#these aren’t all my WIPS but they’re the ones that fit this game the best

[sweetercalypso]

Rules: Pick a bunch of your WIPs and summarize them as badly as possible, then ask your followers to vote on which one they'd be most likely to read. Multiple/all/none options are completely optional.

This was so fun, thank you @mermaidgirl30 and @janaispunk for the tags!! <33

No pressure tags: @ilovepedro @hellishjoel @honeyedmiller @psychedelic-ink @bearsbeetsbeskar @sweetenerobert and anyone else who’d like to participate!! <3

[bisamwilson]

for the wip game: i found love where it wasn’t supposed to be (right in front of me) 👀

hello a my dear <3

this is basically a "didn't know that they were dating" fic that is likely going to turn into incredibly quick proposal/wedding once they finally figure it out lmaooo

snip:

It snaps her out of her mini reverie. “It wasn’t a joke,” she says, voice still a bit confused. “You and Bucky aren’t dating?”

Sam blinks real slow, his head jerking back just a bit. “You thought Bucky and I were dating?”

Jaz’s face morphs from confused right into incredulous. “Yes? I assumed you all had been dating for like three years by the time I moved here a few months ago.” She squints her eyes in mock suspicion before widening them again. “You’re being serious right now. He’s really just your roommate? I’m not being punk’d?”

Jaz is only in her early twenties; Sam didn’t even know she knew what being punk’d was. “Don’t know where Ashton Kutcher is right now, but I don’t think he’s anywhere near Delacroix. Bucky and I are just friends, buds, coworkers.” He thinks back to their little heart-to-heart years ago, back before he’d officially taken up the mantle, after some quality time fixing up the boat. Despite his best efforts to continue looking serious in the face of these ridiculous assumptions, he feels his mouth twist up in a small smile. “A couple of guys with a mutual friend who’s now gone. So just a couple of guys.”

Jaz has her eyebrows raised to high heaven and all her weight resting on her back foot, her hip just slightly cocked. “I don’t exactly know what kind of expression one makes when they’re in love with their best friend-slash-roommate of multiple years, but the one you just made sure would fit.”

Sam opens his mouth to respond, but by then Jaz has completed her own fish transaction. “I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Ashton Kutcher,” she says, quickly turning her head to look over her shoulder, “and whenever you all do actually decide to have that wedding, I’d be happy to get an invite.”

send me an ask with a title from this wip list and i'll tell you about it/give you a snip!

[wayfaringauthorofficial]

WIP EXCERPT- HEIRESS UNDERGROUND (PKA 'Barely Innocent' and 'Erasure'.)

My heart wouldn’t stop pounding, even though we switched out our car for a dark blue Dodge of my dad’s. I haven’t ridden in this car in months, but it still rides just as well as I remember. It doesn’t squeak when you turn or catch as you go on a hill wrong. It’s perfect.

A chunk of hair strains against my finger as I pull, wincing from the pain. I tighten my grip on Zander’s hand while my brother drives, hoping neither of them comment on the tears pooling in my eyes. But I think the boys are both too nervous to cast their gazes towards me. My boyfriend’s pulse races beneath his skin, palm slippery with a cool, thin layer of sweat. I hope my thumb strokes reassure him because they’re doing nothing to ease my own anxiety.

Outside, the sun is setting, the few people that pass us probably heading home from long days at work or school. Will I ever be able to go to campus again, to take a class without fearing for my life or the lives of those around me? All I want is for everything to go back to normal, for this whole mess to go away and the truth- the entire truth- to be revealed. But it’s clear to me now that simply asking questions isn’t going to give me the information we’re after. I need to pay attention, to gather clues. I can’t let my guard down, not even for a moment.

When a phone rings, signaling a new text, I turn my head to Dalton, who takes his phone from his pocket. After scanning the message and pointing towards an exit for Zander to turn onto, he faces me. “Dad got us a room at a motel that’s off this exit. We should eat, then get some sleep. There aren’t many police around now, but we should also look at the footage again, see if there’s anything that we can use if they decide to take you in out of nowhere. He said he left a package for us at the front desk with a laptop in it. We need to be prepared for anything, and I know you’re scared out of your mind, but we’re one step closer to finding answers,” my brother promises. I don’t believe him, and everyone in this car knows it, but I do my best to shove my fear down. He’s protecting me, taking care of me just like he’s done from the day I was born. I owe him my life.

So I nod, doing my best to act like I appreciate what everyone is doing for me, because I do. I’m not going to say that they’re ruining me, because someone else is going to take the blame for that… we just haven’t figured out who that person is just yet. Every time I think we’re learning something, it feels like we jump back to square one with a set of new tasks, like a video game you can’t win. So when will we reach the final battle? When will all of these separate pieces start to fit together?

Paranoia ticks through my veins like a bomb waiting to explode. But no one seems to notice us, to point at us. That’s a good sign, and it means our current tactics are working. I pull my hair back, then move around in my seat until I find a comfortable position to sit back and close my eyes for a moment. Headphones slipping into my ears, I pick a song on the portable player my dad slipped me and hope it does enough to distance me from this, at least until we get to wherever we’re going.

[wandaromanova]

Geek

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Reader

Warnings: cussing, sexual suggestion, that’s all!

A/N: hello! hope you guys like this! happy reading <3

anon requested: Hi Kass! Could I request a super fluffy clingy Nat that’s trying to take her girlfriend shopping for video games and completely geeks out about like collectibles, games and other stuff? If you’re okay with it of course.

Summary: Y/N supports Natasha’s gaming addiction, despite not being a gamer herself.

Word Count: 1.5K

| masterlist | request rules/guidelines | wips |

please do not repost or try and take ownership of my work. reblogs, likes, and comments are always welcome. <3

“Come on, babe!”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

You rolled your eyes as your girlfriend, Natasha, pulled you by your hand and towards a store, GameStop, to be exact. 

The redhead has always had a love for video games, which surprised you, in all honesty. It wasn’t exactly the fact that she was a gamer that shocked you, it was more like her favorite game was an unexpected one; Minecraft. 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Yeah. Natasha Romanoff, the world’s deadliest assassin, absolutely loved to play Minecraft.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

She had a thing for creating various buildings in survival mode. There was something soothing about going out and finding supplies to use that got your girlfriend all excited. 

Natasha played the game on the computer you had in the living room of your shared apartment, not having a game station of her own. So, you took the liberty of buying a brand new PS5 for her just because. Now, the redhead was on the hunt for a PlayStation Store gift card to purchase the BedRock version of Minecraft. 

Truthfully, you didn’t know the difference, regardless of how many times Natasha had tried to explain it to you. Although you tried to understand it, considering how much your girlfriend adored the game. 

“So… what’s the difference between the one on your computer and the one you’re trying to buy from the online store?” 

You questioned your girlfriend as she dragged you towards the gift card section, her eyes scanning the plethora of cards for the one she needed. 

“The Java Edition is the original version of the game that was created for PC users, which is the one I’ve been using. You can do multiplayer with other PC users.

You nodded your head as she spun around the gift card stand, her other hand still firmly holding your own. 

“The BedRock Edition is for gaming consoles. This version allows cross-platform multiplayer mode, which means I can play Minecraft with anyone, regardless of their console.”

Her eyes lit up when she caught sight of what she had been looking for. 

“Considering there hasn’t been a release of Minecraft for the PS5, I have to purchase it online, with this gift card.” 

Natasha smiled triumphantly when her eyes landed on what she was looking for. She selected the card and proudly presented it to you, a wide smile spread across her face.

“Ta-daaa, my ticket into the realms.” Natasha scrunched her nose up while lowering her voice into an ominous tone. You couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at her antics. 

“Is there anything else you want, nerd?” You looked around the busy store. God, there were so many weird people here, nerds.

“Okay, first of all… I’m a geek, not a nerd. If you’re gonna do something, do it right.” Natasha sassed and you raised your eyebrow at her as she began to pull you towards the collectibles section, not before shoving the gift card into your free hand. 

“Potato, patato.” Natasha flipped you off, lifting her middle finger up behind her back as she guided you through the busy store. 

You let out a chuckle, then suddenly, Natasha let go of your hand and practically ran towards your destination. 

“Babe! Look!! It’s a baby panda plushie!!” Natasha snatched the stuffed animal off of one of the shelves and quickly whipped around as you caught up with her. 

“Wow… very cool…” Your voice lacked enthusiasm and the redhead sent you a glare, landing a soft punch on your shoulder. 

“Uh, don’t even try and act like this isn’t cool. The panda is my favorite animal mod! They do cute little tricks when you feed them bamboo.”

Natasha hugged the plushie close to her chest. She gave you the best puppy dog eyes she could muster, paired with pouty lips. 

“Can I please get the baby panda? I’ll give you head later if you get it for me.” You let out a genuine laugh at your girlfriend’s words. 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

She was really bribing you with sex in order to get a stuffed panda; adorable. 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I mean I was going to get it for you anyway, but I’m definitely not declining that offer.” 

Natasha let out a small squeal before pulling you into a bone-crushing hug. You winced, not being able to breathe. 

“Babe, I- I kinda need to be alive to buy it for you…” You croaked out and the redhead loosened her hold on you, pulling back to peck your lips repeatedly. 

Natasha let go of you and turned around to face the section once more. Her eyes lit up when she caught sight of another piece of Minecraft merch. 

“Baby, look. It’s a torch-shaped water bottle! It looks exactly like the ones in the game.” Natasha tucked the panda under her arm, reaching out to grab the item that was on a higher shelf. 

The Russian let out a huff when she failed to reach the water bottle. Shaking your head, you made your way over to her, placing a hand on her waist as you grabbed the bottle with ease. 

Natasha rolled her eyes at you as you handed the object to her, a cocky smirk on your face.

“Show off…” Natasha muttered as she turned around to face you, staring at the water bottle in awe. She was freaking out over how detailed the design was and you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t the cutest shit you’ve ever seen. 

“I’ll get it for you if I can get head, twice.” Natasha looked up at you with a smirk on her face, her eyes focusing on your face. 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Deal.” 

•❅──────────────── ‎⧗ ────────────────❅•

A few hours later 

“Natty, dinner is ready.” You called out from the kitchen, your eyes lifting up to eye your girlfriend. 

She was sat on the couch in the living room, playing the version of Minecraft she had just downloaded. 

Natasha completely ignored you, too entranced by the video game.

With a sigh, you made your way out of the kitchen and sat beside the redhead, finally gaining her attention. 

“Baby, the graphics are so much better on this version than the other one.” You focused on the screen and watched as she opened the door of a home she built while you cooked dinner. 

“Look at all my dogs! I killed a ton of skeletons and got their bones so I could tame a shit ton of dogs.” Natasha smiled while your eyes widened. 

In a room of the house, there was nothing but dogs. The barks could be heard through the surround sound. 

“Jesus, Nat. How many do you have?” You couldn’t believe that she managed to find that many dogs. You’d watched her play a few times and you knew that it took a ton of time to come across dogs in the wild. 

“I have thirty. Aren’t they the cutest?” You turned your head to face Natasha’s side profile, a smirk making its way to your face. 

“Can I try?” You asked sweetly and Natasha immediately handed you the controller, showing you which buttons did what, before letting you play. 

You let out a small laugh as you began to hit the dogs with your hands, spamming the strike button as much as you could. 

Natasha let out a scream as the dogs yelped, your hits injuring them. You’d known this was possible because the redhead cried when she accidentally killed her dog on the PC a few months ago.

Seriously, she was devastated. This woman could kill men without flinching, but she cried for weeks after killing her virtual dog.

“Y/N! What the fuck are you doing? Stop!” Natasha exclaimed, yanking the controller out of your hand while you laughed uncontrollably. 

“I’m sorry, I had to. They’re not real and there are way too many! You can’t possibly take care of them all. It’s a small price to pay for salvation.” 

Natasha sent you a harsh glare, creases forming on her forehead. You let out a small sigh, wrapping your arms around her waist.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“You’re heartless. I’m dating a puppy murderer.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The redhead grumbled out as she tried to get out of your grip, but you wouldn’t let her. 

“I’m sorry. I love you.” You shoved your face into her neck, your words coming out muffled against her skin. 

“No. Go fuck yourself. You killed two of my puppies.” The seriousness of Natasha’s tone sent you into another laughing fit. 

You pulled your face away from her neck, and sneaked a few kisses on her lips before placing one on her nose. 

Natasha tried her best to keep a straight face, but that didn’t last long. Her lips curled upward and she shook her head, cupping your cheek with one hand, and kissing you deeply. 

You disconnected your lips and stared into her emerald eyes. Her forehead was pressed up against yours as her eyes scanned your face.

“God, you’re such a nerd.” You breathed out when Natasha pulled her face back from yours slightly, a faux look of annoyance and offense across her features.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“For the last time, I’m a geek, not a nerd!” Natasha huffed out and your eyes softened, a playful smirk on your face. You absolutely adored her and loved to piss her off whenever you could.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“They’re interchangeable terms for loser.” 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Fuck you.” 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I mean… I was promised head.” 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I revoke that promise.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Hey! That’s not how promises work!”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

taglist: @ledollarbean-em @q-hearts @perfectromanoff @aliancvnas @ultimateskyscraper @marvelwomenslut @chaekhan @rvselie @brieswife @imasimpfornatashamaximoff @natashaswifey @prentisshoe @mcubreakdown101 @yeetus-thyself @multiyfandomgirl40 @kindofasimp @007giu @weelight @scotts-orange-slices @puppy-danvers2016 @acertainredhead @jdougl-love @bi-rdofprey-writes @mindofwesley @shatteredlovesick @lostandsearching @tquick99 @rachel146 @illloveyou @thewidowsghost @uraveragelonelygay @useless-wlw-fangirl @pattypavo @wandasgirlfriend @sapphic-stress @olicity-boo @summergeezburr @ycfwmalise14 @suki-is-a-queen @xxromanoffxx @b-5by5 @romanovaslut @hagridsmomma @ooobviouslyyyy @chasethemoon @blurryylines @spxncervibes @yeeterthekeeper @maximoff-jp @onceattwice

[waywardstation]

Honestly with everything we’ve built up and established in your stories and overall headcanons we should stick to what we’ve already established for it. Sticking to canon is all nice and good but if it means tons of rework and headcanon overhaul then I don’t think it should be bothered that much… especially if bits aren’t really that much of an issue or flat out rumors.

So what if he has like a receding hairline. As long as there isn’t definitive proof that Ingo is in his 50's or in Hisui for decades we should consider this info as one of those "my uncle works at Nintendo" kind of info and take it with a grain (or a bucket) of salt.

And even if that’s the case I still feel we should stick to our established lore. This is the Wayward Cave AU of sorts. With the ToT AU on the side and Ingo being actively Uncle to Akari and establishing friendships we never got to see in game. With little Powder, MG Emmet and young Ingos punk phase. In a way it is a divergence to canon already.

Also keep in mind this is concept art. Concept not necessarily makes things canon. Concept art often shows things that got scrapped in development. I get the worry but I don’t think we should fuss too much over some art or rumored stuff.

I appreciate you saying this anon because several times I had written up draft posts discussing this, but scrapped them every time before I could post them because I figured people wouldn’t care much, or would be sick of hearing it. I know the revealed concepts in question are all people are really talking about right now and people might not want to hear more. So thank you Anon!

You are right, not all of it is even nailed as consistent information yet. And what is, is still just concepts and hasn’t been seen finalized in the game yet.

I don’t plan to make huge adjustments to my fics based on what was revealed. I have six WIPs currently sitting around, and they contain things that clash a bit with what was shared, and I didn’t plan on going back and changing them because they’re consistent with the other seven fics I’ve already written.

At the time of writing them, I headcanoned ingo was in his thirties, and I’ve headcanoned he has been in Hisui for only a few months; the first headcanon isn’t disproven yet, but the second one seems like it could be now. In the fics I’ve posted these headcanons aren’t explicitly stated but only hinted at. But in my current WIPs, they are directly discussed a bit at length. (specifically in the space-time distortion fic WIP I’ve been struggling with forever)

And as you’ve said, my writings are an AU of sorts with really pushing the concept of Uncle Ingo. I more-so planned for all of my fics to be disconnected one shots with consistent behaviors, but it really is a lot like snippets from a canon divergent storyline.

For ToT AU, I will most likely disregard this entirely and do whatever it seems fits best.

So for my fics, I’m going to keep writing Ingo as I always have been. He’s in his thirties, and he’s been in Hisui for months, not 2+ years. His receding hairline though, after these six WIPs are done new fics might start to describe a shorter hairstyle a bit more consistent with that haha. I did sort of get it cut shorter this way in Smile For The Camera anyways haha.

Thank you very much Anon! I really appreciate this ask!

[falsegoodnight]

these are the fics I read or reread and enjoyed this month! like last time, i’m separating it into different sections: main list, podfics, wips, and non-1d. rereads will be included in the main list and marked with *.

*note: this list encompasses the fics i’ve read from the 1st to the 25th and any fics read after will be included in next month’s fic rec list because otherwise this is going to be obnoxiously long. 

—

main list ~

✰ black cherries and chocolate by @harryanthus​ | NR | 666 (intense and jarring in the best way. this leaves you with that heart-racing feeling and panic crawling up your throat)

There is something or well, someone in the walls.

✰ keep secrets just to keep you by @hadestyles​ | T | 1k (loved this so much!! and need 1000000 more royalty abos from rori immediately)

“With the elements as my witness, I take you to be my husband. My heartbeat begins with you and ends with you, Louis Tomlinson.” Louis sinks to his knees as well, salty tears mixing with the pure rainwater. “And I take you as mine. My heart beats for you and with you.”

✰ bitter coffee and sweet love by @dontfuckwithmyotp​ | G | 1k (so cute and sweet!! proud of you ari for getting your first fic out and excited to see what you do next!)

“Hello! Welcome to The Busy Bean! Are you new?” Louis blinked in surprise at the voice and looked around to find the source. “Behind you,” The person tapped his shoulder once and he whirled around at the unexpected touch.

“Hey! Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to interrupt a person—” His rant stopped when he finally faced them. It was a guy—Harry Styles, according to his small black name tag. His eyes widened in embarrassment.

✰ turn your mic off, baby by @vogueharrystan​ | E | 2k (i love when lilli writes harry’s pov. this was so hot!)

Louis walks around the house naked all day and ignores Harry to play video games instead. Harry gets tired of it.

✰ This Could Be Love by mulletharry | G | 2k (such a cute and perfect little valentine’s day fic! put the biggest smile on my face <3)

Harry and Louis have been together for four months. They spend their first Valentine’s Day together.

✰ you appear as my soul by @hadestyles​​ | T | 2k (so gorgeous and raw)

He aches — not as much as Louis, he could never imagine all that he bears quietly — and as cruel as it sounds, it keeps reminding him of how fragile they are.

✰ the energy from your body by sweetielouis | E | 3k (hilarious, hot, and cute!)

Harry and his friends have a popular podcast, for the Valentines Day special they get a bit drunk and talk a bit too comfortably about their friends arses.

It's a good thing Louis doesn't mind it all that much. 

✰ look how i remember by @harryanthus​ | M | 4k (this left me speechless and aching)

He hates it, he wants to scream and tell Harry as much. Kiss me like you mean it. Kiss me as if we are in love. Kiss me like you will never do it again. Kiss me with so much hatred that it turns back to love.

✰ Things Unsaid by @londonfoginacup​ | G | 5k (so so cute and funny!!)

"That chunky oversized sweater is like a clown outfit made for winter."

It feels like time slows down.

Those words echo in his mind, familiar. Why are they familiar? The— the sweater he saw last week. The one with all the knit squares.

The train slows to a stop and Louis just— he doesn’t move. He feels frozen in place as people surge around him. Suddenly everyone is moving too fast and then just as suddenly the car is near empty, taking off again.

The man is gone.

His soulmate is gone.

✰ reckless serenade by @thepolourryexpress​ | E | 4k (adorable and funny and amazing!)

Harry's Google search history may or may not look like 'my girlfriend doesn't know we're dating.'

✰ dancing in the moonlight by @outropeace​ | E | 5k (need 100k more of this immediately, thanks. so wonderful)

Louis’ fuck buddy gets a date for Valentine’s day and he discovers that denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.

✰ The truth is, the stars are falling by larrysbeanies | E | 5k (hot!!! walking-in trope that i love so much)

Harry knows Louis is gay. Hell, he came out to Harry exactly two months ago (when the dreadful dry spell started) because it was becoming increasingly hard to hide the fact that his one night stands were men. And, you know, they’re best friends so there aren’t supposed to be secrets and all that.

