#they look so wonky but I needed to show my love for this fic

[wizzdot]

*short fic alert* (fic under page break)

Hear me out. Is this….John Price?!

The 141 get home late from a mission, Johnny and Gaz go straight to the showers and Simon slinks off to wherever it is he winds down after a tough few days.

You have been sat on the proverbial bench for the past few weeks with a bullet wound to the shoulder. While rendered useless to the team, you decide to take up a new hobby. So far, the boys have been lab rats for the taste tests of whatever concoction you pull from the oven.

The burnt cookies (that you’d forgotten to put eggs in) that Kyle had whined about almost breaking his perfect teeth. Johnny managed to gobble them up and didn’t seem to understand what the problem was, leading Simon to joke that the man had no taste buds.

Or the time you accidentally used Salt instead of Sugar in the Victoria Sponge cake. Kyle subtlety threw his slice in the bin while you weren’t looking making sounds as if he had enjoyed in. Johnny ate it, making it look so delicious that you were getting confident that your baking skills were finally improving. Simon took a slice back to his room and in the privacy of his own bed, took a bite, and immediately spat it down the toilet. “Christ Almighty, that fuckin’ twat really doesn’t have taste buds” he cursed.

You perfect your skills over the next couple of weeks, with Johnny and Kyle remaining endlessly supportive of your new venture. But the entire time, John avoids your baking attempts.

“Need to watch my weight, love”

“Wish I could have a bite, but I’m on a diet, sweetheart”

“Can’t afford to pile on the pounds at my age, Dove”

They are John’s favourite excuses. You won’t admit it, but it makes you sad. You want to make all of your boys happy. Also, he isn’t even that old for gods sake.

Simon knows that the Captain is avoiding your god awful attempts. But even Simon notices that your skills are slowly improving. He keeps sneaking cupcakes and cookies into his room and this past week, especially, they’d been… alright. Well - apart from the horrifically deformed attempt of decorating a cake like Yoda. It looked like a slimy goblin with wonky eyes - but it tasted ok.

So picture this, they get home from a three day long mission. You’d missed your boys. You’d left your most recent cake on the kitchen counter before going to bed. You climb out from your bed when you hear their tired footsteps heading down the hall.

You poke your head out of the door. Johnny and Kyle come over and give you a soft hug. “Christ, you boys stink” you say. “Fuck off” Kyle laughs, before stripping himself of his shirt “gonna hop straight in the shower anyway. See you in the mornin’, yeah?” he asks. I nod and watch as he leaves towards his room.

Johnny stands, watching Kyle retreat. “I smell even worse than him, hen” he says, trying to shove your head into his armpit. You fight him off and shoo him down the hall.

Simon walks past and gives a small nod, “you might want to go and see Price. He made a beeline for the kitchen” he grumbles, continuing on his way casually.

That comment puts you on edge. Is John hurt? Is he looking for you? You quickly slide on your fluffy slippers and shuffle down to the kitchen as quickly as you can.

The scene that greets you is the last thing you expect to see. The Captain, in a wide stance, leaning one hand on the counter, devouring your Cake (the best one you’d baked so far!!!) with just a single fork. He’d polished off at least half of it, showing no signs of slowing down.

You can’t help but giggle at the scene. “Is it good…?”

“Fuckin’ hell, Love. It’s delicious”

The blush that erupts over your cheeks is immense.

“That was supposed to be shared..” you mumble.

“Not in a sharing mood” he says through a mouthful of cake.

“It’s rude to chew with your mouth open, Captain” you joke.

“Teach me some manners then, sweetheart” he teases, stabbing the fork into the top of the remaining quarter of cake before crowding into your personal space.

“Cakes almost as sweet as you” he whispers into your left ear before leaving the kitchen with a smug smile as you stand frozen in place.

“Oh, I’ve forgotten something!” He mentions from down the hall before turning back and snatching the cake box from the counter. He pauses on his way out, pecking you on the cheek and heading to his office as if that was totally normal behaviour.

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t stand touching the spot that he’d kissed for half an hour after he’d left.

Your phone interrupts your frozen state. It’s a text from the group chat.

………..

Johnny: “Kyle, d’ya think Cap told her how he feels yet?”

………

Johnny: “c’mon ya cunt, don’t ignore my message. I know your out the shower I can hear you laughin through the wall”

………

Simon’s voice bellows throughout the hallway “wrong fuckin’ chat, you moron” followed by Kyle cackling and Johnny swearing loudly.

You’re still standing in the doorway of the kitchen, in shock, when the door to John’s office opens.

“Guess you saw that, eh?” he asks, sheepishly.

You nod your head, zoning in on a piece of icing on the corner of his mouth. As if on instinct, you reach up and wipe it with your finger, sticking it into your mouth, before freezing again, realising what you’d just done.

Johns eyes follow your finger, hungrily.

“If you wanted to taste it, you could’ve just asked, love”

[awzominator]

“Debbie Ryan hair thing* So there’s this fan-fiction~

@doctaaaaaaaar and @melonpalooza literally keeping me feed with incredible content for these traumatized old men

[littlespoonevan]

I watched the first three seasons of 911 back when that was all that had aired and just didn’t keep watching after the break between seasons for whatever reason. I also didn’t really get buddie, I just thought it was a beautiful friendship. I’m now on a rewatch and just got to the end of season 4 and boy am I all in, Buck’s reaction to Eddie getting shot and the aftermath really made me get it. Anyway, I was wondering if you have any fic recs for a buddie newbie? I’m probably gonna speed through the rest of the show in a few days and need something else to occupy me hahah

hey bud, welcome back to the world of 911!! 🥰 okay so i have some previous fic recs that i've posted here and i also have 489 bookmarks on ao3 which you can have a scroll through here (i only ever bookmark something for rereading or reccing purposes so can confirm i've read and loved them all)

but i'll do my best to make a somewhat cohesive list below of some of my personal faves. i have no doubt i'll probably leave some out accidentally but they'll definitely be in my bookmarks so 100% check those out too!! ❤️

The Nearness of You by allisonRW96 / @homerforsure

Eddie reassured himself that he could do this. Other teams coming in were probably going to be staying at the same hotel in the same double rooms and it was very possible that none of them were going to be having sex. Or even lying awake at night thinking about it. Or: Buck and Eddie go on a work trip.

Leave the Light On (I'll Be Coming Home) by HMSLusitania / @hmslusitania

“We’re here for our grandson,” Helena says. “Chris is still sleeping,” Buck says. “I meant, we’re here to take him back to Texas,” Helena clarifies. “Yeah,” Buck says. He’s too tired, way too tired to be tactful. “Over my dead body.” -- An accident on a call leaves Buck with custody of Chris after Eddie is... missing presumed. While they navigate their new family circumstances -- and fight to stay together, despite Eddie's parents' best efforts -- a John Doe wakes up in a coma ward with no memory of his own life beyond the knowledge he has a son named Christopher and, somehow, he needs to get home.

To Build a Home We Deconstruct Our Rituals by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels /@letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

After the shooting, Eddie realizes he needs to put some things in place. Like who will get his assets if he dies. Who will speak for him if he ends up in a coma. What might happen if his family contests Buck's guardianship. Luckily, he's got a simple easy-peasy solution that won't result in insanity, catastrophe, or heartbreak: Marry Buck.

standing on the brink of emptiness by woodchoc_magnum / @woodchoc-magnum

In which Eddie is struggling in the aftermath of being shot, learning how to take care of himself and realising he's in love with Buck; and Buck is dating Taylor, taking care of Eddie and Christopher and trying to figure out why he's so goddamn confused about everything.

across our great divide (a glorious sunrise) by catchingpapermoons 

“We’re working on it,” Maddie explains, shooting Chimney a look. He nods seriously. “In couples therapy.” “Huh,” Eddie says, and then he thinks about it. "Do you think Buck and I would benefit from couples therapy?" — or, Eddie gets Buck to come to couples therapy with him.

darling, the future's better than yesterday by rarakiplin (gmontys)

Eddie, ten years younger, in this awful 2010, blinks up at him. He's still sitting slumped on the curb, and for a second Buck thinks he might tell him to fuck off, but then his eyes fall shut and there’s something — aching and painfully vulnerable in the bend of his mouth, the faint tension in his brow. “My…um, girlfriend, I guess. She’s pregnant.” “Holy shit,” Buck says. - or, buck deals with some wonky dimensional/time travel and then breaks up with his girlfriend. eddie, obviously, is involved.

i'm here (i’m yours for the taking) by farfromthstars / @buckactuallys

“Everyone!” Around forty heads turn, and Buck shifts on his feet uncomfortably at the attention. “This is my old friend Buck and his husband, Eddie.” “Uh,” Buck makes, turning to Eddie with wide eyes. Eddie's looking just as stunned. “Connor, I think you got–” He cuts himself off when Eddie wraps an arm around his waist. ~ at the winter wedding of an old friend, buck and eddie pretend to be married to each other. the plan has no weaknesses, obviously, not even mistletoe or anyone’s secret feelings… they call it the season of giving i'm here, i'm yours for the taking

Your Fingerprints Smeared on My Heart (Lead Me Back to You) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

In 1880, Evan Buckley of the arriviste set is sent out west to oversee his family's railroad and recover from a broken heart - and meets Eddie Diaz, cowboy. When fate tears them apart, they make a promise: find each other again. In 2018, Buck walks into his fire station in Los Angeles - and meets Eddie Diaz, new recruit.

no kingdom to come by waywardrenegades

Family, FaceTime, guilt trips, phone calls, church, heart healthy meals, and learning how to let yourself be happy. Whatever that looks like. or; when his father experiences a health scare, Eddie flies to El Paso.

when i was shipwrecked (i thought of you) by catchingpapermoons 

Buck walks toward Jee-Yun’s room, still talking, and Christopher trails after him, asking excited questions in response, and Eddie’s smile grows. He wants this forever. Everything, every part of it; Buck, Christopher, and him—that’s all he needs. And— Oh. Oh no. He shuts his eyes for a moment, inhaling sharply. He’s looking at Buck, and feeling something strictly not platonic at all. or: Eddie needs to learn how to let himself feel, and one step at a time, he learns how to do just that. (And he falls in love with Buck along the way.)

