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justagalwhowrites · 1 year ago

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Yearling - Ch. 22: Storm

A spring snowstorm hits Jackson. A continuation of Yearling ch. 1-21 found on Tumblr here.

PLEASE PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE CONTENT WARNINGS, THIS IS A ROUGH CHAPTER!!!

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Past sexual assault vaguely described; animal death; PTSD response; sexual assault of a minor mentioned in a vulgar way (not seen); possible child death. No use of Y/N. Minors DNI 18+ Only

Length: 8.6k

AO3 | Chapter One | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Early May, 2013

You were outside when the woman rode up.

Your home was well hidden and you’d only seen five people since Mark had left almost a year earlier, each of them making their way into your land and telling you that he’d sent them your way. They were all kind, they were all vulnerable and they were all loaded down with things you would need. Flashlight batteries and bulbs, sugar and salt, rubbing alcohol and petroleum jelly. Thread, fabric, pain killers, antibiotics, guitar strings. One woman had been sent with a snack sized bag of Lays that were still sealed and a bottle of whiskey. That had made you smile, the clearest sign that Mark hadn’t forgotten about you.

All of the others had arrived on foot, seemingly with a good idea of where to go, mostly alone but two women has traveled together. The timing wasn’t predictable but you at least knew what you could expect when someone Mark sent your way came into your territory.

This woman was different.

You heard her before you saw her, the thundering footfalls and heavy breathing of her horse loud against the quiet of the forest. You didn’t have time to fortify your position, didn’t even have time to go get more ammo. So you stood your ground and raised your rifle, heart pounding, when she burst through the tree line and into the clearing that you called home.

“Back the fuck up!” You yelled, gun raised. The horse all but skidded to a stop, the woman on its back clutching a bundle of blankets to her chest with one hand, yanking back on the reins with the other.

“Easy!” She said dropping the reins and putting her hand up. She still clung to the bundle. You recognized the horse. It was Perseus, it was Mark’s horse. “Are you Texas?”

“Who’s askin’?” Your accent was thick, fear a knot in your stomach as you looked Perseus over. You didn’t see any signs of injury.

She kept her hand up.

“You knew Mark?” She asked. She had an accent, too. Georgia southern, like Mark. “Brown hair, criminally long eyelashes?”

You narrowed your eyes at her and tightened your grip on your weapon.

“He knew you,” she kept going. “He… he told me all about you. Doubt he ever mentioned me but… he talked about you all the time. He loved you and I think you loved him, too.”

You swallowed past the growing lump in your throat and tightness in your chest. She kept using past tense.

“What about him?” You asked, keeping your gun raised but your grip loosened.

“He sent me to find you. We need your help,” she said, reaching and tugging her pant leg up just enough to reveal a festering bite mark on her ankle. “And I don’t have much time.”

***

Early April, 2027

“I can’t believe you’ve been calling her a fucking baby deer this whole goddamn time!”

Ellie was perched on Shimmer’s stall door, watching as you and Joel set out blankets for the horses. It has been snowing all day and winds were picking up. You were worried a blizzard was moving in and you wanted help getting the horses set to ride out the storm if you couldn’t get to them for a day or two.

Joel was happy to assist, especially since he had come back from patrol a week earlier with a copy of Bambi on VHS. Ellie hadn’t been able to calm down about it since and it reminded him of the giddiness she had when she started in on the puns the first time, almost four years ago now. He’d have done anything to get that back and, it turned out, all it took was an old Disney movie and a funny nickname.

“Thank you,” you laughed, almost smug. “Don’t talk for a few minutes and get saddled with the name of a cartoon deer for life…”

“Hey, needed somethin’ to call you and you try coming up with anything else after lookin’ at you with those big eyes,” Joel said, defensive but smiling. “Not my fault it stuck.”

“Yeah well Bambi here was gonna kick your ass the first time we met,” she replied. “Big bad contractor was gonna get beat up by a fucking cartoon deer from a kid’s movie…”

Joel tried to keep from laughing and raised his eyebrows at you.

“OK that’s an exaggeration,” you said. “All I was going to do…”

“I asked if you were going to try to kick his ass,” Ellie cut you off. “And you said ‘no try about it, I was gonna kick his ass.’”

“And what did I do to deserve that?” Joel asked, teasing.

“Well, Ellie tried to warn me about you…” You began, but Ellie cut you off.

“Should have listened….”

You glared at her.

“But she wasn’t very clear,” you said. “And if some grown man was messing around with a girl, I was going to kick his ass. Turns out I didn’t have a reason to.”

Joel laughed.

“Glad you spared me.”

You laughed before planting your hands on your hips, looking around the stable for a moment, taking stock.

“Think things are just about as good as they’re gonna get,” you sighed. “But I think they should be good for a day until we can dig out and get back over here. Just wait for them to finish dinner, put more feed in after…”

“Think there’s any chance of the patrols making it back tonight?” Ellie asked, her eyebrows drawn together.

“Probably not,” Joel said. “They got places to ride out shit like storms if they get stuck, they’ll be alright.”

“Still,” you said. “Had a group that was due back tonight, Jackson was probably the closest point to ride it out. Think I’ll hang out for a bit yet…”

“I’ll go get us something to eat,” Joel said. “We’ll wait with you, head home after, settle in to ride out the storm.”

“Can we stay at Bambi’s?” Ellie asked. “She’s got a way better stereo.”

You smiled.

“Sure, kid,” you said. “On you to get Joel to dance party, though.”

“Dance party?” He frowned.

“You wouldn’t get it, Old Man,” she replied, the hint of a smirk on her face.

“Don’t get a lot of things about you, Baby Girl,” he said before stretching his back a bit. “Alright, back in a few. Try not to find too much trouble while I’m gone.”

You and Ellie both rolled your eyes and he couldn’t help but smile as he made his way through the few inches of snow that had already fallen, heading for the mess hall.

One of Joel’s favorite parts of being back on good terms with Ellie was getting to see your relationship with her. Even before she was mad at him, he wanted her to have someone like you in her life. Another woman she could talk to, look up to, guide her in ways he didn’t fully understand. She needed that and he hadn’t been able to see it happening from the distance she was holding him at before.

He knew the two of you were close, he just hadn’t realized how close until the last few months. The two of you felt more like family than Sarah’s mother ever had and he treasured it, treasured that you seemed to love his daughter almost as much as he did.

The mess hall was getting ready for a storm, too, putting together baskets of food to send home with Jackson residents so people wouldn’t be struggling through the storm for their meals over the next few days. He gathered enough to last the three of you for a bit plus some sandwiches for tonight before he started back toward the stables, the wind more forceful and biting than when he’d left just half an hour earlier.

As he got closer, he noticed tracks in the snow, hoof prints leading to the stables. A patrol had made it back and, for half a moment, he was a little disappointed. If the storm wasn’t as bad as they were expecting and the patrol was able to make it back to Jackson without losing much time, he might not get to spend the day with you and Ellie tomorrow. Ever since the storm started moving in that afternoon he’d been excited for the chance to have some unexpected time just the three of you - almost like playing hooky but with permission.

But he knew he should just be happy the patrol made it home through the weather, hopefully with all the people intact. Which, he was. But damn if he didn’t love an excuse to spend time with you.

He opened the door to the stable and quickly moved shut it behind him, expecting to find you taking saddles off horses. Instead, you damn near slammed into him, your eyes wide, not saying a word as you shoved the door open and took off into the snow.

“Bambi?” He called after you. You didn’t even slow down. He jogged over to Ellie’s perch and set the food down, a tightness starting to grip his chest.

“No idea,” Ellie said, not waiting for him to ask. “Patrol came back, said something about some people they found outside… She just said ‘savvy’ and took the fuck off.”

Joel looked around for a second. Julie was standing next to her horse, a confused look on her face.

“You found people outside?” Joel asked.

“Yeah,” she said, still staring at where you’d run out. “Yeah, a group of five. We brought them back…”

“Where are they?” He asked, fighting to keep his voice calm.

“The clinic…”

“Ellie,” he said quickly. “Stay put here, alright? I’m gone more than half an hour, head on home. Mine or hers, don’t want you in that little place for this storm, OK Baby Girl?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, not giving him shit. She looked concerned, too. “Yeah, OK.”

He gave her a stiff nod and went out into the building storm, following your footprints to the clinic.

Joel heard you there before he saw you, your voice pleading and desperate as he shut the wind and snow outside.

“Anything,” you were begging. “Anything at all, a name, an age, hair color, anything, please…”

“I’m sorry,” a man whose voice Joel didn’t recognize said. “She did say much before she died, just that there was a girl…”

Joel found you then, in the same room he’d been in when he’d come in from patrol with a bullet in his leg.

“Where?” You asked. “Where’d you find her? Did she say where she escaped from, how far she’d come?”

“We picked them up about 15 miles north east of here,” Fred, one of the men on patrol, said. “Just south of Kelly.”

“Think she came from a camp ground near there,” the other man said. He was skinny, a patch of frostbite on his nose. “Said something about cabins…”

“Right,” you nodded. “Right, thank you.”

You turned and ran smack into Joel’s chest. You barely seemed to register it, hardly even glancing at him before ducking around him and running out the door again.

“She was asking about a girl,” Fred said quickly. “These folks here, had a woman with them before we found them. Said she escaped raiders, that the raiders had a teenaged girl…”

“Fuck,” Joel muttered under his breath before looking at the other man. “Thanks, Fred.”

He didn’t wait for a response, just ducking back into the snow, the wind starting to howl now, running to catch up with you.

You were on your porch by the time he reached you. You didn’t even seem to be aware that he was following you, you were too focused on something else entirely. You didn’t even bother to take your boots off when you got in the house, just ripping the coat closet inside your door open and pulling out your patrol materials as Joel let himself in.

“Bambi,” he said gently. You looked up at him for a moment, like you were surprised to find him there before you focused back on your pack, shoving in blankets and flashlights. “Come on, honey…”

“They’ve got her, Joel,” you said, barely glancing at him before you grabbed your bag and half walked, half ran to your kitchen. “Can’t just leave her out there with them, I…”

“There’s a snowstorm, Sweetheart,” he said gently, trying to keep his voice calm. “It’s not safe…”

“Doesn’t matter,” you started stuffing food in your bag, no rhyme or reason to it that Joel could see.

“Yes, it does,” he said, trying to take the pack from you. You yanked it back, a vicious look in your eyes before you ducked around him. “Baby.”

“I’m not leaving her to those… those…” your voice cracked. “Those fucking monsters, I’m not, I can’t just leave her, I can’t just abandon her, I…”

“You getting yourself killed won’t help anybody.” It was getting harder and harder to keep the panic from his voice. He’d never seen you quite like this. Close to it when out on patrol and there were signs that raiders were near, signs of their violence, but he’d always been able to pull you back from the edge. He wasn’t sure he could this time. “Bambi, you can’t…”

“Yes, I can.”

You moved around him and he followed.

“I know you want to help people,” he said. “But you can’t help anyone if you get yourself killed. I know you want to save everyone from going through what you went through…”

“That’s not what this is,” you said, turning in circles like you were looking for something but you couldn’t place it.

“Then what is it?” He caught you by the shoulders and looked at you, your eyes wide and panicky. “Tell me, help me understand. When the weather clears, I can go with you and…”

“It’ll be too late then,” you shook your head, tears starting to swell. “As soon as the snow stops they’re going to leave and it’ll be too late, I’ll never catch them and they’ll still have her and I can’t lose her again, Joel, I can’t, I can’t take it, I can’t do this again, please, don’t ask me to do this again I…”

“Do what?” He asked, pleading, his grip on you firm. “Let me help you, Baby, please, tell me what’s going on. Who…”

“My daughter!” You said quickly. Joel froze, his heart pounding against his ribs. “I have a daughter, I have a daughter and if it’s her I… I can’t lose her again, I can’t. I have to go get her…”

“You…” he breathed.

“My daughter,” you said, eyes wide. “Please, Joel. I think they have my daughter.”

***

Early May, 2013

You lowered your rifle enough that it was no longer an immediate threat and she relaxed a little, letting the pant leg fall over her ankle again. There was a small cry from the bundle in her arms and you frowned, looking between her and it. She carefully lowered it from her chest, looking down to it.

“Hey, you’re OK sweet girl,” she said gently. “It’s alright…”

The bundle fussed but didn’t cry again and she looked back to you.

“Can I get down?” She asked. “Got a lot to talk about and not a lot of time to do it. Figure I’ve got an hour left. Two, tops.”

“Yeah,” you nodded quickly. “Yeah, OK. Let’s talk.”

You didn’t invite her in, not wanting to deal with the potential hazard of her turning into one of those inhuman things in your house. She didn’t seem to mind.

Her name, she said, was Laurel. She was about your age, you guessed, with her dark hair in two thick braids, deep brown eyes and rich umber skin.

“This is Savannah,” she said, tilting the bundle so you could see inside. “She’s nine months old…”

You looked at her, awed for a moment. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d seen a baby and you resisted the urge to reach out and run your finger over her chubby, impossibly soft looking cheek. She blinked at you, her brown eyes oddly keen and exacting for a baby, her lashes almost obscenely long. You frowned, leaning in to look closer at her. You knew those impossibly soft, brown eyes set in her lovely russet-hued face.

“She’s Mark’s,” you said softly, looking up at Laurel. “She’s Mark’s, isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, she is.”

“I…” your voice broke. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know he had someone, I wouldn’t have…”

“It wasn’t like that,” she cut you off. “My husband died about three years ago. He got hurt, it got infected… Not even the fucking apocalypse kind, just the kind that you can clear up with penicillin if you can find the damn stuff. Mark… we were both lonely, looking for something to make it better for a while. It just kind of happened. She just kind of happened.”

The baby cooed, stretching and reaching for you.

“Where is he?” You asked, looking back at Laurel. “What happened to him?”

“Our settlement got overrun,” she said, her voice suddenly thick. “They came out of nowhere and just… He tried. He tried so, so hard, you should know that he tried. But he got bit, on the neck, trying to protect us and… He told me where to find you. That’s what he did with the last few minutes of his life, he told me where to find you, he told me that you’d take care of us, make sure we survived. He told me to tell you that he loved you and that he wanted to come back to you…”

You found yourself nodding, tears on your cheeks as you looked into the eyes of the man you loved in his child’s face.

“He died before I got bit,” she said. “He died thinking we had a shot. I kept her safe, though. She was safe…”

“You did good,” you said, throat tight. “You really did…”

“I need your help,” she said before taking a deep breath.

“Course,” you nodded, tearing your eyes away from Mark’s daughter to look at her. “What…”

“I need you to take Savannah.”

You just blinked at her for a moment. “I…” you broke off, shaking your head. “What? I… no, no, I’m not who you want, I don’t…”

“I don’t have a lot of options,” she said. “I don’t have time to find another person let alone someone I know I can trust. And I know I can trust you with her. Mark loved you and you loved him, you won’t let anything happen to his child.”

“But I…” you looked back at the baby in her arms. “I don’t know anything about kids, I wouldn’t even know where to start, I don’t…”

“Please,” she said, her voice breaking. “He wanted you to take care of her. I think… I think part of him knew it would just be her. That’s why he sent me here, to you. He wanted it to be you. He trusted you and he loved you, he wanted her to be with you. Please, I’ll beg if I have to, just please take care of her. Please.”

You looked at the baby in her arms, at Mark’s eyes with the impossibly long lashes.

“OK.”