Thing is, Louis told Harry he’s gay ergo, Harry is aware that Louis likes men. Why the fuck did he act so normal while fingering him three days ago, then? Is this something straight guys do to their gay best friends in Harry’s world?

Louis would really like to know.

✰ to be used and to be in love by @thelesserneptune​ | E | 5k (blessed that this is a series. really hot and cute!)

Louis doesn't know why his filthy best friend turned into a vanilla boyfriend and thinks of the perfect birthday present to solve that problem.

✰ on the borderline by @princelouisau​ | E | 8k (the way danielle writes... poetry. this broke me down and then stitched me back up <3)

Louis makes his choice.

✰ One Step Closer by agrinwithouthiscat | G | 12k (reading asexual hl fics is instant comfort and this was lovely)

The one fake relationship AU where they don't end up together.

✰ i glow pink in the night by @raspberryoatss​ | E | 12k (hybrid louis perfection, beautiful writing, characters, and story as always!)

Harry reads a lot of articles about hybrids and Louis is determined to prove them wrong.

✰ The Thinker of Tender Thoughts by @speakingwithink | G | 13k (asexual hl again! this one made me cry) 

Louis sits on his hands to stop them from shaking as he adds, ‘and I’m ace.’ If only he had glitter, he thinks. Coming out deserves a bit of sparkle.

✰ Kiss Me Once, Kiss Me Twice by @harriblou​ | M | 13k (enemies with benefits to lovers goodness! so hot and entertaining)

“You’re a fucking brat, you know that,” Harry muttered through clenched teeth, bones already burning with the pure desire and hatred mixing in his body. It was an intoxicating rush of adrenaline and something else that probably came with fucking Louis Tomlinson. He squeezed his neck just a little tighter. “I can’t stand it.”

Their lips were brushing against each other, just moving with the ragged movements of their mouths and harsh breathing.

“You’re a lying piece of shit dickhead,” Louis muttered right back. That was all he did, challenge and nag. He loved to have the last word and Harry let him because he used all his energy to fuck him mindless.

✰ hold onto your stars by vashtaneradas | NR | 16k (this writer’s atmosphere/prose draws me in every time. such a lovely story)

Harry's in the army, Louis' back home, and ninety days is a lifetime.

✰ The Future is Now by @jacaranda-bloom​ | E | 16k (love fics in this five times format and this one was so unique and cool!! and the friends to lovers aspect = chef’s kiss)

Five times Louis follows the fortunes to seek out his true love, and the one time he realises that what he's been searching for might've been right in front of him the whole time.

✰ Visceral Heat & Carnal Highs by @theisolatedlily​ | E | 18k (the prose in this... gorgeous. so fucking good and addicting. delighted that there’s going to be a sequel and excited for whatever lily does next!)

Louis is a demon at a house party prowling for a meal, indulging in horrendous sins to satisfy his hunger. Harry is the talk of the night, beckoning all eyes on him and the reason why Louis’s plan goes awry.

✰ deFENCEless by @solvetheminourdreams​ | T | 27k (this was so cute and so funny and i had the biggest smile on my face the entire time. not surprised since stef always evokes that in me with her writing)

When Louis butts heads with his new neighbor who loves to garden a little too much, all he can do to protect his yard (and heart), is keep on building up his fence(s).

✰ darling, you give love a bad name by snowcaplou | M | 29k (been waiting for this one since summer and i wasn’t disappointed! so wonderful and real!)

Louis’ has been best friends with Gemma all his life in this stupid little town he’s grown to hate. What happens when, after one night together with his best friend’s brother, he falls pregnant? Surrounded by small minds and conservative cultures, Louis has to deal with parents that demand they do the “right” thing. Get married before anybody finds out.

✰ The Haunting of Louis Tomlinson* by @helloamhere​ | T | 31k (will never not be an all-time favorite. louis’ character is my absolute favorite - gothic heroine indeed - and harry is the best dramatic gay ghost ever <3)

Louis is a plucky Gothic Heroine, Harry is a Mournful Spirit, and Big Country Houses are full of mystery and suspense, as Big Country Houses ever are!

✰ begged and borrowed time by @bottomlwt​ | M | 40k (this concept was so unique and so cool!! loved the medieval setting and the time travel and how everything fit together in the end!!)

“It wasn’t until 1568 that it became time for Prince Harry to find a queen and prepare to rule. However, the day he was set to choose his bride-to-be, he mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again despite the multiple search parties that went on through the years. To this day, historians still do not know what happened with the infamous Prince Styles case..."

✰ Lidocaine and Palm Trees.* by @daddyharrie​ | E | 45k (definition of ris comfort read - on nth reread and still love it wholly. makes me miss la which is an astonishing feat in itself) 

Heat, fake tans and lots of traffic.

Harry never expected to earn his living this way when he moved to LA.

Louis didn't think he could ever be the same after his divorce.

A lighthearted story about two guys trying to find themselves in the vibrant, sprawling city of Los Angeles, with a side of technical porn industry stuff.

✰ haunted by the ghost of you* by @missandrogyny​ | E | 49k (perhaps my favorite fic of all time? the humor, the characters, the angst?!?! all the britney spears!! and pink ouija boards and wikihow!!)

He’s tall—that’s the first thing that registers in Louis’ head when he spots him, standing with his hands behind his back. Tall, with curly hair, staring at them with the widest, greenest eyes Louis has ever seen. And wait, are those dimples? Louis didn’t know ghosts could have dimples.

Because he’s definitely a ghost, this boy. At first glance he looks normal, standing there pigeon-toed in a band shirt (The Ramones, Louis can’t help but note incredulously), dark jeans, and some boots, with rings on both hands, and tattoos littering his left arm—a sleeve made of anchors and names and roses and other completely unrelated things. But he’s also a little bit translucent; if Louis focuses, he can see the outline of the furniture, the design of the wallpaper through him.

“Hi,” the boy—the ghost—says to Louis. His face shifts; somehow his dimples dig deeper into his cheeks. His eyes flit from Louis, to Niall, to Liam, and finally to Zayn, and his face goes from shocked to elated. “I’m Harry.”

At in that exact moment, standing between three of his best friends and staring at a (quite handsome) ghost, Louis can only think one thing.

Nick Grimshaw was right.

✰ like real people do by @eeveelou​ | E | 64k (this was... so amazing. the characters were so wonderfully written and so was the journey of healing and growth that louis undertakes over the story :’) loved the contrast between l and h’s lives and how they fit into each other still so perfectly)

Jessica Jones AU in which the dead stay where they belong, featuring Zayn as the high-powered lawyer with a hopeless crush on his assistant Liam, Niall as the constantly stoned but strangely insightful neighbor, Harry as Manhattan’s media darling, and Louis as the never-was hero who’s just trying to pick up the pieces.

✰ Black With Autumn Rain by whimsicule | T | 93k (i actually can’t remember if i’ve read this before??? either way - it was wonderful! loved the setting and atmosphere and the supernatural elements! i was so intrigued from the first sentence onwards)

Harry is a journalist, Louis has lots of secrets and the moors aren’t exactly the ideal place to rekindle a lost romance.

podfics ~

✰ tall stories on the page by @soldouthaz​ & read by @softlouislove​ | T (hannah’s voice is so lovely and perfect for reading aloud - and ofc the fic itself is amazing)

Harry's tired of being interviewed by people that only care about the same pointless gossip. Louis is a nice change of pace. 

wips ~

✰ Truth Behind Golden Eyes by @lwtisloved​ | E | 60k | 6/16 (just caught up fully today but i’m really enjoying everything! this is everything i’ve ever wanted in a fantasy fic)

Louis is a royal servant born with magic in a kingdom where his sole existence is outlawed with a war he has no idea he has a part in upon him. Harry is the prince on whom the burden of mending a broken kingdom falls upon and he might be willing to risk it all for a simple servant if only he admitted it to himself.

✰ ‘cause all our tomorrows lead the way by @loubellies​ | E | 39k | 3/10 (having a blast reading this one!! i’ve never seen the bachelor in my life but in fic-format, it’s so fun!)

So maybe Louis’ in over his head.

He had signed up for the Bachelor on a whim after his second bottle of wine and well, here he is. He’s just been announced as the twenty-sixth Bachelor and his ass is sweating. Like, literally sweating. He’s positive that if he was to turn around, the entirety of Bachelor Nation would get a nice peek of his ass sweat.

✰ The Night Still Whispers Sins of Old by @toomanydreamers​ | E | 6k | 2/? (loving this so much, as expected. can’t wait to see how everything unfolds)

Two and a half years have passed since the fateful day when Louis and Harry were crowned Triwizard champions. Confronted with misunderstandings, wounded pride and heartache, Louis stumbled away from the possibility of a future relationship with Harry. Instead, he buried himself into relentless work as a junior Auror and refused to let himself be vulnerable with another person. Circumstances change that force Louis to confront his feelings - and Harry. Stolen glances, picnics at sunrise, thrilling adventures, original spellwork, midnight feasts, soft lips and cautious second chances culminate in an unforgettable mission - but will it be enough to mend their relationship?

non-1d ~

✰ like a bullet needs a gun by @millsxwriting​ | T | 21k | wilds au (despite me having no context, mills still got me to fall in love with toni and shelby. this was so cute and lovely!!)

Toni doesn’t expect to fall for anyone in her senior year. Least of all for Shelby Goodkind, the new girl that arrived in town just before the end of summer. In fact, Toni can’t even look at her for longer than two seconds, or listen to more than three sentences coming out of her mouth without wanting to accidentally push her off a cliff. 

Cue a group project and endless bickering, and suddenly Toni finds herself with an unbearable crush.

If you read any of these beautiful works of art, remember to leave kudos and comment to show your appreciation!

*if i made any errors, please let me know :)

enjoy!

[mypoisonedvine]

I know, I know, the only writing challenge I should be doing right now is finishing my fucking WIPs, but hey, I love the holidays and I’ve been wanting to host a challenge for forever!

here are the basic rules;

the title is probably pretty obvious here, but all the fics should be holiday or winter-themed in some way and feature mcu characters, or their actors (or other roles from the same people)

all ratings accepted!  g to x, anything goes.

all genres accepted!  platonic, wholesome, dark, it’s all fair game.

all lengths accepted!  just use a read more if it’s anything more than 500 words

rpf accepted!  

(pls no snuff, underage, or bestiality as always)

tag me when you post and also use the tag #myfestivevine (lol), just so I can find it

deadline is the end of february, but I imagine people will want to post their stuff in time for the holiday they’re covering.

that’s all you really need to know, but below the cut I have some holiday and prompt ideas to get you started if you aren’t immediately sure what you want to do!  thanks in advance to anyone who participates :)

some holidays you could potentially cover:

christmas (secular)

christmas (christian)

hanukkah (jewish)

kwanzaa/karamu ya imani (african american)

winter solstice (pagan/secular/astrological)

pancha ganapati (hindu)

festivus (secular/parody)

krampusnacht (european christian)

new year's eve/day (secular)

lunar new year (asian/astrological)

bodhi day (buddhism)

just straight up winter, the season.  no holiday necessary.

(quick note: I encourage writers to use this as an opportunity, either to share their own traditions and culture with us, or to explore and learn about one they are less familiar with.  if you choose to go with the latter, please be cautious and respectful in your cultural depictions.  writers whose cultural background is often underrepresented, and/or whose holiday is rarely written about, are especially encouraged to participate!!)

wintery/holiday themes, dialogue, and plot ideas:

office/work holiday party

secret santa gift exchange

lingerie or a sex toy as a gift 👀

engagement ring as a gift 👀👀👀

sledding, skiing, snowboarding, ice-skating

baking holiday foods together (decorating cookies???)

mistletoe 

ugly christmas sweaters

snowed in

shopping for a christmas tree together

taking a vacation somewhere new for the holiday

visiting/meeting the family

favorite christmas songs (this can also apply to any other holiday that has songs!!  I just only know one non-christmas winter holiday song and it's 'dreidel dreidel dreidel' aaaand it's already stick in my head just from thinking about it)

favorite holiday movies

exchanging handmade gifts

kissing at the new year's eve countdown

getting your kids dressed/prepared for the christmas/holiday pageant

ordering chinese takeout when all the other restaurants are closed 

"being with you is the best gift I could ask for"

"have you been naughty or nice this year?"

"come sit on my lap and tell me what you want"

"don't you dare try to find where I've hidden your presents"

"honestly, I hate the holidays/this holiday."

"is that a christmas cracker in your pocket or are you excited to see me?"

"okay, your present is too big to wrap, so just cover your eyes…"

"oh, so 'dick in a box' isn't an acceptable present?"

"I think I might be drunk on eggnog"

"what are you talking about?!  die hard is TOTALLY a christmas movie."

"there's no way that flimsy little jacket will protect you from the cold… here, take my coat"

"are you cold?" "no." "your teeth are chattering… sure you don't want me to warm you up?"

"you ate the gingerbread house?!" "...was I not supposed to?"

"welcome… to my christmas attack zone!"

"I can't go to another family reunion single… be my fake boyfriend/girlfriend/partner for the holiday?  please?"

"the ground is so icy, I'm afraid I'll slip!" "here, hold onto me to keep steady."

"I refuse to participate in any merriment this year.  I'm an adult and you can't make me."

"christmas is overrated. I officially declare December 25th 'Halloween 2'."

"don't freak out, but I definitely just burnt our big fancy holiday dinner…"

"you mean you don't do (unique personal tradition)?" "literally nobody but you does that."

"it's a christmas movie!" "it's a halloween movie!" "it's a christmas movie!" "it's a halloween m—" "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP ABOUT THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS?!"

"ugh, is dinner ready yet?!" "sure, if you're willing to risk your life for raw turkey."

"I get that you aren't the most festive person, but this is the most pathetic attempt at decorations I've ever seen."

you don’t have to do one of these to participate and you don’t have to claim anything!  as long as it fits the requirements above the cut, you’re good to go.  more than one person could end up doing the same prompt, which is fine because everyone’s individual writing will turn out different!

[greenbriar-j]

Muscle Memory, full wip, unedited 4.7k, scroll at ur own risk; tagging some people who showed previous interest @halleiswriting @chazzawrites @pe-ersona @druidx and also @pens-swords-stuff this is what I’ve been up to lately

Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church bustles with activity. It’s peculiar, for it being a weekday. More peculiar still that the bustling is being done by young men and women who could very well be engaging in… more satisfying summer indulgences.

The Youth Group’s power couple sweeps in an hour late, ever put together even when, by all rights, they ought to be melting right out of their fancy outfits. Cheers rise from the crowd when they appear, each splitting off in their own directions to their own stations.

Y Nhi beelines for the painters, flicking her sleek ponytail to make sure it’s out of the way. The girls hand her a brush while detailing what’s left to be done. Vinny bustles for the sound technicians - who, really, are already done for the day, but are staying for the social factor.

Two things to note about St. Joseph’s power couple:

Y Nhi isn’t sure she believes in God very much anymore.

They are not a couple, but it’s easier to let everyone think so than to correct it.

“Jude,” Mary says (everyone calls her Jude because she and Vinny made a big deal of it years ago), “Are you sure you can’t help out during the week?”

Y Nhi shrugs. She’s not busy or anything, but it feels wrong to shepherd children into a religion she’s falling out of - even if Vacation Bible School had been one of her favorite summer memories for her entire life. That’s where she met Vinny, after all.

Vinny, laughing with the guys at the sound booth. To be more accurate, Vinny himself is only smirking, but that’s as close to a laugh as he gets around here. Stupid smirk. Stupid boy.

“I have work. Unfortunately,” Y Nhi mutters, dragging her brush across a cardboard cutout. “Vinny’s taking the week off, so I’m picking up his slack.”

Mary grins widely at that. “I swear it’s like you’re married.”

For whatever reason, Y Nhi’s heart clenches at that. Picturing herself and Vinny in wedding attire on the altar sickens her, but putting a faceless someone in her place makes her feel worse. But it’s not like she likes him. She’s sworn to herself that she’d become a cat lady in her old age - her army has already begun with a fluffy black kitten. It’s not looking too good for her future; Toothless likes Vinny more than her. She’s already failed as a parent.

Belatedly, Y Nhi realizes she’s supposed to be engaging in a conversation, not thinking about Vinny and their co-parenting of a cat. If it can be called that.

“Don’t hold your breath. The wedding is a long way off,” she says tightly. Like. Never. Never is a long, long way off.

“I wouldn’t be too sure.”

This time, Y Nhi lets the comment slide. She paints while singing under her breath, as she always does. A long time ago, she had no qualms about belting it out, but time has weathered away her volume, reducing it to only this. No one’s noticed the change or found it strange.

The conversation turns to something - anything - else. Degrees, internships, other boys who don’t dress in all black and aren’t named Vincent Truong. Y Nhi listens, but doesn’t contribute.

By the time the call goes out for a lunch break, Y Nhi is finishing three tasks at once. One of the other girls brings her a burger, slathered with ketchup and mayo and tomatoes. Y Nhi thanks her and continues wrapping one of the white pillars in cardboard paper to simulate a palm tree.

Not long after, someone nudges her. Eyes flickering upward, she’s met with the bored eyes of her very best friend. “Bite.”

She doesn’t, not yet.

Vinny wiggles the burger he’s holding in front of her mouth. “Only half a slice of cheese. No tomatoes. Freshest patty of the batch. Eat.”

She still doesn’t take the bait, even though he’s tailored this burger to her weirdly specific tastes.

Vinny sighs. “Jude. No one’s watching you. I promise all they can see is my back.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” It’s true she had a complex about eating in public for a while, for reasons she’s never told anyone including him. “Just not hungry.”

“Not very Gucci of you to lie in the house of God.”

“Not very Gucci of you to breathe.”

“Jude! The fuck, man.” But he’s grinning. Not the half-assed grin he gives everyone else, but an honest, mirthful grin reserved for Toothless and Y Nhi only (usually Toothless. Damn cat).“Just eat this, okay? I’ll eat the other one.” His whole demeanor softens as he picks up the burger she had ignored - the one that is surely cold by now.

She is hungry. After all, the reason they were late is because Vinny had to coax her to every step of getting ready this morning. He even applied her eyeliner with the even strokes of a practiced hand - so practiced that even Y Nhi admits it looks like her own work. If she had a choice, she would waste away in bed for the day, but Vinny has never been much of a fan of that plan.

According to her own plan, Y Nhi had been wasting away since before yesterday’s dinner. Famished might be a better word to describe her present state.

But today is one of those days that she feels guilty cementing the married couple narrative any more than it needs to be. They’re not getting any younger, Vinny and Y Nhi, and just because she’s sworn off marriage doesn’t mean he has. How’s he supposed to get a nice girlfriend if she keeps hanging around?

Objectively, it’s a stupid reason to risk passing out in a church of all places, but something about him just makes her stupid. Always has.

The longer she ignores his peace offering, the twitcher he gets. He finishes his own burger in ten massive bites. When Y Nhi still doesn’t eat hers, he eats that whole thing too. “We’re leaving early. Say an hour? Think about what you want to eat.”

With that, he’s gone. Y Nhi is not hyper aware of his presence as it moves through the open space. She does not miss having him next to her. Not even a little.

-

Y Nhi writes, appetite??? in her journal when she gets home. It’s the third time something of this nature has appeared on its list which isn’t titled - but if it was it would be something like “Things About Vinny T. that Don’t Make Sense.”

Even after inhaling two burgers, he took her out for pho and Thai tea, and he ate so slow that his noodles expanded in the broth. Still, he finished a medium bowl with relative ease, and Y Nhi was content after she’d finished a small.

How does someone who eats like that look like that? It has to be some sort of stupid freaky metabolism. Genetic polymorphism, she thinks, then adds that she might be incorrectly using the term she’d heard in class about two semesters ago.

She writes freeloading on the list. It’s not technically true, but he spends enough time at her place to make it feel like it. Right this minute, he’s setting up the living room to sleep in, awaiting her delivery of the overnight bag he always leaves stocked in her apartment for emergencies.

That goes on the list too. Definition of ‘emergency.’

According to recent months, an alarming amount of things fit under this category of Vinny’s mind. It might be nearing time to stage an intervention, but who’s Y Nhi to tell him to relax when she’s the one bordering on anxiety attacks all the time? Only god knows how many times he’s clutched her shaking hands until they stopped.

Y Nhi closes the journal. Snaps the band over the cover. Shoves it under her pillow. Vinny wouldn’t dare read it to begin with, but for some reason, she doesn’t even want him to know of its existence.

Quickly divesting herself of the impeccable outfit she’d worn for the day, she slips easily into one of Vinny’s large, large shirts and the shorts she affectionately calls game day shorts. Ever since high school, she’s worn them for events that require equal amounts of comfort and courage - or just for comfort, to be honest.

