#this is basically what i imagined when we got this scene from That chapter

[inkedberries]

expanding on the thought of kudou getting the call sign 'hero' and afo getting irked by it for some reason

[admirationandromantics]

Reading Material

This was not a request, sorry, but I have been a bit overwhelmed lately, so will not post as much as usual. Anyways, this story is based on the thought of Josh finding out about the sexy smutty book you're reading, and basically how he would react. Hope you like it!

Word count: 1,1k (unedited)

I open the book, resuming on the page I left off. Luckily for me, the cover of it is quite discrete. At the same time, the sex-scenes weren’t many. The book overall is interesting, and has a good plot, but those types of scenes last for at least two chapters in one sitting, so I have to be careful when I read them. Who knows who might be peeking. The only person who usually does is Ashley, but she’s in another room with Chris and Matt, talking about some series or movie she recently watched.

I make myself comfortable on the sofa, knees coming up, tightly pressed together. The page turns, tension building up as the main characters get into it once again. My eyes are glued to the ink, failing to see the shadow behind me. I take it all in, imagining it in my head as they do their thing. What kind of position is that? I turn a page back, trying to make sense of it. One leg there, arms around his torso. Before I can understand it all, a hand comes down, taking a firm grip on the top of the book, snatching it out of my fingers. I yelp at the suddenness, turning quickly while trying to grab it back. 

“Hey!” 

“What do we have here?”

Josh takes a few steps back as I stand up and walk around the furniture. He smiles, turning back a few pages to see the start. I run at him, but he easily dodges my attempt, using one of his hands to push me away. 

“I swear to God, Josh, give it back!” 

“Never knew you had such porn-fantasies” 

“You looked when there was that type of chapter, it’s a good book” 

“Hold up, things just got interesting” he continues, a smirk plastered on his lips as his eyes roll over the lines. I try one more time to snatch it back, but fail again. He starts running to the hallway, and I sigh loudly as I follow. This man will not go tell the others, I’ll make sure of that. 

“Don’t you dare!” I yell, turning the corner in the dark room. As I do, an arm captures me. He slams me against the wall, grabbing both of my wrists in one hand, holding them over my head. 

“I’m not done reading” he teases, eyes capturing mine before going back to the open book. I wiggle, hoping to get out of his grasp. Just as I’m about to make it, his fingers tightens, body pushing mine into the wall, using his legs and upper body strength. 

“Josh, I will literally kill you!” He laughs, gaze going over my form beneath him. 

“Sure you will, oh and look at that” he continues, tongue going over his lips. 

“What?” 

“We’re in the exact same position as those in your little fantasy” 

I can help the blush that spreads on my cheeks, face heating up as he draws himself closer. The other guys are two rooms away, talking loudly and unaware of the situation I’ve put myself in. I feel my breathing get uneven and heavy, chest rising and falling rapidly in response to him. He does the same, the smirk gone and replaced by a small surprised expression. Mouth slightly open, hot air being blown onto my face. I gaze into his eyes, lids low as he shifts his stare from my eyes to my lips, and then up to my eyes again. I can only describe it as a silent request, a question about the next part. I give a small nod, and he comes closer, noses brushing against each other. 

Before I can comprehend what’s happening, he changes positions. He turns us around, making him go against the wall with my back against his chest. I gasp, feeling the pressure on my wrists as he holds them tightly to my side, his muscular arm trapping me on him. Face buries itself in my hair, mouth making its way to my ear. He lifts the book in front of me, forcing my face forward to look at the page. 

“Read this passage out loud” he whispers, lips touching my ear. His fingers graze over the text, guiding me to the relevant sentences. I take a breath, sinking into him, head leaning back on his shoulder. He smells like oranges and bark, a comforting combination. 

“Come on, do it” he teases, using his head to move mine to the side. He starts kissing down my neck, small kisses and bites, not hurting. I look down on the text again, reading every word out loud between gasps of air from how he’s working on me. 

“I crave your tender touches, I want to feel all of you on top of me as I explore every part of your body with my mouth” I whisper. He lets go of my wrists, letting both my arms fall to the side. I don’t move away from him, but instead let his hand wander up my stomach, settling on one of my breasts. 

“Now read the next line” 

I look down again, his thumb caressing the paper, still holding the book firm. 

“I want you to fuck me like you mean it” 

He groans in my ear, chest heaving against my back, moving my body as well. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Matt asks, and we both jump away from one another. I look up embarrassingly, while Josh just stares with his mouth wide open. 

“What are you doing?” 

I’m about to stutter a reply, but Josh beats me to it, putting on his jokester-face and waving the book. 

“Just some light reading” 

“Really?” 

Matt comes closer, snatching the book from his hands. My instincts get the better of me and I yell out a loud “no” while trying to get it back. He holds the book high while reading, one hand holding me back. 

“Damn, this is some nasty stuff y'all” 

Josh looks down, tomato-red blush covering his cheeks. I keep persisting, wanting to get the book back. Bad enough that two of my friends saw this today. 

“Guys! You’ll not believe what I found these two horny fuckers reading together!” he yells to the other room, starting to make his way there. Josh and I give each other a look. This cannot be happening. We scream out protests, and Matt turns around in shock, starting to run when he sees us coming. This is not just a game anymore, we need to get that book back.

[cheeseplants]

2024 fic roundup

Can I just create an ask game? I wanted to create a snapshot for 2024 for me, and would love to hear from others, so I’m going to interview myself like a loon.

Please join in if you want 🙂 I know we’re in Dec, so feel free to answer at the end of the month if you wish!

What fandoms do you write in?

Good Omens! Aziraphale/Crowley!

And I wrote one for the tiny fandom of The House in the Cerulean Sea. Linus/Arthur 4ever.

How many words have you published in 2024?

This is a tricky one. My official total is 270,737 words but three of those were collabs. So if I count the fics that only I wrote it’s 117,911. Which is still a bit mind-blowing to me, as I only started doing this Nov 2023.

What is your greatest achievement this year?

It has to probably be my first ever longfic over 50k. I set myself a goal to write something long and follow the beats of a classic romcom. And I did it! It was really me muddling through it trying to work out what the Hell I was doing. But it exists and some people even said they liked it, so I count that as a win. 

It’s called The Apple Doesn't Fall Far and it’s about Crowley inheriting a cottage from his aunt and butting heads with Aziraphale the councillor who is in charge of knocking it down. And spoiler alert. They fall in love

What are your favourite top three fics you wrote this year?

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far - as above! 

Rating: E 

Wordcount: 58,135

It’s sugary sweet with enough light angst to create some nice drama. But it’s mainly cosy, low stakes, comfortable, contemporary British romance vibes. 

The Ecstasy of Eden

Rating: E

Wordcount: 28,303

5 times they used sex pollen, and the one time they didn't Through the Ages fic. Written for the High Sex Pollen Event. It is a fun romp through the ages with some surprising angst chapters that I absolutely love. They are silly piney fools. ALSO I got art made for it!

If we were

Rating: E

Wordcount: 3,362

In 1941 Aziraphale and Crowley imagine their life as humans.

This fic fell out of me almost fully formed. I was half asleep and began daydreaming fic (as you do) and by the time I got to my laptop, my fingers wrote it in basically a couple of hours. It is everything I love. Bittersweet, yearning, them being completely in love but unable to do anything about it, slow dancing, almost kisses and some spice!

What was your biggest pit of despair moment?

The Ecstacy of Eden was a slog at times. I had written chap one and three, but it took so long for me to get chap two into shape. I couldn’t work out what the Hell I was doing. Got beta feedback where they could tell I was clearly feeling really stuck after I wrote it because it was all a bit lacklustre. 

Almost totally gave up. I had a few: I’m never writing again, what’s the point? moments.

Somehow I pushed through and made it work. 

In a lot of ways, that was probably the moment I saw my writing improve the most. BUT IT WAS A HORRIBLE SLOG. Ugh. I wanted to say this because I know we all have them and it’s good to talk about it!

What have you learned?

Honestly, how to use commas better! I can already tell my grammar has improved a lot from when I first started. I don’t rely on epithets as much. I know what semi-colons are for (thanks @fishey-me!)

I am getting better at letting fics breathe. I feel like my background in marketing and comms makes me want to write very precisely and I am slowly learning to cast that off and take time setting scenes. I also found a few tools to help me outline better. 

Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes

Take Off Your Pants!: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing by Libbie Hawker

They’ve been invaluable in teaching me what the Hell I’m doing. My main takeaways - work out your character's flaws and work out the theme of the story. 

I also learned what sex pollen is and then wrote a 30k fic about it.

What fic did you want to do but never made it off the ground?

Ugh, I have one in my drive called Crowley and Aziraphale go on holiday. I imagined it as a canon-compliant fic post S2 where they go on a sort of make-or-break holiday. I just liked the idea of Crowley being all grouchy in the sun and Aziraphale awkwardly trying to flirt over Sangria. ALSO only one bed! But it sort of sits in my drafts and I’ve not done much with it. 

Did you beta any fics? Any favs you want to shout out?

YES. Many fics!

But I think I’ll have to give my biggest shout-out to @kneelbeforeyourdogbabylon for Sins of Knowledge! I’ve help beta more than 100k of that (wow) and it’s a wild ride. Go check it out. 

What three fics have you read this year that you love?

Listen I have tons and tons I’d love to recommend, but I am going to whittle it down!

First up it has to be @happynachohologram who surprised me on my birthday with not only their first ever fic, but basically one of the best South Downs retirement fics ever. I still think about it. It’s under 2k and it’s absolutely beautiful. 

The Best Part by @happynachohologram

Rating: E

Wordcount: 1,702

A throwaway comment from Aziraphale sets Crowley wondering about the best parts of retirement.

-

UGH, next up @gaiaseyes451 This fic changed me. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more hooked while being emotionally devastated as this fic. Mind the tags but it’s wonderful.

A Little Life by @gaiaseyes451

Rating: E

Wordcount: 71,624

When Professor of Botany Anthony Crowley met bookshop owner Ezra Fell one November afternoon both knew their lives had irrevocably changed. From that moment forward, Anthony and Ezra’s existence was intertwined. Their story was written in the moments and memories they created as they moved through life’s chapters of coming together, building a family and facing the challenges of being human. This is a story of unconditional love and the joy and humour, obstacles and grief that inevitably come with choosing the same person, day after day, over and over and over again.

-

Gorgeous pine-scented Crowley and one of the best premises I’ve read in a while. I know most people must have read this but if you haven’t you’re in for such a treat!

Stuck on Me by @zin-lynn-c

Rating: E

Wordcount: 56,538

After a drunken handfasting ceremony goes awry, Crowley and Aziraphale find themselves magically bound to be touching at all times. In order to set the situation to rights, they must embark on a multi-day journey to seek help from the last true witch in England.

What ideas are percolating for next year?

I think my next longfic is probably going to be a road trip with college-aged Az and Crowley. The characters keep yelling at me in my head, so I think they want to be written. So far Crowley is an activist punk who needs a lift back to London after graduation and Aziraphale is a posh boy who represents everything Crowley stands against.

Animosity to lovers my beloved!

It’s probably set in the 90s so no one has a mobile phone and Crowley can be obnoxious with a box of cassettes playing Az a bunch of bebop he pretends to hate. I have a scene of Crowley taking Aziraphale to his first gay bar in my head that I can’t get rid of, so I probably need to write it. 

Who do you want to thank?

OMG all of @goodomensafterdark for giving us a platform and being a lovely bunch of pocket pals! I want to give A BIG shoutout to @happynachohologram for letting me yell all my insecurities at you and for always screeching when I send them pictures of Crowley and Aziraphale holding hands in the South Downs. 

And to @kneelbeforeyourdogbabylon for agreeing to beta my 50k longfic! Pretty sure it would never have been published if it wasn’t for you two. 

And @doonarose for organising the madness of the original CYOA!

