#i have a whole bunch of rec's if anyone wants to hear it

[sugar-omi]

hi! I keep seeing stuff about mechats (online, ads, etc) but I have no idea what it is and im kinda scared but mostly intrigued??

LOL I GET IT!!! if it helps, its literally like a dating app. although no one is creepy (to an extent. there are some INTERESTING characters)

n no one can really reject you? like, you may not match once. but you may match again? or you can force it by hitting the "crown" icon and force a match with whoever you see is getting a game update or is new. or you can change your likes!

because like i said, its like a dating app. so if you say pick everything but "spicy" you may not match with characters whose storyline, like glenn, is reallyyyy sexual. but if you do pick it, you'll most likely/definitely will match with them!

again, you can always keep swiping right on em, n you'll match eventually so you don't have to be all sneaky abt choosing preferences n blah blah blah. but yeah, that's how the matching system works to my understanding. but don't quote me!!🙅🙅 bc i'd hate to be wrong n get flack 💀

eta, i'm looking at the wiki n apparently there are some you can't match with??? i've never seen that before. but it says something about how the game hasn't uploaded storylines for them yet. so. just in case you run into them, there's that info apparently.

OH AND THERE'S A WIKI!! IF YOU WANNA SEE WHATSUP W THE CHARACTERS

they have counterparts n stuff, so if someone isn't your type.. see if they have a counterpart. most of them do. the storyline is the same though! can even switch em half way through...

IF YOU DO PLAY. I HIGHLYYY RECCOMMEND ZAOS VALCAN. (/lewis hill /dejerius lane)

he's so sweet. so cute. amazing... it starts off very cute, n youre friends for a bit. you meet on a video game n a lot of his pictures n dates are fantasy like, n he's so romantic n he's just a amazing... i need him to get an update QUICKLY. I MISS MY POOKIE <///3

or if you're a freak, i highly rec glenn hobbs (/niles robinson) for all your freaky, and non-committal (eventually committal) needs

OR IF YOU'RE A REALLL FREAK. AND A DOM. I REC ARCHIBALD (/ravi /thiago) i refuse to elaborate. just know... that's where the master/servant cake is. and i fucking love it.

oh n i think at the beginning, when signing up, you can filter out the 18+ storylines?? so you won't get NSFW? it's been a long time, but i'm looking at the wiki n it just reminded me.

but there's a whole bunch of characters!!! you can check the "matches > storyline" part of the wiki, to see whats up, see what troupes there are that you might like.

i've browsed the mechat reddit sub briefly for information on different things, so idk how it is over there. but that's a thing too..

i swear its a fun app, had me kicking my feet n squealing n blushing n shit. its so cute n so fun n so good ok trust me

ANYWAY IM RAMBLING. I FEEL A BIT CRAZY W ALL THIS YAPPING ABT A FICTIONAL DATING APP... BUT.... ANYWAY. IF I GOT U EXCITED ABT IT, YOURE WELCOME. HAVE FUN.

OR IF YOU, OR ANYONE, HAS ANY MORE QUESTIONS.. IM HAPPY TO ANSWER.

[nastybuckybarnes]

Under the Stars

Pairing: Ghost X Reader

Summary: You love the way the stars look, and he loves the way you feel beneath them.

Warnings: Smut, unprotected sex, oral (f rec), creampie, kinda size kink, like really minor cum-eating ig???

Word Count: 3K

A/n: Okay so i was supposed to move into my new place on october 1st but I only JUST moved this past weekend so everything has been SO Hectic but here you go enjoy this and please enjoy the lovely soft fluff while it lasts 😌 for my marvel babes - dw, i have a whole bunch in progress right now that I hope to pump out soon!

~*~

"Thought I might find you up here."

You hum, not moving from your spot on the roof of the base.

Ghost walks up behind you slowly, rolling up his mask and lighting a cigarette on his way.

"Wha're you doin' out here alone? Shouldn't be roaming far like this."

You peel your eyes away from the sky above you to glance over your shoulder at him.

"The stars. They are so pretty," you whisper, nothing but awe in your voice.

He nods, glancing up at them, then returning his gaze to you.

"The view is especially lovely tonight."

You grin at his compliment then look back up at the sky.

He makes his way closer to you, close enough that you can smell the smoke from his cigarette wafting on the wind.

Your nose wrinkles and you turn around to face him, looking at the offending item with disgust.

He chuckles at the look on your face and takes another drag.

"What? Not a fan?"

You shrug and look at it for a long moment.

"I never tried."

"Do you want to?"

You think about his offer for a moment and then nod, stepping closer.

Instead of offering you a puff, he brings it to his lips and then presses his lips against yours.

He blows the smoke into your mouth, nipping at your bottom lip as he withdraws, and you can't help but cough a little. You stare up at him with wide, hungry eyes, and he chuckles softly.

"How do you like it?" He asks, a new warmth to his eyes.

You smack your lips together a few times then look up at him through your lashes.

"I try again?"

He nods, cocking his head to the side in confusion when you push his hand down and lean toward him.

You press your lips to his, tongue darting out immediately to meet his, to taste the cigarette in his mouth.

He lets out a hum of surprise. It's not like his little mouse to initiate intimacy like this.

He responds by deepening the kiss, tossing his cigarette onto the ground and wrapping an arm tightly around your waist, keeping you pinned to his body.

You tug away after a moment, giggling breathlessly like a teenager in love.

"Dangerous game you're playing, mouse," he growls, one hand squeezing the flesh of your backside.

You only tuck your bottom lip between your teeth and bat your eyelashes innocently up at him. Your hands smooth over his chest, up his neck where you knot your fingers in his blond hair.

His free hand finds your hip and squeezes you tightly once in warning.

"Don't start something you can't finish, little one. I'll fuck you right here and you know that."

A shiver ripples down your spine at his brash words. He's so blunt and to the point and it makes heat pool between your legs.

You give his hair a gentle tug and bring your lips toward his ear.

"Maybe... maybe I want that."

He grins and leans down, dragging his nose over your throat until he finds the spot he wants to sink his teeth into.

A soft gasp falls from your lips at the stinging pain, and he's quick to smooth over the spot with his tongue.

"Y'want me to fuck you up here? Where anyone can hear? Anyone could see?"

Your breath hitches and your eyes flutter closed as you tilt your head to the side, giving him more access to your smooth neck.

"You hurt men who look at me before. Nobody will look."

If he wasn't so aware of how fucked up he is, he'd probably be ashamed of how hard your statement makes him.

Because it's true. He's killed men for looking at you, touching you, and that's not about to change.

If anyone thinks they can look at you like that, while he's ravishing you, they have another thing coming.

And if a man ever feels bold enough to try to touch you? He'll be praying for death by the time Ghost's done with him.

He grips your jaw tightly and forces your head back so he can assault your mouth with sloppy hot kisses, a new fire sparked within him.

You melt into him with a mewl that he devours, letting him move you around and maneuver you in whatever way he likes.

Why wouldn't you? He's your Ghost, he always takes care of you. And you're sure this will be no exception.

He hoists you up, big hands splaying across your ass when you wrap your legs around his waist.

Your arms wind around his neck and you cling to him, squeaking in surprise at his quick movements.

He's unfazed, peppering kisses down your neck as he lowers himself to his knees with you attached to his body like the added weight is nothing. And to him, it might as well be.

He doesn't even want to think about how easy it would be to manhandle you, to break you if he really wanted to.

Instead, he focuses on how easily you accept his kisses, his hands on your skin, his hips rutting into yours when he lays you on your back.

You dig your head into the ground beneath you when he gives a particularly firm thrust of his hips. Your eyes flutter open and you gasp at the beauty of the scene before you.

Your Ghost, his eyes full of fire and passion, is all-consuming, and he's framed by the most beautiful night sky you think you've ever seen.

You could die happily right here.

But not before an orgasm or two.

Ghost kisses his way up to your mouth, keeping you blissfully occupied as his skilled fingers work the buttons of your pants, shoving them down your legs.

He does the same with your shirt, yanks it up as high as he can and slides a big warm hand into your bra, squeezing one of your breasts and rolling his thumb gingerly over your nipple.

You whine against his mouth, hips rocking desperately, and he chuckles against you.

"Eager, are we?"

Pouting, you pull your lips from his and give him your best puppy dog eyes.

"Ask for what you want, mouse."

Some of the heat from your core floods upward to your face, and you nervously toy with his sweater.

"Want you," you murmur softly, sweetly.

"How do you want me? Where?"

Your eyes meet his and you take the hand on your breast and slowly push it between your legs, sucking in a sharp breath at the feeling of his skin so close to where you need it most.

"Here, please."

He hums, nodding thoughtfully as he gently strokes his middle finger through your folds, rubbing your clit absentmindedly.

"You want me to play with this pretty little cunt? Is that what you want? Want me to make you cream under the stars, my pretty girl?"

You nod, squirming on the ground beneath him when he leans back and yanks your pants off fully. He pushes between your thighs once more, eyes stuck on your core, and you whine softly.

"Please, Simon."

His eyes snap up to yours at the use of his first name, and he feels the need to comply. To do anything and everything you ask of him.

He holds your gaze as he lowers himself onto his stomach between your legs, and you can't help the butterflies that fill you at the sight, the idea of what he's about to do.

Pushing his mask up the tiniest bit more, he spits on your cunt, grinning when you jolt, a sharp gasp leaving you.

"Be good f'me, wanna taste you."

He hooks his arms under your thighs, hoisting your legs up over his broad shoulders. One big hand is splayed on your lower abdomen while the other grips the top of your thigh tightly as he darts his tongue out and finally gets a taste of that which he craves.

His tongue works slowly at first, almost experimentally. Tasting you, exploring you in a way that no one else has, and that no one else ever will.

His eyes roll back for a moment, and he groans at the taste of you. Tangy and sweet, everything he never knew he needed and so much more.

Once he's satisfied with his first meet, he really gets to work, flattening his hand against you to pin your hips down as he latches his mouth onto your dripping core.

A soft moan falls from your pretty lips and his eyes lock onto your face, watching intently as you begin to make the sweetest little sounds.

His tongue works over your clit, massaging at first before applying more pressure.

"Oh!" You cry out, one hand flying down to the top of his head, grabbing a fistful of his balaclava. He snakes one hand away to cover yours, wrapping your hand around the black fabric and encouraging you to tug it off.

You keep your eyes shut tightly as you do, following his guidance as he drops the black fabric onto the ground then brings your hand back to the top of his head, allowing you to thread your fingers through his hair.

The strands are soft against your skin and you can't help but give a soft tug, smiling when he groans against you.

He immediately gets back to work, sucking your clit into his mouth harshly, relishing in the squeak you let out.

He repeats the action a few times before bringing a hand down to join his mouth.

Two thick fingers push their way inside of you, gently massaging your walls while his mouth continues its assault on your clit.

Your back arches, yanking on his hair a little bit harder as you grind your hips against his face.

He eases a third finger inside of you, spreading them slowly and stretching you out before he begins sliding them in and out. Each time he plunges them deeper, and you cry out when he hits your g-spot.

His eyes are focused on your face, watching as your eyes stay shut. Pretty sounds fall from prettier lips, and he wishes he had a camera out to take a picture of you when your orgasm washes over you.

Your mouth drops open and your core clenches, squeezing his fingers to the point he has no room to keep thrusting.

Your thighs clench tightly around his ears, and your nails scratch deliciously at his scalp.

Your shoulders shudder and you suck in a sharp breath, a quivering moan leaving you as you rock your hips through your high.

He slowly pulls his mouth off of your cunt, kissing his way up your body, stopping for a moment to pay close attention to each breast.

His tongue flutters around your nipple, teeth grazing lightly before he repeats the action on the other side. He slips his fingers from your heat, leaving only his middle finger inside of you, pumping shallowly.

Finally, his lips meet yours and you can't help but gasp, immediately melting into it. You can taste yourself on his mouth and it only makes you hungrier, more desperate for him.

"More," you whisper against his mouth, rocking your hips into his hand.

He chuckles, pulling away and latching his mouth onto your neck.

"Greedy girl."

He rolls you onto your stomach effortlessly, pushing you onto your knees and urging you to keep your chest on the rough ground.

The deep arch in your back puts your cunt on display, and he can't help but groan at the sight. All sloppy and wet, dripping and drooling for him.

He shoves his own pants down his legs, freeing his aching cock. He hisses at the feeling of the cool air against his hot skin, shifting forward to slide his length through your twitching folds.

You whine at the feeling, digging your nails into the ground.

"Please," you whisper, wiggling your hips back the tiniest bit only to receive a harsh smack on your ass.

You yelp, and Simon's quick to soothe the stinging area, stroking your skin gently before spreading you apart to watch as he nudges his cock at your wet little hole.

You hold your breath as he slowly pushes inside of you, filling you up inch by thick inch, until he's fully sheathed within you, balls pressed tightly against your clit.

Your body trembles beneath him, and he can't tear his eyes away from where the two of you are connected.

He pulls his hips back, groaning at the drag against your tight walls. Your pussy grips him tightly, visibly clinging to his cock as he pulls out slowly, only to push right back in.

The stretch of him is so good, so much, and it makes your head spin.

He's no better.

He has to consciously stop himself from drooling as his eyes stay glued to your tight cunt, the way it clamps down on him. The way he stretches your body to its most intimate limits, and you let him. You ask him to.

