#i COULD make one of those multi oneshot fics....

[spinnysocks]

when i make the shocking realisation i can write whatever i want (i already knew this)

[miharaikko]

My 2024 writing round up

Thank you for the tags to @firenati0n @0npurpose @sophie1973 @clockwrkpendrxgon @kj-bee

I started writing fic this year in May and managed to put out 21 pieces, 19 oneshots and 2 multi-chapters. I would have never imagined myself as a fic writer, considering I barely knew the concept a year ago, but here we are—brain rot so active and ideas overflowing 🤷‍♀️

I’m so thankful to all the people willing to give my little stories a chance. Thank you for all the kudos, comments and overall yelling on twitter and discord. 

And thank you to my Red Umbrella gang. Since meeting y'all in June my life has significantly improved 💕 Can’t wait to see what 2025 brings us! ✨

My AO3: miharaikko My fandom: Red, White & Royal Blue Number of fics posted: 21 Number of Words posted: 91,717

MAY

Pearly Gates (M, 5K)  Alex sees Henry across the dance floor and is mesmerized by his ivory skin and the pearl top he is wearing.

JUNE

Love will abide (take things in stride) (E, 15K)  Henry should be getting married tomorrow. Instead, he's at a pub, considering if he should go back to the hotel of a man he just met.

JULY

waging my wars behind my face and above my throat (M, 3K) Henry is having a bad day and Alex helps him through it (part I)

AUGUST

I was already on my way (GA, 1.1K) Henry is having a bad day and Alex helps him through it (part II)

SEPTEMBER

touch my phone (as if it’s your face) (GA, 5.3K) Alex texts the wrong number. It turns out to be the right one in the end.

just you and I (GA, 1K) Slices of life, inspired by Tom Odell's Grow Old with Me

OCTOBER

In the heart of Wales (Yng nghalon Cymru) (GA, 2.8K) Alex and Henry get lost in the heart of Wales

only thing on my grocery list (is your lips) (GA, 2.2K) Henry keeps visiting his local market and trying out new recipes, all for the sake of a cute vendor

more than a game to play (the truth is on my tongue) (E, 2.5K) Being friends with benefits shouldn't matter. But when Henry gets jealous, it starts to matter.

I was cold as a stone (but I found what I'm lookin' for) (GA, 2.6K) Henry retreats to a cabin in the woods for some peace and quiet, but he also finds something else there.

all eyes on you, my magician (all eyes on us) (GA, 3.8K) - collab with tothemoon_andsaturn Henry is a magician, but he is falling under the spell of Alex.

three words, infinite possibilities (GA, 1.8K) Alex figures out that his feelings for Henry are more than he thought.

a beagle's guide to finding love (GA, 5.7K) When David feels like henry could use a new friend, he takes the matter into his own paws.

pink silk ribbon kinky thingy (E, 7.2K) Alex finds a spool of silk ribbon which makes him feels things. Henry helps him process those feelings.

NOVEMBER

saturday night love (GA, 1.3K) A-list actor Henry decides to come out during an SNL sketch. Alex is the SNL regular who gets to kiss him during it.

DECEMBER

Spotify Wrapped - a Series of Unserious Drabbles (M, 2.7K) writings based on my 2024 Spotify Wrapped

a beautiful sight, we're happy tonight (M, 2.8K) - collab with tothemoon_andsaturn Henry takes Alex to visit Wales. The lack of snow doesn't stop Alex from transforming the day into a winter Wonderland.

but if you’re leaving, I gotta know why (M, 4K) Alex overhears a conversation between Henry and Bea and realizes there's a lot more things that he feels for his roommate.

...for so long (M, 6.2K)â Henry is tasked with baking gingerbread and he gets a helping hand from a friend

both your hands (in the holes of my sweater) (M, 6.4K) Henry and Alex lend each other certain clothes items over the years

s'mores (let me taste you some more) (E, 8.8K) Stuck in a cabin due to a storm, Alex and Henry only have marshmallows, crackers and chocolate as supplies. They make the best of it, while also tending to some old wounds.

WIPs & UPCOMING FICS

I've been yapping about these 3 since the moment they each came to mind, but with the collections I took part in, and other smaller ideas that never let my mind, I haven't been able to finish them. But my goal for 2025 is to bring these 3 babies to the world:

Red Wine and Royal Bleu Cheese - vaguely established plot, where Alex visits a winery where he meets Henry

Clay your love on me - Alex is a TikTok potter and Henry is a fan of his live videos

no title yet, but this will be my multi-chaptered Magnum Opus once I manage to write it, based on the following prompt: Friends with benefits (they share a house to split the rent) with detriments (they used to date but broke up for self-sabotaging reasons) with perks (sometimes they spend the night together. it’s fine) with troubles (one of them is moving away. it feels worse than the breakup)

And I also have an upcoming fic for the Wrap It Up exchange.

No pressure tags under the cut 🥰

@alasse9 @anincompletelist @cha-melodius @indestructibleheart @itsmaybitheway @jafffacakess @myheartalivewrites @miss-minnelli @msmarvelouswinchester @ninzied @nocoastposts @orchidscript @porcelainmortal @sherryvalli @silvermaples @shesfromboston @thesleepyskipper @tinyarmedtrex @whimsymanaged

[trensu]

do you think you'll put "Stasis in darkness" on AO3 eventually?

see, when the idea first came to me, I hadn't really planned on doing anything with it because I wasn't sure if I could make it work. there's a level of gravitas in the relationship between a god and their devoted servant that I didn't think would translate well to steddie because, let's be real, those boys are goofy dorks. but the idea wouldn't leave me alone so I typed up the original post in an attempt to work it out of my system and move on.

(the post kind of blew up, which I was not expecting at all!! like, not even a little bit! i post all sorts of rough little ideas for my own amusement and I've been able to do that without drawing much attention until that point.)

Anyway, I wouldn't have done much with it but @acowardinmordor left some comments/tags/what have you that helped me nail down the setting in my head which really opened the door for me to explore how the story could progress. (apologies, strife, I'm not sure I ever properly thanked you for that burst of inspiration, so please accept this shoutout as an expression of gratitude). And the amazing @ent-is-indecisive allowed me to rant about it which really helped flesh out the story. Seriously, there are elements and lore coming up that would not have existed if it weren't for ent. (and thank you once again ent for the ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL fanart you made for the reveal scene, I'm still overcome with joy whenever I think about it!).

Once it got to that point, I knew I wanted it to be a self-contained story and I was afraid that if I did a multi-chapter fic I'd lose the thread and never make it to the ending I want the fic to have. (no, the end scene hasn't been written yet but I KNOW what it's going to be and I hope everyone will love it as much as i do). So I promised myself that I was not going to post it on ao3 until the whole thing was written out completely.

However, I occasionally need a confidence/motivation boost so I've been posting consecutive parts of the rough draft here. you have no idea how much the people who reblogged with tags or left comments have helped me fight off the discouragement my brain likes to bog me down with; off the top of my head, @godsweakestboy , @redfreckledwolf, @fuctacles , @spectrum-spectre , and @lawrencebshoggoth have given me lovely, enthusiastic words of encouragement. and they're only the ones I can think of at this moment. there's so many other people who've done this, so if you've ever left me nice tags or comments, please know that I've read every single one of them repeatedly whenever I need to get over a slump. I'm so grateful for all of you!

Anyway, all this is to say yes! It is going to be posted as a oneshot on ao3 once I've finished writing it. <3

[pro-depresanti]

Do you have any Ao3 fic recs with Valentinooo???

Strap in, this will be a long list, I'm going to assume you mean exclusively smutty ones

X Reader:

Silken Chains by Uinu – 200k, multi chapter, ongoing; gn reader, non-con, angst, blood, violence; Valentino finds a new favourite plaything in the eyes of the Reader, there's a tiny bit of good, quite a lot of bad, and a shitton of ugly stuff

Drabble 3 - Piercing by TheWeirdDane – 2.1k, oneshot, completed; fem reader, genital piercings, cunnilingus, body worship, overstimulation; Reader gets her clit pierced, Val finds out about it mid-shooting, gets absolutely batshit horny over it

X Vox:

love looks not with eyes by SadMothNoises – 4.2k, oneshot, completed; angst, soft smut, fluffy; Val loses his eyesight and Vox is there to remind him that they'll get through it together, all packaged within a heartwarming smut scene

Antichrist by Sirens_scales – 5.6k, oneshot, completed; CNC, breeding kink, roleplay, blood, restraints, Valentino is intersex; Val tries to convince Vox to play into his breeding kink, and when it doesn't work, Val sets up a "innocent virgin gets sacrificed to a scary god" scene to get what he wants

savage, lavish by Subedarling – 2.5k words, oneshot, completed – intersex Valentino, Vox has two barbed dicks, breeding kink, daddy kink, discussion of mpreg; Vox practically impales Val on his barbed shark cock (this is a weird one but the way Val was described as struggling not to move was so 🥴🤤🤭🤯😫)

Digital Mania by jupiter_sea - 2.1k, oneshot, completed; voyeurism, vibrators, intersex Valentino, orgasm control, overstimulation; Vox basically leaves Val with just himself and a toy for HOURS, just delicious

X Alastor:

Buck Wild by Charnel_Goat, spappest – 12k words, 2 chapters, completed; rut/heat cycles, beautifully sick writing, mild violence, power struggles; Alastor is in a rut and needs help dealing with it. Except he will just let Valentino sweat on what is and isn't allowed. At the end they're both fine lol

Entirely Guilty By Design by unproblematicfav – 9k, oneshot, completed; fake dating, weird anatomy, trans Alastor, Valentino is intersex, drugged sex (from Val's pheromones), rough, very dubious consent, a shitton of dead dove stuff so just read the tags lol; Vox sets up a date for Val and Alastor, the latter two end up banging it out in the bathroom

Better Than A Picture Show by Octopussocks – 17k words, 6 chapters, completed; ruts, breeding kink, intersex Valentino, safe words (I KNOW! THOSE ARE A RARE FIND!), cannibalism, belly bulge kink for a like 4 paragraphs; – Alastor is in a rut, Val helps him out. It's oddly wholesome and sweet. Valentino is actually nice in this one

Drinking Buddies by HuntingPeople – 26k, 2 chapters, completed; trans Alastor, drugging (Val's pheromones, and it's mostly consensual), Alastor is a virgin, kink negotiation (ANOTHER VERY SHOCKING TAG), use of safe word, breeding kink; Val loses his glasses and accidentally (not) invites Alastor into his bed. Pretty sweet and very spicy

Other:

Alastor Makes A Porno by Charnel_Goat, spappest – 16.6k, 6 chapters, completed – Alastor and Val tagteam Vox; EXTREMELY dubious consent, Vox has a mechanical pussy, bondage, dark comedy, blood, gore, body horror; Alastor is in a rut, tries to find Val as per their usual, but he's a bit too preoccupied with Vox. Change of plans, they're gonna have a threesome and Vox will never know whether he liked it or not. Valentino is scared for the wellbeing of his bits at least 20 times; AMAZING FIC, COULD NOT RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH, BEAUTIFUL WRITING AND MY TYPE OF DARK HUMOR

[dayseternal-blog]

days!! i have seen you answering some fic asks again. is it okay to ask you some of your recommended omegaverse naruhina fanfics? thank you and have a nice day :’) 🧡

:D Omegaverse 💖

NaruHina Omegaverse

"Hinata (Sweet)" from "Chicken Ramen for the Pervert's Soul" by @wickermayne - Rated E, A/B/O AU, One-shot. I don't explain shit about A/B/O, either you understand or you won't get this at all lol. Also, probably the closest thing I'll write to dubious consent with Naruto as the lead.

“Alpha” from “NaruHina Erotica Oneshots" by Makuro767 - Rated E, A/B/O Canon-Divergent AU, Three-shot. Naruto bit Hinata…that’s not a good thing…or is it?

"Shinobi" from "NaruHina Erotica Oneshots" by Makuro767 - Rated E, A/B/O AU, One-shot. Hyuuga Hinata is a human student of Shinobi History visiting the Shinobi Settlement; Konoha, when she met the Alpha Shinobi Uzumaki Naruto who showed an intense interest into making her his Omega.

