#yeah but this is part of a whole bunch of wips i have in the show universe w a twist of the books

[ladykailitha]

Paper Hearts Part 6

The sequel is coming along great I just have one more part to do and it'll be done. Sweet Home Indiana is nearing its end too.

Heads up! I will be going on vacation on Tuesday and won't be back until next week. So no WIP Wednesday this week as that is the day of my niece's graduation and I will be away from laptop all day.

I will still be uploading chapters and should be able to do WIP Wednesday next week. But if not I'll let you know.

In this we have the Corroded Coffin boys being silly and a wild Dustin appears.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

****

Eddie rolled up to band practice fashionably late as always. The other three boys were doing a sound check and making sure everything was in order.

Gareth looked up first. “Did you bring the hearts?” he asked excitedly.

Eddie held up his bag and the other boys cheered.

“So how are we going to do this?” Eddie asked flopping on the sofa after gently setting his sweetheart to the side. “Do we want to do the hearts first or practice first?”

They all look around at each for a moment.

“Let’s get the heart thing out of the way,” Jeff suggested, “get it out of the way so we can focus on practicing.”

“Sounds good to me, man,” Gareth said. “In case practice runs over or some shit.”

Eddie pulled his backpack closer and began digging through it. He pulled out the hearts that he’d put in a plastic baggie so they wouldn’t get bent in the maw that was his bag.

He tossed the bag onto the table in front of them and then dug around for his notebook. He pulled it out with a bunch of pens.

“You don’t have to,” he murmured, “but I’d recommend changing up your handwriting a couple of times so he doesn’t realize they’re from the same four people.”

“We were doing anonymous and initials, right?” Brian asked, picking up the bag and opening it up.

Eddie lit up, a huge smile on his face. “I actually had an idea about that. I was thinking of famous groups with four dudes in it and I thought it would be hilarious if we mixed it up a bit with some of those to avoid the whole repetition thing.”

Jeff licked his top lip. “Show us what you’ve got,” he said jutting out his chin.

He opened up his notebook and flipped to the right page. “Alright, so I was thinking the Three Musketeers plus D’Artagnan.”

“Who would be who?” Gareth asked, wrinkling his nose.

“Gareth is absolutely D’Artagnan,” Brian said without hesitation. “No question.”

Jeff straightened up and looked over at him in confusion. “Why’s that?”

“Because my dearest Jeffy,” Eddie said with a grin, “because he’s the youngest and not an original member. Therefore D’Artagnan.”

Gareth and Brian glanced at each. Brian shrugged and Gareth blinked a moment or two before he shrugged, too.

“Yeah, that tracks.”

“I’ll take Aramis,” Eddie said with a grin. “The smooth talker with religious trauma.”

The other boys just cackled.

“I’ll be Porthos,” Brian said. “The compulsive liar with a flare for the dramatic.”

“Why am I left with the dude with serious romantic wo–” Jeff stopped. “Right, scratch that. I’m Athos.”

They cackled again. Eddie had had some wild crushes, but it was nothing on Jeff. He even had a slightly tragic love story. He’d actually dated Vicki Carmichael before she became a popular kid and hanging out with Steve’s crowd. They had both loved metal music, but Jeff was pretty sure she stopped listening to it once she joined the cool kids.

“And I have a list of other ones too,” Eddie said breaking into the resulting silence. “The four winds from Greek mythology. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...um...let’s see...” he looked at the notebook again. “The members of Metallica. The four horsemen of the apocalypse–”

Jeff winced. “Probably not that one, man. It’s for Valentine’s day and that kinda screams the opposite.”

Eddie blinked at him for a moment and then scratched out that idea. “Fair enough.”

“The four hobbits from Lord of the Rings?” Gareth suggested.

“Yes!” Brian cried. “I get to be Samwise!”

Jeff cackled. “Gareth and Eddie are sooo Merry and Pippin!”

“Oh god! Yes! Which one is which, though?” Brian said joining in the laughter.

“I’m Merry, of course,” Eddie said proudly. “I’m the instigator and Gareth goes where I lead.”

Gareth grumped in the corner, crossing his arms and glaring at all of them. “But that makes Jeff Frodo though.”

Jeff straightened up, smug. “I could handle that.”

Eddie shook his head at his friends. “All right, also on my list are the Ghostbusters and The A-Team.”

The other boys shook their heads at either suggestion but they had a pretty good list anyway. Plus their D&D names sprinkled in here and there and they’ve got in the bag.

They spent the next half hour coming up with nice things about Steve. Eddie did have nix a couple of their ideas because they came off as stalker-esque. Which was not the look they were going for.

****

To say that Eddie got a kick out of seeing Steve light up every time he opened his locker and more pink hearts fluttered out of it was an understatement.

The goofy smile the former jock got on his face was worth every second of the time they’d spent on the project.

And it was working, too. That was the really impressive part.

Even Tommy H. was baffled.

“How the hell are you getting so many pink hearts, Harrington?” he said on Friday, just four days into Eddie’s plan.

Steve shrugged in that dorky way that made Eddie’s heart stop. “I guess people are deciding to hell with social constructs and stupid cliques and are telling me even if they don’t dare to be open about that they still like me.”

Tommy’s mouth open and closed like a goldfish then he turned around and stormed off.

Eddie lean against the lock above Steve. “Back to being king again, huh, Stevie?”

“Not really,” he said, closing his locker and standing up. “Most of them are anonymous or fake names. But there are a few that real names.”

“You think someone is stuffing the ballot box as it were?” Eddie asked, worried the jig was up.

Steve shook his head. “At least I don’t think so. But it’s sad that they think they have to hide who they are to tell me that they still think I’m a cool dude or whatever.”

“For what it’s worth,” Eddie said, pushing off from the locker, “I think you’re a pretty cool dude.”

Steve blushed and mumbled his thanks.

God, did Eddie just want to bite those flushed cheeks. They were just too cute.

“It’s worth a lot, actually,” Steve whispered. He stood up and shouldered his backpack. “Catch you later, Eds.”

Shit that little nickname had Eddie’s heart doing overtime.

****

Steve was outside the middle school waiting for Dustin to come out. His mom had asked Steve to pick him because she had to stay after hours at work for a meeting.

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he hummed to the music in his head. He could have turned on the radio but Dustin hated his music didn’t like him blaring it for the whole school to hear.

His eyes kept flicking to the rearview mirror to see his backpack on the backseat. He wanted to go over the ones he got today. There had been some really good ones. Ones that melted his insides and turned them to goo.

He bit his lip and checked the mirror again. He looked at his watch and he still had a couple minutes until the bell rang.

Steve whirled around and grabbed the bag. He ripped it open and pulled out his trapper keeper. Tucked in the front pocket were the hearts. He ran his fingers over the outline the hearts made on the plastic pocket.

He pulled out the hearts and read over each one. Tracing the names of the givers, thinking about each name and wondering where they were from.

There was a thump on his window startling him. He looked up to see Dustin making faces at him through the glass.

Steve shook his head and unlocked the passenger door to let the twerp in.

“Looking at pink hearts, Steve?” Dustin asked with the shake of his head. “So pathetic.”

Steve rolled his eyes and tried to put the hearts back in the folder, but Dustin snatched them from him and wouldn’t let him take them back.

“Come on, man!” Steve whined. “They’re none of your business.”

“I want to see which girls are giving the Steve Harrington Valentine’s hearts,” Dustin said, wagging his eyebrows.

“Dude, give it up,” he growled. “The pink hearts are friendship hearts, the red ones are the romantic ones. So give it back.”

The younger teen cocked his head to the side and said, “No.”

Steve folded his arms and glared at him.

“Aren’t you going to take me home?” Dustin asked after they sat in silence for a minute or two.

“Not until you give them back.”

Dustin just shrugged. “It’s your funeral if we get home after my mom does.”

Steve threw his arms in the air, but turned the engine and started the car toward the Hendersons.

“These are actually really sweet, Steve,” Dustin said after a couple of minutes. “I like the idea of friendship hearts. That way you don’t accidentally send the wrong message.”

Steve just shrugged.

“You do know that some of these are fake names, right?”

Steve rolled his eyes and dared to look over at him. “Yes, of course I do. I am familiar with D’Artagnan after you named a fucking demodog after him, thanks.”

Dustin cocked his head to the side and then shrugged. “That’s fair. What you probably don’t know is that Aramis, Porthos, and Athos are the names of the Three Musketeers.”

Steve pursed his lips and nodded. “That’s cool.” They hit a stop sign and Steve looked over and pulled out one. “What about this one? Tommy H. thinks it’s short for Kassie, but none of the girls at our school spell it like that.”

Dustin took the heart and looked at it. “Kas. Kas. Yeah, okay. That does sound familiar. Can I get back to you on that one?”

“Sure thing, bud.”

Steve pulled up to curb to let Dustin out. “You got your key? If you don’t, you can hang out with me until your mom gets home.”

