#just felt like posting a lil preview

[theartingace]

I swear I'm drawing things other than malevolent, but the brainrot is strong (never stronger than my need to draw dragons)

[seungkw1]

one last chance — bsk [PREVIEW]

♡ pairing: boo seungkwan x afab!reader ♡ theme: college au ♡ preview wc: 0.6k ♡ warnings: none for the preview, smut in the full fic ♡ a/n: hey, i’m back 👀 sorry for disappearing for so long my mental health was Not Good! excited to get back to writing tho <3 posting this lil preview as motivation to finish this fic!!

[ full fic is posted! ]

“SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!...”

In an instant nearly everybody leaps out of the hot tub, whooping and cheering as they follow the drunken chanting into the house. 

Everybody but Seungkwan. 

He fixes his eyes on you - his eyelids slightly heavy from numerous beers, his red-tinted cheeks illuminated in the dim glow of the backyard string lights, his lips seemingly extra plush, soft, kissable… 

He has never looked more stunning than he does right now. 

A lazy smile spreads across his face. “No shots for you, then?”

You shake your head. “Nah, I'm okay.”

“Me too.”

A few moments of silence pass. He gazes at you as if he has something he wants to say, but he hesitates. Despite the lack of conversation, it feels… comfortable. Like you could sit in silence all night with him and not get bored - his presence is more than enough. 

“Can I ask you a dumb question?” he finally asks, the look on his face slightly sheepish. 

“Sure,” you respond, working overtime to maintain your calm exterior despite your heart rate rising. “Though - I'm sure it's not dumb,” you add affirmatively.  

He reclines, lifting his elbows and placing his arms casually along the edge of the hot tub. He looks up at the moonlit night sky, as if reminiscing. 

“Do you remember when we kissed that one time?”

You feel as if you've suddenly been electrocuted. You don't know what you expected him to ask, but it certainly wasn't that. 

He continues. “It was at the very beginning of college - before classes had even started. At a house party. We were both drunk, you probably don't even remember-”

“No I remember,” you blurt out. He turns his head to you again, a look of genuine surprise upon his face. 

“You do?” he responds, momentarily forgetting to contain his elation. 

“Of course,” you reply with a nod. 

“You must have a really good memory, then,” he says nonchalantly - but you can tell he hopes there's something more to it. 

“Not really,” you admit. His eyes remain locked on yours. He turns slightly, facing you. 

“I've thought about it often over the years. Thought about you.” 

Your stomach drops. 

He drifts a bit closer through the softly bubbling water, his eyes locked on you. “Sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I’d ever had the courage to ask you out.”

You stare back at him, too stunned to respond. His lips curl into a smile. 

“What's that look for?” he asks. His big brown eyes are practically sparkling.

“I…” you start, but your mind goes blank. You're still trying to process his words. 

“I had no idea you felt that way,” you eventually manage to say. “Honestly, I didn't even know if you remembered who I was.”

“You're kinda hard to forget.”

“Oh,” is what manages to come out of your mouth. You feel dizzy.

“What do you mean, courage?” you ask him. 

“Hm? Oh, I mean you’re just so… out of my league.”

You let out a sharp, incredulous laugh. It’s Seungkwan’s turn to look confused. 

“It's true!” he proclaims. 

You gawk back at him. He laughs. 

“You look flabbergasted.”

“I am flabbergasted,” you concur. “You're the one who's way out of my league!”

He shakes his head. “You're crazy. But that's why I like you.” He drifts toward you even further, fully sitting beside you now. His shoulder brushes against yours. A rush of adrenaline pulses through your body. 

“That,” he continues, “and the fact that you're one of the smartest people I know. And kind. And funny. And…”

Gently, he takes your chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting your face up toward his. 

“So beautiful.”

—

read the full fic here

[justsome-di]

Now a Pulitzer Prize winning book (don’t fact check this, just trust me) and featured on Obama’s 2023 Summer Reading List!

You should be reading Nobody Ends Up Dead in a Bathtub, Everyone Keeps Their Organs! Why? See above.

It’s a good story if I do say so myself. And if you read it, you’re a cool kid. Don’t you want to be a cool kid? This is something called peer pressure, and it usually works.

But for real, if you read Nobody Ends Up Dead then you’re going to go on a good adventure with good characters I guarantee you will love. Not to brag, but it is a pretty good story. There’s funny one-liners, a cute plot, and relatable characters that have been developed for years. Just heed warnings at the beginning of chapters. NEUD deals with some heavy topics such as eating disorders.

NEUD is officially all online for free. But you can still access bonus chapters and short stories on Patreon for only $4.

Links: 

AO3

Wattpad

Patreon (Patrons had early access to the whole novel and also get exclusive short stories with the characters and sneak peaks for new projects!)

Netflix Previews

Characters’ Playlists

You can also check out my carrd if there are any updates to how/where I post, it’ll probably be the most accurate place to find new or updated links.

Transcript under cut:

The Story is Dope

A New York office worker and a sex worker get set up on a date--one thinking it's a real blind date, the other under the impression it's an ordinary appointment. After realizing it was all a shitty prank, they set out for revenge. Their plan: show up to an upcoming Halloween office party as a genuine couple, convincing the pranksters they genuinely fell in love and refusing to let themselves become the butt of the joke.

Our main characters are Alex, an awkward admin assistant for a medical company who hasn't been on a date since he was a teenager, and Damián, a sex worker who seems way out of Alex's league but keeps insisting on spending time with him so they can perfect their revenge scheme.

The novel features a diverse cast and explores sex positivity. I also like to believe that it portrays sex work well. Damián is a hardworking man, doing what he loves, and meeting mostly great people along the way--but he also would benefit greatly if sex work was decriminalized and therefore had better resources at his disposal.

If you're looking for a story with LGBT characters that's mostly light-hearted but still packs a punch every few chapters, this is it! Overall, it's a happy story.

The Characters!

oh boy the characters!

we got Damián who's hardworking and doting on his lil bro but oh wow does he have some angst

we got Alex who is nothing more than a burning ball of anxiety trying his best--all too relatable

Leo, Damián's bro, is an ally, and he will make sure everyone knows. Also has angst.