“A fate worse than death” by Caelestia - A/B/O Canon-Divergent, One-shot.  Naruto, improperly socialized and traumatized as a child, rejects his inner Alpha, which has devastating consequences on his family and marriage.  “A risky bet” is its fluffier follow-up (One-shot).

“When the Devil Picks Up a Stray” by callmesenorita - Rated E, A/B/O Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Hinata, an Omega, questions buried feelings when she decides to help a childhood friend who has adopted a new persona under the name Menma. Although their attraction is instant he is no longer the Naruto she once knew, and soon enough Hinata is thrust into a dangerous yakuza conspiracy. DELETED FIC

"Afire" by vortexlove777 - Rated E, A/B/O Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. An omega moves next door to a very troubled bachelor alpha. Childhood friends meet again and form an alliance while trying to help their mutual friends out. But when the Hyuugas intend on forcing the heiress into a marriage, Namikaze Naruto finally decides to make his move and put his claim on her.

"lovely" by Mdaughter - Rated E, A/B/O Modern AU, One-shot (?). When his childhood crush reappeared 12 years after she disappeared and asked him to help him. Naruto didn't expect his life to be shook up like that. What the hell is happening to him right now ?

and there's mine:

“Sweet As” from “Needs & Wants” - Alpha/Omega Modern AU, One-shot. Hinata gives Naruto candy on Valentine’s, and he develops a crush early-on.

“Lovesick” - Rated E, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. Hinata’s dealt with the difficulties of her designation. She’s sealed. She’s fought off rowdy Alphas. She’s always prepared for hot days. She wasn’t ready for Naruto to come-of-age. He wasn’t ready, either.

Those are all the ones I could find!! If anyone knows more, please add them!

[deityoftherain]

matchless matchmaker - Flower Court 5+1 Things

Flower Court is the polyam ship name for Scott, Tango, Jimmy, and Martyn :D

Rating: Teen

Relationship: M/M, Multi

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Status: Completed Oneshot

Word Count: 9,382

Summary: Scott had a habit of constantly working hard and sacrificing his own well-being to care for his friends and family. One of those tasks ended up playing up to his skill of matchmaking his friends with other people he knew. Being so busy, he blocked himself from love himself despite how desperately he wants it. This made him blind to the fact that his crushes (Jimmy, Tango, and Martyn) had fallen for him as well...

AKA the five times they (Flower Court) thought about/tried asking each other to date them plus the one time it actually worked :D

Full fanfic underneath the cut! Please reblog, leave kudos on the AO3 fic slash notes/likes here on Tumblr, comment either place, and etc if you enjoy the story :D

-ˋˏ ༻❀ one ❀༺ ˎˊ-

Why is asking someone out so nerve-wracking?

Jimmy stood outside of the door of Scott’s apartment, trying to work up the courage to knock on the apartment’s wooden door. He glanced at his phone again, opening it with his face ID and, navigating back to the text messages he exchanged with Martyn( Scott’s roommate) not too long ago.

Jimmy: hey, do you know if scott’s home

Martyn: yeah he’s home

Martyn: why? something wrong?

Jimmy: no i just want to talk to him about something and he’s a hard man to get ahold of

Martyn: ha well that much is true

Martyn: he’s home now but idk how long he will be

Jimmy: omw

Martyn: [thumbs up emoji]

He sighed deeply, tucking his phone back into his pocket. It was now or never, he supposed. Jimmy raised his fist to knock against the door when the door swung open, revealing the very man he had shown up to see.

“Jimmy?” Scott questioned, blinking rapidly in surprise at him. “What are you doing here?” “Uh,” Jimmy responded dumbly. He hadn’t expected Scott to open the door before he even had a chance to knock! “I wanted to talk to you.”

Scott furrowed his eyebrows and glanced down at his phone to check the time. “Can you make it quick? I promised Cleo I would help them move into their girlfriend’s place and I’m supposed to be there soon.” Considering that Cleo was Lizzie’s partner and that Lizzie was one of Jimmy’s siblings, Jimmy already knew about those plans. He simply hadn’t realized that today was the day they chose to do it. It was poor timing on his part to do this now, but almost every other time had the same probability of being a poor choice. Scott tended to help out everyone that he possibly could so, while most people would try to get out of helping someone move, Scott was the first to say “yes”. 

Jimmy admired Scott’s desire to help, but between him constantly helping other people, working his two jobs, and trying to still make time for his friends, it was hard to get one-on-one time with him. As previously acknowledged, now may not be the best time, considering Scott was itching to get on the road, but Jimmy wasn’t sure when he would build up the nerve to ask him out again. It had to be now!

“I would like a date,” Jimmy blurted out in an attempt to ask Scott on a date. Unfortunately, it didn’t come off that way. He tried to tack on a “with you” to the end of his sentence once he realized he hadn’t said enough- it was a fumbling attempt, but he did try! By the time he caught it, it was too late.

Scott’s frosty blue eyes (that still looked warm despite the frost coloring) widened as a grin grew on his lips. “Jimmy Solidarity, are you wanting me to matchmake you?”

“No!” Jimmy panicked, not sure how he got himself here. He got mildly distracted by how excited Scott got, but he forced himself to focus. “I mean, not exactly-”

“Come on, Jimmy.” The way Scott said his name was strangely addicting. Honestly, Jimmy would be willing to listen to him talk even if all he said were passages from the world’s most boring textbook. “You’re a good guy, great smile, easy on the eyes, I’m sure I could find you someone easily.” Scott had gained the reputation of being a matchmaker of sorts in the giant web of social connections he was a part of. The giant web may be better understood as an extended friend group or social circle, but the effect was the same. Scott’s matchmaking skills have had a fairly impressive success rate so far. “I mean, I helped your sisters!” Scott continued to speak while Jimmy was still on the fact that Scott had basically called him handsome. “Last I heard, Lizzie and Pearl are both in happy, healthy relationships. Grian would be too if he would actually let me try to help him with Scar- everyone and their mother knows about Grian’s crush yet he won’t admit it- but he’s so frustratingly stubborn and won’t accept my help. Anyway, I’ve helped your sisters and I know I can help you too! Hell, I’m helping Lizzie’s partner move in with her! Which I should be going to do soon, but wait, let me think…” 

“Well, that’s true, but,” Jimmy started, wanting to nip the idea of matchmaking him with someone else in the bud. How did he fuck this up so badly this quickly? This wasn’t the goal!

“Let’s see, who would be good for you…” Scott tapped his chin as he started to mutter to himself, debating between various people. “Oh! I know this guy named Tango that I think you would like. Martyn and I had some repairs that needed to be done a bit ago, he overheard us and offered his services. He’s, like, stupidly smart and thinks it’s no big deal, but it’s super impressive. Anyway, being as broke as we were, we offered him food and friendship in exchange, and we’ve kept in touch. He’s pretty talkative and high-energy, so I think you two will mesh well. Don’t you think so?” 

Jimmy ducked his head, averting his eyes as a light pink flushed his cheeks. This was embarrassing. “Well, yeah, he seems cool-”

“Perfect! I’ll talk to him and see if he’s also interested, but I really have to go Jimmy.” Scott gave him an apologetic expression. “Text you later?”

“Yeah, yeah, talk to you later,” Jimmy sighed as he moved out of the way for Scott to speed walk down the hall.

What just happened? He had gone to ask Scott out and he (somehow) ended up getting set up on a blind date! How did he manage to fail at asking someone out that poorly? 

(Later that week, Jimmy did end up meeting Tango. They found out that they were both in similar situations; they both were crushing on someone, but Scott somehow got them on a date- and they instantly hit it off. The more they talked, the more Jimmy could feel himself starting to fall for Tango too… even as his crush for Tango grew, his affections for Scott never wavered.)

-ˋˏ ༻❀ two ❀༺ ˎˊ-

“Come on, Martyn, drive faster,” Scott urged, patting the top of the dashboard of Martyn’s car. “We’re going to be late.” “Yeah, and who’s fault is that?” Martyn huffed with a slight shake of his head, but Scott knew him well enough to tell he wasn’t that annoyed. “And we’re not even that late! The GPS says we’ll be there in a few minutes. I can see the sign for the neighborhood just up ahead! What’s the rush?” “I’m just excited to see everyone!” Scott defended himself, practically bouncing at the prospect of the group get-together. “I’ve been busy so I haven��t seen most of them in a bit. Plus, Lizzie’s party-hosting skills are so good. I always have fun and you do too. Besides, Ren will be there with his boyfriend. You two always get along really well and act like you haven’t seen each other in years, even if it’s only been a few days, so I don’t want to hear it.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever makes you feel better,” Martyn dismissed, knowing full well that Scott was right. “Just lay off my car! I don’t need a Scott’s hand-sized dent in my dashboard.”

Ren and Martyn had always been a dynamic duo, making a rather big presence wherever they were. If Ren was going to be at an event, Scott knew that he wouldn’t have Martyn by his side, but he didn’t mind. Scott was plenty social on his own, so he had his own list of people to check in on.

It didn’t take much longer for them to reach the correct street and park on the side of the road outside of Lizzie’s house. Well, they parked further down the street from her house, but it was close enough. The sheer amount of cars parked on the side of the road made it clear that someone nearby was having a bunch of people over.

Scott and Martyn made it to Lizzie’s front door in no time (there is some truth to the saying “gays walk fast”), and Scott knocked on the door. It was a common courtesy to not enter someone’s house without permission, after all.

The door swung open, revealing someone wearing green overalls, a black shirt, and moon hair clips. Those items stuck out to Scott before he even had time to register her face, knowing who it was based on outfit recognition. “Pearl!” “Scott! Long time no see, my friend!” Pearl greeted as they both stepped closer to give the other a quick hug. Once they parted, Pearl peered around Scott to give Martyn a wave. “Hi Martyn. Nice to see you too.” 

“S’up.” Martyn gave her a little salute, but he was otherwise rocking on his heels. It was clear that he wanted to get inside, but Scott got distracted before he made the move to let him in.

Still standing in the doorway, Scott asked, “So how are things going with Gem? Still in the honeymoon phase?” 

“Honeymoon phase?” Pearl snorted, amused. “We’re coming up on our four-year anniversary soon. If our ‘honeymoon phase’ has lasted this long, I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon. Still crazy about her, ya know? I’m thinking about doing something special special if you know what I mean, but don’t tell her I said that.” Scott gasped, pleased that it was working out so well between his friends. He knew they would be a good match when he paired them together. If his guess was correct, Pearl was planning to propose! Scott would have to make sure to check in on that later and see if he can help record the proposal or something else. He clapped his hands in delight before zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key. “I won’t tell a soul.” 

“You better not because I know where you sleep,” Pearl lightheartedly threatened before catching something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her body to the object of her attention and yelled, “Fwhip, I see you! Stop eavesdropping on me!” “I heard nothing!” Fwhip claimed loudly, giving his drink a sip before speed-walking away.

“You better not have!” Pearl called after him before rolling her eyes. A small smirk grew on her lips as she shook her head to affectionately complain, “Brothers, honestly! I already have two brothers- Grian and Jimmy are a pain enough- but Fwhip has basically become my third.”

“He’s just getting you ready for when he’s your brother-in-law.” Scott poked Pearl’s side. “Now let us in before we freeze out here.” “Oh, right!” Pearl stepped aside to let them inside. “That’s why Martyn’s been trying to kill me with his eyes.”

“If looks could kill, you would have been brutally murdered,” Martyn huffed, but Scott appreciated that he didn’t interrupt their conversation. Those little signs of consideration were nice to see from his roommate and childhood best friend, even if he would huff and puff about it after the fact.

From there, the three of them separated to mingle. Scott fluttered around like the social butterfly he was at this sort of thing, making conversation and trying the various alcoholic drinks available at the bar.

He didn’t drink very much on his own, but he had the habit of being a social drinker when it was available to him. Sometimes the most interesting thing to do was go to the local bar and make easy conversations with people. That was how he made some of his friends, like Sausage and Doc.

