#there's gonna be jayvik in this au if i write more of it but this was a fun starting alliance

[z-zuko]

jayvik actor/director au

bullet points bc i can’t think hard rn

viktor was a former childhood star

due to poor management, was overworked

constantly had to mask his disability (no support, was constantly on his feet, no physical therapy, went everywhere without cane bc of paparazzi)

took a huge hiatus and severed himself from the industry

constantly got criticized by the paps, influenced and paid by his former management as a smear campaign

got his degree and after many years returned to showbiz

behind camera as a director and writer

had a few remaining friends in the industry so it didn’t take Too Much to try and get back to it

during casting, he takes a chance on an unknown actor named jayce talis

apparently his mother ximena was a prominent actress and was set to be a star in piltover but things went south

jayce is bright eyed and enthusiastic at his audition

interprets the role he’s auditioning for completely different than viktor’s original intent with the script

other casting directors hated it and want to throw that shit away IMMEDIATELY

viktor disagrees. he loves the fresh take on the role and wants to know more about jayce and the way he saw viktor’s work through his eyes

casts him (jayce is elated when he accepts, forgets to hang up, screams to caitlyn that he booked)

other stuff. they kiss eventually or something idk it’s rlly late rn gnight

[k3nz1ekorn]

Jayvik actor au

A short fic about if Jayce and Viktor were actors Joel and Vladamir in another univers. Author's note: credits are at the bottom of the post. I'll be writing more for this au as it comes to me ig.

“Let us do this once again…as partners!”

The silence fills the room as ‘Viktor’ grins down at ‘Jayce', his heart beats once, then twice, and he bursts into a fit of laughter, forehead falling onto his counterpart’s. Joel lets out a deep sigh from below him, and Viktor pulls back to give him a wide grin before turning his head to face the rest of the room. He raises a hand in apology, looking a little sheepish in his fits of laughter “Pfft- Sorry! Sorry everyone! Are we sure this is meant to be a fight scene?” As his laughter subsides he untangles his legs from where they are around Joel and leans himself back onto the table, careful to avoid jostling the green morph suit he’s donned in. The back of his hand coming up to try to stifle his laughter. It’s through barely open eyes that he sees Joel push himself up as well, giving a light stretch to his back after the uncomfortable position he was just held in. He shuffles around to face Vlad from the floor, looking up at him with a face he unfortunately knows all too well at this point.

“CUT!” The director yells, letting out an exasperated sigh. They break their shared look to give the man their full attention as he walks onto the set, “Alright let’s take a break and meet back in ten!” Turning to them he gives a pointed look, “Vlad, please be ready to actually finish the scene this time, hmm?” A bell rings and the room buzzes to life, people putting down equipment, conversations starting up, and Vlad finally looking back towards Joel, who looks wholly unamused by the situation. The director turns to walk away, intentionally ignoring the words that follow.

“I’m literally wrapped around him, like we all see that right?” Vlad says, hand gesturing lazily over to his…coworker. Yeah. Let's go with that. He shifts to accept a bottle of water from a staff member, mumbling a quick thank you before bringing his good leg up onto the table he sat on and resting an arm over his knee. His eyes fall back to Joel as he takes a drink of water. The other man is still sitting on the floor, now lazily leaning back onto his arms.

“V, if you keep this up they’re gonna get us an intimacy coordinator. And I don’t think I need to tell you that we do not need an intimacy coordinator.” He let a hand come up to rub his eyes in frustration at the thought. They’d been dating since the end of the first season, in private might he add, and the idea of having to tell anyone about their status because of this just felt like a hassle. “I get you’re giddy at the idea of more…touchy feely scenes, but you need to get it together here yeah?” He lifted his hand to look back at his partner, exasperation clear on his face. Truth be told he didn’t hate having to reshoot this scene, but the growing frustration of the rest of the cast and crew was not lost on him. Especially with this being the third or fourth try today alone. It was getting ridiculous to say the least.

“I know Joel I’m sorry, it’s just different! We were touchy in the first season, sure, but this is a lot different! The producer keeps telling us it’s platonic, brotherly and shit,” Vlad actively let a look of disgust come over his face as a light shiver went down his spine. “but I can’t act platonically with these scenes they're giving us.” He accentuates with a wave of his hand, spilling from his still open bottle before recaps it and sets it down beside him. “Plus I’m not ‘Giddy’ as you say,” he quotes the word with some playfulness, “I just think the relationship isn’t going to come off how they think, is all. It feels like I should lean into the romance, y'know?”

 Joel nods in understanding at that, while in the first season it was more up in the air for how they were meant play their characters, it definitely felt like a line had been crossed with the new scripting, all the love and banter of the first season with a new aura of…something more. Something that he personally would describe as romantic. He says his next words with a hint of a smile. “Then lean into it. If they don’t like it they’ll make us reshoot it and we’ll know that’s not the vision they want, end of story. If they don’t?” he shrugs and raises an eyebrow. He knows his partner understands what he’s getting at, he’s being extremely obvious after all. “No harm in just eh…testing a theory?” The last line gets him a light chuckle and grin from Vlad, who looks back at him with fondness and amusement. Vlad says his next words with a light shake of his head.

“I suppose you’re right, and isn’t that what got us cast in the first place? Playing the characters how we interpreted them?” He takes another sip from his water and gives his legs a quick stretch. Their break is almost over after all, it’ll be time to get back to it. “Besides, they don’t have to know that’s how I’m playing it, right? Those that get it will get it and those that don’t…are hopefully the executive producer.” He starts to slide off the table, the thin fabric doing little to keep the cold of the floor from reaching his feet. Joel moves to stand and takes the bottle from Vlad, quickly getting it off the set before the director calls them back. 

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Filming had wrapped up for the day, thankfully for both of them, and they were now on their way back home for the night. Or to Vlad’s home specifically. Joel’s driver had put up the privacy curtain not long after the trip had started, it was routine. About as routine as taking the turns he had grown accustomed to over the last…however long it had been, 10 months? A year? They’d only been together a year and a half but this had become regular quite a while before that, during the second half of their filming for season one actually. They hadn’t seen a reason for Joel to keep renting a place out here for filming when Vlad had an apartment so close to set. They could commute together to and from work, make sure the other ate proper meals off set, and even run lines. At least that’s what Vlad had said when he suggested it back then, in fact it’s still the excuse they use when people question them on why they take the same car to and from nearly all the same places every day. That it’s just more convenient. Most don’t believe that, but they don’t mind the speculation. The car ride is comfortable after the long day they’d had, especially once Vlad had gotten it together in the ‘fight’ scene they had. 

Joel was leant up against the door, head in his hand as he watched Vlad talk from his seat in the car. And oh boy was he talking. The corner of his mouth curled slightly as he listened intently, watching the others hands fly about as he went on.

