#otp: team blessed

[violivs]

Beatrice/Benedick + Text Posts (Part 1/?)

[candlelightreader]

Rewatching season 7 and the looks? The proximity and near touches... They are over the top and I love it so much! That time she reads the name of the chicken farm place and just leaves the room, only to smirk at him about how annoying it is when he storms out in people without saying anything? Or how about when she says "I'm the one who put on the music"? I just love how she pushes the envelope. The shift in power is amazing to see. They are now on equal footing and she is so comfortable around him, comfortable enough to play with him at work, and that's just adorable.

Of course there also the big moments: "I won't wait up"; "no dear"; "I'll miss you"; "yea, you will"; etc. Or the letter, the angst, and the melodrama of the finale. But I feel like there are also so many small moments that are not circulating in gif form round about now...

They really dial it up in 7 from 6 where it was too subtle and you only truly read it fully in retrospect.

Season 7 is a treasure and I have never been happier with a DVD box. There is barely any subtext for the audience and the knowledge that only we and they know, while the team doesn't simply elevates it. I could have had 5 seasons of that behind the scene romance, frankly. I'm sad they decided to blow it up in that spectacular way so fast. Just--the burn was so long, why couldn't they give us two or three years of that, with the potential for comedy, drama, discovery, and angst that has, especially since it wouldv'e played up and well with their private nature? Because, what was the plan, if she hadn't been kidnapped, exactly? Get married and then put the team and Ecklie in front of the fait accompli? *sigh*

[sophie-hatter-jenkins]

Day 7: The Best of Your OTP

Title: Someone Else's Life (Rated M - 15 chapters - 60k words - Hinny)

Author: @starlingflight

Summary: George nodded. There was no trace of humour on his face now. “Die in a dream, wake up in real life. Simple enough… If you're absolutely positive you're in a dream.”

It's four years after the war and Harry and Ginny are partners. In a strictly professional sense. Two aurors on a mission to crack a case that's already left a trail of bodies in its wake.

It's four years after the war and Harry and Ginny are married. Happy. Excelling in their fields as Harry tracks down the last of the Death Eaters and Ginny attempts to make the England team ahead of the World Cup.

When they fall asleep in one reality, they wake up in the other, but are they living in a nightmare or a dream too good to be true? And can they figure out which is which before its too late?

Why I'm Reccing It: Cut me, and I bleed Hinny. Thats just a fact. But picking the best of my OTP was another really tough category for me, because the Hinny nation may be small, but it is mighty. We're blessed with an amazing bunch of writers producing incredibly high quality work; how on earth was I going to pick the best of the best from such an embarrassment of riches?

I'm so glad you asked!

I adore all of Starling's work. She really, really gets both Harry and Ginny, their characters, their relationship, the way they talk to one another (or not...) - everything. I was already a fan of her writing before she came back from a hiatus with this absolute gem of a fic, and it's through chatting in the comments and asks on Tumblr that I got to know her.

Not only is she a fantastic writer, she's unfailingly lovely (no matter what life has thrown at her), a super-helpful beta-reader for my next long-fic and just an all round fabulous person. It's indicative of how lovely our little corner of the fandom is that she's just one of the wonderful people within it that make me so glad I came back to writing last year.

@hprecfest

[peachpety]

Upon reflecting this past year, I’m reminded of one area as a fandom citizen that i am lacking - reading fic. And so was born an idea to canvas my fandom family and friends to share with me a fic they've written, art they've created, a podfic they've recorded in 2023 of which they are most proud.

This two part 'rec yourself' list is the result.

Part One features Drarry creations (heavily featured since that's my OTP). Part Two (here) includes a kick-ass mix of various HP ships and ships from other fandoms, including Carry On, Check Please!, Good Omens, Teen Wolf, and Stranger Things. Also, and most importantly, each entry presents a smol blurb from the creator about why they chose their particular piece as their 2023 favorite.

For ease in reading, I've also placed all submitted works posted to AO3 into a filterable bookmark collection, Rec Yourself 2023. Be aware that there's a range of ratings and archive/creator tags, so please, take appropriate responsibility for your personal consumption. And please also be sure to shower the creators with kudos and lovely comments.

Y'all. This endeavor has been a fucking blast. One thing's for sure, I am blessed, humbled and honored to know a whole bunch of fantastic, brilliant, fun folks. Big love to you all, and thank you for participating.

So go forth. Indulge and enjoy! xo peach

* * *

✩ @pato-roldnart ✩ Quiet as a mouse HP | Viktor Krum x Ron Weasely | ART | G rating | Unleashed!Fest 2023 I'm quite proud of this one, I don't know how I made it, I had never drawn them before! My mind went full "oh yeah ronvik " Also, I like the idea of them bonding over their pets and Ron seeing that Viktor cares about something else that is not Quidditch.

✩ @tontonguetonks ✩ Coffee and a Croissant HP Next Gen | Scorpius x Albus | 903 FIC | G rating There are parts of myself and my lived experience in every story and character I write—how I socialize, how I take my coffee… I can’t help it. In *Coffee and a Croissant*, I put a lot of myself in my ace and autistic Albus. He is very dear to me in this story, and in my Fizzy Lifting Drinks drabble. The fic is just a toe-dip in the Soulmate waters where Albus grapples with what to do if he is someone’s Soulmate, but they’re not his. Parts 2 and 3 are in the works, but there is no timeline on either of them. Maybe in 2024?

✩ @crazybutgood ✩ I Bloom Pink For You HP | Narcissa Malfoy x Pansy Parkinson | 993 FIC + ORIGAMI COMIC | M rating | HP Bodice Ripper Fest 2023 This whole idea came about because I got so excited to fold a corset for hp bodice ripper fest, realised I couldn't just submit that one thing, and started brainstorming more loose ideas. It all clicked together when I was inspired by a fic by @schmem14, whose writing I adore. I was so grateful and even more excited when Em gave permission to make this. From there started the self-indulgent process of folding fancy things with fancier papers for this origami comic, and I couldn't have done it without Em and my lovely support team.

✩ @seekercass ✩ Something Cosmic HP | Cedric x Draco x Harry | 1.7k FIC | M rating | Polyship Week 2022 A self-rec that I am still extremely proud of is a short fic written for Polyshipping Week 2022 called Something Cosmic. It's a small coda to Something Good to Always Keep, another fic that I wrote for Quidditch Fest 2021 that I cherish very much. Even though writing is still hard for me these days, I often think about this 'verse and what life is like for Harry, Draco and Cedric after they graduated from Oxford. These three and slice of life bring me such joy. I hope to write more of them.

✩ @roseharpermaxwell ✩ Sounds Worth It HP | Hermione x Draco | 5k FIC | T rating | D/Hr Advent 2023 Being nominated for d/hr advent was a sweet surprise. It gave me a good excuse to remember how to write and the nudge I needed to create something this year.

✩ @basicallyahedgehog ✩ (They) Keep Me Warm HP | Hermione x Harry x Ron | 5.8k FIC | E rating | HP Trans Fest 2023 This was my transfest fic - I wrote it as a love letter to all my trans and Enby friends and as a way of processing some of my own feelings. It’s my first (and so far only) foray into poly golden trio and I loved playing with their dynamics with that added layer to their relationship.

✩ @lumosatnight ✩ For I Have Found Salvation HP | Harry x Severus | 7.1k FIC | E rating | Snarry AUctoberfest 2023 Although this is a smut fic at its core, I tried really hard to make the pacing flow, bringing in background characters, and creating memorable imagery. I am very proud of how it turned out. However, this is probably my favorite fic from 2023 simply for the fact that I had the most fun writing it!

✩ @sugareey-makes-stuff ✩ Feel You Breathing Teen Wolf | Derek Hale x Stiles Stilinski | 8.4k TEXTING FIC | E rating | 2023 Year of the OTP This is my fav 2023 piece because I learned how to create a custom text message AO3 skin, stylize things for plain text reading, and I wrote a whole story  that had some plot that was told through text messages. Also, I did not know I could achieve so much spiciness and throw in so many bad pick-up lines through this medium, but hey, the more you know! XD

✩ @schmem14 ✩ Mastermind HP | Harry x Ron; Draco x Harry; Ron x Draco | 10.7k FIC | E rating | Dronarry Fest 2023 This is one of the few times a story just flew out of me. Possessive stalker Draco sets out to win over Ron in this creepy thriller, but there’s a catch: Ron is already in love with Draco’s boyfriend, Harry.

✩ @drwhoisginnyholmes & @fledglinger ✩ Not Bad, For A 6000 Year Old Classic! Good Omens | Aziraphale x Crowley | 11.8k FIC + ART | E rating | DIWS Reverse! Reverse! Mini Bang

✩ @sniperjade ✩ The Sounds of Us HP Marauders | Regulus x Remus | 20.4k FIC | M rating | Remus Lupin Fest 2023; HPFC Spring Fling 2023 I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and whilst I would really love to say it was the drarry I wrote for this fest last year my favourite would have to be this moonseeker I wrote for Remus Lupin Fest last year. It's my favourite because I lived this fic. It became the entirety of my personality for a whole month because I desperately needed to get to the chapter where Regulus was riding on Padfoots back, through the forbidden forest, with only the light of the full moon to guide them, just to try and help Remus. It's also just because it's very musical and I'm very musical so that makes me love it all the more.

✩ @ghaniblue ✩ Sleeping With Ghosts HP | Regulus x Draco x Harry | 21.9k FIC | M rating | Harry Potter Rare Pair Fest IV I posted a Regulus/Harry/Draco fic last month that I'm very fond of. I started writing it more than 1 1/2 years ago, before I ever read a single Regulus fic. It's triad fic, and I'm pretty proud of the way the individual relationships develop. That was important to me, and I think I succeeded. Posting the first fic on ao3 with this triad tag doesn't hurt either.

✩ @celilasart & @wolfspurr ✩ Shifted Teen Wolf | Derek Hale x Stiles Stilinski | 25k FIC + ART | T rating | Sterek Reverse Bang This work was created for sterek reverse bang, a collaboration fest where the artists create first and the writers write second. wolfspurr and I just clicked when we talked about my art and the things that it inspired in their writer brain ;D the result is just an amazingly sweet and wholesome fic, that is still set in the teenwolf universe as we know it. but unlike many other fics which are full of violence and danger, this one starts with a bang and then it is a beautifully woven story of two people who just complete each other. also... the working title for my art was: tiny fox & sour wolf.

✩ @orange-peony ✩ At the speed of light Carry On | Basilton Pitch x Simon Snow | 26.3k FIC | E rating I picked [this fic] because I had a lot of fun writing it! It started off as a drabble and ended up 26k because I just had a blast writing it and the fandom support was so lovely. Last but not least, Pato made an absolutely stunning art piece for this fic, and it was the best present ever.