Dustin began rummaging around in his bag and Steve snatched the hearts away before he could bend them.

The kid pulled out his keys with a triumphant, “Eureka!”

Steve shook his head. “You are such a dweeb. Go on, get.”

“Bye, Steve!”

“Next time say thank you, asshole!” Steve called out the window.

Dustin turned around and gave him the double middle finger.

Steve shook his head and drove off. Why he loved that kid, he had no idea.

When he got home he pulled out the little notebook and placed the pink hearts in with the rest. All but the one from Kas. Those he kept in his wallet. He really couldn’t place why. There was just something about what they said that made him feel warm and not in the fuzzy friendship way that the others did.

There was the first one:

-Stevie I like the way you’re kind even when it doesn’t benefit you. Kas

Which Steve loved but the others were just as sweet.

-Stevie You have a great laugh, you don’t have to hide it. Kas

-Stevie That shirt today really brings out the color in your eyes. Kas

And Steve’s personal favorite:

-Stevie Each day is brighter because you’re in it. Kas

There was one for each day he got hearts in his locker so he assumed it was all the same person.

He slid it next to the other three hearts in the billfold portion of his wallet and put the wallet next to his keys on his desk. Then he put the little notebook back, careful to make sure it was well hidden.

He wasn’t sure what his dad would do about the mementos but Steve really didn’t want to find out.

He was really going to miss getting the hearts over the weekend. They really had become the highlight of his day.

He sighed and buckled down to work on his homework. It wasn’t as though he had anything better to do with his time. He wasn’t invited to any parties, he didn’t have friends to hang out with, and the people who would hang with him were fourteen year olds and they all had bedtimes.

He briefly thought about calling Eddie, but the guy had friends, unlike Steve and was probably doing something with them. Probably that nerd game that Eddie had a club for.

He buried his head in his hands.

Steve sighed. Fuck his life was depressing as shit.

With another sigh, he resigned himself to another lonely weekend.

****

Part 7 Part 8

Tag List: CLOSED

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

@spectrum-spectre @slv-333 @zerokrox-blog @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie

@chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @maya-custodios-dionach @danili666 @goodolefashionedloverboi

@val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @vecnuthy

@irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee

@awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @dragonmama76

@scheodingers-muppet @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @fullpoetrybread

@disrespectedgoatman @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @moonshadows-13 @skyewaytohell

@swimmingbirdrunningrock @croatoan-like-its-hot @lolawonsstuff @lololol-1234 @dotdot-wierdlife

@ravenfrog @dauntlessdiva @thelittleclare @steddieyourself @dam28lh

[antariies]

how to build a chair........... director's cut ∠( ᐛ 」∠)__ this is about to be a very long very self-indulgent post where i just talk about my own writing. i also doodled on all the pages i think it makes the whole thing more fun to go thru. welcome to my ted talk

SIKE before i begin. credit where credit is due, this post was the start of it all. it changed my brain chemistry my jaw was dropped i was in awe i was obsessed and before i even finished it i knew that i would eventually have to make something similar for the commander or else i would be cursed to think about it for the rest of my life. and i Was cursed for like two years every day i would just be like........ is today the day i sit down and draft the commander chair fic of my dreams....... maybe tomorrow......

and then i got accepted as a writer for the gw2 zine ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ the chair idea was actually my backup option in case my first idea didn't pan out, and thank god it didn't, bc this one worked so much better. (still working on my initial idea, just turning it into a full fic! it was wayyy too long to be a zine submission.)

this is the chair i used. i downloaded the assembly instructions and tried out a bunch of different free pdf editors until i found one i liked, which ended up being sedja. if anyone's interested in doing something like this, i recommend printing out the pdf and writing directly on it! it was a lot easier for me to just figure out everything on paper first and then digitalize it after :P here's a picture of my physical copy

okay actually getting into it for real this time !!!!!

1. yeah i could've just erased the ikea logo and left a blank space but then i realized i could turn it into an in-universe joke. and then i ran with it.

2. i ripped this straight from the product description on the website. thanks ikea

3. i'm not sure if anyone went and looked it up, but it's a real item code!

hehe :3c

4. if your commander willingly goes to therapy i'm happy for them but TO ME? you'd have to drag the commander kicking and screaming. it's not that they don't know that something is wrong with them, they know, and they know YOU know. you're just never supposed to talk about it. they don't look at their own psych eval results bc that's none of their business.

5. i normally avoid specifying the commander's race when i write them bc i enjoy the challenge, but for the zine i was assigned to write about a norn commander! as a human main i was uhhhh very ill-equipped. but that just meant i had to study up on my norn lore (•̀ᴗ•́)و i spent hours on the wiki, then went around interviewing norn mains for their opinions, which was great fun :D it all helped me narrow the focus of my piece: joining the war on commander objectification on the side of commander objectification (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡ and no one self-aggrandizes quite like the norn commander!

and to balance that i knew my narrator had to be patronizing as shitttt. they've clearly been following the commander since the beginning and seem to know a lot of intimate details about their life, despite not thinking very highly of them. wonder who that could be :3c

6. i can't stop making references. so the original part number is actually #122620 in the manual but i've changed it here (and on the previous page!) to #082812, as in 08/28/12, the date gw2 was released! no real reason for it, @dalennaugw suggested it for funsies and i liked it. if you're my pal and i show you a wip and you have a cool idea for it, chances are i Will put that shit in. hi dale if you're reading this

7. another thing about me. i loveeee repetition. here the word "over" is repeated four times to match the picture. honestly a lot of the creative process for this piece was just staring at the pages and figuring out how to tie the pictures to the commander in ways that weren't extremely corny or trite. idk why i enjoy writing like this when i could be frolicking in the beautiful prosaic meadows of a word doc instead but. it's like i see a tiny little restrictive box and i'm like OH BOY can't wait to think inside of that thing!!! i like when the format matters just as much as the content and in some cases informs the content. am i making any sense here. well all you need to know is that i'm a virgo and my favorite book is house of leaves

7. aw fuck just realized i wrote 7 twice. whatever i'm not changing it this is 7 part two now. the theme of my piece is glory, what it means to the norn commander, and how far they're willing to go for it.

8. does norn culture place emphasis on seeking individual glory Yes are norn also very community-oriented Also Yes. i think it's common to see norn kids napping together in a big pile, usually after they've worn themselves out playing games outside. it makes sense practically (apes together warm) and socially (pack bonding good) but that's just my hc. growing up i used to share a bed with my cousins all the time so it's normal to me.

a young, naive not-yet-commander, with no real combat experience, has no point of reference to compare a "blaze of glory" to. but the way everyone talks about it, it must be a good thing. a wonderful thing. a reward fit for a life well-fought and a legend hard-earned. so they imagine it must feel like falling asleep surrounded by the people they love, who love them in turn.

9. .........i was playing a lot of ace attorney when i wrote this page. i wish i was joking 👍🏼

10. ohhh shit the truth come OUT this whole chair thing was all a ploy just so i could write about the departing. again.

will i ever stop thinking about her. reply hazy, try again later.

11. out of all the pages, this one has the most emphasis on text placement, like comparing the enlarged picture of the screw to a sword, the numbers counting the screws, and "up up up" being arranged to mimic a wisp of smoke.

i also wanted to lean into the viking/norse mythology influences with my word choice.

12. more nods to norn culture. i didn't know they referred to the six human gods as "spirits of action" until i was doing the research for this piece :O

and the domain of the lost is called a hall of ghosts....... cause valhalla.....

13.

i'm sorry this so funnyyy. SAYS the guy who literally clawed their way back to life for a rematch.

me when i'm in a sore loser competition and my opponent is the COMMANDER!!!

14. arms as in "limbs" and also arms as in "armaments" :•]

15. haha get it because the picture makes it look like there are two mirrored speech bubbles while the text paints two opposing interpretations of the norn commander. one that's selfless and humble versus one that's selfish and vainglorious.

16. and the best part is IT DOESN'T MATTER which one is true bc at the end of the day no matter what their motivation, balthazar is dead by their hand. ofc i'm of the opinion that the most compelling interpretation of the commander is both, simultaneously. contradictions are good for the soul.

17. i could've name-dropped kas, the only person present that would do something like that, but i felt it was better to leave it ambiguous.