i don't swim and you're not in love by hattalove / @hattalove

She turns to Eddie and says something else, but Buck is busy fighting the headrush he gets at the sound of Ana Flores calling Eddie and Christopher 'the boys'. Like they belong to her already. God, what’s wrong with him? What is this? or, eddie cooks, chris domesticates a slug, and buck tries to figure out why he hates his best friend's girlfriend. to everyone's immense shock and surprise, it goes badly.

everything's coming up milhouse by hammersmiths / @bucktommys

LAFD Updates (@L*A*F*D_Metro) LAFD Alert: Red-level traffic on Gardiner Road this morning. If you are trying to get into the city centre consider taking Westerley Lane. buck 🔥🔥 (@firebuck) so true bestie or, Eddie mans the LAFD Twitter account. Buck tries to be supportive.

said i couldn't stay, but it's different now by hattalove

“I think,” he says, watching Karen pull Hen out onto the dance floor, their eyes never leaving each other’s, “I think I’m just—sad.” Maybe. That feels like a close enough word to describe this gaping maw right in the center of his chest. It’s only really there sometimes, taking little bites out of him, easy enough to ignore, but today is worse. “About being single at a wedding,” Eddie says, not a question. Buck shrugs. “Sounds stupid when you put it that way.” or, the one with the four weddings (feat. a drunk karen wilson, shania twain, a single cheerio, and some confessions over cubed fruit).

cause i'm tired of sleeping alone by rarakiplin (gmontys)

Buck goes on dates now. Not often, and never with the same girl twice in a row, but he goes on dates. And the thing is — the thing is, Eddie can’t be mad about that, because he goes on dates too. - or, five (ish) times eddie and buck go on dates with other people, and one time they go on a date with each other

so far from being free by allisonRW96

"That’s Daniel. He was our brother. Buck doesn’t know what to do with the past tense. He never had a brother. He’s always had a brother. He gained one and lost one in the same breath and it feels impossible. But even if Buck was capable of doubting Maddie, the truth of her confession is evident in the way it throws every facet of his childhood into sudden perfect clarity. That yawning, arctic absence. The unnamable fear. The impenetrable target of his parents’ approval that he was never, ever going to be able to hit. That they didn’t want him to hit. He has a brother. A dead brother who has haunted Buck’s steps for his entire life."

don't let the tide come and wash us away by writerforlife

Buck develops a relationship with the ocean, avoids talking about the day Eddie was shot, realizes he might be in love, and drives. Order may vary. (a fic for the "Buck is going to break all the way down in season 6" truthers)

dance, for all that we've been through by catchingpapermoons 

The Los Angeles Ballet’s 2022-2023 season ends with a bang with their fresh take on a ballet staple, Swan Lake. Artistic Director Bobby Nash is in his eighth season with the Los Angeles Ballet, and it has flourished under his direction. However, his associate, Eddie Diaz, is the one whose reimagining of the choreography has caught our attention... (or, Eddie Diaz moves to L.A. to restart his dance career, and ends up choreographing a show, finding a family, and falling in love. Not necessarily in that order.)

I'll Scrawl it on Every Wall I See by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

When Eddie joins the 118, he and Buck don't exactly hit it off on the right foot. Or continue to walk on the right foot. In fact they kind of can't stand each other. Good thing they each have a beloved anonymous pen pal to share their daily woes with, someone completely unlike their insufferable coworker. Or, in which Buck and Eddie love each other before they know each other, and know each other before they love each other. When Eddie joins the 118, he and Buck don't exactly hit it off on the right foot. Or continue to walk on the right foot. In fact they kind of can't stand each other. Good thing they each have a beloved anonymous pen pal to share their daily woes with, someone completely unlike their insufferable coworker. Or, in which Buck and Eddie love each other before they know each other, and know each other before they love each other.

never felt this way before (yes i swear) by withoutthetiger

It’s the summer of 2022, when Buck no longer wants to be called Evan, and it only occurs to his parents to mind. It’s after the pandemic – or so they say – and before whatever hell will befall the world next, when Buck can’t wait to join the LAFD in September, and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever meet someone as gently strong and fiercely protective as his big sister. It’s the summer he goes with his family to the One Eighteen Ranch & Lodge. *** A Dirty Dancing AU, set in Texas in 2022, featuring a whole lot of familiar faces in a not so familiar place.

Fragile lines (and wasted time) by Mellaithwen / @mellaithwen

“Hey Buck,” Christopher says a little shyly, before reaching out to grab Buck’s foot through the hospital blankets—shaking it in the same way he’s woken his father up on many a bleary-eyed morning. The familiarity of the gesture makes Eddie’s head spin. But of course, there’s no response from the comatose man on the bed. “I thought you said he was sleeping,” Chris mumbles, angrily swiping at his cheeks, and Eddie’s already broken heart shatters all over again for whatever hope his son had just lost when his expectations were so cruelly dashed. . While Buck sleeps, and dreams in the aftermath of the lightning strike, Eddie tries desperately to hold himself together.

Don't Take the Money by HMSLusitania

“You know, being stuck here isn’t actually the end of the world,” Chimney says, coming up to the table and picking up one of the smoke detectors. “It just feels like it, Buck. Trust me, I know.” “I’m pretty sure it might actually be the end of the world,” Buck says. “Considering this is the sixth time I’ve lived this day.” Chimney stares at him for a beat and then his eyebrows lift. “Wait, are you like – dude, are you in Groundhog Day?” OR The post-lawsuit time-loop AU literally no one asked for.

keep your eyes on the road by iriswests / @fcntasmas

Buck used to speed through yellow lights; now they’re his favorite part of the drive. -- or; a glimpse into buck and eddie’s developing relationship, told through ten moments stopped at a traffic light

Hot Ghost Problems by ebjameston

The ghost would prefer to go by Buck, if Eddie wouldn’t mind. +++ [Eddie is the newest firefighter at the 118. Buck is the ghost haunting the 118. Unfortunately for both of them, Eddie's also a witch and needs to put Buck's spirit to rest, because that's what witches do. Turns out, Buck's spirit? Super not interested in being put to rest. Very interested, however, in flirting with Firefighter Diaz, who is just trying to survive his candidate year. (Also turns out, Buck? Super not dead.)

as lucky as us by hammersmiths

One of the first things Ravi learned when joining the 118 was to, under no circumstances, think too hard about Buck and Eddie’s relationship. But brother, they could try make his job easier. “I mean, I get it,” Buck’s saying, overhead, and Ravi’s knee-deep in literal human crap and even he can smell that shit from a mile away. “You and Tommy have a lot in common.” or, Ravi continually suffers as a third-wheel.

[aphpuffinchild]

since it's out i can finally post my piece for @hws-anthology as well as the timelapse for it. as is arguably all my hetalia work, it's a love letter to my friend @pyrrhocorax 's fic Sendlingur og Sandlóa - i'll ramble a bit about how much it means to me, as well as the symbolism i wormed into this piece below the read more :)

i originally had two pages planned for this piece, potentially more - the fic is a good 74k words long and certainly not light on scenes i could and wanted to pull from, but various things led into other various things and one page was all i could manage, so i tried to cram in what i could, so here's that (in a rough, somewhat arbitrary order of focal points)

the opening chapter! the car is a framing device for the piece as much as it is for the journey the characters will take following that first chapter, so i wanted to use the car window/shapes as a literal framing device in my drawing

joi, shaky at best in his sense of self, sees no reflection in the window, instead there's a silhouetted raven to signify the search he must go on to find it

while not perfectly transcribed by virtue of wonky (plus an extra) line(s), the notes coming from joi's headphones are the opening to the song sendlingur og sandlóa, the fic's namesake, which a loved one kindly transposed by ear for me for the purpose of this piece

in a similar vein, the stickers on joi's suitcase are of a purple sandpiper and a ringed plover, the birds after which the song is named - here they are as transparents and in their original colours

i wanted to create a sliiight impression that joi is the one knocking over the chessboard, representing his repeated rejections of it (both physically, and the things it represents)

the chess pieces were also chosen specifically! originally i was going to use a black rook and a white pawn to match chapter 41, but for the sake of having alternating colours and the rest of my metaphors working (iirc) i swapped those colours around. that, and i wanted to match chapter 13's white king and black pawn - the black pawn stuck, the white king was colour swapped for colour cohesion reasons like the other's. (visual contrast was important to me, but the white queen blending slightly into the sky was okay for symbolism reasons) (there was also black king, white rook from chapter 3, so it all worked out anyway - there's a lot of chess in this story and i only had space for so many pieces and colours, basically)

speaking of which, the black pawn is for joi (chapter 13), the white queen is for halle (someone who, from joi's perspective, can go anywhere, vs joi's pawn, someone to be used -> see chapter 35 and perspective).

the king piece is falling (but hasn't quite fallen) between halle and henrik (chapter 3, 7, 13, though i most clearly thought of 19)

the person in the top right corner is eduard! i desperately wanted to include him because i think he's deserved it, and i considered a lot of ways of working him in, but i think an ambiguous silhouette that isn't Quite part of the main picture works better narratively

note also that he's separated from the other's through a red curtain, to represent the iron curtain (naturally) i wanted it to match ber + tino's part in some way, to sorta emphasise their similar foundations despite being split apart across places

the flowers at eduard's window are placed and chosen purposefully as well! orange/red zinnia's outside (for familial ties, steadfastness, friendship and remembrance) for what eduard puts out in to the world, then lily-of-the-valley for tino and cornflower for him inside to show what he wants to hold close :)

halle and joi are the only characters with their eyes open - halle looks towards the viewer/author/reader/joi, while joi looks away all together. if you've read the fic (which i assume you have because i can't imagine this is interested to read otherwise) you probably don't need me to explain why that reflects their roles in the story

similarly, every character apart from the brothers is turned towards another in some way (eduard does not count when his flowers do, and his role in the story is based around that disconnect partially anyway) tino towards ber and eduard (and hana, i guess), ber towards tino, henrik to halle, halle to henrik (though he looks away - his values are elsewhere even when they are together). joi, at best, looks at his own reflection in the window

the colour scheme, while arbitrarily picked from gradient maps based on what i felt "fit" has been approved by the author as being very "SoS core"

finally, the poem on the note, chapter 46

all that being said, i can and will now talk about my personal relationship with SoS, so unless that interests you i imagine the post is done now! thank you for reading :)

the first comment i posted on SoS is dated 2nd November 2016 - logging into my old account i can see i bookmarked it on the 31st August that same year, so i can safely assume i first read or at least found it then. a month after my first comment, i posted another on a different account, pouring a few bits of my heart out and the author responded! we went back and forth a bit and eventually talked (i think) via tumblr for a little, but the majority of our conversations were via skype for whatever reason (we didn't call, just texted). it was a lot of me looking for writing advice, insight to their work/process/skill, talking about The Brothers and talking about psychology/the brain on a general and personal level. i think if i read our conversations back now i'd cringe, given that i was an awkward, fumbling 16 year old, but i dont think anything else wouldve been fitting given the subject matter. eventually our conversations fizzled out and we stopped talking for years, but i'd go back to SoS routinely and cry.