“I can’t believe none of them picked up on the tone change. None! My mood, my facial expression, the way I was wrapped around you and still nothing!” Vlad had indeed decided to lean into the romantic tone they’d talked about previously for the scene, and as predicted it went off without a hitch. The rest of their scenes together that day had been only a few takes, including mess ups from other cast and crew. Joel easily caught one of his waving hands to gingerly bring it to his lips before placing it between them. Vlad instinctively closed his hand around the others, giving a gentle squeeze unknowingly. Joel gave his partner a blank stare.

“I hardly think nobody could tell. Did you see Viola? She was practically in the end frame on that last take, probably would have been if Cathrin wasn’t holding her back. She’s been waiting for us to start giving into the romantic angle more.” He paused to give a chuckle as the other man’s head turned to watch him speak, “And I do mean waiting, you remember during season one? The ‘crank it’ scene? Or when we were filming the opening scene for the season? We had to redo it three times because you could hear her outbursts in the background every time I so much as looked at you!” He let a smile creep up his face as he remembered. When they had initially gotten together they had of course told a few of their on screen friends, knowing it would be hard to keep something like this from them. Naturally a few of them had pushed for the men to let their off screen romance bleed into the way they portrayed their characters. 

“Yes yes yes, but the director? The producers? The ones who kept telling me to tone it down, dial it back? Them? No idea!” Vlad said in excitement. It was also true that in previous scenes they’d made it a bit too obvious that their intentions were to make the relationship romantic and a few of the wrong people had caught on. But how else were they meant to interpret it? ‘It was affection that held us together’? Really? Joel let out a small chuckle at the memory before turning his attention back to his counterpart. 

“I suppose so V, though I don’t think it’s too hard to fool them. Especially given how they literally wrote the damn thing with zero idea of how romantic it actually was.” he gazed at the other man from his seat opposite to him. Vlad, noticing the silence, also turned to look back. He gave a wide smile, eyes crinkling as he squeezed their hands tighter. The driver was close to his complex now. Joel blinked as another thought crossed his mind, “Although I must say, for a fight scene it was very…suggestive. I can’t say we haven’t been in positions quite similar to that.” a slightly darker tone overtaking him as he leaned in a bit. Vlad easily caught onto what the other was suggesting, and he moved his head closer to whisper back.

 “I must say I don’t know what you mean by that.” He smirked, eyes darting down to the others lips before moving back up to his eyes, his head tilting ever so slightly, “Though I wouldn’t be against a…reminder? Or two perhaps, hmm?” Joel moved his unoccupied hand to take his partner’s jaw in his fingers, bringing them together for a firm kiss. Their lips slotted together in a practiced ease, a light sigh leaving Vlad as Joel’s tongue flicked against his lower lip. The car stopped. The finger under Vlad’s jaw didn’t move as they broke apart, and a knowing, wanton look was shared between them as Joel leaned back and undid his seatbelt, Vlad breaking their contact to do the same.

“I’d be delighted to give a refresher.” They exited the car.

Inspo for this was from art by boopfq on tiktok and MessRedds on Twitter. I haven't written fanfiction (or anything) in like 5 years so if this seems meh don't worry about it. This is self indulgent bc these two are ruining my entire life and I need an outlet. I literally made a playlist it's getting so bad

[showsandstuff]

WHAT'S UP!

Welcome to my post where I praise the fanon original league version of Jayvik!!!

I'm gonna be real, I will miss the Og machine herald Viktor. I never played league, and I'm not going to, but before season 2 came out I read his lore and he's actually a pretty fun character.

Then after season two act 1 came out, I dove into the world of fanfiction cause I started shipping Jayvik and found kind a few fics about the league of legend versions of the characters. And here is what I will say.

If we go with fanon alone, I actually prefer the league versions.

League Viktor and League Jayce are actual enemies for most of the time. They used to be colleagues, then Viktor was getting into brainwashing whilst Jayce was a dick and got him kicked out of the academy. He also didn't speak up when some other scientist took credit of Viktors invention. Oh and there were misunderstandings about some crystal...

Long story short, they don't like each other. But in the fics they often times either clear the misunderstandings and make up or yearn for each other whilst on opposite sites. Or they fight each other which leads to make out sessions because why not.

The characters are also generally more fun to read about.

Jayce is a huge dick, that is literally his most defining personality trade. He is a cocky bastard and people like him until they get to know him because he's just such an asshole.

And Viktor is just... Really fucking silly. He wants to get rid of his emotions and says that he already did get rid off them, but then Jayce pisses him off and you can tell no way?? Where did you get rid off your emotions? You've been whining non stop. There's also still love, kindness and empathy within Viktor, but he somehow convinces himself that he is emotionless. It gets especially good when that's played for comedy, which it oftentimes is!

Also, the nicknames! They still call each other Jayce and Viktor but Viktor also calls Jayce "Defender" short for "Defender of tomorrow" which is jayces title, and Jayce calls him either V or Machine Herald, depending on the mood.

Arcane season 2 was too rushed and packed with so many seperate story lines that we didn't have enough time for the characters. We needed at least one more season.

But the fanon for the league version, as someone who never played it, gives me this huge time frame of them being enemies but they used to be colleagues or friends (or more than friends depending on the writer), and then a huge time frame of them being enemies.

Og machine herald League Viktor though??? PEAK, WHAT A FUNNY CRINGEFAIL LOSER!

Now more to Arcane...

I think as much as I love Jayvik there, it's all just too sad, especially if you don't necessarily want to read act 1 fanfictions or AUs.

Also Viktor is super hard to characterize because his personally changes with almost every act. That's why I don't buy it when people complain about the way he is characterized because Ik all yall want is sassy S1 Act 1 Viktor, but I prefer the less confident and workaholic Act 2 Viktor. We are not the same.

The Fanon of League is just, somehow, more consistent in a way, because it has existed just much longer and people probably get inspired by the same shippers for how to write their dynamic.

Arcane fics though depend on how the individual interprets the characters, and with characters whose arcs were rushed sm it's just impossible.

So Og machine herald Viktor, you will be missed. I hope people don't stop writing for them and drawing fanart!!

[fangirling-heart]

12 days of Christmas and 12 quotes of Arcane

Hi there! Wow, look at that. I'm late. Again. Sorry about that...

Anyway, today is January 6, and our little game is officially over. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Now, that it's done, though, I promised 3 prizes. 3 Arcane one-shots, one for each of the top 3 scorers. So, leave in the replies your scores and let's see who the luck three will be! (If there are more than 3 top scores, the choosing will be by drawing (hope I used the right word)).