His Mouse, soft and pliant beneath him like he couldn't tear you in half if he tried.

The thought makes a sound akin to a growl rumble in his chest, and he grabs you by the back of your neck and hauls you up, pinning your back against his chest.

His head presses beside yours while he wraps an arm around your waist, keeping your body pinned to his as he begins to bully his cock into your small, waiting body.

"Simon," you gasp, grabbing his wrist as he forces every thick inch of it into your snatch.

It's too much too soon, and you're not sure if you can take it. Your poor little cunt is already aching at the stretch of his fat cock, but he's determined.

Your pussy throbs around him, each thrust hitting that sweet spot inside of you that has you seeing stars.

"S-Simon... oh..."

He groans in your ear, pushing you back down and tugging your arms behind your back.

You huff out a heavy breath, pressing your cheek to the ground as he pins your wrists to the small of your back.

He fucks into you harder, faster, getting off on the power he has over you, the trust you've so willingly given to him.

"Wanna feel you cream f'me," he whispers hoarsely, eyes focused on the mess dripping from between your legs every time he pulls his hips back.

You only whine, cunt clenching at his words.

"Tell me who you belong to," he orders, hand dropping from your hip to find your clit.

You cry out softly when his skilled fingers begin rubbing circles around it, the sensation making your toes curl.

"Say it," he snarls, hips speeding up when he feels your walls clamp down on his cock.

"Simon!" You finally gasp, arching your back as your climax washes over you, the stars behind your closed lids rivalling the ones above you.

"That's right." The words are said more to himself than to you as he chases his own high.

He pulls almost all the way out as his cock twitches, cum spilling inside of you, and then he fucks his way back into you, painting your walls white, claiming you from the inside.

Slowly, he stills his hips, leaning back onto his haunches and pulling you with him to keep his cock lodged inside of you, making sure not a drop spills out between you.

You whine at the movement, nestling your ass against his hips and carefully pushing yourself up onto your elbows as you catch your breath.

Tilting your head back, your teary, lust-clouded eyes find the stars once more, and Simon groans when your walls flutter around him again.

Gently, the way he is with only you, he smooths a rough hand over the delicate skin of your back, smiling lightly to himself at the goosebumps that rise.

Eventually, he wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you up against him again, this time peppering gentle loving kisses against your neck as he slides his cock out of you.

The two of you groan at the loss, and he's quick to drop his fingers to your centre, lazily fucking them into you to prevent any of his seed from leaving your body.

"How you feelin?" He asks, fingers toying inside of your sensitive folds.

You whine, turning and seeking out his lips.

He's quick to give you what you want, kissing you sweetly and softly as if he wasn't fucking you within an inch of your life only minutes before.

"Can I bring you inside? Run a nice hot shower 'n bring you to bed?" He asks against your lips, grinning when you nod.

He pulls his fingers out of your core and pops them in his mouth, humming at the taste of the two of you.

He helps you dress, ever the gentleman, and spins you to face him before he's put his balaclava back on.

You stare up at him with wide eyes as he finally bares his face to you, and you feel awe bubble in your stomach.

Nervous fingers flutter over his face before finally resting on his skin, and he holds your waist as you take your time mapping out the new skin.

You trace over the scar on his lip, the one you've grown familiar with in all the times he's kissed you. The thin few on his jaw, one on the bridge of his nose that faintly drags across his cheek if you look closely enough.

Then your eyes finally return to his, and you suddenly feel shy under his gaze.

"What?" He asks, tugging you closer when you shy away.

You bite your bottom lip and press a kiss to his jaw, kissing up over his cheek and toward his ear.

"Pretty," you whisper, kissing your way back to his mouth and swallowing his chuckle.

His tongue finds yours for only a moment before he's pulling away again.

"Yeah? Think m'pretty?"

You nod, resting your chin on his chest so you can stare up at him, his lovely face framed by the beautiful night sky.

"Very pretty."

You thought the view was amazing before, but now? Now it's something that will stay ingrained in your brain forever.

And you're not upset about that. Not one bit.

[littledata]

what are these "best fics youve ever read that barely have any hits" you mentioned? can you give us a top 5 or sonething?

Oh God, you've really shamed me here because I read a LOT of random fics from fandoms I'm not even part of and the stories I was referring to largely come from there.

However, in the interest of practising what I preach, I sat down today and read a bunch of Warrior Nun fics I'd never read before so I could rec you some. To be totally clear, these aren't necessarily going to have "hardly any hits" but are fics that I think could use more love in general.

In no particular order:

I was seeing black and white (and now I'm living in color) by gayestcatra - 1281 words, a beautifully soft fic set in Switzerland with gorgeous description. By the same author I also enjoyed (your life was) my life's best part, an angsty Mary/Shannon exploring Mary's (heartbreaking) grief after Shannon's death.

Cat’s Cradle security checkpoint logs by @jtl07 - 518 words, have I raved enough on tumblr yet about how much I love their writing? No? Oh okay I'll do it again then. JT is one of my favourite writers in the fandom and I love this series of fics they did giving creative looks into the characters - this particular one is the contents of their bags but the whole series is worth checking out (and everything else they write too, obviously).

Lauds by @sisterdivinium - 3152 words, Mother Superion/Jillian Salvius. WE LOVE A RAREPAIR. Gorgeously written fic where you feel the weight of every single action. The author has a TON of fics if you liked this one too.

you're my best friend (in a world we must defend) by @daisychainsandbowties - 3980 words, avatrice and Pokemon. Beatrice's characterisation in this drives me insane. I MUST know more. If you know nothing about pokemon here's your primer: they're funny little guys you catch and make fight, exactly like the Catholic church did to Ava. There, now you've got no excuse not to read it.

Dead People Don't Shiver by waterintheshadows - 2068 words, avatrice soulmate AU set in a morgue FUCK YEAH. This is the kind of shit I live for. Great concept, great execution.

Where The River Bends by @itchyouchyz - 100,750 words, avatrice 1960s midwife AU. Full disclosure - it's 100k - I haven't finished it yet. But I LOVE what I've read so far, tender and lovely. Check the tags for trigger warnings on this one!

keep me in your mirror (but don't take your eyes off the road) by minutetuna - 26,343 words, avatrice season 2 road trip au. It made me feel this precise emotion: hnnnnnnghhhhh. There is a particular style of writing which is just bouncy and pacy and still draws you into every single emotion and this author has it in spades. LOVE.

This was so much fun! If anyone else wants to hit me up with some recs I'd love to hear them - even if (especially if) they're your fics. It's a long weekend, might as well spend it reading fanfiction.

[lavendermoonlitskies]

Fanfic Friday: fic recs!

Hiii everyone, happy Friday! I forgot that I made a post like this ages ago for fanfic Friday, but I’ve read a bunch since then so here are some recommendations of Good Omens fics I’ve enjoyed recently:

“Heaven isn't built to house a love like you and I” by ItsScottiesStark

Rating: T

Length: 37,291 (8 chapters)

Summary: They did it. They stopped Armageddon. They survived.

This was it, the first time they were actually free to finally figure out what their side entailed.

Aziraphale is a being of love. Always has been. And now, all the love he has for Crowley is free to flow from the edge of his fingertips to the demon's, in a gesture that could only mean one thing; I'm with you. I'm here.

As much as his hands itch to reach out for the love of his existence, his words seem to fail him, time and time again. He knows Crowley deserves more than gentle hand holding and forehead kisses in the dark. He aches to scream his love from the top of his lungs, for the whole world to hear. And the demon knows it.

And he waits. Because he'll wait forever for Aziraphale. Because he knows they are meant to be one.

This one is great at immediately grabbing your attention. It starts on the bus during that scene towards the end of season 1 where Aziraphale holds Crowley’s hand, which very smoothly leads in to this theme of physical contact and how although they’re both unfamiliar with it, it’s secretly something they both long for from the other. Without spoiling too much, they sort of subtly lean into this desire for physical affection in a way that’s incredibly sweet yet almost tragic with how hesitant they are at the start of it. You can tell that they want so desperately to let the other know how much they care, but they still don’t know if the other is on the same page (so “he waits. Because he’ll wait forever for Aziraphale.”). This writer is really great at conveying how much they really love each other, highly recommend!

“Twin Suns” by IneffableDoll

Rating: T

Length: 7,291 words (3 chapters)

Summary: “I thought you were gone,” Crowley mumbled, and it was almost cliché, it was almost the kind of sentimental rubbish he would’ve moaned at had he heard it from someone else. But they were the rawest words he could manage. He’d thought Aziraphale was gone. That was all, and it said everything.

***

Directly following their celebratory meal at the Ritz, Aziraphale and Crowley clash with the feelings that struggle to settle after everything they’ve been through. And, in so doing, learn to rely on and communicate with each other in new ways.

Similar in concept to the previous one I mentioned, this fic takes place after the events of season 1. They get into some real honest conversations (something I love reading in fics because the characters in canon are not at that point yet and I am HUNGRY for some emotional honesty from them), and something I really love about this one is how patient they are with each other. In chapter one Crowley says that he’s not ready for this conversation, and Aziraphale respects that. Without spoiling too much more, they’re both super careful with the other’s boundaries as they kind of start to think and talk more about the love they have for each other that they’ve never really gotten the chance to explore until now. I absolutely love how they take things nice and slow, attentive to how the other is feeling about all of this. This kind of love is a new concept for the both of them, but they wouldn’t want it with anyone else, and so they try. And I think that’s beautiful.

“Icebergs and Angels” by The_Bentley

Rating: T/M (two versions)

Length: 23,498/24,929 words (8 chapters each)

Summary: It's 1912 and Aziraphale, not wanting to be lonely during his mission aboard Titanic, invites Crowley along for a cruise. But he boards the ship before knowing exactly what his mission is. When he learns Heaven wants to teach humanity a lesson for the claim even God couldn't sink it, it could damage his relationship with Crowley, who has his own views on Heaven's need to punish innocents. Can he repair things with Crowley and can they work together to save as many lives as possible?

The concept of this one is so cool, and very much something I could see actually happening in the show as another historical flashback/mini-sode. Aziraphale is given a mission from Heaven that entails many humans losing their lives, he’s obviously not on-board with that, and Crowley is there to help him save as many human lives as possible because, as much as he’d hate to admit it, he really is a nice demon who very much disapproves of Heaven’s disregard for human life. Throughout this one you get to see how the two of them interact with the humans, all while Aziraphale is battling this inner conflict of wanting to just go along with Heaven’s orders without questioning it while simultaneously knowing that it’s wrong. The narration is great, beautifully written and I really felt like the writer understands these characters on a very deep level. There are two different versions of this one, both of which are fantastic. I personally felt that the more platonic/aroace approach to Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship in the context of this particular story was more fitting, but if you’d like something a little spicier I thought that the Mature rated one was just as good! (I’m linking the non-spicy version here, but the link to the spicy one is in the summary!)

[moondal514]

Some fic reading numbers to wrap up 2023

(Yeah yeah I know I’ve posted a whole bunch of fic rec lists this week but this is the last one, I promise)

In 2023, I’d say my fandom habits could be summarized into this: 1) the AFTG brainrot finally eased back a bit so I could truly return to my default state of being a multi-fandom whore, 2) I went back on my bullshit of reading fics for fandoms I’m not in/haven’t thought about for many years, and 3) I’ve finally entered the danmei realm, years after everyone else around here lol (and if you listen carefully in the distance, you can hear the frustrated scream of my former roommate that I’ve pissed off by only just this year checking out and loving the stuff she rec’d for me to read/watch years ago lol).

In 2023, I bookmarked on ao3 1207 new fics read for 46 fandoms (though only about 850 are in my public bookmarks). The fandom I read the most for was MDZS, managing to unseat AFTG as my most read-for fandom this year, accounting for about 345 of those new bookmarks.

Below is a multi-fandom list of 10 of my favorites of all the fics I read in 2023. I limited myself to only choosing fics that are complete standalones cuz otherwise I prob wouldn’t be able to limit it to only 10.

In no particular order:

Fandom: Attack On Titan

The Means by calacreda

'He hears him say “Do not tell a soul, Levi” and wants to laugh. Tell anyone? To what end? So that others have the images that Levi now has running through his head; of grabbing hands and harness marks, hard words and soft lips, of lies upon lies upon lies in a desperate attempt to get to the truth?'

Levi begins to notice Erwin leaving HQ alone and not returning until the dead of night.

Slow-burn, pre-show Eruri.

This fic is here to commemorate the 4 days of absolute insanity in March I spent binge-reading hundreds of thousands of words by this writer despite me knowing barely anything about these characters

Fandom: Simon Snow

Where the Sand Meets the Sea by waterwings/ @amywaterwings

This is a world where magic has moved on.

Where stars fall from the sky.

Where time is less a linear progression and more a slow dance.

And where Simon and Baz start to switch places, which will—inevitably—change everything.

5th ever fic to make me cry (and 1st fic not in the AFTG fandom to make me cry, whoop), the kind of fic that really lingers with sticky fingers on the brain

Fandom: Word of Honor

Strange Pilgrims by inkmyname/ @inkmyname

“Can I have all the wine in the world?” “Yes.” “Can I have all the treasures in the ocean?” “Yes.” “Can I have all the stars in the sky?” And because it wasn’t in Zhou Zishu’s nature to deny Wen Kexing anything, he said yes. From the western mountains to the eastern seas. Some seventy years on, Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing wander together.

