#read my last published proper fic on my old account

[psychoticwillgraham]

btw super sorry for the self promotion spam i'm just. Really Proud of this one

[phoenix1966sbottom]

Hi! I really like your blogs and your recs :) Thank you for sharing so many great fics! Could you please rec some fics where Sam and Dean go on a vacation together?

Thanks very much for the kind words. :) This is a quick list because I have said multiple times lately that I am not currently taking fic rec list requests. There’s a lot going on in my life personally at the moment and I ask for understanding. Since folks keep missing those requests of mine, I’m turning off Asks for a while. Feel free to message me for anything other than rec list requests.

Fics where Sam and Dean take a vacation together. As always, heed the authors’ warnings were the fic is published. And please take the time to kudo and comment on the stories you consume, since it’s the only pay an author ever gets!  

Let Me Take You Far Away by Eugara on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest. Season 10. It’s exactly what they need. A vacation. That’s how Dean can make everything else go away. Cas was right. That’s all they need. A nice, little vacation.

His Pretty Lips, Another’s Lies by ladycrystal_C on LiveJournal. Sam/Dean. Wincest. A painful encounter with a Shapeshifter leaves Sam shaken and starts taking a toll on the boys’ relationship. Unwilling to let the son of a bitch destroy everything, Dean decides he and Sam need a break from saving people if they’re going to save themselves. (warning: it has been some time since I read this. I pretty sure it is only bottom!Sam, but proceed with caution)

Sea and Sand by srmrsj on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest.  Sam and Dean visit the beach and sex happens.

In the Sound a Thought (Where the Sea Meets the Land) by ignipes on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest. The world is simpler by the ocean. (no penetrative sex)

Perfect Day (I’m Glad I Spent It With You) by anniespinkhouse on A03. Sam/Dean. Wincest.  Takes place after Red Sky at Dawn (3.05). Sam and Dean go to Atlantic City with the 10K that Bela gave them. As usual, nothing goes to plan for the Winchesters, but perhaps, just this once, it works out better. (non-explicit sex)

Brothers on a Hotel Bed by softywolf on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest. “We should go on vacation,” He said casually, grabbing a slice of bacon and chewing on it as he looked at Sam.

“Vacation?” Sam choked out. “Why? And where exactly would we go that we haven’t already been, Dean?”

“The beach,” Dean answered with a shrug.  (no penetrative sex)

Sun Kissed Skin by audaciousdean on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest.  “The beach. The ocean. Girls in coconut bras and grass skirts. Pina Colada’s. That was a vacation.”

Helter Skelter in the Summer Swelter by Spiraling on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest.  John decides to give the boys a “proper summer vacation” over the summer between Sam’s junior and senior years, letting them camp in the Florida Keys instead of staying in motels. They use their time completely alone in the Florida mangroves, on a campsite right on the beach, to explore the sexual element of their relationship, which had previously only existed behind locked doors and between grimy motel bedsheets.

When the Levee Breaks by Orphan Account on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest. After Sam’s first hunt goes horribly wrong, Bobby takes him and Dean to his old vacation home in California, by the beach. Three uninterrupted months of beach time would be a dream to any kid. But Sam can’t stop having nightmares and can’t stop reliving the painful memories over and over again. Too add to that, he has to deal with the sick feelings he’s cultivated for Dean, his brother. And on top of all this, he has one life-changing decision to make that will shake the very foundations of everything he’s ever known.Thus ensues three months that change Sam’s world as he knows it. After this, things will never be the same again.

Dream All the Dreams of a Brighter Tomorrow by whispered_story on Ao3.  Sam and Dean spend the summer after Sam’s graduation in a small town in Virginia, while John is away on a hunt. Sam is recuperating from a concussion, Dean worries too much, but there’s whiskey, books, hours spend together on the couch in front of the TV, and the beach is just a short drive away. Things are good and they get even better when Sam kisses Dean one afternoon and they start to explore their feelings for each other. But Sam knows that the summer won’t last forever and he’ll eventually have to tell Dean that he’s leaving for Stanford. All he can do is hope that it’s not going to ruin the relationship he and Dean are slowly building, and that they’ll find a way to make the new situation work for both of them.

In the waves by Lalinka on AO3. Sam/Dean. Wincest.  Dean takes Sam on a break to the ocean.

