#hmm it's a wes and cam kinda day in the fandom

[howdoyousleep3]

2020 Fic Year in Review

I was tagged by a few snugglebugs: @dixons-mama, @kalee60, @trekchik and @martelldoran. Thank you, lovelies! 💖

Total number of completed stories: Oh my according to Ao3, 41 but a few of those are collabs/group fics. 😲

Total number of words: 263,154, holy fucking shit 

Fandoms written in: Captain America Marvel Evanstan

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? I don’t think I had an expectation going into the year? I just kinda...wrote what I wanted to as I wanted to. I will say, seeing that number up there is almost shocking. That’s...wow. A lot, haha. 

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Oh, don’t make me choose. 🥺 I’m super proud of we freak on the cam because of how hard I genuinely worked on it and I adored writing my bits and pieces of put you on something new, but I think overall my favorite this year would have to be like it’s the only thing i’ll ever do. There are somethings that make me cringe when I go back and read it but I am head over heels for those two and think that last chapter is some of the hottest and most emotion-driven smut I’ve written to date. 

Did you take any writing risks this year? I guess so. I collaborated and that’s always risky. I wrote a/b/o and Evanstan and those are both things I never thought I’d write. I don’t know, I’m struggling to think about other risks I’ve taken at the moment. 

Do you have any fanfic goals for the new year? Oh yes yes yes wow. 

By this time next year I want to have my super special secret to my heart fic finished, complete. 

I want to spend a solid amount of time with James and Stevie 

I want to write a Bucky Bear story 

I want Bucky Baby to graduate, move him out of the college sphere 

That’s all I can think of right now, ahhhhh!

Most popular story of the year? According to hits and kudos on Ao3 it’s like it’s the only thing i’ll ever do. 🥺 

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:  Ohhhh, hmm. I think my reader fics aren’t as appreciated but I also think that is pretty normal. I am really proud of my can’t tell you where i’ve been and was kinda 🥺 when it didn’t get much attention. Maybe because it wasn’t smut? Not sure. I really like it!

Most fun story to write? I seriously seriously enjoyed writing Wyoming, Exit 290. I loved fiery Stevie baby and who isn’t head over heels for Daddy Bucky with his belly and his infinite patience and wisdom. I also thoroughly enjoyed writing sorry i cannot hear you because Daddy Steve got angry and territorial and hmph!

Most unintentionally telling story: Meh, I’m not sure how to answer this question. 

Biggest disappointment. Probably myself with the post that I should have put more thought into and not answered or answered differently. I swear I think about it every day. 

Biggest surprise. That people have an interest in reading the stories I write and the characters I expand on and make my own. It baffles me every single fucking day that people like what I put out there and come back for more and help me build these worlds that I hold so dear to my heart. The amount of love I feel, because of this website and because of my friends and followers, is outrageous in the absolute best way possible. I have never felt more appreciated.

I’m not sure who has been tagged yet but maybeeeee @ixalit, @maddiewritesstucky, @hawkeyeandthewintersoldier, @darter-blue, and @hanitrash

[multishipperlove]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Critical Role (Web Series), Cinderbrush (Web Video) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jamie Wrenly/Cameron Solomon/Aff Flowers/Sasha Murasaki Characters: Jamie Wrenly, Cameron Solomon, Aff Flowers, Sasha Murasaki, Samuel Flowers Additional Tags: Polyamory, Kissing, switching POVs, just general teenage fluff Summary:

Sometimes you defeat some evil cultists who killed the only friend you had, and then your life... just kinda goes on. But at least you get a relationship out of it.

It was Wednesday, Aff's favorite day of the week. Well, besides the weekend maybe, because that meant no school and no people to judge them and their friends for crimes they'd never committed (had even been proven innocent in court for, but apparently a lot of high schoolers didn't care what the court had to say). But Wednesdays were special.

Right after school, Aff would get to collect Cameron from his English class and drive them both back to Diamond's Liquor. Then they'd spend the afternoon working and, because Wednesday was usually the slowest day of the week and their Dad had allowed it, do their homework with Cam as long as there wasn't anything else to do.