✩ @wynnyfryd ✩ i don’t know, you figure it out Stranger Things | Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson | 35.4k WIP FIC | E rating bragging about yourself is difficult, but i’ll just say it’s my favorite because i’m proud of myself for sticking to one project for this long, i love all the artwork the fic has inspired, and i just think the line “the river styx must taste like pennies” fucks severely lmao.

✩ @decaflondonfog ✩ growing pains Check Please! | Eric Bittle x Kent Parson | 50k FIC | T rating i am not usually a long fic gal, which i think is in part lack of patience, but also how attached i get to a universe if i’m working on it for a longer period of time. i finished writing this back in june but this fic felt very “me” in many ways and i think about them so often still  so it’s definitely my 2023 creation i’m proudest of!

[littlemisspascal]

twenty questions for fic writers

Thank you so much for the tag @kteague ✨💖

1. how many works do you have on AO3? - 55 (but technically, I listed out the chapters of Death and an Angel individually as fics before combining them in one altogether so the number's a little less)

2. what's your total AO3 word count? - 399,907 (again, a bit less cuz of reason above)

3. what fandoms do you write for? - Pedro Pascal mainly. Then the one fic for Melshi from Andor.

4. top five fics by kudos -

The Infinity Cube - multi-Pedro Pascal boys/Female Reader

Establish Ties - chapter of Death and an Angel

Together - chapter of Death and an Angel

Death and an Angel - Din/Female Reader

Mailroom Crush - Javier P/Female Reader

5. do you respond to comments? - Usually yes. Though sometimes life gets hectic and it takes me a bit.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? - I don't really like unhappy/angsty endings so...hmm...I guess Bitter Ends Turn Sweet in Time cuz it's kind of an open-sorta-hopeful ending?

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? - Infinity Cube's pretty dang sappy if I do say so myself. Also Love Triangles has a really sweet ending too.

8. do you get hate on fics? - In the past I got told my fics weren't worth reading because there isn't smut in them. And a few times I've been told they didn't like the endings of certain fics, that it would've been better and more preferable to them if I'd done X, Y or Z. But lately since engagement's been down across the board, the hate's been gone too.

9. do you write smut? - If I do I write it as non-graphically as possible. I call it flowery writing, just pretty words strung together to get a vague picture across. Like in Before. When. After. or Into the Blue

10. craziest crossover: - I haven't written a crossover 🤔 but I mean, my Reader character literally travels the Pedro multiverse in Infinity Cube so maybe that's kinda sorta close?

11. have you ever had a fic stolen? - Not that I know of

12. have you ever had a fic translated? - Nope

13. have you ever co-written a fic before? - Me and @beecastle have teamed up before on a few fics. I'm a lousy writing partner tho. Very slow and picky so bless Bee for putting up with me

14. all time favorite ship? - I have so many otps. GhostSoap is very big for me at the moment tho <3

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? - The Last Mandalorian comes to mind. I have notes and notes and notes for that fic, but between my brain fighting me and also, like, 1% interest from readers it just doesn't seem like a likely goal to reach.

16. what are your writing strengths? - I don't really have any noteworthy ones

17. what are your writing weaknesses? - Too many to list here

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language? - No problem with it. I do prefer though where somewhere in the fic, either in parentheses afterwards or at the notes at bottom that it says what the meaning is because I'm lazy and don't wanna google it 😅

19. first fandom you wrote in? - Mandalorian

20. favorite fic you've written? - They're all faves in different ways. But...Before. When. After is special to me--not just cuz it's my only non-Pedro fic, but I think there's lines of writing in there that are some of my personal best 😊

Non-pressure tags: @kyberblade @wheresarizona @wardenparker @mermaidgirl30 @morallyinept

[sioneve]

Love Live Shopping Haul

this arrived last week… Love Live artbook by one of my favorite illustrator, Noizi Ito-sensei…. 😭😭😭😭🙏🙏

I started a new segment #sioneve blog because I need a place to VENT MY FANGIRLING........ twitter limits my fangirl capacity due to that word limit

THIS IS REALLY special because i have been following noizi ito-sensei since the beginning of my exposure to anime (thank you shana & haruhi). And kid you not, i was surprised to find out that she draws a lot of Love Live Art

MOREOVER, THE FIRST ART THAT I DISCOVERED WAS NICOMAKI…CAN YOU FEEL WHAT I FEEL? DISCOVERING THAT YOUR FAVORITE ILLUSTRATOR DRAWS YOUR FAVORITE OTP AND FRANCHISE….. 🧎🏼‍♀️🧎🏼‍♀️🧎🏼‍♀️

honestly i haven't found much information if Ito-sensei is actually part of the official art team? Because for a fan she sure draws Love Live a LOT… which i'm blessed for that (Reading her message in the artbook, looks like only a fan, but she did a cover art for Love Live Anthology)

this is her illustration that broke me, I remember I made a post about it on facebook

GIRL LITTLE DID YOU KNOW YOU WILL HAVE THAT PHYSICAL ARTBOOK OF ITO-SENSEI 9 YEARS LATER…..

Here are some of my favorites from the artbook!

AND THIS IS THE MAIN STAR ☺️ nkmk doujin by the nkmk god itself, the one and only ooshima tomo-sensei ☺️🙏

tbh ooshima-sensei works aren't really my cup of tea. i can't feel the love between the pair if you get it??? maki is way too hornY and aggressive 100% of the time (in GL i prefer fluffy, soft, pure love & fuwafuwa and thats why you'll never see me making NSFW) + had to tape it because i don't want people in my house to accidentally open it 💀

But this Crystal Sugar and Machine Gun Series is so good, had a nice story build-up, superb angsty story and superb art. So this one is an exception, thank you for your service

Extra I bought it all secondhand, fortunate enough there's a local marketplace that put these gems up for auction. It was posted a few months ago and I just saw it this week, I thought I was too late BUT THEN THESE BOOKS WAS STILL AVAILABLE! Is this destined to be my possesion?? ahh I will treasure it I'm starting to get actively collecting Love Live merchandise now that I can earn my own money, hopefully I can make a Maki shrine this year

[patchofgrey]

A place for fics

This blog is for fanfictions (my own and others). I want this to be a place to showcase work such as snippets of my favorite scenes as well as some of my art for those scenes. I would like to also read and share my favorite parts of other's work and promote them as well. Fair warning; I usually write about my Naruto OTP, most stories are Nejiten based with sprinkles of other couples. If you would like to read my headcannons; here it be (because I need to fix what Kishi broke...which was my heart and my ship LOL) Most works are being re-written/finished You can find other works here as well: AO3 | fanficdotnet Works in progress: Down Under: The Great Assassin Hyuga Neji was dragged out of his underground prison cell, wrists broken by that Uchiha guard, and kicked in the face just to be told that he is to compete to be the Golden King's champion and guard the princess. Now why would he do that? For his freedom, of course. Book 1 to the Goddess' blessing series. Wripples: A collection of NejiTen one shots, some AU some not so much...requests are welcome Frequency: Continuation of Wavelength:Radio- After returning home, a decision must be made about if and how Tenten will go about handling her father's loose ends. She is convinced by her team to take on the mission. Neji is determined to support her as she steps back into her work and watches her become the legend that she always was. IPod Shuffle:The Shame Playlist: An aggressively smutty, lemon-limey...you get it. Each one-shot is associated with a song. It's called the shame playlist for a reason. (The first onshot is a SasuNejiTen threesome, fight me) Restless Days: Prequel to Sleepless nights; a colection of vignettes highlighting Neji, Tenten, and Lee's high school and early college experiences.

[drawthething]

002- louise

Unrelated but how are doing :), this is a Lil checkup

Omg that's so sweet, thank you 😭♥️ I'm doing pretty good aside from accidentally eating too much cheese stuff and now my body hates me

How I feel about this character

Favourite Belcher!! (tied with Tina though) Her design is iconic, her comedy is golden and we're so blessed with a chaotic criminal mastermind bunny child 😭

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Rudy, Logan, Jessica, Chloe (i told you, this fandom is insane) ((said with love))

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Rudy 😭 Their friendship is everythingggg

My unpopular opinion about this character

Said a billion times already I think, but the writers can't keep writing her all the life lessons and soft tear jerking storylines for the rest of the show 😭 She should be busy hanging out with biker gangs and scheming illegal business plans or something

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

Oooo I want to see more of her and Calvin's interactions. "The Taking of Fun time One Two Three" is a masterpiece if you ask me

my OTP

Tied between Roudise and Louigan :D

a headcanon fact

I'm team "grown Louise wears a beanie" :D I think it suits her the most and she also gets a Kuchi Kopi pin for it

[queerofcups]

trying my luck with "you & your perfect girl"?

ok, so i'm trying out the tactic of just writing when it/what comes up and I'm sure I will have more thoughts on abortion in the coming months [insert mournful laugh here], but have 900 words of smut that I cut from the story but is definitely scaffolding that'll probably come up again. after this jack shakes it off and is like yeah, that probably doesn't reflect anything about my mental state or self-worth. jack/self-loathing/well-paid sex workers is my check please otp maybe

“Harder,” Jack says, between the thick leather between his teeth. The man, Carlo, doesn’t speak much English--that’s usually the case with the service Jack uses--but he understands this, and grunts as he redoubles his efforts to fuck Jack through the too soft mattress. 

Carlo is just like Jack likes them, broad shouldered and big handed. He’s almost too pretty, thick eyebrows manicured just enough for Jack to think about sending him back with a tip and a no thank you. 

But he’d shoved Jack into the thick wall of the penthouse right after he’d walked in the door, and the belt between Jack’s teeth had been his idea too. Jack had been halfway hard already with the thought of a man waiting on the other side of his door, and Carlo had gotten him there, cock bloodhot and throbbing, in a few minutes. 

Jack’s simple, he thinks. He’s got three requests for all the men that meet him in this hotel--and it's the same pleasantly trendy hotel with thick walls and too-soft beds in every city--and they’re all easy to follow. 

Fuck him hard. 

Come in him. 

Make it hurt. 

Carlo’s nails are short, but sharp and they dig into the meaty muscle of Jack’s ass, dragging him back from where ever his brain wants to go. Jack hisses and shoves back, just to feel the way Carlo stumbles but doesn’t move. He’s relentless, thick inside of Jack, hips close and hands everywhere. Jack can hardly breathe for the pressure of him, pressing Jack into the wall, pinching Jack’s skin between his knuckles, shoving in and in and in. 

Jack thinks, errantly, of being set on fire. The sudden absence of oxygen, the white and red slash of synapses firing. He thinks of his skin curling away and when Carlo yanks his head back to bury his teeth in Jack’s neck, his fingers curl into fists and he stares into the white, white ceiling of the room. 

