#there was supposed to be a spicy scene but i hated it so i ended up cutting it

[allylikethecat]

Chapters: 8/15 Fandom: The 1975 (Band) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: George Daniel/Matthew Healy Characters: George Daniel, Matthew Healy, Adam Hann, Ross Macdonald, Carly Holt Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Verse, Hurt/Comfort, Past Drug Addiction, Fertility Issues Summary:

He couldn’t be in heat. He couldn’t remember what he even was supposed to do if he was in heat. But he couldn’t be. It had been nine years, all of the blood tests, all of the wait and seeing, all the hormone shots had yielded the same results. He didn’t have a heat cycle anymore, and he would never have one again. He had damaged his body beyond repair.

Except apparently not because he was dripping more slick than he had produced even as a horny teenager and his uterus was screaming at him that it wanted a baby and he just felt so nauseous and empty and-

[greml1nb0i]

Hazbin Hotel Rewrite [WIP- this is copy and pasted from my docs; this is old but i wanted to share it anyway]

Rewrite the Characters:

Original +opinions (ooo~ Spicy) :

Charlie - Princess of Hell, Daughter of Lucifer. Sheltered and Cheery.

  I hate that she’s just Disney Princess coded. They could have used the whole sheltered route well but TBF we don't see that either.  We see a weird rendition of that where everyone forgives her for her terrible actions but yet other characters like Husk and Angel Dust are somehow held to a higher sense of accountability for their actions?!

  I also don’t believe whoever raised Charlie could keep her away from the ever growing and changing landscape of Hell. Like if you're going to be a Princess of anything its really important for the next heir to be well acquainted with their kingdom's landscape and history. At the very least talk to the locals and commonwealth. 

 Her design is...ok. It didn't change much from the pilot but tbh i liked her Pilot design, I feel like it makes sense for her to wear hints of red and white, but i wish they added more than just red, i feel like black or gold would have been better or even purple for Biblical accuracy of Pride.

Vaggie - Girlfriend to Charlie and protector of the Hotel, ex-Exorcist. 

 Why did they change the lore? Also why does it feel like the VA hated being there or was just given 0 directions. She sounds dull and plain except for when she’s sounding like she’s angry, which is 99.98% Of Vaggie’s emotions.

  That, an amnesia apparently?! How does vaggie not remember the very weapon that cut out her FUCKING EYE that still makes no sense, like how tf her and Lucifer and even Husk have wings, if wings are going to be used for ANY character why make them seem important to Vaggie when Husk literally has wings, and Lucifer the supposed “fallen Angel” STILL HAS HIS?! Like why? How does this make sense? 

Angel - FemBoy, Sex worker. Deals in Self destruction, self loathing and deep depression while also being flirty and promiscuous. Was in a Mafia family. 1940s timeline. 

 Trauma porn character and just a bunch of gay men stereotypes. As a survivor, his story doesn't hit the way its meant to. There's a good and bad way to show SA and Abuse and while they did it “eh” (im saying this loosely) at first, they were completely unrealistic and downright infantilizing at the end.

  There's no way someone who just went through a beating, an having to almost get drugged and dragged out of bar, is going to forgive the same person who started the stupor in the first place- ESPECIALLY ON THE SAME NIGHT!!!!!

I FUCKING CANT WITH THESE WRITERS THINKING MENTAL HEALTH CAN BE SOLVED IN A 20 MIN EPSIODE, IS THIS A KIDS SHOW ABOUT FRIENDSHIP OR AN ADULT SHOW ABOUT CARTOON DEMONS IN HELL. 

And don’t get me started on that terrible musical number, it’s just soft core rape in a cheery pop tune i fucking hate it!! It doesn't help that Raph, an SA fetishist STORYBOARDED THE DAMN SCENE

WHAT THE FUCK MEDRANO!?

Husk - Angry grump, bar keeper. Contracted to Alastor. Gambler. From the 1970 or 60. 

 The design is a character designer's worst nightmares come to life on the screen. Every furry from the early 2000s clutching their pearls in cringe. It screams “omg rawr xD uwu” era and i think we as a society are way past that, i figured a 30 something year old woman would be too.

[apparently it was her sisters OC that was put into the show, viv why?!]

Alastor - radio show host from the 30s. Cannibal. Half Creole. “Wendigo design”. Cocky and always smile but is "quite dangerous when provoked." [yea ok pal]

  An OC from middle school that should have stayed in middle school. There is a reason so many OCs from artists' early childhood don't make it into their new and growing art style. Most of the time if you keep obsessing over the same OCs you stunt yourself on growing in your art. Tumblr Sexy Man is that exact thing. I like him in concept but, if he was drawn better and actually looked like a man from the 1900s and in his 40s,(or even a half creole man; that's supposedly a Wendigo) I'd have less to complain about. His concept is good and interesting, but its not the first or the last and Alastor def isn't the first. Also give that man a haircut please!

Nifty - Japanese-American. From the 50s Obsessive and a neat freak. Camera shy but psychotic.

  I feel like this is just a racist stereotype waiting to be exposed. The “young psychotic Japanese  girl” trope is so fucking old and repetitive that i cant vibe with a character like Nifty when i know her only purpose is to be used as comedy bait. It doesn't help that Viv didn't give Nifty almost any merch! Like WOW really showing favoritism over the merch sales and that is disgusting.

Sir Pentious - British inventor. Kinda an idiot but is a brilliant machinist.

  We were robbed of a decent villain. I hate that he became part of the cast and became the first redeemed as if Angel wasn't there longer and started showing signs of Redemption sooner, like we got more Redemption scenes of Angel but like NONE of Pentious and we are supposed to believe this weird snake dude is redeemed just cuz he kissed a girl and got himself killed for nothing???? VIVZIE YOUR ASS WRITING IS ASS!!

Also he's a stolen Character...seems to be a trend for Viv..

Lucifer - King of Hell, Father of Charlie, Sin of Pride. Depressed and non-serious, deep self loathing. Complex of some sort. Short King.

 He’s fine..i guess, i mean its freaking Jeremy Jordan VA-ing him…he kind fixes whatever is wrong with Lucifer character wise. [this is for very obvious reasons a joke, while re-reading this i realized some people might not know i'm being sarcastic,oopsies] He’s a terrible character for numerous reasons. He is kinda homophobic if you really think about that “i like girls too” line and then proceeds to call her “MAGGIE”;  Lucifer feels like he is just there to satisfy Viv’s  disney esque “daddy issues” type kink she has for “tragic characters and shitty dads” type characters.

 Designs wise he trash. He looks like jeff the killer but blonde and drawn by your aunt who refused to go to art school

Cherri Bomb - Angels Friend. Arsonist. From the 60s(?). Punk rock.

 Her design is literally traced and just the Addict design…the fans are just stupid. Also i dont like the fact that Viv EXPECTED viewers of her show, to have done homework on who the fuck Cherri is, cuz if you're a new watcher, and didn't read the fucking Vivziepop Bible, you wont know who tf she if or why you should even care about her.

 Why is Angel hanging out with someone like this in the first place, You’d think because Angel is older and from a different time period he wouldn't vibe with Cherri?? But apparently Viv thinks a fem gay man from the 30s would be the best homie to a 20 yr old punk rock Aussie from the 60s, a whole 3 decades of time difference!! Tell us why and how they know each other!! How can these fundamentally very different people even vibe together!! Is it just cus "wow shared trauma of abusive lovers" cuz wow Viv.

(her entire design is also stolen soooooo~)

Mimzy - who?

This one also feels really fucking racist. Idk what it is with Viv but the jewish stereotypes of Mimzie are absolutely atrocious. 

Fix:

Charlie - [TBD]

Vaggie - [TBD]

Angel - [TBD]

Husk - [TBD]

Alastor - [TBD]

Nifty - [TBD]

Sir Pentious - [TDB]

Lucifer - 

 Was an Angel with dreams, and took part in the Creation of All Things.

   However Lucifer was too ambitious and went off course with the designs of Earth’s creatures, causing the other Angels to feel uncomfortable by him and his new creations. 

While the Angels were tolerating him, he was allowed to visit the First Human, but in doing so felt that their lack of knowledge was unfair and so in hopes of helping the other Angels see things his way, he gave the Apple of Knowledge to Adam and Lilith. 

 This didn't go as planned though, Where Lilith became kinder and more empathetic, Adam however became more uptight, and acted as if he was better than Lilith.

 Lucifer defended Lilith against Adam thus causing the Angels attention to be drawn. Seeing what Lucifer had done; Ultimately bringing evil (free will) into the world, They (strangely) cast Lucifer AND Lilith, as well as the creatures Lucifer had created to the dark void;

 The Angels now would call it, Hell. Lucifer, home. 

Lucifer would first land in Hell confused and depressed, Along with Lilith they both begin to freak out as they look into the dark, empty landscape in front of them. Feelings of bitterness begin to reside within Lucifer, that settled into a resilient sense of ignorant Pride. 

Lucifer’s Creations - 

 The demons and most of the Hellborns. Lucifer is treated as the Divine Judge of Hell, His punishment is having to witness all the evil that had been created due to him and He in turn must turn what could never be, into another one of his creations. Though he is given it a process. He has given up on making anymore Hellborns due to them fixing that themselves. Demons that are specifically Dead Humans (The Sinners).

Sins - 

 All of the Sins were once creatures created by Lucifer that began to Form into The 7 Deadly Sins. However the rest of these creatures evolved into lower ranks and a hierarchy was formed. With the Sins and Lucifer being at the top.

 The 7 are special creatures that Lucifer held a special fondness to in particular. More so than some of the other Creations. Each of these Sins were given a mission after the fall and were subsequently turned into the Sins by the Angels, who felt they deserved the same punishment, if not worse, as Lucifer. Forcing each of the Sins to work as their prince/princess of their specific ring unless they want their entire existence to cease. They rather that not happen.

The angels cursed all the sins, and Lucifer himself. that if they ever stop their torment they will cease to exist. Angels thought this was humane but didn't realize or rather didn't care that much at the time how barbaric it actually is. 

Dubbed the Curse of the Angels or Angels Kiss 

(play on Kiss of Death where whomever Death kissed is marked for death, 

here the Sins were “kissed” by the Angels and a “kiss” was once used to symbolize a curse or bad omen onto another)

their "death" however is more than they evaporate into nothing

its their very minds and bodies slowly begin to deteriorate painfully to the point of being empty husks. No expression, No emotions, No sense of self. Nothing. Their consciousness and personality essentially gets erased entirely.

Premise IDEAS for Rewrite: 

1] 

Sinners go through character arc delving into their issues that lead to each one's Redemption

Heaven gets upset over the rise of redemption in Sinner 

 Earthly Denizens of Heaven/ “winners”  attack the Hotel

The Sinners and the Staff defend the Hotel

Heaven’s attackers are turned fallen. 

{END}

so i started this almost a year ago, it was right when i really started to dislike Viv and Helluva Flop Boss. If you wanna give a suggestion on what you think could make this better go for it. It's a WIP- so any advice is welcome and appreciated!!

