#i know i've got it bad when i start reading the teen and general fics

[malacandrax]

What if vampires have terrible cold tolerance? (Elves sleep because I said so.)

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

I (26, NB) dropped a long-term friend (23, not disclosing gender, I'll call them X) for being a proshipper, and now they're trying to get in the way of my other friendships.

A little more than a month ago, an old friend from when I was an itty bitty teen on the internet (we met when they were 12 and I was 15 or so) messaged me on twitter asking if we could share discord since they're more active on that platform, and they missed hanging out. Ok, no prob!! I missed talking to X and life was going kinda icky for me at the time. We exchanged discords and started talking more frequently, before we would talk through twitter dms maybe one day every few months, and we went from almost no contact to talking every single day. It was like being a teenager again; we still shared similar interests and we really fast clicked over old and new fandoms we were in. We talked about college and how they're starting to get the hang of their new job but needed support, talked about our family lives, etc., and in general I felt really comfortable and happy to be chatting again with someone I've known for so long. We were inseparable for weeks.

However... of course, as adults, and having known each other for YEARS, we started talking about fandom ships and fics we enjoyed. We didn't have the same taste in pairings, but that was okay. Until it wasn't anymore.

I shared my NSFW twitter with them, and they followed me. A few minutes later X told me, "I see you have "proship DNI in your bio, I just want to let you know that I am a pro-ship and enjoy some things in fandom that you might think is gross. I hope that's okay."

I was kind of weirded out, and told them that as long as they didn't like anything that would be criminal in real life, that's fine. They told me they *did* enjoy things in fiction that they "wouldn't condone in reality" and even though they "don't talk about it publicly" they still wanted me to know. For some reason. ?? Even though they KNOW that I have an irl history of abuse as a kid, they still told me this.

I was so fucking uncomfortable and really, really sad, and honestly I felt betrayed? I stepped away from my account for like, an hour before messaging them back and saying I didn't want to continue talking to them anymore. That I didn't know they were that kind of person and I'm not comfortable being their friend. I didn't read their response to me because I soft-blocked them.

While I was getting over that and trying to move on, a few days later I was talking to another mutual friend of ours when they asked if I was still friends with X. I got chills remembering how I broke off with them, and said no, we weren't talking anymore. That they were the kind of person that made me really uneasy and uncomfortable to be around. The mutual friend, I'll call R, said that X was "feeling kind of down about losing a friend recently" and talked about it in a discord server they share. X didn't mention my name but R wondered if it was me who dropped them since I was really touchy about boundaries online. I freaked out a little thinking about them talking about me, and asked what else they said, and R told me "not much, just that they felt sad but it was your choice in the end because you two were different" and I don't know why but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Were they trying to make people seem like I was the bad guy or something?? Idk.

I told R the reason why I stopped talking to X, and that X is a proshipper who likes things like inc*st and rape, and R wasn't as supportive as I thought he would be, saying that he understood how I felt but if X was being honest and open about their interests, it probably meant they trusted me and didn't want to "lie" to me. I don't understand how that's even relevant if X is a fucking proshipper. I don't want their trust in the first place if that's who they really are, and I felt betrayed that someone I knew for so long was hiding that for me until we were bonding again. R basically dropped it there and said "idk then" and I told him I was going to shut off my notifs for a bit. I really don't want to talk with him again right now especially since he didn't seem THAT bothered by X being a proshipper who's into really criminal shit.

Since then, friends of mine who are also friends with R (because he's a friend of X still, for some reason), haven't been replying to me as much anymore and I'm super sensitive to noticing these things, at first I told myself it was nothing, but there's an obvious decrease in our interactions. I can't help but think that X actually said bad stuff about me, and R didn't want me to know, or maybe X convinced R that I was a terrible person or something. I still haven't read X's reply to me because I genuinely do not want to interact with them ever again, but for the past few days I've been so angry and hurt by my other friend's actions that I can't help but want to blame them, since this all started when I left them.

AITA for dropping a friend because their interests made me SEVERELY uncomfortable? I don't know what to do.

What are these acronyms?

[epicbuddieficrecs]

Weekly recap | October 16th-29th 2023 (Part One)

I've got a banner now! What do you guys think? 😃 Two weeks of fics, it's a long one, I hope you enjoy!

(Edit: yes it says PART ONE because apparently I've read so many fics Tumblr can't handle the amount of links 😭)

Complete

I Was Betting On Forever (But Forever Comes And Goes) by callmenewbie/ @callmenewbie (Car accident | 4K | Teen): Eddie gets a call from Buck in the middle of the night and it’s about as bad as one would expect

Take My Hand and Let’s Pretend by giselleslash/ @gigi-gigi (Getting together | 4K | General): Christopher shows Eddie and Buck how to make braided rings, Eddie does something unexpected, and Buck loses a bit of his sanity over it all.

Love and Bullets Both Shatter Hearts (But Only One Can Put You Back Together) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Spies AU | 11K | Explicit): Agent [Redacted] Diaz is the best at what he does. Usually. But lately there's this real pain in the ass* who's been ruining his missions: Code Name "Buck." *stupidly handsome and annoyingly talented rival spy

Guilt Takes a Lunch Break at Two in the Morning by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (PWP, Sexual Fantasy | 1,8K | Explicit): Eddie's married, and he's never going to cheat. Even if his wife hasn't been around. Buck knows Eddie's married, and he's probably not into men, and he won't ruin the best friendship he's ever had. Doesn't mean either of them can't imagine other things.

Direct Deposit by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (PWP, Buck/Connor/Kameron but it's still endgame Buddie | 10K | Explicit): Buck's asked to contribute the old-fashioned way.

in the middle by honestlydarkprincess/ @honestlydarkprincess (PWP, Buck/Eddie/Natalia but endgame Buddie | 4K | Explicit): Or, Eddie walks in on friends with benefits Buck and Natalia. Buck and Eddie figure out their feelings and then the three of them have some fun.

🔥 Your Love is an Oil Slick (It Glows like Rainbows, It Stains My Soul) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Canon Divergent - Supernatural Elements, Ghost Buck | 67K | Explicit): When Eddie's son claims he has an imaginary friend, Eddie doesn't think much of it. Christopher is seven, it's what kids do. But then weird things start happening around the house, and Eddie starts dreaming about a handsome blue-eyed man. Turns out, Christopher's friend isn't so imaginary. Their house is haunted.

🔥 my words are paper tigers by hattalove/ @hattalove (Time Loop, Canon Divergent | 20K | Teen): or: buck breaks up with eddie, even if it means losing a part of himself, because it's the right thing to do. the universe decides to test that conviction.

all i wanna do right now. by dylaesthetics (Season 6, Coming Out | 4K | Teen): Eddie starts acting out of character. Buck worries.

remember to remember me by Daffi_990_ao3/ @hannah-ruth-990 (Canon-Divergent, Post-Lightning, Amnesia | 31K | Explicit): Buck and Eddie finally get together only for lightning to strike a few days later, leaving Buck with no memories of them ever becoming a couple.

toy with me by honestlydarkprincess/ @honestlydarkprincess (PWP, Post-S6 | 2K | Explicit): Or, the one where Eddie accidentally walks in on Buck using his new toy.

i am never without it by Maira/ @carrierofthepaperclips (Getting Together | 3K | Teen): Buck takes them out slowly, reverently, giving them their own place on the bedspread. It takes him longer than he thinks - while there aren’t really that many items, he lingers over each one, memories flashing through his mind like quicksilver. He shouldn’t have opened this box.

My dandelion tell me when you've made your mind // Kinktober Day 23 - Overstimulation by Heyimbeccah (PWP, BDSM | 1K | Explicit): Eddie's eyes light up as he rubs his thumb over his cock again and again, drawing a series of whimpers from his throat. "It's gonna hurt, baby," he whispers. "Please," Buck says, his voice breaking.

🔥 stupid people. by brewrosemilk/ @gayhoediaz (Canon Divergent, Sex Worker Buck | 160K | Explicit): New in Los Angeles, and having recently admitted to himself that he's gay, Eddie figures that hiring a sex worker might be a good way to keep his private life cut off from his job and his son. A way to keep things from becoming too complicated. It works. For a while.

believe in one thing (i won't go away) by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Canon Divergent, Post-Coma | 24K | Mature): the one where buck is figuring out stuff after waking up from a coma, eddie misses his best friend and they go to couple's therapy.

you're where i stand, hearing the sea by Maira/ @carrierofthepaperclips (Getting Together | 3K | Teen): ... or the one with the accidental kiss.

With Great Power Comes Great Pining by Princessfbi/ @princessfbi (Post-Lightning, Getting Together | 10K | Teen): It was the lightning strike. That had to be it. It was the only logical conclusion. Though, when it comes to being able to suddenly read people’s minds, Buck supposed there wasn’t a whole lot of logic involved. Well… Not people. Just… Eddie’s mind. 

look straight ahead if you like it slow by hattalove/ @hattalove (PWP, Established Buddie | 6K | Explicit): “This gets you going, huh?” Eddie grins, propping himself up on his elbows so he can move higher on the bed, reach the pretty pink bow of Buck’s mouth. “Devotion? You being it for me?” He stretches up toward Buck’s ear, whispers: “Monogamy?”

your long day is over now by hattalove/ @hattalove (Post Season 5, Pre-Buddie | 4K | Teen): or, buck leaves, then comes back home again. 

been yours longer than i haven't by hattalove/ @hattalove (Friends to Lovers | 1K | Teen): in which buck tries dating, and eddie has an embarrasing number of oh moments.

never want for more when you're near by hattalove/ @hattalove (Getting Together | 4K | Teen): in which buck gets drunk and sleeps with eddie. except does he?

baby, it's halloween (we can be anything) by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Post-Lawsuit | 2K | Teen): After Eddie forgives him and after they share that hug, Eddie invites Buck to come spend the night of Halloween with Chris and him, where he belongs. More feelings come to light and everything works out for the better.

baby, loving you's the real thing by hattalove/ @hattalove (First Kiss | 2K | Teen): in which eddie, very literally, has a brush with buck 1.0.

can't do a love song (not the way you sang them to me) by hattalove/ @hattalove (Post-Season 1, Neighbours AU | 7K | Mature): in which buck sleeps around for healthy reasons, and thinks about his next-door neighbor a healthy amount.

california wishing on these stars by hattalove/ @hattalove (Post-Season 5, Getting Together | 21K | Teen): in which 'tis the season, buck is single again, and eddie is being very brave about it.

pretty in pink by honestlydarkprincess/ @honestlydarkprincess (PWP, Panties | 4K | Explicit): Or, the one where Eddie finds out Buck's little secret and Buck wrongly assumes he has a problem with it so Eddie has to set things straight.

sucker for pain by prettyboybuckley/ @prettyboybuckley (PWP, Spanking | 2K | Explicit): OR: Buck gets spanked in one of his most intimate places

Make So Much Smoke it Sparks a Fire by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (PWP, Succubi&Incubi | 7K | Explicit): Incubi and succubi are not about sex. They're about lust. Desire. The build up. Driving you so insane that sex is all you can think about, all you want, all you need. Pushing you right over the edge. Naturally, Buck and Eddie like to have fun with this.

Love Like the Ocean (Dirties Your Body, Cleans Your Soul) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Mermaid Buck, PWP | 5K | Explicit): Eddie and Buck have been dating for a while, but practicalities have prevented them from having sex in Buck's true form. That's about to change.