Laurel held her daughter while she told you everything. You paused her to take some notes when you thought of it, things like a recipe for formula when she refused solids and what to do when she started crying but wouldn’t stop. She told you how much her daughter loved to gnaw on bits of apple and loved to bounce in time to her father’s humming and her birthday - July 20.

She started twitching more in what felt like no time at all, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. She pressed her lips to her daughter’s forehead.

“You’ll be OK sweet girl,” she whispered to her. “You’ll be OK. Mama loves you, OK? Try to remember that for me, OK?” She looked up at you. “Will… will you tell her about me? About Mark?”

You nodded, the pinch of tears tight in your throat.

“Of course,” you said. “I’ll make sure she knows everything you did for her. She’ll know about you.”

She nodded, passing you her child. Your child.

“I’d like to do it myself,” she said, nodding to the gun at your hip. “If that’s OK.”

“Yeah,” you nodded, adjusting Savannah in your arms and handing Laurel the gun. She took it and walked backwards away from you, her eyes on her daughter. Your daughter.

“I’ll close my eyes just before,” she said once she was about 20 feet away, still looking at her baby. “Can you cover hers for me? I want to look at her as long as I can but I don’t want her to see…”

“Yeah,” you nodded again. “I can do that.”

“Thank you,” she smiled tightly, actually looking at you this time. “I… I know this isn’t what you planned but… It’s easier, knowing she has someone.”

“I’ll take care of her,” you said. “I’ll love her. I’ll take care of her.”

Laurel just nodded and looked back at her child, watching her for a moment, the gun in her shaky hand.

“Mama loves you,” she said softly, raising the gun to her temple and closing her eyes. You quickly pressed Savannah’s face into your chest and held her close.

Everything was eerily silent for a moment, the longest second of your life, before there was the crack of the gun and the sharp cry of the baby who was all you had left in the world.

August 2018

“You have learn this, Savvy.”

“I don’t want to shoot them, Mama,” your daughter looked over at you from her spot on the downed tree, looking at the infected more than 100 feet away through a scope.

“These are the easiest things you’ll ever have to shoot,” you said gently. “It’s nice to shoot them, you’re making it so they’re not hurting anymore…”

“But they’re people.”

Her eyes - her father’s eyes - were so wide. The springs of her curls were bundled back away from her face, a sprinkle of freckles across her nose.

“I know they look like people,” you ran your hand over the crown of her small head. “But they’re not, not anymore. They’re things that are hurting and the only way to help them is to shoot them. And shooting them keeps you and me safe. Now, you can do this. Do it just like you do at home with the targets.”

She looked at you, her big eyes watery, before obeying and turning back toward the gun. You watched as she lined up her shot and took a deep breath, exhaling before firing.

Her shot went a little wide, catching the infected on the arm. It whipped its head around and shrieked before running for you.

“Mama!”

“It’s alright,” you said, looking down your own rifle for a moment before firing and hitting it in the head. It dropped like a stone. “See? All OK. This is why we learn.”

“I’m sorry,” her voice was thick and trembling and you looked over at her, tears streaming down her face. “I tried hard, I promise…” she hiccuped and gulped in air and you set your rifle down and sat up before pulling her against you.

“You did so good,” you kissed the top of her head. “Don’t be sorry, Honey, you did so good, I’m so proud of you.”

“But I didn’t kill them,” she pulled her face from your chest, her lower lip quivering. “I did it wrong and…”

“You’ll get better,” you said gently. “No one is perfect when they’re learning. This is just to make sure that you’re safe. I’ll always protect you but it’s good for you to know how to protect yourself, too. This is just in case, OK?”

She nodded against you and you held her until she stopped crying. When she calmed, you ran your thumbs over her cheeks and kissed her small forehead, wishing you didn’t have to teach her these things. If you could just shelter her away from the world - from infected, from the people who has found power because of the infected - then it would all be OK. She wouldn’t need to know how to kill. It could be just you and her, growing things and raising horses and reading by the fire, until the end of time.

But the world, you knew, was not so kind.

“Want to go pick out some books?” You asked gently. She nodded and the two of you got up and you took her hand, leading her to the library.

In the more than five years you’d had Savvy, she had become your entire world. Everything you did, you did for her. To keep her safe, to make her happy, to teach her. You’d known nothing about children when Laurel brought her to you. The first night, you’d held her close while you both cried and you prayed to a god you’d never been sure existed that you would do right by her.

Loving her came easy. Living for her was harder.

But you fell into it eventually, guiding her through the world as it was now as best you could. If you found a family near your territory, you’d watch them from afar and, once you knew it was safe, bring Savvy to introduce her, give her a chance to know someone besides yourself. You taught her how to read, how to count, how to skin a rabbit. You had no idea if it was the right thing but you hoped it would be enough that, when she was older, she would survive if something happened to you. That’s all that mattered, that she would be OK.

“Mama?” She asked, setting her picture book on her legs as you browsed the shelves for more books on home schooling and small scale farming.

“Yes baby?”

“What else would I need to shoot?”

You frowned and looked down at her, your hand on the spine of a book.

“What?”

“Well, you said that the not people are the easiest things I would have to shoot,” she said, face serious. “So… what else would I have to shoot?”

“I don’t think you’ll like shooting animals much,” you said and she crinkled her nose. “But you’ll probably have to at some point.”

“But I like animals,” she pouted.

You smiled.

“I know you do.”

“What else?” She asked, still peering up at you.

You sighed.

“Sometimes…” you turned your attention back to the books. “Sometimes you’ll have to shoot a person.”

Her wide eyes somehow grew wider, a look of horror on her face.

“But…” her little voice broke. “But I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“I know,” you said quietly. “But sometimes we have to.”

“Why?”

“Because,” you looked down to her. “There are things in this world that want to hurt you and you need to know how to hurt them first.”

“But you’re here,” she said. She was so young, so small. You knelt, getting down on her level.

“You still need to know how,” you said. “I will do everything I can to protect you but I might fail. You need to know how to destroy them before they destroy you because they will. They will destroy every part of you they can touch if they have the chance. Don’t give them the chance.”

She considered that for a moment, her face very serious.

“Does it hurt?” She asked, looking up at you.

You reached down at cupped her cheek.

“Yes,” you said quietly. “Yes, it does.”

Her eyes were wide and soft and deep and you wanted, more than anything, to keep her safe.

“But I’ll take care of you,” you said, stroking her soft skin with your thumb. “For as long as I’m alive, I’ll take care of you.”

September 15, 2023

“Mom?”

You looked up from where you were working at skinning a rabbit. There was a glow in your front window, a hold over from when Savvy was even younger and you had to leave to go check on the horses before bed. She got scared one night when she woke up and found that you weren’t in the dark cabin. Ever since, you always left the electric lantern on when you left in the evenings, even though she said she didn’t need it anymore. It was just enough to work by as the sun got lower outside.

“Yeah?”

“What…” she paused, an odd look on her face. “What’s in Gattling’s mouth?”

The dog was hovering behind Savvy’s legs and you leaned around from your position on a tree stump, trying to get a look at her. You frowned, not able to make it out in the low light, and set the rabbit and your knife down, wiping your hands on a rag tucked into your belt.

Gattling’s tail wagged as you approached, her head low and you squatted down to be on her level, angling her head toward the house so her muzzle wasn’t in shadow. Her snout was red with blood, something dangling from her jaws. You held your palm out flat.

“Gattling, release.”

She obediently dropped it in your hand with a sickening splat. It took you a moment to realize that it was a pinky finger.

“Mom?” Savvy’s voice was shaky. You dropped the finger where you stood and heard the crack of a gunshot in the distance.

“We have to move.”

You grabbed her arm and pulled her in the house, Gattling trotting close behind.

“What’s happening?” She asked, looking back over her shoulder. “Mom, what’s…”

“Get packed,” you said, grabbing a pack and thrusting at her before running to the dresser in the corner. You shrugged out of the shirt you were wearing and traded it for the one you’d worn when you fled the ranch 20 years earlier, not willing to leave Justin’s shirt behind. “Some clothes, first aid, batteries, flashlights, all three kinds of ammo, sleeping bag.”

You went to the kitchen and started grabbing things you’d already preserved. Jerky, dried fruit, some seeds. Most of the canteens in the house were full and you grabbed a few. You grabbed the pistol, the shot gun and the rifles. You set it all out on the table and looked over to your daughter who was obediently filling her pack.

“Leave room for this,” you said, taking your rifle from the pile. “Meet me by the horses as quick as you can. Turn out the lantern on your way.”

She just nodded. You sprinted for the cabin you’d turned into a stable. Nike was huffed at your arrival and you grabbed her tack and saddled her up as quickly as you could, making sure there was room to add basic supplies. Savvy ran into the pen just as you led Nike and Perseus into the middle of it.

“Long guns,” you held your hand out as you tightened down straps of the saddle. She handed you the shotgun first and you tucked it into a strap on the saddle. The rifle came next. You stepped back and looked at it for a moment.

“OK,” you said turning back to your daughter, looking her over. She’d gotten so tall, she was only a few inches shorter than you now, you didn’t even need to stoop to press a kiss to her forehead. “Want you to head north, understand?”

“What are you talking about?” She asked as you took her arm and guided her alongside the horse. “Mom, you’re coming with me, I’ll just follow you, I’ll just…”

“I’ll get to you when I can,” you said. She shook her head, her eyes wide.

“No,” she grabbed your arms. “No, you can’t, you can’t just leave me, you can’t…”

“I’m not leaving you,” you held her face in your hands, looked into her eyes. She had her father’s eyes. “I’m not, OK? I will find you. I will always find you, sweet girl, I will always protect you. That’s what I’m going to do, OK? I’m going to buy you time. Cut north, stick to the woods, off the trails. You know things here. Go out of the way, work your way around the long way to the library. Meet me there in three days, it should be safe…”

“Three days?” She gaped at you. “No, I can’t…”

“Yes you can,” you said, firm enough that you believed it, too. “Yes you can. I’ve taught you everything I know, you can make it. It’s just three days, you’ll be OK. You’re so strong and you’re so smart, you’re going to be OK. I will always find you. I will always protect you, I will always keep you safe. I promise.”

You pulled her tight to you and kissed her temple.

“I love you,” you breathed, pulling back to look at her face. “More than anything, I love you. I’ll see you soon, OK? Ride through the night, switch horses at dawn and keep riding until tomorrow night. You can do this.”

“I can do this,” she repeated. “I can do this.”

You looked to the dog at your feet, her tail wagging and her muzzle bloody.

“Gattling,” you said. Her ears perked up. “Savvy.”

She immediately went to your daughter’s side, ready to protect her.

You boosted Savvy onto the horse, taking a final look at her.

“Just three days, right Mom?”

You swallowed, hard, before nodding.

“Just three days. Be safe. Be smart. I’ll see you soon.”

You didn’t have the luxury of watching her ride away. The second her, Nike and Perseus were clear of the paddock, you ran to saddle up Hercules.

You needed to buy her time.

October 13, 2023

You were still paying for your escape.

It was hard to keep track of time. You were with Mitchum and his crew about two weeks the first time. That’s what it felt like, anyway. You were pretty sure it had been about half as long since they got you back. It was hard to tell. You were so panicked, in so much pain that time stretched and expanded and every hour that passed was an hour that you were separated from your daughter and you needed to get to her, you had to. She was just 11 years old and the world was not kind to girls. You’d taught her everything you knew but you had to get back to her, you didn’t want her to have to hurt and kill.

When you’d escaped, you’d done nothing but search for her. You went to the library, tried to track where you thought she’d have come from but it had been weeks. There was no trail left to follow. You were about to return to your cabin to check there when Mitchum’s men found you again. You still had no idea where Savvy was.

You’d promised to take care of her. You’d promised her, you’d promised the woman who had given her to you a decade earlier. You’d promised.

You had to get back to her.

They’d chained you to a wall this time but you thought you might be able to pull the bolt out of the wood if you worked at it diligently enough. You pried at it until your nails were bloody and you kept going. You were covered in blood already, anyway. It was sticky on your skin where it had flowed from the cut on your head where your face had been slammed into the floor as one of Mitchum’s men had taken you from behind while you were on your knees. It had been a steady drip from inside of you since the first time Mitchum forced himself on you when you were brought back, whatever injury there was not given time to heal. The raiders seemed to like it when you bled on them. It even coated part of your arm where one man had cut you when trying to control you, not happy with your lack of compliance as he hurt you. A little more as you tried to pry yourself free wasn’t going to draw attention.

The door slammed into the wall without warning and you jumped, shocking back from the wall. The man standing there smirked, stalking over to you.

“Getting ideas are we?” He sneered. He didn’t wait for a response. “Thought you’d have learned your fuckin’ lesson last time…”

He pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the cuff that held you before pulling you roughly to your feet. He didn’t give you any clothes, he just pulled you, naked, out to the circle of men around a campfire. Your heart sped up, tried to count them. You weren’t sure you could survive being at the mercy of the more than two dozen who were here, not at one time. He threw you into the dirt and you caught yourself on your hands and knees.

“Here’s my favorite little bitch,” Mitchum stalked forward. You sat back on your heels and crossed your arms over your chest, trying to protect what you could. “How have you liked being back home? We keepin’ you entertained?”

A few of the men laughed. You swallowed and peered around, hoping for something you could take advantage of, just one open space, one unguarded moment and you could escape. For good this time. You could do that, you could escape and figure out where you were and then find Savvy.

“Figured out what you were hidin’ back in that homestead of yours,” Mitchum said, a smirk on his voice. You looked at him, eyes wide. Your stomach dropped and he laughed. “Didn’t think you’d like that. Can see why you were workin’ so hard now, she sure was a pretty little thing.”

“Fuck you,” you spat.

He laughed.

“That can be arranged,” he said. “Fucked that girl of yours, too. Broke her in real good…”

You were on your feet before you fully realized what you were doing, running for him. You grabbed at his face, snarling and grasping as you sank your bloody nails into his skin. You dug deep and he punched you in the stomach as one of his men pulled you back, forcing you to the ground.

“I’ll kill you!” You shrieked. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

He stalked forward and punched you across the face before grabbing a fistful of your hair, forcing you to look at him. You felt blood on your teeth and you wished it was his. You wanted to rip his throat out like an animal, wanted to claw and bite at him until he succumbed.

“I wanted to keep the both of you,” he said, holding your hair tight in his fist, fingers against your scalp. “Figured you’d be a lot more fun with her life on the line. Too bad she couldn’t take it.”

The world tilted on its axis. You hadn’t eaten in days but you still felt like you were going to be sick, like everything inside of you, the blood and the viscera that made you a living being, was going to come up.

“Oh yeah,” he smirked. “Should’ve probably been more careful with her but it was just so much fun to hear her beg for her mama…”

“You’re a liar,” you hissed through clenched teeth. “A fucking liar!”

He kept his eyes on you and he whistled before forcing you to look at the fire. Two men stepped forward, each carrying burlap sacks. One was much larger than the other.

“Show ‘er.”

The first man, the one with the large bag, turned it over. A horse head fell out of the sack, landing on the dirt with a wet thud. It took you a second to recognize her, separate from her body, but it was Nike. You screamed, the sound clawing its way up from your chest and you instinctively reached for her only to have Mitchum rip you back by your hair.