Eve, Alex's lil sister, is an edgy teen who's failing calc and runs a queer book club

together, they're a weird lil dysfunctional family

I'll be honest. There's a lot of love in this story. From me and among the characters. The characters love each other, and I think the readers love them, too.

It touches on a lot of loneliness--inspired by how I've felt since Covid started--and a lot of the conflicting emotions that come with being gay. What happy endings do we deserve? What about happy middles?

It's a touching book about learning to be a better person and finding people who love you--platonically and romantically.

Here are some of my fave parts:

And then there was a streak of gray hair that shocked Alex. A streak of gray hair off to the side, nestled close to a salt and pepper beard. Textured hands held cocktails. Little, subtle lines creased when mouths laughed. Alex held his breath. On the packed floor, they were the only people Alex could see. They were laughing and holding each other and enjoying themselves, firmly in the place they knew they belonged. Flashes of teeth pressed against each other, disappearing for long seconds at a time.

--

“Sorry,” Alex said. “Your arm got heavy on top of me.” “You’re a little mouse of a man. I didn’t mean to crush you.” “I’m what?”

--

“A dog!” Damián cooed as he sat across from the lesbians. “His name is Yam,” Martin said.

“His name is Yam,” Damián cried. Kris and Clara released Yam and gently nudged him to Damián. Ecstatic, Damián picked him up and set him on his lap. “His name is Yam,” he repeated to Alex. “I heard.”

--

But he couldn’t deny that he was having a good time. It was like intense yoga with the perk of having a cock shoved up his ass. He was going to feel limber as fuck after.

--

“Can I do anything?” Alex asked. “To help cheer you up?”

“You don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’d like to. If you let me.”

--

“Wow this sounds great where can I read it?”

Tumblr @justsome-di

Watpadd @justsome-di

Patreon @just some di (link on Tumblr)

AO3 @justsome_di

Updates every friday!

[atopvisenyashill]

Why do you think Jaehaerys sexually assaulted his own daughter?( I'm genuinely curious)

I have two dedicated tags to this if you want to dig in a bit more - "gael and the bard" and the newly added "jaehaerys the cruel" tags, with this meta here being the kind of jumping off point into that whole theory/analysis. gael and the bard is more focused on gael targaryen herself and the mystery surrounding her pregnancy and suicide; there's a lot of bael the bard imagery surrounding her, being called the winter princess, gael being one letter off from bael, the father of her baby noted to have been a singer, and her status as like, an eternal maiden because of her relationship with alysanne. the jaehaerys the cruel moniker is just a reference to maegor the cruel - i think the play between maegor being outwardly monstrous and jaehaerys being privately monstrous is very interesting! but also it's not like a fun tag name lol so i might change it, haven't decided yet!

but i guess to break down my thought process here - i have never liked that man lmaoooo, i am an og jaehaerys hater. my lil journey here is, i read this series in high school, roughly around the winter of 2012, but i didn't read twoiaf when it came out in 2014, i read that just before i started this blog, so like....idk 2 years ago, roughly, but i was Aware Of Its Existence (they didn't have it at school, the library was kind of far, and it felt like a stupidly expensive book to ask for at the time). i had kinda skimmed over the short stories the princess & the queen and the rogue prince (don't ask me when they came out, icr), and had read all the twow preview chapters so it wasn't like i wasn't up on all the asoiaf world stuff, i just hadn't been able to get my hands on twoiaf, which I do think impacted my view of jaehaerys because the thing is...i just didn't understand the jaehaerys appeal. i won't get into the wanky aspects of fandom (i mean i will if someone asks but idk if you care lol), but i would say in the like 2010-2014 era the fandom was p staunchly and loudly pro targaryen, and not just in a "i love the rot" way but in a "they are the promised heroes" type of way and i never jived with it. i did not enjoy the vast majority of dany's chapters on my first read, nor did i enjoy this weird "well if you like the starks you're a NORMIE" takes that i was constantly seeing, and the sansa v arya war was insane (i'm blocked and have blocked just so many people lol).

i say all that because everyone was UP jaehaerys' ass. i won't name names but i remember a common rebuttal to the "well george is kinda critiquing incest-in-fantasy here and i'm not sure this series is going to end with an incestuous targ restoration" stance was "well if incest is so bad why do jaehaerys and alysanne exist huh? check AND mate incest hater" and it was like............alright, so this is a fandom of deeply unserious people who like to think they are the Expert On Themes instead of just another schmuck with a blog like everyone else. it was just a very condescending tone, always, and it turned me off the targs but especially turned me off jaehaerys.

and it was also like....but what has he done to be so beloved in this fandom??? again, this is pre twoiaf, and then post-twoiaf but pre f&b, so all we know about this dude is that he was called the conciliator because he pardoned the people who sided with maegor, he "protected the faith", he married his sister who gave the watch the gift, he abolished prima noctus, he built a dirt road, he was besties with barth. okay? i always thought the move with the gift was annoying and goofy behavior & i feel very vindicated on being right there esp if aegon’s dream was real, and i’ve always thought the marriages for his kids were kinda weird once we got those in twoiaf and WHAT DO YOU KNOW. like, pre twoiaf everyone was hyping him up as this great king, this paragon of valyrian supremacy, oh he’s so smart and politically minded but he’s not overly cruel, and it was like. we know little about this man in his day to day life though. we know damn well whatever good robert did as king was largely jon arryn's influence so Why are we pretending like just because jaehaerys passed a few good laws it means HE was the one responsible for those ideas (and again I WAS RIGHT). is what he’s doing even that good??

AND THEN FIRE AND BLOOD CAME OUT. and everyone was crying screaming throwing up about how stupid he is, how cruel he is, how weird he is about his daughters, and then people started saying “well you’re being unfair if you don’t like him because-“ i don’t give a shit because i’m validated for not liking that man’s vibes thanks!!!! like…yeah he IS a paragon of targaryen supremacy and this is not a good thing! and especially when you factor in how often the patriarchs of the series have these deeply rooted, very disturbing flaws, i thought the backlash to f&b re: “he ruined jae & aly!” so silly. of COURSE he was weird about his daughters, he eloped with his 12 year old sister and when confronted over it basically said “i do what i want fuck you” that’s not romantic it’s INSANE BEHAVIOR and i’ll stand on that forever!!! marrying your siblings is deranged and idgaf about what magic or political reasoning they have ESPECIALLY when jaehaerys himself refuses a valyrian marriage several times over when it makes more political sense to go that route (in both his own marriage and in the marriages of his grandchildren).

so! i always thought he was boring and weird, then f&b came out and i was vindicated. the thing is, as i read, i guess i was also like. but what is the fuckijg POINT of this guy! he dominates the f&b narrative when there’s way more interesting characters, he has no redeeming qualities, every good thing he does is usually overshadowed by his reasoning being heinous and disturbing, but this book is pushing this idea that he’s the good one, he’s the blueprint, so is it JUST an exploration of like, what ~being a good person~ really means and how reputations & history are very malleable depending on who is recording it??