I Love Oklahoma by chicklette/ @chicklette (Getting Together | 1,7K | General): Sometimes, you need to be able to call someone out without it being everything. Sometimes, you just need to make a hole and say here: spill it out here. We can grow it or bury it as needed, but you gotta get it out.

lost in your current like a priceless wine by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Established Buddie | 2K | Teen): Eddie jumps into conclusions, him and Karen get drunk and Buck is tired but also amused. It all works in the end.

may these memories break our fall by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Canon Divergent, Married Buddie, Amnesia | 6K | Teen): or: eddie is a soldier coming home for christmas, he wants to surprise his husband and son for the holiday but things don't go as planned.

then through the phone ( came all your tears ) by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Post-Season 5, Dispatcher Eddie | 3K | Teen): After leaving the 118, Eddie becomes a 911 dispatcher.

put on a slow dumb show for you by fleetinghearts/ @shitouttabuck (Getting Together | 2K | Teen): or, they’re sleepy and a little drunk and buck’s one step behind

it can't be unlearned (i've known the warmth of you) by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Werewolf Buck | 4K | Teen): He thinks maybe he fell asleep and he's having a weird dream or something. There's a big— a huge— wolf curling on itself and sleeping soundly where his coffee table should be.

spinning faster than the plane that took you by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Canon Divergent, Post-Coma | 9K | Teen): or: Buck flees to the other side of the world, they're both miserable and also pining idiots in love. Somehow it all works out in the end.

baby, let the games begin by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Post-Season 5, Getting Together | 3K | Teen): There's a baseball game, Eddie pines and Hen is so done with these two idiots.

🔥 Don't They Know It's the End of the World? by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Fallout 4 AU, Post-Apocalyptic | 32K | Mature | Warning: Violence): After being put in a cryogenic sleep for over a hundred years to wait out an apocalyptic event, Eddie Diaz wakes up, too early, to find his son has been stolen from his cryo-chamber. Scared and alone in a frightening world he doesn't recognize, Eddie is willing to do anything to get his kid back.

WIP

and here, too, am i by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Future fic, Married Buddie | 1/3 | 11K | Teen): Six months into their marriage, Eddie is still struggling to decide whether or not he wants more kids, when he knows Buck does. The universe may not scream, but it certainly talks.

🔥 Things We're All Too Young to Know by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon, S1 through S6 | 96/? | 245K | Mature): This is a love story. Even if it doesn’t always look like it. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it. A look back on Eddie and Buck's lives up to now, and what led them to each other, interpreted from the current 9-1-1 canon.

Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know by JJK/ @trenchcoatsandtimetravel (Demon Buck, Canon Divergent | 5/? | 9K | Teen): Buck is a demon with the power to help with pregnancy, childbirth, and infant health. When the Buckleys make a deal asking for someone to help 'save their baby', Buck leaps at the chance as it will give him what he's always wanted: a life on earth. But demon deals are tricky and neither of them gets quite what they're after. This is Buck's journey as he navigates growing up on earth and remembering how to help those in need.

Re-Read

I Opened My Eyes and There You Were by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Post-Season 3, Getting Together | 4K | Explicit): In which Buck provides the dots and Eddie finally connects them.

Drowning in Dreams (You're My Raft) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels Post-Tsunami, Getting Together | 5K | Explicit): In which Buck sleeps his way into a relationship with Eddie, but not in the way you'd think.

Like a Sack of Bricks by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Getting Together | 2K | Teen): One word from Christopher, and Eddie's realizing he's made a serious miscalculation about his best friend.

Love Like Taffy by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (PWP, Dom/Sub | 4K | Explicit): Buck likes it when Eddie puts him in his place. And Eddie's noticed.

🔥 let's hear it for the boy by hattalove/ @hattalove (Post-Season 5, Coming Out | 56K | Teen): in which eddie attends a self-empowerment group for gbtq men to supplement his therapy, and is empowered to: forgive himself, say "i'm gay" to his own reflection in the mirror, accidentally adopt an adult, make fried rice, and tell his straight best friend that he's in love with him. not necessarily in that order.

rainbows have nothing to hide by hattalove/ @hattalove (Getting Together | 3K | Teen): how is eddie diaz like kermit the frog? let buck and christopher count the ways. (Part 1 of the kermit verse)

this savoir faire by hattalove/ @hattalove (Established Buddie | 5K | Teen): or, the one in which embracing the meme life turns out to be more complicated than eddie expected. (Part 2 of the kermit verse)

[sagan-starstuff]

Secret Santa Gift Exchange Questionnaire

Starting broad, tell your Santa about your relationship to The X-Files. This could be how you got into The X-Files in the first place, what the show means to you, or just general information you think might be relevant for your Santa to know.

My mother was an X-Phile long before I was, she watched from the Pilot on. She was in chat rooms, on alt.tv.xfiles, in fic groups. I was afraid of the theme song at first, so much so that I made her mute it if I was still awake. I started watching in 1997, when I was 11 years old. I don't really remember my first episode - some time during the cancer arc. By the time the summer of 1997 was over, thanks to my mom's recorded episodes on VHS and re-runs on FX, I was fully caught up and 100% a shipper when Redux I premiered, and I've been obsessed ever since. I lived and breathed X-files, accumulated stacks of spiral notebooks full of bad tween fic and drawings, scrawled quotes and logos on the covers of my school binders. I was in chatrooms and on Haven, reading fic on Gossamer waaaaay too young, but everyone there still made me feel like I belonged. I was a weird, lonely tween/teen who had an incredibly hard time relating to my peers thanks to being skipped ahead a grade, but I could pretend Mulder and Scully were my friends. They were the smartest people in the room, they were outcasts, too. If they could be smart and strong, I could, too. The fandom gave me a community when middle school couldn't. I met my best friend in 1999 when she wore an X-Files shirt the first week of high school. I decided to become a doctor because Scully showed me that I could. I watched the way that Mulder and Scully loved each other with their minds and souls, and decided that I would never accept any less for myself.

I feel like I'm rambling, but I cannot understate the influence that The X-Files has had on my life. It was always a comfort for me, even when I was in college and the chatrooms and boards started to go dark. I lost connection with the fandom by the time IWTB came out, but I never loved the show any less. When my husband and I first started dating, I'd invite him over to watch X-Files with me...and we did, for a while, before we got up to other activities. He says I seduced him with The X-Files. It worked!

I reconnected with the fandom in 2023, and I wish so much that I'd known you all were out there this long. Finding other X-Philes, now in their 30's, 40's and beyond, has been such a treasure. As has been finding out that people in their teens and 20's love the show, too! I love seeing younger fans, people who may not even have been ALIVE for a lot of the original run. This is how we survive, how the show lives on.

I wear Mulder and Scully on my skin now. They'll be with me until I die.

2. Tell your Santa about your favorites! Favorite characters, favorite moments, favorite episodes, favorite seasons, favorite ships, etc.

This is so hard! My favorite will always be Scully but I love Mulder endlessly, even when he's an idiot. My favorite side character is Byers, though it's hard separating him from the rest of the Gunmen. My favorite moments...god, so many. But a moment I come back to again and again is Scully facing down the senate committee in Tunguska to protect Mulder. She displays strength, grace, and integrity that I can only aspire too. Every MSR moment is my favorite. My favorite seasons are 4-6, I cannot choose between them.

3. Tell your Santa about your LEAST favorites! We all love our show, but it also sucks sometimes. Which parts suck the most for you?

I hate season 9 - its like the writers forgot who these characters were. Mulder would never leave his new family after a lifetime of trauma from the loss of his old one. Scully would never give William up. Parts of season 8 are ok, though the way Mulder is written after his return is absolute character assassination, and I HAAAAAATE the secret brain disease. I don't even acknowledge it. I don't like IWTB much. I HAAAAAATE the My Struggles. I have...come to terms with the breakup, though I'll never like it. The Revival gave us a few great episodes and amazing moments. The parts of the show I rewatch most are season 1-7. Oh, and I hate Diana, but don't we all?

4. Tell your Santa your favorite tropes and genres! Only one bed? Friends to lovers? 5+1? Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort? You get the idea.

Ohhh I love first kiss/first time, I love love confessions, I love hurt/comfort. I like angst but only if it has a happy or hopeful ending. I looove Only One Bed, or huddling for warmth. I love fluff. I'm not a big AU fan unless it's a fix-it fic (like Mulder not leaving Scully and William, or Scully not giving Will up). I also love slice of life fic, seeing all their lost moments in rental cars and airports just...existing together.

5. Tell your Santa about tropes you tend to avoid.

Major Character Death, SA/Non-Con. I just want Mulder and Scully to be safe and loved.

6. For your Santa, but also just for fun, describe your ideal X-Files episode. Is it mythology? MotW? A literal porno? 

MOTW with an aspect that emotionally affects Mulder or Scully, with some nice MSR and evolution of feelings. I'm also down with a literal porno.

7. Speaking of pornography, tell your Santa what your spice preference is, using the following scale:

Salt only⁠ ⁠— No spice at all please! I.e. General audience rating.

Black pepper ⁠— A hint of spice. I.e. Teen rating.

Chili pepper ⁠— There’s a bit of a kick! I.e. Mature rating.

Habanero ⁠— Definitely spicy, but most spice lovers can handle it. I.e. Explicit rating.

✨Ghost pepper✨ ⁠— Only for the spiciest of spice lovers. I.e. VERY explicit/kink/POANG rating.

I will read anything Salt-Habanero, for Ghost Pepper it depends on the kink. Not into choking, non-consensual anything, nothing involving urine/feces, not a big anal fan, no physical or mental degradation of any kind. No feet.

8. Those are the most important things, but I want there to be ten questions because it’ll look better, so tell your Santa what ONE song you would pick to describe MSR. (Or if you’re not into MSR, pick a song for your favorite ship, or for TXF as a whole.)

The canonical MSR song is Walking After You by the Foo Fighters. Lovers in a Dangerous Time by the Barenaked ladies is also them in a nutshell.

9. Almost there. Pick your favorite TXF quote. 

"Please explain the scientific nature of The Whammy."

10. Aaaaand, ten. And the last question can be open ended: Is there anything else you think is important for your Santa to know? Put it here!

Thank you for being a part of the best fandom on the planet! Please feel free to reach out to me with questions or even just to chat!

[therulerofallpotatos]

So I found this in my drafts and welp...oops.

This was going to be what I posted last October when I wrote that day's whumptober fic. You know, before I wrote myself into being physically sick and then had a year long writer's block w v few moments of reprieve where I could write anything (and nothing I was supposed to be working on). (it did not help that I was spending most of my time doing oil changes at work and all of my energy). I plan on finishing the last week of that series this year. I currently have 153 fanfictions posted on AO3. I'm pretty sure They All Live, an Until Dawn fanfiction taking place one year after the events of the original game, was my 150th fanfiction. I Bit Him so He's Mine is officially my 50th Wednesday fanfiction. anyways lets all laugh at fate fucking with my plans under the cut.

I've officially posted 150 fics for AO3

Posted. Not written. I've written more than that, but they're in my files unfinished. And I've written original stuff too, but those aren't for fandom blogs and accounts. 74 of those fics were for teen wolf and 49 of those were for steter while in thestetervault discord server. It's actually really crazy that I spent years in the steter fandom writing and got to 74 and I'm hitting 50 before the year anniversary of Wednesday (2022). That said...

[link to day 24 here]

This is officially my 50th Wednesday fic and 150th fic total on my ao3

It's part 12 of Tyler's Bad Year, my big whumptober 2023 series (@ailesswhumptober) and part 16 of my whumptober 2023 series overall. This really snuck up on me, and I would've planned something special if I'd realized sooner, but this is also a part in the series I've been looking forward to the entire time so it's still exciting. To anyone who has read all the way through, I love you so much. This has been a helluva ride, and I might have actually written myself into a literal fever a week ago (that I'm still lowkey sick from but I'm fine), but no regrets. We're in the last fortnight of the series, and it's getting close to the end of Tyler's Bad Year!

