#what's in a name anyway?

[riality-check]

[carefully sticks a ⭐ on what's in a name, dots and dashes, and like one of the girls] [thinks for a moment] [sticks one more on smin] I am a cozy blanket bundle, please talk to me about your stuff! <3

omg i'm so excited to talk about all of these (and i'm sticking a read more on this post because it's going to be long as hell)

what's in a name, anyway?

Nancy meets his parents about six months in. The whole time, during that catered dinner, his parents call him "Steven." His father asks him about basketball - he never went to his games - and why he wasn't captain yet. His mother made vague references to staying out of trouble, Steven James.

She watches Steve shrink before her eyes. Watches him become something small, so unlike “The Hair” and “King” and the boyfriend she knows.

Nancy isn't sure what to do, and she hates uncertainty more than anything. When they're alone, she tries for a joke about how much she hates when her mother yells "Nancy Grace" across the house.

It's not the same. They both know it. Steve laughs anyway.

Months later, when they're at that Halloween party and Nancy is too drunk to see straight, she calls him "bullshit" but makes sure "Steven" never leaves her mouth.

(She’s angry and scared and a lot of other things, but she doesn’t ever want to see Steve that small again.)

I love writing Nancy's POV so much. Seeing Steve through her eyes was so much fun and such a challenge since I had to go back to who Nancy was during seasons 1 and 2. The "calls him 'bullshit' but makes sure 'Steven' never leaves her mouth" line is probably one of the best I've written.

dots and dashes

Steve yanks himself out of his thoughts and back to the present, where he’s standing at the front desk of Family Video on an exceptionally dead Monday.

Dead, except for one Dustin Henderson.

“I’ve told him no five times, but apparently he only listens to you,” Robin complains.

“Bold of you to assume I listen to Steve,” Dustin shoots back.

“He doesn’t,” Steve tells Robin. “He only listens to me when there’s a crisis, and even then, I have to fight him on it.”

Dustin looks too proud of himself.

“It’s not a compliment, shithead. What has she told you no about?”

This interaction was so spontaneous as I wrote it, and I got so many wonderful comments about how in character it is! So, I'm really proud of it, and I'm laughing as I reread it.

like one of the girls

“No one else is like me, Stevie.”

“I know. It’s why you’re the best I’ve ever had.”

And before Eddie can respond, Steve is out like a goddamn light.

That’s fine. Eddie reaches over and turns out the light before he snuggles right back up to Steve. He’s gonna have to do laundry tomorrow, and he has a long-ass shift at Thatcher, but that’s all fine. All of it can wait.

This moment, right now, head resting on Steve’s chest and arms wrapped around him, is all that matters.

This moment, and the certain knowledge that Eddie is it for Steve. Because for a long time, probably longer than he’s realized, Steve has been it for Eddie, too.

And Eddie falls asleep with the thought that none of those girls, however many there were, have ever had that from Steve.

It took me forever to figure out how to end this fic. It started out as a drabble in my notes app with a vague concept of Steve taking the reins, and it turned into a fic that made one of my friends ask "why is there bowling in the porn." I'm really proud of how soft and sweet this fic ends, and I love its placement in my series.

slay monsters, if needed

But it’s not like she wouldn’t do it. Nancy might be a bitch, has known that since she was eight and got called it to her face for the first time, but she’ll always help people, especially when she’s the only one who can do it.

Live, love, Nancy Wheeler. I love writing her so much, and everything about her in SMIN has just been such a fun thing to do.

I see so much of myself in her it's scary. The bitch line is actually from my own life (it didn't bother me then - I didn't tell anyone because I didn't care. My friend brought it to a teacher - and it certainly doesn't bother me now.)

ask me more questions about my fics!!

[ayy-junipei]

Fears

[hinamie]

post-graduation trip airport looks

[nocek]

And we all should be jelly.

(at least Miguel is so maybe they are closer to that dumb triangle than Wade thought XD)

[monkesupreme]

ref

a satisfactory answer for Selina

[egophiliac]

buckle up lads we're going BACK INTO THE BOOK

[ninjasmudge]

thats a red flag narinder, get that crown back while you still can

+ top panel without text below the cut

[pokimoko]

Asexual bird? Please

How about two asexual birds?

[noctilin]

could we kiss and perhaps… fall in love…? haha just kidding… unless…? 😳

available for preorder as charms, standees and stickers until nov 1~

[caitmayart]

Silly warmup doodle but GODS I LOVE THESE TEENS

[fascinationstreetmp3]

Bartering with desire. Is that what makes you fascinating?

[hugs-and-stabbies]

The self-awareness on this guy 😞 someone pls send him an "are you bi?" quiz STAT

[frownyalfred]

I'm seeing a lot of "ugh, so we can't even criticize fic authors anymore?" posts popping up on here and the ao3 subreddit and I just want to say, for the record: No one's saying you can't criticize (fanfic) authors publicly. They're saying it's rude and antithetical to positive fandom experience. And, yes there's a difference.

If this website was a conference and I had just spent a whole afternoon listening to a presentation on [unpopular fic trope] and after that was done, I got up on stage and very publicly told the audience that [unpopular fic trope] was illogical and anyone who writes it is woefully misinformed and should be banned from writing [relevant character], that would in fact be a dick move.

"But the canon character would never--" it doesn't matter. You're shouting down the hall at the person who just happily did a whole seminar on their OOC version of that character. "But I don't like that the author chose to make them--" good, you're well-acquainted with your likes and dislikes, time to find another fic.

We all run into fics and interpretations we don't like. But there's a huge difference between loudly talking about it on Tumblr where the author can see it, and just venting in a private discord or other group. Also, gentle reminder that this is a hobby for most writers and something they do purely because they enjoy it. Stop being massive dicks just because you feel entitled to a certain flavor of fanfiction you will probably be chasing until the Reformation of Krypton.

[hinamie]

mentor

[rythyme]

a lot of the popular "queerbait" ships are just "these two characters are friends / they stood close together once" but every once in a while i'll stumble into an unfamiliar ship tag and see shit like "in episode 169 Scrungko gives Blorbis multiple prostate orgasms with an anal vibrator while pretending to date him" and like. idk what the hell is going on there. but if it's not queerbait then they just invented something even more insane. maybe y'all are right sometimes.

[the-phantom-peach]

mmmm something something time rift blah blah yada yada ✨links meet au✨