#i see they've found my fanfic draft

[rainbowsky]

Hey, I'm new here and i love your blog! I was wondering if the boys see couple\sexual edits of them together and if it makes them nervous but then it hit me that they probably aren't seeing what i see on western social media. Do you have any idea if those types of homosexual posts get censored in China?

Hi Yingyangorly! Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog!☺️

I have a huge long, like, ridiculously long post in my drafts related to this topic, hopefully coming soon.

But to answer your question, I think it's impossible that GG and DD would fail to see at least some of what's posted about them as a couple, whether sent to them by friends, family or staff, or whether stumbled upon or intentionally sought out/browsed by them. It's inevitable they'll see some of it, particularly things that get a lot of attention.

I talked about this a bit a while back. GG and DD have said in interviews that they have fake social media accounts (and of course they would - how could you go anywhere or do anything on social media without one if you were famous?), and this kind of discussion has happened somewhat in relation to fan comments, etc.

You can check out my previous post for more on that stuff.

As for sexual edits, etc., like any other content I've no doubt they've seen some of it - it's inevitable they would - but I doubt it worries them all that much. It's highly unlikely to ever impact them directly, because ultimately it's not really about them, is it? It's about the creators who make it. Any backlash is more likely to fall upon creators, not GG and DD.

And just as a reminder - it's not illegal to be gay in China, it's not illegal to post homosexual content, etc. Such content is censored on TV and other broadcast media, but not online.

Porn is very illegal in China, but that's mostly only selectively enforced. In fact, China produces a lot of porn and a lot of smutty fiction and all of it is illegal, but it still manages to thrive fairly well.

Explicit content of any kind is technically not allowed on Weibo but it's still out there - although most of it is pretty toned down and tame. Actual porn of sexual activity isn't ubiquitous there, but lewd fan art, fan fic, edits and memes can often be found.

All platforms globally have rules against explicit content, and they're just as poorly enforced everywhere. I suspect a lot of that is because social media engagement makes money, and sex sells. It's not really in the interest of platforms to completely shut down all such content - even if it was possible to do so.

The supertopic rules likely have more impact on fan behavior in this regard than the Weibo TOS does. Those rules forbid mentioning GG and DD by name or tagging their accounts, and forbid sexualization, pornography, feminization and fixating on body parts. However, that's only within the supertopics. Ultimately people are free to post whatever they want on their own accounts, and they do.

Given how many antis and solos are out there trying to take down the turtle fandom, the fact that these things manage to stay up for as long as they do speaks to how weak the enforcement is. There are definitely people out there who will report things that offend them.

This is, in fact, how the whole 227 thing got started. A bunch of solos decided to report an explicit fanfic to the government, and things spiralled out of control from there.

Could lightning strike a second time and another 227 be sparked from some of this explicit content? For a lot of complicated reasons I'm not going to get into here (it would be a very long post), I don't think that's likely.

227 was a special, very complicated situation that I don't think is likely to happen the same way again. Timing and a lot of the other factors that played into its blowing up the way it did - all of that is unlikely to align in such a way. Especially since everyone in C-ent is a lot more cautious and vigilant after 227.

GG and DD are both in good standing with the government (as is evidenced by their inclusion in government and nationalistic projects), and that's a factor that will have some influence. And no doubt they and their teams have learned a lot from past experience, and have already planned for how to protect them in various scenarios that could arise.

They also have the power to have content relating to them removed, to sue content creators, to shut down the supertopics if they want to, etc.. If they feel at risk, they have a lot of recourse. The fact that we aren't seeing this happening should reassure us that it's probably fine.

We have to realize that GG and DD are surrounded by highly skilled, highly paid professionals whose entire job is to protect them and their interests. They're both in a much safer place than they were 4 years ago.

I trust them to know what's best for them and handle their affairs accordingly. We as fans shouldn't waste time hand-wringing over things that are completely outside our control.

As for what's within our control - it's up to every individual to make our own choices about how we'll represent GG and DD online.

More on that angle if/when I ever finish that other post.

[deehollowaywrites]

2024 in writing

Another rotation in the books, somehow! From a publishing perspective, I didn't have the most interesting year--but as I look back on 2024, I'm finding I did have an interesting year in writing.

For one thing, I took two workshops with Lindsay Merbaum, an author I admire and an excellent workshop facilitator. I recommend checking out the Study Coven for some truly cool themed classes coming up; the syllabi for Smutty Study and Witches III were full of fun and provocative reading, and the work itself yielded two short stories, plus multiple poems and journal entries. I put together a collection of weird short stories and did intensive research on spots to submit it, a project that's still ongoing and will get fresh attention in the new year.

I also drafted a novella that's "in-universe" to Little Nothing, the first brand-new long-form project I'd completed in years. It's true what they say: every book is a different writing experience. Every book teaches you how to write all over again. More news on this front to come, I hope!

In 2024, I prioritized listening to the muse, whether it drew me to trying out new poetic forms, writing fanfic of my own work, or keeping myself to clipped word counts. As autumn ended, I found that this follow-your-bliss practice had made me energized to take up a more disciplined practice of write-and-submit. As we approach the darkest parts of the year, I'm excited to write to intriguing prompts and not overthink things before submitting... and start work on a shelved manuscript.

Throughout the year, I did put published work into the world. I continued to write for horror media website DIS/MEMBER, revisiting the Exorcist TV series, interviewing cool authors, and reviewing a few movies. In 2025 I'll take on the role of Lit Editor for DIS/MEMBER, and we've got some cool new stuff lined up (think cover reveals, indie publisher spotlights, and more). I also published the third volume of what's become my Halloween tradition, a zine with a weird theme; this year, hallowzine vol. 3 was all about the hybrid and alien femininities of Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049, Annihilation, and Under the Skin.

Most significantly, the two pieces of fiction I published were with magazines local to me and available only in print. Castle Jackal Magazine is full of horror art and writing, while Paper Moon's editions so far have focused on poetry and short fiction. I've always prioritized magazines with digital distribution, in order to theoretically reach the most readers. But in recent years I've begun to think that maybe what I really want is to reach the right readers. Hyper-local zines, music, and art are thick on the ground in my area, and I'm lucky to be connected with people making cool stuff. One of my favorite writing-related instances in 2024 was a zinefest at which I sold almost everything I brought, from print copies of my DIY zines and collections to Little Nothing, embroidered patches, and my partner's block prints. Speaking of Little Nothing, my publisher also made public a previously-subscribers-only Patreon post with a little dip into the world of limerunners and antebellum Florida!

Also in the hyper-local realm, I joined an in-person writing group. This is a new experience for me, and it's been a great one. Each of the participating writers is at a different point in their writing practice, has different goals for writing and publishing, and writes different in genres and formats. Yet what I value is that everyone seems to approach the group with the same level of seriousness. I've enjoyed engaging with the short fiction, poetry, and memoir pieces these writers bring, and practicing paying true attention to others' work. I also get to facilitate a teen writing club for my work; seeing the joy the teens take in their projects, and the skill they've already developed, is a real delight in my life.

Finally, in 2025 I'm venturing back into the world of newsletters. I'm growing weary (and wary) of my reliance on social media, when those platforms are increasingly unstable and untrustworthy. In order to cultivate engagement, stretch my essay muscles, and deliver news outside Meta's scope, I'll be trying out bimonthly letters--you can sign up now! My old newsletter, Readers Up, is now also archived on Buttondown.

Happy writing and happy reading, friends. I'll see you in the new year.

[dittobtch]

Dot and Fatin: a slowburn friendship

October Leatin Prompts - day 25 - Dot

(not leatin focused at all until the end and not even a fanfic really - more of a rambling, but i've had this in my drafts for over half a year so enjoy)

thinking about dot and fatin and what they'd be like if they met at school instead of on the island.

yeah they're fast friends on the island because they are quite literally trapped and have nothing to do/ no one else to talk to but if they met through "normal" circumstances, they probably would have a slow burn friendship.

see: when they meet for the first time and they probably don't think much of it. dot probably assumes she's just another one of those girls and fatin probably doesn't even remember dot.

cut to them starting to talk more and not hating the other's presence immediately but then also being super apprehensive about it because they both think they're better off alone. fatin's too busy with the cello and dot's too busy with her dad. but they also both really enjoy each other's presence so they gaslight themselves into thinking that they don't and that they're better off without one another.

even then they still seek each other out. it's small stuff at first, like partnering up in class and sitting together at assemblies. then it happens so frequently that they can't deny it anymore and realize how much they want each other in their lives.

they're still scared because they don't think the other one wants that so they do regular friend things but still refuse to acknowledge that they're more than just school acquaintances: dot eats lunch in the music room while fatin practices and fatin acts as a lookout while dot does her rounds. sometimes they'll even do something outside of school, albeit briefly like driving each other home or that one time they ran into each other at the mall and walked around for a bit.

eventually something big happens, probably similar to their canon backstories, and everything changes.

then they're forced to confront the fact that they aren't alone and they've always had a friend there for them and surprise surprise, they don't hate it. it actually feels nice to know that someone else has your back.

so they develop this understanding that they're friends, best friends maybe, even if they'll never acknowledge it and even though it took them so long to get there. they learn how to have and be a friend together and it's not perfect, but it works. they take care of each other and they finally let themselves get taken care of too. they finally let someone else in.

and it's good for a while - they have each other and that's all they really need. then fatin meets leah and everything changes and dot doesn't know what to do.

dot struggles a lot when leah and fatin first gets together - it's a hard and sudden adjustment. of course dot knows that she doesn't need to be with fatin so often, but everything was good how they were before and maybe it doesn't feel as good as it used to. and if it doesn't feel as good now, maybe it's bound to get worse. everything in her life gets worse so it was inevitable that this would too.

she's still scared though - she doesn't want to lose fatin after they just became friends.

of course she doesn't lose fatin, but the shift of going from fatin's number one and the only person fatin would open up to and then suddenly having to share that...

it's hard, so she probably pushes fatin away - it's what fatin would want. dot was a temporary fill until fatin found her one and only and now she has. dot isn't needed anymore.

of course fatin notices and calls bullshit immediately. it'd probably take a bit of adapting but they'll get there eventually. because they're dot and fatin, as close to platonic soulmates as it gets.

FUCK i miss them all so much

link to October Leatin Prompts

[the-witchs-cafe]

Hi just wanted to let you know that after finishing the Hop & Hau PMMM posts that I am now drafting a fanfic in my head where

So basically The two Warlocks Sayf and Kinimaka somehow meet, idk how w/ the regional differences but they do

And Sayf is like "well this is a nice barrier, I like it a lot, but I have audience expectations and a legacy to live up to" and Kinimaka is very firm about no disturbance to his heaven

So Sayf does the most logical thing he can do

And just surrounds the weaker warlock's barrier with his own

See? Aren't you so much safer with my protection? If anybody were to enter you heaven and threaten it? I'll just snatch them up and make a spectacle upon which my audience will cheer

(It's basically Hala and the "being to soft on the boy" and sheltering theme all over again yippee!)