“Wanna see what’s in the other bag?” He pressed his mouth against your ear as you sobbed. “Decided to keep her head, thought I should pass it around, see if it’s as good cold…”

You strained in his hold, trying to shake your head. You couldn’t get yourself to form words. There was the distinct feeling that someone was cracking you open, prying apart your chest and pulling your organs out one by one. They didn’t belong to you anymore. You weren’t sure they ever really had, they were hers and she was gone.

You couldn’t see her like that, see just her head, like she had only ever been parts and pieces to begin with.

“Please,” you managed through the gasping, racking sobs. “Please, please, no, I’ll do whatever you want, whatever…”

Mitchum smiled.

“Good.”

The pain of the brand barely registered in your mind, even as your body jerked with it. Everything seemed dulled and numbed. Time slowed and stretched and, for a while, the only thing that your body seemed to have space for was the agonizing pain of losing something you were never built to lose.

It was a year before there was room for anything else.

Early April, 2027

“Bambi…”

“Move, Joel.”

You shoved past him. You’d need a sleeping bag, two sleeping bags, actually. An extra pair of boots, she probably didn’t have those. She’d have out grown the last ones she had, she would be 14 now, she’d be even taller, have bigger feet, longer legs. They didn’t give you clothes when you were with them, you doubted it was different for her.

First aid, that you’d need.

“You can’t do this, Baby,” he was following close behind you.

“Yes, I can.”

“You’re gonna get yourself fucking killed,” there was a strain in his voice. “Who knows what you’ll be walking into out there, how many there’ll be, how armed they’ll fuckin’ be, what they’ll do to you if they get your hands on you…”

“I have to try.”

You didn’t have a gun here. You’d have to get one, you were pretty sure Maria would give you one if you told her why you needed it.

“Just…” Joel sounded desperate. “Just wait, until after the storm, just wait, I’ll go with you, we’ll look, we’ll…”

“It’ll be too late,” you shook your head. “Someone got out, as soon as the weather clears they’re gonna move and we’ll lose them, it has to be now.”

“Have you seen how shit’s pickin’ up out there?” He came around in front of you, taking you by the shoulders. “Baby, the wind is gonna knock you off your damn horse, you can’t help her if you’re dead, please, I’m begging you, please…”

“What would you do?” You asked. “If it was Sarah, if it was Ellie. Would you sit here and wait? Or would you go get her?”

He froze, looking at you.

Your knife. You’d need your knife. You went to get it but Joel stopped you, his hand on your elbow.

“Bambi,” he said quietly. “You can’t know that it’s her.”

“It could be,” you said. “Joel…”

“It’s been years,” he whispered. “Baby, it’s been years, there’s… I’m so sorry but she’s… They wouldn’t have let her live this long, she couldn’t have survived this long, she’s gone, I’m so sorry…”

You shook your head. You had that feeling again, like the one you had that day around the fire when Mitchum had told you he’d killed her, the feeling that your whole self was being ripped apart.

But you’d never seen that she was gone. You never held her body, never saw the life leave her eyes. You didn’t know that she was gone. She could be alive. She could.

“You don’t know that,” you said, your voice thick. “You don’t…”

“You barley survived,” he said softly. “You, the strongest fucking person I know and you damn near died. A teenager couldn’t have survived that, Baby, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry and…”

“No,” you snapped, swallowing back your tears. “You don’t know, you don’t know them like I do…”

“I do,” he cut you off. “Sweetheart, I am begging you, stay here. Please. Don’t get yourself killed, if it’s her we will find her as soon as it’s safe…”

“You don’t know!” You pushed him back. He was costing you time, time you didn’t have. Savvy was out there, she was out there alone and afraid and you were going to find her. “Let me go, Joel. I know them, you don’t understand them, you can’t understand them…”

“I understand them because I used to be one of them!”

You froze. He was watching you, his eyes wide and desperate as he panted for breath. Your heart was pounding, there was a high pitched whine in your ears, something like a siren or when you first came to Jackson and could hear the electricity in the walls.

“What?” You whispered, suddenly keenly aware of how close he was to you, of his hand on you. You could feel the outline of his fingers, each individual callus distinct against your skin.

“I used to be one,” he said softly. “A… a raider, I used to be one. It was a long time ago but I know how they think, I know how they operate and… I’m sorry but if they’ve had her for three and a half years? She’s gone, Sweetheart. There’s nothing left for you to save…”

You thought Joel was still talking but you couldn’t hear him. It was like you’d just jumped into deep water, the cold of it shocking and painful and the rush of it drowning out everything you knew. You couldn’t hear, couldn’t breathe, could barely see.

Joel. Your Joel, the person you trusted more than any other, was a raider. He was like them, like the men who had torn you away from your daughter, who had raped you, who had tortured you, who now might be doing the same to your child right now and Joel knew them because he was like them because he had done those things, too.

“Don’t touch me.”

You were suddenly in your body again, out of that deep dark water and back in your house. Joel’s hands were on you and it was like they were on fire, you could feel it through your skin into your muscle, your bone, down into the marrow of you it hurt where his hands were on you.

“Baby,” he said gently and you forced yourself to look at his face. You couldn’t breathe. You’d kissed him, told him things you’d never told anyone, all but begged him to touch you and he was just like them.

“Don’t touch me!” You screamed it and he ripped his hands away like you’d burned him. You could breathe again and gulped in air, reaching for the back of your couch. You needed something to keep you standing, you felt like you were going to collapse or throw up. Joel’s hands were up, like he was waiting to catch you if you fell. “Don’t touch me, don’t you fucking touch me!”

“You’re OK,” he said, keeping his hands off of you but stepping closer. “I’ve got you, you’re OK…”

“Get away from me!” You backed away from him, looking for the best way out of here. You had to get away from him, he wasn’t safe, he was just like them and you had to get away from him, you couldn’t be anywhere near him. “Get away!”

You said it again and again and again and you kept backing away from him until you were pressed against the wall. Joel stayed where he was and, when you were able to look at him again, it looked like he was in pain.

“I’m away,” he said softly, his hands up. “Not gonna touch you, Sweetheart…”

“Don’t call me that,” you were sobbing and you weren’t sure when you’d started.

“What?” He whispered.

“Don’t fucking call me that!” You bit out, staying back against the wall. He was so big, he could overpower you, he could hurt you, it would be easy for him. “Don’t call me that, not when you’re like them, you’re just like them, I trusted you and you’re just like them…”

“No,” he shook his head, voice thick. He closed the gap between you quickly and you shocked back from him but he didn’t seem to notice, taking you in his arms and clutching onto you. But his touch made your skin crawl, everywhere his body was against your own screaming in panic. “No, not like that, I never… I never did what they did to you, Sweetheart, please, you have to believe me, I never did that, never. I just…”

“I trusted you!” You sobbed, your legs collapsing from beneath you. Joel clung to you, keeping you from falling to the floor, but you hated his hands on you, suddenly feeling like hands you’d hated so much. You twisted and fought to get away but he just held onto you. “I trusted you, you made me love you, I let you inside of me and you’re like them, you’re just like them…”

“I’m sorry, Baby,” his voice was thick and wet. “I’m so sorry, I wish I could take it back, wish I could change it…”

You managed to firmly plant your feet on the ground and you shoved against his broad, firm chest, desperate for distance from him.

“Don’t fucking touch me!”

He let you go and you scrambled back from him, fighting to breathe. He was looking at you, tears in his eyes.

“Baby, please,” he whispered. “Please just… let me take care of you, I understand what…”

“I don’t want anything to do with you,” your voice shook.

“Bambi…”

“Get out,” you managed.

He said your name. Your real name.

“Get out!” You screamed, so loud and harsh you felt it ripping out of you. “Get out of here, get away from me, get out!”

“I’ll go!” He kept his hands up. “Just gotta promise me…”

“I don’t gotta do shit for you,” you shook your head.

“Promise me you won’t do anything that will get you hurt,” he said softly, He was crying, too. “Please, I’m begging you, I’ll do whatever you want just promise….”

“I won’t, now get out!” You yelled. “Get out, get away from me!”

“I’m going,” he said quickly. “Please… Please, be safe, please.”

You watched as he made his way to your door but he stopped and looked back at you.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “For… for all of it, I’m so sorry.”

He closed the door behind him and you collapsed to the ground and sobbed, clutching onto yourself like it was going to keep your body intact but it still felt like you were going to shatter into a million pieces and there would be no one to help put you together again.

You weren’t sure how long you were there on the floor but, eventually, you were able to make yourself move again.

You thought of Savvy, of your daughter, of where she might be, of how you’d promised to keep her safe. You got up off the floor, body numb, and grabbed your pack before going out into the snow.

Next Chapter

A/N: Alright, yell at me. I'm ready for it.

There's a lot in this chapter, I know. It's long, it's rough, it's been coming for a while. We first got a hint of Savvy in chapter 4 when Bambi thought about Joel's possible relationship to Ellie and she's been hinted at regularly since. She's why Bambi knew to use ginger to help William's teething, she's why Bambi was specifically grateful to have another adult around when Marisa showed up, she's why Bambi keeps searching every time there's even a hint of raider activity.

And after everything she's been through, she can't just blindly accept Joel's past, that's way WAY too much for anyone who's survived what she has to bear.

I hope this didn't come completely out of the blue and I hope you're still up for reading more of this story. I hope it'll be worth it in the end. I think it will be.

Thank you for being here. This is a story that I feel like deserves to be told, even the dark parts of it, and I'm so thankful you're along for the ride. Love you ❤️

Taglist: @ashleymsnodgrass@planet-marz1@kalea-bane @juneswonderlust@ilovepedro @h-annahayy @starstruckmusiciansartghost@beccerjune@mumma-moonchild@netonetoneto@mellymbee@purplelye@n7cje@flugazi@evyiione@randomhoex@aliengirl99@orcasoul@reds-ramblings@pedropascalsbbg @fupoola @tinypotatothing @knopes-waffles @lilmizmoz @ayamenimthiriel@jenispunk@panda-pascal@sarap-77@flugazi@your-slutty-gf@daniegraceg@partyofone3413@cumberpegg@noisynightmarepoetry.@fifia-writes@grumpygrumperton @srmacaroni @txlady37 @bigboiseason123

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #yearling #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x oc

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worfs-glorious-hair · 8 months ago

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Pt. 3 Children of the kindly west (Kíli x Reader) — A tale of two dwarven hearts

This is a translation, more of a re-write, of a fanfiction I wrote first in German during 2013 - 2015 when the Hobbit movies premiered and I was just as obsessed and enamored by that adorable prince like everyone else. And reading the Silmarillion for the first time this year in February brought me back to middle-earth and reminded me of my love of dwarves. And this brings me here today. Enjoy! Cross-posted on AO3 here. P.S. Feel free to tell me if any warnings or tags are missing. And if you want to be tagged in future parts! <3

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 *coming soon*

Warnings: Mutual Thirsting/ Pining, mentions of a naked female body under a nightgown, mentions of breasts, some sexual and romantic tension

New Friends

„Do you like Kíli?“, Syniver asked with an innocent face.

„I really like him!“, she continued. „He is so tall and funny!“

She laughed and rolled over a small sofa in the corner of the kitchen, standing up and giving an impression of Kíli when he huffed and rested his hands on his hips, when he was about to loose a game.

You smiled. You smiled about how wonderful your sister was and how much fun she was having.

But her question continued to linger in your mind, did you like Kíli?

Was one afternoon, one evening enough to say whether you liked your old acquaintance more than you had before?

It probably was enough. You had not laughed as much in a long time, spending time with him felt natural and easy and you wanted more.

More of him! You wanted to get to know the man he had become. The man whose eyes sparkled from within!

You met him again on the next day, when he came by to bring some knitted work that his mother had done for Syniver and your mother invited him to stay for an early tea.

And a few days after that you took the long route to the market, that led by the house of his family, hoping that you would see him. And you were lucky, he was outside shoveling snow from the pathway — you smiled at him and waved. He waved back with an excited grin and something deep inside you felt full and warm.

You stopped to talk with him and he offered to accompany you again.

„But don’t you need to finish shoveling here?“, you had asked and he had just shrugged.

„I’ll finish it later, or Fíli will do it. Or it snows more and then I have to do it again anyways.“

„Alright“, you had agreed and had taken his arm that he had offered you once again

„And besides“, he had added with the sparkle in his eyes that you had started to always look out for, „ I prefer your company over the shovel’s anytime!“

„I am glad to hear that I am more pleasant to be around than a shovel“, you had laughed but it had died in your throat as you had caught Kíli’s eyes on you and somehow you had gotten tangled up in them.

You had eventually torn your eyes away from his, missing the quick flash of confusion, as you had looked away and got out your shopping list from your pocket, ignoring the way your hands had trembled.

You were woken up by the repeated and unrelenting calling of your name a few days after your last day with Kíli.

You groaned, turned to the side and hoped that Syniver would be quiet soon, if she would not get an answer from you and your closed door.

Speaking of your closed door, you heard muffled voices on the hallway and a half-awake part of your brain chose to listen to them as you caught your name being said.

„Oh yes, she’s here. She’s maybe still sleeping. You can just go in!“, Syniver cheerfully explained and a horrified male voice answered.

„I can not go in there. I will not disturb her privacy!“

Kíli!

„Oh, why?“, asked Syniver’s voice confused and you thought the same.

‚Yes, why would he not come in’, the half-asleep part of your brain wondered, having him here with you would be heavenly, you could breathe in his musky scent of leather, pine trees, smoke and horse and it would surround you completely…

He would surround you completely.

Kíli’s voice sighed and then he answered.

„Just family can go to someone when they are sleeping, I am just a…“ He paused and you felt your heart hammering in your chest, what would he say now? What was he?

„I am merely a friend!“, he said slowly.

Just a friend.

What did you expect would he say?

Sighing, you threw your head back deeper into your pillows and opened your eyes.

Taking in the light of the day that filled your chamber you decided that you were awake now and got out of your bed. You turned to look for your dress that you had laid over a chair the night before.

And then your door opened. Syniver stood there and looked pleased with herself.

„See, she’s not sleeping anymore!“, she exclaimed loudly over her shoulder to Kíli, who stood behind her with a mortified look on his face.

The two of you stared at each other, mouth open and you felt the heat rise in your cheeks and saw how his cheeks reddened as well.

The heavy up and down of your chest brought you back to reality and you stumbled over your feet in an attempt to find something, anything to cover yourself with. You grabbed your dress from the chair and pressed it to your front.

Kíli had moved in the same time as you had come back to your senses, stuttering apologies over and over again and fled from the hallway, you heard his panicked steps on the stairs.

„Can you not knock?“, you asked Syniver over your heavy beating heart with more anger than she deserved.

„This was embarrassing!“, you sank back down onto your bed, resting your head against the bed post, suddenly exhausted, the dress still pressed to your body, that felt uncomfortably hot and aware of the fabric of your nightgown on your skin. You wore a simple white nightgown made from a light, fine fabric that could be quite translucent — oh Mahal, what had he seen?

He was never supposed to see you like this, hair open and unkempt, barely a braid in it and nearly naked. He was a prince after all! And he had offered you his company and his friendship, he had offered you his brilliant grin and sparkling eyes.

You wanted nothing but to be worthy of his kindness and friendship, you had to be your best self!

And this was barely your best self, just right out of bed! You groaned and looked at Syniver with pained eyes, who stood confused by your side and wondered why you and Kíli were acting so strange.

While you got dressed and tried to explain to Syniver why knocking is of importance and why you cherished your privacy, was Kíli running out of your house and straight to his. He spoke with nobody on his way, thankfully was no one home when he arrived, and gathered his bow and arrow together with his hunting gear and fled to the woods.