[monster-match-if]

Is the mc human? What will we be able to customize?

MC is human, but I'm thinking of maybe letting you choose if your MC wants to transform into a vampire or werewolf towards the end. And maybe the option to discover they can do magic (witch/warlock/mage type). This will happen maybe in the last week of the show. You'll be able to customize MC's appearance (skin, hair and eye color as well as height and body type... tattoos, piercings, freckles, glasses/ contact lenses.) I'm not entirely sure if I want to add a beauty option (like if MC sees themselves more/less attractive than the other contestants), but they will always be alluring to the ROs, obviously, lol. I'll get back to this in Chapter/Day 2.

You will have to choose between male and female MC. The game won't specify if MC transitioned or not, but the respective body parts will be used in the spicy scenes and will probably be reflected in the clothing options as well, though there will always be at lest 3 options varying from prude to skimpy - and I'm always open to suggestions for these. I suppose I could always add at least one more gender non confirmative option🤔 Neither MC nor the others will be grouped into Women vs Men activities/challenges, it will always be by couples or decided by the public (aka me😂). I think the only route where this will be slightly relevant is Ragnar's (werewolf) since there will be talk about eventually staring a family, so all F MCs that can't or don't want kids (biological, surrogate or adopted) will be locked out of the romance from this one route only.

I also kinda wanna add that I will not be changing this (MC binary sex or Ragnar's sexuality). This is a side-side-side project of mine and I'm already codding a bunch of stuff that were not in the original plan I had for this story. If I had more time, I would. I'm also thinking of making the game downloadable once finished and let anyone add/change upon it whatever options they want. If anyone will want to code/write different customizations or routes or just check the code or have it as a template for their own stories, I'm fine with it.

I haven't gotten to the coding yet, but I'm thinking of adding pronouns as well. The only issue is I HATE 'they' from a purely codding standpoint cause then I have to code all the freaking verbs I use to plural for this one set of pronouns that I'm not even sure if anyone uses in game... I'm thinking of letting everyone customize their pronouns, as well as change them whenever from the Profile tab, with the added note that all verbs will just be in singular form when referring to MC. Again, I'm sorry, it just takes time and patience, things I'm lacking more and more.

Personality wise, there will be 3 options: The Sweetheart - timid and, well, sweet The Charmer - friendly, average flirt, cracking jokes here and there The Flirt - very bold, very flirty

These will never lock per se, but the highest stat will always trigger some flavor text. But they are a bit separate from the actual romance choices (MC can be a sweetheart and still initiate things, but it will probably be mentioned they are not so bold otherwise, or a complete flirt and still get shy in some instances). There will also be a few choices where MC can follow their emotions/ heart, or logic/ brain.

I think I got everything and then some 😂

[diegoshargreevs]

ok SPOILERS don't read if you haven't finished tua season 4 - - - - - -

Can we look back to 03x10 for a sec?

That whole season Allison is heartbroken and so desperate to somehow get back to Claire and Raymond. At the end of 03x10 she get's exactly that, her perfect little family. But now where is he?? They just mention for a sec that Ray left her?? 🤨

And Luther. Luther falls in love with Sloane. A liiiitle quick maybe but whatever, it's his whole storyline of s3 and they literally marry and are happy. In the last scene Sloane disappears. "Where is she? Where's my wife?" "She was right behind me..." "I need to find her!!!!" and... now what? WHERE IS SHE? She also only get's mentioned like once in the new season but they don't tell us what exactly happened to her? Did she die, did they break up, did he just give up on finding her...?! Wtf.

The last scene after the credits, with Ben reading in the train confuses me. People speculated that it could be Umbrella-Ben but that wasn't the case so.. what was that supposed to mean then?

Now Diego and Lila. They are a spicy couple, have their ups and downs but they literally ended season 3 in a good place. They love each other. Lila was scared she wouldn't be a good mum, Diego was sure that wouldn't happen. They were excited for their baby. In the last scene they hold hands, smile at each other, say "now we live our lives" and walk away together. Now what did they do to them in season 4😭 They not only drifted apart, apparently they also both absolutely hate their lives and barely care for their kids? I mean Diego said about himself that he would be a great father and he actually did well with his fake-son stanley, but we barely get to see him with his own 3 kids. That's so sad. And Lila, well.. except for the last train scene with her family she doesn't seem to care much about their children either. She rather starts something with Five.. 😒 Which is another thing!

Five loves his family so much! He cares deeply for them and tried to save them over and over but in this season? Nothing to see of that. He's practically only in scenes together with lila and literally leaves his family and disappears right when they're getting attacked! And he shows absolutely NO remorse about falling for his brothers wife. No, he rather get's in a fight with Diego, hits him and says he "wants to fucking kill him"??? are you for real?? they all feel like completely different characters, it's like they forgot everything they did before s4. So. fucking. disappointing.

[wildflowersintherain]

Ooooo so I discovered this book on Tik Tok and all I can think of is Channing Tatum saying, “imma bout to make a name for myself” this book definitely made its name for me!

So we start off in a dystopian world. We follow the character Ivy, who is a feral omega..well deemed feral by the council. We don’t get a ton of Ivy’s backstory, we catch bits and pieces of it but I’m hopeful we will get more of it in the second book! Ivy is abused in the home she’s in that’s for “feral” omegas! I do enjoy Ivy’s character! She has a spirit to her and doesn’t just take whatever life throws at her. She tries!

Shortly after we begin to meet the MMCs. I have mixed feelings about how some of them were portrayed. I loved all of the characters but i definitely had a favorite. I wish we would’ve gotten a better bonding feeling between the MMCs. However I do understand that their group or pack is essential a military assassin group.

Thane, is essentially the pack leader. He is supposed to be the reasonable one and he is the first to meet Ivy. Hes also the first person to really show her a “softness.” Personally, I believe he’s the most calm natured of the group and tries to evaluate the full situation.

Plague, is the medic of the group! Hes described as wearing a bird mask so all I see when I read his character is the Plague Doctors, I think the author did a good job with a little play on words with this. He definitely is the “smarter” one in the group when it comes to Ivy. Granted Ivy has some medical needs when she comes to them so he knows how to help her.

Whiskey, well he’s whiskey. I think the author used him as a comedic relief to help lighten the book up. I really enjoyed it though. Personally, I think he would be my second favorite character in the story.

Vakel, personally I couldn’t get into his character. Partly because he’s a bit like a mystery? The author doesn’t go into a lot of detail about him. He seems to be one that could be angry super quickly but to me his character needed a bit more for me.

Last but not least, Wraith! Now he is my favorite character! We learn later in the book he is mute and he is often referred as a monster. But hey we love the challenges right? He strikes me as someone who was hurt deeply. His friends seem to not have a lot of trust in him since he has such a high blood lust. I won’t give spoilers but there’s one scene that changes my perspective on him soooo much. He became my favorite quickly!

Even though these are big burly men, it’s all about consent. And this is part of her healing journey!

I had to take a little moment for myself when I read this. It broke my heart a bit but I was so glad that Ivy was finally getting a bit of healing in her journey!

This book is a slow burn! We don’t have really any spicy scenes between the FMC and MMC until the last few chapters! It definitely works for this book because I think Ivy needed time to heal and feel comfortable and work on trusting the MMCs!

It does end on a cliffhanger! Now it’s not a huge cliffhanger but it’s there. I typically HATE cliffhangers like I won’t read a book if I know it ends on a cliffhanger if the other one isn’t out. But this one was manageable. It was a gentle one.

Overall I’m super excited for the second book! I’m so glad that I came across this on Tik Tok! Please note this is a darker book so check the trigger warnings before you read! Also the author has really nice art on Tik Tok as well from this book. I couldn’t find who actually did the pieces or I would’ve posted them with credit because they are amazing!

Feral Omega

Lenore Rosewood

Read On August 7, 2024

(PS if anyone has any recommendations send them my way! I feel like I’m in a bit of a slump)

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

EVERY WEEK I WILL POST VARIOUS REVIEWS I’VE WRITTEN SO FAR IN 2024. YOU CAN CHECK OUT MY GOODREADS FOR MORE UP-TO-DATE REVIEWS HERE.

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16. Shock Marriage for the Powerful Spaniard by Cathy Williams: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was addicted to this cheeseball of a book. I'm trying to read through my large (and thrifted) Harlequin book collection, and this was the first one of the year. I'm happy it was because even though it had the typical cheesiness, stilted dialogue, thesaurus raiding, and the confusing use of an Italian term of endearment spoken by a supposed Spanish man, it wasn't a slow book in the least. It was quick, addicting, and had a couple of spicy scenes.

I do have to side-eye the cover creator because the FMC was supposed to have a "latte" coloured complexion (which I hated, but also made her not white. Love that whitewashing of a cover.

Read this for entertainment purposes, not for much else. Although, I AM a sucker for this trope.

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17. We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am grateful to the person who put this book on my radar (thank you m/m reddit group). This book was beautiful and full of admittedly high stressful moments, made a little bit worse by my anxiety that this was going to end like so many books that were written during the decades that this book is set in. Actually, I love that one of the MCs comments on this because it's always been one of my pet peeves when it comes to classic Queer books.

I loved the dynamics between these two characters and how they worked off each other. They were amazing together and even though they weren't perfect, I loved their vulnerability and related to their anxiety (I have a bad habit of empathizing too much with characters when I'm reading from their perspectives). Their love felt like such a naturally progressive thing and whenever they described how they saw each other, my heart did a little dance for them. Although the story spans just a bit over a year (maybe more?) it felt like these two were friends for years.

I also adored the side characters and the found family they offered to the characters. During a time where trust was a gift, these two were gifted with the very best. If they were real people, I only wish that they got to live the best rest of their lives together possible.

In a way, I wanted to cry at the end of this book. The journey, their love, their growth, and the fact that this was reflective of how so many Queer people might have lived during those decades (and some still live this way). It's so heartbreaking knowing people can't just...exist and love who they want. It's mind-blowing.

Anyway, this was sweet, angsty, sexy, and touching. I loved it so much.

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18. Lotus by Jennifer Hartmann: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mega-TWs for this book--the author includes them at the beginning of the book. Including CSA.

Jennifer Hartmann has quickly become one of my favourite authors. This is only my second book by her, but it was so exceptional that now I MUST have every single one of her books. STILL BEATING had me in such a chokehold that I didn't think it was possible to have the same addicted experience to another book by her, but I was WRONG.

LOTUS was a dark, romantic, and trauma laced read. Everyone had their own past trauma to confront and I think that's a realistic take because most of us have something we're struggling with in our adult lives. The way Hartmann tackles trauma and somehow still finds the beauty in the dark and in what scares us is truly masterful. She offers possibilities to people who have lost hope of any sort of future. It was tear-inducing, but also such an experience.

