#hope it's okay i wrote this for pre s1!

[yackers]

I have mixed feelings about the cheating situation. In one sense they’re teenagers and I think everyone in the situation had their reasons for doing things and reacting to the situation, but I really struggle with Jerome’s reaction to the reaction. He’s a kid and I don’t think he should be held accountable for shit he did at 17 for the rest of his life when it’s this minuscule of a problem, but there were multiple scenes where people made digs at him for playing two girls and he truly believed that it was alright. Yes he apologized I get that, but even towards the end of the season he makes a comment about how he didn’t mean to hurt them…I truly believe Jerome didn’t think he deserved repercussions for hurting Willow and Mara. I don’t like that. Do I think they went too far with the revenge plot? Yes. Cause I wish they would’ve sat down and talked. Mara and Jerome, imo, needed to have a long conversation about it. Not with Willow. Not with Joy. But just the two of them. Their relationship arc had been from s1. Jerome had that little crush on her that blossomed and it eventually led us to s3 and the cheating situation. Maybe it’s me not understanding how he cheated on her with Willow, who I adore, I’m just not understanding how those two had any sort of chemistry or connection, but I wanted him to explain his sudden drawback. Joy defending Jerome those times were valid but her in that damn bedroom saying she thought it was all about revenge. It’s like the entire house lacked brain cells that season. The miscommunication trope was wild. What i’m saying is I think the cheating trope was interesting to the development of the characters. I just really don’t think Jerome realized what he did was wrong. I love Jeroy. They’re my favorite ship of all time. I just can’t stand how Jara essentially ended and there was no sit down conversation being like “Hey, I hurt you. This isn’t about me liking Joy it’s about me breaking the heart of the girl who fell in love with me and who i pined after for two years” I just needed something. Those teenagers couldn’t talk.

I have a lot of thoughts so please click below

see I do completely get what you're saying I do, and it's not that I disagree with you so much as that's just not really how things work. throughout the whole show, characters hurt each other and do shitty things because it's full of overwhelmingly human characters, but they can't just sit and talk it all out for hours in therapy speak until everyone is 100% okay. that's not how television works, that's not even really how life works. I don't honestly see how jerome and mara sitting and talking out every one of their issues would make either of them feel better and not more mad each other and it wouldn't be good television. hell, who in life ever sits down with their ex who cheated on them and discusses why and how and all of their personal feelings about it, especially two seventeen year olds who dated less than a year. I do understand that it feels like he should apologise further but the damage was already done, mara was too angry to hear it and jerome didn't know himself well enough to articulate why. I also just can't really name many shows where any (unmarried, childless, outside of a therapy environment) couples sit down and discuss in detail the end of their relationship.

I do disagree with you saying that he didn't think he deserved repercussions. he quite literally finds out that the three of them wrote a play specifically to embarrass him in front of the entire year group and accepts it and directs it anyway and says that he just hopes it helps mara move on and feel better. he does even repeatedly try to apologise to mara. he lets her say horrible things about his dad without fighting back and he backs off of joy around her as to not upset her further, all things he never would've done pre being caught cheating. he tells the house that they all need to get over it only when they're all being silent and glaring at him at the breakfast table because he still has to live there and he can't have every single person in house mad at him forever.

in terms of how he could have gotten with willow and his 'sudden drawback from mara', I really do not mean this to sound rude but like did you watch it? when he and willow first kiss in detention, mara had broken up with him like at least a week ago. he tried to win her back over and over (with admittedly hollow gestures I'm not like validating his behaviour just stating the facts of what happened) and she ignored him. by the time he kisses willow in detention, he thinks he fucked up too bad and he's never getting mara back, and so he's rebounding. he doesn't really have tons of chemistry with willow, that's kinda the point, she's just there and she's sweet and she's into him and it's a lot less complicated. it's only after all this that mara approaches him in the kitchen and is like 'congrats we're back together' and by that point he's already moved on from her enough that he's not willing to give up willow because he doesn't like either of them that much by that point. and this is not me defending him but like if he'd told mara then and there that he'd kissed willow even though she barely gave him a chance to, it still would've crushed her, because unlike him she didn't think they were done, she was just holding off because of the sisterhood. the whole situation isn't black and white, he didn't wake up and say "I'm gonna have two girlfriends" and it's a mess and that's the whole point of it. I've gone over the other jara stuff before so I'm not gonna repeat myself but idk, it didn't happen the way you're making it sound like.

and lastly, about joy saying "I thought it was all about revenge", the whole point of that scene is that both girls are lashing out each other because they're both broken hearted. it was the wrong thing to say, but it was an impossibly difficult and insane situation. and up until that point, mara didn't do a whole lot of crying and being sad because she got angry and stayed that way. the part about the revenge plotline that makes it so interesting to watch and why I liked it is because it was always going to hurt everyone involved and it was always going to be everyone's fault. jerome was getting hurt either way, joy was always going to fall for him, which was a betrayal to mara, but it was also an insane thing for mara to ask her to do in the first place. it blows up in everyone's faces badly, but both girls both eventually realise that it's okay that they're both upset and that it all only happened because of some incredibly poor decision making and that's that. the ending with mara deciding to put her friend's happiness above her anger is the most important lesson of all of it. also:

he does try to sincerely apologise for all of it one last time and she shakes her head with a smile and tells him that it's okay. the whole point of mara's arc is that she doesn't need that from him anymore, she's learning to deal with her feelings herself and know her own worth even when others don't, which is what she's been needing to learn to do the whole show.

tldr: I understand that cheating is a difficult topic that people have a lot of thoughts about and I respect that, but real life isn't therapy and what a lot of your takes tell me is that either you didn't really pay attention during their storyline or that it's been a long time since you watched it

[pumpkin-spike18]

✨Weekly Progress 2024 #22-23✨

#22 would've come out last week if I didn't forget my planner when I packed for traveling.

Weekly Progress #22

Updated tumblr tags

Thumbnailed, sketched, refined sketched, lined, and finished [fan project #2] illustration

Submitted forms for [fan projects]

Made work plans for P-M and SFB

Basic o2a2 outline

Fixed SYVNH bug

Generated sprite pieces for P-M and SFB

Fleshed out o2a2 outline

Weekly Progress #23

Coded P-M sprites

Updated itch page images

Made new BWBOK schedule

Copied P-M script into Renpy

Scripted P-M s1-s3

Answered BWBOK comments

Drafted [fan project] posts

Designed P-M GUI

Wrote 100+ words for SFB

A Sky of Falling Birds

As I mentioned before, SFB is my next big project, which I plan to submit for BAF VN Jam. That's... 7/1.

It's okay, I still got... 20 days.

There's a lot of work left to do and not much to show off at the moment.

Pre-Make

Or Pre 🕰 Make (P-M), I haven't completely decided on how to advertise the title yet. It's a "small" project that I came up with back in 2020 and still haven't finished. I thought I'd dedicate a few days' time to it and see how far I'd get. There's still a bit of work to do, but much of it is done.

The art's quite old and the story telling was the original test I did for SYVNH's looping mechanism so it won't be anything novel. The screenshot above is from this game. If he looks a little familiar, don't worry. That's not your imagination.

The Beauty Which Only Beast Knows

My other big focus for this month, we're hoping to finish it for Otome Jam... which also ends 7/1. I've a loose schedule for achieving that, but the team's health is the top priority so we're playing it by ear. It may take a little longer to finish up.

Other!

O2A2: Because I couldn't sit still!! I started planning for O2A2 2024! It'll be another entry into the kill series, but I hope to include some point and click elements to it. Last year I finished 9 VN projects, something I don't want to do again-- but!! I don't want to only finish one project this year!! I've been skipping and fomo-ing all the jams in the first half of the year. Well, no more! I'm going to get some work done this summer!!

Fan Projects: I don't think I need to keep my involvement in fan projects a secret anymore! I took part in the D. Gray Man 20th Anniversary Project, which we actually started work on late last year! I also took part in the Narumitsu Big Bang 2024 event, which... also started work late last year 🤔 Huh, I was really busy back then. Maybe that'll teach me to sign up for too many fan events... (😂 no ofc not!)

Misc: I finished some tedious updating work that I promised myself to do a while back. I'll admit I make my blog easiest for me to navigate, first and foremost. But if there's something that's bothering you, or have an idea to make navigation better, feel free to let me know through an ask! I also updated all of my itch io pages' images. They were originally linked from discord, which changed its policy and broke all direct image links. Thankfully, I had everything labeled in a private server so I could easily retrieve and reupload to update the pages. Yes, I should've done that long ago. And I'm sorry I just... didn't;;

[notebooknonbinary]

hey!! i was looking at your merthur fic recs, and i was wondering if you have any stranger things recs? i like reading longer fics in canonverse a lot, but i dont really have too many preferences hehe, anything you really enjoy, as a fellow mike-appreciator, would be amazing

Oh gosh☺️ making me feel like a fic rec authority. Making my day. Okay! Longer canon-verse with maybe an emphasis on the good-good son Mike Wheeler. (Fair warning, almost all the Mike fics I read are byler centric lol) Many of these fic authors have written multiple wonderful ST fics🥰

One of the first ST fics I ever bookmarked was A Hope to Cling To by midnighteverlark which is slightly canon divergent for the Shed Scene in season two. It’s a fic I return to often because it’s just a very lovely fic. It switches between Mike and Will POV and has five chapters.

@wiseatom just wrote a fic called just gotta call on me, which is a 5+1 fic about phone calls between Mike and Will. It is Very wonderful and takes place from post S2 to post series.

If you feel like crying @andiwriteordie wrote a lovely birthdaygate series called how light carries on endlessly where everyone forgets Will. Very lovely read but Ow it’s got me crying in the club. Post S4 and still ongoing.

paper rings by mogiah is a sweet fic that has a few angst moments. The Party plays the game of ‘where do you see yourself in ten years?’ while briefly trapped in the Upside Down. Mainly byler-centric

I don’t miss the feeling (of being alone) by boygirl is Lucas-centric & Partycule bc I’m a sucker for the main four as a couple and this one is lovely written. It’s so sweet and honestly just aaaa. Post canon and Max is alive ☺️ (ik this isn’t Really Mike centric but since one of the people Lucas likes in this is Mike I feel it qualifies. Also Lucas is 💕)

I’ll be your first, I’ll be your last by agustplz is a very wonderful 5+1 about Mike calling in dedications on the radio for Will.

@buck-yyyy wrote Is Hell Cold? It’s a season 5 speculation fic. It’s lovely, like poetry and I was lucky enough to be among the first to read it☺️ And they’ve got a lotta other wonderful fics to read too!!

I am, ofc, often vocal about my love for @perexcri ‘s writing. I recommend starting with To Hell and Back which is Very Romcom and fun and aaaa. Takes place during S5, Will and Mike get stuck in the Upside Down

reaching for starlight by chainangel is a Mike character study about gender. I Adore this fic So Very much (nonbinary Mike nonbinary Mike nonbinary Mike nonbinary Mi—)

Be the Boy by katbatsupreme, Mike overhears Will talking to Jonathan about his crush. I am a big ol’ sucker for Mike Jealous of Himself fics and this one is Very good🥰

I know the end by bookinit is a largely canon-compliant ST retelling with an emphasis on byler. And tbh Until byler is officially Together As Boyfriends On Screen, no one can tell me these fics aren’t canon. They’re on season 3 right now (Ow my Heart) and updating pretty regularly.

a game of truths by RomeoWrites, the title is pretty self explanatory☺️ very sweet. Goes from Pre-series to post:) Also! This writer wrote the boyfriend problem, where Ted thinks Mike and Will have been dating since pre-S1 very cute and funny

Us against the world by wasabi8000, immediately post-S4, Mike finally puts the pieces together about Will’s feelings. Sweet and a tiny bit angsty with a little bit of miscommunication. A good fic!