“Come in me,” he barks, and then again, “Fucking do it, come in me.” 

He knows that other people like to talk. He’s had men come over who want to call him things, want to call him a bitch, or a faggot, or worse things. Probably, it hurts and humiliates and burns hot and bright for other men who want to hide the things they want. It’s water cooler chat to Jack, the kind of thing he’s said to guys on the ice who begrudgingly buy his whole team shots later. 

And still Jack’s chest blooms red, and he wants to cringe away when Carlo laughs and asks him, in thickly accented French, if that’s what’s what he wants. If he’s sure. 

“I’m not a bitch,” Jack grouses and arches his back up, clenches. He doesn’t know Carlo, doesn’t care if it's his real name. He can’t place his accent, hadn’t gotten a good look at the tattoos that wrap around his arms.

“Fucking come in me,” Jack says, and shoves his hips back, fucking up Carlo’s rhythm, forcing himself to take control of this encounter. It’s what he paid for, it's what he wants. 

And Carlo, bless him, does his job beautifully. He shoves Jack’s head forward, into the wall, just hard enough to hurt. He bends Jack’s arm back, behind him, and up, pulling him off balance. He shoves Jack forward, forward until he’s pressed against the wall, and it's impossible to ignore how hard he is. 

And he coos at Jack in broken French, asking him why he wants to be Carlo’s bitch, why he let a stranger in his room, in his body, if he didn’t want it so badly. Why he’s just like every other white man Carlo fucks, why they can’t just be real men and fuck like they want to, instead of paying for it.

Jack’s shoulder burns, his neck hurts from the way it's arched, his knee aches and he’s pressed against the wall, over and over again, and he’s wasting precious air to sob out, swearing again and again that he’s not a bitch, he’s not, he’s not, he’s not. 

Carlo comes grunting, once loud and then short, breathy little thumps of noise. Jack feels it all, sudden wetness, the thrumming of Carlo’s hips against his ass, the immediate, crashing strike of mortification. 

Jack is still hard, he’ll be hard until Carlo has a second to catch his breath, pop a pill maybe. He’ll be hard until he’s overstimulated, his asshole sore and his cock gone soft and hard again. Carlo will come until he can’t anymore, and then he’ll leave, pleased with whatever money Jack sends him, because Jack always overtips. 

Jack will lay in his pristine, unmussed sheets and think about this first moment and the feeling of come leaking out of him. He will press his eyes closed, tight enough to transport him somewhere else and when he finally comes, it will hardly matter. 

He’ll get cleaned up, and open the paper bag he’d picked up from the pharmacy a few hours before Carlo came over. He’ll open the package and pop a pill and he’ll think about what he wants from dinner. 

He’ll text Bitty, thumbing a heart onto his message, a reminder that Jack will be home the day after tomorrow. 

Night will fall and Jack will open and swipe through apps, dumb phone games and hook up apps. Hovers over profiles that offer bareback, faceless profiles offering pictures of every kind of cock he might want. He’ll feel the phantom sensation of Carlo and he’ll text Bitty one more time before he falls asleep.

[leaf-boi]

Welcome Post + Master list:

Asks/Requests: OPEN (03/06/2024)

About Me:

Heyy! I'm Leaf! I'm 18+ and I'm recently getting back into writing things. My pronouns are She/Her but I'm also not bothered at all. At University I study Psychology and Counselling! I love dinosaurs, and I have recently discovered I am not the best at writing full fics, and I seem to thrive in Oneshots! My favourite colour is also green.

Currently, my hyper fixations are on Call Of Duty and Heavens Official Blessing. My fav characters from COD are: Kyle Garrick (Gaz), Logan Walker, the rest of Task Force 141 and the rest of 'Ghosts' team (STALKER). Yes I absolutely analysed their character profiles and team profiles. Feng Xin and Mu Qing are my OTP ship and I will die on that ship.

I hate all of you who hated on COD Ghosts. :(

(All Banners used (unless mentioned otherwise) belong to cafekitsune)

*Fandoms I Will Write For:

DC/Batman series (Mostly BatFam though)

COD (Call of Duty) (Ghosts, MW)

TGCF (Heaven's Officials Blessing)

JJK (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Voltron

MDZS (Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation)

BSD (Bungo Stray Dogs)

SK8 The Infinity

VNC (Case Study of Vanitas)

Genshin Impact

Haikyuu

*What things I will write:

Ships between characters

Fluff

Angst

x readers (possibly if i get asks)

Platonic ships

*Things I Won't Write:

Smut (Not yet at least)

Ships with minors in (Minor x adult etc.)

Cheating fics

*Warnings:

Angst (a lot most likely)

Mental health

Violence

Weapons

Alcohol

Medical and Military Inaccuracies

*Subject to change

Socials:

A03: Leaf_boi Discord: iamleaf#6044

Masterlists:

TGCF (Heavens Official Blessing)

Incorrect Quotes

[violivs]

I would just like to point out my favorite detail of the cast picture we used for the Lolilo Daily announcement post: Harriett and Jake giving each other their forehead Ls! The captains of the Beadick ship and adorable friends, everyone. (Also Fritso is there!)

[boyfrillish]

your works have me curious, what else do ya headcanon for our boy victor? :o (and other chars too! i'm just esp interested in how you filled out his blank slate)

Ohh this is a good one. Since I only played Sword for the first time starting in January, I'm still very much in my formative phase for headcanons and stuff. For most of the characters I can't even say I consciously headcanoned yet, even with all my thinking about everyone and saying "the whole of swsh is my blorbo" (admittedly with most of my focus on Victor and Hop because they're my number one favourites and OTP lol so there are definitely also ship headcanons in here, hope you don't mind! ^^"). I'll put it under a readmore since it kinda got a bit long ^^"

So here's my personal "fixed"/"core" headcanons for Victor when it comes to my own stuff:

he's transmasc and gay (this one was probably obvious since I've made on-text trans references in all but like, two fanfics haha)

he's the one who becomes Champion and is chosen by Zacian

Corviknight, Sylveon, Obstagoon and Toxtricity (evolved from the babby Toxel you get as a gift at the daycare) on the team

Fairy type association

He and Hop won the inaugural Galarian Star Tournament together and are the dream team everyone wants to battle but knows will be tough to beat (Hop calling them "Postwick dream team" is a canon thing, so!)

a short king

Now for personality and other random things? I'm open for so many things lol I did start out (even before I played) with the timid/soft-spoken/shy headcanon and I'm still so very fond of him being timid initially (and that's why Sobble as a starter + the Isle of Armor Kubfu are a perfect fit lol) — whether it's only when he's younger or still at the start of the game but growing confident once he gets his starter from Leon and finds he's pretty good at battling (the fact that he got it as a gift from Leon aka the Champion he admires + big bro of his best friend when Leon met him for the first time combined with Leon just being such a sweet and encouraging dude probably helped with that)

But yeah I'm open for many other headcanons/portrayals in that regard lol cool and confident? bless all the fanart. Easily flustered? sweet. On the oblivious side? heck yes. Sunshine boy? Absolutely, he is a whole sunshine boy 10000000000000%! Just give me all the positive Victor content and I'll probably soak it up happily and cry and have it fuel me lmao thank you for my life.

As for his starter, god I simply cannot decide. I picked Grookey in my game (I really wanted Sobble but joked I was obligated to pick Scorbunny because I like football and then GMax Rillaboom came and said "hi" lol) but as mentioned above I'm so fond of Victor with Sobble. But Scorbunny is also a perfect fit so I've just been rotating around for a bit between my fics (though I think I've yet to actually write him with Scorbunny???). Maybe one of these days I can make up my mind for both him and Hop which starter they choose ^^" in any case: I also live for the whole "they gift each other eggs of their starters and some of their 'mons are partners" thing so there's that (in fact it might've been easy to guess that in my world of things their Corviknight are a partners for sure)

Speaking of Hop, it's my headcanon that Victor has a crush on him pretty much since they're kids/since they first met, and is very much aware of it being a crush that just never leaves and his feelings grow stronger as they grow up. Meanwhile Hop also has a crush all along but is a bit oblivious about how to interpret his own feelings until along on the main story (Leon, meanwhile, guesses pretty easily that his little bro has a giant crush on that friend he keeps talking about all the time and lightly teases him for it, cue denial lol). So much potential for both fluff and a dash of angst... mmmm. By the post-credits story lines Hop definitely had that "Oh." moment and then is even more loud about his crush.

Based on me associating Victor with the fairy type, I have the silly little headcanon that at first he just thinks Bede is kinda funny, then it gets personal when Bede very largely contributes to Hop's mid-story crisis, and then Opal rejects him as a successor candidate only to later scout/adopt Bede in front of him. Cue him solo-ing battles against him with just his Corviknight (ok I admit this last part is also based on how it goes in my game lmao Bede is far too easy to beat... both as an opponent and if I team up with him)

Recently I've really been into the idea that Victor is asked to take over the Flying type Gym a couple of years after becoming Champion and then he's both Champion and also becomes strongest ranked Gym Leader (this is me guessing that since Gym Leaders can win the Championship, it's possible to be a parallel thing/Champions in general have a side thing they're doing rather than just being fulltime Champ, idk lol also, he totally beats Mustard's record for a reigning streak). His ace as a Gym Leader is Corviknight! (because what else would you expect from me, I adore Corviknight hahaha)

Now for "where's his family from" I am not sure if I have a "proper" headcanon yet. I've seen the headcanon that the protagonist's family is from Sinnoh and I like that hc, so I adopted that for the meet-cute drabble I wrote earlier this week but with a spin where I kinda combined it with some inspo from Elio|Selene (i.e. Dad's still working in Sinnoh/often away for work + combined with the headcanon I've seen for Elio|Selene's mom that she does have an Alolan background. unrelated sidenote, I'm really fond of the Alola protags' mom lol she's sweet). So basically like with all these other things I'm just having fun playing around with different possibilities at this point!