We Time by Marie_Tomas on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Pre-Slash. After weeks of getting inexplicably angry and possessive with Dean, a tired and confused Sam is definitely grateful when Dean suggests that they take a vacation at a luxury hotel so that they can have a break and figure a few things out. Everything’s perfect at the hotel, where Sam shares a bed with Dean and they’re even more cuddly and affectionate with one another than usual, until Dean starts flirting with a woman at the bar, until Sam angrily heads back to their room alone, and he starts to realize that maybe his feelings for Dean are more than brotherly now, and maybe he needs a little more than the cuddling and the shared beds. (no penetrative sex)

Sand Between Our Toes by frozen_delight on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Pre-Slash. Sam and Dean, at the beach. Tag for 10x18 “Book of the Damned”.  (no penetrative sex)

at the edge of the world by jejunestars on Ao3. Sam/Dean. WIncest. Sam’s probably in love with his brother, but it’s okay. He’s handling it. (warning: I have not read this one and am only going by the tags the author used. Proceed accordingly)

All I Need (Is You) by Annie46fic on Ao3. Sam/Dean. Wincest. After the third trial is aborted, Dean takes Sam to hospital where he recovers. Dean wants them to rest a while, he needs Sam to get better in his own time so - with Charlie’s help - Dean takes Sam on a luxury vacation to the sun-kissed beaches of Mexico. Charlie suggests their cover should be as a gay couple and, reluctantly both brothers go along with the plan. While they both rest, recover and for the first time in a long time have normal lives, the brothers reconnect but in a way that neither of them ever expected.

[queen-of-the-merry-men]

Around the Block (Glass Believer Fic)

A/N: So @findingtallahassee has written me a lot of prompts in the past and I wanted to write something for one of her OTPs. So here’s a short Glass Believer Hyperion Heights AU I thought of awhile ago where Henry is Jacinda’s Swift driver and she needs him to drive her around the block to calm her newborn. @trueloveismagic might be interested too.

------------------

It was getting late when Henry dropped off his latest Swift customer. As he watched the tipsy couple stumble out of his backseat he silently debated whether or not he should call it a night. It was 3am and the late-night crowd was waning but so was his bank account the last time he checked. Pulling, away from the curb he decided that it was time to head home. He’d clock in early tomorrow to make up his losses but for tonight he was done.

He barely driven a block when he got another ping on his Swift app. Groaning, he reluctantly took a look.

A new fare, less than two blocks away and he was the only one in a 10-minute radius. Twisting his lips indecisively, he wondered if it would be worth it to cart another drunk frat boy back to his apartment for the night. After a moment of hesitation he decided to accept. Rent was due soon, anyway.

He drove to address praying to god that whoever got in his backseat wasn’t the chatty type. It was far too late to pretend as if he was interested in anything other sleep this night.

His eyes widened when he pulled up to the curb and saw a woman dressed in blue plaid pajamas waiting on the street. Her lopsided ponytail swung back and forth as she jostled the car seat under her arm, attempting to stifle the long winded yawn he saw fly from her mouth. Before he even rolled down the window he could hear the unmistakable cry of an infant reach his ears.

“My name’s Henry,” he said, uncertainly. “I’m your Swift driver.”

“Oh thank god,” she sighed, reaching for the door handle.

Henry watched, his eyebrows knit together curiously, as she shoved the car seat with her wailing baby in the back before climbing in the front seat and letting out a tired breath.

“So... where are you headed?” he asked, raising his voice over the sound of her baby.

She shrugged. “Nowhere in particular.”

“Excuse me?”

The woman vaguely, gestured toward the road. “Just... drive around the block a few times, please.”

A confused chuckle fell from the back of Henry’s throat, as he shook his head at her. “Yeah... that’s not how this works.”

The mother bowed her head, letting out a tired moan before turning to him with desperate brown eyes. “Listen Henry... do you see that precious ball of joy back there?”

He nodded.

“That is my two-month old daughter, Lucy,” she explained. “I named her that because she is the light of my life... but that screeching sound that she’s making right now? Well, it was the first thing I heard when she was born and the only thing I’ve heard since. I have been up since 6am yesterday, trying to get her to stop and failing miserably.”

“Okay...”

“The only two breaks I’ve gotten,” she said, talking over him, “were on the cab ride home from the hospital and on the hour-long trip to visit my step sister. Apparently the only thing that soothes is the steady rumbling of a car engine so I... am... begging... you... please just take me around the block. Because I am about to lose my mind.”

Henry stared at her. On closer look he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the spit up on her shoulder, both of them actually. All that combined with the wavering desperation in her voice as she begged him to drive her around the block painted a very visceral picture.

“Okay,” he acquiesced. “I will take around the block a few times. We’ll see how it goes.”

She shut her eyes gratefully. “Thank you. I will give you the best tip of your life, I promise.”

He doubted it, but as he pulled away from the curb with a crying infant and an exhausted mother as his passengers he couldn’t help but feel as though he’d been right to take the fare.

To her credit, the woman was right. They’d barely gone around the block once before Lucy began to settle. By their third time around, she’d gone completely silent and he was sure that she was sound asleep. He gave her two more laps to be sure, and pulled up to their building on the fifth, keeping an eye on her through the rear view mirror.

“Well, I’ll admit that worked better than I expected,” he said, cheerfully putting the car in park. “Think she’ll stay asleep for long?”