He went by foot, needing to run, needing to move, needing to get the image of you out of his head.

You bathed in sunlight, hair flowing freely over your shoulders, just a few little braids with golden beads on the ends sprinkled through it, cheeks and lips rosy and fresh from sleep —

You standing against the golden sunlight that made the fabric of your nightgown so sheer, that he could see the voluptuous contours of your breasts and the lush outlines of your waist, full belly and hips…

You staring at him with big surprised eyes, lips slightly parted, chest heaving, breasts moving with each breath under your nightgown.

And he had stared, he could not take his eyes away from you and your body, he should have looked away! He should have stopped Syniver when she opened the door!

He did not deserve to see you like this, fresh after the night, glowing like one of the goddesses of old that he had heard so many stories about.

Who was he anyways? Just the second-born prince of a kingdom he did not even knew, he spat out this title in disgust, even in thoughts.

And he was so oddly lean, too lean for a respectable dwarven warrior, his hair was too straight and he seemed to be unable to grow a beard.

People had mocked him, they have cackled behind their hands pressed over their mouths for all of his life.

And amidst everything was you, beautiful, cheerful and well-spoken you.

You, whose eyes and face were kind to him, he felt seen in your gaze. In the best way possible.

When you smiled at him, laughing at one of your own jokes or his, when you two chatted away was he finally feeling like he could just be.

He felt like he was enough, let the people talk, when he had your smile and your warmth next to him.

You had knocked him off his feet, literally.

Which was surprising and unexpected. He had barely given you a second thought in the past, the daughter of his mother’s best friend. Tiny and always behind him, his brother and other children. You had played together, spending more time arguing about a game than actually playing it.

But you had found ways to arrange yourself and your games and still, he had never looked twice. You were just there. Until now.

When your worlds had collided and were joined again by impact.

Oh Mahal, he slowed down his running and sighed, what have you done to me?

Later on the same day were you working in the kitchen, making a fresh batch of bread, and hitting the dough more than kneading it.

You were still embarrassed about what had happened in the morning, still unsure on how to continue and you did not even knew why he had come to you in the first place.

A knock on the door made you pause in beating up the dough and you wiped your hands clean from flour on your apron while yelling “coming” towards the door.

You went to open the door and it was Kíli’s remorseful face greeting you with a shaky grin.

“Hello”, he whispered with a hoarse voice.

His eyes barely sparkled anymore, you noticed with a growing concern.

Was he not feeling well?

“Can I come in? I have brought you, I mean not you, you, I mean you and your family of course, some rabbits that I have freshly hunted today…”

And indeed, he had five already skinned rabbits hanging over his shoulder.

You smiled carefully and nodded.

“Of course! You are always welcome here!”

He breathed out in relief and his steps got his usual bounce back as he strode confidently into the kitchen.

And when he turned to you were his eyes sparkling again! You grinned, happy at the sight.

He gave you the rabbits and told you that he had already gutted them.

“They are ready for cooking or smoking!”

“Excellent!”, you answered.

“Mother will decide later on what will happen to them, my responsibility today is only the bread”, you nodded towards your kitchen’s worktop where still the bread dough rested. He followed your look.

He kept his eyes on the dough and said quietly: “Can I talk to you? I have to apologise for my behavior today…”

He still was not looking at you.

“Of course…”, you nodded and got up to put away the rabbits into the cold storage room under your kitchen.

“Will you help me with these?”, you nodded towards the rabbits while climbing down the ladder into the storage room.

Kíli got up as well, without saying a word and handed you two rabbits at a time.

After he had given you the first pair he started speaking.

“I am awfully sorry for my disturbance in your privacy earlier! I should have never looked into your private chambers, Syniver had told me that you were still sleeping… I should have left right there.

It will never happen again!”, he said, voice coated with remorse and pain, while handing you the next two rabbits and you stored them carefully away.

“I have already forgiven you”, you answered after a quick minute, where you had gathered your thoughts.

“It was a stupid accident! And also quite hilarious, if you think about it. As if any visitor sees the people in a house in their night wear…”, you laughed and Kíli gave you the last rabbit and smiled slightly in an attempt to answer your laughter.

“Why did you come by anyways?”, you asked, as you climbed the ladder up again.

“Oh, I was just wanting to ask – CAREFUL!”, he suddenly yelled, as your foot slipped from

the last step of the ladder as you had stepped accidentally onto the hem of your dress.

He grabbed you by the arm and you cling onto him instinctively and he helped you carefully back onto the safe ground of the kitchen floor.

Your eyes got tangled into each other once again as he still held you close to him.

*You were already standing safely back on the ground but neither of you moved, the two of you were not even blinking!

You breathed out and smiled at him, breaking the spell. He instantly released your arm and made a quick step back from you.

“Thank you – for saving me. This could have gone very differently without you…”, you shuddered as you looked down the ladder onto the dark, solid ground.

“We’re square now”, he answered with his usual grin. Everything was fine again.

“You ran into, well over, me and most certainly saved me from eventually doing something stupid that day on the market in regards to Fíli’s lover and now I saved you. We’re even!”

“I am glad”, you said.

“You were just about to tell why you came by this morning…”, you reminded him.

“Oh yes, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to spend the day with me, hunting, riding in the forest…”, he looked at you with hopeful eyes and your heart melted instantly.

“Can we still do that? This sounds lovely!”

“If you want to, there’s still enough daylight left for a short trip. I know a lovely little pond, it is frozen now of course, but it is beautiful with frozen waterfalls…”, Kíli’s eyes sparkled and sparkled and your heart was full and happy. You wanted to ride through the forest by his side, you wanted to see the beautiful little pond, you wanted to see the world through his eyes!

You wanted to get to know his world!

And so you did.

Today’s ride through the forrest would be the first of many more to come.

He showed you hidden places, full of beauty and wonder. He showed you, where the rare white deer grazed during the winter months and you spent hours watching them from deep within the undergrowth of big, old trees.

„Some say“, he told you one day, „that these trees are older than the elves in middle-earth…“

You cocked your head to the side and looked at the gigantic trees around you, covered in all kinds of evergreens, moss and dead looking climbing plants — you knew that they would become lush and green soon enough when spring would arrive.

The trees were old, sturdy and had a rough bark that protected them from the seasons and weathers and apparently time.

„What they must have seen in all of these ages…“, you wondered and caught Kíli looking at you from the side.

You smiled at him, it was an instinct, you could not not smile when you saw or just thought of him, and his eyes sparkled, when he returned your smile.

„The most extraordinary wonders“, he answered solemnly and kept looking at you and his smile lit a fire of gold and brown in his eyes, like a fragrant late summer day over freshly dug soil.

You wanted to keep the happiness that radiated off of him in your life and your heart forever, it made you feel whole.

Of course, you were your own person but with him by your side, it felt like your life had doubled.

Everything had intensified over the span of the days and weeks since Kíli had come back into your life.

He gave you so much. So much laughter, so much joy, he filled your heart and soul with warmth and let your insides tingle pleasantly.

His smile, his slightly curved pink lips, his sparkling eyes, his strong hands, his skillful fingers that flitted over the neck of his fiddle when he played his happy melodies…

He was all of this and more and you had started to wonder how you were ever able to live without the light he brought.

It was one of the evenings that you had spent with him in front of the fireplace in the welcoming living room of his family’s house — he and Fíli had played their fiddles and you had danced to their tunes, you had hummed along, happy songs about the most beloved treasures, of rare gems and of girls and boys flirting and dancing at their town’s festivals.

You had pressed your favorite book, that you had read to the brothers before, to your chest, taking it as your dance partner and swirled around the room, laughing and swinging…

But your eyes never left Kíli. You kept your eyes on him for the whole time.

You admired how he used his whole body to play his fiddle, how he moved along to the music, how his arms moved when he played, how he kept his full body tension —

pressing his chin gently to his fiddle to keep it stable on his shoulder and how his bow in his right hand danced confidently over the strings all while the fingers of his left hand bounced masterfully over the fiddle’s neck…

He was otherworldly beautiful, like a mythical creature from another realm, his dark hair in contrast to his sky blue tunic, his cheeks reddened from playing and laughing in the warmth of the fire in the room and always his eyes.

Sparkling. Fixed on you. Smiling slightly, as much as his play allowed.

And you danced, danced with your happiness and joy. Danced with a full heart and a soul that felt complete.

In the night that followed you saw yourself dancing in your dreams, your skirts twirled around you and you laughed. The You that you observed looked directly at you and you saw her smile so brightly, so beautifully.

Your face rosy and a few strands of hair were sticking to the sides of your face, where sweat glittered in the light of the fire.

You were beautiful. Any doubt that you ever had about yourself faded as you observed your dream self.

She was glowing. She was everything.

And you knew, even after waking, that she was not a creation of your mind, she was you and you were her.

Kíli saw himself this night in his dreams as well.

He saw himself like you had seen him. Beautiful, ethereal and worthy of your admiration.

He did not saw the little boy in the shadow of his brother and uncle, who was always trying to prove himself to them and the world. He saw a man, strong, capable and enough, even handsome, just like he was. And for the blessed moments that his dream lasted, he accepted your vision fully.

He just did not know that it was your eyes he had seen himself through.

Just like you did not know that you had seen yourself through his eyes.

Efís had stopped talking and the children all looked up to her with big eyes, questions flashing up behind their eyes.

“Why were they dreaming of themselves? Don’t you usually dream of other people and not about yourself?”, one of the older girls asked.

“Oh well”, Efís smiled slightly, her eyes fixing at a far point over the fire place, while she thought of her answer.

“There are stories, stories of old, that tell of bound, fated souls, souls tied together by Mahal himself, when He created them.

Kíli and who was merely just his childhood acquaintance once were always destined to be more than friends or lovers. I believe firmly that their souls were promised to each other by Mahal, just like in the old stories . I believe they were the One for each other.

And the old stories also say that people, whose souls were were bound together in the moment of their creation, were able to see through the eyes of the beloved. Especially in dreams.

They caught a glimpse of their own soul and it inspired them, healed them, nourished them and made the love in their hearts burn even brighter than before. If it ever was possible.

But the pair in our story, though fated, was not yet aware that it was love that was growing quickly and rapidly in their hearts.

But it would change very soon.

On a fateful day in the deep winter, when Fíli celebrated his 81st birthday Kíli and his One were both met with a burning desire for each other— and burning jealousy. But before I tell you about their hearts matters, do you want more cookies?”

The children screamed in joy and nodded ferociously.

“Very well then, dears, let me get the next platter!”

Efís laughed contently on her way to the kitchen, she was happy that the children, who came to visit her, shared her love for wonderful baked goods and the stories of old. This way was she making sure that the heritage of their people, stories, songs, everything that made their culture so rich, would be passed on for generations to come.

She continued speaking, after she was seated again and the children happily produced cookie crumbs on her carpet and the room was once again filled with eating children, their breathing, their sniffling and the crackling of the fire.

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mojowitchcraft · 2 years ago

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Fave WIP Round-Up [Part 2]

Posted a list of my fave WIPs last night and realized I missed some, so here's Part 2 of my fave WIPs! Find the rest of my WIP Recs here

is your light on? by @toburnup Rated E | Chapters: 17/20 | Words: 196k

"Tell me a secret." Steve says and Eddie shakes his head. "Why would I do that?" "I'll tell you one." Eddie looks intrigued, smirks in his direction. "A secret for a secret? Okay." He looks up. "You go first." (Steve always noticed Eddie. He's been there on the peripheral, easy enough to ignore. Until he's standing right in front of him, unavoidable. And then they collide over, and over, and over)

Tell Me "Don't", So I Can Crawl Back In by kiaramgrey Rated E | Chapters: 8/? | Words: 43k

When Steve finds himself alone and without friends, following his breakup with Nancy, he decides what he needs is a distraction. Maybe some new friends who don't remind him of the bullshit life he gave up. When he literally runs into Eddie Munson, school drug dealer and self proclaimed freak, an idea begins to form. Who better to show him what life outside popularity can be like, than someone who doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks? And Eddie? Well, Eddie is just bracing for impact.

Reboot by @plutosrose [Now Complete] Rated E | Chapters: 10/10 | Words: 38k

In 2012, Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson film a scene in the teen drama Normal Stuff that launches a popular ship on ao3. By early 2013, they aren't speaking anymore. In 2024, Robin calls Steve with an offer to reprise his role as Andy Hartley in a reboot of their old show, with one important update--his character gets together with Eddie's.

Lesson/Plan by @2btheanswertothequestion Rated M | Chapters: 3/5 | Words: 7k

Eddie huffs. "I'm already 20 fucking years old. I don't want to wait any longer. I want to experience all the shit everyone else already has now." "Everyone hasn't-" "Steve, the 15-year-olds currently in this house have seen more action than I have." "All right, okay, I hear you. We'll solve it for you." "How." "Well," Steve's tongue darts out to wet his lips, "if you just want to get it over with, then... I could kiss you?" Eddie's never been kissed, so Steve offers to teach him. And then he teaches him some more, and some more, and some more.

Sleight of Hand by @flieslikeamoron Rated E | Chapters: 17/19 | Words: 125k

Steve needs a weed dealer. He gets a bit more than that. (This is an AU set a couple months after the Snow Ball in season 2.)

PTA Shouldn't Stand for Pretty Tight Ass by @humanityinahandbag & Invader_Sam | Rated M | Chapters: 14/? | Words 51k

Steve Harrington - ex local legend and fearsome bully, now single father of two - returns to Hawkins after the world spit him out. With a messy life to sort through, all he wanted was settle down and get his kids through seventh grade without any surprises. Cue Mr. Eddie Munson, ex victim of one Steve Harrington, now Hawkins Middle School's favorite music teacher. Or: What happens when your former high school bully raises two absolute nerds, joins the PTA, helps run the bake sale, makes the best cupcakes in Indiana, and may or may not be having a bisexual crisis.

Some Cupids Kill With Dice by @hawkinsheroes Rated M | Chapters: 14/? | Words: 109k

Steve Harrington doesn't have time to date. In fact, between working multiple part-time jobs and raising two rambunctious and poorly-behaved preteens, he doesn't have time for much of anything. And it's fine. He's fine. He's having an absolutely awesome time slinging ice cream, sorting DVDs, and dodging questions from his friends and family about his love life. That is, of course, until the twins come to him with a simple request: go to Parents Night and sign them up for Mr. Munson's Dungeons and Dragons club. Or, the one where Steve is a tired and overworked DILF who may or may not be smitten with his kids' seventh grade English teacher. Featuring: busted old Hondas, milkshakes as an intricate mating ritual, twelve year-old wingmen, and the worst flirting you've ever seen in your life.

breathe out (so i can breathe you in) by @bttmbunk Rated E | Chapters: 11/12 | Words: 91k

“You thinking of getting it for yourself?” The man continues, eyebrows raised, and that’s when Steve realises he’s just been staring, practically drooling over this stranger who's decided to strike up a conversation about a guitar. A part of him wishes that the floor would open up and swallow him whole. “Oh, uh, no, actually.” He says, “It’s for my daughter.” Something indecipherable flickers across the man’s face, there and gone again in an instant, “How sweet.” “I don’t know what I’m looking for,” he admits, a little sheepish, “I’m not a musician, so…” he shrugs, “I have no way of knowing if this is a good guitar or not.” There’s a hint of amusement in the man’s eyes as his mouth tilts into a more crooked grin, “Well, lucky for you, I can help.” In one fluid motion, the man drops himself into a sweeping, dramatic bow. The suddenness of it startles a laugh out of Steve. “Eddie Munson, guitarist, musician extraordinaire - at your service.” His energy is infectious - Steve finds that he’s grinning, “Uh, Steve Harrington. Basketball coach, dad,” He tries to think of another good descriptor, but comes up short, “Totally at a loss, here.”