And then i really started to dig into Saera. Her isolation, her drinking, her sexually tormenting the court fool, the way jaehaerys is always giving her gifts and "indulging" her, the way she's brought before the throne instead of in a private room because what she did is considered like, treasonous basically (what she did being, of course, having sex without her father's permission, lmao!), her very hysterical confrontation with her parents, Jonquil Darke forcing her to watch her boyfriend be murdered, Jaehaerys' insistence on refusing to forgive her and calling her a whore, and of course this weird exchange:

“What have you done?” the king said, when at last the princess ran out of words. “Seven save us, what have you done? Have you given one of these boys your maidenhead? Tell me true.” “True?” said Saera. It was in that moment, with that word, that the contempt came out. “No. I gave it to all three. They all think they were the first. Boys are such silly fools.”

"They all think they were the first." they all think it. i don't think any of those three boys were the first - i think she'd lost her virginity well before she started fooling around with them and when I first read that part my first thought was "I think Jaehaerys knows damn well who she lost her virginity to" and I started spiraling from there.

I decided to do a write up of Jaehaerys Being Deeply Weird Towards His Girls and while there's some things I would change - in particular, I think I'd add more to the Alyssa, Viserra, and Gael sections - there's a reason that the Saera section in particular seemed to really spark off a lot of conversation (not to toot my own horn here lmao) and that reason, imo, is that a lot of people read about what happened between Saera and jaehaerys and go "now what in the goddamn hell is THAT about." Saera more than any of Jaehaerys' kids is imo the canary in the coal mine, so to speak - whatever George intended with F&B, I do think he meant for us to look at the way Jaehaerys talks about Saera and go "this guy has some fucking ISSUES." I don't know that he meant for it to go all the way up to "Jaehaerys is molesting his own kids" route but I do fully believe he meant something in that realm of "Jaaehaerys is cruel to a sexually abusive point to his children" the same way that like, Tywin and Cersei sexually abuse Tyrion but don't outright rape him themselves. I think Jaehaerys was always meant to be aman who is remembered fondly but was an absolute monster in his private life, in contrast to both the kings he succeeded (maegor and aenys) and as a point of comparison to our "modern day" patriarchs who have their own hang ups surrounding their daughters in Tywin, Doran, Ned, Robert, Jon, and Hoster.

[sunwarmed-ash]

Thank You For Your Patience!! (Sinful Sunday Post)

As a thank you for being patient and sweet while I sorted my life out, I'm gonna post 4 lil Sinful Sunday snippets today! These will NOT be posted to ao3 until their debut! Get em while they're hot

Part 3: HOT TO GO!- Steve x Eddie x Billy

Chapter 3 Preview: 🔞👀😈

“Good job baby, already took half of it,” Steve praised, his cock brushing that special spot inside Eddie until he can't breathe, he knows there's still so much more cock to take. At one point, Eddie thought he'd taken it all, and then Steve adjusted his hips, and then the last few inches slide home and Eddie's vision blacked out. His knees buckled and the only thing holding him up was the two sets of hands holding him in place. 

It's so good but it hurts worse than anything he's felt in a long time. Fuck, he wouldn't trade it for the world. In fact, he wished he could stay suspended in this feeling forever. Right on the precipice of oblivion, no synthetic or organic drugs could bring him this high, and he was addicted. 

He's being stretched out further than he's taken in a long time and he’s losing the battle of overstimulation with every inch inward and forward.

Steve is helping stretch the feeling out, pulling him back on his cock while Billy sucks Eddie's dick into his mouth. Eddie’s brain shorts out again.

Billy's sucking him like he's taking Eddie's orgasm as a personal challenge and Eddie can barely keep up with the speed. The sounds are absolutely filthy and it fills the room beautifully.

"Oh shit," Steve gasps "oh my god, keep that up Billy, he’s squeezing so tight around me.”

“Billy, fuck,” Eddie cries, because he can’t focus on anything but the pleasure when he’s being dually stimulated like this. He knows Billy's sucking him to delirium for a purpose, but even after the mind blowing orgasm Billy is speed running him towards, he doesn't think-"I can’t," Eddie pants, "you both won't fit."

“Shh, sweetheart," Steve soothes, "you can do it, it's okay. we're gonna get you relaxed."

“Steeve..."

“You want to be good for us, don't you Eddie?

Eddie melts under Steve's honey-sweet tone. Enough it took Steve's blunt teeth in his neck for him to remember he was supposed to answer.

"Yes Daddy,” Eddie croaks. 

"Good job. Just focus on me, and try and relax. Billy will take care of the rest.”

Eddie didn't have much time to think about it, because Billy's fingers pushing inside to stretch his hole severs the last of his conscious thought. 

"Fuck," Eddie gasps and then he’s cumming. Hard and loudly all over his chest.

"There you go baby,” Steve soothes, “perfect, keep looking at me."

Eddie melted under the praise. It was everything he needed and he was relaxing under the stretch again.

“Almost there,” Billy says, pushing a second finger inside alongside Steve’s cock. 

“You hear that baby? You can almost take Billy too. You'd like that, wouldn't you?”

“Fuck…” Eddie cries. In fantasy, yes, because he can take two, sometimes even a third in his dreams, but in real life his body feared for the painful stretch.

“Tell me to stop and I will,” Billy reassures.

That's enough assurance for Eddie to fully relax. Billy sinks in a few inches. Eddie's eyes roll into the back of his head as pleasure overrides every nerve in his body.

“There you go, nice job baby,” Steve praises, pressing kisses into his neck. 