18. low-hanging fruit. the metaphor was so obvious here but i had to do it. for the culture

19. the alternate title for this piece was "THIS COULD BE GLORY". "how to build a chair" was only supposed to be a placeholder title til i figured out a better one, but the innocuousness of it grew on me. also i came up with the other one too late and had already advertised under the chair title lol

20. my first instinct was to end it with something more reassuring, like "what you have built so far is enough" but that would've been an ooc switch-up for a narrator who has been nothing but snide and detached this whole time. gotta stick to my guns

21.

obligatory chair joke as the last line. for realsies though it’s meant to be an earnest appeal to the commander to take a break, to have a seat, but it’s also a challenge. are they willing to lean on their friends? are the bonds they’ve forged strong enough to hold their weight? are they willing to put their faith in someone else’s hands? are they brave enough to try? well. only one way to find out.

also guess what that wasn’t even the real last page of the manual. it's THIS

but no way i was letting this be the image we ended on. IT LOOKS LIKE A DICK AND BALLS!!!

and on that note, THANK YOU if you made it this far!! a very special shout-out to @hawkepockets, my lovely boyfriend and beta reader, without whom this piece would not be nearly as polished. i would bring him pages to look over and he would say Scrap half of those lines you can do better than that. kill your darlings. i would complain and argue for a few minutes then we would revise. rinse and repeat until we had honed this thing to perfection. i can't stress enough the importance of having a second pair of eyes on your work throughout your creative process, even better if it's someone who challenges you. i don't even pay him 🫶🏼

and if there was anything i didn't cover that you still have questions about, please feel free to shoot me an ask! (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡ thanks for reading! see u later dudes ;P

[kiwiana-writes]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

A big ol' fuck you to @rmd-writes for the tag xoxo

1. How many works do you have an AO3? Lol. Lmao even. 289.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 914,620 on AO3, but that includes co-writes as well as things I've podficced where the fic and pod are in the same work. My actual personally-written wordcount, per my Batshit Spreadsheet, is 771,819.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly RWRB these days, though most of my back catalogue is Schitt's Creek. Also The Pairing and various other things scattered about.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kinda think that I might be his type aka Alex and Bea fake date coming in at the top spot, which will never not bewilder me. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely fic!! But I am always surprised that it was a few hundred more kudos than:

With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest), the Much Ado actors AU. My magnum opus, my beloved.

We were supposed to find this - baby's first soulmate AU and my first RWRB fic. The brainrot really took hold with this one lmao.

All the Lonely Starbucks Lovers, in which Henry takes 'open mouth insert foot' to a whole new level.

Warm like the glow that you feel head to toe, the age gap fic with older Senator Alex and younger Prince Henry. This is probably the only one in my top five that really surprises me, considering age gaps are... divisive.

5. Do you respond to comments? Always always always.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I mean I did write that one MCD fic in Schitt's Creek, though I maintain the other five parts in that 5+1 are in fact angstier than the MCD ending.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhhhhh, the rest? The Doylist answer is any of my fics where the HEA is literally forever rather than 'till death do us part'; so, the Schitt's Creek afterlife AU and the RWRB zombie!Alex AU. (Is that all? Am I forgetting one?)

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yeah, sometimes. Weirdly, more through tumblr anons than on the fics themselves? A lot of them I just delete, sometimes I'll give them a bit of a public scolding etc. Frankly at this point if you come into my ask box to be a cunt on anon I'm going to assume you have a public humiliation kink and will indulge you accordingly.

9. Do you write smut? Who's to say.

10. Do you write crossovers? I'm more inclined towards a fusion than a crossover (love a good media fusion) but I did write a short RWRB/The Pairing crossover for VoiceTeam.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. Someone did ask recently, so we'll see!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? HEAPS. @ships-to-sail is an ongoing collaborator, but I also did a bunch of "each write a chapter" type collabs in Schitt's Creek. Currently co-writing something truly fucking incredible with @indestructibleheart.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? IDK if it's a WIP by the strictest definition, but every day the likelihood of the SC kink!verse series being completed slips further away lol.

16. What are your writing strengths? Rae, you're the worst.

Smut, I guess? Giving people new kinks, apparently. Character voice. Also a very specific type of world-building where I explain nothing because the characters already live in that world and let y'all infer how it works, which came up a LOT on one of this year's Kinktober fics in particular and led to my spouse saying "okay so you're basically the Brennan Lee Mulligan of tree fucking", which is sure not a sentence I expected to ever be directed towards me, but here we are.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Anything original, apparently. Good thing I didn't quit my job to be a writer or anything OH WAIT.

(In all seriousness, though, I am genuinely shit at, like, plotting. And action sequences.)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If it makes sense for the character, sure! I'm enlisting someone who speaks it for anything more complicated than, like, a pet name - I've seen what Google Translate tries to spit out for my second language and therefore don't trust it lmao.

19. First fandom you wrote for? terf queen mcgee's property.

20. Favourite fics you've written? The RWRB fic specifically based on the episode The Husbands of River Song from Doctor Who. Hands down the best thing I've ever written.

I also fucking LOVED the Much Ado actor AU. My love letter to Shakespeare and theatre and queer joy.

-

Tagging @blueeyedgrlwrites @cactusdragon517 @cricketnationrise @firenati0n @getmehighonmagic

@hgejfmw-hgejhsf @indestructibleheart @inexplicablymine @notspecialbabe @orchidscript

@piratefalls @sherryvalli @sparklepocalypse @stereopticons @whimsymanaged and, as always, anyone who wants to play! 

[diazsdimples]

Fic Writers Meme

Tagged by @inell

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

19

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

277,040

3. What fandoms do you write for?

9-1-1 but I did write a bunch of British Actor RPF back in high school lmao

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Buck's Baby (By Accident) (Buddie) How can this be wrong? (Bucktommy) For the rest of my life (for the rest of yours) (Buddie) Sweet child of mine (Bucktommy) The heat of the moment (Buddie)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do, even though it takes me a second sometimes. I always appreciate people putting in the time to tell me what they thought of my stuff!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

None of them? All my fics have happy endings

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably For the rest of my life (for the rest of yours) just for the hopeful Buckley-Diaz family feels but honestly any of them could work

8. Do you get hate on fics?

The occasional "this wouldn't happen in canon!!" and I'm like yeah! That's cause it's fiction!! But other than that, not really no.

9. Do you write smut?

9 of my 19 fics are smut and my smut fics are usually my longest. So, yep!

10. Do you write crossovers?

Nope but I do write AUs based off premises from other things? Sort of?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Kind of? I deleted a fic once bc it wasn't a vibe for me (it was a request that I didn't love and didn't know how to say no) and the original requester of the fic, with whom I'd fallen out, messaged being like hey!! saw you deleted it!!! good news is I copied it into google docs before you could!!! Which I did not love

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I am currently co-writing 2 fics with @hippolotamus and one with @theotherbuckley, when I remember they exist 🫣

14. What is your all time favorite ship?

Buddie will always be my go to for writing. I'm compelled a lot by Bucktommy and Buddietommy (and Eddietommy lbr) but for the most part if I come up with an AU, it'll be a Buddie one.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Single Dads AU or Frostpunk AU. They've just been around for so long that I feel like people have either forgotten or are sick of them and I just have No Beans for them

16. What are your writing strengths?

Oof I don't know, I think maybe coming up with plots/ compelling storylines

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I feel like I struggle most with describing things and emotions and if there's a scene that very emotion heavy it'll take me a long time to write it because I agonise over the correct words to use.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language during a fic?

I wouldn't unless I had someone who spoke the language who was able to help guide me, mostly because I don't want to make mistakes

19. First fandom you wrote for?

British Actor RPF (specifically Tom Hiddleston/Benedict Cumberbatch

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Play me like a fiddle is my baby, will always be my baby, and it is my most beloved. 34k of Music Nerd James with a whole load of Buddie feels and closet sex. Idk, I peaked there tbh

NP tagging @theotherbuckley @hippolotamus @daffi-990 @buckera @watchyourbuck

@spotsandsocks @bidisasterevankinard @bigfootsmom @wikiangela @jesuisici33

@rainbow-nerdss @steadfastsaturnsrings and anyone else who wants to share their stuff! (And if I forgot anyone, I apologise)

[sheikfangirl]

Tbh considering the whole eternal reincarnation cycle thing, it wouldn’t surprise me if Link did fall for Zelda at first sight Pre-Calamity? Something like his soul recognizing hers right away? Because of the whole “Hero chosen by the Goddess” thing? Idk it’d make sense to me 🤔

P.S.: Ignore this idea if it sounds overwhelming but… have you ever considered making something like a comic filling in the blanks about how you think Zelink happened in their BOTW/TOTK incarnation? I think it’d look really cool in your style (and I’m curious about how you imagine it happening tbh, especially the confession part lol though I kinda get an idea based on your fanarts)

Yup, i 1000% agree with you: the eternal reincarnation cycle is the obvious culprit. AGSJSG I just LOVE this corny "Hero chosen by the Goddess " gimmick hahaha Forever soulmates yaaas!!

So...about your comic suggestion, i might already be on it ....  😉

I shared a page WIP a couple of weeks ago. This was an excerpt of "The Message", my Post-BotW fan comic focusing on a major Zelink relationship milestone. Its all written, can be read from start to finish but i am still in the process of cleaning the art. This comic is 15 pages long and its gonna kill me lol It will be available hopefully by the end of the summer because I have so many professional projects going on at the same time...plus life, obviously. Just so you know I'm not answering you generic bullshit, here is some visibility on my PC's folder 😅:

Maybe this is not a good idea to reveal how obsessed and insane I actually am cuz.... i have rough pages and thumbnails for a bunch of scenes... I also have fan cutscenes storyboards that i could turn into animatics, i just need to kick my ass and subscribe to after effect for a month lol😅 Oh yeah, and this is just about the BotW/TotK era...cuz i got an OoT folder....... GDJS looking at all these incomplete PSDs are driving me nuts. I wish i could just draw Zelda stuff full time haha

Thank you so much for your enthusiam for my humble headcanons!

