#like i started to think of this idea of it being a modern au ed and stede's first date

[izzy-b-hands]

I thought I had a fill for today’s prompts, but unless I get one done again in about four hours, I won’t lmaoooo

[bizarrelittlemew]

I have a burning curiosity that can only be relieved by an OFMD author. Why is there so much AU fanfiction in this fandom?? 😆 My AO3 search results with every alternate universe tag I can think of blocked are coming up with almost every result on the page filtered out! 🤣 I have nothing against them existing and I'm all for everyone writing what makes them happy, I just wonder how this fandom ended up being so full of them. I used to think SPN was oversaturated with AU's, but it can't hold a candle to OFMD! 😅

okay i wanted to give this a proper answer and also asked a few other authors, so here are some of the reasons we came up with - i think it's a combination of all of these:

while the show takes place in a historical setting, it's not historically accurate or even trying to be. it uses anachronistic dialogue and gives piracy a vibe more like a modern workplace. the characters become timeless in the sense that they are already "modern" characters put into a historical setting, and therefore fit just as well into any kind of AU setting. the characters are what make up the show more than the historical setting

the themes that the show deals with - relationships, sexuality, gender, trauma, family, self-image, mental illness - can be explored in so many different ways given different settings. it's very interesting to examine how the characters would deal with them when thrown into different circumstances and time periods

canon is really good, so while there are gaps in the narrative that can be explored, a lot of people are drawn to putting the characters in entirely different situations and/or feel like canon ground was covered pretty quickly

the story itself translates to other universes very easily. people want to enjoy that story and/or their favorite plot points again and again, but just writing down the plot of the show in the canon setting wouldn't make much sense. by throwing the characters into a different universe, you can pull scenes and plot from canon without just repeating it, putting a different spin on it

very few shows have (canonically) older queer people, and people like the idea of how that translates to other universes

we have (relatively) little canon and had a lot of time between seasons. considering the size of the fandom, amount of canon, and time since canon, the proportion of AUs is not surprising

if we assume proper tagging, AUs make up around 27% of all ofmd fanfics by number of works, but probably much more by word count, since a lot of canon fics tend to be shorter. in comparison, that number is around 20% for SPN and 34% for Merlin 🤷

also i've seen a lot of people starting out by only wanting to read canonverse fics until they gave an AU a try and BAM they were hooked 😌

and last but not least:

Ed and Stede fall in love in every universe 💗

[stizzysupremacy]

ahhh I have such a good idea for a secret reverse sugar baby modern AU. it's sprizzy in my head but I think you could substitute other Izzy ships with only minor changes to details.

So basically the premise is that Ed left and took with him half the income that was propping up Izzy's tight budget. now that Izzy has to cover rent and bills in full instead of just half, he is struggling financially. He really can’t afford to live, honestly. But he's a proud man so he tries to hide it. Tries to tough it out and make it work.

But Lucius (or whoever you fancy) notices and tries to help without making it obvious he is helping because Izzy probably won’t accept help, especially from Lucius, off all people.

Lucius, trying to be subtle, starts:

-timing his smoke breaks so he can run into Izzy and annoy Izzy into ‘stealing’ the cigarette right out of Lucius’s mouth. because Izzy won’t ask to bum one, and helping izzy hands avoid nicotine withdrawal is basically a public service. Lucius is a hero for that.

-“ugh, I told them no pickles! Here, eat this stupid sandwich, I don’t want it anymore, I loathe pickles!” (Lucius likes pickles just fine) or getting ‘just sooooo full’ from drinking elaborate iced coffees that he can’t possibly finish more than half of his lunch and he doesn’t want to waste food but he’s going out straight after work and won’t be able to bring it home to put in the fridge for tomorrow and really you may as well eat it, Izzy, or it’s just going to sit in the trash bin stinking up the whole place.

-asking Izzy to walk him to the tube station after work ‘for safety’ but it’s really so Lucius can swipe an extra ride for Izzy on his transit card. sometimes when it’s cold and miserable enough to make Izzy ache Lucius will opt for cab or rideshare instead as soon as they hit the street, insisting it will be cheaper to split the ride. always drops Izzy off first, conveniently forgetting to split the fare

-buying izzy a cozy cashmere scarf and claiming that it was Buy One Get One Free when Lucius was scarf shopping for himself, but he didn’t see any other colors/patterns he liked and this one just screamed Izzy Hands. (And maybe a knit cap that Lucius claims he stole from the lost and found because it coordinates with the scarf so well)

-begging Izzy to come over and ‘fix’ something ‘broken’ at his place, conveniently near dinner time, just so Izzy can spend a few hours somewhere where the heat and lights aren’t turned way down low to save on utilities. Somewhere warm and bright, where the WiFi service hasn’t been turned off because of all the past due bills.

-constantly starting bets that Izzy can win. This backfires when Izzy starts to feel bad about taking Lucius’ money because he thinks Lucius is a typical starving artist type. Not knowing that Lucius makes $$$$ on furry art commissions and just doesn’t tell anyone about it because his friends, much as he loves them, have zero moderation and would cajole Lucius into partying all his savings away.

And all the while he is being sneakily generous, Lucius is trying to figure out how to trick Izzy into letting Lucius buy him a new winter wardrobe, treat him to lunch every day, and buy back the motorcycle Izzy had to pawn to pay off some debts Ed left when he blew town.

[straightupsickfics]

another lovesick afternoon

literally genuinely 2.5k words of modern au ed and stede being the softest grossest saps you ever did see while ed gets a cold. and i, personally, love that for them. and me. <3

****

“God, fuck, this is good, are you sure you don’t want to… well, no, probably not a good idea,” Ed says, offering Stede a sip of his iced mocha coffee and pulling it away all in one fell swoop. 

Stede pouts, though Ed knows he had no real intention of drinking it. Ed likes his coffee sweet enough to give Stede a toothache, and while Stede enjoys the occasional sweet himself, the scone he has beside him is more than enough to do the job for him. 

“Think I’m catching a cold or something,” Ed explains. He’d woken up this morning with the first twinges of a sore throat, the start of a runny nose, but had powered through a shower and felt mostly fine after some water and orange juice.

Still, Stede gives a little squeak of protest.

“You should’ve said!” Stede tells him. “I could’ve brought coffee home for us.”

Ed rolls his eyes and smiles fondly. “S’nothing yet, a little sore throat, a few sniffles, that’s all. Didn’t you drag Lucius to a concert while he was sick a few weeks ago?” 

Stede’s eyes narrow. “He wasn’t sick, for one thing, Edward, he had a hangover, and that was his own fault. And besides, it’s different…” 

Different when it’s you.

Stede doesn’t finish the thought aloud, but Ed knows what he means, and his warm, fond smile is all the confirmation Ed needs that he’s right. 

Ed lets his hand rest on Stede’s hand while they drink their coffee and eat their croissants. They hadn’t had much hope of finding a spot in the park on a morning as nice as this one, but a bench had opened up just as they’d arrived, perfect timing, and Ed had all but sprinted over to it to stop it being taken. 

“You almost took out that old woman,” Stede had admonished him between fits of laughter. 

“I did not!” 

“You’re going to be on the news! Beautiful man takes down senior citizen,” Stede had narrated in his best newscaster impression. 

Ed had snorted a laugh at this, which only made Stede laugh harder, until they were two grown men dissolving into a helpless fit of laughter on a park bench on a weekend morning. It was, honestly, a perfect morning. 

“What’s next on your list?” Ed asks now, leaning over and brushing a crumb from the corner of Stede’s mouth. 

Stede seems to falter for a minute, unsure. “Well, we don’t need to go anywhere else if you’re not feeling up to it—” He says quickly. And while he’s right, they don’t need to be anywhere. They aren’t “running errands” so much as moseying around their little town, enjoying the warmth of the day and each other’s company.

“We can just as easily do that at home,” Stede insists. 

“I’m not on my deathbed, love, seriously. You said you wanted to look at books for six or seven hours, didn’t you?” 

Stede’s still sputtering a protest as Ed gets to his feet and offers Stede his hand, laughing. 

*

Stede Bonnet really could look at books for hours on end if he was left to his own devices, and it’s kind of fucking adorable. Ed turns a corner and finally finds his husband crouched down and reading the back of a hardback book, completely lost in his own, fictional world. 

“So, you come here often?” Ed asks, voice low, mouth close to Stede’s ear. He smiles when Stede’s neck and cheeks flush a pale shade of pink in surprise. 

“Ah! Every now and then,” Stede squeaks, struggling to his feet. Ed offers him his hand and tugs him to his feet, wrapping an arm around Stede’s waist to balance him. 

It’s Stede’s favorite store, full to bursting with books on shelves and stacked in piles, full of big windows that leave the whole store entirely drenched in sun on bright sunny mornings. Like this one, with the sun hitting the blond in Stede’s hair just so and making it look like it’s made of pure sunshine. 

Stede is pure sunshine, Ed thinks to himself. They come here just about as often as they can, Ed happy enough to trail behind Stede and listen to plot summaries and debates over when to buy the hardback and when to wait for the paperback. Their shelves at home were bursting, too, but they always managed to find room. 

“Y'good?” 

Stede’s still flushed as he nods, apparently happy enough to have Ed half hold him up in the back of the store. Which is more than fine with Ed, too. 

“Look at this,” Stede says finally, holding out a book for Ed to inspect, something about Greek mythology that he’s had his eye out for. He explains the story to Ed who really does listen as best as he can, but finds himself almost immediately distracted by the animated expressions that dance across Stede’s face, the way he talks with his hands and explains every last detail… 

“Sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent,” Stede says, finally winding himself down. “You didn’t need to know all that.” He’s stuck at a crossroads between embarrassed and apologetic and Ed shakes his head, stopping it in its tracks. 

“Sure I did, fucking fascinating,” he promises. 

Stede smiles, then leans in to kiss him. “I know that’s not true, but I love you.” 

“Love you, too,” Ed says. He lets Stede guide him through the rest of the store, lets himself be talked into another black leather notebook that he definitely doesn’t need, and Stede only fusses a little when Ed has to duck to the side and cough into his elbow. His nose has started to run here and there, enough that he has to say yes to the packet of tissues Stede offers him in the car. 

“Fucking hate this time of year,” Ed grouses. “Germs everywhere, always end up coming down with something…” 

“Poor Ed,” Stede coos at him, only a hint of teasing in his voice. He lays a hand on Ed’s knee and offers to drive, but Ed just shakes his head determined to continue their day out as planned. He rubs his nose into the handful of tissues a final time before pulling out of the parking spot and onto the road. 

There’s a craft store not far from the bookstore, and Stede insists it's only fair that they pop in for Ed since they did the bookstore for so long, and Ed doesn’t have the energy (or, really, the desire) to argue. 

If Stede can spend hours looking at books, Ed could just as easily spend hours browsing yarn and textiles and fabrics, running them through his fingers and dreaming up projects, matching them to patterns he has saved across a million tabs on his phone… 

“Oh! This is a nice one, I think,” Stede says, holding up a bright yellow skein of soft, expensive yarn. “Feel that!” He holds it out for Ed enthusiastically.

It really is nice, and extra soft, perfect for the upcoming fall season. Ed does like to make Stede a sweater every year, and he’d found the perfect sunflower pattern and bookmarked it the other day. 

“Love that,” Ed agrees, and tosses it into his hand basket — he hadn’t even bothered pretending that he wouldn’t be leaving the store without at least a few things, and now he has to find some complementary gold hues for the sweater he’d definitely be making for Stede. 

“You don’t have to…” Stede starts, but Ed quiets him with a look. 

“Well, now I’ve gone and germed it up, so… Had something in mind anyway,” Ed assures him when Stede gives him a worried little frown. “You’ll love it, trust me.” 

“That I do,” Stede smiles, and follows him through the aisle and helping him pick out a few more shades of yarn. 

Ed could browse all day, normally, but today he feels himself starting to drag a little. His head is starting to hurt, and the sore throat from this morning is coming back in full force, too. He stops to sneeze into his elbow when Stede wanders off down another aisle, just two quick, muffled hht’mpsh! Etshhh! sneezes, and still he hears Stede’s voice making its way to him, though Stede himself is still out of sight. 