Now regarding the writing, here are my writing will and will not dos and some general stuff about the writing itself:

Will do: Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, hurt/no comfort, whump, romance (ships I'll mainly write for: Caitvi, Meljay, Timebomb, Jayvik), aus including the alternate timeline in episode 7 of season 2, canon divergence, canon compliant, stuff that could've taken place during the timeskips, post canon stuff.

Will not do: Smut/sex scenes (I'm sex repulsed, sorry), gore, incest or pedophilic ships (i.e. Vi X Jinx or Silco X Jinx), characters that are in League of Legends but not in Arcane, ships that erase a characters canon sexuality (i.e. Vi or Caitlyn with any male character), other people's OCs (I don't feel confident writing for a character I don't really know, but I can create OCs for the one-shots), Crack fics (not my strongest suit).

Writing stuff: The one-shots won't be longer than 4000 words. I'll have them ready by late spring, since now I have no time to write ('tis the finals season).

And here are the correct answers to yesterday's poll with the quote "Good Evening."...

Ambessa and Jayce!

Also, here's the correct answers to the previous polls too!

I was supposed to die: Viktor

Don't you essentially own this place?: Ekko

Shut up and fight!: Caitlyn

You think my head is thick?: Vander

I told you, I'm not interested: Jinx

I could have you arrested: Jayce

Will you be okay?: Vi

I'm missing something: Mel

I'm about to make your day: Silco

This day's turning out all right after all: Mylo

I'm gonna hate this, aren't I?: Sevika

[hollow-lime-green]

Fanfic Writer Interview

This looks fun!

How many works do you have on AO3?

55!

Which is not what is listed lol. This is maybe a good time to mention that I actually have a side PWP AO3 although I haven't used it in a while, and haven't written any PWP for JJK. So only go check it out if you like FE3H rarepairs or Hades, I guess.

And if you do the math between my two accounts, you still won't get up to 55 because a few of those are actually posted anon. I did some kinkmeme fills for the FE3H fandom and while I'm not ashamed of the content lol, I did those as more of a writing reset thing and they're not as edited/polished as I would like? So I just don't want them under my real accounts.

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

So first, just, full disclaimer - kudos is not a good stats metric to judge your fics. Kudos amount is not sensitive to quality, it is sensitive to fandom size, fic type (pwp vs plot-driven, oneshot vs multichapter, au vs canon), rating, and length. Please god do not ever judge based on flat kudos.

A better metric (which by the way you should still not care about metric when you do Enjoyable Hobbies) is hit:kudos ratio, which I find is almost always around 10:1. If I want to see how well a oneshot does, that's a good metric. Repeat readers can't give repeat kudos, so that metric is useless for multichapters.

Anyway this is why it's good to comment on the fics that you like - the nice words people say to you are infinitely more valuable and better than numbers. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

A Real Breakthrough - Arcane Jayvik, PWP, 4.3k Set in S1 Act 1 (so no spoilers for S2)

Yeah so this is my most kudosed fic and it is not even close. I love this fic, I snapped with this fic, however it is also the only thing I have ever written for Arcane so it's like this one massive outlier on my AO3.

2. it's not gay unless the domains touch - JJK Stsg 40k

It's a little surprising to me that this one has so many more kudos than 2sorcs, but that has more to do with a.) if you like 2sorcs you'll go back and read domains, whereas you may read domains and not go on to 2sorcs and b.) fandom life cycle and when domains was coming out vs 2sorcs coming out after JJK ended

3. Bend the Knee - Hades Thesterius PWP 3.6k

Ahahahaha i forgot about this fic, I did snap with it though. I will play Hades 2 when it actually full releases and then I'll probably be insufferable. Hades fandom was very very fun and friendly, especially the Thesterius subsection. It may have been the nicest and most accepting fandom I've been in.

4. two sorcerers chillin' in a hot tub (five feet apart cause they're not gay) - JJK Stsg 115k

she's up there! she's on the board!

5. The Torment of Stillness - Hades Charmes PWP 4.4k

good for her, I didn't realize this fic had done so well

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i really try to respond to all my comments, or if someone writes a bunch I'll respond to them as a group. I struggle to write comments myself, even when I absolutely love a fic, so to me it's no small thing when people take the time to comment, and responding is a way I can say 'thank you' and 'hi yes i am a real person and your effort has made me tangibly happy'. plus like, we're all doing this for community, and community only happens when we actually talk to each other. interaction is the life blood of fandom, and it's how you make friends :)

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

weelllll I don't really write sad endings tbh. and maybe that's giving away the game a little bit with FIYM but I promise it's gonna be a tough road to the happy ending there. so if i had to pick one, it would be a Satoru POV piece but it almost doesn't count to me because those aren't exactly 'endings'. for that, I'd probably say the uncertainty principle (JJK STSG 1.4k) is the angstiest. it's also not really a plot story, so not really an ending, but I think 'angstiest character study' still counts.

by my definitions though, I am going to nominate Swan Song (FE3H Balthuri, 9.4k) This one is more full bore angst, although I think the ending is... optimistic? I really like this fic, although it is for a tiny tiny niche ship.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh. how do you even measure happy? also i don't have a lot of longfics with 'endings' because i'm a piece of shit with abandoned wips (i am so sorry FE3H)

I'm going to say Limitless (Hades Patrochilles, 1.1k)? It's not a lot of plot to be ending but I think it's probably the most feel good? Second nomination to Condemned (Hades Thesterius, 7.5k) which has a little more plot.

Do you write crossovers?

not exactly. I write AUs, but I don't generally cross characters over, which I feel like is more of what 'crossover' entails. No hate, just not something I feel particularly compelled to do.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope. literally never. it is extremely rare on AO3 (in my experience) unless you are dealing a Really Big Ship and you run into people with extreme T/B or characterization preferences. I have seen friends get hate, esp in Big Ships in the FE3H community, so I know it is a real thing that exists, but I have fully dodged it.

the closest thing I've ever gotten is someone being like "ew, you wrote Ares/Dionysus?? that's incest!"

but all you can do with that is laugh, because... my brother in christ, do you know Greek canon?