Since I didn't really get to plan something special posted on number 50 for Wednesday, I'm thinking I might make post 200 my Her Monster sequel. I haven't started it yet, but I've got plenty of time to get writing. It was technically my second Wednesday fic, but it was the beginning of an era and it established a lot of what I'm known for in this fandom and the way I most enjoy writing within this fandom. And writing in general.

I have a lot of ideas in my files and works in progress (the two biggest being the novel-length projects All Roads Lead to Rome and I Bit Him so He's Mine) so I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Some will be scheduled with special events. One in particular is a But I'm a Cheerleader! bi4bi wyler au that was originally planned for this year's international bisexuality day, but that was before I started whumptober and the kink bingo and wyler week. There wasn't time to put in the work that au deserved.

It has been suggested that I do something here for this occasion. @suchaladyy thought of a poll bracket or maybe a masterlist of fics that meant something to me. I suppose let me know your thoughts on what you think I should do.

[howtodrawyourdragon]

A Helping Hand

Summary: Written for July Break Flash Bingo 2024. Set in a Modern AU. Hiccup struggles as the pain in his leg is especially bad today. Good thing there's a helping hand nearby.

Warnings: /

Rating: Teen and Up

Prompt: Location: Parking Lot

Words: 910

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Characters: Hiccup, Astrid, Eret

Pairing: Hiccstrid, Eretcup

Author's Notes: The first JBB prompt I wrote for in general, no idea why it took me this long to post it.

Anyway, I've been posting some heavy whump as of late, so why not post a much lighter fic for today? :)

Enjoy!

The card and fic are under the Keep Reading.

-XOXOX-

Today is a bad day to go grocery shopping and Hiccup knew that before they left, but he assured Astrid that he would be fine.

He’s certainly regretting it now.

He’s trying not to lean too much on the cart as he limps around, following his fiancée. Astrid is pretty much running around, trying to get as many of the items on their list to cut this shopping trip short. The pain in his stump was less pleasant than usual earlier today, but after driving here and walking around Berk’s one and only supermarket for the past ten minutes, it has become so much more unbearable.

And Astrid is annoyed. Not with his pain, never with his pain, but with the fact that she trusts him to tell her when he can’t do certain things because of his leg and he didn’t do that today.

It’s so bad, the pain in his leg is giving him a migraine. And what doesn’t help are all the people trying not to stare at him.

He had a couple of plans, a few things to do, but it turns out he’ll be canceling all of it. He’ll be glad when they finally get home and he can crawl back into bed.

Eventually, Astrid manages to find the very last item on their list and then they head over to the register with a very full cart to pay for it all. Once all of their items have been scanned, Astrid tells him to go ahead and head for the car while she pays. He shouldn’t even bother to load any of the stuff up, she’ll take care of it.

Not feeling up to argue with her on that, he does as she suggests and heads out ahead of her. He limps out of the store and finds their car in the handicap spot. It is mercifully close.

Still, his limp draws enough attention. Particularly from a man who only moved here a couple of months ago.

“You need any help?” Eret asks. He was just about to walk into the supermarket himself when he spotted Hiccup struggling with the cart. The uneven terrain doesn’t exactly make it easy to use, not with an obviously painful leg.

Hiccup considers how stubborn he’s feeling in the moment before relinquishing the cart to him and nodding. Eret comes over and takes it from him. Crossing those last few meters together, Hiccup opens up the trunk of the car.

He and Astrid don’t use it often, just on days like these, when the alternative is walking across the city with a very achy stump.

“I got this, you go sit down,” Eret tells Hiccup when he attempts to help. The younger man shoots him a grateful smile and heads on over to the passenger seat in front. He’s not driving when his leg is like this, he’s not driving with a migraine, so he’s certainly not driving with both.

He drops into his seat, lies his head back and closes his eyes. They’re heavy, if he wasn’t in so much pain, he would be falling asleep right here as he waited for Astrid.

After barely any time at all, Eret has loaded up all their stuff and returned the cart. Hiccup knows he’s done when he appears at his still open door and gets his coin from the cart back.

“Sir,” he gives him a friendly, though playful smile. Hiccup returns it briefly, which takes more energy than he can spent.

“Thank you for helping out, Eret. I really appreciate it,” he thanks him, but all Eret does is flash him a smile and tell him to take care of himself before heading into the store himself.

In the side-view mirror, Hiccup watches him go.

Eret moved to Berk a good few months ago in the hopes of starting a new life. He hasn’t shared much about his old one, just that he’d made some bad decisions in the past, go involved in a job he hated and then came here when he quit it on a whim.

Currently, he’s working down at the docks as a fisherman.

Hiccup and Astrid are friends with him. Hiccup certainly since he’d gotten his number after that night of bowling with their entire friend group. And although Ruffnut tried very hard to get it all evening, Eret gave it to him just like that after a single conversation.

A moment later, Astrid plops down next to him in the driver’s side.

“I saw you had some help,” she mentions to him.

“Hm-hm.”

A moment of silence.

“Eret is such a hot piece of ass!” She states quietly, as if he’ll be able to hear them inside the car. Hiccup smiles before immediately regretting it and moaning miserably. His entire face is starting to hurt from the migraine.

“Don’t you think so?” Astrid asks as she starts the engine. She knows Hiccup has his number and Eret has his, she’s onboard with the idea of them.

“He’s nice to look at,” Hiccup admits. “But most importantly, he is nice.”

“I wouldn’t mind if he was nice to me, too,” Astrid admits to her fiancé and they share a smile before she drives out of their parking spot and leaves for home.

Inside the store, Eret can’t help but look back as well and watch as the two drive off. His day definitely made afte r an unexpected encounter with them.

-XOXOX-

[lostcol]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

tagged by @eusuntgratie 😘

How many works do you have on ao3? 24

What's your total ao3 word count? 195,342

What fandoms do you write for? primarily men's hockey rpf and queer as folk, but I've also written for teen wolf, 911, and cmbyn.

Top five fics by kudos: Catalepsis (britin, qaf) Sick Day (buddie, 911) Open Your Fucking Eyes, Justin (britin, qaf) A Knight in Shining... Clubwear? (britin, qaf) The Great Poxing of 2013 (sterek, teen wolf) okay this is making me sad for my hockey fic 🥲

Do you respond to comments? always! but I don't get many, comparatively, and i produce like two one-shots a year, so it's not hard 😂

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? probably Confrontation (britin, qaf). It's a short, dialogue-only fic of an argument, and there's no resolution.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? oof I don't know, I tend to write happy endings, so there's a lot of choose from. I have a couple tknp fics that are about them getting together, which always makes for a happy ending, but I'll go with Wildflour (tknp, men's hockey rpf) because it ends mid-hookup, and that's always fun.

Do you get hate on fics? not yet 🙏

Do you write smut? yes! it's not my strong suit and it always takes me forfuckingever to write, but it's in there.

Craziest crossover: I haven't done any. Although a friend and I have (briefly) discussed the possibility of a tknp/firefly crossover, which I think would be amazing if I could wrap my head around the scope of it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? not that i know of.

Have you ever had a fic translated? nope, but that would be so cool.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? nope. writing is a very *very* casual hobby for me, and I know that it would stress me out to feel like I constantly had to keep with a deadline and/or that i was letting my co-author down.

All time favorite ship? christ, sophie's choice much? Even though it's not the fandom I'm currently writing and reading the most right now, I've got to say britin from qaf. They're so formative for me, and I always come back to them. They're like, the foundational sunshine/grump ship in my world. With tknp a close close second. Currently I'm mostly reading firstprince.

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? i'm not really a wip person, I only have the brainpower to have one fic in my head at a time, so i tend to write, finish, post before i start something else (no matter how long it takes goddammit). but I do have some slightly more fleshed out qaf ideas that I may or may not come back to... but since most of them are pretty similar (something bad happens to justin, brian helps him out), I definitely won't write them all. I also have some ideas for fandoms i'll probably never write for again, but then again, never say never.

What are your writing strengths? dialogue. I like writing it probably more than any other part of my fics, and I feel like I'm good at it. Humor, which surprised me when I started writing because I started in the qaf fandom and almost all of my fics there skewed angsty, but I love adding humor in when the situation calls for it and I feel like I can be funny? I hope? 😂

What are your writing weaknesses? oh smut for sure. it takes me FOREVER to write it because I just... I don't know, get bored? I think I just find writing action sequences difficult generally, and what is smut if not action. Also world-building, which is why I tend to stick to very canon or canon-adjacent writing.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? sure, if it fits the character and situation. I haven't had reason to do it, but I could throw some basic Spanish in or like, single words in other languages, but I'd hate not getting it right so that would hold me back. I do find it annoying as a reader when there's a lot of foreign language dialogue in an english language fic and there's no translation.

First fandom you wrote in? first ever was technically buffy back when I was 14, but that was me writing it with the intent to change the names and pass it off as original fiction for my freshman english class. And I got an A! The first straight-up fic I wrote was for one tree hill. First fandom i was *involved* in and wrote for was qaf.

Favorite fic you've written? oh god why. I can narrow it down to two IF I MUST. First, Catalepsis (britin, qaf), it's my only true multi-chapter fic and at 82k it's my longest fic by like 70k. It took me literal years to finish, I'm super proud of it, and even though it's long I've had multiple comments about people rereading, which is always amazing. And The Great Poxing of 2013 (sterek, teen wolf). I just love it, it's funny and sweet and flirty and the only teen wolf fic I've written. It wasn't planned, I had a flash of inspiration and banged it out in two nights in front of the tv.

tagging @bigassbowlingballhead @madsworld15 @winderlylandchime and anybody else who wants to do it! (sorry if you guys already did it and I missed it, this week's been crazy) 💚

[jayofolympus-writes]

For the writing ask: 4. Please babble about your OCs. :)

Oh boy do I have OCs! I've got more OCs than you can shake a stick at.

Starting with ones who are in fics I've already published, we have The Witcher OCs Ola, Jakub, and Kacper, all from Taken In Exchange, and Star Wars OC Bastion, from the series that I very imaginatively named... Bastion.

For The Witcher, I also have Bartek, who does not yet have a fic because he does not have a plot, he just has Vibes. Some day, though...

I'll put all this under a read more because it's going to get long

The Witcher

Ola is a cobbler who, as a child, was saved by the witcher Jakub. She grows up to be a somewhat abrasive person who comes across as unfeeling and cold hearted, and doesn't make friends easily, though she loves her son and her chosen family. She's aromantic, but after meeting and growing close to Kacper, they become platonic partners, and he helps to parent her son Kuba.

Jakub is a Bear witcher, who is gruff, quiet, and fond of animals. He's got a horse named Nightmare who is a total sweetheart to him, Ola, and Kuba, and a hell beast to everyone else. In TIE, Jakub dies saving Ola, though I have considered writing an AU in which he lives and gets to meet little Kuba.

Kacper is a Griffin witcher, and is generally very awkward. He's friendly, but is bad at conversation and has a habit of sticking his foot in his mouth because he either speaks without thinking or asks too many questions. He admires Ola for her level headedness, and loves Kuba like a son.

Bartek is a Cat witcher, and was raised by the Dyn Marv caravan from a very young age. He was found in the forest as a toddler, and was too young to know his own name, so he eventually chose his own from the suggestions made by the older Cats. Before he chose his name, the rest of the Cats had many affectionate nicknames for him, including Kitten, Wee One, Sneaky, and Little Shit. His luck is notoriously bad, though always just good enough to keep him alive.

Star Wars

Bastion is my self indulgent "super hot and cool and competent" OC. He's Darth Maul’s nephew (Savage Oppress' son), and is raised on Tatooine by Maul and Obi-Wan. They train him to use the Force so that he can help Luke defeat the Emperor, and he joins the Rebel Alliance in his late teens. As a kid he is very serious about his training, but very much enjoys just hanging out with his uncles too. As an adult (not written yet), he can come across as a bit of a buzzkill thanks to his strong sense of duty, but when he lets loose, chaos reigns supreme.