This fic had me chewing on drywall cuz it’s so good

Fandom: The Vinland Saga

neither sword nor crown by arahir/ @arahir

Canute does whatever he can to keep Thorfinn, though it might cost him everything.

“You want to kill me now.” The words steal his breath with their truth. Thorfinn looks at him, from under his filthy bangs, eyes piercing and bruised. Something in Canute’s chest flips over at that look, at how wounded he is. He’s broken. He’s been broken from the first moment they met, but now he’s lost even Askeladd to hold his pieces together. “But if you fight me like this, it’s not fair. You have to wait until I get stronger. Be my guard until then, and I’ll duel you, warrior to warrior.” Thorfinn’s gaze is unflinching. Canute reaches behind him and pulls the dagger from the folds of his fur-lined cloak. The blade is a part of Thorfinn, like the crown is a part of Canute, now. He hands it over, hilt first. “Or, you can kill me today. Right now, right here.”

Wouldn’t be me unless there was at least one amazing historical fiction-esque fic, from a fandom I’m technically not in, on this list

Fandom: All For the Game

If Suddenly You Forget Me by sambutwithbooks

There’s a ring in the bag they give him, along with his soiled uniform.

The blood doesn’t bother him, even if his stomach clenches as he remembers that it’s his-it's the ring on a chain that snags his attention and holds it.

A wedding ring.

----------

Fifteen years post-canon, an accident on the court wipes Neil and their life together from Andrew's memory. It takes a while for him to find his way back to it.

Made every criticism I’ve ever had of the amnesia trope die a slow and miserable death (also 4th ever fic to make me cry)

Dream clouds, ghost ground (I’ve been looking at the sky to show me where I went wrong) by Ateiluj/ @awildtei

Cass Spear deals with her son’s death, the truths that it reveals, and how it all reshapes her past with Andrew.

One of the most incredible character studies I’ve ever read across any fandom, period

nocturnal animals by animediac/ @jaywalkers

“He was an addict,” Taylor says roughly, turning away to unplug the blender. “He wouldn’t accept help and he didn’t care who he hurt with it by the end.” “He was our brother,” Abby says, sadly. “I know,” Taylor tells her. “That was the worst part." — Memory takes the graveyard shift. Abby Winfield works nights.

Absolutely devastating Abby Winfield backstory that had me curling up into a ball on the floor

Fandom: Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Tarnished Gold by Prim_the_Amazing/ @primtheamazing

Becoming emperor of the cultivation world will start with a first step as small and basic as becoming Head Disciple of Huan Hua Palace. For that, he must steal the position away from the current Head Disciple. Luo Binghe will sabotage, upstage, and completely and utterly best him.

The road to destroying everything and everyone who has ever wronged him, to becoming the highest ruler so that no one will ever have the right to control him ever again - it will start as simply as ruining Gongyi Xiao’s life.

Compared to everything else he’s already done, this should be easy.

-

Luo Binghe brings all his skills of cunning and brutality to bear on Gongyi Xiao, Head Disciple of Huan Hua Palace Sect. It… doesn’t go too well for him.

This fic had me saying “just one more chapter” long into the night until I was literally staring down the epilogue at some ungodly morning hour

Fandom: BBC Merlin

Whereat the Two Swore On the Field of Death a Deathless Love by horsecrazy/ @cbk1000

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy. But not quite in the way you think. 'The Once and Future King'/Merlin mashup; now with 50% more gay.

One of the most incredible things I’ve ever read in my life, this writer is single-handedly responsible for reviving my Merthur obsession 3 years after it’s mostly died down

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi

我拿青春赌明天 / I’ll wager my youth against tomorrow by tombenough_and_continent/ @hunxi-after-hours

The dust of this mortal world cannot fall upon him—he is a strand-dancer, a weaver of time’s tapestry, dispatched by Gusu Lan’s Symphony to climb upwards into the knots and gnarls of alternate timelines and coax them towards the future in which Gusu reigns, benevolent and peaceful and supreme—the future in which Lan Wangji himself is sung into existence. He is here to change the past and deliver the future into being. It would not be wrong to call him fate. (or, This is How You Lose the Time War, but make it wangxian)

Still screaming crying throwing up over this fic cuz nothing gets me quite like a beautifully written mash-up of 2 of my fave pieces of media

-

Thank you to all you fic writers out there for getting me through another year. Cheers to a new year of more wonderful writing!

[puckpocketed]

Hi! Sorry if this is weird but do you have song/video recs? I have enjoyed what you recommended in the past. Please ignore this if you want, I know this isn't really a hockey ask :')

so does everyone else have a playlist where they store all their favourite essays/documentaries miscellaneous vids. or is that just me?? anon i hope u like hearing from me, if u wanted short answers u came to the wrong person. here are various faves from over the years:

Dawn from Pride and Prejudice (2005). i think about it often. it's a beautiful piece. i listen to this song and experience the movie all over again. the mud on elizabeth's skirt. dancing at parties. lovely potatoes. darcy and his cleavage. the mist in the morning. "you have bewitched me, body and soul. and i love, i love, i love you." the sun rising as she kisses his hand. HELLO!!!!

minesweeper is literally causing me health issues by i am error. a harrowing look at addiction through the lens of a minesweeper fixation. very funny and warm video.

The Best Food Movie Scenes Supercut by William Adiguna. fascinated by this. also i have used it for painting study reference.

How J Dilla's Timefeel ACTUALLY Works by Digging The Greats. right so. i know everyone's been making posts about black artists in the wake of the Kendrick-Drake beef and white tumblr subsequently figuring out that rap exists outside of Hamilton and music as a whole exists outside of uhhhh taylor swift. I don't think I've seen anyone mention J Dilla in my circles yet so here's a small essay about how he changed music history forever and you should absolutely listen to him. we lost him too fucking early, but his legacy lives on in the beat!!

The Lincoln Highway: Across America on the First Transcontinental Motor Route by Noah Caldwell-Gervais. this is a 7 and 1/2 hour travelogue by one of my favourite writers of all time. he has shorter videos about games and travel, but this one is an all-timer for me. I admire him so much. His writing voice is so lush and intentional, he weaves narrative with every sentence, and yet nothing feels superfluous. i have listened to this video multiple times and always find something new to think about.

Savestate vs Armada - The Quest for the Frozen Turnip by Melee Stats. if you made it this far down the list we are either best friends or you are super bored and want something to watch. here's the sell: Armada is one of the 5 Gods of Super Smash Bros. Melee, Savestate is this weirdo who does speedruns and loves to break the game. they go head to head at a tournament, super smash con. the frozen turnip is a bug that sort of breaks the game. chaos ensues <3

Stylish Academic Writing a lecture by Helen Sword (Harvard University). I think about this video a lot. As someone who writes a lot of academic essays and For Fun essays, this lecture was formative.

Time and Again - How to Write and Understand Time Loops by Replay Value. dissecting and categorising time loops, and teaching you how to write them in the process. excellent video even if you aren't a writer or don't have an interest in writing sci-fi/time travel!

With Love by Harbour. this song makes me so happy. i will dance to it with my future wife in our kitchen. i will sing this to her under under our pink lights. that kinda vibe <3

thank you for dropping by!! <3 and giving me an excuse to inflict a bunch of recs onto my followers!! hit me up for more recs any time ig??

[housewarningparty]

Hi hi! I was wondering, how do you choose what to read next? I know you get recs from friends and I assume you read stuff from authors you already know you like, but beyond that, how do you hear about new books? Goodreads? Sometimes I have a million books I want to read but other times nothing at the library is of interest to me and I tend to get stuck there mentally while waiting for my books on hold to be available 😂

Also, do you have any recs for horror books about ghosts? I want to read a good ghost book :) bonus points if there are sapphic ghost books!! 👻

there are a bunch of places i check in on to keep up on new titles or find out about interesting backlist stuff

first, for new releases, there are different columns/websites that exist just to catalogue the new stuff coming out (mostly from major publishers, if you're looking for indie or selfpub these probably won't help much)

io9 has their Bookshelf Injection column of new SFF (and some horror) that gets published every month

Jumpscares has a similar list for horror titles

for a more "literary fiction" bent you can always check out Bookmarks' Best Reviewed Books of the Week posts

If you're looking for a little more editorializing/reviewing I'd start looking around on sites like Book Riot (example lists include: Best Werewolves in books, 9 Books with Disabled Main Characters etc) or Electric Lit (Example: 10 Must Read Books set in Cairo, 7 Books About Grotesque Bodies).

Additionally, there are places to get recommendations that feel a little more tailored and personal. There are podcasts I enjoy for this (mostly for horror) like Talking Scared or Books in the Freezer. And there's always booktube (though finding a reviewer you like can be tricky) I like TheShadesofOrange, Petrick Leo, and Jess Owens.

There's also reddit (r/fantasy, r/horrolit, r/lgbtbooks, r/printsf are the main places I go to). Goodreads does have its uses, though admittedly I use it more to track my own reading and to follow friends, authors I like, and a handful of reviewers whose opinions I trust. Overall, I think the GR community as a whole is a total clown show and I don't put much stock into the rating system there.

If you have some favorite authors and they are on goodreads or social media, I'd say it's usually pretty worthwhile checking out the books they're hyping up.

finding new or interesting books is pretty easy, but choosing what to read from my own, admittedly ridiculously huge library? that's trickier. tbh, i mostly go on vibes.

alright for the second part of your question.

i love a good haunted house story!

anyone you ask with any taste at all is probably going to give you the answer i'm about to, but if you haven't read it yet, the #1 haunted house book I can recommend to you is Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. It's a classic for a reason. If it sweetens the pot for you - the character of Theo is a lesbian. There's great subtext between Theo and the book's main character, Nell. A scholar recruits people who've had experiences with the supernatural to stay with him in a purportedly haunted house to see if they can come up with proof that ghosts are real. Shit gets whacky. One of the finest american novels ever written, regardless of genre.

If you want more sapphics and less house it might be worth checking out Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth (yes, the Cameron Post author). I had some issues with this one. I wouldn't say I didn't like it, but I know a lot of people liked it more than I did. It's very queer, has an interesting dual timeline - one plot set in the past tells the story of a mysterious tragedy befalling an early 1900s girls boarding school, the other plot is about a movie being made about those events in the present day.

The Red Tree by Caitlin R Kiernan - okay this one IS also about lesbians but it's probably the darkest book on this list. A struggling middle aged writer moves into a creepy old house after the death of her girlfriend by suicide. In the house, she discovers a lost manuscript of a previous resident who had been researching local folklore and documenting sinister events seemingly linked to the gnarled, tree on the house's property. Things do not go well. Very well written (have some issues with Kiernan but they're an incredible talent and, worth mentioning, they're the only genderfluid writer in the genre that I know of)

Another book I always recommend on this topic is Echoes edited by Ellen Datlow. It's a HUGE anthology of short ghost stories. Some of my favorite horror short fiction ever written is in this collection. It's a great way to be introduced to some of the best horror writers around right now - Datlow is a legendary editor. I recommend anyone interested in horror check out her collections. The stories in Echoes are varied in theme and from a variety of different voices.

Other ghost books that whip ass

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi - after his wife is killed in a mass shooting, a man gripped with grief discovers a secret she'd been hiding from him for their entire marriage. He picks up an investigation she had been secretly pursuing that sets him on a collision course with an apparent serial killer. A story of grief and the secrets we keep from the people we love.

The Good House by Tananarive Due - a woman has to return to her childhood home, still awash in the grief of losing her teenage son there two years ago. While staying there and with the help of an old friend, she begins to unravel the strange tangle of tragedies that have surrounded the house since her grandmother's time, and to uncover the truth of what really happened to her son. A story about generational trauma and breaking cycles.

The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp - this one's great on audio. This book is told in the style of a posthumously published book from a VICE style douchebag journalist who was attempting to write a book that would once and for all disprove the existence of the supernatural. Extremely unlikable main character, but that added to the experience for me - I was very stoked to get to the part where bad things would begin to happen to Jack Sparks. This one's got a lot of dark humor and some genuinely scary scenes. Love it. Wish more people would read it.

Hope you find something in there you like! Good luck!

[hellhoundlair]

Tagged by @saltbind @seanwinchester @deanwinchesterpregnant @applecrumbledore @math-should-die, thank you all for tagging me! (and sorry if im missing anyone!)

Last Song: i got carried away answering this because i have a lot of thoughts okay SORRY. im a big kate bush fan and i've been listening to this kate bush tribute concert on repeat recently. its insane to hear her songs with like a whole orchestra performing them its INSANE okay its so good.

i wont forgive them for kinda fumbling whats probably my fave kate bush song (sat in your lap, which is a very frantic and all over the place type song. i have no idea what type of direction they were trying to go with for their version of it, but all of the charm and chaos of it is lost both in the way of the orchestral arrangement and the vocal performance) or the goofy vocal choices they make in hounds of love. my small grievances aside though, i do love a lot of the fun new directions they take a lot of the songs (their version of babooshka is so much fun) and i have straight up bawled to this concerts performance of this womans work before on multiple occasions (its at 21:10 if you care to cry with me)

you can also watch their performance of running up that hill here on yt bc i know thats like the only kate song ppl care about lol

Currently Watching: i just finished watching all of the twilight movies with my sister and i enjoyed them way more than i thought i would. i had so much fun watching them i understand the cultural hype behind them now.

