#i might throw some star wars jokes into the graphics

[febuwhump]

FEBUWHUMP 2025 PROMPT JAR NOW OPEN

DEC 3 - 10

every year, febuwhump crowdsources its prompts. this year is no different. suggest as many prompts as you like, and the admin's favourite 100 will be shared in a poll for the top 28 in the middle of december.

submit to the prompt jar here

[gunterfan1992]

Episode Review: ‘Wizard City’ (Distant Lands, Ep. 4)

Airdate: September 2, 2021

Story by: Adam Muto, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang, Hanna K. Nyström, & Charley Feldman

Storyboarded by: Maya Petersen, Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, & Aleks Sennwald, & Haewon Lee

Directed by: Miki Brewster & Jeff Liu (supervising), Sandra Lee (art)

An episode focusing on Peppermint Butler’s dark side is something that the fandom has craved ever since the little guy demanded Finn and Jake’s flesh in season two’s “Death in Bloom.” While installments like season five’s “The Suitor” and season six’s “Nemesis” did much to scratch that itch, the story of the Dark One remained mostly unknown…

And after “Wizard City,” it still remains largely unknown. But that’s OK, because instead of focusing on the character’s history, this special focuses on Peps’ quest to relearn magic at a magic school. Put most simply, this special is largely a fun excuse for the show to riff on Harry Potter and The Owl House-style “magic school hijinks,” and it mostly all works.

The special follows Peps quest to go to WizArts (a definite play on CalArts, the school that Pen Ward and Adam Muto, among many others, went to) so that he can relearn magic and once again become one of the greatest dark wizards of his time. Initially, Peps tries to make friends with cool kid Spader and his posse, but once they learn that Peps is not as talented at magic as they had initially thought, they kick him to the curb. It is at this point that Cadebra, Abracadaniel’s adorkable niece who is fascinated with stage magic, enters the picture. Cadebra tries everything in her power to befriend Peps, but Peps pushes back, since she’s not “cool.” It does not matter, though, because both Peps and Cadebra are sorted into the same “house”—the “Skink House—and are forced to work together.

While Peps and his cohort begin learning more and more complex magic, a secret cult of school professors, led by the otherwise caring Dr. Caledonius, are scheming to resurrect Coconteppi, a powerful dark wizard whose putrid heart has been discovered underneath the school excreting a very powerful ichor. The school cult kidnaps Spader and gives him some of the ichor to drink; they hope that because of his talent, he will be able to house the spirit of Coconteppi. This does not go as planned, and Spader is graphically killed (albeit off screen). (In a more humorous moment, Bufo, the scam wizard from season one’s “Wizard,” also ingests some of the ichor, believing himself powerful enough to handle it, but it kills him.)

Eventually Peps and Cadebra learn what is going on. Dr. Caledonius welcomes Peps, believing that he is strong enough to handle the ichor. When Cadebra’s life is put in danger, Peps reluctantly gives the putrid fluid a swig, which infuses him with the power of Coconteppi. Coconteppi-Peps then kills all the cult members before Cadebra manages to remove the ichor from Peps body. For uncovering a heinous plot, Peps is promoted to the highest house, “Salamander,” but he decides to remain a Skink and learn magic “the hard way” with Cadebra as his friend.

As I mentioned near the start of this review, “Wizard City” spends most of its time riffing on the “magic boarding school” trope, with much of the episode feeling like a light-hearted parody of Harry Potter: The characters, after all, are “sorted” into “houses,” they learn various types of magic from skilled “professors,” and they bunk in different parts of a large castle-like campus. Of course, Harry Potter didn’t invent the idea of a boarding school, but when setting your story in a school for magic, it is very hard not to lean at least somewhat into the Hogwarts relation. And this really is a double-edged sword, for while Harry Potter references can be fun here and there, they can also make the overall story feel like a fanfic parody. This special does a good job focusing more so on the characters rather than the setting, but I won’t lie, at times it did feel as if they show was really trying to make you realize it was making a Harry Potter joke.

Of all the characters introduced in the special, the breakout star is easily Cadebra, voiced by Chloe Coleman. Radiating a sort of Mabel Pines energy, Cadebra is the beam of optimism who shines brightly in an otherwise macabre special. There is something about her plucky personality and sense of wacky individualism that charms the viewer. I appreciate how the show compared and contrasted her with her uncle, the one and only Abracadaniel: like her uncle, Cadebra is a good person who wants to help others, but unlike Abracadaniel, she has a sense of courage and fortitude that results in her taking on a Coconteppi-possessed Peps at the episode’s climax. (Say what you will, Abracadaniel stans, but our favorite custodian would never have done that!) Thanks to her bravery and dedication to Peps, Cadebra is easily the heart of the special.

The episode throws an interesting little curveball into the mix by having the ‘ghost’ of Past Peppermint Butler constantly haunt Peps in the here-and-now. Past Peppermint, it seems, was so determined to become a great wizard, he cursed himself, so that if anything were to go awry, his Past self could materialize and set him straight. It’s confusing, but I do think that mixing the “overbearing parent” trope with a curse is a clever idea; it gives the whole special some dramatic heft. The whole setup is made even funnier by the special’s conclusion: After Future Peppermint Butler is ‘defeated’ and the day is saved, Peps reveals to Cadebra that he still wants to be a great and powerful dark wizard… but he wants to earn that power through hard work and determination. (Peppermint Butler might commune with demons, but he would never sell his soul to one for power; Glob helps those who help themselves, ya know?)

One of the special’s strongest points is its background art. Adventure Time always had some beautiful set pieces, and this special goes above and beyond to give WizArts an ancient sense of grandeur and mystery. Ghostshrimp, a freelance artist who was the show’s lead background designer during seasons 1-4, return for this special as a “visual developer”—basically, he mocked up a bunch of rough designs for the locales, and then the episode’s background artists worked up the final pieces in his style. On his podcast, Ghostshrimp mentioned how hectic he found Adventure Time to be, because he was used to taking his time on pieces. As such, the decision to bring him on for just development was smart, as it allowed him to still come up with iconic background designs while also playing fast and loose with everything. Hopefully the show will continue this approach with the Fionna and Cake miniseries that is coming up. After all, Ghosthsrimp’s style is the look of Adventure Time.

Another strong point for the episode is its voice acting. For one thing, you have your regulars like Tom Kenny and Dana Snyder, and Duncan Trussell, who all give a solid performance. But to voice many of the special’s new characters, the show brought on a bevy of fun actors: Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader, for instance, is now voicing Bufo, and he does a solid job hamming up his role as the old fogey. And then there’s Toks Olagundoye, whose British accent gives Dr. Caledonius a sense of knowledge and expertise. To my delight and surprise, SungWon Cho, an internet personality and voice actor perhaps better known as ProZD, was tapped to voice Brain Wizard, and he does an excellent job. And finally, Anthony Stewart Head, a very talented actor who I know best as Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, voices Con Wizard, and is even given a fun little ditty to sing. I can safely say that the voice acting in this special is likely the best of the bunch, and it’s obvious that the actors were all having a great time playing their parts.

What drags the whole thing down, in my opinion is the excessive murder. (I joked on Twitter that during the climax of “Wizard City,” it felt like I was watching an Adventure Time-ified version of Invincible!) Infused with the power of Coconteppi, Peps goes on a brutal killing spree, boiling Potable Wizard into steam, zapping Dimension Wizard into another plane of existence, smashing Berdzerd, and—perhaps most graphically—excerebrates (had to look that word up!) Brain Wiz. On Twitter, @sometipsygnostalgic​ argued that while, yes, the scene is startling, it does wonders to transmute “a poor Summer Camp Island knockoff [into] Adventure Time chaos.” The more I think about it, the more I think that’s a fair point; after all, this is hardly the first dark thing that has happened in Adventure Time. But the part that I cannot really stomach is the fact that Spader was murdered for no real reason, and the special ends without anyone really expressing their horror at the situation. Sure, Spader was a schoolyard bully, but he was also a child. And killing a child—either for the drama or the lulz—feels decidedly out of place in an Adventure Time episode. It’s hard to express, but it just felt unnecessarily nihilistic and mean-spirited.

All things considered, I think this was a fun episode, but it was somewhat underwhelming for a ‘finale.’ Much of this is because it had to air after the perfection that was the back-to-back “Obsidian”/”Together Again” wombo combo. But I can’t help but feel like this special just felt a little... off. A little too meanspirited, and it leaned a bit too much on standard tropes. Still, it was a fun spin, and I know that I’ll rewatch it.

Mushroom War Evidence: As Peps rides the bus to school, he passes a bunch of abandoned houses, some of which are buried in the ground. There is an unexploded bomb above the fossilized elephant in the school. Cadebra has a dream that takes place in the ruins of a city.

Final Grade: B+

[innuendostudios]

Thoughts on... some funny games

[no spoilers to speak of]

Thoughts on Lair of the Clockwork God

The wisdom of the gaming cognoscenti insists that comedy is hard to do in video games. Having grown up with Monkey Island and Zork, I've never found this convincing. But one true thing is this: it's hard to write about comedic games. The ineffability of humor is hard enough to describe in less-interactive media; I can't even explain to my partner why Gretchen saying "I met January Jones once!" on You're the Worst busted me up, and they were sitting right next to me when she said it. Throw in the "you had to be there" nature of the player's active participation and I lose myself in a cornfield. The thing I found hilarious might come a beat to early for you, or not at all, or not be funny in text like it is in gameplay.

Why did I like Lair of the Clockwork God? It made me laugh.

The premise and particulars are a lot of "that could go either way." Ben and Dan - stars of Ben There, Dan That and Time Gentleman, Please! - have returned. Ben is still an adventure game star, but Dan has adopted platforming mechanics in an attempt to get with the times. So playing the game involves switching back and forth between a character who can leap across canyons but can't pick up items or talk to people, and one who can combine inventory but can't climb over a 3-pixel rock.

Does that sound potentially funny? Potentially grating? Yes to both!

The plot centers around our heroes trying to save the world from several simultaneous apocalypses and having to teach human emotions to a supercomputer in order to do so. (Don't ask.) These means, rather like Ben There, Dan That, traipsing through a number of fantasy worlds (read: computer simulations) until the correct emotion is provoked. This requires cross-genre cooperation: finding ways to get Ben to areas only Dan can access, getting Dan new power ups by combining objects in Ben's inventory (an act Dan insists on calling "crafting").

The best bits are at these intersections, when Dan's platforming is the puzzliest and Ben's puzzles take advantage of Dan's skills. Periodically the game gives you a Dan-centric platforming gauntlet the controls are NOT precise nor pleasant enough for, or a Ben-only moon logic puzzle that leaves you googling the walkthrough.

But I liked it! A lot. The genre-hopping seems to have invigorated the developers, Ben Ward and Dan Marshall. I discussed my favorite joke in Ben There, Dan That (in what is probably the least popular video I've ever made that wasn't asking for money), but was also dismayed that the game was never that clever again. But this one is, several times over! Progression here involves cheating your way to a better respawn zone, goofing around in game menus, exploiting "glitches," exiting out and loading up entirely other games. There is a lot of poking and prodding at what a game of this nature can or should be.

But, honestly? The only real selling point is... it was funny. The humor is as anarchic and metatextual as in previous titles, but it feels good-natured in a way BT,DT didn't. And there are, here and there, little bits of meat on its bones - the characters wondering if, as a couple thirtysomething white guys, the world hasn't left them behind, no longer comfortable with the juvenile humor of their youth but not really understanding the youth of today, but having not yet fully escaped the mentalities they used to hold. (There's an unspoken humor to Dan's idea of "modern" gameplay being 2D platforming mechanics, especially at a time when adventure games are significantly more popular than on his last outing; this is a good joke whether or not it's intentional.)

Also: this game contains the most poignant urinating-on-a-grave puzzle in gaming history, and you may quote me on that.

Having finished it months ago, I can't even remember what all the gags were that tickled me at the time. Comedy fades from memory faster than drama or frustration. Mostly I just remember having a good time.

Thoughts on The Darkside Detective

Here's a hook: sometime after the mayhem ends in Ghostbusters, The Exorcist, Evil Dead 2, or some other paranormal blockbuster that you watched over and over in the 90's until the VHS wore out, some overworked detective has to come into your town and piece together what the hell happened.

This is his story.

It's a good gag, and the devs wring every drop from it. Existing in a world where these things are commonplace and you have to fit them into some notion of "police procedure" is just funny. Like, it's one thing to have a running gag where you keep observing the moon in outdoor scenes, commenting, with increasing hostility, that its behavior is suspicious (it has been present at multiple crime scenes); it's a slightly different thing when, given the things you've encountered, the moon being the Big Bad is actually somewhat possible.

The game is divided into six main cases and three bonus DLC missions (which come included in the base game now, and the third of which is the proper ending/setup for the sequel). You are the cop tasked to deal with The Other Side - and, when The Other Side bleeds into our own world, its cops have to deal with you. You have a sidekick with a mental maturity of about 6, which I guess makes you the straight man. (You have to grade on a curve to find a straight man in this game.) And you solve tasks like rounding up escaped gremlins or finding an AWOL lake monster all juxtaposed with mundane problems like inter-office squabbles and having not bought your Christmas presents early enough. It's (pleasantly) lo-res and sparsely isolated, so the dialogue and premise do most of the work, but they are ably up to the task.

The gameplay... not so much. I'm an adventure game lifer, so I can put up with a lot of nonsense. It's mostly straightforward inventory puzzles and occasional minigames. Most of the puzzles are fine enough. As the cases progress, things get more involved, and the DLCs especially involve some awful moon logic. And the minigames are not above using that same jumping peg puzzle you've solved in a dozen other games already. So gameplay ranges from serviceable to irritating, but it mostly exists to string together funny lines and silly images. (Christmas mall elves being secretly in service to Krampus - that's the kind of thing we're talking about here.) You won't feel much guilt for opening up a walkthrough; the puzzles aren't why you're here.

The sequel has just been released, and both games are cheap, so check them out if you feel like smiling.

Thoughts on The Procession to Calvary

It's rare for a game to be hilarious to look at.

The Procession to Calvary takes its name from the Bruegel painting. It also takes all it's graphics from Renaissance oil paintings, and the designer delights in making famously rendered heroes and religious icons steal, stab, fart, and swear.

A strong Terry-Gilliam-with-After-Effects vibe is what we're describing.

You play as a lady knight from a war that's just ended, which sucks for you because, in this age of peace, you're no longer authorized to kill. And killing's, like, you're whole thing. But the one person your new, pacifist king wouldn't stop you from killing is the warlord you just deposed, who fled to the South. So you embark on a nonsensical journey to seek out the one human on Earth you are authorized to kill, because killing is just The. Best. Ever.

Of the three games we're discussing, this is the most overtly cheeky, and, at times, the most scatological. I could've done with a bit less scatology, if I'm being honest, but the cheekiness is very winning. As with Lair of the Clockwork God, a lot of jokes could go either way - a field of people being tortured and a woman on a blanket selling commemorative torture merch could be painfully try-hard. But something about the victims being seemingly everyone ever crucified or broken on the wheel in a famous painting, and having them writhe on their crosses in a way that is both gruesome and goofy, and having a cacophonous soundtrack of their screams and moans that you will now imagine every time you look at one of those elegantly elegiac paintings from now on... it works. That the music score is being played by an extremely jaunty piper who dances behind you just out of sword's reach as you traverse the field pushes it over the top.

Oh, and the puzzles, while never hair-pullingly obtuse, will leave you stumped at times. Push past that to get the proper ending, but, if you're sick of trying, you can, at any point, just start stabbing your way through problems. Which, again: it takes a very deft touch to make "protagonist resorts to violence" actually funny rather than lazy and obvious. And maybe, in another game, the perfect timing of every animation, the clever quips, the careful contrast of cathedrals and high-society music halls with gleeful sword-swinging wouldn't be enough. But something about it being frickin' Renaissance paintings carries it the last mile.

This is probably the basest game of the three, but it's also the one that made me giggle the most. Having a BFA that required several art history classes may have something to do with it. But check this thing out.

[mediaevalmusereads]

When A Scot Ties the Knot. By Tessa Dare. New York: Avon Books, 2015.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, Castles Ever After #3

Summary: On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shyly pretty and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart. A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter … and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely. Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He’s wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters… and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: graphic sexual content, blood, violence

Overview: I came across this book while doing research for a blog post on Scottish fetishization in romance. While writing the post, I encountered YouTuber Jean Bookishthoughts’s video “ An Actual Scot Reads Highlander Romances,” and she gave this novel a fairly positive review. So I decided “why not? I’ve got nothing better to do.” Overall, the premise of this book was really enticing - the idea of a woman writing letters to a fictional sweetheart only to have a flesh-and-blood man show up at her door is quite the setup. I also think Dare does a good job of writing humor and moving the narrative along. But I ultimately couldn’t give this book more than 3 stars for a number of reasons: for one, the main crux of the plot felt like it could have been a bit more robust. Two, I didn’t find Logan to be a very interesting character. And three, some of the random “Highlander” references felt cheesy.

Writing: Dare writes prose that is quick, witty, and humorous. I very much enjoyed the jokes and the banter between our protagonists, and I appreciated that Dare didn’t get bogged down in some of the details of day-to-day life. If I had any criticisms, it would be that I think Dare moves almost too quickly at times. Some of the more emotional moments could have used some room to breathe or some more description of how the characters’ emotions are faring. But it wasn’t so bad that I felt like I was being rushed through the novel. Another way of putting is may be that sometimes Dare told where she could have shown, but the balance of telling vs showing didn’t feel egregiously off.

Plot: This plot mainly follows our heroine, Maddie, and our hero, Logan, as they try to work out an agreement. Maddie, in the attempt to avoid going on the marriage mart, invented a sweetheart at age 16 and wrote letters to a “fictional” Scottish captain in the army for years. Unbeknownst to her, the letters were actually being received by Logan, and when he and his men come home from the war, Logan is determined to marry Maddie in order to get her land in Invernesshire.

Personally, I found this setup to be quite intriguing and whimsical. I liked the embarrassment that arose from Maddie’s letters actually being received and read. I liked that Logan secretly looked forward to the letters from a stranger. I even liked the dilemma of negotiating a marriage of convenience. But I think where this plot fell apart for me was the whole challenge of consummating the marriage. Logan and Maddie agree to marry and live separate lives (it’s early on, so this isn’t really a spoiler), but Logan is adamant about consummating the marriage so that there’s no possibility of an annulment. Maddie, for her part, wants to avoid consummating the marriage because she finds that marriage will threaten her career prospects; as an illustrator, she finds that men will not hire her for work if they think household or parenting duties will interrupt her work schedule. To be completely honest, this challenge was quite good; I thought there was a real opportunity here for Dare to explore the sexist challenges women face in the workplace. Where I thought the challenge was weak was in the whole obsession with consummation. Unless there was such hostility between the Scottish and the English that an Englishwoman’s word would always be taken over a Scotsman’s, I found the question of “did they actually have sex or not” to be quite trivial. From what I know, annulments were notoriously difficult to obtain, so it wouldn’t matter much if Maddie and Logan had consummated the marriage. It seems like Logan could just say they did and an annulment would be near impossible. Nor do I think the law would care much if they only had non-penetrative sex. It seems like the whole plot hinging on whether or not they had “real sex” was a non-issue for me.

Instead, I would have liked to see more conflict in Maddie between balancing her desires for romance and a family with her career aspirations. Once Logan enters the picture, it seems like her career takes a backseat (except for a couple of scenes), and I would have rather seen it be more front and center. Either that or I think Maddie’s story could have mirrored her aunt’s more closely. Maddie’s Aunt Thea was long ago caught up in a scandal that ruined her, but later, Thea reveals that she had enjoyed the freedom. I think having Maddie be independent and struggle with the idea of being “tied down” by marriage could have also been good, and while there’s a little of that, I think it could have been more apparent to the reader.

In terms of small-scale narrative points, I think a lot of the scenes Dare writes are very funny and entertaining. I liked, for instance, the scene where Maddie falls into a bog, or when Maddie shows kindness to Logan’s friend, Grant. The scenes that truly did bother me, however, were some of the more “fluffy” ones that were a bit too cheesy for my tastes. For example, there’s a scene in which Maddie finds Logan reading Pride and Prejudice and he’s wearing spectacles. She makes a big deal about him being a reader and I had to roll my eyes. There’s also a scene towards the end in which Maddie attempts to make haggis, and I hated it because it felt like it was inserted so Dare could check off a “Scottishism” in a list. Tartan? Check. Brogue? Check. Haggis? Check. The scene also erupted in random violence, too, which felt out-of-place and inserted for pointless drama towards the end of the novel.

But I will admit, I did like the scenes that were very self-aware about what Dare was doing. For example, there’s a scene in which Logan is debating about what to do to get Maddie into bed. His friends give him suggestions like “offer your heart to her on a platter” or “throw in a lot of oochs and bonny lasses when you speak” or “dive into the loch and have her go looking for you. Then, when she’s found you, pretend you don’t notice her and have her watch you bathe for a while. Then emerge from the lock all dripping wet.” This self-awareness was a nice stab at romance cliches, though I wish Dare had done a better job herself at avoiding them.

Characters: Maddie, our heroine, is fairly likeable in that she’s bookish, generous, and a bit clumsy at times. I liked that there was a juxtaposition between her confidence and her social anxiety: while she wasn’t afraid to assert herself in some situations, big crowds made her nervous, and I think navigating those two scenarios made for some interesting characterization. The main thing I didn’t like about Maddie was how quickly she seemed to give up her career ambitions for Logan. There’s a point where she has to make a choice between letting Logan go and following her dreams, and she claims that she’s choosing Logan even though the choice is really made for her based on sexist norms of the day. I would have liked to see her wrestle with her ambitions a little more.

Logan, our hero, has some admirable qualities, but in the end, I found him rather uninteresting. He’s your basic roguish Scotsman with a tragic past, and though I liked the loyalty he showed to his men, I ultimately though he was a little too jealous and a little too used to his orders being obeyed. I would have liked to see him be a little less dictatorial so that his romantic appeal would shine through a bit more brightly.

Side characters are charming but, in my opinion, underutilized. I liked all of Logan’s army buddies and appreciated that all of them had disabilities in some way (and those disabilities were important but didn’t define them). I really appreciated Maddie’s relationship with Grant, the soldier whose memory resets every hour or so. She was kind to him and he was sweet to her; I just didn’t think his random violent outburst towards the end was necessary or in-character. Maddie’s Aunt Thea could have also been used more effectively, but I did like that Thea had this quirk of making a lot of cosmetics and remedies that were, ultimately, rubbish. It was charming.

Romance: Logan and Maddie’s romance was... ok. The premise started out really interesting, but over time, I lost some enthusiasm because I felt like I was being told that they had feelings for each other (rather than being shown). Sure, Logan does some things that challenge Maddie’s assumptions and vice versa, but I wanted them to have a stronger basis for a romance than just “they’re hot and I’m horny oh wait they were nice to me and aren’t exactly what I expected.” Part of the reason I wasn’t super enthused might also be the focus on sex and sexual attraction as well as Maddie feeling pity for Logan on account of his past. I prefer romances where the focus is on each person lifting the other up emotionally, and while there was a little of that, I think I would have liked to see it be more of a centerpiece within the plot.

TL;DR: When a Scot Ties the Knot is a funny, light, historical romance, but ultimately doesn’t have a “meaty” enough plot for my personal tastes. Some readers might enjoy the banter and the heroine’s determination, while others might be turned off by the cheesiness and lack of a complex hero.

[kareofbears]

desperate as that sounds

Five times Ryuji ran for Akira (and one time he ran for himself.)

—  

read on ao3 or below the cut :)

It’s 4:45 am with the weather sitting at a brutal -3 degrees when Ryuji really starts wishing that he brought another jacket.

People are lined around Akihabara by the hundreds outside of closed electronic stores, and the sun has yet to even rise. Some people are yawning, some are clutching their rapidly cooling coffee in a death grip, and most have dark, purple bags underneath their eyes—proof of the battle scars that they’ve acquired. Every person here had the same goal in mind: To get what they need and get out as quick as possible.

As it turns out, if everyone has that same mindset, it creates the violent, yearly November tradition that is Black Friday.

Glancing around, he notices that people came in packs, teams. Teenagers and pre-pubescent kids are all scuffling around, hyping themselves up and creating strategies for the war to come. The more seasoned veterans of the yearly massacre came in pairs—the smaller the group, the faster you move, the move land you cover.

At the biggest electronic store in a region that’s already been nicknamed ‘Electronic Town,’ he is fourth in line—an impressive feat, especially for a first-timer. But it came with a heavy toll: he is completely and utterly alone.

”Skull, do you read me?”

Well, physically alone, anyway.

“Loud and clear,” he replies, readjusting the mic in his ear. “Not that I mind, but what’s with the codenames?”

Futaba scoffs. “You think Black Friday is just about the physical aspect? Foolish boy—the psychological aspects are half the battle. If I get you into the mindset that we’re in a Palace, then you’ll get into infiltration mode, and you’ll be OP compared to the nerds out there.”

“Ooo, I like it! Your brain is effin’ galaxy sized!”

“I do what I can for my faithful pack mule.”

“I’ll try not to take that personally.”

His deal with Futaba had been a simple one. She helps Ryuji navigate the horrors of Akihabara during Black Friday in exchange that he acts as what is essentially a drug trafficker sans the drugs. Despite her rigorous societal training she’d undergone with the Thieves, something about entering a borderline stampede still seems somewhat unappealing to her. Besides, he doesn’t mind. He’d always wanted to do something nice for Futaba anyway, and the store that has her computer thing is the same store that holds what he needs.

”Five minutes to go,” her voice crackles into his ear. ”Infiltration route—go!”

Their deal had also come in with an intense tutorial session that ended up lasting until one in the morning. “Floor 4, down 3 aisles, 8 steps in, turn right, second shelf, grab a box that says ‘GTX graphics card.’ Pink, if possible.”

“A+, Skull! You know, if you can memorize that, I seriously don’t get why you’re failing English verbs.”

“Please, this is actually important.”

Futaba cackles. “Now you’re speaking my language. With your legs and my navigation, this’ll basically be a Tuesday afternoon in Leblanc.”

People around him are starting to straighten up, some going as far as to remove the extra layer of clothing and shoving it in backpacks for maximum speed and minimum restrictions. “Damn, people here look more intense than some dudes in my track meets.”

“If you’re throwing out portable chargers with 30-hour battery life for only 800 yen, you’d be a little intense too.”

Ryuji scoffs and begins to stretch, being extra sure to get his right thigh. “I’m plenty intense. Just last Saturday, I almost beat the Big Bang Burger challenge.”

“Pretty sure Akira beat that on his second week in Tokyo. You know, you still haven’t told me why you’re bothering with this whole Black Friday mess. I didn’t peg you for an electronics type of guy, and your phone is as crappy as your posture.”

“Rude! But I can’t argue with that.” He starts to run in place, and for a brief second, he wonders if he should’ve packed a protein shake.

“Well, too late now. If your thing sells out because you didn’t want to give your Navi information, that’s on you.”

“Gimme some credit, Futaba,” an employee who looks equal parts sleep-deprived and terrified approaches the glass doors. “Ain’t no way in hell I’m failing either of us this morning.”

The glass slides open, and as if sunlight was released from the captivity of the clouds, or perhaps a meteor just broke through the earth’s atmosphere, the people start pushing, shoving, and flooding inside. The crowd looked both impenetrable and unwavering; an unstoppable force and an immovable object rolled into one giant stream of desperate shoppers.

Ryuji spares a split-second to crack his neck. Mission Start.

The moment he breaks through the initial threshold, people who were only one step behind him suddenly became ten, twenty, thirty. Weaving through crowds and aisles with the precision of a seamstress, Ryuji evades it all with ease.

”Skull, status report.”

“Smooth sailing, Oracle!” He ducks as an overly buff businessman turns around with a 3-metre pole used for studio lighting threatens to bash his head in. “You’re totally right about the codenames, by the way. It’s almost like I’ve got Captain with me.”

“Right?” She laughs. “It’s all about the mindset.”

Ryuji turns, and finally gets to the stairs—the most brutal section and the biggest gamble. It’s the reason why it was essential that he’s one of the first in line. Once the stairs get jammed with people, it’s game over. Making a mad dash up four flights of stars, he thanks any God that may be that Palaces are fantastic for rehab.

He makes it to the top, panting. It’s empty, save for a few nervous-looking employees. He hopes the smile he throws their way came off as ‘pleasant and grateful for their service’ rather than ‘a delinquent asshole who might steal loads of shit.’

“Down 3 aisles, 8 steps,” he mutters to himself as he quickly scans the fourth floor. “Turn right, second shelf,” eyes landing on his target, he grins. “I effin’ rock.”

”You got it?”

“Of course I did!” He fist pumps before swiping the box. In his excitement, he nearly runs over to give a random employee a high-five. “Alright Oracle, you’re up.”

”I love you so much in a non-weird way. Okay,” he hears the clacking of keys on the other side of the mic. “What do you need?”

“Two words: game console.”

The clacking stops. “You’re joking.”

Ryuji snorts. “I ain’t waking up at 3 in the morning for a joke.”

”Those are hard enough to get as is, and on a day like this—”

“So you can’t do it?”

In the same way every one of the thieves know they could bait Ryuji with a few choice words, it’s a lesser-known fact that Futaba is quite nearly as bad when it comes to open defiance. “Jerk. Of course I can.”

“Then let’s do it!”

“Ugh, fine!” The clacking resumes, more vigorously. “Yikes, only 3 left. Make it quick!”

“Got it,” he replies. He turns around and his stomach drops as he sees people rushing in. “What floor?”

“Third.”

Ryuji groans. The stairs, with people packed in like sardines, are a circus. It would take at least two minutes to try and go down a single flight of stairs. The elevator is even worse, and he honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it had already started to malfunction. Only one choice, then.

He takes a deep breath. “Pray for me.”

”Godspeed, soldier.”

Ryuji, like a wild animal on the loose in the streets of Tokyo, jumps on the handrails and begins his descent that way, begging to the skies that he doesn’t slip and create a domino effect that knocks down a dozen people.

In thirty seconds flat (with no small amount of cursing from both the customers and himself) he jumps off and lands (tumbles) onto the third floor, grinning triumphantly. Eat your heart out, Sumire.

“Oracle, I’m here. Almost broke my ankles. Where to?”

”Straight ahead,” she replies. ”Only one left, though. Better make it quick.”

His eyes land on the last game console, and he sees someone making their way towards it. “Not a problem.”

Ryuji sprints.

Throwing every societal rule and common courtesy into the air, he makes a mad dash and, somehow, miraculously does not bump into anyone or knock down any huge shelves.

In approximately 3 seconds, he grabs his treasure and yells a very loud but completely genuine “sorry!” over his shoulder as he half runs back to the stairs, face red for multiple reasons.

Delving back into the sea of the crowd, trying to navigate himself to the cash register, he sighs. “I’m going to hell.”

”Mission success, then?”

“I had to steal it from some guy! I feel so bad. What if he’s like, buying it for his long lost son or something?”

”Whatever! That’s just part of the Black Friday spirit. Congrats! At least you finally got a game console.”

“Huh? Oh, I already had one.”

Static crinkles in his ear, before, ”WHAT!?”

“Ow! Don’t yell!”

”You already had one and you still did this shopping run?”

“Yeah…?”

”Why?! Are you gonna sell it? Are you one of those sleazy men who take advantage of the good will of gamers, Sakamoto?”

“Hell no!”

”So—“

“Oops, almost at the front of the cash register. I’ll drop off the goods at Akira’s. Talk to you later, shortie.”

Click.

”Wha— Hey! Ryuji!” Silence. “Ugh!”

————

After a much-deserved nap, Futaba climbs up the stairs to Akira’s attic.

“The star has arrived!” she says in lieu of a greeting. “Where’s Ryuji?”

“He left,” Akira answers. He’s looking at something on his worktable. “Your stuff is on the bed.”

Futaba whoops and snatches up the little plastic bag. Peering inside, she sees an adorable GTX hot pink graphics card, and a note. In a horrific scrawl, it writes: dont tell him plz ;)))

She looks up quizzically when her eyes land on Akira’s desk: A shiny new game console.

“Um…”

“Hmm?” he looks up. “Oh, Ryuji dropped it off. Said his mom won it at work, and since he already had one, he gave it to me. Nice, right?”

She opens her mouth, before closing it with a clack. Just two weeks ago, Ryuji had asked Akira in the group chat if they could play video games at his place. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget about Akira’s situation: false accusation, an attic for a room, no definitive meals, not even a proper bathroom in the building, but Akira plays it off like it’s easy. He answered by making a joke that he’s too poor for something like that when you can buy faux battle axes and realistic shotguns instead. Everyone had forgotten about that interaction.

But apparently, Ryuji hadn’t.

He’s an idiot, Futaba thinks. To which boy she’s referring to, she’s not sure.