I'm also so very fond of flower boi Victor and it's one of my headcanons that he loves exploring and really loved the Crown Tundra adventures (and didn't mind that Sonia asked him to do all the work finding the Swords of Justice + was happy about the praise). He really enjoys tagging along with Hop and/or Sonia for fieldwork, and the two make it a habit to invite him along since they value his input and also want to make sure he gets breaks to destress from everything that comes along with being the reigning Champion, especially as the one who caught Eternatus + gained the title when he beat Leon. Especially Hop invites him along since that also doubles as more time together when they're both often busy with their career paths. Also on that note, Leon and Sonia being Victor and Hop's mentor figures just makes me so soft 🥺 the Leon being Victor's mentor doubly so with the headcanon that Leon is transmasc too (which unlike transmasc Victor I can't say is a "fixed" hc yet but I'm very fond of the idea)

(also, while I'm now all on the "Victor is a total career Champ/Gym Leader and thriving" train at this point, I still live for the type of angst where he gets a little bit of selfdoubt crisis — in the early years somewhat more subtle and like a case of stagefright like in my drabble "Believe", then a bit more into the future it's like "oh god what do I even do when I inevitably lose the Championship, can I even continue as a Gym Leader if I lose my title, this is kind of all I have going for me what do I do" but he gets through it since he has such a supportive network of loved ones and friends. Also another tangent here, I also love the idea of Victor as a (part-time) model so lol he definitely has a lot more than just a fulltime battle career)

He likes hanging out in Spikemuth with Marnie, Piers, and Team Yell, and especially Obstagoon and Toxtricity really have fun when they do. On a related note, I like the idea that Team Yell kind of become Victor stans too because Marnie thinks highly of him, so they cheer for him together with her (whenever she's not the one battling him in a match, obviously lol)

I've already rambled so much about various aspects I could think of ahaha so now since I've already talked about Hop + this is a trainshipping zone, I'll add some of my "core" headcanons for him!

is gay (or not clearly labeled but definitely likes boys. this is coming from someone who's very "???" about labels re: my own orientation but definitely is a boy-liker lol so please excuse the bit of vaguess here despite listing it in my core hcs hahaha)

chosen by Zamazenta (easy to guess when Vic is chosen by Zacian)

he's so supportive of Victor's transition, regardless of whether or not Leon is also trans, but it's a bonus when he already grew up with a trans big bro and then his best friend/crush is trans too and that's his two most favourite people in the world so of course he'll do anything to be supportive

fighting type association

he grows tall like Leon

He'd often ramble to Victor about what he's studying and Victor is always happy to listen and loves when he's so excited, so it basically turns into Victor helping him study. Also, they both make sure the other gets enough rest and destresses, already through their teens but especially when they're both grown up and Victor is still Champion (+ a Gym Leader) while Hop is now a fully fledged Professor. Even way into the future it remains a Thing that Hop excitedly rambles about his research or rants when he's stuck on something, and Victor is happy to listen and try to help him get unstuck (and Hop gives him a big smooch in thanks even if all Vic did was just listen and ask questions to hear more).

Most random thing but I so love the idea of either (or both) of them having freckles and same for glasses... bless all the fanarts with glasses for either of them. And while I also love fanart of Prof Hop wearing a more formal look, it's my wholehearted believe that he'll still wear the signature trackies look just with a labcoat now (and — you guessed it — Vic hogs his jackets. Nevermind that he has all the hoodies and fancy jackets and everything, the boyfriend jacket is so much comfier than anything else).

And I'm going to end this looooong ramble to mention that I've been developing fankids for them too! I already talked about them over on twitter and I'll probably talk about them here eventually too haha

Thank you so much for sending this ask, I was "!!!" when I saw it last night and couldn't help myself from rambling on forever lol. I kept the focus exclusively on Victor featuring Hop & them as a couple since they're my main focus so I have a lot more concrete thoughts about them than for any of the other characters (or ships bc I don't quite actively have side ships). But maybe I'll talk a little about others at another opportunity haha.

[ptrckjcne]

⇨ When the Sky Falls Down

pairing: steve mcgarrett x danny "danno" williams word count: 8.5k timeline: canon divergent / sometime towards the end of season eight, start of season nine title: inspired by / picked from and translated from the song "når hele himmelen faller ned" by anne grete preus

❝Everything happens a little slower here on Earth as the whole sky falls down.❞

short description: steve, danny, grace and charlie travel to new jersey, and visits the williams family.

read on archive of our own! || written as part of "year of the otp"

keep in mind this is not beta read, written at all times of day and contains stupid amount of fluff!

Steve was used to the snow. Naturally he was – the man was a fucking Navy SEAL, he had probably spent three years of his life living in a snow cave he had dug out himself in Alaska during his training. Alright, maybe that was taking it a bit too far – but still, the point comes across nonetheless. You see, the ever-so-versatile Steve McGarrett didn’t even flinch when Danny said they’d be heading to the mainland during the worst snow season in New Jersey. Hadn’t he known better, Danny would probably say Steve looked a little excited about the fact, and Danny wasn’t going to lie; he was more than just a little excited about watching Steve and Charlie spend hours in the snow. Just the idea of bringing Steve to New Jersey had Danny excited, a new kind of excited that he hadn’t felt before. 

He had been in Hawaii for Thanksgiving, working on the perfect dinner for the team with Steve, though it had all been disrupted when a call with a bomb threat came in, and they had instead spent the evening tending to cuts and bruises, mending each other’s hurt with whisky and kisses instead of a team dinner and celebrations. Christmas had, for some reason, been split between him and Rachel; he had the kids for the first few days, while Rachel had taken them to England for New Years. Steve – God bless him – had noticed that Danny was uneasy with the thought of only having a few days with the children over the holiday, and had put in his absolute best effort to make Christmas the best holiday ever. In hindsight, Danny had come to realise it was the best holiday ever, but that had nothing to do with the eccentric reindeer-costume that had been forced onto Eddie, or the way Steve had somehow managed to cram together an entire holiday into the span of three days. It had been the best holiday because Danny had his people with him; Steve, Grace and Charlie (and Eddie – he could never forget Eddie).

Now, however, as he was sprawled across their bed – their shared bed – he found himself simply watching as Steve packed, fascinated with the way he brought an op-like precision into everything he did. Eddie was slumbering at the foot of the bed, his head resting heavily against Danny’s ankle, seeming to be aware of how his human family were preparing themselves for a vacation he wouldn’t be going with them on. “Are you going to make running commentary, or are you just going to stare?” Steve chuckled, voice laced with amusement as he turned, shoving one final item of clothing into his bag. 

“I’m just curious to see whether you’ve packed for a Jersey winter, or if you’ve packed for – you know,” he gestured vaguely around, making it clear to himself that he meant the stupidly warm Hawaiian winter. “Your favoured winter, where you could wear shorts every day.”

Steve grinned widely, fingertips brushing against Danny’s calf as he gave Eddie’s head a couple of pats. “I’ve been to the mainland during winter before, you know. Seems you keep forgetting the years I spent in the Navy.” He turned towards the doorway as Charlie appeared, clad in his superhero pyjamas with a wide grin on his lips. “Hey, buddy, are you ready for bed? Did you pack your backpack with the things you want to bring for our trip?” Steve’s voice grew softer as he spoke with the young boy, who in return climbed onto the bed to have better reach as he clung to Steve like a koala.

“I packed my coolest action figures, so I can show grandpa.” Charlie nodded against Steve’s chest, furrowing his brow at the rumbling in the larger body as Steve responded with a chuckle. 

“Alright, well, we should get you to sleep then. Me or Danno?” Steve raised an eyebrow, as if the answer wasn’t clear enough to him with how Charlie had done his best to wrap himself around Steve, though the poking at Steve’s ribs caused the wide grin to return. “Roger that. How about you say good night to Danno, and meet me in your room?”

It caused Danny’s heart to skip a beat, the way he said it. Not long after they had admitted their feelings for one another, somehow hastily over yet another this could be the end of the world situation, Steve had made it clear that he wouldn’t want it any other way. His old room had been redecorated to meet Charlie’s standards, an odd combination of race cars, superheroes and cowboys, and Mary’s old room had been turned into a room suited for Grace, making sure she always had a place to stay whenever she decided to make her way back to Hawaii – back home – from college. In many ways, it had been the simplest yet most perfect admission from Steve that he didn’t just want Danny, he wanted it all – he wanted school mornings, homework, little league games, pancake mornings and all the messes that came with living with a child. Steve, who had never been foreign to the idea of having children, but had struggled to find the needed balance between his work and personal life, and when he in turn had been diagnosed with radiation poisoning (and, he hadn’t specifically told Danny, but the detective was well aware that if the radiation itself hadn’t made him completely infertile, there was a high chance he would never be able to have children of his own), it had seemed like the perfect time for him to commit, fully and wholly, to Danny and his children. 

Danny was pulled out of his thoughts as Charlie flopped against the mattress next to him, giggling like a mad-man as he snuggled closer. “Can you promise me that when Steve comes to wake you up in the morning, you will get up right away?” Danny huffed, arms wrapped tightly around Charlie, which made it difficult for him to jump up and salute his father with a Yessir, yes!, something he had picked up from the Navy SEAL, without a doubt. “Sleep tight, buddy, I love you.”

“Love you too, Danno.” Charlie replied, words muffled against the fabric covering Danny’s chest, before squirming his way out of the warm embrace. He could hear Steve’s chuckles from the room down the hall, followed by the low sound of his voice as he started telling a bedtime story, and based on the sound-effects – it could very well be a (hopefully) children’s appropriate version of some case they had worked (not that Danny hadn’t done the same; his mild and children’s friendly Christmas-story, which portrayed Steve as the hero who saved the holidays, had become a favourite of Charlie’s).

It wasn’t until Eddie started moving, stretching with a wide, whiny yawn, that Danny too decided he should get moving, following the dog downstairs to let him out back. Grace was on the couch, watching some ridiculous reality programme, the kind of show that Danny would never in a million years allow himself to be caught watching, yet he sunk into the couch next to his teenage daughter once Eddie was back inside.

“If you’re going to sit here, I’m not giving you a run-down of what’s happened.” Grace rolled her eyes, patting Eddie as he pressed his snout against her thigh, before wandering off to his preferred spot by Steve’s desk, curling as best he could against the rug.

“That’s fine.” Danny shrugged, kicking his feet up on the coffee table, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to wrap his head around the overly dramatic argument that was unfurling on the screen in front of him. However, as Grace yawned, he let his attempt of understanding go, and turned towards her instead. “You know, we’ll be getting up quite early tomorrow, probably wouldn’t be a bad idea if you headed to bed now. If you’ve packed everything you need for a few days in Jersey, that is.” Danny chuckled, knowing his daughter had his not-so-fortunate skills when it came to packing, and he was already dreading the time he would spend in the bedroom as he packed, Steve hovering over him and commenting on whatever he thought needed a comment.

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer, if it means I’ll escape you and your thoughts.” Grace grinned wickedly, pressing a kiss to her father’s cheek with a muffled good night, and vanishing upstairs.

Steve appeared shortly after, leaning against the railing of the staircase, a chuckle escaping his lips. “See, I’d come over and join you, but I know for a fact that you haven’t packed, and I’m not about to have you grumpy-packing at four am.” Taking the last few steps down, he ensured the front door was locked, and headed to the kitchen to refill Eddie’s bowl of water for the night, before returning to the living room. “Let’s go get you packed and ready, and then I’m going to turn in for the night. If I’m to deal with you and Grace at that hour in the morning, God knows I’m in need of a good night’s sleep.” He rolled his eyes, calling Eddie after him as he turned back to the stairs, Danny turning off the TV and the lights as he followed suit. 