So between sweeping the floors and restocking some shelves, the two would sit together behind the counter, doing their best to understand the math problem of the week or to get through a Spanish text neither of them actually knew all the vocabs for. But it helped a great deal with catching up (who knew court dates could force you to miss so many school days) and even Cameron's grades were slowly starting to get better again.

And in the evening, once the shop was locked up for the night, they'd wait for Sasha and Jamie to show up and have a proper date night. Or, as much of a proper date night that four more or less broke teenagers could have. Aff's Dad didn't didn't mind if they took some snacks and drinks from the store, as long as it was all in a reasonable range, and Jamie always brought the weirdest movies to watch.

Most nights, Aff would pile them all up in their truck afterwards and drive them home, but on rarer occasions the others got to stay the night, and that was even better. If they were all a bit tired the next morning because they'd stayed up all night talking, well... the teachers didn't pay a lot of attention to them anymore, so it was fine.

Today was such a sleepover day, and Aff had been looking forward to it since the agreement had been made in their group chat. Granted, Jamie still pretended to have better things to do at times, but they all knew they'd just show up twenty minutes late with a a small collection of DVDs and maybe some liquor, and claim that their plans had been cancelled last minute. So it was all good.

Either way, right now, Aff was still standing outside Cameron's English class, waiting for the teacher to finally end the lesson. They were anxiously tapping their foot on the floor and checking the time on their phone again, when the bell finally rang and the sound of chairs scrapping back and desks being closed erupted from inside, and the door finally opened to the first students pouring out.

Aff stood to the side, letting everyone pass. Cameron had some extra work he'd been meaning to turn in, so they knew he'd take a minute or two longer. But when he finally came out, the smile lighting up his face when seeing Aff definitely made the wait worth it.

“Hey there,” he greeted them, as if they weren't waiting in the same spot every Wednesday.

“Hey! Are you like, ready to head out? Did you get it all settled?” Aff asked, feeling himself immediately mirroring Cam's expression. That smile was infectious.

Cameron rubbed the back of his neck, almost self-consciously, and gave a half-hearted shrug. “Sure, I guess? I'm not sure if it's going to do much for my grade, but at least she let me try, you know?”

“Yeah, I mean, that's good,” they agreed, as they both started to walk towards the parking lot. “I'm sure it's gonna be really good though. Sasha helped you, right?”

“Yeah, I had no idea she was such an English nerd before,” Cam chuckled. “But anyway, enough about that. I don't want to talk about homework for, like, at least another hour.”

“Oh yeah, no, sure, that's cool,” Aff agreed quickly, and then fell quiet for a few minutes, before Cameron struck up a conversation about the football game the coming Friday, and whether or not they were all going to come see him play.

The conversation kept going for a while, jumping from one topic to the next until they actually made it home to the shop. Aff was still feeling giddy, jumping out the truck with a grin and quickly heading inside, knowing that Cameron would be right behind.

“Hey Dad, I'm home!” they called out, dropping their backpack behind the counter and instead picking up the apron they wore for work. A second later, Samuel came out of the storage room in the back, smiling as well as the saw them both.

He pulled Aff into a brief hug, one hand staying on their shoulder even as he pulled back again to greet Cam with a brief nod. “Good to see you two, how was school?” he asked. “Got a lot of homework?”

“Nah, it's fine,” Aff told him quickly. “We totally got the shop covered for the rest of the day, dad, don't worry. We'll be super fine, one hundred percent.”

“True,” Cam added, already pulling his math homework out of his backpack. “No worries Mr. Flowers, same procedure like every Wednesday.”

“I know, I know,” the man sighed, finally taking his own apron off, before focusing on Aff again. “You know I got this appointment in the city today, so I won't be back until later tonight. I worry, 's all.”

Aff faltered a bit at that. They hated how much that lie about the party, all those weeks ago, was still affecting their relationship. But with what had happened, they really couldn't blame their father. It was partly the reason they were taking so many shifts lately, not only as a way to make up for being a horrible child that night, but also for building trust again.