“Yeah,” is what she says instead. “It’s nice.”

====

The dust motes flying around the attic of Leblanc are lovely. Swirling in senseless formations, floating through the still air like snow. The way none of them collide with each other, as if they have some sort of motion detector that tells them to move out of the way. It’s pleasing to look at.

It’s a shame Ryuji doesn’t give a single shit about them at this moment.

He’s sitting on Akira’s bed, back pressed against the window sill with his hair tipped up, staring unfocused at the wooden beams, eyes glazed over. He’s been like this for the better part of the day, and now the evening is slipping by him. Time continues ticking on like a rigged bomb; an ongoing reminder of how many seconds he’s losing, and how much more he can lose.

He’s considered moving. To walk around the room, shift the dust that’s surely settled on him. Getting up, stretching his legs, outwardly expelling some of his trapped, balled up energy is a good idea. Healthy, even, if those shitty YouTube videos he’s watched on his phone about anger management were on to something. But he can’t. He shouldn’t.

Amidst all the uncertainty and the wound-up anxiety that has currently made permanent residence deep inside his core, he knows that if lets his joints unlock, he’s going to fucking lose it.

Slam a fist inside the dry wood, tear up a blanket, throw the adorable ramen bowl he gave Akira against the wall until it shatters into a hundred pieces. He’s so terrified of ruining this room that he won’t even give himself the option. And Ryuji would rather let hell freeze over than scare Futaba again in his fit of fucked-up rage that comes with the package that is Sakamoto Ryuji.

So he’s stuck on the bed for God knows how long.

Footsteps come up, and he doesn’t need to look down to know who’s going to chew him out. If it’s not Akira that’s going to chide him out of his stupor (which it isn’t, even though Ryuji would do anything if it means that Akira’s back here with them), then they’d send in someone who’d drag him out of it with her nails perfectly manicured.

“You look terrible.”

“Screw off,” Ryuji spits automatically, and he cringes inwardly. Ann doesn’t deserve the sharp end of his horrible mood. It’s not her fault that it feels like his insides feel like they’re trying to eat their way out.

She ignores him and moves to hop on top of the old work desk. The wood creaks underneath her. “You’ve been here all day.”

“I know.”

“Did you sleep last night?”

“Yes. No.” He feels Ann’s stare burn into the side of his face—a ghost of Carmen’s presence. “I don’t know.”

“He wouldn’t want to see you like this.”

Irritation swells in him. She’s never learned to take a hint in her life. “Really? Are you seriously saying that?”

“Are you saying he would?”

“I’m saying he’s too busy having the living shit beat out of him to see me like this.”

His body twitches, and that’s all he needed for his resolve to break down. He jumps from the bed, feet landing heavily enough that he’s sure they can all hear him from the floor below. Unconsciously, his feet pace around the small room; quick with agitation but heavy with dread. Anything to distract from doing something stupid.

“You’re worried about me, what, not sleeping? For lying down on this damn bed for too long? Screw that. Akira’s being grilled like cheap meat for the past couple of days and you’re expecting me to act normal about it? That’s bullshit.”

Bad. This is bad. His fingers are already curling in his fists, eager and all too willing to be used. He settles for balling the edge of his shirt instead.

“He isn’t here. That’s the fact, isn’t it? And what the fuck am I doing about it? Freaking out? Trying not to throw a tantrum about it like some kind of stupid kid? Am I really this messed in the head that everyone on the team is—-is hiding from me like I’m some kind of—” he cuts himself off.

Delinquent.

Ryuji takes a deep breath, fully inhaling and slowly exhaling. He focuses on the dust motes again. In and out. Countdown from ten. He can do this. He can get a grip on himself. Thank God it was Ann that came up—if it had been anyone else, he doesn’t think he can put his pride aside as easily. (Unless it was Futaba. God, he loves her so much.)

For a while, it was silent except for his breathing; it stuttered occasionally, but eventually it evens out. Ann only watches from her perch.

When he feels stable enough, Ryuji drops to sit on the hardwood.

“Okay?” she asks. Ann never babies him when he gets like this—she’s good that way.

“Okay.” And he really is. Not completely, of course not. His nerves weren’t strung as tight, but he still feels a heavy weight right in his stomach.

She hops off the desk and goes to sit in front of him on the floor. Crossing her legs, Ann waits. They regard each other for a long minute.

“He’s the toughest guy I’ve ever met,” he says. It feels weird saying this out loud, instead of repeating the mantra in his head like a broken record. “If anyone can handle this, it’s Akira.”

She rolls her eyes. “Duh.”

“He’s going to be okay.”

“I know that.”

“Sooner than later, his dumb ass is going to be walking through the door downstairs.”

“You bet he is.”

“And I get to yell at him as much as I want.”

“Get in line.”

“I’m not going to lose him tonight.”

Ann reaches over—slowly, giving him plenty of room to shift away—and places a hand on his knee. “You’re not going to lose him tonight.”

Ryuji laughs, a little breathy but still genuine. He prods at her hand. “When’d you get so good with me, Takamaki?”

“I do the Lord’s work around here, free of charge.” She grins, before her tone drops again. “Can you do something for me, though?”

“Lay it on me.”

Ann pulls back and leans on a propped hand, her blue eyes piercing. “When Akira comes back, and he will—”

“And he will. No doubt about it.”

“Obviously. He’s the best person for this. But when Akira comes back, he’s…” Ann gnaws on the inside of her cheek. “He’s not going to be okay, Ryuji.”

Somewhere in his mind, he already knew what she was going to say. While the biggest of his worries is that he’d never see Akira walk through the doors of Leblanc again, there was a quieter fear. A very specific fear, one that Ryuji knows all too well. Because stories don’t just end at the climax of a single event—they keep going. It’s the fear of what happens once he does see Akira.

The aftermath.

The bell chimes downstairs.

His heart lurches, and he makes the briefest of eye contact with Ann before he’s gone.

He’s the toughest guy I’ve ever met.

It’s like his feet have a mind of their own.

If anyone can handle this, it’s Akira.

In an instant, he’s scrambling towards the stairs on all fours before pushing himself up.

Sooner than later, his dumbass is going to be walking through the door downstairs.

His hand finds its hold on the old wooden railing as he sprints his way down. More than once, he almost trips and bangs his head into the wall.

And I get to yell at him as much as I want.

Rounding the corner, he jumps on the landing, ignoring the sharp pain that shoots up his thigh. He ignores the stares from everyone else. Looking up his breath catches in his throat. Gray eyes meet his brown ones. He takes one step forward, and then another. And then he sprints the rest.

He’s going to be okay.

Ryuji stops himself right in front of him, an arms-length away. Akira’s face looked like it’s been through hell and back. Split lip, black eye, bruised cheekbone. An intense fury flares up his spine when he sees the grime and dirt up along his temple.

He hesitates.

As much as he wants to reach forward, close the gap, to make sure that this boy that he can’t afford to lose is real… he can’t do it.

Because he knows what would happen if he tries to cross a boundary that isn’t ready to be crossed—he might not be ready. Ryuji could hurt him by touching any injuries he doesn’t know about (God, how much more is he hiding in there? He’s this close to either throwing up or throwing a punch). But what he’s most scared about, what he’s terrified of doing, is touching Akira in the state of mind he’s in right now. For someone to grip him, grab him, even just brush past him right now, it might be too much. Judging by how beat up he looks just from his face? That does shit to people. That changes you.

Ryuji would know. So he keeps his distance.

Akira’s eyes turn dark, and for a second, Ryuji is terrified that he must’ve overstepped a boundary.

Then he throws his arms around Ryuji, the force knocking them both back by a couple of steps.

“Akira?” he asks, bewildered. Never in their friendship has he seen Akira act like this. It sends alarm bells ringing through his head. “What—”

“Don’t,” Akira cuts off, voice hoarse and quiet, so quiet that even this close, Ryuji is straining to hear him. The arms around him tighten. “Don’t be like that. Please. I can’t. Not right now, Ryuji.”

It hits him all at once. And in his sixteen years of living, Ryuji doesn’t think he’s ever been stupider.

Akira’s been trapped in an interrogation room with nothing but a bunch of make-believe police officers. He got the shit beat out of him, had to stage his own suicide.

And Ryuji just tried to push him away.

He lets his arms wrap around Akira tightly; not too tight, but enough to make sure he won’t slip away from him again. (Never again. Not if he can help it.)

“I’m glad you’re back,” he whispers. Tilting his head up, he stares at the soft lighting of Leblanc, forcing his lungs to breathe evenly—not for fear of losing his temper, but for fear of exposing the tears silently streaming down his face. “So fucking glad.”

Akira doesn’t answer. He only buries his face deeper into Ryuji’s shoulder.

Ann was right—Akira isn’t okay. Not for now, not for awhile. It’s up to Ryuji and everyone else in their group of friends to fix that. That’s fine. They’ll all take as long as they need. He isn’t okay right now, but he will be. They can work on that.

But one thing was clear.

I’m not going to lose him tonight.

====

Summer in Mementos is pretty gross.

Granted, it’s always nasty in here—there’s a perpetual air of moisture, like the inside of a whale, if Ryuji had ever been in one (he’s basing that off of an American movie Ann showed them last week; he didn’t even know it was possible for a fish to get lost in the ocean). There’s also the ongoing sound of trains passing by them on loop, and to him, trains are just inherently cramped and humid and always too sticky for his liking.

Of course, there’s the disgusting, weird amalgamated Shadows that litter every level of Mementos. At least in Palaces they sort of resemble something from the real world, but he guesses they didn’t even bother with these ones. The worst part of all this is that right now, it’s hot, but not hot enough for the Shadows to process a heat wave.

So essentially, they’re fighting with additional bucket loads of sweat, but with none of the usual reward that comes with it.

Well, not that they needed it.

“Fox.”

“As you wish.”

Yusuke’s boots skid to a halt as he points his katana at the fast-moving Shadow, the tip perfectly still. “Your assistance, Goemon.”

They’re on their weekly Mementos grind, the list Mishima keeps updating finally too long to ignore. (Akira hates it when things pile up. It’s a big reason why Ryuji hastily cleaned up every time he wanted to come over. Now though, he doesn’t even bother.)

The current All-Star team includes Yusuke, Makoto, Ryuji, and Akira, with the rest of them keeping a close eye in case they need a quick shift in strategy.

From his katana, black ice crawls in the ground beneath rusted train tracks, the air suddenly chilly despite the humidity that was there a moment ago. Frost shoots forward, encasing the legs of the Shadow only to shatter with a strong jerk forward. It roars, the ear-piercing sound causing the scattered debris around them to vibrate. Akira clicks his tongue.

Strong against ice. Easy fix. Ryuji mouths the words along with Akira when he says, “Panther, you’re up.”

“Finally!”

Ann darts in, high-fiving Yusuke as he rushes out. Ryuji can see Makoto pat Yusuke on the back, sympathy etched on her expression and Futaba mussing his hair. He always took it the hardest when he had to be switched out.

Akira’s gloved fingers brush the edge of his monochrome mask. “Come, Principality.”

As if a human version of justice has been summoned down to earth, the winged statue floats for a moment, eyes filled with scorn as she casts a simple, yet effective memory loss spell. The Shadow shakes its head aggressively. It works, but it won’t hold for long.

“Skull.”

“Don’t mind if I do!”

He grins and sprints right, squeezing into the Shadow’s blindside. It tries to twist around to take a swipe at him, but Ryuji is too fast—he slides right between its legs to confuse and disorient it. Once it seems like it completely lost sight of him, he raises his hand to grip the edge of his black mask. “Come on out, Captain!”

It’s a classic tactic; make the enemy lose focus, stun it, and stop it.

A pirate straight out of the Caribbean materializes from the embers of his mask—Captain Kidd in all of his glory regards the Shadow with a look of disdain before sparks fly from the hull of his ship, and an intense streak of lightning bursts forth, shocking its target like something from a regrettable movie about torture, knocking it down to the ground, a buzz perceptible even from here. He might have overdone it.

Ann whistles. “You didn’t even let me get a chance with it.”

“You can have the next million Shadows we bump into, I promise.” He calls Captain back into his mask, fragmented pieces forming together impossibly quick. “We good, Leader?”

Akira nods. “Just let me get the loot,” he smiles at Ryuji. “Awesome voltage on that last one, Skull.”

A grin stretches over his face before he can stop himself. He won’t deny it—getting a compliment from Joker was always something he filed away for later.

He’s too busy feeling pride surge through him that he can’t even bother to get ticked off when he hears Morgana scoff. “It doesn’t matter how good that attack was; he got in the way of Lady Panther’s finishing blow. That’s a crime in my eyes.”

“But doesn’t that just mean he saved her from doing anything?” Makoto raises an eyebrow. “Technically, he prevented any danger from befalling her, right?”

“Queen, as a gentleman, I have an obligation to tell you that that is a sexist notion.”

“You did not just say that.”

Something makes Ryuji pause. Immediately, his eyes flicker around them automatically. He tunes their chattering out, and finds himself tapping his foot, a slight jitter overcoming him. His nerves are trying to tell him something. Or maybe he’s imagining it? Is it just an aftershock from the intense lightning he cast out? No. It’s been too long since he’s had any problem with electric moves, and he’s never had problems from ones that he threw out himself.

Something was wrong, and he can’t put his finger on it.

He rattles his brain trying to figure out what it is. No one’s hurt, everyone’s safe and together. Well, mostly together, since Akira’s still approaching the Shadow—

A cold sweat drapes the back of his neck. Akira is still approaching the Shadow.

The Shadow hasn’t disintegrated yet.

“Akira—!”

The name slips past his lips, codenames forgotten. In slow motion, Ryuji sees Shadow’s body tense, its mouth frothing with what looks like liquid magma made from pits of hell—specializes in curse, and a strong one at that; Ryuji can feel the potency of its malignancy from where he’s standing. He watches as Akira stiffens, fingers twitching towards his mask, ready to retaliate, or at the very least, defend. And like a domino effect of bad luck, Ryuji feels bile rise to his throat.

Akira is good at what he does. Infuriatingly good. Took the whole Metaverse bullshit like a fish to water. But even he can’t switch Personas the same moment he summons them.

Principality would crumple like tissue paper against the Shadow. And Akira along with it.

You’re too late, a voice whispers in his head. You wouldn’t make it.

A heartbeat passes. And then Ryuji is flying.

It’s never too late, screams back something stronger, something unshakeable. Not ever. Especially not for him.

His boots hit the ground like the first strike of lightning amidst a storm—impossibly fast and unexpected. Lungs wheezing and legs throbbing, he crossed the distance in the span of a breath.

The Shadow throws the curse at Akira, red and black and filled to the brim with intensity, and Akira’s eyes can only widen, pupils dilated wildly to the point where there’s only black—a mirror of what’s about to hit him if Ryuji isn’t fast enough.

He doesn’t hesitate.

Ryuji shoves Akira, hard enough that he crashes onto the ground and he can hear the breath forcefully leave his lungs, and suddenly Ryuji can’t hear anything at all. His fingertips are fire and ice, his sense of surroundings have completely dissipated. Any energy in his body is being drained, like a dam cracked into millions of pieces—and all he’s left with is air. Vaguely, he can hear a choking noise, a broken sort of sound.

The blow is not just a violent one—it never is, with curse attacks. Instead of just feeling his skin bruised or blood running down his temple, he also feels himself get weaker, his mind growing heavier. An attack on the mind and body; a perfect cocktail of fucked up.

The last thing he sees before he loses consciousness is the glint from Akira’s knife slicing through the Shadow’s throat.

====

Tokyo is currently at a wicked thirty two degrees.

The sun radiates scorching temperatures down from the sky, the concrete eagerly absorbing every bit of its heat, making something akin to walking across hot coals. It’s hot enough that a mirage is visible to the naked eye. It’s hot enough that every ice cream store has a forty-minute line-up. It’s hot enough that no birds were flying, in fear that they may truly be fried by the sun above them.

Basically, it’s hot as hell.

“Ryuji-chan, pick up the pace!”

But Haru is more vicious than any conceivable temperature.

Looking like a survivor who was lost in the desert for several days, Ryuji lets out a half-garbled battle cry and sprints the last dozen meters. Haru clicks her stopwatch.

Sitting on a lovely lilac blanket, she tsks from underneath the shade. “Three seconds slower.”

“Ugh!” he collapses beside her on the cool grass. If she looks at him from a certain angle, she can see the steam positively radiating off of him. “I’m going to beat the living shit out of the sun.”

“You know I’d support you in anything you do, Ryuji-chan, but I don’t think you’d be fast enough to catch it,” Haru says. She hands him a cold water bottle. “Drink slowly.”

He rolls over so that he can squint up at her. “You’re mean.”

“I’m harsh,” she corrects, shaking the bottle in her hand. “There’s a difference.”

He takes it. “Have you done this before?”

“Helped someone train in running? No. But,” she rummages through her pastel pink tote bag, and proudly shows him a handful of books. He squints at them. “Since I’m so new to the group and everyone has such broad interests, I decided to try reading up on them! Did you know that drinking cold water after running results in less dehydration than drinking warm water?”

Ryuji stares at her. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For saying you’re mean. You’re not mean. You’re real nice, Haru.”

She smiles at him and pats his head, despite the overflowing heat and moisture settled on top. “You’re very sweet Ryuji-chan, but that’s not going to make me go easy on you.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re the tough-love kind of coach.” Ryuji sits up, cracking open the seal. Chugging down the water, he makes eye contact with Haru before slowing down substantially.

He dumps the rest of it on his head, sighing and shivering in relief. “That’s the good shit.”

“Why not wait for the sun to go down a bit?” she suggests. “The heat is really scorching, and there’s still plenty of time to keep training later.”

“Nah,” he stretches his arms behind his head before he stands again. “I gotta keep going while I still can.”

Haru frowns. “Overexertion isn’t going to help anyone.”

“Don’t you worry your fluffy head! I may be stupid, but I know when to stop when I gotta.”

“I really think you should rest for a bit.”

“I will when I’m done, I promise.”

“You looked rough in that last lap—”

“Haru,” Ryuji is grinning, but his tone leaves no room for argument. “I’m going to keep training.”

They stare at each other for a few moments, before Haru’s shoulder sags slightly. “Alright.” He’s about to say something when she cuts him off. “But only if you tell me why you’re so insistent.”

Ryuji shrugs. “If that’s what it’ll take to prove it to you, then sure. It’s kinda stupid, though.”

“I’m sure it’s not.”

“Oh, wait till you hear it,” he laughs, a little shy. “So you know how Mona and Futaba are, like, the Metaverse experts? And Makoto is the big brain? And Yusuke does the whole calling card part?” Haru nods, and he continues. “Well, I’m not really… anything. Ann already took the role of moral support and there’s no way in hell I’m the ‘brain’ in anything. Jeez, last time I picked up a paintbrush was in kindergarten. So I figured, I’d be the fast one, you know? The one that can get to someone fast enough to help them out.” Ryuji’s grin turns into something softer; less edge and more fond. It does something to her heart. “And if it’d help ‘Kira down the line, then it’d be worth it, right?”

Haru stays silent.

“Anyway! That’s enough of that cheesy shit.” He moves back to the track, running shoes scuffing at the concrete. “Wish me luck, maybe I can actually catch up to the sun this time. Teach it a lesson.”

“Ryuji.“

Looking back, he gives her a curious look. “Yeah?”

Haru hesitates.

I never once thought you were stupid. You’ve given so much more to the team than you can imagine. You have no idea how many times you’ve helped Akira without even lifting a finger.

“I have a cooler full of water behind me, so… please try your best out there.”

Ryuji gives her an enthusiastic salute. “Yes ma'am!”

He runs off, the sun continuing to beat down him relentlessly.

====

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ryuji knew they were all going to die someday. It’s inevitable. The circle of life, the winds of time, la vie en rose, etc.

He just didn’t expect it to happen at the age of 16, on the sinking cognitive ship of their next Prime Minister, wearing a wack-ass leather outfit surrounded by his panicking friends.

“We’re going to die!” Futaba wails, knees shaking uncontrollably to the point where she can hardly keep standing. “I don’t know how to swim!”

“It’ll be fine,” Akira spits through gritted teeth. He’s far tenser than anyone else, red gloves formed into fists and eyes constantly darting around to see what can save their lives. “We just need to focus.”

Makoto points to something on their right and shouts, “There! A lifeboat!”

Sprinting down the slowly escalating ramp, their eyes widen at the single lifeboat propped at the very top of the bow—which is slowly approaching a ninety degree angle. They all had one thought in their minds.

“We’re not going to make it in time,” Yusuke says, quietly.

Akira bangs his fist into a nearby column. “To hell with that. There’s no way I’m letting us die here.”

A heavy silence falls over them. The air is practically crackling with electricity and pure agitation, but there’s also a determination between all of that. Everyone’s overcome with a need to protect their friends and teammates, but they were at a loss of what to do. A quiet realization overcomes the group—there wasn’t going to be a miracle to save them.

Ryuji’s eyes land on Akira. He’s scanning the area, Third Eye activated but unable to pick up anything that isn’t the lifeboat. There’s no panic in his clear, gray eyes, but the terror in it is the most prevalent out of anyone present.

It hits Ryuji, all at once. The boy in front of him may be his age, and even younger than some members of their group, but he is undoubtedly the leader of the infamous Phantom Thieves. Every decision he made had led them here, in this moment, in their imminent death. And if he lets them all get taken, whether it’s through the ocean or the approaching explosions behind him, the truth of the matter is Akira feels that he would be responsible. That it’s his fault that a cognitive boat would take the lives of his friends.

Yeah. That’s not happening.

Ryuji clenches his eyes shut for a few seconds and slowly opens them. He begins to jump in place, hyping himself up.

“Skull…?” Haru asks, brows furrowing.

“Hang tight, guys,” he says, taking quick breaths. He can do this. “I’ll nab the boat.”

A chorus of gasps and heated objections rang through the air, and Akira steps forward, more shaken than Ryuji’s ever seen him. “No. Skull, please—”

Ryuji throws him a wobbly grin, more for Akira than himself. In one smooth motion, he jumps down and hits the ground running.

“No!”

Immediately, he feels his knees and thighs begin to protest, only intensifying the further he sprints up. For a minute, if Ryuji closes his eyes, he can imagine that he’s in a meet. A race. That the screams he hears behind him are his track mates, and not teammates, friends, best friends that would die if he failed to get to the boat fast enough.

He pushes himself even more.

It’s a miracle that he gets to the raft before his legs give out, and he feels a satisfying crank underneath his palms when he rotates the lever. As he throws a thumbs up at his friends, seeing them safe, healthy, alive, he feels relieved beyond words.

He makes eye contact with Akira, and he really should’ve expected the explosion that comes next.

====

His ceiling has seventy-nine plastic stars.

Ryuji stares up at it from his bed, arms crossed behind his head; they’d long since lost their cheap light. It was raining hard outside, enough to rattle against his window like pebbles calling for his attention. He ignores them.

It’s been years since he got those stars—dating all the way back in middle school. He got into a bad habit of sneaking out in the middle of the night to look at the sky from the roof of their apartment building. It scared the shit out of his ma when she finally caught him, scolded him to hell and back. By the end, they found a compromise: she’d buy him a crap ton from the hundred yen store, and they’d stick it up together. When they did, it kept falling down, so she went back and bought him a bottle of superglue. Now you can’t take them off, even if you tried to use a little scraper.

It bothered him, for a while. Young boys were cruel, and anyone who came to visit always poked fun of him for it. It wasn’t until he visited Akira’s room one day, saw how pleased he was that Yusuke bought them for him that he couldn’t help but revel at his own stars again, after all this time.

Ryuji twists his body sideways, ripping his eyes away from the plastic figures. Enough of that.

His eyes have long adjusted to the darkness that surrounds him, allowing a clear view of his room in the limited moonlight. Laundry splayed around his tatami mat from his sprints training today, gaming controllers scattered on the center table from when Akira came over a few days ago. That was a blast. He helped him beat a boss he’s been stuck on for weeks, and Akira beat it like it was nothing, it was the coolest shit ever—

Ryuji forces himself to flip over to glare at the wall. Sleep. That’s a better idea.

He takes a deep breath, forcing his breathing to go steady. There’s lots to do tomorrow—school is a drag, but they plan on meeting up at Leblanc afterwards. The thought allows his muscles to relax. Really, the atmosphere of Leblanc is just so pleasing to him. The warm lighting, the run-down booths, even the smell is a welcome presence. Well, that’s mostly because Akira drags it with him wherever he—

Slowly, his eyes open.

It always comes back to him, doesn’t it?

He rolls onto his back, in a position to stare at the stars again. The rain hammers on.

Ryuji’s a dumb kid.

It’s not a self jab, it wasn’t manifested by some sort of long-standing insecurity. It’s a fact. He’s never been good with a book, never done anything half-decent by picking up a pencil, his mind was never programmed to listen and retain information in long classes. It’s definitely not like he’s the brains of the Thieves, never a strategist of some kind. His ma encouraged him to take on a tutor in the past, and he’d rather bite a finger off than spend her money on wasted potential, so he found himself wandering the streets of Central Street as a way to pass time.

Ryuji’s a dumb kid, but even he knows he’s irrevocably, completely, stupidly in love with Kurusu Akira.

He sits up and ruffles his hair, frustrated. There are too many things wrong with that sentence, too many things that can go wrong because of that sentence. Of course, he finds the one thing that can mess up the unshakeable foundation that he and Akira built for each other. He must’ve really pissed off some God upstairs for him to have a hell-bent queer awakening with his best friend.

No, that’s wrong. It was the furthest thing from hell-bent—it was soft, it was gray, it was raining, and most importantly, it took its time.

They were halfway through Kamoshida’s Palace when Ryuji realized it; the sheer amount of power that hindsight gave him made him pause long enough to get clocked out by a Shadow.

Doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. It can’t matter, because he would never, ever do anything to fuck up what he has. Not again.

Wait, no, that’s not true. Even before Kamoshida, he’s never had something like this. He’s never had someone like him. He’s never had someone who’s so entirely on the same wavelength as him, who’d have his back even when his was against a wall. Kurusu Akira is…ethereal. Out of this world. Cool as fuck. (Hot as fuck, too.) If you lined up the entirety of Tokyo and told him he could pick one. One person out of the whole lineup to be his friend, he’d have his answer in a heartbeat.

See, now that isn’t something that changed with hindsight—Ryuji’s known that he’s been in love with Akira since before they completed Kamoshida’s Palace. And when he figured it out, he didn’t feel shock. His eyes didn’t widen, his heart didn’t start thumping like crazy. It’s more like he just scratched his head in a huh kind of way. It felt like his life had been waiting for that day in April, like everything was at a standstill until he finally met Kurusu Akira. It made sense. Everything just makes sense when Akira’s involved.

Which just makes this all the more fucked up.

He knocks his head back against the wall, eyes stuck on the raindrops’ rapidly moving shadows on his bedroom floor. Karma. That’s probably what’s happening. The world still hasn’t forgiven him for losing his shit, so they decided to make him pine for the only person that he can’t afford to lose.

He can’t even stomach the idea of trying to get over it, to try and put distance between himself and Akira. He spent a lifetime waiting for a miracle, for someone who didn’t know existed. He’s not giving up a single second of time with him. That’s probably why the world relentlessly shits on him; he’s selfish enough to keep the feelings that he has. But he can’t bring himself to regret that decision. Not with the way his breath hitches in his throat whenever Akira walks into the room.

Ryuji’s in love with his best friend, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do about it. He’s accepted it. Just like how the sky is blue, or that he well and truly hates Calculus. It’s a factor of life.

The rain seemed to fall harder, droplets sounding like rigorous hail against the windowpane. He lets out a long yawn.

Ryuji’s in love with his best friend, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do about it.

That’s not the reason why he can’t sleep at night.

Akira is a quiet guy. He gets his point across with as few words as possible, as if each letter costs him fifty yen to say out loud. So he speaks through his expression; a quirk of his brow, a tilt of his head, a certain smile is enough to carry half of the conversation.

And, every once in a while, Akira gets a look.

It comes up at the weirdest times—when the two of them baton pass in the Metaverse, when Ryuji eats ramen too fast and gets sick, when he helps an old lady cross the street. Plenty of times it’s because Ryuji is doing something incredibly stupid (like when he said that the square root of sixteen is six, because if you just get rid of the one, then that makes sense, right?), or when they’re laughing so hard neither of them can breathe. But sometimes it comes up in quieter moments, too. The two of them talking quietly in the attic at Leblanc, or when Akira confesses that he’s relieved Ryuji’s always there for him. (As if there would ever be a time where he won’t be.)

The look is subtle enough to miss but easy to find if someone knows what they’re looking for. The usual attentiveness that resides in Akira’s eyes disappears, in its place a softer gaze; his pupils get dilated, and the edge of his eyes get all crinkled like Valentine’s tissue paper. A half-smile rests on his lips, never quite turning into a full-blown grin, but that’s okay. For some reason, it all reminds Ryuji of the moon. Of soft moonlight. Of streetlamps on empty roads.

Ryuji’s in love with his best friend, and there’s a small, tiny, infinitesimal chance that his best friend might love him back.

His eyelids slide shut, though he knows that it won’t be enough to let him rest.

Realistically, he’s probably wrong. Akira isn’t in love with him, and he’s only seeing what he wants to see. With every eligible person seeming to fall in love with him at some point in time, how would it even be possible that Akira would love him?

He rubs his eyes, desperate to get rid of the unending fatigue that’s plagued him for months on end. It doesn’t work.

Bad excuse. Akira does love him, just like he loves everyone he encounters and befriends and ends up risking his life for. Ryuji’s surprised Akira hasn’t passed out yet, given his bleeding heart for the entire population of Tokyo.

Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles as he rubs his eyes harder.

But what if he wasn’t wrong? What if the signals he’s seeing aren’t based on misunderstood yearning?

When his eyes start to burn, his fingers move up to his hair.

There’s no way in hell he’d ever risk losing his best friend. His partner. His Akira. It’s not something he can gamble. It’s not worth it.

He begins to tug, hands shaking, and he can barely feel the sting of pain from nearly pulling his hair out his scalp.

It’s not worth it. He decided that in the very beginning.

Ryuji buries his face into his palms.

But he is so, so exhausted of being tired.

Lightning flashes, and for a split-second, his room is bright.

Fuck it.

By the time thunder rumbles through his apartment, he’s already out the front door.

His sneakers squelch against the wet concrete, soaking his unsocked feet. He’s sprinting fast enough that the street lights around him blur, and he can feel quick breaths getting pulled out of him. It takes him a few seconds to realize that he forgot to wear a raincoat, but he doesn’t care.

Akira is his best friend. Akira accepted him, flaws and all. Akira loves him, one way or another. That’s what held him back. He can’t risk losing that.

Ryuji quickly checks both sides before running across the street, wiping the rain off his brow, and keeps going.

But that’s what should’ve pushed him into confessing sooner. Because if that’s all true, then that can only ever mean that Akira would accept this part of him too, right?

He jerks out of the way as he almost barrels over a fire hydrant, making him step into a deep puddle. It doesn’t slow him down.

Maybe he would’ve realized it sooner if he wasn’t too fucking tired to think straight.

His lungs begin to complain, his breaths turning to wheezes, but he ignores it in favor of going faster.

Too late for that now. All the matters now is to talk to—

He skids to a halt.

In front of him—eyes wide, hair drenched, no shoes—stands Kurusu Akira.

Ryuji’s mouth falls open, and for a minute, he almost laughs. Of course. He should’ve known. Just as he’s willing to sprint to Akira at an unholy hour in the night…

He smiles sheepishly at him, and Ryuji feels his chest constrict in the loveliest way possible.

…Akira would do the exact same thing for him.

The rain slows, and the thunder ceases for a moment. The world pauses long enough for both of them to speak in the same breath, the same heartbeat:

“I’m in love with you.”

[elenathehun]

Watching the Clone Wars, part 2

Another week, another batch of episodes watched.  Some of these were (dare I say it) actually good, and some of these are rather bad.  Read on for the details of my opinion on “Clone Cadets”, “Supply Lines”, “Ambush”, the three-episode “Malevolence” arc, and “Rookies”. 

“Clone Cadets” (3x01)

This was very clearly a way to capitalize on the success of episode 1x06 “Rookies”, one of the top five episodes in the first season of TCW, providing background on the mostly-doomed Domino Squad.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t really warm up to it, even though I liked all the characters, and was excited to see 99 and Shaak Ti.  I think the core issue is that it was framed as a coming-of-age story, but coming-of-age stories imply agency.  No clone has agency in this war - or if they do, it’s something they have to carve out themselves.  Their entire existence is dependent on their martial performance, damn all their other qualities.  Success throws them into the meatgrinder of the war; failure dooms them to an ignomious existence as janitorial staff.  There is a lot a viewer can pick out regarding how physical disabilities are seen by the Kaminoans and the trainers, as well as how those values are transmitted to the clones, in 99′s story, as well as further hints of some kind of inter-clone caste system, but none of this is ever elaborated upon, at least in the episodes I recall.  