[danikatze]

Shipper Tag Game

Tagged by @tj-dragonblade! I'm not sure if (m)any of these answers will be interesting at all, because apparently I have a bad memory for ships apart from the ones I made fanart of myself, and I haven't read a lot of fanfic for a long long time.. But I've attempted answering these questions anyway!

What ship were you completely obsessed with as a teenager, but now you don’t care about anymore?

I didn't ship much as a teen. I liked the Marauders gang from HP a lot as a kid, tho, likely even in a shippy way. Obviously HP has left a really bad taste my mouth.

Which ship would you consider your first one?

It was probably a HP one, I was properly obsessed with Sirius, James and Remus for a long time, but like I said, I have a hard time telling when I started consciously shipping characters.

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

Hinata and Naruto and it was baaad. I guess it was maaaybe kind of cute, but it was not good.

Do you remember the first couple you saw fan art of?

Not at all. The most likely options are anyone from HP, Death Note, or InuYasha, but it hasn't stuck with me.

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

Nah, the closest I've gotten was the time I got put on a blacklist (or two?) for a shipping Yamato and Sai. I didn't care and so didn't address it, until someone sent me a (kind) message about it. I then explained my feelings about the problematic aspect and the (few) responses I got were 100% positive.

Did you used to have a NOTP or have one currently?

There are plenty of ships I don't particularly like, but I wouldn't call them NOTP's. Except maybe the very very popular ones. I only take real issue with ships that become canon, like a fair few Naruto pairs..

Who were the last couple in the last fanfic you read?

Reading has been hard the last couple of years, so I haven't done much of it.. But it has to have been a Dreamling fic - I'm so excited you've been writing again, TJ 💖

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

MatsuMasa, although they're not my otp in the literal sense. I like them both with Yaichi, and Matsu (non-romantically) with Ume - and the fun thing is that it works all at the same time 😎

Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting into?

Hmm well I'm kinda mad at not being as into Dreamling as you are, TJ. I like Sandman and Dreamling! Very much looking forward to the second season and I enjoy the things you blog about, but it's never been more than a general appreciation. And that's fine, ofc, but it's always been such a joy to be excited by the same things as you haha

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they’re kind of interesting?

Maybe KakaGai? Only I didn't dislike it, just didn't consider it. And I don't think it's kind of interesting, I deeply love it.

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would have been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

I already mentioned YamaSai, but there's also ShisuItachi. Some people say that the latter is incest. It's been too long and I don't remember their specific relationship, but afaik they're not (direct) family, just from the same clan. Can't get too bothered about family trees in fiction.

Kikyo and Kagome from InuYasha is by some considered gross as well, comparable to incest, because Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation?

Idk, is FjorClay problematic, because Caduceus is canonically aroace? I feel like it's not a super popular ship anyways, but I still like them a lot. In a queer platonic way.

What is your favourite crack ship?

I don't think I have one. Although I wonder if JonGerry from the Magnus Archives could be considered crack ship? They aren't from different fandoms, but they only met once after Gerry had already died. And then at Gerry's request, Jon sort of killed him again. It doesn't really count as a crack ship, but this is my answer anyway

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

Hm, I don't know! The last time I really obsessively read them was in my Naruto era.. So who knows - KakaGai is a very plausible answer.

What do most of your ships have in common?

I guess I most commonly like pairings with a Gentle Giant™ (preferably kind of dumb) and someone grumpy and/or cynical and smart and/or skilful. MatsuMasa, BeauYasha and ShikaChou come to mind.

What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

Hard to explain. Wrong vibes lol. Look I can appreciate love-hate or even hate-hate relationships as much as the next shipper, but there needs to be at least some level of respect/consent/two-way-street? I still dislike SasuSaku, because they very much have none of that from what I remember. They've always been close to a NOTP and then they became canon so..

[tedwinisconfused]

20 Author Questions

Tagged by @blackbird-brewster, thank you, this was so fun!!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

Only five so far!

2. What's your total AO3 wordcount!

83,545 apparently, which is much more than I expected.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently and on AO3, only Criminal Minds, but in my time on ff dot net I also wrote for House MD, Grey's Anatomy, Once Upon A Time, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Annie (in hindsight, what a random assortment??)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Twin Flames (377 kudos)

Sin to Win (234 kudos)

midnight (184 kudos)

lean for me (170 kudos)

All This and Heaven Too (73)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

I always respond to comments! Usually whenever I update with a new chapter. Comments make me so so happy (seriously I cannot even begin to describe it) so I really want to show my appreciation to readers, even though I'm usually quite bad at thinking of ways to reply.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hm most of my fics are unfinished, but if all goes to plan, midnight or All This and Heaven Too will probably have the most bittersweet endings.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Twin Flames! Maybe lean for me too if I ever finish that.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not on AO3 so far. I used to get some hate on ff dot net, but I think commenting culture in general is a bit harsher over there so.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Only unpublished for myself so far haha. But (perhaps controversial) if I ever post any it's going to be f/f omegaverse because it's underrated and there's a tragic lack of it everywhere.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've ever written?

Definitely! I'm obsessed with fusion crossovers and there's lots of half-finished ones in my docs and notes app. My only published one so far (and I suppose the craziest) is my Criminal Minds x Twilight crossover midnight though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! I hope not

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I've had someone ask to translate Sin to Win into Chinese, which was really cool!

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

I co-wrote like three chapters of a OUAT fic with my ex-best friend years ago, but I think we got bored and abandoned it, so no clue if it's out there somewhere still.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Easily JJ/Emily, literally do not get me started on how tragic they are, idk what it is but I've never been so obsessed with a ship before.

15. What's a fic you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Sorry to anyone who likes it because it was my most popular fic until very recently, but probably Sin to Win. I really hate what I did with the plot from Chapter 2 onwards and I'm confused about what past-me thought a cognitive interview was, because that's almost definitely not how they work. The plot's just a mess that I'm not sure how to unravel lol. I am still totally in love with the premise though, so maybe in the future I'll start over and delete the last few chapters.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I would definitely say writing descriptions (easily one of my favourite parts of writing in general), I love getting to capture a vibe.

Also conciseness (thanks to every English teacher I've ever had, and all the hundred word short stories I was forced to enter as a teen lol) although it can definitely be a double-edged sword when trying to reach higher wordcounts.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

OMG definitely dialogue. Idk if people reading my fics can tell but I avoid it as much as possible, and that's because between my autism and social anxiety, I just genuinely do not know/understand what people are supposed to say in a conversation + how (although I definitely think I've at least improved in structuring dialogue realistically), especially in character.

Also, just like, plots, lol.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Personally, I tend to prefer for the writer to just be like, "she said in French." I'm bilingual, English is my second language, and I feel like often when people write poly-lingual characters in particular they're kind of clumsy about the character using another language. I've definitely seen people do it very well though!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh boy, I'm actually not sure if I remember, I must have been like twelve or thirteen at the time. I'm going to tentatively guess Grey's Anatomy.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

It's between Twin Flames (my baby, the first fic I've ever finished) and All This and Heaven Too (I loved writing young JJ and Emily so much).

No pressure tags: @kingofhellsdaydream @introverted-author @ellegreenawayslover + anyone else who fancies it

[breeze-of-sunlight]

(This is not a brick, it's a wall, oopsie 🫣)

Hey there Ju ! 💛

🎅 Anon again ! Thanks for you answer, coincidentally, you have the same nickname as my little sister XD No problem about having no introduction, I don't have one either, just a few words at the very top about me so no worries !

Don't worry, we'll get used to it and we won't reveal our identity before it's time I'm sure !

1000 words is okay enough I think, depending on wordbuilding I might actually make more. I do have focus issues because of ADHD, but considering I have just finished my master's thesis and it's a 100 pages long, I think it'll be okay 😂 I am always extremely impressed with people who write long fics : I recently finished Exodus and Phoenix (both by author unniebee on AO3, respectively 115k and 230k) and it baffles me how passionate one must be to write something so long and good, and make it completely free. But it's also the beauty of fanfiction ! As comparison, the master's thesis that took me 1.5 years to write is only 33k like what the hell 😭 No matter what format or length it ends up being, I'll do my utmost best with it I promise !

Oh yeah KDrama is not for everyone, and to be honest it takes a long time getting used to the ambiance and the tropes there are, but when you finally get it, you become obsessed. They usually take about 2 to 3 episodes to become interesting, but I like that most of them are only 16 episodes and no additional seasons ! No 15 seasons series in South Korea, no no no everything is about efficiency 😂 I also really appreciate that it allows actors to take on a lot of different types of roles (Kyungsoo really got that part !).

I think in your case it would be best to start with either short series or movies ! Not all dramas below fullfil that criteria, but allow me to make a few suggestions ? I think those can be pretty much be considered objectively good, I really enjoyed them !

Thriller : Flower of Evil (with romance !) and The Frog (with Chanyeol as secondary character).

War : 71 Into the Fire, or Swing Kids (both movies, second one with Kyungsoo who's easily the best actor in EXO) !

Family : Under the Queen's Umbrella (this one is historical, hit me in the guts, didn't expect to like it so much !) and The Good Bad Mother (this one too !).

Law : Extraordinary Attorney Woo (this one is very special to me, as I have the same disability as the main character) and Bad Prosecutor (with Kyungsoo as main, here he incarnates a kind of Jack Sparrow-ish character and he's hilarious !)

Romance : Unforgettable (also a movie with Kyungsoo as main, he's just the one that acts the most !), Youth of May and The Atypical Family.

Bonus : Missing Crown Prince because it's not just one category (romance/historical/political) but Suho is the main and though he's not a natural actor, I thought he improved tremendously in this one compared to the others he did.

Most of those are a bit angsty so careful if you can't really take it ! I personally am pretty much decensitized by now but I know it's not the case for everybody XD But they're just the ones I've enjoyed the most ! I also really loved The Moon and No More Bets to be very honest. The Moon reminded me a lot of The Martian with Matt Damon that was one of my favourite movies when I was a teen, but like a dramatic version of it XD

Answer to your question : I'm super down for any mythology/magic/fantasy, it's actually one of my all time favourites ! I love mythology in general, especially Greek mythology and fantastic creatures (vampires, werewolves, ghosts, warlocks and witches, but also merpeople and faes and others !). I think I mentioned it in my form though, if you also mentioned it, it might have been why we were paired together :D

My turn : what genre(s) are you comfortable with and which ones are you not comfortable with ? If it's romance, I usually always include an OC or a Reader character as people call it now (I'm only 25 but I've been reading fanfic for close to 15 years and "reader" did not exist when I started LMAO, people actually invented original characters can you believe it ?! 😂). I don't usually write memberXmember even though I do read it, but I can surely make an exception if that's what you like, there will be no problems :D

The main thing I'm searching for here is the themes that you might consider a warning, as I do not want to dive into something that you might find triggering (I'm not sensitive at all so I don't find anything triggering, and this lack of sensibility is exactly why I'm asking XD).

I'm not sure if you're aware, but Luhan got married a couple years ago ! I'm so so glad you have Chen as a bias, not a lot of people have him as bias and even fewer people accept to write for him, especially romances. I personally do not consider that producing a work of fiction depicting a fictional version of a real person to be a lack of respect, so I won't hesitate to write something for him. You can request pretty much anything, including smut if you are old enough (18+).

I am pretty much OT9 by now, I have some people I identify with most but all in all I love everybody pretty much equally. I still have to check out most of Xiumin's work though. The members I have the tendency to check out the most these days are Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, followed by Chen and Baekhyun, and then all the rest but it always changes LMAO ! Not so long ago I was most into Kai and Suho and Sehun and Yixing 🤣

Take your time to answer, I've written a dissertation,

Sincerely,

🎅 Anon !