Realizing that he was getting only snores in response, his eyes whipped toward his passenger seat, where he saw Lucy’s mother out cold with her head against the window.

“Oh..no, no,” he said, gently shaking her shoulder. “Hey, wake up.”

Double checking her reservation, he starting calling out to her by name. “Jacinda... Jacinda it’s time to wake up.”

For all his efforts, Jacinda remained dead to the world and Henry dropped his head to the steering wheel and groaned. God, this was the night that would never end.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, the cackling beginnings of a cry began to rise from the back seat. Lifting his head from the steering wheel he looked back, worried, as Lucy started to cry again. Jacinda stirred in the front seat and though he knew it was probably the quickest way to get her out of his car, a part of Henry hesitated to let Jacinda wake up to a crying baby.

“Damn it,” he muttered under his breath.

Rolling, his eyes he climbed into the backseat, placing a hand on Lucy’s stomach as she started to squirm. “Hey don’t cry,” he pleaded, in his calmest voice.

Lucy’s face turned red, as she outright ignored him and started to wail once again.

Henry grit his teeth, unsure of what to do next. He wondered if he should take her out of the car seat. Jacinda probably wouldn’t be too fond of that idea.

Lucy let out another wail and Henry reached for her seat belt buckle. Screw it. Maybe he was just tired but if her mother had the audacity to slip into a coma in his front seat, he should be able to comfort the baby anyway he saw fit.

Cradling her in arms, he tried to bounce Lucy to calm her down. It was ineffective. She squirmed and cried in his arms as he tried to remember what his mother had done when he was a baby. She said he used to read to him and tell him stories. Unfortunately, there was only one that he could think of at the moment.

“Okay Lucy,” he muttered. “The publishers didn’t like this one but maybe you will.”

He started telling her the warped fairy tale he’d been working on the past few years. One filled with redemption and curses, old feuds and two battling mothers. He whispered to her stories of a cursed town filled with miserable characters who had no idea who they were and the young boy who worked to save them. It was a long, twisted, confusing tale (according to the publishers) but Lucy seemed to enjoy it. Listening to him speak, her cries softened and eventually went silent. Her eyes didn’t shut but instead remained focused on him. He’d never had such an attentive audience.

Telling stories to her he didn’t even notice how much time slipped by.

---------

Sleep and rest. Jacinda had long forgotten what they felt like. Every since her daughter was born it’d been a 20 minute nap there and 10 minute break here. She hadn’t truly rested in weeks.

Perhaps that’s why she slept so soundly in Henry’s car. If she’d known it would be the last proper sleep she’d get for the next few weeks, maybe she would’ve felt less guilty but as it was she’d count falling asleep in her Swift driver’s car and leaving her baby to the whims of a stranger as one of her lowest parenting moments.

When she woke up, the first thing she noticed was how rested she’d felt. Her bones no longer ached and her head no longer felt heavy with sleep deprivation. For the first time in weeks her mind was clear was as the sky. That’s probably how the panic moved in so quickly.

Squinting, against the glare from the windshield, she noticed that the sun had started to rise and illuminate the street.

Wait... the street?

She abruptly sat forward in her seat and was jerked back by the seat belt across her chest. What hell? Her head whipped around, as she took in her surroundings. Was she in somebody’s... car?

“Don’t panic.”

She whipped her eyes to the back seat where she saw Henry sitting with her daughter in his arms.

“You’re safe,” he said.

One look at him, and everything came back. He was the Swift driver she’d ordered.

“What the hell are you doing?” she hissed, frightened. “Why do you have my baby?”

“Because I figured leaving her alone in the car would be reckless endangerment,” he deadpanned. “You fell asleep.”

“I realize that,” she said, embarrassment rising in her cheeks as she glared at him. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

“I tried,” he laughed. “After the first ten minutes I thought you were legally dead. You were out cold.”

“Oh my god,” she whispered, shutting her eyes and running her hand over her head. Did she really just fall asleep in a stranger’s car with her infant daughter? “Lucy...”

“Is fine,” said Henry. “We’ve really gotten to know each other these past two hours.”

Two hours? “Oh my god!” She jerked away her seatbelt and rushed out of the car. Opening the door to the backseat she held out her arms for her daughter. “Give her to me!”

Henry immediately passed over the baby, and Jacinda sobbed with relief, pulling her close. “Oh my god, baby I am so sorry.”

She looked her over, relieved that her daughter seemed no worse for wear. In fact, she seemed calmer than ever. Not a hint of tears in her eyes.

Henry climbed out of the backseat, pulling Lucy’s car seat with him. He looked her up and down. “I take it you don’t have much help.”

She looked at him, confused. “What?”

“No offense... but you slept like someone who’s doing it all on their own.”

She hesitated, before reluctantly nodding. “It’s just me. I have a roommate who helps as much as she can but she’s visiting her mom this week.”

Henry nodded understandingly, passing her the car seat. “Sounds rough.”

