#wow this AU is making me want to figure out the backstory for a character I’ve disliked for over five years? unbelievable | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dailybbq · 1 year ago

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HI WOW I LOVE UR ART

if possible can u drop some of ur qtaro hc's? its rare to meet another qtaro enjoyer !! :D

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! i'm always so happy to find others who enjoy him - it's been a little easier since 3-1 now that other people actually consider him :'P!! & yes of course! i have many, but i think (since it is a 'general' prompt), i will leave it to the basic headcanons on his backstory/character for now :]

DAY 2: WHO IS HE?!

- Ethnically Puerto-Rican & Scottish-Japanese! He's fluent in Japanese, Spanish, and English (less so, he's uncertain about some pronunciations and prefers writing it out instead of speaking it) - where he grew up has certainly affected the sort of intense emphasis/descriptive language he uses in Japanese, but Spanish has also affected the style in which he speaks :D + he also really enjoys learning about other cultures (and reconnecting with his own!) through language & conversing with the people there. It's much more interesting and personal than simply... reading research other people have gathered on them.

- Transmasc non-binary; primarily uses he/him in English, él/lo in Spanish! He also finds neopronouns fun. Though he doesn't elect to use them for himself, he doesn't mind if others do!!

- Bisexual & polyamorous also :] I have a small (often not too relevant, other than me providing further context to all of those Q-taro's had to leave behind for the Death Game) headcanon that he has a boyfriend named Yusuke (友輔) who he met in high school! Yusuke's also struggled academically, to the point that he fell a year behind Q-taro — having to make-up the credits for that extra year before he could finally graduate. Soon after, when he was able to make it through his undergraduate degree, they celebrated together... and through an drunk accident, Q-taro severely injured himself. This is the incident shown in-game, and it's what plays into his struggles of realizing how much he's seemingly 'left behind' and how stagnant his life feels while Yusuke continues school, the kids at the orphanage are growing up, the team's already figured out a strategy to make up for his absence... but, well. I digress.

- Q-taro really loves taking photos of his day-to-day. Even if he's not often the one in the pictures, he loves getting to see his friends smiling at some stupid joke he made behind the camera, or taking more subtle pictures when they're casually hanging out and laughing — not purposefully smiling for the camera or anything... it feels far more genuine.

...Hence, his 'treasure' in the prize exchange is a camera the kids got for him on his birthday one year. Photos of his life before the Death Game are still in the cartridge — even the one he took of Yusuke moments before he was hospitalized and isolated from everyone he cared for. Asunaro grants him this to serve both as a reminder of his loved ones waiting for him, and of how devastated he was when he was injured and felt as if his life was passing him by. In this 'Game', his life will be stolen — and Q-taro still has a life he wants to live... he has to live...

- In any case... I also think he has a chronic limp from (physical) bullying he endured when he was younger (he never really tried to fight back, and they went harder on him because he was dark-skinned + a large kid, they assumed he could take more of a beating). He healed up well enough, and it doesn't impair his skill on the field at all, but it is noticeable when you notice him casually walking. When Asunaro replaced his limbs upon request, they still had to implement some weakness in it such that he wouldn't question or overcompensate for the limp he's always had. (& adjacently related, but I do delve more into a pre-/no-Death Game AU reference here if you're interested!)

- Additionally, I do believe he's coded in-game to have autism — whether or not it was as intentional as Gin's pre-established symptoms, it remains true in my mind... The ways in which he connects with Gin and Kai, his literal and blunt manner of addressing things (there are many instances, but particularly the start of 2-1 where he belatedly realizes that although he'd like to applaud Sara for being strong, he needs to instead focus on the fact she's still in a vulnerable place and try to support her that way... 'cause she is still a kid, even if she's trying to act like a leader right now. It's also why his later conversation with her quickly veers into the topic of 'casual life' — by way of distraction and finding comfort for her sake, because he knows Asunaro's pushing the participants' limits intentionally), the intense 'passion' he holds for many things... you must see my vision, yes...

With that, and the context of many other participants in-game canonically having schizo-spec disorders, I also headcanon him to have schizo-affective bipolar disorder. He foremost experiences auditory hallucinations, and occasionally has to double-check with those he cares for to make sure they weren't calling him, or that they didn't say something that his brain has latched onto and repeated (which, when not idly irritating, can be upsetting phrases that he internalizes). When he's experiencing manic episodes, he often goes days unable to sleep because he feels both physically and mentally restless — he'll often struggle to manage his frustration/sensory overload in his attempts to physically wear himself out (in the hopes it gets him to finally rest) & he tends to intensely focus on various inane hobbies he'll drop soon after the episode ends. This includes (but is not limited to): testing out pottery, collecting and sorting different washi tapes, researching and testing the differences in fungi, and baking (he normally just cooks; baking isn't his thing (although he loves pastries)). Q-taro also struggles immensely with articulating himself aloud (this also ties into the autism) when it comes to more lengthy or serious discussions. While he understands what he wishes to say, he can't often figure out a good way of getting it out — hence defaulting to physical touch and affection to reassure others.

- Speaking of his favored physical touch! I think he enjoys all forms of it, but ultimately prefers:

- Hugging (people are usually shorter than him, and he likes hugging them, then picking them up in the air and spinning him... though he's also fond of casual moments where he gets to lean down over someone's shoulder while they're busy and hug them like that) - Hands on one's face (when he's comforting a kid, he often holds their face to help them feel 'steady' & to make it easier to wipe away their tears (or, lets them lean into his shoulder to hide the tears), and will gently nudge their chin up when he's trying to inspire some confidence. he likes letting his loved ones close to his face, because he considers that a really vulnerable part of someone. (also... he thinks it's cute when Yusuke pinches his cheeks when he pretends to be scolding him.)) - Hand-holding!!! (it's nice, and as i've shown above... he likes being gentle with his loved ones. but, whether it's something silly like swinging their hands around, or holding their hand in public for comfort's sake, or simply something to help them ground themselves... he just enjoys knowing they're there.)

And... I think that is all I'm going to add for now!! I hope this suffices; thank you for reading through! Maybe next time I'll delve more into my hcs of how he interacts with some of the cast (or, perhaps simply draw that out :D)

#my apologies if any of this is difficult to understand!! i'm fine with clarifying further if need be;#i just haven't had the energy to re-read what i've written out as of late before i post/send them :'D #also... wow :P i am surprised to see that i've gone a post without mentioning q-taro & gin in immense detail.#when i post abt characters. i tend to always drag in their main associates with them - but! this is mainly abt q-taro on his own standing!#||#yttd #yttd hcs #asks #requests

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haybuhay · 7 months ago

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i am asking you about dermabrasion by pennydaniels 👀

THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION!!! IM NOW GOING TO GO CRAZY !

DERMABRASION BY PENNYDANIELS is a canon divergent BNHA fic focusing mainly on Todoroki Shouto and Dabi’s relationship if Shouto had figured out his identity and tracked him down at the start of the UA school year. It is over 400k words, 41 chapters, and is one of my favorite BNHA fics (or just plain fics) ever. I cannot recommend it enough.

I will try SO HARD not to spoil anything in this rant/essay in case you haven’t read it… But minor spoiler warning anyway in case I mess up.

Some of the stuff I’m going to talk about is waay down the line (like 40 chapters out of 41 chapters type of down the line) but the fact that you know it’ll happen won’t take away from the joy of reading it because the execution is just that good. Probably. The build-up to these moments is just as good as them happening, if not better, I SWEAR.

OK. RANT BEGIN.

For reference, this fic began December 2020 and finished January 2023!! We got the Dabi is a Todoroki reveal November 2020 and then more about his backstory February 2021.

So this means that Dabi’s characterization and backstory here aren’t 100% canon compliant. Despite the fact that it’s in AU territory, the fic handles Dabi’s character and motivations really well?? Arguably, its because it’s not canon compliant that the fic is able to give us such a good insight into his character... Wow… When authors can expand on existing narratives while staying true to the essence of the characters… 😍…

Dabi’s motives, which I think are actually super close to canon (!!!), and how they inform his choices within the timeline of the fic and in his backstory make me so crazy. I am going to be cryptic and just say that the glimpses we get of young tweenage Touya in this fic is everything to me. His whole relationship with Endeavor at literally at any point in the story is especially well done…

A large part of this fic’s appeal to me is how it handles Endeavor. I am a huge fan of the Todorokis’ whole plot and since Enji is the dead centre of that fucked up family storm, I think getting him right is probably one of the most pivotal points in writing fics that puts emphasis around literally any Todoroki. Not even just how Enji himself is, but also the way other characters think about and act around him should be given thought and written with care... Dermabrasion does him, his affect on his kids and his wife and his development so much justice.

The fic begins with Season 1 Shouto’s Endeavor hatred. His vehemence for the guy is so obvious even in just the first few paragraphs where he dubs him ‘that fucker.’ He does this consistently throughout the fic LOL

Tbh. This put me off the fic a little, since I’m not interested in reading Endeavor-bashing fics (no matter how deserved they are HAHA) but I just got over myself and realised no, yeah. This is in character, it is completely understandable and a little hilarious...

What I like here is that his feelings towards Endeavor (negative or otherwise) aren’t a static thing — it progresses not just as Endeavor changes, but as he grows closer in understanding Dabi and the rest of his family and as he, himself, grows up. It’s so rewarding to see it unfold throughout the storyline little by little. I want to say that it happens in the background but honestly Endeavor haunts this entire fic. It’s not that he’s always there. Honestly, he doesn’t show up that much, but it’s only by virtue of his actions that this storyline exists at all so it’s like every action taken is an echo of his. Something about how even when he’s not there, everything is always about him and what he’s done. It’s great, and I mean that genuinely. I love this so bad.

Shouto’s character here is perfect for this sort of fic, I think. He’s stunted and it’s openly acknowledged by other characters how… weird?? he can come across. I think it just makes his arc all that more apparent... He becomes somewhat of a moral paragon and I’n not even upset about it. His development as a character is thoroughly explored and so hard-earned that his transformation from a dead-faced, dead-eyed kid to who he is at the end of the fic is just. rewarding.

AND ITS NOT JUST HIM… Almost every main-focus character goes through some sort of gratifying journey and are made to reckon with parts of themselves that in Dabi’s case, would mean redefining his entire identity. You can tell that all the characters in this fic want to be better, not just for themselves, but for the people around them. It’s one of my favourite things about this fic, how personal improvement is such a huge part in it. This is definitely the Mob Psycho 100 lover in me speaking.

(Side tangent: MP100 being a story about an overpowered, stoic, repressed kid who, with the company of a dubiously moral older brother figure, learns how to become a better version of himself and by doing that, he inspires those around him, including that dubiously moral older brother figure. This is Dermabrasion in a different world. If you love MP100, I will eat my entire shoe if you don’t enjoy Dermabrasion too.)

While the focus is definitely mainly on Shouto and Dabi, the entire family has their part in it. Natsuo, Fuyumi, Rei and Enji all get their moments to shine and show their growth and unique personalities. A fun thing about this is how similar Shouto and Enji are… I think it really drives home that they’re family.

I don’t think this is a huge spoiler, since it’s kinda implied in the premise, but when Natsuo reunites with Dabi the interaction is so. Real. And the fact that it takes time and effort for their relationship to be built back is so poignant and crazy and SICK. Everything in this fic is earned through a lot of tears and pain and misery. It’s a cathartic read.

Okay, now that I made it sound like the entire fic is just one huge therapy session, let me mention humour once then immediately go back to doing that HAHAHA I think this fic is funny as hell. Humour is subjective, yesyesyes, but it grew on me and it WILL grow on you. The back and forths between characters, Shouto’s natural temperament making him predisposed to being absolutely Comical, the inherent comedy of being in a Hero Society... As someone with siblings the way the Todoroki siblings interact here, fights and messy reuniting shit notwithstanding, has so much of the annoyed love and care that you get from the people you grew up with. I particularly like Fuyumi and Natsuo’s dynamic together.