The problem with his social drinking is that he tended to overdo it. It was much like being a kid with unrestricted access to a candy store after being on a strict diet of fruits and vegetables. Scott could blame his mum for modeling his habit, but he enjoyed indulging in it too much to only blame her. Besides, she had enough going on with taking care of his kid siblings (he had been the result of a teen pregnancy, so he was much older than they were), especially since one of them has been in and out of the hospital for a few years now…

Scott shook his head to clear his brain. It wasn’t time to be anxious and worried about that. He had come here to have fun, after all! With the stress he had to carry on his shoulders, Scott enjoyed being able to loosen up enough to properly enjoy his free time and forget everything he had waiting for him to do. I need another drink.

He downed what was already in his cup, got another one, and wandered to the living room where a bunch of people had circled around to chat. He was thoroughly buzzed, his usually high energy that came out around people dialing down a few clicks.

“Hey, Scott! Wow, it was like on cue, wasn’t it Joel?” Bdubs commented on Scott’s entrance with a grin almost as large as his eyes seemed to be. He turned to Joel, who was sitting next to him. “See, it’s fate! You should talk to him. He’s the local matchmaker, after all.”

“I don’t need a matchmaker!” Joel exclaimed, face annoyed-red as he crossed his arms. “Just ‘cause I’m not dating doesn’t mean I’m lonely.”

“But he could pair you with someone special!” Bdubs tried to convince Joel, continuing to talk about Scott as if he wasn’t there. Scott wasn’t there enough to fully care, settling down where there was room on one of the offered seatings. “He paired me and Etho together, and we’ve been happy ever since.”

“He can’t be that good of a matchmaker if he’s single himself.” Joel gestured to Scott, voice razor sharp as if it were an accusation. He then hiccuped a bit before taking another swig of whatever was in his cup.

“I could date if I wanted to,” Scott chimed in, feeling the need to defend himself. His eyes darted to Tango and Jimmy, who were sitting nearby. Scott’s chest tightened at the sight so he forced his gaze away from them to look back at Joel and Bdubs. “I’m just busy.” “Sure,” Joel muttered dismissively. “I don’t care either way, but I don’t need you managing my love life.

“I never even offered!” Scott furrowed his eyebrows before deciding to ignore him. He didn’t need to deal with grumpy drunk Joel. He had come here to have fun and to relax.

Scott’s cup was halfway full, meaning it was still a significant amount. Still, he shot it back and chugged it until the liquid was gone. He closed his eyes and focused on the alcohol doing its job. The spacey-er he got, the further away his problems seemed and the less he cared about everything.

If he were to be honest, he didn’t remember much after that. Scott knew he talked to more people and that he likely drank a bit more, but his memories were all fuzzy. It was like he blinked and suddenly teleported to another location within the house, leaning against a wall. A cup he hadn’t been aware of fell out of his hand as someone crouched down in front of him.

Scott blinked before squinting his eyes, trying to focus on the person’s face… the person who was looking at him with such care and concern. He wanted to reach out and touch them… hug them… mmm… Scott’s always been a cuddly drunk. He tried to mutter Tango’s name once he placed who it was, but his words were slurred.

Tango was here… Tango with his pale blonde hair and his red sunglasses only there for aesthetics and his stupidly handsome face and his kissable lips… maybe Scott was drunker than he thought he was. Tango was Jimmy’s boyfriend now! He shouldn’t think that way about him anymore… Scott had paired them together on purpose, hoping to banish his affections (those of which went beyond simple friendship) for them both from his mind. He was too busy… always too busy…

“I think he drank too much,” Tango glanced at the person standing beside him. Jimmy! “He seems fine otherwise.”

“He should probably stay here tonight. I think he got here with Martyn, but I don’t know where he ended up. He’s not answering his texts and he was drinking a decent amount too last I saw him. I don’t think Lizzie would mind having a few guests crash on her couch. Honestly, I think she expected it…” Jimmy hummed softly, beckoning Tango to move to the side some. He crouched down next to Scott and moved his arm over his shoulders. “Get his other side. We’ll move him to the living room.”

Scott could feel his heart beat quickly at the close proximity to the two men. He hoped that his blushing would be covered by his already red flushed cheeks, thanks to the alcohol. They helped him to the couch before setting him down there. Scott clung to them, despite his best judgment, and asked, “Stay with me?” Tango and Jimmy exchanged a glance, expressions on their faces that Scott couldn’t quite read. He hated that. He hated when he couldn’t pick up body language and nonverbal cues from other people.

“Okay,” Tango agreed in a low tone, sitting down next to Scott. “Only so we can keep an eye on you.”

Jimmy, familiar with the house, found some throw blankets that had been hidden away somewhere and brought them out. He laid them out over Tango and Scott, and he pushed the ottoman closer to make them an impromptu “bed” of sorts before settling down on Scott’s other side.

Being this close to them as they laid down to sleep had his brain going all sorts of places. Scott knew he was being selfish and he knew they would push him away if they knew what was going on in his brain, but he kept his lips sealed shut. He wanted their closeness more often and much more beyond that.

What if I was selfish for once? 

Scott thought, knowing asking them to stay was already selfish. This was him being selfish, but he knew what he wanted, what his heart wished for so desperately. They were so close, yet just out of reach. Maybe, in another life, he could have them, but he couldn’t now. He had too much to do… he had his jobs, his mum, his siblings, his friends… but maybe he could pretend for a night. There was no harm in pretending, was there?

-ˋˏ ༻❀ three ❀༺ ˎˊ-

“Scott and Tango!” Grian announced, holding up the two pieces of paper up for the crowd to see. Martyn was standing next to the whiteboard and, when their team was announced, it was written down for everyone.

Grian had gathered a bunch of their friends to do a field day full of obstacle courses and various challenges. Tango had participated in several others before and they’ve always been a lot of fun so, when Grian asked him, he accepted.

Tango hadn’t expected to be paired with Jimmy’s crush though, but he should have not been that surprised that it was a possibility. Scott wasn’t only Jimmy’s crush, he was a friend, however distant, as well, but it was something that stuck in his brain.

Jimmy had admitted what had happened to get them matched on their first date and Tango was relieved at his openness. He had been (still was) in a similar boat, for he also had a crush on someone else, but struggled to say no to Scott. He was a force of power that was difficult to stop once he put his mind to something! Tango hadn’t wanted to give Scott the real reason why he wanted to say no (his crush was Martyn and Martyn was Scott’s roommate), so his excuses fell flat and Scott somehow managed to rope him into it.

They had a good laugh about their situation and decided to try out the whole date-hangout thing anyway. Worse comes the worst, they simply don’t talk to each other again. Tango didn’t think either of them expected to have such a good time or to hit it off so well. The end result was them dating and, not too long later, the topic of polyamory was brought up. The acknowledgment of their previous crushes opened that conversation to them, making it easier and less nerve-wracking.

After many long discussions, they’ve agreed to stay exclusive with the exception of if something happened with either Scott or Martyn. If someone else came into their lives that they wanted to pursue, they would just have another conversation. Open communication and transparency were necessary for any relationship, but especially important for polyamorous ones.

Tango’s feelings towards Scott were casual and friendly with some aesthetic attraction (he wasn’t a stranger to admiring one’s beauty) thrown in there. Tango knew that last part for certain (at least from his end) when he found himself staring at his assigned teammate as Grian continued to announce the rest of the teams. Scott was wearing simple, black shorts, which showed off his long, lean legs, and a sleeveless crop top, which showed off his belly button piercing. 

The crop top was designed to be for workouts based on the elastic band built into the bottom of it which would prevent it from moving much, even if Scott randomly started doing cartwheels. It was pale yellow with some sort of design on the front. Tango didn’t pay much attention to it; he was too busy looking below it.

The belly button piercing showed off a five-petal flower made up of red crystals. Tango may have stared at it too long, partly because he was just put off by it. When did Scott get a belly button piercing? He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would get one, but Tango supposed there was still a lot he didn’t know about Scott.

“My eyes are up here, Tango,” Scott teased as he approached, a slight smirk on his lips. Grian must have announced all the teams and told them to find their teammates, but Tango hadn’t been listening. “I know I’m cute, but you’re a taken man.”

“When did you get your belly button pierced?” Tango blurted out his question, ever curious. His curiosity often got the best of him, but, this time, his curiosity luckily saved him. He didn’t want to confront his embarrassment about being caught staring by the very man he was staring at. “I didn’t know you had one.”

Scott looked down at the jewelry in his navel for a moment before looking back up and shrugging. “I got it a while ago out of spite. I don’t think I would have gotten it otherwise. It’s not really something I would normally go after- I prefer regular earrings- but since I have it, I might as well use it.”

“Out of spite?” Tango parroted, amused. “It sounds like there may be a bigger story to uncover here. What happened?”

Scott laughed (a rather joyous sound) before closing one eye and placing a finger against his lips. “It’s a secret.”

“Oh, come on!” Tango protested with no real fire behind his words. “We’re friends, aren’t we? Wait, I could just ask Martyn. I’m sure he’ll know- hey, Martyn!”

Scott grabbed Tango’s wrist to prevent him from walking any further to go and bother Martyn about it. “How about this: I’ll tell you if we win?”

Tango pursed his lips, considering Scott’s offer. After a few seconds of “considering” (his mind had already been made up, but he played it up for the bit), Tango nodded in agreement. “Deal.”

From there, they worked as a team to complete various obstacles and challenges Grian had put together. Tango hadn’t teamed with Scott before, so he was surprised at how well they meshed together. They were friends before this, sure, but events like this were always a toss-up on how well one would mesh with others. Tango supposed he shouldn’t be too surprised, considering Scott’s reputation of being extremely good at this sort of thing. He’s even won a few and gotten close in others!

Currently, all the teams were wiping rags against their foreheads, drinking water like there was no tomorrow, and waiting in anticipation for BigB (he had agreed to be the non-biased record keeper and referee this time around) to count up the results.

“Everyone shut up!” Joel ordered in a loud enough scream to be heard over everyone chatting. As he intended, everyone closed their mouths and turned to where Joel was standing. He cleared his throat and nodded his head towards BigB. “BigB’s been trying to get your attention for the past three minutes. I don’t know about you blummin’ idiots, but I want to hear the results.” “Thank you, Joel,” BigB flashed him a partially nervous smile before addressing the crowd. “I have tallied everything up and will be announcing the winners now!”

BigB paused for a moment as cheer and applause broke out among the gathered crowd. Once it quieted down, he announced each team that got into the top three, pausing in between each team to allow time for congratulations and clapping. “In third place, we have Pearl and Scar! In second place, we have Scott and Tango!”

“Not bad! Second place!” Scott grinned widely, looking proud of the both of them. He glanced at Tango. “We make a good team, you and I.”

“We do, don’t we?” Tango returned the grin, a soft yet fierce warmness burning within him. Is this what Jimmy felt when he was with Scott? Is this what he saw in him? “Last but not least, the ones in first place and the team that gets to take home the trophy are Gem and Cleo!” BigB finished the list. “Congratulations everyone!” 

Once everything started to die down from the cheering, Tango turned to his teammate. “Hey, Scott, do you think you want to go out sometime? You know, to celebrate our almost-win?”

Scott opened his mouth to respond when someone else grabbed his attention. After a brief conversation with them, he turned back to Tango. “I would love to, but maybe another time. I have a lot on my plate and- yeah just a second! Sorry, Tango.” With the apology, Scott hurried off to go tend to whatever it was this time. Tango scrunched his nose as a sinking feeling grew in his stomach. He didn’t like the feeling. Instead of focusing on it, he took a deep breath and went to find Jimmy. Maybe they could go get something to eat (he’s sure Jimmy would be okay with him tagging along if he was planning to go out with his teammate) and talk about the day they’ve had.

-ˋˏ ༻❀ four ❀༺ ˎˊ-

“You should not go out and stay in tonight.” Martyn sat on Scott’s bed as Scott rummaged through his closet. “You’ve barely been at the apartment all week. You’re going to run yourself into the ground.”

While that was true, that wasn’t the only reason Martyn wanted Scott to stay around. Truth was, Martyn simply enjoyed Scott’s company and wanted more of it. He became roommates with Scott, specifically, for a reason. They were childhood friends, yes, but Martyn knew he loved him beyond a platonic or even familial bond. Thank the stars they have never had the whole “you’re basically my brother” sentiment passed between them, or Martyn may just have to walk across an intersection without looking both ways first.

“I’ll be fine,” Scott dismissed as he turned around to face Martyn, holding up two hangers along with their sweaters. “Which one do you like better? I like the black starry one, but the red stands out more since it’s not as dark.”