Anyone in my tags feel free to join in or in fact anyone at all. I'll tag a few more below. Tag, answer any Qs that suit and play along!

@adverbian @isiaiowin @onedappercat @angie-words @brenna

[pressplay-if]

F*ck yes i loved that new update, loved basically everything about it, especially how the characters throw in how the mc is percieved....i love it.

I have to things i wanna say tho, nothing bad promise :) I get some things that are set with the mc, but there are some things that just kinda bother me(subjectively speaking here of course)

1: But why does mc not have a drivers license for instance, i get that poor mc would maybe not have had the funds for it, but a rich one had, and i imagine that the parents would have insisted they do one so that they can drive to important meetings to get a real job etc. yk what i mean?

2: So mc can only do vocals and sucks at everything else...feels kinda like mc is suuuper useless, like a magicarp that couldn't even perform splash, or a bird without wings etc. like i get that mc is more focused on singing and vocals but i would say that it would only make sense that mc can at least play one instrument(like many real artists/musicians do) so that when they are stuck in a loop maybe they can distract themself or smth yk to get back on the grind etc.?

Also wouldn't this mean, that if mc got sick and maybe lost their voice for a time or completely they would be even more useless....like a stone that wants to fly. And i don't mean to be rude here or something cause i genuinely like this game and the characters, but mc feels soo limited yk, and i know we still have only seen a little about mc but i would say that we should at least have one more hobby or smth.

Of course this is only my subjective opinion and please don't feel pressured to change anything, cause this is your story and you can do whatever you want with it, i just thought that i could give my two cents to it. Anyways have a good day and stay hydrated.

Heyooo ok so you really picked apart the MC lol but I totally laughed at how you described that 😂 a stone trying to fly

MC can actually drive, they just don't own a vehicle. That's because I wanna make a whole big thing about them getting their first own car/motorbike once the cash comes in you know 💖 also, it creates some nice little scenes like the cuddling Angel-option. But don't worry, MC can drive and will drive

MC doesn't like "suck" at everything else. They can play a little rhythm guitar and also they write most of the band's songs, so they're far from useless, even though they may not play another instrument (at the moment; I think I'm gonna add that option). So they're integral to the band, because even when it's Stevie writing the songs, she only ever writes for the MC. MC is very distinctive. It's interesting that you bring up MC losing their voice though bc that may or may not be a plot point later on. MC not really having another hobby is also kind of intentional. They will shift and change, but at this stage, you're playing as a very obsessed little creature. Their only real hobby besides singing rn is collecting vinyls. So I totally get what you're saying and I understand MC feels limited, but rn, that's kind of just how they are. Things may change. Others may not. Chapter 2 will give a lot more insight on MC, and a bunch more choices for y'all to make about them.

[mayajadewrites]

I Wish I Hated You (Levi Ackerman x Reader)

story summary: You don't do second chances. Especially after you gave your heart to Levi Ackerman, and he decided to throw it away so the next person has to repair the damage. Will Levi put his ego aside and finally admit his feelings for you are far deeper than you imagined? Or is a second chance out of the question?

ao3

C H A P T E R E I G H T : T O M O R R O W

WARNING: explicit scenes in this chapter!! let me know what you think :)

Levi lead you into his living room that you were all too familiar with. His expression was... blank. You couldn't tell if he was sad, mad, or anything in between.

You sit on the couch opposite to the chair he's sitting in. "Levi, I-"

"You should know this," Levi looks down. "I'm not the best at... well, talking. My mother is someone who was... so special to me." 

"Levi." You press your hand on top of his. "I'm here to listen." 

Levi sighs as he sits back in his chair. "My mother and I grew up poor. Like, dirt poor." Levi started talking. It feels like it's been forever since you and him had an actual conversation instead of just arguing. "We were couch surfing and squatting in abandoned houses. Then, she got sick. We don't know what it was since we couldn't afford to go to a doctor. We couldn't even afford food. I was starving every day. Dreaming of bread." Levi looks down. "One day, she wouldn't even attempt to get out of bed. Or even talk to me. I remember her telling me about her brother, my uncle, and I had his phone number written down. I begged the corner store to let me use their phone, and thankfully they let me."

Your heart sinks thinking of how lonely Levi felt. How he was lacking basic needs.

"I called Kenny and he came and stayed with my mother during her last moments. I stood on the other side of her with my hand in hers. I remember her saying, 'Kenny, please take care of my Levi.' The pressure I was feeling from her hand suddenly just... disappeared. My mother's body was still there, but her soul was gone." 

Tears start to well up in your eyes. Levi's eyes were glued to the floor as he spoke, his deep voice cracking when he spoke of the final moments with his mother.

"Then I went and lived with Kenny. Which... wasn't the best either. He fed me, but he wanted me to learn to fend for myself. I would cause fights in school and Kenny had to beg them to let me stay." Levi cleared his throat. "He didn't know how to be a parent. I don't blame him. His sister died and left behind me. My father, who the hell knows who he is - Kenny felt he had no choice. But he did have a choice. He could've just-"

"Levi, he could not just leave you."

"He could've."

"But he didn't. You're his nephew, I'm sure he saw you and saw some of himself."

"Well, when I turned 18, he left. He told me I was an adult now and I had to figure life out. I was being... well, to put it lightly, a delinquent when I met Erwin. He's a tall, well kept man and I wanted to steal from him. He looked like he had money so he was the perfect target. For whatever reason, he wanted to be my friend. He's been in my life ever since." Levi finally looked at you. "He opened his home to me. He fed me. He taught me the ways of being a business man."

You didn't know how deep Erwin and Levi's friendship was. They're bonded brothers.

His mother left, Kenny left - no wonder he likes to leave. Must be an Ackerman thing. 

You stared into Levi's eyes - watching the storm brew. Your heart sank as you explored his face, your feelings for him resurfacing.

"Now you know why I am the way I am." Levi put his hands on his knees. "I don't blame you if you want to leave."

"Levi." You walk over to his chair, slowly sitting on his lap. "Do you want me to leave?" You gently wrap your arms around him. 

"I think you want to -"

"Answer my question." You grab his chin, pulling his face towards you. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No." Levi shook his head. "I never want you to leave." 

You felt like there was life brought back to you. The piece of your heart that broke off when you left Levi mended back to you. 

"We have to start over then." You caress his face gently. You wanted to just hold him during this vulnerable moment. "Like, we're going on dates. Almost like we were never together." 

"Hm?" Levi tilted his head. "But we did date... for 2 years."

"Levi. Do you want to make this work or no?" 

"I do." 

"Then we're starting over. I don't want us to jump back into this and make the same mistakes." 

Levi nods, letting his hand rest on your thigh. "Are you sure you don't want to leave? I'm giving you an out." 

"Levi Ackerman." Theres attitude in your voice. "If I wanted to leave, I would. I have before - remember?" 

"I'm sorry I made you leave."

"Shhh." You pull Levi into your chest, letting him lean on you. You felt his eyelashes flutter on your skin as he closed his eyes. His breath is slow and you know he's listening to your heartbeat. He's always loved cuddling in your chest and feeling your beating heart. Levi starts to bury his face in your breasts, his hands traveling up to your waist.

"Hey," You giggle as Levi grabs your left breast with his large hand. "Levi, this isn't the right time to be-"

"Sh." Levi demanded. His fingers pulled your shirt over your head, revealing your plump breasts. They bounced as they were released from the captivity of your shirt and Levi is mesmerized. He brought his lips to your right tit, sucking on your skin roughly as he squeezed the other. You throw your head back at the contact. Levi has always loved your chest and he likes to take his time there when he can.

"This isn't a part of starting over." You breathe.

"We can start over tomorrow." Levi mumbled as he unclipped your bra without looking. His mouth attached to your nipple, sucking it gently. You feel the wetness in your pants already as Levi sucks, bites, and licks all over your tits. 

Levi sits you on the chair, his large hands trailing down your upper body to the buttons of your jeans. He's on his knees now as he pulls your pants off, throwing them across the room. "My favorites." Levi hums at the sight of your black lace panties. "Too bad they're coming off." Levi almost rips the panties off of you, revealing your soaked pussy. 

He marvels for a moment, watching your arousal leak from you. You throw your head back as your core starts to throb. "Levi-" He cuts you off by inserting his tongue inside you. You gasp as you feel his tongue exploring your pussy, finding your clit soon after. Levi wraps his hands around your thighs as he devours you, his lips squelching against your core. 

Levi wraps his lips around your clit, sucking gently as he inserts two fingers into you. You bury your hands in his hair, pushing his face farther into you. You felt him smile as you pulled on his hair, something he's always loved. He pumped his fingers in and out of you quickly while his mouth was solely focused on your clit.

"I could eat this pussy all day." Levi hummed, the vibration from his words only adding to your pleasure. "This pretty little pussy."

"Levi." You moan, wrapping your legs around him as your toes begin to curl.

"I love when you moan my name." His fingers started to pump faster as your walls began to pulsate. "Can you come on my fingers, princess?" 

You nod silently as you feel the high quickly approaching. Your chest feels tight as the world begins to fade away, leaving only you and Levi. His tongue lapped your dripping arousal as you reached your high. Levi doesn't stop though, he keeps sucking on your clit until he wants to be done. You came on his fingers, his mouth - practically his entire face.

"Levi, I need you inside of me." You whine.

"You want my cock inside of you, my princess?"

"God, yes." You nod. Levi's mouth leaves your pussy and he picks you up and lays you on the couch gently. His shirt is off quickly, along with his belt and pants.

You watch his cock spring out of his pants. Every time you see it, you're mesmerized.

"Are you sure?"

"We'll start over tomorrow." You nod a Levi's arms are on either side of you. You feel the tip of his cock at your slit, easily sliding in due to your arousal. Levi lets out a husky moan as he feels your gummy walls wrapping around his cock.

"You were made for me." Levi starts thrusting into you. "This pussy fits me so perfectly."

"Baby, it's all yours." You stare into Levi's eyes. He presses his lips to yours roughly, leaving sloppy kisses as he thrusts inside you faster. You wrap your arms around his neck as he watches his length disappear inside of you, stretching your walls. You'll never get used to his size, no matter how many times you fuck.

"Princess, I need you to come again. Before me." Levi grunted as he slammed into you. He attaches his lips to the side of your neck, biting and sucking until your skin is purple. He then brings his fingers to your clit, rubbing it gently. 

You throw your head back, feeling your walls pulsate once again. Levi's thrusts start to become uneven as he feels you grip him, which means he's close.

"I'm not coming before you." Levi rubs circles on your clit. Your toes curl as Levi is almost overstimulating you - but that high comes back. 

"Levi." You practically yell as the hardest high of your life hits you. You see stars as Levi slams into you again and again. 

"Where should I come?" Levi whispered.

"Inside." You whisper in his ear, which causes him to lose all the control he had left. He coats your insides with him as he comes, gripping your hips tightly. Levi fills you up with his cum and somehow there is still more. 

Levi pulled out slowly and you whine at the now void. He pulls his pants on and grabbing a towel from his hallway closet and helping you clean up.

"So... tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." You press your lips to his gently, letting your worries melt away.

[simpingcorner]

WRECK MY PLANS ONE

Pairings: Rafe Cameron x OC!Isla McCewan; kook!king x pogue Chapter warnings:  asshole kooks, English isn’t my first language, trauma(?), kids (idk my friends told me to put it as a tw), swear words, not proofread, let me know if I missed something. WC: 1.456 Disclaimer: All characters are aged up cus I don’t feel comfortable writing about teenagers romance and there’s some really strong themes on here.

All her life she’s known never to cross the big names of the island and all her life she’s been in the shadow, working her ass off everyday since she was a kid, never giving those big names any reason to know of her and, especially, never giving them any reason to get mad at her and have her as their rage target.