“Fuck, fuck,” Eddie mouths, head rolling on Steve's shoulder as Billy tries to push in deeper. He didn't know being pushed so far past his limits would have his cock ready to burst again but here he was, aching for Billy to either fuck him and make him cum or pull out and let him think. He doesn't have enough mental capacity to do both. “More,” he begs and hopes its the right move. 

Billy pulls out, and he fears for the worst. But before he can miss the painful stretch of Billy’s cock its back, but with a dripping amount of lube. The glide goes so much smoother this time and Eddie is bucking hard into the thrust. 

“Careful,” Steve warns but Eddie can't hear him. The blood in his ears is pounding too hard. He's too close to care about anything but reaching climax again. And if he can bring Billy and Steve over too, bonus.

“Please, please, I'm so fucking close,” Eddie trembles.

It's the magic word for Billy. He grips Eddie's hips tight and increases the speed of his thrusts. Steve's enormous dick was doing plenty of work just sitting inside Eddie, and now Billy’s cock piercing is dragging across his insides and Eddie is convinced he can feel his brain melting out of his ears. “P-pl- ah- y-yes- fuck- please!”

Steve swallows down his every moan, biting into his neck when he wants to hear him cry. 

They stopped touching his dick but it doesn't matter, Eddie’s gonna cum again no matter what. the ache in his core is driving him feral. He needs it.

“Please,” Eddie whimpers.

“Go ahead baby, you did so good for us,”

Eddie's cock is pulsing and his ass can't stop clenching around the thick muscles inside it. 

“T-thank you.”

“Still want to keep going,” Steve asks.

“Y-Yeah.”

Eddie whines as Billy starts to pull out. 

“Billy can fuck you next," Steve says at the same time Billy says,

“I can wait my turn.”

“Okay,” Eddie nods, turning to pull Steve's lips to his own. 

Steve snaps into him and Eddie’s head falls back. His ass is swollen and sore but fuck so is his prostate and with every thrust against it Eddie is finding overstimulation more and more addicting. “Oh my god. Fuck, that feels so good.”

“Not too sensitive?”

Eddie chuckles against his lips before groaning. 

“I think I like it.” 

“Painslut,” Billy snorts.

“What do you need baby,” Steve asks, starting a series of kisses down Eddie’s neck. 

“H-Harder,” Eddie pleads, and he can feel the shape of Steve’s grin grow on his throat. 

ao3 kofi insta

Read the other 3 here!

[whorejolras]

I did not get the first chapter of the obsessed au finished in time for eposette week like I’d hoped so here, have the obsessed au playlist I’ve been writing to (and pretend I posted this on time too ashsjd) and a lil preview of ch: 1

preview under the cut

~~~

Cosette had never really been the jealous type. That changed when she met Marius.

Well.

It changed when she met Marius’ ex.

They were almost a month in and the honeymoon phase bubble around their new relationship was quietly bursting. Cosette was none the wiser. With her hand in Marius’, with him glowing with pride beside her, she couldn't have felt safer.

“Are you ready?” He asked.

Cosette leaned in and kissed his cheek. Took a moment of quiet together before he opened the door. “I am, are you?”

“I know they'll love you,” Marius said, the words rushing out. “I’m so excited for them all to meet you, because, well, look at you! You’re incredible. They won't believe you're my girlfriend!” He gushed, and then he stalled, face flickering from his bouncing pride to something quiet and unsure.

“I am a little nervous… nervous you won't like them,” he admitted. “I’m a little scared of you meeting-”

~

“Éponine,” Éponine introduced herself, waving slightly and then stepping forward to punch Marius lightly on the shoulder. Cosette stood to be on their level and felt a smile form at the easy camaraderie between them. Then Éponine said: “I’m this one's ex.”

Marius’ hand twitched in Cosette’s grasp.

The smile fell from Cosette’s face.

The bubble burst.

~

So started a new obsession, Cosette couldn't look at Marius without thinking about Éponine.

Marius kissed her in greeting and when she closed her eyes she saw Éponine’s lips forming a small “o” shape. Soft, plump, pink. She saw them on Marius’, she felt crazy.

His hands found her hips, and slid up to her waist when he stole another kiss, and Cosette saw them sliding across Éponine’s skin instead. He pulled back with a small sigh and she wondered if that sound was just for her, or if Éponine heard it too.

~

When Marius woke up next to her and smiled like she had brought him the world, was it real? Was he for a second disappointed that he hadn't woken up next to Éponine?

It was too easy to conjure the image in her mind of Éponine waking up in Marius’ bed. She saw her with messy dark blonde hair, lit up in the morning sun in Marius’ bedroom, saw her blinking sleepy sea green eyes against the light, saw her yawning with soft pink lips, and thought why would he want me when he had her?

Who wouldn't want her?

~~~~

I PROMISE IT WILL BE EPOSETTE Marius is more or less a plot device…. also I’m sorry to my boy Marius for everything I’m about to put him through.

[frickatives]

[teaser] against better judgement [f!reader bounty hunter x mando]

[read on AO3] [masterlist] [next chapter]

[a/n] HI HELLO I've had this enemies-to-lovers fic idea rattling around in my brain for a year or so, and I decided I'm going to put it out into the world! I've had so much fun reading everyone's Mando fics over the years, and I'd love to be more active in the community. Setting is post-season-2, and will deviate wildly from canon from there. I'm planning to have the first chapter ready to go (hopefully) next Monday (8/14), but until then I wanted to get the first snippet out into the world to get more comfortable sharing my writing after not doing so for... at least a decade, whoops. I HOPE YOU ENJOY AND I HOPE YOUR WEEK IS FULL OF DELIGHT ❤️❤️❤️

[warnings/tags] canon typical violence, gore (? light body horror??), mentions of death and injury, thirst for sweet vengeance, fem!reader, no use of y/n, the slowest burn, enemies to lovers, bounty hunter reader, comically hostile workplace

[wc] ~700, just a lil' preview/intro

You crouch down behind the rock, not believing your eyes.

They have to be wrong. Misinformed. You must be imagining things, because you think you're seeing an all-too-familiar quicksilver jackass creeping up on your bounty, and that simply isn't possible. 

You look again. Quadruple checking. 

Sure enough, it's him. He's kneeling by the entrance to the bunker, tracking fob in hand. You'd know that ridiculous helmet anywhere.

