#fic author asks

[practically-an-x-man]

OC/Ship Ask Game: Firsts

We're back with another super-long ask game! Send a number + a character/ship for a description of their "first"... plus a couple questions for the author as well :D

If you reblog, please send asks up and down the chain for reblog courtesy! It's not a requirement but it does make things more fun for everybody 😊

____

For the Character:

First big aspiration (i.e. what did they want to be when they grew up?)

First time meeting their best friend

First opinion of school as a kid

First time experiencing grief

First time breaking a bone

First time they realized their "calling" in life

First time they experimented with their personal style

First time they took a risk, or the biggest risk they've ever taken

First time living away from home

First time adopting/taking care of a pet

First "big purchase" they ever made on their own

First time leaving their home country

First time being drunk/high

First time facing their fears

First thing they remember feeling proud of

First thing they remembered feeling ashamed of

First favorites - favorite color, animal, movie, etc.

First example of real character growth along their journey

First time they felt rejected by another character

First time they felt accepted/welcomed by another character

First major change in their life, and how they dealt with it

First introduction in their story (share a snippet or description)

First display of their powers or abilities

First major loss/failure in their story

First major success in their story

____

For the Ship:

A. First meeting B. First impression of each other C. First physical contact (handshake? hug? something else?) D. First kiss E. First time meeting the other's family F. First date G. First time seeing the other one sick/injured H. First time sharing a bed (non-sexual) I. First time sleeping together (sexual) J. First concert/show/festival they attended together K. First fight L. ....And the first time they had to make up M. First time they introduced the other as their partner N. First road-trip/vacation together O. First double-date with another couple P. First time seeing the other all dressed up Q. First act of non-sexual intimacy (e.g. washing the other's hair, taking a bath together, sharing food) R. First time cooking for the other S. First anniversary + how they celebrated T. First time dancing together U. First pet names/nicknames they give each other V. First time they felt insecure/jealous, and how they worked through it W. First time they realized their relationship is endgame... or isn't X. First major hardship they got through together Y. First time living together Z. First time they said "I love you"

____

For the Author:

🐣 - First piece you ever wrote (share a snippet or description)

🥹 - First time describing strong emotions, and how you've improved since then

🎬 - First fandom(s) you wrote for, and if you still write for them

💀 - First time writing character death, and how you felt about it

🤝 - Favorite "first meeting" scene you've written between two characters

💋 - Favorite "first kiss" scene you've written between two characters

🔥 - First time writing romance/spicy scenes, and how you felt about it

🌍 - First attempt at worldbuilding, or a notable piece of worldbuilding you're proud of

🐉 - First genre you wrote for, and if you still write that genre now

🖌️ - First character you created, or first character you wrote for

🤩 - First big inspiration for writing (an author? a piece of media? a plot idea?)

🕷️ - First time writing something that scared you, and how it went

📝 - Pick a character: first draft of that character + the final version of that character

🏳️‍🌈 - First queer character/story you wrote

🤖 - First nonhuman character you wrote

🪶 - First longform/multi-chapter piece you've written

✒️ - First shortform/oneshot you've written

🪢 - First time writing a crossover or gift fic

🤯 - First story that gained traction/attention, and how it made you feel

📦 - First story that really took you outside your comfort zone

📖 - Piece you'd recommend as a "first piece" for a new reader to enjoy

‼️ - Free space! Tell us about a notable "first" in your writing journey!

[zeldamacgregor]

For the fic writer's ask: 4, 27, 31, 33, 28, and 40, any or all! (Am I trying to get to mention Star Mile? Yes. Yes, I am.)

lmaooooo nice! Thanks very much for the asks!

4. Post a screenshot of one of your favorite comments. Well it's gotta be this one, which started off one of our back and forth interactions that eventually grew to this friendship!

27. Which fic do you think is your most adventurous? Hmmmm... like as in the story itself or the taking on of the project? In either case, you guessed it, Star Mile is both an adventure genre (in part) and has been an adventure to write and bring back recently.

31. Which fic would you like to see made into a movie? Hard not to say Star Mile again here lmao if for no reason other than it would be more Jason Isaacs as Hook!