in may of 2021, i posted another comment during what in hindsight was definitely another relatively minor mental health episode - i think it was half trying to emphasise how important the work was to me on the off chance pyrr saw it, and half a bid for connection since i had no idea if they even remembered us talking. i assumed nothing would come of it, and for about a year that was true - until pyrr responded after all in february of 2022 - i'm happy to say we've been talking consistently on discord since then. i feel a little weird speaking too intimately about our friendship as it is now since it's not just my story to tell (though pyrr, if you're reading this) (i'm sure you are at some point) (you're welcome to talk about it however, i just didn't want to without consulting you) but i can say with some certainty that it's at least a little bit my fault that we have a sequel now - cementing my place as official number #1 fan and validating the me from almost 8 years ago in a way i don't think either of us processes well.

it's here that i feel the need to talk about my other dear friend, @hws-lceland , who i'm grateful to have met through the zine's discord server. i'm sure they're reading this too, and a lot of what our relationship means to me is stuff that's probably a bit too vulnerable for either of us to speak publicly, but i *can* say that i love them very much, and i'm really grateful to have someone else to understand, and that he read SoS for me. i thought he needed it, and i hope i was right

sendlingur is...endlessly important to me. i'm aiming to not write an essay here (a goal i think i've already sorta shot in the foot) but i think it's important for me to talk about some of this a little loudly, all the same. my writing has changed because of the series - remeeting with pyrr and showing them some of my more recent work was interesting since it was apparent even to them the influences i'd taken (to be fair, in one section i explicitly asked and did borrow a format of theirs, but this goes beyond that). when i was 16 i asked my mum to read the fic in a desperate bid to be understood. i've cried reading the fic many, many times. i've signed off letters and poems with my switched around version of i'm sorry / thank you / i love you (i swap the first two around) many, many, many times, including in a close friend's wedding gift. SoS has very sincerely changed my definition of love. the name halle is a part of my abstract mindscape. id already considered changing my name to johannes anyway and this fic certainly didnt help. i've gained a friendship of 7 and a half years through it. i've gained another newer one now, too. i am not well. i wasn't well then, reading it, and it hasn't fixed me (i am worse, now, arguably), but it healed something, or at least made me feel understood. i could go on, and maybe sometime i will (there were so many things i wanted to include in my piece and pay homage to!), but for now i will thank anyone who took the time to read all this (again), and say that i look forward to experiencing the sequel

as always, i'm sorry, thank you, i love you

[writing-for-marvel]

"I dream of you. all i do, is dream of you."

If I Can’t Have Everything, Then Let Me Just Have You

Andy Barber x Fem!Reader

Summary: When Andy gets jealous of you talking with his colleague, you reassure him he’s everything you’ll ever need.

Warnings: age gap and although exact ages are never mentioned everyone is well and truly of age, jealous Andy

Word count: 700

A/N: this is for @nickfowlerrr’s the seven writing challenge - I spun the wheel for the seven deadly sins and got envy. A big thank you my darling friend @flordeamatista, queen of Andy fics, for not only providing the inspiration for this fic, but helping me with writing Andy for the first time and being my constant cheerleader 🩷 banners by @vase-of-lilies

Masterlist | Ask me anything! | Library

Andy hated attending after work functions with his colleagues. He could barely stand dealing with them during the working week, but then to also be forced to give up his Saturday night so his boss could show off the house his old family money had bought him was another level of torture.

You were his saving grace. Part of him felt guilty for dragging the woman he loved along to these grandstanding cocktail parties where you were forced to make small talk with people you didn’t enjoy the company of, but you were also the only person who stopped him from going completely insane.

But at this moment, while he was stuck hearing about how his boss’s fantasy football team was performing, as if he didn’t hear enough about it at the office, Andy saw red as he was subjected to watch Dylan, the office womaniser, chatting you up.

In the back of his mind he knew with absolute certainty that you wouldn’t cheat on him, but the reason his heart clenched and acidic jealousy bubbled in his stomach was because of what Dylan represented: everything Andy couldn’t offer you.

He wasn’t young anymore, he was well aware the prime of his life was past him at this point in time. He had settled into a comfortable routine which didn’t involve a thriving social life which he remembered having with Laurie when they were your age. He was surely not as flexible or had as much energy as a young man fifteen years his junior.

He wanted to be able to give you the world, but all he had to offer was the trauma developed from his tarnished past, which was still following him around like a shadow, his back problems, wonky knee and the remainder of his life which would be distinctly shorter than Dylan, or someone of his age, could promise to spend with you.

The root of his envy was insecurity.

And he was green with envy.

Excusing himself from the one-sided conversation his boss was having, Andy set off with purpose, making a beeline to you, only to find you were already making your way over to him. Relief eased the tension in his shoulders as your gaze found his and a smile tugged at the corners of your mouth.

“Your colleague, the guy behind me, is a creep.” You commented, hooking your fingers through his belt loops and pulling him protectively into you. Andy leaned down and placed a small, sweet kiss to your forehead, not needing to look behind you to know exactly who you were referring to. A sense of satisfaction filled his chest with the notion that you were clearly averse to Dylan’s pursuits.

“That’s not what most young women around the office think.”

“Well he is.” You stated firmly, a look of disgust flashing over your features. “Why does it take me telling him I have a boyfriend to respect that I’m not interested. Why would I want a boy like him, when I already have a man like you?”

Andy smiled, coming to the realisation that he had no reason to be jealous. Perhaps he couldn’t offer you his callow youth, but he did have maturity and experience, which would surely be much more valuable in a devoted relationship.

“You are a dream come true, you know that?” In response to this you scrunched your nose and smiled in a way that made Andy’s heart fill with pure adoration and devotion.

You truly were all he would ever need for the remainder of his life.

“You’re my dream come true too, Andy.” Standing on your tiptoes, arms sling around his neck, you placed a delicate kiss against his lips, neither of you paying any mind to his colleagues who could be watching on. “You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”

Taking a beat to commit the moment to memory, Andy made a promise to himself that he would never take his second chance at love for granted.

“Let’s go home, handsome.” You suggested, tugging gently on his tie with that mischievous grin which always promised a sinfully pleasurable time. “I have plans for us that definitely don’t involve the rest of you colleagues.”

[lettingtimepass]

Loki s2e5 Thoughts & Feelings (Spoilers)

THE INTRO LOSING THE LETTERS!! I'm a sucker for when an intro is slightly changed. And in the end credits when the lines and type get all wonky! I love it.

Ok I have a question. When Loki finds everyone, they are all on branched timelines, not the Sacred Timeline. So doesn't that mean the lives on these branches could be slightly different or totally different than their original lives on the Sacred Timeline? Sylvie says they're back in their "real lives", but is that even true? 🤔 Also, I know people are theorizing that Don's wife was dusted during the snap, but technically in this branched timeline, the snap might not have happened.

B-15 being a doctor was so good 🥺 "I looked happy." Yes, you did... I just noticed her name on the captions was "Dr. Willis!"

Don!Mobius said he'd seen Loki in the shop before, did Loki timeslip there and not remember it? Or... has that not happened yet?

OB's workshop looking super similar to the one at the TVA - So cool!

"So I am gonna write a bestseller!" Stop he's so pure!!

Did anyone clock that OB's book cover looks similar to Loki and Slyvie on Lamentis? 👀

"It's impossible. But don't let that stop you."

This is probably obvious but Loki couldn't control the timeslipping until he truly accepted his "why." Not to protect the timelines from HWR, but to protect his friends.

Don!Mobius literally dropping everything to talk to Loki and offer him a drink. Fellas.....

"You saw something in me that I hadn't seen in myself." NO THIS IS STRAIGHT OUTTA FIC THO 😭

I can't believe Loki assembled his own Avengers 😭😭😭

Gawd, the show starting with Loki's speech about how humans don't need choices, and now he's fighting to give his friends choices..... that's the good shit.

"I want my friends back." DO YOU REALIZE THE CHARACTER GROWTH?!?! Loki never had a friend other than Thor. He was so closed off, he didn't think he ever needed anyone else. He told the lie that he was fine, better off, by himself. For him to admit that he has friends, and he wants them, and doesn't want to be alone...? 🤌🤌🤌

"But without them... Where do I belong?" WHERE IS TOM'S EMMY?!?! The tear, the voice shake... this man 😭😭😭

Remember, this Loki is a "cosmetic mistake." He isn't supposed to exist. Mobius saved him from being reset. Without the TVA, without Mobius... he has no reason to exist... no glorious purpose. But he was still willing to let them all go to do the right thing 🥲🥲🥲

Mobius trying to sell a Jet Ski to B-15 is too funny.

THE MONKEY FROM THE INTRO!! I've been wondering what that was all about... we also see OB's sticky note wall!

"The pens... we have all the pens!"

When they all start spagettifying being parallel to the dusting scenes in Infinity War.... RUDE, MARVEL. MR STARK I DON'T FEEL SO GOOD.

"I can rewrite the story." YES YOU CAN KING!! And my immediate reaction was "Loki, God of Stories"! At first I thought Loki and Sylvie were going to run the TVA together, but now I feel like it might be Loki alone (with Mobius' help of course), managing all the timelines... writing the story.