And if any of my challenger prove too disappointing, unwilling to fight? Off to you they go

Maybe they set up a routine, where Sayf spends some time in Kinimaka's barrier just to indulge in the escapism of it, then returning to his own barrier when the itch for battle becomes too much

And Kinimaka? Doubt he'd be pleased that Sayf refuses to become lcl one w/ his barrier, but hey at least he comes back routinely, and even gives or takes humans that'd be perfect for either

Friendship/Puppy Love, but you're two Eldritch abominations doomed to drown in despair

I won't be surprised if the more likely outcome was that Sayf and Kinimaka fought and the former won

But hey I like the idea of warlocks/witches/magicians being friendly w/ one another

Will it ever be posted? No but I might as well share the idea

*inhaaaaaale...*

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! /POS

THIS IS??? SO FUCKING ADORABLE???? Ok, ok, analysis hat is back on-

Actually, it is very possible for witches to migrate from one point to another, as presented to us in Magia Record; the issue for when it comes to those within the Pokemon universe, however, is the issue of adaptability and not being aware of how things work in the region they've arrived in due to their despair-clouded minds. For example, if a witch arrived in Alola and targeted another one in a fight, you'd bet the others there won't be so happy (because themes of unity and all, as well as the fact that witches there only target other people and pokemon- not their kin); queue the torches, pitchforks, and cotton candy.

Thankfully, even as a warlock, Sayf still retains his intelligence somewhat- even if it is as much as, let's say, to the levels of Winchester's. I think he'd be able to catch on to how things operate in the region- and even if he made a slip-up, he's tough enough to take on an angry mob of witches before realizing the gravity of his mistake.

As for the two goobers themselves and how they interact, you've captured that SO WELL <3333 I adore the healthy, albeit mutually parasitic, relationship they have going on; Sayf managing to be a hero to at least one person, while Kealamauloa, while disappointed that this new friend of his won't accept eternal happiness, is at least enjoying some company and is appreciative of how he's making his goals easier.

I cannot bear to see how unlucky their victims are gonna be and the kind of whiplash they'll be constantly forced to experience, lmao; one second you've found yourself trapped in a dingy, dim hallway before facing off against a mutilated black sheep donning gladiator armor. However, as you continue running for your life and do everything in your power NOT to engage in a fight with him, he gets so bored and disappointed with you that he just throws you to a nice bright paradise where a friendly dragon resides.

The irony in their situations is also amazing to point out; Sayf's pursuit of glory still hasn't stopped, and Keals is, once more, sheltered in one way or the other.

I also REALLY want them to talk about their problems; the memories of their human lives may be hazy from the madness, but the similarities and contrasts between the way they were both raised - one was emotionally neglected by all but the one person he now sees as his perfect, all-powerful hero, and the other was showered with love- yet that did nothing to stop him from seeing the truth of this world - would make an interesting topic for conversation. I could also see Sayf making sure the flora growing from Keals doesn't get too irritating, and Kealamauloa would try to make sure Sayf isn't suffering too much from his injuries by allowing him to relax and heal every once in a while.

And yep- Sayf would clear if such a fight were to occur. Kealamauloa may be able to wipe a town or even a city clean if he wanted to, but Sayf had managed to screw over all of Galar (whether or not the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra have been affected is up to ya'll's imaginations). I don't think I've elaborated too much on how exactly that happened aside from the people gradually going cuckoo-bananas, but, as a brief summary- think Roaring Town from the Ash-Veil Lane ARG and, once Sayf was at his full power and the region was in his hands, Hell from 'the (aka Coronation Day) with the trumpets and everything. I also forgot to mention that he did all that without the use of a witch's kiss/warlock's whisper thanks to Hop's powers of creating new memories- sorry for neglecting that detail!

Yeah- witches being friendly to one another is always a great basis for a tale like this; that's why this blog exists! Personally, I like to reimagine that this blog is a labyrinth that exists within the borders of the multiverse, and witches tend to pass by every once in a while just to share their stories and have a cup of joe every now and then. I'unno, but the idea of eldritch abominations just chilling in a 50's diner was just too cute of an idea to pass up!

Back to our goobers, Keals is already kind enough to most humans and witches that pass by their labyrinth, and so long as Sayf doesn't do anything too stupid and causes shit, the same mercy is extended to him. Have no worries, anon, the possibility of them being pals is there within the canon of this hypothetical AU! In fact, as I've already explained, most witches in Alola prefer to cooperate with one another rather than fight over their own territories.

Overall, you have no idea how receiving this has made my day!! Thank you so, so, so much for this!!! <333

[bakuliwrites]

Fanfic Writer Questionnaire

I found this great questionnaire! Post is here. I thought I would answer these for fun. I'd love to see other fanfic writer's answers to these as well, if you want!

List all the fandoms you have written in:

The Arcana, Fire Emblem, Jujutsu Kaisen, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, My Hero Academia, Castlevania, The Elder Scrolls

How many published fics have you written?

I currently have 22 up on AO3! And a smattering of random Tumblr exclusive short fics.

In terms of wordcount, in which fandom have you written the most?

The Arcana, by far. My total word count for the fandom (excluding headcanons and Tumblr-exclusive fics) is 153,453 words.

At the moment, which one of your fics is your favorite/you are the most proud of? (you can include unpublished fics)

I am definitely most proud of End Up Here. It's my longest work yet and has been an incredible journey so far. It's helped me prove to myself that I a) can write something novel length and b) can stick with one project and be dedicated to it. I feel like it's my love letter to the Arcana, as a piece of media that has helped me find my voice.

Which writer (fanfiction or not) inspires your own work?

J.R.R. Tolkien and Kazuo Ishiguro (mostly in my non-fanfiction writing, but I'm sure they've inevitably inspired elements of my fanfic writing in some way or another, too).

What was your first fanfic about?

Oh gosh. If we are talking very first fanfic that has never seen the light of day, then Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Star Trek: Voyager (back when I was like 11 or 12 haha). But if we are talking published ones, then it was a spicy Xander x Reader for Fire Emblem: Fates.

Out of all the characters whose POV you have written, which one do you feel you identify the most with?

Great question. Probably Julian Devorak. But I don't necessarily feel that I fully identify with any of them. Just elements of each character I write about, in one way or another. But Julian's tendency towards feeling guilty for things he didn't do and his journey to accept his own strength are things that resonate with me.

What do you feel is your biggest challenge when writing?

Overcoming the idea of perfectionism. I have the tendency to get frustrated and scrap everything when I feel like it's not up to the standard I want it to be. But I'm trying to remind myself that a first draft is a first draft for a reason: it does not have to be perfect. End Up Here has really helped me in learning that lesson, since I write each chapter as I go. There's only one round of me editing each chapter before I publish it, so it's been a huge learning curve for me. And freeing as well.

Do you generally outline your fics or do you prefer to write spontaneously and then revise?

I do a skeleton of an outline and scribble unintelligible notes on scraps of paper or in my notes app on my phone. But a lot of my writing now is just me going with the flow and letting the characters tell me the story. I used to plan a lot, but it became sort of toxic for me and my tendency towards perfectionism, so I stopped being so precise about it. I let things change as they need to.

Which one of your fanfics has the most hits? the most comments? the most kudos? (if applicable)

Intimate has the most by far on AO3! And Upon a Forest Throne has the most on Tumblr. Thank you to everyone for the support and all your many kindnesses 💜

What proportion, if any, of your fics are rated M or above (# of M-plus fics/ total # of fics)?

86% of my fics are rated M or above. I mostly write adult content.

Finally, tease us with the title of one of your upcoming fics:

So, I'm going to come out with a Gojo x Nanami x Reader fic sometime in the future. I plan on calling it Starlight. Here's a teeny little snippet from it:

How Satoru manages to trap infinity in his eyes is a mystery to you. His blindingly azure gaze meets yours, a vast expanse of twinkling starlight imprisoned in icy pools of blue. You glance to the side, met with Kento's softer, brown eyes. He is the sun, radiant and warm, the quiet light of early dawn and late evening. This must be what it feels like to be enveloped by the very fibers of the universe. Held in a delicate balance.

Thank you for reading! This questionnaire was super fun to answer :)

[keeponquinning]

RJ, I'm wiping tears. I was at the last two paragraphs and tears just came out. Happy tears. Joyful tears. Tightness in throat. I'm still emotional as I write this.

I know I'll be gushing about your other fics ( i have some of them in drafts re; your celebration fics ) but this was the first series of yours I fell in love with and I'm sad to see it go but so HAPPY for our couple. This was something special and you should be so proud, and I'M proud and omg i'm getting misty still.

This took me a while to read and I honestly think it's because I wanted to savor this for a bit. Read it little by little. Because a part of me didn't want it to end.

Okay. Here we go.

DEEP BREATHS.

Okay but I love that while the friend group accepted Ralph and didn't think he was, what feels like would be their words, OFF THEIR ROCKER....I do appreciate that they also felt a bit betrayed that they were lied to for the majority of their friendship, like, that felt genuine and valid, but I'm also glad they forgave reader and ralph for it because they are the best friend group and Ralph being overwhelmed by it just chef's kiss. NO MORE SECRETS. NO MORE LIES. Adore it.

BRINGING BACK THE TIMEWASTERS WAS BRILLIANT!! I need to sit down and see it properly. Can you believe I loved Ralph and really just saw JQ's clips of him?? I know. Is that a plot twist? I do have the first season on my laptop and ways to watch it so that'll be my next JQ watch list. But nooo, even from the clips the voices felt so genuine, like RJ, you're such a great writer. AND LAUREN !! We still do not like Lauren, and GOOD ON RALPH not taking her up on her offer. He's Reader's man and we sticking to it. I especially loved Horace's bit all, "Who would be with me??" like... again, I've only seen clips but I could picture that so clearly. I think I love him best.

THEY GET A HOUSE?! A TOWNHOUSE?! IT'S WHAT THEY DESERVE!! All those nights, and months of first taking the couch, then sharing the bed, they get a PROPER HOME. And I LOVE THAT FOR THEM. Ralph getting better at cooking, I have flashes of him microwaving an egg suddenly! AND LOOK AT HIM NOW! Making Reader's favorite meal and being a good little chef! how husband of him!