Hi there Santa! :]

I'm hiding the rest of my answer under the cut - I hope you don't mind, haha ^^

First of all: I'm sorry for taking a while to respond. There's just a lot happening right now (stressful situation at work, my club organizing a bout day, you name it) and I wanted to make sure I have enough time to go over your answer without any pressing matters breathing down my neck-

What a funny coincidence that your sister and I share a nickname! :D But yeah, I just never bothered to set an introduction up (and update it accordingly) except for the one on the kpop-specific blog I share with my friends ^^' And even that one is outdated af-

If it really doesn't bother you, that would be great actually! 🖤 And don't worry about length or format - you having fun while writing is the most important thing :)

Damn, congrats on finishing your master's thesis! That's so impressive and must've cost you a lot of nerves. What's your field? I stopped after my bachelor and just called it a day - couldn't even tell you how long that doc was anymore ^^' I hope you've used LaTeX for formatting your thesis? Working on the it with Word would've driven me nuts.

I'm also wondering how people can just push out novel-length fanfics in their free time?? 😭😭 I always jump from one wip to the next and finish next to nothing. Even though comparing them to your thesis might be a bit too hard on yourself: fanfic authors don't have to find a source for every second sentence ^^'

The sad thing about fanfiction is, that they barely seem to be getting interactions anymore. That must be so disheartening after the authors put so many hours into those fics... :C

Yeah, I just sometimes feel like I don't get the themes in Kdramas. I tried watching Korean Odyssey because I liked the premise, but the execution just did not vibe with me at all. That's okay, tho. Different media for different people!

It's also nice that dramas are just allowed to rest after they've told their story! I feel like a lot of western media gets milked dry until everyone forgot it's initial values and it doesn't make enough money anymore. Which kinda ruins a lot of good franchises.

Thank you for taking so much time to recommend me stuff! I've written all of your suggestions (including the fanfics from earlier in the message) down and will check them out as soon as I have the mental capacity for it! ^^ Starting with short series is definitely a good call.

Without researching any of them further yet, Under the Queen's Umbrella is kinda luring me in, haha! And the law-themed ones also sound very interesting. I don't have anything against angsty media either :) Although I do prefer happy endings ^^'

Oooh, is The Moon scifi? I'm in a little space-mood since last week. My friend and I just went to a replay (idk if this the right term for it in English, sorry!) of Interstellar at our favorite cinema yesterday :) I've never seen it before, but WOW is it a stunning movie. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd absolutely recommend it. Although, you probably have already seen it if you liked The Martian so much as a teen :]

Heck yeah, set all sails to fantasy island, then!! I also love anything fantastical, magical. I think that's the general direction I would like to steer the gift towards :3 Though, I haven't mentioned fantasy on my application iirc. It was a very christmas-y prompt.

Mhm, I don't think I would like to go into a romantic direction. I was thinking of diving more into a urban fantasy setting? With a good amount of bromance for sure, but nothing beyond that. I'm not entirely sure about the plot or anything, I just like the premise of these fantastical creatures having to deal with our modern world, hehe.

I'm very in love with EXO's power and werewolf themes, tho. And I'm always a big fan of witches and fairies. Maybe we can find a starting point there?

Yeah, I also remember the good old days of fleshing out your self-insert character for fanfiction that would never end up being written down, oof! Idk if it's just me, but ff in general feels a lot less personal than back then? (Or maybe I'm just becoming old, fuck)

Oh, in case of topics to stay away from: it'd be great if you could stay clear of describing veins (huägh) or doing harm to eyes. That's just a little disgusting to me ^^' Besides that I can't really think of anything besides the generally triggering stuff (self-harm, sexual-assault or anything of the like). I'd like this to be something that can be enjoyed by the other secret-santa-Eris, too. Just to be clear, I don't mind darker themes or battles as long as the story still focuses on the boys and the fantasy :)

Oh yeah, I saw Luhan got married! :) Good for him, honestly. They all deserve someone to be with 🖤 Yeah, I feel like generally Kai and Baekyhun get biased the most and on tumblr it's Chanyeol (especially Chanyeol) and Suho ^^' More Chen for me, hah! (Actually, I got both versions of the Obsession album. Can you believe how happy I was when I pulled a exo-chen and x-exo-suho :D Getting them both was lucky enough, but getting them both in my preferred styles for them that comeback? No clue how I managed to pull that off!)

I can understand why people won't write romances for idols who are openly in a relationship anymore, though. I mean, sure, we can never know if idols are dating - and most of them probably are - but it kinda feels different if the dude has two little kids, yk ^^' Still, I'm also getting your point and it's not like he'll ever find these fics. But as said I'm not looking for any romance anyway ^^' (I'm 22, btw, so don't worry abt me being a minor)

Chen as the main character would definitely be something I'd like reading! Like you said, he's not the most likely to get written about ^^'

Oh wow, sounds like you don't got a fixed bias at all! That's cool, I think that's pretty rare in kpop fandoms :)

I gotta admit that I'm very behind when it comes to checking out the guys' solo works. I just feel like my interests pull me in so many directions that I don't have enough hours in a day to keep pace with everything. That's hopefully something you can relate to, right? ^^' And I - very honestly - miss their group work. I just like how their voices work together. And while I think it's great that they get to release the music genres they want to do, I just never was all that excited about ballads. (Which seems to be both Chen's and Suho's go-to *sigh*) But as long as they're happy, I'm glad. They've worked hard to get to this point of releasing what they want to.

Oof, it's late-ish here, time for bed! I hope I've created more answers than questions for you, dear Santa. Hope to read you soon! (But take your time of course!)

xoxo,

Ju

[druidgroves]

ok here's just a random jumble of thoughts under the cut. im completely normal about this guy.

first of all: adhd king

the green scarf he wears as an adult is the same scarf tied around his head from when he was being the boy mayor. it's warm & familiar.

the lucy he married is absolutely lucy from little lamplight bc i see absolutely No Reason for bethany esda to have named his wife that, fully knowing what they had set up in fo3. a few pieces of their dialogue in 3 is affectionate & teasing plus the wiki literally says this:

it's the same lucy. it's gotta be. which unfortunately puts her into the fridged wives club fo4 has going on so 😬

but my personal head canon for mac is he left little lamplight first since he's canonically a few months to a year older than lucy. he fucks around like any stupid 16 year old does, gets by on his self-trained sniper skills that only get better the older he gets, but ends up doing a lot of shitty jobs for caps. enough that it makes him lie to lucy about what he's been up to since he left when they meet again in big town (he had promised to wait for her there, but it was kind of a bust so that's why he went & got himself into some shit before going back).

lucy does not for one second believe mac when he tells her he's a soldier. but she doesn't question him or call him out on it, because he starts trying to clean his act up a little once they get together, taking more honest work where he can. she kinda reminds him to hold himself accountable again & i can easily see the period between him leaving & him reuniting with lucy, doing shitty things & getting himself into trouble, as a very teenage reaction after having been in charge of kids your age & younger for six fuckin' years. say what u want, that shit is stressful no matter what way you spin it.

not 2 plug my fic but i go a little more in depth on this in my fic lmao link in pinned <3 /j

but fr chapter 7 has a better run through of my hc timeline for him post little lamplight up to lucy's death. sad times.

anyways

in my personal canon, he ends up running into my lone wanderer, flora, again after meeting her when he was a kid. she would visit sometimes & trade supplies for the fungus & act like she wasn't essentially checking in every once in a while so this kid colony didn't fucking collapse on itself.

they lost contact sometime before mac left LL. he & lucy ended up in megaton at one point & he tried to look flora up, but the locals had said she hadn't been in her house in years. he was about seventeen then probably?

but flora helps him out a little after lucy's death, enough to where once duncan gets sick, that's who mac leaves him with. flora followed in james' footsteps in becoming a doctor, so really no better person to leave him with.

his own parents, who he doesn't know & doesn't really care to find out, were also once little lamplighters. i head canon that a lot of the children that get left at the cave entrance are the product of lamp lighters of generations past going to big town, being with a bunch of other hormonal teenages, having poor sex ed, thus having a high rate of teen pregnancy. they figure "well i turned out alright in little lamplight, why not leave the baby there !" and. well. it's a cycle. (that maccready ends up repeating lmao)

im very passionate about the concept that mac can read. i have no idea why it was/is a semi-popular head canon that he couldn't. he reads comics & makes references to pyramus & thisbe in one of his lines in 4. he's literate !

he'll try anything at least once, which i feel like is pretty much canon if these lines are anything to go by:

(^ the npc he's talking to says something like "that's insane!" to which he says the second bit lmao)

king of bad puns & jokes. this is actually canon but it bears repeating.

if i've said it once i've said it a million times: slut for physical touch/words of affirmation. on this i will not budge.

wanted to grow a beard to look older, but it was patchy as hell so that's why he has what he has now lol

i have so many more things 2 say but. this is already getting p long so i will cut myself off here <3 if u made it this far ilu

ngl i don't think i've gone insane enough about maccready on here. like i have. so many thoughts & opinions & Feelings about that pixel man but i've kept it contained i feel. he's on the brain 24/7 & i spare u the details daily.

[thedamageofherdays]

This week's (16-08-2021 - 22-08-2021) reading log is here. This week's reading log is super duper long and filled with lots of good things (my apologies for the long post, I really could not find a good spot to do a read more). I discovered some new favourites and re-read some old favourites and while I had an intense week personally at least the fics I read were absolutely phenomenal. I do recommend checking out the warnings as some fics are a bit heavier/angstier and you might wanna be prepared. Most of these fics are Stucky but there are a couple of other ships in between.

If you are looking for more fun and/or good things make sure to check out the @marveldisabilitycelebration as well to see all the awesome art, fics, meta, etcetera people created! And while I am mentioning events I am a mod for let me also just quickly mention that sign-ups for the @stuckygiftexchange are still open until the end of the month <3

Favourites are marked with a 🌻 Fics that are only available to AO3 users are marked with a 🔒 and Tumblr fics are marked with a 🍀

🌻 The Bends by dreamsinthewitchouse @dreamsinthewitchouse [Danbeau, side Stucky, 2k words, Teen]

Memory is not a house you can just walk back into after finding the key you thought you’d lost. It’s a thing you wade into and out of, rewriting it as it rewrites you.

It’s not without its rewards, either - recovering a memory about Maria and Monica, about her life, feels better than socking a thousand bad guys in the face, better than all the photon blasts in the world.

Then again, realising there’s still memories she can’t access, even after all this time, feels like drowning in space.

Not the one out there - the one inside her.

🌻 Sweet & Salty by musette22 @musette22 [Stucky, 3k words, Teen]

Idiots in love. That's it. That's the fic.

When life gives you lemons by moonythejedi394 @moonythejedi394 [Stucky, 34k words, Explicit] (11/15 chapters)

Or 13 Terrible Things to Do With Lemons Other Than Making Lemonade

Steve Rogers is a home health nurse. He works for an agency, which assigned him to the aging Winifred Barnes, the one and only Silent Era Hollywood darling. As her needs increased, she requested the agency assign Steve to her full-time. She could pay for it, so she got it. Steve then moved in with her, becoming her caregiver; he cooked, he cleaned, he managed her medications, he made sure she was comfortable.

Winifred's children treated him less than ideally. He was the help, after all. And then Steve had the audacity to go and turn out to be eldest son James Barnes's soulmate. No one saw that coming.

🍀 SamRhodey Tumblr Fic by ipoiledi [SamRhodey, ? words, Teen?]