“Bless you!” 

Ed smiles a little as he digs in his pocket for the last of the tissues Stede had given him earlier. They probably had to go home at this rate, what with his nose in rare fucking form and his head throbbing the way it is. 

With a sigh, Ed goes to find his husband. 

*

“hhh’ISCHih! h’sschUH!”

“Bless—”

“hd’ISCHuh! Eh’sschIEW! hh'iiishhh!”

“...you! Goodness, that’s a lot of sneezes, isn’t it? Are you sure you really need to work on that just now?” Stede asks. 

Ed sniffles, then sniffles again, then gives up and reaches for another tissue and rubs his nose into it. Blowing it doesn’t seem to do much of anything, just irritates things enough to make him sneeze again, which he’s already getting fucking tired of. 

He looks down at the granny square he’d been ignoring in favor of his cold for the last thirty minutes and realizes that Stede is probably right, he’s not going to make any more progress today. He can barely focus on anything with the sneezing or coughing or sniffling or some other cold symptom fighting for his attention. 

“I thought so,” Stede says gently, tucking his bookmark into his book and setting it, along with Ed’s crochet work, on the coffee table. “Why don’t you let me get you something for that cold, hm? Then we can just relax before we eat dinner. I’ll order from the deli you like. Soup’ll do wonders for you, I think.” 

Ed lets his head roll back against the couch cushions and nods. Stede really is the best when Ed’s sick, there’s never been any doubt about that, and this time is no different. Ed stays put in the living room, waiting while Stede putters around in their bedroom and bathroom, grabbing things. Knowing him, he’d come out with half the blankets in his collection, half the medicine cabinet, and insist on ordering almost the entire menu for dinner. 

And Ed… Ed wouldn’t have it any other way. All he could do was make it up to him when Stede inevitably came down with this in a week or so. 

“Here we are!” Stede says, announcing his return. Ed can’t help but laugh when he sees the armload of stuff he’s brought with him. 

“Are you kicking me out of our bedroom?” Ed teases. "Moving me out here permanently?"

“What! No,” Stede says, dumping the blankets onto Ed’s lap and arranging the array of medicines on the coffee table. “Never.”

“Oh, good, had me worried for a minute there, thought you’d packed up everything I own,” Ed laughs as Stede glares at him. 

“Y’know I love you, right?” 

“Yes, because I am an excellent husband with a wonderful bedside manner. Now, I’m going to make tea, you take two of these and one of these and I’ll be right back.” And with that, Stede's off again, Ed laughing quietly on the couch.

By the time the tea is cooled enough to drink, Ed is curled up around Stede on the couch in what can only be called a nest of blankets, doing more sniffling than anything else, but feeling better overall, thanks to the magical combination of medicine, tea, and Stede.

“This really hit you right out of nowhere, hm?” Stede murmurs, stroking a hand through Ed’s hair. It’s shorter and definitely grayer these days, but Ed’s pretty sure he’ll always react to Stede touching it the same way: melting into a pile of goo. God, he really is getting soft in his old age. 

“Yeah,” Ed sighs, leaning back into Stede’s touch. “Not so bad though, I guess…” Soon there would be way too much food arriving at their door, and cleaning up to do, and planning for the week ahead, but for now… 

Now, Ed would swear he can hear Stede’s gleeful little smile behind him. He decides to let him win this one, just before drifting off in a late-afternoon nap. 

*

“Stede, darling, I love you and your adorable, ridiculous, over the top nighttime routine but can you please just— Yes, good, that. Thank you very much,” Ed says, unable to stop the smile from taking over his face as Stede throws himself dramatically onto the bed and curls himself around Ed’s chest, face pressed right into the spot between his neck and shoulder, nose warm against his ear. 

Heaven. 

“Fuck, that’s it,” Ed sighs. 

Stede laughs, giggles, really, and Ed can feel the sound warm right through him. “Y’laughing at me?” Ed asks through a yawn. 

“Never, my love,” Stede promises. “It’s just that we have been literally together all day now, and you were really quite demanding that I get in here right now,” he points out. “You slept on me for two hours just this afternoon!”

Ed pretends to consider this. “So? I wait all day for this, Stede,” he says, then pouts just a little. “Don’t you?” 

“Of course, yes,” Stede says, leaning over and brushing their noses together just gently before kissing him. Ed sniffles a little at the touch, his nose extra sensitive thanks to the monster cold he’s managed to pick up, but Stede doesn’t seem to mind that. 

“Good,” Ed says. “Feels good,” he repeats. 

Stede really can’t seem to stop himself from smiling now, as silly as it might seem. They really had spent the entire day together, and now here they are, giggling like children after lights out. “You feel good, too,” Stede tells him. “Though… Do you feel alright?” 

Ed twitches his nose like he’s testing something, sniffles a few times, then nods. “Think m’alright for now. Still doped up on everything you gave me earlier.” 

“Advil for your head and some cold medicine is hardly doped up,” Stede argues. He kisses Ed again, a distraction, but a welcome one. 

“You take good care of me,” Ed acquiesces, though it’s hard not to with Stede curled around him like this. 

Never one to turn down a compliment, Stede beams. 

“hh’itsSCH! hd’ISCHuh! Eh’sschIEW!”

The rush of sneezes manages to take Ed completely by surprise, and he knows he doesn’t completely manage to duck away from Stede in the process. 

“Fuck… sorry,” Ed mutters, fumbling for a tissue. 

“God bless you! Maybe not quite on the mend yet, then,” Stede says, smiling. 

Ed opens his mouth, ready to apologize again, or promise he’ll take extra good care of Stede in return for being patient zero in the span of a single day, but Stede stops him with another kiss. 

“There’s no way you’re escaping this, mate,” Ed tells him. “You’ve been all over me all day.”

“You’ve been all over me, too,” Stede points out. 

“Right, well, sorry in advance, is what I mean,” Ed says. "Never not going to be all over you, for what it's worth."

“Good. Me either. And it's bound to happen,” Stede shrugs. "If I get it, I get it."

And really, how did Ed get this lucky? Even if he had to wait years and years and make several wrong turns through relationshipland to get here, he knows he wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

“Now,” Stede says, “you rushed me over here so... come here, please.” He holds out an arm for Ed to curl back into him, and Ed wastes no more time arguing as he settles into place, the two of them slotting around each other like two perfectly shaped spoon.

Yeah, he waits all day for this, and it’s fucking perfect. 

[sombersynth]

STEDDIE FANFICTION REC MASTERPOST PT. 6

Red Eye by Alinafewwords, 65 k, teen “Can I get a hot, medium dirty chai?” “How dirty do you want it?” “Excuse me?” Steve Harrington is a struggling college student. Eddie Munson is a hot barista. Somehow things will work out.

Black Out Days (Fairground Nights) by OonionChiver, 139.1 k, explicit ‘I think,’ Steve says slowly, reaches for Eddie’s abandoned, untouched beers. ‘You don’t know me very well.’ ‘I don’t know you at all, man. I don’t really want to.’ Steve’s throat works. It’s subtle, but Eddie sees it. He hides it with a swig of beer, but when he sets it down, his smile isn’t quite so bright. Twice as sharp, though. ‘The self-centred asshole who can only be decent to a single human being, I get it. It works for you.’ Then he takes a thick, heavy breath. The alcohol is hitting him, Eddie can tell. ‘And I am being civil. I’m here, aren’t I? You have any idea how hard it is for me to be here?’ ‘In a bar?’ Steve doesn’t answer.

It’ll be Fine by Dusk Light (I’m Telling You, Baby) by Anonymous, 14k, teen The van is running, Steve realizes, and Eddie wouldn’t start it if he was just coming out to smoke. It sobers him up almost immediately. “You leaving?” Eddie gives him a smile, sad around the edges where it reaches his eyes, says, “Yeah,” and Steve knows he doesn’t just mean for tonight.

This is Your Home. These Are Your People. by Oaeas, 21.4 k, teen “Your heart’s racing,” Steve noted, quietly. Eddie laughed. It was more of a shaky exhale, lashes fluttering as he struggled to keep his composure. “Stevie,” he whispered, fingers cradling Steve’s side like he was precious. “Yeah, no fucking shit.”

Too Good to be True by Ayes, 45.3 k, explicit When Eddie sees Steve in a gay bar, he decides to seduce him and break his heart as revenge for what an asshole Steve was in high school. Steve, who was only at the bar to support Robin, is taken aback by the attention but finds himself under Eddie’s spell. And Eddie, to his growing unease, discovers that Steve Harrington is actually everything he’s ever wanted.

Sanctuary by SpicedSage, 47.5 k, explicit After Steve Harrington goes missing, Eddie Munson gets exposed to the secret dangers of Hawkins, Indiana in 1985 instead of 1986. Will a different first meeting lead to a change in his fate?

Dirtybadwronggood by 3MinsOver, 8.3k explicit Steve doesn't like Eddie Munson. He's a loud, obnoxious freak. But there's something about him he just can't shake. Maybe Eddie can fuck it out of him.

Everything is Doomed; Nothing Will be Spared by 4MinsOver, 10.3 k, explicit Post vecna-battle, eddie is surprised by a late-night visitor who's looking for comfort in all the wrong places.

Throw Me One by Adure, 41.9 k, explicit Steve and Eddie are friends with benefits with the important caveat - no kissing, ever, under any circumstances; modern AU

Every Ribbon That You Used to Tie Yourself to Me by Judasofsuburbia, 63.7 k, mature “You keep telling yourself that, Eds." “Eds?” “Cute, isn’t it?” Eddie’s breath stops and his chest tightens. He’s never had a friend give him a nickname before. It is cute, which is not cool to say, so of course, Eddie spits out, “No.” Steve smiles and leans forward right into Eddie’s ear. He whispers, “You’ll get used to it.” or: it's summer 1981 and wayne munson has sent a fourteen-year-old eddie to camp in hopes that he can exist like a regular kid for once. eddie meets steve harrington on the bus and the two start an unlikely friendship. hawkins high doesn't know how to deal with that. a supercut into eddie's high school years and how steve continues to orbit him whether he wants him to or not.

Lovesick in Loch Nora by Redoaktree, 62.6 k, mature Even though Eddie's name has been cleared legally, he's still very much on trial in the court of public opinion. Dealing drugs isn't a lucrative occupation anymore, and getting a legitimate job in a town who still considers him a killer isn't much of an option, either. Eddie is beginning to think skipping town and starting over somewhere no one knows his name is the only chance he has left. Steve has another idea. AKA: Steve gets Eddie a job as an anonymous columnist at a local newspaper.

STEVE'S FIRST BRUISE by Cairparavels, 47.2 k, not rated eddie’s new roommate sure does get into a lot of fights. a spider-man!steve story. or 6 bruises of steve’s + 1 of eddie’s.

[ihatepannacotta]

I was just thinking about Russel x Winry the other day!! Kind of along the lines in a modern au of them agreeing to fake date in the hopes of getting Ed jealous (winry tried and failed multiple times to flirt, and ed does have his jealous tendencies, so the logic is that by seeming like she’s interested in a guy she knows ed Does Not Get Along With that the sort of protective jealousy would kick in, russel is totally willing especially if it means being able to hold something over ed). but then it doesn’t work. ed is a bit judgy in the sense of “really winry??? You’re into THAT guy??” but is otherwise in the “it’s her life, she can do what she wants” mindset. And then russel and winry realize that Oh, Oh no, I actually like you, what now??

Ed and ling (who are dating, up for interpretation on if Ed is gay, bi, pan, or demi) are just watching the relationship from the sidelines sipping at smoothies or something just watching russel and winry be absolute disasters trying to figure out how to date each other, not knowing that it’s fake dating that somehow ended up turning real dating.

Also, I think Al and fletcher would be cute!! Fletcher potentially thinking it’s some Romeo and Juliet level thing because their older brothers Don’t Get Along. Like, how does he tell his older brother he has a crush on his rival’s little brother?? (I am looser with my al ships than my ed ships, so like, up for debate on if it goes well for them or not? I ship al with winry, paninya, mei, and fletcher, so whatever works for whatever thought process I’m having at the current moment I guess)

But I only have vague ideas of characters from 03 and haven’t had the chance to analyze them yet past what wikis say they’re like and because it’s 03 the tringham brothers are like… NOWHERE in fma fanfic I’ve come across. I do know they’re like… a parallel of sorts to the Elric brothers with a few key differences.