“No, that's fine, I get it,” they replied, with a little less intensity in their voice. “But we're gonna be okay, I swear. We'll just be here all afternoon, and then the others are gonna come by, and by the time you get back we'll all probably be asleep anyway. That's okay, right?”

Their dad was more gentle when he answered, patting Aff's shoulder with an affectionate look. “Of course, you kids have fun. I'll worry regardless, but that's just my job.”

“Sure thing, dad. Love you,” Aff muttered, watching as he went to get his jacket and finally made his way to the door.

“Love you too! Now, Cameron, you take care of he- I mean, them, you hear me?”

“You got it, Mr. Flowers. We'll take care of each other,” Cam called after the man, as he walked out with another smile and a wave. As soon as Samuel was gone, he turned back to Aff, gently nudging their shoulder. “Hey, you okay? You got kinda quiet there.”

“Hmm?” Aff jumped slightly at the contact, but seemed to refocus quickly enough. “Yeah, sure. Anyway, how about you start on math homework, and I will restock a bit before I join you.”

Cameron chuckled, knowing very well where this was going. “Nah, how about I help you first and then we start maths together, because there's no way I'm letting you copy.”

“But you're not even going to get paid for this.”

“I get to spend time with you, don't I.”

*

As expected, the shop stayed rather quiet that day. A few customers came in, but they all knew what they wanted and no one spend more than a few minutes in the shop (people didn't tend to stay and browse anymore, at least not when Aff was on shift. But at least they came at all. At least the middle schoolers hadn't thrown eggs at the store front in three weeks).

At point seven, with the store clean and stocked up and all their homework done, Aff locked up, and the two of them headed upstairs to the small apartment instead. Sometimes Sasha was early, and spend the last half an hour or so in the shop with them, but today they were still on their own, which gave them the privilege to choose snacks for the group.

“Okay, whatcha got?” Cameron asked, waiting for Aff to raid the kitchen cabinets.

“Uh, okay, so,” they started to mutter again, looking through some cupboards and shelves as they talked. “We got, like, two bags of doritos, and there's probably some salsa in the fridge from last week... I also know that my dad bought like a bunch of frozen pizzas because they were on sale, so we got those.”

Cam grimaced a bit, but made sure Aff couldn't see his reaction. Sometimes he really wished they could do this at his house instead. He wasn't actually complaining, just being here with the others was the most important thing anyway, but it could have been even better if his parents didn't suck as much. Or Sasha's, for that matter.

He didn't know too much about Jamie's parents. They seemed to have a good enough relationship with their mom, but still didn't like bringing people over when she was home. So they always ended up at Aff's place, which was small and a little bit crammed, and there were still some boxes they and their father had never bothered to unpack, but it was homely. A save haven, really, especially since he and Sasha tried to spend as little time with their parents as they possibly could anyway.

So instead of wishing for something that wouldn't come true anyway, Cam took the doritos that Aff was holding out, picked up some drinks, and dutifully carried it all into the living room. Just as he was setting stuff down again he heard the doorbell ring, Aff sliding down the corridor and hurrying down the stairs again a second later... and then downstairs, he could make out Sasha's and Jamie's voice after the door opened. Instead of running down as well he waited upstairs though, claiming the best spot on the couch while he still could.

Sasha was the first to join him again, rolling her eyes at first when she saw him spread out in front of the TV already. “Should have known I would find you like this,” she muttered, but walked over to kiss him anyway when he opened his arms for her with a smile. Cam didn't even try to reply anything, seeing as he was quickly getting lost in their little make out session. His hand was just starting to wander up her shirt when he heard someone clear their throat behind them though, and only then did he break apart from her again and turned his head with a sheepish grin. “What?”

“How rude of you to start without us,” Jamie told him, managing to hold the disgruntled facade for all of three seconds before simply coming to join them on the sofa. They both got an uncharacteristically chaste kiss before the witch started to unpack the bag they had with them, placing a few different movies on the coffee table in front of them.