Martyn pursed his lips for a moment before commenting, “Wear the black one. The red makes you look like a bitch.”

Scott hummed in consideration, studying the two sweaters for a moment. “You’re probably right. Bitchy isn’t the vibe for tonight. I don’t want to be perceived that way when trying to celebrate Cleo’s accomplishments.”

“You know that you can go visit Cleo’s exhibit on another night, right?” Martyn pointed out. “They’re probably going to be distracted anyway. Plus, Lizzie’s going to be there so she’ll be there for Cleo. You’re not even getting paid! This is unpaid labor.”

“I know that, but I want to be there for them. Think of it as me getting in some volunteer hours.” Scott pulled off his shirt to change into the black starry sweater. Martyn averted his gaze, feeling like it was disrespectful to do so despite the fact he’s seen his best friend shirtless many times before. It just felt wrong, knowing the extent of his feelings and attraction toward him. “Besides, I showed up to Cub and Pix’s big first exhibits when they had those. It would only be fair to Cleo that I do the same for her. They’re also expecting me to show up to help them double check everything before the opening.”

“I just feel like you’re running yourself ragged,” Martyn further expressed his concern, but he knew it was a losing battle. “Especially with Lizzie and Cleo, between their move a bit ago and this. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if they asked you to ordain and cater their wedding.”

“Well, I did get a license to ordain people for a reason.” Scott shrugged, unbothered. “I’ve done it before. I married my cousin to their husband. Remember that one weekend I traveled back to Scotland to visit my extended family?”

“You’re impossible,” Martyn scoffed, deciding to give up. Scott was determined to go and it didn’t matter what Martyn wanted. The thought was unfair, but he couldn’t help but feel upset by it. Was it so wrong to just have a nice night with his (crush) best friend?

“What did you expect from me?” Scott laughed as he stood in front of his room’s mirror. He held up two different earring options to his ears, debating between the various options. Scott set down one pair and put in the other, a bluish-tinted silver gem shaped like a star. “If people are going to call me a matchmaker, then I might as well live up to the title!” 

“Mhm, sure,” Martyn grumbled, leaning back on Scott’s bed. He wasn’t interested in the conversation any longer.

“What? Sad you don’t have someone?” Scott teased Martyn lightheartedly. He tilted his head in consideration. “I could match you up if you’d let me. Hm, let me guess who may be a good match for you. You would want an animal lover, I bet. You’ve wanted a dog for forever, but our apartment complex doesn’t allow that. Maybe a theater nerd as well, so you two have something in common to gush about. I love a good play, but you are obsessive to another level! It’s rather endearing. Someone smarter than you would be nice, but that shouldn’t be hard to do-” 

“Hey!” Martyn shot back up with an offended gasp. He grabbed one of Scott’s pillows and tossed it at him. “I am very smart, thank you!”

Scott dodged out of the way with a gleeful giggle, the pillow missing him entirely. Before he could make a quip back in response, his phone’s alarm went off. “Oh, I need to get going. That was my ‘gotta go’ alarm.”

“Uh, since you’re not free tonight, would you like to go out, together, another day?” Martyn asked quickly, getting in the words before Scott had the chance to leave the room. If he was shot down or rejected, at least he would have the apartment to himself for a bit. “Maybe tomorrow or this weekend? It’s been a bit since we’ve hung out one-on-one”

“That sounds awfully romantic, Martyn,” Scott commented with a mild teasing tone, shoving his phone in his pocket. There was more to his voice than just teasing, but Martyn couldn’t quite pinpoint it. He hoped it was Scott liking him back, but that felt too hopeful for him to realistically believe.

“It could be!” Martyn felt like kicking himself. “We could go all classy with dinner, or maybe even a picnic in the park or a day at the pool. Something chill and low stress. I mean, what's a better first date than that?” 

“I wonder how many first dates we’ve had at this point.” Scott skipped over the part of the conversation that would clarify that they’ve done those sorts of things with each other many times before. They had been friends since they were kids, after all, so they both knew that information.

“Many, but as long as they’re with you, they’re all perfect,” Martyn leaned into the flirting and flattery, maintaining an outwardly collected composure.

“You’re such a flatterer, aren’t you Martyn? You really know what to say to a guy.” Scott’s face flushed pink, but he seemed to try and play it off like it was nothing. It wasn’t too unusual for Martyn and Scott to have “flirt-offs” from time to time, but it’s been a bit since they’ve engaged in that sort of competition. “I’ll have to take a rain check though. I’m working this weekend, remember? Anyway, I’ll be back late tonight so don’t wait up. I’ll lock up when I get home. Bye! Love you.” “Love you too. See ya later,” Martyn waved him off, not taking his eyes off of him until he was out of sight. He couldn’t help but be disappointed, but what did he expect? Scott has an eye for romance, attraction, and affection for literally everyone else but himself. Martyn loved him (so much that it was becoming a problem), but, stars, he was dense as hell sometimes.

-ˋˏ ༻❀ five ❀༺ ˎˊ-

“What’s worrying you?” Martyn asked, snapping Scott out of his thoughts.

Scott and Martyn were sitting down together at their little dining table, eating dinner together. They tried to make a point to do so semi-regularly, sometimes cooking the meal together or one treating the other by cooking them a meal.

What’s not worrying me, is the better question…

Scott contemplated confiding in Martyn for a moment, but it didn’t last long. Martyn was his best friend and he cared deeply about him. If he couldn’t confide in him, who could he confide in? 

“I don’t know if I can keep up with rent payments,” Scott admitted. “You may have to find a new roommate.” 

“A new roommate?” Martyn echoed, eyebrows furrowing and mouth gawking open. “No, Scott, I don’t want a new roommate, I- Why not? You work so often and… you know I can cover you for a bit, yeah?” 

“I know you can, I just…” Scott trailed off, avoiding Martyn’s piercing blue eyes. He didn’t want to leave Martyn, but there was only so much he could do. He took a deep breath before starting to ramble off his reasonings. “My car has needed repairs, and one of my siblings has been really sick lately, so I’ve been sending more money than usual home for my mum so she can pay the bills and still take care of my younger siblings and it’s just a lot. I might have to move back home to save on rent-”

“We could get roommates!” Martyn offered, placing a hand on the table and straightening his posture. “That way our collective rent is less.”

“In this small place?” Scott raised an eyebrow. They had their own bedrooms now, yes, but they were cramped. Living with another person- especially a stranger- in that small of a living quarters was not something he cared to do. “This is a good place for two people, maybe a couple and their kids, but not for more roommates.” 

“We could get a different apartment!” Martyn brought up another alternative to solve their possible “no longer being roommates and Scott moving back in with his mum” problem. “Our lease for this one is almost up anyway, and I know Jimmy and Tango are looking for a new place. Maybe we can all move in together.” 

Scott considered it for a moment. He liked Jimmy and Tango (a lot), but he wasn’t sure he could be close to them *that* often, knowing that they were happy together without him. He hated that he was jealous of them… not that they were happy together, but that they were content without him. Scott wanted to be important to them in a more significant way, but that couldn’t possibly happen. They deserve a better boyfriend than me anyway…

Mentally dismissing those thoughts, Scott turned to a practical question, “What apartment around here has four bedrooms?” 

“We could share,” Martyn stated, simple as that. It was the obvious situation, after all. “We could find bigger bedrooms than the ones here. Tango and Jimmy would probably want to share a room and… and we can relive our university dorms experience. Or we can see if we can afford a house together with four incomes. We’re all friends, and you and I’ve been rooming for years now, so it shouldn’t be too hard to adjust. I think I would love living with the three of you too.” 

What Martyn was saying was making sense, but Scott was curious as to “Why do you care so much? It's not like you’ll never see me just because we’re not rooming together anymore. You’re still my best friend.” 

“I just don’t want to see you have to move back to our small hometown when you worked so hard to come out here.” A light blush graced Martyn’s cheeks as he shrugged and glanced off to the side. “Besides, I like having you around. If you leave, who will be my roommate? Some stranger?” 

Scott pursed his lips for a moment before nodding slowly. “Okay, I’ll make a group chat and see if we can work it out.” 

Martyn’s eyes lit up, looking extremely pleased (maybe too pleased) as Scott grabbed his phone to do as he said. He picked up Scott’s cleared-off plate and set it on top of his. “Here, I'll clean up dinner and you go pick out a movie for us to watch.” 

“Martyn, you don’t have to do that. I can help clean up.” Scott picked up his cup and went to grab Martyn’s as well. “We both made dinner, so we both should clean up the mess.” 

“No, no, you’re clearly stressed out about everything and this is my way of helping.” Martyn prevented Scott from grabbing his cup and gestured for Scott to give him the other one. Scott obliged him with a weary smile. “Go sit your ass down on the couch and I'll come over to play with your hair when I’m done.” 

“You’re using my weaknesses against me,” Scott whined, but wouldn’t object. He loved when other people ran their fingers through his hair and Martyn always knew how to make it feel really nice. 

“I know, I know, I’m so awful,” Martyn rolled his eyes affectionately as he walked over to the sink with all their dishes. “Now go.” 

“Okay, okay!” Scott had started to move to sit down, but he spotted the broom leaned against the wall and couldn’t help himself. “Here, I’ll sweep first.”

“Scott, no.” Martyn moved swiftly to dry his hands on the rag by the sink before standing in front of Scott. He placed his hands on his shoulders and looked him directly in the eye. “You do so much to help everyone else, arguably too much at times. You need to learn to let other people take care of you sometimes.”

“But I like helping other people,” Scott scrunched his nose, but allowed Martyn to prohibit him from the broom.

“I know it’s how you are, but that doesn’t mean I have to stand for it when I can help it.” Martyn smiled at him so lovingly that Scott wished he could cup his face and trace his thumb along his lips and- stop! You’re just friends! Don’t think like that…

Scott ducked his head, hoping to hide how red his face burned. He turned around to beeline toward the couch like Martyn wanted him to. “You’re the best, Martyn.”

Martyn snorted at that comment, but there was a bit of a laugh to it. “Yeah, I know.”

-ˋˏ ༻❀ plus one ❀༺ ˎˊ-

So, as Martyn suggested, they ended up buying a small house not too far away from where they lived before, with Jimmy and Tango now included. Scott knew Jimmy and Tango saw him and Martyn as friends, but he hadn’t expected them to jump on the idea so ecstatically. It worked out for the better though, with Tango and Jimmy sharing the master bedroom, and Scott and Martyn taking the smaller rooms. 

Scott got the bigger of the two rooms, mostly because he had more things, but also because Martyn claimed the smallest bedroom when they were deciding who went where. Martyn explained that he liked the simplicity of the smaller space (though Scott guessed that he liked that there was an easy exit route from that bedroom’s window to the outside) and he brought up the fact that he would probably spend a decent amount of time in the common areas over his bedroom anyway. From there, it made the bedroom choices obvious.  

Things have been good- really good. Great, even! They settled into a routine rather quickly and it’s been smooth sailing. They had chore lists, a group calendar, and all those typically helpful things to have in place when living together with other people. What was great was the time in between the chores and their jobs. The time Scott had enjoyed the most was the sweetly domestic moments the four of them shared.

It wasn’t an unusual sight to see the four of them cuddled on a couch to watch a movie or baking together with some tunes on in the kitchen. They would play board games, go on almost date-like activities on their days off, and wander around on duo adventures in every combination possible… it all felt so natural and so wonderful.

Yet Scott still wanted more. Selfishly wanted more.

That wasn’t to say he wasn’t content because, for the most part, he was! It was just those moments of intimacy he was craving more. Scott was grateful none of them were closed off to cuddling together with him, hugging him, or running their fingers through his hair (Tango and Jimmy had picked up on his love of it from Martyn doing it), but there were nights where he craved more. There were nights when he didn’t want to sleep alone in his bed. There were times when he wanted to feel their lips. There were moments he wished he could call them his. Each and every single one of them.

He forbade himself from getting a boyfriend at all because he was too busy and now he found himself desiring three! How selfish was he?

If Scott were to give himself grace, his chaotic schedule had been getting better. His kid sibling was currently in recovery, so he didn’t have to send as much money home, and the house payment split four ways was a lot easier to come up with the funding for.