Trouble Looks Good On You by @steddielations Rated E | Chapters: 3/5 | Words: 35k

It happens like a fever dream. The first time Steve gives Eddie a swift smack on the ass, it’s obviously just an old jock habit that’s stuck with him. It wasn’t meant to have Eddie’s knees going weak, or turn his blood hot under his skin, or give him a brand in the shape of Steve Harrington’s hand, or— Nope, because Eddie’s not even into that. But then, it happens again. Or, Steve keeps accidentally awakening Eddie’s new kinks.

for this gift, I do feel blessed @wheatisstillwheat [Now Complete] Rated E | Chapters: 19/19 | Words: 96k

Steve was supposed to be in Berlin with his best friend Robin, not wandering around looking for a coffee shop, not speaking a lick of German. Steve definitely wasn't supposed to take the only open seat next to a beautiful, mysterious (sexy), and slightly pissed stranger at said coffee shop who cannot believe Steve wasn't angling for an autograph from him, which Steve definitely isn't, because Steve has no idea who he is...yet. (OR Rock Star AU - in which Eddie Munson is a famous grunge/alt/metal band frontman and Steve is as clueless as we'd all expect. hi-jinx and love ensue.)

Edited May 7 to update chapter & word counts Edited May 26 to note completed fics Edited Aug 3 to update chapter & word counts

#WIP RECS #STEDDIE FIC RECS #STEDDIE FIC REC #STEDDIE WIP #STRANGER THINGS #STRANGER THINGS FIC REC #STEVE HARRINGTON #EDDIE MUNSON #STEDDIE #PUBLICLY OUTING MYSELF AS A SIMP FOR ALL THESE WRITERS #mojowitchcraft wip recs

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marirah · 11 months ago

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20 questions for fic writers

thank you @vellaphoria for tagging me!

20 Questions for Fic Writers

How many works do you have on AO3?

oof okay it's a lot. i have two accounts, and one of them is over 10 years old so....

metukah (est 2013): 185

marirah (est 2022): 85

for a total of 270 works... oof

What’s your total A03 word count?

metukah: 407,889

marirah: 133,069

total: 540,958

What fandoms do you write for?

DC these days. I started in the one direction fandom, played around with Percy Jackson, the MCU, and Star Trek

What are your top five fics by kudos?

marirah:

Protected - T Sladick. After another blowout fight with Bruce, Dick offers to let his little brothers move in with him. And the mystery boyfriend they've never heard of before. (3.5k)

Daily Planet: Live From Gotham - G Superbat. Clark has an old crush on Batman and a new crush on Bruce Wayne. Lois is merciless. (3.5k)

Red - E JayTim. Jason doesn't know who this Red is or why he's in Dick's apartment, but it doesn't matter in the end. (6k)

Unread - G Jason & Dick. Jason finally caves to the kid's demands that he clear out his inbox. As it turns out, Dick has been writing to him for years. (1.5k)

Loud - G DickTim. Tim finds a little bird in his Nest and takes him home. (1k)

metukah:

Introducing Us - G batfam gen, side StephCass. The Justice League doesn’t know how many bats there are, or where Batman is keeping them all. (1.9k)

Field Trip - G Peter Parker & the Avengers. Peter Parker and his classmates take a trip to Stark Industries. He only spends about half of it wanting to melt into the floor. (3.2k)

I'm (Not) a Mess - G JayRoy. Roy Harper is Neal Caffrey. He's not letting that get in the way of his relationship with his daughter. (4.7k)

Ninjas as a Catalyst - G Birdflash. Peter doesn't like to remind people of how good an investigator he is, but he can definitely connect the dots. (4k)

Double Take - G Birdflash. Several years after Neal Caffrey disappears, Peter and Elizabeth are visiting El’s cousin Wally, who is engaged to Dick Grayson. Who used to be Neal Caffrey. (1.2k)

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i'm not really that angsty a writer i think? i thought letter (dicktim, SPYRAL) had an angsty ending but i checked, and... it doesn't really lmao

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i mostly write happy endings, but my favorite one technically isn't up yet. i'm just really happy with how my joint year of the otp/year of jason and slade series is going.

Do you get hate on your fic?

luckily, i don't really!

Do you write smut?

absolutely (see above lmao)

Do you write crossovers?

i've written a lot of white collar x dc, and i've been playing with dc x marvel x percy jackson recently

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of

Have you ever had a fic translated?

i had someone ask once but i don't think anything ever came of it

Have you ever co-written a fic?

i had a co-written series once

What‘s your all-time favourite ship?

right now it's 1000% dicktim! (send me a message to join an 18+ dicktim server!)

What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i have trouble finishing anything longer than a oneshot, they just rot in my scrivener files forever

What’s your writing strengths?

does fluff count? i like my fluff

What’s your writing weaknesses?

keeping up with things longer than 1k. also i tend to burn myself out

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i'd feel more comfortable with it if i spoke the language. but i have been known to use pet names from other languages sometimes, namely Hebrew

First fandom you wrote for?

the first thing i ever wrote (in middle school) was technically percy jackson self insert. i just wanted to be friends with percy and annabeth. i still want to be friends with percy and annabeth

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

oh man. pretty much everything i write, i write for myself, so all of my works have been my favorites at one point. right now, i'm really happy with Negative and Aperature, which are a series with reverse Robins dicktim.

I tag @klarion-the-witch-boy , @the-alice-of-hearts , @ginbenci, and @bittercape

#dee speaks #dicktim

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domesticated-feral · 1 year ago

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

ok ok ok 5 fav fics here we go

unashamedly plugging my stackson cowboys wip first and foremost, please welcome to the stage, A Love That Will Never Grow Old yes its a wip, yes i am! working! on it!!! just going through a bit of hiccups atm but i love this fic a normal amount (lies, i love this fic alot)

i re-read this fic recently and it's just so goshdarn cute! Coming up at number two is, Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf its scerek, they meet at a halloween party, derek owns a nokia what more do i need to put in a fic

First Times belongs on this list because it's my mini bbm-inspired scackson cowboys au fic and i love it and everytime i get reminded of it which is surprisingly often i get poked into writing my scackson bbm au fic!

this isn't even a published fic, it's barely even a ficlet but it's a wip in my google docs so it should count whether i post it on ao3 or not in the future, at number 4 it is this one wip titled 'david and mitch but they meet at huntington >:)' it's a crossover ship of mitch rapp (american assassin 2017) and detective loki (prisoners 2013) aka ditch lapp (me and another devoted shipper that i totally did not shove this ship down their throat until they started shipping it spent hours brainstorming this lovely shipname >:) aakjsdhskhd) Anyways, it's an AU where they meet at huntington boys school which, can be totally possible in canon (both of the universes)

you can get yourself two nickels because i'm putting a second unpublished wip in this list, this time it's a teen wolf skittles fic that's titled 'hahgahgsahahga >:) shoots trans beam at the local baby' this wip is actually done, i just haven't posted it cause i wanna rewrite the ending just a bit to the left and find a good title for it but other than that it's done. you can probably guess what the story is about but if you don't it's just a small fic that's got trans!scott and stiles finding out about it after coming home from summer vacation. it's cute, fluffy, i was going through some stuff so i wanted to write something light and fun and what better pair of besties that scott and stiles amirite?

#myfic #feral says things #ask game #thank you for sending this ask rhys!!!!#pls get the two nickels reference i always think of doctor doofenshmirtz with the if i had a nickel for everytime ___ joke

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phanfictioncatalogue · 2 years ago

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Fics Including Anthony Padilla (2) Masterlist

part one

A Day In LA (ao3) - sydneywhowrites

Summary: Dan stares directly out the window, hoping he won’t be included in the conversation. Phil runs a hand up Dan’s thigh and takes out the tiny remote from his pocket, making Dan’s stomach drop. He increases the vibration level up to a 5 out of 10 and Dan struggles to hold back moans. Phil, on the other hand, is as casual as ever.

All I Can Do Is Give You This And Let My Heart Play (ao3) - enbyprinceroman

Summary: Phil proposes at Six Flags.

A Stolen Ring (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: Dan’s not normal. Why?

He's not human, he has a mysterious ring, and he hates Phil Lester. They have a strange past, one filled with bullying and avoidance, but when Dan turns into an incubus, everything changes. He struggles with his identity and cries himself to sleep most nights, yearning to be normal. And somehow the universe makes it worse by bringing him and Phil together - in the most literal sense.

Beneficial (ao3) - Allthephils

Summary: When Phil visits LA, he stays with Anthony. In fact, he crawls right into bed with Anthony and it turns out, he’s not the only one.

This is basically a meet cute in an unusual setting:) Thanks PFF Bingo for motivating me to write something silly and fun.

This ticks off my boxes for mistaken identity and sharing a bed.

Danthony 2013 (ao3) - dodo3000

Summary: Anthony is very drunk after partying with Dan and Phil at VidCon 2013 and they take him to their hotel room.

Distance Grows Between Us (ao3) - Jay (lNoControll)

Summary: Dan couldn’t help but fall in love with the boy who he met for a night and made him want to give him the moon gift wrapped in the stars with a milky way bow. Too bad he only sees him once a year on the same day and never seems to learn his name.

or literal star-crossed lovers who aren’t destined to fail.

its new, the shape (ao3) - queerofcups

Summary: The most important thing to remember is that Dan doesn't have a piss kink

one to love you sweetly (ao3) - queerofcups

Summary: Phil knows that he and Dan are just an interlude in whatever crisis Anthony is having.

Our Flaws Are Aligned (ao3) - phantasizeit

Summary: Dan and Phil are YouTubers, but they hate each other. Phil is reminded of this when he’s forced to interact with him at the Spain Creator’s Summit. Their situation isn’t helped by their complicated past when their firecracker relationship crashed and burned. When Stop, Speak, Support contacts Phil to be a headlining speaker in their tour across schools in the UK, he is more than excited, until he finds out he’ll working next to his YouTube enemy. Phil doesn’t expect their time planning the tour together to rekindle old feelings he thought he’d long since buried.

start a reaction that can’t be contained (ao3) - calvinahobbes

Summary: He wonders what it would be like to be able to be so casually affectionate. To call Phil 'honey' in public and not care what anyone thinks about it.

(Dan and Phil and AsapSCIENCE, YouTube Creator Summit, Spain 2017.)

Sun-Kissed Confessions (ao3) - jestbee

Summary: Mostly Phil is just jealous of the way Dan seems to be perfectly at ease with the idea of kissing Anthony, but wouldn't consider it with Phil.

That Sneaky “What If” (ao3) - ExclusiveGorgeousGeek

Summary: Dan has had a huge crush on his roommate Phil for as long as he can remember, though he’s never told him.

Little does Danny boy know, the feelings are more then reciprocated.

They Just Need A Little Push (ao3) - AmazinGhoul

Summary: Ian and Anthony haven't seen each other for a long time but they both go to Dan and Phil's show in LA. While their friends want to help them get together they decide to play with them for a little while.

They See Me Rollin (ao3) - Sacirin

Summary: Dan and Phil's adventures at YouTube Creator Summit in Madrid.

Dan was reluctant at first, Phil didn't like it at all, but maybe they actually had a good time dancing tightly close at the roller disco after all. Or did they?

Untitled - danfanciesphil

Summary: Anon Request: A Phanthony prompt? Not like threesomes and such if you dont want it can be just their friendship and like maybe talking about how Anthony used to also be part of a duo but is now solo and enjoys their dinamic and such? I make no sense I just enjoy their friendship

Untitled - queerofcups

Summary: hey did you know anthony’s name is also daniel? here, have 725 words of barely nsfw, barely coherent, barely phanthony, barely fic. i give the people a near approximation of what they want.

You Fit Me Tailor-Made, Love How You Put It On (ao3) - Midgetphan

Summary: Dan maybe has fantasies with Anthony. And maybe Phil encourages it.

#phanfictioncatalogue #phan #phanfic #phanfiction #masterlists #anthony padilla #anthony #anthony masterlist

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hua-fei-hua · 1 year ago

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@charlataninre-d you MAY bc i LOVE to talk abt it!!!

first let us have a long story to contextualize everything:

basically, aside from my summer in the mlp fandom (which is kind of its own thing online), i entered fandom via anime n manga, w/my introduction to fanfiction itself (again, aside from fimfiction.net) being through my friend nat. since she got into fanfiction via pokemon and the serebii forums, she brought me to fanfiction.net in february 2016, as it was basically the only fanfiction site she knew of at the time.

bc i was just starting to be active on fandom tumblr at the time (this blog was born in april 2016!! :D), i saw a lot of people in the snk fandom talking abt how they were migrating away from ffn to ao3, which was my first introduction to the fact that there were other fanfiction archives on the internet aside from ffn.

i think i noticed that some anime fandoms that were small on ffn were surprisingly big on ao3 and vice versa (haikyuu!! in particular comes to mind), but i didn't think much of it, since i felt i either got equal or greater feedback n viewership on ffn compared to ao3, until the tumblr porn ban happened in december 2018, n i started seeing a bunch of fandom history posts on my dash talking abt how this is basically a cycle that goes all the way back to livejournal and strikethrough blahblahblah and this is why ao3 exists at all.

this basically got me interested in fandom history as a subject, which i have basically committed to ever since as like, hobby study. kept on seeing people say that animanga/video game/asian source material fandoms have historically been underrepresented on ao3 bc it was founded by a group of friends who mostly hung out in western media fandom spaces (star trek, stargate, harry potter, etc).

this lined up pretty well w/the experiences of myself n a lot of my friends who joined fandom via anime/manga/video games at around that time frame, which made me curious abt when exactly the animanga/video game fandom sphere started shifting from ffn to ao3. so i picked some fandoms (at the time, just naruto, hetalia, snk, and bnha), opened up ye olde wayback machine, and started writing down how many fics each fandom had on the different sites at comparable points in time.

you can kind of see how this has been turning out from the data i collected at the time (which is labelled as "old" bc i realized in order to most accurately compare site growth, i needed to have consistent dates between fandoms n websites, which i didn't pay much attention to when first doing this):

(these graphs just show the total number of fics archived to ffn vs. ao3 for naruto, hetalia, and snk: fandoms born in 2001, 2009, and 2013, respectively)

(this screenshot is of my spreadsheet page for supernatural, which i find relevant to the study for obvious reasons. the yellow cells represent dates which were not present on the wayback machine for that date and thus had to be estimated using the surrounding data. the green cells are just there to remind me to correct the formulas there lol)

from the raw data of "how many fics are archived to this particular site", i then take down the total number of existent fics (assuming no/insignificant crossposting) and figure out stuff like the rate (in fics/month) at which fics are being posted to each site, the % of total fics archived to each particular site, and of the total increase of fics, what % went to which site, if that makes sense.

however, i also realized that although i could now pinpoint around when fandoms started posting more to ao3 than to ffn, these dates were all abt the animanga fandom sphere, and i'd have to gather a bunch of the same data for western tv shows, the fandoms ao3 initially blew up on, so that i could get a practical sense of how much later their shifts were.

along the way, i also got curious abt which fandoms in particular basically bridged the gap btwn ffn and ao3 for animanga (the current theory is that it was haikyuu!!, which made me very upset at the time bc i had chosen on purpose not to include it at first bc i didn't care abt it <3), so using my own vague knowledge n experience of Being In Fandom(tm) i started picking fandoms to also track via the wayback machine, and by this point it's basically "in for a penny, in for a pound" LOL

*opens up spreadsheet project*

*takes a deep breath*

oh boy here we go

#long post #replies #charlataninre-d #even if hq wasn't the culprit in particular here then the data strongly suggests that it was a sports anime #kpop n bts are also going to be under careful investigation later to see if they're provably at fault for the rise of chatfics #and also bc kpop in general has a pretty big fanfic archive in asianfanfics.com!! and i'm like 'ooo another site to harvest data from!!'#mlp is on my list of fandoms to consider Specifically bc i feel like fimfiction.net is like #the last great independent fanfiction archive; it STILL hosts the vast majority of mlp fic!!#and as basically my fanfiction cradle it has given me a frame of reference aside from ffn to view ao3 as an archive #and the features they have (PLEASE AO3 I JUST WANT TO ADD 'ON HIATUS' AND 'CANCELLED' STATUSES TO FICS ALONGSIDE 'COMPLETE' AND 'WIP')#another big reason i started doing this was bc i suspect that the snk fandom had a period in its life where fics were being #deleted at around the same rate as new ones were being posted by nature of the... Discourse(tm) surrounding it #and the fact that it was Huge as a starter anime back in like 2013/2014 #i've been thinking of including sao in my data for similar reasons (popular starter anime in the early 2010s)#bc by the time we get to bnha which got animated in 2016 it's like. well abt 75% of the fandom is on ao3 now #this is also speculation but i think that m/f writers also stayed on ffn longer bc they were less likely to be purged #you know how it is with yaoi.

