklyn would go with him. This way Lex could still go instead and to a cozy room not far from where Hudson would watch her shows where they could hang out when they'd get too loud to sit in the TV room with her. It's also where they kept some of the fun trinkets they'd found.

And as he had hoped, when he arrived, the room was empty. He could hear the TV going already, but Hudson wouldn't come check on him. She was firmly planted now.

Lexington made his way over to the figurines of The Pack they had collected and dumped them into a plastic bag they had once picked up floating on the street to sometimes carry things they find abandoned that they wanted. Or stole, all things depending.

Strictly speaking, the figurines weren't his. He and the others had collected them together, rummaging outside toy stores and by school playgrounds. But this was not a place for them, not knowing what they really were.

Still, he thought the others might be tempted to stop him, if they knew what he had planned, so he swiftly collected them and left. He made his way to the only other location in this sprawling city that had started to feel like a home—the garage they had found abandoned which they'd the motorcycle parts to.

It was a small, ramshackle garage he landed on when he got there. The had found it at first because the door had been swinging in the wind, open and sad looking. It seemed to sag in loneliness, so Lex had wandered in. The place seemed so torn apart. Tools were everywhere, buckets and crates turned over, oil spilled on the ground. It wasn't like someone had just left it abandoned, but as though someone had wanted to gut the place without actually taking anything. He'd had the intense urge to put things back in their place, set things to rights, restore it. It hadn't deserved to be left so.

And so he'd collected the others, sent them off to collect the parts of the bike he'd inadvertently destroyed one of those very first nights, and set to putting the place to rights—and making it his. He could have asked them to help him, but he saw the tools and though he didn't know how they worked yet, he understood they had a function and a place, and he would bring them back into the world, just like he had been. And together they'd make things.

Tonight, however, as he landed in front of the garage door, there was something funny on it. Where it latched shut, a square of metal dangled through the latch on another, u-shaped piece of metal. When Lex gave it an experimental tug, the door didn't open. It was a lock.

He had been visiting this spot and on and off for quite a few nights now, and this had not happened. Nothing was disturbed during the day. No one had been caring for it. Now that he had set things to rights though, someone was going to try to deny him this spot?

With a flare of anger, he grabbed the lock and wrenched it off the door. The latch broke instead of the lock which sent a pang of regret into Lexington. He put his hand against the door, as if he had hurt it. "Sorry." He said gently. "I'll fix that." He promised.

Opening the door, Lexington flicked the light on and walked over to the work bench, which he had previously cleared and organized the tools on. He upended the plastic bag with the figurines inside and then tucked the plastic into his loincloth.

As he turned to collect the torch, he noticed several things out of place. Someone had done more than put a lock on this place; they had been using the tools in the garage and hadn't put them where Lex always did. He looked to the skeleton of the bike he'd put together. That looked different too. Tentatively, he made his way to it and touched one of the handlebars. Someone had been working on it—not much. It was still far from being fixed, but there were component parts that were connected in ways he hadn't thought to try yet, but as he assessed them, he could see it made a certain kind of sense. Had the original owner of the garage returned? Would he have to abandon the place?

Lexington pulled his hand away to make sure he wouldn't damage the handlebar as he clenched his fists shut. Displaced. He'd be displaced again, denied a place in the world he thought, he wanted to fit.

Just like The Pack had denied him. The Pack hadn't just denied him a place in the world, they'd tried to take him out of it entirely. Just because they thought they could.

Lexington grabbed up the torch and marched back to the work bench. He grabbed the figurine closest to him. Fox. A perfect place to start. She had seemed so ready to welcome him with open arms, had seemed so nice and warm to him when they first met. It was all a lie! She'd just wanted him to let her hurt more of them! He slammed the poor imitation of her down on the table, and without donning his protective gear, he started up the flame and torched it. It sweated a second, and then it deflated, melting into a mess of red and gold and grey.

Once she was a puddle, he moved the torch to the next one—Jackal, Hyena. Dingo! He stopped. He looked for a long moment at Wolf. Wolf had been his favorite. He was big and ferocious and didn't care what anyone thought! Things that weren't true of Lexington but sometimes wished were. He had seemed like he never needed anyone else but had chosen a pack because it is always better to be with others than not.