Wicked reader wearing special bra and undies set just for him and distracting him like that. We love it. And the smut... THE SMUT IS CHEF'S KISS ARE YOU KIDDING. We are making up for that pillow princess of an escort Victoria had paid for him for his birthday. We love that he's prepared, how boy scout of him.

The sweet reminiscing of their time together 😭🥹 how far they've both come! And reader is totally a sap but do we blame them? NO. The sweet affect of Ralph Penbury and we love to see it. ( except we won't unless we request and we will request bc not peeking in on these two--don't cry, yve, don't cry ) Talking about marriage, babies, and oh god how I teared up at, "I know, I'm thinking of the same thing" from Ralph I....

This was a beautiful end to a beautiful series. Every time a chapter would hit, it was my favorite time. I knew I'd be in for a good read, and I was always right. I'm gonna get mushy but shut up and take it. This is more to the JQ fanfiction fandom but, I literally hadn't gone into reading fanfiction in like....not since my teen years, honestly. And then I found Eddie fanfics and it drew me back in so deep. And in that, I found this series, and I fell so in love with the writing, and story, and characters and just.... I'm going too hard on this but like, there's always been talk of like...lack of interaction, of engagement, and yeah. There's always that sense of why am I writing this when barely anyone reblogs, comments, gives love. RJ, I loved this series SO MUCH. I am CRYING rn lmao laughing and CRYING. You gave so much love and dedication to this, and it SHOWED, it was FELT and like from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for this. Not just for something to be read but to be inspired to write as well. I just.... thank you.

ugh, this reader, is for sure the biggest sap right now.

Thank you.

busy streets and busy lives • ralph penbury x reader

A strange day at work gets even stranger when you meet a man who claims he's from 1926. With no certainty as to when he can get back, you decide to take him in until that time arrives.

masterlist | prev. | next

Tags: Timewasters (series), modern!au, slow burn, mutual pining, idiots in love™, fluff, some angst, swearing and mentions of adult themes throughout, eventual adult content, alcohol content, drug content, penbury is a fanon surname

Word count: 10.6k

A/N: 5½ months. 12 chapters. 107,600 words. All for a silly little idea I threw at my friends in a discord server. Thank you for being here. <3

Also, there's a part in this that's VERY reminiscent of a certain photo that released today. (spoiler alert, it's in the chapter card lol) I swear, I wrote that almost a week ago and the video just HAD to drop today of all days, DIDN'T IT. If Joseph Quinn is in my walls, please get him out of there. That's not a safe environment for him.

“Right, so, hang about…” Connor holds his hands out in front of him, moving one out to the side as if physically placing events into a timeline. “So, back in 192-whatever, Ralph meets Nick and that lot, who we went to school with, who have… Travelled through fucking time,” he sounds exhausted just at that phrase. You nod, and he moves his hand to continue, “Ralph falls head over heels for Little Lauren. That works about as well as anybody would expect,” he raises his eyebrows at Ralph, who shies away a little. “And Ralph joins the Army.”

“French Foreign Legion, to be exact,” Ralph pipes up.

“French Foreign Whatever, yeah,” Connor nods, moving his hand again. “He hates it, he runs away back home, he ends up meeting Homeless Pete.”

“Wait!” Grace’s boyfriend suddenly shouts, waving his hands around and making everyone jump. He points to Ralph. “That’s why your name’s always been in the back of my head! You lived in the fucking Waterstones building?!” Ralph nods. “So, you were filthy stinking rich, and you left that?!”

“Well, I… I may have left out some details about… I may have… Sort of given up most of my material possessions to Laur- the other Lauren,” he gestures to Connor’s girlfriend, who makes an expression that shows Ralph she understands that she’s not who he’s talking about. “Um, before I had left. Well, after I had left for the Army, but before I… Ended up here.”

“You were really down bad, weren’t you, mate?” Connor asks, cocking his head, and Ralph cowers back into his seat.

“Yes, well. That’s all well into the past now. Ninety-seven years in the past, to be exact!”

“Fucking mental,” Scott says under his breath. “Anyway, Connor, keep going with your…” He waves his hands in front of him.

“Yeah, so, you’ve not got nothing, Lauren rejected you and you still left her everythi- God, how did you survive without us?!” Connor shakes his head. “So you bump into H.P., who brings you to our time. You get rescued,” he gestures to you, “and…”

“Can I ask,” Scott’s partner raises a finger, looking at you. “What made you take him in, then?”

You look at Ralph and shrug. “I dunno, look at him! Who’d say no to that face?” You squish his cheeks in one hand, to his indignation, and you hear the soft laughs of your friends. “But… Yeah. Once I’d found H.P. and gotten as much of an explanation as I’ll ever get out of him, it was just… So much to wrap my head around. And I couldn’t just leave Ralph to the streets, he’d get killed!” Ralph suddenly looks very fearful, grabbing a cushion to hug to his chest. “And then next thing I knew, he was setting off alarms in the flat on his first day there, so I couldn’t exactly leave him home alone, so I had to bring him with me to Anna’s that night. I barely had the time to text you lot in advance, I couldn’t exactly leave you a voice note saying “by the way, time travel exists and I’m bringing a man who was born in the Victorian era, see you at 7!” And then the days were getting ahead of me, and I couldn’t even make any sense of it myself, let alone trying to teach any of you about it, either.”

“So, what, does he have to go back at any point? To like, restore the fragile balance of the time-space continuum or whatever sci-fi nonsense this actually proves?” Grace asks.

“Well, we thought so, and that’s why we were always so vague about him “going home”,” you explain. “But then, after Brighton, he almost - he could’ve gone home, and by all we knew back then, he should’ve -” You don’t see Ralph wince in pain at that word. “- but H.P. tol- well, told,” you hold up your fingers as air quotes, “Ralph that since the others had never returned to their own time, without consequence, he decided to stick around.” You smile comfortingly at him and he reaches out to hold your hand.

“Easily the best decision I’ve ever made,” he smiles back. “Staying with you, well, all of you!” He looks around the room. “I truly… I cannot put into words how deeply it hurt to omit the truth from you all for so long, but… Well, everything just seemed to be going so well for me, for once, and I feared that… To let that slip, I might… Lose you all,” he lets go of you to wring his hands in his lap. “Entirely selfish of me, I completely understand if you all think differently of me, now -”

Anna interjects with a sympathetic, “You’d have to do a lot worse to get rid of all of us.”

“Yeah, you’re the one stuck with us, Ralphie!” Scott jokes.

“I mean…” Lauren starts, pausing for a moment. Ralph’s face goes on an emotional journey of potential heartbreak, fearing he’s lost one of his best friends. Lauren remains stoic as she finally continues, “Yeah, it’s pretty shit that pretty much the foundation of why we’re friends is a lie.”

“Literally the only thing that Ralph and I kept quiet was the whole time travel thing, because, well, it still sounds stupid saying those words out loud,” you shake your head. “But everything else, it’s all been pure Ralph. Nothing else is based off any lies, it was just to… I mean, what would you have done if he’d have told you that night you met him, that he’d got here by getting in a lift with an old man in 1926 and ended up in 2022?!”

“I’d think he was off his tits,” Lauren admits in a quiet voice, much to Ralph’s confusion. “Yeah, alright, I guess, it’s… It’s complicated, innit?”

“Tell me about it,” you reply, exhausted, and the others laugh.

“It is a bit shit,” Connor acknowledges Lauren and then the pair of you. “But we’d all probably have done something similar. I mean, fuck me, I’d probably have left him with H.P. and let him be someone else’s problem. Good job I never found you first, eh!” Connor’s light-hearted smile falters at Ralph’s fearful look.

“Again, I completely understand if any of you feel duped into being my friend and wish to use your own agency to - just, please, direct all of your disappointment towards me and not -” 

“Ralphie, babes, we’re saying we get it. Kinda. I dunno, this is all messing with my head a bit,” Grace blows out a breath, and everyone makes general noises of agreement. “But of course we still wanna be friends with you, you big nelly!”

“Yeah, we love teaching you words and things you’d never know. Now that we know why, we can teach you way more!” Scott’s eyes glisten mischievously.

“I mean, I know I’m the one who technically turned you into a bit of a Swiftie, but I’m not letting go of that any time soon,” Anna jokes, which causes Ralph to finally let out a small laugh. “And besides, whose head am I gonna pat without you around?!”

“I never meant to deceive you all,” Ralph says quietly.

“We know,” Connor reassures in the same tone, “but you didn’t really trick us into anything. And hey, it could’ve been worse. I’d rather you were a secret time traveller than a secret serial killer!”

Ralph finally lets himself smile at Connor, who returns it. He sits up a little more confidently. “I can’t tell you what a relief it will be to never have to worry about what I say anymore!”

“I mean, still, this information can’t leave the people in this room,” you explain, gesturing around to everyone. “There’s all sorts of legalities that I’ve never been able to figure out, like a passport,” you gesture to Connor and Lauren, “or setting him up with a bank account, or medical stuff -”

“I mean, surely there’s people out there who were never registered at birth or whatever, right? Maybe we just play Ralph off as one of those?” Anna asks.

“Maybe. But who do we say he is? If we call him a Penbury, as in we try and say that he’s his own relative, his last technical record from 1926 is that he enlisted, went MIA and was presumed dead,” you shrug.

“Shit, yeah, your mum does all that stuff, doesn’t she? Have a look, see what his sister’s stuff says, maybe we can sneak him in that way,” Scott leans in, and everyone else starts shuffling closer, too.

Ralph, having been sat dumbfounded for several minutes, finally finds his voice. “Sorry, but now I’m the one who’s rather lost. So… Not only are none of you ousting me, you’re planning to deceive the law for me?!”

“Yeah, didn’t you hear Anna earlier? You’re family,” Connor smiles affectionately at him, and Ralph’s ears turn pink as his lower lip trembles.

You log into your mum’s ancestry account and once again look up Ralph’s name, your eyes going wide when you see the name next to him. “Okay, so Victoria’s got about six surnames, so I’m sure we can slip you in there somewhere,” you shake your head. Having only looked at his census before, you look through the data they have on Ralph and gasp loudly. Everyone’s gaze snaps to you as you flip your phone over to show them a photo of Ralph, dated February 1926, looking exactly how you remember he did the day you met him, dressed head to toe in Army uniform.

“Oh, you could totally say that you’d been digging up family stuff and you think you’re a dead ringer for… How many generations back would that be?” Anna asks.

You count on your fingers, “Okay, so 1901… Let’s say 30 years per generation, that’s like 3 to get to you being around our age… Which would make OG Ralph your potential… Great-grandpa.” You grimace at the same realisation that Connor and Scott come to, as they point and laugh at you.