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theblerdbox · 2 years ago

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VI: When The Bough Breaks

Bough’s Break, LA - 2013

Bough’s Break was another two-hour drive from New Orleans - For two hours Chloe sat, uncomfortably, sandwiched between Silas and Auntie Ree. Two hours of fighting sleep, her head nodding along with the bobblehead figurine of Barack Obama sitting on Silas’ dashboard.

Chloe has only ever heard of Bough’s Break from her mother and Uncle Hector as if it were a magical place that only existed outside of this world.

“You’ll see for yourself, one day,” they assured.

It was true. Although Bough’s Break used to be a city, decade after decade, its population dwindled, leaving Auntie Ree and the occupants of the Zeroni Ranch to remain in solitude on the make-shift island. To the locals of neighboring towns, the old woman was affectionately referred to as “The Mayor”, to which she’d correct, “Just call me Auntie Ree, everyone does.”

Auntie Ree stopped at the entrance of her home and inhaled deep, instinctually handing her purse off to Silas, “Do I smell neckbones?”

A blonde girl, with porcelain skin, emerged from the kitchen, and wiped her hands on the front of her apron, ready to assist with their bags. Chloe couldn’t help but wonder how could survive under the Louisiana sun. The human Barbie doll was only slightly older than Chloe, and overtly more mature.

“I couldn’t help myself,” the girl said, “we have neckbones on special days and it sure is a special day, isn’t it Auntie Ree?”

“Oh, I bet they are slamin’, dear! Caroline, this is my niece-”

“Chloe!” Caroline cut in, hardly able to contain her excitement. Her wide eyes darkly contrasted against her pale skin, reminding Chloe of her mother’s homemade chocolate chip cookies - And, just like that, she was homesick already. “The girls have started taking bets on how long it would take for you to find your way. Goodness, where are my manners?” she wiped her palms on the front of her apron once more before extending a hand, “I’m Caroline - Caroline Dixie. But, you can call me Carrie if you’d like.” She pulled Chloe in for a one-sided hug, during which Chloe worried Carrie could read her mind as she wondered what a white girl was doing in the historical “all black” Bough’s Break.

“Carrie, why don’t you let the girl take her shoes off before you throw yourself at her,” Silas dropped the last of Auntie Ree’s luggage in the den.

It was then that Chloe realized she was the only person who was wearing shoes. She apologetically kicked off her sneakers, meekly picking them up, “Sorry, Auntie Ree.”

“I’ll let you get away on your first offense,” the matriarch waved a hand with an unlit cigarette dangling from her red lips.

“Allow me to apologize for my little cousin. I’d say she’s just like this because you’r here, but that would be a lie.”

“You’re cousins?” Chloe’s gaze toggled between Carrie and Silas. They laughed as if they were waiting for their new guest to ask the age-old question.

Silas uncomfortably stuffed his hands into his pockets, “It’s sort of a long story.”

“The Laveaus come in all colors of the rainbow,” Caroline chimed.

Keep reading on Wattpad or AO3!

#holes 2003 #desperado #book 2 #zeroni #yelnats #Spotify

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destielfanfic · 4 years ago

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My First Destiel Fic, vol.5

Thank you guys for sharing your memories! My First Destiel Fic is a nostalgic survey open to any destiel fan and has a simple goal - to celebrate fics that were our gateway into a wonderful world of destiel shipping. Thank you, fic writers, you are our heroes!

from @chamomilecas

hi! i joined this fandom in mid 2017, so just before season 12 came out! the first deancas fic i ever read was actually t&s (ik ik) but since it’s v.ooc imo id like to suggest the second and third fics i ever read!

shortskirts verse - twentysomething (on ao3) first hs/college au i read and tbh i don’t remember much apart from it being super sweet and well written!

waves - wormstaches (on ao3) i think everyone has heard of this au tbh and my god it is amazingly written! also features pan!cas in a lot of ugly sweaters (which i love sm and reminds me a lot of myself eheh) basically these fics made me addicted to the college au genre till this day lolol - as well as pan!cas representation !!

All fic titles link directly to the fic, when possible, we have added link to our review or submitted rec post.

Twist and Shout by gabriel & standbyme [NC-17, 97,500 word count, posted 2012] (our review)

What begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance. In an era where homosexuality was especially vulnerable, Twist and Shout is the story of the love transcending time, returning over and over in its many forms, as faithful as the sea.

Shortskirts Verse by twentysomething [NC-17, 22,400 word count, posted 2011] (our review)

So, they're in high school, and then they're in college, and it's mostly not about Taylor Swift, except when it is.

Waves by wormstaches [M, 54,100 word count] (our review)

Dean Winchester is the average guy: football, college, kid brother, nice car, girls and beer; his life is black and white, that is until he meets Castiel Collins: pretentious, slutty, sweater-wearing genius, who won’t even take the time to look up at him from his obscure novel while he insults him. And then everything is shades of gray and Dean is drowning.

from @candy-gothic

My first fic was 300 Things by cautionzombies. I can't remember when I read that but im sure it's not that long since I only started reading fanfictions around 2013-2014. It was my gateway in the world of fanfictions. I started watching SPN around that time too. Such shame it's not in ao3 anymore (or is it?) bc i really want to reread it again.

300 Things by cautionzombies [NC-17, 76,500 word count] (our review) NOTE - the fic is indeed deleted from the hosting platforms by the author. This is our gentle reminder to always download your favorite fic and leave nice comments to the authors!

Dean’s life at twenty-four makes him feel like he’s forty–he works two jobs to help pay bills for his house and put his genius little brother through private school, and has spent six years (on and off, let’s be honest) working on his mechanical engineering degree at KU. With so much of his life devoted to his family, Dean has little time in his schedule for class and no time for social interaction. Then, while getting his classes together for the fall, he finds himself in a do-or-die situation: He must take his last literature class now, his spring already filled with those left for his major…except that none of the English classes will fit his schedule.

from @obsessedkuroi

So, hey, saw the request. I've sorta been hovering around the fandom since...maybe 2009? 2010? I know I caught up on the first 4/5 seasons in a blitz of a couple weekends of binging and crying during my college days, and then went sobbing to ffnet (ah, AO3, not yet around at the time) to find Destiel fics to comfort myself with. After all this time, Tripping by Hatteress is one fic I still come back to reread. That, and the little additions. It's one of the few fics I think did an insane amount of justice to Dean as he is in Canon, repressed emotions and all. A second one...I suppose, as Christmas has just passed, this short gem of emotion is perfect for the season. It's called Where The Sea and City Meet by RC_McLachlan and it still makes me tear up reading it.

If you ever want any more old school Destiel fics (like, back from 2008-2010, when I dived headfirst into the fandom) hit me up. I have an entire google doc filled with just Destiel recs I made for a friend eight years ago. Thanks for all the fic recs! I'm way out of the loop on Destiel fics these days, I dropped out of being an active member of the fandom some six years ago and just recently got dragged kicking and screaming back in (and rewatching the series from the beginning cause I'm a masochist)

Kuroi

Tripping by hatteress [NC-17, 49,000 word count, Tripping Verse has 6 works and 76,600 word count, posted 2012] (our review)

What do you do when the Universe itself seems to have decided you belong with your very stoic, very angelic, very MALE hunting companion? Dean’s about to find out.

Where the Sea and City Meet by RC_McLachlan [M, 3,000 word count, posted 2010]

Castiel risked his life by going back to 1982 to find Dean's Christmas gift, and all Dean got him was a coat.

If you enjoyed the fic, please drop by the archive (AO3) and let the author know with your comments and/or kudos! And if you found our recs useful, let us know by Liking and/or Reblogging our posts!

You can find all My First Destiel Fic posts under this tag!

#destiel #destielfanficnet #my first destiel fic #hey guys #these are all submissions we have so far #we are waiting for more!#chamomilecas #candy-gothic #obsessedkuroi

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worfs-glorious-hair · 8 months ago

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Pt. 1 Children of the kindly west (Kíli x Reader) — A tale of two dwarven hearts

Warnings: None

Prologue (Erebor)

The sharp winter wind blew snow around the Erebor, whereas on the inside it was cosy and warm.

Efís, an old dwarrowdam, knew that soon the children would come and demand to hear another story. The children visited her on every afternoon during the dark winter months and she would tell them stories of her own long life, from times long gone and stories from deep of the heart and soul of their people — the stories of the dwarves of the kingdom of Erebor and beyond.

Some of these stories were true, some were not, some pretended to be one thing while actually being the other and with some, well, there was just no way of telling anymore.

Today, she decided, would she tell the children a true story from the time, when their people still lived in the blue mountains, the Ered Luin, before the Erebor was reclaimed and Smaug slain.

It was a love story, tender and pure and true but also so sad and heartbreaking that Efís had to wonder briefly for a moment if maybe the story was too much for the children to bear…

A soft knock on her door pulled her out of her thoughts and she went to greet her small visitors.

A group of children, all around age twelve to 40, looked up to her with big, joyfully expectant eyes, filled with excitement about the story they were about to hear and the sweets they would get and the hospitality they would be blessed with.

„Good evening, Efís“, they all greeted with fresh, glowing faces, they must have played in the snow for a while. Their little noses and cheeks were rosy and running.

„Good evening, dears, come on in“, she ushered them inside and the children took off their boots and coats, all covered in snow and went on to sit down on plush pillows and thick furs and little stools by the fire.

While the children found their seats Efís brought them her already prepared hot mulled berry juices and fresh gingerbread and other baked goods, some of them still hot from the oven.

The hot juice and the pastries and the little cakes helped to quickly thaw the frozen faces and frozen hands of the children.

Shortly after the first group of children had arrived, was there another knock on her door and a second group came into her chambers and also a third one after the second!

Efís had prepared a lot of her famous hot mulled juice and gingerbreads and cookies and pastries in advance and had plenty to serve to her little guests.

When everyone had their cup with hot juice and some gingerbread pieces, she sat down herself — she sat down into her armchair by the crackling fire and looked over the children, who chatted and laughed with each other, some pulling their younger siblings or cousins on their laps and Efís smiled, time to begin!

„Children!“, she said with her firm, calm voice and clapped her hands, „please calm down, do you want to hear what story I have for you today?“

The expectant faces were immediately turned to her and she nodded in approval.

„Very well, children, are you all warm and cosy?“

„Yes, yes, yes!“, they screamed but quickly got quiet again, when Efís continued to speak.

The air was filled with the scent of spices, the freshly baked pastries and the scent of the wood and the smoke in the fire.

And there was no sound besides the soft breathing of the children, an occasionally sniffling or cough and the crackling of the fire and Efís’ kind, wise voice.

„Today I will tell you a love story — it began many, many winters ago, long before my own birth and when our people still lived in the blue mountains far in the west of middle-earth, far, far away from here…

It was winter and snow had covered all of the mountains with a coat of white wonder. Just like here.

Hardly any dwarf was out on the streets on that day, when our story began, but instead everyone was in their warm houses and occupied themselves with activities for snowy afternoons.

And so did the heroine of our story as well…

She sat by her window by candle light and read one of her favourite books.

She loved reading stories of big adventures, courage, friendship, honour, loyalty and love. But her desire to experience such a story herself was dim in the background of her heart, she was happy and content with the life she had and she lived it with joy.

Our heroine also had a little sister, named Syniver, a grey pony and her father was a beloved and popular goldsmith in the town.

To put it simply — she lived a calm, comfortable life and did not know yet, how could she know, that her future was waiting for her. And that her future was not as calm and comfortable as her current life.

And she also did not know that she would soon meet the one again after many, many years, who would seal her fate and destiny.

The one person who would also be her One…

So at the moment was she only feeling peace and contentment, while she happily soaked up her favourite story but not for long anymore. Because her mother called for her, rather impatiently, from downstairs…“

Efís looked around in the children’s faces who had all listened to her with as much attention as they were able to give.

She took a sip of her own mulled juice and continued telling the story that her own grandfather had told her when she was just a girl herself.

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lyrebirdswrites · 4 years ago

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That post floating around about kindle worlds filled me with So Much Fear - I looked into it and thankfully it’s not relevant any more. The post circulating is from 2013 and kindle worlds got shut down in 2018. So there’s no current amazon related attack on fanfic, as far as I’m aware. Thank god.

But I will say that in the ten minutes I spent not sure if kindle worlds was an immediate threat or not, I was so so grateful that ao3 exists. Nothing makes you appreciate just how unique and important ao3 is as a platform like hearing about an amazon-led attempt to use fanfic authors as a cash cow/have us sign away ownership of the things we create does. Seriously, look at this line from kindle world’s old tos:

“By using the platform, authors give all rights to the work to Amazon, who can then license your elements to other authors with no compensation to the original poster.”

That sentence really puts the fear of god in me tbh. It’s easy to take for granted the protections ao3 affords us and the freedom it gives us, especially for relatively younger fans (like myself) who first got involved in fandom after the archive was already established. But we really are so lucky to have a place like ao3 to post our work. We are so lucky to have the otw advocating for us and lobbying on our behalf. We could very easily be living in a world where exploitative sites like amazon’s are the standard or even the only option for fanfic authors, but we’re not, because a group of fans got together and worked tirelessly to build a space that we could truly call our own - autonomous and entirely seperate from any corporate profit-motivated ecosystem, dedicated to protecting our right to exist, our right to create, our right to have a community. That’s special. I can’t even imagine fandom without it.

Anyway. Hearing about the whole kindle worlds thing reminded me that if we value ao3, we’re all responsible for maintaining and defending it. I’ll be donating to the ao3 this year; if you get any value out of fanfiction and you’re in the financial position to do so, I would encourage you to do the same. Here’s hoping that when the next kindle worlds comes along we’re coordinated enough to take a stand against it.