They’re outcasts in different ways than Dabi and Shouto are outcasts. The guilt and remorse they feel not just from not being able to step in for Shouto, but for leading their own lives is GAHHH. The entire thing about being in a different world to their brothers and dad is … Augh. Heroes and Villains.

Rei. Rei… I am GUTTED by every scene she is in. I reread ‘when your love has always been enough (for me)’ by classicequinox to cope. That is a different post to make one day when I have the energy.

Idk if I said all I wanted to say. There’s definitely more to this fic. DabiHawks, for one. I think they’re great here. Somehow they AREN’T horrifically toxic, WOO!! The details of this I will leave for you to read… Another thing I like about this fic is how 1A reacts to Todoroki family lol. LOV also has its part in this fic, I think it is sweet what happens to them but ofc since they aren’t really the main focus, it’s more a fun bonus to see what happens to them.

Ok I need to wrap this up. One day I’ll write a proper spoiler-full essay about this with a thesis statement and everything but yk. Life.

To conclude I’ll just talk about the ending of this fic. It’s my favourite, absolute favourite thing about it. The author themself quoted a comment they received in the last chapter that I am going to quote here too: “Even at the end there's the clear sense that the character's lives will continue and that this is only the beginning for them.” That is literally the best way to sum up this fic. These character’s will continue growing and bettering and it gives me so much real, genuine hope in myself that I can change, too. So yeah. Read this fic and if it changes your life let me know.

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thequibblah · 3 years ago

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can i get a director's cut about no regrets coyote xoxoxo

for u bestie? anything. even a longass ramble

literally when i read this series back i'm like wow did someone tell you to write Voicy Fic did someone tell you to enhance the Voice jkhajkkgd

as is my dangerous new tendency i wrote this out of order (every time i admit this im like fuck someone's going to read this and go oh yeah that really tracks kdfhgjkd) so the cokeworth stuff came in pretty late — but one thing i was super excited about with this instalment was opening up the world of the story.

not just in a geographical sense, though that does happen, but in every possible way, i wanted the reality of life tee em to seep in here. like, there's no whirlwind romance (...yet), there are logistics, there's a good deal of guilt like when lily lies to alice. is it REALLY no regrets coyote?? and my favourite avenue to open up was lily's personal life. we already know a little about her ex (and, you'll be so pleased to hear, we will know even more) but i knew digging into her backstory would be so fun and hopefully a little surprising too. maybe it's the nature of this AU or just all jameses, but it's easier for the reader to extrapolate what his life was like pre the start of wtrf than it is for lily (at least, that was the hope).

i wanted her life to be a little less glamorous, HA, partly because we have to believe she'd take the puddlemere job despite very little interest in it (at first). but there's lots of degrees to that. i don't fancy having her wallow in misery for the sake of it, and moreover what i love exploring through these characters isn't, like, backbreakingly sad circumstance but everyday frustration. how pitifully mundane to have parents whose expectations for you are well-meaning but a hefty burden; how ordinary for your squabbles with your sister poke at your insecurities far too often. as much as the reality of lily's childhood was different from (presumed) canon because of this AU, it's also...kind of not. which was so so fun, trying to figure out how growing up around magic with everyone knowing what magic is might still make her feel like an outsider in her home — like she's both a weirdo and someone on a pedestal, and she wants to be neither but but could never just shuck the expectations entirely. (it takes no fine-toothed comb to pick out this element in all my lilys and if you think this is some personal unpacking going on, please refer me to a therapist or don't bring it up at all x)

i feel like this series has thus far been Very James (which is natural because of the setting/premise and also because he has chronic wont shut up disease, and also because i weirdly wrote more from his pov i think which is new for me even tho hes my self insert) and wanted to start to balance that out a little. so keep an eye out for the ways in which canon intersects with lily's life!!!! (i'm dropping hints that sn*pe might come up possibly maybe)

oh that was a fucking digression ok

sidenote everyone knows this is my fundamental thesis of jily: thee partners against the dursleys KJHJKHAJAK

Not only do they bring out the worst in each other, they never play fair. It’s hardly manageable to argue with them when there’s only one of me.

anyway, despite this all being written out of order i wound up pretty happy with the reason why lily kind of loses her head about james the week following her visit to cokeworth. bless her, she's going thru it

oooh so the conversation about the rules tee em (by doja cat dot mp3) was the note on which i started drafting. i know some people were like wow are they really going to talk about it and i deliberated having them put it off for longer, but then i was like no i'm too impatient for that — and realistically speaking, they're at least both responsible enough to know they need to hash it out. (james! responsible!)

and it was v important to me that the conversation was not just a vehicle for james being overwhelmingly james and lily being like well what am i getting into here.......... but also frank and not without its hitches. like, if i had to point to a part of this conversation i think is the most important, it would be right at the start when james is being teasing and lily's like, uh, no, stop that, this is my job. i mean, it's realistic for who she is (and truthfully she hasn't known him long enough to not snap back in that moment) but i as a Person am keenly aware of the power difference between them in terms of leverage with the team, and i think to have them pretend not to realise it would be dishonest.

so much of my favourite parts of james's canon arc have to do with reckoning with privilege, and while not every story has to be That Heavy a necessary angle of the cultural and socioeconomic difference between them (which as i said somewhere else, i actually really like preserving because of the rich, fertile conflict — and opportunity for growth — it affords) is like. unease. i don't think fanfiction has to entirely shy away from big subjects. like, there's certainly a place for Pure Just Smut (which i've written myself hahaha) but i didn't want this to be that (what would all that worldbuilding be for!!!!) and LIFE is uneasy, and life is out here imitating art!!!

and so i wanted to use this opportunity to like. through this device of the team/having to keep things secret reflect back some facets of their personalities both to the reader and to each other. for james that's what he does with power. he's grown up in a way that means he's basically always had it, only he's rarely lorded it over people when not an actual stupid child, and the very humbling experience of having his longest dream stall at age 18 means he's even less likely to do so. this is something lily has to see from him, if she is to trust him.

for lily it's what she does with risk. she's a careful person, she likes plans and control, and when we see her at the start of the story shes basically had both those things chucked out the window. (in short she's at the same point in her arc that james was at when he was 18/post the injury — he's out of the tunnel and she's just in it) it's important for james not just to see that she's not put-together and cold and way, way above him, but also to see when and where she's reckless, and with what. it's like a roundabout way of realising what matters to her (so she'll be careful with it), but also of seeing when she says fuck it because something matters to her too much.

basically for something that is "Not A Relationship" this thing is SOOOOO a test drive for a relationship akjhsjkhjsfgk

another quick point: i was glad to be able to subvert the no-feelings trope, mostly because i didnt think there was anything new i could add to it. (like, they're like no feelings, and then someone catches feelings, duh of course obv [disregard that i just wrote this in something else plz]) there are other rules i am much more excited for them to break >:) im also aware that the like. romantic/sexual/dating politics here are mayyybe suspect for the 70s i think (though i tried not to let too much 21st century thinking seep into me, i have on my to-do to read the ethical slut fOR FANFICTION literally i am a joke) but i hope u guys will forgive me for that xx

oh! ted lasso viewers will also probably have guessed that singer cancelling on charity gala was totally 100% stolen from season 1. it's elton john here just because hes a cool guy <3 and my favourite thing was having literally everyone call him "elton" like theyre all best fucking buds with him, it is HYSTERICAL to me when people do that to celebrities in like a professional capacity.

[obligatory pause in my skim of my own fic to say wow i love sports]

also i caCKLED when i managed to squeeze in that james isn't in the calendar. who out here wa slike wow lilys gonna see his sports illustrated body issue pinup calendar photoshoot lets go only to be suckered by ME

is his non-participation a symptom of the fact that he is not at 100% confidence and yes it is

also i'll own that this, while it's no tripping was for other people, is my single favourite brief instance of my own james characterisation

"...you could live somewhere beautiful and expensive.” I know my answer, but it takes a moment to figure out how to start it. “My cousin, she can’t sit still. This place is just so her parents know what address she comes back to occasionally. I’ve never been like that. All that time in Italy, I—” Wanted to come home, I think but do not say. It’s true; I was so homesick I thought I’d physically be sick because of it sometimes. The worst thing was how much it hurt to be back in England in the offseason. Even seeing a Quidditch advert soured my stomach, like spotting an ex who’d moved on too quick. But I didn’t just want to return home, I wanted to be welcomed back. I wanted my resentment gone. “I couldn’t have gone anywhere else,” I finish lamely. She props her chin in one hand. Her gaze is still fixed on me, curious but not probing. “Plenty of places would’ve gladly had you.” I concede this with a nod, but— “I couldn’t.”

I WANTED MY RESENTMENT GONE!!! I DID SOMETHING WITH THAT AND I WILL NOT BE QUIET ABOUT IT!!!!

ahem

hmm ok and then smut happens

more about lily's workplace experiences later, but i also wanted to emphasise not just how cool tee em alice is, but also how important it is for lily to have her approval and respect. lily of course admires the shit out of alice for her composure and her drive, and learning she was a scholarship kid at a fancy magical school sort of reduces the distance between them — she's like, oh, maybe i could be like her!! that's why alice's apology means quite a bit earlier in this chapter even if it's over something fairly minor, and that's why lily feels so bad about lying to her. she's aware of how big it is to have an older female mentor figure (blah blah blah suze ok u denizen of corporate america) at work and she doesn't want to fuck it up...but she's kind of already fucked it up and only digging herself in deeper. Yes there will be consequences

and another thing i like about the episodic bursts of these chapters is that i get to end on WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT bits all the time and don't feel too terrible about it!

i think i've exhausted everything i had to say and it's definitely more than u were expecting xoxo ly

#clare with no i #ask me #wtrf #director's cuts

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clonecest-bin-account · 4 years ago

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300 followers bingo - Fox & Fives | Fox/Cody | Tabletop RPG AU

(In which the guys play, some bad calls are had, and some character death happens. Thank god it’s just a game)

(This also counts as a modern AU)

That session has ended with yelling and almost a fight, but thankfully they were all able to defuse it before it could actually happen. People who say that tabletop games aren’t intense clearly have never played them, because oh boy.

To be fair to Fox, it all happened because of some pretty shitty rolls: his character had gravely misunderstood the situation and shot Fives’ character down. Things would’ve gone better if only Fives had rolled his death saves well, but that day fate really had it out for all of them.

Fox tried his best to stay in character, but so did the others, so of course words were said, words that weren’t kind at all…

Fox realizes that the hand that is holding the glass of water he wants to drink is trembling only when he almost misses his mouth. He actually even manages to throw some water on his shirt. Alright, he needs to calm down.

He massages the bridge of his nose, then he walks out of the kitchen, heading towards the living room. There, he finds that most of the people are preparing to leave: it’s everyone besides him and Fives, who owns the place, so it’s not like he’s going to go anywhere.

“I’d love to hang out, but Padmé will kill me if I ditch her this evening too,” Anakin says, followed by a few chuckles from everyone else.

“You’re just flexing that you have a partner, while we don’t,” Rex scolds him. “Take example from Fox: he mentions so little that he and Codes are together that I almost forget about it from time to time.”

At that, more chuckles erupt, this time from Fox too, who relaxes at the jab. It certainly sounded more friendly in nature than what he’s told him during the game, but he supposes that’s just the nature of a tabletop session. If you don’t get a bit heated while playing, are you even playing it correctly? Besides, that was while they were in character, but now they’re just them.

“I mean,” he begins replying then, “if you want to hear me talk about how much me and your brother fuck, I can do that for you.”

Rex makes a gagging noise, accompanied by Anakin slapping his back as he laughs. Once he’s recovered, he blows a raspberry at Fox. “Don’t you ever fucking say that again.”

“Then don’t say dumb stuff,” Fox retorts.

At least it seems that things are back to normal.

After the last guy leaves, only Fox and Fives remain.

“Where’s Cody?” Fives asks, since usually he would’ve arrived already to take Fox home.