I hate accidents (except when we went from friends to this). by blackdeathmamba. A lovely 5+1 fic about Mike kissing Will but Will not realizing why. Miscommunication and lotta kisses:)

I’m sure you’ve already read a dream always the same by @sevensided (sorry to tag u), bc it is The Mike Wheeler centric fic, but just in case you haven’t, it’s an extremely well written, Wonderful fic (as are its’ sequels). Set post-S3.

eyecatcher by smoosnoom, Jealous Mike post-S4 with no angst, just Mike being pouty over girls getting crushes on Will. It’s very funny and cute!

mom I’m gay, wait you are too? By dragons_like_s’mores is sweet and silly and a fun read, and introduced me to a ship that I like but hadn’t thought of before lol. An offhand comment by Mike causes Karen’s lesbian awakening, while in the background Mike simps for Will and maybe learns how to do chores.

This is not an exhaustive list of all my fav fics but if I put All of them down we’d be here literally All Day lol

Also!!

Some of my mutuals/blogs I follow are in the process of fics which I will ofc reblog when they post them🥰🥰 (also friends please please feel free to add to this list, I’m Always in the mood to read ST fic)

[seancebled]

at the top of sir reginald hargreeves’ favourite hobbies was to ignore his children’s demands , and sometimes even their existence.    klaus’ eyes follow his brother as he ,    once more ,    stands up to this man who called himself their father ,    and is met only with a back turned.    he doesn’t understand why five keeps doing that ,    reginald would never listen to him  —  he never listens to any of them.    their father’s footsteps echo as he leaves them behind  (  for pogo or grace to deal with  ) ,    just as he always did ,    and all klaus can seem to do is crack a smile ,    playfully nudging five’s arm ,    as if trying to make less of what had just happened.     ❛❛    oh yeah ,    you really told him ,    didn't you  ?    ❜❜    it’s said with the very lightness that characterizes him ,    even when everything weighs so heavy upon a heart that’s still developing.                (  @boyancient​    said:   💬  )

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

Top five MSR moments

Memento Mori hallway scene, kiss included bc even though it's technically not canon.... it's still canon. the gentleness and mutual adoration and repressed grief and hope gets to me... the fact that he waits for her... the fact that she closes that last inch of distance and KISSES HIM BACK... the incredible amounts of tender love.... I'm insane over it actually. also even just in the regular cut, the way Mulder rubs the bsck of her head and she leans into it??? like??? for this once she lets herself be vulnerable and taken care of and she accepts that closeness because she's just... so tired, and so scared, and she visibly feels safer in Mulder's arms than anywhere else.

every single scene of them in pre-abduction arc season 2, but especially the in Little Green Men ("I wanted to know that you're okay," + the hair stroke both at the beginning AND when she finds him in South America) and The Host (meeting up at the bench like that... babies). they so obviously have a tremendous mutual crush and are like... honestly kind of obsessed with each other, in a super sweet and innocent way. they're best friends and they love each other so much and they're SO fond; they take so much joy in being around each other and even though they're separated by work, there's so much hope in them. that scene where Scully suggests he try to get a transfer to Quantico, just so they can work together or near each other? UNHINGED ADORABLE SHE LIKES HIM SO MUCH

"You have to lay it all on me," "I can't do that" in Redux II. Scully is literally dying and all she wants to do is save Mulder and his mind is screaming "I LOVE YOU" but he can't say it, won't say it, is too scared to say it but when she tells him to lay the blame on her, he laughs like he's about to cry and seems absolutely shocked by her love for him. and the way he kisses her hands and face is simply Too Much

every single time Mulder kneels or sits down so Scully is above him — i even wrote about it in several fics and made a web weave about it. I think especially in Ice, when she's so perturbed by the video at the beginning and he crouches down to be right beside her, and the scene in Pusher before he says "smile, Scully" (and she DOES for him and he smiles for her too because if they can do that, if they can still smile for each other, then maybe everything can still be okay) and gives her his gun and looks at her Like That... peak romance

Young At Heart and Grotesque — I'm counting both of these, even though one is in s1 and the other is in s3, because they both deal with Scully's loyalty and care for Mulder when he's dealing with people from his past and the internal issues those situations bring about. in Grotesque, I'm OBSESSED with the way Mulder snaps at her and then just leaves and even though she's frustrated, Scully turns around in the next heartbeat to go to bat for him with Patterson, because she will not stand to see Mulder used and she sees the toll it's taking on him.

honorable mentions must go to the FTF hallway scene (of COURSE... Scully consistently unable to handle the impact of verbal affirmation and love from Mulder GETS TO ME), the entirety of Fire (Scully trying to take care of Mulder even as Pheobe quietly unravels him...), and the flirting in Small Potatoes and Chinga (imagine if Scully teased right back at him when he was like "marry me" and was like "ok :)". Mulder would have a whole breakdown). also the end of End Game, but that's a whole other ramble shdjdnsksm

ask me my top 5 anything

[detectivereyes]

I don’t know if you watch 911 too but if you have, you know how the characters get ‘begins’ episodes? If they did that on lone star, which characters would you like to have ‘begins’ episodes and what would you want each episode to be about plot wise? I would love to see Judd & TK begins episodes and maybe even Carlos down the line at some point. I think it would be interesting to see each of them at a more vulnerable and different part of their lives when they were younger. Maybe Carlos gets a call where he gets injured and we get to see flashbacks of why he decided to be a cop and other things. Judd’s would be interesting because of the crossover episode they could touch on that more and what he was like before he met grace and all that. TK interests me the most because yeah we know him but I think it would be so interesting to see what he was like as a teen & how much his parents demanding jobs affected him & maybe how other life events led to him doing reckless things (he did say he’s done a lot of things in the past and his dad is still there for him)

tim minear / ryan murphy (or another showrunner idk) did confirm that we are getting begins episodes for lone star, so i’m assuming we’ll be getting one this season, and more should the show continue! (which it probably will be it’s one of the top shows ratings wise...) anyway yes i do watch 911 and i love those episodes!! personally, i don’t think the begins episode should be for judd, owen, or tk just because season 1 was so heavy with their storylines. i mean look how long it took for us to get buck begins for that reason (they said the reason they weren’t even planning on it was bc they saw s1 as his “begins” - which is wrong and i’m glad we’re getting the episode!!) but anyway, considering the first two 911 begins episodes were for chimney and hen, that gives me a lot of hope that the first lone star begins episode(s) will be one of the characters who have been pushed to the side a lot; someone like paul or marjan would be great! carlos would also be awesome but i think they would start with the firefighters first. as for what i would want to see...

for carlos, you said the magic word... i have been manifesting injured carlos since he first showed up on my screen (i’m a whump fan, it’s what i do) so if the begins episode fits that in, which if you look at the 911 begins episodes, there’s a good possibility... i would be very happy

for tk, i want to learn more about his addiction. i don’t really want him to relapse in the present (thought that would make sense for his begins...) i want answers. when did he start using? why? how many times did he od? rehab? was getting into the fire academy his motivation for getting clean? did he struggle with drugs and alcohol, or just drugs? all this to say, i just wanna know more about his addiction okay

for judd, we just found out that he was a troubled kid so... clearly there’s stuff to explore there! also max and i discovered that in the family pic judd looks at when his visits his father there appears to be 4 boys and the parents. but later in the episode, he asks his father where he ranks among favorite sons and stuart says judd is in “the top 3”... which begs the question what happen to the fourth sibling? disowned? dead? trans (so not a son)? max and i are personally manifesting judd has a trans sister 😌 in all honestly, it’s probably just a continuity error but it’s fun to speculate

for marjan, i want to know why she is such a daredevil. i also want to know more about her family. jillian wrote a great fic about her relationship with her parents so that’s been stuck in my head.

for paul, i want to know what his experience was like joining the academy. why did he decide to join? is that where he got his perceptive skills or was it something he got before? was he always planning on being a firefighter or was he on a different path?

for mateo, similar to marjan and paul i just want to know more about him in general. he mentions living with roommates... what about his family? honestly we know pretty much nothing about him so they could go in any direction. i’m wondering if his faith will come up, since in 2x02 when everyone else turned to someone else for comfort, mateo ran to a church.

for grace, i want to know about her life pre-judd... or at least pre-marriage. but i need the emphasis to be on her and not just her and judd... though i would like to know if she always planned to be 911 operator or if that was swayed by her relationship with judd... were they high school sweethearts? did they meet through their jobs? i wanna know

i don’t want an owen begins bc the entire show is owen begins sjbdkehdkd but i guess it would be about 9/11 and we could see little tk so that would be nice i guess..,. also i do want to know about his second wife. so there are things that would pull me in i guess

idk about tommy considering we’ve only had her for like 2.5 episodes but i think if they do a begins episode in a later season, it would be a great way to bring liv tyler back in since she was the one who trained michelle! other than that i’m not sure yet.

thanks for asking, this was a lot of fun to think about!

[i-call-me-clarence]

So @ao3commentoftheday suggested people make rec lists during these trying times and I decided to go ahead and jump on the band wagon. Here is a list of 13 Johnlock fics, sorted from shortest to longest. There’s H/C, PWP, Case Fics, PRETEND RELATIONSHIPS, and some pretty dank AU’s. 

Okay then, onto the tropes!

(fics listed below)

Caught by Salambo06 (AO3) ( @salambo06fics)

Author’s Summary: A hotel room. They’re here for a case, hadn’t planned to spend the night and ended up sharing a room. No, sharing a bed. Suddenly John is very much aware of his own hand closed around his hard cock and the ragged breathing next to him. Closing his eyes for the briefest second, John dares to turn his head just enough to confirm what he already knows.

Sherlock, on his side, watching him.

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 1,859

Tags/Warnings: bed sharing, wet dreams, POV John, Masturbation, Frottage, First Time, First Kiss

A PWP that’s scorching hot. ‘Nough said. (BUTOMG it is REALLY hot, beware reading in public yo)

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Paranoia by Ewebie (AO3) ( @ewebie​)

Author’s Summary: is a description of the rules of the drinking game Paranoia and also too long to put here! But suffice it to say that this fic involves drinking games at the Yard.

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3,789

Tags/Warnings: Tumblr Prompt, Drinking Games, Silly... no smut but building fun and allusions to upcoming rrrwarr

I love fics where the team at the Yard and the boys all get drunk together. Throw in a drinking game and I’m already hooked. This fic was really funny and cheered me up when I was sick with the flu a while back (perfect time to read it again!)

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Coldness/Heat by agirlsname (AO3) ( @agrlsname)

Author’s Summary: The inn is booked up on New Year's Eve. The train home is cancelled because of the snow. The only option is to sleep in the non-heated guest room of a client, and John and Sherlock are freezing.

You know where this is going.

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 3,790

Tags/Warnings: Fluff and Smut, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Bedsharing, Sharing Body Heat, Frottage New Year's Eve, Cuddling & Snuggling, Friends to Lovers

THERE IS ONLY ONE BED! AND THEY ARE SO COLD! WHATEVER ARE OUR BOYS TO DO?!?!?! Turn it up to 11 in this amazing PWP, that’s what.

---- Stranded by BeautifulFiction (AO3) ( @the-pen-pot ) 

Author’s Summary: ‘Do you think we’re less than that – best friends? Or more?’

John’s head pulled back, and the look he received suggested John was seriously wondering how someone so intelligent could be so stupid. ‘Well, definitely not less.’

 When stranded on a derelict barge at high tide, John and Sherlock reconsider their friendship.