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yep. lots. I don't know what 'what kind' means, but I write all kinds. with and without plots, with and without inhuman genitalia, with and without consent.

i currently only have mlm and mlmonster posted, but i have written (and not been happy enough to post) wlw and het. hopefully that eventually changes, because I do feel bad that I don't have more equal opportunity smut out there. women are great we love women. i just don't feel like I write wl well enough yet.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

i have had someone ask, i don't know if they ever posted, it is still an extremely high compliment and it makes me smile that someone even wanted to do it.

i have had a fic recorded, which is definitely my peak (The Prince of Roses, FE3H Ashedue Sleeping Beauty AU 1k/6min). that was so cool. podficcers are very cool, they are doing god's work, and I would totally do it if I didn't hate my voice.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, and I think I would be a nightmare to work with, because I am very particular about everything.

however, i love love love collabing with artists and I have done that several times. and I would love to do more!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

FE3H Balthuri. It's so niche but it's so good. Balthus has a lot of depth to him if you look past the surface. And Yuri's backstory is an incoherent, impossible spaghetti bowl caused by the creative team not being able to say no to any single idea. love them.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The Lion of Kupala - Balthuri Canon Divergent AU 30k Political Intrigue

i think my plot ideas for this fic were very interesting, but the amount of effort I put into the atmosphere building and stuff was burning me out compared to the size of the community. and I would expect the fandom for this ship is basically dead these days so if I did go back to it, it would be a pretty solitary labor of love. I am unlikely to finish my Ashedue fics either, but I am significantly more likely to finish those because there's more potential that people might cheer me on and help me get to the finish line for that ship.

What are your writing strengths?

comedy, apparently! i didn't really write comedy until JJK, so that was kind of a surprise.

i would probably say characterization too. different reads on characters are (or, can be) equally valid because you're working with limited text. I think the key is staying consistent.

i'm very good at dialogue matching if there is a good enough sample size to draw from, which I don't think there is for lots of manga. i don't think my dialogue matching is good for JJK, especially with the translation from JP making some of the ENG sound unnatural in the actual manga. but I think for my other fandoms, I did pretty good

What are your writing weaknesses?

action for sure. and people are very nice to me about my action scenes, but they are for sure the hardest pieces for me to write and they take a long time for me to conceptualize and wrangle into coherent words.

these days, atmosphere has been a weakness too, I think. i used to really focus on that in my writing, but it has been more fun to be a little more dialogue and plot driven vs super rich moments. that's part of why I burned out on some of my FE3H fics. it takes a lot of mental energy for me in the writing process to constantly check in on scene setting/atmosphere.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

clarity is the most important thing - your reader should understand what you are saying and be drawn into the context of the world. sometimes writing dialogue in other languages adds, sometimes it subtracts. does the character understand that language? if so, they should hear it in the reader's language so that is understood. if they don't, then it should be given outside of the reader's language. and in that case, you should always have your specific translation in the end notes (if you want the reader (not the character) to know what was said), or you lose some clarity/intent.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Chainsaw Man.

when i started FIYM, the other Big Project I was looking at was a multipart 'X Lives and Here's Exactly How it Could Work in Canon". but i didn't find the ship very compelling and it takes a lot for me to write gen because I find the community is better/more active for ship fics. so we went with FIYM even though my idea was less fleshed out (narrator: that would soon change).

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

string theory (JJK, stsg, E, 17.4k)

which is funny because it's the only piece of FIYM that was totally unscreened by betas, it took the least time to write (proportionally), and I wrote it when I was probably at my lowest with anxiety, sleep deprivation, and stress.

actually right before I started therapy lol.

'tortured artists' or something like that

Ty for the tag @marichild <3 Tagging: @detta-pica @fireflywitch @ anyone else who wants to do it :))

[eggcompany]

So this builds a bit on ur aged up aus, but what about older!Viktor (mid 30s) and younger!Jayce (early/mid twenties) and it's basically the reverse scenario of the lab thing you wrote or Jayce keeps getting into trouble at the Academy for his experiments and Viktor had to set him straight (could be a professor or just dean's assistant like in canon).

Either way, I can see Jayce's praise kink being in full swing as he's just begging to be good for Viktor and Viktor secretly loving having the guy everyone wants being so desperate for him

-✨anon

I have a draft for an Older Viktor x Younger Jayce and it's sooooo similar.

(gonna show and tag the inspo art by one of my FAV artists on Twitter and APARENTLY HERE TOO)

Professor Viktor, older, bearded, long hair, 40s ish. He's stunning and one of the more harsh professors. He teaches organic engineering (or something akin).

Jayce is working for his doctorate in mechanical engineering. He's a TA and getting credits he needs. When he meets Professor Viktor he's head over heels, he's hanging on every word, he's sprinting across campus so he can coincidentally bump into the older man with his favorite drink.

It's a whole thing.

I'm gonna write a whole thing with it here in a minute <3<3<3

Loooooooooving Jayvik and one of my fav artists, that I didn't even realize was here on Tumblr, I follow them over on Twitter.

 arctvros.tumblr.com

(they do a bunch of different characters/pairings and it's all stunning)

Beautiful art referenced below ⬇️

[chaosheadspace]

Make me write!

Tagged by @tj-dragonblade and @beatnikfreakiswriting, thank you.

The most stressful time of the year is coming to a close and with work and kindergarden time fast approaching I will have more free time again (curious how work always equals free time as a parent, huh). I also fell into a new fandom (as most of you know, bc I have no qualms about flooding your dashes with art when I'm online lol).

So you can pick from the following emojis for my WIPs and send me an ask and I'll try to write a few sentences or even a paragraph, as time permits. Don't hesitate to send multiple asks, make me work, I'll get to it :)

📚 Self-explanatory, this is library boys two (whom I have shamelessly neglected)

💫 As of yet unnamed Jayvik post-canon alternate universe fix it. Gonna put all their likely S2 trauma in their younger bodies >:)

🌹 Home should be where the heart is (Dreamling Beauty and the beast AU)

🎶 Dreamling subvocal WIP. Including this one bc somehow the age old little snippet is STILL getting reblogged (I swear one of you has just put it in their queue every two months or so).

Not tagging anyone bc I'm very fucking late to this but if you see this and want in please consider yourself tagged.

[greatvalueeyelids]

i’m gonna do some more fic and au writing so is there anything anyone wants to see?

my ao3 is greatvalueeyelids and i have some narumitsu and jayvik stuffs

love ya <333

[kitty-cutie-zack]

Jayvik agere fic idea

This is ,, More of a Plan for a fic, but m too tired to fully write it so!!! I'll post it still. uhm ya. Au where everyone is happy bc i wanna have fun

Viktor giggled as he chased after Jinx around the backyard, trying his best to go as quick as possible while clutching his stuffed animal. He was in a diaper, an adorable pair of shortalls and a pink shirt, as well as a froggy hat, with velcro shoes.

According to Jayce, playing “pop goes the weasel (with real bombs!)” with Jinx was too dangerous, and Viktor was “much too young”. So they settled with red light, green light, and other similar games. They had also played pretend with the house, and the little swing & slide set they pretended was a castle. It was really fun when Vi and Ekko had joined in too, pretending to be ferocious dragons. 

Eventually, Jayce had come out because it was lunch time! Viktor had excitedly run over to Jayce, hugging him tightly. The man chuckled and picked up the little one, ushering Jinx inside as they went back inside the house.