Rage boils over in your gut, so fast that it physically cramps something. You knew that the kriffing Guild– that kriffing Karga offered to keep the sentient trash chute on as a hunter, even after what he did to them – to you – on Nevarro, but being confronted by it makes you break into a cold sweat. You'd heard he'd turned the Guild down, but the very real hunter taking a few paces away from the bunker's hatch says otherwise. 

The scar that bisects your chest and abdomen aches and tightens. Your hand settles over it, out of habit.

He blows the bunker door open with a charge. 

The sound echoes, ricocheting across the barren, rocky surface of the valley, bouncing up the stony hillsides around you. You flinch. You've been on edge this whole damn time, even before that bastard showed up – you don't like being forced to take the low ground. It feels too much like begging to get shot. 

Your armor scrapes against stone, and you duck down as quickly as you can in case he's heard – it's unlikely, over the sound of the blast, but you remember what it was like to be hunted down by those Mandalorians on Nevarro. 

Their reflexes were preternatural. 

You remember waking to the sound of a gunfight outside, and rushing out of the hostel with your sidearm in-hand, and stepping into a street overflowing with chaos and screaming. You didn't know what was happening. It seemed like nobody did.

You saw Guild hunters, a few you recognized from Karga's place, taking aim at the sky. 

You remember looking up, too, and then fighting for your life against a small army of Mandalorians. You had no idea where they'd come from, why they were attacking the city, but you knew the men from the Guild and you didn't want to see them killed. 

You fought for what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, until you were cornered in an alley by a big brute with a wicked curved blade of mirror-polished beskar.

You remember being cut open. Filleted. One powerful swipe of that blade, one bad misstep of your own treacherous feet. You remember the feeling of parts of you shifting – slipping around inside, spilling out, moving to places they didn't belong. That sensation haunts you, yanks you out of sleep by your throat some nights, even now, even months and months later. 

You remember the indignation. The wrath. How dare they do this to you? How dare they kill you here, like this?

But they hadn't. You'd woken up a few days later in a half-rate bacta tank, and you'd heard the story of the siege on Nevarro. 

Heard that it was his fault. That loner Mandalorian, freshly kitted out in head-to-toe beskar, who never so much as had a conversation with any of you before he decided to sic his underground militia on you all.

You ought to be afraid, you think. This ought to be grounds for scrapping this whole job. Any reasonable person would turn tail, run back to the shuttle depot, and catch the fastest ride off this rock, rather than risk a repeat-filleting.

You've never been a reasonable person.

You're too focused on the astronomical odds of the situation: him, here, unaware of your presence; you, alive, armed, angry, and poised to do something about it, after all this time. The opportunity for vengeance is too sweet, too ripe. It's like the universe is placing it in your palm, wrapping your fingers around it with her gentle, generous hands. Whispering for you to just take it. 

Tucked into your hiding spot behind the rock, millions of clicks from Nevarro, resolve settles like a brick in your stomach. 

You're going to kill the Mandalorian.

[continue to chapter 1]

[pastelwell]

‼️ New fic alert! ‼️

The long road home

This was such an indulgence, and it all started earlier this year w a pic of Mads where it looked like he ran a bar. Somehow I took that and invented an entire AU where Hannibal owns a bar that Will frequents bc he is dependent on alcohol to avoid the complexity of emotions. Totally normal thing to do…!

35k words later and here it is. I never intended to post it, it was just a silly lil project I was sharing with friends, but it felt a bit wasteful keeping it to myself! Hopefully it finds its audience :)

~

PREVIEW (pretty long sorry!)

It’s unlike anything he’s ever felt in his life, but not in the way he expects. It’s a shock, first and foremost, but he’s more surprised by how numb he feels, from head to toe, a blanket of emptiness that settles on his shoulders and begins to slowly drown him.

The death of Will’s father came suddenly and unexpectedly. After eight years of almost no contact, Will hadn’t expected to feel anything at all, and in a way he was right. But in another way he was completely wrong. He doesn’t feel nothing, what he feels is the absence of something, and it looms over him constantly like a heavy, unshakeable shadow, always present but never fully seen. There’s a knot in his stomach and a lump in his throat that won’t go away. He feels restless and incomplete. He feels the permanent burgeoning of something, like he’s on the brink of an abyss, and it scares him to death.

His initial response is diversion. Something that will distract him from the feeling and push it far, far away, so that he doesn’t have to deal with it. He tells himself it’s a temporary fix until he’s ready to feel whatever he needs to feel, even though he doesn’t really understand why he feels anything at all. His father was distant, aloof and often cold. They rarely saw eye to eye, and Will has hardly thought about him in the years that have passed since they last saw each other. Until now. Now he’ll never see or speak to him again.

Drinking works, for a time. One glass before bed to turn off his thoughts turns into a glass with dinner to make the evening pass by in a haze instead of a hardship, but it only continues to escalate. He finds himself craving the indistinctness in his head, the escape and the sanctuary that alcohol provides him, and quickly his temporary fix becomes a longer-term solution. A habit he can always rely on to fade every incomprehensible thing that he’s feeling down to nothing at all.

Will has never considered himself avoidant, but if he stopped to think about it he would probably realise that evading the intensity of his emotions has been a game in his life that he has long been the champion of. It feels, to him, that this new and unfamiliar emotional response requires a new and unfamiliar battle plan, and eventually, rather than considering himself an alcoholic, he considers himself a person who is simply existing the best way he can in a world filled with unpredictable horrors.

His father left him his house — the house Will grew up in, the house he left when he turned sixteen. He didn’t go far, he never could convince himself to leave more than a few towns away, but returning feels like visiting another planet, another lifetime. Seeing it again, empty and hollow, is eery and discomforting, but despite how he feels, Will finds the idea of selling it to a stranger almost unbearable.

The plan had been to come here, make arrangements and leave, but on his first day Will notices a leaking drain, then a hole in the fascia, and before he knows it he’s chopping wood out back like he did when he was a kid. Hours and hours lost to it until the store is overflowing. A house in the forest, secluded and solitary, but still close enough that he can drive into work. It should be a sanctuary, but there’s a part of Will that still feels grief sticking in his throat every time he stumbles across another memory in the attic.