She kept herself from agreeing. She made a promise to herself when Lucy was born to never speak of her as if she was burden. Growing up that was all she’d heard from her stepmother and she didn’t want her daughter to feel the way she had. Instead she just nodded.

“It’s worth it,” she said, looking down at her daughter. “Every minute.”

“I bet,” he mumbled, dropping his gaze. “Listen if you ever need another ride around the block, call me.” He passed her a drab business card. “Hyperion Heights is kind of my territory.”

She let out a small awkward laugh as she took it from him. Henry Mills, FICTION WRITER.

“Fiction writer?” she noticed. “Anything I would know about?”

Henry shrugged his shoulders, opening the door to the driver’s seat. “Ask Lucy. She’s heard all my stories.”

They said goodbye with a nod and a small wave, Henry watching the two of them through his rearview mirror as he drove away, the picture of them sticking in his mind all the way home. After a quick shower, he’d collapse in bed wondering in she’d ever call him again.

When he woke up he’d check his Swift App to find the best tip of his life and a five star rating.

[lokilickedme]

Hello My Lady! Just because you asked, here are my faves of yours: #1 King (no surprise here), #2 Jack (too crazy not to love, and the stream crossing of pretty much all your stories is genius) #3 Chem/BD/TTW/TKH/TWK/can't remember them all. They're all special in their own way! Can't believe it'll be 3yrs soon since I started squatting your page!!! God time goes by fast! I'd like to add a special mention for the Muse Meetings, sooo funny, and a Golden Snowflake to Aleks. Cute little bumkin.

Thank you @fudgemuffinanon!  Dear god, has it been that long?  Seems like I joined up last year…*sits here blinking at my posts from 2015, wondering how that happened*

**LONG TEXT POST COMING UP**

You drew the lucky straw today my darling, I’m feeling wordy and in the mood to share.  A lot of people have asked me over the last couple of years how some of my stuff came about, and you mentioned one that gets a lot of asks.

Lemme tell you something about the Muse Meetings.  Way back in 1998 when I got my first computer, one of the very first things I ran across by way of internet fanfiction was a little something called The Very Secret Diaries penned by a writer named Cassandra Claire (who is now professionally published under the name Cassandra Clare).  The Very Secret Diaries (which are hilarious, btw) woke something up in me - mainly because, as a lifelong writer who had never allowed anyone to read 95% of my work, I finally realized that yeah, there were other people out there whose brains deviated from the standard in the same way mine did.  Her writing style back then (in the Diaries specifically, I’ve never actually read anything else she’s written) was very similar to the way I wrote, and those Diaries were exactly the sort of silly, ridiculous, irreverent thing I’d scribbled in my notebooks for most of my life.  And people liked it, she had a huge following based on just those out-of-context glimpses of her characters’ personal thoughts.  She was writing behind the scenes thoughts of characters, things that would never make it into books, and it was brilliant.  That was the kind of stuff I loved to write but had never given myself permission to show anyone.  She was showing hers to people, and they were loving it.

Which gave me the inspiration to not only put my work out there in the public eye for the first time ever, but to stick with my personal writing style (which I’d always assumed wasn’t what other people wanted to read, based on the books I’d been exposed to most of my life).  Not change anything.  Just do me.  And doing me meant writing silly nonsense if I wanted to.

So - The Very Secret Diaries are more or less the inspiration for the Muse Meetings, or at least the official written version of them.  I’d always imagined dialogues with my characters outside the confines of whatever story I was working on, but never thought anyone else would be interested in seeing me write it out.

The Diaries made me realize different.  Not only were her characters yammering and complaining and snarking at each other (both out of character and in), they were doing it in exactly the way I’d imagined my own characters interacting in the real world.  I loved it.  Seeing someone else do what I’d always done in my head - and do it in an official, out-there-in-the-public-eye capacity, was a revelation.  Finally I was able to give myself permission to write the way I wanted to, without restricting myself to the styles and methods in the books in the family library.  It had always been in my head, but now it didn’t have to stay there.  I could write proper stories, but I could also write what was going on in the other room, where the reader seldom gets to peek.  And other people besides myself might like it because hey, there’s precedent.

That was freeing, and I am grateful to Ms Claire for that.

So, a little history that leads up to how and why I finally started writing out the Muse Meetings:

My first fandoms that I wrote for online were Harry Potter and Star Wars (Kenobi specifically).  And yes, way back then (late 90′s - early 2000′s) there were already muse meetings among my characters.  I’ve been doing these for a long time, and I wish the out-of-character stuff I’d written back then still existed (my HP stuff bit the dust when The Restricted Section shut down, and my SW stuff was on FF.net for a little while but honestly I don’t remember my user ID there or the titles of the fics, though I have searched…so they’re most likely lost as well).  It’s sort of a shame because there were some old Anakin/Obi-Wan muse meetings that you guys would have loved…and the stuff between Remus and Sirius while we were hashing out what was going to be in their next chapter?  It still pains me that it’s all lost, but maybe it’s for the best.  That was nearly two decades ago, we move on to bigger and (hopefully) better things.