AAAAAAAAAAAA YESYESYESYESYES!!

I'm so happy!! We need more Winry x Russell propaganda, they would be so cute together 😭

And YES, I can see Russell being the stupid one who said "I have an idea" thinking it would be amazing and the best idea ever. "We should have a date" he said, very proudly of himself. Winry just watches him in silence for a long time, completely confused because she doesn't understand how that correlates with Ed in the slightest. When 5 minutes have passed in silence, Russell laughs awkwardly and explains the plan, and since they both began to share a neuron since they became friends, Winry tells him "YES! YOU'RE A GENIUS!"

But maybe while all the fake dating is being planned, Ling and Ed are not together yet (I mean, of course they have a crush on the other, but neither of them has taken the first step, they are just being awkward and dumb with the other) that's why Russell and Winry think one of them have a chance. And when they are ready to start the plan, Ling asks Ed for a date, but Winry is oblivious about that.

They start to be together all the time, and when the gang (Lan Fan, Paninya, Al, Ed, Ling and Mei) want to organize something, Winry says that she already had plans with a "friend". Ed looks clearly upset because this is the fifth time she did that, and angrily asks who this guy is who can't leave her alone for a second.

"You know him, remember Russell Tringham?"

"...You're fucking with me"

A week passed and Ed is still really really angry about that "relationship" and Ling is trying to calm him down, saying Winry is his friend and he should be happy she found someone, Ling reminds him that Winry was a little upset before she started dating this guy. So Ed reluctantly agrees he is right.

One day, Ling sees them and comes up with a plan to make Ed calmer and show him that Winry will be fine. He takes his boyfriend by the arm and drags him to where the other two are.

"We should all go out together. You know, a double date!"

Ed, Russell and Winry are shocked but for different reasons.

Ed, with a frown, thinks Ling is an idiot for coming up with that idea (although there's a bit of red in his face because Ling looks so pretty smiling ajhfkwbrksjfjs).

And on the other hand, Russell and Winry are panicking because the two of them were together?! since when?! How did this happen?!

The chaos begins. Ling and Ed were so confused during the date because Winry and Russell don't feel like a real couple?? They seem so awkward with the other and every time Ed or Ling asks them something about their relationship they look at each other with panic.

Dude, I really love that idea javdjwbdnsbjfhs

OKAY I WILL STOP NOW 😭

Talking about Al, I ship him with Mei jdjsjjfka but I think he and Fletcher would be amazing bff's! And Ed doesn't have a real problem with the younger one, but his big brother????? Omg someone kill him please.

I really enjoy your ask! Thank you so much, and sorry for being late with the answer!

[iris-writesx]

i think i’ve seen this film before, and i didn’t like the ending | stede x ed x izzy

read it here or read it on ao3 <3

this is my longest fic yet omg!!! it was a pain to write LMFAO but i’m glad it’s done. i’m really falling in love with this au, i hope you all are too :) if you see any mistakes please kindly look past them i’m editing this with 0 hours of sleep in me :,)

hurting stede is becoming a habit and i’d promise not to do it again but my wips say otherwise… sorry stede baby i love you

title is from “exile” by taylor swift featuring bon iver x

6.4k words — modern day au, hurt-comfort, angst, car accident, ptsd, vomiting, hospitals

more from this au; and now i see daylight

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

The house was always too quiet when Izzy was home alone.

He was used to the noise. Stede’s murmured rambling or Ed’s humming or the buzz of the coffee machine or the shower going in the other room or- or anything, really.

He just liked the noise. When he was home alone it was silent, and he fucking hated it. Nowhere he had ever lived had been quiet.

So Izzy had turned the TV on at a low murmur, just to fill the silence. Some old sitcom was running, again — it seemed like the same show was always on. It was something Ed enjoyed, got a laugh from, but Izzy thought it was just a load of bollocks.

At the thought of his partner he glanced at the clock that was hung on the wall behind the television, and huffed a breath as he counted the hours until Ed would be home; four.

At least Stede would be home quicker, as long as he didn’t dawdle in the shop. He and Stede both had gotten home from work early as it was a Saturday, and Stede had the bright idea that he wanted to make a nice dinner for Ed when he got home, but they hadn’t had their shopping delivered yet so food was sparse.

“We could go and get something nice from the shop- what about that lovely salmon he likes? Or the lamb, or the-” Stede had started rambling, as Izzy had just groaned, sinking into his armchair.

“I don’t fancy going out again, can we not just get take-out?” Izzy had grumbled in return.

So Stede, as stubbornly romantic as he was, had decided to just go on his own, and with a kiss against Izzy’s lips and a promise to get them both teas on the ride back, Stede had left on his little mission.

And Izzy — though he was happy he wasn’t out again, because his leg was getting a little sore — was missing the loudness of company.

Scowling a little, he reached for the remote and turned the volume up, until the noise was loud enough that Stede would’ve been complaining about it, and sunk back into his chair with his eyes on the screen, to see what Ed liked about it.

But his eyes kept flickering up to the clock. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes had passed, and no text from Stede to say he was on his way back. But maybe he had popped in to see Ed at work, or he really was just being picky and taking a lot of time. He debated on calling, but then Stede would just get even more distracted talking to him.

Izzy huffed out through his nose and crossed his arms, refused to touch his phone where it laid on the coffee table.

Forty, fifty minutes, an hour. Nothing. The shop was only a fifteen minute drive, and even if there was traffic, it didn’t take that long to get some fucking salmon. He was barely focused on the show, anymore — the dialogue fell into a low buzz as his gaze flickered between the clock and his phone screen.

“Fuck sake.” Izzy mumbled under his breath as he leaned forwards to take his phone into his hands, cold with its neglect over the past hour, and quickly opened Stede’s messages to type out a quick text, “On your way back yet?” Izzy sent it, paused, before he added, “Miss you.”

By the time another thirty minutes had passed, with no reply, Izzy could’ve started pacing. If he sat there for any longer he was going to go fucking crazy, so he left his phone on the coffee table and forced himself up, grunting as his back clicked, and walked into the kitchen to make himself a coffee.

Stede was probably fine, he forced himself to think as he moved around the kitchen, turning on the coffee machine and placing his cup underneath the spout. He often got distracted. Knowing his partner, he’d come home with ten more things than they needed, carried away.

That’s why he was taking so long. He was just carried away.

If it were Ed in place of Stede, then Izzy would’ve had a reason to be worried. It had been years since Edward had been on a bender, but those nights waiting by the phone to find out what pub he had to drag Ed from that night were ingrained into his memory. It was something he’d never truly forget about, never stop worrying about, even if Ed was coming up three years sober, now.

The coffee machine was buzzing away as Izzy leant against the worktop, briefly let his eyes close. Any second now, he’d hear the jingle of keys and a cheerful “I’m home!”, and he’d have to tell Stede off for buying half of the shop whilst he was there.

Only that didn’t happen. The coffee machine stopped buzzing… but, with furrowed brows, he realised there was a different buzzing that was going in the living room.

Fuck, his phone.

He was constantly forgetting to turn it off of silent when he and Stede got back from work. Stede would fucking call in the five fucking minutes that Izzy had left the room.

He left his coffee abandoned on the stand of the machine and walked back into the living room, picking up the still-buzzing phone… and he deflated when the Caller ID read Lucius.

He answered the call and through gritted teeth got out, “What do you want, Spriggs?”

“Don’t you ever answer your fucking phone?” Lucius almost yelled, his voice at a too-high pitch. Panicked.

If he was calling about something at work Izzy was going to strangle him the next time their shifts crossed over.

“I was in the kitchen. What do you want?” His patience was wearing very thin. If Stede called and he missed it because of Lucius he was going to kill that boy.

“I-” Lucius inhaled, and Izzy could hear the shake of his breath. It sounded like he was crying. “Are you sat down?”

Izzy felt his heart thump against his chest worriedly. “What?”

“Sit down, Izzy,” breathed the voice on the phone. “I’m- I’m sorry, I don’t know how to say this-”

Izzy refused to lower himself down to sit on the couch. He was rooted to the floor, turning cold. He had been here before, though usually Ed was the one who called. “Is it Edward?”

“What?” Lucius got out in one breath, confused. “No, no it’s not- why would I be calling for Ed you dingbat he’s your partner-”

If Lucius wasn’t calling about Ed then-

Oh.

“Why are you calling?” He barely managed to get it out, afraid.

A choked noise came from the other end of the phone, and Izzy closed his eyes. “It’s- it’s Stede. Fucking idiot forgot to swap me out as his emergency contact, he’s-” he inhaled deeply, before, “he‘s been rushed to hospital.”

“What?”

Izzy felt numb. As much as it ached every time it had happened, he was used to Ed’s drunken calls. The slurred apologies and begging to get picked up, promises that it wouldn’t happen again only for the same calls to come a few days later. It had been a miracle when Ed had finally put himself into rehab, and another miracle when he stayed sober.

But Stede? Fuck, the worst Izzy had to deal with on that front was his panic attacks. This was new and different and scary.

“He was in a car accident.”

Then his blood ran cold. He didn’t realise that his balance was teetering until his leg knocked into the arm of the couch and he had to sit down, breathing shakily, trying to stay conscious.

Now this? He had never been on this side of that phone call before.

He had been the one in the accident, and in the hospital. Had woken up to Ed crying by his bedside, had later been the one crying too when he looked down and saw empty space where his leg was supposed to be.

He wished to be there again if it meant he didn’t have to be stood *here*. If it meant Stede didn’t have to be-

“Is he alive?” Was the first thing he could croak out, almost didn’t hear Lucius’ sniffles through the buzzing in his ears.

“Yes- yes, he’s alive. They just called to say he’s-” Lucius choked. “-been rushed into surgery as soon as they got him to A&E.”

It felt like he had been punched in the gut, like all of the air had been squeezed from his lungs. Stede had been in a car accident. The same thing that had taken his leg. His chest was tight, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t- he couldn't-

“Izzy?” The boy’s voice pushed through the white noise in his ears. “Jesus fuck, please breathe-”

“I can’t get there.” Izzy suddenly choked out, mortified. He had no way of getting to the hospital — Ed had the other car, and Stede’s was apparently now wrecked.

I would have had another car, he thought, if i hadn’t have crashed, I would have had a leg-

“Izzy?” Lucius’ voice broke through the fuzziness of his head, then. “I’m on my way to pick you up, alright? I’ll drive you.”

That, at least, was enough to make Izzy content, or whatever the fuck content was supposed to feel like in that situation. It felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest, like he was about to pass out, it felt… it felt worse than when he had lost his leg.

Because it was Stede.

Izzy didn’t know how long it took Lucius to arrive to the house. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours- fuck, it could have been days. He didn’t move from where he was sat on the arm of the couch. He didn’t let go of his phone, even once Lucius had hung up. He didn’t- no, he couldn't do anything. It felt like his head was underwater, like he couldn’t see or hear or breathe.

When Lucius did get to the house, Izzy didn’t even grab a jacket, he just heard the doorbell and left. He wasn’t going to need anything. He just needed Stede to be okay.

The boy was talking as they got into his car, but Izzy couldn’t listen through the rush in his ears. He wasn’t even consciously moving, he just found himself in the car, seatbelt buckled, and stared out of the window as Lucius started driving. He had turned the radio on as a low hum that settled in the background, but Izzy couldn’t even hear it.

He only realised that Lucius had been trying to get his attention when he felt a swat to his arm, and turned his head to face him.

Lucius looked terrible. He always had known that he cared for Stede; if he remembered correctly, he was the first person that had been hired for Stede’s library, which is why he was emergency constact in the first place. Their friendship exceeded Izzy and Ed’s relationship with Stede. It was clear that he had been crying, but it was also clear that he was putting up an effort to hold himself together.

“Izzy,” he spoke slowly, and he realised that maybe he had been trying to pull Izzy’a attention for a little while. “You should call Ed. I didn’t… I just called you, I just assumed he’d be at work, y’know?”

Izzy nodded, but in the process of pulling his phone out to call his other partner — the one that was okay, who wasn’t in a fucking hospital after almost fucking dying — he felt a wave of nausea at the realisation that Ed had already been through this.

They were roommates when Izzy had lost his leg, so he had been the one who had been called to the hospital, he had been the one sat in the waiting room for hours on end whilst Izzy was in surgery, he had been the one who had stuck by his bedside for the duration of his stay at hospital. It had taken such a fucking toll on him — Izzy had almost expected him to relapse underneath the stress of it all.

And now he had to live through it all over again with Stede.

Just in case he did happen to throw up, Izzy rolled down the window and took some breaths, before he forced himself to call Ed.

It took a few tries before he actually got through to him, but the moment Ed picked up Izzy felt like he was going to fucking break.

“Izzy, love,” fuck, he sounded so cheery. “Miss me this much?”

Izzy swallowed, his hand shook as it held his phone to his ear. “You need to leave work.”

“What?” The shift in Ed’s tone was palpable. “What's wrong? What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s-” he sighed, screwed his eyes shut. “It’s Stede. He’s at the hospital.”

“Fuck- is he okay? What the fuck happened? Are you with him?”

“I’m on my way with Lucius,” he cleared his throat when it felt like it was closing up, and for the first time that afternoon he couldn’t force back the tears that had built any longer. Even just talking to Ed was breaking down his defences. “He-” his stomach lurched, and his free hand curled into a fist around the material of his trousers. “He was in a fucking car wreck.”

The silence on the phone was worse than any response he could’ve imagined. It lasted so long that Izzy grew uncomfortable with it, before Ed’s faint voice finally broke through again, “What? Is… is he okay?”

“He’s… alive,” Izzy wished he didn’t have to do this, he wished he was the one in the hospital again instead. Stede had always been the best one at words, this should’ve been his job, he should’ve been there. “I don’t know anything, I don’t- I don’t know just… fucking come to the hospital, Edward,” he paused, before his voice wavered when he tacked on, “Please.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m leaving now, I’ll be there,” Ed breathed out. “I’ll be there. I love you, Iz.”

“Love you too.”

Once Ed had hung up the phone, it wasn’t too long until they reached the hospital. The hospital that Izzy had spent far too much time in; his three week stay, the countless checkups, the times he’d had to pick Ed up from there after he’d gotten hurt on a bender.

And now he was there for Stede.

Izzy was fucking sick of this place.

When they got to the reception, Lucius did all of the talking. Izzy couldn’t make himself say Stede’s name with the context of what he was implying — Is Stede Bonnet okay? Is he alive?

The rushing was in his ears again, so all Izzy picked up from the receptionist was that he was still in surgery, before he was being pushed in the direction of the waiting room by Lucius. He didn’t realise that his balance had been giving out again until he was all but shoved into a seat, and Lucius grasped his shaking hands.

“She said the surgery should take a few more hours, if that,” he would never in a million years have turned to Lucius for comfort before, but the way he was rubbing Izzy’s knuckles did help a little. “He’ll be okay, he’s strong, you know that.”

Fuck, Stede was the strongest person Izzy had met in his life. Where Edward was physically strong — could hold his own, could work effortlessly at the garage for hours on end — Stede had put up with so much, Izzy didn’t understand how he did it.

Stede had expressed to them on many occasions how he had never fit in; not with his family, not at school, not with anybody. He’d experienced abuse, bullying, a fucking divorce, and yet he was still kicking, still smiling, still finding the joy in every little fucking thing.

What could be stronger than that?

Time didn’t even seem to fucking pass whilst he was sat in the waiting room. Lucius was beside him, he knew because he hadn’t let go of his hand — Izzy wasn’t sure if it was to comfort him or himself at that point, but it was kind of nice — though his surroundings had kind of fuzzed out into nothing as he got thinking, because-

Stede had asked him to go with him.

Izzy should have been in the car. He should have been a good partner and gotten into the fucking car and went with him, and if he had been there then would Stede have even crashed?

There was a tight grip on his shoulder and Izzy blinked a few times to focus his eyes, to actually pay attention to his sight, and it was the first good feeling all afternoon when he actually focused and saw Ed leant down in front of him.

He looked like shit, too. He had clearly been crying, still dressed in his jumpsuit from work which he hadn’t bothered to change out of. His name tag was pinned to the material of it, “Ed, happy to help :)”.

Stede had added the smiley face himself after Ed’s first day.

Izzy let his expression crumple for the first time that afternoon, and Ed didn’t hesitate before tugging him into his arms.

Once the first tears fell there was no point trying to stop them, and a violent sob ripped itself from his chest as he buried himself in Ed’s arms, gripped onto him so tightly that it must have been uncomfortable for him, but Ed didn’t say anything. His embrace was jerking every so often; Ed was crying too.

They were huddled in each others embrace crying for fuck knows how long, and only when they had both stopped sobbing did they finally release each other. No words really needed to be spoken, they were both in exactly the same boat.

A fucking sinking boat.

Even once they had pulled from the hug, Ed didn’t let go of him. His hands stayed on his arms, gripped on, like he needed to be touching him. But one glance downwards and Izzy scowled, nudged Ed with his shoe.

“Stop kneeling you twat,” his voice sounded rough even to himself. “You’ll fuck your knee.”

Ed just shrugged, reached up with one hand to wipe the tears from Izzy’s face, before he did the same to himself. “In the best place for that to happen, right?”

Neither of them laughed at the joke.

Only once Ed had wiped their faces did he get up from the floor, and took the seat up beside Izzy, and it was then that Izzy realised that Lucius was no longer there.

He frowned, “Where’s-”

“Lucius?” Ed took his hand, squeezed tightly. “He’s outside, calling Mary-” Izzy’s sudden expression was enough for Ed to squeeze his hand again. “Hey, his kids need to know at least, mate.”

Oh god his kids.

Izzy just nodded, eyes down on their joined hands, and not much was said after that.

Waiting for news turned into just a long stretch of endless fucking time. Eventually, Ed couldn’t handle being sat still any longer and paced the waiting room, brought them both cups of water that Izzy didn’t touch, walked around and sat down and walked around again.

Izzy just stayed rooted in his chair, didn't move. It felt almost like a punishment, having to sit there and just wait to know if Stede was fucking okay, but it was a punishment that he knew he deserved, because he should have been in the fucking car.

It was his fault.

It was his fault that Stede was there.

That he was there waiting.

That Ed was pacing, losing his mind.

That his kids would have to hear-

His stomach lurched, and Izzy didn’t think before he got up from his seat and made a beeline for the toilets that were just down the hallway. He heard Ed calling his name but didn’t turn back — he barely made it to the basin before he hunched over and threw up, gagging over the bowl of the sink until nothing else would come up.

A hand was against his back after a moment, and he didn’t need to look up to know that Ed had followed him into the bathroom.

Izzy retched for another few minutes, and by the time he was finished he felt fucking worn out. He was still hunched over the sink, just trying to breathe, and Ed’s hand was still stroking his back and making sure he was okay and he didn’t deserve to have to deal with Izzy on top of the worry of Stede.

“Stop,” he croaked, reached back to shove Ed’s hand off of him. “Stop, Edward, just-” he coughed, spat into the sink when the taste of vomit overwhelmed his senses. “Go back to the waiting room.”

“Fuck off,” was Ed’s response, and his hand was back on him. “Just take a minute, you’re okay-”

“Exactly, I’m fine,” Izzy held onto the rim of the sink and his hand trembled with the force of his grip as he turned to face Ed. “I’m perfectly fine when I-” the tears were flowing again and he angrily wiped them away with his spare hand. “I should fucking be in there-”

“What?” Ed’s eyebrows scrunched, and he shook his head. “No, Iz-”

“I should’ve been in the fucking car!” Izzy yelled, blinked rapidly through his tears. “He wanted to make you some fucking fancy-ass dinner and asked me to go to the shop with him and I said no and I- I should’ve been in the fucking car-”

“Izzy-”

“I should’ve been there and I should’ve stopped it-”

“Iz-”

“And then he wouldn’t be in fucking surgery-”

“Izzy,” Edward gripped his shoulders so tightly that he had no choice but to look up at him through his tears. “It was a fucking accident. You couldn’t have known.”

“If I was there then I-”

“Then you would’ve been hurt, too, and I’d be here by my fucking self,” Izzy could see it, then; the worry in Ed’s eyes, the fear, and he felt so fucking selfish for making Ed worry about him on top of everything else. “It’s a good thing you weren’t there.”

Ed pulled him into his embrace, then, and Izzy squeezed his eyes shut as he held onto him fiercely as he forced the tears away. He understood Edward’s words, of course he did, but it didn’t mean that he believed them. If he was there then maybe he could’ve stopped the accident, or maybe they would’ve taken longer so they wouldn’t have been at the spot at the same time as the accident, or maybe it just… wouldn’t have happened at all.

And of all people for it to happen to, why Stede?

Why did shitty things always happen to the best people?

It was some time before Izzy finally peeled himself from Ed’s embrace. He didn’t feel better, not by any means, but he had eased up enough to return to the waiting room, which he supposed counted for something.

“Better?” Ed lifted a hand and wiped Izzy’s tears for the second time that day.

Izzy didn’t trust his tears not to return if he spoke again so he simply nodded, and let Ed guide him back out of the bathroom with a hand against his back. And when they returned to their seats, neither of them let go of each other. Ed had Izzy’s hand in his lap, where he messed with his fingers to keep his need to move satisfied, and Izzy let himself drift off in the comfort of Ed’s touch. It made the waiting a little more tolerable.

By the time that one of the doctors finally came out into the waiting room, the agitation was rolling off of Ed in waves. The doctor barely got Stede’s name out of his mouth before Ed was up and walking over, pulling Izzy along with his much larger strides.

“Mister Teach and Mister Hands, I presume?” The doctor asked.

“Who do you think?” Ed bit out, teeth gritted, but the man stood in front of them didn’t seem phased; he was probably used to the anger and the impatience. Who would react well when put into this fucking situation?

“The surgery went quite successfully, and Mister Bonnet is being moved to recovery as we speak-”

“Can we see him?” Ed almost lurched forwards, practically vibrating with the anticipation.

“Not quite, they'll take some time to get him settled, so I came down to explain the extent of his injuries,” he gave a polite smile to the two of them, before he gestured down the hall. “Why don’t we talk in my office?”

If Izzy thought that he had felt nauseous earlier, then being sat in a stuffy office whilst he was forced to listen to the injuries that Stede had sustained was his own personal hell; it was a blessing that he didn’t hunch over the trash can sat by the desk to throw up.

He sat numbly in his seat, gripping onto Edward’s hand for dear life as he listened to the doctors words; the impact and penetrating injuries, the stitches and the cast, the medication they had put him on. A lot of it was words he didn’t quite pay attention to long enough to understand, he just grasped the fact that Stede was okay, that there was no serious damage.

Which felt like it was easier to fucking breathe.

Izzy’s conversation a few years prior had gone so completely differently. There had been no hope to save his leg from the start once it had been crushed in the wreck, mangled within the metal and the glass shards of the accident. He’d had countless conversations after the surgery about what was next, how to move forwards from that.

But Stede wouldn’t need those, he was okay.

Ed must have had the same thoughts racing through his brain, as in his peripheral vision Izzy watched as he grabbed a few tissues from the box on the doctor’s desk and lifted them to his face.

By the time the doctor had said all that he wanted to say, they were finally allowed to go and see Stede, and the relief that coursed through Izzy’s body almost made him collapse. He and Ed followed the doctor to the ward that Stede had been placed in, and every step closer they got to seeing him, Izzy felt more and more ill.

Stede deserved so much better than this.

The ward itself was generally empty, so only Stede’s bed and one other were occupied as they walked into the room. The clinical smell was making Izzy’s head spin, it was too familiar. Everything was too familiar and he fucking detested it.

Stede had occupied the bed by the window, and the first thing that Izzy noticed as they approached was the cast on his left arm. And although he had heard from the doctor that his legs were fine, Izzy couldn’t help his gaze as it flickered downwards towards Stede’s legs, and he felt the physical relief when he saw that they were fine. Once they had gotten closer, Izzy could see the finer details; the bandage wrapped around his shoulder, the cuts across his face from the shattered glass, the IV that the hospital had him attached to. The man in the bed was so far from the lively Stede that they knew, it made him feel sick.

Ed took up residence in the chair that was the closest to the window, and once Izzy had pulled the curtains around the bed, he sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the bed. Stede’s hand was cold as he took it in his own, and he didn’t think before he lifted it up to press his lips to his knuckles, eyes fallen shut.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered against the skin of Stede’s hand, too quiet for even Ed to hear. “I should’ve been there.”

His eyes flickered upwards after a moment, and watched a similar scene with Ed; he had clasped Stede’s hand in both of his as best as he could with his cast, was pressing repeated kisses to the skin of his fingers, and though Izzy couldn’t make out all of his words, he could hear countless amounts of, “you’re okay” and “we’re here, love” and “we aren’t going anywhere”.

Though the wait in the waiting room had been bad, trying to gather the patience for Stede to wake up was almost excruciating. He was still heavily dosed up on medication so it wasn’t surprising, it was just almost painful.

Though the felt when he started to wake up; Stede’s fingers twitched in Izzy’s hand before they gripped, and he took one look up to Edward’s face and saw that he had obviously felt the same.

“Stede?” Izzy murmured, the same time Ed got out, “Stede, love?”

It took another few long moments before Stede moved again, stretched out with a little more purpose than mindless twitching, and hummed in response when Ed continued to speak to him.

“Oh fuck, mate,” Ed’s words sounded tearful. “Gave us quite a scare there.”

“Wha-” Izzy watched as Stede forced his eyes to blink, and squinted underneath the bright fluorescent lights of the ward. “What?”

Izzy lightly dragged his fingers along the inside of his wrist and back down to his palm, in an attempt to be comforting. Ed had always been better at comforting touch — Ed had always been better at a lot — but Izzy was trying. “You’re okay, you’re in the hospital.”

Stede had to blink some more before he could actually look at the space around him, but when he did he took some time to examine the space around him, before he glanced between his partners either side of him. “Oh, I- yes, I- I suppose I am…” Izzy could see the moment that his face paled, that his already cloudy eyes dulled, and his words punched out of him in one breath, “The car-”

“Easy, love.” Ed murmured, pressed some more kisses to his hand.

“The-” Stede inhaled deeply, blinked through the tears that built in his eyes. “I didn’t see it coming, the other car, I couldn’t- I couldn’t stop it- they were going too fast-”

Izzy’s chair scraped against the floor noisily as he pulled it forwards as close to the bed as was physically possible. “It’s okay, you’re okay.”

Stede’s head whipped around to face him when he spoke, and his eyes almost bulged out of his head. “Izzy,” he choked. “Oh my Izzy, thank god you weren’t with me.”

He didn’t quite know how to respond to that, so he just pressed his lips together and kissed Stede’s hand, let Ed carry on with the talking.

Soon enough, there were nurses joining them to check Stede over once he had awoken, and Stede was still on medication, so it didn’t take long for him to drift off into sleep again. In fact, by the time midnight rolled around, Stede had drifted off on three separate occasions. Ed had fallen asleep closer to eleven o’clock, hunched over Stede’s bed with his cheek pressed to Stede’s thigh through the covers, snoring quietly.

Izzy didn’t know how he did it. He wouldn’t be closing his eyes long enough to let Stede out of his sight even just for a moment, let alone long enough to sleep. It was bad enough that Izzy had let it happen once, he wasn’t going to risk it again.

Though, despite his choice not to sleep, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t tired — in fact, he was fucking exhausted. Leant back in his chair with Ed’s jacket draped over his shoulders, since he hadn’t thought at the time to bring his own — not that at the time of leaving the house he had been registering anything and had long since taken off his prosthetic just to be more comfortable, had it rested against the side of Stede’s bed. A headache was pressing behind his eyes, undoubtedly the stress of the day that was catching up to him, and although he knew sleep would feel good, he wasn’t about to let it happen.

“Izzy?”

Izzy jolted in his seat as he looked up at Stede, he hadn’t even realised that he was awake. “Hey, Stede,” he murmured, stroked the back of his hand — carefully missing he cannula — delicately. “How’re you feeling?”

“A bit achey, but I’m fine,” Stede shrugged, but Izzy shot him a look, because he had a habit of downplaying things. “Really I am! It’s my arm that’s annoying me more than anything.”

“Do you want me to go and find a nurse?” Before Stede could even ask he had reached for his prosthetic, but Stede’s hand gripped his wrist tightly and immediately made him pause.

“No, no Iz, I feel quite alright with you here.”

Izzy frowned, then. He couldn’t help himself. How could Stede be so oblivious to the fact that it was his fault that he was there?

“I’m…” Izzy inhaled deeply through his nose, closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” He heard Stede ask, followed by a little laugh. “You weren’t the one who crashed into me, were you?”

Stede was smiling, and Izzy couldn’t find anything funny about it. It felt like he was being eaten up from the inside up by his guilt, his regret — he should have been there.

“You asked me to go with you,” his voice was strained as he pushed the words out of his mouth, locked his eyes on their joined hands. “I didn’t, if I… if I had gone I could’ve stopped it, or-”

“What?” Stede sounded incredulous. “You can’t be serious, Izzy.”

“Of course I’m fucking serious, you could’ve been really hurt.”

“Hey,” the softness of his tone was enough to pull his focus upwards, and when he looked at Stede’s face he was frowning. “If you were there, we would’ve both ended up here, and- well, you know Ed, he would’ve been running around like a headless chicken not knowing what to do,” he breathed a slight laugh, and paused to tangle his fingers through Ed’s hair, lightly stroking it back. “It was in no way your fault, darling.”

“I just-” Izzy huffed out an irritated breath when his words wavered again, he’d done enough fucking crying for the rest of his life. But he felt Stede squeeze his hand — fucker was still trying to comfort him whilst he was the one held up in a hospital bed — and he held his hand back just as tightly. “I kept thinking about when it happened to me and- and if you…”

He didn’t need to say anymore, just the look on Stede’s face told him he understood.

“Oh darling,” he breathed, frowned. A moment passed before Stede withdrew his hand, and instead pulled back the covers of his bed to pat the space on the mattress beside him. “Join me?”

Izzy just rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a twat, there’s not enough room.”

“Please?” Stede pouted, which was completely unfair because Izzy couldn’t resist when he did that. “You won’t hurt me or anything, promise.”

Izzy stared for a moment; his eyes flickered over Stede, Stede who was still bandaged and looked worse for wear, but somehow was still smiling, and Ed who was hunched over the other side of the bed fast asleep, and despite the circumstances, he really wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else.

Stede held his arm and helped him shift from the chair to the bed, and tried his hardest not to jostle Stede too much as he got settled in the bed beside him. Izzy tucked an arm around him, pulled him against his side, and sighed when Stede relaxed against him, lulled his head against his shoulder.

Whatever nurse came to do the next checkup would undoubtedly complain about Izzy being in the bed, but he couldn’t find himself to care if it made Stede happy.

“Darling?” His voice hit Izzy’s neck in a warm breath, and relaxed him against the pillows a little.

“Mm?”

Stede took Izzy’s free hand and lifted it, pressed his lips to his knuckles ever so gently. “I’m okay, I promise,” he started, turned his head to dot some kisses against Izzy’s shoulder, too. “I’m sorry if I scared you earlier, I really didn’t mean to. And i just want you to know that I don’t blame you, not at all. It couldn’t possibly have been your fault-”

“But-”

“Hush,” Stede elbowed him, effectively silenced him. “It wasn’t. In fact, I feel much better because you’re here, okay?”

There was no chance for him to argue with that, as Stede had leaned up enough to press a soft kiss to his lips, just a light little thing, but it felt so nice. The tension physically drained from Izzy’s shoulders, and he melted against the pillows with Stede tucked against him. “There’s a love. I think we all need some sleep.”

“You tell me if I hurt you,” Izzy grumbled. “Fucking dumb idea, having us in here together. Ed’s already squishing you.”

He heard Stede’s smile in his voice when he spoke, “I feel much better with you both here. I’ll be better in no time if we keep this up,” there was a pause, in which Stede kissed the exposed skin of his neck, before he added, “If you stop complaining, that is.”

Izzy rolled his eyes but didn’t mention it, because even if the idea to have them all squished up together was stupid, he certainly felt better with Stede in his arms. His hand that had wound around Stede reached out enough to hold Ed’s arm, and only once he had both of them within reach did he allow himself to relax, sighing out as he felt Stede start to nod off against his shoulder.

For the first time that day, it actually felt like things could be okay.

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

comments would mean the world <3 requests are open!

[adiabolikpastel]

NEW YEARS POST ‘23

Hello Everyone

I cannot believe we are here again all ready - honestly it feels like just yesterday I made the 2022 New Year post. Once more this year has been a ride, and while not much action has happened on the blog - Tumblr has been a buzz with new OCs appearing! I love seeing all the content of others and getting to know their stories.

This post will be a reflection of what's been going on here on the blog - fair warning there is not much, but I think it's good to look back at what's been done. That way we can look forward to what's to come!

As always, everything will be under the cut. Thank you all for a great year, and I look forward to seeing more from you, and giving you more of the story in the new year!

●・○・●・○・● | ●・○・●・○・● | ●・○・●・○・●

January '23

8 post

Despite all odds, we started off really productive! This month began the Loren Family Character Inspiration Series; I'll link the other post as we come across them through the year. Honestly I loved being able to do this for Callista's Story, it helped me in working out the other members of her family, and how they would all relate to her and one another.

This month we also started Yuuki's official story posting, with the Prologue of her route. I love how it came together, and I cannot wait to finish getting all the CGs done for the rest of the story. If you want more info on the process or the progression let me know!

I also published a musing for the Wolf Kingdom for the [Excruciating Duplicity] involving the Full Moon. This was so fun to do! I think that the ED universe is where I'll really explore other Kingdoms - and this was a really fun way to do it.

February '23

4 post

No original content this month, all re-blogs. Big shout out to @madamesungalaxa for all their art!

March '23

12 post

@summercreolefanfictioner graced us with the ideas of a modern AU college Kanato this month. Which I loved reading and musing over, thank you for much for that! The triplets got a special birthday merch drop along with a Classic Bitter Sweets drop. Marking the first drop of the year!

Finished Yuuki's Prologue for her story, again, very happy with this. Cannot wait to continue, I have a lot of the actual parts mapped out, just waiting to get art done for the CGs. We got an ask about the existence of mytho/supernatural creatures in the universes. There was also a great ask about Callista's family dynamics and the role Yui could possibly play in the [Excruciating Duplicity] Universe.

April '23

6 post

We had a few art re-blogs, and focused this month mostly on the illusive twin OCs that are in the works. An anon asked about their role in the universe, and how they fit in. I loved answering this, because it opened my eyes to how - self gratifying the twins were, and that I wanted to fix that. Each OC I make, I want them to be in the story, I want them to matter - not just be there for me to look at (Rose is like that, but she does have a place in the story I swear).

We also had the big life / blog update post. This is where I got to share my personal updates as well as the blogs - things are not too different now as they were then. Hopefully once all this school non-sense is finished and I only have a job to worry about I can get things done.

May '23

15 post

Shout out to @coldmoontea for their beautiful gender swaps of the boys and moms - they were all so beautiful and stylized. We got out second line drop for the Bloody 13 Knights. And the rest of our post were actually blog driven - yay us!

Should have spaced it out more, but we did finish the Lorene Family Character Inspiration post - pts. 2 | 3 | 4 . Again, I cannot express how much I loved doing these. It was such a great way to explore characters and think about how I wanted to them be - while giving you all a familiar way to associate them. If you ever want to see more for other OCs just let me know!

We got a lot of ask this month - and I cannot thank everyone enough for that. First, we got the big merge of the Carnelian Blood & the Excruciating Duplicity Timelines, and a follow-up ask about it, and then another after that!. Really love the ideas presented in these. Especially how through this fight would bring about the end of the old regime of Kings, giving way for the next generation.

The next was a very sweet ask, that took me way too long to answer - but I loved it. This anon asked about outfits and preparations for a ball for all the OCs. It is fun to explore and look at how all of them dress and experience the same event differently.

June '23

12 post

Yuuki's birthday month! What better way to celebrate than a story dump of the darkest point in her story, yay! Joking aside, we looked at the Lost Kanuki Kid this month, and I finally got to give you all the details about them - and what that did to Yuuki.

Outside of that we did some fan art re-blogs, and were GRACED with the Dark Night Priest line drop. Good lords, wat that a good one.

July '23

5 post

All re-blogs, except for a shout out to all of you! We got a little boom in followers, and it warmed my heart to see so many new faces.

August '23

7 post

We were blessed again with another line drop of Night Pool Party - honestly I swear Rejet loves to keep us fed. The rest of the month was cute re-blogs for art. We did get one special ask about Callista and Reiji - how each celebrate the others birthday! It was actually from this ask that I ended up making the changes I did to her story.

September

7 post

Another. Line. Drop. Darkness Familia. No words Rejet! You are spoiling us at this point. I also got to meet the adorable @hoshikoyuuki ~ So happy to have more OCs around, what's more another Yuuki!

October '23

2 post

Rejet. Another one. Really!?!?! Charm Flavor came out and I just - the growth in the boys is so crazy. They look so mature in this line.

November '23

7 post

Bloody. Bad. Longing. that's all I gotta say.

In blog news, we made the big announcement about Callista's story. I was really late for a Halloween Ask - it was so nice to write about their activities. It's so fun to see the characters change each year! There was a really fun ask concerning Yuki and Yui, which I loved writing about - my little stalker boy.

The biggest ask we got was one about the Academy in Tormented Reverie Another Daydream. Every time you guys ask about it I get so excited, because it's such a huge project to do. There are a lot of aspects that go into writing in general, but making an entire long standing Academy - it's a lot to think about. You guys help me make the school real, and I love to work on it with you!

December ' 23

7 post

Secret Display & Bloody Banquet Rejet really said - these last half of the year we are feeding everyone each month.

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And with that, we bring 2023 to a close.

It's been a rather up and down year, but it's nice to see all that did get accomplished! While we didn't do all I wanted, we didn't do nothing - so that we can be proud of.

I want to give everyone a huge thank you again for sticking with me all year, and from years before and each year to come. You all are amazing, and I honored to be apart of the DL tumblr community - even if I am less active.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

one of my pet peeves for modern aus is the ones where they make izzy ed's best friend or longtime friend because if ed's gonna have one... its jack. it's literally supported by canon. like put izzy and jack next to the revenge crew and your answer for who fits in better is jack, whose only crimes in the show were trying to pull ed away from stede and committing seagull murder (all of which to save ed in a plan IZZY made) im so salty about all the hate jack gets in fics

Oh for sure. My least favoriate thing ever is when people put Izzy in another character's position. Jack is Ed's buddy at the very least. Izzy is just a coworker. Jack is who Ed would choose to hang out with 100% of the time if his options are Jack or Izzy. Also if you're gonna give Ed a best friend who is antagonistic to his new boyfriend, Stede and Jack being mean to each other is so much more fun in my personal opinion because Stede is mean to Izzy and Izzy's head explodes and steam starts coming out of his ears like he's in a cartoon and he yells something incoherent, where as Jack and Stede can have a bitchy little back and fourth that leaves Jack crying for sympathy and Stede's self esteem buried six feet under. It truly is the dynamic ever.

I don't usually have a problem with Jack hate in fics actually because jack is hateable and there often needs to be a villain, and in Our Flag so far the roster of villains has been Izzy, Jack, and the interchangeable badminton twins. Maybe the rich french fuckers but I don't want to give them that much credit tbh. so you know he's one of three and a half bad guys so I get it. However! there is one trope that frustrates me, and I think the main reason that it frustrates me is because its a trope that I hate with all of my guts and is pernicious in the calicobeard tag and that is the idea that Ed and Jack's relationship was non-consentual. There are tons of reasons to hate him, you don't have to turn him into a rapist. That's my pet peeve and my line. Otherwise yeah he's a villain, good. I like it when he causes problems. It's my favorite thing.

That being said I do think he's the most easily rehabilitated villain out of every villain in ofmd (I'm only counting Nigel, Chauncey, Izzy, and Jack as villains.) Simply because he's a pirate that we frankly don't actually know that much about. We don't even know why he's doing this. Yeah Izzy probably slid him a slice of that sweet sweet navy money under the table, but for all we know Izzy had that meeting with Jackie and Chauncey, found Jack afterwards and went "Hey man, so me and Blackbeard are on the outs right now and he's got this new boyfriend who is being super hunted by the British navy, the boyfriend is a rich guy and I know how much you hate those. But anyway Blackbeard doesn't know that Stede is being hunted and I just told them where they can find them so somebody should probably go get Blackbeard out of there and it shouldn't be me, because he's mad at me right now." and Jack said "Oh my god, you made a deal with the british navy? I'm gonna love watching Blackbeard kick your ass when I bring him back here. I'm going to now go do some insane shit to save his life again. Yeah sure I'll make sure the boyfriend dies just so that Beardy doesn't run back and get his ass killed, but only if you slide me a few dubbies for my troubles." It's also possible that he's full chaotic evil joker mode and when Izzy told him the plan he went "Yeah alright, haven't seen Beardy in a while could be funny." We simply do not know. Is he destitute because he's been mutinied three times and he needs the money? Has he never been mutinied in his entire life and he's minted because he's Calico fucking Jack and he's just here for shits and giggles? I tend to go with the "he cares about Ed" reading because I want to fuck him, but it's up to you. His backstory is wide open baby. What we do know Ed likes him a lot actually, Ed cares about him and Stede getting along. We know he saved Ed's life, even if he does hold it over his head because he's a shit head(although how often he does that is also a question mark, there's so much blank space to work with with him, he can be anything you want him to be other than nice).

And you know what, until the thing with Karl the crew liked him too. The crew never liked Izzy, whatever Jack's got going on is way more compatible with the crew than Izzy, and yet I see all these fics and headcanons where the idea that Izzy will stick around after all of this is over is just taken for granted. But they could easily forgive Jack if he sucked Ed's dick, moonbathed with Buttons, and slid Olivia some birdseed because he's funny and cool and Ed's buddy. Where as Izzy can never ever be trusted in a million years, he was never fun to be around, and no one likes him. (I'm sure Jack and Ed have fucked each other over before, they're messy bitches.)

Now I don't think Jack's getting rehabilitated in cannon, in fact we're probably never gonna see him again. I'm hoping for a flashback but I won't hold my breath. It's part of why I'm writing I'm Not Going Anywhere. Because somebody needs to put this man through the st*ddyhands treatment and it's not gonna happen in the show, so it is the realm of fanfiction and no one else is doing it. Jack was fucking built for an enemies to lovers because he's the kind of man who stands too close to his romantic rival at the urinals to prove his dick is bigger. Enemies to lovers is incredibly fun to do with Jack and Izzy because Izzy is eminently bullyable and also the kind of guy belongs in one of those "don't bully me I'll cum" shirts, but it can also be fun to do with Stede "pissboots" Bonnet. I'm not sure if INGA is going that direction I haven't decided yet, but someone should do it post haste I'm so serious.

I don't necessarily want everyone to see him how I see him. I'm fine with being his only apologist. back in april the universe decided he'd gone long enough being the most hated character and decided he needed one apologist and it spun the wheel of OFMD fans and it landed on me and I became the public defender appointed to him. I am over worked and underpaid and he is a terrible client. I have made him take a plea deal on the Karl murder charge.

This has gotten unhinged thank you for letting me chew on Calico jack for like 25 minutes.

[pacinglikeghosts]

baby it's halloween (and we can be anything)

ronance | ronancetober challenge | day 7

day seven: sapphic senate (or: enjoy some headcanons because i had too many ideas and none of them concrete)

They have sleepovers every other Saturday. They’re always at Nancy or Vickie’s house, and never at Robin or Chrissy’s.

Chrissy stress bakes (it’s a common ED thing just trust me) and Vickie stress knits so sometimes Robin and Nancy come home to the most random things or get the strangest presents. They love them though

Chrissy and Nancy have a running joke with Eddie about them both dating him and Eddie being a massive playboy but it actually keeps them all from being outed and shit. Robin, vickie, and Steve tried to do the same thing with little luck (also vickie is like “Robin aren’t you mad Nancy is cheating on you” and Robin LAUGHS)

Genuinely may write this

Chrissy and Vickie were never told about ronance. They just kind of figured it out.

Robin and Nancy weren’t exactly slick about it either, but they just hoped Chrissy and Vickie would think they were best friends until they literally kissed on the mouth in front of them and they went “well fuck”

They all came out to each other consecutively. Someone made a comment about how hot an actress was during a movie night, and then instead of freaking out they all went “you too?” or something.

In a roommate au, they have a bitchy calico cat named something soft like Lilly or Cloud that HATES Steve. Like the cat has to be locked in Chrissy’s room because he won’t go in there. It’s also incredibly stupid and ends up stuck in the weirdest places.

Alternatively, it was originally Chrissy’s cat that she stole–I mean adopted (think like Winston and Ferguson from New Girl) but then they all started caring for it and now they all love and care for the cat. When Robin and Nancy move into their own place, they get like three cats of their own.

Chrissy, Vickie, and Nancy LOVE to go shopping or get their nails/hair/“girly stuff” together. Robin tagged along a few times, but it was definitely not her thing and she just got overwhelmed and tired about an hour in and had to have Steve pick her up

Vickie is an artist in her free time and she draws comics for the paper sometimes. She mostly just likes to hang out in the newspaper office with Nancy and Robin because it’s quiet and Nancy keeps good snacks in there.

Chrissy and Nancy kissed once at a cool kid party during a game of spin the bottle and they only admitted that it impacted them in a gay way after they came out

Future careers: Nancy - journalist (duh), Robin - interpreter (or a film professor specializing in foreign films), Vickie - music teacher, Chrissy - dietician specializing in ED recovery with adolescents

Chrissy and vickie actually kind of hate Steve. They both accept that he’s robin's best friend and Nancy’s close friend too (and Eddie’s boyfriend) but they both have an early s3 Robin idea of him being king Steve the douchebag in their heads

Robin and Vickie went on like two dates towards the end of the school year before they both realized they’re really similar and they’re better off friends. They just laugh about it now.

Top modern Spotify artists: Nancy - Taylor Swift (top album is reputation, folklore, or evermore) or MARINA. Chrissy - Taylor Swift (top album is Lover or Speak Now). Robin - Julien Baker or Phoebe Bridgers (tbh I think she would love boygenius in general). Vickie - Hozier.

They go CRAZY for Halloween. Like, the best group costumes you can imagine. They had really intricate Wizard of Oz costumes one year, then they were characters from Grease (would have been the Pink Ladies but Robin wanted to wear a T-Birds jacket), Veronica and the Heathers once Heathers is released,the list is endless. They plan and prep for months. Chrissy and Robin are the biggest Halloween fanatics.

Nancy is the true horror slasher fan of the group. Robin likes them enough, and Chrissy and Vickie despise them. They usually watch comedies and "chick flicks" as a group, and then Robin and Nancy will watch all the horror movies as dates

Chrissy and Vickie pine after each other for SO LONG before Nancy and Robin separately sit them down and go "just TALK TO HER" and it STILL takes months.

anyway, that's all the headcanons i have rattling around in my head about these girls. day 8 is coming up around the same time, and goddamn do i love it.

follow me on twitter for more dumb headcanons and thoughts or just sneak peeks and other stuff!

[epersonae]

Tagged by my bestie, sometimes beta, always cheerleader @emi--rose. Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. (I'm going to follow her lead and tag one with each fic.)

There’s a flash in Ed’s eyes, jaw working with unexpressed tension. (end up several worlds away) (the missing scenes sequel to for the benefit of all the broken hearts, this chapter is about Ed and Mary.) tagging @knotwerk for the comment today that was TOO LONG FOR AO3, god bless.

It’s one of those rare weeks when they’re not just in the same time zone, not just under the same roof, but under their roof. (for the benefit of all the broken hearts) (my surprisingly long fix-it sequel to the weird and wonderful meta-fiction sort-of-but-not-RPF Water Flowing Underground) tagging @veeagainsttheday for excellent betaing and critical reassurance early on in the project.

Stede loves camping. (BIGFOOT STOLE MY HUSBAND) (idk it's modern AU monsterfucking I GUESS) gotta tag @mxmollusca for this one.

It all started when Stede took Ed to be his plus one at his ex-wife's wedding. (Commit to the Bit) (modern AU where Ed and Stede talk themselves into getting married as a bit; reader I lived this one) tagging @nekosd43 who is not a pirates person, but who was a very good friend to me and Ryn and honestly part of how we originally got to be friends, what with all their excellent taagnus writing.

Thing is, once he gets a break from the routine (wait around, raid, drink, cry, repeat) he doesn't really want to go back. (can't cross the same river twice) (part 3 of "the devil's threeway", a very weird way to get to a reunion fic but I think it works) tagging @chuplayswithfire who kept giving me good ideas for this series.

Later, much later, Stede realizes he can divide his life into two parts, split by that exact moment: when by all rights he should have been dead, gut-stabbed and strung up, and instead the most beautiful man he’d ever seen strolled up to him through fire and smoke and men screaming. (Hungry for love, ready to drown) (me @ me: jfc that's a longass sentence) (Stede POV canon retelling, my very slow love letter to canon. YES the next chapter is on its way, I just finished an editing pass that it very much needed before actual betaing) tagging @red-sky-in-mourning because things they have written or reblogged are DEFINITELY in my project notes.

He has to cut him off. (A secret third thing) (oh look more Stede POV retelling! this time of Water Flowing Underground: I woke up at 3am less than a week after reading WFU with the beginning of this fic.) tagging @gaypiratebrainrot for writing the thing that melted and reformed my brain, and because this fic ended up being the start of a very good friendship.

It turns out there is a second fucking pirate ship trying to board this stupid little Dutch freighter. (Cannonball) (part 2 of devil's threeway, this is the one where Ed gets together with Anne Bonny and Mark Read and also cries a lot) tagging @adreamingofguns, who hasn't written any gay pirates fic, but who has a Special Interests in pirates and contributed to my thoughts about Mark.

It’s not that he prefers the beard, exactly. (nice either way) (the tiny Beard Discourse fic) tagging @blakbonnet for beard discourse reasons.

For Frenchie, that afternoon has the unreal quality of a dream as he sits cross-legged on the deck of The Revenge sewing an addition to Blackbeard’s flag. (what makes me kind) (rest in pieces, this fic) (listen. I had an idea. I had a LOT of ideas. but I kept getting sidetracked. see: everything else on this list. someday? weirder things have happened but idk. if nothing else someday I might just post all the fragments I have written, because some of them I do like very much.) tagging one of my favorite post-S1 longfic writers, @not-nervous-jester. (who has actually finished theirs! two of them!)

[bizarrelittlemew]

Hello Ida!!! for the "get to know your fic writer" meme: 16, 26, 45, 56 <3 OH and if there's a question on this list you haven't yet been asked and want to answer, this is your wild card so you can answer that too 🥰

ooohh so many, thank you Katherine!! 💖

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

after doing a clean-up of my wip folder earlier this month, it's 6 (not counting Circus Nights which is half-finished with ongoing updates). the one i started most recently is a (stand-alone) prequel to Who are we saying is captain right now? (my Roach/Stede/Ed fic) of how 70s porn star Ed and fluffer Stede meet on the gangbang porn set ✌️ surprisingly wholesome lmao

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

oh hmm this is really difficult, i'd love to hear what other people think but maybe Testing the waves? two Bonnet menaces circling bisexual disaster Ed like sharks, love the energy and humor in that one

45. Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

preferably both but most often laugh! i love being shouted at for any reason though

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

dialogue. i play the lines in my head a lot to see if i can hear them in the characters' voices, and from what people have commented it's working pretty well 💕 i also put a lot of effort into choosing what exactly they don't say out loud (Ed and Stede's argument on the beach in S1E8 is the model example of how they both frequently say stuff just to the left of what they really mean, and i will often try to replicate that)

and for the wildcard, i'll choose 39. share a snippet from a wip! modern royalty/celebrity au (very slightly nsfw):

send me an ask about fic writing 💗

[reveseke]

The dumb fuck that i am, here's a hybrid au thoughts and headcanons for everybody who may find it interesting.

The ✨ Dragon hybrid! Terry Silver ✨ headcanons.

The content — Few notions to the first appearance of terry silver from cobra Kai ~ | Just dating fluff | how he would be as a dragon hybrid | small mention of torture | war flashbacks | he him beloved mentioned | also one note of suggestive act mentioned

DNI - Fudanashis/fujodashis, women & fem-aligned, profic/proship, anti - LGBTQ+ folk & exclusionists, anti-antis, Necro- Zoo- Pedophiles + (NO)Maps(and other terms), basic DNI criteria, kink/nude/nsfw/sh/vent/pro-ana/ed/18+ blogs

Like literally in a way imo the man resembles a fucking dragon. Esp after seeing few fictions about the man with a male beloved and a goth male imagine of him lol . Iykyk what I'm talking about then you know. The way everybody describes him rather possessive i really love to think if he was a hybrid he'd be a dragon. This idea has been circling around my brain for a while and I'm not going to let it go that easily lmao ! ( Also kinda inspired by that one episode of Spike and Rarity when it comes to family/dating headcanons belows lmao not going to elaborated at all )

— Thinking about how Silver would be a runt looking at the other dragon hybrids

— being smaller than original dragon hybrids, resembling more of a human to their standard.

— earning the nickname Twig for lacking muscle and power even if hybrid!

— having small wings at start, them either growing after years to somewhat resemble dragon hybrids wings or still staying small. Haha. Teenage sized wings. ( I'd think that of an Andean condor wing span of 10 foot. )

— seeing him missing scales around certain points in his wings that never grew back bc of being plucked by force for money and value by the Vietnam soldiers during the capture scenes.

— having his wings being poked through with enough force to rip the leather/skin of the inner wings and leaving him unable to fly even if they grew enough to support his body weight. ( Imo Most modern dragon hybrids can't fly today unlike in the ancient times. )

— or bc they wanted to torture him or see what he would possible do bc they had never seen or hardly had seen a dragon hybrid within military ranks.

— Also having his wings tied behind his back separately or with his hands. Bending them and/or at least making them sore as fuck.

— Leaving him rather disabled to a dragon hybrids standard if they were broken and healed incorrectly or being bend too much due to the restrains and now it's painful enough for him not to use them ( I'd think the wings are one of the most important things to dragon hybrids. Also while the wings are sturdy the bones are still hollow and snap easy if enough force should be applied )

— not to forget the horns, he would most likely be missing ones both or half of one. I'd see them being bone white or possibly some kind of dark color.

— The horns would absolutely be bejewelled in some way or form and seem so fucking glamorous that it would make anybody jealouse !

— also medical Headcanon that the skin of his wings and horns is sensitive and easily itching. He has a special balm to relieve it.

+ I actually think he would look a little more youthful than he is in the actual show since dragon hybrids age few years differently.

— uhh his tail is pretty much the size it should be. Most likely ranging from pretty whites to darker color.

— He also has spines lining his back and most likely his forearms as well not to forget the scales that break through the skin in random patches very lightly.

Brief family/dating headcanons ( he him used to refer to the beloved ) tw. Slightly suggestive hint?

— spoiling absolutely spoiling with love and money. I'd think part of his love language is gifting and spoiling. May as well be some kind of service to the beloved.

— Terry doesn't mind a slight age gap between him and his beloved if it's consider in a romantic sense.

— so much adoring the beloved, and making it very known to him.

— just hugs and cuddles with him possessively wrapping his wings around the beloved so if he escapes his arms he can't actually leave the hug completely.

— Thinking about how he'd keep the beloved as long as possible with him when it comes to sleeping or laying in bed in general at lazy days where he doesn't have to be anywhere. If he has to be somewhere he stays as long as he can just hugging the beloved in the bed and leaving after then.

— the man would absolutely be warm but have cool skin to the touch over the scale patches or scales in general.

— if he's cool enough with the beloved he may just ask him to help with applying the balm on his wings and even to his horns.

— generally sensitive horns, spines and wings btw, touch them and you'll have him satisfied and get a lil handsy bc it lowkey feels good. But beware he may snatch the beloved hands if he doesn't like it.

— also own headcanon on dragons but dragon hybrids can purr. Do what you will with this information.

— personal Headcanon of him being open to and actually adopting a kid. Doesn't matter if it's a hybrid or human kid lol if talking about hybrid au .

— he'd be absolutely interested in spoiling them and making it known that he loves the kid dearly and that they're safe with him in general.

— if somebody messes with the kid or beloved he'll be doing something about it. even if they wouldn't outright tell him, he'll be more in tune with one's emotions than they realise and be aware of the mood swing. Lightly coaching them to talk about it so he can help.

[appalamutte]

I NEED TO HEAR ABOUT UR SAMWELL CONSERVATORY AU LIKE YESTERSAY GD WHY DOESNT TUMBLR LET ME SEE POSTS BRO!!!! IT SOUNDS AWESOME!!!! -dexsbruins

Here's the post that started this whole idea!!

Okay, so, the premise is that instead of playing hockey, they're all classical musicians and Samwell is a music conservatory that's not exactly Julliard levels, but it's up there in terms of prestige/excellence.

Bitty actually still started out figure skating, but then Coach got a job with Georgia Tech in Atlanta and they moved to the suburbs (yes this is similar to my Jack the Gardener AU) instead of back to Madison, and instead of joining the community's co-ed hockey team, he joined the school's orchestra.

When he gets to Samwell, his freshman year is spent partly in music history lectures, partly in the small-group he joined (all students have to perform in a small group throughout the year), and mostly in practice rooms crying into his music because who does he really think he is? This is Samwell. Bitty didn't pick up his violin until he was twelve, and everyone else seems to have been playing their instrument since birth.

He has rather strong performance anxiety because of this fear of not being good enough to those around him, and this leaves him out of making it into Founders, the honors string ensemble at Samwell.

It's sometime in November when Bitty's leaving a practice room and finds Jack Zimmermann standing right outside the door. Jack Zimmermann, the prodigal son of "Bad Bob" Zimmermann, the greatest violinist in modern day and the infamous concertmaster of Founders.

Jack overhears Bitty practicing and demands asks why he isn't in Founders. He then offers to help Bitty get over his performance anxiety, even going as far as to offer the open violin position in their small group ("Yeah, Johnson was--he left, and now we need a second violin.") which is where Bitty meets Shitty (the violist), Ransom (the cellist), and Holster (the bassist).

I haven't found a way to really finish the story yet and it's more outlined than written, but here's a snippet!!

Eric’s heard of Jack Zimmermann.

It’s hard not to. His name is always fluttering around the mess hall, the dormitories, hushed behind stands during rehearsals and taking meaning off the grapevine, ripe or not. People say he’s this legend, this risk, this fissure waiting to crack beyond redemption. One person praises the ground Jack walks on and the next person tuts indignantly in his wake. He’s the most divisive topic of conversation after pop music, and yet when Jack enters a room, there’s still this collective pause that’s just long enough to be noticeable. Eric didn’t know why that was until his roommate sent him a few articles about the prodigal child gone off the rails.

All throughout his first year, Eric heard his fair share of stories—that Jack botched his Juilliard auditions and his father sent him to Samwell as punishment, that he got a girl pregnant in London and his father sent him to Samwell as punishment, that he got caught with cocaine in some New York airport and his father sent him to Samwell as punishment. 

The more Eric heard, the more outlandish the stories got, but they all had the common ending: Samwell is Jack’s punishment. Samwell is this step down from what Jack deserves. 

Which, yeah, that rubs Eric the wrong way.

“It’s, like, this Samwell right of passage to hear about him,” one girl—Lala? Laura? Larissa?—said at the beginning of the term when a group of first-years behind them didn’t know how to whisper. Eric sits beside her in Music History: 1700 - 1850 and hadn’t spoken more than five words to her before that day. “Which fucking blows. I mean, he’s a student here like the rest of us, but they act like he’s a ticking time bomb or something. It’s ridiculous.”