The MMC was so well-written and I love that Hartmann was consistent in his persona throughout the whole book. He was so endearing and I just wanted to protect him from the world. Side note: every time I thought of him, I saw the actor who plays Reacher in the show of the same name. Iykyk. The way he cared for the FMC was so pure and like she mentions early in the book, he hasn't been tainted or jaded by humanity. He was a beautiful human being.

The FMC was the epitome of "smile and fake it till you make it". She was quirky and fun, but also carried some heavy reminders of how fragile life is. Though I got frustrated with her a few times, I also completely understood why she was the way she was.

The way everything came together at the end had me yelling "I KNEW IT!", because apparently I'm a book detective, was amazing. Even though the twist is heartbreaking and had me crying a bit, it was so powerful and had everything come together so perfectly.

Hartmann gave every character introduced a life and a heart--and she made them all vulnerable and showed how strong those characters were for their imperfections.

I loved, loved, loved this book.

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19. Eragon by Christopher Paolini: ⭐️⭐️⭐️���️

Re-read January 2024

I read this about 16 years ago, so it felt like I was reading it for the first time. I listened to the audiobook, which I love to do when I'm re-reading, and let me just prepare you: the voice actor is no bueno at magical voices LOL.

Anyway, the story itself was fun and I like to think it stood the test of time. It was fun, full of adventure, and being older, I can tell this story was written by a younger author. This is in no way a bad thing--in fact, I think it made it more believable for me that this MC is only 15-16. The writing felt more like the author was going on his own adventure and he really loved reading fantasy books. It was just pure fun. Although at times, I seriously was impressed with his mastery over the English language with his writing.

Overall, this was a fun re-experience. Some points were a little on the slower side, but I can also see that this is building that foundation for an epic series. Will definitely be re-reading the sequel!

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20. Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was worried about the hype surrounding this book because hype and I aren't always the best of friends. But listen, I started the audiobook one night and finished the book the following day. THIS WAS SO ADDICTING and brilliant.

I highly recommend doing the audiobook--it's a full cast and minus the music (there wasn't any), this felt like a podcast and I adore those kinds of stories.

I'm impressed with how Hunter was able to create such strong personalities with other an initial description of what each specialist does for a living and their dialogue (especially since the story is told in the style of a script and other multimedia add ons, like photos and maps and clues.) But I think hearing the voice actors give life to these characters also helped a lot.

The twists had my eyebrows rising and my smile of surprise growing after every episode. And when all was revealed, that last punch of a surprise had me wishing I could yell at someone about it. Fantastic.

Normally, thrillers and I are very hit or miss--this was 100% a hit with me. So much freaking fun.

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21. Set the Record Straight by Hannah Bonam-Young: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of my favourite things in romance novels is something that I know a lot of people don't like: little to no conflict. Maybe it's because it's a novella, but this one was such a breath of fresh air. Communication? No misunderstandings? Respect for your partner? No bullshitting around the truth? Sign me right up.

My biggest regret is reading this in January rather than during the holidays!

I loved the two MCs' friendship and how it was the perfect foundation for their relationship. That being said, I did think it all happened super quick and while I know this is because this is a novella, but I wouldn't have minded if this was a bit of a longer book--just so we could dive a bit more into their past and their relationships with the people around them.

This was also SPICY. I listened to the audiobook and the I would pause what I was doing just to stand there and listen with hot cheeks. This was hot HOT. If you like that in romance novels, yeah, this is for you. It was super caliente and I was very here for it.

I highly recommend, not just for the spice, but because this relationship is so pure and it was just a bite of happiness between two friends who should have been more all along but finally found their way to each other. Also, there may be some relatable moments in here and I just--yeah.

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22. The Measure by Nikki Erlick: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think THE MEASURE is a great metaphor for how the world treats people it considers "other" and just how interlaced we all truly are at the end of the day.

While the story itself is about the strings and the lengths they offer the individual, at the core of this story is a message about how we view life and how others view our own lives. It's that continuous question of: if my life is mine, why does it bother you what I do with it? And then using the small few to crucify the rest with inane laws and prejudices. Many of the events in this book could easily mirror what is continuously happening in our societies.

We get to see the story of THE MEASURE play out through various characters and as their lives come together and separate, I was constantly in awe of how it was all happening. I wanted certain answers and knew I had to be happy with whatever I was offered because like the characters, I only had the strings and the theories to go off.

I won't lie, this made me cry a few times. I felt anger and heartache, joy at the power of humanity and love, and awe at the smallness of the world.

While I loved this book, I wouldn't say it was a favourite of the year, but it was definitely memorable and I'd definitely recommend it. The last author to make me feel like this about books that explore this kind of message was Karen Thompson Walker.

I highly recommend THE MEASURE if you're looking for a book that will challenge you to look at your life and ask yourself: would you open the box, or keep it closed and just live your life unaware?

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23. Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm definitely reading this series out of order, but who's keeping track, right?

I liked LOVELIGHT FARMS more than its sequel. This one was told only from the POV of the FMC, but something about this one captured my interest more. Maybe it was the angsty friendship, or the fact that everyone was saying "IT'S HAPPENING!", which was adorable.

I think I also liked the dynamic between these two characters a lot more than the characters in the second book. I think they worked a lot better than a one night (one weekend?) stand that somehow couldn't stop thinking about each other. These two characters had a history to work off and it was nice to see that evolve.

The farm was also like a character itself and I loved seeing it from this perspective--the one of a person who truly loves and breathes the space.

What I didn't like so much was the stupid miscommunication that happened near the end because of the FMC's assumptions, fears, and anxieties. I get it, love is scary af, but you know what's scarier? Miscommunications.

Other than that blip, I really enjoyed this one and I can see how anyone who reads this is easily pulled into this fun and quirky contemporary world!

___

Have you read any of these books? Would you recommend them?

___

Happy reading!

[9leaguesofmirrors]

The Favour (a Ross Gaines x Joseph Lisgoe fanfic)

What if Pauline refused to help Ross in season 3 episode 1 and she left before that very scarring scene ever happened? In this version, he decides to call in the help of an old acquaintance

This one is a little more ✨spicy✨ than my other fics, but it's just fade-to-black, I'm not quite brave enough to write actual smut

I love how well these GIFs go together, like Ross just made a smug comment and Lisgoe's sick of his crap 😆

**********************************************

"I've come here on my fucking time off, so this better be important."

Ross couldn't remember when he started being on speaking terms with Joseph Nigel Lisgoe, but it happened. They weren't friends, but they also weren't exactly enemies. Well, Ross thought Lisgoe was a sadistic cretin who used violence to make up for his lack of brain cells, and Lisgoe thought Ross was an arrogant bastard with no concernable personality. Other than that, they didn't hate each other

Hence why Ross didn't see an issue with enlisting his help. Since he didn't have his number, he had to track down and slip a note under his office door that read I need your help, we'll discuss at my house followed by his address

Which is how he got here, face-to-face with a very unhappy Lisgoe at his front door

"Make yourself at home."

Ignoring this statement (which he could tell was merely being said out of politeness), Lisgoe all but barged past and leaned against a counter in the kitchen

"Your house reminds me of you: dead on the inside."

"I didn't invite you here to insult me."

"Couldn't you at least have gotten dressed? You look like a right twat in that dressing gown."

"I think," Ross said as he went to the cupboard and poured them both a glass of wine "that we should focus on the real reason I asked you here."

Lisgoe curled his upper lip slightly, as if he would rather have been anywhere else at this point, but took the glass anyway. He took a sip, watching Ross closely

"You gonna tell me or am I supposed to guess?"

"Someone I hired for an undercover job has decided to go against me."

"Fucking hell, OK James Bond!"

This was met with a glare, not that Lisgoe seemed to be all that bothered. In fact, he has a shit-eating grin on his face that suggested he found this whole thing funny

"I don't know why you're laughing."

"You're so far up your own arse, no wonder you talk a load of shite!"

"I'm going to ignore that. All I'm asking is for you to get rid of her, I'm sure that won't be too taxing on you, what with the very little brain power you possess."

"I'm not a contract killer." Lisgoe put his glass down on the counter "I may be a crazy bastard, but I'm not some assassin."

"You're the only one with enough of a craving for violence and lack of empathy to do it."

There was a pause. Lisgoe took another swig of wine

He'd never admit it out loud, but it was refreshing to have someone challenge him. As much as he liked being the one everyone feared, there was something about Ross' lack of fear that both frustrated him and kept him oddly entertained

"What's in it for me?"

Ross considered his answer, but his thoughts were somewhat hazy, clearly more interested in why Lisgoe was staring at him. He was completely unreadable, which was off-putting to say the least. And yet it, for some reason, made him feel more drawn to him. He wanted to know what it would take to make him snap - what he would do when he did

"Who says you're getting anything?"

"I'm not doing this shite for free." Lisgoe sneered, taking a step towards him "It comes with a price."

They weren't incredibly close, but it was enough for Ross to briefly catch his scent. Sharp, spicy cologne which seemed to fuse with the underlying leftovers of cigarette smoke. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if he'd smoked before he came here; he could see it now, Joseph Lisgoe outside the door with a cigarette in his mouth... sucking it gently... his eyes closing as the smoke fell from his lips

Ross put an end to that thought immediately

"I could tip off the police to the rumours going around Royston Vasey about your violent tendancies, I'd say guess how many years you'd get," he put a hand on Lisgoe's shoulder and looked at him with pure mockery in his eyes "but I'd hate for you to hurt your head."

"You'd tell the police, would you?" Lisgoe retorted in a soft voice that made it sound more like a dare than a question

"What if I did?"

Despite not being the most intellectual of people, Lisgoe could read emotions on their faces and bodies easily. It's what he used to get under people's skin before he inevitably threw a punch. There was a stillness in Ross' body language that told him he was telling the truth - he respected that, in a way. Another thing he caught onto was Ross' eyes. They seemed to drag their way up and down his frame, meeting his eyes with a subtle, sharp intake of breath. He was being looked at in a way that was rare for him, yet something in him was very satisfied that it was directed to him alone

But there was something else. Something of a spark in his eyes, something that said I'm onto you

He wasn't about to give him the upper hand

"I don't ask for much." His voice was softer, slightly rough "But, if you need me as badly as you clearly fucking do, then you'll have to convince me."

"That depends on two factors: what you want, and how you want me to convince you?" Ross chewed his lower lip, an action that caused Lisgoe's jaw to tighten

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Satisfied with the edge he'd taken from him, Ross put down his glass. As he did, he made sure to let his hand brush against Lisgoe's, relishing in the way he jolted away

"There's a grand history of people who, daggers drawn, eventually find each other attractive." He said innocently, tilting his head to the side slightly as he stared into dusty blue eyes "What do you think, Joseph?"

Nobody called him Joseph

It's was Lisgoe or, if you worked for him, Mr. Lisgoe. A silent agreement among the inhabitants of Royston Vasey. He didn't know what was worse: the fact Ross had the balls to break that rule, or the fact it sounded so nice in his voice

"I think you need to remember who you're talking to. You might get away with saying what you like to the thick pigs at the dole house, but I'm not that easily fucked with."