After my urge to write HP fic fizzled out I stopped writing for a while, but there were always muse meetings going on in my head for stories I scribbled mentally.  To me they’ve always been more fun than the actual stories, which explains my love for gag reels and behind-the-scenes featurettes for movies (I watch those first, always).

And then I found AO3 - funnily enough, I discovered it while searching the internet for one of my lost HP fics - and I decided to start writing in earnest again.  With all those thousands and thousands of fics and endless fandoms, it seemed like the perfect place to indulge my need to share what went on in my head.  And as I settled into the MCU and my stories started to grow to include multitudes of characters, those impromptu staff meetings with my muses kept being called to order.  Stuff that my characters would never say in the context of their stories got said.  Scenarios that were too ridiculous to waste time writing were played out.  Arguments and fights and bantering between characters who, in the restrictive confines of their own tales, would never in a million years interact…now they were throwing poptarts at each other (and occasionally knives) while the side characters wandered out of the room to watch TV or raid the fridge or sat in horror as someone’s until-now unassuming wife brandished a melon baller as a weapon.

It was messy and fun and was by far my favorite part of the writing process.

That’s what eventually became the Muse Meetings.  You want to know how they escaped my head and became an official thing?

Well I’m gonna tell ya lol

One of my very first friends in here, the fantastic @elvenfair1, was one of my first readers at AO3 and she told me I should post links to my fics at this site called tumblr to bring in a bigger audience.  So I opened an account here, followed her, posted some links as suggested, and she and I began messaging back and forth pretty much every night as we wrote our respective fics, bouncing ideas off each other and discussing plot points and brainstorming for character names.  And as my characters sassed me and refused to cooperate with what I wanted them to do, I would tell elvenfair what was going on in my head with my dumbass OCs and OFCs and we’d laugh and gripe about trying unsuccessfully to reel in our unruly muses.

And then one night back in 2015 she said “You should post this muse stuff, it’s hilarious.”

You know what the first thing I thought was?  Cassandra Claire did it 14 years ago and people loved it.  So yeah, I can sure as hell do it if I want.  If nobody is interested in it, at least it’ll amuse me and elvenfair and that’s cool enough.

And so I did.  I started posting them in here first, then as people started requesting them more I eventually moved them to AO3 in a more structured format.  And now you guys have multiple Lokis hurling curses at a bartender and viciously baiting a hapless movie star while teenage versions of two other attendees flirt with unsuspecting OFCs, with an occasional appearance by Thor dropping hints about future chapters and looking for fruit roll-ups.  It’s messy, but it’s fun and I’ve always enjoyed writing it as a way to let my brain decompress, especially when one of my “real” stories has hit a roadbump.

Since then I’ve seen countless other professional writers doing the exact same thing - J.R. Ward even posts her own version of muse meetings on her official website AND has a published book (her Insiders Guide) that is almost entirely nothing BUT muse meetings.   It’s surprising how many writers actually do this and I sometimes wonder if authors like Poe, Steinbeck, Vonnegut, Tolkien, Gaiman, McMurtry didn’t do it themselves (I’d bet money on McMurtry).  Just goes to show there’s not an original idea anywhere in the universe…no matter how much you might believe you came up with it first, someone out there has been doing it for a long damn time before you - and a million more will do it after you :)

Anyway, I haven’t written any muse meetings in a while but they still go on constantly in my head.  I get asked about once a week to go back to doing them, and one day I will, when I have time for it.  My actual fics are struggling for writing time as it is and I made a conscious decision to weed out the unnecessary stuff in favor of “real work” (yeah right lol)…but yeah, the Meetings are still one of my favorite things and I won’t stop doing them permanently - they’ll be back.

So thank you Cassandra Claire for inspiring me to let them fly…if it weren’t for those whacked-out Diaries, the Muse Meetings would all still be in my head with only one person (me) laughing at them.

[newtscamanderxyou]

Dogs Don’t Wear Clothes (reimagined)

A/N: so i got a request to write a story with the same prompt a few months ago. i wrote it and published it, but was never really happy with the way it turned out. i was still trying to recover from writer’s block, and my mental stability was not great at the time. i’ve been beating myself up about the bad fic for a couple months now, and began to have this idea this morning. i decided that i’d whined to myself enough and it was time to rework the fic with a different plot. i’m much happier with this version, i must say. confession: the idea for this fic wasn’t originally newt. the basic premise for the plot was imagined with racetrack higgins in mind. (he’s a character from newsies, which is like my favorite thing is this world.) it works for newt too, though.

warnings: deja vu?

word count: 1,704 (a record on this account, yay)

You had basically walked into a trap that night. You knew Newt was a big animal lover and that he had spent his childhood surrounded by pets. He even worked at a zoo so he could be around the animals. You actually found it quite surprising that your boyfriend had waited so long to bring up the idea of pets.