Currently Reading: this is embarrassing but i dont read many actual novels. fic-wise i've been reading Brothers by Sera_Necto23 because i think josiah @/twochildreninamoteldemo mentioned it a bunch and yeah its good. also yeah no i totally forgot but i downloaded Brokeback Mountain a few days ago, loved the movie for ages and wanted to read the book for a while, ive only read like 5 pages so far but im looking forward to reading more

btw if anyone has book recs (especially horror and books featuring heavier topics) pls 🤲 id love to hear them! i feel very illiterate when it comes to books like i feel i havent read a lot of classics so feel free to rec ur fave most fucking basic high school book report books i promise theyll be like brand new to me

Current Obsession: god i dont know ive been feeling a little burnt out lately so i havent really been feeling #obsessed with anything aside from supernatural but im sure you already know that

Tagging: not tagging anyone because i think like all of my mutuals have been tagged already (im kinda late to this)

[bakugous-forehead]

I think there are a lot of questions about your tactics here, and that's why there are so many messages about it. For example, if someone is a brand new blog, how long do you wait before blocking them for not adding an age or not reblogging fics? Do you give them a few days or is it on sight, because what if they haven't had the chance to do so yet? And for users that have set up a blog, how far back on their pages are you going? Some people reblog a bunch of stuff a day and their recs could be hidden in a few pages. How much time are you spending making sure they don't "support" creators?

A lot of people come at you in their anger and are very unkind which isn't okay, but I think it's difficult to hear you and other creators call these "lurkers" worthless and useless to the fandom as a whole. It's very aggressively derogatory, I guess. Not everyone has the time to devote a large portion of their day to keeping up an aesthetic fanfic blog. Not everyone is on tumblr every day. Some people just come on to read when they have the chance, and yes, it would be nice for them to show their support, but it's difficult to want to when you're called useless for not interacting in the specific way you're calling for. Some people like stuff to reblog later. How do you approach that situation?

Not meant to be a hate message, just offering some thoughts as an outsider. And maybe a chance for clarity between everyone.

Honestly? I spend more fucking time than I should doing this shit. Time that if you add it up could’ve probably written an entire multichap in, and yet I still do it.

I’ll typically block every few days because I’m lazy and it’s now become my worst part of tumblr so it just annoys me when I do it. I’d say a few days is a good amount for a new user to reblog at least one piece of fanart or one fic/drabble. Especially when the blank blogs I’m blocking have page after page of fics in their likes.

When it’s a blog that doesn’t reblog fics I’ve literally gone back months and found nothing. You can also use the little search symbol at the top of their page to double check that they haven’t reblogged fics which is way easier, but I like to scroll because it gives that actual time indication on whether they’ve reblogged something or not.

I know it hurts to hear that you’re worthless to tumblr if you’re a lurker, but it’s true? It’s so so true. Because if no one even knows that you’re here, because you’re not using the site as intended, and you’re not supporting creators that probably make your day/night, that’s exactly what you are?

I have a ridiculous amount of followers on that blog, more than anyone needs on tumblr, and over 90% of them don’t reblog or comment on fics. If you had that many followers wouldn’t you want to cut it down too? To make your space more comfortable? The way you’re talking is that 40,000 followers are too busy to reblog a single fic. One fic. Let’s assume that 39,000 of those followers are old/inactive. You still have a thousand people too “busy” to reblog fic, but they can reblog a thousand posts about vanilla extract, porn links and ugly white men.

People that like stuff to reblog later will have fics on their page, the people I’m blocking have none. If you’re one of the people supporting writers you have nothing to worry about, Anon. But I’m assuming that you’re a lurker.

I can so easily unblock people, the same way they can easily reblog a fic. If this is what it takes to make people understand when writers are literally begging for for interaction then I don’t mind being the one to get all this shit slung at me if it means that someone’s day is made by one single reblog on their fic.

Anyway— please post a comment this long on your favourite fic on tumblr? Cause I bet you’ve never bothered.

[majorshatterandhare]

Okay, so, for @cultralcryptid and @shortassdood, who asked for general recs… uh, I’m gonna list them out, then do a “read more” and put my notes for each there. I think the majority of these musicians/bands are pretty popular so, IDK that you'll see much you haven't heard of but, I was asked so I am providing. Also this has taken so long because I was trying not to make it ridiculously long! This doesn't focus on concept albums, although I have made notes where artists mentioned have made concept albums. I personally struggle to consume new-to-me media so I haven't necessarily listened to the concept albums but figured that may well be what y'all are interested in so I included that.

-Spose -.Jxck -The Mallett Brothers Band -Jonathan Coulton -No More Kings -Phish -the Grateful Dead -Pink Floyd -Cake -Say Anything -Kimya Dawson -Jeffrey Lewis -AJJ -Dorian Electra -Those Poor Bastards -Ska (specifically Streetlight Manifesto) -WtNV weathers

I'm gonna preface this by saying five things: 1) I don't listen to a lot of *new* music, honestly the Mechs are some of the newest music I listen to, even of the artists I listed who have newer music, I am often not familiar with recent stuff. Which leads me into 2) I am not familiar with the entire discographies of any artist listed here, let alone the entirety of the (third wave) ska genre or every single Night Vale weather. 3) Related to point two, I am not familiar with the reputation of every artist mentioned, sorry if anyone is a shitty person. I know there are a few who have, for example said certain words in certain songs that I am not fond of, but all things considered I like their music enough as a whole to ignore things like that, especially because many of these were recorded anywhere from 20 to 50 years ago. 4) Some of this music might make you uncomfortable because of the topics, you can figure that out yourself. I'm giving a *lot* of suggestions here so there will be plenty that doesn't and I have some specific warnings for some of the music, but uhhhh, if you're seeing this you listen to the Mechs, so I'm sure you can at least handle enough to figure out what you don't want to listen to. 5) Related to points 1 and 3, my music taste tends to lean pre-approximately-2010. I grew up listening to classic rock and 90s alternative and grunge because that's what my parents listen/ed to.

Local Music I figure if I'm going to be recommending music I might as well recommend some from my state. This is the music you are least likely to have heard.

Spose -From southern Maine -Rap, alternative hip hop, underground hip hop -I'm only aware of because my college roommate from California likes his stuff -Most popular song is I'm Awesome which is fun, but is one of those songs that gets a little annoying when you've heard his other stuff. Got national radio play IIRC though. -I would recommend the songs We All Got Lost and Alien -I've seen him live twice (summer 2022) and talked to him after and he's a really nice guy! -His name is Ryan and his most recent album is called Get Rich or Die Ryan and its two CDs. -If you wanna just hear a bunch of Maine shit, Loon Song

.Jxck -pronounced like the name Jack [for screenreaders: spelled *period* J-X-C-K] -Also from southern Maine -Similar music style to Spose, although less comedy I think, although he has some jazzier stuff that's *really* good that he said he was gonna be releasing a new album of last time I saw him perform (summer 2022), which has not been released yet. -Both times I saw Spose play .Jxck opened for and played with him. -Have spoken with him and he is also very nice! -Most recent album is called Beautiful Day

The Mallett Brothers Band -I know even less about this band than the other musicians in this section, but they are "an independent rock and roll / Americana / country band" -Two of them are the sons of David Mallett who is also a musician from Maine. He does folk.

Nerd Music Do you like Weird Al or Hank Green or They Might Be Giants or the Barenaked Ladies?

Jonathan Coulton -Wrote Still Alive and Want You Gone from Portal and Portal 2, respectively. -Has a song called Artificial Heart about a guy getting his heart replaced -Has a song called I'm Your Moon, which is from Charon to Pluto -Also: Re: Your Brains; Future Soon; Shop Vac; Mandelbrot Set; I Crush Everything; and more -Huge discography

No More Kings -Named after a School House Rock song -Have three distinct songs about zombies (Zombie Me, The Living Dead, and They're Coming to Get You Barbara) -Have at least two songs about DnD (Enter the Dragon and Critical Hit) -Reference pop culture a lot: Sweep the Leg (the Karate Kid), Leaving Lilliput (Gulliver's Travels), Robots Don't Cry (Short Circuit), and more. -Only three albums

Drugs Music (affectionate) IDK how to describe this. Bands that have a particular reputation for having fans who enjoy getting high. You don't have to be high or enjoy getting high to like this music though. Seems to lean towards long-ish songs. (Looked it up, what I mean is probably "psychedelic rock" but I'm gonna stick with "drugs music")

Phish -Huge discography -Not that we all have wildly different tastes, but at least four of the five people of my immediate family (myself included), like Phish, and I wouldn't be surprised if the fifth does too. -"Jam" style music, so there's some repetitive parts but there's a lot of layering and slowly shifting of each part into something new. -My two favorites by them right now are Bouncing Around the Room (about being high I guess?) and Bathtub Gin (about... making bathtub gin, which is homemade alcohol, and just, they say some insane shit and there's a "Joker"). Both are from the album Lawn Boy. -Just, the music is cool??? Listen to Bathtub Gin, the music is cool the lyrics are cool. (Someone sneezes multiple times, as part of the music I'm sure but... sneeze.) -The lead singers voice is really nice -The other Phish songs I have downloaded to my phone are Guelah Papyrus (about a spider), Farmhouse (about... a farmhouse, and being able to see the stars, and how much cluster flies suck ass), Sample in a Jar (about... being a sample? I think, definitely from the pov of being high), and Wolfman's Brother (what it says on the tin?). -Rolling Stone named them the most important band of the 90s in 1998, if that means anything to you -They were very inspired by the Grateful Dead. As such they allow people to record and disperse the audio of their concerts (if I understand correctly). -The band is from Vermont! -Rift is a concept album

The Grateful Dead -I know less about the Grateful Dead but I don't think I can really recommend Phish without recommending the Grateful Dead as well. -I *highly* recommending going to see a Grateful Dead tribute/cover band perform live. It's a great experience. The music is great, the environment is great, and you will almost certainly see some older folks dancing to the music they did when they were in their 20s and hippies and whatever. It's just really good. -Don't have a lot of specific song recs since most of my experience with them is in the form of the tribute/cover band live performance. -They are the ones with the colorful bears.

Pink Floyd -Feel like this section is me just recommending bands that everyone already knows, but like, how much do you actually know of Pink Floyd's stuff? Or maybe this will just be a reminder to go listen to it again! And its hard for me to judge what is typical for other people to be familiar with because I am *very* aware that my childhood media consumption was atypical. -They have SIX [all caps reads: six] concept albums! Six! I think the Wall is the one everyone knows is a concept album, since there was a movie made of it and its the album that Another Brick in the Wall and Comfortably Numb are both from. However the Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Final Cut, and The Division Bell are all *also* concept albums, if that's your thing -If concept albums aren't your thing, they have nine other albums! -Re: Wish You Were Here. It is very much about former member Syd Barrett and the album is mostly Shine On You Crazy Diamond parts 1-9, which are split 1-5 and 6-9, but if you total their length it's 26 minutes long. In between the two parts is three other songs, including the titular Wish You Were Here, which I do adore. -Also just. Us and Them

Other rock genres I guess?

Cake -I feel like Cake and the Barenaked Ladies go together but maybe that's just me. They're also... funny? I guess? in they're music. But Cake is still like... more... normal...??? IDK how to describe it. -Everyone knows Short Skirt/Long Jacket. I feel like maybe their second most known song is The Distance, but I don't know that for a fact. -My favorite Cake song, atm, is Comissioning a Symphony in C from the album Comfort Eagle. Short Skirt/Long Jacket is also on this album. -Fashion Nugget is also quite a good album, The Distance is on this album -They did a cover of I Will Survive and I was 15 years old the first time I heard the original. I don't remember hearing the Cake version for the first time. I remember being in gym class and for some reason we were suggesting music for the teacher to play through the speakers and I said Cake and he liked Cake a lot so he put Cake on and I Will Survive played and this girl in the class got surprisingly mad about this cover! They say fuck in it though so.... -Their album art is really cool and most if not all of them are in basically the same art style and I like that. -Lead singer also has a particularly nice voice.

Say Anything -Honestly, most of what I know by say anything is ...Is a Real Boy, and even from that it's mostly Alive With the Glory of Love, but the song is really fucking good! It is based on the story of Max Bemis' grandparents meeting during WWII though... and they were Jewish... so uh, its got some themes! Its a banger though. -The second song I really like by Say Anything is Wow I Can Get Sexual Too, which, as you might imagine, is quite sexual, so, you've been warned. It's very funny though. -Their album In Defense of the Genre is a concept album. I don't know much about it, but there you go, concept album.

Folk/Anti-Folk

Kimya Dawson -I think Kimya Dawson is really popular? It's hard for me to tell these kinds of things -Their music was pretty heavily featured in the movie Juno, because Elliot page was asked what music he thought Juno would listen to and he said Kimya Dawson. -The album I listen to most is Remember That I Love You. I know all of the words to the majority of the songs and the majority of the words to the rest. One thing I do when I can't sleep it try to remember all the lyrics to music and that album is a pretty common one for me to use. -I really really feel My Mom. And Caving In. And I Miss You. And Loose Lips. And The Competition. -And I can't *not* mention Thunder Thighs! --If you need to cry and can't, I recommend Walk Like Thunder. --The Mare and the Bear is a children's song! With children on the track! --Quite possibly my favorite Kimya Dawson quote is "Try to walk like thunder leaving footprints that are light" which is from the song Driving Driving Driving -I was attracted to their music because while they sing very well for sure! their voice isn't perfect and I really like that. You don't get to hear that often from their type of voice. -They were also part of the duo The Moldy Peaches, which I'm not super familiar with, but is the same genre.