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 5,798

Tags/Warnings: case fic, cuddling for warmth, first kiss

I really liked this fic. It really drew me in with it’s imagery, I could see the scenes as easily as I could see John and Sherlock getting together in this way.

----

Azure On Grey by shiplocks_of_love (AO3) ( @shiplocks-of-love )

Author’s Summary: When Sherlock’s transport betrays him and conventional healthcare fails to help, John comes up with an unorthodox solution…

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 8,986

Tags/Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, Medical issues, Kidney Stones, Embarrassing Situations, brief mention of past substance abuse, unorthodox medical treatments, Amusement Parks, Intimacy, hints of romance, Pining John, friends to almost lovers

This fic is a wonderful H/C that features a sick Sherlock who can be exceptionally fragile at times, and a caring Watson. Makes me wish I’d had a John around when I had kidney stones :’(

---- Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder by cypress_tree (AO3) ( @cypress-tree​)

Author’s Summary: John helps Sherlock with an experiment: for an entire month, they are not allowed to touch each other and must remain at least one metre apart at all times. Meanwhile, I conduct my own experiment: how much UST can I shove into a single fic?

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 10,669

Tags/Warnings: Unresolved Sexual Tension, it's for an experiment John, Resolved Sexual Tension, smut

Sexy, silly, amazing.

---- Chaperones by MissDavis (AO3) ( @missdaviswrites​)

Author’s Summary: Right. Of course. Everyone assumed they were a couple and no one would question it. John put his elbows up on the table so he could rest his head in his hands. "You want to pretend to be a couple so we can chaperone a trip to Disney World with Rosie's class and you won't have to share a room with a stranger?"

"Exactly." Sherlock beamed at him. "Don't worry about the cost. The Birmingham case last month paid more than enough to cover expenses for all three of us."

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 34,115

Tags/Warnings: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Sharing a Room, Sharing a Bed. Disney World, Parentlock, Friends to Lovers, Fluff, First Kiss

I’ll just use what I wrote when I bookmarked this lovely fic: I’ve never been more compelled by Disney related things than when I was reading this fic. I’ll never go to Disney World, but I’ll sure as hell read this fic again omg was it good

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The Darkness Within, So Close by shiplocks_of_love (AO3) ( @shiplocks-of-love​ ) ((I hope @ing you twice doesn’t cause any issues! Sorry in advance. Tumblr confuses me))

Author’s Summary: Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller deal with a new string of murders in Broadchurch. Help comes from an unlikely place as Sherlock Holmes and John Watson travel to West Dorset. But when the new crimes open old wounds and unearth the ghost of Moriarty, it becomes clear the game is not over yet.

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 42,312

Tags/Warnings: casefic, Sherlock x Broadchurch crossover fic, Underage Death, Murder, MAJOR spoilers for Broadchurch S1 and S2 and for Sherlock S3, post S3 Sherlock, post S2 Broadchurch, you are MOST welcome to put johnlock glasses on but this is pre-slash okay?, Light Angst, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence

I haven’t actually finished this fic yet, but the characterizations for the characters of both universes are spot on. When Alec Hardy started shouting at the beginning, David Tennant appeared in my room and started reading the fic aloud to me. True story. Also this fic is part of a series, so, like, that’s amazing.

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The Norwood Love Builders by flawedamythyst (AO3) ( Tumblr: https://flawedamythyst.tumblr.com/) ((couldn’t @  you for some reason. Prob, again, because Tumblr makes my brain hurt))

Author’s Summary: Sherlock and John go undercover to solve the murder of Joanna Oldacre, but things are complicated by the many feelings John has been repressing in the wake of Sherlock's faked death and return.

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 47,798

Tags/Warnings: case fic, fake/pretend relationship, couples retreat, bed sharing, therapy (for a case...that’s a weird tag but I read this in fic so often so), pining John, UST, First Kiss, getting together

Amazing fic by an amazing writer. I have a weakness for ‘pretend relationship for a case’, especially when it’s filled with pining and ust. So in other words this fic is perfect. 

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Bridging the Ravine by SilentAuror (AO3) ( @silentauroriamthereal​)

Author’s Summary: Sherlock and John go undercover at Ravine Valley, a therapy centre for same-sex male couples in an investigation into a possible human trafficking ring. As they pose as a couple and fake their way through the therapy sessions for the sake of the case, it quickly becomes difficult to avoid discussing their very real issues. Set roughly nine months after series 4.

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 58,887

Tags/Warnings: post-series 4, Romance, Awkwardness galore, fake couple trope, Therapy, sex trafficking ring, First Times, Massages, wet t-shirt contest, Group Therapy, loss of child (past), Bed-sharing

Pretend relationship for a case, and it’s a really good case too! Plus it’s at a couples therapy retreat, I mean, come on!! And the OC’s, don’t even get me started on them, because I won’t be able to stop singing their praises. This fic was sent by the gods through the blood sweat and tears of the extremely talented SilentAuror. You should honestly just go and binge all of their stuff. What else are you gonna do during quarantine? OH! And guess what??? THERE’S A SEQUEL! 

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Sensory Science by sussexbound(SamanthaLenore) (AO3) ( @sussexbound​)

Author’s Summary: John Watson has been invalided home from Afghanistan and is struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD and insomnia, when an old friend from med school recommends something that might help: An ASMR YouTube Channel run by a friend.

One session in and John is hooked, not only by the way the ASMR seems to calm him after nightmares, and help him sleep, but also by the mysterious man who runs it.

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 80,017

Tags/Warnings: Friends to Lovers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, PTSD John, ASMR, first meeting AU, problem drinking, Nightmares, Suicidal Thoughts, Internalized Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Anxiety, Depression, Homophobic Language, Masturbation, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Prostate Massage, Prostate Orgasm, Phone Sex, Mutual Masturbation, Frottage, Coming Untouched, Aborted Blowjobs, Rimming

Amazing fic that really draws you in. Even if ASMR isn’t necessarily your thing, this is still a fantastic read. I mean, it’s by sussexbound, so what else would you expect?

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Rewind by All_I_Need (AO3) ( @the-reading-lemon​)

Author’s Summary: About a month before John's wedding, he and Sherlock embark on one last case together: a murder at a remote hotel in the middle of nowhere. A lot can happen in a week. And a lot doesn't. But what if ...?

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 87,594

Tags/Warnings: Pining, Angst, John is an oblivious idiot, all the feels, Rewind - Freeform, what if, Sharing a Bed, Dancing Lessons, literally everyone sees more than John does, Fake/Pretend Relationship

THIS FIC! This fic!! Let me tell you a thing about this fic: it’s amazing! I haven’t finished it completely, but the unique ‘rewind’ effect is something I hadn’t ever seen before. Interesting concept, pretend relationship for a case, hot, hot smut, AND THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED. What more could you want in a fic, honestly?

---- Out There by DiscordantWords (AO3) ( @discordantwords​)

Author’s Summary: FBI Special Agent John Watson, medical doctor and army veteran, is assigned to assist eccentric genius Sherlock Holmes with paranormal investigations on the X-Files project.

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 131,695

Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - X-Files Fusion, Slow Burn, UST, No seriously a lot of UST, This is the X files they basically wrote the book on UST, casefic, Case Fic, Government Conspiracy, Aliens, UFOs, Mutants, Pining Sherlock, Pining John, First Kiss, Coma

The X-files/Sherlock crossover I always needed in my life. I think at least a few other Johnlockers out there (ha! Fic title) have watched X-files and thought ‘holy cow this is so John and Sherlock, I need the AU or else I’ll die’. Well look no further! No need to die! Read and watch as all your X-files/Sherlock wishes come true :D

----

And that concludes this rec list! There will prob be a part 2 coming out as I’ve got hundreds of fics saved on this pairing. Also stay tuned for fic rec lists for some of my other fav ships! Spirk, Garashir, Hannigram, Bunny/Raffles, and more!!

[tonystarkbingo]

TSB Mark IV Week 2 Roundup!

This includes the Round Robin fic that several participants wrote as part of our Discord Party, as well as a whole bunch of other amazing works.  Go leave them some love!

Title: Adventures of Tiny Dragon Tony and His Treasure (Loki) - Chapter 41: Snapshot #41: The First of Many Meetings Collaborator: tinydragontony Card Number: 4005 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T5 - more than a partner Ship: FrostIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Fluff, first meetings, 5+1 Summary: Here it is, the most requested chapter to date! How Loki met tiny dragon Tony! Word Count: 3300

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Title: Snowed In Collaborator: eachpeachpearplum Card Number: 4003 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S2 - snowed in Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: snowglobe, possible imprisonment?, art Summary: Tony was just minding his own business, taking a quick zip around the city, just because he can. Next thing he knows, he’s in a glass ball sat on some evildoer’s shelf. To make things worse, he’s not the only one…

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Title: Man on the Run Collaborator: ceealaina Card Number: 4008 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R1 - Old Team Ship: Background Pepper/Nat, Background IronHusbands Rating: Teen Major Tags: Fluff and Humour, Team as Family, Post-Endgame, Fix-It Summary: Saving the world is important. But Tony really, really just wants to retire and spend time with his family. And if faking his death is the only way to do that, that's how it goes sometimes. Word Count: 1115

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Title: Inktober - Day 19 Collaborator: monobuu Card Number: 4040 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S3 - AU: Star Wars Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Scandalous amount of leg Summary: Uuuuuh. Yeah. (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)

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Title: Scrunch Me Collaborator: martianwahtney Card Number: 4011 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - Victorious Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: fluff Summary: 3 times Tony asks Bucky why he wears scrunchies, and 1 time he figured it out for himself Word Count: 995

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Title: The Best Bathtub Collaborator: camichats Card Number: 4049 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K4 - Kink: Bath/Shower Sex Ship: Tony/Sharon Rating: Mature Major Tags: Minor sexual content, allusions to sugar daddy/baby relationship (though not actually present in the fic) Summary: Sharon is a tough Shield agent and she’s proud of that, but sometimes it’s nice to relax and feel pampered. Word Count: 1649

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Title: Baffled, bewildered and bemused. Collaborator: JehBeeEh Card Number: 4058 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Learning to be Loved Ship: Stony Rating: Mature Major Tags: Super Fluffy, Implied Sex Summary: Baffled. Bewildered? Perplexed. Tony couldn’t quite figure out which version fit this situation best, but they all seemed to apply. Perplexed seemed a bit much though. Puzzled? Bemused. Word Count: 3197

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Title: wound with your eyes (kill with a smile) - Chapter 3 Collaborator: deathsweetqueen Card Number: 4066 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Restrained Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: graphic depictions of violence, Spy Kids AU, Secret Identities, Kidnapping, Indian Tony Stark Summary: Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes were once the renowned superheroes, Iron Man and the Winter Soldier. Eventually, they put aside the masks and the armour to get married and raise a family together. Twelve years later, SHIELD agents go missing, and Tony and Bucky decide to go on their first mission since their eldest child was born. When they're mysteriously kidnapped by a psychotic TV show host, it's hardly a great first step to getting back in the game. The worst thing, though, might be the fact that the only people who can rescue them are their own children. Word Count: 12,872

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Title: with or without his unhallowed touch - Chapter 24 Collaborator: deathsweetqueen Card Number: 4066 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - myths and legends Ship: Tony/Thanos, Stuckony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Tony is Kidnapped by Thanos, Tony is the Soul Stone, Female Tony Stark, Obsessive Behavior, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Emotional Manipulation, Stockholm Syndrome, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Physical Abuse, Domestic Violence, Forced Relationship, Gaslighting, Rape/Non-con Elements, Warnings for this Chapter: Explicit Violence, Major Character Death, and Cannibalism Summary: Toni sees the Chitauri mothership high above her, sees the hundreds and thousands of warships that circle the Earth, and she knows, she knows. She thinks, oh, I understand. A beat. Her hand burns. Wow, we are so fucked. She lets the bomb slide out of her hands, watches as it floats towards the mothership, and fire rains down on her, even in the dark, pale, cold hollow of space. She laughs, breathlessly, thinks of all the ones who’d loved her the most, and dies. Word Count: 129,402