Either way, Domino’s “success” left a sour taste in my mouth.  TCW insists on portraying war as worthy and necessary, and in certain situations, that can be true.  But the Clone Wars is not one of those situations.

“Supply Lines” (3x03)

Another day, another episode where we see some cool characters die!  RIP Captain Keeli, you deserved better.  TCW did not have a military advisor, as the tactics used as abominable.  Like, I’m not asking for much, but hey, a little bit of mass fire wouldn’t go amiss, or even the use of an infantry square...  

There is sort of an interesting theme in this episode about the duty of the government to it’s people. Cham Syndulla is right to be upset that his people are being hung out to dry, but on the other hand...it happened to Naboo ten years previously.  It’s honestly surprising the Republic hasn’t fallen apart faster.  I’m rather neutral on the mission to Toydaria.  On one hand, it’s nice that Star Wars is trying their best to redeem Lucas’ very obvious and horrible stereotypes.  On the other hand...idk, Bail Organa vs Viceroy Gunray wasn’t really a great showing for what either side believes in? I’ve already forgotten most of it  

However, I feel like this is the first time I’ve ever seen Jar Jar Binks subvert his own reputation for good.  If he was always like this, he would be much better as a character.

“Ambush” (1x01)

This episode is mostly a showcase for Yoda, an 874-year-old murder machine.  This guy is basically a one-man army.  I like all the clone companions, and it was nice of him to give them a pep talk, but they were sort of superfluous to his reign of destruction, you know?  It would have been nice if we had seen the obvious end result of this natural-born killer fighting and beating Asajj Ventress.  Not really sure he actually has any mercy in him in the heat of the moment.

Boy, the writers are trying so hard to make these battle droids personable!  It’s should be funny, and it occasionally is, but it mostly leads to many questions about computer programming in the GFFA.  I like to think that Dooku has pulled a Krennic (or did Krennic pull a Dooku?) and he has a whole team of unwilling computer programmers writing the code for the droids, which is why they are so badly programmed. 

Of course, the  real answer is that Star Wars is space fantasy, and the real answer to the droids is magic!  Bad magic.  One might even say...incompetent magic.

“Rising Malevolence” (1x02)

I really intensely enjoyed this episode.  Finally, a superweapon that makes sense!  A giant ion cannon to be used against capital ships!  That’s actually brilliant.  Now, I have my quibbles with the design: since the CIS is mostly staffed by droids and drones, it doesn’t really makes sense for there to be a missive ship superstructure around the cannon.  It would make more sense for it to basically be like the old Legends Darksaber, which was basically the Death Star laser sans the battle station.  The ion cannon, repulsors and a hyperdrive, turbolaser emplacements and attached hangar bays for starfighter drones, as well as a screen of protective cruisers to defend the cannon against more maneuverable ships - that would make more sense.  But of course, it would have a much different silhouette in that case.

More truly graphic clone death.  Seeing several men get spaced is not PG, idek how this managed to get past the censors.  That is actually a real war crime, and I have no how parents explained this to Little Johnny and Sally (age six) when it aired on Cartoon Network.  And although I do love the relationship between Ahsoka and Plo, the central emotional question of the episode was left unresolved.  Who would come for a clone?  As it happens, a Jedi, but only if they’re looking for another Jedi :(

“Shadow of Malevolence” (1x03)

This was an OK-but-not-great episode?  Unfortunately, I read the X-wing novels multiple times as a pre-teen and teenager, so I have pretty high standards for starfighter combat and this didn’t really measure up to it.  I did love the space manta ray scene, though, it was very pretty.  Also a nice shout-out to the Y-wings, the perpetual butt of all the jokes in the X-wing series.

Again, I have no idea why “it’s a kid’s show!” was ever even tried as an excuse for the shoddy writing.  This is the third episode ever released, and the CIS is deliberately targeting a hospital.  Again, this is not appropriate for small children to watch!

On the bright side, a fun AU would be to play with the fact that this ion cannon apparently shorts out anything.  It would be pretty funny to see a story where the 30,000 walking wounded (I think) who were being medically evacuated, as well as Wolffe, Boost, and Sinker (plus Shadow 7, 8 and 10) are spread throughout the GAR when Order 66 comes through - and it doesn’t work for them, because the cannon shorted out their chips and no one realized.

Just a thought, that’s all.

“Destroy Malevolence” (1x04)

This episode mostly exists to show that Anakin will definitely put the greater good aside for the purpose of rescuing his main squeeze. I think it could have been cut for that reason alone.  Also to have some standard R2 and C-3PO hijinks, as well as Obi-Wan just being insufferable in general.  

Honestly, I would like this episode better if Padme was a Sith apprentice that Palpatine was trying to kill, that would at least make it more interesting.  Aside from that, it could have easily been cut.

“Rookies” (1x06)

This is definitely one of the better episodes of the first season.  Finally, Filoni gives the people what they want: an episode mostly dedicated to clones!  For a show about the clone wars, they’re in awfully short supply.  This was a nice war story, artfully executed.  I wouldn’t call it original, but honestly, originality is over-rated.  Cody and Rex are delightful as always, and unlike “The Hidden Enemy” (or “Clone Cadets” for that matter) it portrays clone relationships in a more positive, wholesome light.  

I also loved the droid commandos.  Kudos to the animators, who gave them a unique, more menacing walk and style.  However, I do dislike the continuing use of instantaneous communications through hyperspace even in star wars.  It’s a shame that the writers are either unwilling or unable to use the tension of time in their stories so far.

Next Week: “Downfall of a Droid”, “Duel of the Droids”, “Bombad Jedi”, “Cloak of Darkness”, “Lair of Grievous”, “Dooku Captured”, and “The Gungan General”.

[stirpicus]

I don’t know if this is a stupid question or not, but did you grow up playing games or did you play any games when you were a kid? If so, and if you remember what did you own, and what was the first game you played? My first game was Mario Bros on the Wii. I asked because you said you wanted to be a “writer,” and that can mean anything, it doesn’t just mean video games. Did video games have anything to do with it? Did they inspire you to be a game writer?

Oh this is a fun one!

I was born in 1988 so I was still a pretty little kid during the heyday of the Sega vs. NES/SNES war. By the time I was old enough to start wanting a video game console in the mid-90s, my mom had witnessed her older sister’s kids go through 5+ harrowing (and expensive) years trying to keep up. From my mom’s perspective, it looked like a new console came out every year (at like $500 a pop no less!) and every time you needed to buy whole new games for it (which were also $60-100 apiece!). We didn’t have a ton of money, so she decreed that we would not be a video game console family at all and banned any talk of getting a Genesis, NES, SNES, whatever.

The one exception was my beloved grey brick of a Gameboy. See, that was only $100 and my mom was able to set the rule “It only gets played in the car.” I received that as a present in ‘92 or ‘93 and every dang road trip it was my everything. My games of choice were Kirby’s Dreamland 1 + 2, whatever lame movie tie-in games were out (I remember burning a lot of time on the tie-in Pagemaster and We’re Back! games), and Pokemon red when that eventually made it to North America towards the end of the 90s.

Now PC games, on the other hand... That was a whole other story.

My dad was an engineer at IBM so we had computers in the house before I was born. Some of my earliest memories are of punching in DOS command lines at our family’s computer to play Mickey’s Alphabet Adventure or Goofy’s Number Party. I had to copy the commands from index cards my dad left next to the keyboard for me because I couldn’t read yet. Consoles may have been banned in my house through the 90s but there was a whole world of PC games waiting for me to explore.

The single most formative game that I played on my family’s computer was The Secret of Monkey Island. No joke, that right there is the reason that I decided I wanted to be a writer. It was funny, it was exciting, all without any spoken dialogue - just words written on screen. (Ironically, I wouldn’t realize that “video game writer” was a job you could have until much, much later) That game led me to all the other LucasArts/Lucasfilm Games adventure games of the 90s which I played religiously. To this day, I still have practically every puzzle, every story beat of those games memorized. Last time I tried it a few years ago, I was still capable of running Secret of Monkey Island in less than 30 minutes.

But it wasn’t just adventure games that captivated me. I devoured games of every kind on my beloved computer and, when we got internet access in 1995, I became a connoisseur of shareware demos. For a kid without a ton of money to throw around it felt like I was let loose on an all-you-can-eat buffet... and eat I did. I probably played thousands of hours-worth of the opening levels of puzzle games, platformers, bizarre RPGs... Game developers in the early days of the internet seemingly threw anything and everything at the wall, hoping something would stick and become the new hit title. Particularly beloved memories from that time include Gubble and Rayman, beginning my love of games starring goofy-looking protagonists.

Around the end of the millennium we got our first computer with a 3D graphics card and, ooh baby, that was a whole new world of possibilities to get lost in. I had loved Rayman and now suddenly there was Rayman 2, which brought Rayman and his strange, wonderful world into 3D and I was entranced. There were even ports of the games my friends were playing on console! For the first time I could talk the latest games with my friends and I was in heaven. I think I spent more time playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 in 6th grade than I did sleeping, learning the perfect combos and technique to send my scores into the stratosphere on the wings of my manuals and bowl-grinds.

So all of this is a long-winded way of saying that, even though I didn’t have any video game consoles as a kid, video games have been a pretty deep part of my DNA for a long time now. I might not have figured out that “video game writer” was a job you could have until I was in college, but my deep love of the medium means I clicked in pretty easily.

This one was fun - Sorry if I wrote too much, ha!

[chenziee]

Do you have any ereri fic recommandation? I read the 6th ward yesterday (and I'm still slowly moving on, it was so sad ;-; but in a weird way it made me accept Sasha's death in the manga more easily, and it's all good), so preferably a long one please. Thank you for being awesome!

Aaahh, thank you ;__;

Hmm, I have a few fic recs but I’m not sure what you have and haven’t read so I’ll just throw in whatever has stuck with me through all these years and I can think of off the top of my head meaning these might be fics that have been recced a million times over already because they are good. If you want more/something else, let me know :)(On that note, I’d like to direct you to @fuckyeahererifanfic who have a large and beautifully categorized database of ereri fic to fit any specific needs

I’m only going to link COMPLETED fics, because I tend to only read those AND I have a particular track record of fics being abandonded after I pick them up and now have trust issues but if you want some in-progress fics, I can rec some too.

The Little Titan Cafe by @pocketsizedtitan (66k words): Modern, coffee shop AU and the cutest thing.

Just another cliche AU in which Eren works as a barista in his mother’s café, specializing in latte art. And then there’s Levi, who’s not exactly your typical patron, because, well, he’s blunt and rude (which Eren supposes isn’t that much different from regular customers) but mostly he just confuses Eren’s poor little homosexual heart. 

Nuthatch (31k words) and the sequel Sparrow (116k words) by @sugarplum-senpai Canonverse. Pining and slow burn at it’s finest. All I’m going to say about it.

After the war has ended, Levi finds himself thrown into coerced retirement. With nothing but time on his hands, he buys an old house, and throws himself into renovation work to fulfill himself an old, almost forgotten dream: opening a tea shop. If only he could forget about expressive, green eyes and a smile like sunshine. Luckily, he’s still got Hanji.

[Prequel to “Sparrow”]

After the war has ended, Eren’s life is finally good. He’s seen the ocean, is back at HQ where he trains the new Scouts, and he has dinner with Levi every single night. So yes. Things are just as well.

[Sequel to Nuthatch | can be read as stand-alone work]

The Old Boat House by @oppa86oppa (102k words): Modern/fantasy AU, Levi is a merman (fitting to read during mermay no?) Has some andgst and some fluff, a bit of everything, really.

One night after Eren and his friends share a bottle of whisky, two bottles of whatever Annie brought and a couple of ghost stories, they walk the path along the gravel road, through the wheat field and past the small forest and stumble upon the old boat house. Inside they find something that’s sleeping on the bottom of the lake, someone clearly not human. One of them comes up with the idea they should catch it, probably fucking Jean, and in their surprise they actually succeed. However, in mere seconds the situation is suddenly turned completely upside down.

Eren doesn’t fall into the water, he doesn’t jump, he’s pulled down.

Art of War by catsonfire(53k words): Modern AU, fluff and comedy

Noisy neighbors, nursling dinosaurs, satanic box cutters, shitty convenience store management, the word ‘fuck’, hereditary (but not really) homosexuality, beer and ramen, pennies, truckstops, strippers, closets, semi-public defacing, rings, house parties, “recreational” drug use, accidental rendezvous, toxic stew (don’t eat the stew), nice abs, housewives–batteries not included, over-educational movie sessions, copious domesticity, kittens named after landlords, a shit joke at participating locations, and many, many happy endings.A modern AU in which Eren moves into the apartment directly above Levi’s.

Do you want me or do you want me dead? by fmaloser (82k words): Modern not-your-typical-high-school AU. A personal favourite of mine and the amount of kudos is a sacrilage. Although yes, it’s dark. There is blood and gore. The relationship they have is not healthy. Lots of angst. Boys are both broken and break other peoples’ bones, but I love them for it. (Read the tags before reading the fic.)

It’s decided that the school douchebag, Levi, needs a tutor to help get his grades back up. It’s also decided that high school senior, Eren, is perfect for the job.At first, the two hate each other. But after their pasts come back to bite them in the ass, they realize that maybe that’s not the case.

An Unlikely Alliance by @monsoondownpour (117k words) Arranged Marriage Between Waring Kingdoms AU. Everything you want from a good fic.

When Scouting Legions main trading partner, Wall Maria, is experiencing economic strain from constant attacks by the neighboring kingdom Titan, the leaders of the two nations come to an agreement: Scouting Legion will provide military protection in exchange for land and financial aid for the still growing nation.Their new alliance will be sealed with the union of King Jaegar’s son Eren to the Scouting legions strongest soldier, Lance Corporal Levi. But how will the cold, impassive soldier warm to his new husband, who is far from the weak, spoiled princess he was expecting?

Witch’s Vein and Bloodstains by @monsoondownpour (38k words) Fantasy AU. Not that long but so beautifully written it’s unreal. The atmosphere and how it’s delivered is honestly something I aspire to.

In a land of sentient forests and unpredictable magic, it is never wise to venture far without a witch.  

The Survey Corps is in dire need of a replacement after a tragic accident took Ilse’s life in a quest gone horribly wrong. Eren might not be what anyone expected, but he has raw talent and curious allure that even Captain Levi can’t deny. When circumstances conspire to pit the squad against the same adversary that took Ilse barely a year ago, will they be able to handle the challenge a second time round?

Fallen Star @monsoondownpour (31k words) Modern AU. Lots of angst. Actually it’s mostly angst because even the ridiculously fluffy parts hurt. (But spoiler: happy ending, yay!)

Detective Levi Ackerman had his life in order; a steady job he enjoyed, a close circle of friends, and a spitfire little sister who was all the family he could ever want or need. His world was a simple one until ballet prodigy Eren Jaeger stumbled into it.Someone like Eren didn’t belong in his world.Now he wasn’t sure how he would live without him.

Lists by Trick_Fantasy (72k words) College AU. Can be highly triggering for anxiety, there is emotional manipulation, and VERY toxic friendships. It’s about learning to get past all of that. Read at own risk. But it’s an amazing fic and will forever be one of my favourites.

The story of Levi (“Why bother trying to make friends when you can learn to control people instead?”) and Eren (“Because you can control people better when they think that they’re your friends. They don’t even know they’re being manipulated.”) coping with social interaction at college in their own different ways.

Augenfresser by @foxicology (75k words) Modern/Fantasy AU. Horror/Thriller. Deals with heavy stuff, the ending is up for interpretation and known to fuck people up. Be warned.

Monsters did not like to hide under beds, as his father had told him. No; he found the monster hiding in his closet.

Love.exe by @cofferi (70k words) Modern AU. Finishing off with more fluff/comedy so I don’t seem like such a psycho. Definitely a fun read.

All Levi wants to do is drink tea, run his goddamn convenience store, and not have to deal with this kid who keeps coming in to leech his wifi bringing down high-end corporations.

Also literally anything by @sciencefictioness is a sure bet. Just saying.

Also going to take the oppotunity to throw in my own AO3 because why the hell not (although it’s mostly oneshots).

I’m very sure I’m missing some amazing fics and authors but this is what I could think off at 1AM and not make it a mile long post. I hope you find something you haven’t read and that you enjoy these gems anon :)

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Also I can’t help but throw this fic in:

Tinsel Town by TheWonderYears (33k words) Modern AU. Psychotic-murder-boyfriends AU. Seriously. It’s very graphic. Blood, gore, torture, all the fun stuff. I love it. My ultimate fave, always and forever.

There’s Definitely Something In The Water.

Aaaand there goes my ‘I’m not a psycho’ claim.

[shui-xi]

p.o. : shadowhunters

i kinda really wanted to write about this one, because..tbh i had some sleepless nights because of it, so hear me out, well, in case you care. if you don’t know it’s a teen tv series based on a series of cassandra clare books. as being a teen show i knew what i was diving in and don’t tell me older people can’t watch it. i actually fully enjoyed it even if my teen times were like 10 years ago, despite all the flaws and stuff. to be clear i came for malec* and actually stayed for it. (*malec is how everyone calls magnus+alec ship, they’re an actual gay couple in the series ufufu).

by “i knew what i was diving in” i mean that i’m aware of all the cliche stuff that might be going on. and let’s be real a girl who lived a normal life suddenly finds out she’s can’t be that anymore and many amazing things but also sad things wait for her on her adventure, and the series are like that, with clary finding out that once she was just an art student, but now she finds out that she belongs to a totally different world and all the bullshit like vampires and werewolves and mages are all real. and with that i was right actually, but that’s what made me giggle all the way. the cheesiness was overflowing. you know how you sometimes watch something that isn’t that well done, but you actually like it for it XD i had the same experience. last night i thought it would be a great challenge if i actully watched the entire series with a bottle of alcohol and took a shot every time they asked - are you ok? or - we need to talk.

but as the show unfolded it actually developed by folds. you know if you have an eye for such things you’ll see how first season didn’t have much set, swords were funny as if they stole star wars prop, they saved money on cg like, for example, in scenes when fight between wolves happened not right in front of characters but behind something else, yet you could hear the sound instead. my favorites are when they fake-stabbed and it was like a knife in an armpit trick, i even took screenshots to savor the moment. and there were many things like that. yet i’ve read ppl still really liked it. not to mention i liked it. i know i didn’t take it as seriously because it made me giggle, but i’m still pretty positive about it. while in next seasons you could see that they got more money they could spend. on emotional side everything developed too. and malec got better too ufufufu but jokes aside it really had scenes where i was sitting and wiping tears away.

i have no idea how different the series are from the books, because obviously i haven’t read them. for malec alone i could actually read everything to find out.

to sum the whole thing up to me it was more like - it’s good, because it’s so bad. that was at first, the cheesiness stayed but with the next seasons it got better. i’m on season 3 already and i started watching just few days ago it seems XD and that should speak for itself.

but honestly i’d love to know if any of you guys ever watched it, or more than that - read it. i really want to know how malec is in books. and sorry for the interest, but i like strong relationships. others had like a change of heart, seeing different people for different reasons, but malec stayed strong, and i like that XD you are free to message me :)

and while i’m at it, i really liked this video on youtube, one of the funniest i’ve seen

/edit

ok, i’m done, like fully done watching all the episodes released to this day and what can i say...tbh i’m pleasantly impressed. it did get better and better, the only like big complain i have is that this show is cramped af. because even if all the seasons are behind me i’m not really sure about entire universe and questions left hanging. well, name me a perfect show without a flaw though))) yet, still confuses me like why they made cary special, because as far as i remember they divided themselves into worlds of light and dark, and shadowhunters as they claimed were like half-angelic beings, while later the emphasis was brought only to cary who has blood of angel, so the earlier mention of entire structure kinda ruined the impression. i may be mixing things up, but it kinda stuck with me from earlier stages. like where she really receives this strength from, why is she so blessed as if her dad is god himself. and other questions as well. like why they don’t have a special thing that allows them to mass-spread the word quickly. fights sometimes looked tedious because of all the “throwing around”. also weapon choice, many times izzy was like overpowered and put in a difficult position because of her whip. at times i wished they’d use guns XDDD i can go on for a long time

also it was such a pleasure to speak with few people on this show and find few things out. i’m impressed they actually did a lot of changes. impressed, but not surprised since changing things, sometimes entirely, is a common thing, especially with “based on” shows and movies. and if i were a reader and saw it was tailored differently my mind would be fucked too. yet, looking at it as a piece of its’ own is actually not a bad thing. because in season 1 i was honestly almost cackling all the time, i couldn’t immerse in the feelings of the characters, but by season 3 i was thinking to myself - wow, that’s a good move, that was powerful, i wonder how it’ll impact him in the future and so and so forth. one thing i’d agree for sure is that characters are older. sorry for sentiments but if the graphic scenes will involve love and sex, then making characters older is a wiser choice. it’s a tv show after all.

anyway, i was pleasantly surprised in general. and yes, malec is like the best thing here))) no doubt. it’s really worth watching it just because of them.

[atthevogue]

“Tony de Peltrie” (1985)

The basics: Wikipedia

Opened: A landmark piece of computer animation, the Canadian short was part of the 19th Annual Tournee of Animation anthology that showed at the Vogue Theater in March and April of 1986.

Also on the bill: At least one Saturday in April, it was programmed in the 9:00 slot after Chris Marker’s Akira Kurosawa documentary A.K. and Woody Allen’s Sleeper, and before a midnight showing of Night of the Living Dead, which sounds to me like a very good eight-hour day at the movies. Otherwise, you could have had a less perfect day seeing it play after Haskell Wexler’s forgotten Nicaragua war movie Latino and the equally forgotten Gene Hackman/Ann-Margaret romantic drama Twice in a Lifetime.

What did the paper say? ★★★1/2 from the Courier-Journal film critic Dudley Saunders. Saunders described the Tournee as “a specialized event that shows signs of moving into the movie mainstream,” correctly presaging the renaissance in feature-length animation in the 1990s generally and Pixar specifically, whose Luxo, Jr. short was released that same year. Of Tony, Saunders singles it out as “one of the most technologically advanced,” and that it featured “some delightful music from Marie Bastien.” He then throws his hands up: "Computers were used in this Canadian entry. Don’t ask how.” Saunders was long-time film critic for the C-J’s afternoon counterpart, the Louisville Times, throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. In the late 1980s, he would co-found Louisville’s free alternative weekly, the Louisville Eccentric Observer.

What was I doing? I was six and hypothetically could have seen an unrated animation festival, though I'd have been a little bit too young to have fully appreciated it. Although, who knows, I’m sure I was watching four hours of cartoons a day at the time, so maybe my taste was really catholic.

How do I see it in 2018? It’s on YouTube.

A four-hour-a-day diet of cartoons was probably on the lower end for most of my peers. I grew up during what I believe is commonly known as the Garbage Age of Animation, which you can trace roughly from The Aristocrats in 1970 to The Little Mermaid (or The Simpsons) in 1989. The quantity of animation was high, and the quality was low. Those twenty years were a wasteland for Disney, and even though I have fond memories of a lot of those movies, like The Black Cauldron, they’re a pretty bleak bunch compared to what was sitting in those legendary Disney vaults, waiting patiently to be released on home video.

Other than low-quality Disney releases, the 1980s were highlighted mostly by the post-’70s crap was being churned out of the Hanna-Barbera laboratories. Either that, or nutrition-free Saturday morning toy commercials like The Smurfs and G.I. Joe. Of course there’s also Don Bluth, whose work is kind of brilliant, but whose odd feature-length movies seem very out-of-step with the times. Don Bluth movies seem now like baroque Disney alternatives for weird, dispossessed kids who didn’t yet realize they were weird and dispossessed. (Something like The Secret of NIMH is like Jodorowsky compared to, say, 101 Dalmatians.) Most of the bright spots of those years were produced under the patronage of the saint of 1980s suburbia, Steven Spielberg. An American Tale or Tiny Toon Adventures aren’t regarded today as auteurist masterpieces of animation (or are they?), but they were really smart and imaginative if you were nine years old. Still, the idea that cartoons might be sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by non-stoned adults was probably very alien concept in 1985.

In the midst of all of this, though, scattered throughout the world were a bunch of programmers and animators working out the next regime. Within ten years of Tony de Peltrie, Pixar’s Toy Story would be the first feature-length CGI animated movie, and within another ten years, traditional hand-drawn animation, at least for blockbuster commercial purposes, would be effectively dead. That went for both kids and their parents. Animation, like comic books, would take on a new sophistication and levels of respectability in the coming decades.

I love it when you read an old newspaper review with the benefit of hindsight, and find that the critic has gotten it right in predicting how things may play out in years to come. That’s why I was excited to read in Saunders’ review of the Tournee that he suspected animation as an artform was showing “signs of moving into the movie mainstream.” His sense of confusion (or wonder, or some combination) at the computer-generated aspects is charming in retrospect, too.

Tony de Peltrie is a landmark in computer-generated animation, but its lineage doesn’t really travel through the Pixar line at all (even though John Lassetter himself served on the award panel for the film festival where it was first shown, and predicted it’d be regarded as a landmark piece of animation). The children of the 1970s and ‘80s grew up to revere the golden era of Pixar movies as adults, and the general consensus is that not only are they great technical accomplishments, but works of great emotional resonance.

As much of an outlier as it makes me: I just don’t know. I haven’t really thought so. I think most Pixar movies are really, really sappy in the most obvious way possible. The oldest ones look to me as creaky as all those rotoscoped Ralph Bakshi cartoons of the ‘70s. Which is fine, technology is one thing -- most silent movies look pretty creaky, too -- but the underlying of armature of refined Disney sap that supports the whole structure strains to the point of collapse after a time or two.

Film critic Emily Yoshida said it best on Twitter: she noted, when Incredibles 2 came out, she’d recently re-watched the first Incredibles and was shocked at how crude it looked. "The technoligization of animation will not do individual works favors over time,” she wrote. “The wet hair effect in INCREDIBLES, which I remember everyone being so excited about, felt like holding a first generation iPod. Which is how these movies have trained people to watch them on a visual level...as technology.” There’s something here that I think Yoshida is alluding to about Pixar movies that is very Silicon Valley-ish in the way they’re consumed, almost as status symbols, or as luxury products. This is true nearly across all sectors of the tech industry now, but it’s particularly evident with animation.

One of my favorite movie events of the year is when the Landmark theaters here in Minneapolis play the Oscar-nominated animated shorts at the beginning of the year. Every year, it’s the same: you’ll get a collection of fascinating experiments from all over the world, some digitally rendered, some hand-drawn. They don’t always work, and some of them are really bad, but there’s always such a breadth of styles, emotions and narratives that I’m always engaged and delighted. They remind you that, in animation, you can do anything you want. You can go anywhere, try everything, show anything a person can imagine. Seeing the animated shorts every year, more than anything else, gets me so excited about what movies can be.

And then, in the middle of the program, there’s invariably some big gooey, sentimental mush from Pixar. Not all of them are bad, and some are quite nicely done, but for the most part, it’s cute anthropomorphized animals or objects or kids placed in cute, emotionally manipulative situations. I usually go refill my Diet Coke or take a bathroom break during the Pixar sequence.

Yeah, yeah, I know. What kind of monster hates Pixar? 

I don’t hate Pixar, and I like most of the pre-Cars 2 features just fine. The best parts of Toy Story and Up and Wall-E are as good as people say they are. But when you take the reputation that Pixar has had for innovation and developing exciting new filmmaking technology in the past 25 years, and compare it to the reality, there’s an enormous gap. And it drives me nuts, because if this is supposed to be the best American animation has to offer in terms of innovation and emotional engagement, it's not very inspiring. Especially placed alongside the sorts of animated shorts that come out of independent studios elsewhere in the U.S., or Japan, or France, or Canada. 

Which brings us to Tony de Peltrie, created in Montreal by four French-Canadian animators, and supported in part by the National Film Board of Canada, who would continue to nurture and support animation projects in Canada through the twenty-first century. A huge part of the enjoyment -- and for me, there was an enormous amount of enjoyment in watching Tony de Peltrie -- is seeing this entirely new way of telling stories and conveying images appear in front of you for the first time. Maybe it’s because I have clear memories of a world without contemporary CGI, but I still find this enormous sense of wonder in what’s happening as Tony is onscreen. I still remember very clearly seeing the early landmarks of computer-aided graphics, and being almost overwhelmed with a sense of awe -- Tron, Star Trek IV, Jurassic Park. Tony feels a bit like that, even after so many superior technical accomplishments that followed.

Tony de Peltrie doesn’t have much of a plot. A washed-up French-Canadian entertainer recounts his past glories as he sits at the piano and plays, and then slowly dissolves over a few minutes into an amorphous, impressionistic void. (Part of the joke, I think, is using such cutting-edge technology to tell the story of a white leather shoe-clad artist whose work has become very unfashionable by the 1980s.) It’s really just a monologue. The content could be conveyed using a live actor, or traditional hand-drawn animation.  

But Tony looks so odd, just sitting on the edge of the Uncanny Valley, dangling those white leather shoes into the void. Part of the appeal is that, while Tony’s monologue is so human and delivered in such an off-the-cuff way, you’re appreciating the challenge of having the technology match the humanity. Tony’s chin and eyes and fingers are exaggerated, like a caricature, but there’s such a sense of warmth underneath the chilliness of the computer-rendered surfaces. Though it’s wistful and charming, you wouldn’t necessarily call it a landmark in storytelling -- again, it’s just a monologue, and not an unfamiliar one -- but it is a technological landmark in showing that the computer animation could be used to humane ends. It’d be just as easy to make Tony fly through space or kill robots or whatever else. But instead, you get an old, well-worn story that slowly eases out of the ordinary into the surreal, and happens so gradually you lose yourself in a sort of trance.

As Yoshida wrote, technoligization of animation doesn’t do individual works favors over time. To that end, something like Tony can’t be de-coupled from its impressive but outdated graphics. These landmarks tend to be more admired than watched -- to the extent that it’s remembered at all, it’s as a piece of technology, and not as a piece of craft or storytelling.

Still, Tony is the ancestor of every badly rendered straight-to-Netflix animated talking-animals feature cluttering up your queue, but he’s also the ancestor of any experiment that tries to apply computer-generated imagery to ways of storytelling. In that sense, he has as much in common with Emily in World of Tomorrow as he does with Boss Baby, a common ancestor to any computer-generated human-like figure with a story. When Tony dissolves into silver fragments at the end of the short, it’s as if those pieces flew out into the world, through the copper wires that connect the world’s animation studios and personal computers, and are now present everywhere. He’s like a ghost that haunts the present. I feel that watching it now, and I imagine audiences sitting at the Vogue in 1986 might have felt a stirring of something similar.

[notdeadjack]

annual rec list: 2017 edition

18 Fandoms represented: 

Voltron: 85 fics Haikyuu!!: 8 fics  Avatar: The Last Airbender: 1 fic  Yuri!!! on Ice: 2 fics  Naruto: 2 fics Star Trek: 8 fics  Boku no Hero Academia: 9 fics Marvel: 8 fics  Big Hero 6: 1 fic Teen Wolf: 100 fics Star Wars: 5 fics Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: 5 fics Harry Potter: 3 fics  Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: 2 fics Dream Daddy: a Dad Dating Simulator: 3 fics  Lucifer: 1 fic Stranger Things: 1 fic Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: 3 fics

247 fics, under the cut!

(to those of you the “read more” doesn’t work for: I am so sorry.) 

If you find any dead links, incorrect/missing information or if you’re the author of a fic and want me to remove the link from this list, please contact me and I’ll take care of it :D

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Voltron

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9557762     Lonely (But Not When You Hold Me) by SouthernBird     4k, Lance/Shiro, h/c,

It’s an unsettling thing, something sickening that doesn’t sit well at all, almost as if he should have noticed the lack of presence earlier. Wary as he is to admit it, there’s a tiny voice of longing that dances in his chest through the silence of the corridor he’s standing in, as if the lack of the warmth of Lance’s presence has made him cold.

(A bit of a fix-it story after Episode 8/10 of VLD: Season Two!)

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9550874     A Good Day to Slack Off by UnknownAuthorPerson 3k, gen, fluff, team bonding, truth or dare, 

It definitely wasn't how Shiro planned his day, but finding his teammates playing Truth or Dare was probably better than going through another day of rigorous training.   

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9137215     burn and break by epiproctan    2k, Keith-centric, smut, tentacles, 

Keith follows some local alien tips on how to work off his frustration.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8655217     Just Like Sunlight by literal_trashbaby    3k, Keith/Lance, fluff, pining, 

when Lance found Keith milling near the fringes of the crowd and made some lame joke, he was expecting the usual snide remark, or at least that somewhat endearing incomprehension that bordered on naïveté. instead, Keith laughed. Keith laughed, and Lance’s world turned on its end.