Danny was convinced, by the end of his packing, that he had not at all packed everything he needed, but at the same time, he was convinced Steve hadn’t packed what he needed to survive the Jersey snow, so maybe he didn’t stress too much about having to possibly go to the mall during their stay. Zipping his bag closed, he was about to head for the shower when Steve wrapped a strong arm around him, tugging him to the bed instead. “Steve, I should really-,”

“Save the shower for when we wake up, please.” Steve murmured sleepily against the side of his head, his stubbled chin giving Danny’s cheek a bristly nuzzle as they settled underneath the sheets of the bed. “You’ll wake up more if you shower in the morning.” He tried once more to squirm out of Steve’s embrace, but unlike the hold he had kept on Charlie earlier, Steve was adamant about keeping the detective right there, in bed. “Turn your brain off, Daniel, and sleep, please.” Steve huffed, pressing his lips to Danny’s ear, and by some miracle, Danny fell asleep. 

As predicted, he was grumpy when the alarm clock rang at 3 am, their (correction: Steve’s) clock being set an hour before the kids’, so the Navy SEAL had the time to go for his morning swim, a jog with Eddie, and to take a shower before he tended to Charlie and Grace. The thing was, even though Steve pressed gentle kisses to his head, attempting to soothe him back to sleep, Danny wasn’t able to, and found himself ambling down to the kitchen, where he made coffee – one for himself, perfectly balanced between the far-too-strong coffee and milk, and one for Steve, with the spoonful of grass-fed butter that he for some reason had to have a cup of in the morning. 

Charlie was, like predicted, awake and happy long before anyone had the chance to wake him, and Grace was a lot more like her father; tired and grumpy. However, even ten minutes before Danny had planned, they were bunched together in the car, on their way to drop Eddie off at Tani’s (Danny had to remind Steve that they needed to return the favour in some grand gesture as they returned from Jersey, after all she had voluntarily gotten up early to greet them and make sure Eddie settled in at her place before work). The next few hours were more of a haze, sleepily making their way through security, making sure all four of them ate breakfast, and the flight itself was spent huddling together and sleeping (for Danny and Steve), watching a movie (for Charlie, who had wrapped himself in a blanket on Steve’s lap, watching a cartoon on the in-seat screen, until he fell asleep during the last hour of the flight), and texting friends (for Grace).

The first thing they noticed as they reached Newark, was the chillier temperature, and Danny’s shivering told him he had gotten a lot more used to the Hawaiian warmth than he would like to admit. He was hanging back and for some reason just watching as Steve loaded their luggage into the rental car, before helping a sleepy Charlie into the vehicle, he felt like the luckiest man alive. Grace was leaning against his side, head against his shoulder as they watched Steve, and for some odd reason, it all felt like a full circle kind of moment. He wasn’t sure he would even be here right now, at the Newark Airport, with his two children and Steve, about to get into a rental car as they would be heading to Danny’s family. 

Almost as if she knew something was going on inside his head, Grace turned slightly, poking and prodding at Danny’s ribs, her jabs a lot harder than they would have to be back in Hawaii, as they now had to push through his down jacket. “Just marry him already, will you?” She groaned, timing it almost perfectly to the moment when Steve turned, leaning slightly back against the car with that ridiculous and goofy grin spread on his lips (the grin that Danny absolutely loved, and had come to realise was a grin reserved for him and the kids only). “He’s been used as a pillow by Charlie, and has been carrying around halfway sleeping and drooling Charlie since we got off the plane. Do you really need an eccentric kind of proposal or whatever after that?”

She didn’t give him the chance to answer, though, pushing away from him as she headed for the car. Chuckling, Danny gathered his energy and followed her, though instead of getting into the car, he wrapped himself around Steve’s torso, fingers in the belt loops of his jeans and head against his chest as he hummed contentedly. The smooth surface of the Navy SEAL’s down jacket was cold to touch, and in a weird way it jolted Danny’s energy levels a little, waking him up in time to notice that Steve was pressing the car keys into his hands. “Wait, you don’t want to-,”

“This is your home-turf, Danny.” Steve grinned, patting gently against Danny’s hands, which were now wrapped around the cold metal of the keys. “If you wish for me to give off the gentleman impression for your parents, however, we can pull over and swap places as we near their house.”

“If we’re going to do that, we might as well also put you in a jacket where the shoulder isn’t stained with Charlie’s drool.” Danny rolled his eyes, not failing to notice how the grin on Steve’s lips widened even more. Lowering his head slightly, Steve pressed a kiss to the corner of Danny’s mouth, warm breath ghosting over his lips, before moving himself out from his spot between Danny and the car. There was undoubtedly something odd about seeing Steve, the man who claimed to get motion sickness whenever he didn’t sit behind the wheel himself, get into the passenger seat – but maybe it was just Steve’s way of telling Danny that he trusted him with his heart, body and soul (and health). 

He was about to open the door to the driver’s seat when his phone buzzed, presumably with another text message from his mother, and quite like the last 47 messages he had received from her, this was laced with worry about how to make sure the house was properly prepared to greet Steve. At this point he was sure that if he told them Steve needed a full home gym to work out, they would have torn out everything in the basement and made just that for him. This one, however, was from Bridget, telling him that she hoped they were prepared for snow, because they sure as hell had chosen to visit New Jersey right around the time for the craziest snow fall of the year.

With fingers going numb from the cold, he ducked into the car, delighted to see that Steve had managed to wake Charlie, well aware it would be hopeless to put the boy down to sleep when it was bedtime if his nap continued long into the afternoon. However, Danny was surprised to see that, in order to keep Charlie awake, Steve had willingly given up his phone, sheepishly grinning at Danny as he realised the device had several of Charlie’s favoured games downloaded, making him just a little too well prepared for moments like this. “I know you kids were hoping to get a few things done over our days here, but I want you all to be aware that the forecast says it’s going to snow – a lot.” Danny turned, glancing between his kids, though seeing none of them were paying attention – Charlie in the middle of a very important round of what appeared to be Angry Birds, and Grace had her headphones tucked neatly over her ears, scrolling mindlessly on her phone. “Alright, lively audience we have in the back here.”

Steve chuckled, shifting slightly in his seat. “They’re tired, Danny. So are you, so am I. We’ve been awake since far too early, and we still have a few more hours until it’s reasonable for us to succumb to our tiredness.” He shrugged slightly, reaching across to place a hand on Danny’s thigh, giving it a light squeeze, just like he would do whenever he was behind the steering wheel. “Now, I don’t know if this whole place holds something of a meaningful memory for you, but I’m sure there are other parts of Jersey you’d rather show me than the airport, right?”

His tone was teasing, and his touch was warm, and alright, Danny found himself agreeing, because the neighbourhood where he grew up was a whole lot nicer than the Newark Airport, and with the rate of his mother’s preparations, he should probably make sure they got to the comfort of Danny’s childhood home. The drive seemed longer than Danny could remember, and it could be because he had Steve in the passenger seat, the Navy SEAL being completely quiet, though Danny could tell he had entered the same type of focus he did when they were on a stakeout, possibly to make sure he didn’t fall asleep. Danny found his hand, still resting against his thigh, and tangled their fingers together, giving the larger hand a gentle squeeze. 

Steve grinned at that, and though it wasn’t the most practical considering Danny was driving (he was grateful that Steve had rented a car with automatic transmission), their hands remained linked until Danny pulled onto the street where his parents were residing. Even then, it wasn’t he who pulled away from the touch, as much as it was Steve, who turned slightly in his seat to make sure the kids in the back were awake, Charlie returning the mobile device to his hand with a muffled statement that he should probably charge it. “You’ve really done it now, babe – letting him know you’ve got those games on there.”

“I don’t mind.” Steve shrugged, pocketing his phone as Danny pulled into the driveway, parking the rental car behind his dad’s sedan.

There was a thin layer of snow on the ground, maybe a warning sign of what was to come, though Danny only revelled in the sound of snow, gravel and ice crunching underneath his boots as he got out of the car. Based on Steve’s expression, it wasn’t a sound he had heard in a very long time, an expression that in turn had Danny stifling a laugh. “If this amuses you, I should only hope we get a proper snowfall tomorrow. Charlie won’t let you be inside for one second, I know that much.” He grinned, moving around the car to retrieve their luggage from the trunk as Grace made her way to the front door, and Steve got Charlie out of the car. 

With one arm supporting Charlie, who clung to Steve like his life depended on it (he had taken to doing that with Steve, and it didn’t seem like either one of them minded – Danny knew he certainly didn’t mind), Steve cheekily snuck an arm around Danny’s torso, covering his move as he picked a bag from the trunk and placed a kiss to his cheek. “Maybe I don’t mind being outside with Charlie all day, have you thought about that?”

No, he hadn’t – but then again, Danny shouldn’t be surprised about the thought either. Steve, though being an adult, nearing his 42nd birthday, was a lot like a child, and without psychoanalysing him, Danny was well aware that the answer for it all laid somewhere between his mother not being the most present, before she faked her death and his father had shipped him off to the mainland. Catching his breath, he found himself hanging back for a second as he watched Steve approach Clara and Eddie at the porch, easing Charlie into his grandma’s arms as the Navy SEAL himself was greeted with a hug and kiss on the cheek from Clara, and a firm handshake accompanied with a slap on the back from Eddie.

“Danny, will you be joining us today, or do you have other plans?” Clara called, arms wrapped tightly around the growing boy in her embrace, Eddie well into leading Steve inside, probably already chattering away about something only Steve could keep up with. 

“Take my son inside, will you? I’d prefer it if he didn’t get pneumonia because you keep him out here.” Danny rolled his eyes as he reached the porch, though his expression mellowed as Clara tugged him closer, and had him wrap his arms around them both, a move that caused Charlie to squirm. “I’ve missed you, ma.” 

“I’ve missed you too, Danny.” Clara hummed into their hug, pushing her son in front as they all headed inside. Grace had vanished, presumably to set up shop in a room that had previously belonged to one of Danny’s sisters. Steve had reached the living room, already engaged in listening to one of Eddie’s long monologues about the gratitude he had for men like Steve, who had served the country. “I was thinking maybe we could have lasagna for dinner, if you would want to help me?”

“Of course.” Danny chuckled, looking down at Charlie’s bag which stood at his feet. “Where do you want us?”

“I’ve got your old room for you, Matt’s old room for Charlie. I think Gracie ended up staying in Bridget’s old room, but that means Stella’s room is free if you, you know…” Clara trailed off, nodding slightly in the direction of Steve, and Danny couldn’t help but grin widely – it was sweet really, that she had made sure there was a way out of sharing a bed with Steve if Danny didn’t want to. Not that they would need to use that way out, of course. “I didn’t want to assume anything.”