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Title: What We Do in the Tower Collaborator: newnewyorker93, rebelmeg Card Number: 4042, 4034  Link: AO3 Square Filled: S2 - Forcibly Adopted (4042) A5 - WTF (4034) Ship: Peter & Tony, Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Vampire AU, Avengers family, crack and humor, unapologetic cherry-picking of vampire lore Summary: Peter Parker has been having an awkward time as a brand new vampire. But now he's got Tony Stark whisking him off to meet a whole group of weird and hilarious vampires that live in Stark Tower and maybe this won't be so bad after all? Word Count: 5185

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Title: Prince Tony and the Red Headed Princess Collaborator: PoliZ Card Number: 4007 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - AU: Fairy Tale Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: fairytale elements, domestic fluff Summary: Morgan asks her daddy for a bedtime story with knights and monsters, and wizards and princesses.  With some help from Pepper, Tony is happy to oblige. Word Count: 866

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Title: A Bottle and a Half of Whiskey Later - An 1872 Playlist Collaborator: moosh Card Number: 4037 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S5 - Canon: 1872 Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: Playlist Summary: A playlist based off some of the songs that Tony sang in the comic. Word Count: N/A

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Title: The Gift of Jab Collaborator: dracusfyre Card Number: 4032 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - Dares/Bets Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: Pre-Relationship, Sparring Summary: For the ImagineTonyandBucky prompt: Hi! I'm always up for some sparring hotness, so how about Tony being present for physical training sessions (working/watching), but says no everytime Nat/Clint/Steve/etc invites him to do it. Rhodey laughing every time the team says that it's bc Tony doesn't want to embarass himself. Bucky suspects his BF is actually well-versed in hand-to-hand/martial arts/self-defense; so he gives himself the challenge of getting Tony onto the mat. When he does he ends up a)on the floor & b)really aroused. The fill is less horny than the prompt, sorry. Word Count: 2453

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Title: Lady in Red Collaborator: JehBeeEh Card Number:  4058 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Steve Rogers/Captain America Ship: Stony Rating: Mature Major Tags: Summary: “I GOT SCARED, ALRIGHT?”“Steve, sweetheart-"Steve kept pacing their room like he hadn’t even heard her. “I got so scared, you have no idea. And I know, okay. I know you can take care of yourself, and you don’t need me to save you or protect you, and it is sexy as all hell, but in that moment, I forgot all about that, and I was scared that I couldn’t protect you.” He collapsed on the bed, elbows on his knees and his head in his hands and Toni could hear him take long slow breaths.This had definitely not been how Toni envisioned their return home going. Word Count: 1176

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Title: i come as a woman, dark and open Collaborator: simi Card Number: 4066 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Resolve Ship: Toni/Steve/Bucky Rating: E Major Tags: Female Tony Stark, Regency AU, Misogyny, Racism, Explicit Sexual Content, Emotional Infidelity, Slurs, Marital Dissatisfaction. Summary: When Toni first meets Captain Steve Rogers at one of the biggest gatherings of the season, she is not impressed. On the other hand, his best friend, the charming James ‘Bucky’ Barnes, was an utter delight. Unfortunately for her, after a series of misunderstandings at said party, she is forced to accept Steve’s hand in marriage in order to save her family’s reputation. And while Toni never expected a fairy tale, she had always hoped that companionship would one day turn into something more. How was she to know that Steve was just as charmed by Bucky as she was? a.k.a. Steve and Toni get married to each other; there are more misunderstandings; Bucky is an absolute delight and possibly the saving grace for their marriage; and somehow, all three end up falling in love with each other in the process. Word Count: 25, 335

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Title: TSB October Discord Party Round Robin Fic Collaborators: rebelmeg 4034 Politzania 4007 EachPeachPearPlum 4003 summerpipedream 4045 Ducky 4013 Magica 4019 SomeSortofItalianRoast 4036 DarthBloodOrange 4010 Link: AO3 Square Filled: rebelmeg: A4 - Huddling for Warmth Politzania: A5 - Dog Park EachPeachPearPlum: S1 - Premonitions summerpipedream: A5 - Clint Barton/Hawkeye Ducky: R5 - Fortune Telling Magica: T2 - Fortitude SomeSortofItalianRoast: S2 - Magic DarthBloodOrange: T4 - Robots Ship: None Rating: Teen Major Tags: animal transformation, magic/witchcraft, Kate is a hero, Clint is a disaster human being Summary: Tony has been turned into a dog, and he is going to straight-up murder whoever made him a corgi. Word Count: 2634

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Title: I Know You Collaborator: iam93percentstardust Card Number: 4012 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - Sam Wilson/Falcon Ship: IronFalcon Rating: Gen Major Tags: Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Sickfic Summary: When Tony gets sick and hides away from everyone else, it's up to Sam to find his wayward boyfriend. Good thing he knows him so well. Word Count: 1316

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Title: Thriller - Michael Jackson Collaborator: monobuu Card Number: 4040  Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Murderchildren Ship: None Rating: Teen Major Tags: Creepy?  Summary: N/A Word Count: N/A

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Title: I’ll keep your brittle heart warm Collaborator: peachy Card Number: 4017  Link: AO3 Square Filled: K3 - Protectiveness Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Breaking up and making up, fluff, getting back together Summary: They got married when they were young, just twenty-four years old, despite the arguments from their friends that they should wait, that neither of them were ready for a commitment like marriage so young. Steve distinctly remembered Sam pointing out that the male brain isn’t even fully developed until age twenty-five. But they were young and passionate, so sure they’d found their perfect person that they could overcome anything and everything life threw at them. And it was true. For six months. Word Count: 4223

[finalgirlkateausten]

for the end of year ask game - all the prime numbers!

aaah thank you! let’s pretend I didn’t google a prime number chart for this. putting it under a cut bc it’s loooong

1. Favorite fic I wrote this year

Answered here!

2. Least favorite fic I wrote this year

Answered here!

3. Favorite line/scene I wrote this year

I’ve also answered this one, but I feel like I want to pick another. I’ll pick one I haven’t posted...

In truth, she doesn’t know if that’s a factor or not, but she hates this waiting, this holding out hope. She would much rather know firmly that Will doesn’t have a daemon; then she could begin working the problem, doing the math, figuring out a solution.

It’s from my Lost in Space daemon au, and I love it bc of Maureen’s characterization; I feel like I got it spot-on.

5. Most popular fic this year

Answered here!

7. Longest completed fic I wrote this year

Reunited! I actually am really proud of this one-- it’s a Psych au where Shawn and Juliet meet pre-canon and have a baby by the time the show rolls around. It was a lot of fun to write-- I’ve missed the vibes of s1-- and I hope to give it sequels soon!

11. Fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year

Okay, it’s gotta be a tie. Psych I definitely wrote the most for, and I really enjoy it-- love the characters, love the versatility of the show. I can write hardcore angst or ridiculous fluff and it all could fit into canon (mostly). Plus, this year brought us Lassie Come Home, which I’ve already written a plethora of fics set after it. I loooove Psych and I love the gang on the psych discord!

Second place (although it’s honestly a tie) is Call the Midwife. I go through Phases that make me wanna write for it. In January of this year when I finished s7 I was like “WHAT the fuck” and felt  strong need to open up a google doc and fix that mess. In October I watched s9 and got into a new OTP. After I already knew one of them wouldn’t be around for s10, bc I’m Like That. But I really love all the emotional plotlines and the wonderful characters. There is a barely-tapped well of inspiration there.

13. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year

Taylor Swift. She’s got music for everything. Writing fluff? Fearless. Romance? Lover. Angst? Folklore. Stream evermore, guys!

17. fics you’ll continue next year

Oh, there’s multiple... I’ll talk about ones on AO3 I wanna continue.

It All Happens for a Reason: my absolute baby. the fic I am the most proud of, ever. I haven’t written or updated it in a while (and I used to be so good at weekly updates! I’m sorry!) but I’m gonna get back to it, I promise!

Hush: I have more chapters ready to post, but my xmas fic took over its posting slot. I’m def gonna keep working on it though! It’s got everything you want from a drawn-out whump fic, including feels and realistic (I hope) recovery!

I Think I’ll Just Collapse Right Here, Thanks: valtrix whump fic set at the end of s9. I wanna keep working on it but the holidays have swamped me! More vintage lesbian feels coming 2021.

Nothing in the World That Could Stop It: I have PLANS for this one, my psych zombie apocalypse au! It’s loads of fun as it’s a genre I don’t write often. Although it’s also a  combination of other genres I write very often... the point is, it’s cool!

Wow, those are the only posted WIPs I still have to write! That makes me feel better, actually.

19. any new fics to start next year

oh man... ones I want to start next year? Well, probably a few sequels for Reunited (see above) and generally other fics that will go in existing series. If all goes well I’ll have several for my CTM canon divergence series! It’s quite similar to It All Happens for a Reason-- I’m taking canon and giving my favs babies and also not killing them

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

Off the top of my head, a sequel to Couldn’t Hide From the Thunder where Eve goes through her Teenage Transformation (we all had that year we wanted to be Completely Different) and cuts her hair based off an old picture of her mom. Sister Monica Joan (who is immortal, sorry, I don’t make the rules) consequently mistakes her for Barbara. Actually, multiple people do, but Sister Monica Joan is the hardest to explain otherwise.

So basically... okay I tried to put captain holt’s paaaain gif in there but tumblr doesn’t like that >:(

Thanks so much for all the asks! Send in end of the year fic asks!

[angrycowboy]

A couple weeks ago, I decided that for my birthday, I was going to attempt to put together some of my favorite things this fandom has created. I say *some* because this is an incomplete list. There are so many wonderful and talented creators in this fandom that this list would go on forever otherwise. If I have I ever reblogged something of yours, flailed in the tags, reached out to via DM or sent you a message, talked on discord or even Twitter, know that I love and adore not only the things you’ve created, but you yourself as part of this fandom.

And now, without further ado…

FIC

memento by @nielrian

I was obsessed with the idea of coming up with the backstory to the photo we see Michael look at in 1x02. When was it taken? Does Alex have a copy? Did Alex bring his with him to the other side of the world? How often do you think Michael looked at his own copy? And Nicki took a little prompt of mine, and wrote an achingly gorgeous piece about one photograph, and it’s significance to Malex in less than 700 words.

a little something to make me sweeter by @partsofthesamecosmicbeing

Camluca + D.E.B.S. is like a recipe for the perfect fic. I freaking love the movie, and when I saw this fic pop up on tumblr one day? I couldn’t even contain my excitement (seriously, the tags on my reblog were just me flailing wildly because it felt like Ly had reached into my brain and written something I wanted to read before I even knew it myself). Casting Alex as Scud and including Malex in the mix just made me love this fic even more.