Jayce gently set Viktor on his high chair, cutting up his sandwich in 3, with bite sized cucumber slices, as well as chips. Viktor happily ate, as everyone else discussed at the table, Jinx settled on Silco’s lap as she ate, messy as ever.

After they had finished eating & cleaned uo, Viktor whined, making grabby hands at Jayce. A few chuckled in endearment at the action, Jayce quickly picking Viktor up.

“Now dear, i know you were having fun with Jinx, but i’m gonna have to change you, then it’s nap time, ok?”

He softly told Viktor, as he made his way to the nursery. Viktor whined in protest, pouting and wiggling.

“Shh shshsh.. I know dear, but it won’t be long, you’ll be able to play with Jinx when you do, yea? And you’ll feel much more energized.”

Jayce gently said, as he laid Viktor on the changing table and began undoing his overalls, and began doing his business.

“B-bu.. ‘M not seepy..”

Viktor declared through yawns, while Jayce powdered his bottom and quickly taped on a fresh diaper. He instinctively patted it with smile.

“Sure, honeypot..”

He replies fondly, as he changed Viktor into his jammies. He picks Viktor back up.

“Well, i think someone needs his milkies before he takes his nappy nap~”

Jayce lovingly says, taking out a baby bottle full of milk. Viktor softly gasps in excitement, making grabby hands again.

“Mwik!”

He says, and began drinking. Jayce smiled and began humming as Viktor drinked up his milk. Eventually Viktor finished his bottle, a little drowsy and hiccupy. Jayce chuckled, and put Viktor over his shoulder to pat his back. 

After he burped, Jayce headed towards his crib, gently tucking him into bed, with lots of stuffed animals. Jayce gave Viktor his pacifier, and kissed his forehead.

“Have a nice nap, little one.”

Jayce softly said, as he closed the lights (leaving the nightlight that projected starts on, that played a soft lullaby), and gently half-closed the door.

[caspercryptid]

Death game au

Did I really need another AU? no. Did the idea for this grab me by the neck and refuse to let go?

....yes.

CW: You know death games. you know the things that happen in the hunger games and squid game and mirai nikki. Yes.

___

Jayce is nearly certain that he’s going to die.

Nearly in this case is 99.9% percent odds. There’s a .1 because he’s hoping for a miracle. It’s a pretty shitty chance, and dropping, rapidly, had been dropping since his mother’s plea for mercy had landed him... here. A slow death instead of a fast one. So, great. He’d had a choice. He’d had a choice between banishment, which was death anyway, and the trials. He’d picked the trials. That was almost certainly a mistake. Three phases. Alpha, Beta, Execution. It’s Alpha. He’s going to die in Alpha. He’s going to die in phase A, a footnote, a name on a screen, a blooper for the highlights real if he managed to die in a way that was funny enough to justify broadcasting. He’d made it through the first maze fast enough to be sure no one else was going to catch up with him— he knows that Phase A is supposed to be before anyone really starts killing each other since the environments do it for you.

He also knows that people usually use it to pick competitors while they’re distracted with the obstacles.

Which is... where he’s found himself.

He’d been stupidly relieved to hear the theme this year was Smoke and Mirrors. Insanely, stupidly relieved. In previous years ice had featured, and anything was better than another storm. He’d had to stay out of public spaces to avoid seeing the big screens broadcasting the blizzards in the arena they’d set.

It’s significantly less reassuring in the house of mirrors.

Jayce’s head is spinning, and he knows that this is... not a place in which he’s going to be able to outclass other people. Memorization’s been more difficult since the accident. He can’t see where he’s going. The last maze had puzzles, and his time on those had meant that his tendency to get lost hadn’t cost him. Thus far, he hasn’t seen puzzles. Just mirrors. Endless, endless mirrors. And he’s going to die, he’s going to die, he’s going to—

The floor gives out.

Jayce has a moment of crystal-sharp clarity: He assumes this is the part where people would normally insert their lives flashing before their eyes, and instead he wastes it tabbing up his mistakes, his footing, he’d been looking up to try to find edges to the walls of mirrors, any way to find openings, he’d taken his eyes off the floor, hadn’t paid attention beyond noting some floors were mirrored and some weren’t, that was so unbelievably stupid—

And then he’s falling, and he snaps his arms up to grab the edge of the platform and hisses as the pain jolts up his arms like electricity. There’s no point, he’s not going to be able to hold on, but he struggles anyway, managing to get his other hand up too— I can’t die, I can’t, not now—

He has his eyes closed, trying to focus all his strength on getting enough of a grip to pull himself back up, and then a shadow falls over his eyelids, pronounced in the harsh white from between the mirrors.

Jayce opens his eyes.

It’s—

He swallows.

“Hi.” He manages.

The crime lord of the undercity, Piltover’s biggest arrest, the most dangerous opponent in the games, and really, Jayce’s personal nightmare, is standing over him. He raises his eyebrows.

“Hi?” he asks, sounding a little amused. Like is that the best you can do. Unfortunately, it is.

“Would you prefer hello? Jayce asks, voice strained. Greetings? Salutations? Hail and well met? Traditional piltover running into a zaunite greeting of a slightly judgmental stare?”

His fingers are slipping. Surely Silco’s just gonna wait and lord it over him, Jayce didn’t think the trap would close again until after he fell. Maybe he’s calculating a way over it. “There’s probably a dead end past this.” Jayce manages. “The mirrors look— oddly. Uniform. That’s what I was paying attention to instead of the floor.”

Silco’s eyebrows stay up. “Why are you telling me that?” he asks, musing.

Jayce squints at him. “So only one of us has to die today?”

“And why do you care about my wellbeing?”

“—Because you’re a person?” Jayce manages. This is stupid. This is a stupid conversation. This is the stupidest possible conversation to be his last conversation. Silco’s just staring at him, assessing.

“If you’re gonna kick me, can you do it fast? The futility is really—”

Jayce cuts off, because Silco is kneeling down, reaching for him, grabs the back of his shirt and pulls, and it’s not much— it’s really not much, but instinct takes over and Jayce pulls too,using the extra traction to get one arm up, and then another, letting Silco help him. It’s still a fight, and too much of one to manage the words until he’s on the ground again, panting, and Silco looks winded too, but is dragging himself up.

“—what—” Jayce starts, and Silco just offers him a hand again.

“Come on.” He says. “We’ve got a maze to finish.”

“—we?” Jayce asks, but he takes the hand.

“You owe me, don’t you?” Silco says, pulls Jayce to his feet and doesn’t wait for an answer, heading off.

Jayce realizes several things in sequence.

Silco is right

His odds for survival just increased

He owes a life debt to the most dangerous man in piltover’s history.