“Wilson, this is Rhodey; Rhodey, Wilson,” Tony Stark says, and suddenly some six foot tall sexy guy is shoved right in front of Sam, and they both stumble a little, bumping into each other. This is a crowded party. “You guys have things in common, right?” Stark asks. “Uh, Army stuff. Talk about that. I hate wallflowers; stop wallflowering and talk to each other.”

Shorteralls by moonythejedi394 [Stucky, 6k words, Explicit]

The first time Bucky ever saw Steve Rogers, he was struck by how Neanderthal-like his response was. It was immediately followed by a bout of mental scolding. The second time was just about the same. The third time, it was actually appropriate for Bucky to start a conversation with him, at which point he was determined to be the gentleman.

No such luck. Steve Rogers is, always has been and always will be, a relentless flirt. These days, Bucky's Neanderthal-ist feelings about Steve are consensual and highly appreciated. More so now that they're having a baby.

what the fuck are perfect places anyway by tigerlilycorinne [Stucky, 6k words, Teen]

Steve clears his throat and stands. “Well, I should head in. I might want to begin packing.”

Bucky stills. “You won’t,” he says, trying to sound commanding. It only comes out uncertain. “Don’t.”

Steve shakes his head. “Maybe not tonight,” he says, and Bucky knows they’ll be discussing this again soon.

“Then stay. Play… play cards with me or something.”

Steve’s eyebrows jump up, his mouth tugging up in another of his bemused smiles that do things to Bucky’s insides, but he drops his hand from the doorway and steps back into Bucky’s room. Somehow, Bucky feels as if he’s won—not the war, just the battle.

Steve won’t stay forever. But he’ll stay for cards.

Steve and Bucky, on the run after Civil War (with a few alterations to canon), are laying low in Wakanda. But they can’t stay there forever.

🌻 honestly thought i’d be dead by now, but what you can trust is that i need your touch by moonythejedi394 [Stucky, 105k words, Explicit]

Bucky is 37 years old; he’s unmarried, hasn’t had a Sub of his own, is definitely not ripped, comfortable at his job as an Advanced Practice RN at Brooklyn General ER, and just got his Five Years coin from AA.

Steve is 26 years old; he’s unmarried, his last and only Dom has Alzheimer's, he's worryingly muscular, uncomfortable in his job as the government’s poster Alpha for masculinity and strength, and worries more than he should about his BMI.

Unfortunately, Steve and Bucky meet initially in a not-cute moment. Bucky’s tired as shit thanks to the sudden alien invasion that shook New York and Steve is tired as shit because he hasn’t slept more than 20 minutes at a time in – well, since 1936, probably. Bucky’s Alpha instincts get irritated at the sudden presence of another "Alpha" into his territory and Steve’s suppressed submissive tendencies latch onto this grumpy bachelor Alpha and he only suppresses it further.

Bucky’s grumpiness and Steve’s duckling impressionism aside, both of them are a mess. But since both of them are a mess? Their messes seem to fit pretty well together.

Deep Sea Diving by Aida Ronan [Stucky, 5k words, Explicit]

Steve's wallowing in heat-related misery under a shade tree in Central Park when a man walks by in bright red booty shorts and a crop top. RIP Steve Rogers. It was nice knowing you.

honey, make this easy by steebadore [Stucky, 8k words, Explicit]

Bucky likes the way he looks. His silk button up with the tiny gold polka dots feels soft on his skin and is tailored perfectly; no pulling at his chest or belly. His hair falls in shiny dark waves and his skin is smooth and dewy. He looks expensive. He looks taken care of. He looks like Steve’s.

🌻 let's take it back to the start by howdoyousleep @howdoyousleep3 [Stucky, 6k words, Teen]

How it all began.

This sleepwalking through my life. by barthelme [Stucky, 1k words, Explicit]

The internet is an interesting place and when Bucky came home (or, when he came to live with Steve), Steve did a lot of research. Apparently, it’s not safe to wake a sleepwalker. He assumes that waking a sleepwalker with traumatic dreams and PTSD is beyond just being frowned upon.

And he tells himself--has told himself--that this is safer for Bucky. That if he were to stop him and wake him up, that Bucky would be mortified to be slurping on his best friend’s cock. That all of the improvements he’s made would be lost, would be repressed, would be just--

They’d be back at square one.

So he lets Bucky do it.

🌻 the way i've been craving by howdoyousleep [Stucky, 3k words, Explicit]

"Lunch break at 12:30. My office. Hope you’re hungry…"

It’s the ellipsis that sends Bucky’s insides swimming warmly, his heart beating twice as fast against his ribs where he sits in class. Senator Rogers is concise, direct, to the point. Without an ellipsis this is lunch, this is a meeting. With it though?

This is a booty call.

nasty but classy by howdoyousleep [Stucky, 4k words, Explicit]

“No, you don’t have to know the purpose, that doesn’t matter. Nat showed me this challenge where couples drink a lot of wine and get drunk together but they can’t touch each other. And whoever touches the other first has to...has to give the other head.”

🌻 Put It on Repeat, It Stays the Same by giselleslash [Stucky, 20k words, Explicit]

Steve and Bucky have a one night stand that turns into a friends with benefits situation. A weekend snowed in at Bucky’s apartment brings to light how much that really doesn’t suit either one of them.

Greetings to the New Brunette by victoria_p (musesfool) [Stucky, 10k words, General]

"You said he should have a hobby. That it would help."

"I meant, like, knitting or coin collecting. Motocross, if he was feeling antsy. A baby's not a hobby. It's lifetime commitment."

🌻 Rogers & Barnes: Partners by triedunture [Stucky, 10k words, Teen]

Steve and Bucky have to pose as a couple for a mission. Nat insists it really is the only option. She's checked.

The complication: unbeknownst to even Natasha, Steve and Bucky's friendship has been rocky ever since Bucky confessed his tender feelings and Steve left him out in the cold. Can asexual, completely-in-love-with-his-angry-best-friend Steve complete the mission and win Bucky's heart?

(The answer is yes. Yay!)

this will be our year (took a long time to come) by biblionerd07 [Stucky, 4k words, General]

Bucky's therapist is worried he's using Steve as a crutch and wants him to try going on outings without Steve. It wouldn't be terrible, honestly, if Bucky could just manage to open his mouth and say something to Steve.

I'll hold my breath by Little_Lottie (tfwatson) [Stucky, 8k words, Mature]

Sometimes Bucky’s hands flex in Steve's direction. Neither of them knows exactly why, but at least one of them has a hunch.

Bucky touches everything but Steve, even though Steve is all he really wants to touch.

Start from the Beginning by Mumble_Bee [Stucky, 13k words, Explicit]

What about a sex pollen fic where the pollen-ed one doesn’t remember getting hit in the face with a sex flower, and wakes up midway through the depollenating?

Or: the one where Steve wakes up on his back with a stranger buried balls-deep in his ass.

Match by emphasisonem [Stucky, 4k words, Mature]

The situation’s actually kind of funny from the right perspective, Bucky thinks as he reads the message for what feels like the hundredth time. He’s finally matched with a hot, funny guy. Tall and broad and clean cut. An absolutely breathtaking smile. Bucky’s walking wet dream. And he’s good. They haven’t messaged on the app, but Bucky already knows him.

He knows him because Steve Rogers is an art history professor at his university. His art history professor.

Best friends and married since childhood by StuckySituation [Stucky, 1k words, General]

Inspired by @/peterssquill's post in tumblr: "bucky and steve got married on the playground when they were like eight and though neither of them would ever admit it to anyone, even each other, they still consider it official"

~♥~ ♥~ ♥~

“Natasha, stop trying to set me up with every woman you meet, I’m-”

“Too shy? Too scared?”

“No, I’m-”

“Too busy? You’re mostly retired these days, not a good excuse anymore.” Natasha smirks and then drawls: “Or just too gay?”

Steve flushes at that, even if isn’t true -- he’s bisexual, not gay. “Let it go, Nat, I’m not looking for anything. I’m already married, for fuck’s sake.”

Clearly not what she expected. “What.”

Steve grimaces. He didn’t mean to tell anyone that, ever.

“Sorry, can’t talk about it right now!” he says and jumps out of the plane.

Nobody Should Be Alone on a Holiday by emphasisonem [Stucky, 2k words, Teen]

“So, um-” Bucky begins speaking again, pulling Steve from his less-than-work-appropriate thoughts. The brunet has shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks, and he’s shifting from one foot to the other as he smiles shyly. “I have a question for you.”

“Shoot,” Steve grins, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his broad chest. Bucky swallows deeply as one of his hands comes up to pull at the collar of his button-up, and Steve can’t help following the motion of his Adam’s apple.

“I was, uh-” Bucky continues- “That is, I heard you don’t have Thanksgiving plans?”

In which Bucky finds out that Steve's going to be alone on Thanksgiving and invites his coworker to spend the holiday with him.

🌻 It's Been A Long Season Through by thiccbuckybarnes @thiccbuckybarnesfic [Stucky, 49k words, Explicit]

Bucky Barnes is in desperate need of a change in scenery, which is why he makes the foolhardy decision to quit his job, leave his asshole of a fiance, pack up his life, and move to his grandfather’s old farm all within a single day.

He expects confusion, hardship, and maybe even failure. But love? He wasn’t expecting that.

--

Or, a Stucky Stardew Valley AU that nobody but me wanted and that’s ok.

oh, peach pit, where'd the hours go? by thiccbuckybarnes [Stucky, 10k words, Explicit]

Can't see the forest for the trees.

--

Or, Steve learns that just because he and Bucky got their happily ever after, it doesn’t mean the past won’t come back to bite them.

I'll find my way by rainbow_nerds [Stucky, 725 words, Teen]

Steve had watched Bucky fall, and nothing had been the same since.

AU-gust day 19: Daemons

special delivery by glim @glim [Stucky, 6k words, Teen]

It's not that Steve's bad at taking care of himself when he gets sick; he just wishes he didn't have to all the time.

At least he can order most of what he needs online. That's some small comfort, that he can have soup and ice cream and everything else brought to his door.

at first chance i'd take the bed warmed by the body by spacebuck @spacebuck [Stucky, 8k words, Explicit]

This close, Steve can see exactly how beautiful his hands are. He’s never really noticed before, or at least he’s never really had a reason to notice, but the man’s hands are large, tanned like he works outside all day. There’s an endearing callus on the heel of one of his palms, and Steve can’t quite work out when calluses became endearing.

Steve pauses the video. Swallows hard. Casts his eyes around for anything that’ll keep his mind off the hands on his screen, off the words inked into those hands, the delicate shape of a bird’s wing, the curling edge of a vine.

He looks down. The name of the channel is right there, blaring the man’s name right into Steve’s brain until it feels like he’s known it all along.

Bucky Barnes.

OR: the one where Bucky's a youtuber who solves puzzles on camera, and steve's smitten and horny

🌻 Rock On! by millesable @marvelousescapism [Clintasha, 700 words, General]

“Hey, Romanoff!”

He lifted his hand, index finger and pinky finger raised, thumb out, all other fingers tucked. Their secret sign; their confession for the world to see, safe in the knowledge that the world wasn’t listening.

“Rock on!”

🌻 You Like the Way I Look by dontcallmebree @iamthe-wo-manwhocan [Stucky, 2k words, Explicit]

Bucky sidles up to him, hand boldly coming to rest on his chest. “What about you, big guy? Care for a dance?” Steve watches Bucky’s eyes twinkle with satisfaction, somehow already knowing he’s got Steve on the hook.

A decade out of the ice, Steve Rogers returns to New York. Reeling from a battle against the Chitauri, a night with the troublesome Bucky Barnes might be just what he needs.

Join the Rebellion by rainbow_nerds [Stucky, 765 words, Teen]

Bucky knew he shouldn't be out after curfew, but he couldn't resist the urge. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew it was where he wanted to be.