“Hey, loser,” she greets Vinny, emerging from her room. He’s got her guitar in hand, and is humming some tune that she recognizes but can’t place. “Your stuff is on my bed. Have you seen Toothless?”

He nods, and keeps playing. It’s in experience, being stared at with such intense eyes while trying not to stare at the other party’s stupid pretty hands playing her guitar. Fuck him, honestly, she thinks angrily.

Leaving him there, she pours each of them a glass of water in the kitchen. A shadow looms on top of the fridge, and she jumps. “Toothless, baby. Please stop napping on the fridge.”

Toothless is not napping. He stands up, shakes his tiny body and hops to the counter, then to the floor, twining around Y Nhi’s feet before scuttling off.

Vinny is singing now. It’s a new song, she supposes, and it sounds like a love song.

Slowly, Y Nhi moves around the kitchen, making as little noise as possible while doing absolutely nothing. She just wants to listen to Vinny and his new love song without him watching her reaction.

Once she gets past the lyrics about gentle touches and midnight escapades, she realizes something. Re-entering the living room, she deposits his water on the table. “Is that my melody? Why would you steal it?”

The guitar is placed awkwardly on the floor, the neck of it leaning on the couch. “Oh, is that where it’s from? Thought it was familiar,” he says with mild disinterest. “Well, I wasn’t that attached to it anyway.”

“Are you saying it sucks?” Y Nhi settles on the floor on the other side of the table, pulling her knees into her chest. Glancing through her lashes, Y Nhi watches Vinny’s expressions.

“I’m saying I’m not taking your work, you brat.” Then he hesitates. “I mean. Can I, just for one person?”

“What the fuck.”

Vinny twitches, finally. “I�� Wrote the song for someone… So I’d like to sing it for her, just once.”

Something vile rises in her throat, and she wishes Toothless would notice her distress. Hugging the cat might make her feel a little better about the fact that Vinny’s written a song about a girl using her melody - and it’s not about herself and for some odd reason, that bothers her.

“Can- Can I hear it?” Y Nhi asks in a tiny voice. It’s easier than No, you cannot take my song to sing to some other girl who will take you away from me.

“Haven’t you been hearing it?”

“Vincent.” Because that’s easier than You colossal idiot, what shit are you pulling after two years?

“Jude-”

She stands suddenly, fleeing to her room. Shutting the door, locking it, she tries to breathe. Of all people, Vinny should be the last person to push her to this reaction. She doesn’t know what to think.

Vinny knows.

Vinny knows where her hard limits are. Technically, he hasn’t passed them. But he’s pretty damn close.

Y Nhi slips into the shower, leaving it on the hottest setting to boil the emotions out.

-

For the next two days, Y Nhi doesn’t emerge from her room. Her phone dies, and she lets it. Her body self-destructs in hunger and dehydration from crying, and she lets it. She stays in bed for most of it. Whether Vinny continues to sleep on the other side of the wall for those nights, she doesn’t know. Nor care.

It’s punishment for believing she might be ready to give love another chance.

-

The third day, a letter slips under her door.

She almost flushes it down the toilet without reading it. Everything is in position to do so, paper fluttering in unsteady hands above the toilet bowl. But she wants to know. What can Vinny possibly say for himself?

Jude. I wrote the song for you. I didn’t mean to steal your tune - honest to god, I didn’t. But when I found out, I thought it was fitting that we’d worked on it together. (“Together”)

Jude, the song is up to your interpretation, but it’s yours. I wrote it from my core, and it’s yours. Charge your fucking phone and check the lyrics I sent you.

Take a shower, and call me when you’re ready. You have a few days’ worth of takeout in the fridge. Please take care of your health; I know you’re not right now. I mean it in the best way.

It cuts off there. Unceremonious and blunt, and so very him. She hates it very much.

Y Nhi charges her phone while she showers. Working quickly because she’s so unsteady on her feet, she does the bare minimum before stumbling into the kitchen for food.

While she nibbles on the stir fried noodles he left, she pens her own note.

Vinny,

I will not read the lyrics. I don’t want to know, and you don’t have to pretend it’s about me.

Your joke took two years to reach completion. Congratulations. I hope I was amusing and that my downfall wall be the stunning conclusion you wanted.

She tapes it on her front door so he’ll see it the next time he comes over. Soon, probably.

Momentarily, she wonders if she’s being rash. Is it so impossible to think that he could find romantic attraction to her?

Then she remembers. Y Nhi is not built to be loved, if her history is anything to go by. Even if she’s wrong, even if Vinny loves her for real, she will resist. Losing him this way is better than the alternative: watching him dissolve to some monstrosity while loving her.

-

Nothing changes after that. Apart from Vinny’s absence from her apartment, they interact in exactly the same way.

Vinny says something borderline rude.

Y Nhi retorts with something blatantly rude.

They laugh about it and move along.

There are no gentle touches to avoid because Vinny rarely touched her to begin with - despite the way he slings his arm around everyone else, he wasn’t like that with her. No arm around her shoulder, no hugs, not even extended contact with her hair.

Y Nhi pretends not to notice when he goes through a full dinner with an arm draped over the back of his friend Justin’s chair. He leans on it, adding the tiniest space between himself and Y Nhi. He still passes her the condiments and spices she likes before she asks for them. He takes her home at the end of it.

This should be enough. Up until now, it always had been. These tiny acts were his long distance hugs. It had always been enough, but now it isn’t, and Y Nhi doesn’t know what to do.

Isn’t this what you wanted? For him to get a life away from you?

“How’s that girl?” She asks on the way home, just because the silence is killing her and perhaps because she’s a masochist. “The one you wrote the song for?”

Vinny looks at her for a brief moment, something like grief in his eyes. It’s a confusing expression. “She hasn’t really talked to me since.”

Y Nhi tries not to sit straighter at this revelation. “Oh, really? Hm. That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

Something about the word is profoundly heartbroken. She can almost feel the emotions hurtling off him in waves, but he doesn’t lash out at her. All it does is enclose each passenger of the car in a separate bubble. This is the closest they’ve been in a long time, but Y Nhi has never felt so isolated.

Her throat constricts, and her hands start to shake. “Do you… Know why?”

Vinny thinks for a moment, tapping his fingers on the wheel. “I think she doesn’t believe me. But I don’t really think it’s me, I think she thinks that love is meant for everyone except herself. She’s pretty bent on self-destruction now, as far as I can tell - No, don’t say anything yet.”

Every girl Vinny’s talked to in the last week pops up in her mind. Which of them seems most self-destructive? If she can’t keep herself by his side, he should at least have someone who can care for him. She could talk to them, probably, if she knew who it was.

“I… She thinks this is sudden, but I’ve been in love with her since I was fifteen. Or something. Like it kind of just happened over time, and I thought she knew.”

Fifteen means Vinny’s been futilely in love with someone else while she fell for the guy who ended up cheating on her.

They were happy in high school. It was college that broke them. Distance. The communications became less frequent in an inverse relationship to Y Nhi’s alcohol intake. Her grades suffered, and she convinced herself that she was too stupid for higher education. On his birthday, she drove for hours to his dorm to surprise him, only to find him making out with another girl. Sober.

Not that any level of inebriation could excuse him, but perhaps it would’ve hurt a little less.

Vinny isn’t done. “I fucking cut fruit for her every time we hung out. I did her dishes sometimes. I don’t know, I- I thought I did everything right. My mom thought I was doing everything right.”

“You tell your mom about your love life?”

Y Nhi doesn’t. Her parents don’t care enough to know anything about it beyond that she let go of a future doctor and that she’ll never find another because she’s past her prime. That’s what it feels like, anyway.

She’s literally twenty four. She has time.

“Not really. But they’ve met.” Vinny parks the car in front of her apartment, but he makes no move to get out or to let Y Nhi get out. “Jude, listen to me.”

“I’m listening,” she says. Training her eyes on her kitchen window, she thinks about the dishes she hasn’t done yet, the fruit she hasn’t cut yet, and how she hates thinking about it because it reminds her Vinny is fading.

Human adaptability is a remarkable thing. One more week, and this new normalcy will cement itself.

“The girl I love is you. Okay? I’ve walked around the topic for years, and I understand if you’re still not ready for it. But I know you’re getting the wrong idea in that head of yours. It’s you, and it’s always been you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it if you let me. I’ll also bow out forever if that’s what you need from me. But I need you to talk to me. I-”

Holy shit, is he about to cry? With wild eyes, she glances at him. If she’s made him cry, he’ll return the favor five-fold. No, she backtracks. That’s not Vinny. That’s the behavior of her second ex, the one that reduced her to a stiff puppet of a girl.

“Come back to me,” he says in a small, strangled voice. “I don’t even care if you break me in the process, but please come back to me. You can do whatever you want, as long as you do it by my side.”

For the longest moment, they say nothing. Then Y Nhi opens the car door. “Can you cut my strawberries for me? They taste better when you cut them.”

-

Vinny washes her dishes and her strawberries and quarters the already small fruit for her. He deposits the snacks in front of her and watches her eat - slowly, since they’ve just come back from dinner, after all.

“So it’s me?”

“Always has been.”

“And you never said anything.”

“I did. You ignored it on purpose.”

“No, I’m just a stupid hoe.”

“You’re not stupid. Or a hoe.”

“You’re always calling me stupid.”

“Not like that, stupid.”

“You’re going to have to undo a lot of damage if we date.”

“I know. I’ve been working on it already, didn’t you notice?”

“Yeah, but it’s gonna get worse if we date.”

“Have you considered therapy?”

“Vinny, I’ll be a pariah.”

“A happy one, maybe.” Hesitantly, he reaches for one of her hands. Halfway, he flips the palm up and waits for her to complete the gesture on her own. “You don’t have to decide right away. It’s just a thought.”

She puts her hand in his a little too eagerly, then pulls back a little too harshly. It feels like touching the flame of a candle.

A defeated look momentarily crosses Vinny’s eyes, but Y Nhi barely has the time to look at it before she steels her nerves and takes hold of his hand again. The coldness of his rings grounds her somehow. “We need a list,” Y Nhi says, “of things. First, you’re going to Google touch starvation.”

Her best friend jerks in a little victorious motion, jamming his knee unceremoniously on the table leg as he does. “Fuck, that hurt.”

“What was that about?”

“I wasn’t sure if you were actually touch starved or if you didn’t like men touching you.”

“And you didn’t ask?” Y Nhi is incredulous.

“How am I supposed to ask? ‘Jude, when I touch you, does it remind you of your sleazy ex boyfriends?’ You’d say no. Like a liar. Or so I thought.” He pauses. “Anyway, this means I can hug you now, right? 24/7.”

“If you ease into it.”

“And you’ll stop wearing those gigantic shirts that literally drown you.”

“...No. What?”

“Okay, never mind, nothing. What else? What other boundaries do we have?”

Of all questions she’s been asked today, this one is probably the most confusing. Her previous relationships are no help; she hasn’t exactly had the best exposure to “healthy relationships.” She’s aware that the bare minimum counts as decadence for her, so the question has her a little frozen.

After watching her face flicker through whatever emotions it’s displaying, Vinny rubs a thumb over her knuckles. “How about this: I have a specific thing I want your help with, and when things come up, we can talk about it.”

Y Nhi nods, though they both know she won’t talk about shit. But perhaps watching Vinny sort out whatever issue he needs sorted will give her inspiration on how to approach this. “Can we-?” She starts and stops abruptly.

Vinny blinks, then feeds her a strawberry slice. “Go ahead.” It’s a tactful move. Putting food in her mouth means she has to chew, meaning she has a few more seconds to gather herself and her thoughts, or at the very least, the desire to continue speaking.

“Can we not label this?” She finishes. “Whatever is between us.”

To her surprise, Vinny nods and acts like she hasn’t asked the bitchiest question of the night. “Sure.” You can do whatever you want, he’d said, as long as you do it by my side.

“And… Get rid of Jude.”

“What?”

“Jude. You remember why I picked that name?”

“Because of some fictional fairy queen that had the same name? You thought she was a conniving boss ass bitch and-”

“Shut up. Saint Jude. Patron saint of?”

Technically speaking, he hasn’t been wrong about the fairy queen bit. Unlike the suckers who fell for Cardan Greenbriar, Y Nhi’s wimpy ass was all in for Jude Duarte, mortal queen of the fae. And it was easier to admit that than to admit the truth that was dawning on Vinny’s face in 3… 2...

“Hopeless causes,” Vinny answers easily. Then his expression sobers. “Oh.”

Y Nhi nods. “But the me with you isn’t a hopeless cause. I don’t want her to be, anyway.”

There’s a lot that goes unsaid, but she’s certain Vinny hears it. Logically, she can’t keep relying on whatever instinct says, He’ll understand because he’s Vinny, but up to this point, it should work out okay.

Gently, he says, “Y Nhi,” reacquainting himself with the syllables of her given name. “Y Nhi.”

“Yes, Vinny?” She says just as gently.

He lowers his voice to a husky whisper, “You’ve never been a hopeless cause. You were a cause for hope.”

-

Vinny’s request is this: that Y Nhi teach him to be soft again.

The request makes her question if she and Vinny exist in the same dimension because who the hell convinced him he wasn’t soft? Hardened, prickly souls don’t master winged eyeliner for the sake of their loved ones. They don’t volunteer extra hours at Vacation Bible School while working graveyard shifts at the hospital. Don’t do the dishes because as much as they hate them, their roommate hates them more.

Vinny is soft, and Y Nhi is out for blood. “I need names, Vincent. And addresses if you have them.”

“My ex,” he says.

An awkward sound emerges from Y Nhi’s throat.

He raises an eyebrow at her. “What? I dated around. Didn’t think I should be hung up on you, but nothing ever went as planned. Anyway, my one ex did a really good job making me become someone I wasn’t. I didn’t like the person she made me, but it was kind of too late to turn around.”

Again, Y Nhi is confused. The narrative is promising, though, so she lets him continue in hopes that it’ll clear something up.

“If you don’t know me, how would you describe me?”

“Vinny.” She doesn’t have an answer, she just doesn’t want to say it. It’s not all good, and they just came back from an awkward fight. Was it a fight?

They’ve slipped back into their normal existence so easily. Nothing has changed, but at the same time, everything has.

“Just- The rings and the black and the tattoos. You’d think I drove a motorcycle or something, right?”

“You drive a Lexus. It’s the same in terms of your fuck boy vibes.”

“Y Nhi!”

“BMW would’ve sealed the deal. How many Hennessys do you drink a night, again?”

A pout settles on his face. She likes this version of him. “I see you get my point. I look like a baddie.”

“Yeah. Bad at life.”

“I swear to god.”

“Don’t do that, that’s a sin. Don’t use the lord’s name in vain and all.”

“Anyway. You of all people know I am soft, actually. She didn’t like that. And so I gained a second personality and-”

It’s rude, the way Y Nhi interrupts, but Vinny doesn’t seem to mind at all. “So if you’re always soft, what’s left for me to help you with?”

“You’ll see,” he says. “Actually. No, I’m going to tell you. I get embarrassed about my relationships. So if it ever looks like I’m pushing you away… I’m just really fucking embarrassed, at least for this first stage. Do what you will with that.”

- bonus/epilogue -

They return home for Y Nhi’s mom’s birthday. They’ve always rode home together, since they are neighbors no matter where they are. No one finds it odd that they hold hands more than before, that Y Nhi is still averse to touching everyone but him.

They appear at social events hanging on each other’s arms. Commentary about their status as a “married couple” breeze over their heads, but they never confirm nor deny anything. In public, they remain aloof to each other. They show tenderness in only the smallest of gestures.

In private, they are as they ever were. Vinny still does her eyeliner on her bad days, but now she cuddles him on the couch on his bad days. Between the two of them, there are a lot of bad days, days when they almost threw in the towel.

But they didn’t. Instead, they’ve introduced all manner of pet names (Vinny’s favorites to use are love, darling, and lately, em. Y Nhi’s favorites are Vinny and anh). They write songs to each other, for each other, with each other. Every morning, they make the choice to keep loving each other the way they have since they were fifteen - and while they joke that they wasted so much time, it was a necessary time for them to spend apart to learn how to exist together and how to choose each other even when it’s the harder choice than letting go.

Even I get lonely too

It’s not hard

Every question’s got an answer

And mine is you

Where you go then I will follow

All my life

You’re the name that I will whisper to the night

[ussjellyfish]

Fic Writer Review

(I’m doing the Star Trek edition and just focusing on my Trek fics, for fun).

Thanks for tagging me, @curator-on-ao3! I tag @aleksandrachaev and @justanalto, @holdouttrout , @meanderings0ul, @lorcaswhisky @pixiedane @rikerssexblouse if you fancy it, and anyone who feels like it. (scroll to the end to copy paste the questions)

how many works do you have on AO3?

354 total, 166 if I just count Star Trek and crossovers with Star Trek

what’s your total AO3 word count?

2,194,290 (I am wordy and badass!)

Behind a cut for length.

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

I’ve written for 38 fandoms total. I have fic from Star Trek TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, DSC, PIC and AOS. I sadly have no Lower Decks fic. (I feel like that would be hard to get write, I’m not that funny)

what are your top 5 fics by kudos? (only Trek fics)

354 kudos, Village Building (Voyager, Janeway/Chakotay) 87925 words which I cowrote with Jacks, who is not on tumblr (she’s from LJ days though we’re still facebook friends!) and a lovely lovely human. It’s Janeway/Chakotay season 5 babyfic and it’s very gentle and sweet and is a really lovely piece about how the crew would look after Kathryn and make space for her to live her life while being captain. Has some very excellent Tom and Kathryn, Kathryn and B’Elanna scenes.

250 kudos, Stellar Entanglement (Voyager, Janeway/Chakotay) 29979 words, which is oddly enough a gift for someone who hated one line of it and we didn’t talk for years. We got over it eventually, but it was rough. (the thing we fought about? how long parental leave would be and I, being an american, thought 6 weeks was normal because my country is evil for parents)

The fic itself is lovely! Kathryn gets pregnant after a one night stand with Chakotay , but he’s on a long distance mission, so they’re separated for most of it, then she goes on an excellent space road trip with Seven. There’s a nice scene in here I like with Nechayev and Kathryn and I had a great time writing Seven trying to find her place in the Alpha Quadrant.

217 kudos, Mending (Voyager, Janeway/Chakotay) 15155 words

This is a classic Opal fic because it’s 100% “but what if this wild thing happened and she was pregnant”. Kathryn time travels instead of Chakotay in the episode “Shattered” and she’s very very pregnant, and her crew that she doesn’t know well get her home. Has some of my favorite B’Elanna & Kathryn scenes I’ve ever written.

189 kudos, For the Asking, TNG Beverly Crusher & Deanna Troi, background Beverly/Jean-Luc, Deanna/Will 2138 words

Deanna reads Beverly’s thoughts about sex in a staff meeting and they tease each other it and have a very good discussion. It’s sweet and friendly and I reread it when I want to feel that brilliantly good friend feeling.

154 kudos, Firefly (Discovery, Philippa Georgiou (Mirror) & Michael & Tilly & like..Disco crew. Philippa Georgiou & making friends

This fic is my beloved and I am giddy it’s on this top five. It’s so fun (for me). The Guardian of Forever gives Philippa the choice to stay in the 31st century with Michael and Discovery, in exchange for a very tiny minor cellular change, which is a baby. (she and Chris had some confusingly nice sex before she left).

It’s one of my least commented fic and the one where I feel like it’s just going out into the void (but it has a lot of kudos! good work little fic).  I have so much fun with it though. Philippa and conversations where she is mildly human is a blast. The fight scenes turned out well (even though they’re really hard to write) and Philippa and Tilly is brilliant. I love it. I love them. This is so my favorite right now and I’m so happy it’s on the list.

This is the best part of the meme, right here.

(side note, 4 of my top 5 are babyfic, so at least I’m on brand).

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to. I feel like I ought too. Sometimes I’m so busy behind exhausted embarrassed (how to I reply when people are nice to me! gah) that I don’t. Often it’s simply because I want to write more fic and my free time is so limited. I love them, I really really love them. It is so kind of people to comment. I short circuit often with replying to praise.

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

Oh it’s definitely When I the Starry Courses Know, which is Janeway/Borg Queen and she makes a deal to go with Queen if the Queen will save the ship, and she goes. It’s full of depression and self-doubt. It’s one of the best dark things I’ve ever written.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Archaic Diseases, TNG/Battlestar Galactica.  I have a very sweet crossover where Beverly Crusher saves Laura Roslin from cancer and Laura has a bit of a crush. It’s rather lovely. 