33. Which of your fic titles is your favorite? You're not gonna believe this, Scully... lol Star Mile again. I think because it is a favorite song of mine but also because it's just a lovely pairing of words and fits the story. That fic is deeply personal for me and, in many ways, so is that title.

28. Which fic is closest to your heart? See above lmao. Star Mile was the first long fic I ever took on and published, and it is about my first ever favorite character (Hook) and some subjects that matter dearly to me.

40. Pick one of your fics and share a quote to go with it. (not a quote from the fic, but an outside quote that goes with it) Here's the description of Captain Hook from the book, which filled my wee head up with all kinds of sparkles as a little girl and still does when I just read it now. 🥰

"In person he was cadaverous and blackavized, and his hair was dressed in long curls, which at a little distance looked like black candles, and gave a singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance. His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy, save when he was plunging his hook into you, at which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly. In manner, something of the grand seigneur still clung to him, so that he even ripped you up with an air, and I have been told that he was araconteur of repute. He was never more sinister than when he was most polite, which is probably the truest test of breeding; and the elegance of his diction, even when he was swearing, no less than the distinction of his demeanour, showed him one of a different cast from his crew." -Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie

[kitkatt0430]

2 [You Must Live (For Me)], 6, 16 [A Tale of Two Timelines], 20 [Timeline Poker]

2.) What was your favorite scene in You Must Live (For Me)?

It's hard to pick. I definitely love the diner scene at the start where Savitar steal Reverb's dinner. No shame that one, when there's free food at stake. But... I think my favorite scene is when Reverb has his vibe about Savitar potentially hesitating too much to kill Iris.

Savitar shows up right after the vibe ends and Reverb immediately confronts Savitar about still being in love with Iris and how when the time comes Savitar had damn well better choose his own life over hers. And then kisses Savitar because Reverb has zero chill. It's when the whole dynamic of their relationship changes and, really, the whole first half of the fic is leading up to that moment.

6.) Who is the easiest character to write?

i answered that one here

16.) Talk about something you like in A Tale of Two Timelines

I really liked how frank I had Barry be with Iris about the timeline he came from. Including how poorly he handled things with Eddie. (And him having a crush on Eddie, because I cannot help but slide in a little Westhallen even when Eddie's not there.)

I'd wanted him to be honest, of course. Iris needed that to counter Eobard's lies. But it also became a counterpoint to Barry's S1 behavior and a demonstration of how much he's grown as a person since then, becoming better at taking responsibility for his mistakes and at treating Iris as his equal.

Iris can't help but be touched by Barry's words because his love and respect for her is so clear. He sees her in a way that, in this timeline, I don't think she's used to.

20.) If you had to change the main pairing in Timeline Poker what would you change it to? How do you think that would effect the story? 

I think if I were to change the main pairing for Timeline Poker, it'd be from Thallen to Westhallen. Which would, of course, disrupt the Cisco/Iris secondary pairing, but would give more chances for parallels with the Farooq/Daria/Jake ship. Especially if i ever finally get started on the sequel fic.

But in the fic itself, the whole setup at the start would have changed, with Iris questioning her decision to reject Barry's feelings in December. It'd set a different direction for the fic really - while it'd still have the main points of the blackouts leading to the discovery of Farooq, all the relationship beats would have to change entirely.

I think Iris would feel jealous that Barry and Eddie are interested in each other and would be deliberately third wheeling as a result, only for Barry to be confused by her attention and Eddie to find he rather gets why Barry likes Iris while Iris starts to gain feelings for Eddie too. It'd probably be realizing that Farooq, Jake, and Daria are in a polyamorous relationship for the three of them to realize that maybe they could have that with each other too.

Eobard would still be flipping out at the end over Eddie kissing Barry. He'd just also be flipping out over Eddie kissing Iris, too.

Poor Cisco, though. No cute girlfriend for him with this change. Still, he gets to have some new besties in his life so he's still happy.

[amloveabledeathmo]

1 and 4 of the fic asks :)

1. What part of the writing process is the most enjoyable?

Building up a story from a small idea. It's so delightful when things start falling in place. I'm always excited when a lovely scene that I would not have thought of before I started writing the fic shows up.