It was late on a Wednesday and the two of you were curled up together on the couch, the movie you’d been watching already finished but you were still enjoying the last of your popcorn. Newt was telling you a story about his old dog and the time she had escaped and Newt had stayed up all night looking for her.

“Imagine if we had a dog!” Newt laughed. “As if our house isn’t crazy enough already!”

“I don’t know…” you mumbled, playing with a curl that had been tickling your face. “I’ve always wanted to have a dog. My dad was allergic, so we didn’t really have pets when I was younger.”

You weren’t really serious about getting a dog. You and Newt’s lives were too busy at the moment to deal with an animal. You had recently been promoted, which meant you made more money, but also that your office hours increased. You barely had time to hang out with your boyfriend, much less take care of a pet.

Newt apparently didn’t release that you weren’t serious. “Let’s do it!” He sat up so quickly that you nearly tipped off the couch. You let out a grunt of complaint, but Newt wasn’t paying attention. “Let’s get a dog!”

“We can’t actually get a dog, Newt,” you sighed.

“Why not?” He asked stubbornly.

“First of all, we don’t have the time to care of one. Who would make sure he had enough food during the day, and who would take him on walks? We both have full time jobs. Secondly, the apartment has a strict no-pet policy. I think the only creature we could get away with having is a fish.”

Newt deflated for a moment at your words. He’d been too caught up in the fantasy to think about your living conditions. “We could move?” He suggested hesitantly, knowing even before the words left his mouth what your answer would be.

“Move?!” You laughed. “You think we should move, just so you can get a dog?”

“I mean, yeah.” Newt began to warm to the idea. “I’m sure we could find a relatively cheap apartment that allows pets. Besides, you just got a raise and I think I might be promoted soon.”

“Stop talking nonsense. We can’t get a dog.” You stood up yawning. “I’m going to bed.”

“Think about it!” Newt called, before getting up and following you into the room you two shared.

~

It started off subtle at first. Newt began to work slightly longer hours. You still worked longer, so it took you a while to notice that he didn’t have as much free time as he used to. When you confronted him about it, he explained the promotion he was hoping to get. He’d been spending extra hours in hopes of making an impression.

You didn’t immediately connect that with the dog. It wasn’t until Newt came home with a huge smile on his face, and announced he got the promotion.

“That’s great!” You cheered, hugging him tightly. “You deserve it.”

“And now we can afford to look at different apartments!” He said excitedly.

“Different apartments?” You asked slowly, before you realized what he meant. “Was this whole thing about getting a dog?” He didn’t have to answer; the look on his face said it all. “I can’t believe you!”

“There are tons of pet friendly apartments in New York!” he pleaded. “And I’m sure there’s a unit at a reasonable price.”

You just rolled your eyes, and returned to the book you had been reading. You weren’t going to give in so easily.

The emails started next. Newt sent you listing after listing of pet friendly apartments that he had found for a reasonable price. Along with the link, he always left notes on the things he knew would interest you most. Close to your work. Small patio. Two bath. You still thought his idea was silly, but it didn’t stop you from checking out every single house he sent you.

If he asked, you’d deny it and say you deleted them without opening them. He was pretty convinced you were lying. Newt had started refer to his attempts as the Dog Movement. Soon, all your friends had heard about the debate and Newt had recruited most of them to his side. Queenie was your only friend who was neutral in the discussion, though she did add in that she loved dogs.

As the weeks passed, Newt became increasingly more obvious. One afternoon, you came home to find a bag of dog food sitting on your kitchen table. With a sigh, you moved it down onto the floor and continued about your business.

The next morning, the container of food was waiting for you in the shower. You picked up the heavy bag, stormed into your room, and dropped the bag onto Newt’s sleeping form. He let out a groan at the weight that suddenly covered his body.Despite all your attempts to shut him down, Newt still remained driven and convinced that he could turn you to his side.

You came home from week on Friday night, about two months since you’d first had the conversation about pets. Newt hadn’t mentioned anything about getting a dog in the past week, and you were tentatively hoping that he had dropped the matter.

It wasn’t that you didn’t want a dog, it was just that the idea was so overwhelming at this time in your life. Your job had been stressing you out, and you were worried that you wouldn’t be able to handle the added duties of having a dog.

The apartment was dark when you pulled the front door open. There was no sign of Newt in the hallway or in the kitchen. “Newt?” You called in confusion.

“In here!” Newt’s voice sounded from inside your room.

You pulled the door open, and the sight your eyes found made you freeze. Newt was sitting casually on the bed, holding a tiny red sweater and a small yellow rain jacket. You realized with a start that they were meant for a dog. It must be part of his plan to convince you that you needed a dog.