The air was different here than in the Cut, it felt better, lighter, it smelled like sea and home cooked meals, which wasn’t all that new but the lack of weed, gasoline and nicotine sure helped the fantasies that this was her life, this was where she lived, who she was and the three young kids running and laughing around her in the backyard filled her heart more than anything ever had before.

It’ll happen, you’ll have the life you deserve, just a few more months and you’re gonna be out of here, never looking back and never having to worry about any of them ever again. Those were the thoughts that lived rent free in her head, dreams and fantasies she deep down knew would never become reality, but what’s the hurt in imagining?

“Isla! Isla! Look what we can do.” The little dark haired boy giggled pushing his sister on the swing giving her the feeling of flying out and about in the sky, “Wow. You know if you push her even faster she might fly over to Bermudas.” She replied smiling at the kids, “I wanna go to Bermudas.” said the girl pouting. “I know you do Luce, mama will take you there one day. I promise.” “I’ll plan everything, and we go for Christmas what you say Luce?” shouted a voice from inside the house, “Gotta ask first Jamesie, you know we can’t just up and go to Bermudas.” “As if they could ever tell her no, come on Is, it’d be vacation for you too, not like mum can’t do it alone.” “What can’t I do alone, James?” the calming voice of Emily Lighthouse came sudden like a rainstorm in the fall to her ears, “Luce wants to go to the Bermudas…” explained the oldest, “And do you know what the Bermudas are baby?” asked the woman picking the still pouting little girl up from the swing. Isla hang back a few moments watching the older woman walk inside followed by her two loving boys, her heart hurt at the scene, her memory blank searching for a moment like that with her parents, a loving parent who’d go out their way to make sure she was safe. One day. As she walked in the house, she had now been working at for the past six years, she couldn’t help but let her eyes wonder around studying the luxury and money this side of the Island showed off like bread to birds. “Sweetheart I asked if you’d like to stay for dinner, I made way too much food for us four only.” Isla’s baby blue eyes widened at the woman’s words, not that it was unusual for her to spend the night at the house, there had been years when she spent more time there than at her own place, but something in her still warmed at the kind request, she knew the Lighthouses weren’t a normal Kook family, they were always nice to her, treating her basically like family, never ever doubting her even when the rest of Figure 8 would go out their way to make her the bad guy. “No, thank you. You enjoy it for me though. I actually have plans tonight.” The girl said quietly, “Well you’ll tell us all about your night another day then. But please take something home. And please be safe they say Agatha’s headed this way.” Isla’s cheeks warmed at the kind words of the rich woman in front of her, she reluctantly accepted the food, got her helmet and jacket and said her goodbyes before closing the door behind her and starting her walk out the neighbourhood.

“Going back to your tree house McCewan?” a deep, unfortunately too familiar voice said in the darkening sunset light, “Look, I’m just leaving, I don’t want any trouble.” said the girl with her head down and her eyes on the pavement, “Oh come on, not even a snarky comment? Where’s the Isla McCewan everyone’s always talking about?” “She’s tired and just wants to go home and sleeps, so can you let me pass.” “But where’s the fun in that then? You know you can always come to my place, it sure as fuck is safer than whatever shit hole you live in.” the brunette kook said walking way too close to the girl, finally caging her between him and the wall behind her, she knew she could have gotten out of there really easily, if there’s one good thing that came out of the Cut it’s knowing how to defend herself, but she was tired of having to defend herself and she knew no matter how bad things turned out to be it was always gonna be her fault, so she simply looked at him hoping he’d let her go with a sudden change of mind. What she didn’t expect was the Kook king to come up to them, “She’s not worth it Gold, trust me girls like her are not as fun as you’d think.” her eyes moved to meet Rafe Cameron’s dilated pupils and she knew he didn’t do it out of the good of his heart, the younger kook looked behind him and left them with a scoff, “One day McCewan, I assure you.” he said before going back in the garage he had came out of.

Isla picked her jacket, that had fallen off her grip and started making her way back to her bike, “Wow, not even a thank you. I knew you Pogues don’t have manners but that’s just low.” the older Kook said walking behind her, “Thank you your majesty Rafe Cameron I’ll make sure to offer you my biggest pig and cow to thank you properly.” she said not even looking behind at him, she simply couldn’t, she knew the rumors, she knew what was being said about him and she had promised herself never to go back there, not to that at least. “You really shouldn’t let that tongue run like that, you never know how people might react.” He said with a grip on her wrist, that wasn’t as tight as he’d wanted it to be, “Also you should really look at the person who’s talking to you, it’s very disrespectful not doing it.” she turned to him, his red eyes bored in her blue ones with something she had never been able to read, “Oh thank you Rafy, you’re my saviour I will never be able to thank you properly, please let me suck you off to show you how grateful I am.” Her words were laced with sarcasm and a poison he knew she only used for and with him, “Come on Cameron go back to your underground bunker and cuddle up on daddy’s lap, I’m sure he wouldn’t want his precious baby out here in such dangerous weather.” his jaw twitched and clenched for a second, “At least I have a dad who cares about me and my safety.” “Keep telling yourself that, maybe it’ll become true.” she said getting out of his grip and finally making it to her bike, once her helmet was on, visor down and the bike had started she let her mind wonder and her throat felt full of thorns as she left Figure 8, Rafe Cameron watching her from afar holding on that conversation.

The lights were out in the little black and grey shed she had to call home, she had left her bike at the Flores’ gate not to make a noise and not to be seen, she opened the door praying whatever god was watching that the house was empty, her heart and breathing the only noises in the house as she walked and closed the door behind her, the room was the same as she had left, mouldy black walls, broken pieces of a dresser and lamps were scattered on the floor, the broken and way too hard yoga mat and her baby blanket the only place where she could sleep. She laid on the mat pulling the blanket over her legs as she stared at the ceiling, a few of her old glow in the dark stars still stand between a mould stain and the other, she watched them, memories of her childhood came to mind as she fell asleep surrounded by the creaks and raindrops noises.

divider from @enchanthings

[letsgoletsgetit08]

It's A Trip! Ch. 2

summary: It started off as a joke, the proposition to road trip from the east coast to the west coast for Hongjoong and Seonghwa's wedding, but then Mingi said yes. And Jongho wasn't about to pass up that opportunity.

warnings/tags: mdni!, mxm, smut, recreational drug use, tropes, fluff, light angst, wooyoung is a little shit, jongho is whipped, au non-famous, siri play maknae on top by stray kids

pairing: top!jongho x bottom!mingi

author's note: I couldn't resist the idea of a little stoner road trip situation with unspoken feelings and Wooyoung trying to play matchmaker behind the scenes. Loosely based on the song of the same title by Joywave that got stuck in my head recently and fits the vibes, I think. Anyway. Enjoy!

word count: 21k (around 3.5k per chapter, 6 chapters total)

ao3 link: It's A Trip!

Day Two

Jongho woke up to his alarm at 5am, cold and alone. He wasn't surprised, necessarily, but couldn't help and feel a little sad. It would have been nice to wake up still embracing the man he was harboring a secret crush on. Oh well.

The other three were milling about groggily in the kitchen, Mingi looking incomprehensibly adorable with his hair still sticking up in odd places and face puffy from sleep and too much sodium the night before. 

“I saved you the last cup of coffee.” Mingi told Jongho after noticing him walk in. 

His face was unreadable for once, which was frustrating for Jongho. The fact that Mingi was typically completely incapable of hiding his emotions, his face always a dead giveaway to his thoughts, was something that Jongho admired most about him. He tended to take people very literally otherwise and often found himself confused when peoples’ expressions differed greatly from their words or actions. So the fact that he couldn't tell how Mingi felt in that very moment - their first moment together after spending the night cuddling together in the same bed - led Jongho to two possible conclusions: either Mingi remembered nothing and was being completely normal right now, or he remembered all of it and this was his plea to ignore it and return back to homeostasis. 

Either way, it didn't really matter. Jongho would go along with whatever Mingi wanted, however he wanted to handle it. He wasn't Wooyoung, he wouldn't pry. 

Speaking of the devil, Wooyoung kept casting him fiendish looks over his coffee mug from across the table, raising his eyebrows suggestively, acting as if he was implying he and Mingi had slept together last night or something. Jongho didn't give him the satisfaction of any sort of response. 

Instead, he addressed the room, “I don't mind taking first shift driving again.”

Mingi stood up to wash his now empty coffee mug, “Shotgun!”

Like anyone would ever fight him on that. Jongho didn't think he'd seen Wooyoung and San not touching in some way since they had gotten together during undergrad. 

But when the four of them had packed up and were loading the car, Wooyoung suddenly made a mad dash for the front seat. 

Mingi stared at him incredulously, “What the hell, man!” 

“Oh, did you call the front seat?” Wooyoung was putting on a show of innocence, “Sorry, must not have heard you. Maybe next time just say what you mean to say instead of speaking in code and dancing around the subject.”

Mingi was lost, “Uhhh okay. I mean it's a pretty common phrase but-”

Jongho cut him off, “Wooyoung, move. Mingi called it. If we can't all play by the very basic rules of the road, we shouldn't have gone on a road trip together.”

Wooyoung didn't move, “No. I'm already here. Mingi can sit in the back with San. Can't you Mingi?”

Jongho was getting heated now, “No he can't, he called-” 

San cut them off, “He's not going to give it up, you might as well hop in the back, Mingi.” 

Jongho might have imagined it, but he swore Mingi was pouting when he climbed into the backseat next to San, directly behind Jongho instead of beside him. 

Wooyoung looked entirely too proud of himself. Little shit. 

Wooyoung rode up front all the way from Knoxville to Nashville and Jongho swore it was the longest stent of the trip so far. After getting to be next to Mingi all day and then unexpectedly all night as well, he was annoyed that he wasn’t sitting beside him currently. Once he got a taste of proximity with him again, he wondered how he had stood going so long without it. To make things worse, Wooyoung was yapping the whole way, engaging only Jongho in the conversation to the point where Mingi and San ended up having their own conversations in the backseat. Jongho was almost at his wit’s end, about to pull over early and demand to switch, but then he saw the exit signs start mentioning Nashville and he decided he could wait it out. He had demanded that they stop at Third Man Records in Nashville while they were there. Wooyoung decided to allow it, mostly - so he claimed - because there was a brunch spot nearby that he wanted to try. 

Third Man was even better in person than the pictures Jongho had seen on Instagram. He was having trouble choosing what piece of merch he wanted to buy. Had an even harder time not taking home a whole case of vinyl. Mingi seemed to love it, too. He bounded over to Jongho excitedly, “There’s a recording booth! We can record something and print it on vinyl!”

Jongho recalled what he was talking about from his research he’d done on the place, “Oh, yeah! the Voice-o-Graph, right?”

Mingi nodded, “Yeah, come on let’s go! Sing something with me!” He grabbed Jongo’s wrist and drug him over to the booth. 

The booth wasn’t really built for two people, but they made it work anyway, Mingi practically in Jongho’s lap. 

“Any song come to mind?” Jongo asked him.

Mingi thought about it for a second, “What about… This Must Be the Place by the Talking Heads? I know you know that one. And I maybe also really like it. I kinda missed hearing it when you moved on.”

It was true. Jongho had gone through a bit of a phase with that song at one point. He still stood by it, though. He hadn’t realized Mingi also liked it so much though. The thought made his chest bloom, head feeling pleasantly fuzzy. 

Mingi started them off, Jongho joining in on the second stanza. Mingi had been avoiding Jongho’s eyes until he got to the pre-chorus:

“…And you’re standing here beside me

I love the passing of time”

Where he looked straight into the depths of his soul, it seemed. 

Jongho had forgotten just how romantic the song was, which was probably why he had been so hung up on it at one point. He realized now, singing it with Mingi, making him know he meant it when he sang,

“You’ve got a face with a view”

that he had always thought of Mingi when it came to this song. 