“So what's it gonna be today? I got the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Lesbian Vampire Killers, or the first Final Destination movie.”

Aff came back just as Jamie was listing their choices, and wrapped their arms around them from behind before getting a better look at the covers. To all of their endless delight, Aff was a total noob when it came to movies, and even the classics were able to draw entirely new reactions out of them.

But before Cam could suggest Final Destination, Sasha made a disapproving noise, a slight scowl on her face. “I don't know about you, but I'm not in the mood to watch teenagers die due to paranormal circumstances. I think I've had enough of that for the next few years.”

“That's fair,” Jamie admitted, looking down again as well. “It's all I brought with me, though.”

“We could log into my parent's Netflix, I'm pretty sure they're both busy tonight,” Cam offered, pulling Sasha a bit closer as he did so. She leaned into him easily, and he slowly felt her body relax again.

“Yeah, Netflix sounds good,” Aff agreed, climbing over the back of the couch now to worm his way between Jamie and Cam. It worked somehow, despite how freakishly tall they were getting, but after about a minute of shifting around and some complaining here and there, they found a position that was comfortable for all of them. “Are you sure your parents won't notice? You know, it would suck if you'd get in trouble again, so, only do it if you're like absolutely sure.”

“Yeah, sure, it's gonna be fine,” Cam assured them, sounding maybe a little bit more confident than he really felt. But his father was supposed to work late, and his mom had told him she'd be out with friends herself, so he just hoped none of them would change their plans last minute.

Everyone else seemed convinced, so within a few minutes they had Aff's old ass laptop up and running, and connected to the TV. After that it only took a minimal amount of more bickering before they finally settled on a movie, a mindless horror comedy that they could make fun of along the way. It was exactly what all of them needed at the moment.

*

Aff ended up being right, too.

When Samuel came home eventually, close to one am, he found all four of them fast asleep in the living room. Still in their day clothes, all of their accessories, hats, and glasses carelessly piled on the coffee table, along with some empty dorito bags and soda cans. And the situation on the couch wasn't any better, it was hard to tell where one body ended and another begun.

Deciding that he would leave them to regret those sleeping positions in the morning, the man just did his best to cover everyone with a blanket and then headed to bed himself. If there was anything he was thankful for, in these last few trying months, it was the three strange children currently sleeping in his apartment, and whatever it was that Aff saw in them.

They were happy, after all, and that was all that mattered.

[angsty-nerd]

For the fanfic meme. 12, 14, 23

Heeeere we go!!

I answered #12 here: https://angsty-nerd.tumblr.com/post/189679937257/1226-for-the-fic-ask-pls-12-favorite

14. A fic you didn’t expect to write.

I mean, the easy answer is all of them. On January 1, 2019 I hadn’t written a word of fanfic in something like a decade or so. I was completely devoid of fandom. I didn’t have a Tumblr. I had no idea what Discord was. I had never registered with AO3. I was peripherally aware that 2 weeks later, a reboot of my biggest TV obsession of all times was going to be premiering, but I wasn’t really thinking much about it beyond, “Yeah, I’ll check it out.” So yeah, start of the calendar year, I wouldn’t have expected any of this.

Once involved in fandom and writing again...hmm. I’ve actually got a few specific examples.

—I would have NEVER thought that the first RNM fic I ever posted would be a Rosa POV fic (Fallen Back to Earth). I’m so Echo-minded, it’s kinda ridiculous, so the fact that my first shareable fanfic was a gen fic that was more dealing with Rosa’s reaction to the finale, was very unlike me. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19158352

—The Fictober Challenge gave me a lot of freedom to play around, unexpectedly, with plots and characters I never really thought about writing. I was pretty mellow about it, but I was shocked the first time I wrote Marichael/Miluca. And the fact that I wrote them a handful of times that month is even more shocking to me! And in doing so, I discovered that I really like writing Maria, so that was a good lesson for me. So, I’ll credit Fictober #s 10 and 15 for this one. https://archiveofourown.org/works/20857943

—Lastly, I’m gonna have to give a shoutout to Dark!AlienGod!Max. I loooove me a good Dark!Max fic...but I am absolutely intimidated to write him. So the fact that I broke down and did, TWICE, during Fictober was really scary for me. But then I ended up being really, really happy two those two ficlets. Particularly the first one. Those two are Fictober #s 22 and 28...same link as above.