AU-gust day 20: Dystopia

🔒 Five Days in December by mywingsareonwheels @mywingsareonwheels [Evanstan, 4k words, Teen]

“Shit shit shit shit...” muttered Chris to himself, glad that the sound of piped Christmas carols was drowning out his swearing amid the picture books. Most of the store was heaving even though it was Sunday, he’d been recognised at least three times, finding presents for all of his nieces and nephews was proving far more of a headache than expected, and he’d just sent a pile of copies of "Strictly No Elephants" tumbling off the bookshelf.

He scrambled about trying to pick them all up, and then dropped them again as someone bumped right into his backside. He lost his balance, caught himself against a bookcase, and a landslide of "Carter Is a Painter’s Cat" joined "Strictly No Elephants" on the floor. He yelped.

“Ah fuck, I’m so sorry… Chris!”

* * * * * * * * * *

London, December 2021. Amid cats, books, and the cold English drizzle, Chris finds everything he was hoping for and thought he would never have.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Reaching for Fire by dixons_mama @dixons-mama [Stucky, 7k words, Explicit]

Bucky has always felt a fire in his heart (and other body parts) when it came to his boss, Steve Rogers, but he's made sure to never feed those flames. When he finds out about Steve's second job, though, he's tempted to let that fire out.

i've been dreaming of a face like yours by thiccbuckybarnes [Stucky, 3k words, Explicit]

Bucky is about to busy himself with making a small dinner for himself when he stops in his tracks at the figure drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and smirking at him.

It’s Steve.

“Surprise, sweet boy,” he says before setting his cup down.

--

Or, PWP reunion sex

🌻 Somewhere, Under Your Skin by thiccbuckybarnes [Stucky, 16k words, Explicit]

Bucky Barnes treats himself to a one-night stand after having a very bad no good day.

The sex is good--great, even. Might be the best sex of his life.

But Bucky wouldn’t have slept with the guy if he had known that he was going to continuously run into him every day for the next fucking month.

--

Or, a Big Grump Bucky has a hot one night stand with a college kid who is popping up everywhere in his everyday life and he doesn’t know how to deal with it.

(Written for HYBB Bingo Square: Grumpy Bucky)

i've played heartstrings before but not in your key by thiccbuckybarnes [Stucky, 11k words, Explicit]

He glances down, seeing a folded couple of papers, before peering up at Bucky. The older man is biting his bottom lip, making it pretty and red. Steve wants to run his tongue across where his teeth are digging into his flesh.

"What's this?" Steve asks, setting his phone down, emails forgotten. Bucky shrugs and looks away.

"I dunno. You tell me, genius," he says, sounding bratty enough that it makes Steve's dick twitch in his pants. Jesus, there has to be something wrong with him.

Steve glances once more at Bucky, who now has his arms crossed against his chest and is pointedly not looking at Steve, before picking up the stack of folded papers. He opens them, seeing a collection of maybe five or six sheets of paper. His eyes immediately land on the list of familiar words with negative next to each one. -- Or, Steve Rogers is a jealous, possessive little shit that wants nothing more than to mark up his boyfriend and stake his claim. And Bucky knows it. (And he likes it.)

🌻 I'm Home (With You) by BonkyBornes @padfoot-and-the-marauders [Stucky, 2k words, General]

In any other circumstance, the apartment would've been perfect. But it was today, and the fact that he was here meant he wasn’t out searching. He knew they hadn’t had any leads for weeks and he knew Natasha was right; all three of them were exhausted and a break would do them good. It just felt wrong to Steve that he was comfortable while Bucky was still out there—somewhere. Probably cold. Probably hungry.

The knock came again. Sighing, Steve unwrapped his hand from the dog tags and remembered how to move. Cold wind and snow greeted him when he opened the door. The solitary figure was walking down the steps, collar popped against the chill.

“Did you need something?” he called.

The person stopped. They were still. And then they turned. *

Or, the Christmas Steve deserved after Winter Soldier.

The portrait by rainbow_nerds [Stucky, 915 words, General]

Steve Rogers has a Gift. He can help people find their soulmates, all he needs is some art supplies, a quiet place, and eye contact.

AU-gust day 21: soulmates

Maybe A Muse by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy [Stucky, 2k words, Mature]

When Bucky Barnes needs extra money, he’s appalled that his best friends think he should become a model for the art department on campus. Shy, nerdy, and socially awkward, he’s not sure that’s something he feels comfortable doing. Still, he needs money, and he likes the idea of becoming someone’s muse. The problem is he had no idea two things would happen. First, one of the students in the class is exactly his type; second, he has to model nude.

[morningstargirl666]

alicia, my beloved! would you do me a great favour and answer some of these?

🤡🛒🌌🎶🙋‍♀️💖🤗🧠 (tell me about our boy klaus)

(also i 100% rbed that post in hopes that it'll give me an excuse to pester all my writer friends with questions, mission accomplished! 😈)

🤡 - What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

Ella, bestie - there's so many. I mean not all of them are laugh-out-loud funny, but they always bring a little smile to my face. I think Caroline pushes Klaus into a pool in Into Eternity? That's a good one. But I think most the more funny exchanges happen in The Big Bad Wolf. Somehow that fic turned into crack along the way and honestly it ran away from me. My OCs are just really fun to write. Probably the scene that made me laugh the most in that, was the bacon scene. With the lunar cycles. And then later on Klaus throwing Kol's phone out the car window because he caught him texting Rebekah about the new information. Scenes with Titus, Klaus' horse, and Sam's raven Loki also hit the top spots. Sorry, I just can't choose one.

🛒 - What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

Found family. Or a sense of family or brotherhood in general. I have no idea why. It's just too wholesome to leave out. Also probably an element of spookiness and horror, because I'm edgy like that, and I like my settings/characters a little dark, a little violent.

✨ - Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

Okay so there's no constellation emoji on the original ask list so I'm assuming you meant this one? I don't know, maybe I'm just blind but I can't find it.

So. A compliment.

Will you accept 'I write good'? Lmao I don't know.

🎶 - Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I actually have a few playlists on youtube that I set aside for writing. My brain is really sense-minded, so like when I put that music on it knows it's time to write. I've got a klaroline playlist, which are basically klaroline music vids, and also playlists for my fics. And then sometimes I just freestyle, listen to anything that comes on. I need to share the songs I listen to for TBBW at some point cause they are amazing. Here Come the Wolves by Lola Blanc screams Chapter 1. And then I Know Your Secrets by Tommee Profitt (feat. Liv Ash) is definitely Chapter 12. I remember listening to Running With The Wolves by Aurora for Chapter 13 a lot.

🙋‍♀️ - Do any irl people know you write fanfic?

Yes. Sort of. A close friend knows. Though I have not shared my ao3 name nor my fics and do not intend to lol.

💖 - What made you start writing? 

I actually can't remember when I didn't write in some shape or form. I've been writing since I was a small kid, in like primary school. Probably Year 4? Maybe even Year 3? I would have been like 7 maybe. I basically remember watching the movie of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, and little kid me thought, oh I want to write a book! And so I started writing a book called the Dragon and the Peach. I think the plot involved a dragon called Sapphira, who like goes on this quest and eats a magical peach that makes her strong and powerful so she can defeat the villain. That story eventually evolved into a different, more complex plot as I got older, with more characters and backstories. By Year 6 I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. And then in my teens I found fanfiction and well, here I am, ten years later, still writing fanfiction lol. Nothing really made me start writing. I guess Dahl's books inspired me originally, I really loved them as a kid, but nothing made me do it. No one pushed me to do it, or said I'd be good at it. For me writing has always been a calling. I really had no choice but answer.

🤗 - What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

Read. Write. That's it. Read as much as you can, because that's the finest teacher of how to write. Literally. You'll find whatever genres and tropes you prefer to read will start popping up in your writing without even realising it. And when you do write, keep writing, even when you get writer's block - even if its 200 words per day or 200 words after weeks of nothing, at least its no longer a blank page. Write while figuring out how to plot, how to characterise, how to build up tension. Don't be ashamed of stuff you wrote a year ago because it sucks - it doesn't suck, you've just improved since then and now you can write better. It's a victory, not a defeat. And don't write for anyone else but yourself. Like I said before, writing is a calling. It's bleeding words onto a page because you have to get it out or you'll go crazy. You are your first reader. So write for you.

🧠 - Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favourite headcanon for them.

So. Klausy. Neeklous. Our boy Klaus. What headcanons do I have for him, hmm? 🤔

[I'm trying to think of one I haven't told you, it's a challenge]

Okay I have one. Not sure if I've included this in a fic yet, but a headcanon I love is that Klaus steals artwork from galleries and museums for kicks and replaces them with copies he painted before the originals are noticed as missing. The galleries and museums around the world have yet to catch on. He thinks its funny. Compulsion gets boring after the first few centuries, after all.

[bulkyphrase]

Everybody & the Avengers Team

I've got a new fic rec list for you!

The stories in the "X & the Avengers Team" tags focus on one person's relationship to the Avengers team as a whole. Courtesy of AO3's tag browse and Excel, here's a ranked list of the top 20 most popular pairings:

Tony Stark | 2470 total, 240 OTP

Peter Parker | 2255 total, 85 OTP

Steve Rogers | 602 total, 56 OTP

Loki | 387 total, 26 OTP

Natasha Romanov | 308 total, 35 OTP

Clint Barton | 268 total, 46 OTP

Bruce Banner | 244 total, 15 OTP

Thor | 209 total, 7 OTP

Avengers Team | 174 total, 24 OTP

James "Bucky" Barnes | 156 total, 7 OTP

Wanda Maximoff | 143 total, 4 OTP

Phil Coulson | 105 total, 9 OTP

Darcy Lewis | 91 total, 6 OTP

Matt Murdock | 60 total, 8 OTP

Sam Wilson | 53 total, 5 OTP

Nick Fury | 41 total, 5 OTP

Harry Potter | 40 total, 0 OTP

Pepper Potts | 31 total, 1 OTP

Vision | 29 total, 2 OTP

Stiles Stilinski | 25 total, 0 OTP

In chart form, if you like charts:

Notes:

The numbers after the names are the number of stories tagged with that ship. OTP means the number of stories where that is the only relationship tagged on the story. Numbers are accurate as of July 2021.

Story Recommendations

For your reading pleasure, included below is at least one fic rec for each pairing except the crossovers from non-Marvel fandoms (apologies to Mr. Potter & Mr. Stilinski). Most are gen fic, and even in the ones with a romantic pairing, romance is not the focus.

Tony Stark

As Subtle As Cognitive Recalibration by petroltogo (Teen, 8949) tumblr: @tonystarktogo

Standing inside his penthouse, listening to Rogers, Barton and Banner explain to Fury how they just happened to stumble over the Tesseract on a routine security check of Stark Tower’s roof and wouldn’t you know, they’ve managed to fight off the looming alien invasion before it could really start and secure the missing overpowered nightlight is one of the most surreal situations Tony has ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

Peter Parker

the worst field trip ever by shrill_fangirl_screaming (Teen, 3420) tumblr: @i-am-having-an-emotion

"We're on a field trip," Peter said. "To here. And Tony decided to be our tour guide and absolutely embarrass me, so can you please help get him under control?"

Which is how Peter Parker, architect of his own destruction, ended up with not one but two superhero pseudo-dads being annoying on his school field trip.

Steve Rogers

Do You Remember Being Happy? ('Cause I Sure Don't) by GalaxyThreads (Teen, 11022) tumblr: @galaxythreads

That seems about right. He doesn't know how he knows that, though. He does have vague memories of an annoyed fondness at finding peanut butter in some sort of jam. Thor's doing, because he doesn't see the point of using two knives when one works just as fine. He knows that. How does he know that? He knows all those little details, though, almost innately. How can he know these strangers so deeply?