The venom in Lisgoe's voice shouldn't have affected Ross the way it did. He wasn't scared, but it pierced through his chest and pumped molten fire through his body

"I assume," He put his hand deliberately over the man's wrist, his voice steady "you know what you want in return for all of this?"

Lisgoe took a step forward and stared. It was like he was considering not the offer, but him. Finally, he spoke again:

"Anywhere between 10,000 and 20,000 is great."

"Excuse me?" Was Ross' response, trying not to look too disappointed as Lisgoe pulled away "You expect me to pay you that amount for one simple task?"

"You're not asking me to have a little chat, are you? You want me to get rid of a bitch, and the fact you contacted me means you want it to hurt."

"You're hardly worth the oxygen I breathe, let alone £10-20,000."

"You've got a set of balls, haven't you?"

"I want you to leave."

"Now hold your fucking horses, I'm not done!"

He moved over to the address book on the table and opened it, slightly surprised by how empty it was. Surely this guy knew more people than WORK and MOTHER

"So, is your dad an asshole? Or is he dead?"

"What are you doing?" Ross asked, clearly not appreciating the question

"You got a pen?"

"Don't pretend you can write."

"Fuck off and get me a pen! Wait, shut up..."

"I didn't say-"

"Here's one."

Lisgoe had taken a pen from inside his suit jacket and scrawled something onto the page. Upon inspection, Ross noticed it was a phone number with the initials JNL next to it

"As a debt collector, I never like doing favours without getting something in return."

"And what exactly do you have in mind? If it's more money, I'm out."

"You doing anything tonight?"

Of all the things he expected to hear, that wasn't one of them. Regardless, he shook his head neutrally

"I'll be back in an hour." Lisgoe put the pen down on the table "For the love of shite, get dressed."

"What's the occasion?" Ross sneered in response

"The occasion is, when I get back, I'm doing whatever the fuck I want with you."

Ross' chest caved in. He couldn't think of the worse reason: actual fear or... OK, maybe the second option. Either way, he was trying not to show it on his face

"What exactly are you implying?"

That made Lisgoe laugh a little. Ross went to question him, but was quickly silenced by being tugged by his dressing gown into a searing kiss. It was forceful, not that it came as a surprise - this was Lisgoe, after all. And Ross certainly wasn't complaining. Especially not when his lower lip was being pulled between Lisgoe's teeth

"Unless you have another stupid question, I'll see you later today"

Before he could turn and go, Ross had grabbed him by the wrist

"You said earlier that a debt collector always gets something in return, would you also say they'd rather get it in a timely manner?"

"I don't remember what I said, but sure. What's your point?"

"There's clearly something between us. A certain... heat-"

"Alright, Ozzy Wilde."

"Oscar Wilde, but that's beside the point. What I'm saying is what's the point in waiting for it to cool down?" In a moment of boldness, Ross reached for Lisgoe's jacket. Without breaking eye contact for more than a second, he unbuttoned it slowly "Unless you're too scared to-"

Once again, his words were cut short and Lisgoe's mouth was on his. It was frantic and raw, neither one of them was interested in being gentle. Ross' hands were warm, Lisgoe's skin was cold, which came together to form what could only be described as electricity. Without breaking the kiss, Lisgoe was being pushed against the kitchen counter and, well, Ross was dropping to his knees to return a favour

*********************************************

"So, what's the bitch's name again?" Lisgoe asked as he threaded his belt through the loops of his trousers

"Pauline Campbell-Jones," Ross sat down on his sofa "she's completely egregious. She's violent, foul-tempered and vulgar."

"Right, I suppose you only find those traits sexy in men."

"Let's make this clear, I only did that to pay you back."

Lisgoe didn't know why he got the urge to ask, but he sat down beside Ross and looked at him with slightly furrowed brows

"Do you fuck everyone that you ask to favours?"

"No."

"So I'm a special case?"

Ross looked Lisgoe up and down contemplatively, then replied "Yes."

"Can you say anything else? One-word responses piss me off."

There was another silence. Ross stared at the wall, thinking things through. OK yes, maybe part of the reason was to get Lisgoe on board with his plan, but did he enjoy it? Maybe he did. So what? Since when did sex mean anything? That being said, even with all that aside, Lisgoe wasn't completely insufferable to be around. In fact, he was one of the few inhabitants of Royston Vasey that he could see as being something of an equal to him

"We don't have to be strangers, I suppose. You did give me your number for some reason."

"Ignore it then," Lisgoe shrugged as he got up "I just gave it to you so I could tell when I was done with her."

Then there was an odd moment of pause

Ross stood up and they were facing each other. It was awkward and tense, but not altogether unpleasant. Just strange. Almost as if neither of them were in a rush for it to be over

Suddenly, Lisgoe snapped out of it and headed for the front door. Ross went to let him out. It was all very formulaic, as if nothing happened between them. And surely, that's all it was

Nothing at all

Once he'd gone, Ross went back into the kitchen area and looked at the number written into his book. Then he saw it

Lisgoe had left his pen behind

If he hurried, he could probably catch up and give it to him. Or he could wait for him to realise and come back for it

Ah well, what's the rush?

[mimbotomy]

Thank you @lazuliquetzal for the tag! 🩷

How many works do you have on AO3? 10! Which feels small because I have more than three times as many WIPs rattling around in my google docs rip

What’s your total AO3 word count? 561,190

What fandoms do you write for? AC Odyssey! Except I write so many crossovers so I have a couple other fandoms on my AO3 as well. I also have WIPs for AC Valhalla, House of the Dragon, and ATLA. Fun fact, I also have Odyssey crossovers planned for two of those fandoms, and I'll let you guess which two 😜

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Rebirth - My beloved, my baby, I swear I am still writing this My Miraculous Ladybug fic - I wrote this seven years ago and like to pretend it doesn't exist Assassins, Atlantis, and Avengers - Unfortunately on indefinite hiatus, but I've gotten so many nice comments on it recently that I've been thinking a lot about it! The Children of Kephallonia - MY FAVORITE FIC OF MINE EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS I'M SO PROUD OF THIS ONE Not a Malákes Ravenclaw - Absolutely ridiculous I can't believe people actually like this (it's so fun to write tho 😂)

Do you respond to comments? I do my best but I'm not actually the best lol

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Of my published fics, The Lioness, but only if you read the first chapter and ignore my ramblings in the second chapter about how SPOILERS deaths would change canon.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? There is No Escape...! It technically has the same ending as my other Kassandra drags Phoibe out of the Underworld fic, but this fic has a planned sequel called the Electric Boogaloo, so I think it's obvious which one I had more fun writing 😂

Do you get hate on fics? One or two negative comments but for the most part people have been really nice to me! Which I appreciate, because I am a smol anxious bean who just wants friends 🥰

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have a few bordering on spicy scenes, but no real smut.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? BOY DO I HAVE CROSSOVERS I have so many crossovers, like too many crossovers, all putting the queen of my heart Kassandra the Eagle Bearer in another universe and making her the main character she is clearly supposed to be. My craziest one is probably my AC Odyssey x Harry Potter crossover, but I am now hesitant to call it crazy because it now seems to make sense to me??? So maybe I'm going crazy???

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nope!

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope again!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Once again, nope! But I honestly think co writing a fic would be so fun to try, at least once.

What’s your all time favorite ship? Kassidas. I always liked it but it has legitmately taken over my brain the last year. I blame @aeide's amazing Kassidas' fics

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Assassins, Atlantis, and Avengers. It's on indefinite hiatus right now because while I have an outline and even a few scattered scenes written, actually writing it seems impossible right now. But I hold out hope that I will come back to it one day!

What are your writing strengths? Character relationships! (At least in my opinion lol)

What are your writing weaknesses? Does constantly going back and rewriting chapters because I slightly changed my idea and want to foreshadow things better count? If not, I could be better at setting the scene and not just imagining it in my head.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Definitely not opposed to doing so, albiet through google translate because I am truly terrible with languages, but I always try to keep it short and I include translations in the endnotes.

First fandom you wrote for? Miraculous Ladybug. I sometimes like to pretend that fic doesn't exist because I feel bad that I forgot what I had planned/never finished it.

Favorite fic you’ve written? THE CHILDREN OF KEPHALLONIA I feel like I really came into my own as a writer when I started plotting out this fic and I'm really happy with my worldbuilding, character relationships, misc narrative choices, and just how my writing style has improved from my first fics. If you want to read any of my fics, I recommend this one.

I vaguely remember doing this exact tag game at some point, but time is an illusion and I have no idea when this was! So if I tag you and you did this recently, do not feel any pressure to do it again!

Tagging @aeide, @uhhhyaenbyjade, @zephyrwolf5, @ithinkthiswasabadidea, and anyone else who wants to do this!

[thepeculiarbird]

Obsidian, spider, and oil for the black ask game :)

Obisdian - How would a fandom misunderstand your main character?

Oh no, you got me there! This question is actually so hard because I've 3 main characters and they're all like "normal people", there's nothing to really misunderstand. The only thing currently coming to mind is maybe the relationship between Danae and Madhi, it looks toxic but actually it's a lot more complicated. Don't want to spoil too much either but yea, the fandom might hate Dan for how she acted. I don't know.

Spider - Do you write happy endings?

When I write a story or think of it, I always tend to make a happy ending for the main character(s) or/and for the main couple but with a character dying or like a sad event before. In general, none of the main characters will die and the characters who are supposed to end up together, will end up together. (It's already hard to kill one of the side characters I love so killing one of the main, It's impossible for me haha)

Oil - Smut or fluff?

Fluff, definitely. I can barely stand s*xual scenes (or lemons??) in a book so writing it is a huge no for me, specially smut/spicy romance.

I hope my answers make a bit of sense and sorry for the obsidian one, I really have no idea at all but I'll tell you if something comes to my mind. Thank youuuuu!

[airi-p4]

Love in the sky - Chapter 5

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 …

Hi! I'm back!

I know that I said this chapter was going to be split into 2 or 3 parts... It's actually 4 - 6 parts now... ^^;

Warning (just in case): in this and future chapters, there might be some "spicy" scenes, but I plan to keep this story as T rated.

I hope you enjoy it!

__________________________________

Chapter summary:

The date continues… time for lunch and more!

__________________________________

AO3

__________________________________

Chapter 5 - Wednesday (2)

"Did you have to choose a restaurant up to a skyscraper…?" Marinette's voice trembled as she asked and Luka pulled her hand as the elevator door closed. "You know I'm not good with heights…"

"Pffff" he snickered, removing his sunglasses and letting them rest on the neck of his sporty zipped up hoodie jacket. "This is just the 5th floor! You work at Style Queen, which is way higher than this! Aren't you used to it yet?"

"You have no idea! I've been avoiding windows like the plague!" She groaned as she held his arm tighter.

"Really? You seemed fine to me after the concert, though" he smirked, taking off her sunglasses to meet her eyes directly.

"That's because-!" The elevator's door opened at the restaurant floor.