“Stuck in traffic,” Fox replies, citing what Cody has texted him just a few minutes ago. “Might take some time…”

“Ok…”

Silence falls between them. It’s pretty uneasy.

Thankfully, Fox knows just what to say to make things better: “Need a hand cleaning up?”

“… Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

This isn’t anything new; it happens quite often, actually, because Fox, unlike those other animals, would feel guilty about leaving Fives to tend to the house he himself has contributed to trash, so he usually stays behind to help him clean up, sometimes with Cody too if he’s already arrived.

Slowly, the silence becomes more amicable, just like it always was, but there’s still something gnawing at the back of Fox’s mind, something that he needs to say, because he knows how much Fives loves gaming, how much he loves this campaign, how invested he is in it and in his character. “Fives, I’m so sor--”

“Fox, there’s no need to apologize,” Fives interrupts him before he can finish that sentence, though his words certainly don’t fit how heartbroken he looked while they were playing. “You took a big risk and it didn’t pay off. I would’ve done the same.”

That is true: they have a very similar playstyle, and that’s why they get so along during their sessions. What’s the point of playing safe? That’s not fun, that’s not engaging. It’s all pretend after all, so why not taking risks? Well, today has proven that maybe, sometimes, playing safe is better.

“I still feel bad…” Fox mutters. Deep down he knows that it’ll be fine, that they’ll forget about this episode, that, at the end of the day, it’s just a game, but this doesn’t mean that right now, during this exact moment, he doesn’t feel guilty about what he’s done.

Fives shoots him a look, then he sighs. “Yeah, I man, I’m sad about it too, but hey! Story wise, that was a very cool moment, like one of those things you’d see on a tv show or something.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“At least I’ll have the chance to show off a new character. I’ve got everything figured out already, from their looks from their backstory.”

At least he’s taking it with philosophy. Fox can’t really say the same. “You sure?”

Fives walks to him, putting both his hands on Fox’s shoulders. “I’m sure, so stop worrying, okay?” he says. “I was upset at first, of course, but it’s just a game, alright? It’s not like you killed me in real life!”

At those words, a hesitant smile appears on Fox’s lips. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true…”

Right then, before he can add anything else, his phone rings. He picks it up. “Yes?”

“I’m outside.” Oh, it’s Cody.

Fox can’t help but to smile, truly smile this time. “You’ve finally made it,” he can’t help but to tease him.

Even though he can’t see him, he can hear Cody’s smile in the way he jokingly replies. “I’m still in time to leave you there, if you have to be an asshole about it.”

Fox laughs. “You’d miss me,” he retorts, feeling maybe a bit smug about it - don’t judge.

“… Yeah, you’re right,” Cody admits, in the end. Points for Fox.

“Ok, gimme a minute and I’m out,” Fox says there, and after Cody nods, he ends the call.

He turns towards Fives.

“Is he here?” Fives asks, referring to Cody.

“Yup,” Fox replies. “I shouldn’t make him wait.”

“You better,” Fives chuckles. He helps Fox gather his things and accompanies him to the door. “See you next week?”

Fox should kick himself in the head: for some reason he thought that they were going to stop inviting him to play to their weekly tabletop sessions, but of course that wasn’t going to be the case. If they had to throw him out for how this session went, they should’ve thrown everyone out as well, because they’ve all fucked up something during a game. Still, it’s heartening to hear Fives say that, to know that he’s still welcome.

“Yeah, see you…”

Once he’s out, the heavy sigh that he’s been holding back until now finally finds its way out of his lips. Wow, this session was truly something…

He scans the street, looking for Cody’s car, and once he finds it, he walks towards it, though he can’t help but to roll his eyes when Cody, who notices him back, honks at him. He could’ve avoided doing that…

“Hello there,” he greets Fox, once he gets inside. Before replying, Fox leans over to kiss his lips; he missed him.

“Hello there yourself,” he replies then.

“So…” Cody begins as he starts the car. He can’t wait to get back home and have Fox all for himself. “How did it go?”

At that, a chuckle escapes Fox lips as he savors spending the entire trip back home annoying Cody about all the stuff that has happened - he knows he’s not actually annoying Cody, and that he loves listening to him, but whatever.

“Boy, let me tell you something…”

#300 followers bingo #clonecest #cloneshipping #tho it's background #codyfox #commander fox #arc trooper fives #commander cody #my fics

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edie-k · 3 years ago

Text

Harry Potter: Agent of Change (Romione, PG-13)

So this is a really stupid story but I am struggling with getting things completed and it felt like a good palate cleanser for the long weekend in the US.

Title: Harry Potter: Agent of Change

Rating: PG-13 (strong language)

Summary: A trio of times Harry spoke up and helped Ron and Hermione figure it out. Set during Half-Blood Prince.

Backstory: @romioneb has a super fun Muggle camp AU story called "Camp Wizarding World". At one point, I got very excited that Harry was going to help Romione out and be an agent of change but RB dashed my hopes. I then pledged to write a fic called "Harry Potter: Agent of Change". This is that fic.

Note: Is Harry out of character here? He literally is. His real character let these two fumble through their feelings for like, 3.5 books. I don’t care. I think this is fun. Also, I am so mean to Harry in my writing so it’s time to make him a Romione hero.

Bolded text is from Half-Blood Prince

I posted this stupid thing at AO3.

ONE

“You were going to ask me?” asked Ron, in a completely different tone.

“Yes,” said Hermione angrily. “But obviously if you’d rather I hooked up with McLaggen…”

“No, I wouldn’t,” said Ron, in a very quiet voice.

“Wow,” said Harry. Ron and Hermione both snapped their eyes away from each other and looked at Harry.

“Uh, what?” asked Ron.

“I always knew this was going to happen but Hermione, you have to ask him on a date in front of me, during class, when there is absolutely no escape for me?” Harry said irritably.

Hermione turned bright red. ‘I-I just…”

“Is it really a date?” Ron asked, his tone hopeful.

Harry rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake, of course it is!”

“Potter! Swearing, in my greenhouses? 10 points from Gryffindor and you've earned yourself a detention tomorrow night,” scolded Professor Sprout.

“Thanks a lot,” said Harry, moodily.

“Hermione?” asked Ron, oblivious to Harry’s loss of points and Tuesday night freedom.

“Well… yes, that was my intention. But if you prefer that -”

“No! I mean, yes. Yes, I’m interested in a date. With you.”

“Good,” said Hermione.

“Good,” said Ron.

“Great,” said Harry sarcastically.

TWO

“D’you think Hermione really snogged Krum?” asked Ron

“What?” Harry said, surprised. “Oh… er...yeah, I think so. She didn’t exactly tell me anything but I assume so.”

Ron’s face hardened.

“What does it matter?” Harry asked, feeling a bit angry at Ron’s reaction.

Ron stopped for a moment.

“Well, I just - ”

“Cho had snogged Cedric and did who knows what else with him. And she might have kissed other guys too? I don’t love it by any means but I just had to deal with it. And G- general girls I might be interested in have most definitely snogged before,” Harry said, his anger dying a little as he covered for his almost slip.

Ron’s anger, however, rose. “So now everyone, including the general public, has snogged someone except for me?”

“Ron, just snog Hermione and then everything’s solved.”

“Wha-what?” Ron’s eyes were huge and his mouth open as he stared at Harry.

“Do you think I’m oblivious? The only reason you care about Hermione and Krum is because you fancy Hermione. I’m not sure why you're pretending otherwise - you’re going on a date with her.”

“You think she meant that to be a date?”

“Obviously,” Harry said.

“Oh.”

“Don’t do that thing where you stop talking to her because you’re mad. If you don’t tell her, I will.”

“Harry!” Ron yelled.

“Just fix this, Ron,” Harry said, entering the common room. He spotted Hermione, sitting by the fire. “Hermione, Ron needs to tell you something immediately. Good night.”

Harry stomped up the stairs to his dorm. It was risky to force an angry and jealous Ron into a serious conversation with Hermione but it had to be better than the alternative.

THREE

“I never said you couldn’t - Ron, you thought you’d been given it too!”

“Freeze or I’ll stun you,” said Harry, when Ron started to make a break for the door.

“Just let him go!” said Hermione tearfully.

“No!” said Harry. “This week was already completely ridiculous and I’m not going to let it get worse. Merlin, I’m the one that kind of made it worse right now…”

“Ron, I didn’t mean, I just…” Hermione stuttered. “I’m sorry. I was upset for Harry for doing that to you and you for drinking it because I knew you could do it on your own but I just… I didn’t say that.”

“No, you certainly didn’t,” Ron huffed.

“But why have you been mad at me the rest of the week?” Hermione asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” muttered Ron, starting for the door again.

“Ron,” said Harry warningly.

“It’s none of your business, Harry,” said Ron.

“Ron’s upset because he found out you snogged Krum,” Harry said. Hermione gasped.

“HARRY!” Ron roared.

“I didn’t - how did - what?” Hermione sputtered.

“Ginny and he got into an argument,” Harry supplied.

“That’s enough, Harry,” said Ron.

“Well,” said Hermione, blushing furiously. “Not that it’s any of your business but it was hardly snogging. It was just a kiss or two and-and I haven’t seen him since the end of our fourth year.”

Ron wasn’t looking at either of them but Harry took it as a good sign that he didn’t try to leave again.

“I don’t understand why that would upset you,” Hermione said, adopting a lofty tone.

“For fuck’s sake,” said Harry. “I think you do.”

“Harry,” Ron said warningly.

“And Hermione, you wouldn’t have reacted much better,” Harry said. “He’s jealous. You’d be jealous if you found out he snogged someone else. The two of you want to snog each other so could you just do that? Preferably somewhere where I am not.”

“Is that true, Ron?” asked Hermione quietly.

“Is what Harry said about you true?” Ron asked sharply.

“I asked you first,” Hermione said.

“I can’t handle anymore of this. I will lock you in here,” said Harry.

“Yes, it’s true,” Ron said. “I was… you know, jealous.”

“Oh,” said Hermione. “Because you want to…”

Ron scratched the back of his neck.

“You could have - asked or something. If you wanted to… kiss me. I would have said yes,” said Hermione awkwardly.

“Really?” asked Ron.

“I’ll still say yes if you still want to,” Hermione said shyly.

“I said somewhere I am not,” Harry complained.

“You inserted yourself in the conversation,” Hermione pointed out.

“I hate you both,” Harry said, walking out of the changing rooms.

#hp fanfic #romione fanfic #au romione #ron x hermione #ron and hermione #ron weasley #hermione granger #harry potter

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durotoswrites · 3 years ago

Note

For the writing meme thingy: 🍄how do you get yourself in the mood to write? 🍑 do you/would you write smut? 📒 any fics planned?

🍄 How do you get yourself in the mood to write?

Getting in the mood to write and actually wanting to sit down and start writing are two very different things, but they're connected, so I'll explain both.

To set into “creative mode” it helps me to do these things:

Listen to music that makes me think of a character/situation in my story/stories. I've got playlists separated by character and pairing. Sometimes I also just work on curating those playlists for fun and get my brain going.

Bounce overall ideas off of my friends and husband/editor (but he's my best friend, too 💗)

Reread old chapters or recent ones and future snippets based on what I want to do.

Once I actually want to put words down, I get a little more strict with myself. I get distracted verrrry easily sometimes and I have to fight the urge to open a million more tabs when researching a small detail.

I move to instrumental music (I have playlists for different moods like “emotional”, “soft”, “sad”, etc. I usually listen to “soft” as a general soothing background sound, as I can get pretty dang emotional when I write, especially with the stuff I've been churning out lately.

So, yeah, I need tissues within reach if I get upset. (Wow, I'm not making this sound fun at all, lmao)

After sound has been established, I like to eat a snack (something with protein) because I can be under for hours, lol. Eat it and finish it. Otherwise, I get distracted.

I also like to have drinks available. I always have a bottle of water, but I also like having a hot cup of tea. I think it's the time of year for me to switch to cold barley tea.

I write while seated on a recliner with my feet up. I have my laptop on a lap desk and it's a pretty cozy setup.