Maybe I can afford to be a little selfish…

Scott stood in the doorway of his bedroom, biting his lower inner lip as he stared at the back of Martyn’s head. He was in a house full of blondes, yes, (maybe he had a type) but Scott had perfected the skill of telling who was who from the back on first glance. Jimmy, Martyn, and Tango’s hair were all different shades of blonde and styled with different haircuts. Besides, Martyn often wore a headband and had for a good chunk of the time Scott’s known him. He didn’t expect Martyn to give up the headband anytime soon.

Martyn was watching some show on the television, and Scott wasn’t sure where Jimmy and Tango were off to. The house was quiet, aside from their quiet breathing and the sound coming from the speakers.

Scott stepped forward softly, creeping his way around the couch to sit down next to Martyn. When Scott got there, he leaned into Martyn, and the action was accepted without any fuss. Scott cuddled against his childhood best friend, who wrapped his arm snuggly around him as he idly scratched his fingernails against Scott’s side. Scott breathed out, content with the comfort and closeness.

This was pleasant, nice, wonderful, perfect, and all those other positive terms. Did he really need the label on it to be happy? Scott knew he should just learn to be content with what he had. He didn’t want to scare them off! Besides, Scott didn’t even know if they would be open to polyamory; he’s never asked.

Scott’s phone started ringing, pulling both Martyn and himself out of their peaceful moment. He wrinkled his nose as he tried to blink himself into awareness. Scott fished his phone out of his pocket, squinted at the caller ID, read that it was Jimmy, and answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hey, Scott, are you and Martyn home or busy at the moment?” Jimmy’s voice spoke louder than Scott had anticipated so he pulled his phone away from his ear, clicking down the volume button.

“Does Jimmy need us?” Martyn asked, overhearing Jimmy’s question considering the louder volume the phone was set at. “Put it on speaker.”

Scott did as he was told before replying to Jimmy, “Yeah, we’re both home. We’re just watching one of Martyn’s shows. Why?” “We’ve been talking a lot and there’s something we want to talk about with you two.” Tango’s voice came through, meaning they were together and also on speaker. Based on the background feedback, Scott guessed they were driving. Tango’s next comment proved that guess correct, “We’re almost home and we just wanted to make sure you two were free to have a conversation.”

“What about?” Martyn asked, taking the words right out of Scott’s mouth.

There was silence on the other end for several heartbeats before Jimmy spoke up again. “It’s a conversation that’s best to happen in person. It’s nothing bad and, no matter what the conclusion is, nothing has to change.” “Okay, we’ll be home soon, bye!” Tango spoke quickly with his voice pitched in the way that happened when he was nervous. 

The call disconnected and Scott turned to Martyn. “Do you know what that was about?”

“No,” Martyn suddenly looked mildly flustered and Scott wasn’t sure why, “but I have a few suspicions.”

“Do you know something I don’t?” Scott raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought everything was going well between the four of us.” “Everything is going well,” Martyn assured Scott with a half smile. “I- I think it is something you will like if what I think they’re talking about is correct.”

“How do you know what they’re going on about and I don’t?” Scott huffed, crossing his arms. He didn’t enjoy being the only one in the dark.

“I’m just really good at listening,” Martyn gave the excuse as if it was an acceptable explanation.

Before Scott could say anything in response, the front door opened to reveal Tango and Jimmy. Scott started to stand to join them, but Jimmy instructed him against that. “No, stay sitting. We’ll come to you. This conversation is probably better sitting down, anyway.”

Scott obeyed, sitting back down beside Martyn as Jimmy and Tango took a seat (Jimmy on another chair and Tango criss crossed on the floor) in the living room as well. An awkward silence hung in the air as they all stared at each other, no one daring to say the first word.

“So, have either of you considered polyamoring?” Tango blurted out, suddenly breaking the growing tension. His face was red, but so were the other three’s so no one commented on it. 

They exchanged looks for a moment before Martyn hummed, “...it’s definitely been on my mind recently.”

“Tango and I’ve talked about it before, and we’ve discovered we’re polyamorous.” Jimmy gave them a rundown of the reasoning behind Tango’s question before diving into more detail. “We were both crushing on other people- still are- when Scott introduced us. We hit it off and started dating, as you know, but those crushes never went away. If anything, they’ve gotten stronger and we may or may not have developed feelings for the other’s crush as well.”

“And those crushes are me and Scott, aren’t they.” Martyn’s words were set up like they formed a question, but he said them like they were a statement. Both Tango and Jimmy nodded to confirm the suspicion. 

“What?” Scott’s eyes widened, feeling like he was being tricked (not that this was bad news) somehow for some reason. He didn’t think that they were the kind of people to do that sort of prank about something like this, but surely they wouldn’t feel the same way towards him? Was he really that blind? How had he never picked their affections up if it’s actually been that long? Thinking back, there were so many signs, but Scott had dismissed them all as affectionate actions between friends.

“For a matchmaker, you’re pretty oblivious when it comes to your own love life,” Martyn huffed, half teasingly, half simply stating the obvious. He took a breath, averting his eyes away from them before braving it and looking back at them. “Since we’re being honest and open right now, I’ve liked you, Scott, for several years now. I just didn’t know how to tell you and you always said you were too busy for that sort of thing.”

“Really?” Scott squeaked, hating the sound that built in his throat. So he had been that blind! Stars, how oblivious could he be? Here he was, priding himself on picking up on body language and nonverbal cues while these things had gone undetected on his radar.

“Yes, you dumbass.” Martyn’s insult didn’t have any bite to it. His focus moved from Scott to Jimmy and Tango. “After all our time building up our friendships, and now, after living together, I can see myself falling for both of you too.”

Scott buried his head in his hands, his face hot enough that he could feel the heat against his face. This must be a dream, right? He’s had them before. He’s daydreamed about what it would be like to date each of them so many times now…

“You don’t have to agree to date us, any of us,” Jimmy promised, moving closer and placing a hand on Scott’s thigh. His tone was gentle and caring, which only made Scott’s heartbeat quicken. “We still care about you and, as we said, nothing has to change.” “We won’t thirdwheelificate you,” Tango chimed in. He was clearly nervous if only based on the word “thirdwheelificate.” Tango only used words like that when he was nervous, forgot a word, or was showing off some big accomplishment. “Or, rather, fourthwheelify you-”

“No, no, that’s not,” Scott choked on his words, surprised to feel wet tears against his hands. He rubbed his palms against his eyes before removing them and beaming brightly at them. “I would love to date you all, I just… I thought it wasn’t an option, especially with everything I had going on, I wouldn’t be a very great one…”

“Bullshit,” Martyn scoffed in dismissal, wrapping his arm around Scott again. “You would be a great boyfriend. You’re already a fantastic friend. You broke through my angry shell when I was a kid and my life is significantly better off because of it. For someone typically so confident in yourself, you sure have a lot of self-doubt.” “Well, you didn’t have to call me out like that,” Scott stuttered a laugh. A weight he hadn’t fully realized was still there lifted from his shoulders. He felt happy. Happy in a way he hadn’t thought he would a year ago. Life seemed to like him once more, everything turning up in his favor. Scott’s stressors weren’t as numerous as they once were and now he was being offered what he assumed would only be dreams.

“I would be a bad friend if I didn’t.” Martyn paused for a moment with a slight tilt of his head. “Bad boyfriend?” “I think you’ll find the answer to that question if you kiss me,” Scott couldn’t help but slip a sly, little flirt in. 

A brief look of surprise flashed on Martyn’s face before morphing into a smirk. He pulled Scott onto his lap. “C’mere, then.”

Scott giggled, wrapping his arms around Martyn’s neck as they leaned in for a kiss. This wasn’t the first time they have kissed before, but it had been a while since they kissed last. Scott and Martyn were two of those kids who kissed each other “for practice” and discovered they enjoyed it much more with another boy than with a girl. Honestly, Scott was surprised at how their parents didn’t pick it up sooner growing up.

When they broke, they were both looking very satisfied. Scott stayed on Martyn’s lap, but he twisted his body to face Tango and Jimmy. “Can I kiss you two as well?”

He wasn’t met with words, but they both nodded. Since Tango was closer, Scott climbed off of Martyn and moved to where Tango was sitting on the floor. He got to his knees to meet Tango’s lips, but they didn’t stay upright. They moved their kiss to a horizontal position, and he could hear Martyn and Jimmy entertaining themselves with each other as Scott eagerly explored Tango, experimenting to see how each other responded to various things.

When they finally came up for air, they were panting to try and catch their breath. Observing the details of Tango’s face as he laid under him with a huge grin on his lips and his face flushed a bright red was such a beautiful sight to commit to memory.

“We’ll have to talk more in detail later,” Jimmy started, though he looked thoroughly dazed from his kisses with Tango and Marytn.

“We can work out everything later, but that’s too much to think about right now,” Scott interrupted him as he approached Jimmy to claim his lips in a kiss. He had wanted it long enough that he didn’t want to talk about boundaries and everything else more in-depth until later. Scott wanted to claim his Jimmy kiss before then, at least. “I would prefer it if you just kissed me-” Scott was going to say more, adding more flirt and maybe some extra touches, when Jimmy shut him up with a kiss. It was wonderful, so Scott certainly wouldn’t complain. When they broke, Scott knew he had a stupid grin on his face. He felt warm and fuzzy with a sufficiently content buzz humming in his chest. “If that’s how you’re going to shut me up from now on, feel free to do it anytime.”

“Is that offer open to us too?” Martyn chimed in. “Because that would be oh so very useful.” Scott rolled his eyes and flipped Martyn off, who promptly cackled with delight. Despite what may typically be perceived as annoyance, it was anything but. Scott felt pure bliss as he came to terms with the situation and it continued to stay with him. He didn’t know exactly how their relationship was going to go, how it would develop, or where they would end up, but those questions didn’t matter right now. They would figure it out together, one day at a time, and Scott couldn’t wait to see what was in store for them next.

If you made it this far, please reblog this post, and maybe leave a like/kudos slash comment here or on AO3, thank you <333

[umbracirrus]

Umbracirrus Writing Masterlist

Originally, some of my writing masterlist was contained within my pinned post, though it hadn't been updated since April, and the post in question felt horribly long. So, I decided to make this list separate to my pinned post and to have it link to this instead.

It is split into multi-chapter fanfictions and oneshots, with the oneshots all at the bottom. It only includes things which I have posted at least one chapter of (or posted all of, in the case of oneshots)! And I happen to have.... Well, a lot of other things in progress not even mentioned here.

Masterlist last updated: 27th October 2024

Multi-Chapter fics

The Perfect Storm (On AO3) - In Progress

Skyrim fanfiction

Balgruuf the Greater/Dragonborn (Elyse Verne - OC); background Irileth/Hrongar

Rated E on AO3

Slow burn, Romance, Skyrim's chaotic politics, Skyrim Civil War, eventual sexual content

Summary:

“What do you think will burn better? Another ballad of Mikael’s about Whiterun’s ‘assets’, or yet another letter from Ulfric Stormcloak asking for me to join him?" When the Dragonborn is facing pressure to choose a side in the brewing war, she sticks with the side which holds a special place in her heart. She picks Whiterun.

Seeking the Sun (On AO3) - In Progress, precursor to The Perfect Storm

Skyrim fanfiction

Dragonborn (Elyse Verne - OC)

Rated M on AO3

Adventure, Angst, Skyrim main quest, minor canon divergence

She was free to go wherever she wished, drift around and allow her whims to guide her feet. But she had a plan… and that plan was Skyrim. Yes, it was a land full of strife, but it was still a place of great significance to her. It was her mother's homeland. When Elyse finds her life in Cyrodiil too painful to bare, she makes the decision to travel north, to Skyrim - unaware that she was Dragonborn, and that her decision would soon determine not just her own fate, but the fate of Skyrim... and potentially that of the world itself.

Tenacity (On Tumblr) - In Progress, prequel to both Seeking the Sun and The Perfect Storm

Skyrim fanfiction (based in 4E 172/173 - approximately 28/29 years pre-game)

Edwyn Verne (OC)/Ingja Frosthand (OC)

Chapters - {1} (currently only posted on Tumblr, not AO3)

Enemies to lovers, Forbidden romance, tragedy with a happy ending

"Stay away from those mages and their college. They are nothing but bad news." That message had been instilled in Ingja since she was but a child. So after a chance encounter leads to her getting to know Edwyn, an aspirational student of conjuration in the College, she realises that perhaps... mages simply aren't as bad as their reputation would say.