She blushed, her protest muffled in her scarf. How was she supposed to explain she was too focused on him to realize how high the stage lights actually were? And how her adrenaline did the rest? Because when he kissed her like that… nothing else existed. How was she supposed to admit it to him, when he was smirking and waiting for her answer so he could tease her even more? He seemed to know already, anyway. 

"Gosh- You're so cute and funny" he chuckled, and proceeded to greet the waiter, who pointed to the table at the end of the restaurant. Marinette's eyes opened wide. 

"Wait-! You chose a window table too!? Wasn't this hard enough for my heart!?" She cried.

"It's the best table in the restaurant, Marinette. The one with the best view" Luka smiled, looking directly at her. "At least give it a chance? For me…?"

She hated how weak and unreasonable she became to those begging eyes… 

"Okay…" 

Slowly, eyes closed and holding Luka's hand tightly, she moved closer to the window. And when she opened them…

"Woah-! It's so beautiful" She had to admit that the view was really impressive and, surprisingly, not scary as she thought. Luka was relieved at her reaction. 

"Yes, very beautiful…" he repeated, and when she turned her face to look at him, he was smiling fondly at her. They weren't talking about the same view, she realized, and couldn't help it but feel her face warm. 

Luka left the guitar at the side and moved to Marinette's side of the table. The young woman was touched when he took her scarf and jacket, and pulled the chair for her, as a gentleman, aiding her to sit down comfortably. Surely, their sporty clothes weren't the fanciest for the elegant restaurant, but the company couldn't be better.

"Is there anywhere else you want to go later? Any particular place you want to visit? TheEmpire State Building, perhaps?"

"Nooo! I get dizzy just looking at it!!" She hurried to wave her hands in denial.

"What about the Statue of the Liberty? Then we can visit the one in Paris and compare them next time" 

"Are you choosing high places on purpose?" She had to admit, though, that the ‘next time’ part sounded very good in her ears… 

"Maybe?"

"Tease"

He laughed at her pout.

She wished to capture his contagious laugh and his warm smile and made it exclusive to her forever, even if that was selfish. A video would have to do for now. Except… She didn't have a phone with her! And 'oh!' she recalled why it was and its implications. Style Queen…

"Luka… Can I make a phone call?" She asked. "I left my bag with my belongings at the office…"

"Oh. You’re still worried that Style Queen might fire you?" he asked, reading her. She nodded, concerned. "Don’t worry, Marinette. She won’t. She’s not that stupid to let your talent go to waste or to her competitors" he took out his phone and activated the anonymous mode before handing it to her. "Here"

"Thank you" she took it and dialed a number her fingers seemed to remember out of habit. “Sabrina?”

“Marinette? I was worried!” the assistant answered through the phone.

“Sorry, I forgot my bag at the office, with my phone and everything…”

“Oh, yes, I have it. Don’t worry, tell me where you are and I’ll send it to you as soon as possible”

“Thank you." she sighed, told her the restaurant address and took a deep breath before continuing "Did Mrs Bourgeois…?”

“Wait, Marinette! Audrey want to speak to you”

“Eh!?” she panicked but the way Luka put his hand over his and caressed it softly helped her to relax. “H-hello…?”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I want you tomorrow at my office at 9AM, not a second later than that!”

Marinette blinked, mouth opened wide. 

"Then… I’m not fired…?” she looked hopefully at Luka’s reassuring smile.

“HERE AT 9AM! No excuses!” 

The call ended. 

“I- Luka, I'm-” her eyes got teary. 

“You’re not fired. I heard” he smiled tenderly. 

“I’m so glad! I was so nervous! So scared!” she held his hand tighter, linking fingers.

“I told you she wouldn’t let your talent go to waste. You know I really want it for my band, too” he kissed her hand and she blushed. "And on my guitar or anywhere, really-"

She really wanted to kiss his lips now. She wanted to- *GROWL*

Her stomach interrupted her thoughts. Her colors vibrated red on her face, and she looked down to hide her embarrassment. Luka chuckled amusedly, never judgmentally.

"Shall we order? I'm starving too," he said. 

_________

When the waiter came, Luka refused to hand Marinette the menu, in case prices influenced her choices: he told her he was inviting and he was aware of how considered and an overthinker Marinette was, so he read it out loud instead. 

Luka was not going to tell her yet that what she ordered thinking it was cheapest, was actually the most expensive main dish from the menu, which was accompanied with the best and more expensive wine as well- Luka's favorite. He was extra glad to pay for her when she was clearly delighted with the meal.

"Delicious!" She exclaimed at her first bite. 

He answered with a nod and both shared a lovingly shared smile. Her smile never failed to warm his heart. She made every dollar worth paying.

__________

Marinette's belongings arrived to the restaurant a few minutes later, their first course finished. She stood up to take her bag from the delivery man and, after confirming everything was inside, she returned to the table with Luka's smile welcoming her. 

"Everything okay?" 

She nodded at his question. "Yes! I can pay my part now!" she smirked proudly.

"Not if I don't let you" 

"Don't you dare!" She pouted at his teasing smirk. 

"C'mon, sit down with me"

When she sat down again, Marinette notícied how Luka's sunglasses rested now at the side of the table, beside the window. She narrowed her eyes, checking them closer, from another angle, and... 

"Wait-!" She gasped. "I know these! I designed them!" She exclaimed, pointing a finger at the fashionable eyewear.

"You did?" He looked at her in awe. "For the Agreste brand?"

"It was so long ago that I forgot… I won a contest Gabriel Agreste held and- I had no idea they went on sale" she nodded shyly. 'Of course the despicable man sold them under his brand after that contest. Bastard' she mumbled, too low and unclear that was incomprehensible to Luka.

"Wow. No wonder they did, though. These are so amazing!" He grinned fondly. "I had no idea you designed sunglasses too"

"Uhm, actually…" What would Luka say if she told him she designed Jagged Stone's favorite glasses, too? She wanted to see his surprised face. "I also designed Jagged Stone's shades. You know- those with the Eiffel Tower-"

"My father's favorites!?" He stood up in shock.

Her mouth dropped open. "What?"

"Ah-" he covered his mouth, realizing his slip. A glimpse at her while he sat back down reassured her ears. She blinked a few times, processing.

"Jagged Stone is your father!?" She covered her mouth when he shushed her with his index finger in front of his mouth.

"Shhh"

"Eh? Eh!? But- Eh? Really?" She had wanted to surprise him. She didn't expect to be the one surprised instead. 

"Yeah- It's not public information and I prefer it like this". He sighed. "Once I set my goal to pursue music, Dad wanted to help me with my career, but I turned down his offer and refused to use his name or his contacts for it. If I do music, I want to make a name for myself. Be myself, Luka Couffaine, guitarist of Kitty Section- not 'Jagged Stone Junior'. I don't want the audience to be biased with prejudice or expectations. I make my own music. We, my band, make our own music. This is who I am -who we are- and this is how I want it to be. We reached here on our own merits. I don't want my own efforts and skills to be questioned because of my heritage, you know?" he explained. "That's why it's important for me to keep it a secret. Can you do that for me, please?"

"Yes, of course I will. I understand." She nodded. "I won't tell anyone. I promise" 

"Thank you" he caressed her hand. Luckily, they were alone at the restaurant. 

"No problem... You know? I'm Audrey's apprentice right now, but I want to make a name for myself too, someday. So I can relate to those feelings very well. I hope I can make it"

"You will" he assured. "You're already moving fast and efficiently towards that dream. Your works don't leave anyone indifferent. People- me included- love them, and you've proved it with your latest show's success. If you keep up your hard work, you'll accomplish all your goals. I truly believe that." He caressed her hand. "I support you"

"Thank you…" she blushed at her sweet smile. "I'll do my best"

"But wow- I had no idea you were 'that' Marinette. I heard about you from my father some years ago- only good things, I must add. And Rock Giant is still my favorite of his CD covers. Really- I knew you were talented but you never stop leaving me in awe!"

"It's not that amazing…" she blushed at his admiring eyes.

"Of course it is! What else have you designed? Tell me more"

"Oh, uhm- Let me show you" she took her phone out of her bag and opened the photos, showing him her designs as she talked. "There's Adrien Agreste's feather hat from when I was a teenager and Chloe's golden glitter dress she wore for her graduation… You know? She still thinks her mother made it for her… I'm keeping this secret under my sleeve in case she crosses the line someday" Luka snickered at her mischievous smirk. He had heard enough rumors about Chloe Bourgeois to get an idea of what she meant. "Oh- and here's Clara Nightingale's mask for the song 'miraculous', too" her finger swiped photos on her phone. "This one"

"Wow- all these look amazing" 

"It's not-" nervously, she accidentally changed screens and a photo of Luka she took during his concert appeared on the screen. "Ah!" She hurried to swipe the photo away, but another one appeared, now showing a shirtless Luka on stage. The more she tried to fix it, the worse it got. Her blush deepened harder with every slide. 

"You like me that much?" Luka chuckled at her failed efforts. 

"Don't laugh! It's so embarrassing!"

"It's not embarrassing at all, Marinette. In fact, it makes me very happy to know you've been thinking of me, because I've been thinking of you, too. A lot" she blushed again, calmer. "I think you could get better photos of me, though. These are a bit blurry" Of course they were, how was she supposed to take good photos when she was so excited, vibrating with the audience? "Feel free to ask me if you want more?" 

"I do want more… Together…?"

"Together? I'd love that" he held her hand again. "Do you want to take one now? Or later?" 

"Later, please. My hair is a mess and I want to look prettier if I have to pose with you. You're too handsome and stand out so much, compared to me…" 

"That's not true. You're the prettiest girl I've ever met, Marinette" she blushed deeply. "But sure, we can take them later. Would you show me more of your designs? Maybe even some ideas we could use for the guitar?" He pointed out.

"Sure!" she could only blush as they continued to converse amicably about her designs, his praises never ending.

__________

When they were given the receipt, Marinette proudly took out her credit card. She could pay now! And she wanted to. But then, Luka distracted her and he paid instead, skillfully switching her credit card with his.

"Hey!" She protested when she noticed.

She had wanted to compensate for how he bought her clothes but the moment she noticed the trick was already too late. He laughed and her complaint died in her throat when his hand wrapped hers and he kissed her cheek, leaving a subtle shade of pink on her face in return. "I told you I was going to spoil you today"

He certainly was… in many ways.

__________

....

Close to the restaurant, Central Park was the next place they visited. They laid down on the grass, on a bed made of fallen autumn leaves they created when they mischievously and playfully scraped a pile of them that rested at one side of the road. Hands held, they stared at each other lovingly, in silence, the sun rays softly bathing their skin. 

"You're beautiful," he said, staring deep into her eyes- her soul. 

"Not as much as you"

"Much more than me"

"Impossible. Besides, I'm not even dressed up for a date… My looks are a mess"

"No, they're not. You're gorgeous"

"Liar"

"I'd never-" He leaned over her, staring, as his fingertips caressing her reddened cheeks. "Can I kiss you, Marinette?"