OR: Keith laughs at a corny joke and Lance Was Not Prepare(TM)

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9124741    Too Busy Being Yours by Resamille     10k, Keith/Lance, pining, alcohol, 

Keith is in love, Lance is a mess, and maybe things might actually work out for once.

(alternatively: Keith pines, the stars are pretty, music boxes, Pidge can't hold their alcohol, lasers, and Blue is going to disown Lance after this.)

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9035474    Slowly, Surely by needchocolatenow    3k, Lance/Shiro, AU, pining, 

Shiro is tasked with an assignment to deliver important cargo to Altea. Lance is his second.

--

Or, the fic in which Shiro and Lance take a road trip through space in an unfortunately named shuttle.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8408143     A Kiss is a Kiss (But it's never like this) by GibbousLunation    25k, Keith/Lance, 5+1, slow burn, h/c, injuries, 

“How does this keep happening to us, every time.” Lance grumbled.

“You’d think they’d stop sending us on away missions,” he agreed. Honestly, between the poisonous plants of their last planet, and Lance’s tendency to always end up on the business end of every blaster or pointy ended stick, Allura was just being inefficient at this point.

Or, five times Keith kissed Lance but the situation was less than ideal, and one time Lance finally kissed him back.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8152486    Heatwaves on Autopilot by WhatTheBodyGraspsNot    56k, Keith/Lance, sex pollen, dubious consent, slow burn,  

Keith and Lance unknowingly inhale an alien aphrodisiac during a simple resource retrieval mission. But unlike the common aphrodisiac, this particular one reactivates under certain unknown conditions, later leaving them craving in situations that don't necessarily present them with many options. Keith tries to work through it, concerned with the sudden lack of control of his body, until he realizes the same thing is happening to Lance. So...great. How are they supposed to deal with this, keep it a secret, AND tend to the thousands of other responsibilities that come with defending the universe? (Together, of course.)

As someone who LOVES the sex pollen trope, let me tell you this fic is perfection. it has continuous sex pollen! and feelings! :D :D :D 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8628142     Bedroom Hymns by Bosstoaster Smut (ChaoticReactions)    26k, Shiro/Everyone, smut, aphrodisiacs, biting, fucking machine, D/s elements, body modifications, 

His arm wasn't the only thing the Galra changed. They also gave him certain... needs.

Shiro learns to make it work for him.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/7491141    Lost and Found by battleshidge (Amiria_Raven)    75k, Shiro/Pidge, slow burn, pining, 

The dashed line from their current location to the box was labeled 00:02:47:29:12. Two hours, forty-seven minutes, twenty-nine seconds, twelve milliseconds.

In just under three hours, they would be headed away from the last known location of Sam and Matt Holt.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8101003    BloodCam by hollo     116k, Keith/Lance, AU, blood play, self harm, cutting, cam show, asexual character, paraphilia, minor stalking by secondary character, 

It was Pidge who drew his attention to it, groaning at the pop up ad that had somehow broke through their ad blocker. “What sort of depraved bullshit is that,” She grumbled as she closed the window, but not before the site’s name was ingrained on Keith’s brain -DarkSinCams - along with a tempting teaser shot of a graceful neck pinched harshly in a prong collar. Exactly the type of bullshit that piques my interests, Keith thought. 

As an asexual with a thing for blood, let me tell you this fic is one that I never thought I’d ever get to read, a part of me that i never, even in my wildest fantasies, dared to think would ever get representation. Even if it deals with such a dark, dangerous kink that is arguably neither safe nor sane, it NEVER does so in a sleazy or creepy way. And, since Keith is asexual, it is sexual in a way where it’s not sexual at all? idk, i can’t really explain it. But, it is hella good and i love it.

Do take note of the warnings tho, if graphic self harm and cutting is a trigger for you, give this one a pass, yeah?

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9102247     strength of the small by nowweareunstoppable     12k, gen, h/c, graphic injury, BAMF!Pidge, 

A false distress signal lands the paladins in a tough situation. It falls to Pidge to earn their freedom, and it doesn't come without a dangerous cost. 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9067054    String Theory by kingkoganes (noero)    4k, Keith/Lance, accidental soul bond, frottage, first time, 

The prospect of piloting the Red Lion had excited Lance at first, even if the mere thought of abandoning the Blue Lion made him uneasy. In hindsight, that should have been his first clue that something was bound to go wrong. Omnipresent robot lions were usually right about these things. 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9081937    Stir by wynnebat     4k, Pidge/Shiro/Keith, threesome, first time, 

Shiro, Keith, and Pidge find each other after the battle with Zarkon. It's finding the others that's the problem. And boredom. 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9197414     How Far Will You Go For Your Leader by WashiPuppy    24k, Lance/Shiro, Lance/OMC, dub-con, consensual voyeurism, marking, 

"You would throw yourself at my mercy his place?" The Druid asked with a curious tilt to her head, "And what would I do with you?"

"You could do anything you wanted with me, Babe. Just tell me what you want." Lance heard himself say low, sultry, and entirely without his rational brain intervening. He could practically hear the minds of the Galra in the room grinding to a halt.

Great, now when the rest of the team rescued Shiro, he'd have to tell them "Lance died after flirting with the enemy. There was nothing I could do. I think we all knew this was inevitable."

"You should be throwing yourself upon the Commander's mercy, not mine," The Druid stood and grinned down at Lance.

Ah well, what was the french saying? 'When the wine is drawn, you have to drink it' or something. He leaned slightly to give him direct line of sight to the Commander.

"You could do anything you wanted with me, Babe. Just tell me what you want." Lance repeated in the same sultry tone.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8495119     popping tags by ladyfnick    8k, Keith/Lance/Shiro, clothes sharing,   

Sweaters are basically communal items, right? Lance has some unusual habits when it comes to other peoples things. In that he keeps accidentally stealing them. Whoops? Keith doesn't have that excuse.  

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9157693    Objects in Motion (When Unbalanced) by Mytay     37k, Keith/Lance, slow burn, pining, 

Lance and Keith are constantly being mistaken for a couple. Lance is highly offended. Keith is quietly outraged.

Pidge decides if she can’t have peace, then she can write an epic scientific dissertation on the romantic failings of two exceptionally dense paladins.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/7836556     Fake It Til You Make It by nikkiRA    26k, Keith/Lance, fake dating, pining, sex pollen,  

“No, it’s not that –” Keith tries to backtrack. “We just – we –” he isn’t sure what he’s going to say, he just knows he has to say something before he and Lance are forced to have sex with some weird alien species, while also keeping the weird alien king happy enough to create an alliance with them.

But not for the first time and not for the last, Lance pulls through.

Of course, this time pulling through almost gives Keith a heart attack, because Lance slips his fingers through Keith’s so that they’re holding hands.

“What Keith here means to say,” Lance says, and although his voice is steady, he is gripping Keith’s fingers so tightly it’s painful. “Is that we can’t mate with your people, although we, um, appreciate the offer, because, well. We already are. M-mated, I mean. With, you know. Each other.”

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9301076    in stasis by ilgaksu     26k, Keith/Lance, injury, physical disability, artificial intelligence, 

The story starts like this: with a story where you think you know the end, until it turns out you don’t, until it turns out you didn’t have a clue.

In which for three months of Lance McClain's life, he lives as an AI, waiting for his prosthetics to come online. It goes about as well as expected.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9355586     monachopsis by DJBunn3     7k, Keith/Lance, pining, 

It’s not that family-like situations make Keith uncomfortable, per se. He enjoys spending time with his fellow paladins and the Alteans, obviously. And in a way, they’re almost like a real family. Shiro and Allura are like the parents, and Hunk and Pidge are the younger siblings, mischievous and playful. That makes him and Lance the twins, polar opposites and incredibly similar at the same time, and always arguing over something. And no, he hasn’t thought much about this at all. So obviously he’s got no problem with families. They’re fine, even great. Just because he never had one before, doesn’t mean he’s made uncomfortable by them.

But now? Now that he’s witnessing Lance’s charisma firsthand once again, watching his easy interactions with complete strangers that Keith can only hope to achieve with Shiro and the others, he feels strangled and alone. His heart thumps unevenly in his chest. He’s opened the can of worms in his head that he swore he’d never touch again, and now they’re just crawling around his brain.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9379301     I Got You by dumpsterdiva      7k, Keith/Lance, pining, h/c, 

What do you do when you’re an overemotional kind-of-smol teen who likes engaging physical and emotional fisticuffs BUT NOW your crush is feeling insecure because of you??? Compliment him until he sUBMITS. THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM MY LOVE.

Lance is a self-sacrificing idiot and Keith is #done and frankly so am I

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9519404     All My Reasons Why by tylerproposey     11k, Keith/Lance, slow burn, pining, 

But what if Keith's favorite color isn't red...what if it's blue.

Keith who has never really had a favorite color. Then one day at the Garrison he catches a glimpse of Lance's eyes and it stops him in his tracks for that moment.

"That's it?" He realizes, "That's my favorite color,"

It starts off as an infatuation, nothing more than admiration for the entrancing blue eyed boy. It turns into a crush - something he’s never had - and suddenly every shade of blue reminds him of Lance. It ends with love, something deep and turbulent, really he never stood a chance.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9462965     from the mouths of liars by csoru     7k, Keith/Lance, Galra!Keith, xeno, rough sex, under negotiated kink,   

“Dude,” says Lance — foolishly, because it means he has to breathe and now if they get sucked out into the vacuum of space, he’ll suffocate — “Are you mutating? Is this going to be the kind of deal where you get all messed up and turn into a horrible monster?” 

.  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8474725     He Who Fights Monsters by magisterpavus     64k, Keith/Lance, AU, dragons, injury, h/c, slow burn, kidnapping, 

In a world where monstrous dragons terrorize humanity daily, the Garrison trains valiant Knights to slay the evil beasts and defend Earth. But when Knight cadet Lance Espinosa is kidnapped by a strange red dragon who kills its own kind, certain truths are revealed...and so are the true monsters. 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9645266     Practice Makes Perfect by ryuuou     2k, Hunk/Lance, mild dub-con, blow jobs, 

Lance goes to Hunk for some help on studying for extra credit.   

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9713744     i just want you to know who i am by Kyoshu_Koi     10k, Keith/Lance, AU, soul mates, 

"It's you!" Keith screamed, "It's always been you."

Or the fic where I combine every possible soulmate au together into one big mess 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9722156     We're Onto Something by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)    3k, Hunk/Lance, cuddling, 

Over their years of friendship, Lance and Hunk slept pressed together many times. All that changed were the places.

Until things did change.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9964355     Pollination by Saucery      4k, Hunk/Lance, sex pollen, 

In which a species of alien flower plays matchmaker.

Or, the obligatory sex pollen story.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9623936     Make Me Your Home by Reader115     38k, Keith/Lance, pining, galra!keith, 

“Oh my god, Keeeith,” Lance wheezed. “Keith you’re the best drunk space cadet I’ve ever seen.”

“Space cadet,” Keith mumbled. He repeated the words again although his eyes had zeroed in on Lance’s hands and Lance offered no resistance when Keith picked one of them up and pulled it possessively towards his lap. He began to gently trace over Lance’s fingers, sending shivers up Lance’s arm and down his spine. “You have looong fingers,” Keith murmured after a few moments.

Keith’s face perked up then, as if he’d just had a brilliant idea, and Lance could almost not wait to hear what new obscure thought had entered Keith’s pretty head. He was prepared to laugh, and instead found himself shivering again as Keith leaned far into his personal bubble, lips practically touching Lance’s ear when he spoke next.

“I bet you could reach all kinds of things, Lance.”

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9782123     Closer by Carvingknife     17k, Hunk/Keith/Lance, 

Keith understood that he was expected to bond with the other paladins, but he never expected Hunk and Lance to edge their way in as far as they did. Enemies, he could handle, but emotions. . . not so much. He entertained the option of ignoring the way his heart pounded all together, but one inebriated slip-up later, and the walls began to crumble. Suddenly, Lance is in trouble and Keith has to put confronting his feelings on hold in order to work with Hunk to get him back.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10020137     speechless by scriveyner (trismegistus)     1k, Lance/Shiro, pining, blow jobs, 

Keith was the same as ever in training, in sparring - his violet eyes narrowed in concern when he was able to throw Shiro and pin him to the mat; he had one palm on Shiro's heaving chest and weirdly that touch sent electric tremors down Shiro's spine. "You all right?" he asked, and Shiro's chest heaved.

No, he wasn't.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9630806      There's a love I've been keeping inside; by kirargent      10k, Hunk/Keith/Lance, 

Keith thinks, utterly certain of himself: Lance likes him, too. Lance likes Hunk, too.

And that’s just fucking annoying. Leave it to Lance to make Keith’s life even more complicated.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9768674     starlight by scriveyner (trismegistus)      873 words, Lance/Shiro, pwp, 

It turned out that there were a lot of things about Lance Shiro didn't expect.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9569120     Not The Human Definition Of Normal by BrOwNiEfOx     2k, gen, 4+1, non-consensual body modification, 

Four times the paladins noticed things Shiro gained during his time as a Galran prisoner and one time he got to rest and it didn't matter.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9853094     Like a Bolt from the Blue by Mytay     5k, Keith/Lance, 

Keith has a near-death experience, but he’s actually pretty okay afterwards — he considers it all part of the Paladin calling. Lance, on the other hand, is wrecked by it, and so he trains his butt off to ensure that Keith will never die on his watch.

Or, as I originally posted on my Tumblr: Keith unintentionally spies on Lance in the training room ...

… where the Blue Paladin is kicking ass. And Keith’s kind of mesmerized by it. Then he’s more than mesmerized — he’s freaking out because he’s actually kinda sorta into this brutally efficient soldier version of Lance.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9817643       Junkyard Gods by warschach     28k, Keith/Lance, AU, greek mythology - modern setting, 

What happened to old, forgotten gods?

They moved to L.A. apparently

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9904898     Hold me close by percyinpanties     4k, Lance/Shiro, BDSM, 

Shiro takes Lance apart in the best way possible, only to put him back together.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9913883     Heavy, Gentle Hand by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)     2k, Hunk/Shiro, 

Hunk trusts Shiro with his life, but he can't really trust Shiro with his own life. He makes it a point to step in to take care of his leader.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10025414     Come Back (as pure as gold) by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)     3k, gen, time travel, bittersweet, 

When Shiro steps out of his lion after the final battle with Zarkon, something is off.

Seems like he missed something. Ten years of it.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9959891     Count On Me by st4rlabsforever (omaken)    5k, Hunk/Keith, 

It’s not until a couple of weeks after the Weblum incident that Hunk realizes how much time he and Keith have been spending together lately.

Or, rather, it’s not really spending time together per se, just that Keith seems to always wind up wherever Hunk is in the evenings, whether he’s cooking up a late night snack in the kitchen or lounging in the common room with a bowl of Altean cracklepops and a movie.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9820193     All About that Space by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)    6k, Hunk/Shiro, AU, pining, secret admirer, 

After an accident that cost him his arm and his position on the first manned Mars mission, Shiro transfers to work at the Jet Propulsion Lab. Shortly after, Hunk gains a secret admirer.

These facts are probably coincidental.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9727223     Rushing To Say Nothing by LynnLarsh     36k, Keith/Lance, mild dub-con, alien brothels, angst, pining, 

“What the hell was that?” Keith says, sounding strangely pissed. Probably jealous; whatever happened, Lance is a lucky son of a bitch and Keith knows it.

Coran clears his throat before answering, and when Lance finally pulls his eyes away from the crowd, that purplish blush from earlier has increased to a noticeable shade of violet across his cheeks. “It seems our boy Lance here has just been propositioned by the local brothel.”

A.k.a. That time Lance went into an alien brothel to prove a point and came out perhaps a little too enlightened.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10026671     a truth in the blood by angstinspace     7k, Keith/Lance, missing scene, galra!keith, 

“I’m Galra, Lance.”

It's the first time he's said those words out loud––and to Lance of all people. He should feel horrified at himself but somehow, he doesn't. In fact, an eerie calmness has settled over him. Everything comes sharply into focus as he stands there, still holding Lance's wrist, breathing in and out, waiting for a response.

A post "Blade of Marmora" fix-it fic. Mostly broganes & klance bonding.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10088447     Hot Like Magenta by Methoxyethane     14k, Keith/Lance, galra!keith, heat, marathon sex, xenophilia, 

“I’m just saying it might be a little early to dismiss the possibility that you might be… you know.” He gestured to Keith’s alien junk as a whole. “In heat, or something?”

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8365993     electromagnetic by seabear      25k, Keith/Lance, pining, fake dating, 

Lance spends a lot of time wondering about his place in the universe. And his place with Keith. Oh, also there’s a heist and some fake dating.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/7797733      Entangled by mackerelmademedoit     101k, Keith/Lance, telepathic bond, pining, 

When Keith found himself mentally linked to Lance of all people, he never thought that it would end in anything but irritation and misery on both sides. He certainly never imagined that it would be a useful asset in team Voltron's fight against the Galra Empire. Now if he can just keep his feelings in check, they might actually have a chance at defeating Zarkon.

Needless to say, when he'd wished for a 'bonding moment' with Lance, this wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind.

This is a fresh take on the mind meld/telepathic bond/mental link trope, and i enjoy v much

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8549284     Closer to Your World by CastleSL      29k, Lance/Shiro, canon AU, role swap, pining, 

Students will be carefully selected and tested for the opportunity to fly out to Kerberos for scientific research. Only one student may be selected. Application and Testing will commence during the third trimester, June 21XX.

There was more on the page, statistics and requirements and more details, but it was legit. The flyer was printed on standard Garrison announcement paper, the document signed by the Dean and board of directors. The chance to go to Kerberos. Hunk took a moment to think, then clapped his hand on Lance’s back, smiling.

“Well, I’m rooting for ya, buddy.” He said, and Lance beamed like that was all he needed in the world.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10371303     theorycrafting by glhf     3k, Lance/Pidge, pre-canon, unrequited crush, 

Katie overthinks it. At least Lance is oblivious, and not interested. Pre-canon, set during the semester at Galaxy Garrison.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9816713     Kiss the Rain by robotjellyfish     7k, Lance/Shiro,  

After another mission where Lance gets tricked by the enemy and captured Lance is feeling pretty down his usual insecurities getting the better of him. Shiro is determined to show him he's not as useless as he thinks he is.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10088642     Small Fierce Things by playswithworms    5k, gen, injury, PTSD, 

Pidge is badly injured. Shiro does his best to angst over it, but is foiled.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9924476    Catch & Release by anonymous_scapegoat     2k, gen, 

Some Galra grunt makes the mistake of putting Pidge and Lance in the same cell. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10057184    Stuck on You by carpemermaid     25k, Keith/Lance, forced proximity, pining, 

Go to Thalgor, Coran had said. It will be easy, he’d said. Well, it wasn’t easy being literally stuck to his rival thanks to getting exposed to some stupid alien plant in the middle of a humid jungle, after hiking all day with said rival. Lance and Keith just have to make it through two weeks of being around each other constantly, with their arms glued together, before they can go their separate ways. But first, they’ll need to make it through sharing a room and learning how to live on top of each other until they’re free.

oh hey look, it’s my favourite trope: forced proximity~

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10091792     Pendulum by noero     5k, Keith/Lance, rough sex, 

The funny thing about falling for someone is you don't even realize you're falling until you hit the ground.

It just happens that when Lance falls, he hits hard.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9608048    It Takes a Village by Zemmiphobia    18k, Thace/Ulaz, canon-AU, fluff, kid fic, grooming, 

One decision by an injured soldier changes not only the fate of the universe, but the fate of her young son.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10053452    Got Your Back - Platonic VLD Week Day #5 by hufflepirate    4k, gen, injury, h/c, cuddling, 

The mission started going badly long before Shiro realized Lance was injured and trying to hide it. Now, stranded alone on a strange planet and completing their mission on foot while they wait for the lions to self-repair, Shiro also has to figure out how badly Lance is hurt, why his uniform isn't healing him, and what to do about it.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10553376     Antiparticles by yourfaveisproblematic     3k, Pidge/Shiro, 

an·ti·par·ti·cle Noun. A subatomic particle having the same mass as a given particle but opposite electric or magnetic properties. Every kind of subatomic particle has a corresponding antiparticle, e.g., the positron has the same mass as the electron but an equal and opposite charge.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10431945     After Me Comes the Flood by Qpenguin98    25k, Keith/Lance, trans character, h/c, 

The interior of this ship is cold and boring. The Galran soldiers that try to bond with you are cold and boring. Zarkon is cold and boring.

You are sick of being cold and bored.

A story following the Red Lion.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10540689     Touchdown by InsominiacArrest     4k, Keith/Lance, bondage, spanking, 

Lance starts to get hot and bothered by the fact Keith sometimes gives out congratulatory ass slaps, and it becomes an issue when they start dating and it's hard for Lance to ask for what he wants.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10540284     Hot in Here by SugarSweetRascal     5k, Keith/Lance, dub-con, rough sex, 

Lance and Keith have been pining after each other, so much so that their lions are thrown into full blown estrus. Will the paladins survive going into heat, or find a way to quench their thirst for one another?

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8104807     Infection by 5557     73k, Keith/Lance, horror, injury, drowning, slow burn, fluff, 

While exploring an alien planet, Lance is nearly killed by a mysterious monster. Now he's convinced that he is infected with an alien sickness. Why doesn't anyone believe him? It must be Keith's fault.

This is a horror-comedy (but like, also a romance?), and I drew pictures.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10411245      The Doctor Is In by InterdictedKai, minus___zero     10k, Lance/Shiro, AU, trans character, medical kink, 

Lance had always hated going to the doctors for anything to do with his reproductive biology. But transitioning and other medical issues meant that Lance had spent more than his fair share of hours around doctors. It wasn’t until he was nineteen and having serious pain issues that his local GP finally referred him to the Gynaecology department at the hospital in the next town over. Fortunately for Lance, it wasn't that far of a drive. Unfortunately for Lance, his doctor turned out to be young and hot. Fortunately for Lance, that doctor thinks Lance is temptingly hot as well.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9559535    Running Flat by SKayLanphear     11k, Keith/Lance, pining, crushes, 

Lance, like all the other paladins, is finally getting used to the “mind meld” they all have to indulge in when controlling their lions. Until someone’s uncontrollable crush comes in and knocks them all back in surprise. It’s a crush that circles persistently through their thoughts and only gets stronger as time goes on, until they begin to realize this might be a bit more serious than the term “crush” implies.

Meanwhile, the unfortunate paladin behind it all is trying desperately to bury the feelings away, yet failing at every turn.

oh gosh this is so cute

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10450977     Reach out for you (break these walls) by Utsukushin (UserFromPluto)    9k, Keith/Lance, h/c, past abuse, touch starved, fluff, 

Keith is trying to make himself smaller, to bury his head deeper in his knees, and Lance’s heart freezes in his chest. Anger dissipating like an exploded firework, Lance lets his hand fall limply to his side, mind blurring with static. When he tries to speak, nothing comes out but a choked noise, so he tries again.

“Keith,” he breathes. “Keith I’m not going to hurt you.”

(Keith has an abusive past, but with time and care Lance helps him become accustomed to positive touch.)

This fic was inspired by my fan art (!!!?!) and i’m still screaming about it ngl it’s amazing go read iiiit

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10465326    Katie by gemiinous    5k, Pidge-centric, coming out, trans character, 

"I'm a girl."

The reactions from the team should have made her feel better. They should have eased the months of dysphoria and anxiety, should have made her smile and relax into her own skin once more.

Instead, the casual acceptance--and even incredulity, were they even supposed to believe that she was a boy to begin with?--just left her off balance and whirling.

-OR-

Pidge slowly comes to terms with the idea that gender might not be as cut-and-dry as she thought it was.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10906425    Crushing Hard by donutwolf     15k, Hunk/Lance, wrestling, size kink, body worship,

Lance has a crush. But also, Lance wants to get crushed.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10842192     the potential of you and me by Katranga     15k, Keith/Lance, AU, first time,

“And then other times,” Lance said. “I’m just, like, dying to know what a mouth would feel like around my dick.” Keith choked on air and said, with absolutely no go-ahead from his brain, “I have a mouth.” Half-laughing, Lance said, “Is that an offer?” He pushed his wet hair out of his eyes. His throat was dry. “Is that an acceptance?” -- The summer after freshman year of college, Lance drags Keith back to their hometown to hang out. But the two of them rarely spend time together without Hunk and Pidge around, because things had a way of getting out of hand real quick. This summer is... no different.

make sure to read the reddit post this fic was inspired by. it’s precious~

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10713636     I Like It When You Touch Me by emogod669    2k, Lance/Shiro, smut, 

“I know, but tell me anyway.” Lance pouts and damn, Shiro’s weak just like that.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10379589     Songbird by Faequeen40     105k, Keith/Lance, injury, non-consensual body modification, h/c, 

After an ambush on a strange planet, Lance gets captured in Keith's place. Will the others be able to rescue him before Lotor breaks his new prize?

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10776273     wipe these stars from my eyes by scriveyner (trismegistus)    10k, Lance/Shiro, 

Lance flung his arms out and yelled, "I did not sleep with Shiro!"

There was a long moment of silence as the last of Lance's words hung in the early morning air. "So ... you were just naked in his tent when I walked in, then," Pidge said. "Yes!"

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10767930    Public Displays of Affection by JessenoSabaku    19k, Hunk/Lance/Pidge, voyeurism, 

Lance and Hunk have been hooking up since the Garrison days. They usually manage to keep their business private, but when Lance gets in the mood, there's no stopping him. Thanks to that, Pidge caught them getting it on in the showers, and ever since then she's gotten more and more distant. Now Lance has to find a way to close the rift between them.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10892712    Lusty Dust by Brewrites    5k, Pidge/Hunk, sex pollen, mutual masturbation, 

Pidge and Hunk are on an alien soulmate planet and have been blasted with sex pollen. Pidge for the second time on the strange planet.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10888098     In the Still of the Night by zombiegardener    17k, Lance/Shiro, slow burn, PTSD, 

Sleepless nights can wear you down. But sometimes they can also be the start of something beautiful.

Or how to build a relationship you didn't even know you wanted in sleepless nights and stolen moments.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10883565     small parts of something big by TEARSoverBEERS    4k, Lance/Shiro, 

“Yeah, no one's gonna be like 'oh, Shiro is in love with me, we gotta date now', just in theory, which one of us do you find the most dateable.” Lance agrees. --------------

Aka. the Paladins are stuck in a fight over who is more dateable and somehow Shiro get himself wrapped up in that (and then in Lance)

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10927908    Jaded by Creepofish    8k, Lance/Shiro, injury, 

Shiro is the leader of Voltron. He is the strength and the calm in the face of the thundering storm of the Galra. Lance is someone Shiro doesn't quite understand. Shiro is someone Lance wants to understand with all of his heart.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10935372     You Always Say the Stupidest Shit by mischiefmanager    13k, Keith/Lance, first time, fuck buddies, bickering,  

"I know what your problem is," Lance interrupts, pointing a finger at him and smirking as though he's just personally discovered the deepest secret of the universe. God only knows why Keith stops talking then, but in hindsight, he wishes he'd have just gotten louder.

"You need to get laid," Lance announces.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10698537    the anchor by Sarolonde    1k, Lance/Shiro, h/c, 

Lance can feel the anger burning within, sizzling and searing through his veins like explosive fuses networking through his body. The spark that lit the match had been Pidge’s agonised cries and screams, the destruction that shattered through her armour and broke her body in horrible unknown ways. She should never have been there, if they had have just listened to him…

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10312844    Something Just Like This by Sarolonde     40k, Lance/Shiro, AU, 

[19:09] Lance glad my photos were accidentally sent 2 a nice guy like u <3 thank u for not being a creep [19:22] Shiro Uh, you’re welcome. I guess? I don’t know what else I would have even done with the situation. [22:11] Lance u innocent sweet angel unicorn ^_^ g’night kind sir *tips hat* [22:13] Shiro Goodnight, Interesting Stranger.

The wonderful, unexpected consequences of Lance sending partially-nude pictures of himself to a stranger.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10522167    For the World to See by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)    10k, Lance/Shiro, AU, 

In which Lance is a dork for space, Shiro brought Lance's album with him to the ISS, and everyone else in their lives wishes they'd shut up about it for ten damn minutes.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10986474     in love again by Incertitude     10k, Lance/Shiro, power bottom!Lance,

when Lance's half baked prank causes an expected stir Lance is thoroughly pleased but the unexpected outcome is having Shiro inside his room unravelling Lance's buried feelings

or

the fic where Shiro says Keith's name during sex and provokes Lance into taking charge of the situation

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9630881    Black to Blue by PuppetMaster55     153k, Lance/Shiro, role swap, universe swap, 

Lance, the undisputed (no longer, since he finally got the team to stop questioning his position like a month ago) leader of Voltron finds himself in the absolute strangest scenario: being the Blue Paladin.

Lance, still finding his place on team Voltron, wakes up to the weirdest world: one where he's the Black Paladin.

OR, I take a universe where Lance was always the Black Paladin and have him swap bodies with canon Lance, throwing both sets of teams for a trip.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11094996    Cradle me in your arms by WHUMPBBY    8k, Lance/Shiro, sex pollen, 

“Shiro, I have an idea.” Hearing the vicious excitement in Lance’s voice, Shiro stopped his slow climb and sighed. “No, Lance, we will not set the tree on fire.” “How did you know?!” He was never quite sure how Lance could pitch his voice into the ‘angry teenager’ register even at the age of twenty. “Because I thought it through ten minutes ago and it’s too humid to light fire.”

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11986935    assess the situation by redlight    3k, Lance/Shiro, masochism, stuck in a wall, 

Lance is stuck, Shiro tries to help, and hopefully this is all just some weird, perverted dream, 'cause Lance really can't handle this right now.

Voltron NSFW Week, day 5 prompt "tricks and traps."

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11974986    A Helping...Hand? by magisterpavus    13k, Lance/Tentacles, consentacles, h/c, 

“It’s kinda cute,” Lance mused as the plant oozed blue slime all over his hand and wrapped a tiny green tendril around his thumb. “Aww, look!”

“Sure, cute, in a Cthulhu’s spawn sort of way,” Pidge muttered. “Put that thing back where it came from or so help me, Lance.”

“No way,” Lance said, holding the plant to his chest protectively. “I think it likes me.”

(DAY 8: FREE DAY - TENTACLES! )

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/12345033    Keeping the Nightmares Away by MizuLeKitten    20k, Lance/Shiro, cuddling, h/c, PTSD, 

Lance had had the occasional nightmare as a child, who hadn’t honestly, so having them while in space fighting against an alien tyrant hell bent on controlling the whole universe? At least some things were universal. As the nightmares persist, Lance takes to wandering the castle at night, and it appears he’s not the only one. After a chance run in with Shiro the two come to a simple agreement: If they can't sleep alone, why not try sleeping together?

If only things stayed that simple. 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/12781515    Power and Control by Bosstoaster Smut (ChaoticReactions)   7k, Hunk/Shiro, dom/sub, collars, praise kink, 

Shiro can't let go of the stress of the day. Hunk might have a solution. 

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Haikyuu!!

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9280169     Routine by someonestolemyshoes     16k, Hinata/Kageyama, AU, porn, cam show, 

Kageyama Tobio has a routine.

Up, shower, dress, breakfast, classes, practice, work, dinner, laptop, show time.

It’s simple, and it works for him. Kageyama has never been all that much interested in socialising—not to say he doesn’t like talking to people, but…honest, for the most part, he’d rather not be doing that—and there is comfort in a system that never changes. No matter what party he is invited to, what club meal or class drink or work social they try to wrangle him into, Kageyama does not cave, because the rest of his routine is waiting for him at home.

And if he’s late, he will miss it.

**

Hinata is a well-known cam boy, and Kageyama is his biggest fan.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9375023     Don't Mind, Don't Mind by runswithwolves (ConstantComment)    1k, Hinata/Kageyama,  exhibitionism, public hand jobs, mild dub-con, 

Shouyou has always been aware that Kageyama gets riled up after a win. Very, very aware.

While everyone else is practically knocked out from a match or, you know, four -- the team’s snores and silence palpable on the bus back home -- Shouyou’s heart races and he imagines he could run to Tokyo and back, and maybe after have go at a couple more rounds of spiking drills.

And Kageyama... well.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/7972708     Some Other Name by Gemmiel     14k, Hinata/Kageyama, college roommates, pining, misunderstandings, jealousy, 

Hinata and Kageyama are college roommates now, and Kageyama kind of wishes Hinata would call him by his given name every now and then. After all, they've been best friends for three years now, and aren't best friends supposed to call each other by their given names occasionally?

Not that he CARES, or anything. Except he does, sort of...