In reality, the guy was a bully who wanted others to watch him bully. Lexington reached over and placed his palm over it, and he pressed, pushed, felt the plastic resist him, buckle, and then something broke. He lifted his hand. A leg and the head had buckled and fallen off. The head lay on its side, the eyes staring at him. He scowled at it, and then Wolf too, got the torch.

Once the whole Pack had become hardening pools of plastic, Lexington set the torch down and wiped the sweat off his forehead that had gathered because of the heat of the fire. Something in him did feel a little better, but not as much as he would have liked.

"The hell?" He heard someone say nearby. He turned just in time to see a figure push the door open. Lexington drew back, trying to think of where he could hide. It had not been Broadway or Brooklyn. Even if they had just sounded weird, this voice had a quality neither the other two had. No. This was a stranger.

"Dios Mio, what the fuck!" The voice cried as the door opened enough to reveal Lexington. A human wearing a large hoodie and loose jeans stood in the doorway. His hair was tightly cropped and black, and his skin was probably only a shade or so lighter than Elisa's. But he was much younger than Elisa. He stared frozen at Lex, one arm up as if to defend himself or ward Lex off.

Lex put his arms out to his sides, palms forward and hands open. "I won't hurt you!" He said quickly. This had the effect of making the guy jump back, knocking the door which swung, squealing as it did, wider open.

What was he trying to do? Reason with a human? Ease his mind? Absurd! Humans were the ones with the instinct to hunt even that which they won't eat. He wanted to be gone, wanted this guy to be gone, but that was the exit, and this garage was small. The ceiling was even pretty low, with nothing for Lex to crawl on or up to. The kid was in his way, and if he advanced now, he'd make things worse.

"Wha-What are... why are you here! This is my father's garage! You broke my lock!" The kid's eyes were a little too wide, a full circle of white contrasting the blacks of his eyes.

Lexington put his palms up even further, trying to emphasize that he didn't want to do any harm. "I thought this place was abandoned. I... I don't have many places to go." The last just sort of burst out of him. He was tired of hiding. He loved the city, but it also caged him in. There were eyes everywhere, and all the things he wanted were on the ground, where those eyes were. He wanted this place, and now he was once again unwanted.

"Mierda, I bet you don't." There was a beat, and the kid seemed to recover a bit. He looked up and down the street, then grabbed for the garage door and walked backwards, pulling it shut as he backed his way into the building with Lexington. Lexington stared, mouth ajar. The kid turned his back to him? After clearing being scared out of his mind?!

Once the door was more or less shut, the kid turned to Lexington, and there was something to the way he did it that seemed to Lex that he hadn't expected to still see Lex standing there, uncertain and uncomfortable.

"You're not human." The words seemed to be directed more to himself than at Lexington.

"No." Lexington said forcefully. "Is that a problem?" His fists balled.

"Not for me, but I have to imagine it is for you." The kid ran his head from behind his head up and forward, pushing the very short, fine strands of hair somewhat into his face. He then seemed to knuckle his temple. "Did you bring that heap of junk in here then?" The kid gestured with his face toward the bike.

Lexington felt a little dazed. This was not at all the interaction he was expecting. "Uh, yeah." He walked over to it. "I accidentally scared the driver, and, well..." He waved his hands suggestively in the air. The kid gave him a horrified look, and he quickly added, "The driver is fine! At least he was able to run off screaming just fine." The last was said with dread.

The kid made a loud noise all of a sudden that caused Lexington to jump, but it turned out to just be a laugh. "Well shit, I bet. You know we don't see things like you. Ever. I'm still wondering if I'm loco man." He shook his head. "What do you eat?"

This felt like a strange and sudden shift in topic. Lexington blinked at him and stooped to rest one hand on the ground, thinking. "Uh, I think the same stuff you do. The kitchen at home is stocked with foods humans eat, and that's what we've been doing."

"Home?" The kid lifted an eyebrow, and Lex noticed a glint as he did so. Was there metal in his brow?