Jeffrey Lewis -large discography -songs tend to be... morbid? -I recommend Whistle Past the Graveyard (I accidentally have developed a collection of zombie songs....) and East River and Back When I Was Four -Also the pair Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane (about his shit experience with LSD) and LSD Tonight (about how people took the last song to mean that they should offer him and pressure him to do LSD when that was the opposite of what the song meant!) -Kimya Dawson and Jeffrey Lewis also did some music together. AJJ -Again I feel like if you listen to anti-folk (or whatever) you're probably aware of AJJ??? -Their name wasn't always AJJ but they changed it sometime a few years ago. -Decent to large discography (depending on what exactly you do and don't count) -The majority of their music that I listen to is from the album People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World. -Their song Children of God was a WtNV weather and I think Mechs fans might like that one in particular. It's kind of just a lot of words. Like so many words that give you vibes but are a bit more difficult to take meaning from, but like; "the sky was full of teeth;" cannibals mentioned; "in a puddle of body parts / inside a bowl of angel hearts / that the children were eating;" vampires mentioned; "and out the corner of my eye / coming out from the teeth filled sky / with eyes as red as a dog's asshole when you see it shitting / I saw the children of god / as they walked on slovenly by / the USB ports in their arms were bleeding." I don't know what more to say than that. I have no fucking clue what that song is about but I like it. It's got a lot of words, a lot of visuals. -I have been told that many AJJ fans don't like Christmas Island (the album Children of God is from) because it is quite different from their previous stuff, but that doesn't mean you and I can't like both.

Other other

Dorian Electra -not folk or alternative or rock or anything like that, they're hyperpop! -not overarching stories either (this is a lie, you'll see further down; didn't know until I was reading up on it for this) -but so god-fucking-damn queer and very campy. It's ridiculous. Legitimately. The genre is so different but I don't think there's anyway anyone seeing this won't find at least one Dorian Electra song they like. -Again, I feel like they are pretty popular, but what do I know? -Now we have warnings... -I would recommend starting with the album Flamboyant. Their music videos for Flamboyant are gorgeous and they are pretty safe. Some have some, like, BDSM wear aesthetics, but I think its fine (I must emphasize that I have *no fucking clue* what is "appropriate") --Do you believe god made you queer and perfect just as you are? Adam and Steve. (lit. "they want to destroy me / they will all enjoy it / say I'm an abomination / but I'm god's creation") --Do you want to see two guys (gender neutral) (not actually) beat each other up and then kiss about it? Man to Man --Do you believe in the inherent homo-eroticism of being a workaholic? Career Boy --Do you just like fucked up eyeliner on a "guy"? Guyliner --Do you just want to see how camp Dorian claims to be? Flamboyant --Do you wish you had a sugar daddy? Daddy Like --I am a bit less familiar with other songs on the album -Okay... so... My Agenda *is* a concept album, "from the perspective of a conspiracy theorist who is watching their country being taken over by a gay dictator (Carolyn Droke, Uproxx, 16 Oct. 2020)." It's like, satire, I guess. --I cannot get into each of the songs on this album here. It is a very good album in my opinion; however it does have much more explicit themes of BDSM and sex, which can be overwhelming, depending on the song, the person, and their mood at the time. It is very much making fun of the incel type in many of the songs. I'm willing to bet that most sensible parents would not consider this teen appropriate, so I'm not recommending this to anyone under 18. And it's kind hard to recommend to adults either because of the themes. --Sorry Bro (I Love You) is pretty fucking safe though so you can listen to that. I think the song My Agenda is also safe. It's about the "gay agenda" and "turning the frogs gay," very funny. Also the Village People feature on My Agenda. -I have not listened to Dorian's newest album. I don't even know what it's called.

Those Poor Bastards -I feel like y'all must have heard Those Poor Bastards. -Some of the theme music for Old Gods of Appalachia is by them. -They are "gothic country doom" -Themes of "I'm a sinner and I feel so fucking awful about it but I literally cannot change my ways and I will suffer in hell." But like, it doesn't make *you* the listener feel bad. -Probably cathartic if you grew up with guilt re: christianity? -Decent discography volume? -I am really primarily am familiar with the album Satan is Watching. -I recommend listening to the first song followed by the last song (This World is Evil and No One, respectively) if you want a quick idea of if you'll be interested. -You may want to skip the song I Will Bring You Dead Flowers. It's from the perspective of a guy telling his ex that he'll do better now if she just comes back to him, he'll bring her dead flowers and carry her bible, and then not even half way through he's trying to convince her to have sex with him and saying he "needs" it. So... it's gross. But also its short. -Very christian themed. Not pushing christianity, in fact its a lot of talking about how the narrator is trapped by it. -I made a post comparing the song No One to DBB so, IDK if that's some kind of incentive for you.

Third Wave Ska -People like to make fun of ska, but I think most people (or at least most USAmericans who listen to 90s music?) have probably heard and enjoyed ska music. -The history of ska is pretty interesting, IMO. (Also, First Wave was 50s, Second Wave was 70s, Third Wave was 90s, so we're over due for a Fourth Wave of ska....) -Goldfinger, Reel Big Fish, and Save Ferris all have ska music. Save Ferris is actually quite interesting because they are one of very very few ska bands with a lead singer who's a lady. -Goldfinger has a cover of 99 Luftballoons (called 99 Red Balloons) that is very good and retains some lyrics in German. -Okay, so, I listen to a lot of Streetlight Manifesto. They have quite a bit of music, it's quite fast. The guy who wrote a lot of the music for Catch 22 started Streetlight Manifesto, so they do a lot of the same songs, but noticeably faster. -My high school had a fixation on Keasbey Nights by Catch 22, for reasons unknown to me. It played second to last at every school dance. No idea when or why that started, or if it's still played at every dance, but everyone liked it. While I had been listening to some ska before that, I know what ska *is* because of that. -I really really like Better Place, Better Time by Streetlight Manifesto. The narrator is telling another person not to kill themself and its just. Not sad. Like it is if you think about it too much. But the music is ska so its still wicked upbeat! It's kinda funny to me. -The version of Come On Eileen is the one by Save Ferris which has caused arguments because for a long time I didn't know that it was a cover as, as far as I know, it was the only version I had heard. Also it's sung by a lady! It's gay! -Look, I play many instruments, however, I played saxophone in band in school for 6 years plus 2-ish years of community band, of course I like ska.

Welcome to Night Vale Weathers -Okay, look at me. You do not need to listen to Night Vale to listen to the Weathers. The Weathers are music that, by and large, has been submitted months ahead of time by bands from all over. The vast majority of it has nothing to do with the story, and those that do, have very minimal to do with the story and can be listened to and enjoyed without the story. -As the music is submitted by people from all over, there is a huge opportunity to find new musicians/bands that you like. You like one song, check out their others. I personally tend to just listen to that one song because, as previously stated, I am not good at consuming new-to-me media; however, I did discover AJJ because of their song Children of God being a WtNV Weather, and I have purchased several other Weathers because I liked them very much! -There are over 200 episodes of WtNV, so what you do is you search "wtnv weathers" on youtube or spotify or whatever and you find a playlist with a fuck tonne of songs on it and you listen to that. You want new music, there you go. That's my best suggestion. (For set songs. I used Pandora a lot when developing my own music taste in middle/high school). -IIRC, The Mountain Goats had more than one song as a Weather. I think they do tend to lean folk-y. -Some Weathers I really like include i Know This by Rachel Kann, Bremen by PigPen Theatre Co., Despite What You've Been Told by Two Gallants, Ghost Story by Charming Disaster, True Trans Soul Rebel by Against Me! (which you should all listen to), Table Song by Katie Kuffel, My Postcard by Toys and Tiny Instruments, I Love You Oddly by Rebecca Angel, Second Song by Joseph Fink, The Lethal Temptress by The Mendoza Line, The Ends and the Means by Robby Hecht, and This Too Shall Pass by Danny Schmidt. --I went on to listen to some other Danny Schmidt music, recommend him, and made a playlist with Table Song, The Ends and the Means, This Too Shall Pass, and three other songs, two of which are also by Danny Schmidt, which I listen to pretty frequently. So.

If you made it this far, sorry it's so long, but I hope you found something new to listen to. I have a headache so I will be taking an NSAID now. Also I figured I don't need to tell you to listen to the Mechs members solo music.

It is very obvious to me that I like music that tells stories. (ALL music tells storie. Every song tells a story.) I like concept albums, I like musicals.

Therefore I find it very funny both that my favorite Mech’s album is one of the two that don’t have an overarching story *and* that my favorite My Chem album is the one that doesn’t have an overarching story.

[jxthics]

Hiiiiiii I just finished up working my way through witchers 1-3 and I'm 4 books in to the series, do you perchance have any good blog recommendations for non-Netflix witcher content? Also I absolutely love your art, you've got such a distinctive style that genuinely makes me want to stop and look and zoom in on all the details

oh man, not looking at the books on my shelf rn i'm pretty sure #4 chronologically is baptism of fire, good LUCK!! that is my favorite book in the series but it is so so heartbreaking :') and thank you!! i genuinely don't know how my works look to others if i'm totally honest, it's really nice to hear

so full disclosure i'm largely not involved in fandom spaces and i don't follow a lot of people, this list is very short because of that. (uh, if anyone has any recs for *me,* come tell me?) here's some people who's works i just adore though:

- calyxestra: AMAZING artist with a bunch of injokes about the games, really charming comics and finished pieces that just blow me away. i am trying so so hard to keep myself from just babbling about this artist because ahhhh!!! the aesthetic the line quality the brushstrokes the color choices the posing the character dynamics.. it's all so so good.... whenever i go to draw regis i usually just open this person's blog up and stare at their art for a really long time in hopes to like..... absorb wtf magic they have to draw him like that

- chocochipclaire: another artist with charming comics about regis and geralt. the way she draws character interaction makes me go !!!!..... did a thing about the last lines of every hansa member that made me bawlll too. go check their works out

- nohtora: artist who draws a lot of book eskel, really warm and lovely style with an incredible eye for detail. this wolf brothers piece in particular is so so warm i adore it

- mejev: ough ough very very good character artist who draws things that are so warm looking, i have a charm from this artist (two of the same one actually whoops) because their regis is so... heart eyes heart eyes.... i love the way they draw clothing in particular its so nicelookin

- toussaintred: so so warm this is another artist that makes me go insane... also does amazing rdr2 art. very illustrative artist who draws a wonderful wonderful dandelion you should look at it his color choices make me very warm and i love the way he sets up characters together

- purple-soika: another very very warm illustrative artist with a very like.. ephemeral/whimsical look in their rendering its very nice and full of life and energy always. even drawings of laying down and chilling are full of energy its wonderful :] there’s grace in everything i adore their works

- hehearse: another amazing illustrator.. i love their yennefer/geralt works it’s very very nice it’s always full of warmth and color and everything is like a big scene you can bury yourself in i really adore it. very early 1900s setups in their works if that makes sense, like its lounging in a way ive only seen in works from the 20s.. i love love love 

- astrolunos: UGH what is there for me to say that i'm sure has already been said this artist deserves the whole entire world. i have i think three prints from this artist and if i had the space i'd get more it's all just so so warm and nice looking,, reminds me of comic books i used to read as a kid, genuinely just very lovely character interactions and expressions :') yennifer geralt ciri monochrome family ahhhhhhh

- avotuli: big tw3 artist whose work blows me away, especially the more recent background pieces.. very distinct environments makes me feel like i'm walking into a scene every time it knocks my socks off

honestly i could just gush for days about everybody's drawings on this list but for the sake of my embarrassment i will not haha. you're probably best off looking through the wiedzmin tag and specific character tags of people you like and just blocking twn/the witcher netflix and picking out things as you go!

[littlemisspascal]

Death and an Angel part 3

Death!Din and Cupid F!Reader

Summary: You and Din have an unexpected heart-to-heart about what it means to be Death and a Cupid on route to a planet where Din’s potential soulmate lives.

Rating: G

Word Count: 1,500

Warnings: Pining, smidge of angst, more plot development, Razor Crest (RIP I miss you darling!), a made-up home world for the reader (yes, yes, there’s like a million I could have picked but my brain said NOPE)

Author Note: Ahhhh, the comments are so amazing from you all! Thank you everyone out there sparing time to check out my little universe, it makes me sooo happy you have no idea! As always, I hope you enjoy this new segment as I try to plot this story out and get these two idiots to acknowledge there just might be something between them. 

Also special thanks to @codenamewitcher​​ for including the first two parts on Weekly Fanfic Recs. Be sure to go check out the list for a whole bunch of fantastic stories!

Links to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 4

Photo Inspiration: (What I imagine is beneath the armor in this scene...*dreamy sigh*)

There is a distinct silence that can only be found in hyperspace when the stars outside resemble sparkling streaks of silver tinsel and your breath is trapped within your lungs as you’re awestruck by the sheer beauty of it all. You experience this silence aboard the Razor Crest, sitting in the cockpit behind Din as he pilots his beloved gunship. It isn’t the first time you’ve been a passenger, having traveled with Din on two previous ventures where your Cupid services were required on planets far away from your home on Umbriel.