“Aren’t they cute?” He held them up for you to get a better look.

You shook off your shock and burst into laughter. You were practically hunched over, grabbing your aching stomach as you giggled. Finally you had composed yourself enough to face him. “Dogs don’t wear clothes!” “Sure, they do.” Newt defended. “At least, spoiled dogs do.”

“Was this the best way you could think to convince me?” you asked.

“Well, nothing else was working!”

“Maybe I just don’t want a dog,” you shrugged.

“That’s not true! That’s the part I don’t understand. You told me that you had always wanted a dog, and now I’m trying to make it happen, and you suddenly change your mind! I don’t get it.”

“It’s-It’s just that I don’t want to do it wrong.” Newt’s face made it clear that you needed to elaborate. “I’ve wanted a dog ever since I could first walk. Every year, I asked for a dog for my birthday. I never got one. Even when I was old enough to understand about my dad’s allergy, it was always a dream of mine. I used to fantasize that we would wake up one day and his allergy would be gone. He would load us up in the car, and we’d go out and get a dog.”

“What’s stopping you now?” “I don’t want to mess this up. I’ve wanted to have a dog for so long, that I can’t imagine getting one and then not being able to give him proper attention. We both have to work most of the day, and we do need to get at least some sleep. I don’t want to ruin this childhood dream I had because I couldn’t wait for a less hectic time to get a dog.”

Newt contemplated what you said for a few minutes. You felt like it was the first time he was actually listening to your opinion about getting a dog. You sat on the bed next to him, and his arm wrapped around your torso, pulling you even closer to him.

“What if I promised you we would find a way to make sure the dog got all the attention he needed? I’ll find a way to make this work out. The main reason I worked so hard on the idea of getting a dog was for you. I want to make this like your childhood dreams. I want you to have all you ever wanted.”

“Can we just try and figure things out first?” You asked. “Come up with a plan on how we’d even take care of a dog?” “Of course.” Newt agreed immediately.

~

“Pickett!” You called pulling on the leash behind you. “This way!”

You followed your boyfriend as he led you and your new dog into your apartment. You had moved about a month ago, so you could be in a pet friendly place, and you had to admit you liked your new apartment better than your old one.

You shut the door behind you, and Newt unclipped the leash from Pickett’s collar. The little puppy yelped excitedly and immediately started sniffing around the rooms. You grinned as you watched him, and Newt pulled you in for a hug.

“Thank you,” you whispered into his chest. “Thank you so much.”

“Thank you,” he murmured back. “Now, I think Pickett needs some attention.” At the sound of his name, your new dog let out another bark and launched himself towards the two of you. You giggled as the long-anticipated puppy finally made his way into your arms. You looked from your boyfriend to the dog in your arms. Who could ask for more?

[minthalo]

All of the fanfiction asks!

oh boy okay here we go

1. What was your first fic and could you stand to reread it today?

my first fic was “Do you want to build a Sand Castle With Me?” and I can reread it only because i rewrote it a few months ago and posted over the original 

2. What’s your most recent fic and how far do you think you’ve come?

my most recent fic is “Cobrababy Nate” and I think i’ve improved a lot since the first fics i’ve written... at least i hope i have

3. In your opinion, what’s your best fic?

my favorite fic has to be “Meet me by the lake”

4. In your opinion and without looking at any numbers, what’s your most popular fic?

Probably my first fic “Do you want to build a sand castle with me?”

5. Is there any fic that makes you super happy to reread and remember you wrote that?

Yes!!! my favorite one is “You have a nice voice”

6. Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that?

Y e s and it’s “Ooh Santa Travie”

7. What’s the fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

I have this one Joncer au that i’ve never posted and I’m in Love With but i can’t find the motivation to write anything lately so it’s just sitting in my google drive unfinished staring at me until i complete it

8. What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

hmmm I have this one Brencer au that i never posted that i haven’t touched in Forever so probably that one, i really want to finish it

9. Have you ever written for a fandom without watching/reading/playing the source material?

no but i’ve thought about it

10. Have you ever written for a fandom without reading other fanfic for it?

no i usually read a bunch of fics before writing my own

11. Have you ever written a fic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting?

Yeah, i used to take prompts off those big posts full of them, and I know there are a million more popular fics with the same idea. I usually try to let it not bother me too much

12. Have you ever written a fic and decided never to publish it? Why?

Yes, i wasn’t comfortable with people reading that side of my writing. Maybe one day it’ll change

13. What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today?

I use proper grammar

14. What’s the biggest change in your taste between when you started in fandom and today?

I look for more short and sweet fics rather than long ones like i used to

15. Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular?