#ao3 #fanfiction #amazon #kindle worlds #originalcontent

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krosaceae · 3 years ago

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💖, 😐, ✏️, 👖 , 🍰!

Ah thank you for indulging me :) I'm excited to answer these bad boys. So we have:

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

😐 What embarrasses you most about your own writing?

✏️ Do you write every day?

👖 Are you a planner, plantser, or pantser? Is it consistent?

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

I will answer below the cut because I write way too much :)

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

Damn, kinda wish I was answering this while having one of my god-complex moments... but either way lmao I like that I don't give a fuck in a lot of regards. Like, I write to give my writing its own unique voice, not to necessarily follow writing rules... if that makes sense? If I'm going to toot my own horn, I also think I can be pretty funny and I have my moments of being clever. I also like my dialogue but only after I've spent at least an entire week agonizing over it.

😐 What embarrasses you most about your own writing?

God, where do I even start lol. All of it? I'm really bad at spelling lmao. I always have been. It's definitely super embarrassing when spellcheck or my beta can't even read what I'm trying to say, but I'm getting better. Sometimes I also get embarrassed at the amount of cursing I write into my fic lolz. Like, I delete so many fucks before we get to a chapter worth posting, if you can believe that. I also think I can be a little cliche and redundant, but also I don't really give a fuck because it's fanfiction--of course, it's going to be a little cliche.

Okay, wait. I thought about it more. Probably the most embarrassing part of my writing right now is how personal some of the shit is to me. Like putting my own struggles with sobriety and mental health out there by projecting them onto fictional characters (my fave coping mechanism lol) and then having people comment on said struggles, its embarrassing as fuck. Especially when somebody comments and calls a character on their shit, and the shit is something I used to do or maybe even still do, sometimes it makes me want to self-destruct from embarrassment. But also it's helpful for me, so idk. I think that teaching teenagers has helped me learn how to embrace the embarrassment and use it to my advantage to like... grow and shit, y'know?

✏️ Do you write every day?

During the summer, especially yes. And during the school year, I definitely try, and my definition of writing is very loose and inclusive because of that. If I open the document and like add at least one word, I have written. And maybe you disagree with me, but it makes writing accessible to me and gets rid of a lot of the guilt I feel about writing 'enough'.

Something is always better than nothing and ‘something’ is not 'half-assing' it, are both things I constantly remind myself about writing.

👖 Are you a planner, plantser, or pantser? Is it consistent?

I love this question hehe. I'm somewhere in the middle. When I first started re-writing Barriers from its original 2013 shitshow, I kinda just went full fucking pantser trying to edit the original chapters without any clear vision of where I was going other than the hazy goal I had as a fucking 16-year-old lmao. This was about a year ago, like end of summer before I started posting on AO3.

Then as the school year started approaching and I was planning my curriculum for the year... I was like wait a damn minute, why don't I use the same backward planning I use to teach, in my writing? So I spent a few days compiling a super sloppy (kind of chronological) list of what I wanted to happen in the fic and how I wanted it to end. Then I sat down and hammered out a neat(er) outline of the entire fic, starting from the end. It's not a super detailed outline, but it helps me think about what needs to happen in order to get the ending I want. I never thought teaching would help me with fic writing, but here we are lmao.

So then the points in the outline help me write chapters, but from there I kinda let the characters do them lol. Of course, I always have like a chapter goal and a basic outline (backward planned of course~) on the top of the page, but sometimes I have a scene in my head that needs to get on that fucking page and I'll do that before I even get an outline down. I also have an entire Google doc of Random Scenes that don’t have a chapter home yet, so sometimes I dump those kinds of Need To Be Written ASAP type drabbles there and then plop them into the outlined chapter when ready. I’m not sure if that made any actual sense lmao but moving on

So if I’m writing and shit gets so off the rails that it doesn't exactly follow the outline anymore, I'll go back to the outline and reevaluate. If it fits and I prefer what I’ve written to the outline, I can change it. I don't like to think of my outline as like a set in stone type of deal, more so a dynamic guide document that might shift with the story as it's written. Which is okay :)

So long answer short: Big planner girl with occasional pantser tendencies lmao.

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

I may or may not be the most predictable bitch ever... but @modern-tsunamis wrote Long Story Short (the world's cutest fkin Graire oneshot) for me as a gift in the Bokumono Winter exchange this year, and I shit you not I read it more than I'd like to publicly admit lmao. Its just such an easy, relaxing read that makes me feel. So like... if you haven't read it, do it!!!

Thanks again for the asks @dougs-inn!! These were a blast to answer :)

#fanfic asks #asks #dougs-inn #did i procrastinate by answering these instead of updating barriers?#yes #yes i did #barriers

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kingonafiftymetreroad · 4 years ago

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Fic Rec Post

Hey everybody! One of my secret santas asked me what my favorite fics are so I decided to make a full blown rec post just for them. These are a little all over the place so I hope you can find something that you enjoy here! ☁️✨

Please make sure to read all tags and warnings before reading a fic. And don’t forget to kudos/comment!

🌙 The Finish Line (Is A Good Place For Us To Start) by LoadedGunn 122k

Louis Tomlinson, one-time Formula 1 World Champion, is looking forward to the 2013 season. He’s got Zayn in his garage and Liam in his ear, he’s got Cowell Racing backing him despite former indiscretions, he’s got experience and the best race car out there. Not to mention he’s the only racer they have, after Oliver dropped out late last year.

It hasn’t occurred to him that Oliver would have to be replaced by February. That is, until he finds himself at a party celebrating Harry Styles leaving Ferrari for Cowell. Harry hotshot Styles, who broke a record last year and is probably looking to make a big splash. Harry Styles, who is talented and somewhat intimidating. Harry Styles, who left Ferrari for reasons unknown and seems kind of lonely and harmless in person. Lonely, harmless, hot as fuck. Whatever.

The first thing Louis does is take him under his wing. From there it’s nine months of slow-burning romance, the past catching up to them, turning into the human puppy pile that is OT5 and a lot of feelings until, of course, reaching the finish line.

🌙 a promise lives within you now by sarcasticfluentry 46k

A Lord of the Rings-inspired Middle Earth AU. Louis is an Elven prince, next in line to become King of Mirkwood, and Harry is the orphaned Human boy who grows up alongside him. They fall in love, but Louis’s obligations to the throne, Harry’s mortality, and impending war threaten to tear them apart.

🌙 if you're for real and not pretend by brownheadedstranger 21k

In which Harry works in a bakery and Louis can't seem to find what he's looking for.

🌙 Into The Blue by zarah5 117k (story is locked, ao3 account required to read)

AU. In which Louis is Harry's scuba instructor and quite happy to provide the requested special treatment, pun fully intended. It can't be all that difficult to convince Harry that they're on the same page, right? Also, Niall and Liam may or may not be dating, and Zayn is surrounded by emotionally stunted idiots. He bears it with dignity.

🌙 Don't Unplug Me Or Shut Me Down by slashter 7k

Louis scowls. "He's a photography student. He works with gorgeous models and probably breaks hearts with his smile. I'm a nerd. I earn my money fixing broken crap, and for some stupid reason, I like it. He wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts, he's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers, et cetera, et cetera." Louis sighs. "I swear, the coolest thing I've ever done is wear contacts."

Basically, Louis is a self-proclaimed nerd who fixes things and Harry seems too perfect to keep breaking as many things as he does.

🌙 You Are The Blood by sarcasticfluentry 175k

A seventh-year Hogwarts AU in which Niall gets all the girls, Liam goes on a journey of self-discovery, Zayn falls in love, Harry wants something more, and Louis tries to figure out once and for all why he, a Muggleborn, was sorted into Slytherin.

🌙 this must be what all the fuss is about by youcomecrash 3k

"You're sweaty," he mumbles matter-of-factly. Louis opens his eyes and raises his head from between his arms. Harry's just staring up at him with a lazy expression and Louis kind of wants to kiss him to sleep. "That's because it's a hundred degrees in here, babe."

🌙 I Fell From the Sky For You (Like a Shooting Star) [by louserz] by waddupjordan (orphan_account) 8k (This was originally posted on tumblr by @louserz and this person had permission to post it on ao3 for the author. if the original author sees this and wants me to take this off of my rec post please DM me and I will. This fic displays elements of depression and homelessness although it is not tagged that way so please take caution in reading this. I don’t want to accidentally trigger anybody.<3)

Harry owns a bookstore, Louis is homeless, and apparently even shooting stars fall in love.

🌙 Sail Across Me by iwillpaintasongforlou 21k

Harry is a prince that is about to be forced into marriage against his will and running away to sea seems like a much better option. Louis is the captain of the infamous pirate ship The Rogue and he has a thing for helping defenseless creatures. Especially when they're as pretty as this one.

🌙 but maybe im just in love when you wake me up by theonewiththelarrystories 6k

lazy morning sex, prompted by Asher: "like a whole sleepy sunday morning vibe of waking up together and then louis pulling a sleepy harry into a warm bath and louis washing harry all over. a bit of body!worship, louis gently working conditioner into harrys curls and him practically purring. Then louis taking it slow with kisses on harrys neck and gentle touches and then fingering harry until hes whining with his head thrown back against louis’ shoulder little needy noises coming from his perfect fucking lips. and then harrys boneless and content while louis leads him back to their bed and spreads him out face down and rims the fuck out of him until hes screaming and then he fucks him gently and then they cuddle on the couch and harry wears louis’ white sweater and louis calls him ‘sweetheart.’"

🌙 strawberry milk fic by Wankerville 158k (3 parts)

This is a 3 part story. The 1st part was originally written alone and then the author added the rest. You can just read the 1st part (19k), and you’ll still be satisfied without feeling added pressured to read the whole thing. Please read all the tags and warnings for each fic beforehand!

🌙 and we live like legends now by soleilouis 16k girl!direction

harry works at a juice bar, and louis is the cute girl that skates at the park right next door.

🌙 Through Eerie Chaos by MediaWhore 102k (story is locked, ao3 account required to read) @mediawhorefics

For as long as anyone can remember, Old Hillsbridge Manor has always been believed to be haunted. Everyone in the village agrees and keeps a respectful, fearful, distance. New in town after a bad breakup and an internship that led to disappointment rather than a permanent job, Harry Styles figures taking pictures of the decrepit building could be a great new creative project. Or at least a much-needed distraction while he searches for a job and crashes at his parents’ new house. No one warned him about the apparitions though; about the music, the laughter, the people who flicker and vanish when you call after them, the echoes of a past that should be long gone… Harry has never believed in spirits but even he can admit that there’s something weird going on. What starts as mere curiosity evolves into a full-blown investigation and soon enough, Harry finds himself making friends with an aristocrat from the 1920s and struggling with finding the best way to tell him that he’s dead.

The Ghost Hunter AU where Niall lives to prove ghosts are real, Zayn is a skeptical librarian and Harry gets caught up in a century-old mystery and catches feeling in the process.

🌙 jump in the deep end by istajmaal 5k

Louis’s stomach lurches as he closes the last bit of distance, Harry’s nose settling between his arse cheeks and pushing them apart. Harry’s lips brush against the puckered skin around Louis’s hole in a kiss and Louis lets out a whine so high-pitched he barely recognizes it as coming from himself—what if I'm not clean enough, what if Harry hates it, what if Harry pushes me away—but then Harry’s long, wet tongue swoops in a circle around Louis’s rim and Louis feels like all the breath is knocked out of him. He grabs for Harry’s hand, still digging into his thigh, and squeezes over it, until Harry releases his vice grip on Louis’s thigh and laces his fingers through Louis’s.

or, Louis's arse is a sensitive subject, so Harry approaches it gently. With his tongue.

🌙 the wheel breaks the butterfly by embodied 4k girl!direction @aliensingucci

“Out with it, Styles,” Louis groans. Harry’s suddenly regretting this whole thing, and she’s sure she’s beet red now, so she just blurts it out so fast she’s not sure if Louis even understands her right away.

“I’ve never gotten head before.”

AU. harry and louis are roommates. girls' night ends a little differently than usual.

🌙 you flower, you feast by stylinsoncity 18k

He's King of the Underworld, but don't assume Louis has it all. He could stand for some excitement in his monotonous, eternal life and maybe, even.....a soulmate.

(Despite not having a soul.)

And along came "Harry".

🌙 you change, water sea by got2ghost 4k girl!direction (ziam with side larry)

“Zayn wants me to teach her how to make a girl squirt,” Louis says, like it’s the most casual thing in the world. Liam chokes on the water she’d been swigging from her thermos, which makes Louis throw her head back and laugh. Zayn’s brows pinch together and she pats Liam gently on the shoulder, muttering, ‘you okay babes?’

🌙 The Case Of The (Definitely Not Haunted) Styles Mansion by BriaMaria 40k

“So there’s a sense of humor buried beneath all that condescension, huh?” Louis said when he’d stopped laughing.

“It’s not condescension, it’s intelligence. I understand you might not be able to recognize it yourself,” Marcel said, then slapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh god, I’m sorry.”

Louis stepped closer, his eyes on Marcel’s face. “For being an asshat?”

“For being rude,” Marcel said, from beneath his palm.

Louis shifted a half-step closer until he was at the very edge of Marcel’s personal space. It felt like he was nudging at it, asking to be let in. Marcel flushed hot for no reason.

“Lucky for you it takes quite a lot to actually insult me,” Louis said taking one step closer. Too close. Too close.

Marcel met Louis’ eyes. Those blue eyes that reminded Marcel of poetry instead of science, lyrics instead of formulas. They were so pretty he wanted to drown in them.

---

Or the Nancy Drew AU where Marcel is a man of logic, Louis is a private detective who believes in ghosts, and the Styles Mansion is definitely, absolutely, positively *not* haunted.

🌙 You are the Lyrics by TheIfInLife 4k @larryficwriter

or, Harry wears lingerie for the first time and Louis definitely approves.

🌙 Wild at Heart Ain't Hard to Find by QuickedWeen 11k girl!direction @becomeawendybird

Louis and her best friends Niall and Liam always take an annual vacation together. This year Niall has picked Redwater Canyon, a small tourist town where everyone lives like it's the Old West. There are saloons, stagecoaches, and limited access to WiFi.

The town boasts tours, excursions, activities, and the hottest woman Louis has ever seen in the form of the local blacksmith.

🌙 Withdrawal Was the Weeping by QuickedWeen 11k girl!direction

Confined by life and society, Harry spends her Sunday afternoons walking aimlessly about the countryside as it's her only source of freedom. One Sunday she is aided by the most beautiful woman she has ever met, but not everything is as it seems. Was it a trick of the light? Was it Harry's own active imagination? There is nothing to do but try to find her again.

🌙 i must admit i thought i'd like to make you mine by disgruntledkittenface 50k @disgruntledkittenface

Louis fell apart when her ex broke up with her and moved across the country. Just as she’s starting to move on, Zayn comes back to town for their mutual friends’ wedding – with a new girlfriend as her plus one.

Blindsided and scrambling to save face, Louis lets herself get talked into a fake relationship with her new friend Harry. Their arrangement makes Louis feel pathetic and embarrassed, but it’s only going to last a few weeks. She just has to get through the wedding – what could happen?

🌙 tempted by the fruit of another by disgruntledkittenface 3k (zayn/louis/harry)

Zayn didn’t mean to look. And she certainly didn’t mean to watch.