Off-world assignments for you were generally rare since your bosses were more inclined to choose Cupids of higher ranking to handle those clients, but sometimes you were the only available option left. Which, come to think of it, is exactly how you became the one roped into meeting with Death every full moon. Your bosses decided someone needed to check up on him to make sure he wasn’t reaping anyone before their fated time and thus messing with the natural order of things. You privately have reached the conclusion it was a decision made during a fit of paranoia as you had yet to find any evidence suggesting Din ever broke a single one of the universe’s rules, let alone even considered the mere possibility.

When you did travel for assignments, you never stopped feeling like a goldfish being dumped out of your familiar little bowl and into a massive ocean full of strange oddities. You would often find yourself wasting time trying to successfully navigate the unknown world when you should have been focused on tracking down your client’s soulmate.

That’s why Din had offered to start traveling with you. Actually, in his own words it was because, “You think about love so much you don’t see trouble until it’s an inch in front of you. Someone’s got to be there to look after you.”

You’d tried to argue, told him you had never experienced trouble and that if you did then you could handle it with your bow. All Cupid’s were required to master archery for self-defense purposes, though Din’s responding snort of derision made you suspect he wasn’t convinced of your skills. You wondered if he thought, just as humans incorrectly did, a Cupid only used their bow to spread love and lust. Or maybe he just thought you weren’t capable of such finesse. It was an insulting assumption, fueling you with the burning desire to prove him wrong. One day, you keep telling yourself, a repetitive chant. One day you’ll show him just how capable you are with your weapon and you imagine his look of shock, whether worn openly on his face or hidden beneath the visor of his helmet, will be utterly priceless.

But in the meantime, you’re in no hurry to encounter trouble. Finding enjoyment in taking these trips with him on his ship instead.

The Razor Crest had actually been a complete surprise to you when Din first welcomed you on it; primarily because the notion of him using such a primitive form of transportation despite the powers he possessed as Death was too outrageous to wrap your head around. However, it took less than ten minutes soaring through space for you to discover just how many details of the universe you were missing by relying on your Cupid abilities to teleport yourself between locations. Never would you have imagined Death to be the one to teach you to love the slowness of travel, to let your eyes linger on all the beautiful wonders along the way. But that’s exactly what happened.

You turn your head away from the window to look at Din. From your angle, all you glimpse is the back of his helmet, reflecting the passing starlight. Soon you’ll be introducing Din to the first immortal on your list of potential soulmates.

Death, you quickly correct yourself. He’s only Din when he’s around you.

You initially thought he elected to wear his armor because you told him he could to ease his comfort, but now you think it’s because this is him meeting his potential soulmate as himself. It is easy to forget sometimes this is the image of Death—a warrior enshrouded in beskar, cunning and ruthless—that is recognized throughout the universe. And feared.

If the handsome face he concealed was known instead, you wonder if mortals would readily choose to embrace the ending of their lifetime, rather than foolishly seek to run from its inevitability.

“What is it?” Din’s baritone voice startles you as it shatters the quietness. The modulator within his helmet gives his tone a low raspiness that never fails to send a chill down your spine when you hear it.

“Huh?” You respond ineloquently.

“You’ve been staring at the back of my head for the last five minutes, angel. I figured you had something worth saying.”

“Oh, no. I was just thinking about you.”

Immediately you wish a meteor would collide with the ship, providing you with the necessary distraction to escape and find somewhere you can hide until the end of time.

“...What about me were you thinking?” Din wonders after a solid thirty seconds of pure silence, voice somehow conveying an equally blended mixture of intrigue and wariness. He flips on the ship’s autopilot and turns in his seat to pin you with his gaze, apparently unwilling to let you try and weasel yourself out of the conversation.

You roll the question around in your mind, wanting to give an answer that satisfies him without it also embarrassing yourself further.

“I was thinking how much of an enigma you are,” you murmur at last, leaning back in the chair with your arms crossing over your stomach. “You wield such incredible powers and yet you choose to wear a human face, to call this man-made ship your home and to also spend your spare time living amongst those you will eventually reap. Why are these your choices?”

He tilts his head, and you just know there is a little crease of bewilderment appearing between his eyebrows right now even if you can’t see it. For as much as he is a puzzle you can’t put together, he is also at times an open book that you will never tire of reading.

“I would think you, more than most beings, would understand the discomfort that stems from loneliness and the lengths one will go to ease it,” he says, not unkindly. He mirrors your position, maneuvering himself until he’s comfortable in his seat and totally oblivious to the dilating of your pupils as you observe every subtle shift of his armor-clad body. “Isn’t that the true purpose of Cupids? To spare individuals the ache of living a life of solitude by introducing them to someone to love so they no longer feel it.”

“That’s a poetic way of putting it,” you answer, smiling softly and shrugging your shoulders. “My superiors would just quote our mantra back at me when I used to ask. Amor vincit omnia.”

“Love conquers all.”

You shouldn’t be surprised he’s able to translate such an ancient and obscure language, but your eyes widen regardless. “That’s right.”

His voice is unusually soft when he asks, “Do you like being a Cupid?”

You stare at him, caught off guard by how easily he’s changed the topic of the conversation from himself to you. You’re used to taking orders and being thanked for your services, but no one has ever asked you if you liked doing any of it.

“I’m good at it,” you finally say, even though it’s not really an answer.

He nods his head still, as if he understands. A part of you thinks he actually does.

You lick your lips, eyeing him hesitantly. “Do you...like being Death?”

“I’m good at it,” he echoes, but your words sound somber coming from his lips.

The cockpit fills with hushed silence again, but there’s a unique tenderness unlike ever before. Minutes seem to stretch on for entire seasons as you watch one another, content to simply coexist and revel in each other’s presences.

It would be so easy to slip off his helmet and kiss him right now.

You stiffen, stunned at your own thought, but you aren’t given the chance to analyze it further as an alarm on the ship’s control panel announces with a resounding beep you’ve reached your destination.

Din spins in his seat, reclaiming control of the steering to begin the ship’s landing process. You look out the front window at the large green-blue planet drawing nearer with every anxious tick of your heartbeat.

“We’re here,” you say needlessly, forcing excitement into your voice. Fake it till you make it, isn’t that the human expression?

“Who is it we’re meeting on this backwater skug hole?” Din asks, pressing a series of buttons above his head.

You kick the back of his seat. “Be nice,” you scold when he shoots you a look. He mutters something unintelligible under his breath as he turns back around, prompting you to roll your eyes. “She’s a goddess of springtime and motherhood. The locals call her Omera.”

Tag List: @leilei-draws​, @theocatkov​, @becauseican2, @vintagesaph​, @stardust-and-starlight​, @kay2304, @odelia-d32, @adrieunor​, @remmyswritings​, @gallowsjoker​, @rhiannon-russo​, @randomness501​, @eleine-t1d​, @nicotinebirds, @sylphene​, @softly-sad​, @maytheglitter​, @melobee​

[gallavictorious]

What staple fics of the fandom would you recommend for someone just starting to read gallavich fic?

Hiya there, nonnie – and welcome to the glorious world of Gallavich fic, if you're new to it!

On the one hand, I'm very much the wrong person to ask because staple fics tend to be AU:s and that's not really my cup of tea. On the other hand, I am a librarian, so never let it be said I balk at giving recommendations about stuff I haven't actually read or isn't necessarily to my personal liking. 😉

To make this list, I sorted Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich fics by bookmarks on AO3 and selected the first ten that I've either seen talked about a lot or have had at least a look at myself. This is admittely not a great way to curate a rec list, so for better and more initiated recommendations, maybe check in with the the amazing ladies of @gallavichfanficlibrary? They'll have you covered! If anyone else feels like chiming in with fandom classics for nonnie, I'm sure they'd be grateful. 🙂

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace by shamlessquestions

AO3 Summary: Mickey just needs to keep his head down and stay out of trouble at his new job. Still trouble always manages to find him and when it takes the form of his red haired boss, Mickey's not sure he can resist even if he wanted to.

Comment: The Gallvich fic with the most bookmarks and the most kudos on AO3. You’ll hear this one mentioned a lot! Fair bit of explicit sex scenes.

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Ian Gallagher by shamlessquestions

AO3 Summary: "It's fuck all about heat or chemistry or any such shit, Gallagher. You and me...it's just a thing that cannot happen. The sooner we both accept that, the better off we'll be."

Comment: Mickey's the right hand man of a Chicago mobster. Club dancer (and college student) Ian starts ”dating” said mobster. Gallavich sparks fly. High stakes and quite a bit of action in this one. Explicit sex scenes.

Take Me In by MintSauce

AO3 Summary: Mickey's Dad finds out about Mickey being gay and even though Ian's not there, but he finds the Gallaghers are still willing to take Mickey in.

Comment: If you enjoy Mickey becoming friends with all the Gallaghers and bettering himself/beginning to heal from the abuse at Terry's hands, this might work for you. Heavy focus on Mickey, as Ian isn't actually there for most of the fic (though he's never far from Mickey's thoughts).

Like Real People Do by grayola

AO3 Summary: At the age of 26, Mickey Milkovich gets his first apartment, his first wifi connection, and his first kiss. How he gets from wifi to kissing is a complicated story. Mickey is socially anxious. Ian is a frustratingly lovable escort working through an app. Mickey downloads said app. The rest is history.

Comment: Fan favourite from last year. Very soft. Not a lot of plot, just Ian and Mickey falling very, very deeply in love (and dealing with their mental health issues in a lowkey, everyday sort of way). Heavy use of texts and messaging, making for something of an old-school fic feel. Explicit. A companion piece, told from Ian's POV is currently being published: Everything About You.

eighty-four by kissteethstainedred

AO3 Summary: “I slept with Mickey Milkovich last night,” Ian whispers.

“So?”

“So—” Ian stares at his phone for a second. “I slept with Mandy’s fucking brother.”

“Ian, what do you want me to say? Congratulations? You’ve been dating Mickey for almost a year,” Lip says, sounding confused as fuck. Ian blinks. That can’t be right. Ian’s only seen Mickey in pictures with Mandy. He’s never even met the fucking guy. How can he be dating him?

Comment: College fic. Time loop, so great if you’re a fan of that! Mandy plays a prominent role. At 13k words this one is way shorter than any other fic on this list.

Our Stubborn Love by TheWaywardBride

AO3 Summary: In which, after years of being separated by more than just prison walls, Ian and Mickey try to find their way back to each other.

Comment: Canon-divergent slow burn told from a bunch of different POV:s. Something of an ensemble piece, although Ian and Mickey are the focus. Doesn't shy away from Ian being in a very bad place post-5x12.

None the Wiser by loftec

AO3 Summary: AU. Slow burn. The real time accounts of Ian visiting Mickey's dingy diner and slowly becoming his friend.

Comment: WIP, with irregular but still happening updates. Domestic, with strong focus on the character's emotional lives. Mickey's a father to Yev, even though him and Svet are long since divorced. They're not kidding about the slow burn.

This is the Road To Ruin by bricoleur10

AO3 Summary: The day Ned asks Ian to rob his house the redhead almost says yes – why shouldn’t he, after all? Ned seems nonchalant enough about the whole thing, he’ll get some free expensive shit out of the deal, and if he plays his cards right maybe he can even convince Mickey to be his accomplice – but something stops him from going through with it.

The third-eldest Gallagher has never been much of a believer in fate or divine intervention or destiny or anything like that – can’t be, with the life he’s led – but he just might have become one, had he only known how that one seemingly insignificant decision had changed the course of his entire life.

Comment: Straight up canon divergence, capturing the early season Gallavich feels before hurtling down the road not taken. Some angst, but with a happy ending. Mandy and Lip play prominent parts.

Cooperative Gameplay by grayola

AO3 Summary: At nineteen years old, Ian Gallagher’s stuck. Stuck in a minimum-wage job he hates. Stuck in the same boring routine--sleep, wake, work, take your meds, Ian!, try not to lose it day after day after day. But after his little brother introduces him to MICK MILK, a frustratingly hot horror gamer he watches on YouTube, Ian's life will never be the same. ♥️

Comment: WIP (but with regular updates). Darker than Like Real People Do, but with a similarly emotional focus. Depicts online fandom on Twitter and Instagram in a rather knowing way. Explicit sex scenes. This fic, and these versions of Ian and Mickey, currently has its own fandom.

The Boyfriend Experience by anomalously

AO3 Summary: The Prompt: Ian: sex worker (male escort, explicit videos: stripping, masturbation, etc) Mickey: client who's an avid fan who gets up the courage to hire ian for "the boyfriend experience" I saw a porn star who said she only sleeps with 1 client & it inspired me.

Comment: WIP, last updated in 2017. Commonly held to be worth reading in spite of not being finished. Quite a bit of explicit sex, occasionally with a bit of BDSM thrown in.