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Sure, there’s a few people who just seem to get angry about things, or willfully miss the point. Sometimes I just get weird weird comments that leave me feeling angry or uncomfortable (I have a current string on a Beverly/Kathryn fic that I might just stop reading, because I don’t really need to know.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Lazily, far less often than I used to. I like feelings more than detail and I’ve gotten much less interested in sex lately in fic. I’ve written f/f and m/f and some threesomes (one foursome). Keeping track of hands is hard. I write a lot of women receiving oral sex, I think that’s easiest for me to write.

have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t think so.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! the one up above with Jacks, and a few others. It’s a very different and fulfilling experience. I like being surprised. It’s full of surprises.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

Discovery!  Ummmm, wait no the romantic kind. Right this second? Beverly/Kathryn, because it’s so comfortable for me and brings to gether so many things I like about the characters.

(Philippa Georgiou/Kat Cornwell gets a nod though, because I’m thinking about them often lately)

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

Captain Tilly’s Gambit - Tilly plays war games against Saru and has Philippa (imperial varietal) as her first officer. It’s one chapter, and I thought it was a one shot but I guess I have to write the fighting? space fighting is hard...It’s a very good fic though. I’d like to finish it. (Maybe after Fortnight of Kat/Pippa?)

what are your writing strengths?

world building, little details that make it feel Star Trek, dialogue, Sylvia Tilly, she is the best POV character for me and I just adore writing her.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Vagueness, I tend to write in a void without much description, I nearly always write 3rd person limited. I’m not very exact with typos and often things I’ve posted will still have errors.

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

If I can find someone who speaks the language, great, otherwise I usually have the gist of it or “A spoke Vulcan, which sounded great but B had no idea what it meant.” I try to avoid it.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

It was Star Trek the Next Generation!! It was a big time travelling confusing messy wonderful First Contact AU. It’s not as bad as it being 20+ years old makes it sound.

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Firefly! It’s gen babyfic and I feel like it’s in the intersection of so many things that aren’t what people want to read and it definitely feels like the thing I just write and post and out into the void. There are chapters of it that don’t have comments at all.

I am fortunate that I have people willing to read it while I’m working on it, which is lovely, and it’s so important to me.  I adore it. I love the process, I love thinking about it. It’s just important to me. The character arcs and moments and conversations I get to write for that mean so much to me.

I feel like the number of people I talk about it with fits on a hand, but you’re all lovely and I adore you too.

Uncharted (VOY/TNG) Kathryn Janeway/Beverly Crusher, Words: 56,764, kudos 137.

It’s the one thing I’ve written that’s most like a novel, has the tightest plot, the most research and characters and is most like a Trek episode, I think because there’s so much going on and often I write things that have very little going on. This is very different, and sometimes rereading it makes me cry.  It has all the best heroic parts of Star Trek.

The questions!!

   Fic Writer Review

how many works do you have on AO3?

what’s your total AO3 word count?

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

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

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

have you ever received hate on a fic?

do you write smut? if so what kind?

have you ever had a fic stolen?

have you ever had a fic translated?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

what’s your all time favorite ship?

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

what are your writing strengths?

what are your writing weaknesses?

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

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

[cosmic-affinities]

All Just A Game

Read it on AO3 here

Summary:

Party games can be a risky and dangerous venture, especially with Class A behind them. Everyone knows their secrets aren’t safe and yet they play anyway, it’s the allure that comes with Mina’s excitement that keeps everyone coming back for yet another round every time. All anyone can do is just hope for the best.

Big thanks to @we-stanjirou (@sapphicflower on AO3) she helped me with this a whole bunch and helped me choose this WIP to finish last night! She also writes on AO3 so you should totally check out her works!

“Can you believe we are getting a full week off! I mean I know it's so they can remodel the main building, but still it's exciting!” Uraraka had taken the news in stride, teeming with sheer enthusiasm at the idea.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m surprised they’re having us stay in the dorms, although I suppose it makes sense since we are still technically in the middle of term.” Izuku wasn’t quite as excited, missing out on a week of class sounded like it would put them dangerously behind.

“Oh, come on Deku! Lighten up, I heard Mina planning a party for us the first night of our break! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“Uraraka you could make a villain attack sound fun. But, I will say that having a small party might bring us closer together as a class which I would like.”

“Right! Yeah a… small party, that definitely sounds like Mina.” Izuku rolled his eyes at her sarcasm, but still went along with it. He could admit a party would alleviate some stress.

“Just as long as her ‘small party’ doesn’t get busted by Mr. Aizawa I think we’ll be ok.” The pair laughed even though the statement was true.

“Plus we still have another week of classes until they start renovating so maybe you girls can convince him it's a good idea, he seems to take better to you girls rather than the rest of us…” Uraraka crossed her arms and raised a brow.

“Oh and I wonder why Mr. ‘I have 206 bones and I’m determined to break every single one of them’ or better yet why don’t we ask your little friend explody boy over there, I’m sure together you can figure out why Aizawa likes us more.”

Neither could contain their giggles at her comment, once Izuku finally caught his breath he was able to respond.

“Hey! Haha that’s not fair! It’s not on purpose! Although explody boy is kind of fitting.” More laughter followed, eventually they were holding onto each other for support, trying not to wheeze.

Once the pair had calmed down enough Uraraka was able to give a serious response to Izuku’s suggestion.

“I think if we can get Momo to agree with us we’ll be good to go, and I really think she would be on board!”

“I mean if you get Jirou to ask her I’m sure she would say yes…” Izuku responded with an eyebrow raise.

“Oh you’re one to talk, I bet I could get you to do anything if I asked a certain someone to tell you, although he probably wouldn’t actually listen to me if I’m honest.” Uraraka met Izuku with a skeptical look, daring him to contradict her.

“I- I have no idea what you’re talking about! That’s not true!” Izuku’s face was red and he was waving his arms around, only making Uraraka gain a smug smile.

“You’re all freaked out and I didn’t even mention anyone’s name, seems pretty whipped to me.” With a shrug she walked away, purposely leaving Izuku to scramble.

The next day at lunch Momo gathered the attention of all of Class A, she was happy to announce that Aizawa had given the O.K. for their get together, with a few rules of course. There was to be no alcohol or drugs (cough Sero) and the music was not to be loud enough to wake nearby classes.

Having the official seal of approval only made the class more excited, even Iida seemed a little looser than usual, everyone was antsy as the week went on just waiting for their time to relax and have fun.

Surprisingly Izuku was the least excited for their week in the dorms, even less so that Katsuki. He was getting nervous as to what a party hosted by Mina could entail, his biggest worry being party games.

Izuku never really had a reason to play party games, meaning he never got desensitized to the prying nature of truth or dare, the exposing nature of never have I ever, or the intimate nature of spin the bottle. It was an understatement to say he wasn’t prepared.

Bringing this up with Uraraka two days before the party only managed to make him more nervous.

“WHAT?!? You have never played any party games? Not a single one?”

“Not really no, I never had a reason to! Just tell me what they’re like, please?”

“Oh my gosh you poor poor child, let me get some back up, we're gonna need it.” Uraraka quickly pat Izuku’s shoulder and walked off, seemingly to grab someone else.

Izuku stood confused until he saw Uraraka coming back with Mina in tow.

“Tell her the tragedy you just told me.” Uraraka nudged Mina forward slightly, putting her more in Izuku’s line of sight.

“Uraraka! The fact that I haven’t played any party games is not a tragedy!”

“YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED ANY PARTY GAMES?!”

“Oh thanks Mina, I don’t quite think Monoma from Class B heard you!”

“Sorry! Sorry! I was just shocked is all!”

Izuku shook his head slightly, “Don’t worry about it, I haven’t really been keeping it a secret, but apparently it's embarrassing.”

“Mido no! It’s not embarrassing! Listen I really was just surprised, how about this, do you want me to walk through the general basis of the games with you?”

Izuku’s eyes brightened at the suggestion, “That would actually be great!”

“Alright, I’m going to start with never have I ever, basically everyone holds up ten fingers and then we go around the circle saying things we haven’t done and if you have done them you put a finger down, make sense?”

“Yeah! What kind of things do people say?”

“Well, it can be anything really. Some of them are really tame like ‘never have I ever broken a bone’ or ‘never have I ever dressed up for someone else’ or they can get more  personal like ‘never have I ever kissed a guy’ or ‘ never have I ever made out with someone in public’ I know that when us girls play sometimes we get into dirty little secrets like turn ons, but I doubt it will go that far tomorrow.” With the end of her remark she winked, getting an even blush out of Izuku.

“Alright I think I got the point, how about truth or dare?”

“Alright truth or dare is exactly what it sounds like. Basically we go around the circle, first by spinning a bottle to see who goes first. Whoever the bottle points to gets asked if they want a truth or a dare. Once they choose anyone can come up with a truth or dare and either whoever says theirs first or has the best is the one we go with. I have to add the bit about having the best one because Kami can be a little dumb sometimes and can waste a perfectly good turn.”

The trio stopped to laugh for a moment, all of them knowing well enough how Kaminari could be.

“Alright I have a question about truth or dare, what if you don't want to do it? Like let's say the dare is to wake up Aizawa and you would rather live another day?”

“OH! Right, we have these forfeits, everyone gets two of them. Basically if you don���t want to answer a truth or carry out a dare you use a forfeit and whatever the alternative is you HAVE to do it no matter what. We have let people do the original one if they want but it still counts as them using a forfeit.”

“Alright seems easy enough, what was the last one?”

“The last one is spin the bottle. Everyone sits in the circle and one person randomly spins their empty drink, whoever it points to starts the game off. They spin the bottle however hard they want and whoever the bottle points to they have to kiss, then whoever they just kissed spins the bottle and it goes on until two people have to kiss for the third time. If it lands on two people more than once the kiss intensifies, the first time is a peck, the second time is ten seconds with tongue, and the third time, to end the game, is a full blown make out sesh!” Mina seemed really excited at the prospect.

“Oh wow, not what I was expecting, are there any more rules?” Izuku looked a little nervous at the prospect of kissing his classmates.

“Only if you’re the one to end the game! Basically whoever spins making you two kiss for the third time has to get in their lap. And! Our unspoken rule is that no one gets weird about it after the game is over!”

Her comment calmed Izuku down marginally, it was still nerve racking.

“Alright, are those the only ones?” Izuku was quick to change the topic, not wanting to be questioned.

“There are more but I think we’ll just stick to those three, the party is only so long after all.”

After they finished talking about games, their conversation drifted into the finer details of the party, Jirou was providing music, Momo was in charge of food, the Bakusquad was assigned to snacks and the Dekusquad was given desserts. Everyone else had the odds and ends, like cups and plates.

Once everyone was clear on what they were doing everyone headed to their respective rooms for the night, they all wanted a good night sleep so they could stay up late the next night.

The next morning came quickly and led everyone to finish their assigned jobs, the common room quickly filled with party supplies, orders for food were placed, and the fridge was filled.

Nine o’clock came around much quicker than everyone expected, everyone was busy making sure everything, including themselves looked perfect. Uraraka brought it upon herself to make sure Izuku looked presentable and so she styled him with ripped black skinny jeans and a tight fitted red top.

Everyone filled in once they heard Jirou’s music start, getting ready to break out everything they had collected throughout the day, quickly getting comfortable. An hour passed and Mina was ready to start the games.

“Alright everyone! We’re going to play never have I ever, everyone sit in a circle on the floor, I didn’t move tables around for nothing!”

A majority of the class created a circle, Mina sat down first, to her left sat Jirou, Todoroki, Shinsou, Izuku and Iida. Directly in front of Mina sat Asui and Uraraka with Momo, Kirishima, Kaminari, Katsuki, and Sero to her left between them and Mina.

“Alright, remember be honest, or else it's not fun! Who wants to go first?” Mina was practically buzzing, she had been waiting for a full class party for a long time.

“Oh I can start!” Uraraka was the first to respond, nearly as excited as Mina.

“Never have I ever, stolen something by accident and then returned it.”

“Uraraka! It was one time!”

“Well then you better put a finger down mr ‘I’ll just use endeavours credit card’ cause you’ve done it!” Uraraka was quick to retort, obviously trying to make Todoroki lose first.

“Well I guess that means I’m next huh? Never have I ever skipped class!” Of course Momo would make hers about school, nearly everyone in the circle put down one of their fingers, save for Iida.

“That is very irresponsible of hero course students! You must never skip class again!” Iida’s familiar arm chopping began and everyone merely tucked it away with the rest of his reminders.

“Hell yeah man I’m next! Alright…. Wow this is harder than I thought.” Kirishima looked around the room and his eyes lit up as they landed on Sero. “I got it! Never have I ever sent nudes!”

“Dude! Really?!” Sero quickly exclaimed, distracting everyone from Asui and Uraraka who had also put their fingers down.

As the rest of the circle freaked out over the new information Kaminari leaned over to Katsuki and asked what he should say.

“Like I fucking care Pikachu, just say something.”

“Wow always with the great help Bakubro, now I’m all set for my turn.” Kaminari rolled his eyes to punctuate his sarcasm and realised the conversation around Sero was starting to die down.

“Alright alright, now that everyone has gotten over Sero being a man whore it's my turn! Never have I ever…” He trailed off and glanced back at Katsuki, “Kicked my crush’s ass!”

Katsuki grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘I’m going to kill shitty hair’ and put a finger down, across the circle Izuku looked away and did the same.

The entire circle was momentarily shocked, mainly at the fact that Katsuki had a crush in the first place, willingly told someone, and didn’t explode when they shared it with the group. A few mouths opened and prepared to talk, Katsuki quickly cut them off.

“If any of you shitty extras bring this up again I will NOT hesitate to kick some more ass, got it?”

No one dared to say anything, knowing that although most of the time he was all bark and no bite, this time he seemed serious.

“Bro… it’s your turn.” Kirishima was the only brave soul willing to speak up.

“Tch fine. Never have I ever gotten all stupid because my crush talked to me.” Katsuki shot a pointed look at Kaminari who simply turned red and put a finger down, he figured he deserved it for that last one.

The rest of the self proclaimed bakusquad snickered at Kaminari’s reaction, remembering very clearly the first time Shinsou was officially in Class A and their friend’s inability to function after he was directly addressed for the first time.

After he finished laughing at Kaminari, Sero took his turn.

“Never have I ever gotten a girlfriend because of an awesome prank played on you by your best friends.” Sero met Kirishima with a raised eyebrow and motioned towards the red head’s hands with his head.

“Oh shut up! First of all it wasn’t an awesome prank! All you and Kami did was steal my phone and change her ringtone so when I ‘lost’ it and she conveniently helped me find it by calling I would be embarrassed! Second of all, at least I got with her! Unlike some people in the squad!” After Kirishima finished he pointedly looked at Kaminari and Katsuki, clearly pointing out their obvious lack of significant others.

“Hey! Yell at Sero, don’t call me and Bakubro out!”

“I regret ever telling any of you idiots anything and you’re still on my shit list for telling Pikachu and Tape Face in the first place shitty hair!”

“I have heard this argument at least a thousand times and since no one will spill the secret about Bakubro I’m cutting you all off and taking my turn!” Mina finally spoke up, the only person fully aware of the possibilities of the conversation.

“Everyone has been a bit personal, I think it’s time we start learning things about each other! Never have I ever… OH! Been turned on by pain and, or getting hurt!” The look in her eyes would have scared  even the most brave heroes, a few people looked down and even fewer chanced a glance around the circle. Everyone’s attention was suddenly captured by a screech.

“OH MY GOD DEKU NO!!” Uraraka seemed to be brave enough to look around at her friends and was unfortunate enough to notice Izuku putting yet another finger down.

The only one in the group who seemed unfazed was Shinsou, Izuku had his arms covering his red face while everyone else had some combination of horror or curiosity. Mina was the first to break the silence.

“Oh see, now this is interesting! Come on Midoriya, tell your story!” Izuku finally lowered his arms, still red as ever, and looked at Mina.

“Nope! Absolutely not! There are two people who know about it and one of them doesn’t actually know, they just happened to be there.”

Mina wasn’t satisfied, she was hoping something like this would happen. “Come on Midoriya, at least tell us who knows!”

“Fine! I will say that I told Shinsou after the fact because I was stressed! I will also say that he did not help! At all!”

“Hey the only thing I said was that you should just tell-” Shinsou was quickly cut off by Izuku throwing himself over him with a hand over his mouth.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence! The only thing that would come out of it is that we would both end up dead! I don’t want to die a murderer, Shinsou!” The rest of the group couldn’t help but watch, they had never seen Izuku act that way.

Mina still wouldn’t let up, she seemed determined. “Wait, you said two people know, who is the other?”

After making sure Shinsou wasn’t going to say anything else Izuku let him go and righted himself. “The only other person who would have any, even slim shred of an idea would be the uh… person who um was there.” Izuku quickly looked down, hoping the vague statement would placate them.

“What do you mean was there?”

“Mina, are you seriously going to make me say it?!” Izuku had no luck in trying to get out of further embarrassment.

“I just don’t know what you mean! I would like to understand thank you very much! Was there, like, someone watching?”

“Ugh, fine. No, the other person wasn’t watching. The other person as in… the person who you know? Inflicted the so-called pain?”

At this, Mina finally seemed happy, she didn’t press on Izuku any longer. She did, however, scan the group, looking for another victi- player to tease.

“Oh did Bakubro lose a finger?” She paired her statement with a wink hoping for another good result.

“What the fuck is it to you?”

“So he did! Come on Midoriya told us some now you do too!”

Katsuki crossed his arms and smirked, he radiated pure confidence that Izuku wished he had moments ago.

“Lets just say I never knew getting my ass handed to me would be so hot.” For a moment Katsuki seemed to be in genuine thought, then he continued. “Well thinking about it, it was definitely more the person, according to shitty hair the last time I was drunk I wouldn’t stop talking about them.”

“It’s true, I never wanted to hear about-”

The sound of explosions drowned out Kirishima’s voice.

“Finish that and you’re dead.” Kirishima took Katsuki’s words at face value and raised his hands in surrender, that was not one fight he wanted to have.

“Wow what has gotten into Bakugou tonight? First he allows a pass for Kaminari calling out his crush and then he lets Kirishima get away with almost spilling his secrets.”

“Oh shut up icy hot, first of all crush sounds stupid so I don’t get them, I just happen to hate one person significantly less than the rest of you, second off all it would be much more fun to beat their asses when they aren’t expecting it.”

“WAIT WAIT SHUSH sorry Todoroki but I just registered what Bakubro said. YOU LIKE SOMEONE IN OUR CLASS?!” Mina seemed to have a special flare for the dramatic and tonight was no exception.

“When the hell did I say that?” Katsuki kept his confident demeanour, giving off an air of ‘I know something that you don’t’ and Mina seemed over it.

“Just now! You said you hate someone less than the rest of us, implying that this person is a part of the ‘us’ either of Class A or maybe even players of this game!”

“That’s my girlfriend everyone! Smart enough to figure all of that out because of one word Bakubro said! And I can confirm that she happens to be right, even though I am now slowly starting to truly fear for my life!”

As soon as Kirishima confirmed parts of Mina’s deductions Katuski’s confident smirk turned into a murderous glare. The glare alone was enough to intimidate anyone in the room who was thinking about adding in their two cents.

“Wait wait! Are you confirming that they are in our class or in this group?” Uraraka seemed to have a special interest in the answer.

“You see, I would answer that BUT he’s really scaring me and I don’t want to die tonight.” As Kirishima answered everyone glanced at Katsuki and completely understood his fear.

“Allllllrright I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this won’t end anytime soon so I’m going to take my turn.” Jirou interrupted everyone’s fear with a fair point.

“Ok never have I ever wanted to kiss a guy.” As Jirou took her turn she couldn’t help but laugh, she knew nearly everyone would have to put a finger down.

Absolutely no one was surprised when only Momo, Jirou, and Iida did not put a finger down. It was common knowledge that a majority of Class A was somehow a part of the LGBTQ community, so much so that they were more surprised to see straight couples while walking around U.A.

Now that the game had been jump started , Todoroki was ready to take his turn.

With a pointed look at Uraraka he started to speak, “Never have I ever been more excited about mochi than seeing my significant other.”

Uraraka sputtered, “It was one time and I didn’t even know Tsu was there!”

“Well you still have to put a finger down, this is what you get for telling everyone about the store!”

“Ugh fine!”

Everyone in the circle looked between the two of them, trying to figure out what was happening, Shinsou decided to move on and take his turn, he glanced around looking for some kind of idea, when his eyes once again found Izuku he was ready.