And the Sun Rose Red by @michaels-blackhat

A Miluca Kissing Kate Barlow AU? SIGN. ME. UP. I adore Christi, and I adore her writing. One day she was like, “miluca kissing kate barlow au?” and the only appropriate answer to that is HECK YES. Michael/Maria is also a dynamic that just works for this AU, given their canon relationship, and Michael’s penchant for fixing things and Maria’s desire to have someone just be there for her. *runs off to re-read fic*

something broken in this town by @irolltwenties

Okay so, Meagn is one of my favorite people in this fandom. We kinda ramble at each other, and one day this happened where she started talking about the parents. About the relationship Jesse, Jim, and Mimi had as kids, as teenagers, as young adults. How they got sucked into aliens and government conspiracies. How they became the people we see and hear about in S1. If you’ve ever had the privilege of talking with Meagn, you know how amazing her mind is, how she takes these characters and the mere scraps we’ve been given in canon with some of them, and creates entire lives for them, and it’s beautiful.

open up my eager eyes by @haloud

It took me a while to get into Mylex, but apparently it was just because I hadn’t read Hal’s series yet. I’m usually terrible about multi-shipping, but once I find a writer that nails the characters down, I could probably read anything they write. And Hal writes all three of them perfectly. (I mean, Hal is just a phenomenal writer in general, but I digress.)

META

Michael’s bisexuality by @chasingshhadows

There’s been a lot said in the fandom about Michael’s bisexuality and how it’s been portrayed. While the show was airing, I was having trouble finding people who felt the same way I did about how it was being shown - that it wasn’t problematic, but that it was good and accurate. Not to mention that it made me feel seen. I tried writing out what I was feeling but nothing sounded right - until Chasing wrote this piece. It was everything I’d been trying to find the words to express, and it remains one of my absolutely favorite pieces of her writing.

Semiotics of Roswell by @hannah-writes

Hannah did this amazing thing where she took the camera work of RNM and analyzed the shit out of it. And in some moments of doubt, where I was still worried about Malex because of the direction the show had been taking, Hannah’s semiotics (or better known as “Why Malex is Endgame”) pointed out how the camerawork for Malex and Echo is very similar, not to mention deliberate as fuck.

Maria Can’t Catch a Break by @ober-affen-geil

I adore Maria Deluca. She has gotten such a bad rap in the fandom because of the “love triangle” business. But fandom in general has done her dirty in that without removing the shipper goggles it is very hard to see that the show has established Maria as a character in her own right, just as much as it has with Kyle and Alex. And that’s why I love Riley’s meta about everything that Maria is dealing with, what she’s going through, and what it’s been like for her to be the one left behind 10 years ago.

GIFSETS/EDITS

i would know him in death, at the end of the world by @vlamito

I don’t even remember now who told me I had to read The Song of Achilles - it was pre-RNM hyperfixation, but I absolutely loved it (I definitely cried while reading it). And then I saw this gifset, oh mah gawd. Mich just has this ability to find quotes from other media and fit them seemlessly into Malex. And the moments she chooses for her gifsets are utter perfection. I think everyone has probably seen this now, but it’s a gifset I just keep going back to over and over again.

Are you okay? by @maxortecho

So I adore Echo. There is something about their softness, the way they look at each other, the way they act around each other that is just beautiful. Mo made this set, and pointed out in the tags that Liz pushes her arms underneath Max like she’s going to hug him, and it broke me. Like, I thought that scene in the finale was heartbreaking enough, but pointing that out? It hurts and I loved it.

Leading Ladies Appreciation by @lsobelevans

Lucie does some amazing things with color that truly make her edits stand out, and stick out in your mind. And it’s one of the things I love about her gif sets especially - it makes them uniquely hers, her own signature if you will. And this edit is no different - the splashes of color, the texture used for the background, the highlighting of the leading ladies is stunning work. 

Same page/Different book by @bisexualalienblast

Let’s just say that picking ONE gifset of Amanda’s is an impossibility for me, okay? Amanda’s sets are the reason I wanted to learn how to gif - her gifs are beautifully colored, they’re crisp, she always picks the best fonts, they’re smooth, and her ideas are stellar. Anyway, she more recently made this set, which just so perfectly illustrates Malex’s issue IN TWO GIFS. That’s it. Their entire problem in S1, right there. Beautiful.

VIDEO

Juice | Women of Roswell by @isakvaltersnake

Katie is a wizard with the video editing. She’s going to be a force when we’ve got more than one season of footage to play around with. And this video is fun and hot and LOOK AT THE WOMEN. They are smart, they are kind, they are flirty, they have agency, and they’re all hella sexy.

Weird Science | Liz & Michael - Science Bros by @soberqueerinthewild

Hands down, this is one of my favorite videos from the fandom, and definitely one of my favorite things Christina has made (though I basically love everything she does). It’s silly and ridiculous and 100% fun. She found every bit of footage in S1 and matched it to the song perfectly. It’s impossible to watch this video and not smile and laugh - it will instantly brighten your day.

MISC

RNM Texts From Last Night by @audreyblanche

I am slightly biased here, because while Irena came up with the idea, I encouraged her to actually go through with it, promising her that the fandom would enjoy it. So because of that it’s next to impossible for me to pick a favorite out of all the ones she’s done for this series (though the one where we settled on the Camluca ship name, as well as one I specifically requested for Malex come close), and I’m hoping that with the new season (and when she returns from hiatus), she can pick this up again.

[baskervilleshund]

4,5 years of Gotham in my life♥

Wow my emotions these last days. I’m not much of a text poster on this site but when Gotham ended I really felt I wanted to write this!

Gotham has been a huge part of my life for so long now. 4 years and 7 months since the first episode aired, that’s some time gosh. And so much has happened during this journey! I just wanna mention some memorable things during these years. Like remember the pre-s02x09 excitement?? And other stuffs, ah here we go!

The first trailer made me SO EXCITE, I had wanted more batman villains content for years since I have always found the batman villains squad so interesting and good and unique characters, there is so much to explore here! And so the Gotham trailer came and I just OH MY GOD this is exactly what I want!! And so it started and it was amazing. My first love was Ed, it took him his first scene in ep1 to make me go totally THIS IS MY FAV! More eps went on and I required more Ed content. But then Oswald slowly grew on me kinda out of nowhere like I wasn’t expecting it. And when amazing ep7 aired it just hit down on me from the sky, like it does when I know I got a new obsession/fandom. Oswald’s amazing scenes in ep7 and I went ”Okay this is it, I’M DEEP INTO THIS NOW AND I LOVE IT!”. In exactly THIS↓ scene/moment I basically said those words out loud and realized this is my life now, ugh also one of my fav looks I miss the bangs:

Shortly after ep7 I started shipping Nygmobblepot, since we knew who these characters were and who they will end up being it made SO much sense in this show, they were like the two familiar main villains in kinda the same age and I also loved them both so I mean it was obvious for me. Man in the beginning we were so very few in the shipping Nygmob pond, in the OCEAN of Gobblepot. It was a bit of a struggle sometimes, ppl wrote hate on my Nygmob posts n stuff shrug. And I just didn’t get how not more ppl could see it? It would make more sense if this were new characters like they hadn’t even met but since we knew this is Riddler and Penguin it just was fate for them to cross paths soon enough! We needed Nygmob content! I started making tons of my own AU:s since if the show wouldn’t give us content I would do it.

BUT we had Robin & Cory with us! Reminder that Cory invented the shipname after 5 minutes and Robin & Cory’s amazing twitter activity during s1 especially I will always remember as a fav. Remember when they we’re so into roleplaying Nygmob and spoke how Ed & Os loved each other and all sorts of things. All about going to The Foxglove together and stuff. Ugh it was amazing, I miss their interactions.  

In this very smol pond is when one day my shining star @conscience-killer (aka okimi79)  approached me, with this ♥ ”Sometimes I feel we’re the only Nygmobblepot shippers in the world…well apart from Robin and Cory. We should have a secret handshake or something.”

And man did we get a secret handshake! Gosh MY DEAR OKIMI! That I up til this day since then has spoken with like everyday for 4,5 years, you are amazing ♥ And in that time of so few shippers it felt even more special, to have  someone else out there as obsessed as me. I’m so grateful we found each other at exactly that time and we’ve been through so much on this journey ♥.

When Nygmob in spring finally had their first scene it was so amazing and I have no idea how many times I have watched that scene to this day, and also with that the ship grew a bit yas!!

Let’s jump forward a bit. NYC Comic Con 2015 in fall, one of my fav Robin & Cory cons/interview times! Because the legendary ep 2x9 was soon upon us and OMG remember how excite they were in those interviews!?! And THEN, that fkn night THE episode aired. I couldn’t believe it was real, it was EVERYTHING we had dreamed of!!! SO MUCH NYGMOB CONTENT and so in character and gosh. Man their season 2 relationship is just so beautiful and I love it til this day and 2x9 is forever my favorite episode because it meant EVERYTHING for us shippers and more people also started seeing the connection between Nygmob and so more ppl started to make content and join in!

A time after another shining star came into my life, @constant-sinner (aka (riddlelvr) ♥ This amazing person and artist! And together with her and okimi I am part of the best trash family of three and I can’t believe I’ve been a mom (yet i’m the youngest but i’m fashion fur coat mom okay) to these trash sinners for like 4 years. ♥

Okay but remember all INSANE SMAYLOR CONTENT BEFORE SEASON 3!!? Man that was also one of the best times I had during these years. God they were so excite for their relationship in s3 and WEREN’T WE ALL! And omg Comic Con. I had my fkn header for 3 years soon lol, man that moment I remember seeing the signing booth stream all casual and Robin & Cory goes “Smaaylor!! Nygmobblepot!!! ;))” And I’m just wait WHUT omg. Their press tours with Sean is something I’ll miss even more than the episodes, always such a joy seeing those three together!

And when season 3 started it was just insane. To be honest how their relationship grew in s3 that’s how I expected it to grow after their meeting in s1, it made sense already back then. Ed admiring Oswald and sneaking to his club and Oswald would be a huge part of Ed’s journey to become the Riddler but ah well, I did my best with my AU:s back then!

And then s3 came and Gotham EXPLODED and I had no idea where all million ppl suddenly came from lol. It became huge. But since it still feels kinda close to this day (2,5 yrs though man), my most nostalgic feels will always be over s1-2 so I’m not gonna write so much about the season 3-5 times in this text. My closest to heart milestones is during the first years and now that I’ve seen all episodes I still think season 1 is the best overall, except the lack of Nygmob content ofc ;)

I’ve not just felt love for the show ofc, the show isn’t perfect. There has been serious flaws and bad writing and plot drops. Tbh s4 I just felt so NOPE about? 22 eps of waste…Like Ed’s plot for example like he barley had his own plot what happened? And we also have the q*eerbait Nygmob issue obviously. I have also felt the show has been a bit childish being -helloo- GOTHAM city we’re talking about? I think it would have been much better off with a MA-rating tbh to properly tell certain stories. After s4 though I’m glad in s5 Nygmob finally got some proper screen time being together and in character!! Like that’s how their relationship should have been from beginning of season 4, or season 1 if u ask me lol but ya know!

BUT I LOVE THIS SHOW, the amazing actors and characters and scenery and costumes!! Ed, Oswald, Robin & Cory will ofc always have the most special place in my heart ♥ The Nygmob journey in the show has meant so much to me to follow it from day one and I never knew how much this show would mean to me when I started back in the day.

This show. And not just the show itself but my journey and life around it!!? So much has happened. For one example I had made a bit of gifs before but Gotham really got me into gif making, and it’s been a joy sharing content and my Nygmob AU will always be among my most fun things I’ve done, it was like if they ain’t gonna give us enough content I WILL. It’s a fun way of gif making to manip scenes to create something new! And today I still enjoy making gifs, as you probably know heh. Thanks so much for all nice comments and reblogs through all these years ya’ll!! It warms my heart and I love to read reblog tags! 