[uswntxfootball]

all smiles here (jackie groenen x photographer!reader)

focusing on your new job turns out to be a hundred times harder after seeing the smiley dutch midfielder..

word count: 2343 ish

——

today was the day.

here you were, 22, fresh out of college and about to step foot onto the dutch training pitch for the first time and start your new job.

last night you had spent hours fretting over tiny details, making sure your cameras were charged and ready, your lenses were wiped clean, and that everything was nice and tidy.

you had planned to wake up extra early, making sure you had time to get everything situated and set before practice began.

that was the plan.

that’s.. unfortunately not what happened.

in your excitement, you had forgotten to set an alarm, which led to your current predicament, biking as fast as you can, racing through the dutch streets.

you glance down at your watch, narrowly missing a parked car as you do so.

you arrive at 7:58, just in the nick of time.

seeing that the team was already out stretching, you throw your bike down with a crash and run onto the field.

the crash of your bike hitting the pavement caused a few heads to turn your way, with a certain number 14 taking particular interest in your entrance.

blind to the commotion you caused, you laid your camera bag gently down along the side of the field (amongst the other photographers), then bend over unceremoniously, trying hard to catch your breath.

considering you had biked 5 miles in 10 minutes, you were spent, forgetting all your excitement in the process.

when your heart rate had somewhat slowed, you began setting up your equipment, and quickly the nerves and excitement arose once again.

you picked up your camera and took a photo of the closest player to test lighting (that player being sari van veenendaal), all the while internally screaming that that was the fifa 2019 best goalkeeper while doing so.

disregarding how much of a mess your morning was, the next hour went splendidly.

you managed to get a few shots of miedema with gorgeous lighting, photos that your manager undoubtedly would want to publish later on.

few photos were “unusable” (you were pretty damn good at your craft), and your camera roll was soon flooded with a wide variety of individual and group pictures.

at this point you had almost gotten all the players individually, your task being to get each of them by the end of practice, which was coming up shortly.

you snapped a few pictures of wilms, grinning widely when you see how well they turned out.

scanning quickly through the list of players, you sigh with relief when you realize you only have one more player to take photos of, #14.

you scan the field with your camera quickly and your breath promptly catches in your throat.

jackie was laughing at something daan was saying, her smile gorgeously on display.

you couldn’t help but stare, your hand lowering the camera as you forget the task at hand.

but how could anyone blame you?

she was, without a doubt one of the most gorgeous people you had ever seen.

her gaze meets yours suddenly, you let out a squeak of surprise in response and fumble your camera, breaking eye contact as you lunge forward to catch it.

you let out a sigh of relief when you grasp it, cheeks blood red at your actions, the older photographer next to you letting out a chuckle as he shook his head.

“kid you gotta be more careful.”

you nodded and smiled at him kindly, before shaking your head quickly and resuming to the task at hand.

with the ten minutes before the end of practice, you took, in total, one photo of jackie.

this was a disaster.

you just kept getting lost staring at her, this time through the lens of your camera, so starstruck that you forgot to actually take pictures.

you let out a sigh as you began thinking of an excuse for your boss later.

~~

walking into the locker room, jackie rolled her eyes at jill’s words.

“but did you see her jacks? that new camera girl is..” jill letting out a low whistle to finish her statement.

“i mean i’m taken but i have to agree she is pretty cute” daan said, popping into the conversation.

soon whole the locker room began chatting about this “new camera girl”, and jackie couldn’t help but blush.

she had to agree with everyone, you were absolutely adorable, and watching you almost drop your camera upon seeing her only solidified that.

jackie was brought out of her thoughts by jill who, very loudly, pointed at her and said:

“oh. my. god. you like her.”

jackie swatted jill’s hand away.

“shut up no i don’t.”

“oh my god she’s blushing she totally does,” daan squealed.

the locker room was soon buzzing with excitement over jackie’s new crush, filling the air with:

a lot of “omg jackie!”

and

even more “ask her out!!”

with jackie of course very adamantly denying such a proposition.

even through all of the teasing, jackie couldn’t help but hope that she would see you again tomorrow.

~~

you arrived earlier the following day, much much earlier, so much so that no other photographers had arrived yet.

you set your bike nicely against the rack this time, taking your time to admire the nice day as you lay your bag along the edge of the field.

you take a quick look at your watch, 7:17, and upon seeing that no one was around, picked up a soccer ball you found in the corner of the field.

having played a little bit of high school and college soccer, you juggled the ball around a little bit and then attempted to score from midfield.

you hit the ball right into the corner of the net on your second try, jumping up in excitement, when you hear someone speak behind you.

“for a sports photographer, that wasn’t all that bad.”

you turn around abruptly and let out a small squeak of surprise when you’re greeted by the very girl who had enchanted you the day before.

she lets out a dazzling grin before putting out her hand and saying:

“hi i’m jackie.”

“i- uhm y/n” you mumble, eliciting a giggle from the dutch girl before you.

you wipe your palms against your jeans quickly and take her hand, trying to desperately ignore the sparks that shot up your arm from the contact.

an awkward silence followed for the next few seconds, until jackie spoke.

“so, y/n, do you want to kick a ball around with me before people get here?”

“i’m, uh i’m not that good i mean i played a little in high school and college but like just for rec teams and i mean you’re on the national level so like i’m i don’t know i should probably just stick to photography i hope i didn’t offend you i’m just not that great and i yeah.”

you stop your rambling and blush, hoping she can decipher your message through your jumble of words.

jackie just lets out a laugh and your heart melts a little at the sound.

“i can take a few pictures of you though if you’d like?” you offer, hoping to spend a little bit more time with the midfielder.

“i would love that.” jackie says, letting out an even larger smile if possible.

for the next fifteen minutes you took dozens of photos of jackie, all the while learning about her life in manchester and belgium, how she broke a bike on the way to practice once, her dogs, and other snippets of her life.

you honestly couldn’t believe that this girl, this incredibly attractive and funny and just stupidly gorgeous girl was talking to you.

it was 7:50 when the other players arrived, jill letting out a whistle and yell when she saw who was already on the pitch.

“get it jackie!”

the other players cheered as well, letting out wolf whistles when they saw the two of you.

jackie got up but before she left she turned and gave you a hug then saying:

“sorry about them. they’re quite an obnoxious bunch.”

you let out a laugh and the two of you parted ways as practice was about to begin, your heart beating so fast you were afraid it would burst.

~~

“y/n.”

your boss let out a sigh as he took his glasses off.

“why are there 864 photos of jackie groenen in your camera roll?”

“i- i dont know” you stammer.

“this isn’t what i meant when i said you took too little of her yesterday.”

you flushed a deeper shade of red in utter embarrassment.

if your conversation with your boss was any indicator, practice was a disaster.

it wasn’t the players or practice itself.

it was you. your gay mess of a self.

but you just couldn’t help but trail the midfielder for the entire practice, your lens (and eyes) never leaving her.

it was only at the end of practice when you looked through your camera roll when you’d truly realized just how many photos you had taken of her.

each and every page filled with pictures of the number 14, her smile as bright as the day.

in your defense, you had taken quite a few fantastic photos of her, though there was one that was your favorite in particular, with the sun shining at the midfielder at just the right angle, illuminating her eyes and leaving her smile with its signature glow.

and of course that was the photo that caught your boss’s eye, despite his disappointment of today’s “turnout”.

and of course he wanted to publish it immediately.

and of course jackie saw it. and posted it. and tagged you in it.

where did she even get your handle from?

~~

it was sort of an unspoken agreement between the two of you, with both arriving early each practice to spend time with one another.

each time there’s jackie, always smiling and always gorgeous, and each time there’s you, always bumbling and always blushing and always tripping over your words.

and occasionally your feet.

but jackie only saw it as endearing, and continued to talk to you even when you were making a fool out of yourself.

eventually came the time for the netherland’s first matchup against a team, that team being estonia for the euro qualifiers.

you were brimming with the excitement at attending your first match as a photographer, and you arrived extra early match day to set up and get a good spot on the field.

“well if it isn’t my favorite photographer.”

you spun around quickly to spot jackie in her full kit, a blush promptly forming on your cheeks and your heart skipping a beat upon seeing her.

somehow you managed to reply:

“well if it isn’t my favorite player.”

this was your first time saying something that remotely resembled flirting with her, clearly catching the midfielder in surprise, as her face flushed a bright red a second later.

“i’m offended. i thought i was your favorite player.” daan said, appearing behind jackie, who stood frozen.  

you rolled your eyes.

“hate to break up the love fest though, but we’ve got a game to play.” daan said, tugging on the arm of an even redder jackie groenen.

after they left, you continued setting up your equipment, checking lighting and just making sure everything was all set and ready for the game to start.

and boy was it a game. 

in short,

the netherlands absolutely destroyed estonia.

in a huge 7-0 victory for the netherlands, there were an abundance of great photo opportunities, and you got them all.

goal scoring shots and celebration shots, everything.

you however, did let out two very loud cheers when jackie scored, once in the 26th minute and again when she completed her brace.

you had forgotten how empty the stadium was in your excitement.

each time you shouted the dutch girl, blushed, met your eyes and grinned before being pulled away by a teammate, who said something that sounded a lot like:

“your girlfriend’s here cheering for you.”

but in general,

you had expected the dutch to win.

you had expected daan, jackie, sherida, aniek, and katja to score as much and as well as they did.

you had even expected that you would embarrass yourself in some way during the match.

what you didn’t expect however, was for jackie groenen to come running at you after the match.

you were packing up your equipment when you saw the dutch girl approaching, and you opened your mouth to congratulate her on the brace and win.

but before you could get a word out,

she pulled you in by the camera straps around your neck and kissed you.

you stood, frozen, as if you couldn’t believe what was happening (because you really couldn’t).

jackie had started to realize you weren’t reciprocating and began to pull back when you came to your senses.

you kissed her back, hands moving to her waist to steady the two of you.

it was everything you wanted a first kiss to be, passion fueled and full of sparks, her hands moving from your chest to cup your cheek.

jackie was the one who pulled away first, a smile plastered on her face much like the one that had drawn you to her that very first day at practice.

you pulled her in to kiss her again, forgetting that your camera was still looped in front of your chest, only noticing it when it was in the way of getting her closer to you.

you pull back with an annoyed huff and gently take the camera off, turning to drop it on the bench behind you.

“go out with me sometime” you say when you turn around again.

jackie’s face just splits into a sparkling smile.

“i thought you’d never ask.”

[troubatrain]

things i can’t forget - t. jost

a/n: i forgot i keep this and to this day this is still one of my favorite fics in the world - it’s silly and fluffy and i just loved this the first time i wrote it - enjoy :)

Summer camp was the one month of the year you looked forward most when you were growing up. You loved nothing more than headed out to the woods and spending a month doing everything your camp had to offer. Friendship bracelets, crafts, games, and swimming in the lake were the only thing on your mind when your moms car would pull up on drop off day and you’d bid your goodbyes. In college, you’d turned to your old camp for the best summer job. You got to work for a little more than half of your summer break, and you got to just spend your days like you’d done when you were a camper. Of course you had some responsibilities, like the eight new ten year olds you had in your cabin this summer, but most days it was just fun in the sun.

But your entire summer of fun that you’d planned was coming to a halting stop when you’d walked into the rec building and spotted a mess of curls that you recognized way too well. Tyson Jost ruined your day with every opportunity he was given at camp from ages eight to fifteen. You didn’t know why, but everyone always brushed it off as harmless - which most of the time it was. Your parents always teased you, about the boy who pulled your pigtails and probably just harbored a camp crush on you.

“What is he doing here?” You ask Stephanie, who’d been in the same cabin as you were growing up, “NHL doesn’t pay well enough?”

“Apparently he’s going to teach some hockey camps, and he asked to come,” Stephanie explains, because even when you were kids she knew everything about everyone, “Oh, lighten up, I think it’s sweet.”

“It’s not sweet when he pushed me into the lake and then left me there when we were twelve,” You snap back, shivering at the memory.

“You guys just liked each other, maybe you’ll get that crush back this summer,” Stephanie wiggles her eyebrows at you, laughing while she headed back to wrangle her campers.

--

You’d avoided Tyson for almost the entire first day of camp. You’d gotten your campers into their cabin, and started getting all them used to the other. You always did this, because if they weren’t friends with their bunkmates - summer was going to be rough. But after your campers had finally fallen asleep, you slipped out of the cabin to set up a few decorations outside. It wasn’t that you pride yourself on being the best counselor, because that would be ridiculous, but you did have rave reviews about the little things you liked to do. 

“You would decorate the outside of your cabin,” You hear someone chirp behind you, and you didn’t even have to turn around from your ladder to know exactly who was behind you.

“What are you even doing here?” You ask, half of you didn’t expect a real answer, but a part of you was curious about what brought him to camp for the summer, especially after you heard he was even taking on some campers.

“They asked me to do a few activities, so I volunteered my time,” Tyson says, your back still turned from him, “Plus, I heard you were still here and-”

That caught your attention. Tyson’s words had you spinning on your ladder, your foot getting caught and you flew directly into his arms.

“I wanted to see you,” Tyson smirked, catching you with ease, “Think you might want to see me too.”

“I would have rather you let me hit the ground,” You grumble, pushing him away, trying your hardest to ignore the way the muscles on his arms felt when you’d touched them, “You’re good at ruining my life.”

“I didn’t plan on leaving you that night,” Tyson admits, starting to walk down to the lake, turning around to look at you, “If you gave me a chance, I wouldn’t do it again.”

Tyson didn’t just leave you in a cold lake in the middle of the night with no one around. He left you to take the blame for sneaking out of your cabin that late too. You’d both agreed to just get along, and not even twenty four hours later, he’d just thrown it in your face.