“You’re dating someone old enough to be your -”

“He’s twenty-six! Please don’t make me think of it any other way!” You wince, making everyone laugh. “Three generations of unregistered babies is a bit of a stretch…” You shake your head. “Let’s just table this for now. He’s not going anywhere for the time being, are you?” You turn to ask Ralph, who violently shakes his head, still blinking his tears away. “There we go. So, let’s just let everything… Sink in, for now. And we’ll keep thinking of what to do in the long run.”

Ralph hugs everyone goodbye extra tightly. You offer an extra apology to all of your friends, yourself, but they all echo the earlier sentiments that they would have done the same if they were in such a predicament. That they probably would have talked you out of keeping Ralph fugitive for as long as you have. That, if anything, they’re grateful you never gave them the chance to advise you, because if you’d listened to them, none of you would have him in your lives, and one thing everyone in the room agrees on is that life’s been far better with him in it. You have to practically frog-march Ralph out of the door as he starts getting misty-eyed again.

Once you and Ralph are laying in bed, you cuddle up to him, wrapping your arm around his torso. “How you feeling, now?”

“I can’t feel much less than spectacular with you in my arms, my love,” Ralph smiles as he holds you even closer to him.

“Not just all the mushy stuff, you big sap,” you tease. “I mean, like, having to tell everyone.”

“Ah. Yes, well. That went far better than I ever imagined,” he admits softly.

“Wanna admit now that you mean a hell of a lot more to people now that you’ve found the right ones?” You look up at him with a grin.

He squeezes his arm around you to prompt you into leaning up to kiss him. Once you break away from him, he sighs happily. “I suppose, it’s a comfort to know what real friendship is supposed to feel like.”

“Exactly. You don’t give up on the right people. And you’re our right person,” you nuzzle into his neck and he buries his face in your hair.

“That sentiment is more than mutual. Goodnight, my love. Pleasant dreams.“

“Night, Ralphie. Love you, too.”

The next morning, you and Ralph both have the day off, a rare occurrence that you’re extra grateful for today. Of course, you’d love to spend it doing more of what you’d been doing just yesterday, but you’d rather be extra safe and get Ralph some protection, as well as your own birth control. And you needed to go into town for some other things, anyway. You decide to take Ralph with you, though - mostly, so that you can coach him into being able to buy his own condoms without spontaneously combusting on the spot.

Ralph wants to ask his boss something, too, so you head to the old high street where his shop is. While you do love his colleagues, you know that Babs will insist on you two staying for a cup of tea. And then another. And then she’s made you lunch. And then you’re spending your whole day off at Ralph’s workplace. Which honestly, has been fun when it’s happened before, but you do have things on your personal agenda today. And then when they’re done…

You wave to Babs through the shop window when you hear some vaguely familiar voices approaching.

“Nah, bruv, I think your mate Pete got his maths all mixed up, this ain’t when we left here.”

“Maybe we’re in whatever year he just wanted to come back to.”

“Nah, mate, I told him, clear as mud: take us back to the present day.”

“Okay, but Jase, you do realise we’ve travelled back and forth between multiple decades since -”

“Shhh, shut the fuck up, someone’s right there! We should just ask them.”

“Fantastic idea, sis. What do you want to do, rock right up and say, ‘Hello, completely normal and unaware person. Could you, for no strange reason whatsoever, happen to tell me what year it is?’?!”

You’d most certainly know that voice anywhere. Looking over at your high school crush, you smirk at Nicholas, his sister and his friends as you tell him, “March 15th, 2023.”

All four of them look incredulously at you. You can see some cogs turning behind their eyes until, finally, Jason shouts your name out. You grin and nod at him, and he yells, “Fuckin’ ’ell! How the fuck are you?!”

“Yeah, I’m alright. Still kicking about, you know how it is. What about you lot? You must’ve been… Busy.”

“Yeah! Yeah, um… Quick question, how did you…?” Nicholas starts, but pauses, trying to think of how to articulate himself.

After a few seconds, Lauren scoffs, “How’d you know to tell us what the date is so calm, like?”

“Well…” You singsong in a high-pitched tone as the door to the costume shop swings open again. Ralph emerges, to a series of shocked gasps.

“Fucking hell, doesn’t he look the spit image of -”

“Yeah, if you just slick his hair right down, and put him in a bow tie and a straw hat, I reckon - Here, you wouldn’t happen to have a great-grandad or something called Ralph, would you?”

“Wait!” Lauren shouts, holding her hands out. She studies Ralph intricately, who looks as though he’s still processing the sight in front of him. “You look just like Ralph, but all modern-like…” She points to him, and then to you. “And you know that we’ve been… In a different time…” She sticks her head out and squints her eyes back at Ralph. “Are you -?” He nods, still stunned into a wide-eyed silence.

Horace raises his arms in an excited greeting. “Ralph! My boy! We thought you’d died!” He pulls him into a hug that sweeps him off his feet. Ralph hangs against Horace’s body as though he were a ragdoll, his face still bewildered. “Let me take a good look at you,” he says as he puts Ralph down, before letting out a single cackle. “Ha, look at you! Look at this jacket, these chains! You’re a proper modern man, ain’t ya, with your sunglasses and your - How’ve you been, what you been up to?!”

“How did you get here?!” Nick asks in disbelief. You recap very quickly how Ralph found Pete - deliberately redacting that he’d attempted to return home to them - and ended up here, where you’d found him and taken him in.

Just as you finish explaining, someone approaches you with an, “Excuse me?” They tap your arm, but lean around you to look at Ralph and nod with a smile, “I thought that was him! Ralph from Twitter, right? Oh my god, I wish my phone hadn’t died, or I’d so ask for a selfie with you!”

Four confused faces look over at Ralph, but you wave the stranger off with a, “Not to worry! I can take one on his phone for him to tweet, if you want? And then you can save it for yourself when you’re home?”

“Oh my god, would you? That’s so sweet! Thank you!” They gush before posing for a photo with him. You quickly get their Twitter handle to include in his tweet, and wave them off as they walk away with a spring in their step.

“What was all that, then?” Jason asks with amusement. “Ralph from Twitter?!”

“Long story. I never told my friends Ralph was from the 1920s, so they thought anyone his age should be on Twitter by now. He kept tweeting inane shit that he thought he was Googling, people found it hilarious, and now he’s sort of social media famous,” you explain with a shrug, to everyone’s laughter.

Lauren looks Ralph up and down, not unlike the way Ralph looks at you, and rubs her hands together. “Famous, eh? I like the sound of that. Sounds like we’ve got some catching up to do, eh, Ralph?”

You feel rage burn through you at the audacity that Lauren has, clearly only interested in Ralph for a chance at fame herself. At how she could so outwardly come for your man - though, granted, Ralph’s been too shellshocked to make that much clear.

You, yourself, start to freeze up as you look over at him. What if this is it? The validation he’d been craving for so long? A second chance at the love he’d felt so strongly about losing, he’d fled the country. If he was willing to risk losing it all after having his heart broken, what else would he be willing to lose to win her back?!

Finally, after what feels like an eternity of silence, Ralph takes a deep breath in. “I don’t think there’s anything more to be caught up on.” He holds your arm to smile warmly at you, “You captured everything perfectly, darling,” before leaning in to kiss you. Jason and Horace hoot and holler, while Lauren makes a disgusted face.

“Fair enough. Rather you than me, anyway, I’d probably get sick of him after a while,” she sneers.

“Good job I won’t, then, eh!” You flash a sickly sweet grin at her as you wrap your arms around one of Ralph’s, hugging it tightly.

“Looks like you really are out of a shot, mate,” Jason grins at Nick, who shoves him.

“Give over, that was -” he flusters, and you laugh, which he sighs at. “Okay, well, so as to explain myself and not sound like a complete lunatic, I, uh… Might have had a bit of a thing for you in school, but I was always too chicken to do anything about it. And even though that was years ago at this point, apparently I’m not allowed to live it down,” he forces a smile on his face, making you laugh harder.

“If it’s any consolation, that was mutual, by the way,” you smirk. You feel Ralph tense under your grip and bury your head against his bicep. “But I don’t think it was meant to be, in the end.”

“God, can you imagine, in another universe, it would’ve been you and Nick, Jase and Victoria, and Lauren and Ralph!” Horace laughs before faltering. “But then who’s left for me?”

You shake your head. “What are you lot planning on doing in terms of living somewhere?”

“Dunno, we brought some stuff over from different time periods in the hopes we could make some big money off some antique dealers,” Nick gestures to the bags they’d placed on the ground while talking to you.

“Good luck, things have changed a lot in the last, what’s it been, six years for you? Yeah, the housing market’s a fucking nightmare,” you shake your head.

“Paying over a thousand pounds a month to live in a shoebox, I ask you,” Ralph mutters under his breath in disgust. You shoot him an offended glance and he simpers back, “But I’d live in a matchbox if it meant living with you, my love.” You grin back, angling your cheek for him to kiss it, to more retching sounds from Lauren. 

“Well, I was wondering if we could chance our luck with Ralph’s place, but seeing as though our only way in would be claiming Jason’s son left it to us in his will, when he’d be older than us in this time…” Nick shakes his head, and you and Ralph look incredulously at him.

“Sorry, what?! Ralph’s place?! You mean the big fuck-off mansion they lived in? That’s a Waterstone’s now, and even if it was, there’s no way you’d afford a place like that -”

The others look at you in confusion. “Victoria told us that the house was destroyed in an air raid,” Nick explains slowly.

You shake your head, pointing towards the bookstore. “Go look for yourself, plaque’s still there, and everything. She ended up spending all the Penbury fortune, went flat broke.”

“Explains a lot,” Lauren mutters under her breath.

“Yes, well, anyway!” Jason raises his hands up, as well as his voice. “I’m on about the one that Victoria ended up getting when he di- well, ‘died’, I guess,” Jason holds up air quotes over the word ‘died’. You both stand there in stunned silence, so he explains, “Vic said she found a letter from your dad, before the place got bombed, or… Whatever the fuck actually happened to it, it doesn’t matter, now. The letter was meant to go to his lawyer but I guess he never got to give it to him before… Well,” he gestures, and you both nod in understanding. “Anyway, so in this letter your dad had written, it said that he’d bought an extra place, for if you were to ever go off to war and want a place to come back that was all your own,” he gestures to Ralph, who swallows hard.

“Father bought… Bought me a house?!” He asks, stunned.

“He wrote some bullshit in there about how it might help you start a family and keep the Penbury name intact, that your… ‘pursuit of a wife would be easier if you already had a place of your own’,” Jason pulls a face and shakes his head.