She hummed, closing her eyes and lifting her chin up in response. She sucked in a breath when he closed the gap between their lips. She pulled him closer, her fingers sinking in the hair at the back of his head. She felt those recently familiar butterflies playing inside her stomach once again...

"More" she whined when he pulled apart. 

"More?" He chuckled.

"You promised me lots of kisses…"

"And I absolutely plan to keep that promise" he caressed her cheek. "And much more. But later"

"Now…?" She begged, childishly. Luka found out that her reddened cheeks and her shy look under her lashes were very convincing. Adorable. He answered with a long, deep and hungry kiss that left them feeling hot and panting hard. 

"Again" Marinette said, eyes half-closed, arms pulling him to close contact with their lips again. 

He hummed happily as he complied. 

Kisses continued and their heat raised. She wanted more. And more. And more. She could never get tired of kissing him. And he felt exactly the same. 

Marinette moaned when Luka kissed her ear and he felt ashamed of how turned on her voice made him. He kissed her passionately and pressed his body tighter to hers. Her response was to push her body to his too, with a needy whimper that was driving him crazy. 

This is why he had wanted to leave kisses for later. He seemed to lose all grasp of reality when it came to her. He had it very hard to stay collected. When their lips crashed, tongues danced together and heartbeats pumped in unison, that's all he heard: the most beautiful melody.

Marinette felt like she was going to overheat when she realized what the hardness pressed on her tight was. She was melting in his arms. The worst? She wanted more. Much more. All of him.

"Mo-"

"Get a room!" 

Her whimper died in her throat when a cyclist drove close by very fast, the half-destroyed pile of fallen leaves flying on them with the wind he created with his speed. 

The pair stared at each other with wide eyes, the heat of the moment immediately cooled down. 

Then, after a few blinking and Luka's snicker, she came out of her trance: they were in a public place! They shouldn't make out in such a place! She had never behaved like that before. So embarrassing!

Luka couldn't hold back his laugh at her changing expressions: shock, acknowledgement, panic and utter embarrassment.

"Pfff- Hahahaha"

And, to her annoyance, it was contagious. She couldn't stop herself from laughing too. 

He hugged her tightly- no need to say anything. 

No regrets.

"Do you still want more kisses?" He whispered into her reddened ear. She knew he already knew the answer.

"Later" she whispered in a thread of voice. 

Pleased, Luka gave her one last peck on her lips before standing up and offering Marinette his hand. She took it, joining his side as they playfully cleaned the leaves from each other's. Snickering and laughing in the process. 

Fun.

__________

What happened next had Marinette in stitches. 

"Oh my gosh! No way!" She exploded into a loud laugh.

A runner had passed nearby with his Michael Jackson music blasting from his phone. And what could he say? Luka was a huge fan of Michael Jackson. So when he heard the song… he immediately stood up to dance, following the rhythm of the music. And his moves were… well- 

"Hahahahaha!" 

Marinette's reaction said enough. 

That didn't seem to discourage him, though. Mostly the opposite- he kept singing and dancing even more eagerly, making her laugh louder.

"Hahaha! No wonder you never dance in your music videos and performances!" She said between her laughing. "You're so bad!!" 

"I'm bad! I'm bad" he started dancing along to a different Michael Jackson's song now, and her laugh volume intensified even more.

"Stop it! I can't believe you! I can't-!" She bent over, her stomach unable to stop laughing at his stiff, embarrassing moves. He didn't care about being ridiculous. And he certainly didn't regret anything when it made Marinette laugh like that. He loved her laugh.

"Okay okay- no dancing then" he shrugged, playfully pretending to be offended.

"You can't call it 'dancing' to that!" She laughed again. "I can't believe you're worse than me!"

"Am I? What about-"

Luka winked and walked a few feet farther, over the smoothly pavemented floor. Marinette looked at him, curious and her eyes opened extra wide, her mouth falling open when the young man started moonwalking masterly.

"What!?" She couldn't believe her eyes. "How!?" The young man continued with a playful smirk on. "Nonono! This is unbelievable! How can you moonwalk so well when you dance like that!?" 

He finished with a turn and a smirk before talking again. "Can you moonwalk, Marinette?"

"Of course not! My feet already tangle just by walking. Imagine what a disaster it would be! I'd fall down for sure!" 

"Come here, I'll teach you" he approached and offered her his hand. She was a bit uncertain but finally took it and moved with him on the pavement. He taught her the steps. "Now try to do it"

"As if it was that easy!"

"I'm here with you," he smiled.

Those words alone made her feel more secure and confident. So she tried, and it didn't turn out quite right. 

"Oh. Not bad! Try again" Luka encouraged.

"Gosh- I'm such a disaster at this!" She protested. "Even worse than your danc- Ah!" She fell backwards, her back crashing on Luka's chest. She blushed at the contract that both refused to break. Luka surrounded his arms around her, burying his nose in her neck. In response, her arms did the same with his. Tenderly, enjoying the contact they were growing more and more familiar with. She turned slightly when she felt his face shift towards hers, sharing a soft kiss that made her knees weak. Fortunately, she couldn't fall when he embraced her so protectively, so secure.

"It takes practice. You'll be able to do it someday" he whispered to her ear. Flustered and warm, she could only nod shyly. "Let's go back there. I wouldn't want you to get injured" She nodded again, following after him under his secured arm around her waist. They sat down, Marinette's head resting on his shoulder as an excuse to feel him close. He leaned his head over hers, too, as he hummed for her, his hand caressing her softly. 

"We have time until our next appointment. Let me know if there's anything you want to do or anywhere you want to go?"

"I'm perfectly right, now" she answered."I wouldn't like to be anywhere but here"

"Good. Because me neither"

They shared another sweet kiss as they rested comfortably on the bench, their free hands interlaced and eyes closed, as he hummed her a soft melody. They stayed like that for a few minutes until-

"Luka… Could you-?"

_____________

Marinette wasn't sure if asking Luka to play for her, had been a good idea. 

"Marinette, woo-ooh! Beautiful amazing girl" Luka excitedly strummed his guitar. "Do you feel like-?" he played nervous notes. "I want you to feel like-" he played playful notes that made Marinette chuckle. He smiled at her reaction. "And if you kiss me, then I'll be-" he played happy, ethereal notes, as if he meant 'in heaven' with them. 

Just a few minutes ago, she had thought it had been a great idea, but she hadn't been expecting him to play so goofily. Honestly, she should have seen it coming when she saw that growing teasing smirk on his face after she answered "surprise me" to his "any specific song?" question. This man was crazy- that, she was sure of. But she certainly didn't hate it. At all. She was, in fact, starting to enjoy it more than she should, even if it surely gave her a second hand embarrassment. Leaving that apart, she still loved his songs: he was insanely good. His fame was absolutely deserved.

Unaware of her inner thoughts and secret praises she wouldn't easily admit, he continued playing, incombustible, encouraged by her laugh, unaware that his sounds were gradually louder along with his excitement.

"Luka!" She blushed. "People are starting to gather and stare!"

He chuckled at that. Being used to the audience, it didn't mean much to him. As long as no one recognized him, of course. 

"Someone could-!" 

Marinette was interrupted by a little kid running and stopping in front of Luka.

"Hey, guitar man! Play Dinohuggie's song!" The little kid commanded.

"Andy!" A woman who seemed to be the kid's mother frantically called, rushing to the kid and bowing to Luka apologetically. "I'm sorry!" He held the kid's hand. "C'mon Andy, apologize to him"

"No! I want to hear Dinohuggie's song!" The kid protested to his scandalized mother. From her experience with Manon, Marinette felt a bit sorry for her.

"Dinohuggie's song, huh?" Luka hummed, casually. "Okay, remind me how it sounds. Could you sing it for me a bit?" He winked and the kid beamed. 

"But-" the mother was about to protest again, but Luka dismissed it easily with a few notes. 

Marinette looked as the kid started singing the song, and Luka followed with his guitar. The rockstar knew the character, but he wasn't familiar with the song, since he had only heard it twice during the recording of an interview program. But it was catchy and easy enough for his absolute hearing to pick up the notes and play it. Seeing the energetic pair, more people approached to check on them.

"Yay!" The kid yelled when they reached the final note, and Luka leaned down to give him a high five. "It was so cool!" The kid's eyes glowed. "Play Kitty Section next!" 

Marinette gasped, petrified, but Luka remained impassive. She could only find words of respect and admiration for his nerves of steel.

"Oh? You like Kitty Section?" The rockstar chuckled. "Good taste"

Marinette felt a sort of deja vu….

"Yes! Their songs are the bestest!"

"The bestest…?" his lips curved up proudly. "Nice"

"You look like Luka Couffaine from Kitty Section!" the kid pointed out.

Marinette's heart stopped at the kid's statement. Had he recognized him? 'Oh, no! What if he gets caught in a scandal!? And with someone like me!? The fans are going to be so disappointed and-' Her negative thoughts stopped very soon, when Luka laughed out loud.

"Really? I've been told that a lot, but I think I'm more handsome and talented than him," he joked. 

"No way! That's impossible! I think it's because of your blue hair!" He pointed out. "And that you play the guitar!"

"Oh- that makes sense, little detective!" He ruffled the kid's hair. "I'll try dyeing my hair in another color next time so people don't mistake me with him, then. I think I'll go with pink next. I really like pink" he winked teasingly at Marinette, and she flustered in response.

"Ew, no! Pink is for girls!" He stuck his tongue out. "You're too cool for pink!"

"Pink is very cool! Labeling colors as girly or boyish is so old-fashioned! Not cool at all!" He disagreed. "All colors can be cool if the person wearing them likes them and is proud to wear them! Remember that" 

"Hmph!" 

"Ok so, Kitty Section…'' Luka straightened his back up again, stretching before getting into it. Andy turned all smiles as he sang along to their most popular song, with a few arrangements and a change of lyrics to adapt it to his little audience. The kid stopped singing to listen amusedly at the new lyrics that now, instead of a group of unicorn cats and a Rock band, mentioned a boy named Andy who had fun playing with Dinohuggie. 

The little kid and his mother loved it and Marinette was stunned by the Rockstar's improvising skills. The performance wrapped up with a round of applause. Luka bowed to the audience before he focused on the kid again.

"So cool!" Andy's eyes were sparkling. "I wish Kitty Section had a song about Dinohuggie…" the kid lamented.

"Hmmm… It would be nice if Kitty Section had a song about Dinohuggie, wouldn't it? I bet Rose would love the idea" Luka amusedly chuckled and ducked down again to equal the kid's eyes level. 

"I think so too!" Andy beamed. "Play it again! I want you to play more!" The kid yelled loudly, attracting the eyes of even passersby.

"Andy, behave!"

"It's okay, Madam," he said, looking up at her through his sunglasses. Luka laughed at his stubbornness and ruffled the kids' hair. "One last time, ok?"

"Ok!"

Gosh- Luka was good with children too, as if he needed to be more perfect! Marinette's heart beated quickly, imagining him… them… as parents and- 'Aahh!! Not so fast Marinette! You've just met!' 