Tempest (on AO3) - In Progress

Skyrim fanfiction (based in the same version of Skyrim as The Perfect Storm, but is a standalone fic)

Thorne (OC)/Vilkas, past Thorne/Brynjolf

Rated M on AO3

Enemies to lovers, Found family, Secrets, Mental health issues, Companions questline, past Thieves Guild questline

The Thieves Guild were like the family which Thorne never had, though she never felt as though she truly fit in, even after reaching position of guildmaster. After a heart-to-heart with Brynjolf, she finds herself planning to amicably part ways with the guild and find somewhere that she could belong. Somewhere that she could feel happy. That somewhere ends up being Jorrvaskr much to the chagrin of Vilkas, who feels that she is hiding more than she is letting on.

With light comes shadow (On AO3) - In Progress

Oblivion fanfiction (featuring two heroes of Kvatch)

Martin Septim/Hero of Kvatch (Florian Livius - OC); uncertain if my other HoK, Drissa Arys (OC), will have a relationship established or not.

Rated M on AO3

Character Redemption/Condemnation, Oblivion Main Quest, Oblivion Dark Brotherhood, canon character death, Found family

At a pivotal time for the Empire, in the wake of the Emperor’s death, two so-called heroes emerge from the ashes of Kvatch - an incompetent thief and a disgraced arena fighter. One takes the chance at redemption. The other seeks their own ruin.

Oneshots

A Moment in the Sunset (On here and AO3)

Skyrim fanfiction

Balgruuf the Greater (Elyse Verne - OC)

Rated M on AO3

As the sun sets across Skyrim, the Dragonborn and Jarl of Whiterun spend a peaceful few moments on the porch of Dragonsreach.

"Do you surrender?" (On AO3)

Skyrim fanfiction

Balgruuf the Greater/Dragonborn (Elyse Verne - OC)

Rated E on AO3 (sexual content)

When business in Whiterun grows far too tedious for Balgruuf's liking, he takes a break to find his wife in order let off some steam. What starts out as a sparring session with Elyse on the Dragonsreach porch takes a heated turn.

Kiss (On here)

Skyrim fanfiction

Balgruuf the Greater/Dragonborn (Elyse Verne - OC)

To be part of a bigger oneshot in the future (or maybe added in to The Perfect Storm eventually :3)

Elyse and Balgruuf sneak out of Dragonsreach for a night in the Bannered Mare without telling anyone, not even their housecarls, and end up sharing a dessert. A very messy dessert.

Purity (On here and AO3)

Skyrim fanfiction

Vilkas/Dragonborn (Thea - OC)

Rated T on AO3

An odd, prickly feeling went down Vilkas' spine as he watched Thea navigate towards a wall, which upon further inspection, looked to have an indent about the size of a door. The sensation made him shiver, and he had to stretch his fingers with anticipation. Sweat was also pouring down the back of his neck, a looming sense of… not quite terror, but more along the lines that something was going to go awfully wrong if he were to go any further.

Starlit (On here)

Skyrim fanfiction

Miraak

Miraak looks up at the night sky after his long-awaited freedom from Apocrypha.

[two-reflections]

how you feel about your current WIP

Which one, hahahahaaa...

Thanks for asking, it's always good to do a WIP audit. Let's do it as a numbered list. Only going for the multi-chapter stories here. I also have a lot of oneshots in varying states of completion.

Non Warhammer 40k stories are under the Read More.

Carrion's Heir - Technically not a WIP, but not fully uploaded yet. It would have been a better story if I hadn't had to follow a set of prompts, but that was how the challenge I wrote it for worked. Still, I love the main character and his story arc. May come back to it in the future.

Of Steel and Flesh - Started off as a quick series of campaign-inspired drabbles, but became its own thing. I kind of love it and kind of hate it sometimes. Maybe I should have just left it as a bunch of tiny vignettes. I am committed to finishing it, though. Again, I care a lot about the main characters, and I REALLY like the Dark Mechanicum sect in it.

Even in Death - MY BELOVED. MY DARLING. MY SWEET, SELF-INDULGENT DREADNOUGHT-BASED BABY. Putting this one off to finish other projects hurts so bad. I want to write the rest of this ASAP.

[Unnamed Techmarine Story] - This is about my character Bai'keti's 30 years on Mars. It's less about his training and more about what being so far from his brothers and culture is like, the difficulty of adopting a new culture, and his intense friendship with another techmarine in training from the Dragonspears chapter. I'll probably never upload this one because I'm not too familiar with what Mars in 40k is like beyond "Admech and the Void Dragon live here." Plus, it's based on my own time as an International student at a particularly weird British University. It makes me feel nostalgic for the rare good times, and also SO freaking glad I survived my time and am not there any more. Hated my Uni so much. This WIP is also on the back burner at like 12k words, will probably pick it back up in the autumn.

[Unnamed Salamander Story] - The story of Val'ten's first year in the Salamanders' 6th company. Includes a romance between him and his brander priest, but it's mostly about various missions and adventures, how he settles to life as a Salamander brother, and his attempt to grow a little garden in his downtime. This one is my most long-term wh40k project since I came up with Val'ten in 2017 for a completely different (and much worse) fic. His story has been stuck at around 60k words for months because it's on the back burner while I finish other things, but this is the story I think about in the shower, when I'm waiting in a queue, when I'm on the train. It's so important to me.

Other fandoms and Original Work

The Name Within - A leftover from my Kingdom Hearts Days. It's about Isa straightening out his head after everything that happened in KH3, and coming to terms with perhaps never functioning like a normal human after experiencing literal dehumanization at a pivotal age. I've linked it because it's on Ao3, but I wouldn't bother checking it out, it's probably not worth reading unless you really like this one particular dude. It's been missing around two paragraphs to finish for years. I should just bash those out and finish it, but it's hard to find the keen for it now.

Big Name on Campus/The Dream He Was Given - Temporary names for two fanfics based on a very old Sci-Fi manga. One is a weird fix-it-fic, the other is based on the University career of my favourite character, the chronically ill director of a medical center. I know, another university story, but I swear this one's not primarily based on my experience; rather, on watching my parents' students over the years. Decent chance I will never finish these two, there's no English-speaking audience for this comic so they're only for me. I love BNOC, though. The other, I could take or leave.

Twisted Links - Original story. After a series of international incidents and corporate takeovers, HR Agent Marley from the Pan-Martian Corporation ends up as temporary site director for a radio telescope in the Caribbean with secret instructions to ensure the Corp's permanent control of the site. Unbeknownst to Marley, local engineer and anti-colonialism activist Victor is struggling to hide a rogue Pan-Martian AI which caused a major international incident several decades before. Will Victor be able to keep the AI secret, or will Marley find out that there's a second being living inside Victor's head? Whose vision for the future of the telescope will become reality, or will the whole place shut down? The first 20k words of this story secured me a first-class Master's degree, but just as I was gearing up to write the rest, the catastrophic demise of the telescope where I grew up happened. I miss this story and want to go back to it but... Trauma...

[ilikelookingatthings]

I NEED TO SCREAM INTO THE VOID.

I am in a pickle of my own making! I have over 1000 tabs open on my computer because I kept opening new windows and forgetting the previous windows. Most of these tabs are fanfiction. My computer is slow as all get out because of all the tabs so I can't bounce between them to get to all the oneshots. There are so many that the windows don't show as pictures and the only way to scroll to tabs is to have all the tabs on the side instead of at the top.

So I've been meticulously going through each tab to try to finish a window to then start again in the next window.

But not ONLY are a majority of the tabs fanfictions...many are multi-chapter.

But my ONLY hobby right now(aside from making earrings out if beads so I can get rid of my beads) is writing comments on fanfictions....so my pace is slowed down EVEN MORE because I am SHIT at summarizing my thoughts in a short ans sweet manner!

I write my comments to process and get out every thought I can on the fanfiction currently in my sights so I won't be lingering on it for months mentally. The good, the bad, the 'this part doesn't make sense logically with what you set up but COULD WORK if you adjust this part a smidge so we can enjoy your brilliant lines over here', the ooooh my God I'm terrified I'm having so much fun reading this, amd of my God this is infuriating and I hate it but I live it write more!

My computer bounces between being able to spell properly and skipping letters and the spell check takes so long to do because I write so much!!! And then I need to check tone of my comment because what if I wrote out all my thoughts and didn't realize my love and appreciation didn't get through where people might take it as critique or hurtful because I didn't get my feeling across properly.

So I need to double check! Because I don't want to accidentally discourage someone who's fic I cared enough about to read through! I'll want more fanfics after all!!!

But I also need to get through the fanfics as quickly as possible and I write alot quickly and I need to get my thoughts out of my head as soon as possible so I can go to the next fanfiction!

But then I have such good taste and the writers are so great I get sucked in again! And if I'm not careful I'll write a comment for every chapter!!!

I spent TWO DAYS going through a 20 chapter fanfic! Just to delete ONE TAB! I can't even sort the tabs by oneshots! I have to go tab by tab in this window to get through the window or risk the computer rebooting and reopening or opening copys of windows!!!! And I can't pin point all the copy windows cuz some windows have fanfics from the other windows!

And then I thought! Hey no one really CARES if I comment right? I can just skip one or two! But not only does my brain say no! that fanfic didn't have any comments!!! which was a travesty because the fic was so good and needs to be appreciated! So I needed to write one! And THEN apparently people recognized that I commented on almost every fanfiction I've read and noticed I'm BACK because I took hiatus for so long due to lent! I don't eve have any writing of my own and somehow people noticed?

AND WRITERS apparently appreciate them so I get all warm and fuzzy! Whoch gives me energy to comment more!

But I still have a ridiculous amount of tabs and I made a deal with myself I can't scroll on tumblr or YouTube for too long on my phone until I get through ALL of them! Because that risks me making MORE comments because it's not just fanfictions I process that way!!!

There are tabs from at least 3 years ago!!!! And that's not even adressing when I AM done I plan on getting through my bookmarks because they are separate!!!! And how when I read a fic from one Fandom I get the erge to look for MORE!

I've got myself opening up new tabs at least 3 times! Luckily stopping myself from diving further in. Commenting on those fanfictions and closing the tabs quickly. But still!!!!

And that's not even adressing tge fanfic purges that happen so what if one of the five I was reading got taken down so I'll never know the ending? Or when my tabs refresh so the comment I spent 15 minutes writing disappeared!!!! I can type very quickly and my reading comprehension are high. I wrote past the archive comment limit within 2 minutes once so I thought this would be faster!

Am I my own worst enemy?! I can't just give up now! But there are so many!!!! And something tells me most won't be one shots! But even just the one shots can be worth multiple comments!

Its how I process! My sister can only take so much of ne talking at her about characters and Fandom she isn't in!!! And my prize at the end are more fanfictions I'm not letting myself read til I finish all of these!

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Why do I DO this to myself!!!!!

[crazy-ache]

Fanfiction Ask Game

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 21

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 184,514

3. What fandoms do you write for? ACOTAR (my current obsession), and I used to write quite bit for Avatar: The Last Airbender (back in the DAY with fanfiction.net and livejournal.com just to show my AGE), and I have dabbled briefly in GOT haha

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?  

when destiny keeps calling (Zutara, ATLA)

the other side of mercy (Zutara, ATLA)

surround me (Zutara, ATLA)

Call Me Selfish, Call Me Wreck (Elucien, ACOTAR)

Dear Lucien, Dear Elain (Elucien, ACOTAR)

Major love to my old Zutara fandom.

5. Do you respond to comments? I didn't always understand the importance of doing it and I used to be very shy in fandom, but now I do my best to always respond! I have made friends from engaging on fics on Ao3 which I love. It makes the writing experience feel like a community event which has been really fulfilling.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I usually leave on a hopeful note, but I did write water can heal, water can break which was slightly Zutara with anti Kataang vibes and the implications of the ending break my heart because they were aligned with the canon for Katara. I basically was so disappointed by the absence of her story in LoK that I needed to explain why it wasn't her fault and her own internal heartbreak about it.