“It’s alright, ma. We’ll share my old room.” Danny was still grinning as he toed off his shoes and shrugged off his jacket, not failing to pick up on his mother’s about damn time, before approaching his dad. “Dad, please give him time to breathe, yeah?” He rolled his eyes slightly at Eddie’s wide grin, though returned the hug when the older Williams-man wrapped his arms tightly around his shoulders. “He didn’t fly for ten hours so that you could be his biggest fanboy.” 

Steve grinned sheepishly, lifting a hand to scratch at the back of his neck. “It’s alright, Danny-,” he shrugged slightly, though his grin softened as Charlie came running, backpack in hand as he wanted to show his grandpa the latest additions to his group of action figures. It didn’t take a lot more for Eddie to almost seem as if he had forgotten Steve and his years of service, instead turning to the couch with his grandson. In turn, Steve turned fully to Danny, the smile still having the corners of his mouth turned upwards. “Besides, he was just promising me that he’d get around to telling me all the stories of how your former colleagues in the Jersey police had their fun with you while you were the boot of the squad.” 

Once again, Danny rolled his eyes, shifting his grip on Charlie’s bag, only then realising Steve was carrying both of theirs. “Might as well just take you down to the precinct, and you can get the stories from those responsible for it.” He brushed past Steve, though didn’t get far before he turned, making sure the Navy SEAL was following him – and was caught by surprise as Steve bumped into him, huffing out a sharp breath of air at the contact.

“You shouldn’t just abruptly stop walking.” 

Rolling his eyes (again), Danny continued walking, leading Steve down the hallway he had lots of fond childhood memories from – playing tag with Matt on summer days, where the whole house and the backyard was used as their personal running track, Bridget and Stella making creative obstacles as Danny would impress them with his skills of driving a remote controlled car (at least he thought they were impressed, but then again, with pre-teen girls he could never be a 100% sure). Steve stopped in his tracks at the door frame to Danny’s room, a goofy grin spreading on his lips as he placed his index finger to the height measurement that was last added, and that coincidentally also happened to be the very same height Danny still stood at. “You stopped growing at sixteen?”

“Shut up.” Danny huffed, furrowing his brows as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m sure you did too.”

“No, I shot up nearly four inches the summer after I turned nineteen.” Steve shrugged casually, stepping after Danny into the bedroom. It wasn’t anything of an impressive size, but it was cosy, and it soothed a part of Danny’s soul he hadn’t realised was acting up or being stressed. “Nice touch with the baseball-themed pillow cases.” The Navy SEAL stifled a chuckle as Danny’s cheeks flushed pink. “I won’t make fun of it, Danny, I promise, it’s just … I didn’t really have all of these things, you know? We’ve already established how different our childhoods were from each other.” 

Danny sighed a little, dropping Charlie’s bag to the floor, before wrapping himself around Steve’s torso – only this time, neither one of them had thick jackets to restrict their body heats from mixing. “If it becomes too overwhelming, or you need an out, you let me know. I have plenty of places we could go, and I’m sure my parents wouldn’t mind looking out for the kids if you need a breather.”

“I’ll be fine.” Steve chuckled, bags dropped to the floor as his arms came around Danny, holding him close to his body. “Besides, with the snowfall I heard was coming, I don’t think it’s wise of us to go anywhere else – other than out in the snow with Charlie, that is.” 

He had half expected Danny to squirm in his embrace, wanting to head back down to his kids and his parents, but he remained firmly wrapped around Steve’s torso, relishing in the possibility of hugging without disturbances. However, as he did shimmy his way out of Steve’s embrace, with a large yawn, it was with a promise of a calm night in, and a chance of turning into bed early. While Danny made his way to the kitchen, adamant to kick his mother out of the room as he took full responsibility for dinner, Steve found himself back in the Williams’ living room, where Grace was on the phone with her niece (Steve assumed), and Charlie was still eagerly explaining the stories behind all of his action figures, some older ones, presumably ones that had belonged to Danny and Matt when they were kids, had been added to the mix as well.

“Who made the first move?” Clara asked after quite a while, having come to sit in the recliner after Danny successfully chased her out of the kitchen, her head tilted slightly as she studied Steve with that same look Danny got on his face whenever he would look at him. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“I, uh-,” Steve cleared his throat a little, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to think – because which one of them had made the first move? His trail of thoughts were cut off, however, as Charlie came crashing down on him, having long ago perfected the puppy eyes as he now was well aware of the games downloaded to Steve’s phone. “Buddy, not now, eh? It needs to be charged, and you’ve got your grandparents right here.” He ruffled the boy’s hair, half expecting him to return to his grandfather’s side, though was pleasantly surprised when Charlie settled in his lap with a couple of action figures in his hands. “I don’t quite remember, I think, who made the first move. After all these years, and everything we’ve been through, I think we just both kind of fell into it.” 

Clara didn’t respond right away, her eyes filling with admiration as she took in the sight of Steve and Charlie, her husband seeming to agree with her unspoken words as he quietly tidied together the toys on the couch. “He loves you.” She spoke after a while, nodding at Charlie, who was far too distracted with the mid-air explosions that apparently were happening right there in the living room. “Well, I think both the boys do, as well as Grace, but from what Danny’s told me, and from what I’ve seen in the short time since you arrived, he’s only like that with you.” 

In those few seconds it had taken her to say those words, Steve’s throat had seemed to close up, and he found himself saved by the bell - or Danny - as the detective emerged, shoo-ing everyone to the table to get ready for dinner, requesting for Steve to help him gather the food from the kitchen. It was a nice, simple dinner, done just like Danny had done it time and time again in their kitchen back in Hawaii; a simple lasagna with garlic bread and a salad, and just like when they ate it back home, it was the kids’ (and Steve’s, though don’t tell that to Danny, he would never stop gloating) favourite dish. It was an easy kind of setting, the kind of setting Steve hadn’t experienced a lot with his own family as a kid – the kind of setting that eased the weight of Clara’s words. He figured it must be something about the setting, or maybe the house (or maybe it was the New Jersey air?), but he found Clara to be a lot less in his face than she had been when she came to visit Danny in Hawaii. 

The rest of the evening was spent the same way; Steve helped Danny clear the table, enveloping himself around the shorter detective while they did the dishes, before they joined the rest of the family in the living room. This time it was Grace who chatted away, eagerly telling her grandparents about her quest to find the perfect college, and if Danny thought no one caught his grimace at the thought of his daughter growing up, he would have to think again. Charlie had managed to come down from his post-dinner-energy-high, and found himself crashing in Steve’s lap again, sock-clad feet kicked up in Danny’s lap – to at least have some sort of contact with his father as well.

“We should come visit you all in Hawaii soon.” Eddie suggested, immediately having his wife’s eager nodding as a support of his words. “I mean, I haven’t been in a few years, and from what I recall, it’s a wonderful place all year round. Besides, Danny’s mentioned you have a pretty Merc in your garage, Steve?”

Steve flashed a crooked grin. “Yessir. It was my dad’s originally. We would work on it together when I was a kid, and after he passed, I took it upon myself to get her back on the road. It’s been with mixed success, but she’s more or less up and running now.”

“No need to call me sir, Steve.” Eddie chuckled. “You’re family, that means I’m Eddie to you.”

At this, Charlie lit up. “Eddie as in our dog?” 

Steve grinned, picking up on the soft chuckle that passed Danny’s lips from beside him. “Almost, buddy.” Danny placed a palm against Charlie’s leg. “Maybe we have to figure out a new nickname-solution there if grandma and grandpa comes to visit?” He suggested further, the eager nodding from his son telling him he had already started the search for a nickname suited for the golden-coloured Labrador back on Oahu.

“So, you have a dog now and everything?” Clara raised her eyebrows, seemingly surprised at the admission of their canine friend. “I thought I could quite vividly remember that you wouldn’t be interested in getting another pet unless you were married, Danny.”

Danny stilled at his mother’s comment, a comment that had also whipped Grace’s attention into action, the teenager staring wide-eyed at her father from the recliner next to Clara. “Actually, Eddie and I were kind of a package deal.” Steve cleared his throat, pressing his elbow gently against Danny’s arm, a weak attempt at grounding him, soothing his nerves. “I was supposed to be a temporary home for Eddie, but he and I have a special bond, and I couldn’t let him leave. So, Danny brought his two kids walking on two legs into the relationship, and I guess you could say I brought my four-legged kid.” If Clara didn’t seem convinced, she had done a good job at schooling her expression, but at his side, Danny had resumed breathing normally, and that was a lot more important to Steve than having to explain any further on why he ended up adopting a dog who had previously worked with the Marines and the DEA. 

They sat a while longer, conversation easing into something everyone could participate in, until Charlie started stifling yawns against Steve’s shirt, the Navy SEAL chuckling as he shifted the way his arms were wrapped around him. “Maybe we should get you ready for bed, huh? You’ve got to rest up if all this snow is coming, I’m gonna need you to teach me how to build a snowman.” 

“We should let you all turn in for the night.” Eddie was quick to speak, sending his son a short, acknowledging nod as Danny looked at him. “You’ve been travelling since early morning, and as Steve pointed out, there’s going to be quite the snowfall tomorrow. Can’t have anyone falling asleep out there, can we?”

A string of hugs and good nights were shared, Clara and Eddie taking it upon themselves to turn off lights and make sure everything was closed and locked correctly. Upon reaching the row of bedrooms, Danny carefully picked Charlie out of Steve’s arms, mumbling something about him being able to walk fine (which only caused Steve to grin widely in response), before the three of them bunched together in one bathroom to brush teeth and get ready, and if any of them were jealous of Grace who had the bathroom belonging to Stella and Bridget’s old rooms all to herself, well, neither one of them said anything.

Danny took it upon himself to tell Charlie a bedtime story that night, meanwhile Steve paid a visit to Grace, who seemed comfortably at home in her aunt’s room. Pressing a kiss to her head, followed by a mumbled sleep tight, he reunited with Danny in the hallway. “Charlie didn’t want your stories?”

“Never got around to asking, he fell asleep before I was one third into the story I started telling him.” Danny shrugged slightly, a step or two in front of Steve as they moved back to the detective’s old bedroom, quietly changing to their pyjamas, which more or less consisted of Steve’s t-shirts (Danny found he was a lot more comfortable sleeping in Steve’s larger, more loose fitting t-shirts, than his own rather tight ones) and plaid pyjamas pants. “You know, it’s a good thing you’re a snuggler when we sleep, because I had forgotten that this bed was smaller than a double.” 