THAT ENDING!!!! I'M SO READY BUT NOT READY FOR NEXT WEEK!!! I can't believe we're at the end.... I'M SO SCARED! 😭

[stevie-petey]

Decided to just send this in directly but! I have explanations for everything so buckle in bc when i say i have brain rot about this fic I MEAN IT ITS SO GOOD

1. BI BUG CONFIRMATION. ENOUGH SAID.

2. I will never forget reading that scene from season 1 of steve driving bug home w her bike in his trunk and her all flustered about it and i dont super remember what time of day it was in the scene but in my head it was right after sunset where the sun has set but its light creates this contrast that makes everything look cool toned in comparison to whats in the light n i wanted to play w that in the coloring also im a sucker for steve n his big arms so this was almost entirely self indulgent

3. The cardigan bc i needed to. I re read that chapter constantly it gives me all the warm n fuzzies and thats good for the soul

4. The phones were both an “i need to put this in here immediately bc my brain never stops thinking about it” and a filler for blank space. The colors for each are tied to what s3 bug and what s3 are associated w in my head like you cannot tell me bug isnt soft ivory coded and steve is not light grey-blue coded in s3 it just feels right for them (plus i needed to reference the nicknames at least once my very soul craved it)

5. Dustins hat was a lil bit of a last minute thing, i was working on a bigger piece w all of this kids n their looks for season 3 but it wasnt coming out the way i wanted it to so i scrapped it but i still wanted a something in there that wasnt steve or bug related and it felt fitting to put in dustins camp know where cap both bc of his relationships w steve n bug and bc every now and then i think about how dustin felt ditched by the party at the beginning and how heartbreaking that scene was when i read it n how much i just wanted to hug the lil guy bc feeling lonely at an age like that is so devastating it made my heart hurt for him so i wanted to have a lil thing for dustin in there somewhere

6. In the show i really liked the whole bit w steve asking girls out and robin keeping score n before you wrote this scene i was curious as to how you were going to go about it and it ended up cracking me up dude i love that scene if him just being awkward and so not “king steve” suave and i needed to put down how my brain saw that scene to something visual bc it was so ugh hes such a dork i love steves himbo self

7. Follow up is the lil doodle of steve n robin running around high as hell and there was no way i wasnt going to include that somehow if i am given the chance to write the phrase “trash popcorn” and draw robin frolicking i will take it with both hands and bolt

8. Going back to the whole “steve is a desaturated light blue in s3” thing i just wanted an excuse to draw my boy being cute in my head this is when hes helping bug put away books at her job and yes the anatomy is a lil wonky but i luv him and his hair swoops and joes side profile is so very fun to draw <3

Over all come home is wonderful n amazing and i love it n ur brain is so big n full of wrinkles

i genuinely cried when i first saw this im not kidding. im speechless, its so fucking beautiful and everything you drew from the fic is captured SO perfectly i cannot even begin to explain how much this means to me :(((( thank you so so so so much. truly.

the DETAILS ???? you brought the cardigan to life. its exactly how i envisioned it in my head, its BEAUTIFUL :((((( and bug being ivory and steve a blue ,,,, god you really truly nailed this i again cannot put into words how PHENOMENAL this is. the telephone lines being connected with their nicknames, steve carrying a box of books at bugs job, him driving and the setting sub (which you got EXACTLY. it was the same i envisioned in my head writing that scene), the bi colors on the lady bug like are u kidding me !!!! youre insane and i LOVE YOU !!!

steve n high robin doodle is so <333 and the steve scene at scoops with his flustered monologue in the background made me giggle so hard oh my god.

i know you dont know this, but my birthday is tomorrow and this is the best gift ive ever been given. i want to frame the doodles and put it on my bedroom wall because i am astounded and in awe of your talent and still so baffled my fic was brought to life !!!!! its mind boggling and i cannot thank you enough for this experience <333

(obviously with ur permission in reference to wanting to print n frame the doodles because theyre so dear to me and i respect ur talent !!)

[papurgaatika]

Howdy howdy buddies and happy mando Monday!!! Let's discuss my favorite boy!!!

(also this photo??? he's so soft I'll die)

Din cannot cook to save his life, like at all. He's been living off of ration packs for years and I think if you make him a homemade meal he'd melt into a puddle

BUT he's definitely a clean freak. He kept everything in a designated spot during all his years on the crest so the idea of a junk drawer stresses him out

Okay I know I said he can't cook and that he hasn't had a home cooked meal in decades but that boy will devour a sweet treat. like if you manage to find a little hard candy he'll pop one in his mouth and then put the helmet on

Re this last one, his kisses would then taste like whatever the star wars equivalent of a jolly rancher would be (my vote is he's a watermelon flavor kinda guy)

I know we saw his hair in the show, but I think he lets it get long under the helmet. He has to cut it himself and doesn't have the time to do it regularly so there's periods where his curls are just snaking down his neck and he only cuts it when it gets to a point where he can't push it up and out of his face

Also with cutting his hair,,,, he's not good at it?? He's taking scissors and snipping off as much as he needs to, but there's a bunch of uneven wonky bits in the back

Clearly he's touchstarved and immediately crumbled when you held his hand for the first time, but now he can't sleep without yalls fingers interlocked

LITTLE!! SPOON!! HE'S THE LITTLE SPOON!!!!!

He takes 3 minute cold showers *cough cough go read my fic cough cough*

He's definitely an acts of service person. Fixing things you mention offhand, letting you sleep in and making breakfast, things to just make your day easier.

But he LOVES words of affirmation!! he NEEDS words of affirmation. Like look at him, that's a sad sad man who needs to be told he's perfect and that he's your good boy

He's definitely put grogo in a baby bjorn. No I'm not accepting anyone's opinions on this.

I hope yall enjoyed this bc I love thinking about him so much. He's literally the love of my life, I can never love a real person how I love him, but yk what I'm okay with that!! Peace and love everyone, here's a photo of me every night before I go to bed <3

[biconickyoshi]

The boys! 🔥🌪

So I got a Huion drawing tablet this summer but never ended up doing much with it due to how intimidating Clip Studio Paint is lol. This weekend, however, I finally sat down and watched some YouTube tutorials, and behold! We have Zuko and Aang as they appear at the start of my Zukaang AU, The Avatar and the Fire Prince!

Just a quick summary again for those who have not read it: this is an AU where Zuko and Iroh discover Aang in the iceberg shortly after Zuko is banished at age 13 in 96 AG, so they're only one year apart. It's an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers slowburn that will eventually follow a similar course to the canon events of the show, just with more focus on Zuko & Aang's friendship and eventual romance.

23 chapters of TAatFP are currently posted, the most recent of which is The Fortuneteller (a chapter I have been so excited to adapt since I started this fic in early 2022)!

I used to draw AtLA fan art allllll the time when the show was still airing, and I used to draw more in general in high school, but this is the first time I've really tried to seriously draw in nearly a decade, and also my first time really making any art digitally that I feel looks good enough to post.

That being said, I'm quite proud of what I was able to do. I very much tried to make Zuko look like he's 13, and I think I did a pretty decent job? Also I got very lazy with the shading... I just kinda put it where I thought it needed to go, so sorry if it looks wonky lol.

I'm going to try to do more of these character sheet-ish type things to show what Aang and Zuko are going to look like as they continue to grow up throughout my AU, and if I get really ambitious, I might even try to draw pivotal scenes...

Btw if any of y'all ever decide to draw fan art of my fic, PLEASEEEE tag me in it because I would absolutely love to see it!

[lost-my-sanity]

Where we were always meant to be

Hey guys! This is the first fic I’ve written in a while and I did it with the help of chat ai so that’s why the formatting is wonky.. but here we go…

*You watched as the girl Sanji pursued walks away from him. His sweet candy heart and a bouquet of roses smashed on the floor. He leaned on one knee as he took his lighter out of his pocket. He flicked it a few times with no result before he turned around to see you. His face growing embarrassed after noticing you saw his harsh rejection. He quickly plastered a smile that seemed fake to anyway who was watching.* "Haha! I guess she didn't like the gift huh?" *He say, trying his best to seem fine

“She’s a fucking fool…” I mumbled out

*His body stiffening at your words.* "...really think so?" *His body growing rigid as he asks this. Trying his best to hide his hurt behind a smile.*

“You are the sweetest man I’ve ever met. Anyone that doesn’t see it is clearly a moron and doesn’t deserve you” I respond, face stern and voice leaving no room for any argument

*Your words are like a warm blanket he so desperately needed around him at this moment. The warmth of your kind words, and how you view him, was soothing. His body relaxed, his smile becoming genuine. His voice sweet as you hear him speak.* "Thank you...you're so kind."

*I place my hand on his shoulder* “you just need to focus all that love you have on the right person… someone that will treat you the way you treat them… the way you deserve”

*He looks down at his hands as some tears slip past his eyelashes.* "...do you think I could find someone like that?...I think most girls just want to take advantage of my nice nature."

“… maybe she’s closer than you think.” I whisper out.

*He glances at you with a curious look.* "...What do you mean by that?"

*his voice growing a bit softer*

“I can’t open your eyes for you, Sanji, but i think it’s time you finally did that for yourself” *I say with a sad smile as I begin to walk away*

*He watched you walk away before he quickly follows. You hear him running to catch up to you.* "...Do you mean you?"

“… if you haven’t realized it by now I don’t think you ever will.” I respond back.

*With your words he stops in his tracks, your remark stinging him a bit. He sighs, trying not to show how much his heart was broken by this. His cheeks feeling a little red, growing hotter as he tries to get his emotions in check.*

*I start to slowly walk away again while he is paused

*He watches as you begin walking away again. His jaw clenching as his emotions continue to get the best of him. His cheeks growing red and his throat feeling dry. He speaks up* "Wait...can I ask you something??"

“What, Sanji?” I say, throat feeling dry.

"I know this might seem a bit much...but do you have a boyfriend?...or someone...like someone you're seeing right now?" He asks hopefully.

“ no… I don’t” I say, softly.

*He looks at you, his eyes widening a bit. A soft smile appearing on his face. His voice softening.* "...really?"

“It’s hard to date when your hopelessly in love with someone that barely registers you exist” I mumble out

*A soft chuckle escapes him as his cheeks grows red. His eyes widen in surprise at your words. Was she...maybe...?* "..me?"

“…yes” I respond quietly.