I basically try to remove any excuse I have to get up once I start writing, because I am the worst procrastinator I know.

🍑Do you/would you write smut?

Heheh... heck yeah, I do. Waaaaay more than most people realize. Stuff I've actually posted? It's pretty limited. I posted a couple pieces (Let Me Love You and You're Like the Sunshine) a few years ago, but I've been practicing ever since. One of my planned stories literally has what I refer to as a “smut dump” in the draft where I've been experimenting with writing different moods. I like the intimate scenes to play a role in the overall plot or have it be a bonding experience.

Despite that, I do have a shameless Gray x Mary story I should just get out there that has zero plot, just two cuties in love. In my mind it's so naughty and kinky and I get flustered thinking about it (Mary is hot, okay?), but it's probably hella vanilla, lmao. I really am grateful that people have been really supportive about my writing smut despite what I usually write, and they've been so encouraging, too! I honestly feel like the smut I've posted is really stilted because I was so self-conscious about it. I don't feel like they are terrible for first attempts, but I have definitely grown more comfortable writing it.

Will The Shy Newcomer become explicit? I kinda really want it to, but I might separate the chapters for those who don't care for that content. Overall, I'd like to write more and post more, and I want to write more than just male x female smut as well. I have some of those in my planned pieces (more about them later).

📒 Any Fics Planned?

Firstly, I'm super tickled more than one person was interested in this. I copied the answer I wrote earlier.

Short answer: Yes. I also plan to bring more of my stories over from ffn to Ao3.

Long answer under the cut, heheh. I rambled quite a bit.

Ask me about my writing processes and stories!

I have so many WIPs that haven’t been touched in years that I’d like to finish, so new planned fics aren’t posted yet. Some of them have more adult themes than most of the stuff I’ve been writing, so I get flustered sharing them. I’ve been at a crossroads, as I feel that you can’t have growth without changing things up. On the other hand, I feel like a lot of my readers associate my works with a specific “wholesome” feel-good mood. It’s kinda nice to be known for something, although that might just be my ego talking, thinking that people recognize my work as a “type”.

Regardless, in the end, I feel growth is necessary.

I don’t want to leave a lot of unfinished WIPs waiting because they stress me out and I have too many of them already, so I’d like to have a bulk of my new stories with a good chunk written before I decide to post them.

Among those include:

A longfic featuring Pete’s farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley (A blend of HMDS with the FoMT plugin and AWL). It takes place in the same universe as The Shy Newcomer (Claire in Mineral Town) and there are a few overlapping moments, although Pete’s story starts first. Pete’s personality is verrry different from Claire’s, and his story was kind of supposed to be the yang to TSN’s yin. Pete’s best friends in his story are Ruby (not sure if I’m adding Tim yet), Nami, and Rock. Readers will be treated to a poorly-socialized pre-Mineral Town Cliff (if you think he was bad at the beginning of TSN, well… heh… he’s a wreck here).

Another planned unpublished story is a crossover of Harvest Moon and the movie “In This Corner of the World”, based on a manga of the same name by Fumiyo Kouno. It was written as a gift for a friend. I have the entire outline figured out and have slowly been filling it in. My friend asked for an AU where Claire and Cliff have an arranged marriage and live with his family in Akiyama, the hometown I had created for Cliff in The Shy Newcomer. I took the opportunity to expand the characters in his family. I have it written during the same time period and society as “In This Corner of the World”, but had decided to write a spreading disease as an allegory for war, but then COVID happened and some parts of it just got really hard to write. There are also a lot of sexually explicit content as Claire slowly grows and learns from her spouse that it’s okay to express what she wants despite sex being a taboo issue. If there’s enough interest in the story, I’ll post it, but I worry it’s a little too niche for there to be many people into it.

Pastor Carter and Doctor Trent are one of my favorite rare pair ships. I’ve had a partial draft for a story about them for a few years now, especially focusing on Trent growing up and acknowledging that he has an unhealthy addiction for things that he knows he can’t have. There are some more adult/sexual themes in this piece, too, including the main character lusting after a married woman (who also happens to be his patient) and some lemons. (Does anyone call it that anymore or is it just referred to as “smut” nowadays? Haha) I always feel so bad for neglecting the folks at the clinic in-game and wanted to write a piece that focused more on them, Trent specifically. It’s a multi-chap fic, but I don’t think I’m going to let it get as long as some of my other pieces.

I also really want to write a short romantic oneshot for every marriage candidate in Mineral Town, around 1,000 words each. So far, I have one for Cliff and one for Gray. I want to write Claire with everyone, because I think it would be fun to explore all the different personalities.

I have more installments planned for A Single Day, including a day in the life of the following characters, all with drafts in varying degrees of progress:

Anna

Doug

Nora (yes, I’m writing from the point of view of the cat living at the inn)

More to come – I think Lillia and Thomas would be especially interesting to explore

I do still have that Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask piece I’ve been pondering where Link befriends the soul of the deku scrub child while possessed by the mask. I don’t have much written about it, but I really love the world of Majora’s Mask. Such a fun game.

I also think about the lead carpenter’s son in Ocarina of Time and that weird side quest involving the blue chicken and the son being lost to the forest. Then that unique-looking kokiri girl explaining that all who get taken in the lost woods become stalfos. Like, did the guy die? Was he sick? Did he want to die? There’s just so much going on there that would be fun to explore.

I also have played OMORI recently and have like… A LOT of feelings about it. I don’t know what I’d write, but I’m still damn impressed at how well the characters are developed in such a short game.

Other games I’ve had vague ideas about writing for include the following:

The Flame in the Flood: I’m thinking a survivalist/action story fleshing out Scout’s backstory a bit more and her thoughts as she’s traveling. I feel like she’s a very lonely person, but isn’t given the chance to really dwell on it.

Night In the Woods: I’d love to write more about Mae’s dreams and what they mean to her. She doesn’t really talk to anyone about them openly, so it’s really hard to tell her feelings about them in some regards. We know that she’s distressed about them, but I’d like to dive a little deeper. Do the nightmares end after the games does? What about Bea’s new nightmares?

Hades (Supergiant Games): I think it would be fun to write more about the events that take place before the game starts, like Zagreus’s duties in the house of Hades, and expand on the strained relationship with his father.

#ask games #writing #jake-marshall

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bangtiddies · 3 years ago

Text

The Light of the Galaxy

Pairing: Taehyung x reader Genre: Angst, Time Travel AU Rating: PG13 Words: 1.2k Warnings: major character death

Summary: You find a cassette that has a backstory that you’ve forgotten.

Note: unedited because I’m a fool. Inspired by the Japanese live action film, Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Written for BGW Drabble Marathon ⮩ Theme 4: X-inspired

The sounds from cicadas are the first things you hear when you wake up. The carpet floor you’re lying on feels comfortable but out of place. Like you suddenly appeared there, from a different dimension.

This is your room. Yet, you feel like you haven’t been there for a while.

You try to go through your memories to figure out why you feel so out of place. Figure out why you’ve ended up passed out on the floor, in clothes that you wore yesterday. Yesterday? When was yesterday?

Fumbling around a bit, your hand hits something hard. You turn to where your hand is and see that something has slipped out of your bag. It’s a foreign object, and your memory doesn’t give you any clue as to how it got in your possession.

You’ve seen one of these objects before. Your mum owned a few, some that your estranged father left behind. You don’t know how they work, only know about them simply due to curiosity.

You open the case and the item inside gives you some odd wave of nostalgia and longing. It’s a video cassette. And written on it, is a title to what might be a film.

The Light of the Galaxy

“If Jin-hyung and Yoongi-hyung got big in their careers, do you think I would’ve become a famous director?” Taehyung asked eyes lit up like a puppy. Your heart skipped a beat at his expression. There was something about his positivity that moved you.

“I guess?” you shrugged, not recognising his face or name from your time at all.

“C’mon, see if you can remember,” Taehyung said with a teasing smile, nudging you with his elbow. “Kim Taehyung, movie director. Does it ring a bell?”

“No,” you said, shaking your head before letting out a laugh as you joke, “maybe you’re just some random old man.”

Taehyung let out an offended gasp, a hint of a smile in his dramatic expression. After a laugh to brush it off, he looked up at the sky with a twinkle in eye, wishful smile resting on his lips. “Well, I hope I’ll at least be a handsome random old man.”

“What’s the name of the film?”

“The Light of the Galaxy.”

Recognition flashes in Park Jimin’s eyes and his breath hitches. “The director?”

You frown, shaking your head. “It doesn’t say.”

“Oh.” He looks torn, biting his lips,

“Is something wrong?” you ask hesitantly, still not familiar with the person who should be.

“I filmed a short film with a close friend back in the day,” he says with a sombre smile, before sighing. “But it’s a cheesy title. I’m not surprised that there’s other homemade films out there with the same name.”

Something in his expression tells you that there’s a sad back story to the film Park Jimin worked on but unfortunately, you don’t know him well enough to pry. So instead, you awkwardly thank him for the video cassette player, and quietly promise to stay for tea when you return it.

Sad smile on his face, Taehyung handed you a square box. Your heart had hurt at seeing his expression, imagining the kind of pain he might have been going through in the last 24 hours. But instead of showing your hurt for him, you instead focused on lifting his spirits.

“Wow, this thing’s huge!”

Taehyung let out a laugh and your heart skipped a beat. “I want you to have it.”

Your eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he looked at the stars starting to appear above the two of you, that wishful look in his eyes again. “I want to give you something to take with you to the future. To remind me of the time we had, in case my old man brain forgets.”

You hoped that he won’t. You smiled at the video cassette before putting it in your bag. “Thank you. I’ll treasure it.”

Taehyung sighed and then stood up, stretching as he did. “Right, I’m off then. It was really nice meeting you, Y/N.”

“You too,” you whispered back, hand clutching the shape of the cassette in your bag. You were going back to the future tonight. Taehyung was heading back to his home town to mourn with his family. Now was the right time to say goodbye. But you couldn’t help but feel like there were words left unsaid. Words that couldn’t make their way to your lips.

After wishing Taehyung goodbye, you started to head back to Taehyung’s flat — the safest place to disappear into the future. On your way there, you conveniently (or perhaps, inconveniently) bumped into a familiar face.

“Hobi?”

He looked like he was in a rush, face red and flushed. “Oh, hi Miss Y/N.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m supposed to go on a bus to Daegu for a dance workshop but I’ve left my ticket at home,” he said with a worried sigh, ready to start running back to his house again.

You laughed a little. “You know you’re not going to be able to make it, right?”

Hoseok looked dejected. “Yeah, but I guess I hoped that I could. I was really excited for that dance workshop, you know.”

Your eyes widened when Hoseok’s words sink in, remembering the story he had told you back in your time. How he had left a ticket home and missed a bus to a dance workshop he was excited for. How the one time he left his ticket must’ve been the best stroke of luck. Or perhaps the work of fate.

How the bus he was supposed to take took a wrong turn and crashed, leaving no survivors.

Your feet started moving on their own, rushing to where the buses are, tears forming at the possibility of being too late. You arrived there just as Taehyung’s about to board the bus. You go to yell at his name —

Only to be held back by Kim Namjoon.

You struggled in his grip, telling him to let you go, to let you get to Taehyung before it’s too late.

“I know you want to save him,” Namjoon said, emotion in his voice that implied that he too was holding himself back. “But a person from the future must never change the past!”

“Then I’ll stay in the past!” you screamed, kicking yourself out of his grip just as Taehyung’s bus turned into the main road. You tried chasing it but it was too late. The bus was gone, never to return again.

You screamed Taehyung’s name until your vocal chords hurt, tears rolling down your cheeks. Namjoon caught up to you and he stood there, letting you mourn the person who weaved their way into your heart.

“You’ll forget everything about your journey to the past,” Namjoon said softly. “I’m sorry. It’s protocol.”

You wished you didn’t have to. But perhaps it was for the best.

And as you lost your consciousness, you whispered the words that were left unsaid.

“I love you.”