He swallows, breathes, and follows him anyway.

[heralds-of-tomorrow]

𝐅𝐢𝐜 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍: hello and welcome to all of my arcane/league of legends fics! all the shit ive written and the stuff thats in the works, in one convenient place. speaking of in the works, please feel very free to ask about any of the stuff in the wips category! im not exactly gonna be updating it every time i think of a new one but ill probably make sure its up to date every now and then, and regardless itll always have plenty in it because i am a chronic wip starter. you can ask about any of the stuff thats already done, too! 

𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔: - fics ive posted on archive - tumblr drabbles, short fics not worth posting on archive - ask reqs ive filled - bullet point au/concept outlines - wips (by far the longest)

- 🌊  𝑹𝒆𝒒 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒐 -- ☄️ 𝑻𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 -- 💙 𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆 -- 💎 𝑭𝒊𝒄 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 -- 💧 𝑷𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 -

𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐒: all the (again, arcane/league) fics i have posted to my archive!  - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: breathing easy, breathing smoke [bebs] 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 18.2k words, 7 chapters 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: incomplete, struggling to write chapter 8 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: jayvik, sfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤: The first time Jayce sees Viktor actually in the undercity is the first time he sees Viktor comfortable. It's an enthralling sight, even amidst the confusion of a fast-paced errand run in Zaun. - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: do the damn dishes, love 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 1.1k words, 1 chapter 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: complete 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: jayvik, nsfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤:  A lazy morning in the household of two great scientists, so in love and obsessed with each other that they can barely keep their hands of one another, even to get normal chores done. Though, that could also just be because Jayce doesn't want to do them, even if he does have quite delicious vices to indulge in. - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: four geniuses walk into a bar... [4 geniuses] 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 5.2k words, 1 chapter 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: incomplete, low-priority 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: gen/touch of jayvik, machine-herald centric, sfw (violent) 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤:  Singed kidnaps the most prominent minds in Piltover and Zaun, for an unknown but likely malicious experiment. Jayce, Ekko, and Jinx are treated to a front row seat of just how much of a monster Viktor has turned himself into. - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: bitter water 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 1.6k words, 1 chapter 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴: complete 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: meljayvik, sfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤:  Viktor plays the music, Jayce sings the lyrics he wrote, and Mel paints Jayce where he lay, providing Viktor a lap to rest on all the while. They get distracted with each other, as they tend to do.

𝐓𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐑 ���𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐒: mostly when i refer to ‘drabbles’ i mean things under 1k words, but in this case it varies and is just stuff i didnt consider worth posting on archive (for reasons listed here) and was not produced in an ask req - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: untitled 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 1.2k words 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯: too sad and venty 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: jayce-centric, angst, sfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤: Jayce is falling out of love and dissociating about it, which I use second person to convey. Can you tell I planted my writing roots in Homestuck. - 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: untitled 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩: 420 words, drabble 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯: too sad and venty again 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤: jayvik angst, jayce-centric, sfw 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤: Jayce is finding it hard to continue reaching out to Viktor when Viktor refuses to reach back and let him help.

𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐒: none currently but im certainly excited to start! - 

𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒: i love doing this kind of thing and i really wanna start doing it more! these’ll be outlines for bigger aus or concepts/plots i know i wont have the energy to write fully, and all of the ideas i currently have for them. if you see a concept in these you really like and think you’d like to collab on, feel free to hit me up about it! you can also ask me to elaborate on any of them if wanted none yet! - 

𝐖𝐈𝐏𝐒: all my wips.. ough. there are many, and again you can ask after any of them! whether it be for more details or for a snippet, idm! its a big help in sparking some motivation lol. also, you may be thinking “why would you list all of your wips like this even if you Do want people to ask about them, thats a Lot”, and the answer is that it helps me! keeps them organized in my head and reminds me what they’re about without having to go read them again, plus im less likely to forget any of them exist now, lol 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔: 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: the title of the google document the wip is on, not a set in stone title at all 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: how likely i actually am to begin working on it and finish it 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: the basic concept behind the wip - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦:  we take the backstories and we shuffle them 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: feel pretty good about this one, it’s likely ill finish it  𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: simple zaun!jayce x piltover!viktor au, which is always one of my favorites. not super elaborate, just their meeting right now, though ive got a few ideas about the expanded implications of the swap -  𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: youve devastated me, baby, im drenched 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: i feel alright abt this one! i may or may not finish it depending on my emotional health at any given time  𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: angsty, divorce era jayvik. will be nsfw, will be very emotional.  - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: promiscuous girl 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: i want very badly to finish this one but the spark of inspiration has waned heavily for it. might post it as the 69 follower reward? idk 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: nsfw, viktor is a bit (maybe more than a bit) promiscuous, and jayce finds out in a 5+1 format that goes “5 times jayce found out how lively viktor’s night life is, and one time he stops watching and starts acting” - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: that wet on your skin, it shimmers 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: meh! might finish it, might not.  𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: you know how old shimmer was something you rubbed on your skin that made it shine different colors (i think it was mood based?)? well, divorce era jayvik get a big ass vat of it poured on them and also its an aphrodisiac. VERY nsfw lol - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: update your fucking fic 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: sigh. im going to finish it. eventually. but im not feeling good abt it rn 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: bebs ch.8 :/  - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: kill it. 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: pretty okay? i forget this one exists a lot lol 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: simply lil domestic jayvik - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: tomorrow must come 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: ehh. might just be a tumblr exclusive drabble thing 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: introspective jayce that is, as typical for me, pretty venty and existential - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: obsession 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: ill probably come back to it eventually, i really like this one! 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: a fic dedicated to a version of jayce and viktor that are crazy obsessed with each other, outlining that obsession - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: Vindication (only one with a capital letter... weird) 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: not great it sparks absolutely 0 inspiration in me currently 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: kind of the same version of viktor i have in four geniuses, that exists after he gets the fire in his veins and goes to become the machine herald, but before he calms down a bit and starts thinking (as much as he can) rationally and morally again like in league. just a sort of viginette of him feeling vindicated in his hatred - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: bonding time 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: good!! ill get to it again (maybe soon!!) :] 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: this the doc four geniuses is on! ive got a concept for the rest of it, some stuff i wanna touch on, but no outline or writing begun yet. its p low priority for me so who knows when itll get updated - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: becoming piltovers finest 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: good! i enjoy this one a lot 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: caitlyn finds out she’s been appointed as sheriff and goes to excitedly tell vi! dunno if ill write them celebrating or anything, its p much just a page or two of concept - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: the sun and the moon run circles around one another 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: uhhh eh! i like it, i want to finish it, but the spark of inspriation is very small, so we will see 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: some melvik, watching them slowly appraise and warm up to one another as they go from clashing to working together. plus lots of “oh my god youre not just smart youre clever. and mean. this fascinates me, i must know more” which i love - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: monkey bomb begone 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: OUGH. this is a GIANT fic concept, and i dont know if ill ever be able to pull it off alone. currently in bullet point outline format on google, and a valuable enough idea to me that i wont share it here or with any strangers, so the prospects arent ggreeeeaaat. but i do want to write and expand it, but itll likely have to be a collaborative effort  𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: ekko goes back in time and makes some minor changes to kick off the plot, and that version of ekko isnt in the fic any further (unless i decide to old-man-mentor-ify him late on in the fic as a surprise). the changes are basically that he destroys the monkey bomb before it can go off and he makes sure hextech is banned by the council. ive outlined all the consequences of this and how each characters personal storylines are affected, plus some more, and when i say it is BIG lol -  𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: where the fuck is this going 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: pretty good actually! this ones intruiguing to me. gets the ol brain gears goin 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: ‘alternate meeting au’ is the only way i can think to describe it! jayce’s hextech project (maybe the bombs never got set off or something, i dont know) has been reviewed by a bunch of piltover officials and no one thinks it can be done or will support it, so jayce turns to some zaunite college of techmaturgy folks, and though they also dont think it will work, they do think having a piltovan scientist (backed by house kirammen no less) indebted to them would be useful. so, instead of turning him away, they pawn him off on a professor they’d be perfectly able to cut ties with if it goes disastrously wrong, aka viktor, who does not work under heimerdinger in this au. i love the concept for this personally, but i just have absolutely no idea where i want to take it! - 𝘥𝘰𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦: an outside perspective of jayvik 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴: eh. first fic i ever drummed up for arcane, and not one i like much anymore 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵: like it says on the tin! just some rando npcs observing jayce and viktor’s relationship 

𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐍𝐃: alright, there it is! the full list of all the writing ive currently started or completed, with hope it will grow soon! i hope its easy enough to navigate, but please let me know if there are any difficulties!

[caspercryptid]

hiiiii I really adore how you write jayvik 🥺👉👈 if you are so inclined, what about Viktor meeting Jayce’s mom for the first time over the holidays/new years? Jayvik can either be established or “““good friends””” or whatever you like!!! Your characterization is a blessing. ❤️

I'm going to softly admit that i've never written Ximena before (all of the fic bits with her in them in Cowboy For Christmas were my beloved partner's doing) so I hope this passes muster! Just gonna do a modern AU to save myself the headache, and since I usually write Viktor as jewish, lets go new years.

Thanks for the request, as always. I think this is another part 1. woops!

--

Viktor isn't worried.

After all, why would he be? what reason does he possibly have to be worried. He's heard plenty about Ximena- Jayce talked about his mother all the time, she cooked for them and forced Jayce to bring him food, he was sure, given how much Jayce talked, that she'd heard just as much about him, if not more.

So why would he be worried?

He's still repeating the question to himself as Jayce parks in front of the house. It's a very nice house. Viktor can't convince his legs to move.

Jayce notices, because of course he notices, damn him, and looks over. "V?" he prompts, soft.

We're just friends, Viktor reminds himself. This isn't like meeting in-laws, because they're just friends. It doesn't mean anything. You're his lab partner. There's nothing to be afraid of. What does it matter if she doesn't like you?

"Viktor." Jayce prompts again, sounding more worried, and ah. He'd forgotten to run the generic placation subroutine.

"I'm fine." Viktor says. "I think the cold has locked my knee up a bit. Do you have one of the hot pads we can put on it for a minute before I climb out?"

Jayce lunges for the console to get a hot-pad so fast that Viktor almost feels guilty. At least it was only a half-lie. He shakes it out and presses it to Viktor's leg, and Viktor lets out a breath, soothed just as much by Jayce's proximity as the warmth. "I hope your mother's not minding us idling the car out front." He says, dryly. "She might assume we're canoodling."

He's rewarded with a little flush from Jayce.

"Don't say canoodling." he counters, even still looking a little flustered. "Are you eighty?"

"Only spiritually. And perhaps by my joints's measure. That's enough, I think, come give me a hand down."

Now or never.

Jayce is quick to get out of the car and come around to offer Viktor a hand- Viktor has a certain appreciation for Jayce's truck, he really does, it's saved them carrying equipment countless times- but the massive step down is not something he enjoys.

Well, maybe a bit, because when he can't quite get his leg down properly Jayce leans in to offer his shoulders as a support, and Viktor can wrap an arm around Jayce's neck and let Jayce help him down, and he doesn't mind that, not even a bit.

He does slightly mind the fact that his arms are still around Jayce when his mother opens the door.

She raises her eyebrows. "Jayce." She calls, putting her hands on her hips. "Introductions first, Mijo-"

"I was just--" Jayce sighs, giving up, and lets go of Viktor, who pulls loose and comes over to shake Ximena's hand. "Viktor." He says. "It's a pleasure, i've heard all about you."

She smiles, and Viktor instantly relaxes. All of the feigned disapproval is gone immediately, and she clasps his hand in both of hers as she shakes it.

"It's wonderful to meet the boy my son spends all his time with." She says, and ah. Viktor can hear the note in that, but she hasn't said it outright, so he can't deny it. He just smiles.

"Your son is the best partner I could ask for."

He realizes, when there's the sound behind him of Jayce slipping on a patch of ice in the driveway, that he forgot to add the lab part. He doesn't have any particular regrets- or at least, not once he looks back and makes sure Jayce hasn't hurt himself, and he hasn't, he's just clutching the car door frame for dear life. "Jayce." he calls, tone innocent. "Are you alright?"

"Fine!"

Hm.

Viktor's had quite a bit of time to wonder if Jayce felt the same way. He never quite had a definitive answer- little blushes, reactions. He glances sideways at Ximena, who seems completely unsuprised.

Well.

This should be an interesting holiday.

"Watch your footing, dear." Viktor calls, tone innocent, and Jayce almost falls again.

Yeah, Viktor's got a plan.

[caspercryptid]

Little mini author update because there’s not enough to report to warrant a full newsletter (I’m sorry, no snippets! I also wish there were snippets.)

To the person who just single-handedly met my last ko-fi funding goal: Hello. I love you. I love you most ardently. I want you to know that you’re the reason I managed to get out of bed today! In my hazy oversleeping haze I pulled up my phone and saw my notifications and went “What the everloving fuck” I owe you my life. Semi-literally.

Seriously in general to everyone who’s given on ko-fi though: Every little bit truly does count and even if you just tossed a dollar or two in the proverbial tipjar it counts and I love you and you’re the reason I can afford to make health purchases without losing my mind that i’m going to cut into savings I need to get out of my shitty living situation. it means an immeasurable amount to me. May you all be blessed. Seriously. I love you. 