Ralph nods in understanding, pressing his lips together with a faltering, “Now that sounds like Father.”

“So, when you ‘died’, Vic claimed that she had the right to inherit that house, and that’s where we lived. And, um… I sort of… Gave you a nephew?” Jason smiles weakly at Ralph. “But he went off and started his life elsewhere, and fuck knows what happened to him.”

“Hmm, I thought I could maybe blag our way into claiming that Jase is entitled to inherit it, too, because of the family name, but I doubt it, if JJ never came back for it. I seriously doubt Victoria’s still going,” he shakes his head. “Never mind, we’ll just start flogging this stuff and go from there. Anyway! Insane to see both of you, together, at the same time, but, y’know. Glad to see you’re both well, now.” Nick smiles at you both, and you nod.

“Good to see you guys, too! Helps put things at ease that the whole time travelling thing doesn’t make the universe implode on itself.” They laugh, and you look over at the building next to you before nudging Ralph. “Hey, they could probably try selling some of their stuff to your shop, couldn’t they?”

“There’d be no harm in trying,” Ralph agrees. “Though I should warn you, the owner is a tad… Eccentric.”

Lauren scoffs, “Fuck me, if Ralph’s calling someone eccentric, they must be a raving fucking lunatic!” She picks up one of the bags and heads to the door, slapping Ralph’s arm as she walks past him. “See you around, yeah?”

“Y-Yes, of course. All of you,” Ralph smiles, shaking the other men’s hands as they all pile into Ralph’s workplace.

Your mind starts trying to work in rapid fire, trying desperately to connect dots that seem impossible to connect. Thankfully, Ralph for once manages to keep you on task, even managing to buy what you’d asked him to - though instead of working up the nerve to seek out a cashier, he’d opted for the equally challenging task of trying to operate a self-service checkout while you frantically Google every little bump in the road you come across - though on incognito mode, of course, just in case.

Once you’re sitting down together in a cafe, waiting on your lunch, you finally try and articulate your train of thought to Ralph. “Look, all you need to prove that you’re a rightful heir is a name, a story that you’re related, and three months’ worth of proof that you live somewhere. So, granted, we’re gonna need to find something to sign you up to that’ll mail you stuff, but after that, in just three months, we might be able to get that place!”

“Well,” Ralph starts, wringing his hands together on the table. “Babs was telling me something about - about the taxes she has to file, apparently there’s some sort of form I have to be given at the end of the month, I didn’t say anything because she’s the one that pays me, but she had said something about deducting it from my pay already, it’s a… System I couldn’t wrap my head around,” he shakes his head. “But she did say… That if I’m asked to prove anything about my pay, she also has my official pay slips in her possession.”

You look at him incredulously. “So, what, they have your work’s address on them? As if you live there?”

“Not quite… She asked for our address some time ago, and I assumed it was in case of emergencies so I told her, and so I suppose that’s what she’s submitted on the slips. She said that she never sends them because there’s no point, if we want them, we can simply ask her.”

You’re practically vibrating in your seat with excitement. “So, we can take those… With your name on… Make up some story about how we found a photo online of your great-grandad who looks just like you and found out he owned that house…” You grin at him. “And it’d be ours!”

Ralph deflates a little. “I wish I could share your enthusiasm, my love, but I fear our luck has run out by now. I mean, surely I’d need a legal record, too!”

You shake your head furiously. “It only says they might ask, online. And you’ve charmed your way out of identification before on countless occasions, what’s one more time?! “

“It’s just an awfully big risk, I mean, what if we get caught? What if we’re imprisoned, questioned - would they even believe what happened with me? It’s just too close to being impossible!”

“Exactly!” You slap the table a few times before grabbing Ralph’s hands to hold them. “Everything about us is just shy of being impossible. You are a 26 year old man who was born in 1901. I am someone who’d given up entirely on love until I literally walked right into meeting my literal soulmate.”

Ralph smiles bashfully, “I wouldn’t have thought you believed in soulmates.”

“That’s my point! I didn’t either! I never would have! But you make the almost-impossible entirely possible. You made an entire life for yourself here where you are loved and admired by literally thousands of people, including the most ride-or-die friends you could have asked for. That are, probably right this second, also researching how to keep you here as long as we possibly can. Who can say they’ve got friends like that, hm? You think Victoria and all her little pals would put that much effort into keeping her around?” Ralph shakes his head. “Right. Because you’re special, Ralph. I know it. We all know it. Just… Come on.”

“But there’ll be inheritance tax, surely,” he counters, “and then, what? I haven’t paid tax in… Ninety-seven years!”

“So, if that happens, we do what Anna says. Once we’ve established that you’re definitely entitled to the house in the name of Ralph Penbury, we spin a tale that you were never registered. Sure, you’d probably be lumped with a load of tax to pay back, but…” You tut out a breath as you think before gasping, clapping and holding his hands again. “What if, we get the house, but I tell my parents we’re buying it, rather than inheriting it?! Get them to give me a loan for a deposit, you use it to start paying off tax stuff, and then instead of all our money going on rent, you can pay the tax people back and I can pay my parents back.”

“It all sounds rather hair-brained,” Ralph states, but with a smile that says he believes in the cause.

“It’s completely hair-brained,” you admit with a nod. “It’s insane and out there and nobody in their right mind would actually think it works. Which is what’s gonna make it work. Right?”

“It’s just - It’s the risk,” Ralph shakes his head, but you pull his hands up to your mouth, kissing his knuckles.

“Ralph Do-You-Have-A-Middle-Name? Penbury.” He laughs. “I am so… Ridiculously, madly, insanely in love with you that I would be willing to put my entire life on the line for you. I would quite literally risk it all.”

Ralph’s ears burn red as he smiles bashfully. “And you call me the hopeless romantic.”

“God, I know. I guess you’ve corrupted me, too,” you pull a face, and he laughs.

“You’re right, though. What sort of man would I be if I didn’t heed my own word? Though I may have far less to put on the line… I would do anything for you, my love. As long as I still have you, I will have everything.”

“Trust you to out-fluff me,” you smirk. “So, you’re willing to give it a shot?”

He takes a deep breath in, and finally nods. “Very well. Whatever happens, we shall have each other, always.”

You kiss his hands again with a grin. “Always.”

~~~

The clang of metal against metal as the door shuts behind you makes you jump out of your skin. “Jesus fucking Christ, warn someone when you’re doing that, won’t you?” you glare over at the uniform-clad man as he wrenches his key out of the lock.

“If it’s too loud for your delicate little ears, sunshine, don’t stay so close,” he sneers.

“Got no choice, have I?” you ask, rolling your eyes and gesturing down, and an almost wicked smile creeps along the man’s face.

“That’s what you get, ending up in a place like this where people like you don’t belong,” he tuts, shaking his head. “If you can’t hack it…”

“Oi, dickhead,” a voice calls from behind you. “You’re all done, now, ain’t ya? If you want to keep that face of yours arranged the way your mother made it, you’ll jog on.”

He looks at you with a smug frown, waggling his eyebrows, “That really the sort of thing you want to be known for? Dangerous reputation around these parts.”

You groan, leaning down to press your forehead into the knuckles holding your car door open as you’re standing halfway in it. “Just get that lorry of yours out of my parking space before I get done for being on double yellow lines, yeah?” The man kisses his teeth as he clambers back into his vehicle and drives away. You pull a face as you put on a mock voice, “‘Get a man with a van’, they said. ‘It’ll make your move so much easier’, they said. Prick. Thanks for helping me deal with him,” you simper at Ralph’s friend Charlotte as she scoops up a box from the pavement.

“Yeah, well. Someone’s gotta put pricks like that in their place, and it sure as shit ain’t our Ralphie,” she scoffs, and you chuckle. "Want me to go grab him so you lovebirds can say goodbye?” She says in a joking tone, pulling a kissy face at you.

You laugh, “Says the person who can’t go twelve seconds without sucking on Yankee-Doodle’s face in there,” you waggle your eyebrows.

“You’re lucky I like you, d’y’know that?” she teases, sticking her tongue out at you before turning on her heel, laughing as she faces away from you and sees Ralph emerging out from the front door of his townhouse. She wolf-whistles as the two cross paths, which Ralph looks very confused at, to your amusement.

“Sorry I have to go into work,” you pout your lower lip out in a frown as he approaches you. “They’re just so short-staffed, and I -”

“Don’t you fret, my love,” he interjects, leaning in to press a quick peck to your lips. “You must go where you are needed. Not to worry, we will remain hard at work here, and then when you return, you can relax in your new, furnished home.”

“Our home,” you correct him. “It is yours, after all. I just can’t believe that this is all real.”

“I’ve felt that way for some time, myself,” Ralph admits softly, stroking your cheek with the backs of his fingers, and you feel yourself physically melt against your car door.

“Right, I’m going before I end up feeling even worse about leaving you guys behind.” You pull Ralph in for another, longer kiss, carding your fingers through his curls as he cradles the back of your neck. A laugh bubbles between your lips as you murmur against him, “This isn’t helping!”

“Ah, what’s one more minute of them not having you?” he smiles coyly at you, and you raise your eyebrows at him.

“What if they said that about me coming back home to you, hm?”

Reluctantly, Ralph steps away. “Very well. Have a wonderful day, darling. Travel safely.”

You turn your nose up and shake your head. “Nah, think I’m gonna finally live life on the edge today.” Ralph gives you a look that tells you he isn’t amused, and you grin back, blowing him a kiss. “Be good!”

“When aren’t I?!”

~~~

You’re not sure that you’ll take the train every time you have to go to work, now; despite it being quicker, having to actively pay both ways and being sandwiched amongst so many people just doesn’t seem worth it. Still, today of all days, you wanted to get home as quickly as you could, despite all the local landmarks tempting your inner tourist. You’ve got all the time in the world now to explore them, and besides, it’d be far more entertaining showing them all to Ralph.

You unlock the door and are immediately greeted by the smell of something cooking, something really good. You step through the hallway and into the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe as you watch Ralph reading from a recipe book, squinting close to the page as he drags his finger across each line of his next instruction, his mouth moving along with every word. "Looks like you could do with some glasses," you pipe up, and Ralph yelps in surprise as he looks up at you.

"Hello, my love! Welcome home! Um, I didn't hear you come in, my apologies, I'd have met you at the door if I'd have known."

"It's okay," you soothe as you stride over to him, pulling him into a deep kiss. "What's this in aid of, is everyone staying for dinner?" A pang of disappointment strikes your chest. As much as you love yours and Ralph's friends, you were sort of hoping to have your first night in the new house alone with him.