Cheers and have a great one!! 🤜💥🤛

[wannab-urs]

The Spreadsheet Digest - Fic Recs | Vol 11

Hi friends!!

I've really outdone myself this week, folks. I read TWENTY SEVEN new fics (including three very long series) + a bunch of updates to WIPs I was already reading. That being said, I'm gonna sort these by character for you because it's a lot to scroll through.

If you're new here, these are all the fics I read this week (except series updates and unnamed drabbles) and my unhinged/unedited ramblings about them :)

You can find the full spreadsheet here, and you're always welcome to tag me in your fics <3

Fic recs below the Pedro <3

Din Djarin

Wherever You Stray, I Follow a one shot by @beskarandblasters

This is one of those fics that makes me genuinely pissed I'm not living in the Star Wars universe. Why can't I run away from an arranged marriage with my bodyguard who just so happens to be a very very handsome man in a suit of pure beskar? It's not fair.

Beskar Doll a series by @justagalwhowrites

Okay so I read 40+ chapters of this in TWO days. The story is so engaging?! Also we all know I love me some angst and the angst in this is so well done. It's believable, it's painful, it's excellent. I'm always hype for reader characters/FMC/OFC that are strong and capable (not that I have an issue with the damsel in distress fics either but...) I am obsessed with the reader/MC in this. She's so fucking cool and strong and AGH!!! There was no part of this where I was bored or wondered why the story went in a certain direction - it always made sense to me and I was completely engaged the whole time. That's pretty impressive for a long ass fic like this. I usually fall off after 20 or so chapters. Everyone should read this, tbh.

Significant a one shot by @softlyspector

AHHHH okay first of all, you gotta read the drabble first so you get a feel for the relationship. This was SO CUTE. I support every choice made in this fic. I don't want to spoil anything, but just know that I love the characterization and dialogue in this. I love how quickly I got sucked into the story and believed their relationship despite it only being 5k. I could kind of imagine a full series around this. It was sooooo cute UGH. (Look at me reading fluff, what's goin on).

Fix it a one shot by @jksprincess10

I love how you've barely written Din before (1 fic) and then you produce this. It's so fucking good. We get helmetless!Din without a fuckton of buildup and like I get that it's not the most realistic, but sometimes you just want Din Djarin to eat you out without 20 chapters of wondering what his face looks like or having to be in the dark. And the tattoos... nad... you gave him tattoos.... I'll pass out and die on the floor right now.

a little attention a one shot by @luckbealincoln

Din has a rough day (haha get it?) and reader knows just how to get rid of his pissy ass attitude. I love love love dom!Din so fucking much this is so hot PLEASE

Best Kept Secret a series by @lincolndjarin

Bodyguard!Din and princess!reader!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this trope so much. I expected the fic to be a little kitschy because I mean... it's a kitschy trope. And I love kitschy shit that's why I clicked on it... but guys! guys!! it's not!! This fic has so much depth, so much emotion. The little glimpses of Din's backstory, the depictions of mental health, that bastard Kodo, my beloved Elaine and Lysa... just... there's so much in this story that I adore. It feels fresh and interesting and it's heart wrenching and wonderful and sexy and....yeah read this one thanks.

Who do you belong to? a one shot by @beskarandblasters

HOT!!!!!!! Possessive!Din is so fucking hot. The smut is.... oh my lordt it is good.

Joel Miller

i can be your pretty girl a series by @walkintotheriveranddisappear

A little innocent reader/manipulative dbf!joel never hurt anyone, right? I fucking love this. And the subsequent part is... even better (worse? more depraved?).

Epiphany a one shot by @jksprincess10

This story hurts. It hits you right in the chest and takes the breath out of you. Worth the pain though. It's gorgeously done <3

I'll Do Anything a one shot by @beskarandblasters

I feel like I've seen some fics that are this trope but in reverse, where Joel is the one making reader pay with sex. I think I like this better tbh. Desperate, needy Joel is everything.

Seven a one shot by @proxima-writes

Starting with the dream was so fucking good! And I really like the choice to not make it a 1 to 1 direct recreation of the actual scene with Sarah. I loved the early interactions with Joel and reader so much. The library scene AHHH!!!! And then fast forwarding through the reallly good smut, the dream that's not a nightmare???? Are you kidding me??? genius. Reader still believing in beautiful things and making joel believe he deserves good things and oh my god just shoot me now this was adorable.

sensational a series by @sinsofsummers

I guess I was on an innocent reader kick this week idk. I love the buildup of the reader's background in this though. She feels like a real person and not just a vessel for actual reader to pretend we're virgins and Joel Miller is teaching us about sex. Like she is that, don't get me wrong, and I love it. But!! She's a real person, with feelings and a backstory and I am a slut for a good story with my smut. Okay and also Joel doesn't feel like a creep in this, which is a little hard to achieve given the premise. I really liked this and I hope we get more. (there's a part two, but like I'd read 10 parts of this are you kidding)

Desire a series by @toxic-seduction

Good ol' depraved smut. I haven't read one like this before!! And the follow up is just as yummy. Highly recommend if you're feeling a little freaky :)

Gimme What I Want a series by @atticrissfinch

Oh my god oh my GOD oh my god. This was so fucking hot?! And the little moments of humor too?! I love the format for this so much. And the attention to detail with the timestamps and everything!! And then part two... I was not prepared. God it was so hot. (and the lil bonus of Joel being awkward and adorable ughhhh). The blend of sexy and funny and a tad bit depraved and a tiny bit sweet... perfect.

Lavender a series by @justagalwhowrites

Hey, it's not nice to break people's hearts repeatedly. There are barely even words to describe this fic. The nanny trope to start out with, meaning that you get really really attached to Sarah and pre-outbreak Joel and you build up all these hopes and dreams for the two of them.... and then... (trying not to spoil things) Joel being a moron and then the outbreak of course and... I always want to know what happens in that 20 years between outbreak and Joel meeting Ellie. I really adore the way that canon content was blended with original content in a way that seems to make Joel's actions make even more sense than they do in canon. Doc is such a cool character also??? And oh my GOD Andrew and Jess... I seriously cannot explain how fucking perfect this is. I could read it forever. Like I hope you carry it on through season two when that comes out, it's that good. I would read 500 chapters of this.

Mine a one shot by @the-scandalorian

How does one write Porn Without Plot, anal at that, and make it profound? Apparently this way. How dare you make me feel anything but a little ashamed and lot horny about an ANAL FIC?! Are you a fucking WIZARD?! Anyway yeah y'all should read this one.

Stay here, honey a one shot by @swiftispunk

This is just porn but I was having that kind of day. dbf!joel + really high chance of getting caught PWP. Wonderful <3

What I need a one shot by @swiftispunk

knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink knife kink. Oh and also a lil bit of sweetness at the end. Yes please

Your Summer Dream a series by @swiftispunk

Look I've only read chapter one and I'm already in love. The set up is so good. Joel seems so sweet and charming and cool and HOT?!? Reader is about to win the rebound Jackpot for real. I'd be jealous if I wasn't,,,, ya know,,, the reader.

exile a one shot by @tieronecrush

Oh hey cool, thanks for hurting my feelings... just kidding you know I love angst. This was so gorgeously written. I love all the descriptions a lot. And also... I read a lot of joel/reader breakups where she just immediately crumbles and takes him back because like wouldn't we all? But I really like how you had her hesitate even though she's clearly miserable. At least one of us is emotionally mature enough to not dive headfirst back into a toxic relationship (couldn't be me).

Javier Peña

a pile of cards a one shot by @undercoverpena

There are very few things I love more than fluffy, soft!Javi Peña. That man has the capacity to be so sweet and caring and kind and loving and AHHHHHH. I really love the way this story is told. A story in birthdays for your birthday celebration... that's so fucking creative I love it. I just... I can't say enough about this fic. Read it!!

not here, not now a one shot by @gracieispunk

Reader gets in trouble with Javi and handcuffs are involved... I feel like I do not need to say more.

(Re)union with Elvis a one shot by @tieronecrush

I've read a lot of these lil accidental marriage fics, and this is one of my favorites so far. I loved getting to see them meet up sober, go through the whole night, experience the silly wedding, the mind blowing sex, and then the wakeup scene is actually so cute? I rarely see one of these without a defcon level freak out about the fact they got married. Imagine telling this story at your wedding? Like oh yeah we've actually already divorced each other and it was before we ever started dating.