I have been at con and got to meet Robin, enjoyed so many interviews and promos, chatted with wonderful people. Every Friday night I have been up in my Europe timezone at 2am to live watch the show, the workdays after has been a bit of a struggle of being tired with going to bed like 5am lol but man it’s been so nice to follow it when it airs!

Watching together with my dearest @conscience-killer and @constant-sinner . Two of the best that happened to me during these years. These two people that I’ve spoken with like everyday for 4 years! Through Gotham finding two of my dearest friends in my life. Watching the show together and screaming, crying, laughing during this journey, about not just the show but EVERYTHING in life. They also are amazing writers and artists ♥ And also helped me endless times with gif caption when my non-native brain trying to write gif captions at 3am after the episode lol. All my love to you both ♥

THANKS TO ALL AMAZING PEOPLE that impacted me over these years. The cast and nice fandom people! My dearest @conscience-killer and @constant-sinner. And I also wanna mention dear @millicentcordelia and @selene-volturo that are amazing ppl that have been here with me since the very beginning of season 1. And they have always been so down to earth even during the stormiest periods of this show’s existence ♥ I’m so glad we’ve shared this LONG journey!

And also hugs to my dear mutual fandom friends that I’ve shared hours of conversations with over the years. Some of us maybe don’t speak as much nowadays and some of us have gone separate ways with new interests but I hope you know who you all are, regardless if we spoke yesterday or 2015. You have made my fandom time a joy!

I’m actually okay with the show ending now you know. Ofc it’s a bit sad but as I said I felt s4 was kinda stomping around in the same spot and even s5 had some fillers like they didn’t have more to do to push the story forward? The last ep was a nice easter egg wrap up for this LONG journey. And I mean shows live on with fan content, and who knows maybe it will return somehow? But it feels good they told us it would end so I was prepared for this and to say ”goodbye”. But it’s not goodbye because content will continue on this site and I’ll continue re-enjoy this show!

This is 4,5 years. In 2 pages, I could prob write 20 but ah, but i felt I got to to summary the most important things for me over these years ♥. This show and stuff that came with it will always be such a big part of my life, ALL LOVE AND HUGS!

[bcbdrums]

7- In the end how do you feel about all of this? How do you feel about his character and about the role it has on the show, how do you view the character overall?

Whoa.  Okay, I’ll paste all the parts of your ask here so people can read…

“Hi, sorry about this but this ask is going to get long, I would like to know your thoughts about the following: You have talked plenty about Shego, what about the other characters? Like  Ron how do you view him/interpret him as a character? It’s funny because I think he’s full of contradictions but to me that’s what makes his character  so endearing and human,Something that annoys me about the Kp fandom is that he’s either characterized as: very stupid, purely used for comedic relief (now I understand better your opinion about S4 flanderizing him, although I still disagree in some regards, but more a that later) or they attempt to make him “that” kind of badass, Op character.And I don’t believe neither of those characterizations composited his character as a whole, I see Ron as the type of character who posses a lot of potential but is more content with standing on the sidelines, I often see him being characterized as dumb but it’s proven by the series that he is quiet intelligent but just doesn’t applies himself on the things that are uninteresting to him. And I *hate* the fics that tries to portray him all badass because c’mom he isn’t like that, I think one of the aspects I enjoy about his character the most is that he’s the one shown to be the most  openly vulnerable, with his flaws and fears being very visible, and usually these are the things that get eradicated in fanwork Now about season 4… I gotta admit it was a mixed bag for me, with some weak episodes here and there,  in terms of character the season was more Ron focused dedicating some of the episodes on showing how he was maturing. The episodes with his little sister being my personally favorite ones, because his nutring personality shines the most in them And I liked that season showed him applying himself more often with new scenarios being thrown to both Kim and Ron But on a downside at the same time more so than often this season made Ron the butt of a lot of jokes, while simultaneously amping some of his most negative traits for comedic effect I see why you’d think he was more competent in early seasons, but as far as his development went I liked how the show handled things In the  end how do you feel about all of this? How do you feel about his character and about the role it has on the show, how do you view the character overall?”

            All-righty then…  For starters, in a canon where sci-fi/fantasy are legitimate things and are significant plot elements (genetic manipulation by DNAmy, shapeshifting by Camille Leon, that lake-depleting weapon Drakken had, pirate ghost possession, aliens, mind control, attitudinating and moodulating, time travel, mystical monkey power, and more) you have to leave room for the good old “deus ex machina.”  In a universe where the above things are established though, can you call it OP or deus ex machina?  No I don’t think so…  KP’s world isn’t the real world.  It has elements of realism (the best way to hook an audience–the human element) but also elements of sci-fi/fantasy which appeal to a certain demographic.  Since THIS is the canon, you can’t cry foul over the use of canon elements.               All that said…  Ron is not OP in canon, I do not see it.  Prove me wrong with evidence.  If people choose to make him OP in their fanfics, well…it’s fanfiction.  People can do what they want.  Don’t like, don’t read.               As to the comic relief element and his overall character arc…  Well, in S1 they were figuring out who the characters were.  Kim was much more snarky and disapproving of Ron, and he demonstrated a lot more actually useful mission skills and a lot less fear.  All of this gradually morphed throughout the series into Ron having less skill (being the comic relief) and Kim respecting him more, but…not really using him on missions.               If you’re looking for an in-universe explanation for it all, here’s my headcanon.  Ron becomes sillier the more and more he realizes he likes Kim, and also as a way of avoiding reality (the center will not hold).  Teenagers think and act a certain way.  Do you remember being one?  (I’m assuming you’re an adult.)  And Kim respecting him more comes from ignoring her own growing feelings and focusing on everything else in her life.  Plus, growing comfortable with their friendship as they’re teens.  I mean, think about it:  best friends since pre-K and then BOOM–puberty hits them both and body chemistry changes and brain chemistry changes and they start realizing that they’re not the center of the universe and other humans with feelings exist and…  Really, her early-series treatment of him makes sense from that standpoint as does his becoming sillier and sillier.  Plus, insecurity about his monkey powers could make him act sillier too, to hide the insecurity.  I was very content with how it all turned out in the end for both characters.  I was hoping for an S5 to give us more character development for Kim, which logically would happen for her in college rather than high school.              Now the real-world explanation, is that the show’s writers were still discovering who the characters were in S1, had it together in S2, decided that Kim/Ron would be endgame in S3 and wrote towards that, and then were surprised with an S4 and so came up with various arcs that concluded certain plot details (mystic monkey power) and focused on issues that Disney probably wanted them to focus on (dating, cool clothes–yes, I’ve been to modeling auditions; the world is truly that shallow; whatever makes money, you know?  The healthy eating episode was probably an apology for the materialism of everything else, but it failed miserably).               So…there you have it.  Oh, and Will Friedle probably contributed to Ron’s becoming more of a comic character.  Basically I agree with you.  And…again, fanworks are just that.  Don’t like, don’t read.  I exercise that right constantly.  Let the fans fanaticize!    

[norwegian-salmon]

Hi, will you give me the chance to re-introduce myself?

Hey, you. I know that you’ll take this as a cringe gesture as fuck. But honestly i really don’t know how to take care of the mess that i’ve caused beside doing this.

You know really well that i’m not good with talking or saying the right words, right? But actually when i’m writing things down, especially in this tumblr. This is the real me and every words will come out as easy as a booger come out of our nose.

First thing first, lemme say this quickly tho. Welcome to my sanctuary place, Elang. In here you can see what’s really inside my head, because this is the place where i pour everything that’s been stuck and bugging on my mind. You can go scrolling through the bottom of this page if you want to read it all. Well  perhaps you can stop when you reach the picture of me and my junior high friends because after that pict you’ll just see postingan tumblr a la a la yg ku reblog disini. 

Because of the mess that i’ve caused, will you give me the chance to re-introduce myself? hopefully your answer will be yes.

Hi, my name is Tiara Syafitri Putri. I have a lot of nicknames, every school that i’ve gone to always give me a new nickname. Mulai dari SD orang2 mostly manggil aku tiara/tir tapi sejak kelas 4 SD temenku ngasih panggilan Titarax, udh kaya kalpanax aja nama w, i know it’s super riddiculous nickname yg akupun gatau alesannya kenapa dia manggil aku itu. Katanya biar keren aja, yaa you know lah anak-anak SD pinggiran jaman-jaman alay kaya apaan.

Next, when i was in junior high. I’ve got a crush on someone named Ghalib. Idk why but i’m always attracted to someone that has been labeled as “the fun guy” orang yang selalu dianggap sebagai penghidup suasana yang selalu bisa aja bikin semua orang ketawa atau join in the convo. Someone just like you ehe. Yaa long story short, meskipun sempet hampir di tembak di Taman Lalu Lintas kemudian akhirnya gajadi, tau-tau minggu depannya doi jadian sama orang lain. This guy give me a nickname “Teteh Tiara” dan yaa jadi ada beberapa temen SMP ku yang sampe sekarang kalo ketemu manggilnya “Teteeehh” kecuali  4 dari 6 sahabat2ku waktu SMP manggilnya tetep ti/tir.

Annnd this is the last nickname that i have from when i was in high school. Well you actually already know the story. The nickname is Botir alias bocah tiara/bola tiara karna temen-temenku waktu kelas X menganggap aku kaya bocah pas lari-lari dan aku bulat katanya, padahal waktu itu aku belum segendut skrg lol.

Okay enough about nicknames, aku lahir di Bandung tgl 1 Februari 1997 di RS Boromeus, jam 18.30an dan dulu hampir dinamain Maghribi karna lahirnya pas maghrib. Untung tidak jadi. Nama Tiara itu diambil dari nama Ibu + ayah, ti dari tuti arnya dari suharto, a di akhir cuman imbuhan aja biar ada jejak sundanya katanya karna kalo nama kakakku jawa bgt. Aku punya kakak 1 orang, namanya Tito Septianhadi Putra, dia 3 tahun diatasku yg mana kelahiran 94 berarti. And he was born on the same month as you, 21st of September to be exact. He had a girlfriend named Sariva dipanggilnya ipeh, and she’s younger than me karna dia kelahiran 98 which is why i never call her “ka”

Ujung-ujungnya w bahas nama lagi he maafkan. 

Rumahku di kompleks pharmindo yg mana cuman 3 km jaraknya dari rumah kamu, used to live in Jl Borobudur 5 no 8A yang kemarin aku liatin di google street. But there are few things that might cause my family to move from there dalam waktu dekat. Let’s pray that the new place won’t be far from here so we can still say that we live close to each other.

Now it’s gonna be about the stages of life that i’ve been through. Schools.

Aku TK di TK dayanusa tahun 2001an mungkin, been offered to go straight to elementary school but i reject it because my brother goes there for 2 years, and i simply wanna go through the same thing as him. I used to adore him so much tho back then. Meskipun sampe skrg juga i still adore him, tapi udh ngga sampe yang memaksakan harus melewati fase hidup yg sama persis kaya dia.

SD di SDN Tunas Harapan 2003 - 2009, this is where all the drama happens. You can read one of my posts in here for more details. Because this drama have been the root of my trust issue and the problem that i’m always having when i’m making new friends, and how to maintain everything with an old friend.

SMPku di SMPN 2 Bandung 2009 - 2012, been the greatest time of my life. Bahkan sekarang aku sampe mikir apa jangan-jangan golden age aku itu waktu jaman smp ini??? Karena everything is so great in here, temen-temennya, kehidupannya, kerajinan akunya. I really love those times. Ada drama pun emang drama kehidupan yg mostly ttg love life tai kucing tapi SERU ABIISSS.