It’s just that Louis and Harry are the worst hosts in the world; they’re in their bedroom, clearly fucking (again), and so loud that Zayn can’t concentrate on her game of Among Us in the living room. Liam has killed her twice. Liam. So she just went down the hallway to make sure their bedroom door was at least closed.

It wasn’t.

Zayn stumbles into a world of possibility when she stays with Harry and Louis for a few weeks.

🌙 I have more favorite fics but they are not included here due to them being deleted from ao3. They’re saved in PDF form both on my laptop and my phone (I go back and read them all the time) so if you’re interested in those you’re welcome to reach out to me and ask privately and I’ll share what I can.

This turned out a lot longer than I had expected. If you read through the whole thing thank you! ✨

#☁️✨#fic rec #masterpost #long post #fic rec masterpost #ls #fav #i plan on adding more fics as i read them too #hope ur able to find something to read ss!#if ur looking for more specific types of fics lmk and ill see what i got :)#fic #larry stylinson #my post #my recs

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holidaysat221b · 4 years ago

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2020′s Halloween at 221b - A Sherlolly Celebration Master List

Below is the 2020 Halloween at 221b Master List, complete with where they’re archived, mult-chapter or not, complete or not, and rating. In progress fics are marked in bold as a reminder for a mod to periodically check for updates.

Some of this year’s submissions have been featured before, some were written years ago, and some are brand new for this year. We have edits, fics, a pumpkin, and even a youtube video; plenty to look at and reblog, kudo, or comment on.

If I have missed a submission or made a mistake on the list, please let me know.

As always, the complete Master List for all years can be found here.

2020 Sherlolly Halloween - Created by @mel-loves-all A Ghost and Mrs. Muir AU (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

2020 Sherlolly Halloween - Created by @mel-loves-all Theme: Gothic Mystery AU (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

2020 Sherlolly Halloween - Created by @mel-loves-all Theme: Underworld (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

The Accursed Huntsman of Bodmin Moor - Written by @mizjoely Late one night, on a lonely, wind-swept moor, midwife Molly Hooper has a supernatural encounter that will changer her life - but for the better, or for the worse? (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

The Addams Family - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlolly Addams Family AU (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

The Adventure of the St Bartholomew Vampire - Written by @darnedchild Bodies that had been found drained of blood are mysteriously disappearing from the morgue. Could it be the work of a vampire? Or is there something even more sinister stalking the dark streets of London? - Written for the Halloween at 221B - A Sherlolly Celebration Fest. A Victorian vampire story written in several short chapters. (Repost from 2016′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated M)

Banshee - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock’s the head of his family with Mycroft away, but he isn’t prepared to deal with Molly, a banshee who once harassed his older brother. She’s not as frightening as she appears…in fact, he thinks he could be falling for her. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

British Supernatural - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo This week on British Supernatural, Molly conducts a séance in a manor on the moors whilst Sherlock investigates the hellhounds that are rumored to roam the land. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

Cozy Autumn Night In - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Cozy Autumn night in (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

A Different Angle - Written by @mizjoely Jim Moriarty is dead, Molly Hooper has a secret, and Sherlock Holmes is about to jump off the roof of St. Bart’s and fake his death. A Post Reichenbach horror AU. (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, In Progress, Rated T)

Happy Death Day - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo “So, uh, now that your bedroom is officially a crime scene and all, where are you planning on crashing?” “Is that an invitation?” (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Happy Sherlolly Halloween Pumpkin - Created by @darnedchild I carved this pumpkin with a pattern based off of the “Coat Flip Hair Ruffle Kiss” shirt sold by Saniday on Redbubble. (Repost from 2018′s Sherlolly Halloween, On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Haunted Mansion - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo ‘Yes, my dear heart; I will marry you. I will love you for all eternity. And tonight, at last, we will be together. I do!’ Sherlock as Edward Gracey and Molly as Elizabeth Henshaw (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The Haunting of Pondicherry Lodge - Written by @mrsmcrieff It’s coming up to Halloween and Sherlock has a spooky case to investigate. He’s not helped by his friends who are seeing it as a holiday but will they get more than they bargained for? (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, In Progress, Rated E)

The Heart of Betrothal - Written by @mychakk Not once had he shown any kind of interest in her since the beginning of their betrothal. And yet here he was. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated M)

Let’s Watch This World Burn - Created by @terrmissamorriver My small art for 2020 Sherlolly Halloween. Spooky holidays, everyone! (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The Manor - Written by @afteriwake Growing up, Molly knew of a building that only came out on Halloween, the building all the people in her village referred to as The Manor. When she was eight she saw it come into existence, and one of her friends was lost to it that same year. Since that day she has avoided it and tried her best not to think about it, until it came up in conversation with Sherlock. Sherlock is adamant that she was making it up so the two of them travel to her home village and watch as The Manor materializes there as it does every year. But this year is different. This year Molly and Sherlock enter the malevolent home, and it’s up to the two of them to keep the owner of The Manor from claiming any more victims. (Originally written in 2013, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

The Maiden Mirror - Written by @hobbitsdoitbetter He finds it after the fire, after the funeral, while they’re rebuilding 221B Baker Street. The mirror is heavy. Oak. Vines and leaves curl around its border. A carving that might be a face gazes out between the branches, eyes dark and wide. Watching. The wood is polished and smooth, the glass speckled with age. In the aftermath of a tragedy Sherlock Holmes finds a mysterious object in his home and develops an odd new fascination… Ghost story, Victorian AU. Set post Abominable Bride and post HIs Final Vow. Enjoy! (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated M)

Molly Hooper - (Assistant Reanimator) - Written by @darnedchild Sherlock Holmes learns the shocking secrets of Molly Hooper’s past. *Cue dramatic music and an evil laugh* (Repost from 2017′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

The Munsters - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock and Molly as Herman and Lily Munster (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The Pathologist’s Skeletons - Written by @englandsgray ‘He passed his hand over his mouth, closed his eyes. If he opened them, he would look straight into the eyes of the people who loved Molly Hooper long before him. What would they think, what would they say to him if their opportunity had not been snatched from them? Would he too have to look into the dead eyes in the waxen face, hair a mass of congealed blood..?’ Even Dr Hooper, it seems, cannot be protected by her own quiet brilliance from the stains of a murky history. (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

Pleasant Surprises - Written by @ladysolitaire Molly encounters an entity that makes her appreciate her relationship with Sherlock. She uncapped her lipstick and turned to face the mirror. “Oh, my God!” she shrieked, dropping the lipstick to the stone floor. Her eyes wide, she ever so slowly turned round. “Bloody hell,” she muttered to herself as she stared at the doorway with her heart thundering in her chest. Happy Halloween! (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

Potions - Created by @mel-loves-all Theme: Potions (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Sherlock as Dracula - Created by @terrmissamorriver Halloween is coming, so I’ve made one more work. Sherlock as a Vampire? Why Not. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

Sherlolly/Beetlejuice AU - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo A Beetlejuice AU (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

Simplyshelbs16xoxo List of Spooky Fics - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Spooky Sherlolly stories by Simplyshelbs16xoxo (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Siren - Written by @darnedchild Woman or sea creature - did it really matter? Molly was as mysterious and beautiful as she was vicious; her very existence a scientific improbability. From the moment he saw her, his fate was set, Sherlock would never let a mystery remain unsolved. (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, In Progress, Rated M)

Spellbound (Trailer) - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Trailer for my Fanfic Series, Spellbound. (Repost from 2018’s Halloween at 221b, On Youtube, Complete, Rated T)

Undercover - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock and Molly go deep undercover to thwart an unhinged serial killer who’s next target may just be Molly herself. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

Uni!Sherlolly/Blair Witch AU - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock receives found footage and is asked to investigate the Blair Witch. He takes Molly along with him and what they find is beyond their imaginations. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

The Woman in Hampstead Parish Burial Ground - Written by @mizjoely The first time he sees her he’s seven and visiting relatives in London with his parents and older brother. Mycroft at fourteen is all teenage aloofness and disdain, at first ignoring the tug on his hand by his over-eager sibling who begs him to let him explore the cemetery so like and yet so unlike the one at their old house. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

The Undead Is the New Alive series - Written by @afteriwake

1) The Vampire & the Detective Molly Hooper was a vampire, a fact she kept hidden from the world at large. But Sherlock Holmes is a genius, so of course he’s going to figure it out. But his reaction is surprising, and from that Molly finds their relationship changing. When Moriarty puts it and her existence in jeopardy, however, decisions are made that have life-changing consequences for the two of them. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated E)

2) Her Own Personal Hell Upon returning to work after the events on the hospital roof, Molly finds she has an unwelcome visitor in her morgue: the ghost of Jim Moriarty, and he’s bound and determined to make her pay for killing him. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

3) But In All Chaos There Is Calculation Sherlock is still coming to terms with his new existence as a vampire and Molly is still wrestling with feelings of guilt that she had to turn him. When they return to her home after a walk they find that Mycroft is waiting for them, and he has a few bits of surprising news for the two of them. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

4) Home Again Sherlock returns to 221B Baker Street and he, Molly and John find out more about Mrs. Hudson’s very interesting past. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

5) Easily Solved This fic is not eligible for Halloween at 221b; but as it is part of the series, I decided to include a link for continuity’s sake.

6) How To Spend A Day Off Molly tries to sleep in on her day off but wakes up hungry, and since her body is on a feeding schedule it’s very important she get her blood before she’s in pain. While she and Sherlock feed they talk, and one thing leads to another, ending with them deciding to put their vampiric stamina to the test and spend the entire day shagging each other senseless. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Complete, Rated E)

7) Silence Pressing In The night is too quiet tonight. Molly needs…something…to soothe her tonight. But not sex. Something else. (Originally written in 2017, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

8) Revenge Is A Dish Best Served (Magically) Cold For some time now Sherlock has suspected Molly of sleepwalking. But when Lestrade calls him with a case that involves a vampire victim one evening when Molly appears to have been out, he starts to wonder if her sleepwalking may be having homicidal effects. But there is more to the whole story than it seems… (Repost from 2017′s Sherlolly Halloween, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

The Unexpected Legacies series - Written by @afteriwake

1) Questions Answered While Questions Remain Deciding to make the best of the situation he’s fond himself in (being immortal and impervious to harm), Sherlock incorporates his developing skill set into his consulting detective business. But even as he gets some of his questions answered by (the supposedly fictional) Merlin, it still leaves him questioning exactly how he’s supposed to do what the wizard wants him to do. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

2) Attempting To Run An Experiment Among the many interesting new powers Sherlock has received as a wizard is the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Being of a scientific mind he wants to run an experiment of seeing just what he can do with this newfound power, and Molly has volunteered to help. But it doesn’t work out exactly like he had planned. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

3) Malevolent Intentions After Sherlock has been trained by Merlin more in the use of his powers he takes a case in Eynsford, trying to find out why a particular home there has the occupants feeling as though there’s an evil presence. Molly is accompanying him and before the case is solved Sherlock comes to a stark realization of just how important to him Molly is, and the lengths he will go to keep her safe. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

4) Infestation Molly calls Sherlock one evening shortly after the Eynsford case after hearing a buzzing sound and seeing a strange woman with bugs on her face at the foot of the bed. It turns out Molly’s house is infested with dark magic imbued insects who want nothing more than to kill anyone in the home. After Sherlock gets poisoned by one of them he and Merlin begin to work on taking care of the threat and getting Molly her home back…if they can. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

5) Thwarting A Potentiall Uprising When Merlin informs Sherlock and Molly that a very mischievous and dangerous fae has escaped with the intention of raising her own personal army comprised of the male police force in attendance at the Halloween party thrown by Scotland Yard, they take steps to make sure that doesn’t happen…with some unexpected help from some from friends and acquaintances. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

6) A Glimpse At What Could Be This fic is not eligible for Halloween at 221b; but as it is part of the series, I decided to include a link for continuity’s sake.

7) Monster Madness Halloween comes around and it starts every bit as irritating and uncomfortable as Sherlock and Molly have expected as every ghost in the vicinity makes their presence known, and only gets worse as disciples of the Dark One turn a twelve hour monster movie marathon into an attempt to wreak havoc in the city of London by making the movie monsters come to life. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

8) In The Shadows And In The Light Sherlock and Molly finally get to go out on their first date and nothing, come Hell or high water, is going to ruin it. Nothing. Or at least that’s what he thought, until he wakes up having a vision. Fortunately, he’s got a very understanding girlfriend. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

9) A Complicated Evening One of Sherlock’s normal cases becomes one of the strange ones, and while it has a satisfactory end, it doesn’t have the best of endings for everyone. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

10) Rare Gifts Mycroft is sent to Hampshire for a meeting that he has an ulterior motive for going to: there has been talk of strange goings ons in the nearby village of Farnham, Surrey, and a high ranking government official has disappeared. He tasks his brother to find out just what is going on, which leads to the discovery of a long lost colony of an ancient race who are normally peaceful but are being manipulated by an unscrupulous businessman with plans for taking what he believes to be rightfully his. (Originally written in 2016, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

11) History Repeats Until Stopped When Merlin tells Sherlock and Molly that another one of his descendants is living in a village under a curse and could be in danger, Sherlock and Molly go to the shore to try and break the curse and change history from here forward. (Repost from 2017′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

12) Surprise Visitations Sherlock and Molly are settling in for the night when they get an unexpected and unwanted visitor in their bedroom. (Originally written in 2018, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

13) Magical Lineages Molly, Sherlock, Phryne and Merlin enjoy a morning of magic and cozy family feels, and unbeknownst to them they’re being watched by two people wanting to keep their magical lineages safe. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

The Universally Monstrous series - Written by @darnedchild

1) Universally Monstrous - The Hunchback of Notre Dame “The Quasimodo Killer?” Sherlock scoffed. “Really, John. That’s the best you could do?” (Repost from 2018’s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

2) Universally Monstrous - The Phantom of the Opera It was a well-known secret that New Scotland Yard was haunted. (Repost from 2018’s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

3) Universally Monstrous - Dracula It’s Molly’s voice. The woman he had buried just six days prior. (Repost from 2018’s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

4) Universally Monstrous - Frankenstein They were four bodies in before someone noticed a pattern. It was Philip Anderson, of all people, who made the first connection. (Repost from 2019’s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

5) Universally Monstrous - The Mummy “I must admit I’m surprised you managed to secure authorization for me to see the mummy.” (Repost from 2019′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

6) Universally Monstrous - The Invisible Man “This is the strangest thing I have ever seen,” John marvelled. “Haven’t seen,” Sherlock corrected. (Repost from 2019′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

7) Universally Monstrous - The Wolf Man Normally, she would hardly deign to give the tales of Holmes’ fantastical detective work a passing glance, but something about The Hound of the Baskervilles drew her interest. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

8) Universally Monstrous - The Creature from the Black Lagoon “I think I’m looking at a fake, albeit a well-constructed one.” The Skipper huffed, but Sherlock ignored him. Surely the woman in the tank would need to surface soon, or risk betraying the presence of a breathing apparatus of some sort. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

9) Universally Monstrous - The Bride of Frankenstein To his chagrin, it took Doctor Matthew Hooper more than a dozen interactions before he realized that the notorious Sherlock Holmes was not the man he pretended to be. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t a man at all. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

#2020 sherlolly halloween #sherlolly #2020 sherlolly halloween master list

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