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7214293     I am what I am by Gilrael     40k, Ennoshita/Tanaka, AU, roomates, slow burn, demi character, 

“Uh, hi. I'm Ennoshita Chikara,” he introduced himself with a shy little smile that made Ryū's heart skip a beat. “Tanaka Ryūnosuke,” he replied mechanically, stepping aside so that Ennoshita-san could enter the flat. “C-come i-in.” --- Chikara moves out, because he has enough of his shitty flatmate. Ryū happens to need a new flatmate.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/6198364     campfire in your chest by deanpendragon     74k, Tsukishima/Yamaguchi, slow burn, pining, jealousy, UST, 

Kei realizes in their second year of high school that he's probably been in love with Yamaguchi since they were ten. However hopeless he might be in handling that situation, Kei prays he's at least not as hopeless as Hinata and Kageyama. But he just might be.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9147199     The Video by Navybluewings     53k, Hinata/Kageyama, college, masturbation, dirty talk, slow burn, praise kink,

Kageyama Tobio knows that he and his roommate, Hinata Shouyou are low on cash. And he's aware that part of that is might be his fault. So when Hinata comes to their college dorm with the promise of a paycheck, Kageyama almost overlooks the video camera sitting in his spiker's hands. All he has to do is record whatever Hinata plans to do, right? How hard could that be?

Funny how one video could change everything.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11573157   Dragged into Your Pace by nebulia    8k, Hinata/Kageyama, dirty talk, praise kink,

[You’re incredible, Kageyama, Hinata had whispered that afternoon, straddling his waist, elbows on either side of Tobio’s head, and Tobio had gone cold and hot and cold all over, jerking like his strings had been cut. It had been so much. And giving Hinata that much leeway is scary, but Hinata’s also kind of gentle, sometimes. Like he knows how to handle the parts of Tobio that are fragile.]

The working title of this fic was “praise kink tobio,” which...pretty much covers it.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11240220    a game we both could win by kagome_angel    7k, Hinata/Kageyama, voyeurism, mutual masturbation, 

If he were a decent guy, he’d pretend this wasn’t happening, but apparently he's not really a decent guy.

It's an accident, initially. But it spirals into something else, and it's incredibly easy to get lost in it.

(It's just a game, right?)

(Of course not.)

.

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Avatar: The Last Airbender 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/33751    The One Where the Fire Nation Clearly Loses by miarr    4k, Sokka/Zuko, frottage, 

Okay, so there was a little scenario with the guards.

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Yuri!!! on Ice

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8836096     From Almaty, With Love by BoxWineConfessions    71k, Otabek/Yuri, slow burn, pining, 

It’s quiet here. Even if the car alarm on the neighbor’s goddamn BMW has been going off for the past twenty minutes. Quiet, even though the alarm’s got the neighbor’s dog howling like crazy, and the neighbor works second shift and isn’t there to comfort the dumb dog.

It’s quiet…They haven’t spoken to each other since that morning, when Yuri went off to go see his tutor, and Otabek went off to do whatever the hell it was he did in the mornings before he hit the rink.

“You’re used to the noise?”

“Yeah, but…I think I like the quiet too.”

Or: Yuri spends the summer with Otabek in Almaty.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9135670     all the world's a stage by braveten     112k, Victor/Yuuri, AU, anxiety, 

Everyone has a guilty pleasure.

For Yuuri, it just happens to be romance movies starring famous heartthrob Victor Nikiforov.

(And, honestly, on the spectrum of guilty pleasures, he figures that his is on the far, far more innocent side.)

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Naruto

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http://archiveofourown.org/series/266068    blood of the covenant series by 100demons    15k, Sakura/Sai, developing relationship, 

Sakura and Sai come home after the war.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/5339486    reverse by blackkat    386k, Kurama/Kakashi, time travel, fix-it, slow burn, 

To make a tragedy, you break something beautiful and frame the pieces. To make a victory, you break something mighty and rebuild it piece by piece. To make a life, you glue the pieces together and hope for the best. Kurama's still getting the hang of this ‘human’ thing, but given that he’s 30 years back in time with catastrophes to prevent and a blond brat to save, he’ll have to figure things out on the fly. Luckily, living with Naruto's been good for his ability to improvise, if nothing else.

an absolutely amazing read! masterfully plotted and perfectly balanced between action, character growth and fluff. i barely noticed the length tbh. contains more rare pair ships than the main one, all which i now ship. also, contains character deaths in the previous time line that is referenced often as the MC deals with the grief, but all in all it’s a lot ligther and fluffier than one expects.

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Star Trek 

TOS & AOS

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/1179148     We Two Boys Together Clinging by rabidchild67     21k, Kirk/Spock, mission fic, h/c, kid fic, de-aging, 

One day, 9-yr old Jim Kirk wakes up in the middle of nowhere with a big headache and no memory of how he got there. He’s not sure where he is, but it’s definitely not Earth, and there’s not another living soul around. Well, except for this other kid - an actual Vulcan! - who’s annoying at first, but turns out to be pretty useful to have around. Guess it’s time for the adventure of a lifetime he’s always wanted.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/1731203    AT THE SAME STARS by spicyshimmy     136k, Kirk/Spock, canon-AU, slow burn, 

First Officer Spock of the USS Enterprise is part of the away team that discovers the survivors of Tarsus IV. Captain Pike assigns him to the curious case of James Tiberius Kirk, who steals one of Spock's sweaters. 

-There were no sufficient Vulcan poetics to describe the emptiness of the colony as it was found on the morning of stardate 2249.43. The fully-completed residential sector was neither ugly nor beautiful but simply remote; a hollow landscape of metal alloys and sensible architecture, with determined vegetation growing alongside the support beams. They did not flower.- 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/1013237    Only Fools by museaway    63k, Kirk/Spock, canon-AU, h/c, 

Spock has just graduated with highest honors from the Vulcan Science Academy when Nero destroys his planet. Lucky to escape with his life, he is bound for Earth on a rescue ship where he meets a strange fellow traveler: an elder version of himself. Disturbed by his counterpart's experiences in his own timeline, Spock vows never to follow the desires of his human half. But when a man named Jim Kirk comes into Spock's life, he's faced with a struggle to find the balance between Vulcan and human. 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/1011854    Measure of Happiness by writeonclara    38k, Kirk/Spock, canon-AU, roommates, slow build, 

When Spock chose Starfleet over the Vulcan Science Academy, he had not anticipated cohabiting with the most illogical, irrational, emotional human he ever met.

On the flip side, Jim never asked for a Vulcan chaperone, especially one as snotty as Spock, son of Sarek.

A Starfleet Academy AU in which Spock adapts to human life, Jim learns very, very quickly never to play a prank on a Vulcan, and there are far too many people after Jim Kirk's life.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/883469    THE SUM OF BOTH OF US by spicyshimmy     207k, Kirk/Spock, canon-AU, kid-fic, slow build, 

Jim Kirk is nine when a massacre on Tarsus IV leaves him without a family and without a home. Spock is twelve when a strange boy in the desert saves his sehlat. Families aren't born; they're made. 

-The look in mother’s eyes at his correction remained a mystery long after the colors of the night sky and the complex patterns of distant nebulae had become translatable by means of distinct and relatively straightforward equations. -

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/3896413     The prominence of a simple word by Exploding_Space    5k, /Kirk/Spock, pet names, 

Captain Kirk keeps referring to his First Officer as “sweetheart”. He does it when they are in mortal peril, when he is bored, when he wants to be annoying. Neither expects the term of endearment to actually become dear to them.

~ response to the „Hey, sweetheart“ challenge. reposted here from the k/s archive

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9488996     Sha Ka Ree by ThereBeWhalesHere    180k, Kirk/Spock, canon-AU, slow burn, time travel, pining, bed sharing, 

The year is 2258. Jim Kirk is a Lieutenant on the U.S.S. Farragut, Spock the science officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise. When the ships come together for a priority landing party, these two strangers find themselves fighting against the odds for a chance at life in an alien world, and the only way they'll make it through is by relying on each other.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10607232     Undiscovered Terrain by battybatzgirl     32k, Kirk/Spock, canon-AU, first contact, fluff, 

After an attack on his ship from a Romulan warbird, prince Spock crash lands on a nearby primitive planet, directly into the backyard of one Jim Kirk.

.

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Boku no Hero Academia 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/6589822     Hitsuzen by Methoxyethane    10k, Midoriya/Todoroki, pre-slash, 

He would have ended up falling for Izuku at some point no matter what, he was certain. No matter what path life took him down he'd have still ended up here, not because of anything as elaborate as destiny or fate but instead due to the simple fact of inevitability. Because Izuku was Izuku and Shouto liked just about everything about him, couldn't help but admire him and would always want to be around him, just for who he was.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10020833     the sunshine people by dellsey     12k, Kirishima/Bakugou, AU, 

The shitty red hair, the bright orange tank top with the word ‘Zumba’ written across it in huge bold letters, the goddamn pants and the green sneakers. Talk about a fucking combo. “That’s not a lady,” Bakugou states, squinting at the dude. “That’s Kirishima. He’s the instructor,” Jirou simply replies.   

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/10551482    downhill by eggstasy    5k, Kirishima/Bakugou, 

Bakugou sleeping in the common areas like it’s no big deal seems to give everyone else permission to be just as bizarre, and little by little Kirishima starts learning things about his classmates he never knew. 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11095629     Pure Morning by bigstupidjellyfish     10k, Kirishima/Bakugou, sex pollen, post-series,    

a classic sex pollen fic with a dash of sad excuse of worldbuilding 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11227647    nothing has changed me quite like you by akhikosanada     10k, Midoriya/Todoroki, fluff, pining, 

"Touching someone for the first time, Shouto found out, did not draw electricity or any other romanticized chemical reaction described in books and movies. It did, however, make his chest tighten harder than it ever had before, and as he drew the shape of lightning over Midoriya’s skin, his lips parted on an almost inaudible sigh. Midoriya’s breath caught in his throat, and Shouto wanted to catch it in his own mouth."

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11483757     Shudo by signifying_nothing     4k, Kirishima/Bakugou, 

It was so easy to take someone who acts like Bakugou and write them off as just another overly-aggressive future villain. It was so easy, and that was why Kirishima hadn't done it. He'd refused. Bakugou was loud, and aggressive, and strong, but Kirishima knew bravado when he saw it, he knew what a person looked like when there was nothing on their mind but their pride and their self-esteem.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11286987    i want you to show me by crunchrapsupreme    3k, Kirishima/Bakugou, smut, 

“I already told you, I’m not gonna break, you don’t have to go slow.”

“What if I want to, though?” Kirishima murmurs quietly. “What if I wanna take my time with you?”

Bakugou shivers.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11725113      get tough, straight up by qactus   11k, Kirishima/Bakugou, 

Then again, Kirishima never had this Bakugou Katsuki thing under control—probably everyone's known that, too.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/12886323    Katsuki VS Friendship by downtownfishies    13k, Kirishima/Bakugou, 

Katsuki knew he was an asshole. He just wasn't used to being so bothered by it.

.

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Marvel

all the franchise 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/7396714    Angel of the Morning by iFlail, Jenetica    49k, Peter/Wade, canon-AU, slow burn, deadpool as a warning, 

"Peter sucks in a breath and hides his face with a sip of cocoa. Aunt May repeating his own idea back to him cements it in his mind. Deadpool needs a friend more than anyone else in the world right now, and Peter’s job is to protect people. Even if that means protecting them from themselves.

He’s going to be the best fucking friend Deadpool ever had, even if it kills him. Which it very well might."

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/6260548     Damage by dontcareajot    42k, Peter/Wade, h/c, slow burn, 

Peter Parker finds himself in a sticky situation and who should show up to rescue him but the infamous Deadpool? Now Peter feels indebted to the mercenary... And maybe weirdly charmed by him.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/6148600     5 Times Peter was Having Issues (And 1 Time He Wasn't) by VyxenSkye   16k, Peter/Wade, 5+1, 

.... And How Wade Was Involved in Each One

A random '5 times' fic. Peter getting into trouble and Wade being there to get him out of it.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/4720682     Project Phoenix by TheAvalonian    73k, Bucky/Steve, slow burn, pining, kid fic (kinda), 

“They told me you were enemies,” the girl said blankly. “They told me I had been forged in hatred.”

Neither Bucky nor Steve said anything for a long time. The girl stayed with her hand pressed to the glass, waiting. This time, the question was there, even if she hadn't asked it outright.

Bucky cleared his throat, tearing his eyes away from Steve's and pushing down on the handle. “Well, they lied,” he said gruffly, and strode out the door without looking back. (Post-TWS, Steve and Bucky's lives are just starting to resemble some kind of normal when a young Hydra agent shows up in the lobby of the Avengers' Tower, claiming to be their daughter.)

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/3135464     Peter Parker's Home for the Wayward Villain by BeanieBaby     90k, Peter/Wade, canon-AU, fluff, protective bad guys, 

A really long redemption story.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/3903769     Bad Lines by DustToDust     11k, Clint/Pietro, 

It's Tony's fault. Someway, somehow, Clint just knows that the man is behind this new level of annoyance.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/4102126     Music to my Ears by astheoceanfalls    13k, Clint/Pietro, deaf character, prank war, 

“This music is awful. You have old man taste.” Pietro looked serious, but his eyes were lit up with mischief.

Clint did splutter this time. “This is it. I’m going to educate you on Real Music.”

Or, the one where Clint flirts with Pietro by forcing classic rock on him, and Pietro has no choice but to retaliate.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/9819023    What Pals Do by basilique    4k, Steve/Bucky, pre-serum, 

Bucky's lips are soft, and his breath is hot as he pants against Steve's neck.

“It’s just what pals do…other fellas do it too, they gotta. I bet you there's no fella in the world who hasn't...who hasn't with his best friend. Just…just kiss me, Steve. Don’t worry.”

.

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Big Hero 6 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/3498686    Dirty (when done right) by thehomodabrothers     94k, Hiro/Tadashi, AU, not related, stripper, masturbation, pinning, 

You know the kind of guy who looks like he'd suck your dick, the money out of your wallet and the soul right out of your body?

Yeah. That half-naked waiter over there? He looks like that kind of guy.

(There's a stripper Hiro's having a little trouble staying away from. If his personality is anywhere near as nice as his ass, then Hiro's pretty fucked - and not in the fun way, either.)

starts out pretty damn dirty, but rapidly turns sweet af 

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Teen Wolf

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/629953    Monsters by nightanddaze     10k, Derek/Stiles, dubious consent, possession, 

Two (three) souls walking in the woods, looking for and finding monsters.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/4683653     Stepping Off the Razor’s Edge by MissAnnThropic    25k, Stiles/Derek, angst, happy ending, 

After the events of season 3b, the group in Beacon Hills graduate high school and move on with their lives… everyone except Stiles and Derek. Beset by their demons, they decide they need to get away for a while to clear their heads. Cue the road trip.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/507930     taking the bus to chinatown by hito    13k, Stiles/Derek, 

Stiles' home economics teacher forces him to knit mittens. Nobody wants Stiles' mittens, but then Stiles offers them to Derek, and Stiles is pretty sure Derek does these things purely to drive him crazy. What else could it be?

hito writes the most precious Derek

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/1647245    Knight of the Night by calrissian18    -1k, Stiles/Jackson, long distance snarkery, 

Jackson grins, chest still heaving. He points at Stiles. “Princess.” Then to himself. “Knight.”

Written for mating_games Challenge 1: Happily Ever After. AND WON FIRST PLACE!

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http://archiveofourown.org/series/103751     Shatterproof series by pyes    90k, Stiles/Derek, h/c, car accidents, pining, injury, recovery, 

The first time that Derek kisses Stiles, they're in the Jeep—which is sideways—while they're trapped in an overpass collapse.

It's the second time when things really get scary.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/3187547    Come Hell or High Water by blacktofade     14k, Stiles/Derek, AU, a/b/o, pining, saliva, 

As an alpha, Derek goes into heat, which means he has to deal with endless amounts of saliva at any given point.

an original take on the, uh, biology of the trope.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/1991601    The Lawn Ranger by Snowjob    47k, Stiles/Derek, high school AU, jock!Stiles, pining, 

In which Derek is an adolescent werewolf with a penchant for chocolate bunnies, and instead of the dream summer of lazing around the house playing video games and nibbling on his hoarded supply of easter candy his mother makes him get a job.

In which Stiles is a showoff jock with a broken arm and an embarrassing crush who can no longer push the lawn mower around the yard.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/3879556     UST (An Unfortunate Series of Tropes) by ureshiiichigo    54k, Stiles/Derek, pining, UST, bed sharing, accidental marriage, telepathic bond, donuts, 

Stiles and Derek sitting in a tree, M-A-R-R-I-E-D.

Wait, what?

Or: Stiles thought he and Derek were finally getting to be bros, and then Deaton had to go and ruin everything with his stupid spell.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/3575022    Plus One by migratoryslashfan    101k, Stiles/Derek/Scott, Stiles/Peter, polyamory, accidental pregnancy, dub-con, fuck-or-die, underwater sex, graphic injury, traumatic birth, fluff,

Stiles takes a pregnancy test as a joke. It turns up positive.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/4248903    Our Skin, Our Bones, Our Silent Poem by staylorpotato    7k, Peter/Stiles, deaf character, fluff, angst, nogitsune fix-it, ASL, 

Peter is a Deaf werewolf. Stiles is a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult). They’re a kind of unlikely pair. But sometimes things you wouldn’t think of as a good combination, end up turning out to be the perfect combination, you know?

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/1932642    Reluctant Allies With Benefits by veterization    93k, Peter/Stiles, 

Peter suggests he and Stiles start having no strings attached sex. It's that simple. No, really, it totally is. Stiles will make sure of it.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/3643614    Prison Break by cywscross    21k, Peter/Stiles, Eichen house, mentions of torture,  

The last time Peter was locked up and abandoned, he went crazy and killed a bunch of people. Stiles can’t understand why anyone would consider it a good idea to repeat history. So he decides to do something about it.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/2542955    The Trouble with Threesomes and Supernatural Soul Mates by Akira_of_the_Twilight   87k, Peter/Stiles/Chris, canon-AU, polyamory, soulmates, slow burn, 

Peter looked at Stiles from the corner of his blue eyes and smirked. Stiles swore he saw a flash of red Peter’s eyes, but it might of have been his brain’s lack of oxygen making him hallucinate. “I’m looking for my soul mate. Christopher Argent. I believe he volunteered to be taken in for questioning.”

An iron fist clenched Stiles' heart. This man was Argent’s—Christopher’s soul mate?

Stiles stared at the Peter’s wrist, examining every detail of Peter's soul mark. Stiles couldn’t find anything different between his and the blond’s.

Stiles lifted his hand and ghosted his fingers along Peter’s forearm.

It was lightning all over again, and Stiles yanked his hand back, only to have it caught in an unbreakable grip.

Frosty blue eyes burrowed into Stiles', and he couldn’t stop himself from gulping. The smirk on Peter’s lips grew as the corner of his mouth quirked higher, and he drew Stiles’ hand close to his face.

Peter’s nostrils flared slightly as he stared at Stiles’ soul mark. He pulled Stiles forward, pressing soft lips to Stiles wrist.

“Now what would your name be?” Peter purred.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/6490537    According to plan by FeelingsDusk    16k, minor Peter/Stiles, time travel, BAMF!Stiles, 

The plan was very simple: go back in time, kill Kate, kill Gerard, never ever make contact with his parents, try to find a place within the Hale pack or not, but either way, live the rest of his life displaced and without the people he loves.

Of course, as it always is with him these days, nothing goes according to plan.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/8370943    All My Stars Aligned by Green    21k, Peter/Stiles/Chris, Peter/Chris, AU, a/b/o, alpha/alpha, pining, 

Stiles needs to find an alpha ASAP. Actually, the doctors say he really needs two. Damn biology.

Chris and Peter are two alphas in hopeless, doomed love with each other.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/6454288    Don’t Forget to Breathe by cywscross     11k, gen, canon-AU,  kidnapping, codependency, injury, trauma, 

The fire destroys every last reason Peter has to continue living. Stiles gives him a new one.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2521997    This Could Be So Dirty That it Just Ain't Right by taylorpotato   10k, Peter/Stiles, a/b/o, omega/omega, 

Ever since Stiles presented as an Omega, he hasn't been feeling the same urges as his peers. When he's around an Alpha that's not Scott (who is pretty much his brother at this point), his first reaction is to shrink away, not try to press closer. Until he meets Peter Hale. Who acts like the most annoying, entitled kind of Alpha on the planet. Except he's not one. He's an Omega. Of course, Stiles would turn out to be every type of gay possible.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/4013770    Lucky Penny (Tastes Like Copper on Your Tongue) by pibroch    11k, Peter/Stiles, AU, dark stiles, injury, groping, 

When Peter woke up, he spent a good fifteen or twenty seconds earnestly wishing that whatever had hit him had the courtesy to kill him outright. Because this? This was bullshit.

AKA the time I decided to give Peter all the nice things, but made him get hit by a car first. Like you do.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/7233526    Written in Red by gryvon    5k, Peter/Stiles, canon-AU, soulmates, humour, 

Peter had given up hope of ever finding his soulmate until the red string on his finger leads him to a four-year-old. He's going to Hell. Or jail. Or both.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/820526     just like the ocean under the moon by rain_of_stars    23k, Peter/Stiles, love potion, dub-con, fluff, 

When they find the alpha pack, Stiles is calling first dibs. Because trying to kill them all is one thing, but making Peter follow him around like a creepy undead puppy is unforgivable.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6273163    Save Me by DiscontentedWinter    39k, Peter/Stiles, canon-AU, aftermath of rape, torture, attempted suicide, 

Peter is the Alpha. He's nobody's savior. Not his pack's. Not his town's. And not that kid's. But sometimes salvation goes both ways.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1601951    Under The Weight Of Living by SatanInACroptop    16k, Peter/Stiles, survivours guilt, 

Stiles is having trouble reconciling with the aftermath of the nogitsune. Namely the notion that if Allison were here, Stiles might well not be. Namely the heart stopping fear of what could happen to those still breathing if the next time he wakes up, someone else is opening his eyes for him. Fortunately, there is at least one soul in Beacon Hills with whom he can relate to. Sometimes a little bit of help can be found in the most unlikely of places, including the domicile of Peter Hale, and sometimes, a little bit of sanctuary is all it takes.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/715949    no moral compass, pointing due north by AuntieClimactic    4k, Peter/Stiles, 

“I certainly didn’t suggest anything untoward,” Peter says, honestly perplexed but hiding it by widening his eyes innocently. “I can’t help it if you overreacted to my natural sexual magnetism.”

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1158050     betrayed by bones by veterization    25k, Peter/Stiles, love potion/sex pollen,

Stiles stumbles into wolfsbane that forces him to seek out contact from a particular person to stay alive. That person just happens to be Peter. Stiles hates his life sometimes.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/761191    Feet on the Dash by veterization    9k, Peter/Stiles, road trip, 

It's strange, because to the random unknowing passerby they're just two friends, maybe even family members, taking a road trip in the middle of a sweaty, endless June, but Peter's an ex-serial killer werewolf and Stiles is a little puny human who's eating all the chips like Peter won't rip his throat out if he eats the whole bag without sharing. The road trip part, however, is true.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/754957    Trust Fall by Stoney    144k, Derek/Stiles, body swap, h/c, slow burn, 

Stiles is fairly certain that a case could be made for every bad thing in his life coming back to Peter Hale. This time it's pissing off a powerful witch, who retaliated by swapping Stiles and Derek a la Freaky Friday, because sure. That makes sense. Um, there are GPAs on the line, not to mention the whole thing where his dad wants to shoot Derek on sight. Except who he sees as Derek is actually Stiles, and Stiles did not sign up for filicide.

Great. Wait...does this mean he's the Alpha until they figure this out? Holy. Shit. ****

Derek had stood in front of the bathroom mirror for a few minutes trying to control the panic as he saw himself as Stiles. As the loud mouthed human friend of the pack. He was going to kill Peter. He was going to kill the witch, then he was going to kill Peter. Maybe even resurrect him again just to kill him all over.

They were going to have to play this cool. They would have to stay calm and focused. Which is of course why the universe threw him into this situation with someone who physically couldn't be calm and focused.

Of course.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1884876     But Then What... by Stoney    24k, Derek/Stiles, AU, High school, 

Senior year is almost over, and all Stiles needs to do is keep his head down to survive. A teacher calls in a favor, leaving him stuck tutoring Derek Hale, one of the most popular jocks in school and a member of a group of douchecanoes who have bullied Stiles for years. He's someone Stiles totally hates. Totally. Like, doesn't like him even a little bit. DEFINITELY isn't attracted to him.

Except that is a total lie. Fuck his life, seriously.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2532104    That's How They Deal With Boys Like Me by taylorpotato    12k, Peter/Stiles, genderfluid character, trans character, misgendering, 

Navigating puberty is hard enough on it's own. But on most mornings, Stiles also has to deal with feeling like he woke up in the wrong body. Peter Hale, of all fucking people, is the only one that seems to understand.

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http://archiveofourown.org/series/684416     The Sheep Chronicles by Guede    122k, Derek/Peter/Stiles, Sheriff/Chris Argent, AU, incest, polyamory, sheep, 

After Derek’s nearly seduced by a hunter into betraying his family, his mother thinks it’s a good idea to send him out into the world and learn how not to fall for traps like that. Peter comes along, because Peter likes exploring, and that’s why they decide to explore a haunted mountain.

Stiles lives on that mountain. With his sheep. They’re very tasty-looking, and well, Derek and Peter are werewolves.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/581108    Men of a Certain Age by peroxidepest17    15k, Sheriff/Chris Argent, 

The Sheriff and Chris Argent do their best impression of Scott and Stiles except without the flailing (because they're too old to flail anymore).

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/971281    Concrete by RarePairFairy    8k, Sheriff/Chris Argent, 

Chris Argent does NOT have a man crush.

Except maybe he does, a bit.

There are hostile creatures appearing in inconvenient places around Beacon Hills, and three families - the Argents, the McCalls and the Stilinskis - are resembling a taskforce.

Chris is beginning to realize that he's tired of watching loved ones get hurt. Sheriff Stilinski couldn't care less, because he's been trained how to use a gun and the bad guy's getting away, so on your feet, old man.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/11414910     Poacher’s Delight by Guede    7k, Sheriff/Chris Argent, AU, BDSM, 

What’s clear is that Chris has no right to be hunting where he is, and John’s caught him red-handed. But then it gets a little confusing.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/4678247     Ecosystem Engineering and the Werewolf by Guede   19k,Derek/Peter/Stiles, canon-AU, BDSM, dub-con, 

Stiles and his dad work for the U.S. Forest Service, which sends them to Beacon Hills. It’d be nice if Stiles could stop running into the Hales. He’s got bodies to get rid of. 

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/4272609    I'll Walk with Your Wolf by iCheat    33k, Peter/Stiles, body swap, 

When Stiles wakes up in Peter's body, he's understandably freaked out. As Stiles starts connecting with the man's wolf, he can't help but reconsider his opinions of Peter. Needless to say, it's a rather confusing time for all involved.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6147194     Beautician and the Beast by MaroonDragon     18k, Peter/Stiles, AU, 

Peter likes to look good. He sells himself through his looks. So why shouldn't he make sure that he's as handsome as possible when he's shifted? Why would anyone want to have a dry and coarse fur when it's not needed? So he goes to a dog beauty parlour on a regular basis. When Stiles opens up a new shop in town, Peter finds way more than a new place to have his nails trimmed and his hair done. The only problem is, how can he seduce the guy when he's on four paws and believed to be just a very large dog?

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8124766    All In A Spin by ShippersList     12k, Peter/Stiles, AU, permanent injury, aphasia, trauma, 

Stiles can't really talk anymore but, with Peter, he realizes he doesn't have to. Even if their spoken communication consists of one swear word and stuttered syllables, they understand each other. And that's what counts. 

.  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/969413    Come Out With Your Hands Up High by dedougal    5k, Sheriff/Chris Argent, magic made them do it,

Kidnapping is all too current an occurrence for Sheriff Stilinski nowadays. But spell casting is one bit of the supernatural he hadn't quite got his mind around just yet. Especially when it's directed at him and his partner in kidnapping, Chris Argent. 

.  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/983275     Baby It's Warm Inside by RarePairFairy    4k, Sheriff/Chris Argent, smut, 

Chris is a combination of lethal weaponry, bad dad jokes and domesticity. John is a combination of hot, Old Spice and Jack Daniels. On date night, that somehow translates into lethal hotness, old dad jokes and drinking on the couch. Neither man has extensive experience in the sexual side of man love, but both have extensive experience in improvising. And that will do. 

.  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4316862    To Catch a Fallen Star by cywscross    7k, Peter/Stiles, AU,

Stiles falls. It is not as great a tragedy as he thought it would be. 

actual star!Stiles 

.  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1110615    Sympathy for the Devil by KouriArashi    72k, Peter/Stiles, canon-AU, child abuse, 

Stiles gets a job as a hospital orderly and finds himself becoming strangely attached to the catatonic man on the long-term care ward, and finds out that there's a lot more to Peter Hale than there seems... 

.  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/633727    Amends by AuntieClimactic    18k, Peter/Stiles, future fic, 

Stiles blinks, “You’ve spent the last twenty years in therapy?”

“I had some emotional issues,” Peter admits.

“That’s… hilarious.”

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5298617     Proposing To Strangers by moonstalker24    50k, Peter/Stiles, AU, bikers, fluff, 

At the end of a strained relationship, crime novelist Stiles chooses to hide from the world inside a bar with far too many motorcycles outside it for comfort. Here he'll meet the man of his dreams, eat food and propose marriage, all within the first five minutes.

Peter doesn't know who this kid is, but he's cute and looks like he could use a break. So he feeds him. He's not expecting a marriage proposal, but with what comes after, he doesn't really mind.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/597049    Bonds of Power by Miya_Morana    18k, Stiles/Derek, power swap, alpha!stiles, human!derek, 

When Stiles suddenly wakes up as an Alpha werewolf and finds out that Derek has become human, he reluctantly accepts Derek’s pack as his while they attempt to find out what exactly happened and how to reverse it. But as they all try to adjust to the situation, the Alpha Pack is breathing down their neck, and they’re going to need all the help they can get to face that threat.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/826201    Miner For Truth and Delusion by blacktofade     20k, Stiles/Derek, love potion, 

Stiles stumbles across what he thinks is a cult in the preserve and ends up cursed so that everyone wants to get with him. It makes it harder for him to get things back to normal, but luckily there's one person who's unaffected.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/877251     Divided We Stand by KouriArashi    156k, Stiles/Derek, AU, misunderstandings, mystery, 

Derek is being pressured by his family to pick a mate, and somehow stumbles into a choice that they didn't expect and aren't sure they approve of....

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/850923    Hard Pressed by pandacowhipster    4k, Stiles/Derek, masturbation, voyeurism, 5+1, 

Derek maintains this wouldn't be an issue if Stiles would just learn to knock.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1381153    Roommate Wanted: No Supernatural Creatures Allowed by veterization    38k, Peter/Stiles, roomates, future fic, 

Stiles is in college, living in a pleasant apartment, and absolutely does not need a roommate. He ends up getting one anyway, and as luck would have it, his roommate turns out to be Peter.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8214182    Adult Wolf by KouriArashi    82k, Peter/Sheriff Stilinski, canon-AU, 

As if Sheriff Stilinski doesn't have enough to deal with, now he's been attacked by some enormous dog in the forest, and that's normal compared to what happens next...

Season one re-telling with Sheriff Stilinski being bitten instead of Scott.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1518449    Binomial Coefficients by DevilDoll     20k, Stiles/Derek, AU, high school, 

In which brainy freshman Stiles Stilinski wants star quarterback Derek Hale to join the math team, AKA math nerds in love.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1204642    Kindred Spirits by Stoney    104k, Stiles/Derek, AU, slow build, pining, homophobia, 

Anne of Green Gables/Teen Wolf AU. [ You do not have to know AoGG to follow this fic, it would only enhance the reading experience. :D ] Essentially the world of Teen Wolf set in the late 1890s, with themes and some minor character names/places specifically borrowed from Anne's world (and no disrespect meant to LM Montgomery, because I love Anne Shirley to bits and pieces.)