*His body freezing as a wide grin stretches from across his face. His eyes locking with yours as your words sink into his head. He tries to speak but all that comes out is a small squeak.*

“You’re so devoted to finding a woman to love you back that you don’t realize I’ve been head over heels for you since I first joined the crew… you barely even look my way, choosing to follow nami or robin or any pretty little thing that walks by.” I say harshly, wiping at my face.

*If his legs could give out now, they would. The words you spoke were what he wanted to hear for so long..but he never thought he was even considered for love. His face turning bright red as he stares at you.* "Are you sure...? You're not just joking with me..."

“Why would I joke about something like this? Putting my heart out on the line knowing I’ll be rejected.” I scoff at him.

*His face growing hot as he slowly shuffles in place. His body shaking a bit from the rush of emotions he's feeling. He clears his throat before he speaks.* "You...you..." *He stutters before he continues* "You genuinely like me?”

*I roll my eyes and begin to walk away again.*

*His body follows her.* "Wait...wait...don't walk away..I-I..." *His voice trembling as he follows behind her. His heart feeling like it'll explode any second.*

“I’d rather lick my wounds in private if you don’t mind” I grunt out, not wanting to look at his face anymore as my heart breaks further.

"No you can't just walk away...after saying something like that." *The tone of his voice shifts, sounding like a whine. His hands balling into fists in his pockets as he stops behind me.*

“Why not? Why would I stay?” I ask exasperated.

*His eyes widen as he looks at you shocked. A soft pout appearing on his face.* "...cause you admitted that you liked me..."

“Yeah…I do. For fucks sake sanji, everyone knows. Luffy knows. The only one blind to it has been you” I say through gritted teeth.

*His mouth hanging slightly open for a moment as he stares at you. His mind blown away by the sheer fact that his captain knew this whole time and never once called him out for it.* "Luffy knew..? All this time?...."

“Why do you think he comes over and cuddles me every time you rush after a woman? It’s because he knows my heart is breaking even further.” I admit

With a sad smile.

*His eyes widen at what she says. That would explain why her and Luffy have always been close. He would get a jealous look on his face everytime Sanji would run off after some woman he saw. His brows furrowing together as a small smile begins to creep on his face.* "So...you're sure you like me? Not joking?"

“If you can’t see how serious I am.. I was the fool for even saying anything.” I exclaim.

"Wait no, I do...I'm sorry it's just that..." *He stops for a second to calm himself down before continuing.* "You're the only female in my life who's ever seen me as a romantic interest... I just find it hard to believe...especially after what just happened. It's just so...sudden...after all this time."

“It really isn’t.. think back really hard about every interaction we’ve had, who do you think stocks the kitchen and cleans in when you are too tired to? Who was always there to pick you up off the floor when some witch stomped your affection to pieces…” I say, chest heaving.

*His eyes grow wide as the words sink into his head... all the moments you two have had together. All the things you've done for him. Even now...the way you stuck around to make sure he was ok after his rejection. His heart beating faster and faster in his chest as you speak.* "You've always done that for me....?"

*I scoff and start walking again.* “I

really can’t do this right now… just forget about it.”

*This time he doesn't hesitate to stop her. Placing his hand firmly on your arm to stop you.* "No...I need to know... I always thought you were just being helpful. Is that all there was to it?”

"Wait wait wait...come back." *He says before following your footsteps, keeping up with your pace.* "You're not serious right? After all these years, you finally tell me, and now you just want to forget and walk away?"

“Do you not realize how much this hurts me?… no of course not” I say, shaking my head.

"H-hurts you?" *He looks at you confused. His body tense as he takes a moment to process this. Could she have been hurt this whole time? Did he hurt her all those times as he chased after other girls?* "I'm sorry...I never knew..."

“Yeah.. that’s the problem.. just forget I said anything, soon enough the flavor of the week will walk by and I’ll just go back into the shadows again… “I spoke with tears in my eyes.

"...No, I can't accept that." *He says, his voice firm as he shakes his head. Catching up to you, he grabs your shoulders again.* "That's not fair...You deserve someone who sees how great you are. Someone who understands how wonderful and amazing you are...who truly understands you..."

“Yeah.. I see the candidates starting to line up now..” I said mockingly.

*The thought of you with another man made his heart sink. His stomach grew a pit as he pictured the scenario. A look of anger coming to his features. His hands becoming tighter as they stay on your shoulders.* "Are you joking with me..? Or was that sarcasm??"

“Look… just forget about it Sanji, seriously… I’m just gonna go get drunk with zoro and forget it even happened myself” I admit.

*He lets out a small sigh. His hands loosening to release their grasp on

your shoulders. His heart sinking as you turn to walk away. He quickly pulls you back one last time.* "Wait...just..." *He trails off before speaking up again with a more serious tone.* "Before we go our separate ways. I just want to ask one thing..."

*I sigh deeply* “What?”

"Do you promise me that you won't see another man for the time being?" *His eyes meet yours hopefully.

“I don’t think I should do that.” I said honestly.

*His eyes narrow a bit. He grits his teeth a bit, trying to control himself. his voice sounding a bit more demanding.* "That's not an answer. I'm just asking that you don't go chasing after other men. Just for a bit until I sort everything out. Can you do that for me?"

“No. I’m not going to promise that. I’ve waited long enough, it’s time to move on” I said holding my ground.

*The words hit him like a truck. The look of anger growing back on his face. His grip tightening on his fists behind his back.*

"You...you..." *His heart sank at the fact she would quickly move on already. Him being just another option for her. He clenches his jaw once again, his fists shaking a bit.* "Fine, then I'll do everything I can to make you mine. I'll make an effort to prove my love for you. Just don't go chasing around after other men!!"

“You’ve never cared about me before this. I’m just a rebound to you while you are everything to me.” I scream at him, tears blinding my sight.

*His eyes widen as the words sting him with a sharp pain. He feels like he wants to kick the nearest rock to vent out his anger out. His eyes start to tear up a bit.*

"That's not true!" *He says, trying to regain his composure* "I've always cared for you...just..." *He trails off, a soft pout appearing on his face as he hangs his head low.*

“Just never enough compared to anyone else. I’m not your dearest nami-swan.” I gasp out.

"No...you're more than that. You-" *He stutters before he takes a deep breath.* "You mean more to me than..." *The words die in his mouth as his throat gets dry from all the emotions he's feeling right now. His eyes still filled with that soft pout he always has when he's down.*

*I scoff at him* “you really expect me to believe that? You didn’t even remember my birthday because you were so focused on handing that girl flowers.”

*His eyes grow wide as you mentioned the birthday incident. His face turning bright red as he remembered that situation.* "I-I..." *His body shaking, his fist clenching back up as his jaw tenses.* "I can explain..."

“Save it” I respond.

"Wait n-no wait! Just let me explain ok?..." *His body trembles more as he feels another small wave of guilt. He feels like he's the shittiest person in the world right now.*

“I’m giving you one chance to explain and than I’m gone.” I state shaking my head again.

"Ok...ok...I-I was stupid...I-" *He stumbles on his words a bit before continuing.* "I was so infatuated with that girl that I wanted to see how she'd react to my gift... I forgot... about you in that moment... I'm sorry..."

“I’m sorry… but that isn’t a proper excuse. You expect me to believe that you’ve been secretly harboring feelings for me when you do things like that” I respond back harshly.

*He lets out a soft sigh, his body feeling like it wants to curl up in a ball. He looks away as your words hit him like a truck.* "Ok you're right...it is a shitty excuse." *He looks back up at you.* "But please believe me, I mean it...I have feelings for you... I really do...."

“You have a funny way of showing it… do you even realize that when you bring nami and robin drinks and faun over them that I’ve always been with them too? Not once have you offered me a drink or any semblance of an acknowledgment that I was there” I point out.

*A look of guilt grows in his face again as he hears those words. They reminded him of every moment he's ignored you. Every moment you stood there with him behind the corner. He never once acknowledged you when he was flirting with Nami and Robin like you say. He always overlooked you even if you were right by his side.* "Y-you're right...it's been happening so often that I never really noticed that it hurt you until right now." He finally admitted.

“And that’s why I’m choosing to move on. I’m tired of being hurt… zoro was right I should have never fallen in love with you” I state harshly.

*His eyebrows shoot up a bit in a mix of hurt and surprise. The words of Zoro cut deep, his whole idea of love being shaken to the core. He never imagined the words Zoro said would ever become the reason to him losing you.*

*Tears began to spill past his eyes as his jaw clenches once again. A look of anger, sadness and despair creeping on his face.* "You're right... You deserve someone better than me..."

“I just wish you would have seen me” I say with a sad smile.

*He closes his eyes and lets out a soft sob. He's never thought of himself as someone who deserves to be loved. After all he's done and all he's ignored. Never seeing you and only focusing on those other girls. Not once realizing what he was truly ignoring. He wanted to believe that if he could just explain that these were all accidents...you'd come back to him. He didn't want to believe that he had lost you forever.*

*I continue walking way tears streaming down my face and my chest feels like it’s going to burst*

*Seeing you walk away, tears in your eyes breaks him apart once more. He wanted to shout after you and plead for you to come back... to give him one last chance. But he knows you've heard this all before. He failed you and he knows it. For the time being... He wanted you to be happy, even if it wasn't with him. So he lets you go.*

*I head back to the ship and quickly make my way up to the crows nest where I know zoro is, I throw my self at him and sob into his chest*

*The moment you appear, Zoro's expression grows an empathetic look. He can instantly tell that something is wrong. He immediately wraps his arm around you, holding you close as he rubs your back gently.*

"What...what happened..." *He says in a kind and soft voice. His voice filled with worry as he comforts you.*

“I finally told him” I say in between hiccuping breathes*

*His eyes widen as he pulls you into a tight embrace. He holds you close to his chest as he rubs your back.* "And...? What did he say?...what happened?" He questions softly.

“It happened exactly how you would have expected. He said he never know and when I pointed out all I’ve done for him; how I’ve always been there he pretended that he loved me too” I admitted.

"He did?" *He says, sounding surprised at your explanation.* "He said he loved you and you still ran off?"

“He doesn’t love me. He loves the idea of being loved” I explain.