4. Which comment has had the most impact on your writing?

This was the very first comment I got on a fic I shared publicly.

bahahahhahahhahaaa! :3333333 Never come between a Hobbit and his interest, be it food or hugs. I can just see Thorin being all determined to tell Bilbo no, but gets all flustered when Bilbo is actually standing in front of him, and ends up saying yes. Thank you for writing and sharing!

I had posted a few other short stories and was getting a bit discouraged about posting and then received the above comment on OUR Home?!

[foxy-voxy]

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

Um.

I think I do very well with characterization.

(that was hard, I am not good at giving myself compliments)

[shushmal]

"Are you going to break my heart?"

Eddie almost drives them off the road.

It's late, nearly 2 am, and the country road is narrow and winding, and this thing between them, fingers twinned above the gear shift, radio turned down low, Stevie Nicks singing to them softly, is new. Eddie wants to live in this moment forever, wants the smell of lake water and dying August heat to live in their clothes, wants the warmth of first kisses and whispered confessions to last in tingling sparks in their skin, the memory of touch to be permanent. It won't be, it'll all fade, but Eddie can visit it again, rewrite them into the cotton and the softness of Steve's mouth.

It's late, and this is new.

"It's okay if you do," Steve says, so quiet. He's holding on to Eddie's hand like he's dangling off a cliff. "I can handle it. I'd just like a heads up, so I can prepare."

Eddie almost feels guilty, basking in his joy when Steve was sinking into something else. He thinks, if he were a kid still, if he hadn't died, hadn't lost everything and managed to get it all back, he'd be angry. But he's not. He's not, and he did, and it's late and this is new—but it's not unfamiliar. The same, but more, an extra free scoop with whipped cream and sprinkles, a cherry on top.

"You trust me?" Eddie asks. He rubs his thumb along Steve's knuckles, feels the scars under his skin, little tears in someone so perfect.

"Of course," Steve croaks. Eddie can't look at him, because the road is dark and narrow and winding, and he has to get his boy home safe.

"And I trust you," Eddie says, brings Steve's hand up, presses a kiss like a seal to his skin. "And I love you, and you love me. I got you."

Steve's quiet for a long, long moment. Eddie can tell he's watching him, so he presses another kiss to Steve's hand, lets his lips linger on hard tendons and dark veins. Kisses in his promises to the place they're linked together.

When he speaks again, it's soft, and Eddie can hear the love, living and leaving in the air between Steve's teeth.

"Okay," he says, giving Eddie everything. "You got me."

[daydreamerwonderkid]

"Another AO3 author with too much time on his hands"

Where the fics at?

[bisexualbuckleyy]

🏔✏️

thank you so much for the ask!!

⛰️: hardest fic to write?

honestly probably the one i just posted, the thiam enemies with benefits to lovers one. i had only ever written one sex scene prior to writing that and then i had to write six for that fic. it was definitely a struggle and it took a long time but i’m really happy with how it turned out! other hardest fic i ever wrote was probably i don’t want you like a best friend cause writing from eddie’s pov is very difficult for me

✏️: the first fanfiction you ever wrote?

oh boy. i’m pretty sure it was the merthur leap year au that i wrote like four chapters of and then never worked on again. it has since been orphaned and i am very glad it is no longer associated with me because dear god it was bad. i wrote that in like 7th grade and i was not good at writing yet but it was a fun time

[frownyalfred]

“Why are you bullying Hal Jordan so much in this fic?” Because it’s funny. Because it’s funny and he’s not a real person.

[ethereal-bumble-bee]

Making a fanfiction author ask game!

(Basically bc I’ve seen fanfiction ask games but I’m too lazy to find one with some of these specific questions, so here ya go!)

What is your favorite trope to write?

What is your least favorite trope to write?

What is the main program you use for writing (google docs, the ao3 writing text box, etc.)

What is the main site you publish/write on?

The fic you’re most proud of writing?

The fic you’re least proud of writing?

Favorite ship to write?

Least favorite ship to write?

Biggest pet peeve while writing?

Best/funniest comment you’ve ever gotten on a fic?