“Never have I ever had a crush on someone for longer than a year.”

“Shinsou! Need I remind you that you have been in Class A for a year and a half!”

“Oh I will gladly put a finger down, it’s just so funny to see you freak out about me talking about your crush. Plus I don’t think you have any room to talk, if anything you should be putting a few fingers down!”

Izuku gasped and shot Shinsou, a very pointed look. “Seriously! You just had to go and say that!”

“Wait Midoriya what is he talking about you putting multiple fingers down, how long have you had a crush?” Mina was not afraid to ask any question she had.

Izuku’s eyes widened comically, he obviously did not want to answer her question.

“Um over a year?”

“Well duh, that was the never have I ever, but Shinsou made it seem like a lot longer, soooooo how long?”

“Umm not very?”

“Was that a question or an answer?” Mina’s eyebrow went up as she waited for Izuku to respond.

“I am not going to answer that!”

“Why not?!” Mina seemed disappointed in Izuku’s resolve and was determined to get some kind of information.

“Because then it might be kinda obvious!”

“Well yeah that’s kinda the point! You make it obvious, they realise that you’re cute, and then you start dating!”

“Yeah no I don’t really think that's going to happen, and who ever said it was someone that could hear me?!”

“Well since you have been so weird about talking about it I just assumed they could hear you and if you gave too much away they would be able to tell, duh.”

“Oi Pinky! Where the hell was this when you were supposed to be studying last week?! You managed to figure all this shit out but you can’t remember two fucking formulas?!” Katsuki quickly captured everyone’s attention, giving Izuku a moment to breathe.

As Mina tried to come up with excuses Izuku shot Katsuki a grateful look that he returned with an eyebrow raise and a shrug. Shinsou, witnessing their small exchange, immediately elbowed Izuku’s side as soon as Katsuki looked away.

“What, do you need something?” Izuku asked sincerely.

“Yeah I need to know what the hell that was between you and Bakugou!” Shinsou whispered back, in an effort to keep attention away from them.

“Nothing! I just wanted to show him I was thankful he took the attention off of me!” Izuku whispered back, knowing that Iida and Todoroki wouldn’t pay any mind if they did hear something.

“Dude you two are gross you need to just go for it already.”

“Oh you’re one to talk, why don’t you just make your move one Kami already? At least things between you two aren’t complicated!”

“This isn’t about me Midoriya, this is about you and how much you simp for Bakugou, it’s gross.”

“I do not! Plus I think I might be getting over him!”

“Oh yeah right, just last week you were in a gay panic because he shared his water with you after you had sparred for an hour.”

Izuku simply glared in response, not having anything to come back with. Shinsou gave him an ‘I told you so look’ and then turned his attention back to the circle.

The rest of the players were slowly starting to calm down as Katsuki layed off Mina's studying habits.

“Midoriya it’s your turn.” Shinsou loudly announced.

“Oh right! Um never have I ever… stayed up late for someone.”

Everyone was slightly surprised at the question, about half of the circle put a finger down, including Shinsou, he was quick to call out Izuku.

“Wait haven’t you done this Midoriya?”

“Nope!” Izuku popped the ‘p’ and put on a smug smile.

“I’m pretty sure I remember you telling me about being tired one day.” Shinsou seemed suspicious.

“I got up early for someone, not stayed up late!”

“Oh right! I forgot that ~they~ don’t-”

“Shush! Don’t say another word, let’s move on! Iida your turn!”

“Midoriya! It is not polite to shush classmates!”

“Yeah rude!” Shinsou was quick to agree, in hopes of being able to finish his sentence.

“Well what you were about to say was rude and I wanted to prevent my friend from being called rude! Sue me! Now if we are over that, Iida go ahead.”

Shinsou looked disappointed at his missed opportunity but moved on anyway.

“Alright fine, never have I ever been put on house arrest.” Katsuki and Izuku both rolled their eyes at his statement, they were of course the first to have been through house arrest.

No one wanted to feel the wrath of both Izuku and Katsuki so they moved on quickly, allowing Asui to take her turn.

“Never have I ever been tied up in Aizawa’s capture ropes, kero.” Again everyone knew Katsuki and Izuku had definitely been captured before, this time though, a few more people put a finger down as well.

The game continued on, eventually Katsuki and Izuku were out at the same time, quickly followed by the rest of the circle quickly after, save for Iida, he seemed to be the ‘winner’ although the class would disagree.

Once they disbanded everyone split off, some getting snacks or drinks, while others danced, and some even played a few rounds of Uno.

Around midnight people slowly started heading off to bed, Mina on the other hand was quick to announce another game was about to begin.

“Alright! We already played never have I ever now it's time for spin the bottle!”

The original group, save for Iida, sat down just as they had before, Katsuki was the only one with an empty bottle so he put it down in the center.

“Alright! Standard rules apply, Bakubro spin to see who goes first!”

With a small eye roll Katsuki did as he was told, the bottleneck landed towards Jirou, signaling that she was the first to spin to kiss someone.

Jirou spun the bottle with confidence, knowing well enough that her classmates were not the type to make a big deal about a game. Her spin directed her towards Momo, with faint blushes on each of their cheeks the two shared a quick peck and the game moved on.

It was Momo’s turn, she had to give a quick kiss to Todoroki, neither were phased and Todoroki took his turn. It went from Todoroki to Sero, Sero to Kaminari, and then Kaminari to Shinsou. As the bottle pointed to Shinsou, Izuku got minutely excited and he saw the blush creeping up the necks of both Kaminari and Shinsou.

Everyone was making small comments as the game went on, joking about being happy Mineta was expelled long before this game and things of the like.

After Shinsou and Kaminari shared their, admittedly underwhelming, kiss, Shinsou spun and it landed on Izuku. The pair shared a small peck and as they pulled back they both had a small grimace on their face.

“Midoriya, no offence but I hope I never have to kiss you again.” The circle laughed.

“Absolutely none taken, I feel the exact same way. Not to mention I’m pretty sure you had some residual static electricity on you.” As he finished speaking Izuku ran his fingers through his hair, showing that it had started to stick up. Kaminari and Shinsou quickly turned red again at the mention of actual ~electricity~ between them.

Izuku nervously spun the bottle before anyone could mention it, he looked away as it slowed down. When he could no longer hear the spinning he looked up to see every pair of eyes on him, the bottle was pointing to Katsuki. Everyone was on the edge of their seat for a different reason.

Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero were waiting to see how Katsuki would react to the prospect of kissing his crush, Mina, Jirou, and Momo were ready to break up a fight if they needed to, and Todoroki, Shinsou, Asui, and Uraraka were curious to see how red Izuku would get.

No one had to wait long, soon enough Katsuki spoke up.

“I’m not crawling nerd, you can come over here.” Katsuki displayed utmost confidence, but to those who knew him well enough they could see the slight uncertainty in his movements and the bit of red peeking out from under his collar.

These small signs gave Izuku enough confidence to cross the circle and plant a small and quick peck on Katsuki’s mouth. As he pulled away both boys were more red than they had started, but no one was stupid enough to comment on it.

Katsuki took his turn and to everyone’s surprise it landed on Izuku once again.

“Ohh our first double of the night! Alright you know what to do, ten seconds, with tongue!” Mina seemed more excited than anyone else in the circle. Izuku looked somewhere between excited and anxious, meaning no one else could really place the look on his face. Both Katsuki and Izuku were red, but neither wanted to put off their kiss any longer.

Izuku was once again the one to move towards Katsuki, but he was met halfway with a gentle hand on his cheek. The two followed Mina’s instructions to a T, even if it was a bit longer than ten seconds. They did not meet each other’s eye as they pulled back, electing to avoid eye contact with everyone.

“That was a bit long wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Shin, that was the exact amount of time we were supposed to kiss, you know for the game.” Izuku quickly whispered back, hoping to avoid the inevitable teasing from Shinsou.

To further avoid the topic Izuku spun the bottle once again, this time it landed on Uraraka.

“Wow am I glad we decided to never do this cause, no offence Mido but, Tsu is a much better kisser.”

Before Izuku could respond everyone heard a small scoff, eventually realising it must have come from Katsuki.

As they looked over Katsuki’s face was impassive as ever, as if they had no reason to pay attention to him, Izuku quickly collected himself and responded to Uraraka.

“Well it’s a good thing you don’t kiss me on a daily basis for everyone to see, huh?” Izuku teased, the pair were, reluctantly, known for being caught multiple times by a multitude of people.

“Oh ha ha, as if you would be any better. I’m sure you would want to show everyone what's yours, oh no wait, that’s them not you isn’t it?” Uraraka was quick to tease back, she shared just enough information to fluster Izuku without revealing who she was talking about.

“I have no idea what you could be talking about! Anyways it's your turn!” Izuku said, much too quickly to be casual.

Uraraka simply giggled and spun the bottle, this time it landed on Asui, the couple gave each other a chaste kiss and allowed the game to move forward.

Asui had to kiss Kirishima, which Mina watched with a jokingly close eye. Directly after, Kirishima and Mina shared a kiss, much to both of their delight. From Mina it quickly went to Momo and then to Jirou, which led to the second double of the night. Both girls pulled away blushing, secretly hoping for a third chance.

Jirou spun quickly and shared a small kiss with Kaminari, noting that she had no problems with electricity coupled with a suggestive eyebrow raise. Kaminari blushed and spun the bottle hoping for his embarrassment to pass, he had no luck with the bottle pointing directly at Shinsou once again, only causing his blush to intensify. The two shared a more passionate kiss, everyone noticed the slight raise to Shinsou’s hair but chose not to mention it for the sake of the pair.

Shinsou spun and kissed Todoroki, Todoroki kissed Jirou, and for the third time that night, Jirou had to kiss Momo. Mina’s excitement at the game ending kiss was nearly unmatchable.

“Oh yay!! Alright you two know the rules! Jirou you have to sit in her lap!”

As the two girls kissed the rest of the circle separated, assuming they would not be finished for a while, they were right. By the time everyone made their way back toward where the games were played the two girls were gone, most likely in one of their rooms.

More and more people left for bed, around 2 A.M. there were only ten people left: Mina, Todoroki, Shinsou, Izuku, Asi, Uraraka, Kirishima, Kaminari, Katsuki, and Sero.

“Alright! Time for the last game of the night! Truth or dare.” Mina was as excited as ever, which no one else understood. Everyone was still having fun but none of them had any of the energy she still possessed.

Everyone sat in the same circle that they had all night, they had become unofficial assigned seats, only coming closer to compensate for the missing people.

“Alright we're spinning to see who goes first, who has an empty bottle?” Mina wasted no time in getting the game started.

Uraraka was the only one to move, she set down her bottle in the center of the circle and gave it a good spin, All the eyes in the room trailed the neck as it spun and stopped at Izuku, Mina was quick to ask the fated question.

“Um dare?”

“Oh this will be fun!” Mina was excited the first choice of the game was a dare and prompted everyone to start thinking.

“Oh I know! Use your cheesiest pick up line!” Although Mina wanted others to participate she could not let her chance go.

“On Bakubro!” Kaminari’s suggestion earned him a swift and hard elbow to the side; he was unlucky enough to be sitting directly next to Katsuki. Everyone in the group quickly agreed with the full dare, to the chagrin of both Izuku and Katsuki.

Izuku didn’t want to disappoint so he took a moment to think of a pick up line and then he began his dare. With a small sigh and then a deep breath to steady himself he started to act as if he lost something. Izuku patted the floor around him, moved things around and even seemed to become slightly frustrated that he could not find whatever it was he was looking for.

“Ugh I can’t believe I lost it! This is so annoying! Hey Kacchan? I‘ve seemed to have lost my number, do you think I could have yours?” Izuku punctuated his last remark with a wink and immediately covered his face with his hands.

“Oh my gosh I am so sorry that was the cheesiest one I could think of!” Izuku amended while laughing at himself. The group quickly joined in only furthering his embarrassment.

Katsuki on the other hand was sitting with wide eyes and a dry mouth, he was not prepared to have Izuku’s dreamy look and a wink pointed at him without any warning. Sero quickly tapped his shoulder to try and bring him out of his trance as Kaminari whispered to him.

“Dude you’re being obvious, and that’s coming from me.”

This successfully brought him back to reality with a slight blush on his face, Katsuki quietly cleared his throat and pushed his two friends away from him. Most of the room was waiting expectantly for Katsuki’s response

In hopes of no one noticing his blush, Katsuki simply kissed his teeth and looked away, failing miserably, since most of the group knew how the two felt about each other.

Izuku was the next to speak up, obviously in hopes of everyone moving on from his dare, “Alright Tsu, truth or dare?”

“Truth kero.”

Everyone seemed to think for a moment, Asui wasn’t typically known to hide things from everyone.

“Oh wait I know! When did you start having a crush on Uraraka? You never told us!” Izuku’s suggestion was well accepted, Class A was notoriously nosy.

“Oh um, since we started U.A….” Asui spoke with a prominent blush on her face, and her answer earned many ‘aww’s and Uraraka dropped her head onto her girlfriend’s shoulder.

No one had any comments to make, even though the pair was known for being caught, the class generally thought their relationship was cute.

Uraraka was next, before anyone could even ask she blurted out an excited “Truth!”

Kaminari was quick to shout out his suggestion: “Kiss marry kill: Aizawa, Present Mic, and Midnight!”

No one held back their laughter, some from shock and some from genuine enjoyment.

“Ugh gross Kami! First of all they’re our teachers, second of all THEY’RE OLD!”

No one came to help Uraraka, they all wanted to know.

“No one? Ugh fine I guess marry Midnight, uhhhh kiss… Aizawa? And kill Present Mic? I don’t know this is weird!”

Everyone seemed satisfied with her answers and let her off the hook.

“Alright Kiri! Your turn, truth or dare!” Mina seemed excited for her boyfriend's turn.

“Dare all the way!”

“DUDE. Smell everyone’s feet and rank them from best to worst!” Sero must have gotten…  something past Aizawa. There is no way that was a sober fueled idea.

“Alright feet up everyone!” Kirishima was quick to make his way around the circle, making a mental list as he went along.

“Alright number nine Sero, even your feet smell like weed dude. Eight Kami, bro change your socks or something. Seven Todoroki, normal not gonna lie. Six Uraraka followed by five Asui. Number four Shinsou, kinda smells like lavender? I don’t know but it wasn’t bad. Three my baby girl Mina. Number two Midobro! I don’t know how but it was very minty and I’m here for it. And finally number one, Mr. ‘My sweat smells like caramel’ himself, Bakubro!”

“You know, I think I would have liked to have seen some more hesitation but I guess that's the game.” Mina was stuck between being impressed or weirded out with her boyfriend’s enthusiasm.

“That’s the name of the game baby girl! Now Kami, truth or dare?”

“I think I'm gonna go with truth on this one.”

“Ohhh ok I have something that I need confirmed, do you have a crush on someone?” Mina once again took some initiative and spoke up first.

Kaminari quickly turned red and looked down, hoping to not give anything away. He mumbled out a small ‘Yes’ barely loud enough to hear.

“Oh sorry what was that, I didn’t hear you there Pikachu.”

“Ugh dude really? Fine, I said yes!”

“And that’s why you don’t screw me over.” Katsuki leaned into Kaminari’s space, making it clear that he did not appreciate the stunt he pulled earlier with Izuku.

Everyone momentarily gushed about Kaminari’s revelation, other than those sitting next to him, they already poked enough fun at him as it was.

“Alright alright, that’s enough ha ha I have feelings now! Bakubro, truth or dare?”

“Truth, I don’t need any of you making me do dumb shit.”

“Oh Bakuhoe, how many people have confessed to you?”

“What the fuck is that suppsed to mean Pinky?”

“You know how many people have tried to ask you out or tell you that they like you?”

“Why the fuck would anyone do that?”

“Because you’re basically Class A’s resident hot guy?” With Mina’s statement Izuku started whispering to Shinsou, no one seemed to notice.

“Pinky you are making no sense.”

“Ugh do I have to spell it out for you? Fine, Class A is an objectively attractive group, but it's obvious that everyone around us has a general rank. You, for example, are the hot bad boy, generally unapproachable but you have some kind of secret soft side that is redeeming. The brave ones confess to you and get shot down, probably because of some long term attachment which plays into your soft side.

Next would be Todoroki, he’s the stoic pretty boy. Everyone thinks he’s out of their league so no one confesses to him until he has some kind of revealing thing exposed which makes him seem more normal and not just a poster boy.

And then there’s Midoriya, he’s the oblivious cutie. Plenty of people have tried to confess to him but he has eyes for one person only which makes their attempts seem friendly at best. When someone tries to tell him that they like him, he responds with ‘oh you’re a great friend too’ and means it.”

Everyone sat silently, stunned by the, admittedly accurate, breakdown of the three most prominent figures in their class, until Katsuki finally spoke up.

“Ugh what the fuck Pinky? You make it sound like we’re in some kind of Shoujo.”

“Yeah if anything we’re at least a Shounen!”

“Pikachu you are a fucking idiot and you missed my entire point.”

After Mina’s original statement, Izuku took to whispering to Shinsou as the rest of the group conversed.

“She’s not wrong you know. Have you seen him? First of all he is objectively attractive, that paired with his ambition and drive has got to mean some people have tried to confess to him. And if that doesn’t do it then his physique definitely would, anyone with eyes would agree with me! That’s all to say I'd let him bend me over a table any day.”

“Look Mido, as much as I would love to hear you go on about Bakugou’s abs for the millionth time, is this really the right place to do that?” At Shinsou’s remark Izuku turned red, trying to come up with a quick response.

“It’s not my fault that he’s freaking hot!” Izuku seemed to be getting more flustered as time went on.

Uraraka interrupted both conversations going on around her by loudly questioning Izuku.

“What are you whispering about over there Midoriya-kun?”

“Uh um nothing!”

“Are you sure you seem pretty red?” “Yes! I’m sure! Hey isn’t it Sero’s turn? Sero truth or dare?” Izuku spoke much too quickly for it to have been casual but the rest of the group decided to save it for later.

“Uh truth I guess.”

“Oh now this is interesting, I have been wanting to know who has seen your nudes!” Uraraka moved on quickly once she heard a new opportunity come around.

“Oh easy, Camie and the bakusquad, except Mina, she didn’t want to give me her input.”

“Uh duh! I do not want to see ANY of that, even if it was to make sure it looked ok before you sent it off to your girlfriend.”

“Wait, Camie from Shiketsu?!”

“Oh yeah sorry Uraraka, I always forget that you guys don’t really know about me and Camie!”

“Is no one else here surprised?!”

The rest of the group just shrugged at Uraraka, knowing that Sero had to be with someone outside of U.A. or else they would have known about it.

“Fine I guess we can just move on then!” Uraraka seemed slightly irritated that no one else was slightly in shock but she decided to let it go in favour of the game.

“Alright babe, it’s your turn truth or dare?” At Kirishima’s words, Mina seemed to get excited.

“Dare!”

“Oh I dare you to tell the full story of how you and Kiri got together, he always hates on me for the prank but it deserves some spotlight.” Kaminari seemed to like to take credit for the couple getting together.

“Ugh fine but don’t think for a second that we owe you for that, you’re just lucky I didn’t hit you with my acid.”

“Yeah, no matter what you and Sero say, us getting together was mostly unrelated!” Kirishima backed up his girlfriend with no hesitation.

“Alright for the rest of you guys, basically what happened was Kaminari and Sero stole Kiri’s phone, changed my ringtone to the rap from ‘Fergalicious’ and thought it would be funny to suggest that I called Kiri’s phone to help him find it. After hearing the ringtone Kiri basically snatched my phone to end the call. Eventually he stopped freaking out long enough for us to talk and he ended up telling me that they were teasing him because they knew he had a crush on me. He looked so sweet and embarrassed that I couldn’t help but kiss his cute little face!”

“Aww that is so adorable!”

“See babe? Uraraka agrees with me!”

“Ugh we get it you’re adorable, I still haven’t heard a single thank you from either of you!”

“Get over it! Were not going to thank you!” This conversation seemed to be a common one between Mina and Kaminari.

“Tch this isn’t the first and it definitely won’t be the last time I hear this shit so can you wrap it up?” Katsuki was obviously sick of hearing the same argument over and over.

“He’s right dudes, plus it’s Todoroki’s turn!” Kirishima was quick to end the argument as well.

“Dare.”

“Oh I dare you trash talk Endeavour in a tweet!” Everyone couldn’t help but laugh at Kaminari’s suggestion, Todoroki quickly pulled out his phone and opened twitter.