23. Fics you wanted to write, but didn’t.

I actually have a bunch of those. But I’m going to limit it to things I haven’t even STARTED writing, because I have a whole bunch of WIPs.

—A Roswell Christmas Carol, with Max getting visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. I may still write this, but I’m down to 10 days here!

—A missing 6 weeks fic about the time between Barely Breathing and Songs About Texas. I wanted to do a chapter about each week, and I was trying to plot out the events that would occur each week, but I never really got past ideas for week 1.

—A songfic based on this song...set pre-pilot. I think it would be Max/Cam with a little bit of Kyle thrown in, and a whole lotta Liz nostalgia without her making an appearance.

—A Liz heals Max fic based on this awesome art by @viaomens

—Going through my file archives I found a bunch of notes on an OG plot bunny that I never wrote, and I really like it and can see an RNM fic in my head on it. It would be a reset fic where Liz goes back in time to a few months pre-shooting and has an opportunity to change her path. It’s interesting though, because for OG it totally made sense that way, but I think for RNM it would be more interesting for Liz to go back to before Rosa dies. So I may slightly adjust. Whenever I get around to writing it.

[seancamerons]

Degrassi (all seasons) for the ask list!

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get? Mostly my notps, but matlingsworth was a huge waste of my time with them interacting and breaking up every five minutes in seasons 13 and 14 and camaya because like they want her to wind up never dating again after him and he died and their relationship was pretty brief but it did have a huge effect on maya’s psyche when he committed suicide. but that wasn’t enough for some camstans. they wanted maya to basicially grieve forever. alot of jiberty stans have that ideology too (and i did enjoy them but i never felt that way) but not to make excuses but liberty and jt had a rich history before his untimely death where as camaya was like a brief blip in time. i know it doesn’t matter how long you knew someone but their relationship wasn’t as deep as people make it out to be. cam was clearly leaning on maya who was blissfully unaware of the depths of his depression. she projects those feelings onto miles her next boyfriend until she was forced to snap out of it.  i see it as wildly unhealthy. 

I placed the rest under a cut for the sake of my dash. 

also the ideologies of some sellie shippers who happen to abhor emma and lastly PARCY. i can multiship like the next guy but parcy just plain sucks and people are wild about it. i never understood the appeal you had to change peter’s entire character to even make it remotely work and even then it’s still fucked. he called her hopeless at her worst. he couldn’t handle her at her worst. he didn’t deserve to have her at her best. And of course eclare was toxic as all get out but people view them as this uber romantic thing when it’s wildly not that way and then even their biggest stans turned their back on the ship when they kept seeing eli despite the fact he had already graduated forcing eclare down our goddamn throats. 

Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP? seig even though it was shortlived and yes i only and always thought gracevas work to me as just friends. romantically it’s one sided according to canon. in the beginning it was a big almost but throwing in that crush on zig as confusing and infuriating it was, grace and zoe were built on a good foundation of friendship and even though romance wasn’t in the cards for them canonically their friendship did prevail. i think that says a lot to me. 

 Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? already answered this. 

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP? already answered that one. 

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you? absolutely camaya and eclare and hmm

Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated? a loooong time ago (i’m a fandom oldhead) i used to hang out at a little board called db and another called tod and we used to have debate threads where we’d debate ships. it was an odd time. however i never chose sides in the huge craig/manny/ashley triangle + ellie. so like most of the fandom, manny and craig were universally hated and ashley and craig was cherished but i didn’t like either of them. one user my dear friend kelsea was so adamant about cranny and made such compelling arguments for them that i ended up falling in love with cranny. however, during my latest rewatch i’m kinda back to disliking cranny. my indifference would’ve paid off had i not read into those threads haha. however i still hate crellie it’s like a straight darco craig is like waiting for rain in the drought useless and disappointing and also determental to ellie’s development but if there was any ship that fandom made me enjoy it would also have to be janny. janny is so universally loved and i FINALLY see the light in them and the appeal. 