Do you prefer writing angst, crack, or fluff?

First ever fic written?

Latest fic written/latest WIP?

First fandom you ever wrote fanfiction for?

Fandom you wrote the most fanfiction for?

Do you prefer co-writing something or just working on it by yourself?

Favorite AU to write?

Most words/chapters ever written for one fic or oneshot?

Have you ever created an OC for a fic?

Hardest character to write/get the characterization correct for?

[zeldamacgregor]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks to @tina-mairin-goldstein for the tag!

How many works do you have on ao3?

twenty-eight (some are linked fanvids)

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

104,257

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Peter Pan, Narnia, Wheel of Time (show), Stargate: SG-1, and there are others but not currently published

4. Top five by kudos

-He Can Be Very Charming - 465 -Here, Right Now, On This Moon - 97 -Grace in Paradise - 80 - Try to Pretend - 62 - This Will Be Our Year -60

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, I try to get around to all of them but miss some, I'm sure.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmm not sure? Probably Try to Pretend?

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Right now, maybe Learned Behavior?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I had someone try dragging me for swearing but it was tagged and they read it anyway so that's a them problem

9. Do you write smut?

I tried briefly and wasn't very good at it

10. Craziest crossover?

I have a Stargate/Care Bears WIP lmao

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of.

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

Yes, sort of on one hand. And there is talk of another but I don't want to spoil it!

14. All time favorite ship?

Hook/Wendy (adult)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Sometimes it feels like He Can Be Very Charming. It used to be Star Mile, but here I am 17 years later working on it so

16. What are your writing strengths?

Finding things in the mundane

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Angst

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I haven't done it since elvish in my old LotR stuff

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The X-Files

20. Favorite fic you've written so far?

Star Mile

Thanks for this! No pressure tags: @sarcasticsciencefictionwriter, @celestialcrowley, @tinknevertalks

[landwriter]

Hi! I hope you feel better soon!

This is a great prompt by @academicblorbo about Hob Gadling being the landlord of the Dead Boys. It has a wonderful fill already by @omgcinnamoncakes but I’d love to see what you come up with for it!

Alternative prompt from me if that doesn’t work for your brain: remember the date between Jenny and Maxine? How about one between Jenny and Esther? Poor Jenny is going to really question her taste in beautiful blonde women 😭

Thank you! I saw ‘landlord’ and ‘decades’ and blacked out. I love Hob having them as tenants. Maybe even before the modern day meeting in Sandman.

The Sandman/Dead Boy Detectives, 2.4k, G Dream/Hob, pre-slash, alternating/outsider POV, found family, a reunion and revelations etc.

---

Hob did not, strictly speaking, have tenants. It was more of a minor haunting. Pun intended.

The small room above the pub and below his flat wasn’t worth charging anyone rent for; when he first bought the building he had put a handsome oak desk in there and some bookshelves before wondering who he was possibly keeping up appearances for. Who was he going to take back upstairs that would stop and say, Wait, can I see your office? So he’d left it as more or less an abandoned room.

When he realized a pair of boys were using it as their clubhouse, he didn’t do anything at first. He saw them quietly coming and going a couple times, disappearing around the corner of the first landing. Brazen things. He meant to call after them, but the shout had died in his throat. He’d been young once. He still remembered the need to get away from it all. It was only when he went to check if they’d been making a mess of the room that he discovered it was still locked.

He’d crouched down and inspected the latch and found no marks at all. Huh, he’d said, and jiggled it again, and been a little more interested in whatever clever way they were getting into it after they disappeared up his stairs. Then he didn’t see them for weeks, and assumed they had gotten bored and stopped.

Until they came back. In the middle of an argument, striding through the pub like they owned it. Hob straightened up as they passed him.

“I cannot believe you broke the mirror.”

“I was in a rush! It’s not my fault you forgot you needed Arcana Incantatum after we arrived at the church. And found the demon.”

“I hardly forgot, I only made the mistake of assuming you would know to pack it by now.”

Hob raised his eyebrows. The boys disappeared into the back hallway. He followed them as they went upstairs, too preoccupied with their drama to notice Hob. They turned onto the landing, still carrying on. Even as they walked through the door. The locked, closed door.