Yup, i would write frerard fics because i knew it would get a lot of attention even though i wasnt really into that ship

16. Have you ever stopped writing a fic/for a fandom because it wasn’t receiving enough attention?

yup. I love rywalk but no one reads it so i stopped writing for that pairing

17. In your opinion, what’s your most overrated fic?

“Hot Shirtless Plant Guy” its like the second fic i ever wrote and its not very good. I went back and rewrote it because it was so bad

18. What’s your most underrated fic?

literally any of my rywalk fics. they deserve better

19. If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick?

Shit i dont know, maybe the scene in “Do you want to build a sand castle with me” where Pete wakes Mikey up and they walk around their neighborhood in the middle of the night. I like that scene

20. Have/Would you ever rewrite a fic? If yes, would you take the original down?

Yes i have. I posted over most of my old fics with revised versions of them because the originals were so bad. I didn’t change much, just fixed the Many spelling and grammar errors 

21. If someone starts kudosing and commenting your fics in a spree and has a few works of their own, would you go look through theirs?

Yes!! if they have an account i always go on it to see their fics and if it is in a fandom i like i’ll try to read them

22. Has there ever been anyone who’s made you freak out because they read your work and followed/favorited/reviewed?

Y E S theres this one fic “Fragile Capricorn” and the author left kudos on my santa travie fic and i freaked out but also cried because thats the worst fic i’ve ever written but thats the one fic they read

23. What’s the nicest review you’ve ever gotten?

literally all my reviews are nice it makes me cry but my favorite was one on “Phone Call” and it was “ THIS. this is the fic that got me into joetrick a while ago. thank u for showing me the light.” it makes me so happy i can convert people to ships i like

24. What’s the meanest review you’ve ever gotten? Do you think the reviewer intended it?

I’ve never gotten a mean review on my fics but i have gotten people sending me anon hate here for them, and yeah i do think that person meant for it to be insulting.

25. What constructive criticism, however well-meaning, always makes you feel bad when you see it in a review?

“Please update faster!!” I know they mean well but writing is hard

26. What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised?

that I write well at all because I have a million doubts in my head that my fics are shit

27. If you could only ever write crossovers or single-fandom fics ever again, which would you pick?

single fandom fics

28. if you could only ever write for a single crossover or a single fandom again, which would you pick?

probably bandom

29. Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy?

I like to think so but alot of these fics are amazing and Im just like,, basic

30. Do you continue to write for a fandom after you’ve moved on or do you focus solely on the new one?

I jump between fandoms for a while before stopping and moving on, its usually a slow change

31. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right?

Mikey way tbh

32. Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying?

literally none of them theyre all so hard to write

33. Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up?

not really

34. Was there any fic that you wrote that really surprised you in the fandom reaction? Was it just by the numbers or did they take it an entirely different way?

Yes my first Joetrick fic is one of my most popular fics and I didn’t expect that at all, I never realized how popular that ship is

35. Have you ever written a ship into a fic without meaning to?

surprisingly no, all my ships are planned out

36. Have you ever sincerely written a ship you do not support into a fic?

Yes. I hate ryden and i put it in my first fic for the sole purpose to break them up in a horrible way

37. Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic?

Yes. I hate ryden and i put them in “Do you want to build a sand castle with me?” only to break them up

38. Have you ever purposefully written something you know your readers would find uncomfortable/would not enjoy? If yes, why?

yes. I write in sad things because i know itll make readers sad

39. Do you consider yourself to have a readership?

My ao3 stats say I have 16 people subscribed to my account but i have a hard time believing that many people like my fics that much

40. Do you feel like you put out enough content?

No. I have major writers block (and also depression) so i never have motivation to write fics even though i really want to, i never feel like i put out enough fics

41. If you cross-post your fics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site?

I dont cross post but my favorite site is ao3

42. How many views has your most popular fic gotten?

most popular fic is “Do you want to build a sand castle with me?” and it has 1,922 hits on ao3 

43. Your least popular?

Least popular fic is “What could have been” and it has 56 hits on ao3

44. Do you follow/favorite/kudos/comment/review more stories than you have received?

I think so. I kudos every fic i read

45. If you had to call yourself an author of a single genre (besides fanfic) what label would you give yourself?

romance definitely  

46. Do you consider yourself a diverse author?

Not really i write pretty basic stuff

47. If someone you know in real life who isn’t involved in fandoms asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

depends who they are but mostly yes, I would probably give them either “meet me by the lake” or “Do you want to build a sand castle with me?”

48. Does anyone you know from outside of fandom know you write fanfic? Are they involved in the same fandom too?

Yes all my friends know I write fanfiction. It’s not really something I’m ashamed of, and they usually think its less weird after I tell them I dont write porn

49. Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it?

Yes!! My friend Veronica reads all my fics because I wrote them!! she barley even know the fandoms I write for

50. Has writing fanfic had a significant impact on your life? Would you say it’s entirely positive?

Yes it has had a big impact on my life, and I say its mostly positive. I’ve met some of my best friends because of writing fanfiction and that means the world to me

You can find all of my fics on ao3 Here!!