Steve scoffed, though allowed for Danny to settle against him under the covers of the bed, a contented hum escaping the detective. “You know, the one thing that really benefits me by enjoying cuddles is the fact that I can definitely turn you over and use you as a shield if Charlie decides to do a cannon-ball onto the bed in the morning.” His tone was warm, teasing even, as he wrapped his arms tighter around Danny, the detective sleepily mumbling a response of something against Steve’s shoulder. “Alright, good night, Danno.” 

They slept soundly most of the night, only waking once to the sound of a plough truck clearing the roads of snow outside, having them mumble incoherent sentences about having to spend some time outside with Charlie, before falling asleep again – and then they didn’t wake until Charlie had, in fact, climbed into their bed, sprawling across them with a goofy grin on his lips. “Good morning.” He giggled, before climbing fully onto Danny’s body, allowing Steve’s eyes a moment to adjust to the brightness of the winter sky that was pushing through the curtains. Danny, on the other hand, simply groaned into his pillow, an arm around Charlie’s chest as he tucked the boy into the tight space between himself and Steve, much to the squirming boy’s delight. “No, let me go, Danno, I want to eat breakfast and go outside.” Danny, still with his eyes closed and face halfway buried into the pillow, loosened his grip on Charlie, who immediately squirmed out of the embrace and turned to Steve. “Will you come with me?”

“Yeah, buddy, come on.” Steve chuckled, waiting until Charlie was halfway into the living room before he quickly changed from his pyjamas, and left the bedroom. “Good morning, Clara.” He smiled as he entered the kitchen, having already figured from the smell that she had started making a classic Williams’ tradition, with pancakes for breakfast. Charlie had been lifted to sit on the counter, in a safe distance from the stove, with a glass of orange juice.”

“Good morning, Steve.” She almost chirped happily as a response, though didn’t take her eyes off the fluffy-looking pancake she was cooking. “I hope you’ve slept well, and that the snow plough didn’t wake you too badly. They aren’t always so considerate of the time they decide to make their way through this neighbourhood when the snow’s falling like it is now.” Clara sighed, flipping the pancake before she turned towards the Navy SEAL. “I’ve set out cups for coffee, both for you and for Danny.”

Steve smiled widely, reaching over to ruffle Charlie’s hair, being caught by surprise as Clara wrapped an arm around his torso, pulling him in for a halfway hug. “Thank you, Clara.” He hummed, sneaking an arm around her shoulders to give her a light squeeze, before turning back to the coffee boiler, pouring himself and Danny a cup each of the slightly burnt coffee, made with some local blend (if the bag of coffee ground neatly positioned near the coffee boiler was anything to go by). “I’ll just bring this to Danny. I’ll be back to help with whatever you need soon.”

“Prepare yourself to go outside quite soon after breakfast.” Clara spoke up before he had even had the chance to leave the kitchen, ceramic of the cup warm against his hand as he turned to look at her, evidently curious about what she meant. “Charlie’s been telling me of how he wants to go outside as soon as possible after breakfast, but he’s also adamant of not bringing my husband out. Apparently you’re the only star shining in his sky.”

Steve had half expected her words to come laced with something annoyed, something hurt even, as they were there, with them, Charlie’s grandparents – yet the young boy wanted to include Steve in his every move - but it was nothing of the sort. Maybe it was Danny’s way of making sure Steve didn’t get too overwhelmed by the visit, by the sudden exposure to a family that was a lot closer than the one Steve had grown up with. Chuckling lightly as he saw Charlie’s grin, from where the boy was looking at him over Clara’s shoulder, Steve found himself nodding. “Alright, well, it’s a good thing I brought warm clothes then.” 

He handed Danny’s coffee to him with a stubbled kiss to the temple, quickly changing into something he knew from Navy-experience would keep him warm during an outing in the snow. Danny, on the other hand, decided to hang back when Steve made his way back to the kitchen, quickly being ushered out and ordered to sit down by the dining room table with Charlie, where the two of them, alongside Grace and Danny, who at some point had figured it was time for him to drag himself out of bed, the coffee cup still glued to his hands, were served impressive stacks of fluffy-looking pancakes. 

“Try not to eat like an animal, please, Steven.” Danny rolled his eyes, though his tone was teasing as he reached out to kick his shin underneath the table. The comment, unheard by Clara (who was in the kitchen again, refilling her own cup of coffee before joining them) and Eddie (who was out ploughing snow in the house’s driveway), only made Steve grin, as Charlie looked between them, a curious look spread on his face. “Don’t worry, Charlie, I’ll tell you later why we call Steve an animal.”

Though still looking between them, the five year old seemed content with the answer, turning back to his mission of devouring his pancakes – and it had Steve wondering if maybe it was Charlie who was the animal when all came down to it. Yet, neither one of them commented on it, instead turning to their own food. Grace kept the conversation going with Clara once she returned to the table, their chatter consisting mostly of things that caused Danny to panic on a good day (college applications, boyfriends, plans for university, if she was ever going to move back to New Jersey), yet in this setting, his legs tangled with Steve’s underneath the table, gaze locked on Charlie who was happily munching away on his syrup drowned pancakes, and with Grace right there at his side, it didn’t even seem as if he noticed her words.

Not surprisingly, Steve and Charlie were the ones who finished their breakfast first, gratefully thanking Clara for the food, before getting ready to head outside. Danny simply chuckled, lifting the coffee cup to his lips as his mother turned to look at him, a cheeky smile spreading on her lips. “You’ve got yourself a third kid there.”

“Tell me about it.” Danny rolled his eyes, sipping his coffee. “They’ve both got a lot of joy in each other’s company, though. I know there was a time where Rachel absolutely hated the idea of Steve being such a big part of Charlie’s life, but now … well, if she still has something against it, she’s doing a good job at keeping her mouth shut.”

“If she sees how happy her son is, she’ll know to keep her thoughts to herself.” Clara simply shrugged, sipping her own coffee. Grace, with her blessed sixth sense (or whatever it was), excused herself from the table with a kiss to her grandmother’s cheek, and hurried off to the room she had been sleeping in. “The way he is with you, with the kids, it’s unlike anything I ever saw from your ex-wife. The way Charlie turns to him? I hope you treasure that, Danny. If anything, I hope it helps you realise that you have nothing to worry about in a relationship with him.” She smiled, trailing off as Charlie poked his head into the dining room, a large and toothy grin flashed in their direction as he announced they would be going outside to make snowmen. “You should teach Steve the secret Williams’ snowman trick, Charlie.” Clara winked at her grandson, receiving an eager nod in response, before he hurried back to the hall, the sound of his and Steve’s laughter mixing as it grew fainter, vanishing behind the sound of the front door shutting. “I hope you see as clearly as the rest of us that he’s not just in it for you, he’s in it for the whole package. You, the kids, the family – he wants it all.”

“Yeah, we’ve talked about it, the whole thing.” Danny leaned back against the hard, wooden chair, not failing to notice the cracking sound of the chair’s back. “Sometime after we admitted it all, and I’d been staying at the house and Charlie had been situated in the room that’s now his, and Steve just kind of blurted it out over a beer on the lanai.” 

“Romantic.” Clara chuckled. 

“I don’t know, I still think he was way beyond tipsy at the point of the admission, but somehow he didn’t back down from his words the following morning, when he had gotten up early with Charlie and I found them watching cartoons in the living room.” Danny smiled, once again lifting his cup to his lips, sighing slightly into the sip of coffee. “You know, the idea of bringing him here for this visit, it was all Charlie and Gracie?”

Clara hummed, the amusement evident on her face. “I’m not surprised. They’re crazy about him, both of them.” She glanced in the direction of the hall as the front door opened, the sound of someone shuffling inside catching their attention. “Not that you need to worry, he’s crazy about them too, and I’d say he’s crazy about you.”

Eddie made his presence known with a chuckle, his cheeks flushed red from the cold, accompanied with a wide smile and a slight sniffle. “Are you talking about the two who’re having the time of their lives out there? With the rate they’re going at, either one of you should head out with something warm to drink for them, and probably dry mittens for Charlie.” 

Danny smiled a little as he leaned forward again, swallowing the last mouthful of his coffee, before getting up. “I’ll head out and make sure they’re alright. Maybe you would like to make your hot chocolate, mom?” He flashed a grin in Clara’s direction, a smile that turned almost giddy when she nodded (it wasn’t like living in Hawaii gave him a lot of chances to drink hot chocolate, when the rest of the island was already ridiculously hot as it was). He stopped by Grace on his way to find a sweater, chuckling to himself at the sight of his daughter sprawled on the bed, happily chatting away with her cousins as they planned what to do when the rest of the Williams-family would drop by. Danny hoped Steve wouldn’t feel overwhelmed at the thought of the family gathering – not that they were all unfamiliar faces. He had met Bridget before, albeit briefly, and the two had seemed to hit it off, and while he hadn’t met Stella, Danny was quite certain she would like Steve – and the other way around.

The air was sharp as Danny stepped out to the porch, the remains of snow that had fallen off shoe soles and been brushed off jackets and pants giving the darkened deck a bright and decorative pattern. Steve had seemed to tap into a Navy-like behaviour, chirping out “yessir!” whenever Charlie asked him to do something, whether it be fetching a new snowball or digging up gravel to make sure they had what they needed to make the snowman’s face. Above them, snowflakes were still falling at a rapid speed from the sky, the small white spots a stark contrast to Steve’s dark hair (because of course he wasn’t wearing a hat). 

“Danno, are you going to come help us?” Charlie cheered as he spotted his father on the porch. However, at the sight of his father’s shake of the head, the five year old huffed, before turning back to the pile of snow he was actively digging in, seemingly unbothered by the cold. What he hadn’t expected, though, was for his father to hover over the pile when he looked back up, a wide grin on his lips and the dry mittens in his hands. 

“Grandpa told me you might have some cold hands out here?” Danny raised an eyebrow slightly, stifling a chuckle at the sight of his son’s goofy grin, and Danny wasn’t going to lie – he wasn’t very impressed when Charlie tugged his mittens off, wrists red from where the snow had been layering against his skin underneath the sleeve of his jacket, hands freezing cold from having dug around in the snow. “Okay, let’s get these on, and if you can allow your hands to warm up just a little without being underneath the snow, you can get a cup of hot chocolate, yeah?”

“Okay, Danno.” Charlie grinned, carefully tucked the sleeve of his jacket over the hem of the mittens, before running off to sit at the steps of the porch while he waited for Clara to appear.