Hob blinked. Then he drew his keys from his pocket and opened the door. The boys were still inside. One of them was pulling a mirror out of a backpack that was several times too small for it. They didn’t even look up, and Hob wondered how he couldn’t possibly have put it together earlier. He cleared his throat.

“Hello, boys.” That caught their attention. Hob grinned. “Seems we’re neighbours.”

---

Edwin abhorred getting involved with the living. He and Charles got along perfectly well on their own. They were a duo. An intrepid pair. Best mates, like Charles often stressed whenever he was about to ask something particularly ridiculous of Edwin. They were solid together. As solid as two ghost boys could be. The living, though, were messy and unpredictable.

Perhaps the most salient fact at present: Charles invariably became attached to them.

“He’s sad, mate. I can see it in his eyes.”

“You said those exact words in ‘94 about a dog. At least ask Hob himself.”

Before you decide to adopt him too.

Hob Gadling, irritatingly, was unobjectionable on every ground Edwin could think of. He had made no imposition upon them. When he found them, he only asked them their business, and then told them he was usually downstairs, or upstairs, if they needed anything they couldn’t procure themselves. He had an interest in rare and old books, as it happened. In explaining this, he had also hinted at being far older than his looks would suggest, which vexed Edwin twice over. He knew his curiosity would not be slaked until he talked to Hob, but then he would be the one getting involved with the living, and Charles would hardly let him forget it.

“Do you think he’s really immortal? Mate’s far too calm. Last week I saw him stop a fight downstairs by stepping right between these huge blokes. He just said something and smiled and they backed right off.” Charles lit up. “Do you reckon he’d teach me how to do that? Conflict de-escalation, innit? I could show him some moves with the cricket bat, I bet. Oh, do you think he’s a cricket fan?”

It was obviously a hopeless case, and since the Dead Boy Detectives never took on hopeless cases, there was only one course of action that remained. Edwin had long since disabused himself of the notion he needed to breathe. He had no beating heart, yet when he was startled, he would find himself clutching his chest. Now, he exhaled slowly through his nose in an entirely superfluous sigh of resignation. “Well, Charles, shall we go talk to him?”

---

When the millennium came around, Hob found himself celebrating it with his accidental tenants. There was something gloriously satisfying about being able to make a toast to the next one and have it taken seriously. He’d asked them if they had something better to do - spectral trouble to get into et cetera - and they both looked at him with almost identical put-upon and incredulous expressions.

Hob had a terrible suspicion they thought they were taking care of him as much as he thought he was taking care of them.

Edwin, with his insatiable curiosity and, deep underneath it, something Hob thought he recognized from himself: a sharp animal ferocity and a refusal to go until he’s good and done, natural laws be damned. Charles, still brightly, painfully alive for a ghost - who should be alive still, by all rights, but nothing of this life was fair - who joked to cover up hurt in a way Hob knew too, and glowed any time Hob turned so much as a kind word to him.

He wondered what they saw when they looked at him.

The year ticked over, and technology kept working. Charles grinned innocently and said he could probably possess the telly and break it that way if Hob wanted?

Hob’s heart twinged. He knew they weren’t his, not to keep, but it seemed that teenagers didn’t change at all over the centuries, even if the boys were only sort of teenagers in the way Hob was only sort of in his thirties. It didn’t change that they’d been punted from the mortal coil before having a chance to grow up, and figure out the kind of men they were, and make their own choices and fuck up and try to be better than their fathers, and everything everyone deserved. Hob had made more than his share of mistakes. They hadn’t been given the chance to make nearly any at all.

So they made toasts to the new millennium, to the detective agency, to themselves, all stuck out of time in different ways and refusing to move on for different reasons, and Hob allowed himself to think of Robyn and privately pretend that they were his all the same.

---

A week later, Hob was reminded of the other universal traits of teenagers when he mentioned his stranger and both boys began to grill him with terrifying alacrity. Before turning to his dating life, like ravening bloody wolves. When Edwin had asked, in a specifically nineteenth century manner that Hob remembered all too well, if Hob had always been unmarried, he’d nearly put his head in his hands.