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now? hmm lets see alot of things about emma i guess which is kind of shocking i know. 

Have you received anon hate? yes a few times What about? my unpopular opinions and once i wrote this thing that was like personal experience and yeah maybe i had no business saying something hit close to home and someone was like you deserved to get r*ped. that was back in the day. thankfully it hasn’t happened a whole lot but anon hate does suck. 

Most disliked character(s)? peter, ellie and then the ones that everyone hates for obvious reasons like Dean the rapist, Albert the absuive father of Craig and derek (need I say more?) Why? how much time do you have?

Most disliked arc? Why? Already answered this one. 

Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? I’m old enough to start liking some of the parents, Mama Guthrie comes to mind. 

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why? already answered this

Unpopular opinion about XXX character? I’m not a super hater I swear but my opinions on Ellie post graduation are pretty awful. She turns into the girl she would’ve hated in high school. Let’s be real. Ellie’s pathetic pining for Craig was nauseating when he didn’t recipocate or has a serious relationship. 

Unpopular opinion about your fandom? Idk I guess the culture of pin pointing who is without shame and who should be shamed. that’s argraviting, like the treatment of maya and zig as both a ship and seperate characters pre-season 3 of next class was embarrassing. 

Unpopular opinion about the manga/show? Oh my god I have so many unpop opinions. I prefer dtng era degrassi they’re my bread and butter. 

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? I wish Semma was endgame. There I said it. 

Instead of Spemma happening I would’ve made Sean come back. 

Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased? Not at all. I hate this ideology. 

What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom? Complaint culture and the ideology that everything and everyone must be perfect to enjoy. When the social justice end infiltrated fandom it became the police of fandom saying this person is problematic or this ship is bad because xyz. Characters are flawed to better relate to their audience, it doesn’t matter because some characters are inherently good even though they made mistakes just like you. Just because their fictional doesn’t mean they all have to be perfect. It’s a shame when people pedestal their faves and make them above critiquing and analyzing their actions. 

What is the purest ship in the fandom? Hmm no ship is super pure but early sanya with their goddamn stickerbooks was super pure. A lot ships start off super pure, Sean and Emma early on were super pure too. Also I always thought Shiny is super pure from the next class years.

What are your thoughts on crack ships? I don’t know people can ship what they want, there’s always fanfiction however I don’t really see a point to it because you’ll never see them in action. However I did crackship Emma and Jay and they had their moments even if it was never a canon thing. I can’t crackship to save my life. 

Popular character you hate? Ellie Nash

Unpopular character you love? Alex Nunez!

Would you recommend Degrassi to a friend? Why or why not? All in all I would recommend and have recommended watching degrassi to anyone and everyone at least once. There’s something for everyone because there’s such diversity and awesome and relatable moments that someone could pick from the show and go, “i’ve been there but look at me now.” or “i struggle with this, i’m not alone��. sometimes it could make you laugh, and sometimes it’s super melodramatic but it’s at times really good. I mean it was around for nearly 30 years in some capacity they must’ve done something right. i knew people who used to watch it in school as an educational program.

 How would you end Degrassi/Would you change the ending of Degrassi? I think they should have a reunion film or a mini/limited series where everyone comes back kind of like Backtrack (a fanfiction I wrote) which is basically adult character Degrassi centered around their life after high school and university and and end Emma walking/driving Jack on Jack’s first day going to school to make it go full circle kinda. Corny huh?

Most shippable character?  spinner mason! 

  Least shippable character? sean cameron because i only ship him with emma hardy har har.

omg omg i did it! thank you so much for the questions. :)