The film is confusing, a short sci-fi film that probably has too many ideas thrown in and a non-linear style of story telling that is hard to follow. Yet, for some odd reason, you find yourself crying during the scene where a young woman is looking at the stars.

When you go to put the cassette away, find a note inside the case.

For you, who sees the stars in the future.

And you don’t know why, but the handwriting and words on the note makes your heart mourn, like you’ve lost something — or someone — important. Forever.

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janicho88 · 4 years ago

Text

Falling For You -Part 4

December

Pairing-Eventual Dean x Female!Reader

Word count- 6071

Warning- Slight angst, jealousy, one or two swear words, fluff. Slow burn.

A/N- I had an idea for a one shot, and giving a backstory to Dean and the Reader meeting took on a life of its own. This story is AU Thank you to @waywardbeanie and @whatareyousearchingfordean for helping me keep these 2 characters in line and letting me bounce ideas off of you.

Summary- After being burned before you had sworn off finding love for now. Coming home from work one night there is a strange man pounding on your door. Neither of you knew what this meeting would lead to.

Series Masterlist

Your parents Christmas party was two weeks away, but you had a lot of baking to do, and none of it was started. Why did you procrastinate? Oh yeah, not much freezer room here when they are finished, and you had been hanging out with Dean. Coming home from work on Monday, you got a quick workout in before planning to spend the evening in the kitchen.

Recipes out, and ingredients spread on the counter you started working on your first cookie. Tonight you decided, was peanut butter night, which meant making the dough for peanut butter blossoms first, it would sit overnight and cook tomorrow while you were mixing other dough. Santa’s peanut butter cookie bars, and the last item of the night no bakes.

While working on the cookie bars there was a knock on your door which had you pausing to answer it. Hands a little sticky you answered the door as best you could.

“Hey Dean.”

“Hi Y/N, um, you got a little something here, and a here.” He pointed to one side of your face and then your forehead. Wiping it off with your hands you made a bigger mess.

“Moved out almost a week and you forgot where Sam lives already?” You teased him letting him into your apartment.

“No, I came over to see if you would like to grab some food with me. I think you might be a little busy though.”

“Yeah, I’m working on deserts for the Christmas party at my parents in two weeks. Your invitation should be coming any day, I hope you, your brother and Jess can come. I know Cas and Meg will be there too. I was in the middle of baking, but you are welcome to hang out if you want.”

“I got it today actually, I’ll be there. Have you eaten?”

“No, I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“Alright, so let's order a pizza, and I’ll help with quantity control in the kitchen.”

“I won’t have much for you to control tonight, but pizza sounds good.”

While the bar was cooking you got everything ready for the no bakes, deciding to start them after the pizza arrived. Eating at the counter next to Dean, he told you about the shop he was working in. He really liked Bobby, said he was an old grump on the outside but a teddy bear underneath. Bobby’s wife Ellen helped with the book keeping some days, she also owned a bar a little outside of town. He invited you to go with him, Sam and Jess to check it out sometime. Benny and he got along well, he also ran the kitchen at the bar in the evenings.

Santa’s peanut butter bars came out as you were waiting for your no-bake ingredients to boil. Dean went to cut a piece after you had set it down.

“You know that’s going to be extremely hot right?”

“It will cool in a minute, everything is better right out of the oven.” Shaking your head you went back to stirring your pot. “Oh that was good,” came from Dean a few minutes later. “When did you start baking?”

“My mom used to do it all, I’d help with what I could when I was little. Dumping in the ingredients she already measured, or stirring the batter after she mixed it. When you’re a kid you think you are so much help. Then we started doing it together as I got older, I learned from her. Over time I’ve found some of my own recipes to make, or put my spin on others. The last couple of years I’ve taken on most of the party baking, but there are one or two things we will make together for it.”

“You’ve got a real talent for it.”

“Thank you, but you don’t have to humor me.”

Dean wasn’t sure what to say to that, just looking at the back of your head while you were stirring. “It can be a great stress relief too when I’m frustrated with someone or something. It also forces me to find time for the gym.” You continued on not noticing his pause.

You had made a double batch of no-bakes and when they were ready, had talked Dean into helping you spoon them out. As the pot they were in cooled down Dean stuck a finger in the still soft cookie batter before putting it in his mouth.

“Dean, what are you doing?” Trying to keep a stern face as you looked at him.

“Oh, I’m sorry did you want a taste?” He dipped another finger and spread it over your lips before tapping your nose. Neither of you moving, eyes locked on one another before Dean’s ringing phone broke you apart. He went into the living room to take the call, while you wiped off your face and tried to figure out what that was between you. Nothing, right? You guys were just friends, neither of you wanted more, you were seeing things that weren’t there.

“That was Bobby, I have to go. There is a late delivery coming into the shop he was expecting in the morning and he isn’t there to let them in. You um, doing anything this week, or weekend?” He seemed a little more hesitant when he asked that.

“You’re looking at it. Maybe some cleaning and decorating I’m a little behind on it.”

“You need any help?”

“I don’t know about help, but I’ll always take the company if you want.”

“Okay, I’ll see you sometime this week. Night Y/N.”

“Night Dean,” locking up after him you let your thoughts drift to the green eyed man causing you so much confusion. Two months ago you both wanted to avoid relationships, you still didn’t think you were ready to get back out there. You really didn’t want to misread anything from him and scare him away either.

It was Friday night before you saw Dean again, a knock coming just after 5:30. This time he appeared at your door with beer, and burgers.

“Hi, you didn’t have to bring food.”

“Did you eat?”

“No, not yet.”

“Did you have anything here to eat?”

“I probably could have figured out something.”

“Yeah, the burgers were needed. This way more time to work on whatever tonight's project is.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it. Tonight's goal is frosting the sugar cookies I baked yesterday, making the frosting topping for the Cranberry Bliss bar, and the cake for the petit fours.”

“I’m not sure which question to ask first. I’m going to go with what the hell is a petty four?”

Not able to hide a smile and small chuckle you looked at him as you handed him a plate for his burger and fries. “Petit four, ever seen those small cake looking things that are like an inch or smaller, decorated fancy?”

“Maybe? I pay more attention to the pie. Speaking of, are you making any of those?”

“Not exactly, I have cherry pie cookie cups. Petit fours are a type of cake with layers of frosting and I also do a fruit filling in mine too.”

“Sounds complicated, but back to where are these cookie pies? I think I need to check them for you.”

“Sorry, I was out of freezer room here, they already went to my parent’s freezer. And yes, they are complicated. I’ll make the cake today, then it has to cool and slightly freeze, the filling, frosting and glaze will get made this weekend and then put all together.”

“I don’t have that kinda patience. Next question, what are you going to do with all this?”

“It’s a big party, we go through a lot then. It will go back in the freezer after, and the week leading up to Christmas we’ll get it back out and make up trays to give away to friends, business we deal with, and have some left over for Christmas.”

“What does one have to do to get on this list, sweetheart?”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure one will find its way to your door.

“What all is on your party list?”

“The things from Monday, and tonight, buckeyes, cherry cheesecake bar, two different truffles, fudge, cranberry cookies, candies, white chocolate ginger cookies, and choc cherry brownie bites, polar bear faces and some candies.”

“Next week is helping mom clean, with any last minute decorations she hasn’t done, then food Thursday and Friday night. Saturday is the party, Sunday I might not get out of bed.”

Dean laughed at that, “I never said I was joking Winchester.”

“Alright, alright so what are we doing first?”

“You really want to help me? You are welcome to turn on the television and just hang out.”

“Nope, I’m here to bake sweetheart.”

You offered to let him pick something on tv, but he declined so you turned on Hallmark Christmas movies to help you both get in the Christmas spirit. Dean helped you put together the cake for the petit fours, so that could get cooking first. Frosting sugar cookies was next, you had done a few cut outs, but you preferred plain old circles. It saved time and could be decorated any way. The frosting colors were always tied in to that year's decoration colors. This year was blue, white and silver, unfortunately you hadn’t found a silver paste coloring yet. You were going to make three different shades of blues and a simple white. The powdered sugar needed to be shifted still to help keep the frosting smoother. You gave that job to Dean while you got the rest of the ingredients ready.

“Oops,” you heard from behind you. Turning around Dean had put too much powdered sugar in at once then apparently leaned over to see what he was doing. Now he was wearing some on his face and shirt.

“Here,” handing him a wet rag you helped him clean up a little.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to use store bought?”

“Yes, but this recipe tastes better, has a better consistency for decorating with it, and dries so I can stack them without ruining the design.”

“Whatever you say Betty Crocker.”

The two of you both grabbed some cookies and started to decorate, at one point you looked up and had to look away so Dean wouldn't see your smile. The man really likes his sprinkles apparently.

“Wow!” You looked up quickly to see what caused that reaction from Dean.

“What?”

“Your frosting on those, that’s like store bought good.”

Feeling the blush heat up your face you smiled at him, “Thanks, I’ve had a lot of practice over the years. Watched a lot of decorating tips too.”

It was a lot of fun decorating the cookies with Dean, you goofed off a little and tried to “help” each other with the cookie the other was working on at that time. That ended with some, let’s say interesting looking cookies thrown in with the others.

“Hey Dean,” You got his attention while you headed to the sink with the last of the remaining frosting. “I think you got a little something right here,” as you tapped him on the nose with a blue spoon quickly getting out of his reach.

While you were standing at the sink he came up behind you and wiped his frosted nose on the shoulder of your dark green shirt. “Dean!” Neither of you could hold in your laughter.

The last task of the night was the frosting to the Cranberry bars. Dean had snuck a few bits of everything tonight, but you didn’t care. He had earned it. This had been the most fun baking you had had in a long time.

Neither of you had to work tomorrow and retired to the couch to watch a movie when you were all cleaned up. The temperature had dropped this week and despite the heat being on still a little chilly in the apartment. There was a blanket behind Dean he grabbed before sitting next to you and tossing it over you both. You didn’t realize as the movie went on you leaned a little closer in to Dean until he put his arm around your shoulders anchoring you close.

Dean was telling you about his week and how he met the owner’s step daughter, Jo, this week. She had been in everyday to take care of the paper work for Ellen since she had problems at the bar to take care of. According to Dean she was a bit of a talker, and kept coming to the back of the shop where he was working.

Oh you fool, you thought, she’s trying to flirt with you, not just talk. “Was she just there this week?”

“Not sure, I heard her tell Bobby she would be happy to take it over if they wanted her too.”

Of course she would, she wants to see you, went through your head, but all you said “Oh,” You're not looking to date, you have no right to be jealous of her flirting with Dean or hanging out with him at work. Not that he would be interested; he only wants friends right now too, but you found yourself worrying about Dean falling for her.

Dean looked around your apartment as he was walking out, “Not much time for decorating yet?”

“I’m going to work on that tomorrow. What about you? How is your house coming?”

“I only had a few decorations I put up, I won’t be up here anyways.”

“No? Your parents aren’t coming back up?”

“No, we are heading to them. Jess’ parents are going on a cruise that leaves the 26th so Sam and her are heading to see them before Christmas and will meet us in Kansas. I took the week of Christmas off, I’ll drive there either the 20th or 21st and come back here the 27th. Are your parents staying in town for Christmas?

“Yep, we have it at their house every year, and my aunt should be good to travel by then.”

“That’s good, see you tomorrow.”

“What?” He just winked at you and shut the door. Did you have plans you were forgetting?

Late Saturday morning while you were fighting with branches there was a knock at your door. A bright eyed Winchester was waiting to be let in, his coffee in hand.

“I didn’t have plans today, and thought I’d give you some help. Plus I wanted to see how the petty things went together.” He looked at the corner where you had been working, “What is that mess?”

“That’s my tree, thank you very much, and it’s petit four.”

“You know real is the way to go.”

“Says the man with no tree. Maybe it is, except when you live alone, and would have to water it and check it everyday and you have an allergy to the branches making you break out in red itchy spots.”

“Okay, you win.”