Pero Tovar

Xìngjiāo a one shot by @absurdthirst

I finally watched The Great Wall and my literal first move after finishing it was to see if absurdthirst wrote a sex pollen fic for Tovar and she FUCKING DID!!!!! Gods I love sex pollen.

Pero Tovar and his Guerrera a series by @prolix-yuy

This lil loose fit series makes my heart sing. Pero being an idiot? Reader being a badass? Silly arrangement to be able to stay near each other without having to admit feelings? Finally admitting feelings??? Wrap me up in this story and bury me in it, thanks.

Dave York

Stormy Secrets a one shot by @absurdthirst

Kinda randomly got in the mood to read something fucked up and stumbled on this lovely Dave York fic. Murder daddy didn't let me down, this was EXCELLENT. Pretty much checked every box on the list of what I would kill to have Dave York do to me.

Just Your Average Suburban Couple a one shot by @absurdthirst

What if Murder Daddy had a Murder Wife? I know it's a hot take, but I love the fake dating trope so this is so fun for me. Add in badass reader, infidelity, murder, Dave York being soft (in his own way), domestic Dave, and possessive/jealous!Dave? Oh and of course delicious smut. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

---------

Do y'all prefer it sorted like this or was it fine the old way? This takes a little extra work, but it's not that bad.

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Happy Reading!

[raycatzdraws]

Your dark crystal lu au has me giggling and kicking my feet. I would love to hear more about it!!! What inspired Hyrule to leave the caverns? Are the Zelda's the Madras?

>:D

I wrote a lot so it's going under a read more:

Wanderlust? Wanting to see more of the world? Seeking out a missing princess? A calling? A summons by Aughra? It could be a number of things! I'm still figuring out how I want to integrate the Zelda lore and timeline into that of The Dark Crystal.

What I do know is that I think I want Hyrule to be apprenticing under Aughra. Assistant turned apprentice. He really does do a lot of grunt work. Go here, fetch that, oil the entire orrery, crawl around in the Sog swamps for this one specific plant. But he has a strong connection to the song of Thra and an insatiable desire to listen and learn so Aughra teaches, and gives him tasks most would think crazy, and he stays. She keeps telling him asides about this snarky sharp tongued apprentice she had before who did a bunch of cool stuff but then ran off and is shirking his duties!!! and Hyrule's like, "gee I'd really like to meet this guy you keep comparing me to smh"

As for the Zeldas, yeah! They're the princess and Maudras. These are bound to change but at the moment, the trio Artemis, Dot, and Lullaby are Maudra to the Vapran clan together. Dusk of the Drenchen, Fable is Spriton with strong connections to the Castle of the Crystal, Dawn with the Grottans, and Aurora spends her time with both the Vapran and Grottan clans. I think the Sifa hierarchal structure would be a little looser. Most seek council from the Sifa elders and soothsayers. Tetra's out and about sailing with her crew. When she needs to speak for the clan that's when you know things have really gone to shit. Flora is a princess from an age past who now travels but spends a lot of time with the Vaprans. I'm realizing now I've forgotten Stone-in-the-Wood. I might place Lullaby, Dot, or Flora there instead. Still a wip!

Which leaves Sun. There's Thra, and then Mithra from the Power of the Dark Crystal comics. I don't want to add another clan because there being 7 is significant. But maaaaybe I could just be like, you know what, what if there were just gelfling living on floating islands who have been up there of since the Age of Innocence or Golden Age or whatever and forgotten. And they're not part of any clan necessarily.

What I really need to figure out is the cause for all the guys to be in one place. Do I want time travel and they're all from different eras and are jumping between them like they are in the LU comics and fanworks, do I want a singular timeline and they've all been living congruently the whole time with their own adventures, or do I want some kind of event to have happened which has caused their times to collapse into a singular and now they're all here in one place with their Zeldas? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ there's a lot of possibility! The Dark Crystal already deals a lot with ideas of threes and triangles so three timelines and three virtues for the triforce and there being nine heroes (divisible by three) already works suuuper well.

And then there's the villans. In loz there's Ganon but in TDC the Skeksis are already a formidable adversary. They have a thirst for power and everlasting life that's already pretty interesting. There's the darkening too, which could be a stand in for the idea of Ganon, just like an evil tainting the land instead of an actual person. Idk!

And since I want it to be in Thra, where in the timeline should it be? During the Age of Division before the events of AoR, far far past the events of the later comics in the Second Age of Harmony with Kensho and Thurma, or create something new and rewrite the timeline altogether? lol I need to reread Power of TDC and read the other comics.

There's A LOT but it's fun.

[loquarocoeur]

Genuinely not trying to distract you from your studies it your note about taking things “out of the bedroom” made me SUPER curious about what non-sexual submission/dominance would look like for Charles and Max and how it would kinda bleed into their everyday (if private) life

I just think that non-sexual BDSM has SO much area for character development and exploration which makes it super intriguing to me too

Babe. I really don't need help getting distracted from my studies, I'm getting distracted all by myself, the adhd is adhding at its finest today, hyperfocus on all the wrong things (and the worst part is i even took my meds :( )

Okay so I've always had this insane love for those one or two fics in every fandom, that are so rare, but you always find them, where it's not even sex its just kneeling

Idk there's just smth about it, how sometimes Max doesn't want sex he just wants his brain off.

I mean of course it's still totally tied into and intertwined with the sex things, but it's also a thing on its own?

Idk the kneeling just also has something to do with Max coming and asking for it as well, and I just also think there'd be something more difficult about letting go for Max when it isn't in the context of sex so there's just a whole bunch of fun stuff and psychology going on there to potentially play with

And I feel like Charles would be so confused about it, but after a minute he'd like get it, bcs you know Charles kind of also goes into a headspace in a way, and it's nice to just kind of sit there and look at Max being pretty with his eyes closed and his head resting on Charles' thigh or something, and it's not as energy intensive as sex yknow, but you still get the headspace? idk, I haven't fleshed this out yet

And it's also of course Max putting himself in Charles' hands and trusting him with this even when it's hard, like you know you have to earn that trust and submission in a way, it's something valuable, like Charles would probably never ask for this himself so it would always be a thing Max asks for, so its a thing Max is just offering up and giving him idk

Idk I haven't thought about this enough yet, it's still a baby concept, which is why it's probably not making total sense, even to me. It might turn out a lot different than I'm thinking now (if I do finish it, I never want to promise anything of course I have soo many wips) and I have to do like proper research about it as a real life non-fictional concept as well still bcs I like to do that to understand the psychology sometimes and not like make shit up, but yeah idk

It's one of those things between all the other things I want to still do though idk. When I tell you I have too many fledgeling wips and ideas for yours verse you can't even imagine and every time I get one done it's replaced by 2 or 3 more ideas, it's such a problem

[13thdoodle]

bunch of Phantasy AU doodles n wip from earlier this year

Basically I just found out this year that ball-jointed dolls actually have strings in them and not just... magically attached by the ball joints themselves? And 31 in this AU is a ball jointed doll that were made out of Danny's energy so here we are :3c

I've been watching a lot of doll customization since earlier this year and found out from dollightful's video that no they are all connected by elastic strings inside so that's where the idea came from

...i was looking on google to find a good example to put here and clearly I'm not exactly paying attention to how the main body strings are actually.. pinned to?

the video I've been watching the most is dollightful n moonlight jewel and they have their bjd usually only to the bottom of the doll head instead of all the way to the top on the skull pin like the diagram above

Which is why 31 has his strings all connected to the 'heart' in the middle instead of the head kasjdnkasjnd

But yeah uhhh specifics aside...

----

Those ball jointed dolls made me think of 31, and then thinking about the clones in Phantasy AU and like.. the logistic of it

for 31, the idea is that during the circus gothica arc for this AU, Danny actually got kidnapped all the whole way into another universe/plane in which he met Valeska (Enn's oc) who unalive what his face the circus leader n break Danny's hypnosis

and now that Danny is essentially stuck in a whole other plane/realm/or sth he just following Valeska hoping she'll help him find his way back.

In one such trip, Danny got kidnapped (again) by another group/cult who wanted to use his power/energy as a gate keeper to the ghost zone to make their own gate keeper so they can open portals to ghost zones and maybe other realms too

31 is part of the experiments. He's a doll made with part of Danny's energy as his core.

And then it's.. uhh.. sth sth Valeska finally found out where they kept Danny and devour everyone there safe from Danny n 31 who helped him escape so now the three of them travel together~

The last pict is me thinking about clones and kingdom hearts :tm: so dramatic about Danny being the soul separated from the main body and 31 a clone made from part of the soul too and all that Not sure where I'm going with that but it do sound cool

And there's also Danielle but I'm not exactly sure.. how she would fit in? but it would be interesting if she was made from Danny's body somehow

so 31 made from part of teh soul and Dani from part of the body sounds poetic somehow

[wsdanon]

Hhm.. for the wip game, celltw snippet?

sorry anon for the late response i was trying to space my answers out a bit and then spontaneously wrote a fic in between oops

celltw snippets is basically just like… supposed to a bunch of different scenes ranging from post-fuga to qsmp era of their developing relationship and all that mess. i started and stopped writing it somewhere just after tazercraft got thrown in prison?

anyway take a snippet of one of the scenes:

It’s a little weird to be curled up in Cellbit’s bed at his castle. They haven’t really done this sort of thing in a while—especially not since Cellbit got married. The last time probably would’ve been… those couple of nights after they got Felps back. 