“I’m never believing you again,” You bark back, annoyed with this whole conversation. Tyson was always just a little annoying and now he was hot and annoying - which was definitely worse.

“You’ll come around,” Tyson says, “Can't wait for the rest of the summer Y/L/N.”

--

You woke up the next morning to mass chaos. Tyson coordinated his group of campers to shoot you with water guns while you were walking yours to the dining hall, ruining your day before you’d even gotten your morning coffee. Now you were braiding your soaked hair, trying to dry off so you could get your day started.

“Y/N,” One of your campers called out, “We should get those boys back!”

Your head shot up from your clipboard, and the eyes of eight bright eyed girls looked at you with hope in their eyes. You weren’t one for revenge, and teaching a group of kids that it was okay didn’t make you the best role model, but Tyson’s smirk at you from across the dining hall and you nodded. Your girls spent the rest of the divulging a plan of what exactly you’d do to Tyson and his campers.

--

The next afternoon, you were hiding behind a large tree, peering over while Tyson led his campers to start a hockey game on the blacktop. If it were anyone else, it would be cute to watch someone lead a bunch of kids who were carrying their little sticks behind them, but this was Tyson, and Tyson was the worst.

You hold your hand out, counting down from silently until your campers launch a water balloon attack on Tyson and his boys. You watched all of the kids squeal with joy and laughter when you threw the last balloon, hitting Tyson square in the face.

“Oh it’s on now,” You hear Tyson call out, a smirk on his face while you run away, hiding behind a tree to hide from Tyson. You feel his arms grab your waist, making you yelp, “I’m going to make you pay for that.”

“You started it,” You say, poking his chest with your finger, wiggling out of his arms, “And you deserve it.”

You couldn’t quite make out the look in Tyson’s eye. It was something you’d never seen before, and you could have sworn you saw him flicker down to your lips before he ruffled your hair and ran back over to his campers.

--

Tyson stuck to his words, and the next morning you’d gotten woken up by a banging on your door and a bucket of shaving cream above the door waiting for you. You screamed, catching Tyson peering around your cabin laughing to himself. This started a two week prank war that had no end in sight. You bickered with Tyson everyday, to a point where it was the only thing the girls in your cabin gossiped about anymore.

“Do you like Tyson?” One of your campers asks, not bothering to look up from the friendship bracelet she was weaving, “Because he is cute.”

The rest of your campers giggled at how cute they all thought Tyson was. He’d become unbearably popular around camp, the boys loved him because he played mini-sticks and would set up mass roller hockey tournaments around the camp. And the girls loved him because he was cute and he’d wear every friendship bracelet any of them made for him.

“I don’t like Tyson,” You defend, as if the opinion of a ten year old mattered, but you found yourself explaining this to everyone. Stephanie asked you about it daily, shaking her head and reminding you that she thought you were just acting like kids because you couldn’t admit to each other you like the other. Your boss had even slipped in a comment about cute she thought you and Tyson would be together, always mentioning that two of her favorite campers ending up together would make her so happy, “I thought you guys still thought boys had cooties.”

“Tyson definitely doesn’t have cooties,” Another one of your campers chimed in, “He’s a man.”

You shake your head, ignoring whatever the girls were giggling about. You thought about it before bed, why you constantly had to defend yourself and how mad you would get when people asked you about Tyson. Was there something they saw that you didn’t?

You shot out of bed, knowing you weren’t going to get any sleep anyways, slipping out of your cabin and walking down to the lake. You padded out onto the dock, sitting down and sighing.

“You’d think you learn your lesson about being out here alone,” You hear Tyson’s voice behind you, causing you to jump.

“How’d you know I was out here?” You ask, eyebrows raised.

“I heard your cabin door open, figured if it wasn’t you then it was one of your campers you probably turned into a mini version of you,” Tyson teased again, as if it wasn’t his idea to go out to the lake that night he left you.

“That was your fault,” You pout, crossing your arms when Tyson sits next to you, “You told me to meet you out here, and then you left me.”

“Do you know why I did that?” Tyson asks, nudging his shoulder with yours, “I wanted to kiss you and tell you I liked you, because I did, but then I heard Patrick Wilson was going to tell you the same thing and I thought I couldn’t compete with that. He was really good at basket weaving and it intimated me.”

You laugh, leaning back on the dock while tears started to brim your eyes. Patrick Wilson did tell you that, and you rejected him because you were so mad about what Tyson had done, “You chicken out because of a guy who was good at basket weaving.”

“He was really good,” Tyson exclaims, turning to look at you with an amused look on his face, “I was being stupid wasn’t I?”

“Is that why you came back, to improve on your basket weaving skills?” You tease, wiping your eyes and sitting back up to look at Tyson.

“I was actually only going to come for a day, then I heard you were going to be here and I was hoping that maybe, you’d think I was cooler now than I used to be,” Tyson admits, a blush creeping up on his cheeks.

“Tyson you used to cry whenever you left your mom at the beginning of the summer,” You say, “I would rather you do that then be cool though.”

You lean against Tyson’s shoulder, your hard wrapping about his bicep, feeling his muscles relax under your touch. He turns his head, his lips ghosting with yours, “Good, because I am still so uncool when it comes to you.”

You smile, a reminder that no matter what, he was still the same Tyson he’d always been. You place your lips on his, wrapping your arms around his neck. You’d made out on that deck for hours, until one of the other counselors caught you, and you’d blushed all the way back to your cabin. And the next morning, while you’d been grabbing yourself breakfast, Tyson walked over to you and planted a kiss on your lips in the middle of the dining hall, smirking at you while you sat with your campers - who needed all of the details about your new boyfriend. 

[i-did]

hi hello i couldn't sleep last night so i was scrolling thru all ur asks and stuff and ur opinions and analyses are so interesting!!! and then afterwards i was thinking about what u were saying about mlm smut and i'd also been thinking about such things a little bit recently bc like.....at a certain point it becomes quite clear that the vast majority of smut-writing is just imitation. like there's the sex noise verb list and all and the whole general mechanics of the sex and those things just .... replicate over and over. and the whole thing w people writing mlm vs wlw smut regardless of their own sexual orientation..... like i feel like a big part of that is just a self-perpetuating thing. like if u have not had sex and u r getting all ur (pleasure-related) sex ed from fandom (even if u do watch porn, that doesn't rlly tell u how to describe stuff? idk) regardless of What fandom , the majority is going to be mlm smut. which is itself majority imitation of other mlm smut, imitating and imitating back to whoever knows what the first smut fanfic was etc. there's just way More to mimic than there is on the women side of things. which then becomes a self-perpetuating thing, bc the mimicry continues and generates more and more. and---if there are fundamental misunderstandings of anatomy involved---those self-perpetuate as well. and maybe even exaggerate. and yeah. does this all make sense? idk i was just thinking about it. like all the stereotypes and stuff continue bc writers are getting their inspo from other writers rather than their own brains. or something. idk!!!!! it's just all... divorced from reality? bc words. or something!! i hope u get what i'm trying to say. just thoughts i've been thinking. anyway i think ur thoughts are cool. and ur writing. ok bye have a good day!!

Okay yeah this is kinda messy but hope u see this, uhh yeah I think you're right about the echo chamber effect fr about stuff. I think it's a mix of projecting too sometimes. talk more under the cut and also link to a video essay since I love video essays.

Here’s a video that sort of touches on this topic: 

“Gay fanfiction” by Sarah Z. (has CC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8E_C00dKwI

This video begins to talk about fetishization at the end, but also… not really. The words “gay fanfiction” is used as a catchall, when really gay fanfiction is largely mlm written by non-mlm.

Fandom is a largely women's space dominated by the female gaze in a media industry world that is dominated by men and the male gaze. I'm really glad women have this space to explore creativity and queerness, and I don't expect the female gaze to go away, but I am still ultimately bummed out I can’t read most fanfic or interact with most fandom spaces without having fetishization in my face. 

So about 80% of fandom is women, and most of those women aren't straight, but 90% of those women prefer mlm ships. Why don’t they prefer wlw ships? Well definitely part of it is the fact that queerbaiting is centered around white straight men, and then there is also the fact that women tend not to be written as well charcter wise. But the fact still remains that you get jerjean getting priority over Layla and Alvarez who are in canon just as much and are a canon wlw couple who actually interact as well as Alvarez could likely be a woc because of her Hispanic last name. Korasami doesn’t get nearly as much hype as zuko and saka, despite the fact that they are 2 fully dimensional characters who canonly kiss and hold hands, something the creators fought for and ended up having to sacrifice another reboot for. 

I do believe the fandom echo-chamber is largely responsible for… a lot of things, like you're saying. But what's interesting is that the complaints I've heard about visual porn from non mlm in the fandom space is that they can’t get off to it because its for the male gaze and misogynistic usually. But they also don't seem to notice how the mlm smut circles has the female gaze and is also… almost always mlm. If it was a pure anatomical not knowing thing, I get that, but I also think that leads to the question of “then why the male body for porn, and not your own? The one you know and are familiar with?” 

I know some people want to get outside of their own body for porn and don’t want to think of their own anatomy at all, but overall I'm still uncomfortable. If an anglo said “well I watch porn of only Mexicans so I don't self insert” I'm gonna be like … hhhh in a similar way. I understand people “like what they like” but I wish they also noticed said patterns in the first place. I understand the t4t tumblr porn circle, and how it's different from cis people who only watch trans porn. 

I actually wished that instead of fandom focusing on mlm ships where some asshole guy hits on bottom troupe charcter for top troupe character to save, was instead… a wlw character experiencing said shitty getting hit on and other wlw swooping in. what's interesting is fandom writes a lot about misogynistic experiences without often realizing it. Ive read fanfic where guys get called sluts for sleeping with people or called bitch for speaking their mind, these arent things men usually experience, but rather women. Fandom has a lot of internalized misogyny and also queerphobia imo. Women characters often get pushed to the sidelines and men become the canvas for female fans to project onto. 

There is this natural inclination to mlm. When people are talking about “gay shipping” or “gay books” or “gay feels” or even just “gay” mlm is what’s largely in mind. I honestly am kinda saddened by this because if gay fanfiction was really solely about writing more to feel represented, then you would see a lot of bi and ace and lesbian rep, but this isn't the case. Queer women are seriously underrepresented, and I want to hear their stories and read them in fanfiction as well as published. 50% of lgbt literature is mlm, and of that its largely written by women. Becky Albertalli, Rainbow Rowell, Maggie Stiefvater, are the YA big names and are all women writing mlm. Red white and royal blue is written by Casey McQuiston and Captive prince (which is not YA) is written by C. S. Pacat, who is non-binary, but is also TME and not mlm. These are all the big names in mlm lit, behind them is some gay men, but honestly their stories aren't preferred, they're not the right “flavor” for the consumers usually, who are largely women. In general YA consumers and authors are women, but I wish that they… just wrote about women too. I think there is a certain… snowball effect to the overrepresentation of mlm representing the whole LGBT community that leads to fetishization, as well as misogyny playing a factor in: less women characters being written well to write fanfic on, when they are written well they're taken less seriously or the audience struggles to relate to them, they're less marketable then men. 

Idk I never feel “seen” or “represented” by any of the books above, which don't address boyhood and manhood and queerness intersecting really, and AFTG doesn’t either. I relate to AFTG as a trauma victim who has experienced a lot of what many of the characters go through and have gone through in the EC as well as them just overall being very well written characters, but I don't relate to it as a mlm really. I've never seen like.. gay voice or being straight passing or femphobia or how boyhood can be affected from a young age by those around you sensing you're ‘other’ or if you didn't experience this you feel outside the mlm community. Let alone sub cultures like bear and leather and pup, at most you see the word “he's such a twink” in fandom which... i fr hate non mlm using that word because it's usually used to replace the f-slur essentially, used derogatorily or to call him “such a bottom” and stuff like that. It’s like a joke or an insult.

Long story short, idk mang this was a ramble and I think I'm coning down with something. I wanna see more queer women rep and women authors writing about being a queer woman too. I think it's a complex web of fetishization and a bit of forbidden love yaoi culture (or it used to be in the BOYXBOY days) as well as misogyny on an industry level, creator level, as well as reader/consumer and fandom level. I don’t think it’s inherently wrong to explore other peoples stories and what we read has to be segregated, “only mlm are allowed to read and write mlm, only wlw are allowed to read and write wlw,” but I also think author’s intent and audience and background is telling, as well as overall statistics. Like about an hour ago I was looking for cookbooks in spanish or in english, and I was looking for some mexican food cook books, but I had to look for them using words in spanish because otherwise what came up was a bunch of “fiesta party, easy as uno dos tres authentic cooking!” and I was like… hm. Since I could tell they were marketing to anglos. (also the author’s last names were like michelle smith, james cooper, and this could be for a variety of reasons, but I trust Hispanic names more tbh and deadass would look at the authors pictures and if they had other books in Spanish or what their specialties were.)

anyways. not sure how to end this. uhm if anyone has any book recs (my to read list is like 500 books tho no joke) preferably not YA white mlm written by a white lady, hopefully queer women written by queer woman, LMK, I need more wlw and queer women stories on my list. I have a decent amount but always looking for more. I kinda wanna link my goodreads or my storygraph but I also don't want to get doxxed and it has my legal name on it so.

Also, I'm dyslexic and using spell check but if there's like some wild typos my b.