"Not tonight, darling, this is in aid of you!" Ralph smiles over at you. "Since I have been learning, and you have been working so hard at your shop, especially juggling it all with sorting out the house and you've still been the one to make countless meals for us, I thought I would try and make your favourite meal."

You let out a small, happy whimper, kissing his cheek. "As long as it hasn't been stressing you out. Do you want any help?"

"Well, I suppose now that you mention it, I do need somebody to stand right there and just look casually beautiful, and - well, would you look at that, you're a natural!" He beams over at you, leaning in to kiss you again.

You grin bashfully, hiding your face in his shoulder. "God, look at what you've done to me! You've made me all mushy and shit."

"Happy to help, my love," he smiles, pressing one more kiss to your head before returning to his recipe.

"Sure you don't want me to help? Read things out or anything? I don't want you straining your eyes," you frown.

"Well, it's not as though I can get my eyes tested, is it?" he asks as he continues preparing food.

"But if it's just a case of reading close-up, you can get reading glasses over the counter in the shops," you explain.

"But aren't glasses rather… Unseemly?" he asks with knitted brow.

You shake your head. "If anything, the right ones would make you appear very, very… Seemly," you pull a face, not knowing if that was the correct term to use or not, and Ralph laughs gently.

"Just go and get comfortable, my love. I will call for you when dinner is served."

"Oh, yeah, forgot we have a dining room with a table, now," you smirk. "Just look at us, living the high life!"

Ralph gasps, "Oh, speaking of! Hannah left us a housewarming gift, she donated her tee-vee so that we could have one in our bedroom, as well!"

The way Ralph elongates the letters in TV so deliberately will never not charm you. "That was nice of her! How come?"

"She's moving in with that girl she met last month. All seems a bit fast-moving, if you ask me."

You look at him incredulously. "Look who's talking!"

"Yes, Hannah did point out something similar to me," he admits, ears blushing. 

You chuckle as you navigate your way through to your new bedroom. It seems strange, your familiar furniture against such an unfamiliar backdrop. Every room looks so dated - naturally, it hadn't been touched since the 50s, apparently. Still, that Pinterest board you've been working on for years is finally going to go to good use.

Your heart swells when you see the bed littered with rose petals, a classic touch that has Ralph written all over it. You explore all the dressers and wardrobes in the room, familiarising yourself with where Ralph and your friends have decided to unpack your things. You open up your underwear drawer, thumbing across the carefully-arranged bras with a smile. Finding a particularly intricate number, you fish for its matching underwear, and decide to change into it. Ralph did ask you to slip into something more comfortable, right? You find something flattering to put over the whole set and rejoin him downstairs.

He's stirring something in a pan, looking rather proud of himself, when you get back to the kitchen. This time, you tap your knuckles against the door to make your presence known, so as not to surprise him. However, once he sees you, Ralph immediately drops the utensil he's using back into the pot with an almighty clatter, his jaw visibly dropping. You smile bashfully and he clears his throat, "Forgive my reaction, my darling, but you look positively ravishing."

In Ralphspeak, you know that's the equivalent of him calling you the closest thing to sexy he's probably willing to say. At least, for now. Maybe you've still a little corruption left in you. Still, it's enough to cause your heart to race. "You like?"

"I love. I mean, of course, I love you no matter what, but…" He blows out a breath that tickles the curls that hang across his brow. "You really do look absolutely delectable."

After a lingering moment, you manage to tear your eyes away to look at what's cooking. "Speaking of, so does this! You sure I can't be of any help?"

"Not at all, my dear, it's just about ready to serve. And just in time, so I can no longer fear about getting too… Distracted," he smiles coyly, looking you up and down the way he always does. There's something a little different in the way he looks at you, though. A different sort of gleam illuminates his eyes. One that makes you want to wolf down your food, drag him up to the bedroom and pull him on top of you.

But still, he's worked hard on this meal, and he looks so proud of himself. Though he dishes up, he still rushes ahead of you into the dining room to make sure he pulls out your seat for you, guiding the chair back with you as you readjust it and kissing your cheek before lighting a candle you vaguely recognise as an old secret Santa gift that you never ended up using, and going back for your food.

You exchange stories about your day: you, about the stresses of working short-staffed on a weekend during a school holiday, meaning a terrifying crossover of screaming babies and toddlers, chaotic children, less-than-trustworthy teenagers and overly-entitled adults; Ralph, about all the different ways your friends almost broke almost every piece of furniture you own while trying to get it into the house. Both equally stressful for you to recount.

At first, once you're done, Ralph insists on cleaning up after himself, but after a lot of pouting, eyelash batting and gentle touches, you coax him out to sit in the living room - another whole room dedicated to one thing, you've not lived like this since you moved out of your parents' - and cuddle up to him on the sofa.

Your embrace barely lasts a minute before your lips are on his, again. He’s desperate to get as close to you as he can, clawing at your clothes as he presses the kiss open. Holding the back of his neck to steady yourself, you move yourself up to straddle his lap, letting your tongue slip into his mouth and moaning at the sensation of his against yours. He echoes you as his hands slip down your sides to squeeze your hips. You buck them under his touch, feeling his erection grow beneath you.

He chokes out a soft, “May I?” as his fingers curl around to grip at the fabric of your top. You nod, sitting back and holding your arms up to let him take it off of you. He starts trying to fold it up behind you but, impatient, you take the garment from him and blindly throw it behind you, holding his face to kiss him again.

He takes your hands into his own and guides them back down, his kisses moving from your lips, down your jaw and to your neck, where he finds an especially sensitive spot and stays there, kissing it over and over again, all while muttering sweet nothings to you. “You are so very beautiful, my darling… How fortunate I am to be this intimate with you… Just exquisite in every conceivable way…" You rock your hips faster at his words, throwing him off his train of thought entirely as he sits back and watches you lustfully.

His gaze isn't trained on your face, though. Instead, he's transfixed on the way your breasts move, both from your heaving breaths and from grinding on him. Biting your lip, you wrap a hand around the back of his neck and start pushing it towards you as his tongue just pokes out enough to wet his lips. "Wanna put that mouth to better use?" You ask as you guide him closer to your chest.

He gasps in soft delight, looking up at you gleefully. "Are you quite sure?" You nod and his face melts into one of pure ecstacy. "Thank you, my love," he mutters before taking one of your nipples into his mouth. 

His plush lips press against your flesh as he kisses, sucks and licks at your nipple. Biting back a moan, you rest your hand in his hair, ruffling it slightly and muttering with a smile, “You like that, don’t you?” He hums out an mm-hm that vibrates against your skin, and reaches up to play the other nipple between his finger and thumb. You keen towards him, grip tightening and head bending down to him as you groan loudly, “Fuck, that’s it, good boy!” Words you’d never have thought you’d say in such a context fly out of your mouth so easily, and you could swear he sounded like he was chirping with happiness as you said them.

He moves away from the breast he’s suckling on, pressing one more brief peck to your wet, hardened nipple, and starts to focus on the other, still brushing the other nipple with the backs of his knuckles. You whine, whimper and moan as your still-clothed cunt begs for sweet release. You’re constantly amazed at how quickly Ralph can bring you to an apex few had ever even managed to. “God, Ralph, need you so bad.”

“Of course, please forgive me, got rather carried away there,” he mumbles apologetically to you, but the kiss you press to his forehead tells him there’s nothing for him to be sorry for. Ralph looks around, his brow furrowing. “Um, I don’t wish to diminish the mood at all, but there doesn’t seem to be an awful lot of… Space, here.”

You cock your head, smiling coyly. “You wanna go to the bed you prepared for this exact occasion?”

Ralph returns a smaller, more sheepish smile, his ears tinting. “Ah, you noticed. I suppose, of course you did, it would be difficult not to. Still, was it alright? Or too much?” His face falls. “It was too much, wasn’t it?”

You fleetingly frown in thought. “A little, yeah.” Your expression quickly changes back into a grin, though. “But it was your brand of too much, which makes it perfect.” You lean back to unbutton his shirt. “Unfortunately, my brand is not being patient enough to wait that long.”

“I wouldn’t say that of you, you were rather patient with me all those months,” Ralph notes pointedly, and you laugh.

“Yeah, you used it all up!” You climb off of him, slowly sliding the bottom half of your outfit off, but leaving your underwear on. Looking over at him gawking, you smirk, "You sure you want this? Not exactly dressed for the occasion."

He reaches up to stroke the pad of his thumb across the intricate design of your underwear. "Of course, you had been wearing a matching set, but it was I who became so impatient that I missed out on seeing it in full, my deepest apologies, my love, I - well," he suddenly, hurriedly slips himself out of all his clothes, leaving them in a heap by his feet, making you giggle again.

"Maybe I'll still let you see it," you tell him suggestively, hooking your thumbs into the elastic of your panties. "Maybe I'll wear it all again and take some photos on your phone." With nothing left to cover it, you watch Ralph's cock twitch at the idea and bite your lip to compose yourself. "Maybe," you continue as you slowly push your underwear down your thighs, "I'll leave a video or two, as well." You watch his face as you let them fall past your ankle, stepping out of them and walking back over to him. "What do you think?"

"I think you spoil me, my love," he smiles softly. He reaches down to the jeans he'd all but ripped off of himself, fumbling through a pocket until he pulls out a condom and starts to put it on himself.

Watching the act of him wrapping it around himself and sliding it down is almost enough to totally distract you from your initial thought. Almost. "Did you really just have a condom just sitting there in your pocket? And you make out like I'm the horndog!"

Ralph blushes, "Yes, well, I sort of… Hoped we would… Christen the place, so to speak.”

You climb into his lap, hovering yourself to line up with where he’s holding his shaft. “I like that idea,” you smile softly before sliding yourself down onto him. You both let out staggered moans as you let yourself get used to the sensation of being filled by him, before kneeling yourself up to the point where you can just about feel his tip still inside you and then sinking yourself back down.

His hands grip your hips tightly as he moans your name. You repeat the motions a few times, revelling in the way it feels to drop onto him, having him enter you so deeply and so quickly. You soon start to feel an ache, though, and decide to pace yourself, keeping him bottomed out inside of you and grinding against him until you feel rested enough to go again. 

You can see Ralph’s mouth constantly silently moving, as though he wants to keep complimenting you the way he always does, but he’s too blissed out from feeling you clench around him, your cunt gripping his cock tightly with no intention of ever letting him back out of you again. You especially try to make sure you commit the face he makes every time you pull yourself out just to fuck yourself back down onto him again, to your memory, knowing that just remembering the way he reacts to you would be enough to turn you on, if you ever needed anything to fuel your imagination.

At one point, while you’re rocking your hips with him inside you, you finally manage to get yourself at just the right angle to hit that sweet spot that Ralph is always able to find. Keeping yourself at the same angle, you move yourself even faster, moaning louder and more often.