“It can be hard for me to associate with the living too, you know. For obvious reasons.”

Charles had turned to Edwin and hissed “See? I told you.”

Right in front of him. Nobody had taught them manners.

“Manners, Charles,” replied Edwin loftily. “We will, of course, respect your privacy. A man is entitled to his secrets.”

“You’ll go upstairs and rifle through my personal things, is what you’ll do,” said Hob.

Charles coughed to hide his laugh. Edwin flushed and looked away. Hob snorted, and told them about Eleanor and Robyn. Properly. It was a strange relief. He’d told the story wrong for plausibility’s sake so many times he had been worried he’d forget the truth of it one day.

They had listened, and been remarkably quiet until Charles piped up and offered to set him up with a ‘really fit’ ghost. Hob had roundly shut that down. Woefully, not all explanations were satisfying enough. Charles cornered him again the next morning while he was cleaning the bar.

“No, mate, I still don’t get it.” Hob was about to say he no more wanted to be with someone who couldn’t feel pleasure from his touch than someone who would grow old and be taken from him while he stayed the same, when Charles went on, bafflingly, to ask, “Why don’t you meet your mysterious friend more often than once a century?”

Hob sighed. “Adults are often busy, Charles.” Nevermind that he had begun to wonder the same since the eighteenth century. He’d always just assumed time passed differently for his stranger.

Charles just laughed and perched himself on the bar top. “Ooh, low blow. We’re busy too, you know. Plenty of cases to solve.”

“Really,” said Hob. “You’re busy. Right now.”

Charles waggled his eyebrows.

“Charles, I am not a case,” said Hob, sternly as possible. “I’m not even a ghost. He’s not a ghost. No ghosts.”

“We could investigate. Maybe ghosts are involved. What even is he? Why every hundred years? Is it some sort of Persephone situation?”

Hob bit his lip against shouting I don’t know! I don’t know anything about him! Instead, he tried to smile, and felt it come out as a wince instead. “He’s very private.”

Charles scowled. “Yeah, obviously. You don’t even know his name. He can’t be that good of a friend if he’s too busy to see you more than once a century.”

Hob couldn’t see the expression on his own face, but he saw Charles’ shocked reaction well enough. It was so long ago for him, and still Hob knew at once what Charles saw now: that first time you manage to visibly hurt a grown-up’s feelings, people who seemed too old and too stern to actually feel pain, when you’d been going around kicking at them like a new foal, just to stretch your legs.

“Sorry,” said Charles, instant regret chasing his surprise. He was a good kid.

“It’s alright,” said Hob. He meant it. He looked down at the shining bartop. His hands were restless with the urge to light a cigarette. He gave in. It wasn’t like Charles would be dying of lung cancer any time soon if he decided to follow Hob’s example. “I don’t think he would say he’s very good at being a friend either. Truth is, I’d love to see him more often. But we had an awful fight the last time we met. If he forgives me, I’ll have to ask.”

“Mates always make up,” said Charles earnestly. He was such a good kid.

“I suppose they do.” Charles still looked sorry, and Hob clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey. Thanks for looking out for me, Charles.”

Charles beamed at him. “Always. We’ve got your back, me and Edwin.”

---

Charles couldn’t bloody believe it. Hob’s friend was here. There was nobody else it could be. He and Edwin were watching from a nearby table, pretending to be absorbed in their own conversation. Neither man noticed them. They were too busy looking at each other.

He couldn’t imagine spending more than a century apart from Edwin. The way Hob had talked about him and his stranger over the years, it sometimes seemed like they were best mates too, no matter how little they saw each other. He was dead sure that’s what had Hob looking so gutted when he thought nobody was looking. He had known they would make up, though. Maybe now Hob would be happier.

“Charles, we really ought not eavesdrop,” hissed Edwin. Right as he scooted his chair closer, the cheeky hypocrite. Hob and his friend were talking too quietly to properly hear, their heads bent together. Lots to catch up on, Charles reckoned. A hundred years. He couldn’t stop thinking about the number. It seemed impossible. Funny, he couldn’t imagine that long away from Edwin, but he could imagine spending that long being best mates. There was nobody he’d rather hide from Death with.