The smirk Luka directed to her as he played didn't help her to calm down at all! 

He played a bit more until he reached the end of the chorus. 

"It was nice playing for you, boy, but we have to go now. We're a bit busy today."

"But-!" He pouted in protest.

"Andy! Stop insisting! Thank him and say goodbye to them!" 

"Thank you… and goodbye" the kid had hugged Luka's leg before reaching for his mother's hand and following her to the park's entrance. The rest of the audience started moving away as well.

"Bye!" The kid waved, turning to look at them while walking. Waving back, Luka lifted his sunglasses a bit and the boy let out a loud surprised gasp when he recognized Luka Couffaine from Kitty Section under the shades. "Mom! It really was him!" 

Luka and Marinette laughed hearing the boy excitedly talking about Luka and his music. If it wasn't for his mother pulling him, Luka was sure that kid would have run towards him. Soon enough, though, they were out of sight.

"Sorry we got interrupted" sunglasses back in place Luka held Marinette's hand and squeezed it a little. "It's almost time for our next appointment. Shall we go now?" 

Marinette nodded, smiling at him softly. 

"How could you remain so calm when that kid mentioned your name and your band? I was so nervous! I thought my heart was going to burst out!"

Luka squeezed her hand and laughed at her honesty. "Being confident does wonders, Marinette. Besides…" he pointed at their feet with his finger. "We're prepared to run anytime, aren't we?" 

"You're unbelievable!" She pressed her shoulder to him. 

She meant it. 

Because, gosh- What did she do to deserve meeting this incredible man? He was confident, charismatic, handsome, sincere, caring, fun, sweet… a bit crazy, too, but overall… he was amazing. The most amazing person she had ever met.

Compared to him she was… Simple. Uncool. Ordinary.

How could she be with him when the differences between them were so abysmal? When he was so impressive and she was just… clumsy. Small.

She felt like she didn't deserve him at all…

"Marinette. Are you ok?" Luka asked, noticing her being pensive. 

"Ah, yes…" she answered. Luka noticed something was off but decided not to push. "I was just thinking you are truly amazing"

"You're pretty amazing, too, Marinette" 

'Am I, though?'

"Thank you" She wasn't sure but hid her insecurities with a forced smile.  

_________

Three months later, Andy and his mother were going to be surprised with an unexpected collaboration between Kitty Section and Dinohuggie, with a song for a cereal commercial on TV- featuring lots of pink and a kid called Andy in the lyrics. Said song was going to rock the little ones' world and cause demise to some parents.

Oh, and a certain kid started wearing pink more, always proclaiming how cool the color was.

[jojo-lane]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you @scary-monsters and @hammerofspace for thinking of me and tagging me! 😊🙏🏽

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? Just one for now!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 20,758. I know, it's not a lot but someday it will be! 🥲

3. What fandoms do you write for? Jojo only! No other IP has quite managed to move me into writing actual fanfiction for them since I was a teen.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? I have only one fic: Ride or Die and it has 114 kudos as of now which I am quite proud of.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do! In fact, I would leave regular comments on my favourite fics so when my favourite authors replied to me, I would absolutely lose my mind. So when I started writing my fic, I decided to reply to every comment too just like the writers I admire! 😊 Sometimes, I might be late in replying but I will reply to all of them!

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Okay so, I have written a very angsty ending for Ride or Die but also a very happy ending and also, a middle of the road, bittersweet kind of ending. Point is that I love angst and I don't mind writing an angsty ending but would it be the best for my characters? Long story, short, I don't know what sort of ending I want right now.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Same answer as question number 6. I don't know what sort of ending I want and it could go any way. 🤧

8. Do you get hate on fics? I don't think so but people do say that I take too long to update which I don't really consider as hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have written smut only once so far and I think I suck at it but I am not giving up just yet. I think smut is a very spicy way to add tension between your characters and also to thicken the plot. I like it when there are high stakes or serious consequences when two people just give into their primal urges. Praise, angst, forbidden love, will they, won't they. I live for the messy drama and dangerous implications a smut scene can cause.

10. Do you write crossovers? No. Never.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, this is my first time writing anything in a long time so I'm still fairly new and unknown and I don't think I am a good enough writer to co-write anything with anyone. 😅

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? This is a very difficult question because I consider myself a multi-shipper but I can tell you my favourite ship dynamic of all-time which is basically friends to lovers. Or reluctant partners/rivals to friends to lovers. I love ships where two characters get to know each other slowly over time and come to unconditionally support each other through thick and thin. So I suppose my go to ships are GyJo and BruAbba.

15. What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have a lot of wips which are essentially ideas for future fics but a lot of them will go unfinished because I feel like they go nowhere in the end. At least for Ride or Die, I have 3 solid endings to choose from.

16. What are your writing strengths? My writing strengths… I want to say world building? I get a lot of compliments for making my fic feel historically accurate. 😅 I don't think it's as historically accurate as I'd like it to be but I do a lot of research when it comes to the way things worked during the Victorian time period just to get me into that headspace and I think it translates somehow.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I keep rewriting chapters and it holds me back from doing regular updates.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Accuracy is very important to me so I would probably attempt to write dialogue in another language but if I feel it's not accurate or faithful then I would find another way to get around it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Naruto when I was 15-16, I was in the trenches defending a very unpopular ship back then. *shudders*

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Ride or Die, my passion project. I can go around writing my favourite characters in every kind of AU out there but my brain will always come back to this one fic. 🙃

Who should I tag? I feel like all the writers I know have already been tagged so I'll tag @retlasute. I'd like to see their answers! 😊

[sucrosette]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

28, 32 if you count the MCU fics I am not particularly proud of. But some people seem to like them, so they stay.

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

266,092 - I probably have a good 50k+ in sitting in my wips.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Genshin Impact, BSD, VLD (but only klance), the Wolfstar corner of HP, and BNHA. Also, I'm planning to write for Carry On for Carry On Countdown this year. At some point I’d like to write for kingdom hearts and sk8. (Previously MCU but as mentioned that's been long abandoned.)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Whoops, There Goes My Heart (T, 38.4k)

Iced Coffee is Not Supposed to be Spicy (E, 11.1k)

He Makes Me Bloom (E, 30.5k)

Rosé & Bubblegum (E, 11.3k)

Make This Home Yours (E, 10.8k)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I like engaging with my readers, sometimes I'm just very slow. Or like in the context of a wip, I don't always respond until I'm ready to post the next chapter. Which can be very quick or very slow, depending.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If Love Was Labeled Poison (E), definitely, easily, by a mile. It's a wip, but it was originally written as just this first chapter. And its ending is heartbreaking. And it's still not gonna be the happiest ending when I post the following two either.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics have happy endings, so just a fic that's extremely precious to me in its healing feelings: and it was enough (T)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I wouldn't call it hate. There have been a couple weird comments I've deleted since entering VLD's fandom space about headcanons but I don't think it's hate. Just people being kind of asses. And in general it doesn't bother me, most of the comments I get are glowing.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

So much smut. Very kinky, queer smut. No one is hetero and no one is cis. I generally try and tag dynamics and kinks used though so no one gets jump scared.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No. I mean, I've thought about it, but in the end, I just end up pulling elements from what would be the borrowed setting for the characters I want to write for. I'm not generally the sort who would dabble in crossover character interactions for longfic. Maybe in a silly drabble, if someone requested some of my favs.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, but I'm unsure if those translations are still available somewhere.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away, before the time of ao3. But not since. I do have a couple ideas with one of my partners that we might hash out eventually.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Honestly? I love all my ships, I couldn't exactly rank them and it depends entirely on my mood. But, if there's one ship I'll always come back to, it's probably tddk, it's my comfort ship, they're always there for me. I have written exactly one fic, but they mean a lot to me. I'm going to write them more. (On that note, please give The Tea Shoppe at the End of Time (T) some love).

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I don't think I have one. I know I have some old wips, but I do plan to go back and polish them up and finish them out.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd say... probably emotionally evocative imagery and metaphor, I think? I'm very much a smut author, but I think my imagery deserves note. Probably also snarky dialogue I love me some snarky ships.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fight scenes. Yep. Fight scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I like it, I support it, sometimes I do it. It can feel very intimate, but I try and have a native speaker double check my work, and always leave translation notes for my readers.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh, if we reach way back when... Probably Yuyu Hakusho or One Piece. But who knows where those ran off to. It was before ao3 times. I wasn't even an adult.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

To be honest, I can't really pick a favorite. But if I had to pick a writing I've done I think people should read (that I haven't already mentioned) I present Pettiness in Portraiture (E). Mind the tags, it's fucking rough.

[cup-half-full-of-anxiety]

Thoughts on Red White & Royal Blue

This will contain spoilers so don’t continue if you don’t wanna know.

First off, some people are saying that this was one of the best book to film adaptation, and I would just like to point out that that is completely untrue.

We all know that it’s Holes and no, I will not be taking any questions or comments on that matter at this time.

Also I can not express how excited I am for a queer romantic comedy. I am so excited to see queer love represented in a way that isn’t always seen. I do not want to take from that. But…

I was so let down.

They completely cut out the heart of the story. The casting and acting were great for what we got. Zahra was definitely not Zahra, so her and Sheen’s engagement really came out of left field because I don’t even remember them meeting. I hate that they cut out June and attempted to combine her with Nora, and then didn’t even give us Nora or Bre. We needed the White House trio. The three of them are such a force. I hate that we didn’t get Leo. I hated whatever that Miguel character was supposed to be a combination of.

Nick and Taylor did a great job with what they had. I do think that they were really great as Alex and Henry but the love wasn’t showing like it should’ve been. The distance between them and how they communicate through the emails is so important. We missed out on so much beauty from those emails.

“The phrase ‘see attached bibliography’ is the single sexiest thing you have ever written to me.”

I really think it was the writing. It was so lacking, it didn’t make sense at time. Some scenes that were changed were changed in ways that just didn’t make sense, they could have been done how they were written in the book . The Lakehouse? Why wasn’t that dock scene done at night?. The end, when Ellen is reelected, you don’t even know that they’re in Texas. It’s like Alexx and Henry went all Stranger Things and made their way from DC to Austin on random bikes they found.

I’m just really sad that we didn’t get the pizza seen in the game room, we didn’t get Leo wearing a shirt that says “you can’t spell constitution without tits”. We didn’t get crazy analysis Nora, we didn’t get the karaoke scene. We got a Honkytonk? Why can’t that is still been a drag club? The kimonos? 

But lastly. With how much they change the emails, and the fact that we didn’t get “history, huh?“ That’s what I think I have to be the most mad about. That is literally the quotes of the book. 

There were some positives, but I can’t say that they outweigh the negatives. Where are the spicy scenes lovely? Yes. was the first time they had sex a little awkward? Yes. I wish that we got more of their cuddling, I always loved that Alex ended up being the little spoon. 