SMA as you already know it di SMAN 3 Bandung 2012 - 2015, not really much of a great time karna hidupku dipenuhi dengan belajar - bimbel - belajar. Dan disini kayanya masa-masa love life ku kaya tai alias yaudah gitu-gitu aja dan pernah jadi periode terlama bgt dimana aku ngga deket sama cowo sama sekali.

Terakhir, one of the mess that’s causing everything turns out to the current situation.

Unchpad, almamaterku tercinta~ the place where i actually might meet you in real life. Aku salah satu member di FK Unpad angkatan 2015. Lulus S1 tahun 2019 bulan Februari, dan selesai belajar disini 2021 Februari kemarin. Dan sekarang aku sedang menjalani masa pre-internship di RS Siloam. 

You know what, after i wrote all this things down, my mind got clearer about the reason why i’m not trying to stop all the lies that i’ve been telling you from the start. One of the reason is that because your brother is also a doctor, and i admit that i’m such a coward because i’m afraid that you might not wanting to be friends with me if you know that i’ve been lying about few things.

The reason why i lie about my batch or age, goblok bgt emang gue, alesan gue sesimpel karna gue mau mencoba fit in sama lo semua waktu di unpadfess. Karna waktu pertama gue join dan ngobrol sama orang orang, ada salah satu yg join angkatan 14 dan jadinya itu ditreat sangat dituakan gitu. Terus waktu perkenalan kan kita hanya ngasih clue ttg prabu angkatan kita. Aku bilang “prabu dengan abah iwan” karna kukira yg ada abah iwannya angkatan aku doang. Ternyata di 2017 pun prabunya ada abah iwan. Dan yaa kegoblokan dan ketololan gue, adalah gue mikir yaudah iya iya aja dah, belum tentu juga gue bakal temenan atau ketemu sama orang orang disini.

I never thought that you will stay by my side till this point lang. Back when you said that “yaudahlah ya ra kita gini dulu aja sampe enek” my mind keep telling me that after all of that you’ll leave in like probably 2 weeks at most. You know what, maybe the reason why i keep lying is not because i don’t trust you. The problem is me, after everything that i’ve been through until now. I learned that people do really come and go. But my mind is taking it too seriously, causing myself to always think “ah anjir paling bentar lagi juga lo pergi” “this is all too good to be true, i don’t deserve this kind of happiness. Just watch and remember, in a short time this guy will also leaves you all alone lol” “both of you are not going anywhere, the situation will turns out just like what happened in the past, he’ll leaves without taking a glance back at you Tir. Well you just don’t deserve to be loved by a guy as nice as elang Tir. He treats all of his girl friends the same as you so you better be prepared if it turns out that he doesn’t have any feelings toward you at all”

And one of the biggest reason why i keep lying probably because my mind think that i’m the only one that started to develop any feelings for you, for us, when we were back in Nangor. Wow my mind is actually a fucked up mess.

Elang, let me get into a conclusion about all of this for you. Please know that the problem is not you, not that i don’t trust you. The problem is me. It all just me and my fucked up mind.

Hopefully this shitty writing might helps in telling you what’s going on and what’s really on my mind, and i hope i don’t waste this chance to re-introduce who i really am to you in vain.

i might write another post after this, but yea i think this is enough for now

[grrlinthefireplace]

Hey Claire! Hope you are feeling awesome today. I was wondering if you had any fanfic recs for The 100 fic that is set in canon-verse? (or at least canon setting if it was written a while ago?) I'm not a modern AU gal and I've had trouble finding fic that doesn't take place in a setting that's wildly different from canon. Big fan of you and Meta Station xx

Hi friend!  I have lots of recs for you!

MY FIC

KABBY

All For One and One For All (pre-series & s1, no smut)

Power Play (S1, post-pilot)

Don’t Say His Name (s2)

The Scars That Show (post-s2 finale)

Haiplana and sequel Skaihefa: The King In Exile (S3)

Lights Below the Water (313-316 & post-finale)

Forget-Me-Not (post-S3 finale)

Ten Kisses (post-S3 finale)

Celestial Navigation (S4, between 401 and 402)

The Other Side (s4, no smut)

DOCTOR MECHANIC

Have a Little Faith In Me (S1 & S2)

I Sing the Body Electric (post-S2)

Liftoff (S1 & S4)

KANE/ABBY/RAVEN OT3

Ten Hours (Abby/Kane/Raven, post-S2 finale)

Triangulation (Abby/Kane/Raven, s3 time jump)

Raven’s New Toy (Abby/Kane/Raven, s3 time jump)

Sweet About Me (Kane/Raven, s3)

KANE/ABBY/BELLAMY

when you are close to me, I shiver (Abby/Bellamy/Kane, S3)

There’s Something There (Kane/Bellamy/Abby, post-S3 finale)

yea, though i walk through the valley of the shadow (Kane/Bellamy/Abby/Pike, s4)

OTHER PAIRINGS

Military Precision (Kane/Bellamy, pre-s1)

Trustful Hands (Kane/Bellamy, post-S3 finale)

Untouchable (Abby/Lexa, s2)

A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall (Kane/Harper, s4)

pull you up from the ash and the earth (Harper/Raven, s3 time jump)

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Like It (Abby/Major Byrne, s2)

OTHER FICS I LOVE

My two besties @abigailkanes and @brittanias both write fantastic Kabby fic, much of which is set in canon.  Faves of Sam’s include: i’m sorry that i couldn’t get to you (the 409 Kabby reunion we didn’t get), simmer down and pucker up (post-s2, Abby/Kane/Raven OT3), and hush hush (keep it down now) (Arkadia Kabby smut).  Faves of Brittany’s include: dokwocha (post-s3, featuring Grounder ghost stories!), all we know (post-s2 Kabby where Jaha’s in love with Abby) and femme au phlox (s3, all about the art in Kane’s bedroom!)

a voice straight to god by @knowlesian (Kabby, S1 post-culling) is amazing and brilliant and if you haven’t read it you MUST.  I adore her.  Other faves include my own vineyard I have not kept (s3, Abby/Bellamy/Murphy) and slow down what you can’t control (s1, Abby/Kane/Pike).

Honestly anything by lelawry on Ao3 will be great - mostly Kabby, almost all canon, and I’ve never read one thing I didn’t love.  A few I have bookmarked include Uneven Odds, Already Almost, the things you said, and 15 ways to build a life.

I adore simplyprologue, who writes some of my fave canon Kabby fics.  Full disclosure, I have not yet read Seven Against Thebes, which is the one that EVERYONE WILL TELL YOU YOU MUST READ, but it’s endorsed by everyone whose opinion I trust.  Some of my other faves include love around the clock, a disquiet follows my soul, and for every matter under heaven.

it’s enough just to make you go crazy by @slackru (Kabby smut one-shots set all over Becca’s island by the members of the Kabby Slack chat; I wrote the hot tub sex!)

Troublemaker by startyourbenjens (s1, Abby/Kane/Jake OT3) THIS FIC IS SO HOT AND SO AMAZING

LISTEN I NORMALLY DON’T LIKE ALPHA/BETA STUFF EITHER BUT AQUIVER IS REALLY REALLY HOT OKAY DON’T @ ME (Kabby, s1)

Teasing, Tents and Cheesy Romances is pure canon Kabby fluff, set around the s3 time jump, and I adore it.

Some of my favorite canon Doctor Mechanic fics include we’ve been lonely too long by thecrackshiplollipop (post-S2 finale), the most important thing of all by astano (s2 or s3, I think?), and the new old-fashioned way by evandre (post-s2 CANON CHRISTMAS FIC!)

okay now STICK WITH ME I KNOW THIS SEEMS KIND OF OUT THERE but a taste of heaven by crackshiplollipop is s3 time jump Abby/Octavia smut and it’s FANTASTIC

WHEW THAT’S A LOT

Anyway hopefully this will get you started and help you find some new authors to follow!  Also there are like a dozen new 10k+ Kabby fics coming in July as part of the @slackru Big Bang challenge, and I know at least a couple of them are canon (including mine, which will be six-year finale time jump bunker fic).  Enjoy!

[l0nd0ninnit]

Bonkai Reunion 8 x14 (Part 3)

 How the Tables Turn 

I want you to take a moment to focus individually on Kai and Bonnie’s expression in the gif below as I believe it is one of the most important moments between them in the scene. And it affects how the last bit of their conversation plays out

Kai has the look of desperation on his face. As I said in part 2, Kai is not thinking. He doesn’t care how he appears to Bonnie because he will do anything in that moment to prevent her from leaving him.  In spite of being chained, poor baby attempts to move the chair closer to her as if that will help him...that is how much he wants her stay. Meanwhile, Bonnie 

Bonnie is like...

Yes, Kai? You want me to...what? Stay? I can’t hear you! I want to hear you beg for it...

Bonnie seems to really enjoy the power she has over Kai. She seems to enjoy it a bit too much and it is in this moment that I thought, what is she playing at? why is she there? Not that I am complaining, I love that they are interacting, but she could have went about this a different way. It was only yesterday that she wanted nothing to do with him and now she is practically dangling herself in front of him like...

I know you wanted to see me Kai so here I am....I know it has been years, but don’t I look beautiful? Don’t I just exude confidence and a hint of mystery? Am I still you weakness? 

You can’t have me tho...oh, you thought this would end with hate sex?...I don’t know where you could have possibly got that impression. No, no, no, I am just here to tell you that I created another prison world for you. In fact, we are in it right now and this time you can’t escape. 

If Bonnie didn’t want to see him, she could have wrote all she wanted to say in a letter and left it for him to read and yet....there she was, standing in front of him. Why? 

Yes, I know. The writers need Bonnie to be there in order for her to learn about Katherine and then tell the rest of the gang. I understand that, but she seems to go to such lengths just to tell him that he is fucked. She devised this elaborate plan where she has to make an ascendant, create a prison world and find out what song he hates the most....all of this requires time and energy. 

I have to reiterate the importance of her location choice, the chains and her behaviour because it is all extra. Kai must have taught her well because that is something he would do. 

I mean Bonnie literally makes an alcoholic beverage for him and puts it on the table so that if he wakes up and looks to his left, he sees it.

And then she had to think about which chair she would chain him to and where she would be when he wakes up...I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought about what she would say to him and how she would say it before she turned the music on. 

You would think she would just kill him again and get on with it. Why waste time on Kai when she could spend that time with her boyfriend in the dimension she created?  

If I had to choose between making someone I hate suffer more than they already had in Hell and spending time with my boyfriend, who was killed recently and is the love of my life, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter.

It is almost as if she was compelled. She wanted to tease Kai and see the power she has over him. She needed to see his face as she told him the news.

Is it possible that Bonnie actually misses playing these games with Kai? That perhaps he has become her favourite opponent? And that no one can give her this feeling of satisfaction that Kai gives her when she beats him? 

I know it seems strange for her to feel that way when she supposedly hates him, but there is no other explanation for why she would bother

And this is what Kai sees in the first gif  that Bonnie really enjoys what she is doing to him He is in mid-sentence when he realises this.  Unfortunately, we will never know what he was about to say  It could have been:

I--I don’t want you to leave me  I--I want you to stay 

or he may have wanted to tell Bonnie about Katherine but offer to help defeat her 

Again, we will never know because when Kai sees that look, suddenly he changes  Kai is like....

Wait...she wants me to beg and plead for her to stay. She knows I have a soft spot for her and she enjoys seeing me suffer. Well, I am not going to give her the satisfaction. I am NOT going to appear weak. I am NOT going to show her that I care. I am Kai fucking Parker. If she is going to play me like that, I am going to make her feel what I felt. I am going to top her last move. She thinks she has checkmate me? I am going to turn this checkmate into a stalemate. 

The change is so sudden that Bonnie is now curious as to what is happening

Why has he stop begging?