Hob’s face was doing something strange as his long-lost friend talked. Then Hob moved and grasped him by the shoulders, so tight that his knuckles stood out in relief. The man said something in low tones and Hob shook his head, and then pulled him in for a hug. The man stiffened and then relaxed, and his arms came up around Hob’s.

Their cheeks both looked wet.

Charles swallowed and it felt suddenly a little like he was choking. He should look away, only he couldn’t.

“They must be great friends,” said Edwin softly.

“Yeah,” he managed to croak. We won’t ever need to have a reunion like this because I’m never going to lose you, mate. I won’t let them take you. It was stuck behind the phantom lump in his phantom throat. His hand, without him telling it to, reached out and grabbed hold of Edwin’s. Edwin squeezed it hard, and Charles knew he didn’t have to make his voice work after all.

Then the man pushed Hob away, but only far enough to grab his face and pull him back again, thumbing over Hob’s cheeks, and beside him, Edwin honest-to-god gasped, and then Charles momentarily forgot how thoughts worked too.

---

It happens thus: in the New Inn, just next door to the White Horse, some 639 years after they first met, Hob Gadling and Dream of the Endless share their first kiss. Neither, if they had bothered to think about it, would have intended to have an audience, but it’s a well-known fact that some kisses cannot wait, and theirs was chief among them, being that it had so much to say, and was so very long overdue.

I missed you, it said, and I came back, it said, and Please don’t go away from me again, and I could not.

And atop them, like blankets, were laid invisible the daydreams of those who saw them, including two long-dead boys, whose dreams were woven from the fresh and unaccounted-for possibilities of Hob kissing his mysterious stranger. Another man, thought Edwin. His best friend, thought Charles. Dream was the only one who could have heeded this, but he did not, because Hob Gadling was holding him tight and daydreaming loudly of this kiss and more, of this today and tonight and tomorrow, ever greedy and ever easily pleased, and Dream could hear nothing at all over their clamouring and comingled joy; the bright gold daydream between the scant space of their bodies that sounded so much like at last.

[kitkatt0430]

for fanfic ask game

16 Talk about something you like in Poking the Poodle (And Other Ridiculous Tv Tropes)

and 15 ⬇ Was an awesome scene, tell me more about writing it!

“Th-they’re not under arrest,” the dazed beat cop insists, still holding his coffee and danish at arms length. “They… they’re witnesses. To… a crime.” “Correction,” Mick speaks up. “Len’s a witness. I saw nothing, I heard nothing, and I wish to god I hadn’t gotten up this morning. But this is basically a train wreck in the making and I can’t stop watching. Anyone else want a coffee?” He’d gotten four. One for himself, one for Len, one for the poor beat cop, and one to taunt the officers and detectives in the station with.

and 

Julian snatched up the fourth coffee and settled beside Rory on the bench while Barry and Leonard Snart flirted in stairwell. No one was even batting an eye anymore. “It’s like watching two different birds doing wildly different mating dances for each other, each unaware the other is trying to court them.” Julian paused a beat and then added, “has Snart given up pretending he’s not specifically here to flirt with Allen yet?” “Not yet. I wasn’t even paying attention to today’s excuse. Danish?” “Thanks.”

(it was one of the first fics I read in the fandom and I love it with all my soul and I kinda forget (all the time) that you wrote it. and every time i reread i look at the author and have this ‘ah. make sense’ moment)

16.) Talk about something you like in Poking the Poodle (And Other Ridiculous Tv Tropes).

Oh gosh, this was such a fun fic to write and is definitely the silliest ColdFlash fic I've written. I think it's the first time I wrote from Mick's point of view as the long-suffering bestie putting up with Len's need to be overly dramatic, though it's definitely become a thing with me. There's just something so much fun about viewing Len and Barry's oblivious pining from the point of view of someone who'd like them to get a move on already. And as I tend to view Mick as being arospec and I'm aro, it can be fun to project my exasperation with certain romantic tropes onto him.