I think it should have been a mini series. At least 3 to 5 episodes. The book just covers so much and has so much detail in certain areas that really needed to be played out that we didn’t get it. Richards wasn’t a big enough character. Amy wasn’t a big enough character but the person that played her was fantastic in the little bit that we did get.

Everyone who loved it,  i’m so happy for you guys and I wish I could be feeling what you’re feeling. I love this book so damn much and when I first read it years ago my first thought after I put it down was “God I need to write the script”

[espritdediamant]

TREY FORGOES THE USUAL SONG AND DANCE: a note left with a surprise treat, a quick stop before classes, all his usual MO for delivering a gift. He hates being the center of attention on a normal day, never mind the pomp and circumstance and—enthusiastic extra efforts Heartslabyul goes for.

For Cater, though, he can make an exception.

Not that Trey has ever ambushed anyone, or plans to make a habit of it, but he’s already haunting the kitchen for the greater part of the weekend, if nothing else is necessary to see to. Cater’s a late sleeper when left to his own devices, and he adapts, no need to barge in first thing but laying in wait.

“Well, well. Good morning! You’re a sight for sore eyes.” (Just because he sees no need to rouse him doesn’t mean he can’t comment. It's well past one in the afternoon.) “I almost offered to give your lunch away to the freshmen.”

Sitting on the counter, a repurposed glass pastry cover keeps lunch from cooling too much. Trey can’t say he’s a plating expert by any means, but he does his best, a mock-up of a dish from a restaurant they end up haunting on a rare night into town. Sweet and spicy pork over rice, with the most eye-catching feature being the decorations on top. Tri-colored letters that would typically be reserved for the topping of cakes spells his name, staked into the pork somewhat cheekily.

Next to it, a rather small wrapped gift. Nothing thrilling, but practical, and—well, expected. The electric toothbrush is molded with the frankly terrifying card suit mascots of Cater’s favorite skate brand. It might be a knockoff. Trey doesn’t particularly care, and for the laugh alone, he’s sure Cater won’t mind, either.

“Happy Birthday, Cater—ha, well, whatever’s left of it.”

YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO MAKE THE most of each and every birthday—and it’s easy to, living on a flashy campus with even flashier traditions. Cater loved birthdays even before entering the fray of NRU’s social scene. Now? They’re unparalleled.

So, like, he means to make the most of it. It’s an accident that he ends up scrolling through his video feed until noon.

—An honest accident! He really had great intentions of making it an early morning, and really soaking up all of the goods that come with being the day’s centrepiece. But, alas, the gods that rule benevolently (mostly) over his algorithms were good today, and yeah, NGL, maybe it was just a touch too difficult to pry himself out of bed even without blaming the algo-gods.

Point is, at least, he does get up eventually, and the hour makes the first-stop an obvious one. Destination, kitchen. Not quite a detour, but Cater does have grander ambitions than lingering in the dorm all day, and he’s already eaten up lots of it, and—

❝ Oh, sup, Trey ♪ ❞

(The greeting’s a bit blearily made with a yawn. Like, Cater’s awake and up-and-at-’em like the best of ‘em, but, you know, just now adjusting to the people in front of him, not on a screen thing that happens once you get up.)

More importantly, what follows! Cater looks to the counter that Trey’s so casually lingering around—which is super normal for him, YK, so nothing new there—but in lieu of baked goods… ❝ Oh. Em. Gee. ❞

Yeah, that looks soooo good. Cater’s phone is back in his hand so quick he thinks that he summons it, actually, rather than reaches for it. ❝ Trey, CUTEEE! ♡ You seriously stepped up the plating game— ❞ The little letters. LOL. ❝ Ugh, okay, this is so fun. Totally could start a new trend for birthday meals, this lowkey looks better than any cake—no offense, you know your cakes are gorge, but… ❞

Much, much better. To say nothing of the toothbrush sitting just beside. He’s literally never seen this before, and he has HAUNTED those new collection drops like no one else. It has to be some sort of weird, niche side hustle knock off. Who wants toothbrush merch, anyway? Seriously a strange move to collab with, like, Colgate, and one he’s super sure doesn’t even exist.

It's so weird. He’s gonna find a way to fit this into the grid too. Cater loves it.

❝ Literally outsold, as always, ❞ he insists, a cheesed smile tossed across to Trey. ❝ Thank youuu. I need to get a good pic for the B-Day photodump and I’m starving AND I'm actually right on time for lunch, TYSM, so don’t threaten to give it away— ❞

(It’s a good foot to start this solar return, even if he’s only stepping out into it halfway through the day. For all intents and purposes?

His timing's pretty good.)

[madthetruemad]

I just read the Jing yuan fiercely one shot and he’s so sweet and cuteee. I feel like this man can both be sweet and vanilla and mean and spicy too. I luv him a lot.

——

It’s also been a while since I played piofiore and only noticed a couple similarities with pure imagination after re reading. Honestly I would’ve married pure imagination! Jing yuan in a fcking heart beat. Say less sir and get me the marriage contractttttt.

——

I was also reminded of a scene in piofiore, yang gets jealous after mc wore a tight cheongsam so he ripped it off her and got her a new one. I think I can totally see pure imagination blade doing that!!

——

As for emperor au side story, I would luv to see yuan and past life y/n scenes and how Sunday chose y/n to be the sacrifice out of every one.

And as for a theory on why blade and dhil are also going for the keys…I think it’s either:

1. Sunday is forcing/threatening them

2. Sunday tricked them / manipulating them to work for him. (I think this is most likely)

3. If the theory that dhil and blade were the cause of robin’s death, then it’s either they want to make it up to Sunday by helping him revive robin.

This theory might be partly true but I don’t think that blade would willingly hand over his body to be used as a vessel for Sunday so I think it’s mix of theory 2 and theory 3. Where blade agrees to help Sunday collect the keys out of remorse but he doesn’t know that his body will be the vessel for Sunday’s revival

——

Honestly Sunday, u fcked up biiiiiiigggg time. He’s gonna be going round 2 with Jing yuan again so I assume he’ll be using y/n as sacrifice again, great job Sunday.

——

I also feel like Jing yuan kinda fcked up like you had absolutely zero drawing or portraits of past life y/n???? Really bro? I would like a scene where he feels really really bad at himself for treating y/n like that 😤😤. Cuz I’m pissed at him on his behalf

——

Fei xiao seems to have y/n’s best intention at heart for now…buttttt, she still sides with yuan so I wouldn’t trust her so easily. So maybe a smol scene where y/n tries and fails to intimidate fei fei?

Honestly I would like to see fei fei vs Yuanie, the hyperactive dog and the eepy cat. Place your bets ppl!!! It’s gonna be a very heated fight.

I can also see fei teasing yuan for being too slow since lore wise she’s supposed to be super fast like the wind n all. Maybe she’d hold y/n’s waist while saving her from a fall or an assassin and Jing yuan would be silently seething in the background.

I’ve also been thinking about y/n going on a picnic with geppie and fei while ditching Jing yuan (he deserves it!)

Or a scene where y/n ends up injured or falling a sleep so fei fei carries her princess style 🤭🤭

——

I can think of similar scenes when fei fei is jealous too.

Maybe y/n is getting a bit too close to geppie or some poor servant boy so fei and Jing yuan have a temporary truce to cook up some plans.

I can honestly see the 2 of them being the duo who throws hands for y/n.

— —

I loved the mafia Jing yuan Drabble so thank u for writing it mwah. I like the way he’s so convincing and basically the master of gaslighting, guilt tripping, manipulating and lying.

——

So far we have…

Sunday, master of understatement

Blade, master of ‘I can’t act but I can’t say that to y/n’

Jing yuan, cat/ lion boy but also very bratty and mean

Fei fei, wolf/ puppy or dog? Very cutesy and I can see her being so happy to meet y/n

——

I also wanted to ask if you have some mydei or Phainon fics cooking? I would love to see a Mydei fic where she saves Mydei when he was a child since his father tried to kill him.

I hate that hoyo really pushed mydei’s back story to the side and only left up the players to discover it from the puzzles, letters, and flash back crystals in castrumn Kremnos. Like bruh, the writers made such a great backstory for him only to let it collect dust. Very sadge

——

And definitely don’t forget to eat!! Working on an empty stomach sucks and maybe a snack in your work bag in case you forget lunch. Stay healthy and fed!! I hope you have a good day ❤️❤️

XD I've been writing so much red flag!jy that I felt that sweet jy would be a nice change of pace even if it's only in a oneshot lol

-

Honestly same!! I would of married jy too in pure imagination XD blade would scare me too much and dan heng would of ticked me off with the whole coat fiasco at the tailor shop lol

-

😳 blade would definitely do that lmao

-

I will say that Blade doesn't know that his body will be used as vessel (neither does dhil)

-

Sunday just wants his sister to come back 🥹 granted he should just let the dead stay dead, but oh well-

-

To be fair, past jy felt like he didn't need that type of stuff like kind of how he and y/n were always living in the moment and not taking pictures of everything type of deal

-

Fei vs jy, I wonder who'll come out on top when it comes to y/n 🫣🤭

-

Lol, fei getting jealous and teamping up with jy would be cute

-

I'm glad you liked the mafia boss!jy drabble!!! ^-^ I'm glad I was able to write him in a good way lol

-

Such a reliable cast we have here 🤧

-

I have both a mydei fic and a phainon fic in the works!! I hope to get them out soon ^-^

Mydei deserved better fr!!

-

I'll try not to forget to eat this time!! XD

[cosmowgyral]

Jude's Main Story

Chapter 14 + Premium Story Snippets

MC is kidnapped by the syndicate members who were originally after Jude. And blimey, what a grand scene. She didn’t give up, used her gun to puncture some sort of water tank I suppose? That distracted everyone, allowing her to escape. She then ended up in a sealed room with no way out. And guess what you need to do in a situation like this? Just scream “JUUUUDE!!” and he’ll appear! XD

That’s how things turned out. Our hero arrived and fled with her!

Premium Story~

Jude and MC took a carriage and fled the scene. Since she narrowly avoided death, she hugged Jude, glad that he was also unharmed. She then kissed him and pushed him down. And that man, THAT man remained unfazed. When asked why, she confessed. She expressed her desire to be by his side forever, sharing laughter and tears, and then promised to not die before him. He was like “I have done nothing for you to love me” with that scowl on his face.

"Jude: You're crazy if ya say you've fallen in love with me."

(Might have thought that at the very beginning but not anymore. You deserve every bit of it.)

He said that her feelings were not of love, but rather a result of built-up frustration. So he asked her if she wanted his help to release it and well…you know what goes down. This was the first NSFW scene in his route and I’m sorry but I’m not good at describing spicy scenes. XD

So please wait for the translators. For now, I can just say that there was nothing y’all haven’t read in his SEs before. He didn’t kiss her back though. She got pissed that he wasn’t taking her seriously and that’s when Jude talked about love being a curse and that he didn’t want to be cursed. He also revealed his fated end-to die with all the hatred in the world. (I thought it would be the opposite- to die hated by everyone. So close!)

[Chapters 12-13] [Chapters 15-17]