"I'm not going to tell you any more than that." He said firmly, and it was the kid's turn to lift his hands, palm outwards, as if to ward off Lex's bad mood.

"Fine, fine. I just wanted to make sure I don't have to worry. Do you really want to get that bike running again? Seems a little pointless for someone with wings. Can't you just fly wherever you want?"

"I like machines." Lexington said a bit stiffly, fighting the urge to correct him. "Hey... um... so you're not scared of me?"

"I don't know I'd say I'm not scared, but I'm more interested than scared. This shit's cool! What are you even?" Lexington stared hard at him. Goliath had warned him against trusting humans, and Lexington hadn't listened. He had nearly gotten himself and Goliath killed by doing that. And here he was again, letting a human get close. He seemed friendly, but so had Fox.

"Look," The kid said into the awkward silence. "This garage isn't going to get used for a bit I don't think," he winced as he said it, "and while it looks like you're making some decent progress on that bike, it's clear you're not really sure what you're doing either. I'll help you with it if you tell me a bit about yourself. I ain't never been one to believe in the supernatural or whatever, but I can't say I'm not curious."

Lexington looked at the bike and rubbed his arms as he thought about it. He had reached a point where he wasn't sure what to do now. What the kid had already done to the bike was already proving he had headed down the wrong paths in his attempts with it so far. "I get to choose not to answer anything, if I don't feel like it's safe." He said, and stared firmly into the guy's eyes.

The guy gave a shrug. "Safety first I guess." He held out a hand. "I'm Montez."

Lexington took a cautious step forward, looked at Montez. He seemed sincere, even eager.

Lexington reached up a hand and gave Montez's a shake. "Lexington."

[sygneth]

Echoes of Elysium | Disco Elysium AU ...something?

Warnings

General warnings for my blog's content applies. Check here.

This AU is (rather) not very alternative. I am just trying to develop further events and some background for the characters, but even though I'm making research and I try to stay canon-compliant, only to fill in the gaps, I cannot guarantee it will never happen. Especially in this fandom, where many interpretations and paths are equally canon, we may not agree on some things, I hope you'll enjoy my point of view nevertheless. Some episodical OCs will appear too.

INDEX

EOE on ComicFury!

EOE on Tumblr:

Chapter 1: New Beggings -> START

EOE on AO3:

Main plot (uhh still in the process of uploading!)

Ficlet series (additional content)

LORE:

Precinct 41 plans and explanation

Plot outline

After Martinaise things are slowly getting back to normal, but the general atmosphere in the city gets thickens every day, La Retour is hanging in the air. Despite this, Harry is trying to stay sober and make amends. It's hard to say if Kim's appearance on the 41st is making things easier or harder between Harry and his old friends.

The Return happens. In the after-revolutionary mess, everybody tries to move on, but things are changing in almost every aspect of life. And on top of this, a particularly hard case drops and somebody has to take care of it.

The start of the project is directly after Martinaise, so forgive me this vague description, but I would hate to spoil the plot haha.

Okay, from now on additional info, still important but not crushial.

I want to focus on the relationship between the people of Precinct 41 and their internal experiences. Impactful events and thicker action will happen too, but mostly in the later chapters of this.

There are also some important premises of this AU I would like to highlight:

Kim was raised in an orphanage, presumably held by some Dolorian organisation (order?). Some of his old-fashioned manners and vocabulary are remainings after growing up in a religious environment (even if he's not very religious himself).

Eyes died around 9 months before the events from the game. Since then, Kim has been willingly working alone. His superiors were not very fond of that but somehow he managed not to get partnered with anyone.

Harry has no known family members left. At least as far as he and his friends know.

Jean and Harry's partnership started four, maybe five years ago. According to the game, it was "two years minimum" but personally I think those losers were stuck with each other for much longer.

Jean's years-long, unexplained depression has roots in some sort of personality disorder. Also, he is codependent on Harry, probably co-addicted too. He had problem with speed himself, however it's not nearly as serious as Harry's. I see him as more of a weekend/party drug user, as for now.