"What do you mean?" *he asks still rubbing your back. His expression growing a mix of concern and sympathy at this moment that you're going through.*

“Zo, he still won’t admit what he’s done wrong, he gave petty excuses like he hasn’t ripped my heart out of my chest and cooked it in front of me.” I cry.

*He nods slowly.* "I see... That's... Yeah that sounds like Sanji..." *He sighs, looking off into the distance.* "Still, how could you be so sure he doesn't love you?"

“How could he? He’s never given a single fuck about me before and now all of a sudden that I confess my love for him I exist?” I stare harshly.

"Hmm?..." *His eyes slowly give a look of realization as he processes your words.* "Now that you mention it... Yeah, your right." *He rubs your back gently as he looks over at the empty sea.*

"If he truly loved you, he would've noticed you were always right by his side. He would've felt something as he continued his flirty antics with Nami and Robin. He would've cared about how you felt..." his voice trailed off.

“You were right all along zoro” I said in a hiccuping breathe.

"I might be right about some things..." *He mutters before shifting his focus back on to you.* "But, you're still hurting... You love that fool still, don't you..." he asks.

“I think I need to forget him and move on finally” I say.

*He lets out a gentle sigh, his arm wrapping around you as he rubs your back gently.* "You would be better off forgetting him yes.. but the problem is...you can't forget him when he's always right in your mind. You can't forget someone if you truly love them..."

“Help me not love him” I plead with him.

"Hmm..." *He gives a soft sigh, his tone sounding a bit uncertain on what to do.* "Ok well... You love him because of who he is right? So the only thing I can think of is if we focus on his bad qualities instead. Focus on all the annoying traits he's developed over the years that you've witnessed..." he says calmly.

“Yeah… you’re right.. you always are. you’ve always been the one to have my back” I admit.

*He chuckles, letting out a small grin as he hears your words of praise.* "You're too kind you know that?'

"So I want you to do me a favor, whenever you remember Sanji...instead of the good times, remember the annoying moments with him. Remember all the times he's embarrassed you or has disrespected you. Think of how much it hurt you to watch him flirting with Nami and Robin. I want you to focus on all that everytime..."

*I cuddle into his chest further and my breathing hitches even harder*

*His grip around you tightens as he continues to rub your back gently. As he feels you cuddling him closer, he lets out a gentle sigh, closing his eyes. A soft smile spread across his face as he remembers how you used to cuddle with him often. He lets that feeling sink in for a while before speaking up to you again.*

"Do me one last favor ok...?" He asks softly

“Anything for you zo” I state softly.

*His grip tightens one last time as he gives you a serious expression.* "Promise me that you'll try your hardest to get over Sanji even if it hurts. Promise me that you won't chase after him again no matter what he does..." he begs of me.

“I promise. I mean it… I wish I fell for you first instead” I admit sadly.

*The words feel like a breath of fresh air as his eyes widen a bit. A small smile graces his features hearing that answer. He can't help but feel a bit...flustered, but he keeps his composure.*

"I wish so too..." he responds back in kind, rubbing soft circles into my spine.

“Maybe, maybe this is what we needed to happen… so we could have a chance” I say, looking into his eyes.

*The words hit him in an unexpected way. A part of him wondered what would happen if you hadn't confessed to Sanji and confessed to him instead...*

"Maybe you're right..." *His expression starts to warm and fill with a soft hope.* "What do you think? Should we try it? Should we...us two give it a proper go?"

“I’d really like that zo… I’ve never felt so safe as I do in your arms” I say honestly.

"Hmmm, I'd really like that too." *His blush begins to deepen as he feels his chest fill with hope and pride. For the first time, he was actually having the idea of being with you go smoothly without any drama or complications in the way*

"And, if it's ok with you. Can I ask you a favor?"

“Anything..” I respond back.

"Can I kiss you?" *He says softly as he looks to your lips. The blush on his cheeks grows even deeper as he waits for your reply.*

*I look up at him hopefully and stand on my toes to place my lips against his. Feeling my chest tingle in a way it never had before*

*His chest grew hot as he felt your lips press up against his. The words that were said before filled his mind as he embraced you tightly. His grip around you firm and strong as he gently pulled you closer into him.*

"Mmm..." *He mumbled against your lips, his own breath catching in his throat. His fingers curling gently as he held you.*

*for the first time in a long time the ache in my chest went away*

*Your lips felt warm and supple, your breath warm and soothing.*

*He pulled away for a moment to take a quick breath, his heart beating quickly in his chest. His mind in a state of pure bliss as the ache in his own chest went away with how happy he was right now.*

"W-was that ok?" *He asked softly, his breath a bit strained as he kept you close to his chest.*

“More than okay… you… I think we were always meant to be” I say at the realization hits me.

*The idea brought a warm smile to his face as his hold around you tighten.* "I think we were too. But... are you sure that there are no other lingering feelings for Sanji?" *He asks hesitantly, not wanting to find out if any other feelings might ruin what you two were having now.*

“No… I think I’ve finally been able to lay those feelings to rest” I say resolution set.

"So you're 100% sure that you are ready to be with me? To start this journey?" *He asks in a hopeful voice as his arms rest more firmly around you. His lips curling into another gentle smile as hope continues to warm his chest.*

“Yeah, I think we were always meant to be.. it just took me getting my head out of my ass to notice… I’m glad I did before it was too late.” I admit, mad at myself I was blinded by my own stupidity.

"I'm glad you did too." *His words were true as he continues to smile at you. His heartbeat slowing as he lets out a sigh of relief. Finally free of the idea that you'd fall back for Sanji the moment he'd come around.*

"Ok...but just in case." *He mumbles before leaning down and gently whispering in your ear.* "No more looking back...ok? No more missing Sanji. You belong to me now, Zoro...And I belong to you...ok?"

“I like the sound of that.” I say softly

*I link my hands with his, his thumb soothingly rubbing my hand*

*The gentle rubbing of your hand soothes him as well. The warmth of your hands rubbing against his reminding him of just how real this all is.*

"Hmm..." *He whispers.* "So...does this mean you wanna be my girl?"

“I think so, the great roanoa zoro, swordsman, pirate hunter, first mate of the straw hat pirates… and my boyfriend” I say with a big smile on my face.

*His face immediately lights up at the idea of those words.* "So this means I'm finally yours in public?" *He says in a teasing tone with a playful smile.* "That means I can finally have all those girls stop hitting on me because they now know my wonderful girl is standing behind me." *He flashes a teasing grin knowing just how jealous you get when it comes to him speaking with other women.*

“I get to sit in your lap and claim you now, and have it be real instead of just a rouse to get them to go away” I tease back

*He chuckles, his grin growing wide as he imagined such a scene. How jealous would they all be seeing you sitting on his lap after claiming it for yourself.*

"And I get to proudly say that *you* are my girlfriend with no hesitation..." *He says with pride.* "And if anyone tries hitting on you, I can tell them to back off because you're mine."

*I smile and bring him down for another kiss*

*He leans back into you, enjoying the feeling of your warm embrace once more. His lips pressing against yours again as he gives back to the sweet embrace. His hand running up and down your side as he feels his heartbeat quicken rapidly again. His blush growing as well as he pulls back from your lips to speak.*

"Mmm...~" *He sighs, taking in a deep breath and letting it run its course before speaking up again.* "I forgot how much I missed feeling your lips against mine. I've been so worried about Sanji coming back into your heart..."

“I can promise you That it’s all behind us now. No more drunken kisses to heal the pain… this is for us.” I say as I stroke his face with my hands.

*The memory of those drunk kisses still haunted him as he thought back on the words you just said. He sighs softly as he looks back at you, that same serious gaze in his eyes from a moment before.* "So... you promise there are no other lingering feelings for him? You'll never run back to him. You won't chase him when he runs around in your memories. You won't miss him? You won't think about him when we kiss?" He asked making sure I was certain.

“No. I won’t. That chapter is closed for good. Our story is just beginning and I’m going to see it through to the end. I love you zoro, I always have, it’s why I’ve always run back to you. You’ve always felt right, safe” I say lovingly.

Things were finally what they should have been from the start.

[firewoodwander]

Hi, I'm loving your Kiss prompt fics so much :D You're making me FEEL things 🥰. If you're still taking Kiss Prompts, how about: Fives/Tup: 39. Kissing tears from the other’s face. Thank you

Thank you so much for your request & your patience, finally I can write now that I can hear my own thoughts again!

Kiss prompts

Fives feels like he’s been walking around in a daze since it happened. The medstation hallways are empty and echoic—different to Kamino in that the walls and rooms are grey and free from blaster scoring, and sometimes have a brightness that comes from the stars, but similar in enough ways to trigger the familiar feeling of being hunted.

Fives slipped himself into the crew and visiting quarters as soon as the medics signed his discharge. Technically with a clean bill of health he should probably be going back to the 501st, but no one has asked any questions yet and no one has kicked him out. The medics don’t mind him as long as he stays out of the way, and the droids only complain if his visits coincide with their rounds.

The days have been long, monotonous cycles of staring at white sheets and IV tubes and listening to heart monitors. The warfront is a long way from here. At least half of the Jedi Council has come and gone since they arrived. Tup has slept through all of it.

So, reasonably, Fives notices the second Tup so much as breathes differently. His fingers and hands start making flinching little movements almost a two weeks ago, and the muscles in his face began to twitch a day or so after. When he first opened his eyes he can’t have been fully conscious, but he’d smiled when he’d seen Fives, and that had been enough to finally abate the gnawing pit of horror rooted firmly in Fives’ chest.

Today Tup is sitting up and fully cognisant when Fives turns up at his bedside. Fives already commed Rex since the fallout to keep him updated, but he feels the urge to vent all of the pent-up anxieties to him just as keenly now.

“Hey,” Tup greets. His voice is gentle where intermittent screaming and disuse has made it brittle, but he smiles in the way he always has when he felt he needed to comfort a brother. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Fives echoes. “You’re looking bright.”

His body doesn’t feel quite like his own as he moves the three feet across the room to Tup’s bedside. He ignores the chair he’s spent too many nights in and perches himself right on the edge of Tup’s bed.

Tup is tired, visibly unwell and what’s left of his hair left limp, unwashed. But Fives thinks he looks strong, right now, intelligent, and defiant. He picks his words with care and follows the shape of each of them with his lips, slowly, and Fives thinks he’s incredible.