Dean helped you get the tree together and put the ornaments up. When you finished with that you got the petit fours out to finish. Dean watched you adding layers to the bottom half of the cake, then put the top half on doing the same, helping when he could.

“Getting the glaze on is the hardest part, mine never look as good as ones you can get in a store.”

“I think they look awesome, if I tried these mine wouldn’t be half as good.”

You had ingredients in your cupboard for pasta so you started that inviting Dean to stay for dinner. The night ended much like the last with the two of you side by side watching a movie on the couch.

The next week was pretty busy for you helping at your parents, it went fairly quickly though. Usually during the week you will talk to Dean a few times and text almost everyday, even if it’s just sending the other a funny picture. This week you hadn’t heard from him at all. Guess he was too busy at work with Jo.

The party had been going on for an hour and you still hadn’t seen Dean yet. Sam, Jess, Cas and Meg had all arrived half an hour ago.

It was thirty minutes later when Dean finally arrived. Finding his brother and friend first he said hello to them before looking for you. Finally spotting you talking to a group of people, he hung out behind you for a few minutes before a woman looked up at him and said hello. This had you turning around.

“Hello Dean, so glad you could finally make it.” Was it chilly in here or just your voice.

“Oh, you’re Dean!” Exclaimed the woman who first spotted him.

“Yeah, that’s me,” he gave her a small smile.

The woman looked to you before going back to Dean, “It’s nice to finally meet you, it seems like my daughter has forgotten her manners. I'll introduce myself, I’m Alicia. It's nice to meet you. Y/N said you had helped her with the baking last week. I have to say you two make a great team, thank you for helping her.” She glanced over at you looking at the floor, “I need to go check the food, I’m sure I’ll see you around, Dean.”

“Sorry I’m late, I got called back into work.”

“The shop closes at one on Saturday’s, it’s 8:30 now. Did you walk home and then here?”

“No, Jo was trying to finish up paperwork for November that had to be sent in today. She called me in to explain some of the notes, and expenses. Bobby and Ellen were out of town today so she couldn’t ask them. It took awhile and she wanted to grab dinner, I told her I had a party to be at, but she kept pushing and I went with her for one drink.”

“It’s fine Dean, nothing said you had to be here when it started, or stay the whole time. Have fun, your brother and Cas are around here somewhere. I need to go check the dessert table.”

Turning and quickly walking away, Dean was too caught off guard by your distance to follow right away. You had never given him the cold shoulder like that, he didn’t like it. By the time he caught up to you again, someone else had pulled you into conversation. Waiting a few minutes for you to finish, finally deciding to go find Sam and the rest of that group when you didn’t. He was fairly certain you were upset with him, and that didn’t sit well at all.

He passed by the food set up in the dining room, and kept going. As much as he was starving when he got here, he seemed to have lost his appetite now. Meg and Jess were gone when he rejoined the guys. He pretended to listen to their conversation, but he wasn’t really there. Why were you so mad, was it because he was late, or did something else happen? Why did you care when he showed up, there were numerous other people here. His original plan was to come early and see if you needed help, but going over paperwork with Jo took much longer than expected. She couldn’t seem to concentrate on her work.

Excusing yourself from the family friend who cornered you , you made your way to your old room. Needing a few minutes of alone time to calm yourself down. You were jealous, but no way would you admit that to anyone else. Your door opened minutes after you shut it, looking up Jess and Meg walked in sitting across from you on the bed.

“Partied out already, or hiding from someone?” Meg gave you a knowing look waiting for your answer. “You do know Dean is downstairs right?”

“Neither, I just needed a minute, too many people down there for me. Yeah, I know he finally showed up, not that I care”

“Liar,” spoke up Jess.

“The two of us are completely sure you being up here has nothing to do with a green eyed bowlegged mechanic you have been looking for all night.”

“Nope, not at all. Why should I care if he spent the evening helping the boss’ daughter do paperwork, or that he took her out for dinner.” Staring at your friends you didn’t say anything else.

“Yep you're just fine,” when you didn’t say anything else Meg continued, “know we are here whenever you want to talk about whatever is going on in your head.”

You all rejoined the party. This was always one of your favorite nights as much as you were looking forward to having Dean here tonight, you weren’t up to seeing him right now. You had caught up with your friends on and off the rest of the night. Mostly when Dean had stepped away. You were ready for the night to be over.

Sunday morning Dean stood outside your apartment door knocking without any answer. The door behind him opened but he didn’t realize it until hearing a voice he knew well.

“You know I live in 43 right?”

“Yes, bitch, I do. Y/N lives in 44. She was off last night and I wanted to talk to her. Picked up breakfast on the way over so she wouldn’t have to make anything. But if she doesn’t open the door I can’t give it to her.”

“Jerk, It’s still a bit early, did you text her?”

“Yeah, but she didn’t respond.”

“You’re welcome to wait for her in here if you want to try again in a bit.” After knocking again, he followed Sam inside.

Rolling over in bed, you reached over petting the dog laying next to you. You missed having a dog around, but your apartment wasn’t pet friendly. Grabbing a sweatshirt you made your way downstairs to see what your parents were up to. You had decided to spend last night in your old room so you would be here to help with any more clean up this morning. It was a good hour later when it finally dawned on you that you hadn’t checked your phone this morning. Picking it you realized the battery died, and you didn’t bring a charger. You were the only one without an iPhone so their chargers wouldn’t work on yours. That will have to wait till I get home later.

Getting off the elevator later that afternoon you ran into Sam. “Hey, Dean was looking for you earlier, but you never answered your door. He waited for awhile, but had to get going.”

“I stayed at my parent’s last night, and didn’t take a charger for my phone. Thank you guys for coming last night.”

“It was fun, thanks for inviting us. When your phone has a charge, text Dean back, he has texted me a few times since he left asking if I’ve seen you.”

“Alright, talk to you later Sam.”

When your phone finally had some life you sent Dean a text apologizing for missing him when you weren’t home.

“Can I come over?” Dean texted back.

You had to debate with yourself whether you wanted him to or not. He had done a lot to help you last week, and been a much needed friend. Did he really deserve the cold shoulder because you were jealous? You texted back ‘If you want.’

Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door, putting on a smile you let Dean in. Maybe you could pretend your behavior last night didn’t happen.

“Hi Dean.”

“Hey Y/N, thanks for letting me come over.”

“Not a problem, how was your day?”

“Alright, a little worried my friend is mad at me, and I really want to fix that. I’m sorry I was so late. I was actually going to come early and see if you needed help, I’m sorry work got in the way. I tried to bring you breakfast this morning so you wouldn’t have to get out of bed and mess with anything this morning.”

Guess he wasn’t going to go along with your plan to pretend it didn’t happen. “I’m sorry Dean, I shouldn’t have gotten that upset. You didn’t have to be there right at 7, I was excited to have you there last night and it shouldn’t have mattered when you came. I should have enjoyed having you there when you arrived. I ruined it for both of us, I’m sorry. Sorry, I missed breakfast with you this morning.”

“It’s okay, I just really don’t want to lose my friend. If you really wanted to make it up to me, go shopping with me tomorrow night? I need some help with Jess and Mom, please?” He gave you the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

“Sure, I still have a bit to do also.” Dean had been the best thing to happen to you in awhile, you didn’t want to lose him either. Hopefully a night at the mall could help things go back to the way they were. “Pick me up after work?”

“I’d be happy to.”

“Have you eaten dinner yet? I have leftovers from the party if you want to stay for dinner?”

“Seriously? Yes, I didn’t end up getting anything last night.”

Both of you worked in the morning, so instead of starting a movie after dinner you just turned a tv show on. Tonight you two didn’t sit as close as you previously did, honestly you missed it. You made small talk, he asked how things were at your parents’ house. You told him everything cleaned up fairly quick, staying there made you miss having your dog around.

Snow was lightly falling on the way to the mall, you were hoping for a white Christmas. Dean asked about your day, not much happened for you at work. He was telling you about a classic car that just came in he was working on. He really enjoyed his job, his green eyes shining as he talked about the different parts that needed restoring.

Arriving at the mall it became clear Dean really didn’t have any ideas on what to get either woman, so you offered various suggestions in the stores you were in. Finally getting Jess done, Dean picked up a scarf you knew she wanted, and some fun picture frames to go on her collage wall. His mom was proving trickier.

“Any hobbies?” you asked, leaving the 6th different store.

Dean thought for a moment, “She does like horror movies.”

“Yeah, I’m coming to realize you are all obsessed with monsters. How about not for Christmas. Any place she mentioned she would want to go?”

He thought for a few minutes “Actually I heard her talking to Jess about a new place that opened up in town.” When Dean finished telling you about you pulled out your phone to see if you could google it. Finding what you needed you explained your idea to Dean and what you could get up here and what he would need to get once he was back in Kansas.

With that accomplished you two wandered around a few more stores looking for items to fill the rest of your lists.

Thursday was the next time you saw Dean, running into him in the apartments’ parking lot. He was on his way to meet Sam for something. Making small talk in the elevator, without thinking you asked something you didn’t really want to know.

“How’s Jo been?”

Dean gave you a funny look, “I don’t really know, she hasn't been in the shop the last couple days.”

“Oh, I thought you might talk to her outside of work.” What are you doing Y/N, do you really want to know this.

“No. I don’t really have a reason to need to talk to the boss’s daughter outside of work.”

“Okay. I have something in my apartment for you, I meant to drop off. If you have time stop over before you leave.”

“Is it pie?”

“Sorry, not this time.”

When you got inside your apartment you went to check and see what ingredients you had in your cupboard. Finding pecans and a pack of crescent rolls you decided to whip up something quick. A little over an hour later you heard a knock at your door. Inviting Dean in you walked back over to the kitchen where the timer was going off.

“Something smells amazing.”

“I didn’t have any fruit to make a regular pie filling, but I did have some pecans I never used for the party, I made you a pecan pie bar, I hope it’s okay.” You could almost see Dean’s mouth start to water. “I’ll get you a fork and plate.”

“I don’t need a plate, the pan is fine.”

While Dean was eating you grabbed the item you picked up for him from the spare room.

“I know you don’t have a tree because you won’t be here for Christmas, but I thought you needed something. Even if it’s not real.” You had picked him up a little prelit tree and decorated it to have in his house.

“It’s great, thanks Y/N. You didn’t have to do that though.” Dean gave you a hug as you set it down next to the pan of bars.

“I know, I wanted to. You can set it on that skinny table you have and set the presents underneath it after you wrap them.”

“Oh, that’s right I have to wrap them. Hey sweetheart, do you think you might come over one night and help me with…”

“Seriously Winchester? How would you ever make it without me, do you even have paper?” Laughing you agreed to come over Saturday and wrap what he had.

“Of course I do.”

Knowing you were just hanging around the house and wrapping presents you put on yoga pants and a baggy sweatshirt to head to Dean’s knowing he would be hanging out in sweats by now too. Sure enough he answered the door in a grey henley and black sweats. The fireplace was on in the living room and with the presents and wrapping paper on the coffee table. Dean ordered pizza and found Die Hard on tv. He was sitting on the couch watching you work, when you looked up at him.

“Are you planning on helping me at all or just watching?”

“Which answer won’t get me in trouble?” The bitch face you sent his way might rival Sam’s. “I was kidding, I was just watching how you do it. Very nice wrapping by the way.” The roll of wrapping paper flying at him barely missed his arm.

Two presents into Dean wrapping, you knew why he wanted help. When the pizza arrived you set him free. Finishing the last gift you leaned back against the couch rolling your shoulders to loosen them up after being hunched over. Dean was sitting up on the couch behind you and leaned down to rub your stiff shoulders.

“Thanks for that.”

“Least I could do for you wrapping those.” Before you left for the night you put the gifts under his tree best you could.

You spent the next week trying to catch up with your own Christmas shopping, get the cards in the mail, and trying to find time to just enjoy the Holidays. Friday night you, Charlie, Meg and Jess donned your best ugly sweaters and leggings, spending the evening at your place vegging out and watching movies.