I assume that since the communist revolution gay relationships were technically legal in Revachol. Technically, because there are still no rights for same-sex couples and the social recognition is poor and rather negative (I got inspired by my own country in that matter)

That's all I can think of now. I will probably just add new information in the description of he pages.

Okay, cool, one last thing. What do you mean by "...something?"? Is this a comic? A fanfiction series? What am I looking at?

The answer is: I don't yet know. I am planning this to be mostly a comic, but I cannot say there won't be some written as fanfics parts or some kind of in-between media. I don't really want to limit myself to one medium only, but at this point, I have no idea what this will evolve into. I honestly just want to have fun lol

[dipplinduo]

S&S D: Chapter 14 - it's heEEERREEEE

Wanna give a shoutout to all the peeps who voted to make this chapter possible. We got a few different things going on, but...you're gonna get a scene...you're gonna know WHAT scene, and you're gonna know exactly WHY I wanted to write this before the official beach episode content begins LOL.

So without further ado, here ya go!

Next update will be a double chapter update, and it will occur on Sunday, March 10th at 10:00PM EST as part of a Dipplinshipping Beach Episode Fic-A-Thon Celebration!

The fic-a-thon drops are simultaneously occurring on AO3 and will include….

Chapters 14 & 15 of Sweet & Sour Dipplins by yours truly

Chapter 5 & 6 of Another No Good Very Bad Semester by Angelabsol

Chapter 4 of "Dipplinshipping Ficlets" by Kyoko_Kusakabe

"Gothic Surfarama" by Furretd0ll

"We Dream in Colors" by MandachuWrites

I can't wait to share my update, and I really hope you can check out some of these awesome creators too! :) <3

P.S. I know I've been a bit inactive lately. Life has been a little wild, but I wanted to prioritize getting this stuff out for you guys because y'all are amazing and your support is incredible. I'll be back to being more active now, so I'd love to hear your thoughts, reactions, headcanons, and so on!!!

[thenugking]

My 50th fic posted to AO3 (at least publicly)! It's a rewrite of my first one, Concatenation! It turns out I'm better at writing now than I was 12 years ago! If you like Romana and Narvin, you should go read it!

A look at the development of Romana and Narvin’s relationship, with ficlets for every episode of series 1-3 of Gallifrey. (Written as a Romana/Narvin shipper, but it’s all pre-relationship, and most of them could definitely be interpreted platonically if you prefer.)

[perpetuallylatetothefandomparty]

Summary: "Regris! No!"

Keith would never have been in time.

asdjhfklsdjhaflkjashdlfkja so basically I'm obsessed a tiny bit with the episode where Regris dies and Keith leaves Voltron so this is just a little angsty ficlet about the immediate aftermath of Regris's death (picks up where canon leaves off, I think, although I haven't actually watched the episode in a while so don't quote me on that)

These first few fills aren't too physically whumpy XD That's just the way the prompts fitted with my brain, there's plenty of painful whump coming lol

[jadethe2nd]

Chapter 1 of 8, posting daily

Rating: E (mostly for this first chapter)

Words: 3k for the chapter, 14k+ for the whole fic

Summary: Tom Paris and Kathryn Janeway have a fling, years before Voyager. Then things get complicated.

Written for Voyager Week, Day 3: Favorite Relationship (Janeway/Paris)

Background info if anyone is interested:

Sooo.

When I saw the Voyager Week prompts my first thought was, hey, I could write a ficlet for each prompt. And then the more sensible part of my brain went no, Jade, you don't have time for that. Just do Caretaker.

OK. I'll do Caretaker. Three vignettes, one set before the episode, one during, one after. 1k each, 3k total. Done.

That, obviously, Did Not Happen. When I say 14k+ for the whole thing... that's a big "+". Which I will explain when I post chapter 8.

I would say I'd have been better off with the "one ficlet per prompt" idea, except I've enjoyed writing this so much. So so much.

Also, the "during Caretaker" part is now in chapters 4 and 5, so if I post daily that means chapter 5 will land neatly on the Caretaker prompt day anyway. Yay.

I hope someone enjoys reading this as much as I did writing it :)