Having Mick be just done with their antics has popped up in various fics since then, but sadly his weird friendship with Julian hasn't and that's something I really wound up enjoying about this fic. I really need to revisit that friendship again some day.

15.) Was an awesome scene, tell me more about writing it!

For that first scene, i definitely didn't want Len to be the only one having any fun. Mick might be deadpan about it, but he's having a blast really. He figured the cops would be suspicious of any food and drink he offered them... so of course he's offering them.

His line in there - I saw nothing, I heard nothing, and I wish to god I hadn’t gotten up this morning. - is actually inspired by Sgt Shultz of Hogan's Heroes fame. He had a lot of variations of 'I see nothing, I hear/know nothing' in response to the shenanigans the prisoners he was supposed to be guarding would get up to.

I grew up on this show because it was a favorite of my dad's but the comedy is really spot on. It's definitely formative of my sense of humor.

As for the second scene, I realized as I was going that it'd make a lot of sense for Julian and Mick to wind up getting along. They're both getting front row seats to the Len&Barry show, whether they like it or not. Some things cannot help but to be the events from which weird friendships are born. :D

The birds doing wildly different mating dances line was actually inspired in part by some videos that were going around tumblr at the time of some funny bird mating dances. But also the tendency in the fandom to joke about Len 'peacocking' for Barry. (There is a fic out there where Len literally gets a peacock tail and it's hilarious.) And of course Barry shows off for Len too, in his own nerdy way.

By now the taunting gifts of coffee and food meant to tease the CCPD for Mick's amusement have become something he shares with Julian out of genuine friendship, which was a fun transition. They're gonna be seated together at the wedding whenever it happens. I imagine Julian'll get along surprisingly well with any other Legends there.

I'm so glad you like this fic so much, it's definitely one of my favorites, especially out of all the ColdFlash fics I've written.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

saying this as respectfully as possible but. Do not put fandom content creators on a pedestal. We are also just fans contributing to a community just as you are. We have boundary on our own work and that’s it. What I say is not and should not be considered sth the whole fandom should listen to. I’m just a normal ass person ranting about things on my blog. If it does not have a fandom tag for others to engage in, do not make it out to be me trying to start fights or addressing the whole community. Because it’s not.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, my art, my lore talk, is biased. I’ve never tried to hide that I view Marika a certain way and will always develop my theory following that base assumption.

Aside from translation stuffs and pointing out in-game items, everything else I say you can look at it, agree or disagree, and move on to form your own opinions. Just because I draw stuffs doesn’t mean you get to saddle me with responsibilities about managing fandom expectations. What the hell? I’m a fan artist, I’m the last person who you should look at for “leaderism” (?) WHAT?

I can and will be a hater in my own space, like I know sometimes other artists will just post their stuffs and not engage too heavily with fandom, and for a while I did try to do that here (because I’m already a dramatic ass on twitter), that’s just not me though.

You will get art and you will get my opinions as well.

[stardustndreamsofsilver]

Fic Writer Asks

Thought it would be fun to make one of these myself

🫓 What is your most popular fic?

🥘 What category do most of your fics fall under?

🍲 When did you start writing and why?

🍱 Do you read your own fics?

🍛 Have any comments, tags or reactions to one of your fics every made you laugh or cry or both?

🍜 Do you ever feel pressured to write?

🍠 How long does it take you to write one of your fics or a chapter/part?

🍢 Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?

🍣 What helps you focus or get in the mood to write?

🍥 What's your favorite fic you've written?

🥮 Do you have any writing milestones you're working toward?

🍡 Which of your fics was the most emotionally difficult to write?

🍘 Is there a fic or idea for a fic that you've abandoned?

🍙 Is there a fic you wish had gotten more attention?

🍚 What genre do you have the toughest time writing?

[foxy-voxy]

I will take: 💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

Ooh ok.

I have one WIP at the moment. It’s the conclusion to a Sherlock series I started some years ago.

The entire series has been leading up to this point, it’s Mycroft/Lestrade/Anthea. D/s flavored like a good deal of my fics are. Dom Lestrade, Switch Anthea, Sub Mycroft. I’m actually excited to finish it because I think my writing’s improved some since the first installments and I’ll be able to do it justice like I want to now.