You woke up early Saturday morning to head to Dean’s house before he left. Knocking on his door he was surprised to see you.

“I just wanted to stop over before you left. I brought you some of the desserts to take to your parents house.” You had given Dean a plate of them the weekend before when you came over to wrap. “I expect those to make it to Kansas so you better put them in the trunk.”

“I don’t know sweetheart, I might need a snack for the road. Eleven hours is a long trip.”

“I figured you would, there is a bag of the cherry pie cookies in there for you.”

“You are too good to me.” Giving you a kiss on the cheek he walked past you to put them in his car while you followed him over.

“Do you need help doing anything before you go?”

“I’m all set, car is loaded, just have to refill the coffee in my travel mug, wash the pot and lock up the house.

Waiting while Dean finished with his coffee you walked out to the car with him. “Have a safe trip, and Merry Christmas. See you when you get back.”

“Thank you sweetheart. Thanks for your help and the cookies. Have a Merry Christmas yourself.” With a hug you walked to your own car watching the Impala drive away.

You were definitely going to miss him this week. A little after one that afternoon you received a text from Dean saying he was in Springfield, Illinois and halfway there, he would text you when he arrived at his parents. Around seven, that text arrived along with a picture of a house you were guessing belonged to John and Mary. The two of you talked a few times over the week, he called later than usual Tuesday night, and seemed to be really down.

On Christmas Eve you went to Mass with your family before heading to your parents house for dinner with your grandparents, some of your parents siblings, and cousins. Games followed and a few hours later the house cleared out. You spent the night there since you would be having Christmas morning there with your dad’s family. Dean had texted you a few times throughout the day, Sam arrived today so you hoped he could help his brother with whatever was going on.

Christmas morning you sent Dean a text before helping your mom with breakfast. Your dad’s family spent the morning at the house before heading elsewhere for the afternoon. Your mom’s family started coming over around 2, they stayed for dinner and games. You loved your family but were glad to have an empty house spending time with your parents when everyone was gone.

That evening you went back to your apartment. Sitting on the couch looking at your Christmas tree you saw a big gift bag Jess had dropped off before leaving town. She told you you couldn’t open it till Christmas, that was now right? Grabbing it you brought it back to the couch with you.

First you pulled out a big oddly wrapped lump, unwrapping it you found a Chocolate Lab plush. He reminded you of your dog you had growing up. The next item was a t-shirt that had you cracking up. In the bottom of the bag was a card.

Y/N,

I think this goes to show what we both already knew, I can’t wrap worth a damn. This guy reminded me of the pictures I have seen in your apartment. He might not be able to follow you around, or bark at strangers, but hopefully he can keep you company. I got a laugh out of the shirt and I hope you do too.

Merry Christmas Sweetheart,

Dean

Dean called you later that evening.

“Hi, Merry Christmas Dean.”

“Merry Christmas to you Y/N. How was your day?”

“It was good. Scooby and I are relaxing back home now.”

“Good, um who’s Scooby?”

“This really cute chocolate lab plush that my good friend got me. Thank you Dean, he’s great.”

“Not a problem Sweetheart. Glad you like him, Scooby?”

“That was my dog's name growing up, I was a big Scooby Doo fan. Still am”

He started laughing, “So was I. Yeah, I wouldn’t rush to change the channel if it was on now either.”

The two of you talked more about your days. He was ready to leave, but Sam and Jess were riding back with him, and he didn’t want to pull them away yet. Something happened while he was home, he didn’t sound like himself. If you had to guess it was why he called you Tuesday night. You wondered if you would find out what that was.

Part 5

Thank you for reading!

Tags @talesmaniac89 @katehuntington @winchest09 @flamencodiva @whatareyousearchingfordean @waywardbeanie @deanwanddamons @smol-and-grumpy @emoryhemsworth@anathewierdo @malfoysqueen14 @superfanficnatural @jensengirl83 @atc74 @sandlee44 @akshi8278 @fantasydevil2002

Falling For You tags- @halesandy @abuavnee @hearteyes-j2 @vicmc624 @440mxs-wife @wonder-cole @maralisa124 @krazykelly

#Falling For You #supernatural #dean x reader #dean winchester #Dean x Female Reader

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itsemilyofc · 3 years ago

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Some of you know I’ve been working on a longfic lately (Naruto - KakaYama). It’s by far the most comprehensive writing project I’ve ever attempted. (Side note: I have finished the outline for half of the chapters and just that is at 25 pages.)

I know a lot of us are writers. I follow a lot of you who are far better at it than I am, but I also love how sharing experiences on tumblr helps people see that we’re all in essentially the same boat. Other social media platforms are about putting your best face out there while here on good old tumblr dot com we are all about putting literal garbage on display.

So in the spirit of that, here are some things that I am finding very challenging!!

1) Pacing - how do I decide when I want to do a time jump? what’s worth skipping? will jumping too much make the story feel choppy? do a I need a chapter break to do a time jump successfully?

How I’m working on it: re-reading fiction books I love and making note of how they handle this

2) Character description/world building - This is just something that I straight up do not have to do ever because I don’t write AU. But, for the purposes of developing my writing skills, I’m writing this fic like the readers don’t know the world or the characters. How do I sneak this stuff in in an organic way? How do I explain stuff without it being taxing on the reader? How do I cram backstory in and how much is actually necessary?

How I’m working on it: re-reading fantasy novels to see how much they explain how quickly and how much the reader has to figure out

3) Continuity/math - Wow I hate math so much. “ok so if they leave the village at x o’clock and it takes y hrs to arrive to the location then they get there at...3am. Well that’s no good. So I guess I’ll have them leave at z o’clock instead...but then it would be early morning and I already wrote that scene as a late afternoon scene?? So I guess they need to eat...breakfast, then...” I have 100 of these conversations with myself a day and it’s a living nightmare.

How I’m working on it: no clue still struggling here

4) Developing believable motives - I haven’t really written any “bad guys” before. I know what bad things I want to happen to my main characters, but backing into a motive that makes sense and humanizes the perpetrator is hard! I think I’m pretty much finished here, and a side effect is that I am now very sympathetic towards my villains (and if that’s not ‘Naruto’ then I don’t know what is)

How I’m working on it: asking my villain “why” over and over again until I have something that makes sense to me.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

#writing #writeblr #fanfiction #fanfiction writers #fanfiction writing #writing practice #writing problems

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jcfoxington · 3 years ago

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@sambambucky : “pls... Pastels, Peaches and Pain??? among us first draft??? marvel meets warframe meets a bunch of tumblr posts (it’s not an au!?!??!)

hi jo !!! Pastels, Peaches, and Pain is one of those sambucky wips i have mostly fully fleshed out in my head because of one (1) extreme moment of clarity after a rogue ‘what if’ tangent thought but havent written anything of yet out of restraint / knowing i need to finish at least one of my current sambucky wips before i start it or none of them will get done

this was the rogue tangent thought: “what if Sam is haunted by Figaro’s ghost and has been since he was a kid?”. i’ve changed the ghost cat to not be Figaro but that’s the premise !

i refer to the fic as the cat fic ‘cause the whole plot is based around sam’s ghost cat companion insisting he adopts nat’s cat Liho after endgame and then Figaro later and then [insert redacted because plot spoilers but just know it relates to Alpine]. no im not projecting my feelings about cats idk what youre talking about

here’s some note snippets just for you:

the cat, inexplicably, takes a liking to bucky, which is really annoying bc sam doesnt know how to explain to him that all the oddly soft gusts of wind are actually sam's dead cat insisting on getting pats

bucky getting shade thrown at him by said ghost cat during all of tfatws + them making up (and not out. yet)

starts when sam's a kid & follows him as he grows up w/ a ghost kitty as a companion only he can see & interact with + angst with an undertone of comedy + getting together

he whispers to ghost kitty, who simply mmrrs happily

for the among us first draft thing, what basically happened is i saw this tweet and this video and my brain latched onto these dynamics so hard i had to write about them.

here’s a sketch of my two main imposters, Black (left) and Cyan (right):

and here’s a snippet:

The thing having Cyan pause and stare out at the asteroid field is how the colors stretch to family. When they and Black came aboard, they had thought every crewmember was an adult working on the planet-change project. That the patch of off-white with a black something-pattern-or-shape signified status. In a way, Cyan supposes it does, but just not the way they expected. They had expected it to show what rank an individual held within the hierarchy of the crew, from deckhand to division leader to captain, not to show that you're family of the crew and not actually part of the crew itself.

There are innocents on this ship. Children. It was not something any of them had anticipated, and not something Cyan had been prepared to deal with. They and Black boarded this horrible place to eradicate a threat, believing each and single one of the humans were accomplishes and dedicated to the goal of destroying Cyan and Black's species, and their planet. But, now?

marvel meets warframe meets a bunch of tumblr posts... doesn’t have a wip title or seperate document for itself yet cause it’s been stuck in my ‘story ideas’ document since its creation. so ‘marvel meets warframe meets a bunch of tumblr posts’ is literally just me describing the vibe of an original world gjkerfkds

the world came to be for two reasons. firstly, i want to do make take on a superhero universe because the plot and complete lack of communication in both the dcu and mcu piss me the fuck off. secondly, needed a place to dump ocs with elaborate backstories or fantasy / sci-fi abilities that dont fit into any of my existing worlds

which sounds super competent but trust me, it isn’t. it didn’t gain any solidity at all until i decided to do a personal ‘how different can i make spn castiel look & still retain the same vibe?’ challenge. i have my own cas now

however, the reason i said ‘marvel meets...’ is because i’ve snagged a couple of different things from the mcu, most notably: enemies to reluctant coworkers to lovers, yes our best friend have the same name. no they’re not the same person, secret evil org is controlling the government, and the assassin that tried to kill you several times is now your best friend

warframe was added to the world because i got attached to my Volt build, gave them a name, and have some headcanons idk what to do with because i refuse to interact with that fandom. also because the friend i made through discussing warframe lore + plot dicked me over so it feels Bad to create for

the glue to this whole mess is that one “in every friend group there’s a mean bisexual, an even meaner lesbian, a she/they, a he/they, a himbo, an astrology bitch, a short king, and a token straight” tumblr post. my main group of superheroes ala the avengers consist of these people. the token straight is the only one i havent figured out who is yet

ever since i figured that out ive been throwing story / character ideas and weirdly specific aesthetics from popular tumblr posts into this world’s notes. here’s some examples:

sword grandmas

that trope where someone’s really nice and acts super well-adjusted to society but then they do something super whack and dangerous and you realize ‘oh they’re secretly a little bit insane, actually’

anti-gay group’s leader’s wife leaves him for another woman

superhero who swore to be the best hero [city / planet / solar system / continent / ????] has ever seen ever since he lost his wife. not because she’s dead but divorce just sucks & the hero-to-be is terrible at coping

dishevelled swamp witch

that one person who runs around with an amulet all the time & isn’t aware it’s cursed

an exasperated, tired superhuman assassin running after their husband and their husband's best friend. their husband and said husband's best friend both have wings. chaos ensues (yes, this one is a sambucky post)

ask me about my WIPs!

BONUS:

@sambambucky : #i want to have a coffee and listen to synopses of all of these.... #i miss the discord wow #WRITING TAG #waitttt time jumping dream movie? lmao I'VE READ THIS LIST FORTY TIMES and every time i rediscover something i wanna know about #outfit doodlesss ugh i need to go

couldnt not respond to your tags because they make me go ghrkjfnerknf but in the good way. we miss you too jo !!

the time jumping dream movie was one of the first vivid dreams i had and the whole thing was so stupidly coherent and whacky i had to write it down. it grew plot, a queer love dynamic, weird sci-fi apocalypse elements, anti-military propaganda, questionable science, and a sequel while i wasnt looking and now i just. have to make it a real movie or i’ll combust

outfit djoodlles.png is only on there because my best friend sent me a ‘draw this outfit’ meme and space kitty, my current character brainrot, stole all the outfits for himself. otherwise, that file just sits there until im feeling like designing an outfit or wanna see how a stupid thing looks on my oc patrick

here’s one of the two poses-to-doodle-outfits-on of space kitty ive made so far:

and here’s one of those stupid things on patrick (that then turned into an actual outfit of his because i have no self control):

#.jax speaks #.my art #.my writing #tysm for the interest jo !!!#if you have literally any questions or if youre serious about the synposes thing...#i love rambling abt my stupid brain people #i WILL answer all your questions #even if the answer is 'good question! ive got no clue'#.patrick mortensen #.space kitty #.pastels peaches and pain #.the among us thing #.marvels meets warframe meets tumblr posts #.time jumping dream movie

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hmshermitcraft · 4 years ago

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Hey there! I’m the Ant (really creative there wow Antho) anon from a while ago with my highschool AU Convex ask. So here’s basically the plot a fanfic idea I have in mind that decided to kinda let someone else to also write or think about.