“Alright, pick a draft for me to tweet.” Todoroki handed his phone off, opened to his drafts on Twitter. Everyone agreed to go with the most straight forward, ‘Endeavour is a piece of shit.’

Once the dare was completed everyone’s attention turned to Shinsou. Kirishima was the first to speak up.

“Yo! Try to describe your crush in three words.” Shinsou balked at the suggestion, that could be a dangerous game to play.

“Oh I know Shin! The three words you can use: first name, last name, and quirk!” Izuku was quick to tease Shinsou.

“Oh ha ha very funny. I guess um, positive, energetic, and… yellow? God pops is going to roast me! I did the only thing he warned me not to do!” Shinsou couldn’t help but think about Aizawa’s instruction to not fall for a loud blond to avoid making the same mistake he did with Present Mic.

“Pfffttt, are you talking about the type of person he once warned you not to go for?”

“Yes I am Mido, but guess what he warned you too but neither of us listened! And look where that got us!” The rest of the group was confused, they had never talked about this warning before so they could only assume what they were talking about.

On the other side of the circle Kaminari was trying very hard to not short circuit, was there a possibility that Shinsou was talking about him?

Katsuki took notice and lightly elbowed him in the side before he whispered.

“You should go for it, you’ve got a good chance.”

Kaminari was grateful to be on the receiving end of one of Katsuki’s few genuinely encouraging moments.

The pair turned their attention back to the rest of the group just as Izuku answered ‘Truth’.

“Oh I know! What were you whispering to Shinsou earlier when Mina was talking?” Uraraka seemed like she wasn’t quite ready to let that little detail go.

“Can I ask for a forfeit?”

“Wow was it really that bad?”

“More embarrassing than anything Uraraka, definitely not something I would like to share with everyone.”

The rest of the group thought for a moment before Mina ultimately spoke up.

“Is everyone ok with Mido’s forfeit being to kiss his crush?” The rest of the circle nodded and turned back to Izuku, he was bright red with comically wide eyes.

“Uh I think I’ll just go with Uraraka’s original question.”

“Oh come on! Kissing your crush can’t be that scary! I did it!” “Well Mina it’s just a bit different when you have your crush tell you he likes you before you kiss him! I have no reason to believe this person is more than a friend and I don't want to test that out today!” Izuku punctuates his small rant with wild hand gestures that showed everyone just how nervous the prospect made him.

“Ok well anyways, basically all I was saying to Shinsou is that, I agreed with Mina.” Izuku hoped they would all take his vague explanation at face value, he apparently had no such luck.

“Mina said a lot of stuff, what part did you agree with?” Uraraka seemed out to get him during this round, he would have to question her about it another day.

“Ok, well I was just agreeing with what she said about… Kacchan.” Izuku thought he was almost free until he heard a scoff from next to him. He looked over to see an apologetic looking Shinsou who hadn’t meant to laugh as he spoke.

“Oh what was that scoff for Shinsou? Do you know something we don't?” Mina’s curiosity had peaked.

“Oh um no! I just had… extra air in my mouth, yeah you see.” Shinsou then pretended to blow extra air out of his mouth, he really hadn’t meant to draw anymore attention to Izuku than was already on him.

Izuku rolled his eyes at his friend's poor excuse of a cover up.

“Shinsou it’s fine, might as well just embarrass myself even more at this point.” Izuku took a deep breath to try and steady himself, no amount of time or breathing was going to make his truth easier though.

“First of all I am going to say that as soon as I’m done explaining I am going to sleep, and no you can’t change my mind. Second of all I do not want to hear a single word from any of you this is going to be bad enough as it is.”

Izuku looked around the circle waiting for everyone to nod before he started talking. He stared down at his hands as he spoke.

“Alright well here goes nothing. Basically I was telling Shinsou that I agreed with Mina when she said Kacchan was… attractive, which should cause people to want to confess to him, as she put it. I also said, along with that his ambition helps. And then I ended it by saying something along the lines of… I would let him bend me over a table any day and that it wasn’t my fault he’s so freaking hot! Alright good night everyone! I’m off to throw myself into a hole!” Izuku spoke his last words all in one breath, and ran off.

The sheer speed at which he was talking caused everyone to take a second to process what he actually said, Shinsou was impressed that he wasn’t out of breath by the end.

Izuku ran to his room, hoping no one would realise what he had said before he was able to leave, on the bright side he could hide for a full week before he would have to face anyone. Once he made it to his room he simply locked his door and slid down, putting his face in his hands.

He sat on the floor for a moment, planning out how exactly he would avoid the outside world for their week off, and to think he was excited about the mall trip Uraraka had planned.

Back downstairs the remaining students were slowly collecting themselves. One by one they turned towards Shinsou to see if that was all Izuku said. Eventually most of them got over their shock and turned to Katsuki. The blonde sat with red cheeks and wide eyes for longer than his friends would put up with.

“Bro! Why are you still here?! Mido just basically confessed to you!” Kirishima had a point, for good measure he elbowed Katsuki’s side. This finally got Katsuki out of whatever shock he was in.

He quickly stood and ran off, heading towards Izuku’s room. Once he got there, Katsuki’s confidence deflated, how would Deku react?

After a moment of doubt Katsuki steeled himself and knocked on the door three times.

On the other side Izuku still sat on the floor, once he felt the knocks on his back he stood up, expecting one of his friends to come and see him.

“Look I just want to be al-Kacchan?” Izuku was prepared to ask whichever of his friends it was to leave but seeing Katsuki shocked him.

“Hey Deku, uh I don’t really know what the fuck I’m doing but I think we should talk.” Nothing could have prepared Katsuki for the adorable face behind the door, Izuku's cheeks had finally cooled off  but he had been running his fingers through his hair leaving him artfully tousled in Katsuki’s opinion.

The pair stood for another moment before Izuku moved away from the door to sit on his bed, leaving it open so Katsuki could follow him in. They wordlessly sat down in front of each other, both waiting for the other to speak up.

“Did you really say all of that?” Katsuki was the first to break the silence.

“Uh yeah, that’s not really something I’d make up on the spot honestly.” Izuku decided to forgo the embarrassment he was feeling, letting that get to him would get him nowhere.

Katsuki didn’t know what to say, he didn’t have time to come up with much of a plan on his way to Izuku’s room, he was in uncharted territory.

“Kacchan? Why did you come up here? Because honestly I can only think of two reasons and one is very unlikely and the other has yet to happen.” Izuku couldn’t stand it any longer. There was no reason for Katsuki to have come up to his room unless he felt the same way which was borderline impossible in Izuku’s mind.

“I had to know if you were being serious.” Izuku could tell he wanted to say more, even if he had no clue what he could want to say. Katsuki stayed quiet for a moment, thinking Izuku was going to respond.

“Can I ask why you didn’t tell me?” Katsuki broke the silence.

“Right, because that’s something you say to your childhood friend turned rival, ‘hey I think you're hot and have for a lot longer than I realised’ that would definitely go over well.” Izuku saw no point in pulling any punches, he had already said the worst of it in front of their class.

“Wait wha- no, huh? S-say that again?”  Despite himself, Katsuki’s voice cracked slightly, it was getting increasingly harder to keep his cool, or at least what little of it he had left. He may have been able to keep it together better if it wasn’t nearly four in the morning but alas he had no such luck.

Izuku laughed slightly, finally glad to be the more calm one, he took a moment to think of a proper response.

“Wow, apparently everyone wants me to say how hot I think you are today, first Uraraka won’t get off my back, then Shinsou laughs at me, then Mina makes me be specific, and now you. Look let me put it this way, I like you and I have for a while.”

“So- wait, huh?” Katsuki was just short of spouting unintelligible noises at Izuku’s words.

“Let me make this as clear as possible.” Izuku stood and walked towards Katsuki. “I really want to kiss you.” Izuku stopped just short, ending up mere inches away from Katsuki. Their breath mingled delightfully, creating a warmth both found enjoyable.

Katsuki’s heart sped up, he mindlessly wondered if Izuku could hear it. With that thought he was reminded of their proximity.

Their eyes met as Izuku began to lean in slightly, he didn’t have to go far because, for the second time that night, Katsuki met him in the middle.

In a moment any semblance of coherence was lost, the pair could only focus on each other. With a single action they were determined to convey every single complicated part of their feelings for one another.

After a moment Izuku placed himself in Katsuki’s lap, allowing him to run his fingers through the surprisingly soft blonde spikes. Katsuki in turn gripped Izuku’s hips, keeping them both steady.

Once they both needed to take a breath they finally pulled apart, just far enough to rest their foreheads together. Izuku decided to break the silence.

“I'll take that as a good sign then I guess.” Katsuki flushed at the words, knowing that Izuku was fully correct.

“Shut up and kiss me you damn nerd.” Izuku did exactly as he was told, savouring the feeling of calm that washed over the both of them.

Once they broke apart again, the time of night finally caught up with them in the form of a yawn from Katsuki.

“Is kissing me boring you to sleep Kacchan?” Izuku asked cheekily, knowing full well how late it was.

“Nope. It’s just four am and I haven’t slept in about nineteen hours, you know there are days where I wake up around this time to work out.”

“Well I can tell you it pays off.” In a moment of sheer confidence Izuku ran his finger over Katsuki’s exposed abs, suddenly very glad for the tendency of shirts to ride up. In response Katsuki pulled Izuku in tighter, laying his face in the crook of Izuku’s neck.

“Come on sleepy, why don’t we lay down now?” Izuku stood slowly, grabbing Katsuki as he went. He deposited the blond onto his bed and turned out the lights, he was suddenly very glad for Mina and Uraraka not letting things go tonight.

Not wanting to push any boundaries Katsuki might have, Izuku put a pillow between them and smiled as he heard Katsuki start to snore lightly. Izuku sighed happily before quietly wishing Katsuki goodnight.

The next mo-afternoon the pair found themselves tangled together, the pillow separating them long forgotten. At some point during the night the two had moved closer, allowing Izuku’s head to rest on Katsuki’s chest, arms draped over him, safely held in Katsuki’s hug.

Izuku was the first to wake, noticing their position and smiling, he never would have guessed this is how the party would turn out.

He stayed for a moment, keeping his head on Katsuki’s chest enjoying the warmth and comfort he felt from the blonde.

Eventually he did have to get up though, he realized he was still wearing jeans from the night before, he figured that the previous night he was too tired and caught up in Katsuki to notice. As soon as he moved away Katsuki began to stir, Izuku watched in delight as Katsuki slowly woke up, stretching and yawning without worrying about any appearances he had to uphold when he was alone with Izuku.

“Morning sleepy head! Wait, I think it's like one in the afternoon, so maybe not good morning?”

“I don’t care what time it is, it's still too early, come and lay back down, you're comfortable.”

Izuku smiled at Katsuki’s sleep addled voice and quickly changed into sweatpants before laying back down, he would gladly sleep another hour.

Once Izuku was back on the bed Katsuki pulled him close and hummed happily, Izuku couldn’t help but be grateful for how tired the blonde was, there was no way he would do that without the aid of being sleep deprived.

The next time they awoke it was abruptly, evidently some of their classmates became worried about them, or they were living up to Class A’s title of nosey, who’s to say?

“Midobro! Where have you been all da- oh! URARAKA, get in here!”

There were beating footsteps rushing down the hall which the two half asleep teens assumed was Uraraka.

WOAH! Midoriya-Kun! Why didn’t you say anything! If I knew you were in here with Bakugou I would’ve told everyone to leave you alone!”

Izuku took a moment to process what was happening, all he knew for sure was that they were loud.

“Uh I was asleep, how was I supposed to tell you?” Izuku sat up in bed for the second time so he could try and rid his eyes of sleep.

“Ugh lay down already, tell them to shut the fuck up and go away and if I heard shitty hair flip him off for me.” Evidently Katsuki was done with his classmates’ interruption already.

“Kacchan! I’m not doing that, he happens to be my friend.”

“No, right now he’s a nuisance who is going to bother us and then immediately tell the rest of the extras, who are probably already wondering what the yelling was about, what he saw. So he can fuck right off.”

“Wow Kacchan you are not a morning person! Plus it's the middle of the afternoon, we have to get up at some point!”

Kirishima and Uraraka stood in the doorway watching the two interact, both happy that their best friend looked so content.

Izuku finally turned back to the pair standing in the doorway of his room.

“We’ll be out in a little! Sorry if we worried you!” Izuku turned away to face Katsuki once again, Kirishima and Uraraka took that as their cue to leave.

The two finally got up to start their day, slowly waking themselves up. Once they joined their classmates out in the common room they were met with expectant looks.

The first to speak up with a raised eyebrow was Kaminari.

“Oh look who’s finally awake!”

“Oh shut it Pikachu, if you woke up like I did you wouldn’t want to move either!” The smirk on Katsuki’s face said it all, he had no shame.

“Kacchan!”

“What? It’s true you’re comfortable, it also doesn’t hurt that you’re cute.” Katsuki snaked his arms around Izuku’s waist, punctuating his statement.

Izuku flushed a bright red and hid in Katsuki’s shoulder before whispering in Katsuki’s ear.

“I hope you know that this means we’re dating now, no take backs! You are officially stuck with me.”

Katsuki shook his head and smiled.

“Like I wasn’t stuck with you before.”

“Well now I get to do this.”

Katsuki furrowed his eyebrow as he processed what Izuku had just said, it didn’t last long though. He was soon met with Izuku’s lips on his, catching him by surprise. The sudden affection left him blushing as Izuku pulled away. Katsuki, momentarily forgetting their audience chased Izuku forward, capturing his lips once again, doing nothing to help the flush on his face. Once they pulled apart once again they heard Sero exclaim.

“Finally! Hopefully this means I’ll be saved from any future drunken rants about Midroiya!”

Katsuki flushed further, whether it was from embarrassment or anger, no one could tell.

“Aw Kacchan, no need to be embarrassed! I’m sure Shinou could say the same, except mine were mostly sober come to think of it.”

“All of you can fuck right off, I knew I should’ve stayed in bed.”

“You mean in my bed?” Izuku smirked as he saw Katsuki’s blush darken.

“That’s it, I’m done with you all, I’m walking away.” Katsuki turned toward the stairs and began walking forward but before he got too far he turned back.

“Are you coming or not?” Katsuki looked at Izuku and nowhere else, making a point to the rest of the class.

Izuku simply laughed and made his way towards the stairs, shouting a quick ‘No need to check on us!’ as he made his way up.

The rest of the week consisted of Class A hating on Izuku and Katsuki’s PDA even more so than their previous rants about each other. No one expected them to be more insufferable after they got together, but at least their friends were happy, they could only hope that their ‘honeymoon phase’ would end quickly and uneventfully, rather than them being caught by a teacher.

Alas their hopes didn’t last long because Mr. Aizawa seemed to have impeccable timing and a great sense of when Izuku and Kastuki could be in any type of trouble. After getting the pair to separate Mr. Aizawa shot Izuku an unimpressed look before reminding him of the advice he shared with him and Shinsou.

“What did I say about loud blondes?” At his words Izuku’s eyes widened slightly as he gave his expected response:

“Don’t fall for a loud blonde.” Izuku wouldn’t meet his teacher’s eyes, Katsuki on the other hand was looking between the two almost frantically, trying to figure out what was happening.

In the end Aizawa simply narrowed his eyes at the pair and let them off with a warning, noting that next time he wouldn’t be so forgiving. The pair took his words seriously and managed to avoid any extreme PDA, to the enjoyment of the rest of their class.

The pair could frequently be found sparring together or lying down in the training field after a particularly draining match. No one knew what they did while they were out there for hours at a time and no one dared to ask. Most of the time though, they were making idle conversation and enjoying each other’s company.

“Hey Kacchan?” Katsuki responded with a wordless hum.

“Truth or dare?”

“Uh, truth?” Izuku could hear skepticism in Katsuki’s voice.

“How long did you have a crush on me?” It was apparent that Izuku had been wondering about this for a while.

“How long ago did we meet again? Oh whatever I’d say since about ten hours after we met, give or take a few stupid years where I convinced myself I didn’t like you, although even then I’m pretty sure it was still there.”

Izuku was shocked by the sheer honesty but appreciated it, in response he just snuggled closer to his boyfriend and spoke.

“For the record, me too.”

Izuku thought for a moment about their shared past, he knew that, no matter how long it took or what got in their way, they were meant to end up here, together. The overwhelming feeling of balance they felt together was unmatched, the thought alone made Izuku tear up.

“What’s wrong nerd?”

“Nothing bad I promise! I’m just thinking about us, and about how much I love you.”

“Tch no need to get all sappy on me.” Katsuki pulled Izuku in even closer and layed a kiss on his temple before speaking up again, “I love you too.”

It occurred to them much later that this was the first time they had ever said ‘I love you’ to each other, reveling in the fact that they both knew long before they said it out loud.

[littlestarofthewest]

Title: Matthew’s Monster Mystery | Words: 2759 | Rating: Mature

Pairing: Gen | (past John x Abigail) | Tags: monster AU, modern AU, WIP

Credit: inspired by @veradia‘s art | with input from @fangirl-ramblings and @sad-sweet-cowboah

Summary: When John insists on going to a Halloween party, Abigail worries that people might catch on that she and her friends aren't just dressed up as monsters. If only she knew that the night would take a turn for the worse.

Arthur hears voices the second he opens the apartment door, meaning that his three roomies are home, and judging from the sound of it, they're arguing.

"Come on, Abby. It's a party, not a matter of life and death."

"John, you're literally dead," Abigail counters, making Arthur huff a laugh.

He checks the mail on the counter while the argument continues in the other room.

"So? Doesn't mean I have to act like it," John says. "Back me up here, Sadie."

"He has a point," Sadie says, and Arthur enters the room right as Abigail scuffs at her in disbelief.

"What's going on here?" Arthur asks, and when both John and Abigail attempt to answer, he points at Sadie. "I'd rather hear it from her."

John leans back against the couch like a sulking child while Abigail crosses her arms and glares at Arthur.

"John brought home this flyer for a Halloween party he wants to go to," Sadie says, nodding to a piece of paper on the table. "Guess what Abigail has to say about that."

"I can imagine," Arthur says, and Abigail huffs.

"And you know I'm right."

It's one of those times Arthur wonders why exactly he lives with these quarrelers, but as a werewolf, he can't exactly be picky. After all, he's lucky that they want to live with him. If only they left him out of these disputes.

To stall, Arthur picks up the flyer and reads through it, feeling everybody's eyes on himself.

"I understand your concerns, Abigail," Arthur begins, only to be interrupted by John, who jumps up from the sofa.

"Oh, come on. Not you, too!"

"But," Arthur continues, emphasizing the word as he looks at John, "I don't see the harm."

John slaps his hands together, throwing a triumphant "Ha!" at Abigail. She only rolls her eyes at him before turning to Arthur.

"You can't be serious," she says. "Us? At a party? I thought we agreed to fly under the radar. After all, we're not exactly the fitting in kind."

"In this case, we are," Arthur says, holding up the flyer. "Everybody's going to be in costume. I wouldn't have to worry about any teeth or fur showing, and John could go out without having to hide the fact that he's nothing but a rotting corpse for once."

"Appreciate the support, brother," John throws in with a sarcastic tone.

Arthur grins at him before Sadie snatches the flyer from his hand to read through it as well. "Look, Abigail, it's not even a Halloween party. It's tonight, not tomorrow. And it takes place in an abandoned factory. The area is huge, and nobody's going to look at us twice. And if they do, we'll just claw their eyes out and eat their hearts."

"Not. Funny," Abigail says, looking like she's about to claw Sadie's eyes out. She might have done so if it wasn't for the fact that Sadie could just pop them back in without harm.

"You could use a day off yourself," Arthur says, trying to set Abigail at ease. "You might not have the physical problems we have, but we know you're struggling with hiding all the time."

"Yeah," John throws in before Abigail can disagree once more. "Imagine a night out. Putting on a nice dress, dusting off the pointy hat. And if you throw some sparks, people will think it's a cool party trick."

"I don't know," Abigail says, the fight leaving her.

"Come on," John says. He walks over to Abigail and takes her hands. "Let me see those sparkling eyes."

Abigail tries her best to hide it, but a smile creeps onto her face. It's moments like these that make Arthur wonder why the two of them are not a couple anymore. They'd be great if they could just stop with the constant fighting.

"Show us, Abby," Sadie says, and when Abigail shakes her head, Arthur chimes in as well.

"You know you want to."

"Fine." Abigail takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she opens them, they're glowing with golden spots. "Let's go to the party."

--------

Arthur shoulders his way through the crowd to get back to their table. The gang turned him into their personal waiter since he has the best assets to get through the dancing people. 