Ralph seems to notice, and does his best to hold you in place as he bucks his hips up underneath your weight. You curl yourself forward, arms wrapped around his shoulders and face buried in his neck as he fucks you from where he sits beneath you. Knowing how good it makes you feel when he mutters sweet sentiments to you, you mumble against his skin, “Feel so good, Ralphie… You always know how to, you’re fucking amazing… So good to me, so sweet, my Ralph, no-one else’s… My sweet and handsome boy, knows just how to please me, fuck.” 

."He whimpers and whines, music to your ears as you feel your climax start to build again. “Oh, god, Ralphie, I’m so clo- Oh my god,” you groan as he starts to massage your clit in rapid circles. “Oh, fuck, yes, so good to me, thank you… Wish I could, do more for you.”

“- Already do the absolute most, darling,” he soothes. “’M already embarrassingly near to finishing, myself.”

You shake your head, “Nothing to be ashamed of, not at all, god, please cum for me, Ralphie, and I will for you, please?” Ralph completely falls apart beneath you at your words, moaning your name and digging his fingers bruisingly into your skin. You feel yourself becoming one with him as you ride out your orgasm.

He wraps his arms around your hips, cradling you on his lap, and you rest your forehead against his as you both breathe heavily, intertwined in body, in breath, in spirit. You’d never, ever thought you’d even ever contemplate the idea a year ago, but in this moment, you really are certain that Ralph is your one true soulmate.

He leans in to envelop your lips with his own in a sweet and passionate kiss before muttering, “Forgive me, my love, but I do rather need to take care of…”

You whine indignantly, but stand to climb off of him. “Suppose I should actually change into something comfortable now, eh?” You ask humorously, and you hear his laughter from where he’s throwing his used condom away in the bathroom. The downstairs bathroom that you now have in the townhouse where you live with the love of your life. This was always pipe-dream material, but here you are. Living it.

You run upstairs, taking a moment to again admire the state of the bed and think about all the ways you plan to christen it later, and look through clothes to get changed into. Opting for a tank-top-and-pyjama-bottoms combination, you take yourself to your en-suite and freshen up as you get changed.

When you open up the door again, Ralph is just pulling a white shirt over his head, and you smile fondly at his choice to pair it with a very familiar pair of sweatpants. “Those were the first clothes I ever gave you,” you recall, and he looks at you with a similar expression.

“I believe that was also what you had chosen to wear the first night I met you, as well. When you gave me your bed without knowing anything at all about me,” he reminisces.

You giggle, “Oh, yeah, you wouldn’t even look me in the eye because you didn’t want to be ‘improper’, now look at you!” You tap his nose teasingly, and his ears flush red.

“Oh, hush,” he frowns, but the air of a laugh hangs in his voice. “You really were - I mean, to take me in as you did, in my time of need while knowing absolutely nothing about me, especially after Mister Peter told you my far-fetched reasoning for being here…” Ralph wraps his arms around your waist. “Giving me the life I have now, the friends I have, the - everything,” he sighs wistfully. 

“Yeah, well. You try looking you right in the chocolate buttons and saying no to that face,” you smirk, and he laughs. “It’s like I said when we went to the inheritance people to get this place. With my gift of the gab, and your gift of the… Face, the charm, and the everything else you’ve got going for you, we’re unstoppable,” you beam.

“I still can’t believe you were able to talk them around like that,” he looks at you adoringly, and you shrug.

“The amount of backlog they so obviously had, and the amount of effort it would have taken if we hadn’t convinced them to cut some corners with us, it was a doddle,” you shrug. “I could tell they weren’t the brown-nosing type, they weren’t gonna go back to check every little part of what I said we’d set out to do was legitimately within their procedures.”

“A skill set like that is wasted on your little clothes shop,” he frowns, leaning forward to kiss your forehead, and you laugh.

“Yeah, well. Maybe it’s time I look for something new that’s a bit more local to this area,” you nod. “I don’t think Babs’d let you quit, though.”

“Heavens, no, she’d be out for my blood!” Ralph exclaims, and you laugh loudly.

Once you’re back at the sofa, cuddled up beneath a blanket and watching TV together, even though you’re curled up against Ralph’s chest, you can sense something’s bothering him. “You alright?” You ask him.

“Couldn’t be better, darling,” he replies, but the tension you feel beneath your cheek betrays his lie.

“Nah, c’mon, tell me,” you sit yourself up next to him, and he sighs heavily.

“Well, I was just thinking of how… I mean, yes, we have a house now, at least, but I’m still not legally a person, am I? I know we said we wouldn’t openly use that story about me never being registered and so on unless it were absolutely necessary.”

“Yeah, we agreed, only if you need serious medical treatment,” you nod.

“R-right, but what about the other things?” He asks warily, twiddling his thumbs.

“Like holidaying? We can survive not going abroad, Ralph,” you laugh.

“Not just that… What about… Well, we could never be truly wed, or be a family,” you hear his voice get weaker, shakier.

“Sure, we can,” you wrap your arm around his shoulders and pull him so that he nuzzles into your neck, stroking his hair. “Okay, so we couldn’t get, like, legally married, but so what? We can still use the same bank account as if it were a joint one. I could easily change my name by deed poll. We could still throw a wedding in every other aspect, just without the signing the register. And as for the other bit, I mean, you can register with just one parent and add another later, if we do get away with your story about neither of yours registering you.”

“You seem rather sure in your knowledge, there,” he notes with a hint of amusement.

“Yeah, well… Maybe I looked into it all a little.” He looks over at you with a knowing grin, and you feel yourself get sheepish. “What?”

“Nothing, dearest,” Ralph chimes. “Just seems a little… What’s that word that you call me all the time?”

“Sappy? Tell me about it,” you shake your head, and Ralph laughs. 

“It’s an honour to make you feel that way, darling,” he leans over to kiss you. After a few minutes, he breaks away to stroke your cheek with his thumb as he holds your face. “You seriously see a future - of us? With me? I -”

You pull him in for another kiss, laughter bubbling between you as you do so, “Yes, you big dafty!”

He chirps happily. “Well, I suppose I’ve a lot to do, then, haven’t I!”

You take a deep breath in as you brace yourself to potentially let Ralph down. “Yeah, but… look, when I said I was looking into it, I meant as in, like, way into our future, yeah? We’ve got bags of time, I just want to enjoy it all with you, you know?”

To your surprise, Ralph scoffs at you. “Well, naturally. Did you think I would propose to you in this manner? Without so much as a ring? Or even your family’s blessing?”

“Oh, well, that won’t take long at all,” you smirk. “I bet you, when we go have dinner with Mum and Dad next week, by the time we even tell them that we’re together now, Mum’ll be asking you what colour her wedding outfit should be!”

A proud smile bursts onto Ralph’s face, but it quickly fades. “Do you think they’ll fear that us getting a house together is too big of a commitment too quickly?”

“Again. Ralph. They love you,” you reiterate to him, squeezing his hand. “And once they find out you’re responsible for us moving to Southwark, where they are? Dad’ll have gotten himself ordained by the time they bring out desserts just to make sure you’d become a permanent part of the family.”

Ralph’s heart swells hundredfold at the sentiment as he embraces you in yet another kiss. “I suppose I am rather overthinking things, aren’t I?”

“Just a tad,” you scrunch your face up, and he laughs.

“I mean, it’s really no different than when we were living at your flat, really, is it?” He chuckles, and you shake your head.

“Except we could have a pet, now,” you muse, and Ralph sits up straight, his face full of excitement.

“Could we get a cat?!” He beams at you, making you laugh.

“God, you and cats, what is with that?”

“I have a theory,” he muses. “Since Cheese and I got along so well so quickly, I think because we were so similar, he put in a good word with all the other cats. That’s the only explanation there could possibly be.”

After a brief hesitation, you laugh, “Sorry, in what way are you so similar to our old neighbour’s cat?!”

“Well, both of us were sort-of confined to our little flats, neither of us technically supposed to be there. I think he could sense that of me when I first met him, back when I… Upset that neighbour of yours.”

“Because you burnt your toast so badly that you almost suffocated the ninth floor with smoke?” You ask with raised eyebrows, and Ralph slinks back into his seat bashfully.

“Well, I’ve learned now, haven’t I?” He points out.

“That, you have. I’m so proud of how far you’ve come,” you hug his arm, shuffling up to his side. “With everything. How you’ve learned to cope with all this modern stuff, all the stuff you never got to learn growing up, and just… I’m really pleased you’ve been starting to love yourself as much - well, almost as much as I love you,” you simper, resting your head on his arm. “Ugh, god, I really am a sap now, aren’t I?”

Ralph chuckles, pressing a peck onto the top of your head. “At least we can both be, together, eh?”

You sigh contentedly as he wraps his arms around you, pulling the blanket around to make sure you’re both comfortable. You look around at the walls, imagining what decorating with Ralph is going to be like in the coming few weeks, and then picturing the photos you’d hang on there. Travels with Ralph all across the country. Your eventual engagement photos, because of course Ralph’s going to make that moment as photogenic as possible so you’ll have something to capture and savour that memory forever. Wedding photos, all your friends and Ralph’s all dressed up to the nines, singing and dancing the night away to celebrate the pair of you. Pictures of your eventual babies, some with Ralph’s eyes and some with his hair but all of them with his warm, kind smile. Those kids’ first moments, their first smiles, first steps, first day at school.

You break yourself away from your trance-like train of thought to see Ralph’s watching you with all the love that could possibly exist in the world currently living in his gaze. “I’m thinking of the same, too, my love,” he whispers excitedly, as though he’s able to see into your mind telepathically. “I can’t wait for the rest of our lives, either.”

[kyofsonder]

Find the Word Tag

I've been tagged by @junypr-camus to find a specific set of words in my WIPs. Thank you for the tag and the challenge! I found some of these in old fanfic WIPs I haven't paid enough attention to in awhile, and they were fun to revisit!

My Words: bold, chaos, silence, freeze, and spark.

These excerpts ended up being mostly fanfics from various fandoms (YoI, Sk8, DP, Given) with only one original (To Be Honest), so for those who want to skip reading them I'll put my tags and words here. I'm tagging @houndsofcorduff, @eternally-lame, @the-inkwell-variable, @starlightscribe, @crossroadcrow, and anyone else who wants to participate can use these words and say I tagged them!

Your Words: process, essential, effort, flat, and return.