Steve, on the other hand, wrapped himself around Danny in a matter both of them had come to realise they enjoyed, stubble scraping against his ear, and a freezing cold nose pressing against his temple. “You were right, you know, there is something special about a Jersey winter.” He chuckled, the feeling of his rumble against Danny’s back sending some sort of warmth through his body. “Besides, the snowfall … it’s nice.” Steve added, extending a gloved hand to catch some of the snowflakes. “Maybe we should bring Charlie to Mauna Kea at some point. It’s not Jersey, but it’s the best Hawaii’s got when it comes to snow. He’s already a stellar surfer, he’d be an amazing snowboarder as well.” 

Danny simply chuckled, turning them to face the porch as Clara emerged in the doorway, bringing hot chocolate for them all, Charlie already fully engaged in telling his grandmother all about the snowman they were currently building. “I’d prefer for him to be a little older than five before we take him to a volcanic mountain.” He rolled his eyes, though a grin was still tugging on the corners of his lips as Steve nuzzled closer again, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of Danny’s head. Reaching down, he snuck a hand into one of Steve’s gloved ones, and squirmed out of the tight embrace before he tugged Steve along. “Come on, let’s get you warmed up with a hot chocolate.”

[soybombxiii]

Pokemon new season, paldea or whatever episode 6: TF YOU MEAN ITS A SHINY RAYQUAZA?!!?

There's no way this turns into a team up right? . . . It's gonna turn into a team up. O-oh . . . . Well I'm sure THATS not supposed to happen but uh. . . .he said "bye Liko" after making eye contact.

I haven't made (too m)any comments about Quaxly, but I love that he chills with the calm fisherman of the crew.

Omg Roy's proposing and Charizard gave Fuecoco the ball!!! The beach knows!! I never get tired of "baby's first Pokémon" OMG!! Roy and Fuecoco are the OTP!! (Is that your dream?) There's one more dream: Fuecoco's dream!! The fact Roy doesn't see his dream as more important and wants nothing more than to support his homie . . . . Blessings.

Who the heck is this Gibeon and who are the rest of these Explorers?!

[kanonavi]

hewwo tis hua on main :33 lettuce see 9, 17, 23, 31, 45, n 46 for the fic questions~

Hi Hua we are now hanging out on my blog! :3

(Hi it's me from the future crying because this is so long I can no longer justify not putting a Read More what have you done to me :sob:)

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

How can you ask me that when we’re in the Genshin fandom rn lol Jokes aside, I think that the size of the Genshin fandom is its blessing just as much as it’s its curse. Obviously it’s going to have all of the main problems that big fandoms tend to have, but the sheer number of people also means that there’s basically a guarantee that there will be other people that are creating the exact flavor of fanworks that I want to see and to create myself.

I’ve gone through highs and lows of how much fic I read for a fandom over time and I think Genshin is one of my all-time highs, but I’m pretty sure I’ve also found the most fics in Genshin that have just felt transcendent in some way to me. For a piece of media that I enjoy as much as I enjoy Genshin, I’d gladly take a large fandom that’s a bit of a clusterfuck over a tiny fandom where my thoughts and ideas don’t resonate with anything everyone else is doing. Even if it means I’m mostly off in my corner trying my best to remain blind to greater fandom trends, I’m happy in my tiny sandbox with the few friends that I share this experience with.

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favorite?

My first OTP for Genshin was xingyun! I ended up pulling both of them very early on, and even before I read their voicelines and realized that they’re basically a textbook example of friends to lovers, I was impressed by how well they worked together in a team and based purely on that I wondered as a joke if people shipped them. So naturally I checked AO3 and Learned.

They’ve been deposed as my favorites at this point by xiaoven, but they’re still very high on my otp list, placed lovingly in my S+ tier alongside xiaoven and kazuscara. I think that I would have ended up shipping them regardless of if I pulled them both early, but I like to think they started my taste off on the right foot.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

The thing about all of my fics is that they're either for a fandom/ship that I'm kinda divorced from at this point or they were written when I was 14 in the AO3 editing box and there is little to no in between. Which then leaves my Genshin fics... of which there are only 3, since most of my writing is done for me and my friends rather than the public.

Still, if I had to pick one, it would be When Suikou Met a Little Bird, a fic that was written in a pure, brainrotted haze but still kind of escalated to more than I ever expected it to be. It was honestly kind of an experiment for me, since I wrote it in a perspective I wasn't used to (that being Xiao rather than Venti) and the story just kind of came easily in a way that writing usually doesn't for me. For that, I was really proud of how it came out and just really happy with it overall.

That, and I also based it on one of the most Mentally Ill screenshots I've ever taken in-game, which I will include for your viewing pleasure:

31. What's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about your writing?

I got a comment a few months ago on A Brief Respite from Lantern's Light, which was the fic I wrote in a brainrot haze after the Endless Suffering trailer ended my entire existence, which said that my portrayal of Xiao and Venti was the closest to canon they had ever read and that the way I "captured the essence of their love is nothing short of perfection". Needless to say, I kinda ascended thanks to that.

The way that I write characters is something that I guess I could say I'm insecure about, since characters are often the vessels for humanity to be brought forth in a work of fiction, even if the characters aren't human themselves. I hold characters in very high esteem in works of fiction, but because I spend so much time thinking about my favorite characters, I'm constantly worried that they're kinda turning to mush in my brain and becoming what I see them as rather than what they really are. Headcanons are fun and I indulge in them plenty myself, but when I never want to lose sight of who those characters are in the story they were written for when I'm creating my own stories for them.

That's kind of why the xiaoven scene in the Endless Suffering trailer was Everything to me. Their first canon interaction, and it consisted of an exchange that was comfortable, especially when compared to Xiao's interactions with other characters in the past and even in the rest of that same trailer. Then, that says nothing of the tender gazes that Venti was giving Xiao the entire time. The entire scene just proved to me that whether or not they're in love, Xiao and Venti are comfortable with each other and that much is real.

So after I took that scene and built off of it into my own thought of how the scene could continue if Xiao and Venti were lovers, and to have someone say that it matched their interaction in the trailer and that I was able to capture that essence? It means everything to me, to this day.

i feel like a narcissist to have answered that question at such length but oh well lol

45. What is your all time favorite fanfic?

There are plenty of Genshin fics which have had an impact on me (oh haha impact that wasn't even on purpose), but I feel like I have to give this to what's probably the first truly transcendent fic I ever read. It was a Persona 5 fic called Black Star, I'm pretty sure it's still one of the most read P5 fics today, which it totally deserves.

It was a kind of epilogue to the original P5 before Royal or Strikers or whatever the fuck X is supposed to be were ever conceived, and in my honest opinion Black Star did it better than any of them ever have and ever will. It's a fic that says what it means to, nothing more and nothing less, and as I look back over the past 5 years of Atlus milking the life out of this story that used to have meaning, it's so goddamn refreshing to have this author who rolled up, wrote a perfect epilogue for P5 and then nothing else for the fandom. Wherever they are, I hope they're living their best possible life.

Black Star fixed the main thing that the original P5 fucked up, which was Goro Akechi. Akechi barely had a character arc in the original, even by the standards of P5 writing, but in this fic he was able to gain redemption as well as a resolution on his complicated feelings towards Joker in a way that I don't even think Royal did as well. Full disclosure, I used to be a hardcore shuake shipper and Black Star is a gen fic, but there are plenty of fics which give Akechi resolution in a way that incorporates romantic feelings towards Joker which I also love. However, I just think Black Star is able to surpass them in certain regards because of how it actualizes Akechi in his own personhood independent of anyone else. At this point in my life cycle as a goroboy, I really just think that when Akechi is at his lowest like he is in this fic, he just needed anything, even the faintest glimmer of trust in him from someone in his life that he's able to do good even after all the wrong he's done in order for him to at least want to try. That can be given to him regardless of any kind of romance, and Black Star has always done it best.

I also just love the way it builds off of P5's world with Paranoia Syndrome and the Dead Sea in which Mementos rots. Again, it's like I said before, no official continuation of Persona 5 has ever and will ever do it better than Black Star. ...i should read it again at some point.

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

I am once again being made to choose between one of my three entire Genshin fics lol. But for this question I honestly feel like I have to go with A Brief Respite from Lantern's Light. It's short, but also out of my three fics I think it best demonstrates my mental state and how xiaoven exists in my brain, being rotated like a rotisserie chicken. In a way it could be kinda like my mission statement? Or like. My conceit? OH ITS LIKE MY XV COVER LETTER. i hate that metaphor, god lol

But yeah, we end with a simple answer: if you come to me for xiaoven, the xiaoven in that fic is what you're signing up for <3

[icannotreadcursive]

For the fandom ask game, I feel like I should know the answers to this, already, but I am GENUINELY curious. So, The Old Guard.

Okay, let's effin' go--

Favourite Female: It is a damn near tie between Nile and Andy but based on hiw often I have Nile as my POV character when I write I think I have to give it to her by a hair.

Favourite Male: Nicky [insert Marge Simpson "I just think he's neat" here]

3 Other Favourite Characters: Andy, Joe, Booker

3 OTPs: Andy/Quynh, Joe/Nicky, and uhhhhhh Booker/therapy

Notp: Nile/Booker. I really hope the Book of Nile shippers are having fun but I want them to do so far far away from me.

Funniest character: Joe, no question

Prettiest character: So I just stared at this for a good 3 minutes while my tea steeped because, like, none of the main cast strike me as pretty. Some of the actors are, depending on context, but the characters are mostly either handsome or plain, and that's not gender dependent. So mu actual answer for prettiest character is the French girl at the pharmacy--what's her name? Celest? Is that canon or fanon, I don't know. You know who I mean.

Most Annoying Character: Merrick, hands down. Bless Harry Melling he is very good at playing an obnoxious self centered bastard.

Most badass character: Y'know what, I was gonna say Andy--I'd typed it and was about to move on to the next question--but I think it might be Nile. Or maybe it's a tie. They're badass in slightly different ways. Andy has the whole "has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn" thing going and the badassery of persevering and trying to do what's right even when you're exhausted and feel hopeless, and Nile has the badassery of stepping up and owning a new situation you've been thrown into with little preparation, doing what you feel must be done, because it's right, even though it would be easier and in many ways more comfortable to walk away.

Character I’d like as my BFF: Hmm, can I have the whole team? If I only get one I pick [stalls for a minute to think] Joe. I pick Joe.

Female Character I’d Marry: ........if I marry Nile do I get her military pension? If not I'm going with Celest again.

Male Character I’d Marry: Nicky

Character I hate/dislike/least like: Okay so here's the thing........this movie is extremely well written. Every character does and is exactly what the story needs them to do and be. When I say I hate a character, I mean as a character, not as a person if they were real and I met them in real life. I hate characters who are dead weight, who bog down the stories they're in, who are mishandled, or seem to exist just to be irritation for the sake of being irritating--I hate the grape headed guy from BnHA, I hate Thanos as he exists in the MCU. I don't hate anybody from The Old Guard. That said, I do love-to-hate Merrick.