Stiles is the adopted son of the Sheriff, brought to Beacon Hills to hopefully stay for good. A family, a best friend, school, Jackson as Josie Pye (because who else could he be?) and the mystery of a dark haired, green-eyed boy which leads Stiles to discovering a secret within himself.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5299154    here comes trouble by grimm     105k, Stiles/Derek, AU, a/b/o, past rape, past abuse/slavery, trauma, 

All Derek wants is one day where he can sleep without worry of being woken by gunfire, without the threat of death hanging over his head. He wants a full stomach and no pain clinging to his bones, no ache in his feet from months of running. He wants a shower, a safe place to put his head. He wants his family, the healing comfort of pack. He'll never have any of that again.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1124860    What You Can't See by darkmagess    54k, Stiles/Derek, kidnapping, PTSD, torture, 

A new threat comes to Beacon Hills, putting all its supernatural inhabitants in danger. A true alpha and banshee are rare and valuable quarry, but Stiles and Derek are the easiest targets.

do read the short fics linked in the first A/N

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1022356    Stand Fast in Your Enchantments by DevilDoll, Rahciach    76k, Stiles/Derek, AU, kidnapping, captivity, h/c, torture, 

"Stiles knew damn well what a pissed-off wolf sounded like, and every hair on the back of his neck was telling him that somewhere in this room was a very pissed-off werewolf." An AU in which Derek is feral, Stiles is magical, and they eat a lot of fast food.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1491730    Handsome Hobo by relenafanel, Swing Set in December    8k, Stiles/Derek, AU, misunderstandings, humour, 

Derek should probably stop rummaging through garbage if he doesn't want people to assume he's homeless.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/479349     I'm Hunting on the Night (We're Playing for the Fights) by PaddyWack    6k, Stiles/Derek, AU, wolf!Sties, Human!Derek, 

Stiles is the unfortunate wolf that gets into some trouble during his moon cycle. Derek is the hapless hunter that finds him.

Or, the one where Stiles steps in a bear trap and has to be rescued.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/896999    And If I Die Before I Wake by consciousness_streaming    60k, Stiles/Derek, true mates, 

When Stiles wakes up on his eighteenth birthday from a chaste dream about Derek Hale he doesn't think it's a big deal. But when he wakes up the next few days to the same dream, he knows something is going on. And he's going to get to the bottom of it. Once is an incident, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a pattern. More than three is just torture.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7946302     These Woods Sigh by blacktofade      80k, Stiles/Derek, friends with benefits, pining, accidental pregnancy, 

Derek and Stiles never plan to start a family together, it just happens. Or, the one where Derek accidentally wishes for a baby.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11640030     Falling In, Not Through by Julibean19    49k, Peter/Stiles, h/c, body horror, wing kink, alcohol abuse, 

“You need to help me,” Stiles says eventually. He’s still in too much pain to move off the floor, but he’s picked up a stray feather, twirling it between two fingers with a look of pure terror on his face. Peter nods immediately, eager and willing to be involved in whatever this is.

Peter’s eyes flick between the feather spinning between Stiles’ fingers and the harsh angle of the bend of his wings above his shoulders. He doesn’t look like any picture of an angel Peter has ever seen. There should be an elegant swooping curve there, neat little rows of white or gold or silver, pointed tips flung far out from Stiles’ body and a halo above his head. If Stiles is an angel, the myths are all wrong.

In which Stiles finds that he has wings and Peter finds that a pack doesn't always need to be made up of wolves.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2027388    Revenge Fake Dating Is Totally A Thing by seraphina_snape    32k, Stiles/Derek, fake dating, slow build, 

Sheriff Stilinski walks in on Stiles and Derek in a compromising position and assumes they're in a relationship even though they were just sneaking around to keep the sheriff out of their supernatural shenanigans. Obviously it's all Derek's fault for being so damn suspicious - at least that's Stiles opinion and the reason why he gives Derek a taste of his own medicine when he invites him over for family dinner at his dad's request.

Only then Derek turns the tables on Stiles and before Stiles knows it, they're fake dating for reasons of revenge, one-upmanship and the preservation of Stiles' relationship with his dad.

No way this can go wrong, right?

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/924398    Imperfect Isn't Easy (But It's Us) by RayShippouUchiha    11k, Stiles/Derek+Lydia, voyeurism, possesiveness, 

Derek is so tired of everything being his fault, so tired of always losing. He's also tired of not admitting that he wants to own Stiles in ways he can barely describe.

Or

Derek is far from perfect but maybe that's okay. Maybe in the right company perfect isn't necessary.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/487228     There Ain't No Heaven by blacktofade    4k, Stiles/Derek, masturbation, voyeurism, forced proximity, 

Derek and Stiles are forced to spend the night in a car and Stiles pops an awkward boner.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11066634     I Don't Blame You for Being You (but you can't blame me for hating it) by LadySlytherin    39k, Stiles/Derek, injury, 

Derek hits Stiles with his Camaro - 'Dammit, Stiles, it was an accident!'...'Why don't I believe you?' and hilarity ensues.

this fic contains mpreg, but it’s only a minor plot point and doesn’t actually take place during the actual plot.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7513226     your soul fits where mine feels empty by wishingonalightningbolt    19k, Stiles/Derek, smut, 

He pulls open the door without knocking and gets half a step inside the loft before he notices. Derek—lying on his bed—face down—naked.

-0-

Stiles gets an eyeful. Things go downhill from there.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/612585      Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us by queerly_it_is    12k, Stiles/Derek, bdsm, sub!derek, 

Derek doesn’t get why he likes it so much.

It’s just not -- he hadn’t expected to need this. Not from Stiles. Not from anyone, ever. He doesn’t do this.

Except he does, now. Because it’s for Stiles, and Derek -- fuck, he likes it too.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8179690    I've Been Everywhere With You by Leslie_Knope     61k, Stiles/Derek, theraphy, slow build, 

“Dude, you should totally come with me.”

“What? Like on the road trip?"

“No, come with me. To Austin. Get out of Beacon Hills.”

Derek paused. “What?” he asked again.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/717364     Brilliant & Ridiculous by maderr    10k, Stiles/Derek, fake dating, 

All Derek wanted was for the woman to leave him alone and ring up his groceries. How that led to her thinking Stiles is his boyfriend is something he blames on Stiles and his inability to stay out of trouble for five minutes.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/783841    John Hughes Did Not Direct My Life by nascentgalaxies    48k, Stiles/Derek, AU, high school, slow build, 

Stiles and Derek are childhood friends who drifted apart. When Stiles joins the lacrosse team against his will, the universe (with a little help from Laura and Lydia) chooses to push them back together.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/676633     The Sweetest of Words (Have the Bitterest Taste) by Omni     9k, Stiles/Derek, fake dating, 

“Ah, yeah, Desiree, I told you I was meeting someone. Well, that someone is Derek. My boyfriend. We’re totally in love.” His heart was racing and Derek was holding him so tight it was difficult to turn enough to face the young woman. What he did see of her had his breath catching on fishhooks in his throat. She was normally a relatively pretty girl, with cute round cheeks and large dark eyes, but in that moment she looked…terrifying. Her cheeks seemed gaunt, her eyes glowing like they were little windows peeking into a deep pit of raging flame.

(Or: Five or so years after the show. Stiles is in college, and finds himself getting stalked by a succubus. Derek's determined that the best way to thwart her is to prove that he and Stiles are madly in love. It's not really as much of an act as either seems to think.)

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1183688    i want to say all those things that would be better unsaid by aeneapsych  24k, Stiles/Derek, AU, phone sex, praise kink, teacher/student, 

Derek is a lonely professor who decides to call a phone sex line.

Stiles is a poor grad student who needs to make a living somehow.

"One night stands were never this good. Hell, his previous relationships were never this good. Derek was so screwed, but right now he didn't care."

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1060026     Sense of Home by siny    53k, Stiles/Derek, h/c, angst, hallucinations, 

Home can be a place, but it can also be a person.

After the events with the Nemeton, Stiles starts suffering the consequences of their sacrifice. A journey he attempts to make on his own, but only becomes worse with every step he takes. In the process he seeks comfort in an unexpected place and it draws him toward an unexpected person.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/508648    You Saw Me Standing Alone by orphan_account    43k, Stiles/Derek, 

A pack of alpha werewolves is burning a war path through Beacon Hills; Stiles shouldn’t have the luxury of trying to get laid.    

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/1168884    What's Up Pinocchio? by Brego_Mellon_Nin    11k, Stiles/Derek, 

Stiles has settled in for a bit of self indulgence, favorite porn uploaded and ready, his recently neglected dick already stirring. For a few minutes he simply watches as the two guys start kissing and touching, but as soon as the bigger guy starts sucking his partner, Stiles groans and grabs for his own erection. Except, when he grabs hold of it, it feels… foreign in his hand. Pulse jumping, he snaps his eyes downward. Then he sputters and flails, nearly tipping over the edge of the mattress. What the everloving fuck?

Stiles knows his dick, okay? He knows it well. He knows how long it is, how thick it is - measuring is a normal thing for a curious teenager, it really is - but somehow, that’s not true anymore.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/550277    This Time With Feeling by Crimson1    36k, Stiles/Derek, 

"Derek Hale, if you refuse to learn from your past…then you will be doomed to repeat it." In which Derek is turned into a 16-year-old and has to stay with Stiles until they figure out how to turn him back.

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/7451080     Drown Me with Kisses by LadySlytherin    19k, Stiles/Derek, pining, 

When a rusalka in the preserve nearly kills Stiles with a kiss, Stiles is in grave danger any time he’s near a source of water - not just rivers, lakes, and oceans, but pools, bathtubs, the shower, a sink full of water - you put water in it, and it could probably kill Stiles now. Deaton’s advice? Break the rusalka’s magic with a kiss of opposite power - love to beat out death.   

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/3569615    I Dream of Stiles by runningwithdinosaurs    12k, Stiles/Derek, AU, 

In retrospect, Derek never should have rubbed the lamp.

But Derek did, which is how he got stuck with Stiles, who was truly a terrible genie. He didn’t even do things the way a normal genie was supposed to.

“What do you mean ‘it’s not three wishes’?” Derek bit out, glaring at Stiles, who was perched on the end of his couch. Literally perched. Like crouched on his tip toes.

“I don’t really know how to make it clearer,” Stiles said, long fingers twisting in the bright red hoodie he was wearing. “Is English not your first language? No son tres deseos. Ce ne est pas trois souhaits. To nie trzy życzenia.”

(Or the one where Stiles is a genie and Derek lives broken and alone in New York until a certain mole-covered immortal teenager LITERALLY pops into his life.)

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/751941    Graceless by AsexualDerek (Cammerel)     22k, Stiles/Derek, straight men having gay sex, 

Stiles doesn't ask for much in return, but a 'please' would be nice.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/3097259    Run To You by Emela    31k, Stiles/Derek, feral!derek, h/c,

A witch casts a spell, turning Derek feral and leaving him the equivalent of a frightened puppy. Stiles is the only one he trusts to protect him and of course, Stiles is only too happy to help. (Which has nothing to do with all these feelings he's suddenly having, okay? Derek's just a really cute werewolf puppy.)

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1783486    Lap Magnet by Prairie_Grass    30k, Stiles/Derek, 5+1, accidental bonding, 

Wherein an ill-advised floral arrangement leads to a whole new definition of obliviousness, accidental mate-bonds, and far more sex and tropes than one fic really needs.

or

Five times Derek and Stiles didn’t notice how close they were (literally) and then a whole bunch of times when they did... 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4035982    You'll Grow Into Your Skin by crossroadswrite    11k, Stiles/Derek, implied mpreg, 

“So funny story,” Stiles winces, “Remember when I joked you couldn’t get me pregnant?”

Derek nods his head. He remembers pretty much everything from that day.

“Right,” Stiles bobs his head, stops himself and does a little ta-da gesture towards Jacy, “Surprise?”

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http://archiveofourown.org/works/696562     Invited Inside by blacktofade    14k, Stiles/Derek, biting, bloodplay,  

Of all the things to finally bite him, a vampire is truly at the bottom of Stiles’ list.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7806307    Hot Pocket Ratio by ShippersList    12k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, incubus, 

At the threat of the alpha pack, all Derek wants is to keep his pack safe and alive. As the last resort, he tries summoning a demon to help with fighting the alpha pack. He gets a bit more than he bargained for.

Or, the story where the classic demon deal of "Will you pledge your firstborn to me?" takes some unexpected turns.  

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/761973    Cosomination by zoemathemata    11k, Stiles/Derek, 5+1, pining, bed sharing, 

For Fictional Force/Hoktauri who prompted “pining! Derek/oblivious! Stiles, graduation day”

Cosominate - To sleep together in the same bed or similar space.

Five Times Derek and Stiles Sleep Together - 4 platonic bed shares and one not-platonic bed share! Features Pining! Derek, Oblivious!Stiles and a very tense moment where Sheriff Stilinski has been hurt! But it all turns out okay. 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8016247    Between Dogs and Wolves by artemis69    25k, Stiles/Derek, AU, mafia, violence. pining, 

"This is…not four million in cash,” remarks Stilinski.

“Isaac. Did you fail to get my money back and decided to pick up a stripper on the road to bribe me? Because let me make this perfectly clear: this would totally work. Well done.”

Or

The mafia!AU where the Hales owe four million to the Stilinskis, Laura rents Derek (but not as a stripper), Stiles gets a new favorite, Derek gets a new boss, a new puppy and a new family.

Sometimes they break people, but mainly, they just snark at each other. 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/3992896     Wolf in the House by JoeLawson     33k, Stiles/Derek, wolf!derek, 

“What? It’s totally an improvement. He’s not scowling, or dating bad guys, or slinking around in unsanitary places. Still a bit paranoid, but what can you do. At least he’s a lot easier to get along with when you can buy his affections with ear rubs.”

“And you always wanted a dog,” Sheriff added wryly.

“And I always wanted a dog.”  

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1727696    Just the Same by ericaismeg    68k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, highschool, pining, 

Something is seriously up with the captain of the lacrosse team. There's just no way Derek Hale is human. *** “I was wondering if you're even human. You move so quickly. I mean, it's ridiculously fast. No human should be able to move that fast, y'know? It's unfair for us. I mean, it's obvious you work out, and I don't, so that could be why, but like...I was just wondering if you were human, that's all.”

“Stop talking, Stilinski, or I'll—”

“Put me on the bench all season?” Stiles asks knowing full well that Derek Hale can't threaten him with shit.  

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1162093    Lie Down with Dogs by uraneia    3k, Stiles/Derek, slightly subby!derek, aftercare, wolf!derek,

Stiles gives Derek a flea bath. Then things get weird.

*

“Is this a joke?” Stiles says when Derek hands him the bottle. It has to be a joke, right? This is just more evidence of Derek’s redeveloping sense of humor. Ha-ha. He’s hilarious.

“Does it look like I’m joking,” Mr. Murder Eyebrows himself says flatly.

Fuck, he’s not joking.

Stiles turns the bottle over in his hands. No matter how many times he reads it, it still says Flea Treatment Shampoo for Dogs. 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1251133    Under The Wolf, Under The Dog by Narcissistic_Ninny    5k, Stiles/Derek, wolf!derek, 

“So, uh, I noticed you’re commando most days. Is that because you have to transform, or cause you just don’t-”

“Oh my god,” he said. “I’m not having this conversation with you.” 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/962660    The Scent of an Oncoming Storm by accol    13k, Stiles/Derek, scent marking, watersports, 

In the weeks after Derek becomes alpha, he and Stiles form a reluctant team   

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/723433    I Ran (So Far) by thepsychicclam    33k, Derek/Stiles,

“But, you don’t run,” Derek pointed out, confused.

 “People can get new hobbies,” Stiles snapped. “Geez, if I’d known it was going to be this big of a deal, I’d have called you first. Want me to give you my workout schedule? That way you can coordinate your nose accordingly?”

In which Stiles' summer starts off so badly he starts running, gets pelted by paint balls, and decides he is, in fact, going crazy if he willingly wants to hang out with Derek Hale.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/467550    The Life of Stiles by rispacooper   14k, Stiles/Derek, scent marking, 

First Stiles is in denial, then he is just confused.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5640295    As Cryptic as the Moon by Formaldehyde_Eyes    30k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, scent marking, psychic powers, 

“So,” Stiles started, everything about him unsure with how to explain it. “I sometimes have these dreams. About wolves.”

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10374501    It's Platonic Until It's Not by hbunting1403     16k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, scent marking, 

Yes, Scott and Stiles sleep in the same bed. Stiles would rather cut off both of his hands than touch Scott sexually, but he’s no stranger to showing affection, and they cuddle on a pretty regular basis. Their relationship is, in Stiles’ eyes, normal and healthy and exactly what they both need. Then Scott meets Alison, and they fall in love over a fucking pen (which is sickly sweet but so Scott), and Stiles suddenly has a lot more time on his hands.

Cue pottery classes, stargazing, a new friendship, and a lot of (totally platonic) fantasizing.

Even if Derek is hotter than the sun.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/446553     Flipped and Awkwardly Reversed by harlequin421    13k, Stiles/Derek, h/c, 

Scott getting bitten by a werewolf didn’t only change his life; it brought a sourpuss of a creeper werewolf into Stiles life who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of personal space or that windows aren’t doors, or you know, manners.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4620849    Proprietary by Osidiano    8k, Scott/Stiles, scent marking, praise kink, facials, 

Written for the TWKM: Stiles needs to smell like he's having sex with Scott because SERIOUS REASONS and they decide that a facial is the least awkward way to accomplish that, except they're both way more into it than they expected and things keep escalating. Like, Scott has no idea how this got from 'werewolf-awkwardly-masturbating-several-feet-away' to Stiles telling him, "Maybe. . . Maybe you should rub your dick against my face a little. You know. To make sure I smell believable."

". . .Yeah," Scott pants. "Yeah, that makes sense." 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/751583    The Boy and the Beast by Dira Sudis (dsudis)    116k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, slow build, 

In which events in Beacon Hills go rather differently from the start, and a Beauty and the Beast (ish) story ensues. (Scott is not a teacup and no one sings about their feelings.)

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1035300    Dude, Werewolves by mysecretashes    29k, Stiles/Derek, canon- AU, scent marking, frottage, 

Stiles gets partnered with Cora for a history project, and they become bros. Also, he kind of falls in love with her older brother, Derek.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2141295    What the Body Grasps Not by sexyvanillatiger    21k, Jackson/Stiles, pre-canon, 

Fulfillment of this prompt from the Teen Wolf Throwback Fest:

"So I have this headcanon that the reason Jackson and Stiles don't get along is because Jackson adored Claudia Stilinski. She was the children's librarian or volunteered at their school a lot, maybe watched Jackson after school, whatever, but she spent a lot of time around the kids, maybe helped Jackson overcome some reading issues, talked to him, listened to him in a way his mother didn't and so Jackson grew attached to her and jealous of Stiles, who always seemed to be acting up and giving her a hard time (pre-medicated ADHD) and Jackson was convinced Stiles didn't deserve her. Then she died. So Jackson doesn't know how to deal with that and Stiles is barely coping and maybe words are said which leads to years of actual, seething hatred, culminating in hate sex. Lots of hate sex. That. Keeps. Happening."  

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/625632     Goldilocks by tourdefierce    11k, Stiles/Derek, bed sharing, 

It may be the wrong fairytale to fit their odd world, but Derek was most definitely Goldilocks, and somehow, Stiles' bed was juuuuuust right.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9641306     Without You by fearfrost1211    4k, Stiles/Derek, touch starved, frottage, first time, 

Half a choked laugh boils up out of him. He had sex with Derek Hale.

Sex. With Derek.

He's never going to be able to shower in the locker room again.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/3904933    Little Wild Animal by DiscontentedWinter     61k, Stiles/Derek, AU, fluff, 

Derek Hale finds a feral human on his pack's property. Humans are supposed to be extinct. But then, Stiles is full of surprises. 

.

.

Star Wars

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5638204    step out into the sun by plutos    71k, Poe/Finn, slow burn, fake relationship, accidental marriage, pining, fluff, 

“I gotta talk to you, buddy, real quick,” Poe says lowly, and grabs Finn’s hand to haul him back out of the mess hall. His pilot friends cheer loudly, Karé yelling something about keeping it decent, and Finn barely has a second to process it before Poe’s yanking him away and into a deserted side corridor.

“I can explain,” he says quickly, running his spare hand through his hair.

“Well good,” Finn snaps hotly, “Because I’ve had a really fucking weird day.” _____________________________

Otherwise known as: Finn Is An Oblivious Numbskull, or: the one where Finn gets a name, a jacket, a droid, and a marriage out of nowhere in only a few short weeks.

the softest fic

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5926144    tell me about the big bang by thebrotherswinchester    37k, Poe/Finn, slow burn, pining, angst, 

There is a part of him that says: you are not human.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5798602     have you heard by peradi    42k, gen, side ships, revolution, propaganda, redemption, 

"I heard FN-2187 was a Stormtrooper."

--

Finn sparks a revolution.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5619475    my own secret ceremonials. by ameliorates    3k, Finn/Rey/Poe, UST, mutual masturbation, 

the mathematics are simple. the reality is a hot, sticky delirium. -- poe struggles with frustrated longing.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5753218    BB-Gate by ignitesthestars, nymja     5k, Jessika Pava/Rey, 

Jessika and Rey attempt to solve one of the galaxy's greatest mysteries: was BB-8 giving a thumb's up or the middle finger?

.

.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8763691    Horrible and Terrible and Good All At Once by Mellow_Yellow    72k, Credence/Graves, arranged marriage, 

Graves was a lead Auror, and as such prided himself on his ability to stay calm in a crisis, to keep his head, to remain even-keeled and articulate no matter the situation. So no one was more surprised than he was when he opened his mouth and heard himself blurting out, “Excuse me, ma’am, but I would like to purchase your son.”

Seemingly without hesitation, and before Mary Lou had the chance to respond, Credence burst forth with his own, “Yes, sir, you may have me.”

Then they both fell silent, equally shocked at their words. Merlin’s balls. Somewhere upstate, Graves was sure his father had just burst into laughter and had no idea why.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9136114    Roche Limit by Rrrowr    19k, Credence/Graves, a/b/o, 

Thirty years, Graves has managed to hide this, smothering the very base notes of his scent with suppressants while keeping intact the identifying markers — chocolate, blood orange, and ash. Thirty years, he's managed to kill every instinct he has to bare his throat when challenged, funneling his nurturing instincts into a desire to protect, widening his idea of family to include all of wizardkind. For thirty years, he spent his heats doubling up on potions and taking sick days when that wasn't enough.

Thirty years spent facing that challenge, and now — all of it threatened by the fact that he wanted, for just one night, to be himself.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9095290    the king of oak bysaltpans    38k, Credence/Graves, recovery, slow burn, fae, 

The first thing Percival Graves does after being released back into the world is buy a new wand. He's at Greymalkin's for ten minutes and the only wand that works for him is raw aspen, whiter than bone and so rough that Graves gives himself a splinter conjuring a storm of birds. The wand—dragon heartstring, a most unusual wand for an American wizard, according to a flustered Greymalkin—feels wild, and Graves empties half his wallet on the counter and keeps his hand on his new wand all the way home.

The second thing he does is quit his job, because honestly.

("Grindelwald did his research before he put on your face," Seraphina says reasonably. "And it's not like you're open with your personal life. He has us all fooled."

"He wore scorpion stickpins!" Graves shoots back, somewhat less reasonably.

Seraphina looks at Graves, his pressed creases, his immaculate shirt, the red ruby cufflinks he's wearing to hide the starved brittleness of his wrists. "I'm sorry," she says. It is not enough to make him stay.)

The third thing he does is get jumped by Credence Barebone in an alley.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9904355     Nothing Shall be Impossible by terriblelifechoices    61k, Credence/Graves, dub-con, forced pregnancy, prison, protectiveness, fluff,

Inspired by a prompt on the kinkmeme:

Grindelwald figures Credence is too old and damaged to be useful, but his genes are clearly strong. Graves' genes are pretty awesome too with wandless magic and whatnot. So he decides to make them do it and train their offspring as perfectly loyal soldiers.

___

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Graves asked.

Grindelwald sighed, as if he found Graves’ questions tedious. “I told you,” he said. “I’ve Seen your child. Together, the two of you will produce a wizard so powerful that the armies of the world will tremble before him. He will be the first and most honored among my generals, and together we will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for wizard-kind.”

“You know,” Graves said, conversational. “When I asked you if you were out of your goddamn mind, the short answer would have been to just say yes.”

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9157615    your need grows teeth by alamorn    10k, Credence/Graves, 

There is something that Credence never told Mr. Graves. The man he thought was Mr. Graves. The man who cupped his skull and slapped his face.

Some of the wounds he healed for Credence were not from Mary Lou. Whenever he woke from lost time, he would find deep gashes around his fault lines, like a cheap toy put poorly together. He did not tell Mr. Graves that he did not know how he got them, just allowed him to smooth them away.

Note: this does not contain self harm.

.

.

Harry Potter   

(also, The Cursed Child) 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/series/583285     Alone series by mischiefmanager    3k, Albus Severus/Scorpius, masturbation, 

Albus is an angst-monster who is in love with his best friend and it is absolutely tearing him apart.

Scorpius is a cinnamon roll who is in love with his best friend and it's...well, maybe a bit lonely but mostly overall it's pretty brilliant!

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7331278    Hermione Granger's Hogwarts Crammer for Delinquents on the Run by waspabi    93k, Harry/Draco, canon-AU, pining, 

'You're a wizard, Harry' is easier to hear from a half-giant when you're eleven, rather than from some kids on a tube platform when you're seventeen and late for work.    

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6239806     Stately Homes of Wiltshire by waspabi    57k, Harry/Draco, post-hogwarts, pining, 

Malfoy Manor has mould, dry rot and an infestation of unusually historical poltergeists. Harry Potter is on the case.

.

.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/247621    Detente by entanglednow     3k, Dr.Horrible/Captain Hammer, 

"I'm your nemesis, you're not supposed to be having sex dreams about me, what would your psychiatrist say?"

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/138889     Echoes in a Lonely World by etothepii     8k, Dr. Horrible/Captain Hammer, empathy bond, 

Dr. Horrible carries his device (it doesn’t have a name yet, but he’s been mentally referring to it as "That Empathy Thing") with him on heists for a week and a half before Captain Hammer finally shows up. Not nearly as serious as the title suggests.

.

.

Dream Daddy: a Dad Dating Simulator

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11613825    An Intervention by Tenebrosa    2k, Craig/Robert, praise kink, 

Craig needs to loosen the fuck up and damn if Robert isn't the King of Relaxation. How he does it might be a little...unorthodox, but really, who's gonna judge them all the way out here?

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11652366    I'm Selfish, I'm Obscene by passionfruits    7k, Joseph/Robert, 

A collection of Roseph intimacy. A bittersweet treatise on the unholy trinity of Joseph, Robert, and Mary.

AKA how much kink, fluff, and angst can I shove in one messy PWP dump? If you haven't read covet yet, I recommend doing that first. It's a good prequel.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11688816    Whatever's Written in Your Heart by captaincharming    16k, Joseph/Robert, infidelity, 

“Hey,” Robert says again, turning Joseph’s face back to his. “Look at me. You think Mary don’t already think this is happening? She’s been asking me for years if I’m screwing her husband yet.”

.

.

Lucifer

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9329171    Worthy and Forgiven by Erya    31k, Lucifer/Dan, friendship, 

In which Dan accidentally winds up in a confused sort of maybe friendship with the Devil himself, through absolutely no fault of his own.

.

.

Stranger Things 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7662067    Have Happened by cortexikid    43k, Jonathan/Steve/Nancy, slow burn, 

"I overheard you. You were talking in your sleep.”

Steve's heart fluttered nervously.

“It was a little funny at first,” Nancy admitted, her tone a mix of teasing and apologetic, “you were moaning my name and I thought it’d be kinda funny if Mike accidentally overheard you having a sex dream about his sister—”

Steve couldn’t control the guffaw that escaped him.

“But then you said Jonathan’s name. Right after mine. All in the same breath.”

.

.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11917929    the destiny of human handwriting by cosmicocean, princessparadox   53k, Todd/Dirk, soulmates, 

Even from a young age, he isn’t a romantic. It’s around third grade that kids start writing to their Match, eight year olds asking questions about their name, where they’re from, what they like, who they are. Todd doesn’t. He’s not really into the idea of Matches, even if it’s something he can’t change. People fall in love with people. If he falls in love, he’s not going to fall in love with someone who he knows only from ink on his arms that he didn’t put there.

Whoever his Match is, however, does not feel the same way. His left arm (so he must be right handed) is covered with doodles. Crude flowers drawn with what looks like ballpoint pens, so lots of skipping and gaps in the lines. Sometimes the outlines of hearts that look like fountain pens, but are smudged quickly, the ink running too hard.

Soulmate AU where anything you write on your arm appears visible on your soulmate's. Written for the Dirk Gently Big Bang 2017.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9630893    Electric Ghost Rhino by Lavellington    8k, Todd/Dirk, pre-slash, bed sharing, 

Dirk and Todd are not co-dependent, exactly. They've just had a rough couple of weeks. 

.  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9619238   Delete Me, Repeat Me, Let's Try This Again by coloursflyaway    6k, Todd/Dirk, pining, 

Dirk is in love with Todd, that much is clear. The question is what Todd intends to do with that information.

.

[thestuckylibrary-bigbang]

AU

Part One

This post contains alternate universe sbb2017 works of all sorts of genres. This post contains the following, take a look at what participants have been working hard on since June!

A/B/O

Band/Musician AU

Based on other media AU

Canon Divergence (sorted from were they diverge from canon)

Pre TFA

TFA

TWS

College/University AU and also HIgh School AU

Fairy Tale/Mythology 

Also check out  Canon ‘Verse | AU Part Two | AU Part Three | Masterpost

A/B/O

The Alpha’s Ball by Samwise_baggins & Steve-Bucky-Stucky

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-con

Word Count: 44, 706

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James ‘Bucky’ Barnes, Thomas ‘TJ’ Hammond/Johnny Storm, Sam Wilson/ Riley, Nick Fury/ Phil Coulson

Tags: Omega Verse, Rape/Non-con Elements, Implied/Reference Child Abuse, m-preg, Mating Cycle/ In-Heat, Violent Sex, Graphic Sex

Summary:  The annual Alpha’s Ball, where people go to find a mate, is being hosted by Tony Stark at his mansion in New York. It is a masquerade ball, and the Avengers are among the guests. But even when searching for love, things don’t always go as planned for the Avengers. For Steve, it means a chance to forget his one time love, killed during the war. For Bucky, it means a night out, trying to pick up the pieces after having fled his former lover. What it means for the pair of them is a revelation of secrets and twisted plots - - and a chance at a possible new beginning … together.

Artist: Samwise_baggins

        Steve

        Bucky

Band/Musician AU

I’m With The Band? by @mystrana (Ao3)

Three beautiful pieces of art by: @artgroves (Ao3) (rating: G)

“Oh Shucks Steve”

“Pre-caffeine Bucky”

“Rock Star Bucky”

(rating: NC-17)

words: 23.9k

Relationships: Steve/Bucky

Tags: College AU, Band AU, Fluff, Wee bit of angst, explicit content, no archive warnings apply

Steve Rogers is getting by just fine spending every Friday night by himself, thank you very much, until his classmate Peggy invites him to come see her favorite local band. One look at the lead singer Bucky, and it’s lust at first sight. The next thing he knows, Steve is outside making out with the guy of his dreams, but it’s never that simple - Bucky’s bandmate Natasha finds them outside and all but drags Bucky back inside by his ear.

Steve’s not sure where to go from here, but he’s pretty sure, somehow or another, he’s gonna have to see Bucky again.

PEOPLE LIVE HERE BY @TOLKHIEN (AO3)

BANNER, POSTER, AND ARTWORK  BY @STARMAKI (AO3)

Rating: Mature Word Count: 46,112 Relationship: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Background Clint Barton/Natasha Romanoff Characters: Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff, Maria Hill, Sam Wilson, Peggy Carter, Alexander Pierce Warnings: Alcohol Use, Drug Use, Drug Overdose, Suicidal Thoughts. Tags: Modern AU, No Superpowers, Punk AU, Band AU, Veteran Bucky, Musician Bucky, Pre-Serum Steve, Artist Steve, Tattoos and Piercings, PTSD, Drug Addiction, Temporary Breakup, Happy Ending, Based on a Real Band, Rise Against Summary MAY YOU BE IN HEAVEN BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD. MAY THESE WINDS BE ALWAYS AT YOUR BACK. ‘CAUSE WHEN WE’RE ALL JUST GHOSTS, AND THE MADNESS OVERTAKES US, WE WILL LOOK AT THE ASHES AND SAY, “PEOPLE LIVED HERE.”

When Steve meets the singer of Crimson Riot, on whom he may or may not be harbouring a years long crush, and gets offered a job, Steve thinks it’s a dream come true. Getting paid to go on tour with his favourite band and create art? It’ll just take some time to get used to the rockstar lifestyle.But as he gets to know James “Bucky” Barnes, and sees what’s underneath the drugs and the cocky attitude, he gives himself a new job: Help Bucky before it’s too late. 