I was going to write it into a fic but is too busy so yeah, you could use this idea to write a fic about it. Tag me in those posts cuz I kinda want to see those fics if you wanna write about it! (or AnthoAndHisShenanigans on Ao3)

TW// Homophobia, temporary character death, implied violence, typical fae bs that comes w the vex, child neglection

———–

Highschool AU, Cub and Scar are just 2 teenagers living in a small, homophobic town & are very in love.

They’re basically childhood friends cuz they’re like the 2 rich boys in the town. They’ve been in love w each other since the dawn of time but only started dating a little over a year ago. They needed to hide their relationship to survive so they won’t get killed by homophobes.

Cub’s parents are just busy business people (was trying to kinda put some concorp stuff but I think concorp is more of Cub & Scar thing than someone else’s) so Cub is basically neglected in a sense, even if they tried to make up to it by just spoiling him with money & expensive stuff while Scar is basically an orphan who somehow inherited all his parents’ riches. (don’t look into the fact that Scar can’t technically inherit most of the properties or money since he’s still a minor)

One day Scar got really sick & Cub went to take care of him while Cub’s parents are on a business trip. Both of them just live in Scar’s place the whole time, thinking that they can just be themselves so they kinda just stop being really secret about their relationship since they thought y’know, they’re spending most of their time with just each other.

Cub’s parents was in the process of divorcing & Cub isn’t coping with that well. It also didn’t help that with his parents being more and more distant, he’s being neglected even more. (this doesn’t really add to the plot, it’s just here for angst potential)

But what they didn’t realize is that the whole place was basically being bugged and recorded by some asshole that holds a grudge against them (character open for interpretation cuz I was just gonna put in some one off oc for this)

And when Cub returned from the break he took (Scar’s sickness only got worse at the moment), he suddenly found out that their relationship has been exposed. And knowing how homophobic the people are, they need to get the fuck out of the town.

They both tried to escape but Scar was still very ill & well it wasn’t exactly ideal to be literally hunted down by people no matter where they go. They ended up in a forest, dead in the night & don’t even have a destination other than to get away from everything.

And… let’s just say that Scar didn’t exactly survived & Cub was almost in the exact state too.

But the vex saw some potential in them, that it’ll be a shame to have both of their talents being wasted & basically offering Cub an option, to let both of them survive & get to somewhere safe, but their souls basically belong to the vex.

Cub agreed to it but also asked for a favor, for Scar’s memories to be wiped out because Cub doesn’t want him to remember all the suffering he went through, so Cub can live knowing that Scar won’t remember all the pain Cub “put him through”. In exchanged of it, the entity took Cub’s youth.

Both of them woke up in a completely new place (ayeeee Hermitcraft!), Scar with no recollection of anything, not even anything about Cub, other than a fake identity (still going by the name Scar but different backstory) the vex gave him & Cub, who still remember everything, having to live through the trauma all by himself because he can’t tell everyone about the deal w the vex, especially not to Scar.

Things went normally at first, both of them starting from square one but the past seems to start haunting Scar, just flashbacks of his life’s last few moments before being promptly resurrected.(btw Scar would be absolutely traumatized if it wasn’t for the memory wipe)

Scar started going through identity crisis (is it the right word? Idk) as he realized there’s something more to him than what he knows & was trying to figured out what happened to him & it was starting to drive him insane. Cub, who hasn’t been in the contact w the vex ever since the incident (it’s about months after the deal), went out his way to find it again, to voice his anger about playing around with Scar’s mind and tearing him apart. The vex only smiled, a smile that put it clear that this is the price they have to pay.

Cub can choose between ending Scar’s pain by letting him remember a twisted version of the memory, one where Cub is the one that actually killed Scar by beating him to death, or just simply not… to just let Scar descend into madness.

Cub chose something else, to basically trade himself away, his physical form & the “permission” for the entity to take over his mind or his body any time it want, to do whatever it want for Scar to finally have a normal life…

#hermitshipping #submission #cubfan tag #gtwscar tag #convex #angsty #homophobia tw #death tw #ableism tw #body horror tw #abuse tw #mental illness tw #anthosaidsmth

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lieblxng · 3 years ago

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im developing a lot of aus including the reverse au which is currently only available for rose, but leon also has it developed, i just forgot to put it in the verses page for him haha but wow im developing a reverse verse for a chara i dont have??? i might as well throw damos on the blog and be the only person in the pkmn rpc who plays him LMAO i cant help falling for obscure characters but i think he might have a better chance in getting interactions than my etrian odyssey muses but no if anyone wants to do damos,,,,you can hmu 😳😳 i cant reply it or see it if you do tho LMAOO

anyway reverse!damos here who goes by lazarus (meaning: my god has aided me) is not a nice farmer unlike his normal verse, instead being akin to a mercenary, but he kinda fills in the role of marcus - he has the ability to manipulate the hearts of pokemon, even legendaries and because of this, he’s been fiddling with legendaries and experimenting with things to try something out - and while reverse!arceus has been severely weakened from an intense fight or a meteorite too (im still figuring it out) and lost its life plates, lazarus finds it. it’s on the brink of dying, and instead of returning the plates like a nice person, lazarus only thinks of profit and benefitting himself - because it’s so vulnerable, it manipulates reverse!phae into summoning the lake guardians, where it promptly fights them and steals their gems before kicking them into the dirt. then he uses said gems to restraint and fully take control of reverse!phae before inserting the plates back into it, saying it will only get them back if it corporates. yes, lazarus literally pulls a cyrus being the first one to actually create a draft of the red chains to have arceus under its command. one of cyrus’ pc posts is “According to myths, the Pokémon created Sinnoh with its power. However, capturing the Pokémon with a Poké Ball prevents it from using its full power... But with the Red Chain, the Pokémon can be shackled, and its power can be used without restraint...” and he’s implying arceus with the first mention of pokemon, so maybe the red chains can be used on god??? i dont see why not, although the lake guardian was made more to check the creation trio than god itself, but why wouldn’t you have checks against god? “The Pokémon of the lakes and Mt. Coronet are somehow connected. Capturing the Pokémon of the lakes will free the Pokémon of Mt. Coronet. From the Pokémon of the lakes, crystals can be extracted to create a Red Chain.” i know he implies the creation trio with pkmn of mt. coronet but technically arceus lives in mt. coronet as the hall of origins can be summoned there LEMME HAVE THIS -

originally i was going to have reverse!arceus be a completely neutral god, both in personality and how it handled things - just create life, casually, and just head out and do nothing for them - “the humans can handle their planet however they wish to. if they destroy it, they destroy it.” and i was trying to redesign it and it kept coming up as punk (more below because this is a long ass post)

so i was like, aight i guess i’ll go with what my heart wants but something still didnt feel right, because punk is an expression more than just a simple fashion statement - it was created to rebel against those who tried to hold you down and mold you into who they wanted you to be. to defy the shitty standards of what’s supposedly normal. and then it all clicked when i looked at this vid

youtube

ive heard the music itself and one of my favs, but not the music video so i kinda just exploded with ideas and it really completed the punk i wanted to go with - funny thing, im a bad character designer so i scrapped the punk look and pulled a unique thing with phae’s case - legendaries and mythics are statements of unchanging, fixated ways while normal, evolvable pokemon are statements of improvement and change - growth, which is something phae is completely jealous of. gods don’t evolve; they don’t change. so i thought, why not keep its original look (i love it too much anyway and i cant think of anything better tbh for phae) to reflect that aspect but have the way it governs and behaves different? normal!phae and reverse!phae are still similar but opposite - normal being the kind, caring god and reverse being the relentless, uncaring god. both are the two most popular aspects and themes of gods and how they treat those beneath them, so i thought it worked.

reverse!phae never wanted to be a god. it’s immature and uncaring on purpose to get the attention of the creator of the original one itself; to be a sign of rebel, to show that it was its own character and no one can morph it into what they want it to be. it revels in its creations screaming in pain, as nothing else entertains it so and because it empathizes with them. it sends the world into pure chaos a majority of time so no one enjoys living. seeing its creations, both human and pokemon, excel in the trials and tribulations of this hell; seeing them perform so expertly under extreme stress, how humans and pokemon can come together and defeat anythin - and rebelling in their own right and way give reverse!phae so much hope and relief. that it’ll be able to do the same. and once reverse!phae does get its creators attention, you bet it’s gonna be very angry on why it exists. it might even try to murk its creator. it’s more of a “i didn’t ask to be born so i’m gonna make it your problem” type of person, and a god prone to violence - often fighting with its own creations, like even the lake trio and the creation trio. but it checks them all every time, and it’s so hungry for an actual fight that reverse!phae can actually work for and struggle for and feel like it actually won. and that’s when lazarus comes in. that’s where lazarus comes in.

how much it hates lazarus. how much it hates lazarus. it hates everyone, but lazarus has a special kind of hatred reserved just for him. in fact, hatred isn’t the proper word to explain the intense, raw, unfiltered feelings reverse!phae has for him. on one hand, it absolutely respects the honest work he puts in to further himself, but on the other hand, being the one on the receiving end of his malicious intentions is never ideal. it has no interest in whatever petty crimes he wants to commit, but trying to take god and become it yourself? completely admirable. a fantastic way to rebel, but having to have someone chain you down and control you? reverse!phae’s worst nightmare. i’ll get into that later since this is already long enough god help me

is reverse!phae messed up? yes, severely. that’s kinda what happens when you rot alone in the depths of dark space for eons. no human nor pokemon - no, no living being can ever handle that. both normal! and reverse!phae have the same backstory, but different reactions to it. reverse!phae wants everyone to scream and lash out, it wants everyone to rebel against their origins and become their own people, even with the immense baggage on their shoulders. it wants everyone to risk death to accomplish their dreams. it laughs in everyone's faces before spitting in them. i think reverse!phae will be one of my most violent takes on a muse, if not, my most since it is god and the shit it talks can easily be proven right. it constantly berates and breaks people down into pieces. no one understands it. it hates everyone and everything it sees. it doesn’t need love and kindness, it just needs a body to break. which is untrue, because obviously its yearning for love and kindness - something its never experienced - and it’s lashing out for attention. secretly hoping someone will just hug it and all its problems away. that everything will be okay in the grand scheme of things. that it won’t have to have the unlimited stress of being a god anymore.

usually when i put my touch on muses, canon or not, they’re primarily good people with hearts of gold. even with ones less so, they’re not as intense as this. so working with that kind of character is thrilling and i’m excited to see if i can get anyone interested with it lmao- reverse!phae’s name might be nou or chali, what would be better? sorry this was such a long post!! i’ve been working on this since last night and it’s been really fun to develop like this again - i only get this kind of productive with my hyperfixations, so they’re both a blessing and a curse - i think this is everything i have rn for the reverse au but ii’ll be going back into it

#//trimming because this is a long ass post #//talking about the reverse verse oh hee hoo #//ive made developments #//see now after the fluff we get the angst its the circle of life on this blog #'Cause we kick it like it's summertime. | Mun Art #There's no need to be so VIP. | Headcanons #Arceus (self) | I have many names~#big boy anxiety | OOC #Turning a cold shoulder. | Verses

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