"Coming through," he growls, and a steampunk Sherlock jumps to the side, dragging a person in a full-body fox costume with them to make room.

Climbing the stairs to the upper level, Arthur has the same effect on a few more people. Although they must think that it's a costume, they still seem mighty impressed. To celebrate the occasion, Arthur didn't bother to even put on a shirt, his fur and general body heat enough to keep him warm. The only thing he's holding back at the moment is the claws. It's kind of hard to carry drinks with them.

At the table, Arthur hands Sadie a beer before putting down two bottles of whiskey. Abigail's still nipping on her first cocktail, her eyes growing big at the sight.

"What are you doing? I thought we were at least trying to be inconspicuous."

"We are," John says before grabbing one of the bottles. "Nobody's even looking at us."

He takes a drag from his joint, and Abigail rolls her eyes. "Why would you risk getting in trouble with that? You can't get high anyway."

"I just like the taste," John says before opening the whiskey bottle and drinking from it as if it was water.

He's clearly baiting Abigail, but she doesn't lay into him for once, looking at Arthur instead. "Why do you always indulge him?"

"Maybe I just want to see how much his body can take before it falls apart."

Sadie laughs when John makes a face, and even Abigail fights a smile. Arthur pulls up his glass and pours himself a drink before pushing it over to Abigail.

"Think you can give it a little kick?"

Just like John, Arthur can't get drunk from alcohol alone, but being roommates with a witch has its perks. It didn't take them long to figure out that Abigail's magic can spice things up a little.

Abigail looks around as if to make sure that nobody's watching. Arthur's convinced that even if somebody does, they wouldn't care. Most people here are drunk, high, or otherwise engaged. Abigail shrugs before holding out her fist over Arthur's glass. She opens it up and then moves her finger in a circle. The liquid in the glass glows and moves with her finger, then a small puff of smoke goes up in the air.

"Thank you kindly," Arthur says, and Abigail smiles.

"I guess it's really pretty safe."

"Told you," John chimes in before pushing his bottle over to Abigail. "Now do mine."

Abigail frowns at him, venom in her voice when she speaks. "John Marston, when the hell will you finally learn some manners?"

"What? You did it for Arthur."

"He asked," Abigail spits, but before she can say more, Sadie jumps up.

"That's it, you two are killing my vibe. I need something to do. You coming, Arthur?"

The chances of John and Abigail getting into another fight is pretty high, so Arthur gets to his feet. "Right behind you."

They make their way downstairs, and Sadie keeps looking around as if she's searching for something in particular.

"You got a plan?" Arthur asks, and Sadie smiles.

"I think I do."

A few minutes later, they're standing beside a table that's filled with cups. Sadie found a few "easy boys" as she called them, and challenged them to a game of beer pong. While she's playing, Arthur stands to the side and enjoys the show.

Since Sadie doesn't even have a bloodstream the alcohol could get into, it's no trouble for her to have a drink or two. Not that it really comes to that. All of her balls hit their targets, and the "easy boys" don't stand a chance.

A few people come closer to the table, watching as Sadie's opponents do their best to beat her, one of them swaying dangerously from one side to the other. They didn't stand a chance from the start, but the drunker they get, the funnier it is to watch them try. After a while, even Arthur begins to feel his pumped up drink and cheers for Sadie. At least until a small figure appears next to him.

"Hey, big boy," the woman says, smiling at him.

She's wearing a tight black dress, her hair falling in waves over her shoulder. Arthur's eyes are drawn to her blood-red lips and then to her nails when she trails them along his arm.

"That is such a great costume. The fur looks so real."

"It is," Arthur says, regretting it a second later.

The red lady doesn't seem to care, though. She keeps touching him and looks up to him through her fake lashes. "I wish I would have dressed as Red Riding Hood. You could have been my big bad wolf."

A shiver runs down Arthur's spine, something he rarely gets to feel. "I- uhm," he starts while drawing a complete blank for what to say next.

"Told you, I'll win, honey," a familiar voice says, and Sadie grabs Arthur's arm before dragging him down to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Let's head back."

She doesn't give the red lady a second glance and pulls Arthur along. When they're out of earshot, Arthur sighs. "Thank you."

"You looked like you were about to pass out."

"I'm not even sure what she wanted."

Sadie laughs. "Climb you like a tree would be my guess."

"But why?"

"One of these days, we'll get you a nice box of self-esteem, and then you'll see." Sadie leans in, putting her lips right by Arthur's ear. "Big bad wolf."

"Just keep walking," Arthur grunts and maneuvers Sadie up the stairs.

Surprisingly enough, they find John and Abigail sitting on the same side of the table. Judging by Abigail's rosy cheeks, they buried the hatchet and gave John's bottle a little kick after all.

"You seem chipper," Sadie says, and Abigail shrugs.

"When you can't fight them, join them. Right?" Abigail says, looking back and forth between Arthur and Sadie. "What have you been up to."

"Sadie dragged some guys," Arthur says, and John and Abigail both laugh.

"They had it coming," Sadie says, waving her hand dismissively. "Way more important - Arthur got hit on."

"By who?" Abigail asks.

"Sexy vampire lady," Sadie says with a grin.

John leans back in his chair with an expression on his face like Christmas came early. "Bet you loved that."

"Just shut up," Arthur grunts before emptying his glass and reaching for his bottle to fill it right up again.

Abigail pats his arm. "She probably wasn't the one. Doesn't mean we can't keep looking."

"How about her?" John asks, nodding to a small group next to them. "The fairy. What do you think, Arthur?"

The woman in question is about Sadie's height, with long silvery hair. She's wearing a dress that looks like the wind blew up some leaves, and she walked away with the ones that got stuck.

"That I'd snap her like a twig."

"No, don't say that," Abigail says, and Sadie leans over the table to get a better look. 

"You think she's the real deal? That doesn't look like a wig, and she sure has the physique for a fairy."

They all stare at the woman now, but it's hard to tell if someone is a monster or not. After all, they might be pretty good at hiding, just like the four of them are.

"Bet you 5 bucks she's real," John says, and Arthur takes another look at her.

It's been a while that he ran into someone like them. To him, the fairy looks as real as the vampire lady.

"Fine, you're on."

"I say fake, too," Abigail says. "From what I can tell, there's no magic on her."

"You might be right, but I still bet on her being real," Sadie says, leaning around Arthur for a better view. "I wouldn't mind a little magic from her."

"Let's find out then," John says, and before Abigail can hold him back, he already stumbles over to the poor woman.

They don't understand what John's saying, but while the woman smiles at first, her expression quickly changes, and she slaps John before storming off. 

Despite the harsh treatment, John comes over with a smile. "Guess I was wrong. She's no fairy."

He throws money on the table, and Arthur pockets it while Abigail studies John's face.

"You just got slapped, and you lost the bet. What are you smiling about?" she asks.

"Fake fairy was very excited when I asked about her number for the pretty blonde at my table," John says, winking at Sadie. "She only slapped me when I asked if I could watch."

"You're an idiot," Abigail says, but Sadie jumps to her feet.

"You're a genius," she says, clapping John's shoulder before disappearing into the crowd.

John sits down and takes a swig from his bottle. "One down, one to go. So, vampire lady, huh?"

Arthur only shakes his head. The last time John tried to set him up didn't end well, and Arthur has no desire to try again. 

"Why one to go?" Abigail asks. "What about me?"

"Oh, I know who you're going home with," John says, and by the way he looks at her, she and Arthur can tell what he means.

"No way," Abigail laughs, but Arthur has seen those signs before.

"I'll get another drink," he says, getting up from his chair.

Abigail shakes her head at John, who's still giving her what he might think are bedroom eyes before turning to Arthur. "Your bottle is practically full."

"You two take that one," Arthur says. 

He doesn't want to stick around. Either John and Abigail are going to fight again or they'll get along way better than Arthur cares to see. Although he's not that interested in going on the prowl, he'll rather take his chances in the crowd. Maybe he can find somebody nice after all. Everything, as long as it's not a vampire.

-------

When they leave two hours later, Arthur's just tired, Sadie has fake fairy's phone number in her pocket, and John and Abigail whisper and laugh with each other about things only they find funny.

Therefore, Arthur's happy when his phone lights up with an incoming video call.

"Hey guys, look," he says, waving the other's over before answering the call. "Hey, Hosea."

Their friend and somewhat father figure waves back at them. "Hello, Arthur. How are you doing?"

"We're just walking home from a party."

"Party, huh? That's smart. Blending in with the Halloween crowd."

Both John and Abigail break into fits of laughter, and Sadie huffs. It's funny to hear Hosea call John smart of all people.

"What are you up to this late?" Arthur says, trying his best to focus on Hosea.

"I'm meeting a friend, we're-"

Hosea trails off, and Arthur can see him look around.

"You're alright, Hosea?"

"Yeah, I just thought I-" Hosea starts, but then he looks away from his phone again, his eyes growing big. "Hey, what are you-"

The picture shakes, Hosea disappearing out of the frame. "Let me go," he grunts, then the image goes dark.

"Hosea," Arthur shouts, but his phone switches the screen, showing him that the call has ended.

"What the hell was that?" Sadie says, and John and Abigail both stare at Arthur, all happiness drained from their faces.

"I think someone attacked him," Arthur says, his whole body tingling at the words.

He looks down at his phone and finally has the sense to call Hosea back. It rings again and again, but nobody answers.

"What now?" John asks. "We should do something, right?"

"Find him, of course," Abigail says.

"Was he in the park?" Sadie asks. "I think I saw that ugly fountain in the background."

The picture of what they just saw comes up in Arthur's mind. "You're right, we should go. Maybe whoever he was about to meet wasn't a friend after all."

They quickly make their way along the street towards the nearby park. Another shiver runs down Arthur's spine, giving him a bad feeling. He'd never admit it out loud, but he doesn't believe that they'll find Hosea so easily. 

Something is very, very wrong.

[alfredo-kesmann]

WIP ask game!

My Italian ass is asking for "Ci sarà", but my angst heart beats for "Solitaire". I don't want to be greedy, so let's pick Solitaire.

Unless...?

Thank you so so much for asking, and I'm sorry for reponding so late! The reason for this is mostly that I actually finally got inspiration for Solitaire again after you send me this ask, so thank you for that! I'll give you little snippets of both WIP's, because greed sometimes is good (namely when it motivates me to finally work on WIP’s). 

So, first things first: Solitaire.

You're absolutely, completely right about the angst. The entire plot is Martín angst, I'm not even kidding. The general outline is that it forms a series with Fear and loathing/ Now I see, I see it for the first time, which is about Andrés in the Mint realising he should never have left Martín but accepting that it is too late now anyways. Solitaire is to be Martín's experiences of the Mint heist and the time afterwards. The title is taken from MARINA's song by the same name, and although it only is vaguely is inspired by the song, I want to match the vibe I get from it: a supposedly beautiful life that actually is just... loneliness and tears. A ‘we could have had it all’ and ending up with empty hands. 

I only have a few paragraphs jotted down yet, though, because I find it one of my hardest WIP's to work on: I want to show a canon compliant Martín, and I want to accurately portray the way he feels like a victim, even if he isn't truly one. I want to correctly talk about his mental ilnesses (I am guessing at least depression and narcissistic personality disorder, though I’m not planning to label them in the story), but I am no psychologist. I started this WIP around March or April and I suppose I am now more sure about what I'm doing, and now the words are (finally) slowly flowing. 

That being said, enjoy these little snippets:

“Andrés was like a poisonous drug, flowing through my veins and cutting off any necessary blood supply, but it felt so exquisite, like a breeze in the warmest summer day."

[....]

Martín sat in the middle of broken glass, a reflection of him in more than one way, and cried until breathing was getting hard and his eyes were red and dry. 

[...]

The two of them had become so intertwined that sometimes it was difficult to see which one of them was dead and which one of them was still living.

[...]

The television only showed static now, ever since he had thrown an empty bottle of vodka towards it. ‘Don’t shoot the messenger’, went the saying, but Martín hadn't been able to think straight after he had heard the news. In a way the image was fitting, because Martín’s life had become static too, ever since that horrible day.

[...]

But now he understood Andrés’ romanticizing of the death, for his best friend had lived his whole life knowing he would take his own one day. And he had wanted to make his final show grand, he had wanted a last standing ovation, one that deafened his eyes, before the red curtains closed forever. Martín also knew that Andrés would dissaprove of the method he was contemplating, in his sad little flat, a simple shot instead of blazing guns. So he put the velvet box back and instead took a bottle of vodka in hands, waiting until a better idea came to mind, waited until he had a plan, ignoring how those were harder to come by now Andrés wasn’t with him anymore.

Now, Ci sarà is practically the polar opposite of Solitaire: it's pure and unadulterated fluff. The only thing they have in common is that they both are named after a song and both get too little of my attention ehehe oops. I have no idea where I want to go with this story, whether to make it a one shot, or something more. I think the latter, though.

Basically, I had been studying (very) late and it was around 3AM. I was listening to a music playlist when Ci sarà came on. It is one of my favourite Italian songs (though honestly I love anything by Romina Power and Al Bano) and yes I know, I know, my music taste is just as basic as Andrés de Fonollosa's. I, myself realised that exact fact then as well. So, I thought: what if this would be the song for Berlermo's first dance at their wedding? The song just makes me so happy in an undescribable way, and since feelings are always much stronger deep in the night, I felt so incredibly happy and in love listening to it, in the middle of the night, at a volume that was a little too loud. This resulted in me putting the song on repeat, and trying to describe that feeling I had felt. So in a way, ci sarà is a writing exercise. 

The plot thus far basically is Andrés being overwhelmed by happiness during his wedding dance with Martín (and everyone is alive and happy). Because as much as I love making him suffer in stories, I also like writing his strangely soft side around Martín. I might write the entire wedding and also the proposal, because I have ideas, especially for the latter (Andrés had been planning to propose for months, then Martín is the first to ask him. Andrés is divided between tremendous frustration and great happiness, but obviously says ‘yes’; that’s also why I imagine that they both take the surname ‘Berotte-de Fonollosa’). 

So, here some snippets (I couldn’t choose so it’s slightly more than ‘some’):

They were spinning, whilst the music was swelling, and it was dizzying Andrés. One step back, to the side, close, one forward, to the side, close, an endless repetition. Martín spinning him around and pulling him in his arms again. Their friends all singing Ci sarà, all wearing white clothing and pearly smiles, the adoration clearly visible in Martín’s eyes, how beautiful Martín was looking in the suit. No, not just Martín, his Martín Berotte-de Fonollosa. They were turning again, his husband’s -he couldn’t believe it, his husband’s- warm hand burning on his waist, then on his right cheek, only shortly and suddenly the refrain started and Martín was singing too, albeit softly, yet it’s still too loud in Andrés’ ears. Everything is so loud, so bright, so vibrant. It’s all so pure, and he’s drowning in love, with the sun shining brightly as if it was God’s blessing of their union, the perfectly green grass as nature’s wedding gift to the new spouses. 

[...]

Andrés manages to spot his hermanito in the choir made of bank robbers, he’s holding hands with his wife and Paula and he looks so happy and carefree. He has finally accepted Andrés’ relationship, he had even been the one to walk Andrés to the altar, and the things Sergio had told him then were still going through his head.

The butterflies in Andrés’ stomach were taking him over more and more, he is growing dizzy and dizzier. All this love, he has no place for it, it is seeping through his veins, bursting out of his fingertips like rays of sunshine, out of the fingertips that are currently in Martín’s hand and on his shoulder. Andrés knows that he hasn’t had much to drink yet, but he has never been more intoxicated, intoxicated on this eternity captured in less than four minutes. Martín is turning them again, leading him gently, keeping him steady. Martín is there for him like he has always been. And now it’s finally right, it’s finally the way it should be, the other ring on Martín’s hand. Finally, he has married his last spouse, it’s finally the one who he was meant to be with. Finally, finally, finally.

[...]

Andrés feels like he is flying, like his feet aren’t touching the floor anymore. The two of them form a leaf in a strong summer wind by the blue sea, slowly going upwards in an intricate dance, but they’re also so much more. They are the wind and the sea, the entire universe is drowning in their love and they are drowning in the universe. It’s all so much, so so much, yet so small. There is no Berlín, no Palermo, no monastery, no friends forming a choir, no wedding cake, it’s just Andrés and Martín Berotte-de Fonollosa, and their love for eachother. 

[...]

Andrés is oh so dizzy with happiness and love, and then he feels it, wet on his cheeks, rolling over his lips, Martín’s hand gently sweeping the oceans welling in his husband’s eyes away. He wants to open his eyes, but he can’t and he doesn’t need it anyway, he already knows what Martín’s soft smile would look like. When Martín kisses him again, softly cupping his cheek, Andrés realises his husband had been crying as well, their tears mixing together like everything between the two of them always has, the way they’ve always been. Like so many of their clothes, their ideas, their furniture, their past and future, their personalities, their love. They have always been intertwined, it just took Andrés a while to see. 

[...]

“I can’t believe you cried,” Martín said as he giggled, truly giggled, and Andrés thought it was somewhat comparable bubbles coming to the surface in a fishing pond, and then decided it was a stupid thought because nothing can compare to his husband. Andrés can’t help smiling. “You were crying too, mi marido,” he says softly, the quip in there lost, replaced by pure adoration. He takes Martín’s face into his hands. “Today was my last wedding, I know it for sure. No one else has ever made me feel like this.” And normally, Martín would have joked that he must had said that to all of his wives too, but he didn’t. Instead, his hands mirrored Andrés’, softly stroking Andrés’ cheekbones, which were still wet with tears. Their lips met without any of their usual aggression and hunger, and maybe this kiss was even more important than the one after the exchanging of vows, for Andrés just had made a promise that was much more meaningful. 

Thank you again for asking, I hope you liked these snippets! I might or might not have just started another WIP based on the season 5 trailer, so I have no clue when these two will finally be published. 

[simtrospective]

SCRAPPED STORY CHALLENGE by @bugsims

01. Post a few screenshots from a scrapped scene / edit / story! 02. Share why you scrapped this specific thing. 03. Tag five friends, and watch the fun play out!

Thank you to @gilded-ghosts for the tag.

Because I wrote so much that you might prefer to skip, let me do 03. outside the cut. I tag...

@ladykendalsims - @jet-plane-sims - @boogey-studios - @pinkmonsimblr - @dynastiasimss

The above pictures (plus the related tray files) are all I have left of an idea that was half-formed to begin with and which never got off the ground at all.

01.

Depending on if you’re a follower of mine + how long you’ve been following me, you may have seen a few of these shots before but I’ll explain them anyway:

Set 1: The characters Charlie, Hick, and Craig, in their original states on the left and their enhanced, final states on the right;

Set 2: A few WIP pictures of the performance space/club/thing I built;

Set 3: A bunch of test shots I took to see how the characters looked interacting, what they did naturally, and how they looked when I ~directed them. I used these pics to try and find my editing style for the story. I didn’t find the style I wanted. Clearly.

02.

I scrapped this idea because it never came together; I didn’t connect with the characters; I didn’t care about the storyline; I’m not done with my new save so I couldn’t ~comfortably start telling this story when the rest of the world was/is disordered; and on and on. The point is, I wasn’t feeling any of this. Oh! And I hate the whole vibe and time period and aesthetic irl; what on earth was I thinking writing about it?!

So. What was this going to be?

[[Under the cut because this is... so, so long. So long.]]

Charlie, Hick, and Craig were

going

to live in Del Sol Valley in my new save, in the Pinnacles neighborhood, which I was

going

to turn into a Laurel Canyon-style neighborhood. An entire community of would-be songwriters/musicians were

going

to live in the two smaller lots and commune with one another and be the New Guard colliding with the Old Guard; the huge mansion lot was

going

to house an aging former film-current soap actor confronting his mortality and also hating the living shit out of these hippies whose existence he took as a personal affront--I digress. Back to the “story.”

Charlie, Hick, and Craig met after each arrived in DSV separately and they vibed and they moved in together, all in a matter of, like, a week’s time. Charlie and Hick vibed especially. So much in common! Such poor little rich [kids]! Both came from pampered environments in which their family money and respective fathers’ connections allowed them to skate through life and to play at being musicians because--despite crying oppression at the hands of upper class WASP-dom--they'll always have safety nets to ensure they’ll always be okay. Charlotte Grant graduated from her all-girls prep school and put on a floppy hat and became Charlie Grant; Richard Hickey (lololol) ripped up his acceptance letter to Britechester and grew his hair out and hitchhiked and told people to call him “Hick.” They’ve lived parallel lives and “recognize” one another as soon as they meet. They have an electric connection, but neither will verbalize that. Above all, they... really want to sleep together.