But him and Mike escaped from prison… a couple of days ago. Maybe. After the loss of Walter Bob, Mike refused to go outside, and Pac wasn’t going to just leave him, so he's not exactly sure how much time has passed. 

But earlier today was when they had revealed they had escaped to Cellbit. He seemed anxious to keep them in his sight, and now here they are. 

Cellbit’s arms are wrapped tightly around him, pulling him close. Close enough that he can feel the back of Roier’s arm pressing into his stomach from where he has it thrown over Cellbit’s waist. Mike is practically plastered to his back. He refused to sleep in any other position—an intensity in his insistence that hid a deep-rooted fear. 

Pac thinks the weirdest part about this whole situation is Roier. He had barely even blinked when Cellbit had explained what he wanted—his hand still tightly clasping Pac’s from when he’d dragged him up the stairs. Pac can’t say he knows Roier well enough to know whether he’s prone to serious jealousy, but he had been more than understanding about the situation. 

Maybe it’s because they got married right after Felps was rescued, so Roier’s used to this from Cellbit. Maybe it’s because he’s a therapist. 

Whatever the reason, Pac’s grateful for it. It’s nice to be held.

Cellbit’s arms flex around him, as he stretches a little and shifts. His eyes flick open a little to catch Pac’s briefly, before closing again.

“You’re still awake.” Cellbit murmurs.

“Yeah.”

He’s not sure how. Mike’s been sleeping too much, and Pac hasn’t been sleeping at all. He thought maybe tonight would be the night that changed—his mind content with the fact that if he falls asleep, there’s other people here to look after Mike—but he remains awake.

"It's okay." Cellbit's hands rub soothing circles into him. "I can stay up if you want."

--

i have a few others all roughly this length but this is the only one i want to post right now pfft i don't have the time at the moment to fix them up

[satoruxx]

. RHEYA . i’m literally just abt to fall asleep but i saw your wips and OHHHHHHHHH MY GOD I’M KISSING YOUR BRAIN SO LOVINGLY .

I NEED . TO KNOW . ABOUT say you'll love me to death, because i will. VAMP SASHISU 🥹 RHEYA’S VAMP SASHISU 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 I THINK ABOUT THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY YOU KNOWWWWWWWW……. AND ANDDDD ALSO the illusion of a regime!!!! pretty please!!!!!!! that whole au sounds so fun….. prince!sugu my ANGEL boy

I LOVE YOUU . please remember to eat a big meal and drink lots of water if you haven’t today <3333 THE MICE ARE PATIENTLY AWAITING ANY CRUMBS YOU WILL GIVE THEMMM we adore you so fervently <333 mwah mwah mwah !!!!!!!

ARIIIII omg omg pls sleep i will answer all of your questions so you can wake up to them tomorrow !!

okay okay first vamp sashisuuuuu!!!!!! tbh i wanted to write more after that one drabble of the different ways they drink blood (which was born bc of you ty for the brainrot MWAH MWAH) i think i want to elaborate on how reader meets the three of them hehe !! gotta tell everyone how those three get their hands on reader and become lovingly obsessed with them mhm :33

OH EM GEE YES MY ROYALTY AU!!!!!! ari i can't tell you how excited i was when i started writing it last year <///3 i started out with satoru's path bc that's what inspired the whole thing and then i started thinking about what tropes the other silly guys would be. couldn't make suguru anything but a prince !!! but like... i didn't want to make it all sunshine and rainbows so i figured why not make them enemies??

prince sugu and princess reader who hate each other from the moment they first meet as kids. suguru thinks reader is too immature and reader thinks suguru is too stuck up. and then when they both grow up??? suguru is the golden child and he does sweeten a lil bit but reader does not forget how annoying he was when they were kids :// reader just continues to be salty and suguru somehow finds himself enjoying that :33

eventually he's just like oh yeah i might be in love with you (especially when you're annoyed at me......) he is so pathetically silly he's probably just sitting there watching princess reader hate on him with a smile on his face like :>

added in the arranged marriage part just for fun tbh bc imagine how annoyed they'd both be when they're forced to get to know each other before they get married....

anyways THANK YOU FOR ASKING THIS ARI!!!! i'm so so excited for the royalty au you have no idea !! i also haven't written a whole bunch of sugu fics so i'm very eager to sink my teeth into this one :33 i am hugging and kissing all of the mice so many times i love you <3333

ask me about my wips !!

[littleshopofchaos]

Writeblr Interview Tag!

Thank you to @dearunreliablenarrator for the tag

I tag @waltzshouldbewriting @violetcancerian @watermeezer @cherrybombfangirlwrites and anyone who wants to do this

Short stories, novels, or poems?

All of them. Its fun and good to practise having a variety

What genre do you prefer reading?

I love fantasy as my main, but my second favourite is crime/ true crime and things like Agatha Christie

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

Both. I like to have a variety so I can get stuff done and not stress about some fun projects whilst outlining the serious ones that need a lot of work

What music do you listen to while writing?

Mostly musicals, right now its Wait For Me/Reprise from Hadestown, and then there's things like Linkin Park New Divide and Numb

Favorite books/movies?

Favourite books: Any Agatha Christie, Skulduggery Pleasant or A Good Girls Guide To Murder the trilogy

Favourite movies: Lilo and Stitch, Monsters Inc, Pirates of the Carribbean, Inside Out 1 and 2, Shrek 1 and 2

Any current WIPs?

Keep The Peace is part of my series Amongst The Chaos, an adult fantasy slice-of-life supernatural series where its a bunch of characters living in the city of Nottingham, and meeting up at various places to get together and talk about events that have happened in their lives as they live amongst the supernatural - e.g Angels. Demons, Ghosts and the like and their reactions to the chaos.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you what would your standard outfit be?

jogging bottoms and a lilo and stitch t-shirt or a game of thrones t-shirt, stich trainers, a stitch handbag and a sunflower lanyard.

Create a character description of yourself: 

Fat non-binary person really into eating and crafting and loves to dye hair different colours, cannot see for shit without glasses and cannot drive.

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

Yes and no. All my characters are original, but sometimes my mother will suggest 'oh, write about our family, your nephews, the cats' ect and to be honest with you, ive never figured out how to fit them in, so i dont.

Are you kill happy with your characters?

Oh yeah, absolutely. I will kill whoever I want to, whenever I want to. I'm not afraid to get violent with the deaths, but I gotta do it justice

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Tea, Hot Chocolate or different juices, depending what's in my reach and i'm interested in.

Slow or fast writer?

It depends on how motivated i am, when im not in writers block i can write 2k within like 2 hours

Where/who/what do you draw inspiration from?

Everything - the books i read, the games i play, the music i listen to.Bad writing pisses me off real bad and I know I can do better

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

A librarian or writer completely done wih the city being destroyed by the supernatural but being really intrigued and trying not to die.

Most fav book cliche:

I cannot answer.

Least favorite cliche:

curing disabilities. like fuck off with that shit, give them their aids back and we dont need to cure autism, we're fine the way we are

Favorite scene to write?

all of them, i just cannot pick one thing i love. Its just... the whole process of writing that I love and I wouldn't change it fot the world

Reason for writing?

Because its a part of what makes me, me and i wouldnt have it any other way. I am a writer, its in my blood. I enjoy the creation, the creativity, the uniqueness of my own voice

[flieslikeamoron]

WIP WEDNESDAY

I went in my WIP folder and dug out a little something for the steddies. I'm not actively working on it right now, but I think it's the one steddie WIP I haven't shared anything from before. It's a Jury Duty AU where Eddie is one of the actors and Steve is the one guy who doesn't know he's on a tv show. I never got much farther than this, but it was gonna be that thing where you have a spark with someone and it could really be something, but they have no idea you're playing a character on a tv show.

--

Eddie Munson never set out to be an actor. He came to L.A. with rock star dreams. He was going to play The Roxy. He was going to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. But in L.A. big dreams are a dime a dozen. And they don’t pay the rent. 

He dreams smaller now. He’s not so much shooting for the cover of Rolling Stone as steady session work. A couple regular gigs that don’t pay in beer and “exposure” seem almost as unattainable as The Forum. He makes rent by filling the gap with his part-time bartending gig and whatever else he can scrounge up. That’s where the acting comes in. It’s mostly background work, but he’s pulled a couple lines in a regional car commercial, a couple low budget horror things he’s not sure ever got released, a bad roommate on a sitcom that thankfully got cancelled after five or six episodes, and the prime role of “stoner” in a medium popular Melissa McCarthy movie. 