He had been in love with him for years. Just didn’t know it. Because he had nothing else to compare it to. He thought he had just preferred Mingi to his other friends, but now that he had tried dating, and was getting to be around Mingi again, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was in love.

Fuck. 

Fuck.

They finished the song out and Mingi’s face had ended up so close to Jongho’s that it wouldn’t take very much at all to close the gap and land his lips on Mingi’s. Mingi’s eyelids fluttered for a second, his breath shallow from exertion. Probably from exertion. Not from desire. Surely. 

The booth door opened abruptly, revealing an all too pleased Wooyoung, “Bravo! You two successfully cleared out the whole building with that performance.”

They knew he was lying, all of them had gone to music school together, they were all good singers. Which meant that Wooyoung was doing it to be a nuisance. Jongho gave him a murderous look, which was met with a completely innocent expression from the other. Oh he’d be having words with him later. 

Mingi wasn’t as bothered, just moved back into his own space and said, “Jongho, you need to let me produce an album for you. You promised you’d think about it! Your voice is too good to just be teaching.”

Jongho tried to hide his smile but was unsuccessful. He was very proud of his voice and getting a compliment from Mingi meant everything to him. 

“I’ll think about it.” He told him. 

They collected their vinyl once it was finished pressing and checked out with their souvenirs. Jongho couldn’t wait to listen to their recording on his record player. He had a feeling it was about to become his very favorite. 

They shouldn’t have been surprised that Wooyoung was taking them to drag brunch, really. He had gone through a Drag Race obsession back in undergrad. It was more surprising that he had chosen something that would be this big of a time sink. 

But Jongho had to admit, it was a good time. The queens loved Mingi and San, kept choosing them out of the crowd to stand up and dance with them or to serenade them. They were embarrassed but were good sports about it. Jongho and Wooyoung took video for the group chat - the guys ate it up. 

Jongho couldn’t but feel a pang of jealousy as San sat back down beside Wooyoung and the latter was able to kiss him on the cheek, secure in him being his. Jongho couldn’t do the same with Mingi. But he wanted to. He wanted everyone there to know who he belonged to. And he truly had never thought of himself as possessive, but now that he had realized his feelings for Mingi, he was getting stronger and stronger urges to confess. Tell him how he felt. Ideally, he felt the same. But if not, at least then he could start moving forward, moving on. He was sure even if Mingi didn’t return his feelings, that they could figure out how to be friends again. Maybe not immediately, but at some point. But would their friendship ever be truly the same? That’s what worried him the most. That, and rejection was also terrifying. 

He needed more time to think on it. 

He beat Wooyoung to the front seat as Mingi hopped into the driver’s seat. Really, he probably wouldn’t have tried again, but Jongho wasn’t going to take any chances. 

Now that they were fed and caffeinated, the few hours to Memphis was full of car games that Wooyoung seemed to be making up half of on the spot. 

“Someone picks a song and we go around picking a new song where the title of the next song starts with the last word of the title of the song before it. Like if I started with Closing Time, then maybe San would choose Time to Pretend. Understand?”

Mingi had a vast music taste and kept winning because he kept picking song titles with weird esoteric words in them that no one could find a song to follow. 

Jongho won several rounds of twenty questions.

Wooyoung kept winning the alphabet game, but the others were convinced he was cheating. “I saw that sign, too, Wooyo, there’s no word that starts with ‘X’ on there!” Mingi had protested. It was no use. Wooyoung doubled down until they all gave in. 

San found a Mad Libs app on his phone and they had fun filling in the blanks with the most immature word choices they could think of.

Before they knew it, they were seeing signs for Memphis. 

“Anyone hungry yet?” Mingi asked.

“Uhh not really.” Jongho replied.

Wooyoung and San agreed. They had no room for Memphis barbeque. Maybe on the way back. 

They stopped at a gas station in not the best area of town, grabbed snacks for the road, switched drivers, (landing Mingi and Jongo in the backseat together again) and got the hell out of there. Marveled at the giant Bass Pro Shop pyramid on their way out. 

Goodbye, Tennessee.

Hello, Arkansas. 

The first half of Arkansas was boring and ugly. They stopped in Little Rock to switch drivers for the last time that night, and this time it was Jongho who cornered Wooyoung in the bathroom. 

“What the hell, man?” He asked him incredulously.

Wooyoung smiled smugly, “What the hell, what?”

“What have you been on about, Wooyoung? You knew Mingi wanted shotgun earlier!” He whisper-yelled at him.

Wooyoung shrugged, “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”

Jongho sighed, exasperated, “We’ve had distance! Plenty of it! For years!”

“Yeah but,” he laughed, “think about how pissed you are about it right now. I bet Mingi was feeling the same way.”

“You make no sense to me.” Jongho said flatly before pushing past him and back outside. 

After stopping for the last time of the night, as they entered northwest Arkansas, the scenery got much better. Mingi had pulled out his wired earbuds that time and offered one to Jongho so they could listen to music together. Leaning towards each other across the cup holder fold-out. Getting sleepy with the silence in the car. Jongho’s head kept slipping out of his hand. Mingi nudged him and patted his shoulder. Jongho felt butterflies stir in his stomach again as he leaned over and rested his head there on Mingi’s broad shoulder. Mingi rested his head on top of Jongho’s. Listening to Billie Holiday’s self-titled album. It was peaceful. Intimate. Jongho could spend an eternity doing exactly that. 

He awoke to the car turning off, parked behind what he assumed to be the inn Wooyoung had booked. It was a cool old light yellow house called Dickson Street Inn. 

Wooyoung had neglected to mention that it was a popular place for couples to stay on their wedding nights. All the rooms were singles. He would be sharing a bed with Mingi. Again. 

It’s not that he wasn’t excited, it’s just that it made him nervous. 

They made plans to meet back out by the car in an hour to go find a bite to eat and then hit the town.

Was it smart to go out the night before another full day of driving? Probably not. Were they going to do it anyway? Of course they were. It was the week of Halloween and they were in a college town. They intended to make the most of it.

“Is eyeliner too much?” Mingi called from the bathroom where he was getting ready for the night, door cracked open so that he and Jongho could talk from the other’s position on the bed. 

“I say no. It’s Halloweek. And I really enjoyed your emo phase.” Jongho chided him.

Mingi’s head popped around the corner, “What if I still haven’t learned how to do it, though?”

Jongho laughed, “Want some help?”

“Please?” Mingi asked, sticking his bottom lip out.

Jongho shook his head, gathered himself off the bed, and walked into the bathroom to take the eyeliner pencil out of Mingi’s hand. 

“Hop up,” he instructed, patting the bathroom counter. 

Mingi obeyed and Jongho stepped in between his legs in order to get close enough to do his eye makeup. 

“Look up,” Jongho directed. Mingi did as he was told so that Jongho could apply the eyeliner underneath his eye, gently as he could.

“Okay, eyes closed,” he ordered.

Mingi reached out and touched his waist as his eyes closed, “I like this shirt, by the way.”

Jongho tried not to jump at his touch out of surprise, not wanting to scare him off, enjoying his large hand’s presence there, “Yeah? Thanks. It’s new.”

Mingi smiled, “I thought so.”

“Don’t act like you know me.” Jongho joked.

Their faces were close enough together to be sharing one another’s breath again. Mingi’s was warm and minty on Jongho’s face. He felt Mingi’s hand grip almost imperceptibly tighter as he moved on to the other eye. Jongho hoped Mingi couldn’t hear his heart trying to beat out of his chest. He could easily close the gap between them right now if he wanted to. If he was brave. But he didn’t want to kiss Mingi unless he knew indubitably that his friend wanted that as well. And he wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. So instead, he finished the other eye, patting Mingi on the face, “Alright, take a look. Let me know if I need to fix anything. 

Jongho took a step back to let Mingi hop down, but Mingi kept his hand on his waist the whole time, using him to ensure a solid landing, before finally letting go and turning around to look in the mirror. 

“It’s perfect. Thanks, man.” Mingi smiled at him through the mirror. 

“Anytime.” Jongho replied. And he meant it. He would do anything for Mingi. 

Dinner was spent at a basement level burger joint that was famous in the city. The decor was vintage, it was loud and busy, and the food was delicious. No complaints. Wooyoung had done it again. Next on his list was a bar down the street called Maxine’s. It was also packed and they had gone all out with decorations for Halloween. The inside was completely Pirates of the Caribbean themed, the bartenders and bar backs were also dressed to theme. One of them, a pretty brunette wearing a theme-appropriate corset, hair braided with a red bandana, looked at Mingi in his outfit (which, admittedly, wasn’t not pirate-y) and eyeliner and said, “Oh, nice, you’re a pirate, too!” 

He laughed, “Um, not intentionally,” he glanced down at his outfit, “but uh yeah, I guess I am.”

“Cute. First drink is free for fellow pirates,” she winked at him, “What can I get for y’all?”

Jongho had to resist the urge to throw his hand around Mingi’s waist. The bartender hadn’t done anything wrong but he once again found himself wishing he was in a position where everyone would know who Mingi belonged to. Wishing that he had the right to claim he belonged to him at all. 

They ordered and happened to find the area towards the back of the bar to be both unoccupied and to have a dart board on the wall. 

Wooyoung looked at them, “Teams of two?”

They agreed. 

Mingi was laughably terrible at it, only getting worse the more he drank. By the second round, he was whining, “Jongho, you have to help me! I suck!”

Jongho was glad to have liquid courage in his system. He approached Mingi from behind, his hand finding the wrist attached to the hand holding the dart, “Okay, just stare down the bullseye and don’t let your eyes move off of it, no matter what. Then you’ll bring your hand back,” he guided his hand backwards, “And then follow through like this,” he demonstrated, “and try to keep your hand level. But most importantly, eye on the bullseye.” He stepped back, hating the distance immediately, “Okay, you try.”

Mingi took a deep breath and threw the dart. It wasn’t a bullseye, but it was much better than what he had been throwing. He jumped in excitement and pulled Jongho in for a bear hug, “You fixed me!” He yelled into his ear. 

Jongho laughed, letting himself be squeezed. 

They win the third round. Mingi celebrated with shots. 

Jongho and Wooyoung easily have the best tolerance of the four of them, with San being the worst of them. He was still sipping on his first drink of the night while the others were on number three or four. Which meant that Mingi was the most buzzed of them all, face almost as pink as his hair. It was cute. Jongho made him drink some water before moving on to the next bar. 

This bar was also decorated for Halloween, and had pinball and skeeball machines in the back. 

The bartender there looked at them and exclaimed, “Oh! Nice BTS costumes, guys!”

They looked between themselves. Four Korean transplants all dressed more fashion forward than had reached the states yet, and definitely not the south. Yeah, okay. Maybe if that was your only point of reference for their culture, sure. They probably looked like they were dressed up as the only k-pop group most people could name. 

They decided to just roll with it, looking at each other before Wooyoung finally looked at her and said, “Thanks!”

They laughed it off as soon as they turned away from the bar with their drinks. 

After that, the night moved on in a bit of a blur. Mingi was weirdly good at pinball. They played games and drank and laughed and had a great time. It was only on their way back that Jongho saw just how drunk Mingi had gotten. He could barely walk in a straight line and kept barking at cars that passed by for some reason. 

Jongho helped him up the stairs to their room at the inn. Upon entering, Mingi immediately darted to the bathroom, no time to close the door before he was kneeling in front of the toilet, vomiting up every ounce he had put away previously. 

Jongho followed him in, found a headband in his toiletry bag and helped him put it on to keep his hair out of his face while he was sick. Mingi groaned pathetically and Jongho knelt down beside him, rubbing his back, “I know honey. You’re okay.” He cooed to the man, a little surprised at his own softness. 

Jongho stood up and went to the bedroom where he found some water glasses on top of the mini fridge, which he filled up for both of them before grabbing some Ibuprofen from his own bathroom bag.