Craig grew up working class and has no safety net; he just wants a little adventure before he gets a real job/grows up/gets married (his gf back home is off to college; they’re long-distance; it’s... not going to work). He’s a good guitar player and he’s a good songwriter and that’s it but maybe it’ll be more? What do they say about the lottery? Can’t win if you don’t play? Charlie and Hick want to be famous ~rule the world. Hick plays guitar well and tries to write songs but they’re shitty. Charlie is passively learning the keyboard and writes songs that are not... bad...? Some are... good?

Charlie and Hick--can you tell they eclipse Craig, yet?--have weird sexual chemistry and tension: they tease, they flirt, they taunt, they enjoy one another’s attention but they never so much as hug. They both have cruel streaks as only disconnected, spoiled, emotionally stunted bluebloods can: the torture of their relationship/non-relationship gets them off more than anything else could and that thrill drives much of their behaviors: bringing wanton strangers home for one night stands, each hoping the other is watching/overhearing, fighting about little things, acting like inappropriately close siblings, acting like strangers. Craig suffers their whims; Charlie and Hick aren’t just united in their toxicity and their dreams of fame, but in how they make Craig into a third wheel or a--well, punching bag is too strong a term. Charlie and Hick think they’re teasing their bff but you know how it is to be teased allllll the tiiiiiiime and how it can make your head spin when people who can’t get along with one another join forces--without even having to discuss it--to turn on you. Their relationship gets patched up, you’re hurting, they insist it’s not a big deal and even that you even liked it. We’re all friends. We’re all best friends omg.

But sometimes they have fun together. They have a lot of fun together. Sometimes it all is everything each dreamed it would be. DSV is a wonderland and their careers are happening and life is happening and they’re best friends. They’re soulmates for life.

The three work on music, perform at clubs. Craig is starting to come into his own as a man. I hate the term coming-of-age but in the background of the Charlie & Hick Show, Craig is maturing. He has to, because C&H are fuck-ups. They jeopardize scheduled performances. They don’t know how to talk to club owners. They’re not interested in paying their dues. They are unable (or unwilling) to promote themselves without being obnoxious attention whores. They don’t practice or help write songs. They don’t take care of the house. Hick is late with his rent. Charlie thinks she can flirt her way out of everything. Craig is also the only one of them who works; he has a day job at a print shop, gives guitar lessons on the side, and makes sure the three get gigs and don’t get evicted. The only thing C&H put consistent effort toward is making the social scene or finding a party or scoring drugs or getting laid. As the group’s local star(s) rise, their fates start to change course which increases the interpersonal tension. Hick’s fun-loving nature is starting to turn into a legit substance abuse problem and he’s picking fights with the wrong people and socially devolving, his arrogance and issues and general laziness rendering him unable to relate to others; Charlie is getting a lot of attention from older men In the Business, who have the money and connections to make her a solo star, which she is shrewdly considering; and Craig’s resentment toward his “friends” and disillusionment with the superficiality of DSV is making him rethink his motivation for coming west in the first place.

Oh, and Charlie and Hick--again, as their paths change and as their weird tension remains unresolved--continue to take their bullshit out on Craig and now it’s not funny anymore, it’s not cute, it’s not exciting, and neither is it when Hick ruins a show by being too stoned to perform and neither is it when Charlie brings unsavory characters home who trash the three’s equipment and neither is it when C&H steal Craig’s songs and perform without him at a gig they didn’t tell him about.

What I intended was that the story would at first seem to be The Charlie and Hick Show, all about them, as if we’re supposed to root for them, but ideally, through my ~deft hand 🙄 the reader 🙄🙄 was supposed to be like, Um... hold on-- until it eventually was quite obvious that these two--though human; though in situations we could understand and empathize with--were captured at a point in their lives when they were Super Toxic Assholes, and what you were watching all along was Craig as Hero.

So I had ideas, but I didn’t know how to fit them together and I didn’t want a really long story and I couldn’t--I just couldn’t figure it out. I do know that the end was going to be Craig screwing them like they’d been screwing him, a final middle finger with consequences. I know that he and Hick were going to have words and Hick was going to try and fight him (such a loser) and Charlie was going to throw a Hail Mary of like... trying to seduce (lol) Craig into staying omg I always had a thing for you/we’d be such a great team/I always thought we could ~be something ~together uwu bullshit like that. Was this true? Was this true in her own mind? I think I was going to set the story up so that if you reread, yeah, it could be true, but she’s so flirty and manipulative and socially savvy and used to getting what she wants that who knows what her real feelings ever are? Ultimately that would’ve been irrelevant bc Craig never looked at her that way and hates her and Hick now; good going guys. It’s worth noting, I guess, that when I put the group on a test lot, Charlie was super into Craig immediately, went right to him, stood close to him, was eager to make romantic overtures; she went 0 to 60 in an instant and as so far as is possible in this game they had chemistry, but Craig was not feeling the romance. And no one was feeling Hick.

Anyway, Craig was going to move on with his life and Charlie and Hick were going to learn nothing and blame him, ~the end.

And then, as I continued to play my save and maybe tell more stories, there would be Easter eggs, references to Charlie, Hick, and Craig older/in the future and where they went in life in the background of other, unrelated stories: Hick’s substance abuse problems and rehab stints and going by Richard again and his eventual moderate fame and eventual sobriety and attempted comeback and his bad relationships with his exes and children; Charlie’s legit fame + marriage to a producer + eventual fade away + moderate comeback + solid second or third marriage and bff relationship with her children 🙄🙄🙄 and her palatial house on the coast and now she exclusively wears white and ivory and pampers her dogs and eats raw (but drinks wine) because it “cured” her undiagnosed, unnamed “autoimmune disorder,” which she wrote a book about resulting in a semi-comeback but as a Famous Person and not a musician. Craig going to college and becoming a high school English teacher who plays in a local band on the weekends and who has a good marriage (not to the long distance gf) and nice kids, one of whom would eventually have her own story where she pursued musicianship with her dad, which got him back into his first passion but it was a qt father-daughter project and not An Attempt to Be Famous.

So. Idk. That’s what this all would’ve been. But it wasn’t, and it won’t be!

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

12 days of ficlets

my writing’s going surprisingly well this month, with several of my WIPs and new prompts making good progress--so i’d like to do a bit of a holiday fic spree.

rules: send me a ship + a number from this “ways to say I love you” prompt list. 

you can send more than one! i need at least twelve to choose from. any fandoms i’m familiar with are fair game--if you’re not sure, ask me. this includes pairings that aren’t my personal otps. as long as i know the characters, your wish is my festive best effort.

ETA: platonic ships are welcome too. ‘tis the season to celebrate all kinds of love.

from december 14-25th, i will post a ficlet a day based on the requests i get. no stashing them in my drafts until they’re ‘perfect,’ no turning them all into multichapter epics that can’t be finished for weeks. i’ll still be working on my grander fic for my main fandoms...but in the meantime, we all get presents!

if this doesn’t flop and i get more requests than i can fit in the 12 days, i’ll gift you the rest between christmas and new year’s. 

[dungeonbat]

fic reqs

@silentserenityy

this wouldnt fit in a message

Okay. Here we go. Finally.

Most of the fics have some heavy ratings so make sure you check before you get scared for life lol

The Professor's Discretion

By: Twelve Years in Azkaban

The only thing keeping Hermione out of trouble and Harry Potter alive is... the Professor's Discretion. AU.

The Scales Of Balance

By: One Red Shoe

Their eyes saw what time and apathy had made others blind to. Snape and Malfoy left England after their trials. When they return 10 years later, they're furious with what they find. SS/HG, SS/HG/LM, LM/GW, and a dark HP/RW.

The Ribboned-Witch

By: IShouldBeWritingSomethingElse

"Why would I want your…fumblings?" There was a thread of steel in Granger's voice as she played along with Severus' game. "When I could have *his* expertise?" / SS/HG HEA...Always :)

unquestionable love by CRMediaGal (shes on here a lot so she will be easy to find)

For the Potions Master's Amusement by snape.submiss

remember by snapes goddess (this one is on adult fan fiction)

Polyandry and other problems by Refya

 Adult-FanFiction.

Snape’s Apprentince

The Headmaster’s Wife

An Hour of Snape (this ones just a short pwp but it’s good)

Tango

Ashwinder

You Can’t Have One Without The Other.

Care of magical creatures. 

Bride of the Potions Professor  (i love this one. it’s angsty)

Pet Project by Caeria - M, 52 chapters, 9,150 favorites - Hermione overhears something she should concerning Professor Snape and decides that maybe the House-elves aren’t the only ones in need of protection.

Heart over Mind by Regann - T, 27 chapters, 4,292 favorites - Something odd about Hermione causes her to have unexpected reaction to a love potion. Only it’s one which no one expected. How could a lack of reaction cause so much trouble?

When a Lioness Fights by kayly silverstorm - M, 80 chapters, 4,291 favorites - Hermione Granger, master spy, and Severus Snape, spymaster to the Order. An unlikely partnership, forged to defeat the Dark Lord on his own ground. But to do so, they must confront their own darkness within. Spying, torture, angst and love.

The Problem with Purity by Phoenix.Writing - M, 62 chapters, 4,042 favorites - As Hermione, Harry, and Ron are about to begin their seventh and final year at Hogwarts, they learn some surprising and dangerous information regarding what it means to be Pure in the wizarding world.

Chasing the Sun by Loten - M, 60 chapters, 3,907 favorites - Hermione only wanted to learn Healing; she discovers that Professor Snape is a human being after all, and his actions dramatically shape the course of the war as events unfold.

Hinge of Fate by Ramos - M, 22 chapters, 3,747 favorites - Hermione cannot remember, and Severus cannot forget.

Care of Magical Creatures by mia madwyn - M, 67 chapters, 3,361 favorites - MLC-Seventh Year student Hermione Granger decides to marry the one eligible wizard who did not ask for her-the horrid but powerful Severus Snape. Angst, humor and lemons.

Applied Cultural Anthropology, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cruciatus by jacobk - T, WIP (currently 15 chapters), 3,383 favorites - Albus Dumbledore always worried about the parallels between Harry Potter and Tom Riddle. But let’s be honest, Harry never really had the drive to be the next dark lord. Of course, things may have turned out quite differently if one of the other muggle-raised Gryffindors wound up Slytherin instead.

Post Tenebras, Lux by Loten - M, 43 chapters, 2,940 favorites - “After Darkness, Light.” A chance meeting ten years after the war may not be just a coincidence, and may prove to have very far-reaching consequences. A story of many things, but primarily of healing.

Before the Dawn by snarkyroxy - M, 49 chapters, 2,833 favorites -  In her seventh year, a late night discovery changes Hermione Granger’s view on a great many things. Severus Snape is just one of them.

Doing it for the Order by Desert_Sea → I followed this one from the beginning to the end, it’s pretty recent and very well done so it’s the first fic I remember! Go read this one if you haven’t!

Hermione Granger and the Intended Vessels by Severely_Lupine → I originally read this in Ashwinder. I really really really like this fic. Seriously. Snape is so…..Snape here. The plot is also amazing (but maybe a bit disturbing for some people? idk. I enjoy it personally). This fic made me feel so much!

Denial by little beloved →Best adultery fic I’ve read.

In Annulo by ladyofthemasque → I read this a long time ago so I don’t remember the details of the story much, but it has a nice plot! For some reason this fic is the only fic I had bookmarked from The Petulant Poetess…

Hermione Granger and the Crystal of Time by Aurette Of Muggles and Magic by Aurette → Everything by Aurette is good. These two are my favorite.

Unquestionable Love by CRMediaGal →  The best story I’ve read where Severus is a dad!

In the Potions Classroom by happilyjaded Outside the Potions Classroom by happilyjaded → A fun read XD (the latter is the continuation of the former btw)

Unkissed by chivalric �� One of the Snape got pranked!fics I like

Don’t stand so close to me by Fayth → Great use of the song lyrics!

When I Cursed The Teacher by cathedralcarver → This one is funny XD “ Snape starts to court Hermione. Convinced that he’s under some sort of curse, Hermione enlists Bill Weasley’s help.”

Pride, or What Goeth Before a Fall by Toodleoo → That one where Hermione thought Snape was gay….LOL

okay. That should keep you busy for a minute. Now Im going to scour for the RPrs

[bom-bombon]

Texas?

Yeehaw

Name: Sebastian Inglesias

While Texas does have a second last name because he’s Hispanic, he decided to drop it. I know many Hispanic who have either both of their parents’ names and of only their fathers’ last name with the former being more common. Those with one last name has less complications with paperwork, applications, etc., than with those with two last names. Considering all this, I think that Texas would drop the second last name to make his life more easier.

Age: 27-29

Gender: Cis male

Ethnicity/Race: Hispanic (Mestizo)

Siblings: Coahuila (perhaps Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon too but it’s still a wip)

Height: 5′11 (180.34 cm)

He’s sad that he’s not 6′0. He may be taller than some of his fellow Mexican brethren, but he gets reminded that he’s not the tallest in the Union, or at the very least, he’s not 6′0. This annoys him to no end.

Relations:

-Arizona: They’re buddies. They both share a love for guns, have similar conservative ideologies, and they love a/c. No matter how much New Mexico tries to discourage Arizona from talking to him, Arizona just doesn’t care. He thinks that Texas is cool (which fuels his already big ego)

-Arkansas: They get along. That’s it. I suppose that sometimes he does call her Ar-kansas and she don’t talk to him for a whole day after that, but they’re cool nonetheless.

-California: They don’t like each other. He finds her annoying and thinks she’s an idiot. When she was first introduced to the states, he thought that they could be together and be some sort of duo. But they thought different things and it upset him. To him, it almost felt like betrayal because he thought he knew her and she supported and admired him. So why doesn’t she support him now? Today, they just bicker and often start arguments. Both of their egos will never let it go and make up.

-Coahuila: It’s complicated. Coahuila was enraged when Texas broke away from her and even more so when the US helped. While I’m not sure their relationship was during this time period, I do know that they didn’t talked for a while. Texas believed he was doing the right thing in following his own dreams. Though that is debatable at best. Nowadays, they get along well and Coahuila sometimes invite him to parties. Sometimes…

-Louisiana: They chill with each other. Louisiana, although criticizes him on some occasions, think he’s a nice guy. He has helped her in the past and she no doubts never forgot about it, so she helps him whenever she can. They’re also dumbasses together so that’s fun too.

-Minnesota: They’re together! Minnie is like 6’2 so she calls Texas cute for being tiny and he loves and hates it!! They are both tough as nails. For example, Minnie surprised him by beating him on a mechanical bull, Virginia complained about how strong Minnesota was during the Civil War, and Montana always remarks about how Minnie was the only other state who can keep up with her in the World Wars. And Texas is Texas. They are both incredibly sweet in relationships. Minnesota is known for being nice and it’s tru. Texas in relationships is sort of like the Latin Lover, excluding the constant need for uhh bedroom stuff. They are both gentle to each other out of respect and always get each other meaningful gifts. Not to mention the daily reminders of “you’re beautiful” or “you’re my sunshine”, they’re too pURE. They both like similar hobbies such as watching and playing football, taking care of animals, and roasting the hell out of people. Texas helps Minnie into confronting problems and people

Minnie: Idk how to tell them

Texas: It’s easy, I’ll show you how

Texas: Hey New York!

New York: I’m not listening…

Texas: New York!

New York: *looks up*

Texas: I like your shirt but I don’t like you!

She teaches him about considering other’s feelings. Sometimes Texas is too caught up about himself to realize how he’s affecting others around him and she knows this. She reminds him that people that not everyone will understand him emotionally and might take offense. Slowly, Texas thinks more often. Minnesota and Texas also love having adventures together. They would go and snowboard (though Texas has fell off a mountain one time). No matter what they’re doing, they always seem to compliment each other and have fun together. 

-Montana: They’re cowboy buddies. I would imagine them talk to each other about animals, particularly horses and cows. Since Montana is also a tough person, she and Texas loves to have small competitions with lifting or who has the most power. He sees her as a buddy and likes to talk to her, which is good because Montana herself has trouble fitting in when all people know about her is just cows and nothingness.

-New Mexico: New Mexico hates him. From what I can remember, Texas tried to claim parts of New Mexico three separate times. The last attempt was the Civil War, and with the attempt to take Santa Fe, New Mexico won’t let it go. Texas doesn’t really care about him nor seem to remember that he even exist. He mostly focuses his rivalry with Oklahoma. Plus, he think New Mexico is a bad driver.

-Oklahoma: They’re rivals. The extent of this rivalry, I’m not too sure and admittedly haven’t delved into much. What I can say is that he always honk his horn at her because she’s a terrible driver. At some point she called him Baja Oklahoma and he cried

-Tennessee: They’re friends. Tennessee is gay for him. So when the Texas Revolution was starting and the US helped out, a good chunk of the people were from Tennessee. So Tennessee helped Texas out wherever he can and that was his first friend from the US. They love to go hunting and talk about guns and stuff. Tennessee really admired him and is glad that he’s consider to be close friends with the big boi of the South. They also play music together and have nice country vibes.

-Wyoming: They’re Yeehaw buddies. They also had a relationship is perhaps early 1900s but I’m not too sure yet.

Things I don’t know how to title but it exists:

-Texas has tattoos of all his state symbols on his arms and back

-They played a “special” game of Truth or Dare. In the end, Texas threw up and vowed to never go to Vegas or hang out with Nevada for 9 months.

-Texas gave some of his friends in the Midwest and South (who aren’t Hispanic mind you) the “spicy” Mexican candies and almost all of them are more cautious about Mexican candies. Plot twist: they’re not spicy at all; they’re just weak

-Yee in the streets, haw in the sheets

-He’s bisexual

Some things about her (development? idk):

Texas has this arrogance that kinda makes it unbearable to work with at times (his closest friends can attest to this). But to be fair, this arrogance would be provoked by someone either messing with his lovely state or someone who’s just curious. Besides that, he is actually pretty charismatic, confident, and charming that attracts people despite his (non intentional) brash behavior. (It’s a joke that he purposefully made Tennessee gay). He’s also intelligent as he’s musically talented, exceeds surprisingly well in mathematics and sciences, and fluent in a couple languages such as English, German, and Vietnamese. He worked hard to be where he is and he can be closed minded in some parts but that’s because he likes to stay relatively the same. He doesn’t like a lot of change; you can say he’s afraid of it and what it might bring because he doesn’t want to lose who he truly is deep down inside. (It’s kinda funny because with this new influx of Californians, he’s stressed and upset at her more than ever).

Some quotes,, things?: 

New York: I’m hot shit and that’s the only thing I’ll take away.

Texas: Didn’t you hear her? I’m also hot shit. And that’s the power of the Texan charm ;) Checkmate, liberals.

New York: Yeah well why don’t you shut up.

Texas: You shut up

–

Northern Mariana Islands: *gives everyone a glass shot of tequila*

Everyone: *downs the shot and put their shot glass on the middle of the table*

Delaware: More please!

Ohio: No more please…

Arkansas: What the fuck was that??

Utah: Ugh, that so strong what the heck-

Texas: Can we do this every night?

–

Priest: You may now read the vows you have prepared.

Texas: I think I misunderstood the assignment.

Minnesota: Just read what you wrote, dear.

Texas: Ok *deep breath* A E I O U

–

Texas, drunk: SI YA SABEN COMO ME PONGO PA QUE ME INVITAN???

–

South Dakota: But it’s couples like you that give hope to the rest of us. Minnesota, you deserve the best, and you found it.

Texas, don’t you dare hurt her.

Everyone: *laughs*

Texas: I won’t.

Michigan: Don’t laugh. She means it.

Texas: Okay, I-I won’t

.Nebraska: Seriously, don’t hurt her.

Texas: Okay, I’m not planning on hurting her.

Indiana: You better not be

Texas: I’m not!

Ohio: Hey, Texas, you best be watching yourself

Texas: Why would any of you think I would hurt Minnesota? Y’all my friends too.

Illinois: Nah

–

1945

Tejas, a los otros estados: Me das una úlcera cada vez que me despierto y tengo que venir ‘pa trabajar para ti, para ti!

–

Texas, grabbing a toy police car: Coahuila! Can you buy me this?

Coahuila: No.

Texas: You never buy me anything!

Coahuila: You’re over 300 years old!

–

Texas: Yee in the streets, haw in the sh-

Oklahoma: No.

–

Texas, drunk: You’re so pretty,, are you seeing anyone?

Minnesota: Yeah, I’m married

Texas, crying: To.. to who?

Minnesota: You, you smol idiot *kisses his forehead*