He has an imdb page. Which is kind of embarrassing. Not just because seeing his pathetic credits listed out like that makes him feel pathetic. But also because even the shitty little parts he gets are parts people with big acting dreams are desperately fighting for. Scrambling for any foothold. And he doesn’t even want them, not really. He’s just taking what he can get to keep his music career on life support. 

He kept putting off getting that SAG card, and yeah, partly it was the fucking $3,000 fee. But he could’ve scraped the money together if he sold some of his gear or took on more shifts at the bar. The real reason he kept putting it off was because sinking that much money into acting would be admitting the music’s never going to take off. That all those dreams have been reduced to a line on the back of his headshot. Special skills: Plays guitar. 

He shouldn’t complain. He’s had plenty of friends who washed out back to the small towns they were running from. Or ended up at the dreaded nine to five, dying inch by inch behind a desk. His life isn’t what he thought, but it beats where he came from. And it’s not boring. He’s met interesting people. He’s done weird shit. 

This new job, though. This has to be the weirdest thing he’s ever done. And he played a killer in a hot dog outfit once, so he knows from weird. He still isn't even totally sure how he got it. The callback was mostly improv. He’s never done improv. He did used to play a ton of DnD back in his misspent youth, so maybe that helped. Apparently whatever he did was good enough because he got it.

The shoot is over a month long. It'll be the most money he’s ever made on a single gig. But it’s- He doesn’t even know how to explain it. They didn’t even explain it to him until he got the job because the whole thing is so top-secret. It’s a reality show, but not really. The most elaborate and expensive prank Eddie’s ever heard of. All to trick one poor rube into thinking he’s doing jury duty. To see how he reacts to a bunch of people he doesn’t know are actors throwing absolutely ridiculous shit at him for weeks at a time.

The rehearsals were kind of fun. Meeting the other actors. Figuring out how they’re going to pull this off. The scope of it still boggles Eddie’s mind. Production has built an entire alternate reality for this guy, whoever he’s going to be. But the thing you don’t really think about when you’re on the Truman Show, and you’re not Truman, is all the actors are going to be living it too. He’s going to have to be on all day, every day like some kind of weird improv endurance challenge. 

When they finally hand out the dossier on the mark (there’s a fucking dossier) Eddie starts to get cold feet. He can’t back out now, not really. He’s contractually obligated to go through with it at this point. But he looks at the picture of the guy. Steve. He’s a good-looking guy. Pretty smile. He’s a real person. And Eddie’s going to have to lie right to this guy’s good-looking face for weeks. 

Eddie’s not even a real actor! How is he going to pull this shit off? He can bullshit with the best of them, but there’s never been an entire production resting on his ability to sell a lie. What if he’s the one that blows it? Ruins this entire thing, all this money and effort. All these jobs down the drain, everything wasted. The whole thing is crazy. He can’t do it. 

But there’s the contract. And there’s the money. Enough to buy his own studio time, work on his own music.

“Is this freaking you out?” Eddie asks Sandra over lunch. They’ve spent the morning walking through the crucial jury selection scene, the first test of whether the guy's gonna figure out something's up right from go. It’s a hybrid of scripted, but flexible to accommodate the fact that Steve’s not scripted. Steve could do anything. And it’s on all of the rest of them to not freeze up. To be natural, but guide him as close to the planned bits as they can. To convince him that nothing weird is going on when something weird is so going on.

“I’m nervous,” she admits. “I don’t want to be the one-”

“That fucks it up,” Eddie finishes.

“Exactly that.” 

[compacflt]

I just wanted to say as someone who has stumbled across your blog and has read your Wednesday wips and posts about anything topgun related that your thought process and consideration of mav and ice, specifically their political beliefs and relationships with their own identities, is honestly so impressive and cool. You have brought such realism and life to these characters which is just so refreshing to see. idk i just wanted to express how cool and awesome i think that is

Because of the thought into these characters does it make it difficult to like them or understand them if you have differing opinions from them? for me personally i feel like if i were to ever actually have a convo with ice or mav regarding identity politics i would actually start to lose my mind (like how one feels when your dad or fun uncle talks for too long at thanksgiving dinner). If it does make them difficult to like, does that make it difficult for you to write them sometimes?

oh yeah! i think, my ice i really empathize with & really love & really could get along with, once he grows out of the sexism of his teens & twenties, but my maverick drives me crazy. someone sent in an ask a while ago that was like “WHY is cyclone simpson your one true love??” And it’s because i too would absolutely hate maverick & hate working with him lol. people who are overly cocky & un-self-aware & a bit self-centered make me CRAZY. (narrator voice: compacflt is a hypocrite as all these things also apply to compacflt.)

Politically… It’s difficult to say. no one really wants to hear the intricacies of one person’s political journey, which is why i won’t give you mine, but suffice to say—since the start of the russian invasion of Ukraine, and my semi-concerted effort to learn more about the political landscape of modern warfare, my own personal beliefs have shifted a whole bunch. definitely aided in that shift by my top gun fic project that specifically aims to understand the conservative straight-passing male mindset as it relates to military matters… there are many end goals to a project like mine, but one end product is a filter you can take away and hold up in front of your eyes and see the world through it. When writing from the eyes of a conservative straight (passing) white man, your priorities totally shift. I had to write from the perspective of someone who doesn’t care about identity politics. Because they don’t! A core tenet of conservatism is very proudly not caring about that stuff, and being very annoyed when people (usually left-of-centers) make that stuff very visible and want you to care about it! “Don’t shove it in my face,” etc., etc. Don’t force me to care about this taboo, private thing I really don’t care about. It violates my freedoms, or whatever, to be forced to care—or even bear witness to—stuff that i don’t care about. Etc. And then, to be nominally a part of that community that you really, really don’t care about, and then to be told that you have to care about it because of your publicity… people asking you to be proud of something that has had a negative connotation for much of your entire life… that’s not a transformation that happens easily.

Jesus, I could write an essay about this. I have, several times by now in responses to asks over my blog. But there is so much that I could talk about. I think… I really worry that some of my writing falls into the first of the below categories:

I really try not to romanticize conservatism in my writing—I tried to show that ice and mav’s happiness is the price they pay for their conservatism. They’re actively choosing to be unhappy—but because they prioritize their honor over everything, due to EXTERNAL PRESSURES they cannot control, and which I think are often ignored in the fandom space for one reason or another. The fact of the matter is, in 99% of IPs, characters prioritize something other than their sexualities. It’s never Maverick’s personal identity that is at stake in either Top Gun or Top Gun: Maverick, because he has built himself so impermeably masculine that there are no grounds upon which to question his personal identity. He just isn’t thinking about it. He’s thinking about how to get into Charlie’s pants, how to win the Top Gun trophy, how to uphold his promise to Goose, et cetera. If he’s fucking guys on the side, it’s because he wants to and because hes maverick and he does what he wants without thinking about it—that’s the whole point of his character, from a story-construction standpoint. That’s his archetype. He’s a renegade maverick superstar who is both thoughtlessly brilliant and thoughtlessly dangerous. He’s thoughtless. His priorities are to survive and to look cool doing it, and that’s it. He is a savant in the Naval Air Force, where honor is your lifeblood, who feels he has been dishonored by his own family name, and who willingly joined the conservative post-Vietnam Navy right when/after Ronald Reagan was elected President, and who wears cowboy boots and who disrespects women to their faces, and who is eager to get into altercations with Soviet-Chinese-DPRK-X-second-world-country-coded-but-EXPLICITLY-Soviet-manufactured-Mikoyan-Gurevich-MiG-28s(-F-5s-painted-black)… I’m sorry. In my opinion, the conservatism is baked into him as a character. I find it extremely difficult to separate him from his conservatism, because in some ways his patriotic conservatism is his raison d’etre. IMO if you take that away from him, he ceases to exist.

Same thing with Ice and his unwillingness to openly rebel or go against the grain. That is his whole reason to exist in the story at all. I know that I’m saying this in a fandom space where the whole point is to change characters & put them in different situations (fanfic) but… in kind of a perverse self aware way, as in I know I sound ridiculous and pretentious, i guess i don’t really understand an impulse to change the core tenets of a character irreparably in fanworks. We are shown that ice always goes by the books in TG. Then we are shown that he achieves the fruits of that labor (four stars) in TGM. So he is rewarded for never rebelling, whereas Maverick, who always rebels (but NEVER in a way that challenges his personal identity), has stagnated in the ranks at full-bird O-6. And that’s Ice’s character. That’s what he’s there for in the story—he’s a tool to show us the value system of rank and prestige you earn by following the rules of the Navy. Why take that away from him? That’s his priority! Canonically, that’s his priority and reason for existence! And historically the way to achieve that priority is through conservatism.