TUMBLR POST

Based on other media AU

Ain’t Misbehaving by Revenant-Scribe (Ao3) (Tumblr)

Header art and paper craft art by @milollita

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli, Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers (past)

Summary:

Steve Rogers is an excellent judge of character. No, really! But, as Peggy puts it: when it comes to love his head tends to override his heart. When his girlfriend leaves him for a model Steve wonders if he’ll ever find the right partner; maybe it’s time to stop looking.Naturally, this is when he (quite literally) runs into Jim Buchanan, a fashion exec who (also literally) makes Steve weak-in-the-knees. Sure, that might just be the concussion but they do seem to have some sort of chemistry. Jim’s sweet and funny, walks his neighbor’s rescue dog and can do over 300 chin-ups without pausing to catch his breath (Steve’s new apartment has a great view), so clearly there must be something horrible he’s trying to keep secret.(A Head Over Heels adaptation)

Read over at Ao3

As Soon As Possible by turn_turn_turn

Art by Jessie Lucid

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 30K

Relationships: Main course of Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes with a dash of Natasha Romanov/Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers/Brock Rumlow, and Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson on the side

Tags: When Harry Met Sally AU, Modern AU, No Powers AU, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, more like Begrudging Acquaintances to Friends to Lovers, seriously you guys please stop poking at each other and fall in Love already, Rom-heavy-on-the-Com Fun, please laugh at my jokes

Summary:

Can two idiots stop bickering long enough to confess their true feelings for one another? Steve and Bucky will attempt to answer this question in just twelve short years! A journey filled with road trips, arguments, other relationships, emotionally convoluted hookups, borderline-salacious and pastrami-sandwich-adjacent amateur theater, and heaps of completely unnecessary, totally mutual pining! An updated re-imagining of a romcom classic, starring Steve Rogers, a bird-boned, hopeless romantic with a stubborn streak, and Bucky Barnes, a laid-back Lothario (dubious on both counts) with a heart of gold and more bad Star Wars puns than Mark Hamill himself! Also features supporting roles by Natasha ‘We All Wish We Were That Cool’ Romanoff, Samuel ‘Has His Shit Together, Unlike All of You Dweebs’ Wilson, Clint 'Are You Going to Finish That Slice’ Barton, and many more! Now showing at an archive near you.

Header by the amazing Jessie Lucid @lucidnancyboy

Art by the amazing Jessie Lucid (on ao3)

Brooklyn Bound by multifandomfics

Rating: M

Words:55,485

Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark

Tags: Minor/Childhood Death (Mentioned), Sweet Home Alabama AU, Multiship, non-graphic sexual situations, Cursing/Swearing

Summary: Steve Rogers is ready to embark on a new chapter in his life, his perfect boyfriend has just proposed and all is going well. The only problem, he’s still married to his childhood sweetheart. Steve needs to return home to Brooklyn and finalize his divorce before his fiancée finds out he was ever married. However things become more complicated as Steve arrives, it turns out that there is more to his ex than meets the eye, and old feelings resurface. Steve needs to choose, stay in Brooklyn with the man he once loved, or return to California and start his new life. Sweet Home Alabama AU.

Art by 10feetalice

Creatures of a Brief Season by @goddessvicky & @octobergryphon

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 56k

Relationships: Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Clint Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson/Wanda Maximoff, Darcy Lewis/Grant Ward, Jane Foster/Thor Odinson

Tags: public sex, outdoor sex, magic, anal sex, oral sex, fingering, rimming, blow jobs, UST, au covenant, different powers, au magic, bisexual steve, bisexual bucky, bottom steve, top steve, bottom bucky, top bucky, au modern with magic, college, friends to lovers, smut, we tried to make it fluff, all the swears, slow burn, Framily

Summary:

The Sons of Ipswich possess otherworldly powers, but they are not the only ones with this gift.

On the edge of his 21st birthday, Steve Rogers feels the Power growing within him. He’s hoping that with Bucky, Sam, and Clint, he’ll survive the transformation.

That’s not the only thing that’s changing. Bucky and Steve have always been best friends, but now, maybe, there’s something more?

Amazing Artwork by the phenomenally talented Alby

First I commit a Crime (Then You Get Blamed For It) by @tisfan 

Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes/Tony Stark, James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark Characters: Loki (female), James “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanov, Lucky, Nick Fury Additional Tags: Sinbad AU, Low-tech/high-magic, Sea Monsters, Sirens, Pining Idiots, Idiots in Love, Anal Sex, Barebacking, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, Pirates, Oral Sex, Cheating, sort of, everyone is forgiven Summary:

When Loki is bored, suddenly, nothing is easy.

Framed for stealing the Reality Stone from his best friend (and former lover!) Steve, Bucky finds himself accused of the crime and sentenced to death. When the Council doesn’t believe that Bucky is innocent, Steve swears to be executed in Bucky’s place, giving him time to seek out Loki and recover the stone from Loki’s realm of Jotunheim

Accompanied by a ship full of stalwart adventurers, and Steve’s fiance, Tony Stark – who doesn’t trust Bucky as far as he can throw him! – the ship, Hydra, faces sirens, snowbirds, and living islands to make it to Loki’s realm, recover the stone and save Steve’s life. The biggest problem? Bucky can’t forget his old lover, but at the same time, finds himself falling in love with Steve’s boyfriend.

for the ashes of his fathers (and the kingdoms of his gods) - ‘Oblivion’ stucky AU by LadyNimrodel

Steve and Natasha are an effective team. They work for Shield’s Control Station, built after the planet was destroyed in the war with the Scavs. They are left on a broken and barren planet to keep the drones running that protect the hydra rigs, which collect precious water for what’s left of humanity, now living in a colony on one of Saturn’s moons.

What Steve knows is this: the Scav attacks are getting worse, even though they lost the war nearly fifty years ago. In two weeks he and Natasha are leaving to join the rest of humanity. And that neither of them want to leave earth.

What he doesn’t know is why the Scavs are attacking again, why everything Control tells them feels wrong, and why he keeps dreaming of a man with grey-blue eyes and a familiar smile and who Steve doesn’t remember.

-Or- The Oblivion AU that no one asked for.

Art by Emeraldwolf | Art by koreanrage 

Give Me Fuel, Give Me Fire by 221BJen

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 41k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Tags: Fast & the Furious AU, Major Character Injury, Car Accidents, Car Sex, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Mechanic Bucky Barnes, Undercover Steve Rogers, AU - No Powers

Summary: Brooklyn detective Steve Rogers finds his loyalty tested when he goes undercover to investigate a group at the center of a series of high speed heists. He doesn’t know what to make of James Barnes and his family of choice, but he wants to know more. Drag races, muscle cars and intense attraction leave Steve wondering if he’s in way too deep. Spoiler alert: Definitely.

Art by faceisamess (on AO3)

Home Is Where the Heart Is by @anice-1 (AO3)

with art by MrBarnesIfYaNasty beta-read by @curry-spice-and-everything-nice

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 22k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter

Tags: Sweet Home Alabama AU, based on a movie, modern AU - no powers, referenced minor character death, referenced pet death, people get drunk, artist!Steve, background Clint/Natasha, brief mention of past Bruce/Natasha

Summary:

Steve Rogers has it all: He’s the hottest new artist in town, he’s dating the most eligible bachelorette of New York City, and he just got the proposal of his dreams. The problem? Steve already has a husband, and travelling home to finally divorce Bucky Barnes proves to be far more of a trip down memory lane than Steve expected.

How to Fix a Broken Heart by RockSaltAndRoll

Rating: General Audiences

Words:

Archive Warnings:

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Based on Grey's Anatomy, medical AU, Major Illness, Blood, Surgery, Fluff and Angst, heart failure, Doctor/Patient Romance, Doctor!Bucky, Patient!Steve, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Happy Ending

Summary

Stucky Big Bang 2017 Submission:Falling in love with a patient was top of the list of things Bucky Barnes would never do...until he met Steve Rogers - a good guy with a broken heart that can't be fixed. After Steve's transplant surgery falls through and his bad heart weakens, Bucky and his team try their hardest to keep him alive until they can find a donor. Over bedside picnics and games of scrabble, Bucky fights against time to save the man he's in love with before Steve loses his battle.

Identity Is Your Most Valuable Possession by assemblingbrokenmemories 

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 72.5 k

Relationships: Steve/Bucky

Tags: Alternate Universe- The Incredibles, Modern with Powers AU, Fake Marriage, Family Fic, Amputee!Bucky, Cryokinetic!Bucky, Canon Typical Violence, Minor Character Death Mention, Alternating POV

Summary: Steve and Bucky meet as opposite sides of a battle when the brainwashed Winter Soldier was sent to kill Captain America and ended up captured and a friend instead. This battle and its resulting damage are the nail in the coffin for enhanced individuals, and the government rolls out the Enhanced Relocation Act which rehouses superheroes into civilian life. Seven years later, the glory of the “super hero days” are over and the ERA sees Steve and Bucky masquerading as a married couple with three adopted children- Pietro, Wanda, and Peter. As they struggle to adjust to their as regular citizens, a unique and potentially dangerous offer puts their family in danger. WIll they come together? Or will this see the end of their charade? - The Incredibles AU people (sort of) asked for!

Art by debwalsh (tumblr)

Art by debwalsh (ao3)

Indiana Barnes and the Curse of the Tesseract by follow_the_sun

Art by sulasaferoom

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warnings: Creator chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 56,576

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Action/Adventure, Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes | Shrinkyclinks, Inspired by Indiana Jones, Inspired by The Rocketeer, Marvel Norse Lore, sbb2017, Stucky Big Bang 2017, Canon Disabled Character, Brief torture scene, The Real Treasure Was the Priceless Historical Sites We Blew Up Along The Way

Summary: It’s 1943, and art history professor Steve Rogers has been hired to help wealthy industrialist Tony Stark find his father, who went missing while searching for the fabled Tesseract. It sounds like an easy job until Steve finds out that his old flame, Bucky Barnes, is also part of the expedition.

Our Core is Madness by Terrenis | Art by noncorporealform

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Words: 61380

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson/DarcyLewis, Mentions of Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli, Thor/Jane Foster, Sif/Maria Hill/Sharon Carter

Tags: AU - Modern Setting; AU - Year 2000; Serial Killers; Mental Issues; Movie Science; Post-Serum Steve; Bucky has Issues and a metal arm; Howards A+++parenting; Dissociative identity disorder, more on Ao3

Summary: When Crossbones, New York’s and New Jersey’s newest Serial Killer, collapses, when finally captured, it’s up to SHIELD Agent Steve Rogers to find a way to locate the killer’s newest victim, before it’s too late.

Enter one James “Bucky” Barnes - a psychologist and engineer, who uses an experimental device to engulf into his patients’ minds. In a race against time, Steve and his partner Natasha turn to him for help and Bucky agrees, while secretly fighting against his growing attraction for the nice blond federal agent. The only question is: Is it safe to enter a mad man’s subconscious or will it end badly for them both?

Or a The Cell! AU that no one asked for. But I wrote it anyway.

Steal The Rhythm Out From My Heart by Nori [ AO3 | Tumblr ]

Rating: Mature Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Words: 32K Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes Tags:  Alternate Universe - Destiny (video game), Canon-Typical Violence, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Angst, Humor, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Minor Character Death

Summary: Humanity’s dwindling numbers hang by a thread and the last of the Traveler’s strange, powerful Light grows dimmer by the day. With their fearsome, unknown enemy closing in, it falls on the Guardians to defend the last of Earth’s people. Steve, only recently reborn and still learning the limits of his inhuman abilities, is thrown headfirst into an unceasing battle for life itself. Falling in love with a mysterious, reticent Hunter isn’t really part of the plan, but Steve’s always been flexible. Now if he could just convince the object of his affections to admit he’s in love, too, these long days of war might even be worth the trouble.

“You’re a madman,” Bucky informs him fondly. Steve steps forward, using both hands to grab the edges of Bucky’s hood and pulling until the material lies neat and even.

“Probably,” he agrees amiably, and hops backwards off the cliff.

Art by Emeraldwolf | Art by koreanrage

Stevie by malone78.tumblr.com

Word count: 35k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James “Bucky” Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

Additional Tags: Stony - Freeform, Depression, blink and you miss it mention of Buckynat, Recovery, Deception, Age Difference, Suicide Attempt, Arranged Marriage Summary:

Steve is the son of a live-in-nurse who returns home from two years in Paris a stunning young man, and immediately catches the attention of Tony, the playboy son of his mother’s rich employers. Tony woos and wins Steve, who has always been in love with him. However, their romance is threatened by Tony’s serious older brother, Bucky, who runs the family business and is relying on Tony to marry an heiress in order for a crucial merger to take place. Steve is initially elated because he has been in love with Tony since he can remember. What seems like a dream come true for Steve ends up taking a strange turn when Bucky starts spending time with Stevie. In a world of money and high society, who can Stevie trust with his heart?

Art by milkberi.tumblr.com to follow

Storm Chasers by raisedinthunder

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: None

Words: 29k

Relationships: Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Twister AU, storm chaser au, estranged husbands, rekindled romance

Summary: When the worst series of storms on record are predicted to hit Oklahoma, Bucky Barnes drags his entire department out into the field to chase them down. When they’re joined by his estranged husband, Steve and his new fiancé it’s not just their new tornado warning system that’s put to the test. Risking their lives Bucky and Steve go up against mother nature together once more.

Art by drjezdzany

The Holtzmann-Rogers Plan of Action by krycekasks

Unrated

Archive Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence

Relationships: James Bucky Barnes / Steve Rogers, Erin Gilbert / Jillian Holtzmann

Tags: Holtzbert - Shrinkyclinks - Great British Bake Off - Ghostbusting AU, misunderstandings, Rogers and Holtz are scamps!, evil twins, Fluff, dream/flashback with gun violence and killing, description of an asthma attack / difficulty breathing, description of a cut / bleeding, allusion to disturbing human experimentation, but mostly: Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor

Summary: Why have one five foot one-ish obstinate blond with no sense of self-preservation issues and a propensity for getting into trouble when you can have two for twice the price? Only by working together do they stand a chance of getting their best friends to fall in love with them. Throw in experimental robotic arms, ghost hunting and internationally renowned televised baking competition and a cunning plan, what could possibly go wrong?

(aka the one where Steve is an art professor in love with his best friend, the former Special Forces sniper Bucky Barnes, who lost and arm in combat and tests experimental prostheses for Jillian Holtzmann, who is in love with her best friend Erin Gilbert, paranormal expert and Steve’s colleague. While Erin and Bucky vie for Star Baker in the Great British Bake Off, Holtzmann and Rogers devise a plan to win their hearts.)

Adorable, amazing and delicious art (I’m so lucky, it’s ridiculous) by Frau Argh - thank you for taking a chance with this story, your enthusiasm (and love for Aliens) has made it all worthwhile

Where No One Goes by made_of_sunshine

Rated: PG/Teen

Character tags:James “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter, Helen Cho, Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Fantasy, Non-consensual daemon touching, loosely based on httyd, pre-serum Steve Rogers, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, Amnesia, Loss of Identity, Dragons Summary:

Three years ago, Steve Rogers woke up on the shores of Skjoldr, barely breathing, his daemon at his side. He remembered nothing of his previous life. Featuring: A war in which he is not the hero, a dragon who may not be what it seems and two boys who are more than they realize.

Art by @cloudwolfbane

Art by @inkforwordsart

Canon Divergence (sorted from were they diverge from canon)

Pre TFA

Gweilo Gongfu by P.R. Zed

Rating: E

Warnings: No archive warnings apply

Words: 34K

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James “Bucky” Barnes

Tags: Alternate Universe, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Chinese American Bucky Barnes, 1930s, Period-Typical Racism, Martial Arts

Summary:

“I can look after myself.” Steve bristled. “And how about you? You go around taking on three fighters from the Hip Sing Tong on a regular basis?”

“Sure,” the guy said, and then he gave Steve a big grin. “I don’t like bullies either.”

“Jeez, we’re two of a kind, ain’t we?” Steve laughed and stuck out his hand. “Steve Rogers.”

The guy took his hand in a firm grip.

“Bucky Dyun.”

“Bucky?”

“Yeah, unless you want to call me Pok Chi like my ma does.”

“Bucky it is.”

Steve Rogers doesn’t know much about Chinese culture when he makes a wrong turn in Chinatown. But a chance meeting gives him not only a new friend, but an entry into a whole new world. The more he learns from Bucky, the closer they get, until Bucky is so much more than a friend. But when a Chinese gang goes after Bucky and his family, Steve knows he needs to stand up and make sure the man he loves doesn’t lose everything.

Art by potofsoup (link to come)

Art by cassandrasfisher (link to come)

Red Strings and Violent Things by urbanconstellations tumblr

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings apply

Words: 27k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Tags: Post- Winter Soldier, PTSD, Allusions to sexual situations and Violence, Cursing

Summary: There is an old Chinese myth about a red string of Fate, that is intertwined around two souls by the gods. The cord may stretch, or tangle, but never break. Two boys fall in love in Brooklyn, slowly and full of promise. As they fall, their string unwinds to catch them. Seventy five years later, that string finds its way back home. After the Winter Soldier pulls Steve Rogers out of the Potomac, he isn’t quite sure where to begin putting the pieces back together. Steve Rogers is spending his time pulling on threads, while trying to follow his own. Their strings will pull them through memories and doubt, until they wind up on a pier, wound together again.

Seventy five years in fits and starts.

Art by @sorrowingsoldier

Art by @starmaki

TFA

A Retelling by AftertheFall (you_took_everything)

Rating: E

Words: 20k

Archive Warnings: Rape/Noncon

Tags: TFA, Howling Commandos, Peggy Carter, Pre-Seruem Steve, Bucky Barnes as Captain America, Religious Themes

Summary:

Bucky stood in a line with a bunch of other men at parade rest. All the men were probably as scared as Bucky, and, like Bucky, none of them willing to show it.

His papers had come in the mail. It wasn't like he hadn't been expecting them. His father had looked grim. His mother had not been able to stop crying. She had always been religious, but she started attending mass two times a day and three times on Sundays. She tried to make Bucky come too, but he didn’t really see much point to it. He’d never been very religious.

Colder Weather by FireflysLove

Rating: Mature

Words: 20k

Archive Warnings: Major Character Death

Tags: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, ghost au, Angst with a Happy Ending, Pre-War, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Period-Typical Homophobia

Summary

In another life, Bucky died in Azzano and Steve never became Captain America. Bucky's come back to haunt Steve. In another time two boys fall in love and learn how to live.

A Ghost AU written in two parts.

Demobilization by 743ish

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 41k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Tags: Post-war, No Powers, Steve Rogers/OFC, 1940s Bucky Barnes, War Veteran Bucky Barnes, Mutual Pining, Jealousy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Homecoming, Emotional Sex

Summary: When the Statue of Liberty slides into view, the whole ship roars. It’s deafening. Bucky throws his fist in the air and yells along with everyone else. His heart is in his throat. The Statue of goddamn Liberty. Bucky wants to climb up her robe and kiss her sour green face.

The cheers rise up again as they go by her, and then die back down; most of the guys are just happy to sit and smile and watch the city float lazily into focus. They know they’ve got days more of barracks and bunks and cheap train seats before they’ll get to see their families in Pittsburgh, or Columbus, or Chicago. But Bucky’s home, he can see Brooklyn, and he laughs and shades his eyes from the sun and feels crazy with happiness, and this has to be the slowest fucking boat in the world, but at least he has a good view while he dies of impatience.

In 1945, Bucky comes home from the war.

Art by Sallysparrow017 tumblr || ao3

Beta by Dreadnought

Folie a Deux

Author: Cloud_Wolfbane

Artists: Xemsonx and Mithborien

Rated: E

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Gaslighting, Manipulation, and Amputation

Summary: When Bucky falls off the train in the Alps, Steve follows, and Russia gains two of the greatest assassins that ever lived.

Art Links:

Xemsonx’s awesome trailer can be seen here.

Mithborien’s amazing gifs can be seen here. Mithborien also did the lovely header and the time stamps seen throughout the story.

maybe tomorrow (i’ll find my way home) by obsessivereader

Rating: E

Words count: 26,361

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: shrinkyclinks, reincarnated Steve, Post-CATWS, AU - Canon divergent, alternating POV, mild gore (treating injuries), suicide ideation, past rape-noncon (brief mention), implied/referenced torture (brief mention)

Summary: A man exits the building. Approximately 5’6”, thin, tired-looking. A suitable target. He needs someone he can overpower quickly and quietly. He’s injured from the fight on the helicarriers, and weak from hunger, and blood-loss.

A streetlight illuminates the target’s face as he passes under it. That one brief glimpse of a narrow face and glowing blond hair sets his heart rate climbing. Something presses at the edges of his mind, like the wingbeats of night moths against a pane of glass. He ignores it, like he ignores the phantom voice that comes when he’s too long out of cryo. He walks towards the target, knife in hand.

What if… What if Captain America died on the Valkyrie. What if he was reborn. What if the Winter Soldier met him after the fall of the helicarriers.

Art by @this-simple-mind 

Check out my other art for maybe tomorrow here

Now I Can Only Dream (Of Being All You Need) by IndigoNight tumblr

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, rape/non-con

Words: ~35k

Relationships: Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers/The Winter Soldier

Tags: multiple personalities, hurt/comfort, implied/referenced torture, panic attacks, dissociation, scars, non-consensual body modification, implied/referenced rape/non-con, non-consensual magic, not AoU compliant, not CA:CW compliant

Summary: The Winter Soldier exists for one reason: Protect Bucky Barnes. It is an ongoing mission, one that does not change when their HYDRA handlers are exchanged for the Avengers. Except the Winter Soldier has no defenses against magic, no contingencies planned for when Bucky is ripped out from his protective cocoon and exposed to the world in a body of his own. It’s a mission adjustment that neither of them were prepared for. At least now they have back up, if they’re willing to accept it.

Beautiful art by arania

@araniaart

Protector by @capgal with artwork by glide-thru

Rating: Gen Archive Warnings: No warnings apply Word Count: 30k Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes Additonal Tags: Magical!Shield AU, Canon Compliant Summary: In which Steve finds Bucky, loses Bucky, finds Bucky, and loses Bucky again, and picks up and drops the shield a few times along the way.Or: the one where everything is the same, except the shield is a magical alien artifact like Mjolnir.

Winter Gorgon by @quarra 

Rating:E

Words:74k

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Canon Divergent, Gorgon!BUcky, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Torture, Captain America Steve Rogers, Light Dom/Sub, Switching, Internalized Homophobia, Angst

For as long as Steve could remember, all he ever wanted to do was what was right. So when he hears about his father’s old regiment being held as POW’s by the Nazis, he’s determined to put what Doctor Erskine gave him to good use and goes AWOL to rescue them.

But the 107th isn’t all he finds there. Deep in the labs is a very unusual prisoner; one with snakes in his hair and a mask nailed to his face. Despite the man’s monstrous visage, Steve can’t in good conscience leave him to the enemy. That one act of mercy will change his life, the course of the war, and even the future of the world.

Art by @lenadraws

To Split the Night by AftertheFall with art by @ivedoneit100times that can be seen here

Rating: Explicit 

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con 

Words: 20,043 

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers 

Tags: Period-Typical Homophobia, Bucky Barnes as Captain America, Peggy Carter is a badass as per usual, regligious themes, suicide ideation, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Drugs 

Summary: “It seems we all need something to kill for to seek & claim to treasure till it screams in elemental dark to argue with the Gods over–” - yusef komunyakaa

You Would Be In Clover by @chibisquirt

Rating: E (Explicit)

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Words: 126k

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson

Tags:  Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Gay Bucky Barnes, Female Steve Rogers, Marriage of Convenience, Religion, Miscarriage, Period-Typical Homophobia, Crossdressing, Howard Stark/Steve Rogers (minor ship), Bucky Barnes/Others (offscreen)

Summary:

Sarah “Gwen” Rogers was nineteen when she married Bucky Barnes, and she knew at the time just how stupid it was: it wasn’t exactly a brilliant move to marry a man who could never love her, even—or especially—when she knew that she was in love with him.

Neither of them could have predicted the war that came, and if they had, then they sure as hell couldn’t have predicted what would happen when Gwen volunteered for Project: Rebirth.

Art by @esaael and by @mamadonovan

TWS

A Song for Eurydice by Optimustaud @optimustaud

Rating: M

Archive Warnings:  Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 19999

Relationships:  Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Tags: cursing, torture, medical experimentation, suicidal ideation, mental illness, body horror, cannon divergence, motown and soul

Summary:  Ten years after the events of The Winter Soldier Steve tracks Bucky to an abandoned Hydra base in Siberia.  

Read the fic on AO3

Art by @riakomai / @artbyria

“Episode Two: We Hate Cats!” by @lucidnancyboy and @drjezdzany ​. 

 a direct sequel to “Episode One: Red Vines”. 

Art posts on tumblr: Ch1, Ch2, Ch3, Ch4+5

playlist here

Rating: M

Warnings: Mentions of past Torture, Depression, PTSD, Angst, Past Dubious Consent, Suicidal Ideation, Drinking, Explicit Language

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov (mentioned), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (mentioned), hinted at past Steve/Bucky/Peggy

Characters: James “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson, FRIDAY

Word Count: 88k

Summary: Simply put, Bucky was different now. It had taken a heaping dose of pain for Steve to get that fact through his thick skull, but they were finally on the same page…sort of. Unfortunately, ‘sort of’ wasn’t making things easier. Like an idiot, Steve had expected instantaneous rainbows and sunshine to bathe them in happiness, but all he saw was a giant wall of stubborn and bacon flying at his head.

Bucky and Clint covering their mouths so Steve couldn’t hear them whispering? It hurt. Bucky and Tony laughing at unfunny jokes about torture? It hurt. Bucky and Nat exchanging secret spy glances? It hurt like hell. But Sam declaring himself ‘Team Bucky’? That downright sucked. Once, Bucky had given those pieces of himself to Steve…and only Steve. That was the problem: Steve wasn’t the boy Bucky fell in love with, he wasn’t Captain America, and he wasn’t even doing a good job at being Steve Rogers. Their foundation lost, the question had become, ‘Now what?’

They sucked at it, but they were trying. The fighting, laughing, panicking, hugging, sarcasm, make-up sex, and yes, flying bacon proved that. Not so simply put: Relationships are never a straight line; especially when you both get frozen and end up in the wrong century.

Read on AO3.

Find lucidnancyboy / Jessie Lucid Art on tumblr, AO3 and Instagram.

Find drjezdzany / Lorien on tumblr, AO3 and redbubble.

I Was Me by stuckyisawayoflife

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 20k +

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Tags: Friends to Lovers, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Hurt/Comfort, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Old People Love Bucky Barnes, Depression, Anxiety

Summary:

It went like this.

James Buchanan Barnes aka Bucky aka the Winter Solider knocked on Steven Grant Rogers aka Steve aka Captain America’s door at precisely 5:47 am on Tuesday morning. And Steve who, despite all his training, was known to catch a case of “overtrusting idiot” every now and again, shuffled sleepily to the door and swung it open, yawning out a “can I help you?” without even fully opening his eyes.

He blinked when he noticed Bucky standing there, long hair hanging limply under a hat pulled down low, metal hand hidden surreptitiously in his left pocket, giving him a shy sort of smile. Steve had to grip the doorframe to keep from falling to his knees.

Bucky, who was much more composed, simply said, “Hey, Steve.”

Art & Header by ee-void

The Waves Above Us by Suchthingbutnever

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Words: 50k

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Antifascist Steve, Communist Bucky, Anal Sex, Mental Instability, Racism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempted Suicide, Drug Use, Depression, Socialist Steve ftw!

Summary:

Steve Rogers looks for death, that elusive fucker dodging him left and right. He stares at walls, talks to ghosts and smokes a boatload of weed. He has a homeless friend who sells stuff on the sidewalk. He eats greasy burgers and barbecue chips. He works for S.H.I.E.L.D., because why the hell not? Yet, unwittingly, there are several things he rediscovers: communism, sex, and then, unbowed, unbroken and very much unhinged, the only equal to his insanity: Bucky Barnes.  

—

Or: The first piece of Bucky Barnes that returned was, in all honestly.

His cock.

Art by Sally, as well as sundae cherries. 

College/University AU and also High School AU

It’s Quiet Uptown by princess-of-the-worlds (ao3)

Rating: Teen and Up

Archive Warnings: None

Words: 28K

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James “Bucky” Barnes

Tags: Modern!AU, Boarding School!AU, Canon Temporary Death, Brief Underaged Drinking, Road Trip, Mutants

Summary: Steve Rogers has always relied on the fact that Bucky Barnes is a major part of his life, and his burgeoning crush on his best friend shouldn’t alarm him. It doesn’t, in fact, but Steve has always had the worst timing in life. He anticipated problems but not problems like this. Enter: boarding school for rich kids, death, assassins, mutants, a road trip, and what could possibly be a government-wide conspiracy. Steve may not even make it to college.

Art by @ninjasherlock

Betaread by @lostthebucky

Lessons In Chemistry by @brendaonao3

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships:Bucky/Steve (Background Sam/Rhodey)

Word Count: 42329

Tags: College AU, Science Nerd Bucky, Artist Steve, Bucky POV, Sexual Experimentation, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Dom/sub Undertones, Friends With Benefits, Boys Who Can’t Communicate Except Through Sex, Language Kink, Skinny!Steve, Bucky & Sam Friendship, Bucky & Peggy Friendship

Summary: Bucky Barnes is having a rough senior year of college: his girlfriend of two years just dumped him for being too boring, he’s drowning in lab work and classes and assignments, sleep and free time are a distant memory, and all his friends seem to want to talk about is how he needs to out of his comfort zone.

But then his old high school buddy, Steve Rogers, drops back into his life, and suddenly classwork and studying and getting into a great grad school are the last thing on his mind.

Art by @sulasaferoom​  

of glory and of good by laure_lie (justawks) with art by barnesergeant

Rating: Teen And Up

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words:  20,230.

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, brief - Relationship

Tags: alternate universe - actors, alternate universe - modern setting, actor Steve, actor Bucky, Hamlet - Freeform, Shakespeare, high school theatre, social media, coming out

Summary: Steve Rogers cannot escape Bucky Barnes. He’s everywhere. High school was a long time ago, yes, but it’s not easily that you forget your first rival. Bucky Barnes stole the role of Prince Hamlet right out from under Steve’s nose, after all. Ten years later they find themselves in the same position - two actors, with a few scars and a few more secrets - vying for the role of Prince Hamlet in what promises to be the role of a lifetime.

Roll for Initiative by QueenoftheRandomWord42

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 30244 words

Chapters 5/5

Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe, The D&D AU nobody asked for, Bucky Barnes plays the Winter Soldier, Steve plays Captain America, Fury’s their GM, M to F Transgender side character Joseph Rogers is the trans side character, no powers au, modern day AU, College AU

Summary: What happens when you mix D&D, The Avengers, with a dash of Identity Porn, a dash of fun, and put into the blender and press frappe? Hopefully this fic!

Bucky Barnes has been trying to juggle his final term in his undergrad while trying to find a thesis project for grad school by day, by night he plays table top games. His characters have a habit of dying before the end of the campaign, and all he can do afterwards is talk to his friend Nomad1974 about the games.

Steve Rogers has been trying to get though art school while his mother is sick with cancer, and circumstances have required that he move in with his mother and uncle until his mother is better or he graduates from college, which ever comes first. The best escape he has is playing table top games online with his friend Not_Yur_Side_Kick17.

Both players have started developing feelings for each other online, but when they meet in real life, they are unaware they know each other, and begin pining. When well these two figure out that they know each other in real life?

Art: by @samthebirdbae

Fairy Tale/Mythology AU

Endurance and Magic by izabelluhroze

Rating: G

Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 22k

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Cinderella!AU, Tony is the fairy godfather, mild abuse, minor character death, cliffhanger ending, pre!war Bucky, skinny!Steve, illness, this sounds angsty and it kinda is but there’s also a lot of fluff.

Summary:

‘Hear ye! Hear ye!

Know that on this day, our new king here by declares his love

For the mysterious blonde Bachelor, as wore white satin gloves

and who called himself Steven.

And requests that he presents himself at the palace immediately,

Whereupon, if he is willing, his royal majesty shall, forthwith, marry him.

Art by instagrims

I Think You’re the Cat’s Meow by daslebensmittel  

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 22,109

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes / Steve Rogers

Tags: Beauty and the Beast!AU (sort of), Modern Fairytale, Humor, Asshole Cat, Mostly Canon!Steve Rogers, Canon-divergent!Bucky Barnes, Pets, Cats, Enemies to Friends (I guess), Brief Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers

Summary: When Steve met Bucky, it was love at first sight. Bucky, on the other hand, wasn’t impressed; but he also happened to be - a cat. First-time cat owner Steve has a lot to learn about taking care of Bucky, as he tries to juggle his missions and hectic love life. And despite his initial rejection of Steve, asshole-cat Bucky soon learns to appreciate his patient human. However, Bucky also has his own secret agenda to achieve, before his nine lives run out. He never expected Steve of all people to help him - not at first, anyway.