“Here, sit up a little,” he told the other from the ground beside him, “Sip on this.”

Mingi did as he was told, but tried to chug the water. Jongho stopped him, “No, no, no, no chugging, Mingi. You’ll make yourself sick again. Take these though.” He handed him the pills. 

Mingi tossed the pills back and followed them with more water. 

“There you go. Good. That will help.” 

Mingi was swaying on the spot from his place still kneeling in front of the toilet, when he leaned sideways, wrapped his arms around Jongho’s middle and mumbled, “Thank you.”

Jongho smiled down at him, so very fond, “Okay, pukey. You’re welcome. Let’s get you clean, yeah?”

He managed to get Mingi upright to where he could get his shirt off, then had him sit on the toilet to remove his pants before starting the water in the bathtub.

Was he ready, mentally or physically, to help a fully nude Mingi bathe while he was drunk as a skunk and Jongho himself tipsy? Not at all. Was it about to happen anyway? Yeah. Sure was. 

Mingi had always had a beautiful body. A naturally muscular and lean build, someone who always found it easy to lose weight or gain muscle if he wanted to. Jongho couldn’t help but admire it. He managed to not make eye contact with Mingi’s genitalia as he pulled his underwear off and helped him rather clumsily into the bathtub.

Jongho washed the man’s body as well as he could. Mingi reached up and grabbed Jongho’s wrist as his hand was passing over his chest, staring at him a second before saying, “You’re so pretty. I like your face. Did you know that? My pretty Jongho.” He smiled deliriously up at him.

Jongho knew it was just the alcohol talking, but he couldn’t help the blush that creeped up his neck at the words. “You’re the pretty one, Mingi.” He corrected him. 

“Uh-uh. No one as pretty as you, baby.” Mingi slurred. 

Jongho’s heart did backflips at the pet name. Where did that even come from? He was too stunned to speak. 

After he had gotten Mingi to bed and himself also hydrated and ready to sleep, he climbed in beside Mingi, whom he had thought to be out cold. But as soon as he felt Jongho’s weight on the bed, he rolled over and glommed onto his back, pulling him close to his chest. Jongho let himself relax into it. It might be the only time he ever experienced it. He fell asleep with Mingi’s warm breath tickling the hairs on his neck, content as ever.

[annymation]

Reimagining the characters in Wish

(Part 5- The Goat)

This will be the last one of these blogs about the characters. I was stalling on this one because honestly there’s really not much to Valentino in my rewrite.

Will his existence influence the plot tho? Yes, definitely way more than the movie Valentino did… Although that bar isn’t high.

So let’s go, animal companion time!

Personality

- Valentino is a one month old baby goat, a little ball of energy, too pure for this world, doesn’t know basic math and we must protect him at all cost.

- His main gimmick is that he follows Asha EVERYWHERE to the point it’s comical, like, I didn’t write him much so far in my rewrite (we’re currently on chapter 3 and he was alive in only 2 of them, so no wonder) but even when I don’t mention him just assume, he’s there… All the time.

- He cares a lot about Asha and sees her as his mother, since well, she technically is, she took care of him all his life (a month).

Main Traits:

- Curious

- Loyal

- Silly

- Innocent

- Determined

Backstory

(Because it wouldn’t be a rewrite of mine if the character didn’t have at least some angst, not even the 1 month old goat is safe from me)

- A month before our story begins, Asha was drawing animals at one of the farms in the kingdom, to practice, when suddenly she heard a new born goat all alone.

- She asked the owners where his parents were at, and they explain they didn’t notice the little guy under the hay earlier, they sold their goats to be exported to a neighboring kingdom.

- Asha felt really sad for him, so she asked to buy him, the farmer said she could keep him for free, taking care of baby goats without a mama goat around was too much trouble anyway, Asha was basically doing them a favor.

- Valentino obviously doesn’t know all that, but even if you told him it’s not like he’d care, he sees Asha as his mama and that’s all that matters.

- He’s very thankful for her taking care of him, getting him a nice sweater and a cozy little bed… He wishes he could thank her.

Which leads us to:

This Book

- So hear me out, there’s this kids book, “The Grateful Goat”, about Valentino, and it’s adorable, it’s my main inspiration for his rewrite.

- In this book we follow Valentino trying to communicate something to Asha and her friends, but they can’t understand him, since we’ll, he’s a goat.

- They try over and over to guess what he wants but nothing makes him stop bleating.

- Then, once Star came down and granted his wish, it turns out all he wanted to say was “Thank you”

Oh

That

That’s cute, I like that.

- Imagine this, in my rewrite, once Aster does grant Valentino’s wish and makes him talk, it’s a cute scene of Valentino going like:

“THANK YOU FOR ALWAYS TAKING SUCH GOOD CARE OF ME!”

(And he sounds like a child by the way, because that’s how a baby goat should sound like DISNEY)

- Now, am I saying that Valentino is just gonna speak once to say thank you?… Kinda, but not quite.

- You see, Aster’s wish granting magic is only effective on you if you really really REAAALLY want it to be.

- As he makes animals in the forest talk for example, or brings the tress to life, they only remain like that as long as they really want to, and what do you know, turns out most trees are chill just being tress so his magic fades away from them in a short while.

- Valentino’s wish won’t be to permanently talk, he just wanted to thank Asha, so once he’s done doing that Aster’s magic fades away after a few hours.

-… However, some of Aster’s magic remains deep inside of Valentino, so if for whatever reason Valentino reeeeeally wants to communicate something… Something urgent perhaps… Then he regains the ability to speak.

- Oh yes I CREATED TALKING GOAT ON DEMAND! HE ONLY SPEAKS WHEN ITS RELEVANT TO THE PLOT BABEEEEY!!!

- Not gonna lie, I’m really happy with this, because that just means I won’t have to come up with lines for him all the time, he’ll only speak when necessary.

Design

- So. Many. Cute. Designs… AND WE GOT THE WORST ONE GAAAAH DISNEY WHEN I CATCH YOU-

- It’s fine, I’m fine *breathes* we can fix him.

- First of all, he has horns, because believe it or not 1 month old goats already start showing their horns.

- Second, I debated a lot on this but we’re keeping the little sweater, yeah I’m surprised too, I hated it at first (still do hate it in the way that it is in the movie) but then I was informed it’s a reference to how Walt Disney used to put clothes on the animals of his family’s farm when he was a kid, and that’s the type of deep cut and cute reference I wish we had gotten more of.

- But the sweater won’t be so tight on him, like, let it be a little bit more loose, and maybe don’t cover his lower half.

- This concept art I used for the second chapter of my rewrite kinda illustrates it perfectly how I’d like him to be:

- The fluffy tuff of hair, the big eyes, the long ears, the lil horns, it’s perfect, that’s it, that’s our boy. Tho I don’t imagine him being all white, lets say he has some brown spots.

Final Thoughts

This post actually made me really mad because I wrote it all once and it was perfect, but I forgot to save it before closing tumblr, so I lost it all, ughhh why don’t they have auto save on cellphones??

I have plenty of ideas on how to make him more plot relevant than he was in the Disney movie, he won’t be like THE MOST ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OF ALL, definitely not, but little things that he does move the story forward.

If my calculations are correct he’ll most likely be useful on chapter 4 of my rewrite (or chapter 5, cause like, I’m trying to make them a bit shorter)

Not gonna tell how he’s gonna be useful in the story tho cause I think it’s better as a surprise.

A bit of a quick tangent here, but have you guys ever noticed how some Disney animal companions are the opposite of their human friends?

Ariel is brave and curious - Flounder is a coward

Pocahontas is wise and calm - Meeko is a dummy and Flit has anger issues

Alladin is generous - Abu is a kleptomaniac

You get the idea.

We didn’t get that at all in the Wish movie.

I was trying to come up with ideas on how to make Valentino have an opposite trait compared to Asha, but I don’t really know how to incorporate that into the story, oh well, I might just figure out as I go.

Anyway, that’s our goat, hope you like him!

Thank You For Reading!

[aihoshiino]

it ate my fucking 'ideal oshi no ending' ask??? Tumblr, whyyyyyyy

i didn't write shit down anywhere else, I'll try my best to 'member. i'll write down everything again as good as i can, lets pray i wont miss anything :'D

okay, so aqua does his super smart (stupid) plan, but he and kamiki survive and end up hospitalized. kamiki wakes up first and, while he doesn't regret all the things he did, decides to stop™ and to also honor Ai and her memory by telling aquas version of what happened. bc at the end, kamiki loves Ai. and Ai loves her children, and he wants to finally honor her and her wishes by doing what she'd want. (i had been pondering that one a bit more after sending the og ask, and i want his eureka moment to be smth like him being close enough to death that he actually manages to talk to Ai in the afterlife. or at least thinks that he is)

anyways, when aqua wakes up, he's surrounded by his friends and family. kana gets to bitch slap him bc she said she would do that and honestly i support her rights and wrongs. big affirmation of aqua being loved and supported by everyone.

then he gets a private talk with akane, who essentially goes 'okay what did actually happen' and they get to bond over both having had to deal with being suicidal and having attempted to end their lives, essentially a role reversal to the Love Now arc.

after that, ruby talk to resolve THE FUCKING KISS. let ruby finally properly break down and start to move on from the sarina/gorou thing. hell, use it so aqua gives her a push to talk to kana and mem-cho about how shit ruby was to them while going all black hoshigan. allow her to acknowledge that she has been imitating Ai and finally step out of her shadow. THANK YOU

also, solely needed, aqua and kamiki talk. idk if that was in my original ask (i think it was?) but let aqua find out about kamikis reasoning for going with aquas version of the story. and then, let them have a proper talk. (.... kamiki comparing aqua to Ai. aqua finally calling Ai his mom,,,, please,,,,)

then, timeskip pages where we get to watch rubys idol career now that she stepped into the light as herself. akane and kana acting together (akane and kana friendship. Please.) cute group stuff. aqua and ruby healing.

(bonus page: Ai smiling as she watches.)

bonus chapter gets to be aqua kana confession, can be ambiguous or ends with them dating, idc, just let kana confess.

This is. Not as well worded as the original, but this was the crux and i think the most important stuff? i did add a few scenes i thought about after sending the original ask.

(also, if anyone wants to use any of this as basis for an alternative ending fanfic /oneshot, this is the blanket permission for that.)

2024 - 2024 CLOSE ENOUGH WELCOME BACK ANON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is the ending Big Akasaka doesn't want you to see!!!

ok no all jokes aside I still really love this!!!! I think this is basically my ideal ending for the Oshi no Ko we got - obvs if you start really diverging from the canon material you can do basically anything with it but I think when I was still in my "surely aqua will live <- clueless" era immediately post 163, this is the kind of ending I was imagining - bittersweet and still marked by tragedy and trauma but that at least allowed everyone to start the process of getting back on their feet and working their shit out.

[bloodlegacies]

Hey, I just read the update (and the previous update that I hadn't read yet), and I have some bug reports and questions, if you don't mind! Well and some comments too, I guess.

^ My MC seems to be thanking his father for nothing here as his father didn't do or say anything special… Judging by the code, I think it's because my MC didn't kill yet so his father's comment on that isn't displayed - but MC's reactions to that comment from Eleazar are not set to trigger only if we got that line from Eleazar but no matter what, so I get the "positive response" from a gentle MC, instead of the game skipping that interaction as a whole and going to the one where Eleazar is displeased and MC reacts accordingly.

^ It says there are 7 competitors. But 5 men + 3 women is 8 in total.

^ This segment already appeared before, then it went to the balance training with Eleazar, and then the whole segment repeated itself.

^ Untranslated segment at the beginning here. I understand enough to get what it says, but it still shouldn't be here heh.

That aside, I was wondering if some instances in the game shouldn't raise ice powers? For example, when the MC creates an ice barrier to stop Serah's attack. That one stuck out to me, considering how much of a feat it was. Similar to killing everyone after MC's mother was killed (though I think this one sets a variable on, so it's less of an "issue"). Not that this is a big issue to begin with! Just thought it would make sense.