I found bold(ness) in an old rough draft for a multi-chapter Yuri on Ice Soulmate AU fic titled "Worthy":

This is the moment Victor falls in love. He doesn't even register that hearing Yuri's voice means they're Soulmates until a little bit later. He falls for Yuri's boldness and passion. He falls for someone who wants to improve so much and feels so confident deep down, that he just assumes he can make it to a Pro's level if he has the right teacher. Victor falls for the man who grips him tight and says they'll sing together one day.

I found chaos in the rough draft of a Sk8 the Infinity CherryxJoe smut fic titled "Flipping a Switch", although the passage I found it in is just a little suggestive, rather than explicit:

Now, getting back to work seems more like an idle hope than an actual plan. Just a text. Just a few words, and his entire day is thrown into chaos. Like always. The suggestion of watching movies is new, but Kaoru knows this man well enough to read between the lines. A specific brand of vintage Parisian wine. Parler D'amour. Kojiro isn't asking him to taste test some alcohol or spend a casual night in front of the TV at all.

I found silence in an original work, one of my current novel WIPs, titled "To Be Honest":

He knows that Asher had transformed because of him. He remembers the sight of Asher's face and the sound of his bedroom window shattering whenever he's alone. The whip of David's scarf around his neck as he'd recklessly jumped out the window after Asher is still as clear to him as the day it had happened. He hears their footsteps in the dirt and asks himself why he hadn't moved even as they'd disappeared, running as fast as either of them could, vanishing into the forest until Micah had been left with nothing but silence and the horrible awareness of his own blood in his skull and limbs.

I found freeze in my current Danny Phantom fic "Lingering Scars":

Both intruders freeze once they notice him. He tilts his head to see if he can get a clearer angle now that they've stopped moving, puzzle together a picture that makes some kind of sense, but it doesn't work. It's still just Danielle standing firmly on his laundry pile to try and get the high ground, while Jazz digs her feet into the carpet for all the leverage it will give her. His clone who's basically a little sister and his biological older sister. The only family members who know the exact reason why he needs this specific time for sleep. Standing as still as if he'd actually pressed pause on a TV show. Staring at him in a mix of surprise and half-hearted remorse, with one of Danny's shirts stretched out almost comically between them.

I found spark(les) in my soon-to-be-rewritten Given fic "Present Tense" – the excerpt is a bit long, but it felt necessary:

As the rest of their fingers curl to cup the air, something starts to flow into the empty space. It's something he's never seen before. Not with his eyes, at least. The way it sparkles feels like a million things at once. Like stage lights. Guitar pegs. Effect pedals. Trees. Swings. Park benches. School gyms. Bicycles. The inside of Yuki's apartment. He almost forgets to breathe, but the flow of the glittering thing in their hands pulls his breath along as it shows him more and more things. Things like music. White noise made visual. Suddenly, he can see all the little pieces that go into the whole. The song materialized and liquified into something he's seen in his own chest before, at a time he can't remember because it spans so much of his own life. Colors. Shapes. Textures. Grains of sand on a beach. Golden and silver and blue and green and white and red and black. The colors of Yuki. The colors of Ritsuka. The colors of Mafuyu. The colors of a Gibson Hollow-Body guitar. He leans forward, his whole body falling toward the bottomless pool of things.

Friends and mutuals are encouraged to join in, but there's no pressure!

[lake-of-gold]

I posted 48 times in 2021

4 posts created (8%)

44 posts reblogged (92%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 11.0 posts.

I added 66 tags in 2021

#oxventure - 27 posts

#oxblades in the dark - 11 posts

#art - 6 posts

#egbert the careless - 5 posts

#oxventure in the dark - 3 posts

#merilwen - 3 posts

#fanart - 3 posts

#prudence - 3 posts

#barnaby fortescue iii - 3 posts

#stories to tell - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 103 characters

#egbert has to be 1.) friend-shaped and 2.) handsome (because i've seen the comments i know my audience)

My Top Posts in 2021

#4

Do I need another d&d blog? Debatable. Do I have another anyway? Apparently.

We'll see how this goes.

0 notes • Posted 2021-10-15 18:59:56 GMT

#3

Oxventure at a Fete for Halloween... I love this episode.

(Notes here are from the day it went up. I saved this as draft cos I couldn't get the read more to work and forgot it existed. Quotes to follow separately.)

The moment I realised they were doing a body-swap I had to hit pause (suddenly appreciative of the fact I missed the première) and run about the room with excitement. I may have actually squealed with laughter, I may not have, we will never know.

"You can do ..." Andy explains. To which Mike replies, all excited, naiive and confused: "I can?!"

There is something about watching Andy desperately read through the section on Paladins in the PHB while simultaneously keeping track of what is going on around him, before bringing forth not one paladin ability Egbert has never used before, but two. (Three?)

Ellen as Corazon is amazing. Smug, charming, with fingers twitchy for gold. The balance of what is Merilwen and what is Corazon is such a perfect combination.

Andy as Egbert is just as spectacular. The combination of Corazon forgetting he isn't himself and attempting all these things that Corazon can do (and the dice occasionally helping) and the new skills that appear with someone else in control is too good to be written in advance.

Mike as Merilwen is not only alliterative, but also hilarious in the twisting of rules (this counts as animal handling, right?)

If someone doesn't write fanfic about this, I will be very disappointed.

5 notes • Posted 2021-11-08 19:48:23 GMT

#2

Oh, Tome Sweet Tome. I don't know why I expected something halfway sensible after the events of A Fete Worse Than Death.

They were on fire with this one. And the previous, which I will put up comments for later.

"Merilwen, I would never resist one of your spells" - Dob.

Also Dob, earlier, to Corazon, "it's not a competition. I love you both." (Although the pauses around this? "I love, you, both", sus. Very sus. Either Luke stumbled that, or Dob is up to something again. As if the 'supplements' weren't equally suspicious.)

The audience keeping track of the possibilities with Banishment is amazing. I have no idea how big the audience was, but they were a good audience; very helpful and lots of applause for puns, as there should be.

But the shipping options here?! Honestly, between this and the previous episode, it's like they're asking for all the ship fics.

The Beeples costumes are AMAZING. No one can convince me otherwise. The collective facepalming from the rest of the group is one of the best reactions they've given as a group ever. Also, they chose actually pretty good costumes.

Mike actually checked the book to confirm that "Behave" was an acceptable option for Command. Toss character growth, that's Player Growth, right there. And I am here for it.

7 notes • Posted 2021-11-08 15:36:12 GMT

#1

Watching Oxventure, now that I've finally found the time to sit down and watch the Orb Saga. And I just... I feel for Merilwen, stuck watching Dob and Katie together.

Just a shame they don't know the game better. Dispel magic was a great try, and if it was an enchanted item would have at least required a roll. But a love potion counts as a Poison or Charm effect, which means the spell the group is looking for is a level 5 Greater Restoration.

I love this group, they got me back into the game, but sometimes this would be a lot less stressful if they knew how the rules work.

15 notes • Posted 2021-10-20 05:24:53 GMT

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[esta-elavaris]

Love this. Just to add -- I went into a creative writing degree at eighteen, having primarily obsessively written fanfic for years. I outperformed most of my peers thanks to that fact. My supervisor literally called me a first rate writer in my final year - because your skill doesn't differentiate between what you're writing, all it knows is that you ARE, and you improve. When my teachers asked what I wrote most, just out of curiosity, I lied and mumbled some stuff about horror and fantasy because I was too embarrassed to own up to writing fic, but if I had the choice again now ~8 years later, I'd admit it pretty happily.

The point about not being able to share original fiction around is so true, too -- especially nowadays with concerns about things like AI adding to pre-existing fears of plain ol' plagiarism. I'm personally very paranoid about even who I let beta read my stuff, never mind sharing it online for anybody to see. Fanfic is so useful in that regard, because it might not instruct you with direct plot-related matters, but you get a general overview of what people do and don't like. I learned a few years ago that I was spending too many words on introspection, and my original novel draft vastly improved thanks to that. I also learned that people like it when I let myself have fun and be a bit silly with the narration, again - another way I could use it to improve original work.

It's so important, too, for me to have projects like fanfic where there aren't any publishing aspirations with it because it reminds me that I write for fun, when I'm busy stressing over how publishable my novel is or is not. Plus, it offers a community that is so insanely supportive, and has gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life with my sanity in tact.

I've found the people who are most judgemental about it cast that judgement because it says more about them than us. I won't say they've never achieved anything in writing circles because that can be so fickle and not entirely reliant on the writer themselves, but more often than not they've never tried to achieve anything in writing circles - even if that's sharing something with a feedback group. Instead, they prefer to sit back and judge others and their process without just focusing on their own stuff, because it makes them feel better about their own insecurities.

I'm very sorry for adding a whole ass dissertation to your rant, and I know I reiterated a lot of what you said, but it's so tiring - especially when it comes from not only strangers online, but friends and family. I've lost count of how many friends think I shouldn't write fanfic or that I'm wasting my time by writing it because it's not directly publishable, without caring about the fact that writing fic has gotten my skill to a level where aiming to publish is a realistic goal. It also creates a readerbase, to some extent, of people who might be willing to read your original stuff.

And honestly, even without all of those justifications, it's just fun. That can be a worthy cause in and of itself, because if we only look at our creativity through a lens of whether we can directly make money from it, it won't stay fun for very long.

"All fanfic writers are inherently bad writers"?!

In reaction to @esta-elavaris's post about someone on IG saying that "all fanfic writers are inherently bad writers":

First of all, if you believe this statement, even a little bit, if you think "just most, not all" fanfic writers are bad writers, then I feel sorry for you. You are either sadly narrow-minded, or you just haven't had the opportunity to read any of the many masterpiece fanfics out there.

I suspect fanfiction critics carelessly dismiss fanfiction writers as "bad" writers because we use other writers' works as the foundation for our stories. This completely ignores the fact that:

a) Many fanfic writers BUILD on top of what the OG authors have written, in fact lending their own original creations to established canon, sometimes doubling or even tripling existing canon, in essence even surpassing what the OG authors have created.

b) Most (likely all) fanfic writers have original works written, but not posted or shared on social media. If it has any potential to be published and sold, then DUH. You cannot expect it to be given out for free.

Writers indulge in fanfiction because it is FUN, LIBERATING, and connects us with a community in a fandom we love. It exercises our already existing and often formidable writing skills without the parameters and pressure that usually come with creating something for publishing potential (aka for money/career).

It makes zero sense for "critics" to dismiss our skills just because we use it to provide free content and expand on existing works. You wouldn't call a band "bad musicians" just because they do dominantly cover songs.

I also suspect that published writers get jealous of the freedom fanfic writers have, and secretly wish they had more time to indulge in fanfic writing themselves.

ALL TOGETHER NOW, FELLOW FANFIC WRITERS: