#madlori's fic

[madlori]

This one left some psychic damage.

2 years old

2 YEARS OLD

2 YEARS OLD

[madlori]

@weewoo911 here ya go!

Buck orders another White Claw, checking his watch. Who knew that embracing your queer identity also meant losing any and all self-consciousness he might once have had over ordering White Claw, which was freaking delicious, thank you very much. Not that anybody would give him shit for it here - Wilde's was a queer-friendly cocktail lounge, less frenetic than a club but more casual than a restaurant. He'd been here four times in the last two months with various combinations of people; it was rapidly turning into the queer hook-and-ladder bar of Los Angeles.

"Waiting for someone, handsome?"

He glances to his right. there's a tall, bookish dude one stool down, cute in that Andy Samberg kind of way, giving Buck the old up-and-down. "Yeah, my boyfriend. He got hung up at work. He's on his way, theoretically."

"Mine, too. Mind if I join you?" he says, glancing at the stool between them.

"Sure, why not?"

The guy slid over, bringing his bourbon on the rocks with him. "I'm Peter."

"Buck. Nice to meet you. Your boyfriend keep you waiting a lot?"

Peter sighs. "He's in finance. There's always some crucial call, some last minute deal, some money-related emergency. They never seem that crucial to me, but what do I know, I'm just a high school history teacher." He shrugs. "I don't feel like I can bitch about it too much, it does pay for really nice vacations."

"Everything's a trade-off, isn't it?"

"You said it, man. What's your boyfriend do?"

"He's a firefighter."

Peter's eyes widened. "No shit? A real firefighter, not like a stripper firefighter?"

Buck laughed. "No, he's an actual firefighter. He also flies helicopters for the LAFD. Although between you and me, he could totally be a stripper firefighter if he wanted less job stress."

"Damn. Here I'm bitching about finance emergencies and your guy is out dealing with real emergencies." He leaned closer, a little smile on his face. "So. Is it as hot as everyone thinks it is?"

Buck smiled back. "So hot. You have no idea. I'm a big dude but he's bigger. He can throw me around and I love it. And he is ripped like you cannot believe."

Peter glanced down at him. "I mean, you look pretty ripped yourself."

"But he knows Muay Thai and all that. And is a pilot." He grinned. "I hit the jackpot, I think."

"And he's not a macho asshole? I've known some hypermasculine gay men and all of them have been giant assholes. And not in the good way."

"No, he's not like that at all. He's a sweetheart." Buck sighed. "He's...well. He's the first guy I've ever dated."

"Oh! So you're a baby gay."

"I'm bisexual, but yeah. He sort of...well, we were friends and suddenly we were flirting and then he kissed me and I went, oh."

Peter grinned. "Yeah. The 'oh' moment. I know it well. So how long have you been together?"

"Five months? Yeah, five months. Had to do the math."

"You seem pretty gone on the guy."

Buck blushed. "Yeah. I am."

"So, what do you do, then? While your hot pilot boyfriend is off being a firefighter."

Buck blinked. "Um. Oh. Well..." He chuckled at his own ridiculousness. "I am also a firefighter. That's how we met."

Peter stared at him, then laughed out loud, his head thrown back. "Oh my God, man. This is how bad you've got it for your boyfriend, you're here waxing rhapsodic about how he's a ripped firefighter and forget to mention that you are also a ripped firefighter?"

"Yeah, that's pretty silly, I guess."

"So he could be in a firetruck right now bragging to his coworkers about his hot firefighter boyfriend."

"I'm not also a pilot, though," Buck said, raising a finger.

"Technicalities."

"Sorry I'm late," Tommy said, swooping up from behind them.

"Hey!" Buck said, grinning up at him.

Tommy kissed his upturned mouth, a quick hello kiss. "I had to wait for Donato to get there and she got stuck behind an MVA."

"Lucy cannot stop messing up my love life," Buck joked.

Tommy was looking over at Peter, a mildly curious look on his face. "Hi," he said.

Peter was blatantly staring, then seemed to remember himself. "Oh hi, I'm Peter. We were just chatting while we waited for our respective boyfriends."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tommy." He shook Peter's hand, then turned to the bartender to order a drink. Peter took the opportunity to meet Buck's eyes and mouth "Oh my GOD."

Buck nodded. "I know, right?" he mouthed back.

Tommy sat on Buck's other side, slipping his arm around his waist. "So what have you been talking about?" he said.

"Oh, you know, how firefighters are hot," Peter said.

Tommy winked. "I know. And I landed the hottest one," he said, leaning in to kiss Buck's temple.

"Funny, he said the same thing about you."

You know Buck is so into his hot beast of a firefighter boyfriend that I can totally see him gushing to some random about his sexy heroic firefighter boyfriend while completely forgetting to mention that he is ✨also a firefighter ✨😂

[sits-bound]

Bound: Performance in a Leading Role by @madlori

I needed something nice to focus on to help with election stress (before and after) and so I decided to bind a fic I love. The cover is kind of insane but I love it. I feel like I should point out that I painstakingly moved or rotated each letter just a teeeeeny tiny bit so it would look more like one of those signs. I'm not just sloppy, ha.

It was fun to typeset, especially the chapters that were transcripts of TV interviews. And I just have a fondness for these grungy typewriter fonts.

The endpapers don't really go, but I just felt like the design gave 221B vibes. I just like them, okay?!?

Now I'm looking forward to reading it again! The best part about reading fic as a physical book is that it's harder to get distracted by your phone, and therefore the state of the world.

[cushfuddled]

*takes a long drag from my silly straw* anybody else remember Performance in a Leading Role or is that just me

[scifrey]

18 and 20!

Thank you for the ask! <3

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

It's from To a Stranger, which is a fanfic of @madlori's Performance in a Leading Role (Sherlock Hollywood AU) . It's the screenplay of the film John and Sherlock star in, Mark played by John and Ben played by Sherlock. I'm including the rest of the scene for context and bolding my fave.

Benjamin surges up, grabs Mark's head, and tries to kiss him. It is desperate, passionate, a loss of control that is startling to both of them. But Mark gets his hand up between them too fast and Benjamin ends up kissing Mark's palm instead. Benjamin settles for this, sad, and stops fighting to get around Mark's hold. Softly, regretfully, Mark presses his own mouth against the back of his knuckles, as if he could kiss Benjamin through the barrier of flesh, and bone, and responsibility.

20. What’s a favorite title for a fic you’ve written?

Honestly? "Cling Fast".

Generally I give my stories a goofy but descriptive title when I start them, but then change them to something more appropriate before posting. (One day I will tell the tale of how I accidentally forgot to change the title of a chapter I wrote for a book published by Dark Horse, and so was introduced at a major speaking event as the author of "How Fanfiction Made Me Gay." * headdesk *)

I don't remember what goofy title I had on "Cling Fast" to begin with, as the story was originally meant to be just a ficlet (basically just the prologue). But once I'd written that, I was seized with the idea of Hob and the Historical Docudrama, and decided to fold the two stories together.

I wrote the fic description before I dove into the story, because I find having the pitch makes it easier to focus on what the thrust of the narrative will be when Pantsing a story, and when I wrote the phrase "clings to" I had a lightbulb a-ha! moment. I very rarely get those when it comes to titles.

Fic Asks Masterlist

[madlori]

What amazing company to be in! Thanks for all the recs!!

Farm witch friends, you have done the coven proud.

We've got so many good recs it's going to take a few weeks to share them all!

Starting with these that were recommended more than once, if you haven't spend some time with these fan favorites, you should check them out now! And leave the authors some love, of course.

========

Everyday Magic (houdini74/@mostlyinthemorning)

Each magic story is so unique, so sweet, so... D&P! 

I couldn’t pick just one of these wonderfully variable scenarios that all include just a little (or maybe a lot of) magic added to the perfect scene setting and banter. 

Favored Nations (@blueink3)

ALL OF IT! It’s my go-to when I’m feeling down, when I need to revise our boys. The characters, writing, and plot are all amazing. 

Amazing world building, very in character slow burn.

The ultimate slow burn, the perfect love story set amongst the wonders of Broadway and NYC.

It’s just so, so good!  I am a sucker for secret romance fics, and this one has that and so much more.  Add in some Shakespearean theater with a twist and just the right amount of angst and sexiness, it’s just perfect! I love it so much.  

This author knows David, Patrick, and the NY theater world inside and out. The volume and level of specificity, volume, tenderness, anxiety, and love of these characters and worlds is astounding. The characterization is so vivid, it's the easiest fic to forget isn't canon.

Fifteen hundred miles (morehuman)

I go back to this fic a lot! I just love the idea of them both challenging themselves and finding out what they are capable of.

The most incredible journey, a gift to go along with them in it.

I carry these heart-shapes only for you (@ladyflowdi and @ships-to-sail)

I love this transportative, visual feast of historic fiction. Luscious WW2 Paris is so vividly portayed and David’s wild, wealthy, LGBTIQ+out flamboyance juxtaposed to the farm-boy turned military-man Patrick is sexy and sweet. It undoes me every time. I actually first came to the piece via FairManor’s outstanding podfic. Both the text and the podfic are high art. It’s not just one of my favorite fan-fics. It’s one of my favorite stories of ALL time in any genre. I read/listen and I am at the Gaston, riding on the back of Patrick’s motorcycle, kissing in windmills, eating crepes, touring junk shops & dancing naked to 40’s blues. I’d give anything to see this as a film with Dan & Noah & cast. I want a leather bound print copy of it. Also - The epilogue is progressive, heartbreaking thoughtful genius. I’ve just finished rereading & listening to it again. Each time there are new Easter eggs to be found. Joyous. 

It's just the most beautiful piece of writing ever written. Descriptive, lyrical, hot, stunning, heartbreaking. It has everything. 

I’d swing with you for the fences (@nontoxic-writes)

Achingly sweet and fluffy all set in the perfect baseball/famous AU with secret relationship AND musician Patrick. I come back to reread this one a lot!

What isn't there to love?  Baseball, long distance relationship, sex, songs, coming out to the parents, coming out to the team, coming out to the world, excellent use of side characters....I could go on and on.  There are so many amazing fics out there, but I've read this one at least a dozen times! 

Incorrect (@lisamc-21)

You can hear David saying it, but now picture the Maldives.

A beautifully written story of our boys meeting on vacation. Their trip is so sweet and so hot, and when they say goodbye, it's heartbreaking. The twist- they are both famous in their own worlds but don’t recognize each other so don’t realize who the other has hooked up with. When their week ends, they try to maintain a long-distance friendship as they learn who the other is. What was a hot hookup becomes a slow burn, and it’s amazing!!

The Last Rose Video (@distractivate)

Gorgeous writing, the perfect mix of canon and AU, clever plot, great dialogue.  The fic I read over and over.  It’s as comforting as a warm blanket. 

Swoon. SWOON.

Strike Anywhere (@madlori)

Hot firefighters. Hot sex. Hot romance. But like in a Sandra loves Keanu sliding out of a speeding bus kind of way.

Hot hot hot!  That’s the first work. Then- the author developed a prequel that is also hot but is also funny, loving, sweet. Love fireman Patrick!

This enemies-to-lovers-to-secret-husbands story featuring Patrick Brewer as a firefighter, is deliciously tropey and blazing hot, but also it’s written with such authentic emotion and perfect banter that it keeps me coming back to read it whenever I need a mood lift. 

Such great heights (@likerealpeopledo-on-ao3)

Great story, the very best jokes, and the wedding date chapter is so good it would work as a stand alone fic. 

It's got the mother of all fake dating scenarios, and Stevie in this in among the best I've ever read her. It's also very very funny. All the times when they say Feel The Air crack me up every time!

Sustineo (@rockinhamburger)

This is a perfectly paced one-shot AU that builds a world in which David is a brilliant, stormy, reclusive artist whose whose treatment by the press (and one Sebastien Raine) has made him unwilling to engage with the world…. Until he meets an intuitive and kind art writer who sees him for everything that he is (and can be). All of characters here are perfect and I love the descriptions of David’s art. 

Incredibly hot art fic.

You can fall (sweetsirius/@wordthieve)

It takes the David and Patrick rescue each other theme of the show and makes the stakes even higher. Plus it's just a genuinely beautiful piece of writing.

The story arc and pacing are fantastic. I love how David and Patrick's relationship develops and how Patrick learns to open himself up again after grief. It's incredibly well written. I've read it so many times, from full read thrus to dipping in and out of my favorite moments and chapters.

Patrick is so heartbroken, but then he meets David. So romantic, and feels lived in.

[epicbuddieficrecs]

Weekly Recap | January 15th-21st 2024

My ao3 history is still fucked. Gonna have to figure out if there's something I can do about it :/

Complete

hot cocoa by evcndiaz/ @evcndiaz (Established Buddie | 3K | Teen): Buck is freaking out about proposing. He gets an assist from Athena, Bobby, and. Well. Eddie himself.

A Message To You by Mad_Lori/ @madlori (Media fic, Getting Together | 9K | Teen): Two firefighters both write to an advice column on the same day, with the same problem - they're each in love with their best friend. You won't believe what happens next!

🔥 Life Cycles of the Southern Coastal Husbro series by Mad_Lori/ @madlori (Post-Season 5, Queer Platonic Relationship to Lovers | 5 works | 92K)

🔥 Courtship Behaviors of the Southern Coastal Husbro (QPR, Getting Together | 49K | Explicit): “I want you in my family, I want us to be a family. Officially. A family can be a guy, his son, and his best friend, right?” Buck’s lower lip was trembling. “You’re really asking me to be your…what, now?” “Frank called it ‘platonic life partners.’” Observational Notes on the Southern Coastal Husbro (Fluff | 10K | Mature): A day in the life of two engaged firefighter husbros and their smartass son. Migratory Patterns of the Southern Coastal Husbro (Coming Out | 13K | Explicit): Buck and Eddie visit El Paso to tell the Diaz parents that they're engaged. Also, they go viral (again), eat King Ranch Casserole, pontificate on queer identities, get a visit from the Fire Chief, and the Hot Firefighter Calendar makes a reappearance. Ancestral Lineage of the Southern Coastal Husbro (Parental Reconciliations | 13K | Explicit): The Buckleys surprise Eddie at home when Buck's not there, hoping to work around Buck's no-contact edict and attempt a reconciliation. Later, Eddie surprises Buck with the news that hey, he has grandparents on his mom's side, too. Surprise number two: they suck. Eddie and Buck remain disgustingly in love with each other. Sexual Alignments of the Southern Coastal Husbro (5K | Teen): Eddie goes out for drinks with the dispatch center folks, gets hit on at the bar, and has personal epiphanies about his sexual orientation.

Kilty Pleasures by JamesPearce911/ @diazsdimples (PWP, Established Buddie | 8K | Explicit): Or, Buck and Eddie discover they have kilt kinks.

melt your headaches (call it home) by lecornergirl/ @clusterbuck (Pre-Relationship, Sharing a Bed | 2K | Teen): hypothetically, Buck types. if someone hit their head in the morning, they probably shouldn’t go to sleep alone, huh The phone vibrates in his hand before he can even put it down, Eddie’s face flashing on the screen. Buck sighs and picks it up. “What did you do?” Eddie asks immediately. “Hypothetically, the Scrub Daddy tried to kill me.”

Fractals from the Lightning Bolt by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (One Shots Collection | 41/54 | 78K | Not Rated): A collection of oneshots, some originally posted on tumblr. Each chapter is individually rated.

44. We Gotta Create Our Interludes: Rated E - some soft established relationship fluff and smut 45. My Application to Hell: Rated E - shameless smut of the "they could never get away with this in real life" variety.

what my heart just yearns to say (in ways that can't be said) by mimibegins/ @itiveseenthisfilmbefore (Post S06E15: Death and Taxes | 5K | General): “I didn’t know that,” Eddie replied, eyebrows furrowed. And then he added so quietly that Buck almost missed it: “I mean, how would I? As I don’t see you.” And Buck was struck through the core and taken back in time. From one moment to the next, he was back at the graveyard, looking at Eddie and saying “I feel like she sees me” and then he recalled the broken look behind Eddie’s eyes and oh. So that’s what was wrong.

Twice Struck by Tizniz / @tizniz (Post-Lightning | 3K | General): Buck finds out he wasn't the only one struck by lightning that night.

dusk until the dawn (you're where i wanna go) by mimibegins/ @itiveseenthisfilmbefore (Post S6E14: Performance Anxiety, Getting Together | 5K | Teen): “So, would you say that you’re worried about dating because you never really dated,“ Buck said as he shifted his weight, draping himself over the couch in a way that was almost obscene for a public space. “Is that a question, or– ?” Eddie wondered, slightly amused as he looked up at Buck, who looked so pensive, if not a bit stunned as he was seemingly still trying to wrap his head around the disastrous dating experiences of Eddie Diaz. “No, it’s– yeah, okay, I guess it’s a question but– have you?” Buck asked, almost bashful, with a faint blush sitting high on his cheeks as he met Eddie’s eyes. God, Eddie thought as he felt how the blood rushed into his cheeks as well. These feelings are definitely not platonic.

he's a big boy by oklahoma/ @malewifediaz (Married Buddie, PWP | 5K | Explicit): Eddie has a thing for Buck's big dick.

one is one too many, one more is never enough by 42hrb / @exhuastedpigeon (Drunk Confession | 2K | Teen): They say hangovers get worse as you get older. Buck never believed that until his first hangover in his thirties hit him like a fucking freight train. He had vowed to never get that drunk again. And he’d kept that promise to himself for over a year. That all changed at Maddie and Chimney’s wedding. He’d like it noted that it wasn’t his fault that he got so drunk. He hadn’t had any of the mimosas that were flowing while Maddie and her bridal party got ready because he didn’t want to risk anything going wrong when he walked Maddie down the aisle. In fact, he hadn’t had a drink until after he gave his speech. 

🔥 Don't Push Me So Far Away I Can't Reach You by giselleslash (Friends With Benefits | 12K | Mature): or the one where Buck thinks he and Eddie are just friends with benefits so he pushes Eddie to date other people because he’s an idiot

if you keep reachin' out (then I'll keep comin' back) by 42hrb / @exhuastedpigeon (Getting Together | 2K | Teen): It probably wasn’t the best idea to flirt with Buck before a rescue but Eddie couldn’t help himself. He’d been struggling with keeping his feelings for Buck locked down for months now, maybe even longer if he was honest with himself. 

i love you, ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard? by rarakiplin (gmontys)/ @hoediaz (Post-Shooting | 9K | Teen): or, in which eddie's will reveal is a love confession, and buck takes a second to catch up

🔥 maybe love won't let you down by sibylsleaves (Season 5B, Getting Together | 15K | Mature): Buck tells Eddie he’s in love with him. Eddie pines. or, five times eddie watches buck leave, and the one time he goes after him

Rope 'n Ride by rosebuddiekin/ @giddyupbuck (PWP | 2K | Explicit): Or: Eddie rides Buck wearing the cowboy hat.

WIP

search history by forgottenwords (Getting Together | 8/10 | 11K | Explicit): Eddie opened the Safari app to find a specific recipe Buck was looking for, but something was already typed in the search box. Beefy blonde twink gets railed by— Buck's voice calls out from the kitchen “Did you find it yet?” and Eddie hastily closes the tab, opening another with a surprising speed from someone considered technologically illiterate. As close as they were, he’d never had a thought about the type of ‘adult entertainment’ Buck was partial to. Now, it was all he could think about.

🔥 Things We're All Too Young to Know by @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon, S1 through S6 | 107/? | 296K | Mature): This is a love story. Even if it doesn’t always look like it. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it. A look back on Eddie and Buck's lives up to now, and what led them to each other, interpreted from the current 9-1-1 canon.

🔥 and if i bleed (you'll be the last to know) by diazchristopher/ @captain-hen (Canon Divergent Season 6, Friends with Benefits | 5/18 | 23K | Explicit): or, an alternate look at season 6 where buck and eddie have been casually sleeping together since before the beginning of the season. somehow, this changes both everything and nothing at all.

Winter Prayer by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Road Trip, Buck&Bobby&May | 1/3 | 5K | General): When a work conflict prevents Athena from accompanying Bobby to Minnesota for the ten year anniversary of his family dying, Buck and May offer to go instead. Over the course of the trip, they all learn more about each other, and Bobby faces his grief.

(when i die) i'll die loving you by lecornergirl / @clusterbuck (The Good Place Fusion | 1/? | 2K | Teen): OR: buck and eddie are in the afterlife, and they're soulmates. but it's not quite that simple.

Kiss Me Once Cause You Know I Had A Long Night by I_still_dont_understand_13 / @sherlockcrossing (Prompt collection | 21/? | 14K | Teen): 100 kiss prompts.

22. 82. Whispering "I love you" in-between kisses  23. 1. Whispering "kiss me" to your lover  24. 18. Grabbing your lover by the collar 

[canjesuscomebacknowpls]

In the mood to reread Performance in a Leading Role for the umpteenth time 😂😂😂 @madlori put CRACK in the fic man😅

[madlori]

Facebook Official

whoops my hand slipped and I banged out 1800 words of fix-it fic in like an hour. btw i think the Abby connection is dumb but I'm making it work.

Three years after reconciling with Buck, newly engaged to him, Tommy gets a phone call from a certain former dispatcher...who's just seen some interesting news via a Facebook Relationship Status post.

*****

(also on AO3)

To say that the phone call blindsided him would have been the understatement of the century.

He was just sitting at home watching the game, having a beer, minding his own business. Evan was on shift — must be a busy one, he’d only gotten two text messages all evening, one bitching about not having had time to eat dinner and the other about idiots who texted while driving.

His phone rang. Unknown number. Normally he wouldn’t have picked up, but with all the wedding preparations, a lot of vendors were calling. It was a little late to be making business calls, just after 8 pm, but he’d quickly learned that business norms meant little in the wedding planning business. “Hello?”

“Tommy?”

“Yes?” A woman’s voice. Familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

Pause “You’re marrying Buck??” A slightly hysterical note of disbelief entered the woman’s voice as she said the name.

And all at once, he knew who it was. Shit fuck motherfucker why didn’t we get ahead of this one.

“Abby. Um…”

“Evan Buckley? My ex-fiancé and my ex-boyfriend are marrying each other?”

“Small world, huh?” he said, going for levity.

“Buck’s not even gay!”

“No, he’s not. He’s bisexual.”

“I’m…okay. I’m sorry, it’s just…this is a lot of information to get all at once.”

“How did you even find out? Don’t you live in Phoenix?”

“Buck posted one of those relationship status things on Facebook.”

“Oh. I barely use Facebook.”

“Me either, but Buck does, and I hadn’t been on there in awhile, but I logged on and that was like the third post I saw!”

Tommy remembered the day Buck had made the post. They hadn’t really put their relationship on social media much - Buck posted photos of them on Instagram sometimes - and he hadn’t done one of those stupid relationship status things for them until they got engaged. They’d trawled their phones for the right pic, eventually settling on one taken at a 118 barbecue of them together, smiling, arms slung around waists. He hadn’t said so, but he’d gotten a little emotional over what Evan wrote on the post:

Evan Buckley is engaged to Tommy Kinard.

“It’s been a long road, but we made it. Can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this man. He’s the best person I’ve ever known. I love you!”

“Well…I’m sorry that was an unpleasant surprise for you,” Tommy said, carefully.

She sighed. “I don’t know that it was…unpleasant. But a surprise, for sure. How do you even know Buck? How did you meet?”

“We’re both firefighters, it’s not that surprising that we could have met, is it?”

“No, I guess not.”

“And he was at my old firehouse. The one you refused to ever come to. But I guess you went when you were with him, didn’t you?”

“You never wanted me to meet your friends. I guess I found out why when you broke off our engagement.”

“I’m sorry, Abby. I know I said it then, but I’ll say it again now. I lied to myself, I lied to a lot of people. It took me almost trapping you in my lie, when you did not deserve that, to break me out of it.”

“I forgave you ages ago. We don’t have to go over all that again.”

“I met Evan…I guess it’s four years ago? We started dating not long after. I, um…was the first man he dated. I guess I made him realize some things about himself.”

“Just transforming lives everywhere you go, huh?” she said, a teasing note entering her voice. Tommy was happy to hear it.

“Yeah, well, I almost screwed it up. I broke up with him six months later. He was diving in headfirst, too fast, just all in and wanting to move in with me.”

“That sounds just like Buck.”

“I panicked and ended it before I could get in any deeper with him.”

“It was too late, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I was already in love with him.”

“He’s easy to love. Too easy,” she said, quietly. “But you got back together, obviously.”

“Took a little while. Almost a year. I dated a few guys, he dated a few people, but nothing stuck for either of us - I know now it’s because we were still hung up on each other. We have a friend in common and we’d hear about each other through him…but I didn’t really see him until we ended up on a major incident call together. I sustained a minor injury - just a scrape, really - and Hen from his house patched me up. I was sitting there on the ambulance deck, more or less left to myself, and he came waltzing up with that eyebrow raised like he knew all my secrets.” Abby chuckled, like she knew the exact expression he was describing. “He just said, are you done being fucking stupid yet?”

“And you were.”

“Yep. I was. He took me home that night and we’ve barely been apart since. Got engaged a year later.”

“You sound happy.”

“I am. I’m ecstatic. I can’t believe I got a second chance with him. I kicked myself for ending it like that, I don’t know what came over me.”

“I do. You thought you weren’t enough for him to want to keep you.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“That’s dumb.”

“That’s what he says.”

They sat there not speaking for what felt like a long time.

“Well…” Abby said. “I feel like I just unloaded on you out of the blue.”

“You kinda did,” he said, smiling.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have called.”

“I’m glad you did. You know…Evan and I didn’t realize we had you in common until our six month anniversary dinner. In fact, it was that revelation that sort of started us on the way to breaking up for awhile. But that’s been so long now and it hasn’t come up in a few years. I almost forgot about it.”

“Gee, thanks,” she said, her grin audible. “I’m glad you’re both happy. I have a lot of regret over Buck, how I left things with him. I assume he’s told you.”

“He has. If it helps, he doesn’t have any bad feelings towards you.”

“It does help. Thank you for that.” She sighed. “I’ll let you go. I just saw that Facebook post and spiralled a little bit.”

“Understandable.”

“Please tell Buck I say hello. And I wish you both so much happiness, Tommy.”

“Thank you. And I will.”

She hung up. Tommy stared at the phone for a moment, then opened his text message thread with Evan.

You’re not gonna believe what just happened.

*****

When Evan got home at 7 am, they had their usual two hours to share breakfast and maybe a quick fuck before Tommy had to be on shift himself. They tried to sync their schedules so their off days coincided, but it didn’t always work.

“Holy shit, why didn’t we get ahead of that one?” Evan said as he burst in the door, not even bothering with “hello.” His shoes and duffel went flying and he bustled into the kitchen where Tommy was mixing the pancake batter.

“Yeah, I had the same thought,” he said, leaning over to kiss him hello.

Evan went to the coffee pot. “I didn’t even think about it, that she might see.”

“Neither did I.”

“How’d she sound?”

“Really surprised at first. Incredulous, even? Like in the what-are-the-odds way.”

“Kinda like when I found out we’d both dated her.”

“Yeah, but you’re my himbo now,” Tommy said, smirking. “No, she was just shocked. I gave her the quick rundown, and she ended up congratulating us.”

“Did you tell her it’s her fault we broke up for a year?” Evan said, popping a strawberry into his mouth.

“I think the proper person to bear the fault is me.”

“And also me. Who asks someone to move in after six months? Before even saying ‘I love you?’ And when you had a house!”

“I say we blame Josh. He got you all juiced up with that damn Glee speech.” After they’d reconciled, Evan had given him chapter and verse on his mind-boggling thought processes on that last fateful day.

“He got me feeling guilty, is what he did. That I judged you for lying to Abby. Overcorrecting is one of my special gifts.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Well, while I’m overcorrecting…why don’t we invite her?”

Tommy looked up. “To our wedding?”

“Sure, why not? She can flip a coin whose side she sits on,” Evan said, grinning like the mischievous imp that he was.

“Evan, darling, love of my life, we are not inviting our ex to our wedding.”

He scrunched up his face. “Ew. ‘Our’ ex? Makes it sound like we were in a throuple.”

“Ew, indeed.”

He cocked his head. “I dunno, though. The thought’s kinda sexy.”

“Not to me! No vaginas anywhere near my bedroom. Kinsey 6, remember?”

“Of course, my apologies.”

Tommy looked at his innocent wide-eyed face for a few beats. “You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?”

“Can I help it if the thought of two people I have found intensely attractive doing sexy things is appealing?”

“Can I help it if the thought of Chris Hemsworth going down on you has gotten me through some lonely nights?”

“Okay, I get the point. Shutting up now.” 

Tommy put a plate of pancakes in front of him. “Your shift okay?”

“Fine. Busy. I’m a bit wired. Do we have time for me to bounce on your dick for a bit before you have to head out?”

“For that, I’ll make time.” He sat down at the table at Evan’s side with his own pancakes. Evan slid a hand over and squeezed his thigh.

“Missed you, though,” he said, chewing.

“I always miss you when you’re on shift,” Tommy said.

Evan looked up at that, meeting his eyes. “Tommy, sometimes I miss you when you get up to get a beer.”

The simplicity, the sincerity of it made his chest tighten a little. He leaned forward, put his fingers under Evan’s chin and pulled him into a soft kiss, just like the first time. “I love you,” he whispered. 

“I love you, too.”

“And we are not inviting my ex-fiancee who is also your ex-girlfriend to our wedding.”

Evan grinned. “Deal.”

[schittscreekficrec]

Goodbye Post

Hello, beloved friends! We are sad to announce that we will be retiring this blog. We have so loved providing you with recs over the past two years. In that time, we've recced 1,335 fics (913 unique!) and 251 authors across 45 round-ups and 59 asks.

As a parting gift, here are a few of our all-time personal favorites:

liv’s recs: On Solid Ground by @trueillusion82 [david/patrick, multiple ratings, series]

Strike Anywhere by @madlori [david/patrick, E, multi-chapter]

An Unexpected Series by @agoodpersonrose [david/patrick, multiple ratings, series]

Bound by Symmetry by barelypink [david/patrick, M, multi-chapter]

julie’s recs: favored nations by @blueink3 [david/patrick, multiple ratings, series]

Incorrect by @lisamc-21 [david/patrick, E, multi-chapter]

Time until the end of time by @kiwiana-writes @ships-to-sail [david/patrick, M, multi-chapter]

The Seven Husbands of Alexis Rose by @sarahlevys @hagface [twylexis, T, multi-chapter]

ali’s recs: I'd Swing With You for the Fences by @nontoxic-writes [david/patrick, E, multi-chapter]

Kink-verse by @kiwiana-writes [david/patrick, E, series]

Score by @samwhambam [david/patrick, multiple ratings, series]

To the Great Unknown by @deenerann [david/patrick, E, multi-chapter]

jette’s recs: Fifteen Hundred Miles by MoreHuman [david/patrick, M, multi-chapter]

My Heart is like Paper (yours is like a flame) by smallumbrella @smallumbrella369 [david/patrick, E, multi-chapter]

Molten Glass Hearts by @januarium [david/patrick, E, multi-chapter]

The Enchantment Umbrage by khughes830 and railmedaddy @rmd-writes [david/patrick, E, multi-chapter]

[gargoyleandgremlinpress]

Renegade 2023 Bound Exchange: Strike Anywhere by Mad Lori

My recipient for the annual @renegadepublishing bound exchange this year was @sits-bound, which gave me the chance to explore some new Schitt's Creek fic!

Strike Anywhere by @madlori is a Schitt's Creek AU, where Patrick is a firefighter in Toronto, and David is a municipal engineer called in to consult on structural issues at fire scenes. They HATE each other on first sight, fight constantly… and inevitable end up secretly hooking up… and then secretly dating… and then secretly married, too embarrassed to admit it to their coworkers.

I had fun with the theme for this one, and used a blueprint image for the endpapers, and so many flames. So many! I'm really happy with how it turned out in the end, but there was a moment where things VERY MUCH had not gone to plan.

I like how the case turned out in particular! Too bad that I then had to cut the entire text block out of it and add sixty missing pages the day I planned to put it in the mail.

So let me set the scene. It's Dec 28. Exchange books are due in the mail Jan 1. I have spent several hours the day before finishing off stenciling the cover and spine of both books I'm sending, and am taking pictures before I package everything up. I flip to the back of the second book, and… huh. I know I formatted the AO3 metadata at the back of the book. Did I miss a page somehow?

It is then that I realize that something has gone badly wrong. On checking the typeset… my printed book ends at page 216. The typeset ends on page 277.

I got the textblock out of the case, sacrificing the endpapers, but with everything else intact. Realized that my pre-cut textblock paper was still sitting on my desk at work. Decided fuck it, I need to reprint the endpapers anyhow, and skulked in to use the big colour copier, even though I was on vacation.

The signatures fit into the case! Some funky cutting and gluing was required to take out the few duplicate pages and the blank pages from the original, make some tabs out of the edges, and glue it all in.

The mull did not come off as well as the endpapers, but it DID come off.

I cut off the sewn endbands, and the bookmark, glue everything back together, and trek back into work the next day to use the big guillotine and retrim the textblock.

The edges are re-speckled! Sewn endbands would mean forcing the needle through multiple layers of glue, and time is tight, so I made endbands out of bookcloth to match the case.

And! It! Fits! Casing in actually went better the second time.

I DID get it into the mail by the deadline, and it safely arrived in @sits-bound's hands, so now I can share the saga. I still can't believe it fit back in the case.

[lenaboskow]

https://www.tumblr.com/lenaboskow/752187875812114432/in-my-personal-opinion-the-show-has-written

The fic you’re thinking of is the series Life Cycles of the Southern Coastal Husbro by MadLori but I don’t know if it’ll ever be finished now because the author has gone full bummy and Tommy lover. To the point where she was actively posting how she hopes buddie never happens now and it’s boring and tevan endgame. Also posting things like after the I’m worried about you scene in 7.9 Buck definitely would have raced home to Tommy to gossip to him about the weird straight people shit. Which is insane because she was such a huge Buddie fan for years. The recent update of the series was even just in march. And in less than a month complete personality transplant at the alter of Tommy Kinard. And now her recent fics are just nothing but pure porn of Tommy railing Buck. Which is par for the course what that fandom is obsessed with. She even ended up blocking me because I posted a negative post about Tommy lol.

this is the most heartbreaking thing i have ever heard. day ruined i swear. no longer rereading this cause what the fuck?? the only reason i'm answering and not just screenshotting and blurring her is cause i know some people will still want to read it (it's truly amazing and this is a great loss to me) that said... brb adding a committed life partners fic to my wips cause...

[leandra-kinard]

Some Sentences Sunday

I was tagged by @cliophilyra. Thank you so much! And I actually do have a WIP.

“I think something’s wrong with Eddie,” Buck says one day as he joins Tommy at the kitchen table. 

He’s laid out some freshly crisped up croissants, jam, scrambled eggs, and a platter with cucumbers and tomatoes that they still had left over from their Greek salad the other night. It looks delicious, and, after his twenty-four-hour, Buck is definitely hungry. He does not yet dig in. 

“Good morning to you too,” Tommy replies with a subtle smirk on his lips. His brows, however, are slightly furrowed, wordlessly prompting Buck to elaborate. 

He sighs and makes a vague, waving hand gesture. 

“I don’t know. It’s just… he— Uhm, he seems off somehow.” 

“This isn’t about your mustache theory again, is it?”

“No,” Buck huffs out a chuckle, “Though I haven’t entirely given up on that either. The mustache is also weird.”

“I think it suits him,” Tommy says with a shrug. “Though it was a good choice to not also get a mullet with it like all those YouTube kids.” 

Buck snorts. “Those YouTube ‘kids’,” he’s accentuating the word with air quotes, “are mostly thirty-something-year-old men.”

Tommy just shrugs again as he swallows down some scrambled eggs. Then he looks at Buck, a soft, patiently indulgent expression on his features. “Why are you worried about Eddie?” 

Tagging @spotsandsocks @sherlocking-out-loud @disaster-j @tommysdaddykink @marvelousbuckley @madlori and whoever else writes fic and would like to do this.

[scifrey]

FANFICTION MASTERPOST

Hob Adherent Series

(The Sandman, extended Gaiman-verse)

Hob Gadling is a clingy bastard, and he’s not ashamed to admit it. He clings to life. He clings to hope. He clings to his love of humanity. He clings to his Stranger. He also, unfortunately, has a habit of clinging to his name.

Which means that when the BBC is looking for a new pet history expert to appear in their educational docudrama series “Elizabethan Manor,” they’re overjoyed to find a professor who (according to their meticulous research) is actually descended from the Master of the National Trust building they’re filming in - Gadlen House.

Only Hob knows how right they are.

Cling Fast

Carpe Diem

Hold Tight 

Keepsakes

The F-Words Series (the Rovai-verse)

(Loki, MCU; based on the art of @alicerovai)

Loki has fallen for false promises, fallen for Odin's lies, fallen off of a bridge, fallen into the wrong hands... can he let himself fall into the arms of a potential rescuer? Or will he just end up falling for another trick?

Fall

Fold 

Fight

Flirt 

Forgive 

To A Stranger

(Sherlock, Performance in a Leading Role by @madlori)

Here - for the first time - is the screenplay for the unexpected and sizzling hit which swept awards shows; was lauded in Time, Variety, and major publications the world over; snagged a Best Actor Oscar for first-time nominee John Watson; heralded a revolution in LQBTQA+ cinema; and was the catalyst for the incredible romantic journey of two of the greatest actors of our generation.

The Heart of the TARDIS

Rose: Feels to me like a temper tantrum because it can't get it's own way.

The Doctor: It's scared. Come on, you were a kid once.

Rose: Yes, and I know what kids can be like. Right little terrors. I've got cousins. Kids can't have it all their own way. That's part of being a family.

The Doctor: What about trying to understand them?

Rose: Easy for you to say. You don't have kids.

The Doctor: I was a Dad once.

Rose: What did you say?

--"Fear Her"

Respected

(Stargate: Atlantis, Torchwood)

Ianto Jones only wanted a nice, quiet beer. And maybe some damned respect, already.

Tobogganing Series

(Stargate: Atlantis, Casper)

When Johnny Sheppard was ten years old, he begged his father for a toboggan for Christmas.

He Kissed Me First 

(Stargate: Atlantis, The Farm in Iowa-verse by @sheafrotherdon)

"Rodnies? Rodneys? Rodni? How do you conjugate the plural?" John wondered.

The Once And Future Kingdom 

(Stargate: Atlantis, Merlin)

"I am Prince Arthur of Camelot!" the boy in the chainmail said. For a small, infinitesimal moment, Rodney considered losing it.

"Right, Prince Arthur, the Prince Arthur," Rodney scoffed instead. "And I'm Merlin."

The dark haired boy that stood a few paces behind his golden Prince cleared his throat. "Uh, no," he said, shifting uneasily from foot to foot, "Actually, I am."

Right, of course. Because this totally was Rodney's LIFE.

The Driver 

(Agent Carter, Captain America, British Royalty RPF)

“What?” Dum Dum asked, prodding his seatmate in the ribs with his meaty elbow for the umpteenth time. “Seriously, Falsy, what?”

“Squirfle,” the Brit said, or something like it. His face, under the mustache, had turned an amusing shade of puce that was rapidly verging on the alarming.

“Yeah, buddy, I know she’s pretty, but she’s just a dame, ain’t she?” Dum Dum said. He jerked his head at their driver. She was just a short brown-blonde coif from the back, though from his position against the side of the transportation jeep, Dum Dum could make out a smooth, pale cheek, an archly-painted eyebrow, and impeccable red lips.

The Nihongo Series

(Stargate: Atlantis)

In Japan, it is not too much to say that a great deal is about appearances. It is a habit cultivated over a life-time, and not one easy to break.

*

This is just a partial list of my most popular fics. Please visit my A03 and FF.NET profiles for the full list of fics.

You can also find a master post of my original fiction here.

[sits-bound]

I posted the fic I bound for the Renegade exchange, and now I get to post about the books (s!! plural!) I received from my gifter, @gargoyleandgremlinpress.

The first surprise came when I opened the package and there were TWO books inside! An embarrassment of riches! Fitting it came a few days after my birthday.

The first one I unwrapped (yes, they were wrapped in beautiful paper. I did not wrap the book I sent, but I suppose, in my defense, I did make a cloth zipper pouch for it.) and was ecstatic to see that it was a copy of Strike Anywhere by @madlori.

This is a fantastic and 🔥🔥🔥 Schitt’s Creek firefighter AU fic. I highly recommend. One of the reasons I put it on my wishlist is because it lent itself to so many cool graphics. And my gifter clearly felt the same way. LOOK AT THIS.

Are you kidding me?!? The cover is stunning. And did you see the speckled edges? And the chapter headers! The dividers! It’s just perfect. Those endpapers! R.I.P. me.

But that wasn’t all! Because I am an egomaniac, I also listed one of my own fics, a Schitt’s Creek Bridget Jones’s Diary AU. (You know what is cute? My author’s note talks about how proud I was to finally write a long fic. Friends, it’s 17k.)

This one was made into the most adorable quarto, and again, the design is perfectly matched to the fic.

Are you dead yet? Because I am.

This is is the first time I've seen sewn endbands in person and I am determined now to learn how to make them.

It was so fun to participate in this exchange, and boy, did I get lucky! (Also, funny aside, my gifter has actually seen something I bound in person, as I’d sent a bound copy of a fic to one of their IRL friends! What a small world, eh?!)

Thank you again to @gargoyleandgremlinpress for the gorgeous books!

[morgangilloryy]

Make Me Write!

tagged by the delightful @rosyhoneydew and @aringofsalt

Rules: send me an emoji and I will write 3-5 sentences corresponding with the fic. More emojis means more sentences. These are all bucktommy.

🪢kinky husbands fic number 2 (sequel to see you in my fireflies)

🎩 marriage of convenience

🌶️ spicy food fic (poor Tommy goes through it in the name of love, special fic for my dear @desert--moonchild)

Np tags (sorry if you've already done this but I'm on my phone at work and can't flip through to see who has): @madlori, @mmso-notlikethat, @louisferrignojr, @wikiangela, @talktonytome