Now, in payback, some updates. 

Fake Dating Game: Three more to go! One of them’s singerdinger. But casper, you ask, surely you don’t mean-- yes. yes I do. singed is gonna date that yordle. I think one of the other two is gonna be Melco and the last one’s a toss-up but we’ll see! probably gonna land on jayvik.

Looking Forward: The next prompt-spam game is going to be Sickfic! at some point in the next week at a random time I am going to open my inbox for about 15 minutes and do as many sickfics as I receive requests for. ((After that, other options might be epistolary au and disguises au))

But casper what about all those other requests in your inbox?

I go where there is serotonin. One of the good things about the spam game is that once I get in the groove I churn those out FAST and with the extra serotonin I can write the stuff that’s a little higher effort. 

But casper what about your longfics?

All in due time. I am going to do a re-read of “this ain’t a scene” to get back in the groove but honestly the answer as to why that one’s taking so long isn’t at all that I've lost interest in it: I absolutely have not. I’ve just been having a little bit too rough a patch to be funny. but things have sort of stabilized a little, still not Good but at least on less uncertain ground, so i’m optimistic about being able to get back on the horse soon.

NSB is in edits and is waiting for me to be able to read, and HtF is in my poor poor overworked partner’s lap because I have only ever written one decent sex-scene in my life and that’s what’s on the docket. I am too depressed for Blood. Stars is at a weird formatting section. Anyway. Soon! soon. 

As always, much love, thanks for your patience and for the the asks. My one bit of solid good news is that i’m planning on re-watching arcane soon! as soon as my migraines actually let up. so there should be some meta incoming. 

[caspercryptid]

thanks for sharing your collaborative writing process for HtF & NSB! Would you mind talking about your individual writing process as well for your non-collaborative works? (if you take a different approach)

Oh I do, and I'd be happy to! This is gonna be a little different from the collaborate answer because the main obstacle when working on my own is motivation, not editing or story structure. So my process is much more focused around jumping that hoop.

As I've been fairly open about, I'm pretty seriously disabled. I have ADHD, chronic pain, migraines, and chronic fatigue, and I'm what's sort of cutely referred to as a spoonie, which goes hand in hand with those things. So my process is pretty tailored to being gentle with myself.

Neil Gaiman once said something great on here in a post that I don't have the spoons to look up that went roughly along the lines of "Everything that isn't writing is writing too", as in all of the stuff you do that isn't writing when you're supposed to be writing is an important part of your process. You need rest, you need downtime, you need to listen to music and do stupid bullshit. What I do when I'm working on my own is consider where I'm at in a story and let it sit in my head until I get the right spark to keep going. What that looks like kind of depends on the project. Another great thing Neil Gaiman said is that you never learn to write a book, you only ever learn to write the book you're writing.

I've sort of let a couple of my projects sit for a bit because I've been juggling the collaboration and requests but just as a practical example, what's written between the stars, my conspiracy theory Jayvik au, actually requires some research. That is something I super have to Want to do to get it done. So for that one before I start a chapter I ask myself— what do I need to write the next chapter? What information do I have to have before I start? What usually happens is that I tell myself I don't need to write the chapter, I just need to answer those questions. But usually, by the time I've answered those questions, I'm in a much better mindset to write the chapter.

Another set of questions I ask myself that applies more to other fics is "what's stopping me from writing this chapter?" If I have no energy, that's a non-starter. For other people who aren't chronically ill the answer to that might be that you need to drink some coffee and you're Gucci, but if I don't have the energy to write, I need to go lie down. Full stop, non negotiable. It has been a major relief to stop trying to force my output on that. If it's not happening it's just not happening.

Another important answer is "I don't want to" to which the follow up is "why?" This is sometimes harder than you'd think. This Ain't A Scene experiences delays sometimes because the answer is "I don't think I can be funny right now" which there's also not really anything for! If I have to be in a certain brainstate to write, than either I listen to the fic playlist till I get there, or I wait it out. Sometimes the answer is "I don't know what happens next" and the answer to that is just... To think about it, or to ask someone else. Usually when I'm working on my own I have a big picture idea of where the fic is going in my head and then I put it on the tracks and push. I've run tabletop campaigns for a while so my other big rule is that everything is a chevkov's gun. I re-read my own writing to remember what I'm doing, pick up dropped threads, and stay on track. I play yes-and with myself. Instead of editing things out of chapters that don't fit, I ask myself why they got there and make that fit within the story framework. This sometimes takes the form of the macguffin, like the void box in HtF. When/if other elements of the story stall, I ask myself: what do I have in my bag of tricks? What have I set up? What can I deliver on? And rustle around until something clicks.

For short fics, it's all waiting for something to click. The last question I ask myself is "what do I want to write right now", and then I go looking through my inbox and turn things over until something sparks and I have an idea of what to do with it, and then I grab it and bang it out.

My actual writing process is much less helpful than the editing guide, unfortunately! I am mildly dyslexic, I usually do not edit much beyond running spell check. Once I've managed to nurture the right spark I sit down and I write until I run out of steam, and if it's not a complete chapter or a full prompt fill, that's fine! I put it down and go work on something else. On more style heavy stuff like Blood In Your Mouth, the project I'm working on where Viktor dies and Jayce is trying to necromancy him, I edit more than I do something like Scene. Sometimes serious emotional stuff requires tweaking because I want to make sure I use the right words. Most of my editing is re-reading the chapter before I post it and changing things that don’t quite work. 

On prompt fills, I usually try to come up with a really banger first line or paragraph, and then the rest kind of writes itself! The key for me is establishing a vibe and then keeping to that vibe unless a hard heel turn is required. This is also greatly aided by rereads of similar stuff, or from reading my own first line 12 times. The key to writer's block for me is always breaking ground. I type one sentence and if nothing else works, I close the document and do something else. Later, when I come back to that document, I've got a place to start!

Okay, I wrote this with a migraine, so I hope it was enlightening and not too rambling. I'm gonna sign it off with saying that anyone who finds my output intimidating should keep in mind that I've been in academics for like seven years. Once you reach a point where you have to write the damn thing or fail the class, having your pick of fanfiction in your inbox is a blessing. And ultimately— I've just had a shitton of practice! Writing every day has made me a very fast and much more effective writer, as has reading a lot of other people's work. Sometimes when I'm stuck I read Richard Siken's Crush (I actually own a copy and I highly recommend it but y'know, we can't all own books) and listen to music. I need input to have output! I think everybody does.

Thanks for the question, anon! This was a good think. Feel free to ask whatever if anything in here was confusing or not detailed enough.