Eric shuffled in his seat. To have the entire school constantly talk about you and never to you is definitely shitty, but—“I mean, maybe there’s some truth there?”

The look the girl gave him could positively kill. They haven’t spoken to each other since.

Eric felt guilty saying that, but he doesn’t think he was entirely wrong. Jack Zimmermann, as much as he’s talked about, never refutes anything or tries to clear the air, always just walking around campus with this brooding sort of energy. Always frowning and hard-looking and stoic in a way that raises the hair on the back of Eric’s neck.

“He’s almost scary,” Eric told his mama over the phone a few weeks after starting at Samwell last year. It was the first day Eric had seen Jack Zimmermann in the flesh, leaving Founders and running late for his Discover Samwell seminar. “I hate that all these people keep talking about him in such troublesome ways, but a part of me wonders if there isn’t some truth in it.”

“Well, you know what I always say, Dicky: if it ain’t coming from their own mouth, it ain’t worth your time.”

Eric sighed and waved to the car that let him cross the street. “I know, Mama. I just wonder.”

“Honey, we all wonder, whether we like to or not. Now why are you so twisted up over this boy anyway?”

Eric couldn’t answer that without telling his mama that Jack Zimmermann quite literally could be the hottest man he’s ever seen with his own two eyes, and the added mystery and broodiness worked for Jack just as much as it worked against him, so Eric didn’t answer at all. He moved on, let the occasional blips of concern pass, and focused on surviving his first year, his ensemble auditions, and his now upcoming sophomore recitals. He stopped letting the rumors and whispers and side-eye glances get to him, stopped eavesdropping on others’ conversations when Jack’s name was said. 

It was easy. For the first time in his life, Eric wasn’t the target.

[indigoipsum]

Any Alois headcanons?

Hehe yes 😼

TW: Light ED discussion

A lot of people have brought this up, but I really do think he’d have a very poor body image/issues with eating. It’s extra complicated because of how food insecure he was when he was younger, and while he wants to indulge in sweets and rich things, he still sees himself as something that exists solely for attractiveness and fears weight gain. I think he also has trouble accepting getting older, as he starts to get taller and broader, because men have consistently been the ones to hurt him and yet he has to accept that he’s becoming one. The whole ordeal is just weird for him.

I think Alois’ trauma complicates his relationship with sexuality and gender. He’s just a kid so like… I can’t say he’s 100% anything but it’s kinda widely accepted he’s mlm. In my modern AU rp I had eons ago I figured he’d probably use they/he pronouns and experiment with wearing dresses and skirts (which he should be able to regardless of gender! I just see him being able to embrace his femininity if he lived in a more accepting society)

He and Lizzie would 100% be friends. I think he’d flirt with her to annoy Ciel, but after a while the bit isn’t funny anymore and he just wants to spend time with her. She would help him mellow out a bit and he would encourage her to be more assertive. Lizzie would probably start swearing without realizing and Frances would be like ???!!! We know that he can wield a sword, so I think that he’d enjoy fencing with her (and she’d beat him every time).

He probably enjoys lovecore stuff, like pink and white teacups with delicate hearts around the rim and stationary with little Cupids decorating the margins.

His handwriting used to be very messy, partly because he learned to write later in life and partly because of his racing thoughts and short attention span. However, he got teased about it when he went to hand in letters and official documents so he works with Claude to perfect his penmanship.

He loves gothic horror stories, but also loves romance novels. He’s pretty unashamed of this, even when the covers are a little embarrassing.

He’s not really a cat or a dog person. He prefers birds and insects.

Though he doesn’t want to admit it, he cares about Hannah. He just knows that trying to lash out at Claude is more dangerous. Getting closer to Lizzie probably makes him reflect on his actions more, too.

He prefers strong black tea to other teas. He likes white wine and champagne, though.

He wishes he could have been an actor. Granted, he likes having wealth, but high society bores him and he’s seen time and time again that most nobles are awful people. He drags anyone in the house to go see operas and plays whenever he can. He brought the triplets to a play once and got mad that they kept whispering about it amongst themselves, when he’s the one who should be making comments!

He consistently damages former Earl Trancy’s headstone and waits to see how long the rest of his family takes to notice. Inevitably, his Uncle Arnold notices, calls him, tries to blame it on him, then Alois gives his whole crocodile tears routine and makes Arnold pay for a new one.

Alois doesn’t know his real birthday, but chose Guy Fawkes day as a double excuse to party and cause mischief.

The Trancy family has some German and French heritage, which everyone asks about given his very German sounding first name. He had no idea that it was a German name and just goes along with it. Sieglinde is teaching him German, but he really just wants to know all the curses and rude phrases.

[greenapricot]

2022 fic year in review

Total number of completed stories: 7

Total word count: 73,146

Fandoms written in: Our Flag Means Death (3), Lewis (2), Shetland (2)

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? More fic by word count, but less by number of fics.

For the past couple of years I'd been fixated of the idea of posting a fic a month (which did help me get through the early part of the pandemic) but it also kept me from writing anything long. So, in 2022, I decided to let the one fic a month thing go and try to write something longer (which led to me accidentally writing the longest thing I've ever written).

What’s your own favorite story of the year? This actually really hard for me to decide because I spent the second half of the year working on one fic, but I think I’ll have to go with The time it takes to get from here to there (Lewis, James/Robbie). I’ve been meaning to write a story that focuses on the Soul of Genius for years and not only did I finally manged but I also think it’s very true to the vibe that the episode deserves.

Did you take any writing risks this year? I wrote the longest thing I’ve ever written which is also a full AU and in a new fandom: Riches and Wonders (OFMD, blackbonnet, modern AU). But I think of it as more of an experiment than a risk.

I didn’t actually intend to write something novel-length when I started and once I realized that was what was happening I’d already written half of it. So then it became a game of can I write something that long in less than a year and could I start posting it before it was 100% complete and still finish it. The answer is yes to all of that and I’m super proud of myself for getting there and sticking with it.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year? I said this last year too, but I really do want to finish the sequel to Lead me wild to your dark roads (Lewis/Shetland xover, James goes walking in Shetland). I was working on it pretty steadily before I started the little OFMD modern AU that turned into R&W.

Then, there are those three Lewis casefics that I’ve got mostly plotted that I would like to finish someday, plus I’d like to write some Izzy POV (possibly in the R&W universe). And there are a few other WIPs an new ideas kicking around. But mostly I just want to keep writing things that make me happy.

Most popular story of the year? Riches and Wonder by all possible metrics (which is probably a bit unfair it being in a far bigger fandom than I’ve written in in years and 15 chapters long). It’s actually one of my most popular fics period at this point. Second most popular by kudos is It’s misery loves you and by comments is The time it takes to get from here to there.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Don’t go dark on me (Shetland, Jimmy/Duncan). Part of my s6 missing scenes series that takes place before the first episode.

Most fun story to write: It's misery loves you (OFMD, blackbonnet, Izzy POV) Writing Izzy watching Ed and Stede reuniting and being absolutely fucking livid about it was so much fun. I think the final count was 38 fucks in a 1900 word fic. I love writing unreliable narrators and his utter impotent rage just made me snicker all the way through. Definitely want to write some more Izzy POV this year. 

Here comes your man (Lewis, James/Robbie) was also very fun, getting James all flustered after seeing old photos of Robbie in his rugby shorts.

Most unintentionally telling story: I hardly ever have a good answer to this question and I feel like I have even less of one than usual for 2022 since more than six months of it was spent working on R&W (which is a blatant romantic comedy with a dash of angst in the middle for flavor). Maybe that’s something telling? Really what I want is a story with a bit of angst and an HEA (this is not at all surprising).

Biggest disappointment: For the past few years I’ve has a goal of finishing one of my three Lewis casefics and I didn’t do that again in 2022. But I did write the longest thing I’ve ever written in 7 months so I feel like that’s a good compromise. Also, the fact that I was able to finish something so long in (for me) in such a short time gives me hope that I will finish one of those casefics one day.

Biggest surprise: Being inspired to write in a new fandom which is a really big fandom and writing the longest fic I’ve even written, and completely without intending to. Also, apparently I didn’t write any Endeavour fic in 2022, so here’s hoping I get inspired by s9.

I don’t know how many people have done this (or something like it) already but I’ll tag: @thankyouforbeingsowrong @bryndeavour @vita-s-west @mcgstarroar @mr-iskender @femmenerdy @philleegirl @swimmingfoxsticks @desperately-human and anyone else who wants to do this.

List of the fics I wrote in 2022 under the cut:

Don't go dark on me - Shetland (1,159 words) Jimmy/Duncan - teen - Established Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Jimmy’s brow furrows into that pursed-lipped annoyed look of his, he shakes his head. “You’re just going to leave it to chance? See what happens and then sort out the fallout later?”

“No,” Duncan says, he puts two pairs of wool socks into Jimmy’s suitcase, then a third, trying to keep his tone even. “I’m going to make a deliberate decision to support my partner after the death of his mum.”

Here Comes Your Man - Lewis (4,046 words) James/Robbie - explicit - Robbie Lewis in rugby shorts, thirsty pining, Oral Sex

“Find something interesting?” Lewis asks. He sounds amused.   

“Um.” James’ face goes hot. Every potential quip dries up on the tip of his tongue. He is still holding the rugby photo, the other three photos next to him on the table, clear evidence of his prying. He’s sat in one of Lewis’ dining chairs, but he has no memory of sitting down, and he— “I suppose you could say that,” James says feebly.

The time it takes to get from here to there - Lewis (6,445 words) James/Robbie - teen - The Soul of Genius, Mutual Pining, Angst with a Happy Ending

Lewis is right, James does want someone in his life. Need, he’s not so sure about, but he is intimately acquainted with want. Trouble is, that person is sitting across the table from him, oblivious, and telling him to go find someone else.

It's misery loves you - Our Flag Means Death (1,908 words) Ed/Stede - mature - Reunions, Izzy POV, Izzy-typical overuse of the word fuck Pirate-typical violence

“Ed!” someone shouts.

Izzy spins around, following Blackbeard’s gaze. Who the fuck dares?

And fucking, fuck. Walking toward Blackbeard through the smoke and fog like he has any fucking right to be here, as if anyone fucking wants him here, is Stede fucking Bonnet.

A tunnel to crawl through - Our Flag Means Death (2,361 words) Ed/Stede - mature - Reunions, Pirate-typical violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

“Ed?” Stede’s hand touches his arm, his fingers are rough in a way they weren’t before, when Stede passed him teacups and fine fabrics, when they— “Edward, are you okay?”

Blackbeard looks down at Stede’s hand on his arm, at Stede’s face so close to his own, at the dagger he’s still holding to Stede’s throat which he has made no effort to step away from. His hand is shaking, the blade trembling against Stede’s skin. Stede who is here. Stede who is right fucking in front of him, close enough to smell if Blackbeard were to take a breath.

Never quite like this - Shetland (753 words) Jimmy/Duncan - teen - First Kiss

“Hey,” Jimmy says, as if he hasn’t said just that to Duncan a thousand times over the years in a thousand ways; exhausted, exasperated, teasing, content, relieved, fond even. But he’s never said it quite like this. Never with his face so close to Duncan’s it’s barely in focus. Never with that soft look in his eyes.

“Hey,” Duncan says, more of a sigh than a word.

Riches and Wonders - Our Flag Means Death (56,474 words) Ed/Stede - explicit - Modern AU, Mutual Pining, while also spending all their time together, a bit of angst, with a happy ending (in both senses of the word), So Much Softness

“Yes,” Stede says, sitting up a little taller on his bar stool. “I would love a drink.” He holds out his hand. “I’m Stede.”   

“Stede,” Mr Gorgeous Brown Eyes says. “Unusual. I like it.” And Stede likes the way his name sounds on the man’s lips. “I’m Ed.”   

Ed’s handshake is firm, his fingers warm and a bit calloused, the leather of his fingerless gloves smooth and soft. Stede’s eyes are drawn to the tattoos circling his arm as the handshake lingers maybe a bit too long.