Cover Art by @kikisloveschocolate Art by @barnessergeant Art by @milkberi (pending)

It Tastes Like Ambrosia by Little_Iago, myfailsafe, picoalloe

Rating: Explicit

Words:42k

Archive Warnings: None

After a human soul escapes the grasp of Hades and evades ferrying by Charon, the peaceful God of death Thanatos is tasked with finding out which God is interfering. Taking the mortal form of James Buchanan Barnes, he finds himself face to face with Steve Rogers, the man who has escaped death not once but twice. Now he must get into Steve's good graces and figure out why this mortal is special enough to disappear from the Underworld. Now Thanatos must navigate the normal life of a human, feelings and all, and manage to finish this simple task. The only problem is nothing involving Steve is simple. At all.

Art by @squeakydevil and @cbolle

[bewareoftrees]

Babylon 5 Watch (Season 1, Episodes 4-6)

Finally sat down to watch more Babylon! And man do these three episodes start with a doozy. But before that, here’s a list of the nicknames I’ve given everyone.

The Commander - Commander Jeffrey Sinclair The Russian - Commander Susan Ivanova Garibalding (or Daffy Duck) - Michael Garibaldi Sounds Like Jafar - G’Kar Space Vamp - Londo Mollari The Peeler - Talia Winters The Doctor - Dr. Stephen Franklin Delenn - Bonehead

At first this was just going to be a list to help you out with understanding who I’m referencing when I use a nickname, but now it’s a list to help me out. @jenniferstolzer let me know that Bonehead is a derogatory term in this universe, so to avoid being rude to these fictional characters it’s time for me to figure out who’s who on this station.

All right, let’s dig in!

Episode 1.4 “Infection”

Garibalding: “He took out a fighter to check out a damaged transport.”  Reporter: “Isnt that sort of job usually delegated to someone else?” THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING!

Surprise, surprise. Garibalding continues to be a perv. Who asks a woman you just met if she’s into aphrodisiacs? Surprised he didn’t follow that up with, “Wanna try it with me?” Creeper wink. Granted, what he did follow it up with wasn’t any better. 

Those aren’t her broadcasts!

Reporter: “We took a poll when this station first opened and 75% of ISN viewers said that this place wouldn’t even last 5 minutes!” - What the hell happened to Babylon 1-4!?

Random Note: Just made the connection that Babylon sounds like Babel. Yes, Babylon was an actual place, but the Tower of Babel makes way more sense with this world since it is a bunch of alien species coming together to work through their language (or cultural, political, etc) differences. Or maybe this whole place is just about Hamurabi’s code and I’m thinking too much into it.

Wonder if the actor playing Dr. Vance Hendricks is mostly a theater actor because this whole nothing scene is performed out to the audience, with his back to The Doctor, who he is talking to.

I prefer Nathan Drake to Nelson Drake, the archaeologist’s assistant. WHERE’S MY UNCHARTED MOVIE!?

Living machines get a big nope from me. Plus that artifact looks like a marker from Dead Space. All a big NOPE! So stop touching them!

Later Hendricks said that he knew they had to attach to a host in order to work. So again, I say, STOP TOUCHING THEM!

Commanderisms:

“I got transferred to an outpost so far off the star maps you couldn’t find it with a hunting dog and a Ouija Board.” What does this even mean!?

“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth.”

Someone needs to tell The Doctor what an archaeologist is: “You’re a brilliant man, Vance. A solid researcher… you should be out making your own discoveries instead of raiding dead worlds…”. “Feels a little like grave robbing.”

Garibalding was fired 5 times for “unspecified personal problems. Was it an inability to not sexually harass every woman he sees? Bet it was.  

So nice that these two guys synchronized their death poses. (Also, how the heck did The Doctor survive this with barely a mark!?)

OMG these vests. They are everything. 

“I need this whole area cleared. We’ll need room to maneuver.”

Alien Hitler: “My name! Who knows my name!?” Can you imagine how much he would freak out if he went to Cheers?

I thought all that tech fused with his body and mutated his physiology, so how the heck do you go from alien Hitler to human after all that!? Was there a zipper I didn’t see!?

Man, things get super dark when Londo isn’t in an episode. Too real… Ethnocentrism, weaponizing new technology, protective vests that look like super ugly sweater vests… 

Episode 1.5 “The Parliament of Dreams”

Looks like pigs are still a thing. Thank God. A world without bacon is not a world I want to exist.

LOL G’Kar’s reactions to the video about the assassin coming for him are great. The dude just said you will die in the next 48 hours, you really think the assassin is going to be in the corner of your room at minute 1, waiting for the tape to end!?

This episode definitely went a long way to turn my opinion to G’Kar towards the positive by giving him some comedic bits to work with. But the show was also quick to remind me that the whole reason for this hit is because he does shady stuff. Let us not forget Episode 1!

Whoa Ivanova just laughed. I repeat, Ivanova just laughed! Looks like she is capable of having fun when she lets her hair down, literally.

I got super excited because Londo just threw something left handed (for those keeping track, that is 3 out of 5 episodes in which he throws something, and he wasn’t even in 1 of the 5 total episodes). As a lefty, it is always super exciting to see another member of the club (a recent addition being the girl who plays Beverly in the new It), but @jenniferstolzer quickly put a stop to that happiness by sending me a gif where he throws something right handed. So I will have to wait a bit longer before I make my final decision on his club membership.

Wonder if I could pull off the Superman curl in my daily life.

In this same scene Lady Superman said something about her birth number and I got super confused. Like: “Did Babylon 5 just drop some hardcore sci-fi into the show with no explanation? Are people grown in tubes!?” She mean’t berth number, guys… Berth. Shame face…

How the Hell can G’Kar be sleeping during his last 48 hours alive!?

First G’Kar, now Delenn is talking about how revealing her past would lead to too many questions. Did no one do a background check on any of these people!?

I think I have a new favorite alien face sculpt on the show. Seriously, look at this dude. (Also, when this shot first came on I thought that was a smiley face behind his head, which plays out more in the next episode.)

G’Kar just said, “In 2 Earth hours.” That’s right, abide by our rules!

Hello, I’ll be your server tonight. Would you like me to cut this tension with a knife for you?

Did you guys just see that!? In the background G’Kar’s hand comes in from out of frame and steals Ivanova’s ceremonial fruit in case his was poisoned. Just in case you were curious about the relationship of these two.

Wait, did I just detect sexual tension between The Commander and Delenn? Server, we need you!

Later they said something about this possibly doubling as a marriage ceremony. Did someone just get Mrs. Reynolds’ed? (Sidenote: I really need to rewatch Firefly in the very near future.)

Of course Garibalding sniffed out the random pair of panties in G’Kar’s room.

What kind of assassin waits until there is a witness to carry out the hit? Especially when he isn’t planning on torturing him before killing him. He even smiled for the camera! (Sidenote: the way the episode plays out, I don’t think that woman tried to contact anyone herself about what she saw. G’Kar’s assistant had to call her.)

What kind of assassin has reading glasses!?

That’s a scary looking torture device. You know what isn’t scary? Calling those things on it “Pain Givers.”

Episode 1.6 “Mind War”

Hey! A new pilot! FINALLY! … And… he’s dead…

Another “finally” moment: Garibalding got elbowed in the gut for being a perv.

Aw man… Ivanova hair is tied back up. If the hair being down is gone, that means the laughter is also likely gone… Then again, this might not be a bad thing. BA Ivanova is awesome, and she’s getting some good moments in this episode. Two great lines of hers: 1) “Who watches the Watchmen?” 2) “What do you do in your spare time, juggle babies over a fire pit?”

You know it’s the future cuz the paper is transparent. But joke’s on them! Any of you ever use a projector in school? Ever try to hold a transparency and read it? It’s not easy. Best fix is to put a white piece of paper behind it. So way to make things harder, future!

I thought telekinetics were scary enough before just because they can throw stuff at you. I never imagined stuff like pinching carotid arteries!

Ok, I know I said I wouldn’t make fun of the graphics last time, but look at them!

Speaking of Watchmen: Earlier I thought the new telepath was going all Professor X when he was making the world shake (everyone watch Logan!), but I was in the wrong comic. He’s becoming everything. If he becomes indifferent then we’re screwed.

Maybe don’t follow “I mean you no harm, commander,” with “I could vaporize you right now with a single thought.”

Eh heh… You would think that PsyCop would’ve seen the punch to the face coming.

And… he’s vaporized someone. Yep! Def Doctor Manhattan!

And... now he’s def everything. He’s a giant space ghost. You know what’s included in being everything? Being vain. He gave himself the Manhattan abs.

He made Talia telekinetic!? After everything he said about how awful his experience was, how the heck is that a gift!?

So there’s my thoughts on episodes 3-6 of season 1. Did I miss anything?

[theofficialautisticgamer]

No Tails, Not True Dat Why Sonic Forces' Story Is An Epic Fail Critique by TheAutisticGamer (Michael) SPOILERS FOR SONIC FORCES DOWN BELOW! WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE! People who play Sonic games are so divided nowadays. There are the ones who hate every modern Sonic Game, then there are the people complaining about the ones hating every modern Sonic Game, then there are the people who think Generations and Mania are the only good ones, but we also have people who think the Modern Games are good with the exception of the Xbox 360 Sonic The Hedgehog and Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric... It's just a god damn mess. But, for me, I haven't played a 3D Sonic Game since Sonic and the Black Knight (which I liked at the time) but when I finally played through Sonic Forces, I liked it. I liked the graphics, the short burst gameplay (Even if it's two and a half hours long) and the awesome kick ass soundtrack which was the Persona 5 of the Sonic series. However, aside from one of the worst and most cringe worthy villains of all time, there is one thing that Sonic Forces fails at tremendously. The story. Now people might think, Michael, of course the story is going to be shit, Sonic Adventure 2 had the moon blow up in half and the Earth didn't go out of orbit with the other planets. Or Michael, Shadow The Hedgehog's story made you play through it 10 times just to get to the real ending. This is on a whole nother level of shit. First, even if Sonic Forces had a good story, we would still have to sit through some of the most cringe worthy dialogue and scenes ever put to game by Sonic Team. So lets get into why the story was an epic fail, even for a decent game and how we could have fixed it. Basically, Eggman is planning something big and laughs evily at his new creation. Then, all of a sudden, you're thrown into a level with Modern Day Sonic with Tails being like "OMFG SONIC EGGMAN IS ATTACKING EVERY1 HELP!!11" and it feels really rushed and disjointed. The level ends pretty quickly as well so then you get to another cutscene where Sonic saves Tails and some generic looking OC characters. Who are they? Why should we care if Eggman kills them? With the exception of Tails? Then, Eggman beats Sonic while Tails looks at his IPad or whatever he has and DOES LITERALLY NOTHING TO HELP HIM. Tails doesn't just fly into action trying to fight the hallucinations of characters, he just sits there saying "HMMM... I can't identify them." Basically, everyone then thinks Sonic is dead and Eggman takes over the whole world. Uhm, you know, there are other people who wouldn't take that shit. Where is the military? Where is the president from Sonic Adventure 2? Where is ambassadors of peace? Seriously? No one? Of fucking course, because this world only has one human and millions of anthropomorphic people who do jack shit. So Silver, Knuckles and everyone else form a rebellion and say some pretty bad dialogue and then we are introduced to our OC who you create. Knuckles immediately tells him to go on a mission that could get him killed even though it's his first day on the job. So that's when we find out Sonic is alived and has been tortured for months. But when we see Sonic, he is acting like "AH YEAWH, DIS IS HAPPENIN!" from his Sonic Adventure type of character. This is not believable at all. First, he doesn't look like he is scarred, bruised, bloody, battered, anything that would make him look like he had been tortured. What was the torture? Making him watch Jersey Shore? Because that could psychologically damage him and not kill him. Also, he gets out easily because for some reason his bonds are untied automatically and then he fights Zavok and... punches him? SINCE WHEN DOES SONIC PUNCH PEOPLE!? So the OC rescues Sonic and even though Sonic was apparently tortured for months, Knuckles asks him to immediately go on a dangerous mission with the OC that could potentially kill him because of his apparent tortured state. You know what? I'm thinking he was tortured with boredom because he doesn't do anything. The whole game then consists of Tails trying to get Omega working, then Classic Sonic apparently shows up and Tails says "Oh, you're that Sonic from another dimension, Yeah, that makes 100% Total Accurate Not Bullshit Sense" which makes no sense at all considering we have no clue how we got there. Later, Tails joins up with Modern Sonic, OC and the Rebels and mostly it's just boring from there. Sonic makes a joke about how it's been Generations (GEDDIT IT'S A THROWBACK TO GENERATIONS!11) and it's cringey as all hell. It's not until we get to the big city that things start turning for the worst again. Eggman decides to pull something out of his ass then after Sonic meets him called Null Space that's apparently something you can't get out of. Sonic gets out of it immediately with OC. Also Tail's instead of going "SONIC NOOOO!!!11" goes "How can this be!? I thought we did Blah Blah Blah!" Way to be concerned with your friend pal. This is a Deus Ex Machin if I ever seen one as Sonic just blasts out of Null Space because why not. Then, oh god... The rebels, Sonic, Classic Sonic, OC and a hundred cut and paste generic OC Characters get together for the final "Epic" battle. First, everything is wrong. It's just the same OCS copy and pasted over and over again making me not care for them at all because they are literally the exact same. The charge is just embarassing and one of the worst things I have ever seen in a game. The fighting is also not exciting. Everyone seems to either use Wispons or Hand to hand Combat and it's just boring as fuck. The whole story led up to this and then... WAIT OMEGA IS BACK!? Yes, for some reason, Omega is now turned on and is ready to fight even though he couldn't possibly have known where the fight was taking place. What the actual fuck. Basically, the story is just more boredom from there as you play as Classic Sonic and OC as everyone starts brooding how they're going to die. Then, the big bad null space goes away and then we fight Infinite who is easy as hell and then you fight Eggman and apparently kill him. He's not seen going to jail after he has been beaten or people throwing rocks at him for being a dick, he just dies and that's it. Wow. That's kind of dark. Then it becomes incredibly stupid again. Classic Sonic fades away for some reason without any explanation of the science of it from Tails, the genius in science and engineering. Sonic throws a blatant and convoluted message at the audience and Tails then says the worst thing ever: "True Dat" Fuck you Sonic Team. So, the story is a gigantic epic fucking failure of behemoth proportions that couldn't have been saved because Sonic Team was on crack this whole time. Or could it? How would I have written the story to Sonic Forces? I would have done it kind of like The Empire Strikes Back. See, Sonic Generations was the light hearted adventures of Sonic and Classic Sonic just like how it was a fun adventure in Star Wars (A New Hope) with Luke, Ben/Obi Wan Kenobi, Han, Leia, Chewy, C-3PO and R2-D2. This should have been the dark horse of the series. The story should have been much more darker, while having a few funny moments here and there. The dialogue should be semi serious like a Marvel Movie, the villain should be three dimensional and tragic instead of edgy edgelord who cuts peoples hearts out with his brooding edginess. So basically, here is the ten things they could have done: 1. Have Sonic actually been tortured for months at the start, show him bruised up and lost some of his power. 2. Have the villain be a tragic hero who helps Sonic and the team defeat Eggman and realize he is not a slave to him. 3. Cut the kiddy crap and have actual edge. Not too much, just enough to make people actually care about what's going on. 4. Have a bunch of the OC characters look different and make them have back stories and personalities or quips like "Before the war I was baker, now I live in poverty because the economy crashed" 5. Don't make the story so fast paced, it makes everything feel disjointed as all hell. 6. Have Tails use actual science to explain things about Infinite, Classic Sonic, Null Space, that stuff instead of being a useless twat. 7. Have the OC Character talk and have some interesting dialogue and interactions with the Rebels. 8. Cut all the filler crap, it just makes the story and the gameplay boring to play and watch. 9. Make Omega a bigger part of the story. Why is Tail's repairing Omega? Is he significant at all? Can he possibly stop Eggman and Infinite? 10. None of that assinine dialogue meme crap like "True Dat" or Knuckles being a dumbass. Have actual character conversations and dialogue and some funny quips here and there to contrast the dark with the light. These things could at least make the story decent, if not interesting and pretty good. I'm not saying I want a Goodfellas story or Citizen Kane performances, I just want the story to not be so idiotic and brain dead. Everything about Sonic Forces story sucks (including the Shadow DLC, but that's a whole nother story), but that doesn't mean it's an entirely bad game. The graphics and good for the most part, the environments are colorful and classic, the handling of characters feels okay, the gameplay is short burst and fun. The only other complaint I have is that the game should have been longer. I hope you understand where I come from when making this critique. It's not to bash on Sonic or trash this game, it's to tell you how not to write a story and how not to do dialogue. Hopefully, Sonic Team will learn their lesson and make another Hybrid Sonic game with actual heart and edge to it. But not too much edge.

[gkingoffez]

Their Colour and Light

Fandom: Star Wars Rebels

Words: 2,568

Warnings: tw blindness, graphic description of a traumatic injury

AO3 | FFN.Net

Kanan Jarrus is used to darkness now. He has no choice- it is before him constantly, a heavy curtain of endless black drawn between him and the vibrant world of light and colour he’d always taken for granted. Malachor and Maul had taken a lot of things from him in a very short amount of time, but it hadn’t been the first, nor would it likely be the last time his life was turned upside-down in a moment.

In the days after returning to Atollon, all the med-droids had been able to tell Kanan was what he had already figured out for himself- that his eyes were well beyond medical repair, and biotic replacements simply stretched too far outside of the Rebellion’s current means, not that he would have wanted them anyway. He knows one man isn’t worth that much cost or effort, especially in the face of the Empire’s tyrannical rule and the galaxy’s suffering. It was better to have those resources go where they were actually needed.

The droids settled for reconstructing the bridge of his nose and his eyelids, and letting the eyeballs themselves heal the best they could with the help of time and bacta. No one seemed to want to describe to Kanan what his face looked like now, and he can’t bring himself to blame them. The smell of roasting flesh still creeps up on him at odd hours in the night, and he tries not to think too hard on how the tip of the red lightsaber had gouged its way across his face. Sometimes, however, he can’t help it, and he gags on bile, always having to force it back down his throat. It would be embarrassing to ask someone to lead him to the refresher just so he could throw up. It was embarrassing enough asking for help when he needed to go to the refresher anyway.

There had been nothing to be done for his tear ducts. It’s strange to think that he will never cry again. Then again, he had been taught as a child not to show those kind of emotions, even if they were a natural part of living.

After some months, they finally tell him that his eyes have settled down and are now a traumatised, clouded over blue, while a jagged but slowly fading red scar apparently spans the line between the corners of his eyes. He doesn’t dare touch the area for the longest time for fear of aggregating it. The memory of pain stays with him even after he no longer requires pain medication.

It isn’t too difficult for Kanan to find his peace with his new shroud of darkness- it is with him always, surrounding him no matter where the sun is in the sky or how bright the lights on the Ghost are.

It takes far longer for him to come to peace with his sudden uselessness. After all, how can a blind man be anything but a burden on friends and a growing rebellion? He’s not a Jedi anymore; if he were to ignite his lightsaber now, he wouldn’t see even a dim flicker of blue light, much less be able to protect the ones he loved with it. He hasn’t called on the Force in months, seeing no need for it.

With every passing day, all he is doing is taking more precious time, energy and resources away from the rebellion, unable to give anything back. It’s slowly killing him, but Kanan eventually finds peace with that too.

After all, his family would never willingly abandon him. They are too stubborn, too kind.

Although his sight is gone, Kanan’s remaining senses cannot help but remind him that the galaxy hasn’t changed an atom around him. He sits in meditation at the edge of Chopper Base, the warmth of the sun kissing his hands, while a gentle wind rustles at his hair and ears. A spider-creature scuttles by the sensor fence, noisily kicking sand up with its long legs, and Kanan has to shuffle to pull a rock out from under his knee that had been biting into his skin. He takes a refreshing gulp from his water canteen and behind him, the distant murmur of movement and life continues as the rest of the base goes about their duties, his crew among them.

The world around him still turns and tumbles in its orbital path through space, but Kanan Jarrus cannot see it happening.

He has only memory of colour and light to work with now.

In the first few weeks after Malachor, it feels like he doesn’t get a single minute to himself. There is always a helpful (yet almost pitiful, patronising) voice in his ear, a guiding hand  on his shoulder or back as he adjusts his entire being to a new, monotone reality.

A lot of the time it is Hera. He tries hard to imagine her in his mind; she is the light green of her skin, swathed in orange and brown, a nebula of light emanating from her smile, framed in the dazzling blue streak s of a hyperspace tunnel opening, the soft glow of that final sunset when he’d promised to see her again. In the black, he feels Hera’s soft arms around him, warm and comforting, her patient voice directing him, her light kisses on his skin sustaining him on nights when he lets the darkness get too close. Just as before, Hera is a beacon calling him home, and he has never been more grateful to have her in his life. But a heaviness in his heart has to remind him that Hera cannot be his guide forever; she is too important to the Rebellion and Phoenix Squadron, and so she is gone in longer and longer intervals during Kanan’s recovery.

For a while, Chopper takes it upon himself to be Kanan’s personal, if eternally-complaining cane. He remembers Chopper in orange, yellow and white, covered in dirt and glinting in the Ghost’s artificial lights, the blueish jolt of electricity leaping from his tazer extension. It must look strange from the outside, a blind man being led around base (with its haphazard array of ships and equipment from various sources bleeding different coloured whites and greys into each other, while beyond, hues of yellows, oranges and browns stretch out into the desert- at least this is what he pictures, from memory) by a cranky astromech, who shouts at everyone in binary to ‘get out of the way’ while Kanan is coming through. He finds himself memorising the steps between ships, and feeling out the well-worn pathways under his shoes for himself rather quickly, if only so he can stop apologising to the confused pilots and rebels volunteers that Chopper keeps terrorising.

Back on the Sith temple, it had been an overwhelming comfort to hear Chopper’s beeps and boops after only having Maul’s sickening voice, some of Ahsohka’s last words and the thrumming dark power of the temple powering up to keep him company. Just to put his hand on the Chopper’s worn metal head and tell him to ‘lead me to Ezra’ had calmed Kanan down immeasurably. Once he’s mapped enough of the base in his mind to get by, Kanan makes sure to thank the droid for his help. In true Chopper fashion, he tells Kanan not to mention it, and somehow makes it sound like a threat.

Out of them all, Zeb is the most notably uncomfortable around Kanan, at first. Zeb (yellow and green, the electric purple of his bo-rifle, a swift blur of colour in the middle of a fight) tries to keep the stutter from his voice, and the shaking from his hands as best as he can, but Kanan can hear his sadness and anger in the way he rustles and mutters for revenge under his breath. The Lasat had no doubt seen horrific wounds during the genocide of his people, and it pains Kanan to once again show him that they are all built of flesh and bone that is too easily scarred and torn apart. Zeb holds on to Kanan a bit tighter, and more frequently now than before, holding Kanan’s shoulders as they walk side-by-side down corridors and hovering with hands on his back as he climbs down ladders on the Ghost. ‘I got you, mate,’ Zeb says, every now and then, and Kanan doesn’t doubt it. After a while, they fall back into old habits and jokes. They are both soldiers, after all, and soldiers carry on.

Sabine, he quietly admits to himself, is the one he misses seeing most, because Sabine is the human embodiment of everything he can no longer process. Sabine he thinks of not only in bright, raging colours (orange, dark blue, turquoise, burgundy, browns and blacks, in splatters and stripes and checker patterns, the brightness of an explosion chemically designed to be a rainbow) but in the heat of her determination, the bright warmth of her courage and the glow of her kindness. He hears Sabine’s sadness as well, in her quietness around him the first time they are alone together after Malachor, and the soft sobs and angry spray painting sounds he hears coming from her room late one night. She is a calming and reassuring voice, a gentle but firm touch, an arm linked through his, a tight hug. She offers, jokingly, to let Kanan ride on her back so he won’t bump into anything , and he tries to remember her smile as he jokes his way out (‘Not this time, Sabine, but I might take you up on that offer in the future.’). He misses her orange Starbird tags.

Sabine takes one look at the plain black half-mask Kanan finds, and asks if she can paint it. She makes it a green similar to his old sweater, and paints white jaig eyes on it using a thick white paint so that Kanan can trace his fingers over them whenever he wants. He isn’t quite sure if he deserves the eyes like this, but finds he cannot refuse her wish. The familiar smell of paint calms him more than he would ever admit.

Ezra…

The last thing he remembers of Ezra is shrouded with regret and shadow. He sees Maul (red and black, like the red lightsaber arching towards his face; the blinding, red pain that fades to black; the deep red anger and dark fear that fills him at the words ‘Ezra will be mine!’) and beside him, smaller but determined, stands Ezra. Perhaps Kanan should have fought harder that day, perhaps he should have fought less, but he’s wise enough to know not to dwell too much on what could have happened if he been beside Ezra as that elevator ascended upwards, and not Maul.

In his mind, Ezra is in blues (hair in certain lights, bright wide eyes, and clever multi-purpose lightsaber), oranges (his tattered, too large jumpsuit) and whites (the glow of Lothal’s twin moons shining down on both of them). Ezra is an eclectic mix of the darkness and the light. Ezra is a small voice breaking in horrified realisation (‘Kanan, your eyes.’), a hand gripping his being pulled away with all the angry might of the Force (‘I know, I’ve got you!’) and a wetness on his shirt, while he runs his fingers through Ezra’s hair trying to ground himself amidst the pain and the then-new suffocating darkness (‘It’s over now. It’s over.’).

Ezra is also silence, and distance. They haven’t talked a lot since Malachor. In truth, Kanan hadn’t talked that much to any of them, as they were all busy with missions and useful tasks. It’s Ezra’s voice he finds he misses most- words dripping with sarcasm and laughter; a smile brighter than a supernova; a dirty child with wild hair, too small for his age, jumping on the speeder Kanan had been about to steal and driving off with a cheeky salute.

Of them all, Kanan misses Ezra most dearly, so much so that it creates a physical ache in his chest. They’d gone to Malachor for answers, and none of them had returned unscathed. Ahsohka (blues, whites, browns) hadn’t returned at all.

With the help of the Bendu, Kanan eventually learns to see himself again, but sometimes wishes for more. The Force allows him to see things in new and different ways, and suddenly he is useful again- but there is still the absence of light and colour.

He misses Sabine’s paintings every time he smells fresh paint in the air, and in quiet moments misses tracing his fingers along the markings on Hera’s lekku. Ezra cuts his hair one day, and simply doesn’t tell Kanan. One night, some of the pilots hold an impromptu circus performance in the mess hall, and while Kanan can sense the objects being juggled flying through the air, he cannot put a word into describing them. He is there when Chopper steals one of Sabine’s paint cans, and it ends up exploding neon purple all over his chasse, and there when Zeb wakes up to find one of the shuttle crabs has crawled over him in the night, leaving a sticky residue that puts his fur on end and sends everyone else into fits of laughter. He pulls Sabine aside one day, and asks her to describe her new hair colour, and while she tries her best to relay it, he can’t quite picture it in his mind, although he thinks that white and purple must look good on her. He can only listen to the sound of Hera’s fingers as they dance their way around the Ghost’s cockpit when they rush off to Reklam Station, both nervous of what they will find there.

He doesn’t see Ezra grow six inches taller. He doesn’t see the Sith Holocron until it is too late. He can’t reach for Ezra when the kid collapses in the middle of a debriefing, despite the horror clawing at his chest begging to understand the situation. He can’t see the tears in Sabine’s eyes as she screams her family’s betrayal at him, holding the Darksaber aloft. He can’t see if Sabine has her mother’s eyes, and despite feeling the cold touch of snow through his boots and listening as best he can to Ezra’s description of the landscape on Krownest, he feels heartbroken that he cannot see it for himself.

Zeb tries a new way to style the fur around his ears, and Sabine laughs so hard at it she falls out of a chair. Chopper argues with AP-5 over the way Ezra has painted his latest Imperial disguise. Hera stops wearing her shoulder pads, and he is surprised to find them missing when he reaches for her shoulder one day. The world continues spinning around him.

Most of the time, Kanan can simply accept his blindness, but there are times when he wishes he could see how his family is growing and changing before him. He isn’t sure how long he’ll be able to keep the memory of their colour and light in his mind before that too succumbs to the darkness, but he knows that it will never fade completely.

After all, Kanan Jarrus may be used to the darkness, but he knows very well that the light is still there- even if he can’t see it.

Kinda wanted to experiment with Kanan and descriptions that didn’t rely entirely on sight. I really liked the idea of focusing on colour and light, since that’s the two things Kanan can no longer experience (especially with Sabine ).

Big thanks to everyone who’s been leaving likes and comments on my last few fics. I’m not too good about replying, but rest assured I’m reading them all and squeeing to myself.

[barbosaasouza]

Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (Nintendo Switch)

I remember games from my teen years vividly. The graphics were the best for their time, and the combat mechanics were sometimes sloppy. “Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy,” which I’m going to just call Jedi Academy for short, is one of those games you might remember fondly for the same reasons. But can it stand the test of time? 

In 2003, Jedi Academy released on PC and the original Xbox console with a positive response from Star Wars (SW) fans and gamers alike. (It’s technically the last of the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series, but you can play this without having played the others.) In Jedi Academy, you are the character named Jaden, who is on the way to Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy to begin training. You meet your soon-to-be best friend, Rosh, and crash land after an assault on the transport taking you to the academy. This crash landing gives you a little taste of the exploration and combat you’ll experience in the rest of the game. And despite its clumsiness, it was a good introduction.

Jedi Academy takes place 10 years after the Battle of Endor (or 10 years after the events of Return of the Jedi) and features some major characters. 

The story is one I appreciate from the SW universe. You’re working with your mentors to take down a Sith cult, the Disciples of Ragnos, who have planted their influence across the galaxy. Overall, this story was well executed on, with familiar settings. You’re even given a character creation screen with a simple set of choices: race, skin tone, gender, outfit, and Force Crystal. I got to make a fantasy Twi’lek persona for the game. 

I enjoyed the voice acting and the attempts at cutscenes—that, compared to what we have today, felt stilted and choppy—but this port doesn’t feel as if all of it was made for the Nintendo Switch. At the very least, it wasn’t made for modern TVs. 

The opening parts of Jedi Academy that show off the developers’ branding were slightly distorted and stretched across my screen. It was clear the game was not optimized for displays of our age. Even the Joy-Con instructional message at the beginning of the game looked noisy and old. I’m not sure if Activision did this on purpose—as a joke about how old the game is—or if when they added in that screen, they didn’t re-calibrate the image. However, when the game started up, it felt less stretched, and they even added in some more Switch-specific controls such as motion control. I turned this off immediately, though. Any time I would fidget a little, my aim—which was already way too sensitive even after adjusting—would fall completely off of an enemy. 

The swing radius of your character was wildly uncontrollable, and sometimes your character even did tricks that might fling you off of a platform, without your input. There is a target to help you keep aim, but because of the sensitivity of your camera and movements, keeping on an enemy was a difficult task. However frustrating this was, it wasn’t unfamiliar to me. 

Games from the ‘90s and 2000s worked off of some interesting mechanics to try to emulate agility. We saw this a lot with Sonic the Hedgehog—as a popular example. To make the player feel as though they’re going fast, developers jerked the sensitivity all the way up the scale and created this oil-slick effect so you slid around a lot—mostly out of control—but so fast that you felt like the supersonic hedgehog. The same can be said for Jedi Academy.

Defeating enemies wasn’t always difficult, though. The Sand People couldn’t attack you without first throwing their hands over their heads and screaming at you—easy target. Then there were enemies with heavy duty laser guns and crouched on the ground that made your tall character somehow just miss and swing over their heads every other hit. You get more than just a lightsaber, but even when you’re on target, it took more shots than seemed reasonable to take an enemy down. It just never felt quite consistent. 

Oh, and if you’re wondering how this is handled in the multiplayer. Well… Take everything I just told you but then hand like 20 chaos gremlins lightsabers and let them loose in a room to fight it out. It was sloppy, it was confusing, there was lots of hilarity, but it wasn’t what I’d call a level playing field. Don’t go into any multiplayer mode expecting a real battle. But go in for the chaos, if you’re interested. I am not sure if they rectified cross-platform play in this game, but I know from previous ports, longtime PC players are known for hunting new arrivals. 

Exploration was fine in the game, but any use of Force Speed did cause you to slide right off of a platform like melted butter. Other times, I would clip into a corner or obstacle as I was trying to get by. Still, the game did offer a little more than I expected, such as burn marks every time my lightsaber was out and touched something, or me getting caught in a doorway because of said saber. Many games back then just pretended the item you were holding was invisible and impervious to its surroundings, so it was nice to see that extra touch. 

If you’re someone who enjoys the games we had in the early 2000s, or you played Jedi Academy back when it first released, I think this game offers quite a bit of nostalgia. And even with all of its faults, I found ways to cheese the system or use the Force in fun ways to get through the missions. I’d keep playing this one, but I don’t know that it’s an accessible title for gamers who aren’t fully versed on how games in 2003 played or are expecting a current-gen SW gaming experience. 

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