He begins to inadvertently collect strays. They have a habit of finding the house, or finding Will. He realises that people often dump their unwanted pets on the edge of the forest, his forest, as if they know a man in need of a project to nurture lies in wait. He takes each and every one in, trains them diligently, walks them as a pack well into the night. The routine helps at first, but every time Will returns to his bottle of whisky and his endless, inescapable thoughts.

Eventually, Will realises the dogs and the alcohol in the quiet of his new home aren’t enough, and he finds himself trudging through the snow to a bar he’s passed several times but never once ventured inside of. Just to be somewhere new, just to feel something different.

That’s how he meets Hannibal.

Keep reading…

[candyriku]

Working on my ice skating AU, here's a lil preview (this is like the start of chapter 2). I know it's sacrilege to have Sora and Riku be estranged in any way, but in this AU they ARE, okay. I felt like writing about them being messy and emotionally damaged people so here is Riku being messy (and plenty of Sora being messy will follow) :-)

“Are you serious?” Riku demands, his voice coming across more aggressively than he means it. “Skate with him?”

Aqua looks from Riku to Sora and frowns. “Do you know him? Is there some kind of issue?”

Does he know Sora? Of course he does. They were childhood friends, then something more, then nothing at all. But he can’t tell Aqua that, nor does he want to relive the last time he saw Sora, his trembling hands in his hair, their lips brushing together before Sora made a hasty retreat and disappeared from his life entirely. 

Sora’s eyes haven’t left his shoes. “It’s okay if you don’t want to…” he ventures, and somehow this makes Riku feel even worse. Sora is giving him an out, and he can't stand it. He wants to hate Sora for it, but it feels more and more like he hates himself. He should have never kissed Sora in the first place. He deserves the two years of silence he’s endured ever since.

“Look, Riku, I’ll say it one last time in case it’s not getting through that thick skull of yours. Either skate pairs, ice dance - which also requires a partner, or drop the sport entirely. If you want to do anything outside of those three options, I won’t coach you. And although it’s your decision, if you keep skating solo, I hope you know you're digging your own grave.”

“Fine,” Riku snaps, looking away from Sora. “I’ll try skating with him. But we both know he’ll only slow me down. This will end my career and yours.” He’s being unfair and he knows it, but the idea of Aqua deciding his future for him feels unbearable. Shouldn’t it be up to him? Yes, he’s injured, but injuries heal. He shouldn’t have to adjust his entire life because of one tiny stress fracture. 

“Sora won’t slow you down. He’s just as skilled as you are.” Aqua says firmly, crossing her arms.

Riku wants to argue, but he’s spent most of his life in the same rink as Sora and knows it’s true. Still, skating solo is something Riku doesn’t want taken from him. It’s his escape, his time for himself, his form of self-expression. Having another person - even if it’s Sora - encroach on that feels wrong. Figure skating is a sport about the performer and the performer alone. It’s his own personal artform. To share it is to lose his identity as a skater altogether. 

“I don’t skate with social media showboats” he spits. This, too, is unfair, and he only knows of Sora’s popularity online because he’s pathetically kept up with him after Sora moved away, forever watching videos of him skate with a mixture of longing and nausea. Sora skates expressively, beautifully, in a way Riku himself can’t quite replicate, because Sora has always been the better of the two of them when it comes to self-expression. Riku is just a miserable person pretending to be something he’s not. At least Sora is authentically himself all the time, even online. 

Everything in Riku’s brain tells him to stop making such a scene and just accept this new paradigm. But his heart aches with loss - loss of his solo career, loss of his dignity, loss of his autonomy, loss of this world he’s built for himself where he can pretend he never fell disastrously in love with his childhood best friend. He freezes when he sees the expression on Sora’s face. 

“I just post for fun,” Sora says softly, biting his lip. “I’ll stop posting while we're training, if that'll make you feel-”

“It’s fine,” Riku says. “Do what you want. It doesn’t concern me.”

[lizardkingeliot]

Hello, my loves. It's been a while since my last WIP Wednesday post so who wants a lil preview of chapter 4 of until i come back from the dead for you? Once again I'm sharing a snippet of a mosaic scene because those always feel less ~spoilery I guess lol. And while I keep insisting to myself that this isn't a mosaic fic... lbr it's also lowkey a mosaic fic.

Anyway, as usual I have no clue when this one is going to be finished and posted, esp with this month being soooo extra busy for me, but keep your fingers crossed it isn't too much longer. And pls excuse any typos I didn't have much time to read this over lol. 💖

*****

Quentin made a sweet little sound. Eliot felt it pulse inside him sure as the beat of his own frantic heart. Breathy fit of laughter tinged in a moan that pushed from the dark of his belly. “Hey, you know, uh…” Quentin gave Eliot’s hair another tug, slowly drawing his gaze upward. The smudge of his face blushing and gorgeous in soft slats of afternoon sun. “It’s, like—really stupid that you aren’t kissing me right now. Just saying.”

Eliot’s face softened at once with a smile. But down in his belly—deep, dark fits of anxiety refused to let him go. “Sorry,” he said with a sweet little hum. Pulling back and rising up until he towered over Quentin again. Pressing both his hands inside the open front of Quentin’s shirt. “In my defense your nipples are very distracting, Coldwater.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Quentin laughed softly, drawing Eliot in with two big greedy hands wound against the back of his shirt. And in his mind’s eye, Eliot could see it—the way things were going to be on the day they were finally finished with the puzzle. After they had the key, after the year and change they’d spent in this place was finally behind them. They’d go back to Brakebills. They’d finish their quest. Inevitably, Eliot figured, this thing that had sparked between them in their isolation would be over. Quentin would get back with Alice. He’d want to. He’d have choices then. It was the natural order of things.

“Oh, you are more than forgiven.” Eliot’s stomach was tight as a fist pressed under his heart. Squeezing and squeezing. He knocked his forehead against Quentin’s, nuzzled the ends of their noses together. “And for my terrible sin of neglecting your smart little mouth for thirty whole seconds, I think I know a way I can make it up to you.”