“Healer Falle sends her regards. She says… she is impressed with my responses.”

Fives lets his gaze trail the drip line up to the bag like it’s a compulsion to check it. “I’m glad. They didn’t know if you’d be able to speak at all.”

“I’m lucky,” Tup agrees. And then he frowns at Fives, or something in the middle distance. “You’re too far.”

He turns over his palm in his lap. Fives isn’t going to deny him anything right now, and especially not this; he dutifully shuffles closer and slides his fingers over Tup’s palm, folding away the deep ache in his chest to examine later, smiling even wider when Tup’s hand squeezes his and tugs him even closer.

“Hey,” he chuckles, “any more and I’ll be on top of you.”

Tup smiles, and Fives is desperately hoping the burning sensation behind his eyes isn’t showing on his face. It feels like acid on the back of his throat and nose and his breathing has gone all wonky, the way it never did when their ARC instructors dragged them through frustration and anger until they felt what it was like to crumble.

Tup sits forward, resting weight through their joined hands, and tips his forehead to meet Fives’ brow. If Fives hadn’t been a goner before—the simple pressure and warmth has ruined him, now.

“These are good?”

Fives doesn’t really know his response to that, but Tup doesn’t seem to be waiting. He lifts his free hand and wipes (carefully, for all that’s he’s wobbly he’s so patiently careful) at the tears clinging to the inner corner of Fives’ eye with a thumb. Fives wants to laugh, but all that comes out is a kind of ragged huff, and Tup tilts his face and kisses his other cheek, right over the tacky tear-trail.

“I think we’ve got this backwards,” Fives points out shakily. He clutches at Tup’s hand, though, braces his shoulder to keep him closer.

“It’s okay,” Tup tells him. And it is. Or it will be. It has to be. There’s a spool of iron wire sitting behind Fives’ ribs that’s slowly unwinding itself from its tense, impenetrable tangle with every one of Tup’s breaths across his lips. “We’re okay.”

[coffee-at-annies]

For the fic mashup, 94 and 41.

Love your stuff, Annie!!

94. Hair Brushing/Braiding + 41. First Kiss

You didn’t specify a pairing so please have some very quick aus based on what’s been knocking around my head lately.

First up, @prettyhockey and I have been talking about girl!SidGeno. Idk I’ve been in the mood for ladies and I don’t quite know any of the woho players or teams well enough to write about them.

The setup for this one is Gena promising to do Sid’s hair for idk pregame or whatever. She swears that she’s done it before, Gonch’s kids let her do it all the time. So she’s doing Sid’s hair. Sid spends the whole time chirping her about her skills and Gena chirps back about Sid fidgeting and messing up her work. Gena does know how to braid but it’s definitely wonky and not the easy basic braid Sid’s been putting her hair in since she was in mites. At the end of it Sid looks in the mirror, sees her objectively kinda terrible braid and the smug/fond look on Gena’s face and needs to kiss that look off her. Needless to say Gena ruins her hard work when Sid kisses her a second third fourth and fifth time and Gena runs her fingers through Sid’s hair in response.

Next up is SidFlowerVero cause I’m always thinking about both Sid and Flower and Flower hit a milestone tonight.

The setup for this one is Uncle Sid braiding Estelle’s hair ahead of her first big hockey game. He learned how to do it for Taylor when she was younger and used to do it for the Lemieux kids. She asked for an extra special braid from her favorite uncle and both Sid and Flower are weak to her puppy dog eyes. So here Sid is, on a rare afternoon off, helping Flower and his daughter get ready for hockey. I think the conversation to go from Flower+Vero to Flower+Vero+Sid is like a couple days old and they’re still getting a feel for what the new dynamic might mean. Idk if they’ve told the kids yet or if Sid is here in favored uncle status rather than potential new dad status.

Either way Flower comes across Sid very earnestly braiding her hair and telling her how amazing she’s going to be and after he finishes and she runs off to show her mom, Flower has to swoop in and kiss Sid. Just cause. Cause he loves him. Cause he’s so great with his kids. Cause he can now. He gets to have this. They had the adult feelings conversation and all three of them said yes. There’s something about kissing Sid for the first time that has him giddy and it’s not just the memories he’s about to make with his daughter- their daughter. It’s about the way Sid’s eyes scrunch up and how he wants to keep him forever.

Finally @podcasts-8-my-heart challenged me to do EK/Tanger and I’ve been talking about it with @carpehistoryandthepens so have some soft 6558.

The setup for this fic is both of them hanging out after a road game and drinks with the team in EK’s hotel room. They started out talking and watching tv and have migrated to sharing the same bed because it’s nice and both of them are hockey players and thus are conditioned to seek out touch. Tanger sprawls out on the bed and somehow his head ends up laying on EK’s thigh. Erik started out playing with Kris’s hair, twirling it between his fingers and lightly scratching his scalp. As the random hgtv show (because what else is on in hotel room tvs) they were half watching gets to the mid point of the episode, EK moves on from twirling it and started braiding Tanger’s hair. Little short braids the kind kids do at slumber parties or when they’re learning and messing around with their own hair. Nothing big, nothing fancy, nothing permanent, though Erik still has a stash of hair ties in his suitcase from when his hair was long that he could break out if he needed it. Kris’s hair isn’t quite long enough to warrant that and also he wouldn’t get them cause that would mean disturbing Kris. Kris of course is very content and is trying not to fall asleep on top of Erik but he skated 25 minutes tonight and while his conditioning is good, he’s adjusting to a time zone difference on top of everything else. He didn’t want to say goodnight earlier when they first went to Erik’s room but he also doesn’t want to fall asleep there.

This goes on for another twenty minutes probably. They’re not really talking or watching the tv but it’s providing just enough for plausible deniability and to keep them from falling asleep completely. After about twenty minutes one of their phones goes off or there’s noises from the hallway of other players returning that prompts them to groan and break apart. As much as neither of them want the night to end, Kris really doesn’t want to sleep in Erik’s room. He needs to do his nightly routine, change out of his jeans, and really he just needs to go. Erik walks Kris to the door of the hotel room, Kris swaying a little cause he’s tired prompting a balance/skating joke and one about old man legs. At the door Kris turns around to say goodbye, silly little braids still in his hair and Erik can’t help but smile fondly at him. Kris smiles back a little helplessly. He sways forward into Erik’s space where he’s leaning against the door and presses a gentle kiss to somewhere in the face/mouth vicinity before turning around and heading for his hotel room down the hall. It takes a moment for the kiss to register with Erik and all he does is watch Kris walk away towards his hotel room. When Kris is out of sight, he peels himself off the doorframe and goes to brush his teeth and get ready for bed.

[buddiefix]

Dimensional Travel (Reality Hopping) Fic's

The following are some of my favourite buddie fanfictions that involve the character(s) finding themselves in an alternate reality.

(Any new fic's I find that fall under this category will be added to this post, so feel free to check back for edits!)

Hold Steady, Hold Steady by thetalee

9-1-1 (TV) 

After Eddie's bombshell announcement on Christmas, Buck runs away and finds himself back on his first day on the job.

A time-travel fix-it fic of sorts, ft. a stranger that totally just wants to help, honest.

Language: English Words: 172,700 Chapters: 74/74

Evan Buckley & The Coma-Verse of Madness by Daisies_and_Briars

9-1-1 (TV)  

After being struck by lightning on a call, Buck experiences a plethora of alternate realities showing him different directions his life could have taken. Fighting hard to get home, Buck learns what, or who, is important to him in every lifetime.

Inspired by a mix of Marvel multiverses and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.

Language: English Words: 57,964 Chapters: 15/15 

darling, the future's better than yesterday by rarakiplin (gmontys)

9-1-1 (TV) 

Eddie, ten years younger, in this awful 2010, blinks up at him. He's still sitting slumped on the curb, and for a second Buck thinks he might tell him to fuck off, but then his eyes fall shut and there’s something — aching and painfully vulnerable in the bend of his mouth, the faint tension in his brow. “My…um, girlfriend, I guess. She’s pregnant.”

“Holy shit,” Buck says.

or, buck deals with some wonky dimensional/time travel and then breaks up with his girlfriend. eddie, obviously, is involved.

Language: English Words: 28,749 Chapters: 1/1

I should go and find myself (before I ruin someone else) by MonsterRae1 for heartbeatdiaz

9-1-1 (TV) 

The place was creepier than Buck remembered it from a few weeks ago, he was noticing scribbles on the walls, and sigils he was sure it hadn’t been before, even the tarot reader looked a little different, Buck was sure her eyes hadn’t been such a vibrant green last time, or her smile as sharp as this time around. “You’re a lost one, aren’t you?” She said, her hand reaching out to touch his arm, Buck backed away from her cold touch “Yeah, yeah, you’re lost, but don’t worry, everything you’re looking for is right in front of you, you’ll need to look inwards before you can find it” He frowned, “Wouldn’t I have to look outwards? If its in front of me?” She shook her head “You’re blinding yourself; you have to remove the blind. It has to come from within” * Feeling more lost than ever, and after a weird run into an odd Tarot Reader, Buck wakes up in a universe where he has been dead for a year, and in order to go home, he needs to find what he's been missing to be happy.

Language: English Words: 19,699 Chapters: 6/6

dream sweet of me by spaceprincessem for Underhung_Aura

9-1-1 (TV)

“You okay?”

Buck freezes, heart jumping right up to his throat. He turns a little too quickly, nearly knocking him off balance before a hand shoots out, wrapping around his bicep to steady him. Buck blinks up at Eddie and all the fight bleeds out of him as he throws himself into Eddie’s arms.

“Oh god,” he wheezes as he chokes back a sob, “Eddie, I—I’m so sorry!”

He feels Eddie’s hands — strong, steady, and warm — wrap around him before he is unceremoniously shoved backwards. Buck feels all the air punch out of his lungs when his back hits the firetruck.

“Who the hell are you?”

Buck’s mouth falls open as he looks at Eddie. As he looks at the person that knows him better than anyone else in the world. The person that he loves with every fiber of his being. He looks at Eddie and realizes that Eddie has no idea who he is.