Speaking of that scene with Serah, and this would be my first question... if the MC stopped Serah indeed, that must have brought even more "shame" to the king, right? I mean, he was already frustrated at MC having killed a bear at such a young age, but then the same kid proved their elemental powers were stronger than those of his older daughter in front of a full audience (not to mention said daughter just lost control of herself in public to begin with).

That aside, what did Asther and co think of a MC who shouted at them to stop in the tower, when they were gossiping about Hayden? On the matter of Hayden, will we get the option later down the line to have MC say (or even simply think) about being reassured that Hayden was supportive of the two lovers (even if the methods were dumb), because MC themself is in love with Hayden and it's reassuring to know they do think love is worth the risks? I can imagine my MC having a mindset of "I need to know if there is any point in me trying to prepare how to manage to be together, and for that I need to be sure they will fight for that too". Like, sure, the lack of trust about the whole thing hurts and was already discussed, but there is also a huge reassurance in the matter.

And that one is not a question, but I just have to say at this point I hate Eleazar more and more every single time he appears! My MC is butting heads with him all the time - like, they disagree on basically everything. I can understand just how surprised my MC was when Eleazar agreed with him about doing nothing more following the Fion "incident"! Like, at this point it would be funny if it wasn't so upsetting - almost ANYTHING Eleazar asks of my MC, the answer is "no". My MC is so nice and merciful, and then you see him with Eleazar and he just becomes hateful and angry.

First of all, thank you for letting me know about the bugs and errors in the code and translation. Thank you.

And secondly, it's true. It makes sense, so I'll add some skill points if you do. Not a lot, but I will.

Third: Definitely yes, this has further irritated the king, who already felt antipathy towards mc, considering what he did at the beginning of chapter 1.

And fourth: Yes, it will be possible. Many options involving this and more, with Hayden, will be possible at the ball, which will be brought up in the next update. Where there will be decisions that affect the relationship with the ro's, and involving the mc himself and how they will be seen later. There will even be options to get upset with the ro's in a more direct way, and if you have a relationship, be it friendship or romance, there will be some reactions from them and other options.

And what about Eleazar? He's complicated hehehe, some love him, some hate him, others are indifferent, but he's a guy who always causes a reaction. I can understand your MC, after all, Eleazar isn't the easiest to deal with, is he? 😁

[greenerteacups]

Hi! Just wanted to say the latest chapter is lovely & amazing & sweet & had me smiling the whole time! I absolutely love your characterisation of everyone, especially Draco, so it was so so lovely to return to this world & to his thoughts!! with his best friend and crush at malfoy manor no less! All the yearning is already off to a great start hehe I am so excited for the rest of book 5!

Wanted to ask you how has it been for you to write this new book and volume? Has your writing process changed since when you’d first begun taking on a long form project like this?

& also are there any moments or surprises in this book that you’re especially excited about?

sending so much love & gratitude for you and your incredible works 💓

Thank you so much! This is really encouraging, I so appreciate it.

Inasmuch as I can use this metaphor without having kids myself, I sort of see each of the books as a different child. The first one flew out in basically a few weeks of very intensive writing, and it was a total dream — plot, pacing, symbolism, major beats, all fell into place basically without effort. The character stuff was the hardest, as I've written about before, but even then, the glorious part of writing beginnings is it's the most energy you'll ever have for a project, so the lows were pretty soft lows. Book 2, in contrast, I had to drag kicking and screaming by its ankle from under the bottommost mattress of my brain. It's one of my least favorite books (tone problem; COS has killer plot/setting/ingredients for a YA novel, but it's stuck in the doldrums of Harry Potter's well-documented Early-Installment Weirdness, before Cedric Diggory slams the gas and upshifts the whole series into its correct age bracket). More specifically, once I'd gone through and picked out everything in the book that happened because of Lucius, I didn't have a plot — hey alexa how do you rewrite Chamber of Secrets when We Got No Fucking Chamber Of Secrets — and oh by the way, even if you want to do a moody tone/political setup book, remember that your protagonists are still twelve, so if you go too dark or too intense, you'll risk torpedoing your readers' suspension of disbelief. Good luck, Charlie.

Book 3 felt the most like its own novel, if that makes sense? It's the last truly feel-good book of the series; it's a great stand-alone mystery novel with relatively low stakes. Plus you get a bunch of the big series icons: patronuses, dementors, werewolves, Hogsmeade, the Marauders' Map, and time turners arithmancy. It just felt like a good old-fashioned motherfucking romp of a mystery/adventure story, before any of the complex character work and major stakes of the late books come in.

Book 4 was the most fun I've had writing anything maybe ever. I don't even know what it was. Maybe the tournament arc, honestly? Love me a tournament arc. But in any case, I opened every new chapter feeling a tingle of excitement for what I was gonna get to do. Oh, and the romance started, finally, Jesus God (if it feels like a slow burn reading, just imagine what it felt like writing it, when everything takes ten times as long, and you have to figure out how to word the fucker.)

Book 5, in contrast, has felt much less like that tingle of "here we go!" and more like "oh, man, this is gonna be cool." Because this is the arc of the story that composed the original idea for Lionheart, literally years ago, and to be honest, I didn't think I'd get this far! If you'd asked me "do you know that it's going to take you 500,000 words of backstory before you can start writing that concept you're thinking about, and you're going to do it anyway?" I would have said: "absolutely not, strange mind-reader!" But like... I'm here! Finally! And it's... real now? Like, this isn't just a bunch of clips of scenes in my head anymore! That's rad!

That being said, it's definitely been slower than Book 4, because I kept switching back to my outline document to make sure that certain things were set up properly, and that I hadn't lost any of the plot threads or forgotten a minor beat that was vitally important for the story three chapters later. And I had a minor crisis about three months ago when I ripped out about 8 chapters in the first third of the book — basically everything from September to December — because I'd done a readthrough to check pacing (big mistake! never edit while drafting, that's satan talking) and realized I had a missing storyline. Like, there was a whole layer of the story that was just. Missing. Not there. And the existing text really couldn't fit another thread, so instead of taking weeks to pore through and try to sift out what I could save, I needed to factory reset and start over. And I didn't want to! I vividly remember sitting there with my head in my hands, trying not to weep, because I'd decimated 90,000 words of work in a single edit. But it had to be done. Because the story wasn't going to work. And now (hopefully) it will.

And of course, there's still that sense of excitement and exhilaration from before. Always. But whereas Book 4 felt like a delicious chocolate pudding, Book 5 is a medium-rare steak.

(Book 6, so far, is four shots of espresso and a whiskey chaser. FWIW.)

[redphlox]

Genuine question! How do you feel about Hawks currently in the story? I know he has a lot of fans, and a lot of people really enjoy him, but I am somebody who really struggles to enjoy Hawks with everything we have thus far.

I really did have high hopes for his character, I hope that he was going to have a real moment of self-reflection about Twice's death. Every time Hawks talks about twice, he just says the same thing, "Yeah, Jin was a good guy. (:"

He's got a very weird parasocial relationship with Endeavor, and the story didn't unpack that. After Endeavor's family past comes to light, he's not shown to have any struggle with the idea of Endeavor being a past abuser he just automatically goes straight giving him his support and we are not shown a moment of internal conflicting thoughts on Endeavor.

Horikoshi created a very interesting foil situation with him and Touya, but then he never unpacked that either. They never interacted again after Twice's death. Sucks, as I felt like the Dabi and Hawks dynamic has TON of potential (not talking from a shipping lens), but it still didn't go anywhere in the end.

The way the story frames Hawks is very strange, too. Not one person on the hero side questions him killing twice. It would have been interesting if we had gotten a scene where Tokoyami questioned Hawks and asked if it was the right thing to do.

Another weird scene was when Lady Nagant explodes, and Hawks catches her. She tells him he's got the look of a real hero or he had an optimistic look in his eyes (I don't remember 100% what she said now). That was their first time meeting each other, too.

Now, here we are currently with Hawks, becoming the president of public safety commission.

Idk, I wanted to really like him, but when I read his character in canon, I just think there is a lot that the story did not unpack with him.

Some of it feels like Horikoshi's writing choices. It really feels like he holds back really hard when it comes to the heroes.

Hey! Thanks for your thoughtful ask 😊

Basically, I agree with everything you said. You took the words right out of my mouth. I initially really liked Hawks - his design, his spunky personality, his quirk, and the mystery surrounding him. All the foiling with Dabi was superb. I didn't even mind when he killed Twice - not that I didn't feel sad about his death, because I did, but with the framing and everything I thought his death wouldn't be in vain and that the characters would all grow and learn from it, especially Hawks.

But nothing came of it. I'm of the opinion that Hawks was retconned heavily because Horikoshi realized how popular his character was and didn't want to angry fans by having him face consequences or be wrong about something. I feel like Lady Nagant is probably what Hawks' backstory and actual plot were supposed to be, and she's just a substitute. But this sudden change in the direction of his arc completely devastated the themes and thus the story.

Hawks feels really empty to me right now. He's the epitome of toxic positivity, blindly following, and no introspection or self reflection about his actions or what it means to be a hero or even about what it means being a victim. He's just kind of there.

I know we have two chapters to go, so maybe we'll have more - I have hopes that with his power as president of the commission he will pardon or rehabilitate the villains in some way and actually follow through with what he had offered Twice.

We'll see. For now, I'm like... rolling my eyes and imagining better writing for him.

[ms-moonlight-inn]

“Shame-proof” DVD Commentary

Thank you to @shamelessdvdcommentary & to the anon to requested us (whoever you are, we love you!). My bestie @notherenewjersey & I are here to answer all of your burning questions (do you have the syph? why's it burning? it's not supposed to burn.)

Anyway, here's our stuff... hopefully it'll help with that itchy burny.

Which fanfic is your DVD commentary about?

“Shame-proof” is about two childhood actors who lose contact with each other after their series wraps. Quickly, we find out that Ian had been harboring a deep crush on Mickey, who had basically been bullying Ian the whole time. Confessions & apologies ensue.

Also, a friend called it an undercover RPF... and if that’s how you choose to look at it, well we’re not gonna stop you.

NJ–  it COULD be RPF but that’s not how it was written. We weren’t imagining Cam or Noel’s childhoods here, aside from what we stole of Mickey’s back canon that Ian watches as he pines.

Give us some stats - (when you wrote it, word count, how long it took to finish, is it a one-shot/multi-chapter, etc)

The outline started on 4/16/24. 22887 words posted. Posted for the Summer Camp project on 8/3 but we were done before that.  Moonlight was convinced it would be 10k but I knew it was bigger. And this was without us going down every rabbit hole we saw. It’s 8 chapters, most of the chapters start with a flashback to the past and then jump to the “present.”

Moonlight– seriously, NJ dragged me away from some other HC I had kicking around, & we dove into this one instead.

What was the initial inspiration for your story?

I read Jeanette McCurdy’s book, and as with any time I read anything, my brain said “What if this was Gallavich?” I know Moonlight is an L.A. girl, so I knew I wanted her input. I think I had a rough outline already when I looped her in, but she immediately took what I had and expanded and deepened it, as she always does.

Moonlight– God it’s so much fun to talk trash about all the things you grew up with & around. Los Angeles is filled with opportunities for trash talking. LOL 

If the story is written from a character’s POV, why did you choose this character?

This didn’t start out as either of us deciding to stay in Ian’s POV, but in order to keep Mickey’s motivations a little more opaque, we landed there. Until the latter chapters, at least. For the drama.

Moonlight– No further comment.

What was your favourite scene to write?

All of them? I like Sue so much, and I love writing Frank’s bullshit. RuPaul is fun, too. 