[weirdlyfitting]

spoilers ahead

DARIUS YOU SWEET, SWEET CHILD PLS YOU DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER BOYYYY

AND SHIT THEY SHOWED ACTUAL BLOOD?!?!!? ngl lowkey it felt darker than whatever moon knight was promised jajajaja, and i mean like, it surprised me so much because BLOOD??? AND IT SPLATTERS??? DAMNNNN WE'RE OFF TO A GOOD START

still with the blood reveal, i love that they didn't hold back y'know? it's not explicit, but it is enough to be a good step up from the said direction (darker). probably it's because i've watched too many mcu shows that promised stuff like this (and hell that's promised to be taken more than the lil dino show offered) and it felt like i was being pranked or something and tbfh it kinda tires me to enjoy watching further

but anyway, moving on to the brooklynn rabbit hole, i feel like the reveal of her death in the trailer RUINED the preview? the trailer's good ngl, but knowing the reveal earlier made me expect what could or would happen from the revealed information. And i'm saying this because, i could imagine myself from post s5, not knowing anything, any trailer or posters and just watched the first episode.. same hype but little knowledge for any new info and promos. i could see the literal horror and shock that came from my own face when it was revealed that the person that the allosaurus was eaten.. was none other than brooklynn.. i feel like the devastation and pain in this tiny heart all rushing in IN THIS ONE EPISODE, and yet, it's only the beginning of the whole adventure.. damn..

ALSOOO was the first episode like 15 minutes??? it was so fast like it didn't feel like 24 minutes as usual fr, i love, LOVEEE every sequence this episode gives, the build up, worldbuilding, ugh cheff kiss!!

[babygirllinds]

Hey, it’s me!

I was wondering if it’s okay for you to post a preview of your WIP - “You’re My Favourite Secret”?

Only if it’s okay with you. No pressure! Thank you, and have a nice day/night! 🤍

Hi there! 💗

Please always send me asks about anything because I’m always willing to spill! here are the next few paragraphs from what I previously posted & also a small lil snippet of smut to come at the end 🤭 I hope you have a nice day as well :)

Reminder (!!!) to anyone else who wants to indulge in this one, it verges more on the dark side with a big age gap & power imbalance since Ice is an Admiral and Mav is a Lieutenant.

Enter Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. The one pebble in his shoe that threw everything off balance. A cocksure pilot, constantly navigating his way through stunt after stunt. Somehow he had found himself in charge of the squadron that held the infuriating man. The commanders sent Maverick his way any chance they could. Crazy stunt in the air? Back in Ice’s office. Fly-by without confirmation? Yup. Back again. Just because they couldn’t stand to be looking at him? There he was. It was Ice’s problem — he was Ice’s problem.

He had doled out punishment after punishment and he had every right to have grounded him by now. Hell, he should have grounded him by now. But this was where the pebble made its way into his sock rather than his shoe. Maverick, by all means, was crazy in the air. Unpredictable, but efficient. He looked out for his wingmen in the sky despite constantly being reprimanded to never stray from their side. On the ground, he was smart and witty and when Ice was meant to be punishing him for whatever recent stunt he had pulled, he often instead found them engaged in easy conversation. Maverick with stars in his eyes as he asked Ice all about how he got to where he was. The younger pilot gushed and smiled as Ice answered his questions. Seeing someone so interested in him — in his life — made something tight and hot coil in Ice’s stomach. Something he hadn’t felt in years.

Ice was starting to think Maverick had found himself in trouble on purpose just so he could be in his presence and selfishly, Ice had hoped that was the case because, against all odds, Ice had started to like him. He reminded him of the life Ice hadn’t lived. A life that wasn’t so straight-laced and prim and proper. A life where someone could make mistakes and it wouldn’t feel like the end of the world. A life where Ice could’ve lived without worry to be his true self. Maverick was the disruption in his life he never knew he was looking for. Young and free and eager to please. Ice craved a touch of his world.

He also craved something more. The coil in his stomach only grew as Maverick did what Ice told him with no reluctance. The way he demurely looked at him through ink-black lashes as he asked what else he could do for him. It was intoxicating for such a young thing like him to be playing so coy. Even when the coil unraveled and Ice had him on his knees under his desk. His big green eyes wet with tears and his voice raspy from Ice feeding him his cock, he still looked innocent and so, so pretty.

[otakween]

This Croc Will Die in 100 Days (Movie)

Hm, this wasn't as emotionally hard hitting as I expected. I'm glad it got an adaptation though. More experimental anime should be made.

Damn was this hard to find! I'm not sure if that's because anime piracy is getting harder or because this is very niche, hopefully the latter. It's not available legally, so I couldn't pay for it if I tried! Luckily, I knew the dialogue would be simple, so I opted for a raw and managed fine.

Notes:

I didn't particularly feel that watching this animated was a much more elevated experience from reading the webcomic (which is already in color btw). I think the best layer it adds is the music. Music can add so much to a tear jerker piece (even though this one didn't get me there).

I didn't like the choice to open with the death scene and then show it again later? It reminded me of when Youtubers show the most hype part of the video as a preview as if you'd click off otherwise. Feels cheap (although maybe they had some deep intention idk)

The colors of the backgrounds (pastel contrasted with more heavily saturated colors) were very beautiful. The characters looked kinda wonky in some scenes and I wondered if any CGI was involved (which would be kinda weird for such simple designs)

The raw I downloaded conveniently had JP subs which was a pleasant surprise. I think subs are pretty popular in Japan (native language ones I mean)

I didn't expect the epilogue with the frog character? Was that movie original or...? The concept was very reminiscent of Anohana. Grief tearing apart a friend group but then they slowly heal and come back together.

I probably felt more sad about Frog getting rejected over and over again than I did about Croc's death, but that's just because it was new content for me. He was trying so hard to make friends 😭

The credits were done in a toony handwritten style that made me think "did they just handwrite these?" I don't know how fonts work for Asian languages, but it seems like it would be a lot harder to make a font for kanji...

I love the way Croc says "happy boy!" when he sees that Mole's confession went well. That's like the cutest thing ever.

One takeaway I got from this is that I should be taking more photos lol.

So yeah, this was a cute lil thing. I don't particularly feel too strongly about it if I'm honest. One cool thing is that the sequel is currently posting daily on Twitter! Maybe I should be following that...

Anyways, I give this a 5 out of 10 which feels kinda mean but 6 feels too high 😬 sorry! It was cute!

[priincebutt]

WIP WEDNESDAY anyone??