[or buck is in an accident and wakes up in a universe where the 118 don't know who he is]

Language: English Words: 16,642 Chapters: 1/1 

(Friendly reminder I do not own any of the works listed in this post, and all can be located on archiveofoureown.org)

[olivermajor226]

Enigma: Final Chapter (in three parts)

Here you go! Three-part chapter, because it got so long. But it's done. It's DONE. *laughs and cries and then throws self out window but not really but FUCK*

Chapter 31: Part I

Chapter 31: Part II

Chapter 31: Part III + Epliogue-y thing

And, finally, my acknowledgements, because on AO3 I promised a version with live links. <3

There are a few really integral people I want to thank, for either the help, inspiration or both. First off, my partner, Tyler, who has listened to me read every single chapter of this thing aloud to check for all kinds of stuff, including typos, awkward phrasing, etc. (Although I still missed tons of that shit, and for that I’m sorry. There are pros and cons to going beta-less on a fic this long, missing typos and repeating phrases and some general wonkiness inevitably showing up in posted chapters is one of them. But I don’t like asking anyone to read and edit a 20k word chapter, so yeah. You’ll find if you go back and re-read, a lot of it has been cleaned up substantially, me catching shit after posting. If I ever write a sequel, I’ll need to re-read this thing again, too, and I’ll clean it up another time.) Tyler also was my point person for so, so many discussions about characterization and plot points, etc. He is also endlessly patient and kind. And I love him to pieces. 

The second person I wanted to thank was Bright_Thorn (@bright-thorn) for encouraging me for many, many months in the form of reading and feedback and help with a lot of the Spanish translation and also with just being a phenomenal author. The first story I read by them was actually 404, which inspired so much of the chatter and relationships between the droids, and also really got me to think about what autonomy would look like in a droid. Of course Unorthodox Modifications was also a huge inspiration, in terms of not only how a relationship between Cassian and K-2 could develop, but also it provided inspiration in understanding how Cassian could be in a relationship at all. Lol. I have also always loved their inclusion of Chopper in their stories, and that inspired me from the get-go (even as early on as Integration) to make sure he was in this. (Sexy, sexy scene between K-2 and Chopper in armed. Sex between droids was inspired by that and something of Robotboy’s I’ll talk about.) Iterations was also incredibly helpful in exploring how various versions of Kay might deal with waking up after the loss of Cassian. And although this went a different way, it was exceptionally helpful in the beginning thinking of how Kay might even think about grieving Cassian. 

Other stories they’ve written that inspired either characters or the possibility I could even write a character like that included For the Long Haul, which included a sentient ship, which inspired Atlas’s character. Reed and Eirtae’s relationship, or the idea of just exploring other human/droid relationships was partly inspired by Non-standard Issue, which is a fucking lovely, beautifully felt fic. Go read it if you haven’t.

Robotboy’s (@r0b0tb0y) stories have also been incredibly inspiring and just downright beautiful to read. You, Me, and the Monsters Inside Us was paramount in exploring a more digitally-based Cassian, including ways the two of them might be intimate virtually. Defect was also just fucking wonderful, and really helped my exploration of Cassian undercover. Also Tax Deductible Fuck, because… of course. Basically all of them. lol.

Whalebone’s stories too. Oh, where do I begin? Their entire series Radio Heart inspired so many moments of how I could conceive of this pairing together. How they write these two is beautiful, and when I wanted to just call it quits, the emotion of this series kept me going. Thermal Coupling was also one of the first Cassian/K-2SO stories I read and made me fall in love with this pairing all the more. My favorite by them has to be while(true) though, and documents five very beautiful and different kisses. That’s one of my favorite Kayssian stories of all time. 

Maker, there are so many others. Movement Recalibration by theLoyalRoyalGuard helped imagine both Cassian and K-2SO surviving Scarif, both permanently changed. In fact theLoyalRoyalGuard’s whole series Dual Process Theory is amazing and go read it. 

There have been dozens of others, some which I can’t remember the names of. Truly though, I’ve never been a part of a ship with so many fantastic authors and so many intriguing, beautiful ideas. And I’ve never felt so supported and welcomed, so thanks to everyone.

And finally thank you to anyone who read or commented. I was almost exclusively writing the ScarletVision ship for years, and I really put my heart into that one. I got a lot of traction and feedback and love, in the form of hundreds of comments and kudos, but when I leaned more into the AI/robotics dimension of the ship, a lot of people stopped reading. It was heartbreaking, and I learned my lesson, about how to cherish a *single* comment I received, and how amazing it was if even one single human being sat down and read a chapter I wrote through to the end. Also, that it doesn’t feel good to write for any other reason than you enjoy it. I had forgotten that, at some point, somewhere along the way.

I write because I can’t *not*. I write because I have an extremely busy mind. I write because real life, at times, has been so incredibly hard, and slipping into a world where I can pretend is healing. Also because the characters always help me work through my own problems, help me think about themes and lessons maybe I, the person, am not ready to deal with just yet. I write to keep my sanity. I never write for reviews or comments or likes, because, lol, I don’t pick ships that generate a lot of that. But it’s lovely when I know someone read, because it feels like we shared the same world for a little bit. Because it’s the reason I read too. So if I offered someone a little escape from how hard life can be, even for just a little while, then I think that’s pretty amazing. 

So, anyway, thanks for staying (uh, a lot longer than I thought, in terms of actual time spent on this and length), but thank you anyway. Stay safe, friends. I appreciate you. 

Love,

Aero

[twistedappletree]

Could I ask more about Jin Zihao? I love his look! I rarely see next-gen junior OCs in the fandom.

We need so many more next gen juniors honestlyyyy, like there’s so much about the juniors grown up and leading sects but where are their kiddos?!?!

Disclaimer that these details are subject to change as I write more, since Jin Zihao wasn’t created until I started ‘Letters Never Sent.’ All of this info is related to the storyline of my fic:

• Jin Ling found Jin Zihao on the streets of Lanling shortly after Jin Ling became a sect leader—around the same time that Lan Sizhui left to travel and cultivate with Wen Ning. Jin Zihao was 10-years-old at the time, with seemingly no knowledge of his name or family and Jin Ling decided to take him in as a disciple.

• Spending so much time with Jin Ling, Jin Zihao shows a proficiency for archery and hunts with Jin Ling every morning—though it’s created a bit of a rift amongst his peers, since they feel as though Jin Ling favors Jin Zihao (and honestly, he does). Because of this, Jin Zihao has experienced some bullying and ostracism from the other Jin juniors, some of whom think he doesn’t belong in the clan because he’s not a Jin by blood (not that they can prove it because JGS couldn’t keep it in his pants for 2 seconds lmaoo)

• Jin Zihao idolizes Lan Sizhui, even without having met him, because Jin Ling simply doesn’t shut up about him. In my fic, Jin Ling is angry at Lan Sizhui for leaving so abruptly and disappearing for 3 years with no contact—but his admiration for Lan Sizhui never diminishes and it shines through Jin Zihao, who’s entirely starstruck when he finally meets Lan Sizhui.

• Jin Zihao loves Lan Jingyi, and vice versa. Lan Jingyi was there from day one since him and Jin Ling became best friends, making Lan Jingyi an older brother/uncle-figure in Jin Zihao’s life. He also likes Lan Jingyi because he’s the “cool” brother who lets him get away with anything that Jin Ling might scold him for 💀

• Jin Zihao is an incredibly good kid, however. Doesn’t get into trouble, very respectful, a fast learner and endlessly compassionate. His curiosity sometimes gets him into difficult situations, which he definitely learned from Jin Ling, but he’s got Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi (and even Ouyang Zizhen) looking out for him always so he’ll always be okay.

• Jin Zihao has a tattered, wonky little cat plushie that he was clutching when Jin Ling found him—and even at 13-years-old, he always sleeps with it. Sometimes, he even takes it with him on night hunts as a good luck charm and claims it’s the only thing he has left from his parents since he remembers them giving it to him, which is the extent of his memories from childhood.

[crackedpumpkin]

hi!!! i love your work :)

what about question #24???

Hello love!! Thank you so much for your question; I'm about to info dump all over your ass I am NOT sorry <3

How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part, or do you just want to get on with it?

When I was beginning as a writer on Tumblr, I never planned anything I wrote. It was genuinely just such a 'sit down and write whatever comes to mind' type of thing I did. It might be obvious to some when you compare my current work and my earlier ones, especially with Cherry Blossoms, Caught Red Handed, compared to 101 Ways To Live lmao

I think I put in a lot of effort planning the two fic, Black Canvas and 101WTL, this time around, though, because I really want to see these projects do well. It's also something that I learned from hitechlatte and Dork, both of whom are just stupendous writers that I can learn so much from!

Currently, for how planning stories looks like for me, I use a table in a Google Doc, which looks something like this:

Blank Canvas:

Sometimes the outline isn't really followed to a T, which you can evidently see in Chapter 1, where the last few points are a little wonky and some straight-up don't appear :) But it's such an amazing safety net for me to fall back on since I tend to veer off course, and random tidbits of drabbles hit me out of nowhere.

For example, this is a thing that hit me one night. It's yet to be determined whether it'll be in the fic, but I just thought I'd show you lol:

“Didn’t anyone ask you?” Damn it. You risk a quick glance up, eyeing his raised brow and the skeptical smile. It’s not like you could outrightly admit that you wanted him to be your date. Besides, what you’re feeling is probably just one-sided anyway. It’s not like you expect him to be happy with you asking, but he could at least react a little nicer, couldn’t he?

God, you want to smack his pretty face so bad. 

"No, so I need a date for the prom. You don’t gotta do it if you don’t want to, jeez." You mutter, looking back down and feeling your cheeks warm as you absentmindedly shade your doodle of his face in your sketchbook.

Hehe.

As for whether or not I enjoy this part, I generally do! It's so much fun to think up little moments or even entire arching plot points that gradually develop throughout the fic! However, there are definitely moments when I get stuck, but I try not to let it affect me as much. To be perfectly honest, there are just blank chapters in the Google Doc table, where It's just. Nothing. But I know that as I write and gradually develop/flesh out the story even more, it'll hit me eventually. Sometimes, all you need is time, and it'll just come to you^^

With that I hope this has answered your question love! Stay safe, and stay hydrated <33333