Call Me Selfish, Call Me Wrecked is happy but also has my special mix of angsty-HEA. 7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All of them LOL. But maybe Courting Lucien Vanserra because I was just in a silly goofy mood when I wrote it. But I also still technically need to write the epilogue....shit....

8. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Oh! I used to not. @zenkindoflove influenced me lmao. Now I am getting better at it. So, yes, I do. I'm going to call it smut-with-lots-of-feelings.

9. Do you write crossovers? I have not!

10. Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but please tell me if you do LOL

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Oooh yes. Me and @zenkindoflove have written two works together. I highly recommend it to anyone else considering it. It was some of the most fun I had writing in a long while- a true creative experiment. We basically have our own "Canon" universe of crazykindoflove that we have established in our heads. It helps we very much have the same tastes.

12. What is your all-time favorite ship? Zuko/Katara was the ship that started it all for me. It taught me fandom obsession, fandom community, it spurred a life-long passion for writing....I think I have to give it credit where it is due. Elain/Lucien is getting up there. Their book might be the very thing that puts them into the number one slot.

13. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Divine Punishments....the multi-chapter fic I had grand plans for that I abandoned after the first chapter LOL.

14. What are your writing strengths? Metaphors. I can come up with a damn good metaphor. That's my poetry background coming into play. My writing is very lyrical, descriptive, and introspective. I love finding a beautiful metaphor that just perfectly describes an emotion or situation.

Because were she to ever wear the dress, those stitched sunflowers, with their bright yellow petals, would be a declaration to the whole world exactly what his heart intended. That she was the sun and he was the humble sunflower, forever loyal to follow her, forever in adoration of her shine; for the sunflower only grows facing the sun’s light, in an eternal chase of her orbit. It didn’t matter where either of them moved, he would be there, waiting to bloom at her smile. 

Like damn look at this. I still think about this one LOL

15. What are your writing weaknesses?  Plot LOL. I was a oneshot girl my entire life and could never tackle multi-chapter works with elaborate plots. Until ACOWAR (Elucien's Version)!!

16. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I'd love to incorporate my Spanish but haven't had a reason to yet in a fic.

17. First fandom you wrote for? ATLA!

18. Favorite fic you’ve written? This is really hard. Several are near and dear to my heart. But I'm going to say ACOWAR (Elucien's Version). Because I'm really proud of the quality of the writing, the interesting take on Canon AU, the characterizations, and the time spent mapping out the chapters. I'm halfway through and it's already been beyond rewarding.

I feel as though everyone has been tagged on this one, so feel free to steal and share!!!

[mstarcreates]

Intro

Hi all! Welcome to my blog! I figured I'd make a pinned post for those of you coming to check out my page for the first time. First, let me introduce myself, my name is Seth. I'm a 36/F and I live in Las Vegas, NV with my husband and our 3 cats.

I'm a gamer, but also an artist and a writer! I main Hunter in Destiny 2 but I also have a lot of other games that I really love and have put a lot of hours into. Right now I'm mostly fixated on writing fics for Destiny but I also have Call of Duty fics out in the wild as well and this post is going to host them all. Please check the last updated date on fics with multiple chapters.

Lastly, my DMs are always open feel free to send me a message! My AO3 Page

Destiny Fics Past Lives Part One: A Hunter's Fate

Enemies to Lovers Canon Divergence AU where Sundance and Cayde survive the Prison of Elders only to be taken hostage by Uldren Sov. Status: COMPLETED

Crow's Wish CaydexCrow Oneshot where Crow and Cayde play a drunken game of Truth or Dare inside the Traveler’s Pale Heart. Status: COMPLETED Crow's Calling Silly little coffee shop AU where Crow owns his own coffee shop. Not sure if this one will get posted to AO3 yet. Last Updated: 10/16/2024 Day 1 Day 2 Dance of Spades

After winning the Battle for Saturn, the Awoken find themselves in a unique position wherein they must start to secure alliances, particularly with the Vanguard who helped them in their victory against Oryx the Taken King. Pressured by his sister, Uldren agrees to marry a suitor of her choosing to make the alliance official. And of all the people in the universe to choose…

It had to be Cayde-6.

The gunslinging, rogue-ish Hunter is as charming as he is daring. Yet no one deemed it important enough to clue Cayde in on the marriage plot until they were to be wed. With no other choice, the two reluctantly say their vows in front of the entire Awoken Kingdom.

But there’s little time to celebrate the nuptials. Mere days after the ceremony, plans to overthrow the kingdom and attempts to assassinate its Prince begin to surface and the two must flee the Dreaming City. Uldren’s status means nothing in the wilds and in order to survive they must learn to depend on the one person they thought they never could:

Each other.

The Prince and the Gunslinger face the mounting odds and become an unlikely duo that is a force to be reckoned with. Status: In Progress

----------------------------------------------------------- COD Multi-chapter Fics

Modus Operandi There is no official post on AO3 about this fic but it is one I have been toiling away on for months. John MacTavish, has just been promoted to Sergeant and is the newest addition to MPD's Homicide Unit. As a Shifter, John has struggled to find his place in the world. Upon meeting his new partner, Simon, John finds that prejudice is every where and now must work with a man who hates his guts while trying to uncover who is behind a string of murders. Danger lurks around every corner in this thrilling story about two detectives who must learn to trust each other or die.

Big Fan Sports AU where Johnny MacTavish was once an aspiring Goalie until he had a devastating ACL tear, effectively killing his career. Fast forward to the present, he works a shit job as a garage attendant and follows famous footballer Simon Riley. He has a chance meeting with his hero that ends in him getting concussed. Soon after, Simon is suspended and Johnny becomes determined to help Simon rise like a phoenix from the ashes and become the greatest football player ever. Status: ON HIATUS Last Update: 6/15/2024 Bourbon Nights (and the Bull Rider Named Ghost)

A Scottish ranchhand (John Mactavish) has the luck of meeting a famous bull rider called Ghost in a bar. Their chemistry is near instant. The one-off turns into situations where two keep running into one another and feelings start to surface. Soap grows increasingly obsessed with the man as he starts to unravel the mystery behind the masked bull rider. Status: COMPLETED

That Big Boy With the Skullface

Soap is blowing off some steam by getting a little tipsy in a bar off-base. He doesn't know that Ghost tailed him there, and is oblivious to the new recruits hitting on him. Ghost intervenes before one of them can take Johnny home instead of him. Status: COMPLETED

COD Oneshots

Love in an Elevator You've Got me in a Chokehold Take me to Church

[mythandlaur]

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet? | 18. Do you typically post multi-chapters as you write, or finish it all and then start posting? Would you like to change your posting method?

New Year's Fanfic Asks

18. Do you typically post multi-chapters as you write, or finish it all and then start posting? Would you like to change your posting method?

On the rare occasions I've tried to write things longer than (sometimes particularly long) oneshots, I've posted as I've written...and I've never managed to actually finish a single fic. This has led to many actually abandoned or "I'll get to it someday maybe"-abandoned WIPs out there and the guilt's decidedly starting to pile up, so yes, I would like to change it. The things I've been writing recently I've been trying to finish before I start posting...but I'm also having trouble finishing those so I'm not sure it's helping, exactly, it's just added the additional "I want to share this so bad" feeling on top of it. I'll get back to you on that when I do manage to finish something and post it all. Which leads to...

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

(Given you chose these two questions to send together I imagine you might've been expecting this answer, that or I just really want an excuse to talk about it. Which part of the whole reason I reblogged this in the first place was to have an excuse to talk about my stuff so thanks.)

There are several Shovel Knight oneshots I worked on more recently that I probably should feel more strongly about finishing sooner, but the one most urgent in my mind is the one you know about that I've been sitting on for over a year and wrote 8k words for in one day.

Front Lines [Code Lyoko] - An attempt to make up for a social misstep leads to disaster as Aelita and Jeremie find themselves on Lyoko with an activated tower and no one on Earth who knows they've gone. As pressure mounts, they decide to take matters into their own hands, but they're quickly running out of time--and not in the way they think they are...

Basically I have the whole thing planned and mostly written, but it's been so long since I started writing it and the draft's so messy I worry I should rewrite everything to meet my current standards. That and there's still a couple of fight scenes that need to get done and I have a really hard time writing those. Here's a bit I can share without really spoiling anything.

Aelita steps fully into the room, closing the door behind her. Jeremie raises an eyebrow and rolls his chair slightly closer to her—something about Lyoko, then?

Aelita’s face pinches with worry. “I’ve been thinking about what you said at lunch.”

Jeremie’s smile drops. He glances off to the side as if his closet doors have suddenly become interesting. “Yeah, what about it?”

Aelita frowns, taking a step towards him with her hands on her hips. He knows the look well.

“Would you really rather be possessed by XANA again than go to Lyoko?”

Jeremie winces, pulling both of his legs up to sit in an awkward-looking butterfly position on his office chair and grabbing at his feet. He still doesn’t look at her, but he can feel her eyes burning into his head.

“...No,” he admits, “I’m not that stupid. I can’t afford to be compromised like that again.” And he doesn’t particularly feel like going through it again, either.

When he finally manages to meet her eyes, her lips are pursed in an expression he can’t quite read. “Then why did you lie?”

Jeremie scowls. “You heard Odd, he wouldn’t leave me alone. Imagine how bad it’d be if he knew I was going.”

“So you have been going!”

Jeremie realizes he may have made a mistake in saying that, but he’d long since figured out lying to her is an exercise in futility no matter how experienced he gets at it. “Yeah, I’ve been going. Not for very long—I have the computer set to run devirtualization after one minute. If I could get away with not sending my data to Lyoko at all, I would, but...I haven’t figured out what causes the resistance to XANA’s influence yet, so I can’t take any chances.”

“And you haven’t told anyone?”

“They’d insist on coming with me or training me or something, and the last time the three of us went, three megatanks showed up. If they got devirtualized with me, that’d be another opportunity for XANA to attack while they were recovering.”

“And you’re embarrassed.”

Jeremie grabs his desk and turns his chair back towards it so she can’t see his face. “You heard them, I look ridiculous. I don’t want to make myself look like even more of an idiot.”

Aelita huffs, grabbing the back of Jeremie’s chair and spinning him around to look at her. She keeps hold of the chair arms to keep him from turning away again, glaring into his eyes with her jaw set.

“When’s the next time you plan on going?”

Jeremie swallows hard, his stomach dropping. It doesn’t take a genius to see where she’s going with this. “...Sometime this week. Aelita—”

“You’re right about one thing, I’m not letting you go alone.” Aelita leans away and crosses her arms. “We’re going. Both of us. Today.”

“And that’s definitely because you’re worried about me and not just curious about how dumb I look?” Aelita winces, and Jeremie realizes he's talked before thinking again. He'd been trying to work on that. “...Sorry.”

“It’s not not because I’m curious, I admit.” Her tone grows pained. “But I’m also worried. What if your devirtualization program doesn’t work? Or XANA’s monsters get to you first? I just don’t like the idea of you doing something like this all by yourself.”

“Aelita...”

Her voice softens, and though she smirks at him, her eyes are earnest. “You’ve always been protective of me. Now it’s my turn to worry about you.”

Jeremie feels his face heating up. Of course, she has every right to worry—the thought of doing this frankly still scares him half to death. It would be nice to have someone looking out for him...and besides, if he doesn’t do it now, he might very well put it off as long as he can get away with it. Potentially longer than he can get away with it.

“...And you promise you won’t laugh at me.”

Aelita puts a hand over her heart, solemn. “I promise.”

Jeremie sighs, rubbing his elbow with the opposite hand. “Okay. Clearly I’m not getting out of this.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Just give me a few minutes to get ready.” And get up the nerve.

[carriedreamerx]

Carriedreamer's current fic to do list / future published short stories on archive for 2024 early 2025

Pokemon Scarlet Violet:

Multi-Chap

1. "Supernova":

Chapter 5: Be prepared

Chapter 6: How Far I'll go

Rating: T

Read here:

2. "Frozen Revenant"

"Let me tell you somethin' kid, there's worse things on those mountains than a pissed off Pokemon... never stray from the trail. Ever."