Moonlight– I’ve got two favorite scenes. The first is the scene where they’re kids doing the campground episode. I adored the moments of discovery Ian had there –figuring out that trees existed in southern California, figuring out that he had a serious crush on Mickey, and then the boy he meets on set as he’s running away from his problems. (BTW, 10 punk rock points to anyone who knew the song before I remembered to add a link).

The other scene I loved writing was the rimming scene. In the outline NJ said, “they get together in the sexiest and most romantic way.” And I wanted to throw my laptop at her face. SERIOUSLY, what the actual fuck?! So I got them all the way up to the part where Ian’s naked and stalled out for, like, two weeks. I was on a call with @mybrainismelted saying, “I’m stuck on this scene. I’ve managed to get one dick out, but I haven’t quite figured out how the other one’s gonna get naked AND STILL KEEP THIS BULLSHIT SEXY AND ROMANTIC.” Needless to say, I figured it out. 😁

NJ– Yup! That was, I think, the entire outline for that chapter, originally. One line. I knew that’s what happened at that point in the story, why bother with details? LOL

How did you come up with the title?

Oh geez. Trying to come up with both an AU of Shameless AND a reboot name, both of which would sound semi-natural was tough! But Shame-proof is more than just the title of a fake TV show. It also speaks to how Ian and Mickey were able to finally live wholly as themselves. No more hiding, nothing left unsaid. Without shame, shameless in the very best ways.

Are there any little moments or references you hope readers will notice?

I always throw things in. We both do. But hopefully, readers who haven’t read either our individual or joint back canon can still enjoy the story.

Moonlight– See easter egg question.

Was there anything you struggled to write? If so, how did you overcome this?

No.

NJ– if one of us is stuck, the other usually isn’t or can jostle the other into being unstuck. We’re good like that.

Favorite line in the story?

NJ– @gallavichgeek pointed out two of my favorite lines, but I will repeat them here because … yeah. 

“Hey, come back,” Mickey says softly.

“I’m still here,” Ian answers, a little confused.

“Yeah, but all of you. M’ not ready to let any of you go a moment sooner than I hafta.”

***

“I’d say,” he hesitates, then goes on, “that someday you’re gonna get everything you ever wanted. That all the bad shit, the bullshit, and the pain, it’ll all be worth it.” 

***

If I crash, I’m coming back to haunt you, Ian had answered.

If you crash, I’m diving in after you.

***

Moonlight– “What the fuck? How ‘bout double-dutch no with a cherry on top.” Mickey steadily refuses. (Anytime Mickey is being creative with his cursing & curses is a good time. Bad language & mockery are his love languages.)

What are you most proud about in the story? (plot, characterisation, dialogue, twist/cliffhanger, etc) 

All of it? It’s a great story. 

Moonlight– I’m also proud of the structure we used. It was NJ’s choice to do what basically amounted to two mini chapters in one –past & present colliding, if you will. And it worked so well for this storyline. 

Are there any deleted scenes that didn’t make it to the final story?

Not deleted, so much as we had ideas that didn’t make it to fully fleshed for the final draft.

Are there any ‘behind the scenes’ info you’d like to share - e.g. what’s going on in a character’s head in a certain scene or how you came to write a certain line?

NJ– It’s important for people to know that Mickey in the past was protecting Ian so much more than he was protecting himself, with his bullying behavior. 

Moonlight– God, yes. 

Reading back the story now, is there anything you’d change or add?

NJ– I want more of Ray, more of Sue, more of the Random Studio Infant now grown up. More of Sheila and of Kermit. I want the world to be fuller. And maybe it will, eventually.

Moonlight– Def’ more Ray, he’s funny & I’m sure he & Ian had so many stupid adventures. I think I’d like to see a few of the conversations between Ian & Mickey, but I struggle with that ‘cause I love when there is that air of mystery to a storyline. I don’t necessarily want to be told everything. But I think at least one of those late night conversations we reference would be nice to see.

NJ– yeah, we did have a time limit so some of the scope got condensed. I agree, those conversations would be incredible to see/hear. 

Would you ever write a sequel to this story?

Well…. This story has legs. It has scope beyond what you’ve seen. I have believed, since the outline began, that this was the fic that would make the leap to traditional publishing. Moonlight and I are hoping to expand it and bring it to a publisher. “It’s a crossover between Shameless, I’m Glad My Mom Died, and RWRB.” Who wouldn’t wanna read that? LOL The Gallagher family will shrink a little, Terry will still be his monstrous self. So no, there won’t be a traditional fic sequel. But if we’re all very, very lucky, there will be an expanded version that scratches the same itch.

Are there any ‘easter eggs’ in your story - e.g. references to other stories you’ve written, a trope you often use etc?

The Saint Christopher’s medallion that Ian receives from Mickey? Yeah, the person I wrote that for knows it was for them. 🫶 

If you’ve chosen your most popular story, are you surprised by the popularity?

By far NOT our most popular story. Yet.

Were you nervous or excited to post this story?

I HATE waiting to post- posting a fic like this where it’s all done upfront is hard for me, emotionally. So I was beyond excited for people to read it and love it as much as we do!

Moonlight– NJ really hates not posting immediately. Like, really hates it. This fic was written for the @gallavich-fic-club Summer Camp Event & we had to wait our turn. Which she HATED. 🤣 

Did you have a beta or a friend who helped you as you wrote?

Can we count each other? I’m a genuine writing freak- fast, thoughtless, and I rarely edit beyond typos. (many of which elude me and still end up in the final draft.) Moonlight is the opposite- she’s incredibly deliberate and also deeply and passionately devoted to the editing process. When we edit together, it can look a little argumentative, but we trust each other, so a lot of those conversations end up like, “I don’t see the issue, but I trust your judgment.” We both say it all the time.

Moonlight– D’aw, bb. You’re making me blush. You’re right, I am a meticulous asshole, but your brain is fast & witty. Together, we write good shit. 

NJ-- Also, god the verb tenses in this story gave me fits. I am a grammar nerd, so is Moonlight. But skipping between tenses for the past and present when we wrote straight through- she never had an issue but I regularly was in the wrong tense and had to go back and fix, cursing my own self the whole time. Loudly. Often on the phone with Moonlight. 

Moonlight– 🤣🤣🤣 yeah…

If any one has any comments, words of praise, complaints you’d like to register with our headquarters, please let us know. 

NJ - in the greatest detail, if you’d be so kind.

Anything else you’d like the readers to know about the story?

Moonlight– Yes, the cheese sledding story is based on semi-true events. The guys at my high school used to carry large blocks of ice to the top hill of the local golf course & ride them down. Years later, a dorm mate I knew in grad school told us about his Vermont cheese tour where he saw “giant wheels of cheese” that he swore he could use as a mode of transportation. And so, the cheese sledding story was born. 

NJ-- And I made sure it was at Trump’s golf course because a few years back, a man in New Jersey did some fun vandalism like that and I find it deeply satisfying.

🧀🛷 

[starshifter]

this it it...all the notes for the main fic... wow....

-

This chapter is titled "It Never Ends" in Scrivener….if that tells you anything about how much this fic spun out of my control 😅 whoops. I had zero of this except the very last scene in my plans for this fic. I told my friend he should take me out sniper style if I tried to add even more because I’d already spent two months on writing this and had all my editing to go back and do still. He did not stop me from adding more. Betrayal.

But yeah, there wasn’t originally any Belobog, much less any getting into Blade’s stalking and brief appearance as Smiling Black Dragon. I couldn’t resist the opportunity though, especially since I don’t think that event is very well known? Maybe it was just me who didn’t know though, cause I joined the fandom late.

Did Serval canonically ever visit the Express? I know we had that quest about her planning to join up, but she didn’t go through with it. I don’t know if she ever got around to a casual visit, so I’m saying it still hasn’t happened. Also that Himeko and Welt still haven’t visited Belobog. All for the sake of one dumb joke about people mistaking Blade for Welt cause they’ve never met Welt. I’m not funny -_-

The entirety of belobog: is it rude to ask a hero why they suddenly have horns and pointy ears? Maybe this is normal for people from beyond the sky? I think it should be shared somewhere that one of my edit notes on this fic was: "Make Shard Sword his emotional support sword." Because I am still laughing to myself about that They are both losers. DH had to go to the girls for date ideas because he is a nerd with nerd hobbies. Blade, meanwhile, has no hobbies other than stalking because depression and PTSD. And they want to date??? Tragic.

Dan Heng can be impulsive and emotional (still laughing about Taoran, though there was definite forethought put into that one. Get fucked, shit-breather), but at the end of the day, he’s a very rational and level-headed person. I think I struck a decent balance between these things in that last argument… But I do worry that I’ve made Dan Heng too much of a doormat at times 😭He’s not being a doormat, I promise. He’s just trying to think things through and be understanding. He doesn't like to act before having a decent idea of the full picture.

Also, for all that Blade very much doesn’t worship Bibi, he really puts him up on a pedestal sometimes. Like, damn, son. You know he’s just some guy, and you still think the whole world of him. That’s gay.

And talk about finding the most creepy, stalker-ish way to say “I love you.” Guess that fits Blade tho lmao Also wtf you mean you got nothing else left? Smh, you got all of the Stellaron Hunters at your back and you know it!! Ugh, talk about self-centered and idiotic

I know in my heart that DH’s briefcase is filled with books rather than anything sensible. I know it. The writers of the game came to me in a prophetic dream and told me directly.

Not me pushing my ‘preceptor conspiracy’ theories (…theyre basically confirmed at this point, right? Maybe not the bloomborn scion thing (yet) but the sedition being a set up, yeah?)

Blade has the opportunity to do the FUNNIEST (read: most fucked up) thing on their anniversary (the literal heart presenting thing made me laugh more than it should. Just imagine dh’s traumatized expression and blade not understanding the problem. Kafka said this was what you’re supposed to do… Ah, fuck, wait)

Why is the Astral Express playing the Farming Game? Because it was the first thing that came to mind when I needed a random game to give them. I considered Catan as well, but I didn’t feel like looking up the rules and it’s been a while since I last played. I don’t know how you would cheat at the farming game. I honestly do not. The Nameless are just that powerful.

Kafka’s relationship with Blade strikes me as more distant than the other two Hunters just because Kafka is like that. She holds everyone at a distance. She’s Blade’s friend, for sure, but she’s the person he goes to when he wants a distraction from his thoughts. She’s not someone he calls just to chat with or hang out. They're working on it tho

No smut for y’all. Like, two thirds of the tag is smut, so I feel no guilt over this. My ace ass does not need to find out if I can write convincing porn yet. (Because I refuse to serve anything except the finest quality smut, but I’ve never tried writing it before, ok? Maybe someday in the future I’ll give it a shot, but this fic has already become far too long)

I fully and truly believe that Blade would not have been ready to accept anything except murder-suicide with Dan Heng if he hadn’t had the Stellaron Hunters to support him moving back towards being human. You know the drill: found family, cold dead hands, etc, etc

I don’t think Blade’s suicidal ideation can be solved so easily. He’s spent too long suffering and wishing for death. That kind of thing lingers. He’s going to continue wishing for death, but now he’s willing to live as well, and I think that’s real progress plus a good place to leave him.

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

2023, it cannot be overstated, was a terrible year for me. We started out strong with an episode of True Love that turned out in fact to be entirely false and not reciprocated. (I've got over that, finally, but it was awkward... I posted about it a bit at the time, along with a lot of what I'm about to tell you.) Anyway, I also basically didn't eat for two weeks in January: only partially related to that. February was even more terrible, but with one bright spot: the terribleness pushed me to finally seek professional help for my longstanding anorexia. I was finally going to choose to recover and it would never bother me again.

Haha anyway I was also severely depressed and anxious so that happened. I had a good solid try at recovery and it seemed like it was going pretty well for a while, yay. Went back to uni after a year out, in the middle of the year. Ended up living with my brother 'just for the semester and after that you've got to find your own accommodation' (I'm still at his place). Anyway things got real bad and I honestly can't remember most of that patch, but I can still see the scars.