Idk y'all, I'm trying to get back into this Tumblr thing and I see everyone posting cute banners and lil snippets and I wanna be where the people are a part of it. So in honor of my lil mood board doing so well for FoxyACD as I've lovingly dubbed The Story of Us, have a lil preview snip of chapter 6 for wip wednesday!

The kiss keeps replaying in his mind – the silky feel of Alex’s curls tangled up in his fingers, the feverishness of their lips pressed together, a tangle of tongue and teeth and hot skin beneath fingertips. And he’s too drunk to shut his brain down. The alcohol makes him relive every moment of it in bursts of vivid color. It was the realest kiss he’d had in a long time, so passionate that it scared him, because he’s not felt that alive in years.

It’s funny how hindsight is 20/20. He’d been going through the motions with James towards the end of the relationship, doing what was necessary, kissing him in the way he knew he liked – but it had lacked the intensity. Henry had chalked it all up to the honeymoon phase ending, but now he knows the truth – that relationship had died, and sunk to the bottom of the sea long before he’d taken an ax to it.

Anyway, no one tagged me, I just wanted to participate! I'm going to try getting into the routine of doing WIP Wednesdays and Seven Sentences Sundays, we will see how it goes!

[transmonstera]

In regards to your posts about ao3 and how vile it is in actuality, I wanna say thank you. I've not put much thought into the website I've been using but this has put things into perspective. I no longer want my work (work that I am proud of) on a website like that. Ao3 doesn't align with my values and I'm assuming many other people's who use the site.

Do you have any suggestions on a better site everyone can use?

(Side note: I absolutely adore your work!)

sure thing!

while there are no websites quite like ao3 in terms of filtering, curation, bookmarks, likes/comments etc there are a few alternatives out there!

Wattpad - I know people make fun of this one because it's where all the rpf for bands went back in the day but it is still operating and many people use it so you'll likely just switch viewers from ao3 to wattpad pretty seamlessly

Tumblr - you can always post directly on here! there is a character limit i believe of 4k so it's great for showing previews or even cutting up a small fic into parts 1, 2, 3, etc. a little clunky but it's an option if you only write short stuff! (Twitter threads can even be an option for this though again, a lil restrictive and works better for super short works!)

Google Docs + Linktree - if you have a linktree account you can always just link a view only (make sure people can't edit!) google doc of the fic! having the fics on a linktree still give people the ability to see all of your work in one place, and you can even see on linktree the click statistics for each fic! while it doesn't give the reader the ability to like/comment, you can always encourage those who do like it to leave a message on your tumblr!

Discord (or any groupchat tbh!) - similar to above you can always set up a discord server and post your fics view docs links there! it gives a curated experience and you can see the comments of people directly in the server

AO3 has seemingly made people believe that each and everyone one of their fan creations must be thrown out into the void where you hope everyone sees it and loves it. I think this has really stifled people's abilities to truly be creative in terms of making content of their favourite medias (and even with transitioning to making original work!) because you may subconsciously be adhering the current trends and whatnot of everyone else, even if you don't really like it yourself! I mean look at how common modern/high school aus still are today when I have yet to meet anyone who actually likes them. Look at how many books that have been published lately that painfully follow AO3 tag systems, where they don't even havea blurb anymore and instead just have "friends to lovers meet blah blah blah! read it now!". (Not to mention the quality of the books being published is fucking atrocious)

AO3 has ruined publishing and I am being entirely serious about that.

But back to where you wanna go with your fics now. Don't be afraid to restructure how you interact with your hobbies! It doesn't have to be so exposed and vulnerable to anyone and everyone having their say on it. I used to participate massively in fandom and I'll be honest, it made me miserable. I constantly felt like I couldn't keep up, that my ideas were wrong because another idea was more popular, and I really struggled. So I took about a hundred steps back and only interact with the media I like through my friends who also like it! And it's a lot better! You may not get hundreds and thousands of likes on fics from here on out if that's what you're used to, but I guarantee you'll have more meaningful interactions that you actually hold dear to you far more than any "a guest has left a kudos on your work" notification.

(Also just a pre-emptive thing of anyone who wants to defend AO3 on this post because "it's an integral part of fandom!" or "they need that much money because they run a site with no ads!", or you want to try and tell me that the fics on there are fine because it's fiction regardless of what the fics is (including literal fucking CSAM), just know you are completely unserious and I don't value a single thing you say. So don't even try it. How about you donate to a marginalised person's mutual aid for the first time in your life and you'll calm down.)

[yeosangs-horizon]

I'm gonna ramble on with my buddy daddies finale predictions so don't mind me I just wanna throw my thoughts out there. Feel free to read below under the cut bc its semi-lengthy and contains spoilers up to ep 11.

As for actual careers what if Kazuki actually becomes a comedian? I could totally see that hehe, not sure how Rei would go into the oil business but hey becoming true to what Kyutaro told Miri I guess.

Judging from the preview at the moment, I have high speculation that Ogino will be killed and the main protags even Kyutaro will be safe. Not sure about Shigeki though, I was thinking about the ideal of Rei assassinating his own father but I'm not 100% sure how things will go down in the brawl at the manor but Ogino will def go down.

Not sure if the finale will touch on Miri asking about her mom either, but they might tell her that she actually passed due to her cancer instead of a brutal murder from Ogino and Rei's association with it, that'll hurt her so bad :( Maybe in the future they would say something.

I really doubt this prediction will happen but if Shigeki doesn't die, maybe the Suwa organization will be stopped and turned over to the cops since they already were aware about what happened with Misaki and Ogino I'm assuming, but that would mean our boys might get jail time too so I feel like that one is super unlikely but a way to take down the Suwa organization with Shigeki alive I guess.

A prediction I had before was that Misaki actually didn't die and they are able to co parent Miri with her but judging from the trailer today it might make sense that her death is finalized and 'to be expected' by a more serious end.

After watching the trailer this prediction I had is faltered but originally I was thinking about Kyutaro sacrificng himself to protect the two since he's proven that he does care about their lil family from the previous ep. I was thinking he'd be sacrificed in the final shoot out but who knows, he seems cozy in the trailer.

Anyway Rei is me rn waiting for the finale I'm so excited and I'm so happy to be a part of this fandom and make art/writing/posts for it <3 I haven't felt this much serotonin ab anything for awhile. 🖤