And you ask me if it’s hard to like my ice and mav. Yes, but that’s not my choice. The movie already did that for me. They are not, I’m sorry, likable people. I am not a straight white conservative male writing about straight white conservative men to validate my own beliefs—I’m a queer AFAB person of color writing about straight white conservative men because I want to understand the limits of their conservatism. What they do and do not care about, and what it takes to make them care. And from what we are shown in TG… ice and mav would not care about ME. At all. And they would not want to be forced to care about me. Ice’s casual careless dismissiveness… “the plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies’ room…” mav following Charlie into the bathroom… turning the key in the ignition and driving away while pretending not to hear her… “what?? i can’t hear you! 🙉” … they do not care. They have no desire to care.

Again. Maybe I subscribe to a very very old-school and labored and pretentious ideology when it comes to writing… I know a lot of people write just to have fun. I do not. I wish i could, but I don’t. And when you’re not writing to have fun, you don’t have to like the characters you’re writing about. They’re nothing more than tools at your disposal to get your point across more effectively. No, I don’t like them! Of course not! My ice is cruel and cowardly and careless and hypocritical and subservient and weak, and my mav is demanding and dangerous and dismissive and oblivious and so, so, so unbelievably bitter.

And that’s what my story needed, to get my point across. So, shrug. My point was my priority. I don’t care too much about the characters themselves.

Re: icemav & identity politics. Part of hopefully selling this story is the attempt at empathy for the conservative male, to bring this discussion back to the top. Why write fiction at all if you’re not going to write about people different from you, and why write about people different from you if you don’t want to understand them? So… part of trying to understand them was to understand and have empathy for this shift in priorities. Conservative guys do not want to care about labels, or sexual orientations, or, God forbid, discussion of their gender identities. I can kind of see Ice tolerating it by the end… but, there are limits. Again, it’s supposed to be private. I think he’d chafe against getting labeled gay—he wouldn’t want to be called the first gay compacflt, or SECNAV, etc. He can’t say, “i slept with like a hundred fifty women before I even MET the ONLY man ive ever slept with,” because that’s like intensely private personal information!! No one deserves that information, but people still want to call him gay, even though in his head he really is not!!!! Again—from the conservative perspective, it’s a public imposition of left-wing, overly sexualized, too-neat labels and politics onto an area of life that has typically been kept private and respectable—I don’t agree with the conservatism, but I can at least empathize with it. Pre-Maverick’s death (pre-coming to terms with it), it would’ve been shameful & embarrassing to him; but even after coming to terms with it, it’s still not something he “takes pride” in. I think he thinks of it like this—most people aren’t proud of being straight. Like, it’s weird if you are. Same thing with being proud of being white, etc. Why be excessively proud of things you have no control over? Why not take pride in your ACTIONS—for instance, his career that he has actively sacrificed so much of his pride for? I can really empathize with that thought. I don’t necessarily agree, but I get it, especially in his professional circumstances, where he has so much to be professionally proud of, and yet people keep wanting him to publicly care about this private part of him he has no control over and can’t change.

Maverick though. I think he’d be actively hostile about talking about it in public. He Does Not Care. he does not want to care. It’s all an insult. They call him the first openly gay Ace cause he’s married to another man— “okay, but, like, I’m not. Stop calling me that. Neither of us are. Oh my god we have slept with so many women. Stop calling us that.” Ok then what do you want us, the press corps, to call you? First openly bisexual Ace? “No that’s worse!! That’s a word some teenager made up and doesn’t mean anything!! I’m sixty years old stop asking me to talk about this stuff im too old.” What do you have to say to LGBT kids who want to go into the navy? “😎👍 there’s a place for you etc etc. Let’s go back to talking about all the planes I shot down.” Maverick does what he wants without thinking about it. That’s the core tenet of his character. Very conservative. Don’t ask him to care too much.

Idk. No I don’t like them. But I understand them, if that makes sense. Like their conservative anti-label logic does make emotional sense to me. So that’s part of what I took away from this project, for better or worse… probably worse: I understand why conservatives don’t like the modern over-publicity of sexuality. They don’t care and they don’t want to care. And because they are small-C conservative, my ice and mav still don’t care lol. So, yeah. It doesn’t make them hard to write, because thats why I wanted to write them in the first place.

[itwoodbeprefect]

5, 8, 13, 37!

5. Share one of your strengths.

i was trying to think of something i haven't answered to this type of question in similar ask games before, so i'll go with a slightly sideways take and say, hey, i like my own writing. which is great! it means i get to have fun writing it, and it's (mostly) not a chore to read it a dozen times, and then once it's posted i optionally get to sit down and read this story i like that checks off a whole bunch of specific things i want from fic. i would never ever have been able to write as much as i have, or learn to write as well, if i didn't enjoy reading my own writing.

-

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

this is from something that still hasn't been posted (though soon, hopefully. let's ignore that i've been thinking that about this fic for at least six months), but i think it's a fun exchange that fits the way steve and danny express their love through their bicker-banter dynamic, and i really enjoy how this flows with the bits of description too:

The door to the master bedroom doesn’t creak either, but the bed rustles when the dark shape of Steve’s head pops up. “What’s happening?” Steve asks, at a tone a touch too proud to be a whisper. He doesn’t sound like Danny just woke him up, but that might just be Steve’s Steveness.

Danny pauses at the foot of the bed regardless. He’s tired, so he figures it’s best to go hard on the offensive rather than prepare for a lengthy sparring session. A little too much truth usually does the trick. “I miss you.”

“I’m right here,” the Steve shape says, from right there.

Like Danny doesn’t know that. “I know that,” he says, because he does know that. He knew that even when he was in the other room, and it didn’t functionally change anything. “Did I say I was being rational about this?”

The Steve shape is quiet for a moment, like he’s waiting Danny out. “Well, what are you doing all the way over there?” he asks eventually, like that’s the part of what Danny is doing that’s insane.

Danny’s chest finally feels whole again, but he ignores it because he’s busy walking around the bed and getting in under the sheet and complaining. “You hadn’t invited me yet. I’m not in the habit of climbing into other guys’ beds uninvited.”

Steve flops down on his front, muttering right into his pillow, “Yeah, you are.”

-

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

show don't tell? which is tricky because like almost any writing advice, it's not a magical rule that always applies and can never be broken, and you do need to learn how to apply it well. but oooh. ohoho. if a newer writer starts figuring this out, it levels up their writing tenfold. i know mine got better when i started doing this more intentionally.

-

37. Talk about your current wips.

oooh, i don't even know what counts as a current wip for me at the moment, so this will be very scattered. but i guess the things that have been on my mind the most are the last chapter of A flip-flop state of mind (it will happen! at some point!); the nearly finished h50 fic that the snippet above is from (which is superficially about junior moving out of the mcgarrett home, but that's just a cover for a very domestic getting together fic); another h50 fic that's, well, more domesticity (but established relationship), and is 95% dialogue so far, though it's not supposed to become a dialogue-only fic; somehow two different starsky/hutch fics of which both are in some way inspired by a song by dutch singer boudewijn de groot; another starsky/hutch fic based on a dutch song, only this time it's by someone else (and more actively relevant to the fic. i may end up translating the whole song if this fic ever gets posted, purely as optional context); a bad buddy fic in which pat and pran's respective best friends try to be annoying (affectionately) but get outclassed by patpran's competitive streak, and they all acknowledge (some with more dismay than others) that they've become friends; and finally another bad buddy fic which. i think it's done, probably. it's been done for weeks, i just can't decide if i like it the way it is or if i need to figure out a way to switch a certain part up before i hit post. i think at least in part it's that i'm running into the inherent difficulty in getting a character to Sound Right through a translation, which has made me go "oh my god how did i do that" a lot at the many many years i was constantly writing dutch fic for english media. but i'll figure it out! i hope.

[purpurussy]

Oooh tell me more about the WIP that’s making you crazy!?

thank you for the enrichment also <33

agesss ago I came up with an idea for a selkie!dan and coastguard!phil AU and it consumed my entire life for like an entire month. then I kinda hit a wall and completely forgot about it until now

I wrote like 10k words of worldbuilding before they even meet DSDFKFJKL I'm incapable of writing anything with actual appeal. it's always gotta be extremely esoteric and self-indulgent psychosexual yapping

the perspective keeps switching back and forth between them, which is really fun since obviously dan is hiding this Big Secret (obviously the selkie thing is a queer metaphor)

here are some of my fav parts. maybe i'll return to it someday

exploring selkie!dan's psyche:

this is a whole thing like the plot in my head is crazy. I feel like the iasip meme with the red thread board

their meet-cute after fucking 21 A4 pages or whatever:

yeah that's a sam the surfer reference LMFAOOO phil is running from his grief after that dude's ass died in a surfing accident. (??????) like there is so much happening in this document DSHGGJ:HFJHGK:

i felt so insane writing this but now idk where it's going :( if i were to continue it, I'd probably have to start by cutting a bunch of stuff and I don't Wanna