Now it is time for Kai to make his final move...

Does this look like a genuine laugh to you? Do you think Kai thinks what he is saying is actually funny? Maybe he would have thought it funny if he was in a different situation. If it would somehow change the fact that he will still be in a prison world by the end of this conversation, then maybe he could really laugh at the MF gang for thinking Hell no longer exists, but he can’t change his fate. 

No matter what he says to Bonnie, he is still in a prison world. So you know what this is...this is a hollow laugh. We all know that laugh. The laugh someone uses when they are hurt and try to play it off just before they say their response which they hope will make the other person hurt more. 

This laugh is used as a ploy to get Bonnie to turn around and to erase his moment of vulnerability. To pretend it never happened and make it look like it was all an act leading up to this moment.  

As if he had the advantage the entire time. 

And it works...Bonnie has been pulled back into the chess game, but this time the power has been passed to Kai. Now she is the one that waits for him to reveal whatever information he has been holding on to 

However, Bonnie has been playing this game long enough with him to know that in order for her not to hand over all the power back to Kai, she has to maintain her composure. She must not show that she is vulnerable like he had a few seconds ago. She has to turn around and put on a face that says 

Go on, go on....say it! I can promise you that no matter what you say, I will never release you from your chains and let you leave this prison world 

She must hide that she is annoyed. She must hide that she is afraid of what he might say next. She must hide the fact that she knew the risk she was taking when she decided to play the game this way, yet chose to do it anyway, because she too revels in winning the game as much as Kai does. 

This will never be shown on TVD, but maybe in a fanfic somewhere, I imagine there will be a moment following this scene when Bonnie looks at herself in the mirror and wonders why she felt euphoric watching Kai squirm.  Maybe she will acknowledge that darkness and power tempts (or what she views as darkness) her and that she never felt as exhilarated as she did when the power is all in her hand. When she is a badass witch and doesn’t feel guilty for being selfish or finally putting herself first. 

Anyway so Bonnie prepares herself for the worst because she knows she hurt Kai and she knows he is going to be extra about his response 

How does she know that? 

It has happened many times before 

I used two examples, pre-merge and post-merge Kai because 

   - What has always been consistent is Kai’s reaction when Bonnie hurts him 

If Kai didn’t have a soft spot for Bonnie then there wouldn’t have been a flicker of emotion to show that he cares and he wouldn’t have tried to make her feel what he felt 

Notice that each time Bonnie says something that hurts Kai, he will do this thing where he will look down and then look back at Bonnie again or he will look at Bonnie for a moment and then look down. 

Then immediately or shortly after, he will respond in an extra way to conceal that she affects him. 

In the scene above, Kai pretends he is okay and pretends he is willing to do what Bonnie asks of him only to then say that he doesn’t need a Bennett witch and leaves her in the prison world. 

Why eat with her and tell her about his sad past if he knew he would leave her after that moment?

Kai is dramatic. He likes games so he is going to draw it out and be extra about it 

I think Kai wants to spend more time with Bonnie 

I think a part of him hopes he can change her mind and she can help them leave the prison world together 

Now in this scene, he doesn't physically hurt Bonnie, but he does go on about how no humanity Caroline might kill her to wipe that smirk off of Bonnie’s face and to get her to realise that she does need him. 

I think Chris chose to play Kai somewhere in the middle of these two similar but different reactions because he is not pre-merge or post-merge Kai anymore but post-Hell Kai. 

Which takes us to the look in this gif ^

He was laughing but abruptly stops. He looks down because the laugh was never real to begin with and he can no longer force himself to fake it. He knows what he has to do, but it does not get rid of the feeling that he wishes it would go differently. He gathers himself and then looks up at Bonnie with a look that says 

Good, now that I have your attention...

I need to say this before I move on to what happens next: I want you all to take what Kai’s says about Katherine with a pinch of salt because it is fuckery. I LOVE Katherine, she is one of my favourite characters on TVD, but even I was like...are we talking about the same person? Has there been another Katherine on this show that I am not aware of? I know it has been a long time since I watched s1-s5, but I don’t remember Katherine possessing some of the qualities Kai ascribes to her. 

So I am going to call it out for what it is: 

Fuckery!  It is obvious that they, and when I say they I mean Plec, are inserting her in this plot line for ratings just like Kai. It is TVD’s last season so they probably were like...

Fuck it, let us bring back these two popular characters whose story we fucked up the first time, and fuck them up some more again. 

I understand what the writers had to do in this scene. I understand the purpose of Kai’s lines were to 

Create excitement in the audience for the fan favourite’s return by stating alternative facts

They need Kai to be the character to say it because they both were in Hell and it makes the reveal ambiguous at first...is Kai referring to himself or someone else? 

And they were willing to write it in at the expense of creating more plot-holes because again, when has TVD ever valued consistency? OK. Fair enough. I expect nothing less from them so this is when the importance of talented actors come in. It doesn’t matter what the writers’ intentions were, if the delivery of the lines says something very different. If the script says the character passionately screams to the other character, ‘I love you’ and the actor decides to deliver that same line in a monotone voice then we, as an audience, can only interpret it as it is shown on screen because we will never read the script. 

Therefore, I hope my interpretation of this scene makes you feel a tad bit better the next time you choose to watch it because my analysis focuses on Chris’ delivery of Kai’s lines and how it fits the context of the scene.

Remember Kai needs to top Bonnie’s move in a very dramatic way. 

He wants to jab back at her because he believes she hit him below the belt. It is not about Katherine. It is about Bonnie as it always has and will be for Kai. He doesn’t have to believe one word of what he says about Katherine because the point is to bring Bonnie’s wall down. The point is to get her to feel the emotions that he felt and he will use any tactic to get that reaction. 

And so, he is not going to just come out and say that Katherine has taken over Hell. Bonnie didn’t do that when she told him about the prison world. He is going to create a riddle for each line he says about Katherine for effect

so that Bonnie can be like 

Who is the only person worse than Cade?

Who is the only person who knows where all our weak spots are?

Who wants to hits us over and over again?

Who is the myth?

And to prove to you that this is about Bonnie Look at his expression in the gif below 

He bares his teeth He carefully enunciates each word  He is angry, hurt and he wants her to feel it. He wants her to feel scared like he was scared. The message is this

I might be stuck in another prison world, but your friends will have to deal with Katherine so I guess this game has no winners.

Kai gets the reaction from Bonnie, but he probably wanted her to beg him to help her/the gang defeat Katherine.

so when Bonnie leaves him alone in the prison world well...

He is shocked because he thought it would go differently.  He just wanted to hurt her like she hurt him. He didn’t want Bonnie to leave him again.

 Part 1: Location     Part 2: The Game 

@bonkai-legacy @albion19 @bonkai-diaries @ohh-my-josh @ms-ss @animelifecx @fuckitimfangirling @kissmebluesexyvioletsme @themist-underground @kissmebluesexyvioletsme @darkbonkai @love-peace-diamonds @rebalrosetocharm @respectable-alcoholic

(None of the gifs used in this post are mine. Here are the links to the original gifsets: X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X. Please take a moment to reblog the original gifset if you haven’t already. It takes time to make gifsets and I am sure the creator will appreciate the love. :) ) 

[opaljade]

BFI-Pre screening and why I know there must be more...

As promised, here’s what happened at the BFI pre-screening: Please read through the entire thing. I’m unfortunately going to have to give away a major spoiler to explain how I know there’s more. But first I need to give a bit of context so bear with me:

So, basically, Sherlock is still in a self-hypnotic trance on the TAB plane. (Remember how it actually ends in Victorian times? He’s not “awake” yet. This trance is not “EMP” even though it's very similar. The process is based on the principles of Tibetan Buddhism that ACD Holmes spent 2 out of his 3 years learning during the hiatus. We know that our Sherlock was in Tibet too. The trance lets clues you didn't even know you'd picked up on rise to the surface. The subconscious fills in the rest and connects  the dots. 

S4 is all in Sherlock's subconscious so far. And it's beautiful. You are privy to his inner thoughts, his heart, and his precious soul. 

It's also a cypher for us viewers. Once you have the key, you can re-watch and try to piece all the clues that Sherlock had collected and didn't even know he had. It's euphoric to put it all together. And very touching too. You realize since none of S4 has happened, John never cheated. That whole scene we saw is Sherlock's subconscious telling him that John has been emotionally cheating on Mary with Sherlock. That's the person he texts constantly (look at the honeymoon blog!) Anyway, Sherlock is trying to figure out Moriaty's return but his sub conscious shows us that the problem is inter-related to Mary, his childhood, John, and Moriarty.

That's why I found TFP fascinating. It gives you a beautiful profile of his internal struggles with morality. 

I have to tell you this. Mary is not evil. Not at all. All will be explained.

Okay, here's the BIG spoiler: Sherlock is the little girl on the plane. 

Yes, Sherlock is trans. 

And yes, Sherlock really is a" girl's" name. That's why sex alarms him. That's why they repeatedly told us he's not as tall as he looks. Also, in the cut scene from HLV, Magnussen talks about his women's hands. There are many more little hints.

My soul was aching for him on that plane. I feel so much love for little Sherlock trapped in the airplane with everyone metaphorically asleep to his anguish.

Euros is Sherlock.

Sherlock is trans.

If you re-watch TFP in that context, it's extremely touching. You’ll see that it was Mycroft who helped Sherlock. “SAVE MY SOUL MY BROTHER.”  I cried when I see Sherlock on the plane and all the adults asleep to his anguish. (sorry for repeating, poor soul. I love him so much.)

So, how was it confirmed? In 2014 I had hypothesized that perhaps Sherlock was trans due to the clues given above. I had dismissed the idea and replaced it with dissociative identity disorder. Read my LJ post from 2014 here: (add link)

Anyway, at the BFI pre-screening, I knew that Sherlock was still in a trance so I watched the episode in that context. It then became evident that my original hypothesis was right. I knew as soon as I saw him on the plane. 

When we were in line for autographs (with not much time for thinking). I wrote in my notebook “I know Sherlock is on the plane.” (Meaning both the metaphorical plane and the TAB plane). The “Sherlock crew” person read it and ‘smirked’ and replied “Which plane?” I think he was enjoying the wit of his question because it had now a triple meaning: Which plane are you talking about you silly fan? AND which plane; as in Young Sherlock Plane? or the TAB plane?). He was clearly amused by his own question to me. He repeated it three times (amused). I finally said, both planes. And the smile I received confirmed it. (Okay, something else was shared but I really don’t want to get the other Sherlock crew member in trouble).

I know some people are not going to believe me. Say that the exchange meant nothing. That the “Sherlock crew person” was literally just asking what the hell I meant by “I know Sherlock is on the plane”.  

But,whether or not you believe me, think about it: Doesn’t it make sense?

A) Hasn’t S4 been contradictory and plain weird in some scenes? 

B) Think of all the repeated sentences used in TAB/S4 that were exactly lifted from S1-S3. (That’s how the subconscious works, It’ll re-use sentences and faces to fill in the gaps.) I can post more about this with examples later.

B) Does TFP feel like the real ending. Wasn’t there so many impossible things in that episode?

C) If you take the fact that Sherlock is trans, and re-watch the episode, can you actually see it? (It’s so touching!)  

I’m not going to try to convince you, but please know that I wouldn’t post about this if I wasn’t sure. I am well aware what this means to the fandom. I know there are many hurting souls out there. Hope is a double-edged sword and I wouldn’t share any of this if I wasn’t positive because I know it could hurt people to get their hopes up. 

A special thank you to @welovethebeekeeper . She was a great help to me in trying to figure out what/how to share. She also listened carefully to what I had to say. *hugs*