Anyway. You're probably wondering why I'm saying this stuff. In November, December, I can't remember precisely when, the Inklings Christmas challenge got posted.

Severely depressed, barely doing anything, only surviving and waiting for things to get better while doctors assessed me to figure out what was going on behind the major depressive disorder (spoiler: undiagnosed ASD), I said, well, why not. I still had remnants of my previous overachieving nature, so why not write something for all twelve days of Christmas, not just a single short story or scene? And I dug back in my memory for the fragments of a plot I worked out when I was twelve years old, remembered the characters, remembered that the main character was one I'd internally laughed about accidentally making autistic in the past.

So I went, what if I just pretend that the story I'd imagined was five years earlier, pretend that the novel I had never written was actually written, and write a slice-of-life sequel to it, featuring the same characters? I remember going to a session with my psych at the time and telling her about this story, but vaguely and quickly, because we were going to run out of time. I talked like I intended to and expected to finish it, but internally, I was going: I will not finish it. I've already proven that I cannot stick to things. (I have a lot of fragments of writing from that year which I will likely never finish, and which had no deeper structure than whatever occurred to my medication addled brain.)

And I went, what should I name this story? It's got to have the word Patience in there, because her name is Patience and it amuses me and amusement is running real freaking thin at the moment. I tried out several titles, none of which I can remember, and none of them suited. At last, because the word hope had been rotating within my brain for so long, I picked The Patience of Hope, and I drew graphics and titled all the chapters and did research to title them and I can't remember any of it anymore so I don't know why I gave them the titles I did.

I think I scheduled about chapter three before chapter one dropped on Christmas Day. I remember there being author's notes that at least hinted that I'd entirely pre-written it, because I'd intended to do so, when I wrote the author's note for the very first chapter. But most of them I wrote on the day they were supposed to drop.

I don't think anyone read it at the time; I certainly don't remember such a thing happening, though after it was completed people did read it, and do still. (It's still on my website, and also on my ao3 under the title mentioned above.) But I wrote it, this silly little thing that spawned a whole character and series of novellas I haven't finished yet. More than one character, actually; one of the main characters is Nathan, who didn't exist in my original concept at all. And another character mentioned is Hannah, her aunt, whose storyline is deeply personal to me.

I can't remember how long it is. The writing is at times very bad and the storyline vague and choppy. I had no true plans when I started writing that story: not even to finish it. It does qualify as a novella for length, but I forget where in that wide range it comes in. But I finished it.

That... meant the world to me, actually, in the state I was in. I finished it in January, and two weeks later I was being very seriously told by my doctor that if anything got any worse, in any way, I was to immediately present to emergency and request/demand admission. They didn't; I was prescribed medication that, this time, actually helped to manage the whole crisis thing going on, and I haven't been that close to an admission since (nor needed to be, not really).

So The Patience of Hope is very special to me, as you can see, because I completed it at a time I felt so strongly that I couldn't complete anything except - well, I don't suppose I have to elaborate. It's a fun, fluffy little story with underlying angst and stress and grief but above it all, it's cheerful. A romance begins, which surprised me, because I was literally just writing whatever came into my head, and apparently what came into my head was a character who hadn't been previously mentioned or thought of, asking Patience out on a date.

And the way Nathan accepts and understands and loves Patience for herself and not for what he hopes that she will be (if my phrasing seems odd, it's a Carpenters reference - "Love Me For What I Am") was healing to write. The entire story was written between when I started being assessed for ASD and when I was officially diagnosed, and I can really really see in Patience's words what I felt and still do sometimes feel - the hesitation and uncertainty and distrust of oneself. She was the first character I ever wrote who was stated to be autistic, though I'd written ones before deliberately making them autistic in my head, but they never said they were autistic on the page.

I don't remember the timeframe of the next bit, but there was a writing challenge to write a novel from start to finish in - six months, I think? It was a while. - and I saw it and went, oh, I could go back and write the novel about Patience that I first conceptualised.

Which I did, over the next few months. From start to finish, that draft is eighty-four thousand words in its current, unedited form, and I expect it to end up somewhere between eighty and ninety thousand - I always edit down on a sentence level, and up on a scene and chapter level, so it tends to balance out somewhat. Especially the earlier sections, it's pretty sparse before I hit my stride, and I also struggled to finish it in a way that felt satisfying to me, and I need to build up the community aspect more - and introduce her aunt Hannah more throughout.

What's the novel about, you may ask? And don't ask for the title, because I made a working title, and I haven't figured out a proper replacement yet. The novel is about Patience at a younger age, I forget what; early teens, I think, self-isolating and shy and scared and very very rigid. (It's a lot of fun comparing the Patience of this novel to the much more relaxed, but still characteristic Patience of The Patience of Hope five or seven years later. She's the same person, only grown up rather, and in a very positive way.)

In a mechanism I haven't yet worked out properly and will definitely be rewriting, she unexpectedly gains an adoptive sister, Rhona - named after a tea cosy in a pattern book I used when I was eleven or twelve to knit an atrocious and very wonky stuffed dog. Anyway, Rhona is a bit younger, a bit more extroverted, a bit prettier and a bit more new and exciting. And a bit disruptive to Patience's neatly ordered life.

Cue emotional explosions I'd compare to Holly and Lucy in Lockwood and Co., and say it was based on that, if I'd read that before I planned this book out. Rhona is doing her best to fit in to the family, but she's also showing up Patience's inability to fit in, so there's insecurity tying in to it.

Patience spends most of the book hating her with a passion of greater or lesser intensity despite everything Rhona tries to do to bridge the gap. And then, in a move unrepentantly stolen from Jean Webster's Dear Enemy, the house burns down. Oh, the horror! Oh, the shock! Oh, the fact that Patience was the only one within range of Rhona and had to drag her out! Oh, the hospital whump afterwards! *coughs* Forget I said that last one. Anyway Rhona gets off pretty lightly, while Patience... does not get off so lightly. She spends a while in hospital, but luckily, the combination of everything brings her and Rhona together finally, and they all live happily ever after.

Well, that's what the original plan said, anyway. Back when I was twelve and didn't know interpersonal dynamics.

While it's true that the house burning down and everything associated with that does help Patience and Rhona to get along better, that's not the end of the book. The house burns down at the turn between parts two and three, fifty-three thousand words in. Any mathematicians reading this will observe there are still thirty thousand words to go. There are nine chapters in each part.

The last three chapters total fifteen thousand words between them. My original plan calls for three thousand word chapters. Again, the mathematicians are going to observe that this doesn't add up. These chapters average out five thousand words each.

That's because I really wanted to mention one specific character earlier in the novel, who gets a passing and no longer timeline compliant mention in The Patience of Hope. Patience's aunt Hannah, who, yes, I named after myself, and who also struggles with anorexia nervosa.

Chapter twenty-five is titled, "A Will to Live". Originally intended to be about Patience's depression following her discharge from hospital after the house burned down, and then regaining her mental equilibrium, it became a bitter sarcasm that hurt every time I re-read the title while I was drafting it.

(I did cry quite a bit about this, including while actively writing. Sobbing and still writing the next sentence. I hope it comes across in the final work.)

Because Hannah does not win her battle. She is not a success story, or a happy ending, or a triumph. She dies alone in an apartment that hasn't been cleaned for weeks, fridge almost empty: two days before she's agreed to go into treatment. There are three big killers in anorexia: suicide, heart failure and malnutrition. And Hannah Shepherd dies of heart failure, leaving, as I heard in a video I strongly do not recommend, recently, "a bleeding, girl-shaped hole in her family".

It's traumatic and horrible and full of grief, but they manage somehow to go on. Patience is kept in the dark as to what's going on, at Hannah's request; she just knows that she died of some sickness. After all, she's at THE prime age to develop an eating disorder of her own, and even though you'd think someone dying would make you reconsider, unfortunately, eating disorders are mental illnesses and don't discriminate. (Besides, I wrote this story, and Karen Carpenter is a special interest of mine. Doesn't stop me relapsing.)

And then three chapters later (though, realistically, I'm going to rearrange the chapter balance to add at least one more here, since I struggled to fill a few of the chapters in terms of word count), the story's over, and everything is okay - just okay, not good, but with hope that it will be.

The first draft has been finished for - I don't know how long. Looking back to former posts makes it seem like I finished it on the last day of April last year, which would make it eight months and 21 days since I completed the draft. I think that's long enough to go back and redraft, don't you? I was working on continuing to draft Vaniah's story, but given that it's not singing to me right now, maybe I should jump in to editing this and see where I get to - I can always go back to Vaniah and Anneka instead, even though I've left them at a profoundly difficult spot. (While we're on the topic of dying from anorexia? Yeah. Except that is a story of recovery and hope.)

All that to say, you might hear more about Patience, and Rhona, and Jude, and Marcia, and Hannah, and Nathan, and everyone else that makes that story what it is, soon. I've been thinking a lot about it lately, and I really do think Patience's story needs to be refined, so that eventually I can show the world. If anyone wants, I can pull out excerpts too, if I'm brave enough. Please tell me your favourite aspect of this story, whether the novel or The Patience of Hope or whatever it may be. Ask me questions. I can ramble. Please.

[gulliblelemon]

For @purplehoodiesandclementines

I felt bad that your scene request ended up so angsty. So I did this instead.

It's Wille's POV from the scene in The Palace in Chapter 10 of Where We Left Off. I hope it makes up for the heartache 💜

“I love you.”

Wille’s entire world stopped. Had he misheard? Had he just heard what he’d been wanting to hear for years? Simon couldn’t possibly have just said—

“What?”

The feeling of Simon’s breath ghosted across his lips as he sucked in a deep inhale. “I love you. I love you so much. And I don’t want to lose you.”

Oh. Oh! It hadn’t been Wille’s imagination. Simon had actually said it; Simon actually loved him. Overcome with all the emotion he’d tried to contain over a decade of loving Simon, Wille lurched forward with a gasp and captured Simon’s lips with his own, cupping the back of his head and holding him so delicately. Simon kissed him back, gently, and surely and with so much fondness that Wille almost melted on the spot.

But then he realised he hadn’t—

“I love you too,” he gasped, in an impossibly small gap between their kisses. “I thought—”

He moved away from Simon, trying to control the outpouring of emotion threatening to spill from his mouth. 

“I thought you didn’t—” He tried to catch Simon’s eyes, tried to work out how and why and— “I didn’t realise you felt that way. I thought it was just me.”

Simon laughed, and it did more to ease Wille’s rabbiting heart than anything else could have done. “I thought it was just me.”

And that was the most ridiculous thing Wille had ever heard in his life. Wille, whose life had been defined by his love for Simon for longer than he could remember. “Simon,” he said. “I have been in love with you for over a decade.”

Wille watched in amazement as Simon processed his words. “For over a decade?” he asked. “When—”

Sighing, he leant to rest his head on Simon’s shoulder, knowing the embarrassment should probably be rendering him useless, but he couldn’t find it in him to care when Simon loved him. 

“I don’t know. It’s probably weird to say since that very first night. Right?” Leaning back, he tried to see what Simon’s reaction was to basically being told Wille had fallen in love with him at eighteen and never got over it. “There was something… I’ve never felt like— You’ve always been… here.” He pressed his palm over his heart, which was beating erratically against his ribs. Simon’s eyes followed the gesture. “You know?”

Simon didn’t answer, and Wille was worried that he’d said too much, given away more of himself than Simon wanted. Ruined their—

But then Simon lifted his hand to cover Wille’s, lacing their fingers together, and leaned forward to kiss him again.

Wille could feel tears prickling at the back of his eyes, his heart so full of joy and sadness and overwhelm and the knowledge that Simon loved him back. Simon - the love of his fucking life. And he felt the same way.