Arven Sada and Juliana Scarlet are that odd duo who claim to be just friends but they end up locking lips a little too much for this to be really believable anymore.

But when a shiny hunt up in the peaks of Glasdeo leads the two to come across a mysterious mansion hidden in the snow with an injured Froslass in tow, it's soon apparent there is something far more sinister than a mere blizzard at play here... and his little buddy's life may very well depend on Arven finding his courage amongst the ghosts that surround him.

---

Inspired by "Until Dawn" the video game and "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault

Rating: M

Begun: 10.8.2024- Part of Halloween ( Carrie-tober)

Read here:

Oneshots:

1. "Applin Dumpling"

2. "The Flat"

In which a misunderstanding between Penny and Nemona over an Applin results in chaos.

Rating: T

Of course there was only one solution to the Crater Crew all graduating but not wanting to go "home" or in some cases having no real home to go to. Be roommates of course!

How bad could it possibly be?

Rating: T

3. "Dragon's Breath"

Drayton is very amused by the chaos that is the Arven and Juliana nuptials happening all around him...but nothing is more entertaining than watching their very rigid and far too *stiff* bean pole of an emcee Kieran trying to figure out his speech.

Rating: T

Pokemon ( All Gens )

1. "A deals a deal"

Once upon a time there was a boy who climbed up a mountain... and once upon a time the boy did not climb down.

Rating: M

[ another carrie-tober fic for 2024 ]

****

Stardew Valley:

"To whom it may concern"

Quite the stir in Pelican Town occurs when news the Farmer is leaving town for their wedding spreads like wildfire - all except for a young man with a computer in the dark. Who has a few things to say...

Note: [ written entirely in 2nd perspective ]

Rating: T

***

Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom

"Ghosts"

They can see the tears of the man who must save them... and yet they can do nothing about it.

Rating: T

"Petals in blood"

For each flower he plucks he weaves into a crown for her fair hair... this woman whose face he has never seen.

But who never leaves his mind

Rating: T

***

Could be more and i have one more Multi chapter scarlet violet fic ( another redux) "Better Late than Never" which makes "The Contract" look like it's rated T so do with that as you will xD

[essayofthoughts]

Hey! 21, 28 and 31 for the writing asks if you're still down to answer some <3

Yeah, I'm still answering them! Thank you dear.

21. Can you accurately predict how long your fics are going to be? If you can, what's your secret?

Hahahahahaha NO. I absolutely cannot predict the length of my fics. I thought my old Maximoffs Crimson Peak AU would be, idk, maybe 9k? (It's 23k). I thought my Perc'ahlia Soulmate AU would be a oneshot (it is not). I thought I could do Ghost Cass as a oneshot! (it is a multi-part series). I consistently underestimate how long my fics are gonna be until I get towards the end and can reliably go "Oh, I have two-three more scenes to hit, and then it's done". Before that point? Absolutely not.

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

I have a few go-tos!

Vary sentence length both to keep things interesting and to measure the intensity of a scene

(Relatedly, read poetry, because it encourages you to be creative with word choice and sentence structure)

Learned from @tobermoriansass: If you get stuck, go back and delete or remove the last couple lines. Usually the problem is a little ago.

Also from tobermoriansass: When you pause writing, pausing mid-sentence can help you get back into the swing of writing easier. (I am bad at this one because it needles my brain but it DOES help precisely because of the needling).

From @deweydecibelsystem: vignette styles! All those Maximoff fics I did in Vignette style with numeralled sections? I stole that style entirely from Niamh because it let me just jump from scene to scene without worrying too much about connective tissue. It got me to write more than any other one thing.

And lastly, the one which gives me all my ideas and keeps me going: always ask why, what purpose does this serve, and what implications does this provide. Thinking about why characters do what they do, what their actions mean and speak to about themselves can spur a great deal of fic.

31. What was the most difficult fic for you to write (but in the end you made it)?

I... don't know? Most of the time if I get an idea there's some underlying part which compels me and makes writing easier, even fun. There are parts of fics I struggled on but like... I mean there's one oneshot I did for something I don't like and put off writing but that wasn't difficult it just felt kind of bland to me so I procrastinated more out of lack of personal hooks to the premise than because it was difficult.

So.. yeah, I think there's more parts of fics I've found difficult or cases where my drive has run low and I've needed a break, but I don't think I've ever found any one particular fic difficult to write.

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

21 & 25!

and also 30 - is there a comment or compliment you’ve ever received on a fic that you go back to/think about often?

fanfic writer ask game!!

21. Have you ever deleted an entire scene after spending hours laboring over it? If so, why?

I don't delete scenes. I never delete scenes.

If I have worked on something really hard, even if I know it's not going to work with the overall story, I always, always, always save it and put it into its own separate little doc and I will label it something like [FIC NAME] DELETED SCENE or [FIC NAME] ALTERNATE SCENE.

And I always advise other people to do the same, because if you have worked hard on writing a certain amount of words, don't just delete it. Even if it doesn't work with your story, save it in a separate doc and you could come back and turn it into a different short fic.

Because I do genuinely think of myself as a movie director? Especially when I am writing longer multi-chaptered stories, I think of it as: the characters are playing out their story, and it's just my job as a director to showcase the most important parts of their story at the right time with editing and to showcase their story in a certain light by emphasizing mood, and tone, and certain symbols.

One of the most devastating examples of deleted scenes for me was when I was working on Burn The Witch. I was overflowing with ideas for that fic, and I came up with multiple scenes that had to be cut from that fic because they didn't fit into the overall narrative (especially with the pacing of the second half, I didn't have a lot of places to put flashbacks like I wanted to) - but I saved those scenes with the idea that I could incorporate them into a sequel.

And to me, that sequel is like... my fucking white whale. It's something I always want to write but I don't think I ever will just on pure intimidation and anxiety.

But in general, if I am working on a oneshot (which is mostly what I write) - if I have spent time working on a scene, then that scene will make it into the final fic. And this is often why I talk about characters having 'a will' of their own, because I will start writing a scene thinking that it's short, or that it will go a certain way, and then it ends up being something totally different and it could change the overall tone of the fic SO MUCH and yeah - this is why sometimes a fic I intended to be 5k will end up being 20k. Because I don't delete scenes.

25. Have you ever upset yourself with your own writing?

Oh god yes, all the time.

Sometimes I write something that I know is going to upset me and I'm like 'okay, that was a predictable sadness due to the topic but I'm glad that I got upset while writing it because that just means the emotions in the fic come across as more real' and then other times I'm writing something that accidentally becomes so raw and I'm like 'oh ugh why am I crying when did this start'.

I think one of the best examples was when I was writing the ending of the first chapter of Dreaming Of You - I started crying and I was like 'oh, talking in detail about the fear of losing someone you love so closely is PAINFUL'. Especially because Gar reminds me a lot of someone I love really closely in my life and it just brought up a lot of really personal feelings for me that I did not expect.

But like, in general, I get upset often or cry often due to the emotions in my writing. But I think that it makes my writing a lot more raw and real and it makes my writing better (and it's because I am a hyper-empathetic person and way too in touch with my emotions lmao).

30 - is there a comment or compliment you’ve ever received on a fic that you go back to/think about often?

There isn't one specific comment? Sometimes when I am thinking about certain fics, I think about specific comments that I have gotten on those fics. Whenever I am reading fics that @star-mum and I have discussed, I always think about her memes in my head, and sometimes it leads to me reading the most serious fic and bursting into laughter because I will be thinking about some dumb meme she sent me ("Spencer is kidnapped" "JJ and Reader making out in the bathroom: this ain't about him!!")

I lot of intensely memorable comments that I have gotten on a fic that have really gotten me over 'the hump' of my writing career (aka a time when I almost quit writing altogether due to a severe depressive episode and severe onslaught of chronic illness symptoms) - were comments on Bring Me Your Pain, Love.

I was terrified to post that fic because I had never posted a fic with an autistic chronically ill character before, and although it is just me telling depictions of my life, I was afraid that the character was going to be ripped apart because most depictions of autistic characters are. But at the time, Abby was a character that literally kept me sane and writing the fic was such a meditative process for me and literally changed who I am as a person - helped me cope so much with my body as I became more disabled, and just - this fic changed my fucking life.

So I felt like sharing it with the (at the time) intimate and passionate Abby fandom was something I really wanted to do. (And this is also a huge reason why I am so fiercely protective of Abby as a character and I hate the idea of her character being screwed up by a live action adaptation, and yeah. Ugh.)

Anyway - when I shared the fic, I got a huge outpouring of support for it. People were telling me that if they were autistic and read it, they felt like the were finally reading fanfiction that accurately described their experiences, and non-autistic people told me that reading it opened up their eyes to what living with autism is actually like. I have had several comments on the fic saying that it helped people realize their sexuality fully, which is fucking wild to me.

One person commented that they discovered the poem I used through the fic, and they got the idea (because of my fic) to read that poem to someone on a first date like the characters do in the fic. And then they came back and commented months later that the person they read the poem to is now their girlfriend and they are thankful to my fic for giving them the courage to pursue their sapphic love. So I inadvertently helped make an IRL love connection with my fic???

(Also it's wild to me that so many people call it a 'sapphic love story' and that it's in so many 'sapphic' fanfiction collections when 1) I openly stated in the fic that the reader character is bi and 2) all of the metaphors and inspiration for the love connection that I was writing about at the time came from my relationships with men - so the 'purity' of the love I was writing about in the fic isn't even sapphic)

Anyway. Also someone said that my fic inspired them to get a tattoo of the poem - which, I did not write the actual poem used in the fic, I just borrowed it. But it's still wild to me that they felt the need to tell me that my fanfiction still inspired them to get a tattoo in some way. fucking wild

I will always mark this fic as a huge point in my life and as something so important to me. and the comments are just one of the reasons why

[dayseternal-blog]

Do you have any fics recs of hinata raising boruto and hima as single mom and later reunites with naruto kinda plot??

hmmmmmmmmmmm ok

“Missed Years” by Rinne-Kami - Rated T, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. The act of one night gave birth to their future. And now, with years past since that one night, they were left with years to return. Seven years of love to find, seven years of trust to rebuild, and seven years of fatherhood to return.

"Fantasy AU" from "Tales of Two Ninjas" by @magmawrites - Rated E, High Fantasy AU, One-shot. War brought them together. Will it keep them apart?

uhhhhhhhhhhhh what else

Just Boruto for Single Mom Hinata Fics

“Blurred Lines” by @vegebulsoup - Rated E, Police / Cops and Robbers Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. Detective Naruto Uzumaki is having a hard time staying focused at work due to an elusive, dark-haired beauty.

Untitled by @jadeandonyx - Rated T, Modern AU, One-shot. Prompt: 4. teacher/single parent au + 5. one night stand and falling pregnant au

“Sun/Moon Deities” from “Small Doses” by chloelapomme - Rated E, Gods & Goddesses AU, One-shot. Powerful and yet even stronger when united, the Moon and the Sun can create and protect life together.

“Shattered Ties” by UltimateUnknown - Rated T, Canon-Divergent AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete.  Hinata and her seven year old son, Boruto live in a small village far away from the influence of ninjas. By moving to such a distant location, Hinata thought she could both outrun her past and live peacefully with her beloved son. However, all of those plans are thrown for a loop when Hinata and Boruto’s lives are taken by a storm from the past. That storm’s name - Naruto Uzumaki.

In these next ones, their kid isn't named Boruto, but it's still Naruto and Hinata's son.

“Girl No 10” by meeiwan - Rated M, Modern AU, Multi-chapter, Incomplete. Naruto makes a mistake with a dancer one drunk night.  Years later when he meets her again, he begins realizing his perfect life is a lie, but he’s too late to fix it. 

"A Common Story" from "NaruHina Erotica Oneshots" by makuro767 - Rated E, High School / Modern AU, One-shot. It's really a story you can find anywhere. Teenage mistakes, unplanned pregnancy, family drama...the usual drama you really can find anywhere...

And then I wrote this one that has Hinata raising the kids on her own for a bit...rather similar to Chloe's Sun/Moon Deities fic.

"The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" - Rated M, Gods & Goddesses/Folklore AU, Multi-chapter, Complete. The folktale of the Japanese summer festival Tanabata, the story of Orihime’s and Hikoboshi’s love.