Everyone else below the cut!

Loki

Proprietary by TheThirdMarauder (Teen, 7639)

No, Loki simply wants the Avengers conquered. The details of whom, how, and when matter not. Unless, of course, said details interfere with Loki's plans. Then, well, then none can fault him for protecting his own interests.

Loki has always been exceptionally good at lying to himself.

Natasha Romanov

What Girls Are Made Of by enigma731 (Teen, 4613) tumblr: @enigma731

She rolls her eyes but does as he’s indicated, using his shoulders to leverage herself up onto his back, her arms around his neck and her legs hugging his waist.

“You know,” he says blithely, “this isn’t really what I tend to picture when I think of a hot girl riding me.”

Natasha groans, deciding that if his sense of humor gets them arrested, she’ll kill him herself. “Just go.”

Clint Barton

Dear Clint Barton (circa age 7) by pollyrepeat (Teen, 4221)

With a normal person, this might count as blackmail material, but a) this is a case of mutually assured destruction if ever there was one, and b) Fury is immune to embarrassment. Not just in the regular, Tony Stark way, either, oh no. Things that could possibly end up being embarrassing to Fury get somehow warped and changed until they go from mortifying all the way over into useful and/or good for his image. It’s like a superpower.

Carrying Clint’s small child self around on his shoulders more than once has probably already hit the interagency rumour mill as an example of Fury’s innate awesomeness: good with rocket launchers and small children.

Also available as a podfic!

Bruce Banner

They're Not Wrong by Trumpeteer34 (Teen, 10163)

As Tony began to pace around the hole in the road to keep himself from shooting repulsors at the nearby buildings in a fit of rage, Thor began to study the nearby area. There was no sign of either the Hulk or Bruce Banner beyond the crater. The surrounding area, aside from the rubble of the fight, held no clue as to their friend’s location.

“Guys, he’s gone,” Tony growled into the communicator on their private line, drawing Thor out of his darkening thoughts. “Someone tranqed him and took him. He’s gone.”

Honorary mention goes to the Responsible Science series by @letteredlettered - the stories don’t have the "Avengers Team & Bruce Banner" tag, but they could, and they are amazing. The best Bruce Banner writing I've ever come across.

Thor

Fortunately, I Am Mighty by onward_came_the_meteors (General, 3062)

Steve was the first one to speak. “Are you okay?”

Thor nodded. Which was a bad idea, as it turned out, because now there were little gray lights flashing in front of his eyes. “I’m fine.” Absolutely everyone narrowed their eyes, and he added, “But, uh. Could we possibly not get back in the car just yet?”

Avengers Team

Civil Wasn't by onward_came_the_meteors (General, 7123)

"We're having an ideological conflict here," Tony stated with disbelief. "Are you telling me you still want to go out to dinner?"

"It's a standing engagement, Tony," Rhodey reminded him.

"Not you too—"

"We already had to reschedule from Friday when Natasha was..." Rhodey frowned. "What were you doing?"

The question was directed toward Natasha, who shrugged and said, "Spy stuff."

James "Bucky" Barnes

You Know How I Feel, aka, The Adventures of Bucky and Muffy the Dinosaur by ifeelbetter (Not Rated, 4511) tumblr: @ifeelbetterer

“As you may have heard, Bucky Barnes, a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, recently rescued a tiny part-robot dinosaur during the Avengers’ battle with Dr. Doom in Antarctica,” the other newscaster explained. “Pictures of Barnes and the dinosaur were posted on twitter by fellow Avenger, Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, and immediately made Barnes’s new pet America’s sweetheart.”

“Her name’s Muffy,” said Steve."

Wanda Maximoff

and the woman was young again by Mira_Jade (General, 3669)

Tony Stark called them the Cap's Kooky Quintet, and sometimes the term amused her – causing her to lift a sardonic brow where someday a smile would truly smile. She enjoyed the presence of comrades – true comrades – and she enjoyed the way their minds wove and bound together about each other to fluctuate against her senses as one. There was something soothing about being in their midst, and even when their loud and brash ways – their painful Americaness - rubbed her raw and drained on her, it was ever the knitting of their minds that soothed those moments over, and made them inconsequential.

Phil Coulson

Coulson's First Day of School by storiesfortravellers (Teen, 3055)

Coulson looked up at him. “I like drawing pictures with Mr. Rogers. I like having tea parties with Ms. Potts. I like it when Dr. Banner reads me books, and I like it when Natasha teaches me things. And I like when you play with me. You do really good voices when we play action figures. And you’re the only one who lets me do stuff like jump off the high diving board at the pool or eat three cupcakes or play tackle with kids at the park.”

Clint didn’t realize that. He was pretty sure that meant that he was doing something wrong.

Darcy Lewis

Beginner Yoga for Dummies (Darcys) and Sad Hobos by chailover (Teen, 3434)

Darcy had a theory: crazy attracted crazy, working kind of like gravity. It was pretty much her explanation for her life after Thor. And if she had thought the type of crazy Thor attracted was bad, be it Loki or the Warrior Three and Sif, or the dark elves and the Convergence, it was still nothing against what the Avengers manage en masse.

Matt Murdock

Double Blind by smilebackwards (Teen, 2381) tumblr: @smilebackwards

Stark snaps his fingers. “You can’t see half of my inventions. This explains so much about you and why you’ve never been properly impressed by me.”

“Does it?” Matt says, ambiguously.

Sam Wilson

Bystander by scribblemetimbers (Teen, 52029)

“I just want you to know,” Sam says loudly, cautiously raising his hands, “That I’m very poor and very sleep-deprived and literally the only thing you can kill me for right now are my notes.” He pauses. Wait. On second thought: “Please don’t steal my notes.”

“I’m not—I’m not a mugger,” Not Mugger rasps out, and for all that he looks about to keel over and die, the man actually manages to sound offended.

Nick Fury

Bedtime Story by dixiehellcat (Teen, 2532) tumblr: @deehellcat

Fury snorted. “I have to check in with the duty officer. I’ll be back in, let’s say twenty minutes. I expect all of you to have whatever your pre-bedtime routines are completed, and be in here pajama’ed and ready to be read to.”

He tapped the book under his arm, then left with the usual dramatic swish of his long coat. Bruce scratched his head. “Did…he just say be ready to be read to?”

Pepper Potts

Pepper and the Avengers (Which She Knows Nothing About) by rebelmeg (General, 6696) tumblr: @rebelmeg

The Avengers, that mismatched group of hurt and heroism, was one of the most important things in Tony Stark’s life. So, naturally, Pepper had made them an important part of her life too.

Vision

039. Intoxicated by aimmyarrowshigh (Teen, 100) tumblr: @aimmyarrowshigh

It might be nice to fit in, just this once. To lose a bit of composure.

Vision floated over to the refrigerator and, with some timidity, pulled off a magnet. He stuck it to his forehead.

[oddberryshortcake]

Thank you a ton @basuralindo​ and also @memoryoflife​ for the tagging! I love this stuff and I realized I’m kind of insane because I got 2 bingos 

For some added context!

The first place I posted my fan fictions was FF.Net. I no longer post there as AO3 just has a better format, but I do fondly remember the days of making all my files a keyboard smash and not remembering which one was which lol. One of them is deleted I’m pretty sure, and I sent a lot of pdfs of my fics to people who asked for them before I deleted. Bless them but I can definitely write better now. I’m sure another one is stuck out there in purgatory filled with cringe that I cannot destroy 

I exclusively role-play in private discord chats with @cozymochi​. We’ve made some pretty amazing stories through that, all of Catalyst originated from making a genuinely amazing story through making stuff up on the spot. It’s also a great exercise to better understand the characters. 

I recall beta’ing for someone but I cannot remember who. I’ve also done that a lot in undergrad so maybe I’m just done. Pretty much all my fics go without a beta, with Cozy pointing out mistakes when she reads it either published or sent to her first lol

MOST of the fics are self-indulgent fr, but I also try to make sure it’s enjoyable for everyone if I post them

SOMETIMES I’ll leave kudos with my account and on guest. wHY DON’T THEY LET YOU LEAVE SO MANY MORE 

I don’t really do ship stuff now, but one of my fave ships as a young teen was m/m. I love a good couple that plays off each other well. I’ve definitely started doing more generalized stuff thats always just a bit vaguely melancholy. I also love fluff a lot, even if hurt/comfort and angst is THE stuff. 

My published fics on the account I use here are IZ and TWST. I have another AO3 for DND stories with characters me and my friends use. I also had a lot of YGO Zexal fics but they’re either in my drafts, on an abandoned AO3 account or on @antidotenurse​

I ALWAYS RESEARCH. I cannot write without research. People don’t realize how fun it is to learn about what you’re writing and gain new knowledge. I’m so used to it being a history grad student that it’s basically second nature. 

My ‘outline’ is just random bullet points of stuff that needs to be implemented and isolated dialogue bits lol it’s always out of context, but it helps me remember it 

I live for any sort of feedback 🥺 like if there was something in particular you enjoyed please let me know!

I don’t really get art of my fics and I don’t recall commissioning for any either (my memory is terrible I know) but Cozy has helped me visualize original characters I've implemented, and I have written fics off of stuff she’s drawn so that’s pretty close! 

I get amazing ideas in the middle of the night and I always have to choose between waking myself up and writing it down or going to sleep and forgetting everything 😔 it’s a tough choice, but now that my insomnia isn’t so bad, I can choose write a typo written blurb in my notes more often 

I have written tipsy! and also written terribly ill so close enough 

I have published a few poems and I’m getting one of my research papers published, but it’s not really the same as a book or a short story. I used to have a site for my writing and after a bad breakdown I’ve had a lot of that stuff is gone, but maybe I can start anew someday! It’s not like I’m stopping anytime soon :)

I don’t want to bother anyone with tagging, especially in case they’ve already been tagged, so if you want to do this (it’s fun) then please consider me tagging you!!

Fanfiction Writer Bingo

I was tagged by @backwardshirt in this post!

Ooooh I got a Bingo! I got TWO bingos! THREE!!!

Couple Clarifications:

oh yeah I had a wattpad phase. No, you won't find anything written by me currently on wattpad.

Good luck finding my smut content; it's a secret ;) (if you're under 18, do not ask me for it at all, please)

I never get anything I write beta-read before posting. I don't have that kind of restraint, I want to post when I want to post and I don't want to wait for someone else to read it over (and I am really my own hardest editor anyway; always have been).

"Fanfiction is an actual genre" - I did not mark this one because it's not true? Fanfiction has many genres within it. It is Actual Writing, most definitely, but it isn't it's own genre. It spans across all genres. (it's like saying "novellas are a genre" or "comics are a genre"; no. They are a Form of Media, and very valid, but not a genre)

Yeah, someday I would love to publish original works and be able to make a living doing what I love. I even have some original stuff in the works to hopefully publish, but sometimes I go back and forth with the idea, unsure if I really wanna go down the money route. Yes I know professional writers should have editors and alpha readers and beta readers. But it's different than fanfic. I don't feel like it's the same, so therefore for me it is not and I can justify it. Like how I don't mind being told what to do at work but I will fight anyone who tries to tell me how to live my personal life. :D

Fandoms I (currently) write for:

Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Twisted Wonderland, JJK, Fire Force, BNHA (sort of)

Tagging: @kimium; @azurexsnake; @filipinoizukuu; @kamikazequail; @moonlarked; @sithmonarch

No pressure to participate, but feel free and have fun! (if I tagged you and you don't write/don't currently write, don't sweat it, seriously there's no pressure 💜💜💜. If you write but don't post/haven't posted yet, that's fine too and you can still participate! All fanfic writing counts!!)

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